The end of the military era

Commander Bullitt learned that the artillery unit of the First Division had suffered heavy losses, and immediately ordered the First Division to suspend the attack and build trenches on the spot to prevent the counterattack of the human army.

Deputy Commander Prato said to Bullitt in a deep voice: "Commander, it seems that the human army stationed on Xiangshi Island is indeed very powerful.

And they have a large number of artillery and machine guns. If we want to annihilate this human army and completely occupy Xiangshi Island, we may have to pay a high price. "

Bullitt looked at the military map on the wooden table, and asked with a frown, "Can we adopt a detour?"

Prato shook his head, "The position chosen by the enemy is very ingenious. We simply cannot send troops to attack on the flank."

Bullitt pondered for a while and said: "Then contact the navy and escort the Fourth Division to the west of Xiangshi Island to land.

In addition, the Second Heavy Artillery Regiment was assigned to the Fourth Division, and the First Heavy Artillery Regiment was assigned to the First Division. "

"Commander, does it mean that he is planning to pinch the human army on Xiangshi Island from the east and west?"

Bullitt nodded and said: "Facing a difficult enemy, we should still give enough respect.

Next, our No.14 Army will use all our strength to wipe out this difficult enemy cleanly and thoroughly! "

Chapter 1 Nineteen Hard Bones

Starting at 2:28 a.m. on February 9th, the No.14 Army of the Silver Wolf Empire continued to attack Zhou's army's defense line in turn from the east and west directions of Xiangshi Island.

However, under the tenacious resistance of the three brigades of the Zhou family army, the No. 14 Army of the Silver Wolf Empire stormed for three consecutive days and paid a heavy price, but still failed to take down the forward positions of the Zhou family army in any direction.

In the middle of the night of February 2, Bullitt, the commander of the No.30 Army, called together all the officers above the regiment level under his command.

Even the officers above the regiment level of the [-]th Division and the [-]nd Heavy Artillery Regiment, which were in charge of attacking Zhou's army on the west front, rushed to the temporary headquarters overnight by boat.

"Shame! This is a shame that our No.14 Army of the Royal Army of the Silver Wolf Empire has never experienced!

For three days, the No.14 Army did not move forward. Tell me, why is this? "Bulitt squirted angrily at more than 100 officers above the regiment level.

I can't blame Bullitt for being so emotional.

As of dark on the 30th, the combined casualties of the No.14 Army on the two fronts had reached 1.5, of which more than 1.2 were killed.

You must know that an infantry division of the No. 14 Army has only 1.8 people, and the casualties of 1.5 people are almost equivalent to scrapping an infantry division, but they have not even taken down the enemy's forward positions.

According to the reconnaissance results of the No.14 Army, the human army should have deployed three lines of defense on the eastern and western fronts. The No.14 Army had been attacking before, but only the first line of defense of the human army in two directions.

Such a result was unacceptable to Bullitt. It must be known that the fight against the No.14 Army was a human army that Bullitt had always looked down upon.

In the face of Commander Bullitt's furious spray, more than 14 officers above the regiment level of the No. 100 Army all lowered their heads, and no one dared to speak out.

At this time, Prato, the deputy commander of the No.14 Army, coughed lightly, and then said slowly: "This battle has become like this, the commander and I have no way to explain to the Ministry of the Army, and everyone should not blame the commander. The officer was annoyed.

The purpose of calling everyone here tonight is to summarize the previous lessons and work out a more reasonable plan for the next attack. "

The words of Deputy Commander Prato calmed Bullitt a little, and then Bullitt directly began to roll the roll, "Igna, the loss of the First Division is second only to that of the Fourth Division, you first say Let's talk!"

Since the fourth division of the No.14 Army was solely responsible for the attack on the western front, its losses were greater than those of the other three infantry divisions of the No.14 Army.

Hearing the commander directly calling his name, Igna, the commander of the first division, pondered for a moment, and then said: "Commander, it is no exaggeration to say that the human army we encountered on Xiangshi Island, among them The overall combat effectiveness is not inferior to our No.14 Army of the Royal Army of the Silver Wolf Empire.

The rifles, machine guns and artillery equipped by this human army are even superior to the weapons and equipment of our No.14 Army in terms of performance.

This makes us have to suffer a lot of casualties every time we charge.

I think that in the next attack, the most important thing is to strengthen the suppression of our artillery. "

Although the three brigades of the Zhou family army stationed on Xiangshi Island were not equipped with large-caliber artillery, they brought great benefits to the artillery units of the No. Considerable loss.

At present, the number of artillery that the No.14 Army can use is less than half of what it was before the war. Even the two heavy artillery regiments have lost many large-caliber howitzers.

Even in the face of the 14mm howitzers equipped by the two heavy artillery regiments of the No.160 Army, the French 1897-type 75 field guns will not suffer in terms of range.

Of course, during the artillery battle with the artillery unit of the No.14 Army, the 75mm field artillery of the three brigades of the Zhou Family Army also suffered a lot.

As soon as Igna, the commander of the first division, finished speaking, Coles, the commander of the fourth division, continued: "Commander, the human army guarding Xiangshi Island has a very tenacious will to fight.

In the previous attack, the attacking troops of our fourth division rushed to the opponent's position several times and started hand-to-hand combat with those human soldiers.

But those human soldiers were so crazy that they would even slam grenades and die with the soldiers of the empire.

As a result, we were kicked out of the position in several hand-to-hand battles.

I also think that the suppression of the artillery should be strengthened. It is just a blind attack. Maybe the fourth division will be exhausted, and it will not be able to take down the front positions of the human army on the western front. "

After listening to the speeches of the two division commanders, Bullitt asked the deputy commander Prato in a deep voice, "What do you think?"

Deputy Commander Prato said with a sigh: "Commander, now we can no longer take any face into account, we must report the difficulties encountered by our No.14 Army to the Ministry of War.

The naval base on Pusa Island should have a lot of artillery sealed up. I hope the Ministry of the Army can coordinate with the Ministry of the Navy to add some artillery to our No.14 Army from Pusa Island.

In addition, I think I can ask the Ministry of War to transfer the [-]rd Marine Division to Xiangshi Island.

Since the human army on Xiangshi Island is a hard bone, we can't let our No.14 Army take it alone. The Third Marine Division should also help our No.14 Army to share some of it. "

Bullitt nodded, "Prato, just send a telegram to the War Department immediately as you wish."

Then Bullitt said in a deep voice to more than 100 officers above the regiment level: "Until the artillery is replenished, the attack cannot be stopped, and this human army must continue to exert pressure.

However, in terms of the strength of the attack, you can control it yourself, and you should minimize casualties as much as possible. "

In a grove in the central area of ​​Xiangshi Island, Xie Dong lit a cigarette and handed it to Liu Erga, "Erga, it's a war, there are no undead, so don't be too sad."

Liu Erga took the cigarette, took a deep breath, and couldn't help coughing several times, "I don't know what's so good about this thing, it's expensive and not very hungry, and it chokes my throat."

"If you don't smoke it, return it to me. I only have half a box left."

Hearing this, Liu Erga took another puff in a hurry, "Ahem, I don't know if I can leave Xiangshi Island alive, I have to try this new thing."

Xie Dong also lit a cigarette for himself, took a deep breath, and said with some emotion: "Yes! I don't know if we still have a chance to leave Xiangshi Island alive.

If I can return to Ganyang City alive, I must go to Wanhualou for a few days to relax! "

"Battalion Commander, don't forget to take me with you, you promised."

"Must! So we must survive!"

Liu Erga immediately said sadly: "I never thought that this battle would be so miserable.

Our company, the third company that was supported later, and the two companies of other battalions, were able to withdraw from the position alive in the end, and there were only fifty or so left.

Counting the wounded who were evacuated earlier, there were more than 500 people in the four companies, and only a hundred or so people survived.

In our company, counting me, there are only 17 alive, and 8 of them are seriously injured. "