Beiyang 1917

() Li Shang in the front and Muto in the back both know that if you can't clean up the German armored train on the south line of the Lopan River Bridge, trying to attack and take down the Lopan River Bridge alone will be nothing but rootless duckweed... You're welcome Said that the armored troops that Li Shang put into the attack were just a decoy, the purpose was to attract the German armored train to the vicinity of the Lopan River Bridge, and then use the counterattack of 8 105mm light howitzers under the jurisdiction of Wu Keren's Du Li Artillery Battalion to eat it The opponent's armored train!

Of course, whether the remaining 8 light howitzers of the coalition forces can eat the opponent's armored train is not enough. Compared with the number and caliber of the artillery, an iron armored train of the German army is equipped with 8 105mm howitzers and 2 150mm heavy howitzers ... This is more and stronger than Wu Keren's artillery. ..

The only advantage of Wu Keren's artillery is that he can arrange his artillery positions in relatively dispersed and flexible positions, unlike the German armored trains that can only move along the railway line. It is for this reason that Wu Keren dared to increase the number of artillery In only half of the opponent's situation, they took the lead in firing at the Lopan River Bridge position under the risk of being preemptive.

Knowing that their attacking troops were the bait, both Li Shang and Guzhuang Qianlang focused their attention on the movement of the German armored train south of the bridgehead of the Lopan River, instead of the silent Lopan River bridge position...

When the 3rd Armored Company leading the battle entered the front less than 500 meters away from the Lopan River Bridge position, the artillery fire from 6 kilometers behind the Allied Forces finally stopped... and the smoke released by the 4th Armored Company along the river was the battlefield. Added a fire to the eerie atmosphere.....

In fact, the German armored train did not appear on the south bank of the Lopan River until the artillery at the rear of the coalition forces stopped firing on all fronts... This made Li Shang, who was commanding the front-line offensive, feel a little uneasy, but It also relieved Wu Keren, who directed the artillery in the rear for fire support, at least he still had time to further shift his artillery position. In fact, this guy put eight 8mm German-made light howitzers in a formation like plum blossom piles .

The distance between each artillery position was extended to 500 meters by Wu Keren, and the area of ​​his 8 artillery positions exceeded 4 square kilometers, and all wired telephones were connected to the positions for unified command and shooting. This is Wu Keren on his own side. The firepower is not as good as the opponent's armored train, and the helpless move taken when they had to take the lead in bombarding the German positions on the Lopan River Bridge is similar to the German Major General von Neuhaus who scattered the German 150mm heavy artillery in the city of Kharkov. The same is true.

It is also because of this that Lieutenant Colonel von Rundstedt commanded the 5nd Detachment of the 1st Detachment of the German Armored Train cruising 2 kilometers south of the Lopan River Bridge in Kharkov. Major General von Neuhaus, as the commander-in-chief of the former enemy headquarters of the German-Ukrainian coalition forces on the Kharkov battlefield, strictly ordered that the artillery fire on the armored trains not to open fire on the coalition armored forces attacking the bridge without authorization, which made von Rundstedt There are only two tasks left for the armored train detachment 1 and detachment 2 under the command of the lieutenant colonel:

[-]. Protect the railway line south of the bridge, and prepare to receive reinforcements. The main force of the German army gets off the train and expands its position.

Second, look for opportunities to destroy the artillery positions behind the coalition forces

Lieutenant Colonel von Rundstedt certainly understands that the commander of the 47th Reserve Infantry Division is afraid that his artillery firepower will be too sharp, so that he will scare the attacking troops of the Muto brigade back before the main reinforcements of the German army arrive... An armored company with 10 wheeled armored combat vehicles plus an accompanying attack from a Japanese infantry squadron, even if the armored train does not impose a slow hand, the 139th German Infantry Regiment guarding the Lopan River Bridge can still beat the opponent back...

Of course, the 139th Infantry Regiment is not invulnerable. It is obviously impossible to repel the attack of the Allied Armored Forces against the repeated bombardment of the Allied 105mm light howitzers. Today, four years after the European War, he died on the battlefield. More than 70% of the soldiers on both sides were killed by the opponent's artillery fire, followed by machine gun fire, and only a few were killed by rifles and pistols.

不过德军步兵第139团守卫大桥的两个营显然拥有较为坚固和晚辈的避弹工事，而联军的105mm火炮的炮击密度和强渡显然也有点差强人意，仔细听虽然可以分辨出至少先后有8门105mm德制轻型榴弹炮在轮番开火，但同时落在德军阵地上爆炸的炮弹顶多也就4、5发的样子……

Nearly 600 rounds of 105mm high-explosive grenades posed damage and threats to the Lopan River Bridge position, but did not damage the root cause. At most, they destroyed more than a dozen open machine gun bunkers and fortifications on the position. Destroy the bridge as the main target of the shelling, otherwise all shells should be concentrated on a certain pier...

In fact, the coalition artillery did not do this, and the German armored train did not launch an artillery attack on the attacking coalition armored forces in order to avoid making a fuss...

According to the measurement of the artillery observation post on the German armored train, the artillery position of the Muto Brigade of the Allied Forces is at least 7 kilometers away from the Lopan River Bridge, and the German armored train wants to make its artillery range enough to hide in the northeast forest area The coalition artillery positions on the edge must at least allow the armored train to drive within one kilometer to the south of the Lopan River Bridge...

This made Lieutenant Colonel von Rundstede rubbing his hands in a bit of a dilemma... Since his armored train did not fire at the attacking coalition armored forces to avoid arousing the enemy, this means that his armored train cannot easily approach the Lopan River The southern end of the bridge, otherwise once your armored train appears, it is likely to scare away the attacking troops of the coalition forces...

Lieutenant Colonel Von Rundstede felt that his cannon was completely hunting mice in a porcelain shop at the moment, a real mouse-thrower...

Since the artillery positions of the coalition forces are far away from the range and are quite scattered, once the German armored train approaches the Lopan River Bridge, the range can touch the artillery positions of the opponent, but it will not only alarm the opponent's attacking ground The armored troops were unable to knock down the scattered artillery positions of the coalition forces in one go... on the contrary, they exposed their targets to be easily eaten by the opponent...

直到下午17：30，德军铁甲第1支队1分队的那列铁甲列车还在克拉斯诺拉得河上的铁路桥附近游弋巡逻，确保运送预备步兵第140团和141团以及三个105mm榴弹炮营的火车畅通无碍的通过铁路线和桥梁抵达哈尔科夫是更为重要的任务。