It's better to conquer them than to command the steel torrent

Chapter 84 Chapter | Steel Collision (Part )
It's a sunny day.

Fort St. Peter, the seat of the Imperial War Council, was filled with a tense and solemn atmosphere.

Unlike Uncle Nicholas who loves military uniforms, Veronica doesn't usually like wearing military uniforms, but today is different.

In this headquarters that controls the overall situation in the rear, Veronica, dressed in military uniform, is listening to Chief of General Staff Akintyevsky describe the progress of the battle.

"...In the Pod Plain area, the Varlanders had less than 3,000 tanks and 700,000 men, while we concentrated 4,000 tanks and 1 million men."

"The Varlanders didn't have time to assemble their field forces. In fact, in local battles, our ratio to the enemy was more than five to one, giving us an absolute tactical advantage."

"In a week, at least 40 mobilized divisions and 100 National Rifle Brigade units will be deployed. Our infantry will launch continuous attacks and overwhelm the enemy."

"Along the central offensive axis, the tanks will continue their assault deep into the enemy lines. Even if we take a pessimistic view, we can at least penetrate two lines of defense and advance a hundred and fifty versts."

"The Vallanders always believed that we couldn't defeat them in a field battle. This time, they will surely pay a price for their arrogance that they will never forget!"

The staff officers were busy working around a huge map, which was densely covered with small blue and red wooden blocks representing the combat units of both sides.

Veronica nodded slightly, a fleeting worry flashing in her blue eyes. She whispered, "Five hundred versts is not a long distance."

In the main direction of the attack, Ivan Rus' army deployed the 4th Brest Front commanded by General Nikolai Yudenich. The elite troops under his command had 105 million troops, 4183 tanks and 2700 aircraft.

On the opposite side, Wallander's army deployed the Posen (Poznan) Army Group commanded by General Werner Fritsch. This heavy force consisted of about 69 troops, 3480 tanks, and 1800 aircraft.

As for other fronts, both sides also had millions of troops facing each other.

However, compared with the decisive head-on confrontation, the confrontation between the North and the South seemed less important.

On the morning of the first day of the battle, the Brest Front easily broke through the Vistula River. The first echelon successfully crossed the Vistula River and established four main landing sites on the west bank of the battle line of more than 200 kilometers from north to south. The engineering troops then began to build pontoon bridges.

Walland's General Staff had no intention of defending the Vistula River. The first line of defense after this was considered a real defensive position.

In the Radom direction, the Imperial German 9th Army was responsible for directly resisting the invading enemy. It was composed of the 10th, 12th and 25th Infantry Armies, with a total strength of about 15.

The 9th Army's defensive front reached 140 kilometers, which seemed a bit too wide for them. Usually, the defensive width of an infantry division was only 15 kilometers.

General Reichenau had to evenly distribute his eight infantry divisions, leaving only one division in reserve. But they were occupying strong semi-permanent fortifications, so they seemed to be okay.

The frontal attackers were the 6th and 17th Infantry Armies of the Russian Empire, both reinforced by a tank brigade, with a total strength of about 11 men and 210 tanks.

At first glance, this seems like an egg hitting a stone, but Ivan Ross can concentrate his forces to make key breakthroughs, and in the main attack direction, he has an absolute advantage in manpower and firepower.

Lieutenant General Ivan Akulinin is a reckless man who is used to fighting with a bold and aggressive style, but he is also meticulous.

After ensuring friendly forces were providing support to the north and south, he immediately launched a powerful assault across a roughly four-kilometer front, deploying two infantry regiments and all his tanks. That morning, amid the roar of field artillery, thousands of shells were unleashed upon the opposing defenses. Thick smoke and dust rose overhead, nearly blackening the pristine white clouds.

The fierce battle in the sky has lasted from dawn to now, and the Polikarpov fighters have not gained any advantage over the Messerschmitt fighters.

Despite being unable to completely seize air superiority, the Ivan Ross Air Force still dispatched multiple bomber formations to carry out air strikes deep into the Varland Line, inflicting considerable losses.

During this period, the engineering troops came to the front line facing sporadic resistance fire, clearing barbed wire, stakes, and mines, thus opening up a safe passage for the attacking troops.

This area of ​​only four kilometers was subjected to unprecedented artillery fire. The Imperial Russian field artillery group, consisting of five divisional howitzer regiments, three army howitzer regiments, and one army cannon regiment, conducted a total of two hours of fire preparation here.

The artillery fire was overwhelming! Nearly 500 cannons and over 2,000 mortars unleashed over 800,000 rounds of various calibers!
从82毫米到120毫米的迫击炮弹，再从122毫米到152毫米的榴弹炮弹，此处帝德第42步兵师第126‘威斯特伐利亚’步兵团所在的主阵地工事几乎被猛烈的炮击炸得支离破碎。

The Teitoku soldiers huddled in their sturdy shelters, and most of them were safe and sound.

However, as long as the sample size is large enough, even the smallest probability event will inevitably occur.

With such a high density of artillery fire, it was inevitable that some shells would be accurate as if they had eyes. A 152mm high-explosive bomb hit the top of a shelter squarely, and the 8kg TNT loaded inside exploded instantly, burying a squad of Imperial German infantrymen alive in the collapsed bunker.

Finally, the terrible artillery coverage stopped, but soon began to extend into the depths, forming a dense blocking line.

In this way, it would be difficult for the rear reserve or other troops to provide timely reinforcements.

The dusty and dusty Imperial German soldiers left their shelters one after another and trotted towards their battle positions, but what they saw was a ruined position that looked like the surface of the moon!

Every dozen steps in the winding trench, there was a collapsed area, and the carefully crafted heavy machine gun and mortar positions turned into unrecognizable ruins.

As two red flares shot up into the sky, in the distance, hundreds of Russian soldiers climbed up from their starting positions and rushed here shouting.

The first echelon of the attack consisted of three infantry battalions, and behind them were more than one hundred T-35 multi-turret heavy tanks and T-26 light tanks. The two infantry battalions in the second echelon also began to move from the offensive starting position to the assault starting position. Such a high density of troops deployed in this area at the same time seemed to be excessive.

The landline telephone had been disconnected, and the main position could only send a messenger to the regimental headquarters on foot to request support.

"Sir! We need support! Thousands of Ivan Rus are..."

The messenger saw the same terrible scene - the regimental headquarters was in chaos, the telephone line connecting to the rear must have been blown off, and the radio was not working properly. The female sergeant who had the ability to communicate telepathically said that the rear command was also helpless.

She relayed, "The division headquarters asked us to hold the line."

The messenger looked around and said in panic: "We are about to be overwhelmed! Where is the lieutenant colonel?"

A staff officer said without turning around: "The lieutenant colonel went to the forward observation post!"

(End of this chapter)