Beiyang 1917

() What makes von Neuhaus aggrieved is that because this guy was stubborn to take down the outpost of the Japanese army before, this caused the divisional reconnaissance battalion and the 1st infantry battalion to be stranded on the outpost of the Japanese army, resulting in Being covered by the 150mm heavy artillery fire of the Japanese army caused heavy casualties. Otherwise, his battle damage rate would be only two-thirds of the casualties of the Japanese army.

This is also an important reason why the midnight combat review meeting of the German-Ukrainian coalition forces was held until 2 o'clock in the morning. Simon Petliura saw hope from the night attack, because an infantry regiment of the German army was very powerful in advancing and retreating in the coalition positions. This guy proposed to simply transfer the other two infantry regiments of von Neuhaus's 47th Reserve Infantry Division back to Kharkov. Not only will this not only protect the city without worry, but if they concentrate their forces to fight back, they can break the enemy's attack. The blockade and siege of the north of the city. . .

The commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian National Army is self-aware. His volunteer division hides in the trenches and guards the established positions. He can barely rely on defending his home and country to defend his hometown of Kharkov to boost morale and maintain the front line. , This guy feels that there is no chance of winning. In fact, the 13th Federal Infantry Division of the Allied Forces invested two regiments in the attack yesterday afternoon. If it was not for the lack of artillery support, it might have attacked the position at that time.

In response to the request made by Simon Petliura, the former commander-in-chief of the German-Ukrainian coalition forces, von François, was also a little moved. The commander of the 29th Army of the German Reserve Infantry, the famous God of War in the Battle of Tannenberg on the Eastern Front of the European War , in his bones, he advocates offense rather than defense. Of course, Admiral von François's goal is the 4th Japanese Cavalry Regiment operating in the west of the city. If we encircle and annihilate the Japanese cavalry regiment on the western front, the current passive situation will be greatly changed! . .

However, Major General Sven von Neuhaus, the deputy chief of staff of the former enemy headquarters of the German-Ukrainian Allied Forces and the commander of the 47th Division of the German Reserve Infantry who was actually in charge of commanding Kharkov's front-line operations, did not agree with this idea. Come on, the air attack of the coalition air force will still be the biggest threat the next day, and the power of the strengthened coalition artillery should not be underestimated. Unwise!

On the contrary, von Neuhaus believes that the German-Ukrainian coalition forces defending Kharkov at this moment are not too few, but too many. In the artillery battle last night, the Japanese artillery has broken the precedent of not attacking urban buildings, and the coalition forces yesterday afternoon Although the air force is only the SE5 fighter squadron, it has already started to attack the German artillery positions and anti-aircraft artillery positions in Kharkov. The coalition bomber force will once again become a terrible cloud over Kharkov.

In the face of the three-dimensional attack of the coalition air-ground coordinated infantry and artillery, the more troops on the front line, the better. Von Neuhaus believes that the defense line around the city in the north of the city will be the focus of the enemy's attack. Of course, the strength of the position is still limited. Guaranteed, even if it is not as good as the trenches and fortifications on the northwest border of Kharkov, it is much stronger than ordinary city defenses.

Since the German Air Force will be able to make a comeback as soon as the third day, that is, August 1918, 8, and compete with the Allied Air Forces for air supremacy in Eastern Ukraine, von Neuhaus suggested that the German-Ukrainian Allied Forces counterattack should be coordinated with Germany. He persuaded the former enemy commander-in-chief, Admiral von François, to survive the long July 1st only with the existing troops in Kharkov, and wait until nightfall to continue the night. The cover brought back the main force of the German 7th Infantry Division, and at the same time brought back the main force of the artillery regiment of the 31th Infantry Division to start a partial counterattack on August 47.

The preferred target of the German-Ukrainian counterattack is not the 4th Japanese Cavalry Regiment galloping between the West Lopan River and the Yudi River in Kharkov City, but the Japanese Army that may appear in a detour in the east of Kharkov City. One point, von Neuhaus had an inexplicable hunch that since the opponent had sent a Japanese cavalry regiment on his left wing to detour and harass, the opponent would not ignore the Kharkov forest area on the right wing.

The 3rd and 4th Ukrainian Infantry Divisions evacuated and retreated fifteen kilometers east of the city. In addition to using the cover of the forest to evade and weaken the advantage of the coalition air force, they were also preparing to shut down the troops that were outflanking and turning around from the right wing of the coalition forces. Arranged counterattack traps.

Simon Petliura couldn't hold back von Neuhaus, and von François, the former enemy commander-in-chief of the German-Ukrainian coalition, was finally persuaded by the German major general. Von Neuhaus and Simon Petliura were reported when the bridge was built upstream.

Although you can't see clearly with binoculars in the frontline headquarters, according to the report of the observation post at the forefront of the circular defense line, the designations of the Japanese troops who built a bridge and crossed the river a few kilometers away are the 23rd Infantry Brigade and the Chinese Armored Forces .

Simon Petliura clamored to move the evacuated and concealed artillery in Kharkov to the northeast corner. As long as the cannons can be pushed behind the circular position, the range will be able to hit the pontoon bridge added by the opponent, but this seems to be The aggressive idea was categorically rejected by von Neuhaus for a simple reason,

"The artillery fire of the Japanese army in front of us has surpassed the artillery units in Kharkov in terms of range and power, not to mention the five German 5mm heavy field howitzers and 150mm light field howitzers in Kharkov at the moment. The Rupp Field Artillery Battalion has once again been dismantled and deployed in the central and southern districts of Kharkov in a concealed manner. At this time, if they move forward in a hurry, the Allied forces will surely discover the movement. When you are ready, you must be taken away by the enemy!"

Just like this, I watched the Japanese army engineers build a bridge over the Kharkov River. In less than an hour, the continuous stream of Japanese troops in the telescope of the observation post on the forward position actually began to line up After crossing the river, a series of reports came back. Although the frontline command here has issued additional orders to the 3rd and 4th Ukrainian Infantry Divisions in the forest [-] kilometers east of the city, asking them not to startle the enemy, hold their current positions, and let them cross the river. The detoured Japanese army went to surround the east and south of the city, and waited for the German front enemy headquarters to unify the command of the counterattack.

But Simon Petliura was not at ease in his heart!