Beiyang 1917

()1918年7月30ri??10：30哈尔科夫东北十五公里处哈尔科夫河畔森林乌克兰步兵第1师师部

"Report to the division commander, Levchenko, the battalion commander of the cavalry reconnaissance battalion, is back, and there is only one cavalry company left beside him, and most of them are still wounded!" Konstantin, chief of staff of the 1st Ukrainian Infantry Division Konstantinovich Kravshenko hurried into the division headquarters.

The division commander Artem Flodimirovich Milevsky, who was squinting on the camp bed to catch up on his sleep and enjoyed the leg-knocking massage of the orderlies, lost his color when he heard this, and turned over to get up. However, the canvas camp bed was not built firmly, and the whole person and the bed stepped on it. When the orderly and Kravshenko hurriedly helped their division commander up and took a look, there was a piece of oily skin on his forehead. ,

An hour ago, he sent the cavalry reconnaissance battalion of the 1st Infantry Division to search northward. At the same time, he sent the engineer battalion to the south of the Kharkov River and the river section where the 2nd Infantry Division handed over to start erecting a pontoon bridge. The river Trent is fast and deep, and the pontoon bridge has not been erected for a long time, and Levchenko's cavalry scout battalion went out soon after gunshots broke out. Milevsky was very scared at first, so he quickly ordered his troops The orderly took two orderlies to inquire about the situation.

Fortunately, Levchenko's orderlies soon returned with Milevsky's orderlies and servants. They said that the cavalry reconnaissance battalion encountered a reconnaissance squad on the west side of the forest road 800 meters in front of the right-wing position. The attack is now encircling and attacking, and will soon wipe out this group of coalition reconnaissance forces!

The division commander Milevsky and the chief of staff Kravshenko were relieved when they heard the news. Although it is bad news that the enemy has caught up, the opponent only has the size of an infantry reconnaissance squad. Obviously, the Chinese armored forces are still far away. Far away, maybe the Japanese troops did not appear in the forest area on the banks of the Kharkov River at all. Milevsky certainly did not believe that his elite division cavalry reconnaissance battalion No. 560 could not deal with the opponent's squad-level reconnaissance troops. Of course reinforcements are not needed. Levchenko commanding a battalion should wipe out the opponent!

Although the chief of staff of the division, Kravshenko, was uneasy, it can be seen that the division commander did not look worried at all, and this guy was not too timid. At that time, he just asked cautiously,

"Master, do we want to reinforce Levchenko? This is a forest and shrubbery area, and there are water ponds and dry river ditches everywhere. Levchenko's cavalry is not as good as the infantry when it leaves the road! Transfer the 1st Infantry Regiment How about going to a battalion for reinforcements?"

"Joke! I said Chief of Staff, are you frightened by the offensive of the coalition forces? Levchenko's cavalry battalion is full of old guerrillas and Cossacks of the Ukrainian National Army. A battalion of 560 people can't beat the opponent's reconnaissance Ban needs reinforcements? You can say this, but can this kid Levchenko say it?

Forests, swamps, bushes, he won't dismount to fight?He doesn't know how to fight after getting off the horse?No reinforcements are allowed. Maybe the enemy's scouts just discovered the Levchenko Cavalry Battalion on the main road, but they haven't found the location of the main force of our division. The position of the main force of the division is undoubtedly exposed. What should we do if an air strike from the coalition air force is attracted? "

At that time, the division commander Milevsky denied the chief of staff's suggestion of reinforcements, but only ordered the 1st Infantry Regiment position closest to the battle between the two sides to pay attention to vigilance and observation. The reconnaissance battalion on the main road had already exchanged fire with the reconnaissance troops of the Allied Forces. In order not to expose the target, the artillery of the artillery regiment drove along the small road to the main road and then moved to the position of the 2nd Infantry Division in the south, and then entered the bridge. Otherwise, the movement of the artillery regiment to move its position is simply to tell the enemy scouts the position of their main force.

Therefore, while the engineering battalion of the 1st Infantry Division tried their best to build a bridge as soon as possible, they had to open up a sidewalk along the river from the artillery position on the Kharkov River, and at the same time, they could directly drag 4 by truck along the sidewalk. The cannons of the artillery battalion moved south. In the end, Kravshenko, the chief of staff of the division, felt that this was a waste of time, so he came up with an idea to build a pontoon bridge to cross the river on the east side of the artillery position of the 1st Infantry Division. Why build sidewalks, and although the river is much wider in this section of the river, the flow rate of the river is much slower than that of the 2nd Infantry Division where the bridge is built, and the difficulty of building the bridge is even lower.

The division commander Milevsky nodded realistically when he heard the words, and then he was stunned again, "Chief of Staff, if we don't build shortcuts, wouldn't the artillery regiment of the 2nd Infantry Division not be able to come? Could it be that only our artillery Withdraw across the river, leaving the artillery of the 2nd Infantry Division on the left bank of the Kharkov River?"

"No, Commander, ask the engineer battalion of the 2nd Infantry Division to continue to build bridges at the position where we built the bridge before. Our two divisions will go forward and build two bridges. There will be much more room for maneuver. If it is not for fear of delaying the retreat, we should even Destroy all the northern section of the forest road, but at any rate, we have to wait for Levchenko to expel or eat the scouts infiltrated by the other party!" Kravshenko, chief of staff of the division, obviously had a good idea.

The security of the artillery positions of the 1st Ukrainian Infantry Division was further strengthened, and the engineer battalion also turned back and began to prepare to build a bridge behind the artillery positions of the 1st Infantry Division. What is annoying is that Levchenko's cavalry battalion fought for a long time. The reconnaissance troops of the Allied Forces were not able to be dealt with. In the end, it cost almost half a company to drive a platoon of scouts from the identified enemy away from the original position, and the gunfire gradually faded away.

The position of Milevsky’s 1st Ukrainian Infantry Division has a depth of nearly 3500 meters from east to west and a width of 4500 meters from left to right. In fact, his division headquarters is on the west side of the artillery regiment, so this division headquarters is far from Levchenko The battle position of the cavalry battalion and the company led by Tao Dayong was almost 3000 meters above, so this guy listened to the intermittent gunfire 3 kilometers away, and his heart was no different from Lu Huanyan, the commander of the Chinese Armored Regiment of the Allied Forces How much, it is also ups and downs and restless.

After all, the gunfire from the northwest gradually subsided. This guy thought that Levchenko's cavalry battalion had finally fulfilled his mission and drove out the opponent's scouts. This guy no longer expected to wipe out the opponent, even if he could capture a few prisoners. It's okay to interrogate, but an hour has passed, and the pontoon bridge built by the engineer battalion on the river bank behind the artillery position has not reached the middle of the river.