The expected battle did not take place, and Rudolph sent planes to reconnoitre. The Russian troops on the southern front were building positions, and they were separated from the forward positions of the 133rd Regiment by two kilometers of no man's land. The Russians could have moved their positions forward, and Rudolph's artillery could only hit the forward positions at best. At this time, the two sides were surprisingly unified, and everyone was working hard to build trenches.

The Russian troops on the Eastern Front had not yet taken position, but they had reconnoitred the Austrian line by the river. But they could only look at the ocean and sigh, and as far as the eye could see, the Austrian positions seemed impregnable. Further in the forest, there seemed to be people stationed there. The positions of the 50th Regiment were carefully constructed, and although the Russian artillery fire was not as terrifying as on the Western Front, they still dug strong and dense trenches.

The positions by the river were both warning and combat zones, and during the preparation of Russian artillery fire, only a small number of troops were left here, and the rest were scattered in the rear positions. When the Russians attacked, they returned to the river. In this era, there was no mature infantry and artillery coordination, and the Russians still used artillery to finish the ancient tactics of infantry.

Both armies were very restrained and allowed each other to have a peaceful holiday. Rudolph didn't have time for the holidays, and he didn't have that calm and calm mood. That afternoon, he personally visited the positions of the three regiments and confirmed the specific situation of the troops.

The morale of the troops was high, and the soldiers were not afraid of casualties, they were just disgusted with meaningless casualties. The trenches were strong, because there was plenty of labor, the trenches of the main position were three meters deep, wooden planks were installed on the breastwork, and every other section of the trench there was a machine-gun emplacement, and the mortar companies took refuge in the rear, they were the most reliable support for the front.

Confident, Rudolph returned to the headquarters in the city, leaving a box of candy in his bedroom and a red greeting card on it.

"There are still people who remember this holiday." Rudolph clocked in the greeting card, and he didn't have to guess who gave it to him, and only a handful of people could get into his bedroom.

"The opportunity given by time is always wasted, I always don't have the opportunity given by romance, and if I don't say I love you on Valentine's Day, my love will definitely be invalid. So happy holidays and good luck, heroes of Lemberg. ”

"There is no romance on the battlefield." Rudolph complained silently, put things away, or worry about how to fight, and don't think about it.

Physically and mentally exhausted, Rudolph slept soundly, until 8 o'clock in the morning the adjutant called him up, and the Russians had been shelling for half an hour. In fact, there is no need to explain that the sound of artillery can be clearly heard more than ten kilometers away in the city.

Rudolph did not know what was going on at the front, when he came to the command. The chief of staff has already made a phone call with the 133 regiment. The personnel had already withdrawn to the main positions, where almost no shells fell.

Rudolph was not at the front and could only understand the situation by the description of the chief of staff. The situation on the positions was terrible, and the Russian army used 152mm howitzers and plowed the land again. The soldiers in the positions hid in the anti-artillery holes, their mouths open, their ears covered, and they listened repeatedly as the shells streaked across the sky, their voices changing from sharp to low, and finally to a deafening explosion.

After more than an hour of artillery preparation, the Russian army began to attack.

Vincent enlisted as a volunteer, and because of his excellent training, he was directly awarded the rank of acting corporal.

He lay on his stomach for a long time in the trenches behind the forward positions, and when the artillery stopped firing, he was still covering his ears.

"Get up, assemble." Vincent heard the platoon commander's voice, and he immediately stood up with his rifle in his hand.

Vincent followed the platoon commander and trotted to a nearby position. He saw that the company commander was standing on a high place, and the flow of people around him was constantly converging here.

When the company was assembled, the company commander raised his pistol and shouted hoarsely: "Soldiers, General Rudolph believes in you. Like us, he was a simple Austrian inspired by his homeland. Fight for him, fight for Austria, stick to your post. ”

"For the Motherland!" Vincent chanted along with the enraged soldiers. He felt like he was in a sacred battle, as they had fought all the way through.

Vincent patted the dust off his body and wiped the white plastic six-pointed star on his collar badge with his hand. Then his platoon was sent to the front positions. Vincent was lying on his stomach in the trenches, and he could only faintly see figures a few kilometers away, and the Russian army was almost at their forward position.

The Russians disappeared from sight, they jumped into the trenches. Vincent didn't have time to think about why he was digging trenches for the Russians, because the squad leader was already reminding them to prepare for battle.

The Russian soldiers came out of the trenches again, their officers probably only receiving orders to charge forward, and after successfully capturing one trench, they continued on without stopping.

The figures of the Russians became clear, and Vincent could hear their shouts. The unique sound of mortar shells appeared, followed by one explosion after another in the crowd on the opposite side.

The charge did not stop there, the figure in front of him became clearer and clearer, and it could even be seen that the Russian military uniform was due to the backwardness of the dyeing process, resulting in different shades of khaki, some green, some brown, although not beautiful enough, but it was a good camouflage.

The crisp sound of the heavy machine gun sounded, and the fire was very coherent. The Russian soldiers were all lying down, and by now that few of them had dared to face the machine guns.

The light machine gun on the side also fired, and this irregular burst of fire was very uncoordinated. The squad leader ordered them to open fire, and Vincent had a gun in his hand, but it was difficult to find the target. The living tried their best to hide themselves, and Vincent shot two magazines in the direction, which should have missed, and the Russians probably had little left.

The 76 field guns on the opposite side opened fire, and Vincent hid, he was not afraid of artillery fire. Although his position was not as strong as the main position behind, as long as he was not directly hit, the artillery fire could not hurt him at all. These transitional positions are scattered, and even if the Russian army invests heavy artillery to cover the two-kilometer-deep land, it will not be able to cause huge casualties. Because there were less than a thousand people here from beginning to end.

The Russian army may also judge that in addition to the weak troops on the position, they will naturally not waste shells. It didn't take long for the shelling to stop, and the well-prepared Russian troops attacked again.

Vincent was armed with a rifle, and he had already killed three Russians. This time the machine guns and shells apparently failed to stop the Russian troops, and many Russian soldiers rushed up, leaning on the natural bunkers, and opened fire on them, and the machine guns were carried by them.

The two sides were shooting at each other like this, and because of the presence of the Russian machine guns, Vincent did not dare to aim generously, and he could only rely on his feelings to dump bullets on the opposite side as quickly as possible. The Russian army continued to pour up, gradually gaining the upper hand. The soldiers don't seek reinforcements from their own side, now they just know how to fight with all their might.