African Nationhood

The west and south of Austria are mountainous areas (Alps), the north and northeast are plains and hilly areas, and 47% of the area is covered by forests.

Lower Austria is home to almost half of the population of Austria. The population here is densely populated, and most of the people are Germanic.

When Shi Honglian led his troops into Lower Austria, he finally felt a strong war atmosphere.

All the Germans and Croats here are full of hatred for the South China Expeditionary Force.

They encountered hostility from the locals almost every step of the way.

Now that we have entered a war zone, we can no longer take it lightly.

Shi Honglian ordered his soldiers to cheer up and not to let down their guard against anyone. He emphasized to officers at all levels that this was a war zone.

Officers have also emphasized this to their soldiers, but there are still soldiers who are attacked because they relax their vigilance when facing the elderly and children.

These unlucky guys were criticized as typical army-wide bulletins, and their names were also known to the entire army.

Ridicule can indeed have an effect, and the soldiers provoked by the unlucky ones all become hard-hearted.

……

When they arrived at the Germanic village, the soldiers forced them to hand over all their food and belongings, and then gathered all the hostile elements into the local church and imprisoned them.

Those who are willing to cooperate will have food to eat, and those who are not willing to cooperate will starve to death.

As a result, a group of leading parties was born. They became servants of the South China Expeditionary Army and needed to play the role of digging trenches, transporting food teams, and public security police.

Because they were often attacked by local troops on the road, Shi Honglian's troops advanced slowly.

On July 7, they completed the journey of more than 20 kilometers.

During this journey of more than 1000 kilometers, the South China Expeditionary Force lost more than soldiers.

These soldiers were either killed by cold artillery fire while camping, or were poisoned by the enemy poisoning the water source, and some were killed by German snipers.

……

The Kaiser mobilized the 17th Imperial Army to help the Austro-Hungarian Empire defend the capital. The commander of this army was General Otto von Bello.

He helped the Austro-Hungarians achieve a huge victory over the Italians at Caporetto last year.

Now that Viana is in extreme crisis, the Kaiser has transferred this veteran again, hoping that he can achieve greater success.

After arriving in Vienna, the veteran general immediately gave an order to all local defense forces in Austria: requiring them to launch unrestricted attacks against the South China Expeditionary Force and at the same time try to cut off the South China Expeditionary Force's logistical supply lines.

It was a pity that the local defense forces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were too weak. After Xue Yingxiong repaired the airport in Gyor City, he sent troops to continuously patrol the logistics line.

In addition, Nanhua's monoplanes fly faster than biplanes and have more firepower.

The German planes did not pose much danger to Nanhua's planes, but were shot down many times by Nanhua's planes.

The battle loss ratio between the two sides remained at 3:1. This result made Otto von Bello very unhappy, but he had no choice but to hope to defeat the South China Expeditionary Force in the official battle.

……

Dense barbed wire fences, trenches, and artillery emplacements were also erected outside the city of Vienna.

Most of these artillery pieces were brought over from the mainland by the Germans, and the gunners were also elite German gunners.

After Shi Honglian obtained the simplified battlefield map of the aircraft reconnaissance, he was extremely nervous about this battle. The reputation of the Germans can indeed make people treat it with caution.

Therefore, the Shihonglian troops did not dare to rashly enter the attack range of the German-Austrian coalition, and took the lead in stopping their advance 15 kilometers southeast of Vienna.

The reason why they stopped so far away from Vienna was because of the heavy artillery deployed in the city of Vienna.

Skoda's 305mm caliber giant gun has a range of 11.3 kilometers and is extremely lethal.

When in Belgrade, the South China Army once captured such a giant cannon, but one weighed 28 tons and was very heavy.

Qusangqian directly gave up this huge cannon to the Serbians.

The regent Alexander I immediately beamed with joy after receiving this valuable treasure.

……

Pushing a few kilometers further, you can enter a small town called Schwechat.

Because this town is too close to Vienna, it is not an ideal campsite. Camping in the wild can at least ensure the safety of the team and guard against sudden attacks by the enemy.

After the army set up camp, Shi Honglian summoned two colleagues, Shi Quan'an and Hong Haifeng, to discuss the siege. The three of them faced this battle together.

"Commander of the Red Alliance Army, how do you think we should fight this battle?"

Because the opponent has a firm will to fight and abundant firepower, and there is no possibility of a collective mutiny among enemy soldiers, the only option is to fight head-on and head-on.

So Shi Honglian said in a firm tone, "How else can we fight? Let's fight normally. Anyway, our firepower and aircraft are not inferior to the Germans. In terms of the individual quality of the soldiers, I think they are not inferior to the Germans."

In this battle, we have to prove who is the real king of the army! "

Hearing Shi Honglian's domineering speech, Shi Quan'an and Hong Haifeng both laughed, "Okay, if you, Commander of the Red Alliance, have such confidence, it will be easy for us.

Fighting bad debts is the best. We have been in the army for so many years and have fought the British and the French. Only the Germans have not been beaten. This time we will beat them enough. "

The three of them became more and more excited as they talked. Taking advantage of this momentum, they began to draw a battlefield layout on the map.

While painting and discussing, they talked and laughed until midnight before they went to rest.

……

"Da da~ bang bang~~"

The fierce gunfire and the explosion of grenades directly woke up Shi Honglian who was sleeping. He didn't even bother to put on his clothes and rushed outside shouting: "What's going on?"

"Report, the enemy should be attacking the camp."

When he heard that the enemy was attacking the camp, Shi Honglian was no longer worried. What Nanhua's army was least afraid of was night fighting. The most common training subject during the recruit period was how to deal with night attacks.

Officers such as Shi Quanan and Hong Haifeng came to Shi Honglian at about the same time. They were all wearing clothes. It seemed that they had heard about the enemy's attack on the camp from their respective adjutants.

When Shi Quan'an saw that Shi Honglian was not wearing any clothes, he immediately ordered Shi Honglian's adjutant to get clothes for his boss.

When the adjutant got it back, he took it and put it on Shi Honglian directly.

"Commander of the Red Alliance Army, put on your clothes and be careful of catching a cold."

Shi Honglian smiled at Shi Quanan and said, "Thank you."

Then everyone fell into silence and looked at the sky in the southwest of the camp. There were constant flashes of light and shadow there, proving that the fighting there had been continuing.

The crackle of gunfire and grenades lasted for more than half an hour, and finally stopped.

The three army commanders secretly breathed a sigh of relief and waited for more than ten minutes.

Two young officers in messy uniforms and covered in dirt ran over quickly.

When they came to Shi Honglian and the others, they saluted with a military salute.

"Gu Dazhen, commander of the 37411th Battalion, and An Yiguo, commander of the 37411st Company of the th Battalion, report."

Shi Honglian returned the military salute, "Well, tell me."

Gu Dazhen touched his shoulder to the men beside him, and Chang An Yiguo spoke directly.

"Reporting to the commander, our company was on duty tonight. At 4:03, a group of enemy soldiers sneaked into our company's defense area and killed two soldiers of our company in a sneak attack.

Fortunately, one of the soldiers fired a shot before he died, alerting our other soldiers on duty.

Only then did we learn the enemy's plot to attack the camp. Our company immediately dispatched to fight the enemy. Later, the battalion commander led his team to cover the enemy's retreat from behind, and finally annihilated all 98 incoming enemies. "

Shi Honglian nodded repeatedly, "Well, Captain An Yiguo, you performed well. How many casualties did we have?"

An Yiguo lowered his head and replied softly: "Report to the commander, 31 people from our company died, and 15 people from the battalion died."

Shi Honglian looked heavy and said in a low voice: "Well, you go back first and collect the bodies of the sacrificed brothers. When we go back, we will take them all back."

Gu Dazhen and An Yiguo answered in unison: "Yes!"

……

After the two men left, Shi Honglian raised his head and looked at the sky. It was almost dawn.

Today's first battle has been fought, and we have to continue fighting next. (End of chapter)