The night felt much longer than the previous night, with almost constant gunfire and explosions coming from both directions, not dense, but continuing until dawn.

More than a dozen reconnaissance groups returned one after another, and then quickly summarized the information that had been found under the organization of the staff officers.

Not only did they find out the specific terrain of this undulating land, but they also identified some of the guard posts and strongholds that the Italian army had placed in it. A combat patrol also launched a tentative offensive, which proved to be quite weakly garrisoned by the Italians.

But there is one exception, that is, a high ground adjacent to the location of the Italian army, the map is 109 high, and it can also be said that the Italian army is deliberately relying on its station.

In the morning, more than a dozen officers of different ranks gathered in the headquarters.

Chrétien snuffed out her cigar, stretched out her finger and dotted on the map, and said slowly:

"After the enemy captured this place, they did not continue to go deeper and deeper, but entrenched here, and this high ground is the most critical, it is higher than anywhere in the vicinity."

"The Italians built a lot of field fortifications here, with a lot of barbed wire, deer barricades, trenches and other obstacles, as well as a mine belt about ten meters wide."

"They sent an infantry company to guard the place and also increased their firepower, with at least five heavy machine guns. The fire support points of the main positions were reinforced civil fortifications, and there were also a large number of trenches in the rest of the positions. ”

"We can easily see that it determines the scales of the battle and that the attackers will pay a huge price. The fact that the rebel and Italian aviation could also attack during the period is not good news. ”

Such a place is like a fire hedgehog, and anyone who touches it will be pricked in the hand.

In the eyes of the officers, the way to attack it was to concentrate a large number of artillery fire and bombard it repeatedly, once, twice, three times...... Destroy any exposed bunkers with steel and explosives, and then commit a massive force to attack non-stop.

However, it is obvious that the current 50 Brigade does not meet such traditional tactical requirements, so it can only find another way.

On the orders of Zhou Changfeng, the 73rd "Lincoln" Battalion formed two breakthrough detachments, each based on an infantry platoon, equipped with an additional fifteen MP34 submachine guns, and an engineer squad, the latter carrying a large amount of explosives, also equipped with two FmW35 flamethrowers.

“…… Now it's time for me to determine the plan and task assignment. Zhou Changfeng picked up the red pencil, drew a circle on the field map where the Italian army was located, and said solemnly: "It's time to end this Italian army unit." ”

At the same time, in the garrison of the Italian army......

As the commander of the 79th Regiment of the 38th Infantry Division of the Royal Army, Lieutenant Colonel Alcid was a man of no kind, dismissive of his status as an officer and did not care about the so-called "differences".

Unlike most high-ranking Italian officers, he was quite casual, often mingling with the soldiers in the barracks, and even playing the mandolin, which he was best at, in public.

Because of this, he was often criticized by others for his poor style and tarnishing the image of the Royal Army, but Alcid dismissed it.

Largely because of the poor popularity, his unit was transferred to such a chaotic place, and while the other Italian troops were marching forward, the 79th Regiment was ordered to hold Talavera to cover the flanks of the other friendly forces besieging Madrid.

While the two sides on multiple fronts are fighting happily back and forth, the area of Talavera is exceptionally quiet, with only minor fights. Twenty-eight days have passed since the tentative assault of the 47th Brigade of the Republican Army a month earlier, as of last night.

Last night's inexplicable surprise attack shattered the lives they had all become accustomed to, and it woke many people up from a dream - we are still interfering in the war on the soil of other countries!

Until now, the Italians were unsure of which unit they were facing in front of them, as it had a strange appearance - it was wearing a Spanish M26 field uniform, but it was wearing a German-made M35 steel helmet.

While most of the officers had always thought it was an Inter Brigade, Alcid and some of the officers were skeptical.

Because according to past experience, the Intercontinental Brigade is usually only found in places where the fighting is fierce, and the Republican Command often uses them as emergency fire brigades.

But how did this time suddenly appear in Talavera, which has been peaceful for a long time? This is really abnormal.

If something goes wrong, there must be a demon, does this mean that the Republican Army is going to launch a large-scale offensive against it?

As soon as the mind diverges, all kinds of strange ideas will flow out of his head, and Alchid, who calls himself an artist, has always thought that his imagination is rich, so he has come up with four or five possibilities in just a cup of coffee.

Throughout the day, there was an eerie silence in the vast field south of Talavera, and all units of the 50th Brigade were entering the predetermined assembly area one after another, and then resting in place.

Although the bewildered Italian army was slow to react, it was at least the army of a qualified industrial country, and they successively organized three motorized search detachments to reconnoiter in the southwest direction, but this was tantamount to a sheep falling into the mouth of a tiger.

The perimeter guard units of the 71st Battalion stood by and repelled the search detachments with grenades and machine guns.

By the time the sun went down, the wrecked Fiat 621 and Benelli M36 tricycles were still unburned out, and the flames were still visible.

"Italians are so conservative that it's hard for me to give them a positive review." Roald, who served as the commander of the 73rd Battalion, said.

Brett picked up his words and continued: "The right thing to do is to reorganize the larger search party, force our way through the ambush, and make us have to expose ourselves, so that we can understand our situation. It is not known when these Italians will be able to take the war seriously. ”

"What do you think of this offensive plan?" Roald shifted, "I don't know why, I have a strange feeling... It will definitely succeed. ”

"It shows that you trust him completely, at least for now." Brett took off his big cap and shook it, then put it back on, "He's so mysterious." ”

"I think Orientals are very mysterious."

"After all, Norway is too far from the East."

Although Zhou Changfeng asked his troops to rest well during the day, and even if they couldn't sleep, they were thrilled by the feeling that they were about to plunge into the battlefield of their dreams.

It's just fidgeting, let alone sleeping!

Because he applied for air support, Zhou Changfeng set the time for the attack to be launched at four o'clock in the morning.

This allows you to seize the dawn, a good time for a surprise attack, and ensure that you can get your own air support if you are hindered.

"Time check, check watch!" Zhou Changfeng held the microphone in one hand and looked at the watch in the other, "...... Four, three, two, one, twelve o'clock. ”

At midnight, the moon is in the sky, and the surrounding environment is quiet.

The front-line headquarters was located next to a wooded area, where there happened to be a two-person high dirt slope, and the headquarters was built on it. Due to the presence and activity of people, the birds perched in the woods never returned to their nests after flying away, and there was only the rustling of branches and leaves in the wind.

After pacing in the forest for a short while, Zhou Changfeng suddenly felt a little sleepy, and after returning to the headquarters, he wrapped himself in a military blanket and fell asleep on the marching bed.

In fact, he is also very anxious and apprehensive, because what is linked to his position is responsibility, and any mistake will determine the life and death of hundreds of people and the victory or defeat of the battle.

But he couldn't show this irritability, as the core of a force, he could only bury it in the depths of his heart as a commander. In fact, the more calm and indifferent he became, the more reassuring the people around him became.

At 3:45 a.m., Miller pinched the dot and woke up the sleeping Zhou Changfeng, who felt that he had only closed his eyes for a moment, and it was as if a few hours had been cut off.

He had dreamed in a trance that Xia Xiaoshi was beside him and asked with concern if he was sick, but he was woken up before he could answer.

"Fifteen minutes left, sir." Miller said calmly.

Zhou Changfeng, who came to his senses, walked out of the headquarters and came to the dirt slope next to him with binoculars.

It was destined for a fierce and brutal battle, and even if the morale and strength of the Italian army were not very good, it would always be a big mistake to despise the opponent tactically.

What's more, the time and place are favorable, and they occupy an excellent location!

In pursuit of their dreams, how many honorable volunteers will give their lives in the next 24 hours?

At 3:50 a.m., a ten-minute countdown.

"Boom-knock-boom-"

Several models of old artillery roared on time, and 105mm and 75mm shells flew past in different ballistic trajectories and smashed down on the Italian positions.

Because of the limited number of artillery pieces and the only half-base number of shells, Chrétien and Zhou Changfeng agreed that the artillery preparation before the attack should be as short and violent as possible, rather than a long period of continuous shelling.

This can maximize the deterrence of enemy troops under limited artillery fire, but the disadvantage is that the damage to enemy fortifications is poor, and many targets will undoubtedly be missed.

Even so, the area of the 109th Heights, which was held by the Italian army, was small, narrow and lacking in depth, so the deployment of the company's forces was quite concentrated, with the company headquarters and two platoons defending the main body of the heights, and the other platoon deployed in the southwest of the heights.

The artillery was limited, and in order to increase the density of fire as much as possible, the shirtless artillerymen worked hard to almost beat the old guns to the theoretical maximum rate of fire.

The sudden and ferocious shelling seemed to throw a large handful of gravel into the surface of the calm lake, and in an instant, it stirred up a thousand waves.

In the explosion of "boom, boom, boom", the falling shells kicked off countless soil, weeds, and wood chips, mixed with fragments of clothing.

A 75mm high-explosive shell from the FK16 field gun landed on top of a shelter with the same precision as the luck, which was constructed by digging holes in the trenches and reinforcing them with logs.

The German Empire was still alive when this cannon was thrown out of the factory, but year after year, the artillery that manipulated the cannon to launch it was even younger.

The aging mechanical fuse was a little duller than when it left the factory, and even if the artillerymen turned the fuse to an instantaneous state, the fuse took effect dozens of milliseconds later.

As a result, the shells exploded only after they had penetrated the soil layer and tiled logs above the shelter, and the six or seven Italian soldiers inside were buried in graves they had dug with their own hands before they could make a sound.

"Captain, what are we going to do?!"

The two officers braved the artillery fire and rushed into the shelter where the company commander was located, only to see that the company commander was already shouting for reinforcements through the microphone at the top of his voice.

The earth and dust from the shock wave fell separately, and in the dim yellow light, countless mosquitoes were flying.

At 3:59 a.m., a minute countdown, in the command of the 79th Regiment of the Italian Army......

A staff officer was anxiously shaking the joystick of the phone, while Lieutenant Colonel Alchid, who had just woken up, was using another phone to communicate with 109 Heights.

"Sir! Shelling...... Very violently, we ...... I don't know ......"

"Calm down! Stay in your position and don't panic! ”

The shelling can not only affect wireless communications, but also interfere with the effect of wired communications to a certain extent, and the incessant background sound of explosions makes it difficult for both sides to communicate.

Lieutenant Colonel Alcid walked out of the command after hanging up the phone, and now he had no idea what the enemy was trying to do.

He knew that the other side might be about to attack, because yesterday their patrol had been observed measuring the hydrology of the Tejo River, but now why was they shelling the hills?

Do you want to attack the 109 heights? Isn't this reasonable, it's condescending, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and there will really be commanders who choose to gnaw the hardest targets as soon as they come up?

The Italian troops, who have been on the defensive, almost always on the defensive since yesterday, do not have enough knowledge of the situation around them, and they are not even sure whether the enemy in front of them is an international brigade.

More than a dozen guns of the artillery battalion had already been laid out, and the artillerymen had already adjusted the fuses for the shells, but the order was delayed.

In those years, there were no counter-battery radars, and it was not easy to judge the specific location and coordinates of the opponent's artillery positions.

If you have mental calculations or no intentions, passive defense is destined to suffer a big loss.

From the time they set foot on the Iberian Peninsula, the Italian army had not experienced the taste of being bombed for a long time.

Under the fire of revenge, clouds of gunpowder smoke rose up, all kinds of debris fell one after another, the earth shook slightly in the explosion, and it was always their own artillery fire on each other, and at this moment the two sides exchanged positions, which made the Italian soldiers extremely frightened.

When Lieutenant Colonel Alcid looked around with a telescope, someone suddenly exclaimed, "Fireworks signal!" ”

I saw a red flare rising into the sky in the distance, followed by a second one.

In an instant, the previous explosions came to an abrupt end.

Alchid's heart tightened, and when the prelude to the attack was over, it was of course the interlude.

Just a kilometer away in a straight line, in the rugged and undulating terrain, the 72nd "Montmartre" Battalion had quietly arrived at the starting position of the attack a few hours earlier, and when the previous shelling began, they took the opportunity to enter the starting position of the assault.

“…… Now, it's time to send them to hell! Long live freedom, equality, fraternity! ”

"Beep-beep-"

The officers blew their whistles, and the warriors shouted in unison.

Taking advantage of the precious opportunity of the Italian troops to be overwhelmed by the short shelling that had been carried out earlier, they rushed from two directions to the 109th height, a few hundred meters away.

On this dry, slightly hot summer day, hundreds of volunteers from France attacked the enemy's dense bullets, fearlessly pounced on the blazing fire.

At 4:00 a.m., the offensive was launched on time.

"Boom! Rumble! ”

Gun grenades and 45mm mortar shells flying down from the high ground exploded on the ground, blowing up the sparsely blown dirt into the air; Wisps of green smoke drifted from the crater near the blast site, and the dry soil was warm from the blood.

The people in front were hit and fell, and those behind jumped over the corpses of their comrades and continued to move forward.

The terrified Italian soldiers opened fire on the pre-marked route with everything at their disposal.

The gunfire of "da-da-da" did not stop, and with the time of half a cigarette, the empty shells under the heavy machine gun accumulated into a large pile of ankle-lengths.

Suddenly, the sky suddenly brightened almost daylight, it was the flares fired by the artillerymen in the Italian garrison with 70mm mountain guns, and in mid-air, the miserable white light burst from the burning of aluminum and magnesium powder instantly dispelled the darkness before dawn.

The attacking infantry was accompanied by two 37mm infantry guns, a light gun weighing no more than 85 kg, which was very convenient for providing timely and effective direct fire support.

The veteran of the infantry cannon only felt as if he had suddenly returned to the old battlefield of twenty years ago, aiming at the position where the gleaming muzzle flame was shining, and then slammed the lever.

"Bang! Boom-"

The 37mm high-explosive projectile with a charge of only 27g was not as powerful as a grenade, but it was enough to suppress the Italian heavy machine guns that fired wildly.

Yesterday and in the early hours of this morning, some reconnaissance groups had already tried to clear some of the mines in the minefields on the outskirts of Heights 109, opening up several safe passages four or five meters wide.

The fighters of the 72nd Battalion, who managed to reach the bottom of the high ground, began to fight upwards, while the MG13 light machine gun team scattered around the craters, tree trunks, and rocks, and kept firing to cover the attack.

As the distance was reduced to only twenty or thirty meters, the Italian soldiers began to throw the M35 grenade, a red cylindrical "can" with good performance, but because the shell was stamped from thin aluminum sheets, the number of fragments was small, and it was not suitable for use as a defensive grenade.

The explosions kicked up clouds of gunsmoke, and many of the approaching soldiers were blown down, but the rest also threw grenades backhand to salute the Italian army after lying down.

Although the Italian troops in the position were bombed to the ground, they still contained the attack of the 72nd Battalion with reinforced fortifications on the left and right.

The dense crossfire completely blocked the offensive path, and the infantry artillery team fired several times in succession, but failed to dumb it down, but instead attracted a barrage of bullets, and several people were killed on the spot.

"We are suppressed! Support needed! ”

(End of chapter)