Explosions continued to hear from the once-peaceful town of Soldao, and smoke of shards of red bricks and brown dirt flew into the sky. The armoured train moving to the flank of the city pointed its guns at the otherwise beautiful town, and the old buildings were bulldozed one by one.

"Lieutenant Colonel, this is going to tear down Sol Dao." Standing on a bunker fenced with sandbags from a machine-gun position, Sergeant Ludwick quipped, "The inhabitants of Soldao will find themselves homeless even after the war is over." ”

"It's better than being demolished by the Russians after we go in." Ensign Fergt, who was also standing on the "commanding heights" - the bunker, looked around the construction position, felt the slight vibration of the explosion in the city, and responded casually, "If you don't want to go, you can settle here after the war and help with the reconstruction work."

"I'm just talking." Ludwick dealt with it just as casually, when suddenly an explosion in the city exclaimed, "Wow! ”

Ludwick's exclamation attracted Fergt's attention, and he turned his head to look at the city, where the spire of the church bell tower, the tallest building in the city, had disappeared, and the originally holy building was now surrounded by smoke and dust, a scene of chaos.

"Shell the church with 105, God will punish them." Although he said this, Ludvik's tone was not at all condemnative.

"I don't know if God will punish him, but we have to thank them." Fergt turned his head back and brought the cigarette in his hand to his mouth, "Or we'll have to do this." ”

"I know, I know, I'm just sighing."

Now the Germans are short of troops, but when reinforcements arrive, they will still enter the city to clean up. The church in the city was a masonry structure and was quite solid, and if it had not been shelled and the Russians were defending there, it would have caused considerable problems for the attacking German infantry, which would have to be demolished with assault guns. Anyway, they all have to be dismantled, so how can the 75mm guns of the assault guns be as effective as the 105mm guns on the armored trains.

The reason is clear to everyone, Ludwick just casually talks to someone when he is lazy to pass the time, divert his attention, relieve stress, it doesn't matter what he says, anyway, he doesn't need to think about it, as long as he can have someone to talk to.

After another look at the ruined town, Ludvik jumped down from the top of the bunker and asked Fergt: "Second lieutenant, Soldo has been blown into ruins, and the Russians are still alive?" ”

"You'd better expect them all to be blown up." Fergt also jumped down: "Otherwise, we will have to go in and kill them when the time comes." ”

The repulsed Russian troops were crammed into the buildings of the city, and the density of people was bound to be extremely high. Although the armored train had only 2 105 mm and 2 75 mm guns for a total of 4 guns, it bombarded for such a long time without counting the consumption of ammunition, and although it did not raze Soldau to the ground, the Russians buried in the rubble of the buildings were not a minority. But buildings that have been reduced to ruins are also easier to hide, and the remnants of Russians hiding in these ruins will make the subsequent cleanup even more dangerous.

"But at least for now, we don't have to worry about what trouble the Russians will cause to our positions." Fergt said, looking at the preliminarily formed position.

On the position, the Germans are desperately building fortifications with pickaxes and shovels, and the Germans, who don't want to experience the situation of being pressed on the ground by the Russians and can't even lift their heads, are digging desperately!

Although there was not enough time and manpower to build a complete trench, neither the Russians in front of them nor the Russians who would be facing the rout next would have much heavy firepower, which was good news for the Germans wielding hoes and shovels. There was no need to place multiple trenches in the depth of the defense, and there was no need to reinforce the earthen walls of the trenches, which reduced the work of the Germans a lot.

However, even if there was not enough time and manpower to build a complete trench fortification, for the sake of their own lives, the trench built by the Germans was still a small and complete trench.

The trench, which had already begun to take shape, was still meticulously dug into a zigzag shape, and the front and back walls of the trench were piled out of excavated earth, leaving gaps in the breastwork at intervals to serve as a reserve fire point for light machine guns.

At the rear of the trench, the machine gun fire point that has been constructed is slightly higher to have a better field of view and firing range, and the chest wall is built with sandbags on both sides of the front of the fire point, and the cut logs are erected on the two chest walls as beams, and then the excavated earth is used to pile up the slope in front and back of the breast wall for reinforcement, you can get a machine gun firing port with a good firing range and good defense.

Glancing at a water-cooled Makqin set up here, Fergt thought for a moment and then added, "I hope those Russians come to us for trouble." ”

Ludwick laughed and teased, "Then let them taste their own bullets, it should taste good." ”

Apparently, he was pleased with the new Russian gadget. A brand-new Model 1910 water-cooled Maxim heavy machine gun with bulletproof shield was built by the Tula factory in Russia.

As a veteran LMG shooter, Ludvik received a new gift from the Russian, and his LMG was given to the original secondary shooter.

"It's just a little bit less." Fergut shook his head with some regret.

"There are only 10 Makqin in the rear material distribution center of a group army, how stingy are the Russians?" Ludwick pursed his lips disdainfully.

In positional defensive warfare, the advantages of the continuity of fire of water-cooled heavy machine guns speak for themselves. Because they came by armored train, the Germans specially brought 8 water-cooled MG90s. However, considering the situation that might be faced later, such firepower was still not enough, so Captain Erhard left Ensign Fergt's platoon to look for anything that could be used in the Saldao freight station.

Fergt did find a lot of weapons in the thousands of tons of supplies in the freight station in Soldau, but the Mosin Nagant Germans who were bolting naturally did not look at it. The 4 M1902 76.2mm guns found were a bit of a chicken for the Germans, there were no mules and horses to drag, so they had to use manpower to push and pull, and after looking for assault guns to help them get to the position, it turned out that a group of infantry didn't expect to be able to play with Russian artillery.

In the end, I can only let the gunner of the assault gun give emergency training to a few non-commissioned officers with a good level of mathematics, but this is a Russian artillery after all, and the gunner of the assault gun can only guess with experience, what can be guessed, what can be learned in emergency training, and what can be done when the time comes, no one knows the bottom of their hearts.

The 10 Type 1910 water-cooled Makqin machine guns mounted on the Sokolov wheeled gun carriage with shields were a surprise. A total of 18 water-cooled heavy machine guns allowed the German infantry, which had only 6 platoons, to outperform the Russians by 2 regiments in machine gun fire, and the Russian ammunition piled up in the freight station greatly reduced the pressure on the Germans to consume ammunition.

Of course, Fergt still felt that such firepower was insufficient.

However, if Fergt knew that the Tula Arsenal, the only one that the Russians could produce Makqin machine guns at this time, produced an average of less than 50 machine guns per month before the war, and even after the start of the war, the monthly output had barely risen to about 150 units, it was estimated that he would be balanced, after all, he had grabbed one-fifteenth of the monthly output of machine guns in Russia.

"The cannonade has stopped." Ludvik looked up at the town, where the distant explosions had stopped, but the smoke had not yet cleared.

"Their work is done, we still have a lot of work to do, it's time to get on with it." Fergut bent down to pick up the shovel leaning against the bunker and turned to leave. Not far away, the armored train was slowly returning to the station.

"The train will leave as soon as it is filled with water." The armored train returning to the station was preparing for departure, and Lieutenant Colonel Orzewsky, who was standing on the platform, said to Captain Erhard, who was next to him: "I will take all the wounded with me." ”

"Thank you, Lieutenant Colonel." Captain Erhard looked at the seriously wounded who were being carried onto the train and said with a smile: "They are in luck. ”

"Not bad?" Olzewski looked at Erhard quizzically.

"Seven of the seven killed and two seriously wounded were not saved, if it weren't for the lieutenant colonel and the military doctor on your train, there would have been a few fewer of the 13 people who could follow the train back." After a self-deprecating chuckle, Erhard pointed at the seriously wounded man on the stretcher with his dirty fingers and said, "Isn't it good luck to die here?" ”

This is not a mockery, because the Russians have no artillery, these wounded are all gunshot wounds, the medical equipment on the armored train is quite complete, and the military doctor on the train should be able to save the lives of most of the wounded. But most importantly, the seriously wounded who got into the car at least had a chance to retreat, and they and the others had to stay in Soldao until the last moment.

"Everybody will get the credit they deserve." Olzewski also looked at these seriously wounded and said, after a pause, he added: "Everyone." ”

"It doesn't make sense to the dead, and if you can't keep it, then there's no value in dying." Erhard responded dryly: "No one knows when the reinforcements will arrive, we are such a few people, heh......"

"I sent a telegram, the command already knows that Soldao is in our hands, train 7 must return to ensure the safety of the route, if it goes well, train 12 with reinforcements of 8 platoons is expected to arrive at 1700 hours."

"Great!" Erhard's eyes lit up when he heard reinforcements on his way.

"The situation you have to face next is good and bad, train 12 will not stay in Soldao, armored trains will not stay overnight here." Olzewski took a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, popped out two and lit them together, then handed one over and continued: "You can only rely on the infantry at hand. I knocked out all the 105 on hand, and 75 didn't leave too much, the Russians in the city should not be able to organize an attack, be careful at night, it's not a big problem. ”

"Yes, Lieutenant Colonel." Erhard nodded, took the cigarette and took a deep breath on it, then spit it out hard.

"But tomorrow, as long as the Russians are not stupid, they will definitely sabotage the railway, and we will do everything we can to ensure that the railway line is unblocked, but the situation you will face will be more difficult, and you and your people must be prepared. The command promised to support Soldao in any way possible, but I don't know the specifics, so don't put all your hopes on it. ”

"Understood, Lieutenant Colonel. Well? Erhard couldn't help but twist his head slightly when he saw a railroad soldier take out two MG4s from the carriage and put them on the platform.

"I'll remove half of the light machine gun on the train and give it to you along with the ammunition." Olzewiski said that this was the greatest support he could give.

"I don't need that much ammunition." Erhard shook his head after putting the cigarette to his mouth, then smacked it twice, and the scarlet spark flickered twice.

Each machine gun on the armored train had at least 5 base ammunition reserves, and Orzevisky left 8 MG4s, corresponding to more than 40,000 rounds of ammunition, compared to 7.62 ammunition. Each machine gun on the armored train had at least 5 base ammunition reserves, and Orzevisky left 8 MG4s, the corresponding ammunition of more than 40 thousand rounds. Instead of asking for so much 7.62 ammo, I want something else.

After taking a deep puff of cigarette, he filled his lungs with nicotine, and after enjoying a moment of relaxation, the smoke he exhaled was filled, making Erhard's face look a little unreal: "Whether we can finish the 2 bases is a question, 75 leave me some, that's more practical than 7.62." ”

"Cannonballs? line, 7.62 leaves 2 bases, 75 leaves 1 base. There was no need to hesitate, and I agreed.

Orzewski understood Erhard's idea and was going to use the assault gun as a positional artillery, but the little shells on the car would definitely not be enough.

Erhard actually wanted the MG5s on the armored train, and those Russian gray cattle might be able to continue the attack under the fire of light and heavy machine guns, but it would be hellish if they could continue to attack in the face of large-caliber machine guns that could completely tear them apart. However, this thing is too big and heavy, and the machine gun turret mounted on the armored train is not equipped with a special tripod mount, so it is not used at all.

"Thank you." Since he couldn't use it, Erhard didn't think much about it, and it was already a great help to get it.

"Oh yes, there's good news." Olzewisky took out the pack of cigarettes from his pocket and stuffed them into Erhard's hand: "When the reinforcements arrive, they will also be under your command, plus the people you have on hand now, and then it will be the strength of a battalion." I'll be calling you Major Erhard when I get back, and this pack of cigarettes will be a gift. ”

"This high-end product is not easy to smoke, and this official is not easy to promote." Erhard smiled and shoved the cigarette into his pocket, then held out his hand, "But I'll nail it here."

"Good luck." Olzewski squeezed the hand hard.