Today is a good day for Akimov, the new commander of the 101st Regiment of the Caucasus Army Grenadier Brigade of the Russian Army, to be promoted, but the whole regiment did not have the slightest intention of celebrating Akimov's promotion, but all of them were crying and mourning. Akimov himself was not happy at all, half a month ago he was only a lieutenant and deputy company commander, and he was promoted so quickly because he was the last officer of the 101st Regiment with flowers on his shoulders.

The Grenadier Brigade has been under the command of General Lidyukov since the beginning of the Milyujing Expedition, but a few days ago they were divided and surrounded by the Manchurian Army, and the Grenadier Brigade has completely lost contact with Lidyukov's command. The grenadier brigade was driven into a pocket valley by the Manchurians, who then sealed the mouth of the valley and trapped them. In order to break through the encirclement and converge with the main force, the 101st Regiment, as the main force of the brigade, launched many attacks on the positions of the Manchurian Army, but the results were all disastrous, and the two regiment commanders were also killed one after another.

The Manchurian Army not only has very advanced weapons, but also has a different tactics from all the enemies that the Russian army has seen before. The Russian army was accustomed to phalanx battles in Europe, but the Manchurian Army never had the intention of putting on a hollow phalanx. Even when there were no trenches, they were always scattered, and then cowered and hid behind some covers, or lay on the spot, shooting at the Russians in a lewd posture without any gentlemanly spirit. Although the Manchurian Army's style of play is very unsightly, and it is also very bloodless as a soldier, it is really very practical. The density of their firepower is quite terrifying, and the Russian troops are lined up in a dense phalanx, and they are always killed by them one by one.

The lack of gentlemanly spirit in the Manchurian Army was manifested not only in their lewd posture and rogue style of play, but also in their disregard for the privileges of the nobility. When the first regiment commander was killed, everyone in the Russian army thought it was an accidental stray bullet, but when the officers fell one after another, the Russian army finally found that the Manchurians were shooting the officers purposefully. Deliberately aiming at officers and shooting at officers has long been considered by Europeans to be a lack of gentlemanly spirit, and few people would do such a scoundrel thing except for the lowly American farmers of the American Revolutionary War. But the Manchurians did it, and not only did they deliberately shoot officers, but they also set up special sharpshooter units. They use specially made weapons to target Russian officers, machine gunners, and artillerymen for very accurate sniping.

In order for the soldiers to have a sense of belonging, and at the same time to be able to quickly find the officers on the battlefield, and to be guided by the officers, the Russian army is still wearing bright military uniforms, and the officers are dressed like feather dusters with obvious differences from the soldiers. The Manchurian Army had the consciousness of sniping enemy commanders in the era of the Gu'an Army, but because the weapons were not effective at that time, it was not very successful. Now that the shotguns have been replaced with *, they are much cleaner when they dry naturally. The officers of the Russian army are dangling on the battlefield like targets, and snipers with professional sniper rifles have a place to use, and there is rarely a time when bullets are wasted with a shot. After three days of fierce fighting, dozens of officers of the 101st Regiment of the Grenadier Brigade all fell under the sniper's gun, and only Akimov was the lucky one, who escaped because of his short stature. However, when he was a company commander, Akimov was able to evade the search of snipers with the advantage of his height, and when he became the regiment commander, he was hanging.

And in addition to the threat of snipers, Akimov has a headache, there is less than a battalion left in the 101st regiment at the moment, and he has inherited a mess. The attack method of the 101st Regiment was still stuck in the Crimean War more than ten years ago, and the soldiers were still lined up in a phalanx, holding bayonets, and slowly advancing in unison. In the face of such a dense target, the water-cooled heavy machine gun of the Manchurian Army naturally became a real scythe of death, and when the Russian army launched an attack, the heavy machine gun could kill and injure the Russian army in a very short period of time every time.

In the face of the ferocious machine guns of the Manchurians, Akimov's predecessors also thought of ways to deal with it. At first, they wanted to suppress the Manchurian army with artillery, but unfortunately the range and power of the 70-mm rifle guns in the Manchurian barracks far exceeded the Armstrong field guns used by the Russian army. As soon as the Russian artillery appeared, it would be subjected to a terrifying blow from the artillery fire of the Manchurian army. Even if some of the fish slip through the net, the artillerymen will become a key target for the Manchurian snipers, and the artillerymen will be killed and wounded, and the artillery will become useless waste.

The predecessors also considered using Gatling heavy machine guns to fire at the Manchurians, a tooth for a tooth, and a firepower to suppress the Manchurians' firepower. But the Gatling with * not only has a much slower rate of fire than others, but also has a range that can't reach others. Even if the Russian army topped the machine guns regardless of casualties, there would be no chance to shoot at others at all. The Gatling gun was simply too large, no smaller than the Armstrong field gun, and was easily observed by the Manchurians. Once found, the accurate rifle and sniper were killed, and either the machine gunner was dealt with or smashed into pieces along with the gun.

The Russian army still has a lot of food in stock, but there is no water source in the valley, if it can't break through as soon as possible, once the drinking water is exhausted, the Russian army will definitely die of thirst in this valley. The Caucasian Army was originally the reserve force of the Russian army, and the grenadier brigade had only one main regiment of the 101st Regiment to cope with the battle, and the 102nd Regiment could not be counted on at all. The 102nd Regiment has been lacking in training for a long time, and although it is now more numerous than the 101st Regiment, its military quality is extremely poor. When they were pursued and surrounded by the Manchurian Army, the 102nd Regiment lost two companies, and if they were allowed to storm the positions of the Manchurian Army, there might be some jokes. Therefore, the hope of a breakthrough of the grenadier brigade fell on the body of the 101st regiment, which was equivalent to pressing on Akimov's shoulders.

Akimov, who was born in a small aristocratic family, had only studied in a third-rate military academy, and he was not a talented general, and he had not even commanded a company before. Now suddenly let him command a battalion, Akimov even has the heart to commit suicide. Moreover, the 101st Regiment now has no officers, and the soldiers at the grassroots level are not organized at all, and Akimov alone cannot take care of a team of several hundred people at the same time. Reliable methods, Akimov's two predecessors have used it all, and there is still no way to take the positions of the Manchurian Army, and Akimov is even more out of line.

Just as Akimov was worried about organizing the troops, good news and bad news reached his ears at the same time. The good news was that he didn't have to worry about organizing troops to attack the Manchurian defenses, and the bad news was that the Manchurians had already entered the valley. The hastily battled 101 regiment collapsed at the touch of a button, and instantly became a lamb with its back to the Manchurians, and the brave Akimov died a glorious battle for his country. Before he died, Akimov was thinking about why, why he was so unlucky, and died on the first day of being the regiment commander.

Akimov is not alone, dozens of unlucky people on a long front have the same idea as him. On this day, except for the breakthrough of the Russian Vadudin group and the convergence of the Milyutin group, the Lidyukov group, the Mishanin group, and the Rudnev group on the periphery of the Russian army were all annihilated by the Manchurian army. The smiling Kokoko and the sad-faced Yyanagi Kyoto knew that the final battle was coming.