Beiyang 1917

()1918年7月30ri16：15哈尔科夫城北战场

Simon Petliura, Prime Minister of the Ruling Cabinet of Ukraine, Minister of Defense and Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian National Army, was secretly delighted that he had escaped the ground dive attack of the coalition SE5 fighter jets, 5 or 6 kilometers away from the north of the city Suddenly there was the sound of rumbling guns, and without a telescope, you could see the artillery shells of the coalition forces roaring towards the city of Kharkov.

When Petliura and von Neuhaus saw this, their faces changed drastically, and the entire German-Ukrainian coalition headquarters became a mess. Several inexperienced Ukrainian staff officers even lay down on the ground in a panic, hugging their heads. The German major general Sven von Neuhaus stared at the observation window on the north side of the bunker with his legs apart, gritted his teeth and shouted,...

"Why are you panicking? The target of the other side's shelling is the artillery position in our city!" Before the words fell, a row of artillery shells roared past the three-story stone building of the frontline headquarters of the German-Ukrainian coalition forces. The city 2 to 300 meters away behind the body exploded into one piece, and the sound of huge explosions continued for more than 10 seconds before stopping.

Here, Simon Petliura was both surprised and happy. What surprised him was that the artillery of the coalition forces finally arrived on the battlefield and launched an artillery bombardment on Kharkov. What made him happy was that the artillery that exploded on the ground was all from Ukraine just now. The artillery positions of the two 75mm Krupp field artillery companies of the Volunteer Infantry Division, and just 2 minutes ago, the artillery of these two companies of their own had already used all their strength to brave the dive of the fighter jets of the Allied Air Forces in the sky Sweep and move the concealed artillery positions.

"Reporting to the division commander, the commander of the artillery battalion, Major Dennis Auger, reported that the position of the artillery positions of the coalition forces has been determined. The opponent who fired just now is probably the strength of 2 12mm field guns from two artillery companies. Does the artillery battalion ask for instructions to fire?! They are sure Completely destroy the opponent's two artillery companies in 75 rounds of unison!" The phone ringing one after another in the front command headquarters, and a German captain and staff officer reported loudly while covering the microphone. ..

"Fire! Of course fire! Can't wait for this moment, Your Excellency, my artillery company is still desperately shifting positions. It's too late to hide from the enemy's shelling, but I'm going to show off by pointing at your 150mm heavy field howitzer The Prime Minister of Ukraine grabbed the arm of Major General von Neuhaus with a look of excitement. When the coalition forces suddenly shelled just now, all the Ukrainians in the frontline headquarters of the German-Ukrainian coalition forces were not scared to the ground, and only Simon was left. Petliura himself, while von Neuhaus and his German staff officers were obviously much calmer.

At this moment, the second wave of artillery shells from the coalition artillery positions a few kilometers away roared and smashed over. It exploded in the city of Kharkov. Many buildings and houses were hit by shelling, and some buildings caught fire. And collapsed, a Ukrainian staff officer rushed into the headquarters with a face full of smoke, and reported out of breath,

"The 1st Artillery Company lost a cannon, the 2nd Artillery Company lost 2 guns, the Volunteer 1st Division Infantry 2nd Brigade lost 2 companies, the enemy artillery's extended shot to the wings was too fast, and the streets were crowded again Narrow, the artillery and troops have no time to move!"

"If it's too late, we have to continue to move! Send my order to ask the infantry of the 2nd Volunteer Brigade to go to the street to help push and pull the cannons of the artillery company. We must hurry up and move the artillery to the backup position!" Simon Petliura was almost He jumped and shouted at the Ukrainian combat staff officer at the door.

Then the Ukrainian Prime Minister turned his head and grabbed von Neuhaus's arm and said anxiously, "Why are you still hesitating? My Excellency, General, quickly order your heavy field howitzers to fire. Didn't your artillery battalion commander also say that?" , the opponent only has 2 artillery companies, and the heavy artillery shells from one of our artillery battalions hit it. The opponent is not an opponent at all. We can kill the opponent's artillery position with three strikes, five divisions and two divisions. Next, it's time for our artillery to clean up the opponent's infantry group. You Look, the enemy's attack on the right flank has already reached within 1000 meters, and it will be too late if we don't fire!"

After a little hesitation, von Neuhaus finally made a decision. He waved his hand at the German captain and said, "Order the 1st Company of the Medium Artillery Battalion to fire. Only the 1st Company is allowed to fire, and the heavy artillery from the 2nd and 3rd Companies are not allowed to fire." To expose the target, ask Major Auger to first suppress the firepower of the opponent's two 75mm field artillery companies. After firing for 3 minutes, he must move his position as soon as possible, and order the 2nd and 3rd companies of the anti-aircraft guns to pay attention to covering the artillery. position!"

Although the German captain and staff officer was a little puzzled when he heard the words, he still conveyed the order meticulously. After a while, four 2mm heavy field howitzers scattered over 4 square kilometers in the city of Kharkov roared one after another, one after another. The high-explosive grenade weighing 150 kilograms roared towards the coalition artillery position 42 kilometers north of Kharkov amidst the dull and violent shelling, and immediately suppressed the opponent's two 6mm field artillery batteries. The firepower of 2 75mm field guns.

The opponent's artillery company did not even have time to adjust the position of the muzzle to fight back. At least 4 guns were bombarded by the German heavy field howitzers and lost their combat effectiveness!

The remaining 5 cannons of the field artillery companies of the two volunteer divisions in Kharkov were moved to an open space in the Fountain Square in the north of the city. Fortunately, after I escaped the bombardment of the opponent, I took the time to rearrange the artillery positions and adjust the azimuth and angle of the cannons, preparing to join the bombardment of the coalition artillery positions.

"Your Excellency, Major General, now we have finally seized a chance to attack later. Listen, the other party was still firing 12 cannons just now, but now they have been silenced by 4, no, no, 5, no, no, 6 The opponent has already lost at least one artillery company. I didn’t expect you to use only one artillery company and 4 heavy artillery to fight so chicly and beautifully. If I had known that we would open fire early in the morning, the infantry battalions of the opponent’s attack would have been blown up. People can't turn their backs on their backs!"

The prime minister of the Ukrainian cabinet and a group of Ukrainian staff officers gathered around the observation window were elated. Obviously, the accurate and effective shelling of the German heavy artillery made the Ukrainian troops on the defensive side feel for the first time that they had a chance to win the battle. Pei While touting the excellent shooting level of the German artillery, Telura urged von Neuhaus to put the remaining 2 heavy artillery and 8 150mm howitzers into battle with a shy face.