Berzani is just a small town. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 However, after the 32nd Infantry Division of the German 11th Army was stationed here, the whole town became a strong fortress overnight under the construction of the German army. An infantry division plus more than 20 tanks of the 8th Panzer Division gave them a very strong force.

Here is an important node in the retreat of the Russian army to the east. If the Russian army wants to make a detour, it will have to climb over difficult mountains or take a hundred kilometers. This is undoubtedly very difficult for the Russian army, which is bent on escaping.

On October 14, the main forces of the 8th Russian Army arrived in Berzani. However, the assault or the detour made Admiral Brushinov somewhat undecided. Although the German troops in Berzani did not have many troops, Brushinov did not dare to underestimate them at all. In this battle, the combat effectiveness of the German army has long been tested in actual combat. Even though the Russian 8th Army still had more than 200,000 men, Brushinov was not confident that he would be able to defeat the German army and capture Berzani. Especially under the ferocious pursuit of the Austrian 3rd Army. If he had delayed here for a day or two, perhaps the Austro-Hungarian Army would have caught up. At that time, he will have to face a dilemma.

"Order the troops, and launch an attack in half an hour. Find a way to take Berzani. Otherwise, we're all done. Admiral Brushinov ordered.

"Yes, General." The adjutant gave the order.

Half an hour later, the 8th Infantry Corps under the 26th Army of the Russian Army, as the vanguard, took the lead in launching an attack on Berzani.

Before the attack, the Russian army carried out a period of fire preparation. It's just that because many of their cannons and shells have been discarded, their fire preparation only lasted about ten minutes, and they barely fired two or three hundred shells. Such a preparation of fire could not be described as a threat at all to the fortified positions of the German 32nd Infantry Division.

"Ulla! Ulla! ”

After the fire was prepared, more than 20,000 Russian soldiers directly charged the defense line of the German 32nd Infantry Division. These Russian soldiers, shouting slogans and charging fiercely, as if they were not afraid of death at all.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! ”

The artillery of the 32nd Infantry Division of the German Army began shelling, and howitzers and field guns poured shells on the ranks of the Russian troops. Shells exploded in the ranks of the Russian troops, taking away the lives of each other. At the same time, in the queue of the Russian army, there are pieces of blanks.

It's just that the Russian army has a large number of troops, which makes it easy for them to fill these gaps.

"Da Da Da!"

When the Russian army approached only a little more than a hundred meters from the German defense, the machine guns on the German positions began to fire. A series of general-purpose machine guns and squad machine guns formed a crossfire, blocking the path of the Russian army's advance. The dense bullets, like a steel storm, tore the soldiers of the Russian army to pieces.

"Ulla! Ulla! ”

The charging Russian army directly collided with the dense firepower of the German army, as if it had hit an invisible wall, and the Russian army was bleeding and suffered heavy losses.

"Damn! Go on the offensive! "Although, the losses of the Russian army began to soar. However, the generals of the Russian army, as if ignoring the huge casualties, still demanded that the troops launch a fierce attack. In the eyes of these Russian generals, the lives of these Russian soldiers are not important at all, they are nothing more than cannon fodder. Even if you die more, you can quickly replenish it. Therefore, there is no need to rush to regret the death of these cannon fodder.

The 8th Army of the Russian Army launched several rounds of attacks in Berzani. However, it still failed to break through the defense line of the Russian army, but suffered heavy losses. At the same time, the Austrian 3rd Army gradually caught up.

On October 15, the Austrian 3rd Army completed the encirclement of the Russian 8th Army. There were German troops in front and Austrian troops in the rear, which put the Russian 3rd Army in a desperate situation.

After the Russian 8th Army was surrounded, it launched several breakouts. However, with the exception of a very small number of troops, the rest of the Russian army was not able to successfully break through.

Finally, on the afternoon of October 16, more than 100,000 Russian troops in the encirclement laid down their arms and surrendered to the German-Austrian forces. Of course, the commander of the 8th Russian Army, Colonel-General Brushinov, was not among the surrendered Russian generals. In fact, it was precisely because of the hard-line attitude of General Brushinov that broke through the encirclement that the other Russian generals who remained in the encirclement did not have to be afraid anymore and chose to surrender. If Admiral Brushinov was still in the encirclement, they would not have dared to surrender to the German-Austrian forces with a few of their courage.

The surrender of the main force of the Russian 8th Army made this main force of the Russian army already exist in name only. They originally had 300,000 troops, but now the remaining troops will not exceed 10,000.

Even if General Brushinov and other generals of the Russian 8th Army fled back and were replenished, it would take a long time for the 8th Army to regain its combat effectiveness.

The 8th Army of the Russian Army was almost annihilated, which was undoubtedly a heavy blow to the Southwestern Front of the Russian Army. Of the four subordinate group armies, two have already existed in name only. And, the remaining two are also in danger.

The 3rd Army of the Russian Army, because the position of deployment is relatively northern. Therefore, their retreat route was almost always under the threat of the German army. The main forces of the German 8th Army Corps and the Austrian 2nd Army carried out a flanking attack on the Russian 3rd Army.

As a last resort, the commander of the 3rd Army of the Russian Army, General Rusky, had to choose to retreat in small forces to avoid being blocked by the main forces of the German-Austrian forces.

However, even with such a method, the main forces of the 3rd Army of the Russian Army still did not escape the pursuit of the German-Austrian forces. During the operation, the reconnaissance planes of the German 8th Air Force provided intelligence support to the German-Austrian forces throughout the whole process, so that the Austrian forces had no way to escape.

In the end, the 3rd Army of the Russian Army only escaped tens of thousands of people.

The 11th Army of the Russian Army, with a little better luck. Because they were deployed in the southernmost place, and at the same time the Austrian 4th Army, which was pursuing them, had the worst combat effectiveness. Therefore, the remaining 200,000 people of the Russian 11th Army basically escaped the pursuit and fled back to Russia. But even so, the German-Austrian army wiped out millions of Russian troops in this battle and won an extremely brilliant victory.