September 13, dusk. Lieutenant Colonel Meng Enfan, who inspected the troops, stepped on the thin mud in the trenches, walking deep and shallow. The damp iron guards of the surveillance post shone dimly. The trenches were built on the edge of the swamp, and in front of them was a large alder forest, and although the forest had been carefully searched, Meng Enfan always suspected that the enemy was lurking in the woods.

He left the front line, returned to the town, stood still in front of the regimental house, his wet fingers slid over the buttons of his raincoat, finally untied his raincoat, shook off the droplets, quickly wiped his mud-stained boots on a pile of hay by the door, and then pushed the door open.

"You're back." An officer in an open shirt rose from his bed and yawned.

"I'm back. This hellish place is going to make people moldy. Meng Enfan walked to the wooden table and turned on the lantern.

"How?" Colonel Zhao Xin, commander of the 73rd Regiment, put on his own long leather boots.

"Everyone is suffocated, and the food is poor." Meng Enfan threw his hat on the table, "I just saw Chief of Staff Shi in the army. ”

"He's coming to our group? Why don't you come to the regimental headquarters? ”

"Shook off in the 2nd battalion, answered the phone and left. He said the order would come right away, let's get ready. ”

Shi Niankui is the chief of staff of the 9th Army, and his words are authoritative. Zhao Xin immediately shook the phone of the division headquarters.

"Yes, go to the division headquarters immediately." Zhao Xin accepted the order, "I'll go to the division headquarters for a meeting, and I can probably leave this ghost place." ”

After Zhao Xin left, Meng Enfan lit a cigarette and sat on Zhao Xin's bed with body temperature and smoked greedily. Seven days have passed since the last letter to my family. It's time to write a letter to my wife. I found a few pieces of manuscript paper, grabbed a pencil and started to write letters, but there was nothing to say. At the time of parting, his pungent and bold Northeast daughter-in-law repeatedly told him that he must write letters often, although Meng Enfan misses his wife and children very much, but there is nothing worth mentioning to write. There is a shortage of qiē here, and even the manuscript paper is brought from China, and when I think of the days in China, I feel that everything is good. Anything is worth remembering.

He was drawn from the 1st Division of Agricultural Reclamation to reinforce the 9th Army. The position is Assistant Chief of Staff of the Regiment. For his military rank, this position is clearly lower. In order to strengthen the officer reserve of the expeditionary force, the Northern Military District transferred a number of officers from the two agricultural reclamation divisions and a large number of Russian interpreters to the expeditionary force, but these officers from the agricultural reclamation division basically did not receive actual positions. In particular, the first batch of the 9th Army to go abroad, this combat readiness duty unit. There is no shortage of people in all positions. Most of these "old" officers who had participated in the founding of the country held various assistant positions.

To put it bluntly. It is necessary to wait for the casualties of front-line officers. Only these reserve officers have the opportunity to command the troops. Out of respect for Meng Enfan, an officer from the Father's Corps, Zhao Xin has always let him, the assistant chief of staff, live with him. Meng Enfan didn't have any specific tasks, just going down every day to inspect and familiarize himself with the troops. In addition to the harsh climate and unpalatable food. Life actually passed very leisurely.

The 9th Army was on board in early July. After a long "journey" of more than a month, they arrived on the Russian Southwestern Front in mid-August. Huge logistical supplies were all used from China, but the grain was only brought for a month, and it was supplied by Russia after arriving at the front. After arriving at the front, the 9th Army did not have time to rest and recuperate, but received an order from the command of the expeditionary force not to move westward in order to take over a section of the front, but to turn south and assemble near Chernivtsi. The talented Russian commander, Brusilov, had accurately predicted that his opponent was preparing to strike at the Romanians, and that in his opinion the well-equipped and well-trained Chinese troops were the most powerful reserves at his disposal, and they had to be prepared in advance to be ready to be invested in the most critical positions. However, Ye Yanbing, who arrived at the front line ahead of schedule, believed that all troops must be assembled before they could be used, and this was what was agreed upon at the Boston Conference and Van der Ping in St. Petersburg with the Russian highest authorities. It is possible to transfer to the relatively calm Romanian-Ukrainian border for training, but it must not be used separately from army to army.

Brusilov agreed to Ye Yanbing's request. At that time, the lightning offensive planned by the Germans against Romania had not yet begun, and Brusilov was not too anxious. Moreover, the 9th Army and the subsequent 5th Army did encounter a lot of troubles, mainly due to the lack of fuel and food problems. The expeditionary force is equipped with a large number of cars, which are drawn from various military districts, but gasoline needs to be supplied by the Russian army. The Russians did not seem to believe that the Chinese army was equipped with so many trucks, which caused problems with the supply of fuel and poor food, which caused the troops to complain and cause headaches for commanders at all levels.

The food of the Russian army is strict and lacks vegetables. Sausages and grease were first-class delicacies in the eyes of Russian soldiers, but they were not to the liking of Chinese officers and soldiers. Rye noodles are also uncomfortable to eat. After the 9th and 5th Armies arrived at the assembly area, the rain soaked the elite army in muddy water, and only a few troops could live in civilian houses, and most of the troops relied on tents or digging temporary shelters in the trenches. Because of the shortage of fuel (the Russian army promised to supply gasoline in full), adaptation training could not be carried out, and the map provided by the Russian command was too rough, and even the larger settlements were not marked. Autumn has come, the temperature at night has dropped to about 5 degrees, fortunately the troops have brought enough winter clothes, but the continuous autumn rain has made the movement and life of the troops difficult, officers and soldiers are eager to act, especially the soldiers at the grassroots level, looking forward to leaving this nasty place as soon as possible.

"Where is Lao Meng, where is the head of the regiment?" Major Chang Fumin, chief of staff of the regiment who inspected the troops, also returned.

"He went to the division headquarters for a meeting. It may be moving. ”

"Thank goodness. Yesterday 19 more fell ill. It's going to get moldy if I squat down any longer, and now I'm looking forward to winter sooner. Chang Fumin asked Meng Enfan for a cigarette and lit it.

"No way, it looks like we're going to have to fight in the mud. I don't know who our opponent was in the first battle. ”

"Eighty percent are Austrians. It is said that they were much worse than the Germans. Chang Fumin smoked hard, and the red cigarette butts were very eye-catching in the dim room.

An hour later. Zhao Xin came back, "We're going to set off to face the German 9th Army." It was a mixed army, not very strong. Bucharest was almost overwhelmed, and the above demanded that we move immediately. Our division is the vanguard division, and our regiment is the vanguard of the division. Tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. Chief of Staff, inform the battalion and company commanders to come to the meeting. Lao Meng, you can bring the logistics, and the supplementary company will be handed over to you, how about it? ”

"Done. It's up to you. Meng Enfan agreed.

"It's finally time to fight the Germans." Zhao Xin sighed. "I miss the German instructors at the military academy. I didn't expect to do it with the teacher. ”

"It's been fought a long time ago. Didn't the old 6th Division fight with them in Qingdao? It's nothing, it's like a shot and it bleeds. By the way, the wizard is assigned, right? Meng Enfan disagreed.

"It's assigned, six people in all. Leading the team was a Russian captain. They arrived in about a quarter of an hour. Let's be honest. I don't like the Russians very much. Not only their food, but also the house, and more importantly the climate. Zhao Xin took out a candle and lit it. The small shelter was lit up.

"The climate in Romania is said to be drier." Chang Fumin smiled, "I didn't expect that we would visit many countries." ”

"Forget it. Is this also considered shopping? Zhao Xin shook his head.

Soon, the main officers of the 73rd Regiment came to the extremely humble regimental headquarters one after another. When the Russian captain and the liaison group led by him arrived, the military meeting before the departure of the 73rd Regiment was held.

Historical events are like a game of dominoes, always chained. Convinced that China would join the Entente bloc, Russia could not wait for the Boston Agreement to be formally signed, and could not wait to transfer seven divisions of the Southwestern Front from the Far East. Nicholas II personally intervened in the complex and difficult transportation problems, and the long railway line of the troops arrived at the front seven days earlier than planned, in time for General Brusilov's attack.

Nicholas II ignored the great suffering of his army and subjects, but was extremely loyal to the fulfillment of his allied obligations. After the commander-in-chief of Xiafei made a request to the Russian allies for an offensive due to the critical situation in the Verdun direction, Nicholas II did not hesitate to agree. The Southwestern Front was ordered to launch a swift offensive campaign, both strategically for the Western Front and to relieve the pressure on the incompetent Italians, without paying any attention to the difficulties of their own army.

Of the three fronts of the Russian military bloc in the face of the German-Austrian military bloc, General Brusilov was the most capable. Much better than Kulopatkin (the incompetent commander of the Russo-Japanese War) who commanded the Northwestern Front and General Ivit who commanded the Western Front. Brusilov not only had an offensive spirit, but also a great desire to win. Moreover, he was good at analyzing and summing up experience, especially the lessons of failure, so that the battles he commanded had an aura that ordinary Russian generals did not have.

After receiving seven fully manned divisions in the Far East, the four armies of the Southwestern Front (7, 8, 9, 11) under his command were brought back to life. Although he had been informed that China would send an expeditionary force into Russia to participate in the war, and had already decided to use it in the southwest direction to accept his command, General Brusilov was no longer willing to wait for the Chinese, and after receiving full authorization from the Tsar, on July 12 he began an offensive campaign named the "Brusilov Offensive" by the Russian General Staff.

The troops commanded by General Brusilov totaled 47 divisions and faced the defensive line of 38 divisions of the Austrian army. There is a slight advantage in troops. Brusilov noted that although the Battle of Lake Naroch, which was jointly held by the Northwestern Front and the Western Front in March this year, was prepared for two days of artillery bombardment (due to the extreme lack of shells of the Russian army, it was a small preparation for seven or eight days of artillery fire on the Western Front), but because the Germans had been fully prepared, the effect of artillery preparation was very bad, and the damage to the German fortifications was minimal. When the offensive was launched, the Russian troops who rushed into the German machine-gun fire network were quickly routed and ambushed with corpses. The effect of the breakthrough on the German front was almost zero. The Russian army paid 110,000 casualties in the entire campaign, and the Germans lost only 20,000 at most. Therefore, when considering the offensive of the Southwestern Front, Brusilov changed the traditional practice and distributed the offensive forces on more than 20 points, so that the Austrians could not guess his true intentions. In this way, although the attacking forces in the main direction are dispersed, the effect of surprise can be achieved.

Brusilov chose the right direction of attack. He chose the direction of his attack at the southernmost point of the battle line. The attack has had more than expected results, and the Russian army seems to be banging on a wall that has long been cracked, creating a crumbling effect. The Austrian army in this direction was extremely weak. When the Austrian commander Conrad launched the Tyrol offensive, he had taken 5 divisions of elite soldiers and a large amount of artillery from this direction, and now Conrad finally paid the price. The Russian army captured more than 70,000 people in three days and won an indisputable victory.

But the Russian army immediately revealed its weakness. In the event of an offensive by the Southwestern Front, at least one coordinated operation should be launched upwards in the west. But the troops of the commander of the Western Front, General Avert, crouched behind the battle line and did not move. As a result, the Austrian army launched a counterattack after being reinforced by 4 German divisions, reducing the results of the southwest front. The battle lasted until the beginning of August, when Brusilov was forced to stop the offensive and go on the defensive due to a lack of troops and ammunition.

The "Brusilov offensive" was a rare victory for the Russian army on the Eastern Front. One of the results of this campaign was to draw the wavering Romania into the Entente camp, making the war more of a world war. Before the Brusilov offensive was over, the Romanians rushed into the war, and three-quarters of the 23 divisions of their entire army were engaged in attacks to the west and north, but the Romanians were inferior to the Austrians, who were regarded as soft persimmons by the Allied forces. After only about 25 kilometers, it was stopped by the Austrians. Almost no valuable results were obtained.

On the German side, the supreme commander was changed because of the defeat at Verdun and the drastic changes in the situation on the Eastern Front. Falkingham's chief of the General Staff was removed and replaced by Hindenburg, the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Front, who was boasted by the propaganda department as a war hero. The newly formed German High Command was extremely annoyed by Romania's entry into the war and was determined to defeat the new enemy with a quick assault. On the one hand. Germany was in dire need of Romanian oil and grain. On the other hand, it is to make an example of chickens and monkeys. Teach this new enemy a lesson to show the might of the German army.

Romania is indeed a bit overpowered. Its L-shaped geographical shape makes almost the whole country surrounded by enemy states. The capital, Bucharest, is located only 15 kilometers from the border and is highly vulnerable. Such a country should not have acted rashly, but the Russian victory encouraged the Romanians. Like Italy, they entered the war with the aim of looting with fire. However, he did not take into account that his army was far behind the enemy in terms of training and equipment, and that the ammunition supply was only six weeks.

The Germans reacted extremely quickly. General Mackensen, who had conquered Serbia, organized a coalition of German, Bulgarian, and Turkish armies, and quickly assembled in the rear of the Romanian army (south), and in the other two directions, the German 9th Army (with 3 German divisions and 2 Austrian divisions) and the Austrian 1st Army (with 1 German division and 4 Austrian divisions) also completed the assembly, with the German 9th Army being the main force of the attack, and the commander of this army group was General Falkingham, who had just left the post of Chief of the General Staff. Originally, the Kaiser had appointed him as the ambassador of Turkey, but this person volunteered to serve as a field commander at the front line regardless of his name, and he did not lose the demeanor of a real soldier.

The punitive campaign of the Allies against Romania was launched on 1 September. Mackensen commanded his motley army to attack north and south in two routes, one along the Danube and the other against the Black Sea. By 10 September, the fortresses of Tutracan and Shiristra had been captured, approaching the railway junction between Constanta and Bucharest. That railway is the only railway line from Romania to the Black Sea coast. But Mackensen's troops were stubbornly resisted by the Russian coalition forces, and their advance was halted. However, the Ninth Army, which was not strong under the command of Falkingham, took advantage of the defect of the dispersion of the Romanian army and defeated the Romanian 1st Army, which had the advantage in strength, in early September by adopting various methods of defeat, thus demonstrating General Falkingham's outstanding field command ability. Bucharest was threatened, and the 2nd Romanian Army withdrew from the front to defend the capital. However, the Romanian army was pursued by the Austrian First Army during the retreat, and the troops fell into a state of loss of control. The Luftwaffe launched an air strike on Bucharest, and since Romania had neither aircraft nor anti-aircraft guns, the Luftwaffe bombed Bucharest unhindered, an important arsenal was blown up, and the stock of 9 million rounds of ammunition was burned. Bucharest is in a state of panic, residents flee the city, and the situation is grim.

Now Romania has become a burden for the Russians. After studying the situation, the Russian High Command and the Southwestern Front decided that if Bucharest fell, Romania would surrender to the Central Powers.

This unfortunate event must be prevented. If Germany occupied Romania, its troops and resources would be used by Germany, and the situation on the Russian southern front would deteriorate severely. Therefore, a rescue operation had to be launched, and the commander of the front, Brusilov, reluctantly made the decision to use the Chinese expeditionary force after taking stock of his own forces. At that time, only two armies of the 1st Expeditionary Army (the 9th and 5th armies) had arrived at the front, and according to the previous agreement, the Chinese army would not be able to enter the battle until the whole army had arrived at the front line after it had been trained for acclimatization (at least three weeks). However, due to the heavy casualties suffered by the Southwestern Front in the July offensive, and the various armies were facing off against the Austrians, Brusilov's reserves were really stretched thin, and he had to turn to General Ye Yanbing, who had already reached the front. After careful consideration, General Ye Yanbing made the decision to enter the battle in advance, and ordered Lieutenant General Xiong Xun to lead the 14th Division of the 9th and 5th Armies to the Western Front to meet Falkingham's 9th Army on the Western Front to ensure that Bucharest would not fall into the hands of the Germans. (To be continued......)