The two assault forces that crossed the "Pinggu" to attack the woods of the heights No. 1 and No. 2 were the first to be defeated.

The tanks and infantry of our army in groups on the open area of the "Pinggu" immediately became the eye-catching targets of the Russian artillery in the woods.

The 76-mm field guns of the Russian infantry divisions rained shrapnel on the heads of our troops at a rate of fire close to that of rifles, and the shrapnel that rained down the infantry and dismounted cavalry that accompanied the combat vehicles in pieces.

The 107-mm field cannons and 152-mm heavy howitzers equipped with the independent heavy artillery battalions of the Russian Front and Group Army, as well as the 122-mm howitzers equipped with the army-affiliated howitzer battalions, slowly but forcefully projected 20 to 40 kilograms of high-explosive grenades into the middle of the battle formation, and the huge explosion was powerful enough to overturn the chariot near the explosion point and shock the crew of the chariot - not to mention the flesh and blood outside the chariot.

Later, it was ascertained that only in the direction of the No. 1 "reindeer" forest and the No. 2 "wild boar" forest, the Russian army deployed five motorized heavy artillery battalions and two group army heavy artillery battalions, equipped with 48 107-mm heavy field cannons and 64 152-mm heavy howitzers, a total of 112 guns; There are also two army-affiliated howitzer battalions, armed with 32 122-mm howitzers. According to the confessions of the Russian officers captured in the battle, the ammunition for these heavy guns was much more abundant than usual, enough to cover more than five days of fighting.

In comparison, our army had only 54 heavy artillery pieces deployed on the south bank that day, including 36 150-mm heavy howitzers from two battalions attached to two armored corps, and 18 105-mm heavy field cannons from one battalion attached to the assault group.

Even this small number of heavy artillery, the shells carried with the artillery were also very limited, and they were exhausted by noon that day, and the replenishment of the rear was far from meeting the needs of the battle, and most of the detected Russian artillery positions were still located on the anticline of the heights, so when the assault troops needed support the most, the Russian artillery was almost not effectively suppressed, and it was able to wreak havoc like this.

Under the threat of heavy enemy artillery fire, our tanks abandoned their infantry one after another and launched an assault at full speed, in order to quickly break away from the open field of the storm, break through the enemy's infantry defense line in one fell swoop, and then destroy the enemy's artillery position.

The width of the "Pinggu" is only two or three kilometers, and it is only a six- or seven-minute drive for the "Jiehu" and "Flying Wolf," which can reach speeds of 35 kilometers per hour on the road and more than 20 kilometers per hour off-road.

In fact, the vast majority of the combat vehicles of the two assault units rushed to the edge of the woods intact, immediately ran over the forward observation posts of the Russian army with the momentum of the wind and clouds, and swarmed into the depths of the woods in the face of deadly fire from a distance of several hundred to dozens of meters......

Soon, the tank group of the forward detachment of the armored 5th Army collided head-on with the fire network formed by the Russian 1st Tank Brigade and the 1st Mobile Anti-Tank Battalion - it was later found that the four Russian infantry divisions participating in the battle each reinforced with an anti-tank artillery battery, equipped with sixteen 47mm anti-tank guns; In addition, among the three artillery battalions under each division, one battalion (16 guns) was specially transferred as an anti-tank reserve to carry out anti-tank operations by means of 76-mm field guns at close range. At the end, each of the 16 infantry battalions under the jurisdiction of each division was equipped with an infantry gun platoon, equipped with three M1915 37mm flat-fire infantry guns, the gun's anti-armor capability was relatively limited, but it was still enough to penetrate the weak side and rear armor of the "Jiehu" and "Flying Wolf" at very close range.

Detached from the support of the infantry, the tank group of the forward detachment of the 5th Army had to deal not only with the same number of enemy tanks as their own, but also with hundreds of various anti-tank guns hidden in the bushes - including a 3-pounder naval gun mounted on a 76-mm mountain howitzer mount for a 47-mm towed anti-tank gun, and a 6-pounder naval gun mounted on a half-track armored vehicle chassis for the 57-mm self-propelled anti-tank gun, which could easily penetrate the "Jetfox" and "Flying Wolf" from almost all angles at a distance of 500 metersfrontal armor; The M1902 76-mm field cannon, which was originally the main force of the Russian army's divisional artillery, was enough to cause the total destruction of our combat vehicles with a direct hit of one or two high-explosive grenades.

Even in a melee with the British-made "Queen" heavy tanks and the "Wolf Dog" and "Racing Dog" light tanks equipped with the 1st Tank Brigade of the Russian Army, our army's "Jiehu" and "Flying Wolf" will not take advantage of any advantage in the woodlands where it is difficult to give full play to their mobile advantages.

The Queen's 6-pounder gun and the Wolfhound's 3-pounder cannon are identical to the aforementioned 57 mm and 47 mm anti-tank guns, respectively, and even the 1-pounder (37 mm) long-barreled cannon mounted by the Greyhound may still penetrate the frontal armor of the Swift Fox and Flying Wolf at a distance of 500 meters when the angle is right.

On the contrary, the two-millimeter machine gun in the turret of the "Jiehu", even if it uses a special No. 1 tungsten alloy armor-piercing projectile, has to be close to 100 meters before it can penetrate the 10-millimeter-thick frontal armor of the "Racing Dog"; Although the 30-diameter 37-mm gun equipped with the "Flying Wolf" can ensure that it can penetrate the front of the "Racing Dog" within 500 meters, when facing the thickened armor of the "Wolf Dog", it has to get close to within 200 meters to have a chance to penetrate its front. As for the thicker-armored "Queen", the "Flying Wolf" is not guaranteed to penetrate its front even if it is close to 100 meters.

The few "Flying Wolf Reforms" assigned to the company and battalion headquarters are equipped with a 45-diameter long-barreled 37 mm main gun, which is guaranteed to penetrate the front of all known British vehicles, including the Queen, at any angle within 500 meters.

Compared with the original "Flying Wolf", the "Flying Wolf Change" also added an 11 mm thick arc gun shield in front of the main gun, which greatly strengthened the defense on the front of the turret: the area where the gun shield overlapped with the turret was enough to resist the direct attack of the "Racing Dog" main gun at a distance of 200 meters, and could even withstand the fire of the "Wolf Dog" main gun at a distance of 500 meters, but the weak defense of other parts of the whole vehicle was not improved, and the limited number was not enough to influence the battle situation.

Ballistics were untraceable, sparks splashed, and the strange sound of steel tearing faintly flickered in the blazing sound of gunfire...... By the time the accompanying infantry who had crossed the open fire net finally caught up, at least one-third of the chariots of the advancing detachment of the 5th Army had turned into smoking scrap metal, and most of the remaining chariots drove back in reverse gear, retreating while fighting, and a few monkeys had turned their butts in a hurry and accelerated back along the slope.

Fortunately, the other side did not chase out of the woods, but only "farewell" with artillery fire from a distance, and the charioteers of our army, who had recovered from the initial blow, began to cover the retreat of the infantry alternately with tacit cooperation and skillful formation changes, and slowly crossed the carriage road running through the "Pinggu" and turned into defense along the embankment.

The experience of the advancing detachment of the 6th Army was similar, except that the 2nd Tank Brigade of the Russian Army and the 1st Independent Heavy Tank Battalion, which were entrenched in the No. 2 "Wild Boar" forest, were mainly equipped with French Renault FT light tanks and FCM "Saint-Shah Méng" heavy tanks.

These two types of vehicles are even far inferior to the Imperial vehicles in the No. 1 woods, but they are not lethal in woodland defenses.

The Renault FT-14 tank equipped by the French army is divided into machine gun type and artillery type, with 1TǐNG 8 mm machine gun and 1 SA15 37 mm gun respectively, but the FT-14, which is the main equipment of the 2nd Tank Brigade of the Russian army, is all artillery type, and only the 2nd Tank Brigade and the Renault FT-16 type, which are slightly equipped with the 1st Heavy Tank Battalion, are equipped with both machine guns and artillery on the same turret.

The SA15 gun has a short barrel, only 21 times the caliber (the so-called 21 times the diameter), and the muzzle velocity of the shell is less than 400 meters per second, and the Renault FT can only penetrate the frontal armor of the "Jet Fox" and "Flying Wolf" if it is approaching within 200 meters.

In contrast, however, "the Jafox millimeter armor-piercing bullet was almost useless against the 16 to 22 mm frontal armor of the Renault FT from 100 meters away; Although the Flying Wolf's 37mm 30x diameter short-barreled gun could penetrate the front of the Renault FT-14 at a distance of 500 meters, it could hardly penetrate the front of the FT-16 at a distance of 200 meters. Only the 37mm 45-diameter long-barreled cannon of the "Flying Wolf" can ensure that the front of all Renault FT vehicles can penetrate the front of all Renault FT vehicles from any angle within 500 meters.

The most surprising thing for our army is the "St. Shaméng" improved combat vehicle equipped with the 1st Heavy Tank Battalion of the Russian Army, unlike the previously obtained information, this greatly improved turretless heavy combat vehicle, the frontal armor is obviously more than twice as thick as the prototype, and the inclination is increased, even if the "Flying Wolf Change" fires close to a distance of 100 meters, the shells discharged at a very high muzzle velocity will often jump away.

As for the French Schneider M1897 75-mm field cannon mounted on the front of the hull of the "Saint-Shah Méng", any blow at a direct range can be fatal for our combat vehicles.

The Russian troops in the "wild boar" woods placed their St. Shah Méng tanks in the center of the battle line, covered on both sides by dense Renault FT tanks and anti-tank guns, and it was difficult for our tanks to hit their flanks in a roundabout.

The chariot group of the advancing detachment of the 6th Army, which had nothing to do about the "Shengsha Méng", turned around and galloped without waiting for the infantry to arrive, and although most of the chariots were saved, the infantry Méng, who had lost half of their cover, suffered heavy losses.

The 6th Army's main team, which swept the No. 3 "pheasant" woods westward along the riverbank woods, was not much more lucky: the woods were dotted with swamps and puddles, and countless trenches, piles, and traps were built on the passages in between, and after that, there were anti-tank guns and machine gun positions deployed in a checkerboard shape, and the British-made "Greyhound Race" combat vehicles of the 11th Armored Vehicle Brigade of the Russian Army and armored vehicles equipped with artillery cruised between them, apparently calling for heavy artillery fire from the highland woods at any time.

After losing more than a dozen tanks and killing and wounding hundreds of infantry and engineers, Major General Xia Fan, commander of the 6th Army, decisively ordered his team to stop the attack.

The main unit of the 5th Army, which attacked the village of Sakmara, east along the woods along the riverbank, was slightly unlucky: the woods near the village were full of swamps, and the Russian army set up anti-tank gun and machine gun positions in the annular support points between the swamps, and set up all kinds of anti-tank obstacles imaginable by our troops on the narrow passage through the swamps.

Lieutenant General Xiao Bin, commander of the 5th Army, was anxious for victory, and ordered the chariot troops to rush out of the woods and attack from the open ground of the "Pinggu", which instead attracted a three-sided attack from the Russian army: artillery fire from the heavily fortified village of Sakmara, the eastern edge of the No. 1 "reindeer" forest on the north side, and the swampy riverbank woods on the south side, covering the entire battle formation.

The 1st Battalion of the 13th Brigade Tank Battalion, which took the lead, forced a surprise attack regardless of the losses, but it was in a predicament in a peat bog in front of Sakma Village, which was obscured by vegetation and difficult to distinguish.

The 1st Battalion of the 13th Brigade Tank Mounted on the swamp was not only "named" one by one by the Russian anti-tank artillery, but also "lucky" to see the new Russian tank guarding the entrance of the village.

According to eyewitness accounts, this turretless combat vehicle with a square frontal profile is very similar to the "Mendeleev" super-heavy combat vehicle that was extremely conspicuous in the "Enemy Army Weapons Manual" issued that year, but it seems to be much smaller in size, and the power of its shells is comparable to that of the Russian army's standard 76-mm field gun.

Under the blow of several unknown tanks of this type and dozens of large and small artillery pieces, in less than a quarter of an hour, the 1st Battalion of the 13th Brigade Tank was almost completely wiped out.

Seeing that the battle situation was unfavorable, Xiao Bin ordered to retreat, but he had lost more than 40 chariots in vain.

In order to avoid greater losses, the commander, General Lu Kaiping, ordered that most of the support vehicles that had crossed the river, together with the main force of the 5th Cavalry Army, should first withdraw to the south bank for evacuation and rest.

Before dark, the assault group dropped a total of 157 tanks and other armored vehicles (including 126 tanks) in front of the Russian positions, and more than 30 tanks and armored vehicles were wounded and awaiting repair, setting a new record for the single-day losses of the Imperial armored corps - the last time the record was broken was in the Battle of Jusare three months ago, but this time our troops finally broke through the enemy line and recovered most of the damaged vehicles.

As for this time......

That night, the advance detachment of our right flank cluster arrived on the south bank of the Olun River, and the basic strength was the 9th and 11th Janissary Regiments of the 3rd Praetorian Division, and the 15th Praetorian Regiment of the 4th Praetorian Division. He was accompanied by one artillery brigade of each of the two divisions, with a total of three artillery battalions, totaling 36 75-mm field guns and 18 105-mm howitzers.

On the orders of the Front, the advance detachment of the right flank cluster temporarily joined the assault group, and three of the Janissary Infantry regiments crossed the river overnight to replace all six motorized infantry battalions on the north bank.

In addition, the 2nd Independent Tank Battalion, which had provided direct support to the right flank cluster when it broke through the Ural River defense line two days earlier, also rushed to the banks of the Oren River that night with a lineup of 25 "Iron Leopard" medium tanks, refueled on the south bank, and then ferried to the north bank in groups on motorized floating rafts, where they were placed directly under the assault group.

Early in the morning of the 25th, the 300 artillery pieces and self-propelled guns of the assault group first prepared for 30 minutes of artillery fire, and then the 5th Panzer Army, which had suffered heavy losses in yesterday's battle, coordinated with the 15th Janissary Regiment, took the lead in feints to attack the village of Sakmara on the east side of the landing field and the No. 1 "reindeer" forest to the northeast.

Subsequently, the armored 6th Army, which had retained most of its strength, strengthened the independent 2nd Tank Battalion, and cooperated with the 9th and 11th Guards Regiments to attack the No. 3 "pheasant" forest on the west side of the landing site, in order to return to the rear of the No. 1 and No. 2 highland woods where the Russian heavy artillery positions were located through this place, so as to remove the threat of Russian heavy artillery to the landing site in one fell swoop, and then divide and annihilate the elite Russian troops in these two woods.

However, even the two elite Janissary Infantry Regiments, supported by more than 100 chariots, including the "Iron Leopard", were unable to break through the intricate defensive system in the No. 3 forest after a morning of fighting, and were repeatedly disrupted by the heavy artillery fire fired from the side of the highland woods, resulting in heavy losses.

In the afternoon of the same day, under the strong resistance of Major General Xia Fan, commander of the 6th Armed Army, Commander Lu Kaiping forced the front army headquarters to agree to suspend the attack and wait for backup by personally driving a chariot to attack the enemy position.

According to the plan, by 6 a.m. on the 26th, the north bank will be reinforced by two regiments each of the 3rd and 4th Janissaries Divisions and one regiment of the 9th Infantry Division, and the artillery on the south bank will also be reinforced by three divisional artillery battalions and two corps heavy artillery battalions -- 36 75-mm field guns, 18 105-mm howitzers, and 36 150-mm heavy howitzers.

Correspondingly, with the support of the engineer regiments of the 3rd and 4th Praetorian Divisions, the engineer units of the assault cluster had to complete the erection of two 20-ton pontoon bridges by 1 a.m. on the 26th, so that reinforcements and combat supplies could cross the river overnight.

“…… The main task of the cavalry detachment tomorrow is to cooperate with the 6th Armored Army and the 3rd Praetorian Division, cross the 'Pinggu' to clear the No. 2 highland woods, and then detour eastward to the rear of the No. 1 forest and Sakmara, and attack the main forces of the 5th Panzer Army and the 4th Praetorian Guard Division advancing frontally, and encircle and annihilate the defending enemy in one fell swoop! ”

The more Zhong Yi in the audience listened, the more he didn't feel good, and he said in his heart: "In one fell swoop...... It's another move, this one move is almost gone......"

The audience was full of confidence, and this time it was the turn of the detachment chief staff officer to introduce tomorrow's combat grouping.

“…… The detachment will strengthen a full-fledged "Iron Leopard" medium tank company of the 2nd Independent Tank Battalion and a provisional "Flying Wolf" light tank company of the 6th Armored Army, and form a main assault group with two mixed tank battalions under the detachment to launch a frontal assault attack from the south to the north. On each flank of the assault group, two tank battalions equipped with the 6th Army were deployed to serve as a cover group ...... the left and right flanks. "The detachment will also strengthen two motorized infantry battalions in 'Camel' armored personnel carriers, and form a motorized infantry group with the mixed armored infantry battalions under the detachment. In addition, three 'Fire Wolf' self-propelled infantry artillery batteries were strengthened, and a mobile artillery group was formed with the mixed armored artillery battalion and the mixed special artillery battalion under the detachment......"

"The motorized infantry group should attack by vehicle, and accompany the chariots of the assault group through the flat valley until they reach the edge of the woods. After that, the infantry should quickly dismount and continue to accompany the vehicle impact, and the armored personnel carrier should follow behind the infantry at a distance of 100 to 200 meters, constantly supporting the infantry with machine guns and other firearms......"

"The 'Fire Wolf' self-propelled infantry guns in the mobile artillery group should follow the infantry and suppress the enemy's machine-gun and anti-tank gun positions with direct fire at all times." The Alpaca's self-propelled howitzers should establish an forward position behind the embankment in the center of the 'Pinggu', and be ready to accept the call of the forward artillery observation vehicles at any time to concentrate their fire on the enemy's fortified positions and medium- and long-range artillery positions......

"After following the motorized infantry group through the 'Pinggu' by vehicle, the mixed special artillery battalion should quickly unload the anti-tank guns at the edge of the woods and switch to manpower, so that they can be ready to meet the counterattack of the enemy's combat vehicles at any time under the cover of the infantry......"

"The three infantry regiments of the 3rd Praetorian Guard Division will launch an assault after our assault group and mobile infantry group have captured the enemy's main position, consolidate the results of the battle, clear the remnants of the army, and prepare for the defense of the enemy's large-scale counterattack......"

……

"It's all up to you this time......"

In Orenburg, in the basement where Brusilov was hiding, Nakasidze smiled and held a fine Havana cigar and presented it to the ** mummy with a bandaged face like a god.

"Your Excellency, Commander, you must have rejoiced too soon."

The mummy took the cigar and threw it into a drawer beside him—it was littered with cigarettes of various brands.

"It's the second day, and you forget, in Jusare, how the guys recovered quickly from the setbacks in the opening game."

Nakasidze nodded his head again and again: "That's right, they are recovering quickly, and more importantly, their proud Praetorian infantry is rushing to the battlefield one after another, relying on these elite infantry, they can slowly follow us until our army loses too much blood and runs out of morale, and then inflicts the last blow with the rested armored troops." ”

The mummy crossed his hands in front of Xiōng, his eyes like torches.

"The only question is, do they still have time?"

Nakasidze twisted the mustache that curled up on the side of his mouth and smacked his lips, "Do you want to disturb their lines of communication?" The 3rd Cavalry Corps seems to be a bit of a waste to sit there......"

The mummy blinked: "It's okay to let the 31st Army continue to put pressure on both sides, don't you say that they pinned down at least three infantry divisions and two cavalry brigades of the Chinese?" ”

Nakasidze rubbed his fat palms as if he was heartbroken: "That's what I said, but in the past three days, the 31st Army has suffered the heaviest blow, and I'm afraid it won't last long......"

"The enemy will soon realize this, so you can't move the 3rd Cavalry Corps, on the contrary, you have to find a way to draw at least one division and strengthen it to the Sakmara."

Hearing Brusilov say this, Nakasidze became annoyed, and said with a fist: "Damn Kontrachenko, every time he plays tricks on me, he says that he will give me an armored car brigade, but he only transfers a battalion and asks for a cavalry division, and he throws me a cavalry regiment, and I ask him for a whole army, and he is only willing to give one division...... When I have a chance to return to Petrograd, I must let him know what will happen if I go against me! ”

"Even if he gives you a corps today, it will be delivered in three days at the earliest, and the Sakmara-front will need a division tomorrow. Also, the group of village slaughtering demons who fell from the sky, Malinov hasn't caught them yet? ”

Brusilov apparently cared more about the latter.

Nakasidze turned excited: "It is said that a trap has been set up, just waiting for them to drill it......"

……！。