The artillery fire rang out, and the offensive and defensive battle of Kovelli began, and the Prussian army was in charge of the battle commanded by Major General Luke, the commander of the 22nd Division, who rose to the top of the army in the last Russo-Prussian war.

Luke, who was born as an ordinary Junker landlord, was able to become a general by extraordinary will and a little luck.

Originally, he thought that his will was strong enough, and no matter how cruel the battle was, he couldn't shake his heart.

At this moment, Major General Luke realized that he was wrong, and his heart was disturbed. Luke sighed in his heart: "It turns out that he is also an ordinary person".

The Russians did not hide in the fortress bunkers, and at the same time as the Prussian army charged, the Russian army also launched a counter-charge, and a tragic white-knuckle battle broke out.

The sound of shouting and killing and screaming on the battlefield continued to echo. Luke saw a Prussian soldier stabbed in the stomach with a bayonet by the enemy, and while screaming, he also clung to the enemy's gun, just to create an opportunity for his comrades.

Once upon a time, he was one of them. It's just because of better luck and luck that he made great achievements, so he has a smooth progress all the way behind.

Recalling the comrades-in-arms who enlisted together in the army, most of the familiar faces fell on the battlefield in the end.

To some extent, Luke's rise to prominence was also based on the heavy losses of the Prussian army in the last war.

During the war years, the army spoke by its achievements, and the influence of its background was minimized.

A large number of middle- and lower-level officers were killed, and they caught up with the great expansion of the army, and a lucky person like Luke, who had military achievements, naturally stood out.

Looking at the increasing number of casualties, Luke gradually calmed down, and he realized that something was not right, and the Russian army seemed to be deliberately luring them to attack.

As night fell, the fighting ceased for the time being, leaving only the wreckage on the ground.

In the headquarters, the more Luke thought about it, the more wrong it became, and the Russians seemed to be deliberately fighting with them.

Suppressing the doubts in his heart, Luke asked, "Have the casualties been counted?" ”

Chief of Staff Pasquarino sighed and said: "The statistics are out, 526 soldiers were wounded and 248 soldiers were killed in the daytime battle, and the strength of two battalions was wiped out. ”

Division Commander Luke stood up, took two steps and said, "Two more battalions, from the beginning of the battle to the present, the casualties of our 22nd Division alone are close to three thousand. If this were the case for the entire battlefield, then the war would be unprecedentedly fierce. ”

Chief of Staff Pasqualino: "There is no way to do it, wars are always cruel. The supplementary group sent to us by the headquarters has already departed and will arrive in two days at most. ”

The Prussian army has also established a perfect wartime replenishment mechanism, and usually not a single unit will be exhausted, and no troops have been replenished.

Under normal circumstances, when the casualties of the troops reach a certain level, they will be replaced and sent to the rear to repair and replenish the troops.

Of course, this rear is also relatively and still on the front line. When needed, it is still necessary to go to the battlefield at any time.

After a moment's hesitation, Luke said, "Forget it, it's not our turn to worry about these problems. Report our current situation truthfully!

Tell the General Command that we need heavy artillery. Without sufficient heavy firepower, we have no way to guarantee the capture of the enemy's fortress within the stipulated time. ”

No way, the Prussian army is unlucky. The train transporting artillery ammunition was attacked by Russian airships on the way and suffered heavy losses.

Heavy artillery troops are a scarce resource in any country, and the Pubo Federation has a total of only a few heavy artillery regiments, and they have lost one regiment before they go to the battlefield, so naturally there is no way to complete the replenishment in a few days.

Chief of Staff Pasquarino shook his head: "I'm afraid it's not easy, you don't have too many expectations." There are so many heavy artillery units in the country, and now they are all sent to the front, and new heavy artillery regiments are still being formed.

According to internal sources, Krupp has sent technicians to repair it, and it will take at least a month to repair the damaged gun.

Ideally, in about four weeks, we will be able to get heavy fire support. ”

Luke frowned: "Can you let the headquarters coordinate and transfer the heavy artillery units around the attack to use them first."

Kovelli is a military powerhouse, and if you take it, you will take the Volyn region, so why waste your energy on small places like Kamenn and Novo-Volynsk! ”

Chief of Staff Pasqualino: "This is a strategy formulated by the General Staff, and a multi-point advance is a great victory as long as there is a breakthrough in any place." ”

Luke waved his hand, "Don't explain, old man. I know what's going on, it's just that headquarters isn't sure if we're going to be able to take Kovelli.

If you really look at the overall strategy, the importance of Kovelli is not so great, and Brest is the focus. ”

"You know best!" Chief of Staff Pasquarino replied calmly

Luke: "Okay, that's going to be put on hold. Did you notice that something was wrong with the Russians, they didn't seem to be exerting all their strength and deliberately lured us to attack.

If they were full fire, our troops would not have been able to rush to their positions at all, so why would they make such a worthless sacrifice. ”

Chief of Staff Pasquarino nodded thoughtfully, and after a pause: "I want to see the casualty figures, maybe it can explain the problem." ”

Luke's face changed, and he came to his senses in an instant. If the Russian army is fully fired, the Prussian army, which lacks heavy firepower, will not be able to rush near their positions.

Seeing no hope of victory, the Prussian army naturally made senseless sacrifices. If the Prussian army does not take the initiative to attack, what will be the record of the Russian army?

Most of the Russian troops stationed in Kovelli are second-line troops, and this is not the main battlefield chosen by the Russians, and the order given to them by the tsarist government is to hold on.

"Damn the Russians, they're playing with fire, aren't they afraid that we'll break through their positions. You must know that such a battle is of no value to them at all. ”

Chief of Staff Pasqualino did not answer, it didn't matter what the Russians thought, anyway, as long as there was the slightest chance to break through the Kovelli, they could not stop.

……

The Russian command, Major General Arden Ivanov, who also looked at the casualty report, was in a much better mood. As the defensive side, it is always necessary to take advantage.

"Fike, your proposal is fantastic. Damn Prussian barbarians, they were fooled. They were dreaming of a whimsical attempt to conquer Kovelli! ”

As a military observer sent by Austria, under normal circumstances, he cannot participate in the command of the Russian army, but there are exceptions.

After so many years of the Russo-Austrian alliance, the Vienna government has also cultivated a large number of pro-Austrian factions within Russia, and Major General Arden-Ivanov is one of them.

Fick and Arden were classmates and graduated from the Austrian Army Academy together, and because of their good relationship, Fick was sent here as an observer.

is also a student of the Austrian Army Academy, and there is also a difference between a scumbag and a scholar.

For outsiders like Arden who come to gild, the school's requirements are naturally not so strict, as long as they can get by.

After returning to Russia, Arden, who went abroad to gild, naturally rose to prominence, just in time for the great expansion of the army, and became a major general of the Russian army before he was thirty years old.

In contrast, Fike, a high-achieving student, is only a major. No way, the competition in the Austrian army was much fiercer.

After the reform of the military system, there was no promotion in the line of fire in the Austrian army, unless it was a war achievement, or it could only take it slowly.

This is what the royal family began to lead by example, and Crown Prince Frederick served for several years, all of them were still majors, not to mention the people below.

Seeing the high spirits of his classmates, Major Fick was still very envious, and there was no soldier who did not like to be a general.

Even if he is not from a bad background, Fick cannot guarantee that he will become a general in his lifetime. Thousands of officers are born in Austria every year, but not necessarily one of the generals.

This is the case in peacetime, even if you are good, it is difficult to have a chance to perform. If you can't show your abilities, how can you prove that you are better than others?

Fick rolled his eyes: "What's there to be excited about, you must know that you are the defending side, and now the exchange ratio is almost 1:1, which is already very embarrassing!" ”

Arden said disapprerovingly, "No, that's pretty good. In the last Russo-Prussian war, we exchanged with Prussia faster than one to two.

Being able to take advantage of it now, even with the advantage of defense, is a great victory.

The population of the Russian Empire is more than twice that of the Popo Federation, and as long as this continues, the final victory will surely be ours.

Besides, the division in my hands is a patchwork second-line army, and if it had been replaced by the main force, I would have ordered a counteroffensive a long time ago. ”

Fike did not object, the combat effectiveness of the Russian army is still good. Although it is not as good as the Prussian army in terms of training and lacks in organization, it is really excellent in other aspects.

Especially in terms of resilience, the Russian army is one of the best in the world. As long as there is a stutter, the troops that can fight are really rare.

After hesitating for a moment, Major Fick reminded, "Arden, are you sure you want to continue?" If you follow the current style of play, even if you kill the enemy, your division will be exhausted. ”

Although he suggested it, Fick didn't like the pointless exertion. If it weren't for the fact that the country asked them to find a way to bleed the Russians as much as possible, he would not have come up with this bad idea.

Arden smiled slightly: "War always requires sacrifice, as long as you can win, why not have more casualties?" ”

The position of the station is different, and the way of thinking about the problem is also different. Arden wasn't stupid, and naturally saw that Fick's suggestion might be ill-intentioned, but he didn't care.

In his opinion, as long as he won the victory and sacrificed some gray animals, it was not worth mentioning at all.