October 21, 1918

The Southern Front of Europe

The blackened group of biplane fighters in the sky swooped down in the direction of the German position, like a burst of locusts, sending out a sharp roar of fighters in the sky.

The fighters with the Tang Empire's emblem on their wings were generally armed with a Colt 1898 air-cooled heavy machine gun, and eight iron bombs, each weighing 12.5 pounds, were suspended from the lower part of the belly.

The eight iron bombs were all fixed to a restraint iron frame under the belly and dropped through the cable-operated handle in the cockpit, with a very simple and effective design.

The war has led to the emergence of a large number of scientific and technological inventions, short-wave radio stations have been widely used in battlefield command, and fighter planes have increasingly appeared in the skies above the battlefield.

The "Gannet" biplane fighter of the Tang Empire is famous for its stout fuselage, and with its advanced high-horsepower eight-cylinder air-cooled engine, it has a superior performance of a top speed of 210 kilometers per hour, basically dominating the battlefield sky.

Before the start of the campaign on the Southern Front

The Tang Imperial Army Aviation Wing has launched several 10 air battles, shooting down a total of 377 German-made planes and losing 189 of its own, achieving a superior result of 2:1.

After completely controlling the sky of the battlefield, the southern front troops, which had been integrated into the 3rd Army of the Tang Empire Expeditionary Force, took advantage of the observation balloon and reconnaissance aircraft to launch a fierce artillery bombardment of the German-Austrian forces in front of them.

The heavy shelling lasted for three days and three nights, and 1,372 artillery pieces rained down a full 2.3 million shells, destroying a large number of surface positions, fortified pillboxes, artillery positions and barbed wire fences of the German-Austrian army, preparing for a full-scale attack on the enemy front.

Early this morning

The black-pressed fighter group pounced in the direction of the enemy's position, and the 170,000 officers and men of the Third Army, who participated in the first-line attack, pressed towards the enemy's position like a tide.

On the German-Austrian positions at this time

Seeing the Tang army attacking in a big way, the sharp police whistle sounded all over the place, and the dusty German officers shouted hoarsely, urging the soldiers to quickly attack from the anti-artillery holes and enter their respective battle positions to prepare for battle.

The war lasted until the fifth year, and the German-Austrian forces had extensive experience in preparing for shelling.

In the face of the overwhelming artillery superiority of the Entente military bloc, the most precious vital forces will be invested only at the most critical moments.

Countless disgraced German-Austrian soldiers carried rifles, heavy machine guns and bullet boxes and quickly advanced, and soon the dilapidated front-line positions were filled.

in their sight

The attacking soldiers of the Tang Empire appeared at the end of their sight like a tide, holding their rifles and advancing in the direction of the trenches.

The distance is between 1500 meters and 1600 meters, and I don't know how many are dense.

The experienced German-Austrian soldiers immediately loaded their bullets and hung their heavy machine guns on a chain full of bullets, a cruel sneer on their lips.

After being bombed one-sidedly for so many days, the German-Austrian troops on the front-line positions suffered tens of thousands of casualties, and everyone was holding back a vicious anger in their hearts.

In the face of these hateful Orientals, they were ready to teach them a lesson with the bloody and cruel laws of the battlefield, and the strong German soldiers were invincible.

That's when it happened

The fighters hovering in the sky were like hungry birds of prey, and they began to dive in formation with a squadron of more than a dozen.

We have to admire the war wisdom of the Orientals, who are very good at using the superiority of high-tech weapons in their hands, which is a brand-new air-ground joint strike tactic.

As soon as it appeared, it gave the Germans great suffering.

One by one, the squadrons of biplane fighters that swooped down from high altitude soon entered the dive line in the direction of the trenches, and then the heavy machine guns in the nose opened heavy fire, sending a rain of dead bullets on the German-Austrian forces.

During the First World War, the trenches were basically parallel to the "one", and the biplane fighters that dived to a low altitude of more than 100 meters controlled heavy machine guns and opened heavy fire fiercely, setting off a bloody storm in the trenches of the German-Austrian forces.

The severed limbs and arms broken by the heavy machine guns spun and flew up, and the dense German-Austrian soldiers in the trenches splashed a cloud of blood and wailed.

After a period of diving, the biplane fighter pulled up the nose of the plane, dropped eight iron bombs at once, and once again blew people on their backs around the perimeter of the trench.

One biplane after another strafed and bombed at low altitudes, then pulled up the nose and flew off into the distance, leaving behind a trail of wails and wreckage.

This kind of tactic, which has never been seen before, directly stunned the German-Austrian coalition forces.

The biplane fighters that had strafed at low altitude flew back to high altitude, and after converging in the air, they returned to the rear air base in a clockwise direction.

Each Gannet was equipped with a Colt Type 1898 air-cooled heavy machine gun with a rate of fire of 650 rounds per minute, 320 rounds of ammunition, and eight 12.5-pound iron bombs.

The fighter pilot pinched the heavy machine gun and in almost 20 seconds, he was able to dump the ammunition and drop eight iron bombs with his hand.

After running out of ammunition, according to the plan of the pre-war air force company tactical deployment meeting, after returning to the high altitude, they will make a large circle in a clockwise direction and return to their respective air bases.

So

In today's era of lack of effective communication and command equipment, there will be no chaos in the operation of large aircraft groups.

With each fighter squadron as a combat unit, circling and diving, strafing, pulling up after bombing, assembling, and returning in clockwise order......

More than 860 warplanes in the air were the first line of about 46 kilometers long to abuse the German-Austrian forces, and launched a one-sided massacre, which far exceeded the three-day and three-night artillery bombardment.

However, the infantry, which had originally launched an attack on the whole line, stopped more than 1,200 meters away from the enemy's position, and many officers and men sat down scattered around.

Obviously, this all-out offensive was a cover to lure the German-Austrian troops hiding in the anti-artillery holes into the trenches and undergo a one-sided bloody baptism.

The fierce air attack lasted for more than ten minutes, and the first line of German-Austrian positions was already strewn with corpses, stumps and broken arms and wails everywhere.

The remaining German-Austrian soldiers, who had escaped by chance, had already taken refuge in the anti-artillery holes like frightened rabbits.

This time, the German army suffered heavy losses, at least more than 17,000 people were killed and wounded in just ten minutes, and more than a dozen artillery positions hidden in the rear between the woods and valleys were also blown up, which was simply a loss to my grandmother's house.

The Tang Empire's biplane fighters whistling in the sky were visibly reduced, and some of the biplane fighters rushed to the second-line positions of the German army to bomb and strafe, and dropped iron bombs like raindrops on the German army's logistics supply warehouses.

The flames caused by the explosion burned brightly, turning the battlefield into a mess, and dozens of black smoke flew into the sky, which looked shocking.

About 40 minutes later

The biplane fighters in the sky have become very scarce, many of them are the second round of fighters who have just arrived on the battlefield, and most of the biplane fighters who participated in the first attack have returned to the airfield.

On the ground battlefield at this time

The earthquake trembled, the roar of the engines continued to be heard, and more than 270 "Jaguar" medium tanks drove up along the gap left by the attacking infantry, and the cold steel armor flashed with cold light, making the enemy shudder.

View from above

These more than 270 "Puma" medium tanks formed three massive attack arrows, each with about 90 medium tanks, and many more Gray Wolf light tanks formed an armored torrent.

On such a scale, the three main armored divisions launched an attack at the same time, becoming the sharp arrows of a full-scale offensive.

The front of the offensive was about 20 kilometers wide and was located on the left side of the entire southern front.

Here was the defensive zone of the Austro-Hungarian 4th Army, as the saying goes; To eat persimmons, you have to pick up soft pinching, and the commander of the 3rd Army of the Tang Empire Expeditionary Force is obviously well versed in this.

The German-Austrian forces also discovered the new movements of the Tang army on the positions, and immediately dispatched a large number of reinforcements from the second- and third-line positions to the first-line positions.

View from above

The reinforced German-Austrian officers and soldiers were like ants, carrying ammunition boxes and supplies, dragging rifles in their hands, and rushing towards the front-line positions in small steps.

Beside them, there were anxious-looking officers, brandishing pistols and urging constantly; "Hurry up, run forward to reinforce the front-line position......"

The Germans' first-line, second-line and third-line positions are generally separated by 3~5 kilometers, and it takes about 45~50 minutes to walk.

If you run in small steps, it will take half an hour.

The all-out attack of the Tang Imperial army did not seem to be in a hurry, hundreds of thousands of troops sat on the ground outside the range of 1.2~1.5 kilometers away from the German-Austrian coalition army, and many officers and soldiers even took out chocolate and bread to cushion their stomachs, and drank water to rest for a while.

What awaits them will be a brutal and arduous battle, and at this time, the more physical strength you retain, the more chance you have to survive.

And the three Imperial tank divisions on the offensive also stopped advancing, as if waiting for what?

The answer was soon revealed.

More than 20 minutes later, a black and oppressive biplane fighter flew again in the distant sky, and in just three or four minutes, it flew to the front line of the battlefield, and then began a new round of diving, strafing, and bombing......

At this time, the vast majority of the German-Austrian reinforcements had not yet reached the front-line positions.

When a large number of biplanes dived and strafed, these reinforced German-Austrian soldiers were unsheltered in the bare field, and they scattered in all directions in an instant of fright.

The biplanes whizzing and swooping in the sky are like demons harvesting human lives, constantly spitting out a hot rain of bullets, dropping iron bombs and exploding.

The German-Austrian soldiers ran everywhere, and then were torn to pieces in the heavy machine-gun fire, and were hit hard again.

The 1,372 guns in the rear of the battle line also roared again, firing a dense array of shells at the front-line positions of the German-Austrian army, where they exploded in flames and earth and rocks.

The fierce artillery fire lasted for half an hour and came to an abrupt end, with more than 270 "Jaguar" medium tanks as attack arrows, quickly advancing over the bombed potholed battlefield.

Behind the tanks were a dense crowd of Imperial soldiers, holding rifles and running briskly, attacking the enemy positions.

It's only three or four minutes

The "Jaguar" medium tank reached a range of more than 200 meters in front of the position, and then called out the remaining heavy machine-gun fire and artillery fire with artillery at close range, and blew them into the sky one by one and turned them into parts.

The heavy machine gunners of the tank crew also climbed out and manipulated the heavy machine guns as fixed fire points, repeatedly strafing enemy trenches.

It didn't take long

The vanguard of the black-pressed Tang Empire's attack crossed the tank fire line, approached a distance of about forty or fifty meters, and then threw out grenades in unison.

Dense raindrops of grenades landed in the trenches, and the boom exploded again in a bloody rain.

At this time, the attacking soldiers of the Tang Empire rushed to the trenches and jumped in, searching for anti-artillery holes and remnants of the enemy command along the trenches, and using rifles and bayonets in their hands to solve the final battle.

It's only half a day's work

The 3rd Army of the Tang Empire, which attacked heavily on the battlefield on the southern front, occupied the left flank of the German army's first-line position with a large advantage, and rapidly expanded along the breakthrough, tearing apart the entire German-Austrian defense line.

The battle lasted until about 4 p.m

The attacking 4th Army of the Tang Empire had successively broken through the three lines of defense defended by the Austrian army, and was deeply rooted in the rear of the battle line for about 7 kilometers.

And this led to the collapse of the entire front of the German-Austrian army and to the death throes.

However, it has to be praised that the German army fought extremely tenacious, and even in the face of the crisis of being encircled and annihilated, it was still able to resist stubbornly with regiments, battalions, and companies as units, creating great trouble for the attacking army.

On a battlefield of hundreds of square kilometers

Fierce fighting was everywhere, and the Germans, with some town defenses and forts, still desperately resisted despite being deeply encircled.

However, all this was in vain, and the 3rd Army, at the beginning of the offensive, anticipated such a situation.

As a result, many attacking units carry large "arrow" markings to indicate the enemy's position for biplane fighters in the air.

A standard "arrow sign" with red letters on a white background is 4 meters long and 1.5 meters wide and can be carried by a combat squad.

In the area fortified by the German army, 3~4 "arrow signs" can be placed to clearly mark the area that needs to be bombed and strafed by biplane fighters.

In the face of a relentless strangulation from the air, these stubborn German units were wiped out by repeated heavy machine gun fire and iron bombardment, and suffered heavy casualties.

One hard nail after another was pulled out, and the pressure of a powerful offensive forced the German-Austrian forces to retreat in succession.

Five days later

The attacking Third Army of the Tang Empire had completely recovered the area along the Izo River and penetrated deep into the territory of Austria-Hungary, occupying six surrounding border towns.

At this point, the 13th Battle of the Iza River on the Southern Front in Europe, which was independently initiated by the 3rd Army, ended in a brilliant victory.

post-war inventory;

The 3rd Army killed and wounded 123,300 German-Austrian troops and captured 264,200 prisoners, recovering all the lost territories of Italy in World War I and penetrating deep into the territory of Austria-Hungary.

The 3rd Army suffered 37,900 casualties, of which 8,972 were killed and the rest were slightly or seriously wounded.

This battle was the most brilliant victory on the European Southern Front, which completely broke the backbone of the German-Austrian forces on the Southern Front and contributed to the early end of the First World War, which is of great significance in the history of European warfare.

At the same time, this battle established the status of the Tang Empire as a world military power and strengthened its voice in the division of the post-war international pattern.

This war also completely changed the impression of Britain, France, Germany, Italy and other world powers on the traditional "nouveau riche" of the Tang Empire, and the Tang Dynasty gained more respect and established an international status that was basically in line with its strength.

(End of chapter)