In Ukraine, on the outskirts of the Transnistrian town of Rybnica, a Mercedes-style four-wheeled Loujia car in which Zhou Shuren* was riding came to a halt in front of a huge windmill. (.)

Poking his head out from the machine gun tower on the roof of the car, Zhou Shuren held a telescope and looked around: thick smoke billowing from the city of Lebnica in front, a group of armored fighting vehicles attacking in a roundabout way on the left, an infantry skirmish line advancing frontally on the right, and an artillery position supported by fire in the rear - a fierce siege battle was underway.

Three days earlier, on July 17, Zhou Shuren was still in the city of Vinnitsa on the banks of the South Bug River, and in just 48 hours, the Malvetz cluster, composed of armored mechanized units and cavalry units, rushed through the breakthrough opened by the German 10th Army for more than 200 kilometers, closed many bridges and ferries on the east bank of the Dniester River, and saw that it was less than 200 kilometers away from the Black Sea port of Odessa, but it was stubbornly resisted by the Russian army in the area around Rybnica and stalled for a full 24 hours

Time.

According to the report of Captain Guderian, the intelligence officer of the cluster command, the enemy in front of him was the Russian reserve army that had arrived by train from Odessa, had just crossed the sea from Istanbul and the Caucasus, and was the victorious division that had previously defeated the Turks. The port of Odessa was one of the main ports for Russia to receive the aid of the Entente.

At the same time, the situation behind the rear was not optimistic: the number of troops that the cluster itself could use to defend the supply line was very limited, and the infantry units of the 10th Army were far behind the group, so that the Russian troops on both sides of the breakthrough took advantage of the situation and frequently used small groups of cavalry to disturb and block the supply lines of the cluster—which was the fundamental reason for the stagnation of the cluster in Rebnica.

What is even more dangerous is that it is said that the Russian army is counterattacking Vinnytsia from the South Bug River with the strength of two reserve armies in an attempt to close the breach.

There is certainly a good reason why the Russian army reacted so quickly and violently: once the Malvitz cluster reached Odessa, the three Russian armies on the west bank of the Dniester would fall into a huge and solid pocket of the Dniester, the Carpath, and Prut.

To the south of the pocket is the delta formed by the Prut and the Dniester River, two large rivers that flow into the sea and form an alluvial area.

The Romanian army, which had just been driven back to the west bank of the Prut River, may not have been able to capture this coast in time, but although the Allies had absolute maritime superiority in the Black Sea, the loss of the reliable port of Odessa would make it difficult for the besieged Russian army to retreat quickly from the sea.

If these three armies are annihilated in the pocket by the German, Austrian, and Romanian forces in one fell swoop, the Russian army's Ukrainian front is bound to collapse quickly, and without Ukrainian grain and coal, Russia's submission should be just around the corner.

However, what Zhou Shuren saw now was that a lightning offensive was blocked in the middle of the attack, and it gradually became the end of a strong crossbow.

If it continues to delay, the Malvetz cluster, which is deep in the lone army, will inevitably be blocked and counterattacked by the Russian army that continues to gather, and it is even possible that it will be cut off and surrounded by the other side in turn.

Anyway, I don't want to be a prisoner of the Russians, I've heard that they treat Chinese prisoners of war much more harshly than German prisoners of war......

Zhou Shuren muttered in his heart while raising the telescope again.

Suddenly, one fireball after another burst from the group of chariots attacking on the left, Zhou Shuren opened his eyes wide and carefully identified it, only to see that the German chariots that were still showing off their might just now had somehow exploded and caught fire!

In less than a quarter of an hour, dozens of wisps of black smoke were clearly floating on the horizon, and the remaining chariots scrambled to turn around and flee, so that the accompanying infantry was exposed to the rain of Russian guns and artillery one after another, and fell like wheat......

The armored forces of the roundabout attack were frustrated, and the infantry units attacking head-on were also deprived of their response, and were forced to abandon the forward positions of the Russian troops that had just been occupied under the ensuing counterattack of the Russian army on all fronts.

A siege assault battle planned by Jīng heart, right under Zhou Shuren's nose, turned into a humiliated enemy in front of the big turn into Zhou Shuren put down the binoculars and began to write notes, he knew that his precious notes would have the opportunity to be presented to the imperial front for the empress's reference, he really wanted to let the Supreme Tongjing understand his feelings for the first time, so that he could still empathize with this strange battlefield from thousands of miles away.

The idle time did not last long, a rumbling two-wheeled motorcycle came to an abrupt end in front of Zhou Shuren, and Captain Guderian, the intelligence officer of the cluster command, hurriedly jumped out of the car, climbed onto the armored car three times and two times, patted the top cover of the machine gun tower and asked loudly: "Zhou, say you have seen it all?" "See." Zhou Shuren didn't have the heart to go around in circles with this difficult guy.

Guderian frowned, crossed his waist and asked again: "We are in trouble, have you heard of the French' Saint-Chamon, assault chariots?" ”

Zhou Shuren looked at Guderian and didn't pay attention, and secretly put the half-written notes into the machine gun tower: "It seems to be a heavy tank without turrets, I don't know very well, the relevant information is still reported by you."

"We have encountered this kind of thing on the Western Front, the tracks are too short and the body is too long, it is easy to get into trenches and craters, although the 75mm long-barreled cannon installed on the hull is powerful, but the armor is very weak, our army uses a 37-mm long-barreled combat vehicle defense gun that imitates your country, which can easily penetrate the front bevel armor of this thing, and the 77mm field cannon that fires shè high-explosive grenades can kill it with one blow."

Guderian had a good idea of the enemy's armor.

Zhou Shuren wiped the stubble on his chin and expressed his concern politely: "So, just now,

That tragedy was caused by the French "Saint-Chamond?" But isn't this the Eastern Front? ”

Guderian sneered: "This should be thanks to the Turks, if they hadn't lost the strait, how could the good things of Britain and France appear here so easily?" Having said that, you Chinese people are also responsible, you took the Persian Gulf at the beginning of the year, and sent so many planes to Asia Minor, why didn't you save Turkey? Zhou Shuren straightened his neck: "What is this, you look at the map yourself, is Germany close to Turkey, or is China closer to Turkey?" You can't save you so closely, why blame us? Guderian tilted his head: "Okay, I won't fight with you about this." I'm here to ask you, have you ever heard that the Russians used an improved version of the "St. Shamon, assault tank" in the Siberian or Central Asian theaters? ”

As if he was afraid that Zhou Shuren didn't understand, Guderian hurriedly added: "What I mean by "improvement" means that the frontal armor has been greatly enhanced, not only the short-barreled 37-mm and 57-mm caliber chariot guns have no effect on this, but even the long-barreled 37-millimeter chariot defensive guns cannot penetrate it, and even risking the use of 77-mm field cannons to attack at close range is difficult to achieve. ”

"On the contrary, all types of combat vehicles and armored vehicles of our army, as long as they are hit by the opponent, as you have just seen, the result is almost always fatal... How's that, remember? ”

Zhou Shuren pretended to be embarrassed and scratched his head: "I really haven't heard of this, but I can send a telegram to China for verification, and ...... when I return to Berlin" "You can use the radio of the cluster command to send it directly to the Berlin embassy, and then transfer it back to your country, we urgently need information about this new type of combat vehicle, please make sure I do this favor." ”

Guderian said this, but his hands were still crossed at his waist, not so much asking for help as giving orders.

Zhou Shuren was unhappy in his heart, and was about to tease this young captain who looked down on people, but inadvertently caught a glimpse of Guderian, several T-shaped black shadows with their backs to the sun, swooping down from among the clouds... (To be continued,

: Zhou Shuren was unhappy in his heart, and was about to take advantage of the situation to push down this young captain who looked down on people, but inadvertently caught a glimpse of Guderian behind him, several muscular men patted the ranks on their shoulders and roared: "Do you understand the rules, according to the rank"