Chapter 188 The Last Line of Defense

Hundreds of naval gun shells were enough to sink several heavily armored battleships, not to mention the island nation’s army alone.

The Russian Empire did not lose in the naval battle, which also caused a series of butterfly effects.

At least the siege of Port Arthur in history did not happen. The vanguard sent by the island nation to capture Port Arthur, the Second Army, suffered heavy losses in the encounter with the Fourth Infantry Division, with more than half of the casualties.

If it were not for the island nation’s Bushido spirit, I am afraid that half of the casualties would have been scattered long ago, and it would be impossible to concentrate under the command of Okubo.

However, General Okubo’s current mood is not so good.

In this encounter, the Second Army’s four divisions of 40,000 troops, more than 13,000 people died, and more than 21,000 people were seriously injured.

The number of people who were slightly injured and able to fight was only more than 22,000, even less than half of the total number of the Second Army.

In this war, when the Second Army was at its best, it was only a few dozen meters away from the position of the Fourth Infantry Division.

But first, they were hit by a large amount of concentrated artillery fire, and then by the naval gun fire of the Pacific Fleet at sea, making it almost impossible for the artillery units of the Second Army to form any counterattack.

Even more tragically, a naval gun shell hit the largest artillery position of the Second Army. This shell not only caused the Second Army to lose more than ten artillery pieces, but the shell explosion it caused also destroyed the entire artillery position.

After this war, only over fifty of the more than 200 artillery pieces of the Second Army remained, and they were all small-caliber artillery pieces that were easy to move.

Using such artillery to tear apart the fortress of Port Arthur is simply like a daydream.

But no matter what, the battle report must be reported. The rear command of the island country must also grasp the latest results of the battle before it can formulate updated plans based on these results.

Although it must be admitted that the war was lost, General Okubo Gong changed his mistaken command to an enemy ambush under the advice of his subordinates, claiming that the enemy had at least 50,000 troops in the north of Port Arthur and more than 500 artillery pieces.

It was precisely because of the suppression of more than twice the number of artillery, coupled with the support of the enemy's navy, that General Oku Yasuo's "failure" was caused.

In his report to the rear headquarters, General Oku Yasuo also mentioned that although his own army suffered heavy losses, they also caused tens of thousands of casualties to the enemy.

General Oku Yasuo confidently said that as long as he was given another 20,000 troops, he would be able to conquer the enemy's position and successfully reach the Port Arthur Fortress.

Although General Oku Yasuo did not know whether the rear headquarters believed his report, at least his position was not dismissed, and he also received a certain amount of manpower replenishment.

A week after this encounter, the island country divided all the landing troops into the Manchurian Army and established the Manchurian Army Headquarters, with Marshal Oyama Iwao as the commander-in-chief.

After integrating all the landing troops, the island country sent another 30,000 troops, and the first and second armies that had already landed before, forming a total of more than 60,000 Manchurian Army.

And these 30,000 new troops are all equipped with Gew98 rifles from Germany, and most of the machine guns and artillery are also produced in Australia.

In order to prevent the Pacific Fleet from providing artillery support to the Russian Army again, the Navy also went out with the island nation's army action this time.

Of course, the purpose of the island nation's navy is not to fight another naval battle, but to contain the Pacific Fleet so that they have no time to care about other things.

In early June, the Second and Third Armies of the Manchurian Army arrived in the north of Lushun again and met the Fourth Infantry Division again.

This time the Fourth Infantry Division has been strengthened, and the Russian commander of the Liaodong Peninsula, Stesser, once again sent a division of 18,000 people to defend the north of Lushun.

It's just that this division does not have advanced weapons and equipment like the Fourth Infantry Division, and most of their weapons and equipment are produced in Russia.

Although the ratio of the two armies is 36,000 to 60,000 on the surface, in fact, half of the Russian army is deployed as a reserve force ten kilometers behind the position.

This also means that the Russian army on the front position has only one division, with a scale of less than 20,000 people.

Ignoring the powerful firepower advantage of the CA-1 machine gun, the Russian army on the battlefield is at an absolute disadvantage.

And the CA-1 machine gun can only cause casualties to relatively dense troops. Once the enemy is scattered, the CA-1 machine gun is more of a deterrent.

And the artillery attack range of the Second Army and the Third Army is much farther than that of the CA-1 machine gun.

With advance preparation, the artillery of the island country can easily suppress the artillery of the Russian army, and the war is no longer like the last time, when the army of the island country was ruthlessly crushed.

The advantage of firepower shocked General Fock instantly, and he quickly contacted the army in the rear for support.

But the reserve troops were stationed ten kilometers away, and it would take at least two hours to get there.

Can the Russian army successfully hold on for two hours? Especially when both firepower and numbers are at a disadvantage.

The actual answer is no. Because the combined fleet is holding back the Pacific Fleet, the Russian army cannot get any firepower support.

This also made some Russian soldiers who had originally held out hope suddenly despair. Faced with the enemy's fierce offensive, the Russian soldiers once again felt the long-lost panic.

By the time the reserve troops ten kilometers away successfully arrived, the 4th Infantry Division had been mostly damaged and was evacuating to the rear.

The current position had been lost, so it was naturally impossible to counterattack. The Russian army could only evacuate the northern part of Lushun with disappointment, heading towards the Lushun Fortress.

Marshal Oyama Iwao was very satisfied with the results of the battle. Although the Manchurian Army also lost more than 6,000 people, and thousands of people were injured.

But at present, the front position in the north of Lushun has been removed by the island country, and they can finally see the solid Lushun Fortress.

At this time, inside the Lushun Fortress, the Russian side was divided into two factions on how to deal with the offensive of the island country.

Led by the Russian commander of the Liaodong Peninsula, Stessel, they hoped to regard the Lushun Fortress as the final defensive position.

It only takes a concentrated army of about 50,000 people to make the Lushun Fortress hold out for more than two years.

This is Stessel's confidence, and it is also the most conservative method at present. According to the solid fortress of Lushun, it is not a problem to hold out for two years.

As long as the Pacific Fleet does not lose its advantage, the Port Arthur Fortress will be able to obtain continuous material support from the Port Arthur Port, and it will not be difficult to hold on longer.

So the question is, can the Pacific Fleet always maintain its advantage?

At least Kondrachenko, the commander of the Port Arthur ground forces, does not think so. It is not that he does not trust the Pacific Fleet and Lieutenant General Makarov, but Kondrachenko feels that instead of leaving the fate of Port Arthur in the hands of the navy, it is better to let the army hold on and control it personally.

Kondrachenko insisted on using the favorable terrain outside Port Arthur to establish a strong defense line outside Port Arthur.

This can not only ensure that the Port Arthur Fortress and the port will not fall into the hands of the islanders, but also do not have to bet everything like defending the Port Arthur Fortress.

If the Port Arthur Fortress is defended, the Russian army's goal is really only to hold on. But if the goal is to defend the outer defense line, the Russian army will still have the opportunity to counterattack, and it can also ensure that no logistics supply lines will be cut off.

As the saying goes, the county magistrate is not as good as the current manager. Although the Russian commander of the Liaodong Peninsula, Stesel, has a higher position and power, in fact, the commander of the Lushun ground forces, Kondrachenko, is still in charge of commanding Lushun.

Under the command of Kondrachenko, the Russian army used the terrain to form a relatively solid line of defense about 20 to 30 kilometers outside the Lushun Fortress.

The two retreating northern divisions and the original garrison division of the Lushun Fortress, a total of 54,000 people, more than 40,000 people were deployed on the defense line outside Lushun, forming a relatively solid line of defense, which is also the last line of defense of the Lushun Fortress.

After this line of defense, except for the Lushun Fortress itself, there is basically no line of defense to stop the island army from encircling the Lushun Fortress.

The Russians seem to understand this and know the importance of the Lushun Fortress and the Lushun Port to the situation in the Far East.

In addition, there is really no way to retreat, and the vital Lushun Fortress is behind them. The Russians burst out with a belief and successfully blocked the island army at the defense line 30 kilometers north of Lushun.

The island nation's offensive was also temporarily stopped. Apart from the attack and defense of this line of defense, the Far East seemed to have fallen into a brief peace.

2,600 words in the second chapter, please support!