Major General Yan Shulin was depressed after receiving an urgent telegram from General Shi Dashou to rescue Lublin. In fact, his 3rd Army could have entered Poland early, but inexplicably received a military order to stand by, and it took two days in vain. In the garrison of Kovelli, the Expeditionary Force Theater Troupe even gave two performances to the troops. Now it was another desperate telegram, the 21st Army was surrounded by superior German forces, and Lublin was in danger, so he was asked to get over as quickly as possible.

How did a battle that could have been fought calmly like this?

He understood the strategy of the expeditionary force. Commander Ye had organized war games, whether it was to the west (to aid the Polish Russian army) or to the south (to return to Romania). Now it turns out that Commander Ye has a vision, and the Germans really did it in Poland. The Polish campaign plan formulated by Commander Ye at that time was Case A, that is, the first plan. Commander Ye's plan was to let the Russian army fight the Germans first, and then intervene in picking peaches when they saw the opportunity. The generals and officers above the two group armies of the expeditionary force all agreed with Commander Ye's dismissal, and there was no problem with this. At that time, it was calculated that the total strength of the German army for Poland was only 50 divisions, and even if the Germans could get a little reinforcement from Austria-Hungary, the Chinese and Russian armies still maintained a twofold advantage in the Polish direction in terms of strength comparison. If you count the German army in the south alone, the advantage will be even greater. Xue Xiaocai once said that the expeditionary force was enough to deal with the southern route, but this was not opposed by everyone.

Therefore, the atmosphere when studying the westward expansion strategy was relaxed, and no one was under pressure. The question was whether the results of the battle would surpass those of the Romanian campaign.

Who would have thought that the Germans would be so brave and the Russians would be so cowardly? The main forces of the expeditionary force have not yet entered the battlefield. Lublin let the family surround him, and looking at the telegrams of Commander Shi and Commander Wang, Zhang Zuoxiang couldn't bear it anymore.

The military order is like a mountain! The 3rd Army immediately rushed to the west and rushed straight to Lublin.

Guan Xingshun's 8th Division was the vanguard of the whole army, from Kovelly through Cheum to the western outskirts of Lublin, about 150 kilometers, and the forward regiment of the 8th Division took only 32 hours. On the evening of December 9, the 24th Regiment of the Division's Forward Regiment first intercepted a group of routs of the 21st Army, and then engaged the Germans.

The battle was fought in the form of an encounter, and Colonel Jiang Hongshan immediately telegraphed to the division headquarters after listening to the report of the avant-garde battalion. "Our troops met the enemy about 25 kilometers west of Lublin. Ask for a task. ”

The telegram from Division Commander Guan arrived immediately, "Lublin is still under our military control. Your regiment immediately launched a powerful reconnaissance to find out the enemy's situation and report it. Strictly guard against ambushes. ”

In fact, there was no need for instructions from the division headquarters, Jiang Hongshan understood his task. Isn't that what the avant-garde regiment does? He ran to the 3 battalion of the avant-garde. Troops are attacking a village. Mortars from the machine gun battery set fire to the village 300 metres away, and three infantry companies of the 3rd Battalion attacked the village in three directions.

"Damn, you're bold. Not even reserves remained. Jiang Hongshan scolded after listening to the report of the 3rd battalion commander Dang Shunli.

"The main force of the regiment is in the back, what kind of reserves are left. This village is in the way of the main road, how can we do it if we don't take it down? Look, go up...... Heavy machine guns stop firing! Commander, I'm going up, you can hurry up and follow up. Major Dang Shunli didn't wait for Jiang Hongshan to speak, and ran towards the village with the messenger.

By the light of the fire rising from the village, Colonel Jiang Hongshan could see through the binoculars that the attacking troops were approaching the village.

"Let the 1st Battalion make a detour from the right." Jiang Hongshan gave an order to the staff officers who followed him.

After about a quarter of an hour, a green flare rose above the village, reporting that the village that was in the way of the road had been recaptured.

Without waiting for the company platoon commander to give an order, heavy machine gunner Zhang Gouwa got up and shouted to his deputy Zhou Qinyi, "Hurry up!" Fast! As he spoke, he began to disassemble the barrel and bracket of the gun. And Zhou Qinyi quickly sorted out the ammunition box.

The heavy machine gun operated by Zhang Gouwa is air-cooled, and the total weight is about 10 kg lighter than the original water-cooled type.

"Gun company, run forward." The order of the company commander was handed down.

Colonel Jiang Hongshan followed the machine gun company into the burning village, where a corpse lay in the street at the entrance of the village, and two soldiers escorted five prisoners over, "Hurry up and send it to the regimental headquarters for interrogation." Jiang Hongshan shouted.

The sergeant recognized the regimental commander and repeated the order loudly, "Yes, hurry up and send it to the regimental headquarters for interrogation." ”

"Where's your battalion commander?"

"Didn't see ...... I'm from the 9th company, and the enemy has already come up......"

The sound of explosions and gunfire in the southwest of the village became more and more intense, and it was estimated that the 3rd Battalion and the reinforced enemy were engaged in fire. Jiang Hongshan pulled out his pistol and shouted to the sergeant escorting the prisoners, "Don't go, the regimental headquarters is located here." He said to the guards who were following him, "Run back and order the 2nd Battalion to hurry up." ”

The 3rd Battalion was counterattacked by the Germans before it was firmly established, and the 3rd Battalion, which chased the Germans out of the village, was driven back, and was recaptured by the Germans for a time, the 3rd Battalion and the Germans fought house by house in the village, throwing grenades at each other across more than ten meters, and the Germans were driven out of the village again after the arrival of the 2nd Battalion, due to the unfamiliar terrain, Jiang Hongshan ordered the troops to stop the attack, and build fortifications on the spot and wait for dawn.

After the 24th regiment was transferred to the defensive, the German counterattack also stopped. The sound of gunfire that had exploded in the middle of the night fell silent, Jiang Hongshan inspected the position of the 3rd Battalion at the top of the front, sent people to contact the 1st Battalion that had detoured from the right flank, and sent alert troops to the north and south flanks, and then returned to the temporarily established regimental headquarters.

The regimental headquarters was equipped with a German interpreter, and Colonel Jiang Hongshan personally interrogated the captured German soldiers and confirmed that the opponent's number was the German 20th Army, the famous ace army in the enemy briefing.

"Only one 20th Army?" Jiang Hongshan was a little unconvinced.

The highest rank of the captured German was a lieutenant, his arm was wounded, he was wrapped in a bandage, blood was dripping incessantly, and the prisoner's face was a large black bruise, and he cursed that he was telling the truth.

"Report to the division headquarters immediately." Jiang Hongshan said to the chief of staff, "Send someone to send this lieutenant to the division headquarters and re-bandage him." ”

One army will defeat the 21st Army? Jiang Hongshan was a little unconvinced, and sent someone to find the stragglers of the 21st Army contained in the regiment and asked them in detail. The rout soldiers were all from the 187th Regiment of the 63rd Division, and learned that this village was originally the headquarters of the 187th Regiment, and the highest rank in the rout was a second lieutenant, who kept trembling in front of Colonel Jiang Hongshan, worried that he would be dealt with according to the military law of escaping from the battle, Jiang Hongshan did not care about dealing with him now, and learned in detail the orders received by the second lieutenant and the battles he experienced, and confirmed that the 187th Regiment broke through in the direction of Lublin City.

"Escort them to the rear and leave them at the disposal of their troops." Jiang Hongshan said coldly.

"It seems that the main forces of the 21st Army have retracted to Lublin, and the 63rd Division ......," the chief of staff considered the wording.

"The 21st Army disgraced the Wehrmacht. If the enemy is only an army. Jiang Hongshan said. If this is true, we can teach the Germans a hard lesson here. The casualties are counted? ”

"It's still counting. The main thing is the 3 battalion, it doesn't matter what else. ”

"Well done 3rd Battalion!" Jiang Hongshan affirmed the spirit of the 3rd Battalion taking the initiative to attack, "There will be an order in the army soon." Hurry up and let the troops rest. I'm tired from running all the way. ”

Truly. When Brigadier General Guan Xingshun came to the village where the 24th Regiment was stationed at 3 o'clock in the morning, he saw officers and soldiers sleeping soundly everywhere.

"The military headquarters decided that our division would break through to Lublin head-on, and the enemy should be an army. Commander Yan had already communicated with the 21st Army, and they had enemies to the south and west, so it was inferred that we had no more than one division of frontal enemies. Tomorrow morning at seven o'clock sharp, the 22nd Regiment is on your left flank, the 23rd Regiment is on the right flank, the artillery regiment covers the direction of your regiment, and they are building positions behind you. Is there a problem that your regiment doesn't have to wait for friendly and neighboring troops? Guan Xingshun asked Jiang Hongshan.

"No problem."

"Alright, that's it. My division headquarters is located here, so you should move quickly. ”

Jiang Hongshan replied yes. Looking at the watch, there were only three and a half hours left before the scheduled attack time, and he had to study and arrange the direction and position of the attack of each battalion, and also negotiated with the artillery, and the time was very tight, "Please allow me to arrange the attack." ”

"Allowed, you go." Brigadier General Guan Xingshun's time is also very tight,

When the first rays of morning light illuminated the cross at the top of the village chapel, the bombardment of 24 75mm howitzers of the 8th Artillery Regiment kicked off the attack, and the three infantry regiments of the 8th Division were engaged in the attack in two hours.

Brigadier General Guan Xingshun set up observation posts in the villages captured by the 24th Regiment in the night battle, paying special attention to the attacks of the 24th Regiment located in the middle road. Unlike ordinary troops, in the 8th Division, the 24th Regiment, which was the last in line, was a well-deserved main force. Therefore, Guan Xingshun used the regiment as the vanguard of the whole division. In Guan Xingshun's view, as long as the 24th regiment achieves a breakthrough in the middle, the battle will be won. Isn't it just more than 20 kilometers? If you do it well, you can break into Lublin today and join the 21st Army.

Guan Xingshun did not think about the tasks of the two divisions that followed him, since the army commander gave the order to break through to Lublin, it would be simple.

However, the attack of the 24th Regiment did not go well, in an undulating hilly area, the Germans built a strong defensive position, the 24th Regiment launched two battalion-sized attacks in succession under the cover of artillery, and in the telescope, the division commander Guan estimated that the two charges cost at least about 100 casualties.

"Tell Jiang Hongshan to stop attacking! Ask about the location of the 22 regiment! Guan Xingshun became agitated.

Soon, Colonel Jiang Hongshan came to the temporary division headquarters, "Division commander, you can't stop, I ask the whole regiment to attack!" ”

"Didn't I tell you to stop? The frontal enemy's firepower is too strong, and it will be easy to wait for the flank support. ”

"My soldiers are still pinned to the enemy's front, how can you let me withdraw?" Jiang Hongshan pointed to the west, "The 3rd battalion is still nailed in front of the position, I ask the whole regiment to attack and smash it to death with a hammer!" ”

The 3rd Battalion, which attacked from the left flank of the 24th Regiment, was indeed still nailed to its position, and the bushes blocked the view of the divisional observation post, so that Division Commander Guan could not see the battle situation of the 3rd Battalion. When the attack failed, the party battalion commander did not command the troops to retreat to the attack position to regain the momentum, but ordered the troops to lie down on the spot to find cover, and fiercely fire at the Germans. This was a helpless thing, and after looking at the terrain, Major Dang Shunli found that it was difficult to retreat, and that he would suffer no fewer casualties than an attack.

And the troops are already red-eyed, and by last night to now, this main battalion has suffered heavy casualties.

The infantry made adjustments before attacking again, and the four heavy machine guns and four mortars of the machine gun company desperately suppressed the German firepower, providing fire cover for the infantry to tear apart and adjust.

The heavy machine gun position of squad leader and heavy machine gunner Zhang Gouwa was built on a piece of high ground, and the so-called high ground was just a little more protruding than the surrounding terrain. After hurriedly setting up the machine gun, Sergeant Zhang Gouwa began his crazy shooting, and he ran out of two magazines in a row, and the heavy machine gun on the opposite side was completely dumb by him, but the bullets carried by his deputy Zhou Qinyi ran out, "Squad leader, I'll go get the bullets." Without waiting for Zhang Gouwa to speak, Zhou Qinyi got up and ran back, forgetting to hide in a hurry, a shuttle machine gun bullet nailed him, from the right waist to the left shoulder, a row of blood holes appeared on the young soldier's back, Zhou Qinyi fell without saying a word.

The shooter and the deputy shooter are inseparable comrades, witnessing Xiao Zhou's death, Zhang Gouwa jumped up with a scream, and before he could run half a step, a bullet knocked him down on the machine gun position. Lu Xingming, the deputy squad leader, crawled over, and saw that Zhang Gouwa was still alive and sane. The bullet hit Zhang Gouwa in the shoulder, but it was not fatal.

"Squad leader, I'll send you down." After briefly treating the wound with a first-aid kit, Lu Xingming beckoned to another soldier in the squad.

"Nonsense! Leave me alone, hurry up and get the bullets, the troops are about to charge, don't let the machine guns stop...... You come to fight ......" Sergeant Zhang Gouwa struggled to move his body and gave up the firing position.

The bullets were delivered, the whistle of the charge was blown, Lu Xingming picked up the bullet chain, wiped his tears, and shouted, "Zhou Qinyi, brother has avenged you......" The heavy machine gun whistled again.

When the 22nd Regiment was thrown into the attack on the flank of the 24th Regiment, the Germans had no choice but to retreat. At noon, the 8th Division reached the second-line positions hastily constructed by the Germans. For example, the bloody battle in the morning was staged again, charging and counter-charging, two armies of different colors fought to the death for their respective countries, and hundreds of young people in their prime stained the battlefield with blood.

Brigadier General Guan Xingshun thought that he would not break through the German positions today, and the 23rd Regiment, which had not been used, paid about 400 casualties in just one afternoon! He halted the offensive and used a wireless telegraph to ask the army to send artillery support. Then he called a meeting of his main officers, rejected Jiang Hongshan's proposal for a night attack, and thought that the troops were too tired from continuous marching and fighting, "I won't fight tonight, and I'll talk about it tomorrow." Anyway, the commander didn't ask us to go to Lublin today. ”

"What did those Northeast Yankees of the 21st Army do? Really crippled by the Germans? We've already attacked their door, why don't we take it? ”

"Don't comment on friendly forces! Say hello to you first, wait for the 21st Army to join the division, don't talk nonsense! This is what the commander has repeatedly requested, and I will tell you again. ”

Shortly after the meeting, Division Commander Guan received a report from the front that the Germans seemed to have retreated. Guan Xingshun was not at ease and scattered the reconnaissance battalion. The reconnaissance battalion practiced all day long in night battles, and it would not suffer losses horizontally and vertically. Before receiving a reply from the reconnaissance battalion, the 22nd Regiment at the forefront reported that the Germans had indeed retreated, and that the troops were in hot pursuit.

"Nonsense! Who told you to chase it? Guan Xingshun was furious, worried that the 22nd Regiment would be ambushed, and hurriedly notified the remaining two infantry regiments to act together. The sound of gunfire and grenade explosions tore apart the silence of the night, and the explosions of mortars and assault guns joined the chorus, occasionally mixed with the deafening roar of howitzers.

Guan Xingshun thought that the 21st Army had attacked and guided the retreat of the German army. In fact, the powerful penetration of the 7th Division on the left flank shook the German defensive line, and the Germans took the initiative to retreat westward after judging that they were unable to block the meeting of the two Chinese armies...... The exhausted 8th Division advanced west overnight and joined forces with the 21st Army troops who were out of the city in the early morning. (To be continued......)

PS: I've been very busy lately, so please forgive me if there is a break. It will be normal in a few days.