Chapter 820 Breaking Through the Siege
Sometimes victory and failure are only one step away. The troops led by Prince Georg became the last straw to crush the Russian Fourth and Ninth Armies. Although the Austro-Hungarian army was very timid, in the early stages of the war, under the leadership of aristocratic officers, their fighting will was acceptable. Even in the Battle of Galicia, where the Russians had an advantage in history, and even according to the Russians' own battle reports, they only captured 100,000 Austro-Hungarian prisoners of war.
But now, with the Bavarian Army already taking action and the Russians themselves feeling guilty, the two armies surrounded hundreds of thousands of Austro-Hungarian troops. Regardless of what the big guys in the rear thought, the two Russian armies The commander had already begun to retreat in his heart.
Prince Georg personally led the troops into the encirclement. The nearly 10,000 fresh troops really gave the Austro-Hungarian army in the encirclement a shot in the arm. This is not only to make up for the problem of combat effectiveness, but also the identity of the prince also illustrates the determination of the Bavarian Legion! After all, Prince Leopold is the third member of the entire Wittelsbach family, and his son will not be easily involved in danger! From the perspective of Russia, which is also a monarchy, if the Bavarian Army does not have full confidence and determination, it will never allow members of the royal family to enter the enemy's encirclement.
Although the Russians felt that only Prince Leopold's troops could arrive in a short time, but referring to the Bavarian Army's past speed of action, who could guarantee that the Bavarian Army would suddenly stab them in a place they did not expect? Especially the position of the Russian Fourth Army is really great! Right on the edge! If not, who will hit you?
"The German planes are coming again!" A Russian soldier said to his companions with lingering fear as he watched the K-4 bomber flying over his head. For the Russian soldiers on the front line, they saw a more realistic threat. The prince's promise was indeed fulfilled. When the sun rose from the horizon, the Russians' heads were more or less hovering over Bavaria and Bohemia. The legion's air force, like a death-like bomber group, began to clear out the Russian artillery positions, troop assembly positions and transport troops one by one.
As seen from the air, the roads leading to the war zone were littered with destroyed vehicles and dead horses. Repeated bombing and strafing by a K-4 bomber can make a transport company with hundreds of carriages lose control! The 12.7MM incendiary bomb can easily ignite the wooden structure of the car body with just one shot, and there is no problem at all when one bullet penetrates two horses side by side.
A large number of carriages cannot be evacuated on an uncovered road. Even violent explosions, acrid smoke and fire can make these horses go crazy. The drivers cannot control these livestock against the attacks of hunters from the air. The horses The collisions and tramples even caused more damage than direct damage! The Russians did not even have enough manpower to clear the blocked road. They could only temporarily push the destroyed vehicles and horses to both sides of the road. In this way, in order to clear a road, the Russians still paid a heavy price, and the roads were scattered on both sides. The corpses of the soldiers are a masterpiece of continuous suppression by the Bavarian Air Force.
The air attack made logistical difficulties for some of the Russian forces. The frontal defense line also became difficult to break through after the German troops joined. A small number of armored units and machine gun teams formed detachments, wandering between various support points, and even launched a short assault with the cooperation of infantry. When the Russian soldiers rushed up shouting "Ula!", they suddenly attacked from the front or the side. The armored vehicles and elite infantry that rush out can often output a large amount of firepower in a very short period of time, and then retreat into the fog of war before the Russians' weak artillery can react.
And on the whole,
The Russian army, which originally had an average artillery level, has suffered from a shortage of frontline materials after its logistics and transportation were hit. In this case, it has a numerical advantage in artillery, but the actual output is not very sufficient. The soldiers below could only use their lives to attack the opponent's machine gun-filled defense line. Don't forget, there are thousands of machine guns coming with Prince Georg! Nearly a thousand MG08 machine guns may not be too powerful on the Western Front, but on the Eastern Front, especially when the Russians are exhausted, these nearly a thousand machine guns can be deadly!
Because the prince promised that his father would arrive within 3 days, there was no upper limit on the ammunition used by these newly added machine gun groups. The flames formed by thousands of machine guns told the desperate charging Russians to the end, flesh and blood. It can't stop the rain of steel bullets...
Although the arrival of Georg's troops did not open a gap in the Russian defense line, it made the Russians unable to advance or retreat. At this time, the troops of both sides were intertwined. On the front, a large number of soldiers were entangled together and wanted to evacuate the capital. Not that easy.
Just when the Austro-Hungarian Army on the front line was gradually stabilizing the situation, the elite troops of Prince Leopold's five divisions were less than a day away from the encirclement. Even the long-range artillery in the German army could be set up to bombard the encirclement. The Russian army positions on the periphery. The 36 K09 ultra-long-range heavy artillery began to roar, and the shells weighing more than 50 kilograms roared and flew over a distance of nearly 20 kilometers before blooming flowers of death behind the Russian position!
At this time, General Zalitz, commander of the Russian Fourth Army, happened to be inspecting the front line nearby, and the sound of heavy artillery in the distance made him feel extremely panicked! Ultra-long-range heavy artillery is a corps-level organization even in the German army, and so many ultra-long-range artillery began to bombard the Russian positions, which further caused problems in his prediction of the entire battlefield situation. He didn't think that several divisions of troops could have powerful long-range firepower several times!
"Perhaps the German army led by Prince Leopold was only about 4 divisions in size, but their artillery was definitely not something that troops of this level could possess. The most likely thing is that the Austro-Hungarian Army also launched a counterattack, and the Fourth Army and the Third Army It is impossible for the Ninth Army to continue to encircle the Offenberg Army under such circumstances!" Zalitz wrote in a telegram to the base camp.
"No more than 20 kilometers? This trip is just a day!" General Zalitz said, stroking his meticulously trimmed beard. "If we don't leave, I'm afraid it will be too late!" Prince Leopold's assault speed still exceeded the Russians' expectations. The fundamental reason why the Russian Legion's blocking line has not yet been breached is not that the German army has no strength, but that the prince needs to make final preparations before attacking!
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