"General, I've never heard of this term."

"To the south of Lemberg are plains. If you are guarded on the nearest river, it is almost twenty kilometers from the city. With one regiment, or two regiments, can you stop the Russian army from crossing the river? ”

"No, you can't. The Russian army has at least one division, and we must shrink the line of defense and rely on positions to resist the enemy. ”

"The Russian army is bound to concentrate artillery, and you can only passively withstand it in the trenches. This battle does not have to be the usual, the Russians will not leave an unsuspecting regiment for you to raid at will. ”

"Since there is no danger to defend, I can rely on the chariot to counterattack and crush the Russian army."

"You're half right, but tanks are not omnipotent, and they are just as vulnerable to artillery fire."

"The positions in the town are just a decoy, left only for the reconnaissance unit to operate. While the Russian artillery was being prepared, you were stationed at the main position three kilometers behind. After the Russian army occupied the forward positions, the artillery opened fire to suppress the Russian troops. Then the Russian army continued to attack, and between the main position and the forward position, it was necessary to deploy troops at key positions such as roads and high grounds, using machine guns and mortars to attack and kill and injure the Russian army. In the end, the Russian army will be blocked by the main position, and when they have suffered heavy losses, the reserves will recapture the forward positions under the cover of the tanks. ”

"General, this tactic has worked well. But after the Russian army suffered several losses, they may directly occupy the forward positions and shell the main positions with artillery. ”

"The Russian artillery shoots at close range, and our artillery will directly counteract. The High Command will support five aircraft to provide calibration for the artillery. ”

"Colonel De Nobel, do a good job of coordination. The artillery on the Southern Front was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Gross, and on the Eastern Front by Colonel Trent. ”

"The 41 regiment and the 17 battalion served as reserves. Now you have to take the Russian prisoners of war and the people to build positions, from the trenches outside the city to the streets of the city, it will become our battlefield. ”

"How many volunteers are being recruited now?" Rudolph asked the chief of staff and the chief of the personnel section.

"Three thousand, and if necessary, another two thousand. Most of them speak Polish, and 400 of them speak Ukrainian. ”

Most of the Ukrainian-speaking people were refugees from the countryside, Rudolph speculated. "Give them weapons, put them into the 41st regiment, and they must be divided according to language. Colonel Felix commanded the city's operations, and Lieutenant Colonel Christian was in charge of the training mission. ”

"When are the Russians coming?"

"You need to ask the Russians. It could be tomorrow, it could be the day after tomorrow. Anyway, go fix your position first. Meeting. ”

The officers dispersed, and Rudolph returned to the command room with the men from the divisional headquarters.

Seeing that all kinds of people were busy, he seemed to have nothing to do. The chief of staff came over, he should have wanted to talk to Rudolph. Before the battle breaks out, the two decision-makers can only assign predetermined tasks or self-righteously deduce the future.

"We're going to hold on to it for as long as we want."

"Reinforcements will arrive in a week."

"What do you think?"

"At least two weeks. The Russian army will definitely block it layer by layer in the west. Maybe we'll be surrounded. ”

"But we cut off the railway, and the Russian army in the west is also weak. How to mobilize the Russian army? Yodel looked a little surprised.

"When our defenses are broken, we can only stay in the city and fight."

"After the Russian 24th Army captured the defensive line, they suffered heavy losses and were unable to attack."

"There is no shortage of people in the Russian army, and so far in the war, they must have formed a new group army, and we have encountered more than one army."

"Isn't the line of defense a little scattered?"

"These lines are a drain on the 24th Army, and when new enemy forces arrive, we will retreat to the city. No matter how many troops it has, it can only put in one battalion in one block. ”

"We still have too few troops."

"We just have to stall, and as long as everybody stays to their posts, we have a big chance of winning."

"If the soldiers can't bear it and flee from the battle, as far as I know, it is difficult to maintain morale when they are surrounded by them."

"Trust our soldiers, I won't let them hold their ground. Not only did we have to defend, but we also had to counterattack the Russians, repeatedly fighting for positions. "Rudolph is not worried about morale, the Russian army abuses many prisoners of war, and if it is not for the hopelessness of victory, no one will surrender. There were no Czechs in this army, and the political demands of all nationalities had been largely satisfied, and there was no example of voluntary surrender. If everyone had started surrendering without a fight, the country could have disintegrated last year.

"Don't despair too much, at least we've won."

"Victorious." Yodel smiled wryly.

February 12 was a quiet day. Rudolph has been in the command all the time, and there is still a lot of work at hand. He speaks all day, to be exact. Messages to communicate with his superiors need to be dictated by him, orders to be given to the front-line commanders, and he needs to repeat everything on the phone. Even when the plane arrived, the major commander came to him.

As soon as they met, the pilot kept praising him, saying that he was the founder of the Air Force and a genius in aviation technology. Before Rudolph could reply, the young major said that he had shot down three planes, and that their planes had an overwhelming advantage over the Russians. Rudolph hastily confessed a few words, and sent him to the artillery officer. Aircraft observation still needs to be studied by professionals, and he put forward the idea when he formed the Air Force, and the relevant theoretical operations were still completed by professionals before the war.

Rudolph sent planes to reconnoiter in two directions to the southeast, and the Russian army was only forty kilometers from Lemberg. Tomorrow afternoon, there may be a war.

For the approaching enemy, Rudolph had nothing to do. His planes could only throw grenades and had no bombing capabilities at all. Throwing leaflets, the Russian officers were naturally not deceived, and the Russian soldiers did not even know a word.

He could only inform his superiors and subordinates of the news, as if the death knell had been sounded.

On February 13, Rudolph's unit had already made contact with the Russian reconnaissance unit. In order to give the Russian army the illusion that the forward position was well defended, Rudolph sent armored vehicles. In front of the machine guns of armored vehicles, the Russian cavalry had no choice but to retreat in a hurry. From beginning to end, the Russians were hovering outside the positions. It is expected that they will report that the Austro-Hungarian defenders are well manned, and they not only built a defensive line up to ten kilometers deep outside the city, but also took the initiative to send elite troops to launch a counteroffensive.

By February 14, the Russian army had tried several times in the morning to no avail. Just away from the range of the artillery, the construction of positions began.