However, even if the central government agreed to the Red Eighth Army to enter Finland to participate in the war, it would require a certain amount of preparation time, and before that, the volunteers could only rely on their own ability to solve the problem.

"There are so many enemies that it's like you can't kill them endlessly." Tukhachevsky said with tiredness that in the past three days, he hardly slept a single night, frequently commanding battles in the forward positions, and many times, if he had not arrived on the battlefield in time, the positions might have been captured by the White Army.

"We must shrink the defensive line again and continue to maintain the existing front, and in three days my line will collapse."

Yegorov's brows were furrowed, Tukhachevsky had not slept well, why did he close his eyes? It is not impossible to shrink the defense line again, but the problem is also very prominent, the battle was originally carried out on the periphery of Vyborg City, after a contraction, there is no depth of defense, and if it shrinks again, it is equivalent to fighting under Vyborg.

If something goes wrong, Vyborg could fall. And this responsibility Yegorov could not bear, because he was well aware of how important Vyborg was to the center. Every day, at least three or five special trains loaded with grain were sent to Petrograd, which largely ensured the fighting of the Southwestern Front in Ukraine and in the Don-Volga basin. Without these life-saving grains, the central government would directly tear him up and feed it to the dogs.

However, if the front is not shrunk and the original front is maintained, Tukhachevsky's troops will not be able to withstand it, and it will collapse when the time comes. Thinking about it, he couldn't make up his mind, so he could only wait for news from a certain immortal.

"It will take seven to nine days for the Red Eighth Army to reach the battlefield at the earliest," Li Xiaofeng said with some annoyance, "and for the time being, the battle line can only be reduced." ”

Egorov sighed. In fact, he had already been mentally prepared. Immediately spread out the map and pointed: "Give up Seleznyovo." The 1st and 2nd Regiments of the 2nd Division were temporarily withdrawn to the city to rest and serve as reserves, and the Red Eagle Regiment and the 1st Brigade of the Border Police were used to build positions on the northern front of the city of Vyborg, while the 2nd Division, 3rd Regiment and the Finnish Red Guards, which suffered smaller losses, defended the east side of Vyborg...... Comrade Tukhachevsky, I hope that your troops will hold out as long as possible for a day or two, and we must buy us more time to build positions......"

There is nothing brilliant about this defensive arrangement, but it is also difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice, and Yegorov only has these troops at hand, and it is supposed to fight more with less. What can he do?

However, Yegorov still tried his best to make targeted arrangements, and ordered: "Comrade Andrei, you go to the Red Eagle Regiment and the 1st Brigade of the Border Police to supervise the battle, and I will go to the positions of the 3rd Regiment and the Red Guards. ”

It seems that Yegorov assigned the most dangerous lot to a certain immortal, and asked one of them to withstand the onslaught of the White army head-on, while he himself went to the relative safety of the flank. It seems to be very unkind.

In fact, the north of Vyborg was the direction of the main attack of the White Army. But whether it is the Red Eagle Regiment or the 1st Brigade of the Border Police Force, the combat effectiveness and equipment are very strong. In fact, it is less stressful. And the defense of the east of Vyborg is the 2nd Division and 3rd Regiment of the Volunteer Army and the Finnish Red Guards, and it is needless to say what the Finnish Red Guards are, they are a group of rabble, and the 2nd Division and 3rd Regiment have suffered relatively large losses after the previous period of fighting, and their combat effectiveness has also been reduced. In other words, the area where Yegorov was going to oversee was actually more dangerous.

In the middle of the night of May 28, the thirteenth day after the Volunteers entered Finland, under the cover of night, Tukhachevsky's troops successfully withdrew from the Seleznyovo line, in fact, they were not far from Vyborg, no more than 10 kilometers, and these 10 kilometers were the only remaining strategic depth of Vyborg.

Behind them, the Red Eagle Regiment and the 1st Brigade of the Border Police were ready for battle, and in a very short time they had dug out a line of defense consisting of three trenches in front and behind, much to Tukhachevsky's incredible.

"How did you do all this?" Looking at the neatly arranged trenches, Tukhachevsky asked a certain immortal.

"The masses of workers in Vyborg were fully mobilized, and a little bit of mechanization was used." Li Xiaofeng replied a little proudly.

Tukhachevsky was not at all surprised to mobilize the working masses of Vyborg, but with the small population of Vyborg, a general mobilization would not have been possible to build such a neat line in two days. He felt that it was more likely that a certain immortal had said that the mechanized force played a greater role.

Tukhachevsky's guess was not wrong at all, and the decisive role was the ten trench digging machines urgently "imported" from abroad by a certain immortal, this kind of Hercules hanging on the back of the truck, could dig a trench two meters deep and one meter wide for 150 meters in one hour, and ten machines took turns to fight, and in two days, they loosened the soil around Vyborg.

Nikolai, a veteran of the Volunteer Army who had piloted a trench digger at the time, recalled: "In the beginning, on the outskirts of Vyborg, only a few very simple positions were built, and every half-sized trench that was dug out had to show half of its body when squatting in...... If you only rely on such a position to resist the 100,000 White Army, I am afraid that it will be more than lucky...... At the critical moment, Comrade Andrei had a way to import 10 trench digging machines, this kind of treasure is so easy to use, an hour's workload is worth a whole day of our whole battalion, 10 machines take turns to fight, 24 hours without rest, and it is only in two days that a solid position has been built, and Comrade Yegorov, who came to inspect at that time, is said to have reported to the Central Committee as soon as possible, and strongly demanded that more trench diggers be purchased immediately, preferably for all the engineer battalions of the whole army......

Of course, ten advanced trench diggers are not affordable for an immortal, but after the last upgrade, the cornucopia has opened a new rental function. A certain immortal was also forced to have no choice, so he gritted his teeth and rented ten units, and he almost didn't give the goods in those two days, so tired that he urinated blood.

However, the effort was worth it, and Mannerheim gasped when he arrived at the Red Eagle Regiment's position with his troops. He questioned the staff officers beside him: "Didn't the previous aerial reconnaissance say that the Russians' positions were very thin?" Did these cobweb-like trenches come out of thin air? ”

The staff officers could not answer a word, because the Luftwaffe's reconnaissance report two days ago was indeed written like this, and the Germans swore at that time. The defenses around Vyborg were as thin as a piece of paper. Break with a single stab.

Nima! The staff officers didn't know how to complain. If the defensive position in front of you is considered a piece of paper, then this "paper" is probably the strongest and thickest in the world.

Mannerheim's initial plan was to prepare to quickly intervene and penetrate the opponent's defense in an instant, and he thought that as long as he stormed Vyborg, the Red Guards and the Russians would be out of play, and everything would be gameover. For this reason, he personally cheered up the soldiers before the battle: "Gentlemen, brothers, we have successfully broken through the Russian lines. Vyborg is right in front of us. The recapture of Vyborg means the end of the war, and I earnestly ask you to rush over and crush the enemy in one breath with the fastest speed and the fiercest offensive...... Finland wins! Long live Finland! ”

In the midst of the sound of Ura, Mannerheim's staff officer said to the old man with emotion: "Your Excellency, this is the voice of victory!" You will create the history and future of Finland! ”

At the time, Mannerheim was also a little proud. Although he didn't respond to this, he also had a deep feeling that the battle would soon be over. The Russians will be crushed and driven away, and the independence and freedom of Finland will have to be defended.

But now, the old man just looked at the position of the volunteers, and he was already half cold, and his troops lacked heavy artillery, and it was difficult to shake such a strong position with layers of fortification.

Of course, Mannerheim is not the kind of coward who is not afraid before fighting, even if he knows that it is unlikely that he will break through the Russian defense line in one go, but he always has to try, and how to find the weakness of the enemy's defense line without trying.

After a short but rapid artillery preparation, groups of Finnish White troops jumped out of the attacking positions and rushed towards the positions of the Red Eagles with their flags and rifles in their arms. The first thing they were greeted was a rain of 82 mm and 60 mm mortars hidden in the trenches, although the Red Eagle Regiment did not have any heavy artillery, but the mortars were still adequate.

Each battalion of the Red Eagle Regiment had an artillery battery, armed with eight 82-mm mortars, and each infantry company's fire platoon also had four 60-mm mortars to support the battle, which meant that each battalion had 20 mortars.

Compared with all the direct fire support used by the Red Eagle Regiment, the 76-mm mountain and infantry guns equipped with the Finnish White Army were not at all sufficient. As soon as the battle began, a third of the White Army had already fallen in the first wave, and they were still a few hundred meters away from the front-line positions of the Red Eagle Regiment.

Koslin, a Finnish veteran who took part in the battle, recalled: "The enemy's firepower was so strong that compared to them, our artillery was a piece of shit, they reloaded unhurriedly and lazily fired artillery, not caring that our front-line brothers were being slaughtered!" ”

Another veteran, Hulsen, also chimed in: "The artillery is really not powerful, and by the time we rushed to about five or six hundred meters away from the enemy's position, more than half of our brothers had already fallen in a pool of blood, and my brother fell there forever...... Of course, for the dead, they are already relieved, and for those of us who are alive, the nightmare is just beginning......"

The PK machine gun began to fire at a distance of six hundred meters, then the SKS45 began to fire with a clang, and the last was the Uzi submachine gun spraying tongue of fire, and at the beckoning of automatic weapons, the White troops participating in the first wave of the attack were able to escape back to the starting position with a maximum of ten one-two. Many of the White Army fell under the guns of the Red Eagle Regiment in formation.

When the gunfire stopped and the smoke began to clear, Mannerheim noticed the shocked look of the staff officers around him, and the old man wrote in his memoirs: "...... They were so frightened that each of them widened their eyes and mouths, and a minute later I heard the sound of swallowing in unison...... Each of them stared blankly, hoping that I could explain the phenomenon in front of them......"

Staff Officer Haytham recalled: "General Mannerheim's explanation was: 'I have long warned you that your opponents are more powerful than ever, and that they are armed not for war, but for ......slaughter.'"

Deterred by the Red Hawks' firepower, Mannerheim's offensive on the morning of the first day came to an abrupt end. The soldiers were frightened and in desperate need of comfort. And the old man also had to think about how to break through the positions of the Red Eagle Regiment, he was not Nogi Noshinori, and he did not plan to fill the enemy's trenches with human flesh.

"Change the direction of the attack!"

Mannerheim made a decision quickly. The Red Eagle Regiment is a hard bone. He can't gnaw. He's not a fool, he's only going to attack this. On the contrary, Mannerheim was shrewd, and after discovering that the Red Hawks were becoming more and more difficult to mess with, he immediately sought out Egorov, whose troops were much more "normal" than the Red Hawks.

As in the morning's attack, there was a rapid artillery attack, followed by an infantry charge. This time, there really were no overwhelming mortar shells falling. In its place was the 122-mm grenade, which was not fired as fast as the mortar, but its power was not to be underestimated, and the shrapnel harvested the White Army in pieces, and then the symphony of Maxim and PK machine guns intertwined.

Mannerheim's forces were once again repulsed, which made the old man understand that with all the firepower he had now used, he could not break through the Russian lines.

That evening, he telegraphed again to Sven Huvud: "The enemy has built a strong defensive position around Vyborg, and the troops are in urgent need of heavy artillery support. If we can't crush the enemy's defenses, we won't be able to move an inch! ”

It should be said that the old man's judgment was very accurate. In the face of a solid defensive position, there are not many big hooligans like Britain, France, Germany, and the United States, and every time a hundred thousand or millions of shells are smashed through, they may not be able to advance a few kilometers. And Mannerheim don't say 100,000, a million shells, the artillery fire in the offensive can be thousands of shells, he is going to crack the back tooth socket big smile.

After the first day of fighting, the battle came to an abrupt end, and Mannerheim had little choice but to wait for help, to be exact, from the German Expeditionary Force.

"Heavy artillery?"

When Count Geertz heard that the Finns needed heavy artillery support, his first suspicion arose. He had seen the level of fighting in the Finnish Civil War, and in his eyes, this level of fighting was like two groups of hooligans battling each other's ranks. Have you ever heard of heavy artillery used in group fights?

At first, Count Geertz did not want to support the Finns with heavy artillery, and the Germans were preparing a grand offensive, and most of the heavy artillery was transported to the Western Front, leaving it to fight British cattle, French chickens, and American young soldiers. There really isn't much heavy artillery to support the Finnish natives.

But Mannerheim's demands were so resolute and unrelenting, with a posture that he would never attack without heavy artillery. So much so that the Count of Geertz was annoyed and had to go to the front in person, but when he saw the Russian line, he turned around and sent an urgent telegram to the country:

"The Finns had to be supported with heavy artillery, the Russians were too fortified. I suspect that without the support of heavy artillery, the Finns would not have been able to break through their lines after shedding the last drop of blood...... What caught my attention even more was that, if the Finns hadn't lied, a position of this magnitude could have been built in two days! How did the Russians do all this? ”

At Mannerheim's insistence, and at the urging of Count Geerz, the Germans quickly sent the expeditionary force a genuine heavy artillery, the outdated Type 1885 210-mm heavy cannon. Of course, the performance of the "cannon" of that era was very limited, and this kind of projectile weighed 105 kg, the maximum firing range was a little more than 10 kilometers, and the maximum rate of fire was two rounds per minute.

However, being old does not mean that it is useless, it has caused great damage to the positions of the 2nd Division, 3rd Regiment and the Red Guards, and it can even be said to be devastating!

Ivan, a veteran of the Volunteer Army, recalled: "The enemy's heavy artillery was terrible, I will never forget the sound of the shell whistling and falling, it does not explode immediately when it falls, according to the artillery brothers, this is a time-delay fuse, when the shell penetrates deep into the soil, and then it will explode...... Each explosion will kick up nearly twenty squares of earth, and under the action of explosives, the earth will be sprayed into the sky and then fall like rain......"

Another veteran, Semenov, also said: "Once, the shell landed near the trench where I was, and a violent explosion destroyed this section of the trench, and the soil layer that was lifted up flew more than ten meters high, and when it fell, it hit my head...... It was so terrible that I was buried alive in an instant, and a few minutes later, when I thought I was going to die, the squad leader and the other brothers finally dug open the soil that covered me and dragged me out like a carrot......"

The only good news was that the Germans had only four heavy guns on their back, and because of the near-expiration of their tube life, they could only fire at a very low rate of fire. Otherwise, the trouble for the 2nd Division, 3rd Regiment and the Red Guards will be even greater.

Of course, for Yegorov, the problem at hand was already very fatal, under the blow of the enemy's heavy artillery, the support points on his position were little by little uprooted and destroyed, and in some sections of the area a tragic white-knuckle battle broke out. Although the soldiers drove away the Finnish white dog with their blood, the price paid was not undeniable!

"We can't let the other side's heavy artillery go unchecked!" Yegorov said with red eyes, "We must pull out this stinger!" Have to! ”

However, counter-battery operations have never been simple, especially now, the only 105-mm cannon of the Volunteer Army that can shoot at the opponent's range can only be used with howitzers, and it is okay to fight infantry, but it is really incapable of fighting strong fortifications and artillery positions. Send the infantry, those four heavy guns must be under the heavy cover of the enemy, and it will be easier said than done to destroy them!

However, some people are very confident in this, and Sukhoi stood up confidently: "Our Air Force is willing to complete this task!" (To be continued......)

PS: Bow and thank hzwangdd, Juventus and Comrade Potato for the second kill!