Iron Cross Fire

After the enemy's two battalions were annihilated, Kuster ordered the troops to launch a countercharge.

He did not intend to use artillery fire to bombard the defenses, as this would alert the Russians and they did not have enough artillery shells.

Therefore, Kuster ordered an elite company to cross the river, try to penetrate into the Russian position, and dismantle the barbed wire in front of the position to ensure the safety of the entire river crossing.

The operation began quickly, and the soldiers of the two companies took advantage of the darkness to quickly lay out the tools for crossing the river. Before leaving, their commander looked back at Kuster.

"I wish you good luck." Under Kuster's salute, the company gradually faded into darkness.

After there was no more light shining on the black and red river, Kuster rolled up his sleeves and looked at his watch.

It is now 11 o'clock at night, and it is estimated that it will take 5 minutes for the four battalions to arrive, and it will take at least 20 minutes for them to cross the river.

Kuster hoped to form an east-west pincer attack with Gerstoli on the remaining two battalions of the R2 Division before 1 a.m. After the R2 division is completely eliminated, they will concentrate the strength of 7 battalions, maneuver to the side of R1, continue to penetrate deeper, wait for opportunities to isolate various Russian troops, and try to find and destroy the Russian command system.

Once the gunfire sounds, the three battalions to the east will hold back the enemy on the right wing. They will use the river and corpses to fight the enemy, but it is estimated that they can only hold on for more than ten hours.

Therefore, Kuster must end his attack on the enemies on the left before September 9.

After finishing his thinking, Kuster said to the wheat field beside him:

"When the four battalions arrive here, don't let them stop, but immediately carry out a full-scale crossing of the river. They don't have to worry about the Russian army. As you just saw, I have already deployed a company on the other side."

"However, it is already late at night, and apart from sporadic gunfire, there is no large-scale firefight on the battlefield. All divisions on the battlefield are repairing. If we launch an attack brazenly, we will not have any friendly forces coming to support us.

And it would not be good if the Russians were alerted - you know, we have just defeated 2 battalions, and the remaining deserters will definitely be wary. "

Kuster didn't like hearing such words. He grabbed Wheatfield's collar and said angrily and crazily:

"You have to know that on the entire battlefield, our division is the most promising to break through! So we don't need the help of friendly forces at all, but we go to help friendly forces.

The time with the best chance of breakthrough is now! The two Russian battalions on the other side were defeated, which means that no Russian army can stop us in our 3-kilometer-wide front to the north! "

Wheatfield was stunned by Kuster's roar, but fortunately the four battalions had arrived, so Kuster stopped arguing with him and turned around to order them to cross the river immediately. Although some of them were not satisfied, they had no choice but to endure it.

Time soon came to 12 o'clock at night, and Kuster's four battalions had gradually separated the R2 Division.

Kuster sent another telegram to Gerstoli, hoping that he would send a battalion to cooperate with them to form a siege.

But he told Kuster that the Russian attack on the bridgehead from the west was so violent that almost all the troops were committed to the battlefield. Therefore, he could only devote his only reserve company to the east to cooperate with Kuster.

Kuster did not hesitate. After throwing 200 artillery shells into the Russian position, he quickly launched a charge.

Within 20 minutes, the Russian position was completely destroyed and the entire R2 Division (24th Infantry Division) was wiped out.

Kuster once again ordered his four slightly damaged battalions to go deep into the rear of the R1 Division, try to find the headquarters and artillery positions of the R1 Division, and try to cooperate with the A1 Division to form an encirclement.

At the same time, the artillery was ordered to conduct a 10-minute saturation bombardment on the R3 Division to the east to support the attack of the right army and seize a better position to defend the Russians.

Under surprise attack and artillery fire, a battalion of the R3 Division collapsed, and the fortifications there were captured by a battalion deployed by Kuster to the east.

Currently, one battalion of Kuster in the east is defending on the north bank, while the other two battalions are protecting the flanks on the south bank and also serve as a reserve force. They promised Custer not to advance further but to hold their ground.

To the west, all seven of Kuster's battalions advanced to the flank of the R1 Division. And there are still 4 battalions that continue to penetrate deep into its interior, concentrating their forces to eliminate their various reserve battalions.

It was not until 2 a.m. that other troops learned of Kuster's breakthrough. All division commanders woke up from their sleep and quickly mobilized their troops, thus changing the battlefield situation.

The R2 Division Headquarters immediately withdrew from the battlefield. The R1 Division quickly withdrew several battalions on the shore and immediately began to build a defensive line. The R3 Division launched a fierce attack on Kuster's three battalions in the east, but with the resistance of the soldiers and the assistance of artillery fire, the results were not great. R4 transferred 2 battalions to support the R3 Division, and the remaining troops waited until dawn before crossing the river to attack.

The A1 Division used artillery to carry out carpet bombing on the north bank to slow down the retreat of the Russian troops on the other side. At the same time, it maneuvered the two battalions that had previously agreed to Kuster through friendly bridges. The A3 Division made no move and still maintained its confrontation with the R4 Division.

At 3 o'clock in the morning, the Russian army still had 5 battalions in the west to defend against Kuster's attack in the east, and 4 battalions to defend against the attack in the south. The remaining battalions were annihilated.

The Russian army has the advantage in the east, with more than 25 battalions of troops, enough to tear down any defense line.

In contrast, the Austrian army had a total of 16 battalions in the west that could launch a joint attack, but in the east there were less than 13 battalions due to battle damage.

As the Austrian army's attack in the west slowed down, Kuster became more and more anxious.

If they could not end the battle here quickly, their situation in the east would become worse. At this moment, the only way to quickly eliminate the Russian army was to destroy their command system.

Although the Russian regular army was very strong in individual combat, they were just a group of reckless men. They only understood the pleasure of hand-to-hand combat, but could not understand the exquisiteness of guns.

This conclusion also applies to command tactics. As long as their leaders are killed, they will be scattered and difficult to concentrate.

Therefore, Kuster immediately ordered two planes to take off and search for the Russian division headquarters within a radius of 10 kilometers.

Even though the sky was still dim, Kuster still placed his last hope on these two planes. As long as they found the Russian headquarters, Kuster would rush over with several cavalry companies around him.

After sending off the two planes, Kuster sat uneasily in the headquarters, spending every second like a year.

At 4 a.m., Kuster heard a faint roar in the sky in the distance and immediately ran out, watching the damaged biplane slowly flying towards him.

Dragged by a group of infantrymen, the plane successfully landed on the grass. The pilot jumped out of the cockpit and said to Kuster with a bloody face:

"My general! The Russian headquarters is 6 kilometers northwest of us, and they probably have less than 1 company of troops."

"Very good, you should go and rest."

Kust said kindly to the pilot, and then shouted behind him:

"My children! Hurry up and ride on your horses, follow me to hunt the Russians!"

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