Wild North America 1846

Chapter 838 A battle to set the world
1918/10/21

European Southern Front Battlefield
The dense group of bi-wing fighter jets in the sky swooped towards the German positions, like swarms of locusts, making sharp roars of fighter jets in the sky.

These fighter jets with the Tang Empire logo printed on their wings are generally equipped with a Colt 1898 air-cooled heavy machine gun, and eight iron bombs hanging from the lower part of the belly, each weighing 12.5 pounds.

These eight iron bombs are fixed on the restraint iron frame under the belly of the aircraft, and are released through the cable operating handle of the cockpit. The design is very simple and effective.

The war led to the emergence of a large number of scientific and technological inventions. Shortwave radio stations have been widely used for battlefield command, and more and more fighter jets have appeared over the battlefield.

The "Gannet" biplane fighter of the Tang Empire is famous for its thick fuselage. With its advanced high-power eight-cylinder air-cooled engine, it has the superior performance of a top speed of 210 kilometers per hour and basically dominates the battlefield skies.

Before the Southern Front Campaign was launched
The Imperial Army Air Wing of the Tang Dynasty has launched dozens of air battles, shooting down a total of 10 German-made aircraft and losing 377 of its own, achieving a superior result of 189:2.

After completely controlling the skies over the battlefield, the southern troops, which had been integrated into the 3rd Group Army of the Tang Empire Expeditionary Force, took advantage of observation balloons and reconnaissance aircraft to launch a fierce artillery bombardment against the German-Austrian forces facing them.

The fierce bombardment lasted for three days and three nights. 1372 artillery pieces poured out a total of 230 million artillery shells, destroying a large number of surface positions, solid bunkers, artillery positions and barbed wire fences of the German-Austrian Allied Forces, laying sufficient ground for a comprehensive attack on the enemy's front. Artillery preparation.

Early today
The dark group of fighter jets rushed towards the enemy's position, while the 17 officers and soldiers of the Third Army participating in the front-line attack pressed against the enemy's position like a tide.

At this time, on the German-Austrian Allied Forces' position
Seeing the massive attack of the Tang army, sharp police whistles rang out, and the dust-covered German officers shouted at the top of their lungs, urging the soldiers to quickly attack from the bomb holes and get into their respective battle positions to prepare for battle.

The war lasted until its fifth year, and the German-Austrian forces had rich experience in preventing shelling.

Faced with the one-sided artillery superiority of the Allied military group, only at the most critical moment will the most valuable vitality be invested.

Countless disgraced German-Austrian soldiers carried rifles, heavy machine guns and bullet boxes and advanced rapidly, quickly filling the dilapidated front-line positions.

in their sight

The attacking soldiers of the Tang Dynasty appeared at the end of the line of sight like a tidal wave, advancing toward the trenches with rifles in hand.

The distance is about 1500 meters to 1600 meters, and there are not many of them densely packed.

These experienced German-Austrian soldiers immediately loaded their bullets and hung their heavy machine guns on bullet-filled belts with a cruel sneer on their lips.

After being bombarded one-sidedly for so many days, the German and Austrian forces on the front line suffered tens of thousands of casualties, and everyone was holding back a bad breath.

Facing these hateful Easterners, they were prepared to teach them the bloody and cruel battlefield laws. The strong German soldiers were invincible.

at this time
The fighter jets hovering in the sky were like hungry raptors. They formed a squadron of more than a dozen and began a dive attack.

We have to admire the war wisdom of the Easterners. They are very good at taking advantage of the high-tech weapons in their hands. This is a brand-new joint air-ground strike tactic.

As soon as it appeared, the Germans suffered greatly.

One by one, squadrons of biplane fighters dived down from high altitude, and soon entered the dive line along the direction of the trenches. Then the heavy machine guns on the noses of the aircraft opened fire violently, raining death bullets on the German-Austrian forces.

During the First World War, the trenches were basically parallel to each other. The biplane fighter jets dived to a low altitude of more than 100 meters and fired violently with their heavy machine guns, setting off a bloody storm in the trenches of the German-Austrian Allied Forces.

The broken limbs and broken arms of the heavy machine gun flew up in circles, and the densely packed German and Austrian soldiers in the trenches spattered blood mist and wailed.

After diving for a while, the biplane fighter pulled up its nose and dropped 8 iron bombs at once, once again blowing up people around the trench.

One after another, the biplanes strafed and bombed at low altitudes, then raised their noses and flew into the distance, leaving behind them a wail and a mess, and there were simply heavy casualties.

This unprecedented tactic stunned the German and Austrian forces.

The biplane fighters that had strafed at low altitude flew to high altitude again, and after regrouping in the air, they returned to the rear air base in a clockwise direction.

每一架“塘鹅”双翼战斗机配备的柯尔特1898式风冷重机枪射速每分钟650发，配弹320发，并且挂在8枚12.5磅铁炸弹。

The fighter pilot held the trigger of the heavy machine gun and poured out all the ammunition in almost twenty seconds, dropping 8 iron bombs smoothly.

When all the ammunition is used up, according to the plan of the pre-war tactical deployment meeting of the air force company, after returning to high altitude, they will make a large circle in a clockwise direction and return to their respective air force bases.

Thus

In today's era of lack of effective communication and command equipment, there will be no chaos in large fleet operations.

Each fighter squadron is used as a combat unit, circling, diving, strafing, pulling up after bombing, assembling, and returning in a clockwise order...

More than 860 fighter planes in the air were the first 1-kilometer long front to torture the German-Austrian Allied Forces. They launched a one-sided massacre, and its killing efficiency far exceeded that of three days and nights of artillery bombing.

However, the infantry that originally launched an attack across the entire front stopped more than 1200 meters away from the enemy position. Many officers and soldiers were scattered around and sat down.

Obviously, this all-out attack was a guise to induce the German and Austrian forces hiding in the artillery holes to fully enter the trenches and accept a one-sided bloody baptism.

The fierce air attack lasted for more than ten minutes. The first line of the German-Austrian Allied Forces was already littered with corpses, broken limbs and wailing sounds everywhere.

The remaining German-Austrian soldiers who had a chance to escape had already hid in the shell-proof hole like frightened rabbits.

This time the German army suffered heavy losses. At least 1.7 people were killed or wounded in just ten minutes. More than a dozen artillery positions hidden in the woods and valleys in the rear were also blown up, which was like a loss to my grandma's family.

The number of Datang Empire biplane fighter jets whistling in the sky was visibly reduced, and some biplane fighters rushed to the German second-line positions to bomb and strafe, and dropped iron bombs like raindrops on the German logistics supply warehouse.

The flames caused by the explosion burned fiercely, making the battlefield a mess. Dozens and hundreds of black smoke shot straight into the sky, which looked shocking.

About 40 minutes later
The biplane fighters in the sky have become very rare. Many of them are the second round of fighters that have just arrived on the battlefield. Most of the biplane fighters that participated in the first attack have returned to the airport.

On the ground battlefield at this time
The ground trembled, and the roar of engines continued. More than 270 "Puma" medium tanks drove up along the gap left by the attacking infantry. The cold steel armor shone with cold light, making the enemy shudder.

From above

These more than 270 "Puma" medium tanks form three huge attack arrows. Each attack arrow has about 90 medium tanks, and more Gray Wolf light tanks form an armored torrent.

On such a scale, three main armored divisions launched an attack at the same time, becoming the sharp arrow of a comprehensive attack.The front of the attack is about 20 kilometers wide and is located on the left side of the entire southern battlefield.

This is the defensive zone of the 4th Army of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. As the saying goes, you have to pick the weak ones when eating persimmons. The commander of the 3rd Army of the Tang Empire Expeditionary Force obviously knows this well.

The German-Austrian Allied Forces also discovered new trends of the Tang Army on their positions, and immediately dispatched a large number of reinforcements from the second and third-line positions to reinforce the first-line positions.

Viewed from high altitude
The reinforcing German-Austrian Allied officers and soldiers were like ants, carrying ammunition boxes and supplies, dragging rifles in their hands, and rushed toward the front line with small steps.

Next to them, there were anxious-looking officers, waving their pistols and urging them constantly; "Hurry, hurry, run forward to reinforce the front-line positions..."

The German first-line, second- and third-line positions are generally 3 to 5 kilometers apart, and it takes about 45 to 50 minutes to walk.

If you run quickly in small steps, it will take half an hour.

The Tang Empire army, which was launching an all-out attack, did not seem to be in a hurry. The 10,000+ troops were sitting on the ground 1.2 to 1.5 kilometers away from the German-Austrian Allied Forces. Many officers and soldiers even took out chocolates and bread to fill their stomachs, and took a drink of water to rest for a while.

What awaits them will be a cruel and arduous battle. The more physical strength they retain at this time, the more chance of survival they will have.

The three attacking Imperial tank divisions also stopped advancing, as if they were waiting for something?
The answer was soon revealed.

More than 20 minutes later, a black mass of biplane fighter jets flew in the distant sky again. In just three to four minutes, they flew to the front line of the battlefield, and then began a new round of dives, strafing, and bombings...

At this time, most of the reinforcements of the German-Austrian Allied Forces had not yet reached the front-line positions.

When a large number of biplanes swooped and strafed, these reinforced German-Austrian soldiers were unobstructed on the bare fields. They were so frightened that they scattered like hair and fled for their lives.

The biplanes roaring and swooping in the sky were like demons harvesting human lives, constantly spitting out hot bullets and dropping iron bombs that exploded one after another.

The German-Austrian soldiers ran everywhere, and then were torn into pieces under heavy machine gun fire, and suffered another heavy blow.

The 1372 artillery pieces behind the front also roared again, firing dense shells at the front line positions of the German and Austrian allied forces, where they exploded into flames and scattered earth and rocks.

The fierce artillery attack lasted for half an hour and came to an abrupt end. More than 270 "Puma" medium tanks were used as attack arrows, and they quickly advanced across the bombed-out battlefield.

Behind the tank were densely packed Imperial soldiers, running quickly with rifles in hand, heading towards the enemy position to attack.

Only three or four minutes
The "Puma" medium tank arrived at a range of more than 200 meters from the front of the position, and then used artillery at close range to call out the remaining heavy machine gun fire and artillery fire, blasting them into the sky one by one and turning them into parts.

The heavy machine gunner of the tank crew also climbed out and used the heavy machine gun as a fixed firepower point to repeatedly fire at the enemy trenches.

Not long
The dark attack vanguard of the Tang Empire crossed the line of tank fire, approached to a distance of about 50 meters, and then threw out grenades in unison.

A dense rain of grenades fell in the trench, and the rumble once again caused a bloody storm.

At this time, the attacking soldiers of the Tang Empire rushed to the trenches and jumped in. They searched along the trenches for the remaining enemies in the anti-gun holes and the enemy headquarters, and settled the final battle with rifles and bayonets in their hands.

Only half a day's work
The 3rd Army of the Tang Empire, which struck hard on the southern battlefield, occupied the left wing of the German front-line position with a large advantage, and rapidly expanded along the breach, tearing apart the entire German-Austrian defense line.

The battle lasted until about [-] p.m.

The attacking 4th Group Army of the Tang Dynasty has successively broken through three lines of defense defended by the Austrian army, and penetrated deeply to the rear of the battle line for about 7 kilometers.

This led to the collapse of the entire German-Austrian front and fell into a desperate struggle.

However, it must be said that the German army is extremely tenacious in combat. Even when faced with the crisis of being encircled and destroyed, it can still resist stubbornly in regiments, battalions, and companies, causing great trouble for the attacking army.

On a battlefield of hundreds of square kilometers

Fierce battles could be seen everywhere. The German army relied on some town defense lines and fortresses to resist desperately even though they were deeply surrounded.

However, all this was in vain. The 3rd Army had anticipated this situation at the beginning of the attack.

Therefore, many offensive troops carried large "arrow" markers to indicate the enemy's position to biplane fighters in the air.

A standard "arrow sign" with red letters on a white background is 4 meters long and 1.5 meters wide and can be carried by a combat team.

In areas with strong German defenses, placing 3 to 4 "arrow signs" can clearly indicate the area where biplane fighters are required to bomb and straf.

Faced with ruthless strangulation from the air, these stubbornly resisting German troops were wiped out by repeated heavy machine gun fire and iron bomb bombings, resulting in extremely heavy casualties.

Hard nails were pulled out one after another, and the pressure of the powerful offensive forced the German and Austrian forces to retreat continuously.

five days later

The attacking Third Army of the Tang Empire had completely recovered the area along the Isa River, penetrated deep into the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and occupied 6 surrounding border towns.

At this point, the No. 3 Battle of the Isa River on the European Southern Front, independently launched by the 13rd Army, ended with a glorious victory.

post-war inventory;

The 3rd Army killed and injured a total of 12.33 German-Austrian troops and captured 26.42 people. It recovered all the territory lost by Italy in World War I and penetrated deep into the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The 3rd Army suffered 3.79 casualties, including 8972 killed in action, and the rest were lightly or seriously injured.

This battle was the most glorious victory on the southern battlefield in Europe. It completely broke the backbone of the German-Austrian forces on the southern battlefield and contributed to the early end of World War I. It was of great significance in the history of European warfare.

This battle also established the Tang Empire's status as a world military power and strengthened its right to speak in the division of the post-war international landscape.

This battle also completely changed the impression that world powers such as Britain, France, Germany, and Italy had on the traditional "upstarts" of the Tang Empire. Datang gained more respect and established an international status that was basically in line with its strength.

(End of this chapter)