Beiyang 1917

1918年7月14ri7:50布祖卢克镇

"Master, let our artillery fire? I looked at the many Soviet Red Army cavalry on horseback on the opposite hill, and Yegorov might be among them!" Chief of Staff of the [-]rd Ural Cavalry Division and Commander of the [-]st Brigade* *vsky was a little impatient, the enemy on the opposite side did not launch an offensive after dawdling for a long time, which made *vsky a little anxious. ()

"What's the rush? If you kill the commander and division commanders of the [-]st Army with one shell, we will lose if we win this battle. At this point in the Battle of Ufa, the opponent's army's first-level command There are no members who were killed in battle, only those who were captured. Why can the Third Ural Cavalry Division only capture a dead Yegorov?" Nerikov, the commander of the third division, grinned dismissively.

"Oh, oh! Not good! Commander, more than 20 carriages drove out from behind the opponent's position... This is the horse-drawn heavy machine gun battalion... This is terrible, hurry up and order the artillery to fire?" There was also a battalion of heavy machine guns, and his complexion suddenly changed. Nima, the firepower of more than 20 heavy machine guns is not easy to deal with!

"Well... this Yegorov is still a little bit capable. The first group army fled for three days and three nights. Such a small family fortune is not over. We have to capture this guy alive just for this point, you madam Why don’t you panic, there are only 20 Maxims, the artillerymen are not allowed to shoot without my order, and the soldiers on the ground are told to pay attention to concealment, if they are reduced by machine gun bullets, don’t blame me for not being sympathetic!”

The other side had an army of tens of thousands of people, and only collected more than 20 Maxim heavy machine guns. While the chief of staff, Mr. Kevsky, was fussing and fussing, Nerikov, the commander of the third division of the Ural cavalry, breathed a sigh of relief. , Nima, my two regiments, 8 cavalry battalions and 32 cavalry companies have 1918 m3a32 Browning air-cooled heavy machine guns alone. You Yegorov's more than 20 Maxims are really not enough for me!

"Master, the bullets don't have eyes. The Maxim machine gun doesn't distinguish between the coalition army or the Soviet Red Army. Once it hits our side, it will be either dead or injured. I think we should use artillery to give him the opponent's heavy machine gun first. Knock it off, and the rest of the battle will be easier to fight!" Daveski said unwillingly.

Nerikov glanced back at his chief of staff and shook his head, "No hurry, no hurry, our artillery is used to clean up the opponent's cannons, since Yegorov still has a battalion of heavy machine guns, I think he might There are also artillerymen hiding behind, so ask the artillery observation post on the clock tower to search and observe carefully, as soon as the opponent's artillery fires, our artillery shells must hit the opponent's artillery position within 2 minutes!"

Speaking of which, Nerikov looked up at the sky again. The dark clouds were still densely covered and churning in mid-air. Although the clouds were a little higher than yesterday's daytime, they were still limited. The coalition air force obviously couldn't see the ground at all in such bad weather. Support and reconnaissance are obviously not counted on. As for the reinforcements of the ground troops, Wu Peifu's two infantry divisions will have to rush over at least in the evening, and this battle has to be fought on its own.

Of course, Nerikov was relieved by the results of the interrogation of the prisoners in the morning. Yegorov had the courage to cross the Buzuluk River with a pontoon bridge on the shoal ten kilometers to the north. It means that there will be no large enemy troops to detour and flank to the south, so that I can use the main force of the two cavalry regiments for the defense of the northern position, which greatly enhances the confidence of the division commander Nerikov.

There are two big rivers on the west and east sides of Buzuluk Town. If the opponent attacks from north to south, the pressure on defense will be very high, and if the back road is cut off, it is not in line with the tactical principle, and it will easily affect morale. Now it is easy to handle There are many, Nerikov left a cavalry company on the southern line for surveillance, and the rest of the troops returned to the town to hide. The 8 64mm caliber mortars of the 81 battalions belonged to the mortar platoon were arranged in a 4 Kilometers behind the position is concealed.

Use the 12 cannons of your own two artillery companies for the artillery that the enemy may have, and the mortars of the battalion are used to prepare to take down the opponent's heavy machine gun positions. If within 2 kilometers in front of your own position.

Although the Russian-made Maxim wheeled heavy machine gun has a range of up to 3500 meters, its actual effective range is within 1500 meters. Even at a distance of 1500 meters, it can only shoot roughly. The effective range is about 1000 meters.

Just like the large-caliber heavy machine guns of the coalition forces have a maximum range of more than 7000 meters, but the effective range of ground combat is only 1800 meters. 8000 meters, but the distance between the target and the target in real combat direct shooting is often only 2000 to 2500 meters.

At the same distance and range, the confrontation between heavy machine guns is purely a battle of consumption and firepower density. The side equipped with more machine guns can destroy the opponent's machine guns faster with more intensive firepower, and then the firepower that can be gathered is even greater. fierce, but the opponent is even more sparse, and in the end they are either suppressed and unable to lift their heads, or they are exhausted due to the unbalanced firepower.

Terrain is of course also a factor in developing firepower. For the offensive and defensive sides in 1918, without exception, machine guns were often placed on the two wings of their positions for cross-fire coverage and support.

When your own troops jump out of the trenches and charge forward, the higher the firepower of the machine gun, the easier it is to extend the range and sweep to the enemy's rear instead of being blocked by your own charging team. This is often similar to Mark when charging. The reason why heavy weapons such as Qinlun heavy machine guns have to be dragged forward constantly to choose new positions and positions.

So when Nerikov saw that the opponent only dispatched more than 20 horse-drawn heavy machine guns, he became more confident in winning.

For the 100rd Ural Cavalry Division of the coalition army guarding the town of Buzuluk, controlling the use and consumption of ammunition is the most critical point. Since the front of the northern position complies with the formation regulations of the coalition army, the tripping posts and horse traps are almost It is an unshakable compulsory course. When the firepower density of the proud heavy machine gun reaches nearly [-] meters with a Browning heavy machine gun, any charge initiated by the Soviet Russian cavalry will lead to a huge tragedy for the First Army.

If the attackers were the infantry of the Soviet Red Army, they could still lie on the ground to avoid bullets when the opponent's machine gun fired, but where would there be more cavalry charging without cover?Centaur targets are easily swept by bullets, and the danger of being thrown off the horse during high-speed impact is even higher than the danger of bullets.

The positions on the northern line of the Third Ural Cavalry Division are lined with traffic trenches and ravines. You can enter the first-line positions along the traffic trenches directly from the town without showing your head. Of course, you can also withdraw to the second-line positions near the town. If the Third Ural Cavalry Division After visiting the positions on the Ufa Line of Defense, you will find that the defensive positions constructed by the two are exactly the same. Of course, there is a third position on the Ufa Line of Defense, while there are only two positions in Buzuluk here.

Nerikov sent four dismounted cavalry battalions of the first regiment to defend the position on the 4-kilometer front. Each battalion was responsible for defending a one-kilometer position, and each battalion placed three companies on the front line. There is an average of four meters per soldier in the trench, which is similar to the surface density of the attacking side's skirmisher line when attacking.

The difference is that in addition to 4 heavy machine guns, there are 32 Browning squad machine guns and 96 192mm platoon mortars on the coalition's 60-kilometer line of defense!

Although Nerikov only allowed the first regiment to enter the northern line for defense, he strengthened all the light and heavy machine guns and mortars of the second regiment to the northern line, waiting for Yegorov's [-]st army to attack. The baptism of blood and fire, of course, Nerikov did not dare to push it too far. The heavy machine gun positions on the northern front line all have anti-cannon shelters, and the trees in the few forests cut down by the she world outside the positions are all used For the construction of the northern front position.

Moreover, since there are large rivers on the east and west sides of the northern line positions, it is quite easy for the coalition forces to realize the drainage design when building trench positions. No matter how heavy the rain falls, there will be no water accumulation in the trenches. All flowed directly into the Buzuluk and Domashika rivers along the drainage ditches in the trenches.

The construction of the defensive positions of the coalition forces is not simply a trench and a line, but the trenches on the front line are the lowest, and the slope along the terrain is higher and higher. Within 30 meters behind the first line of trenches, there are irregular preset machine gun fire points like plum blossoms. The Browning air-cooled heavy machine gun is much lighter and easier to move than the water-cooled Maxim.

Coincidentally, Nerikov also participated in the military training class organized by the Allied Forces Command after the formation of the earliest coalition forces. In terms of firepower deployment and use, he followed the requirements of the Allied Forces Command. The combat principle of not using all your troops and firepower until the last moment, in a word, keep more back-ups in battle, and don't let the opponent quickly test out all your falsehoods.

Yegorov of the [-]th Army was a very good army commander of the Soviet Red Army at that time. Together with Budyonny, Yegorov was one of the first five marshals of the Soviet Red Army in Wang Geng’s previous life. Of the five marshals, only Budyonny and Voroshilov made it to the end by relying on their hard-core relationship with Joseph. The other three were shot in the purge, and Egorov was the last one to die.

Of course, at this moment, on July 1918, 7, the decisive Yegorov ordered Budyonny's cavalry division to send a cavalry battalion to attack the town of Buzuluk in order to test the defensive strength of the opponent's position. Unexpected!