Australian Storm 1876 - Chapter 1102

Chapter 1102 Deification

The German army on the eastern front retreated to about a hundred kilometers west of Kyiv, and merged with the Austro-Hungarian army here, forming a continuous line of defense more than 130 kilometers long and more than 40 kilometers deep.

Do it all at once, second time tired, third time exhausted.

The Armored Shock Corps of the Second Expeditionary Army had a head-to-head battle with the German Ninth Army on the defensive line in a frontal breakthrough at the end of July.

Although they broke through the front line, they had to retreat under the resolute counterattack of the German reserve forces.

This campaign

The 2nd Tank Regiment of the 302nd Armored Division (Armored Dragoon Division) suffered heavy losses and lost a total of 82 tanks including T-5 main battle tanks, auxiliary half-track tanks, more than 100 light tanks, and officers and soldiers including accompanying infantry. There were more than 6,700 casualties and an unprecedented setback.

The German casualties on the defensive line were even greater. In the **** battle for positions, the German army suffered a total of 25,700 casualties, and four genuine main German divisions were crippled.

Even so, it cannot be said that the Second Expeditionary Army won the battle.

The T-5 main battle tank is expensive, powerful in firepower and strong in defense. It is the undisputed main force of the Royal Army’s armored assault force. Whenever these “clanging” steel war monsters appear on the battlefield, the hearts of German soldiers are There will be great fear.

Unlike the huge and bulky cruise tanks in European countries, the T-5 main battle tank has strong frontal armor and can carry 76mm artillery direct fire, and its side armor can resist 37mm anti-tank shells. It has fast cross-country speed and flexible response. , is the deadly nemesis of the German heavy fire positions.

And the bulky British tanks or German tanks, using 37mm anti-tank guns, can easily penetrate the frontal armor, which has been proved to be extremely poor in battlefield survivability, and the two are not the same.

In the battle to break through the German lines

The Second Tank Regiment was hit hard by German artillery fire, and then the German army entered the reserve and launched a resolute counterattack, regaining the lost front-line positions.

The attempted attack aroused great concern from the Second Army Headquarters and immediately called off the next combat operation.

After analysis, we came to the conclusion that this battle was lost;

As the Germans moved closer to the main positions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, they quickly received a large number of artillery equipment from the other side.

After the    expeditionary force’s successive victories, it became paralyzed, underestimated the enemy, and stepped into the trap of the Germans.

As the best army unit in the world, German officers and soldiers are very adaptable to war.

The German Eastern Front Corps repeatedly suffered big losses in aerial bombing, and immediately strengthened air defense operations and troop concealment measures, woven straw hats and camouflaged straw curtains, and created a lot of fake artillery positions.

To defend against air raids

The German trenches were built into a “w” tortuous shape, which enhanced concealment, enhanced the setting of infantry anti-gun holes, strengthened the establishment of anti-aircraft anti-aircraft machine gun positions, strengthened the command of air operations, and adopted various measures to pose a serious threat to aerial bombardment.

After a series of contests, the number of offensive routes of the Imperial Expeditionary Army’s armored assault troops has been roughly figured out by the German troops, and targeted deployments have been made. Break the purpose.

In fact, this joint breakthrough failed.

Even if you take the lives of 200 German soldiers, you will not be able to get a T-5 tank. With the strong financial resources of the Ocean Empire, only one tank armored division is built a year.

Before the war broke out

The Ocean Empire took more than 10 years to build 6 fully-staffed tank and armored divisions. The huge equipment cost of each tank and armored division was enough to build two state-of-the-art 46,000-ton “Duke” class battleships.

Look around the world

The Ocean Empire has the strongest tank armor, the tank division is large, and its combat effectiveness is strong, and it can even control the local battle situation.

Today there are three Ocean Empire tank divisions on the European battlefield, two on the western front and one on the eastern front.

Of the three remaining armored divisions, one was stationed in the Republic of Virginia, one in the North American Territory of Utah, and one in the mainland.

After the war broke out

The Ocean Empire has successively formed 4 armored divisions, namely the Royal Praetorian Guards 1st Armored Division, the 5th Armored Division, the Royal Army 307th Division, 308th Division…

Therefore, the armored dragoon division is the ace in the hands of the 2nd Expeditionary Army, the only tank division, and also the ace of General Duan Qixiang and Lieutenant General Wu Baoli. The loss of the 2nd Tank Regiment made their heartache.

After repeated blows, the total number of German troops was about 350,000.

Because the German army and the Austro-Hungarian army were close together, forming a back-to-back situation, heavy troops gathered, and the style of play was more cunning and changeable, which made Admiral Duan Qixiang very difficult.

The heavy artillery that the German army had lost completely could be obtained from the friendly army, which quickly restored more than 80% of its combat effectiveness.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire has a good industrial strength, and the artillery and heavy machine guns equipped by the army are of high quality, especially the Mannlicher rifle and the advanced VZ14 149mm howitzer.

Austro-Hungarian soldiers were equipped with Mannlicher rifles, which appeared 3 years earlier than Mauser 1898 rifles, and their overall performance was better than Mauser rifles.

This rifle has a simple design, light weight, and can fire different types of bullets. The caliber of the bullet used is larger than that of the Mauser rifle, so the Mannlicher rifle is more powerful.

Mannlicher Rifle and Mauser 1898 are also known as “the two ace firearms of the bolt-action rifle family”, and the design is very classic.

In addition to the first-class performance of standard rifles, the Austro-Hungarian Empire also has a high level of artillery research and development. In particular, the Skoda Arsenal, which ranks second in the world, launched a 149mm howitzer called VZ14 in 1914. It has very advanced performance and is the main heavy artillery in the Austro-Hungarian army, with a considerable amount of equipment.

The total combat weight of this gun is less than 3 tons, and the barrel can be removed from the gun mount when marching. After being broken down into two parts, each part can be transported by horses.

If there are imported heavy trucks, only one truck can transport a gun to the front line.

When the second tank regiment under the armored 302nd division (dragon cavalry division) was attacking, it unfortunately encountered a VZ14 149mm heavy artillery regiment hidden behind the second-line position by the Germans. Under the fierce bombardment of 48 heavy artillery, the second tank The regiment was drowned in a sea of ​​fire…

Facing the bombardment of 149mm large-caliber heavy artillery, the thick front armor of the T-5 was broken like a paper, and it was reduced to charred scrap iron in a blink of an eye. Pile of scrap iron on the battlefield of more than ten square kilometers.

The aircraft group hovering in the sky was found to be bad, but unfortunately it was too late. Only through crazy attacks and repeated bombings, the German 149mm heavy artillery regiment was completely destroyed.

Same weapon

In the hands of the Austro-Hungarian army and the German army, it is completely different performance.

The soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were equipped with the most advanced weapons in the world, but their performance was unbearable. At the beginning of the world war, they were beaten by the Serbs, throwing away their armor and rubbing against the ground.

The more than one million Austro-Hungarian troops gathered on the battlefield of the western front of Kyiv belonged to more than 20 different ethnic groups. The commanders of the troops issued orders in more than a dozen languages. It is conceivable how inefficient it is.

The German army was different. After getting the VZ14 149mm heavy artillery, it immediately dealt a heavy blow to the armored corps of the Ocean Empire Expeditionary Force, showing a strong ability to adapt to the battlefield.

In view of this

Admiral Duan Qixiang adopted the combat plan drawn up by the Group Army Staff Department after holding a high-level military meeting of the Group Army;

That is to change the tactics of attacking the German positions frontally, and instead focus on breaking through the front of the West Austro-Hungarian army in Kyiv, driving the fleeing Austro-Hungarian soldiers, and attacking the German positions…

The persimmons need to be picked up softly, after 6 days of preparation

August 4th

Under the bombardment of artillery and the impact of the two leading armored tank battalions, the 2nd Expeditionary Army broke through the front line of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and carried out a large-scale smash…drive, and then break…then drive away tactics.

610,000 Belarusian troops cooperated with more than 100,000 expeditionary soldiers to smash the frontal defense line of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in one fell swoop. Triggered a large-scale rout of the Austro-Hungarian army.

see this scene

Admiral Reinhardt, commander of the German Eastern Front Corps, cunningly led the Austro-Hungarian troops into the German defense line, ordered them to defend the front line, and then led the remaining German troops to retreat quickly, leaving allies behind.

The melee continued for a week

Fewer than 400,000 Austro-Hungarian soldiers were able to escape into the Balkan Mountains, with more than 120,000 casualties, more than 70,000 missing, and more than 410,000 captured.

The German Eastern Front Corps had been retreating for 11 consecutive days without the knowledge of its allies. During the rout, the Austro-Hungarian soldiers were constantly mobilized to block the front. Only when it was compelled to use a small number of German troops to block the chasing troops, there were 31 in the end. Wan De’s army retreated into the Balkan mountains.

The Battle of the Eastern Front has come to an end

The Second Army of the Imperial Expedition severely damaged the German Fifth and Ninth Army, and commanded a million White Russian vassals to win a glorious victory in the Battle of Western Ukraine.

The number of captured German officers and soldiers alone was as high as 162,000 people, and more than 400,000 Austro-Hungarian troops were captured. The Germans who fought in this war did not dare to look east, and basically gave up their attempt to occupy Western Ukraine.

But you must see that in the entire vast eastern European region, from Lithuania to Poland, from Courland, Livland and Estland, as well as Finland and the Åland Islands, there are more than 900,000 German troops. The Austro-Hungarian Empire still has more than 2.3 million troops, and its overall strength is still dominant.

The 2nd Army experienced this battle, and the Royal Army had more than 73,600 casualties, including nearly 200,000 Belarusian soldiers, and had to enter a long-term rest and recovery phase.

This Western Ukraine campaign was also the last large-scale battle on the entire Eastern Front.

Until the end of the world war, in the entire Eastern European region, there has never been a battle of more than 50,000 people, only some sporadic conflicts or small-scale battles with more than 100 casualties.

The 2nd Army Group used a hearty victory to establish the dominant position of Western Ukraine. Since then, it has been in Crimea for 26 years, and no one has dared to challenge it.

Its illustrious name was established in the summer of 2018.

(end of this chapter)