afterglow

Chapter 201 Great harvest; your fiancée is here!
Probably startled by the sharp offensive of the [-]th Brigade, the National Army stationed on the north bank of the Tejo River and stationed in Talavera remained silent, and had no intention of attacking at all.

A small number of detachments cautiously leaning against the river to investigate were also blasted away by the shelling. The artillerymen turned the captured Italian artillery to the muzzle, fired more than a dozen rapid shots in one breath, then put away the artillery, and quickly moved it away. .

In this way, the two sides faced each other across the river, and the Spaniards on the other side of the river watched helplessly as the volunteers happily swept away the countless supplies left by the Italians.

就装备而言，五〇旅倒不缺轻武器——Kar98k、MG13、MG34、MP34、S18-1000这些东西都是一等一的好东西，可却缺乏身管压制火炮。

Although this battle did not completely annihilate the two thousand Italian troops, it could still be called a complete victory. Anyway, the goal of annihilation was not at the beginning.

6门105㎜榴弹炮、12门75㎜山炮、11门81㎜迫击炮、3门47㎜反坦克炮，这些缴获得来的重装备无疑将五〇旅的窘境一扫而光。

As for the rest, Carcano rifles, Breda light machine guns, Fiat heavy machine guns and other weapons are dismissed by everyone. In Europe, which is a per capita industrial country, the wonderful gadgets of the Italians really do not catch everyone's eyes.

For example, the Breda light machine gun, Roald's evaluation is "extremely bad, no place is reasonable."

The gun body is long, the barrel is short, the bolt structure is extremely complex, and the high pressure of the shell extraction often leads to the rupture of the shell; the ammunition supply system is even more powerless to complain. It designed an exposed horizontal magazine, which is very easy to get stuck due to dust contamination.

The design of the whole gun can be described as very weird and tasteless, I am afraid that even the crooked handle that has been criticized will be willing to bow down.

"Italian cannon..." Zhou Changfeng patted the barrel of a cannon with great interest, and then wondered, "Why are they so old?"

Someone pointed to the inscription on the gun body and replied: "This gun was manufactured in 15 years. It was manufactured by Skoda Arsenal. It is more than 20 years old."

What Zhou Changfeng didn’t know was that this artillery was originally the M15 104mm howitzer of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After the end of the European War, more than 200 guns were handed over to Italy.

After all, the title of a third-rate industrial country and the shame of the great powers is not in vain.

At this time, Miller came over with a happy expression and saluted: "Sir, the result of the battle has been reported to the headquarters. What should we do next? Evacuate or garrison?"

"Of course we stay here to defend this place." Zhou Changfeng pointed to the ground and said with a smile, "I don't know why, but I have a feeling that they misjudged the situation."

His premonition is not unreasonable. In fact, until now, the Italian army and the national army have not figured out how many troops the other party has.

Although according to the information sent back by the informant, apart from the No. 40 Seventh Brigade of the Republican Army stationed here, there is only the [-]th Brigade of the International Brigade that has just arrived.

Intelligence indicated that the 2000st Brigade of the Republican Army did not participate in the battle, that is to say, from the beginning to the end, only the [-]th Brigade with more than [-] people and equivalent to a regiment-level unit was fighting alone.

And then... it took them only a few hours to defeat a regiment that was dug and defended by the Italian army and built a complete field fortification?

Who believes this?Anyway, the Italians are unwilling to admit it, otherwise they would call themselves waste.

Lieutenant Colonel Archid also knew this well, so he claimed that at least [-] enemy troops participated in the battle, accompanied by a large field artillery group.

The staff of the Italian Army and the National Army were greatly surprised by this. With the appearance of the International Brigade and an unknown number of other troops, why was such a field force sent to Talavera? What does this mean?
Does the Republican Army want to take the initiative to launch an offensive here to break the current deadlock?

If it is speculated in this way, there may be a heavy army group being deployed in this direction. Will they continue to launch a large-scale offensive and achieve a breakthrough in one fell swoop.

If that is the case, the other National Army and Italian army attacking Madrid will be in danger, and I am afraid they will have to retreat immediately.In this way, Madrid, which had been surrounded on three sides for half a year, was freed.

From a strategic point of view, the situation will be reversed directly, which is absolutely unacceptable to the National Army.

In the next few days, the No.90 Sixth Infantry Brigade of the National Army organized multiple reconnaissance units to cross the upper or lower reaches of the Tejo River, trying to find out the details of the opponent in front of them.

The [-]th Brigade, on the other hand, put on a posture of not leaving, and continued to build large-scale construction projects on the original garrison left by the Italian army to further expand and strengthen the field fortifications.

The No.40 Seventh Brigade of the Republican Army also took corresponding measures, and also dispatched reconnaissance units and patrols to move around within a radius of tens of kilometers.

The actions of the two can be described as extremely misleading. Although the intelligence sent back by the informant and the spies unanimously proved that the Republican Army had no intention of launching an offensive, the National Army Staff decided not to accept it after repeated deliberation.

They quickly mobilized two infantry divisions, an infantry brigade, a field artillery brigade, and some Falangist militia units, totaling [-] troops.

The Italian Intervention Army also cooperated quite well and sent the No.20 Sixth Infantry Division, which was resting in Segovia, to the direction of Talavera.

In just a few days, the delicate balance on the long front seems to be broken?

For a time, the density of military trains coming and going on the railway network was much higher than before, which was naturally discovered by the reconnaissance plane of the Republican Air Force.

Aware of the opponent's abnormal behavior, the Republican Army Command speculated that the National Army had misjudged its own intentions, and in order to prepare for a possible large-scale offensive, it deployed troops in advance to prepare for a defensive counterattack.

After some discussions, the military advisers of the German Society's staff committee stationed in the Republican Army suggested doing the opposite and shaming.

Since the opponent has deployed so many units to Talavera on the center line, there will naturally be fewer troops in other directions.

You might as well take advantage of the gap on the northern or southern lines and launch a counterattack, so that the national army can lose sight of the other!
One wrong step, one wrong step, so that you can gradually grasp the strategic initiative and reverse the situation of the battle little by little.After six to twelve months, fighters can be found for strategic decisive battles.

On the whole, this suggestion can be said to be very appropriate.

However, the Republican Army Command is not interested in this. An argument similar to the "quick victory theory" is circulating among the government and senior generals, and there is also a lot of support from the people, and the newly elected president also agrees very much.

The Republican Army believes that its own military strength is relatively sufficient now, and has expanded to a huge scale of 100 million. At the same time, it has also purchased a large amount of weapons and equipment from the German Society and Ming Dynasty. The military strength is not what it used to be, and it has the conditions for a strategic decisive battle.

The headquarters envisages first mobilizing four to six divisions, and then mobilizing six divisions as the second echelon, and then using two divisions as the reserve team, with a total strength of 15 troops.

They plan to fight the opponent with the first echelon first, induce the opponent to increase its troops, attract its main force, and finally launch a strategic decisive battle; at that time, its own side with about [-] troops will definitely have the upper hand.

At any time, a strategic miscalculation is terrible.

Throughout human history, tactical brilliance cannot prevent strategic failure. Such examples are not uncommon in ancient and modern China and abroad.

"...command orders us to maintain our current status, except for routine reconnaissance operations on the north bank of the Tejo River."

When Zhou Changfeng, who was in the headquarters, learned of the general concept of the Republican Army Command, he couldn't help complaining: "Is this a joke? Why do they have such an idea? Who gave them confidence?"

In fact, he didn't know the specific deployment, but he could almost guess what the Republican Army was planning based on the dispatch information he had learned.

For example, four infantry divisions are heading here. In addition, all troops on the southern and northern fronts have received an order to "prohibit any active attack under any circumstances."

"It's really strange, they seem to be full of confidence." Chretien shook his head helplessly.

"Although the current Republican Army has many troops, their quality is very limited." Roald looked calm and commented: "A decisive battle in this state...is very risky, and I don't think they can gain an advantage."

"If this is true, then they are gambling with the fate of Spain! Too stupid!" Miller said angrily.

In the newly built brigade headquarters, a group of officers from the [-]th Brigade are discussing.

How much water is there in this so-called 100 million army, and does the upper echelon of the Republican Army have any counts?

In the beginning, due to the factions fighting each other in Spain, a large number of officers were squeezed out. Instead of joining the Republican Army, they went to serve the National Army.

Therefore, the quality of the Republican Army has always been worrying. It is filled with a large number of militiamen and ordinary people who have been recruited into the army, and they have been defeated.

The Red Eagle Legion has been sparing no effort to train these troops, and it took half a year to make them look like a regular army.

But just after learning a few kung fu moves, you want to fight in the ring?
What is this, isn't this a typical "advantage is mine"?

"What can we do? These guys not only make fun of their own fate, but also bring soldiers and civilians to death. This is the tragedy of Spain." Zhou Changfeng picked up the red wine bottle and poured half a glass into the goblet while talking. "There is simply no cure."

I have to say that the Italians really enjoy it. Even though the defeated 79th Infantry Regiment is not a long-term stay, its various daily necessities are still very complete, and some things can even be called luxury.

Among other things, there are as many as a dozen electric fans left behind.The field kitchen is fully equipped with cooking equipment and kitchen utensils, and the supply warehouse also has many boxes of chocolates, canned fruits, candies, and even hardcover red wine.

These things made the [-]th Brigade a feast for the eyes and quite a lot of fun.

What is even more surprising is that a dental tent has been set up next to the field hospital, which contains a series of complete tools.

As a long-standing problem that has accompanied the history of human development, dental disease can be seen everywhere, and the army is no exception—due to the harsh battlefield environment, soldiers often have no time to pay attention to their oral hygiene, and rotten teeth are almost inevitable. The figure has always been seen in the army.

As a reserve officer in Norway, Roald usually works as a dentist and has his own clinic; now that he has a full set of equipment, he can do his old job in his free time.

And Zhou Changfeng was also fortunate to experience the experience of having his teeth filled in this foreign country. Although he felt that it was not in a hurry, Roald insisted that it is better to deal with it as soon as possible.

The dental drill of "嗞嗞嗞" is grinding on the first molar, and then the residual caries is removed with a probe and a digging spoon, then acid-etched with phosphoric acid solution, and finally filled with copper amalgam.

"Okay." Roald put the tools back on the iron plate next to him, and said with a smile, "Xia, now you don't have to worry about toothaches in the future."

The soreness before made Zhou Changfeng lingering in his heart. He covered his face and walked out of the tent, but met Miller who came to ask for instructions.

"There are some reporters coming, sir, shall we let them in?"

"Reporters? How many people?"

"Six."

Zhou Changfeng explained casually: "It is forbidden to walk around freely, the four areas A1, A2, B1, and C1 are not allowed to enter, and other places must also be accompanied by photos."

The reporters who were allowed to enter the garrison were so excited that they walked all the way to take pictures, as if they wanted to record every plant and tree here on film.

However, apart from the genuine British, French, and American war reporters, there were also two Ming men pretending to be reporters.

Someone proposed to meet the commander of the [-]th Brigade and interview him about the battle situation, but Zhou Changfeng definitely disagreed, so he refused the interview request.

The rest of the reporters just spread their hands to express their regrets, but that was not the case for the two bright people.

While walking around, they kept knocking sideways at the accompanying soldiers, "What kind of person do you think your commander is?"

"Very young, very energetic, full of oriental wisdom."

"I think so too. What confuses me is why he didn't go to the [-]th Brigade? They're all Orientals there."

"Maybe he doesn't want to be identified?"

The soldiers chatted casually, anyway, it had nothing to do with the military situation such as weapon equipment and specific deployment.

These words made the two reporters who claimed to be from Daming look at each other—could this be the case?

The feeling of being so close to the truth made them very excited, but it was hard to show it, and they didn't know how to confirm their identity by insinuating their appearance, because in the eyes of Westerners, most Chinese people look alike.

Fortunately, there are no unparalleled roads. After they wandered around the camp, they happened to meet Zhou Changfeng and his party who were going to the front line for inspection.

Although they were more than [-] meters apart and passed by without stopping, the two "reporters" were still beaming.

Oh shit!This appearance, definitely not mistaken, it is definitely him!

The two of them couldn't hold back any longer, so they said to an officer who was traveling with them: "Please go and tell your commander that his fiancée is looking for him!"

(End of this chapter)