Battlefield Priest's Diary

Chapter 7 Shooting! Shooting!
In August 1914, the Russian First and Second Armies, with nearly 500,000 troops, invaded East Prussia as the vanguard. The German Eighth Army, under the command of Hindenburg and Ludendorff, launched a frontal attack with significantly inferior forces and attempted to encircle and divide part of the Russian army by taking advantage of its transportation network.

Along a front stretching approximately 40 kilometers, nearly 600,000 people were locked in fierce combat, with smoke rising everywhere when viewed from the sky.

puff! puff! puff! puff!
The bullets hit the trees nearby, sending up shards of debris.

Qin Hao buried himself completely in the soil and carefully moved forward.

"Face to the ground, legs together and straight, toes pointed, right arm bent at the elbow and extended forward to pull on the ground, left arm bent at the elbow and pulled back simultaneously..." Qin Hao kept muttering the standard crawling movements he had seen online in order to relieve his inner tension.

He returned to the battlefield, surrounded by Russian soldiers being driven to charge. In front of him was a German ambush line that had been set up long ago, and behind him were Russian troops with their guns outstretched as their supervisors.

He was still in a dilemma, but he absolutely could not get hurt this time.

Because previous experiences in the dressing station have proven that, given the current sanitary conditions of the Russian army, once injured on the battlefield, it is basically a matter of leaving one's fate to chance.

Puff puff puff puff! !
puff!puff!
Hey~
At some point, the machine gun on the other side suddenly stopped, and the dense bullets no longer flew overhead.

Qin Hao leaped up almost instantly.

"The Maxim ammunition is belt-fed, and a skilled ammunition handler needs about 5 seconds to reload. If you want to run, those 5 seconds are the most critical time!" This is a message he saw on a military enthusiast forum.

A gust of wind whistled past his ears, and Qin Hao clearly felt the others around him being left behind. The Russian army's positions were clearly visible in the distance, and it seemed that he could soon hide in a safe trench.

But the next second, without warning, he collapsed to the ground, clutching his head tightly with both hands.

boom!
A German field gun shell exploded not far in front of him, and flying debris kept hitting Qin Hao's body. He could even feel shrapnel flying past his head.

Dodged!
Qin Hao was overjoyed. He had probably been injured in this spot last time. He was still dazed and didn't know what had happened. It was only when he was being bandaged that the young medic told him it was shrapnel from an artillery shell.

Having experienced death once, he successfully avoided being wounded.

But just as a butterfly flapping its wings can influence a distant storm, Qin Hao made only a small change, but the situation before him was completely different.

Qin Hao was overtaken by the soldiers behind him after only a few seconds of lying down. The terrified men were panicking and only wanted to escape into the Russian army's position. They didn't care if there were people on the ground. Several pairs of military boots stepped down from above.

"Damn it!!" Qin Hao didn't even bother to get up. He did an ugly roll on the ground, barely managing to avoid being trampled to death.

By this time, he had fallen from the front of the line back to the back.

The German pursuers had already begun firing their guns.

boom! ! ! boom! ! ! boom! ! !
Gunfire erupted, and the pursuing German troops began shooting at the fleeing soldiers.

A Russian soldier was shot in the back and fell to the ground. His Mosin-Nagant rifle flew out of his hand and landed right in front of Qin Hao.

At that moment, he saw a man in a junior officer's uniform about 100 meters away, pulling the bolt of a rifle and ejecting the spent cartridge.

The two men spotted each other almost simultaneously. The German officer immediately turned his gun around, while Qin Hao grabbed a Mosin-Nagant gun from the side and raised his own.

Faced with the crisis, Qin Hao's adrenaline surged, and his breathing seemed to quicken, but his hands remained steady.

He knelt on his right knee, bent his left knee at a 90-degree angle, rested his left elbow on his left knee, and braced his rifle butt against his shoulder, forming a stable triangular support – this was the standard rifle shooting stance. Almost instinctively, he aimed at the not-so-refreshing figure in front of him, while the other's gun was already aimed in his direction.

boom! ! ! ! !
Two plumes of white smoke rose almost simultaneously, and Qin Hao felt something whiz past his ear.

A burst of blood shot from the right arm of the officer in the distance, and he collapsed to the ground, clutching his shoulder.

He missed! But Qin Hao didn't have time to fire a second shot; he dragged the Mosin-Nagant rifle and ran.

Unexpectedly, chaos broke out in the pursuing German troops. Some rushed over to hug the wounded officer, while others shouted something.

At this moment, Qin Hao was like a rabbit aiming at the entrance of a hole. He used all his strength to take a step and plunged headfirst into the Russian army's position.
-
Meanwhile, in Königsberg (now Kaliningrad), East Prussia, the headquarters of the German Eighth Army.

Officers hurried between offices with documents in hand, and then staff officers integrated the intelligence. Orders were relayed down the chain of command via telephone, and the entire command center operated like a sophisticated machine.

Operations Chief Max Hoffman, holding a newly decoded telegram copy, hurriedly knocked on the innermost door.

That was the office of Army Group Commander Hindenburg.

"Your Excellency! Good news! Good news!" Max Hoffman couldn't contain his excitement as soon as he entered the room.

"Calm down! Lieutenant Colonel, German soldiers must remain calm at all times!" Hindenburg said in a deep voice as he gestured on the map with a ruler, his attention fixed on the map in front of him.

"Yes, sir!" Max Hoffmann slammed his feet together to stand at attention before speaking again, "Sir, the Russian 1st Army is at a standstill! They are waiting for supplies and will not move for at least 48 hours."

Hindenburg's ruler trembled slightly and fell onto the map, which he then picked up again.

"Where is the source of the information?" Hindenburg asked in a deep voice, but the slightly trembling ruler betrayed his true thoughts.

"You might not believe it, but the Russian military actually used plaintext to announce its itinerary. Of course, our reconnaissance units also verified this."

Where is the First Army located?

"The First Army has reached Soldau, but the artillery is still stuck in Danzig for transport. It will probably take them about 48 hours to complete their maneuver! If the troops confronting the Russians can hold out for another two days, we will be able to encircle the Second Army!" Lieutenant Colonel Hoffman couldn't help but get excited as he said this.

“Alright, I understand.” Hindenburg took out his pocket watch and looked at it. “Get to work, Lieutenant Colonel. These will be our busiest 48 hours.”

"Yes, Your Excellency!" Hoffmann saluted and prepared to leave, but hesitated at the door and stopped again.

"Is there anything else?" Hindenburg asked in a deep voice.

"Yes, there's one more thing. Your junior is at the front lines..."

Boom!
The pocket watch was thrown onto the table with a dull thud. Hindenburg frowned and said in a deep voice, "In the Eighth Army, there are no juniors of mine, only subordinates!"

"Yes, Your Excellency!" Hoffmann stood at attention again.

"Sir, your subordinate, Lieutenant Erich von Manstein, has been wounded while fighting the Russian army at the front!"

(End of this chapter)