Beiyang 1917

() "What is this? Are you holding your head and being bombed? Then we might as well withdraw from the first line of defense. We can't expect the coalition air force to give up air strikes and only use ground forces to advance and attack? But then Kharkov still Do you want to defend? Do you want to defend Ukraine?" Simon Petliura said disapprovingly.

"The second option is to temporarily abandon Kharkov and trade space for time. The effect of air strikes at night will be much worse. We can command the troops to move south and west, give up the territory to the Allied forces, and lengthen their logistics supply. , while waiting for the reinforcements of our air force and ground anti-aircraft artillery, once our new air force arrives in Ukraine, I believe Hermann William Göring will learn a lesson and teach the Allied Air Forces a hard lesson to regain the skies over Ukraine At that time, we will drive the Allied forces out of Ukraine and recover Kharkov!",

Von François made the decision to withdraw troops. It was not easy. Withdrawing before a battle was a big risk for the 62-year-old infantry general, and he was easily slandered in the back. Abandoning the armor has damaged the reputation and dignity of the German Army. If Ludendorff, the de facto supreme commander of the German Army who has a grudge with himself, makes use of the problem again, von François' dismissal is considered minor, and he may still be able to go up. Court martial!

However, even if there is such a risk in retreating, von Francois has decided that he will never start a big battle with the opponent's ground forces when the coalition forces have a huge air superiority. This is by no means a wise decision. If the air strikes destroy it, it is impossible to hold the position with the machine guns that escaped the air strikes in the trenches, especially in the face of the enemy's superior firepower covering the air and ground, this battle is simply impossible to fight!

1918年7月29ri19：15哈尔科夫火车南站德乌联军前敌指挥部

When Herman von Francois and his chief of staff Joseph von Dietrich exchanged views before, they also considered whether to pull the German division up to replace the Ukrainian division and guard the north of Kharkov Under the guidance of the German Engineer Corps, tens of thousands of people in the Ukrainian 1st Army sweated and built the first line of defense, with a width of 2.5 kilometers from east to west and a depth of 2.5 kilometers. The length of the flank defense line along the right bank of the North Donets River is Ten kilometers, and the depth is also [-] kilometers.

Within this T-shaped line of defense, there are criss-cross trenches, traffic trenches, shelters, heavy machine gun light and dark firepower points, mortar positions, and anti-aircraft anti-aircraft guns. The core fire support is the central artillery cluster position a little behind the junction.

Von Francois actually knew in his heart that when the DH4 and FR18 of the Allied Air Force were used as light bombers, although the 150-pound and 75-pound aerial bombs dropped could cause damage to the trench fortification area, as long as the personnel concealed and hid in time If it is appropriate, the air strike cannot form a fatal blow to the Ukrainian National Army hiding in the anti-gun shelter.

The coalition air force's air strikes are the defenders' central artillery cluster positions that are most threatened. Although the first line of defense north of Kharkov is known as an impenetrable trench and fortification zone, it is by no means the Siegfried line of defense. The completed permanent fortifications are nothing more than semi-permanent field fortifications built with logs and I-beams.

The positions of the four artillery regiments of the Ukrainian National Army lost more than 4 cannons in the bombardment of the coalition air force in one afternoon, because the cannons on the Zhongyang artillery positions were all arranged in the open air without steel bars Although the concrete fortress protection is covered with a large number of branches and camouflage nets, and some shelters have been built to avoid air strikes and shelling, it is by no means complete enough to push all the cannons deployed on the position to hide. degree.

In fact, on the afternoon of July 7th, the first wave of air strikes by the coalition air force dispatched more than 29 sorties, the main targets were Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk, Donetsk, Luhansk and Krasno Five nearby German field airfields and the surrounding ground anti-aircraft artillery battalion positions.

The second wave of more than 2 sorties of the coalition air force's fighter jets focused on the first fortified line of defense north of Kharkov. As far as the 120nd Division is concerned, after the second wave of fighter planes of the coalition forces flew over the battlefield, it is normal to push heavy machine guns and cannons into the combat position while rescuing the wounded to prepare for the attack of the enemy's ground forces.

结果乌克兰步兵第1师、第2师依仗的zhong yang炮兵集群192门严阵以待准备给入侵者巨大杀伤的大炮，沦为了联军航空队第3波空袭的重点目标，120架战机先后投下了160颗25磅重的se5双翼战斗机搭载的航空炸弹、320颗55磅重dh4搭载的航空炸弹，以及160颗由fr18搭载的150磅重的重磅炸弹。

The 192 cannons on the central yang artillery group positions of the Ukrainian National Army lost only 640 cannons under the intensive attack of 60 aerial bombs. bomb.

For Hermann von François, switching to a German division to guard the first-line positions was tantamount to sending his direct line troops up to be bombed and shelled by air raids, and when the opponent's ground troops attacked, he was afraid that he would In addition to the role of the heavy machine guns and mortars in the trenches, the artillery group behind them may attract air strikes from the opponent as soon as they show up. The infantry's heavy machine guns + mortars against the attacking Allied forces' heavy machine guns, mortars, cannons, aerial bombs, and low-altitude sweeping jets, this battle is definitely not easy to fight, or even impossible!

Of course, the ideal situation is that the artillery positions of both sides will be protected by maximum camouflage and anti-aircraft artillery battalions, but any general will not be so arrogant that when the opponent is about to launch an attack, he will hide his cannons in the ground for concealment The former enemy whose artillery strikes later gained the advantage is that the other party's preemptive attack failed. The central artillery group positions of the Ukrainian National Army this afternoon are obviously not among the lucky ones who can strike later.

"Your Excellency, we have to exchange space for time. During positional warfare, the opponent can easily detect the position of our artillery positions. In the case of losing air supremacy, we don't even have the opportunity to engage in artillery battle with the opponent. The coalition air force will not let go." Instead of passing any chance of pre-emptive air strikes on our artillery positions, we suggest that you and your national army give up the plan to hold the positions north of Kharkov with the main force, and withdraw the troops to the ring north of Kharkov first. Come on the city defense line!"