The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 44: Heavy Machine Gun

As the not-so-intensive G98 rifle shots were fired, Teng Yuzao, who had been observing the Russian heavy machine gun position through a telescope, saw that the body of the Russian heavy machine gunner who was operating the Maxim rifle to fiercely fire at the vanguard position suddenly trembled and then fell sideways on the heavy machine gun position.

There were three black bullet holes between the chest and abdomen of this heavy machine gunner, and bright red blood immediately oozed out of those holes.

At that time, the Maxim heavy machine gun had two types: with shield protection and without shield protection. But for some unknown reason, except for the British, almost all the armies of Western powers did not adopt the type with shield protection, which left the upper body of the heavy machine gunner almost completely exposed.

Moreover, the Maxim heavy machine gun used by the Wuwei Army also used the type without a shield.

Teng Yuzhao remembered that in later documents and films, one could often see Russian heavy machine guns with shield protection. That was the authorization license purchased by the Russian army from the British Maxim Company before World War I. The Maxim heavy machine gun produced by the Russians had some improvements of its own. It not only had a shield, but also added a muzzle booster and a steam condenser. It was named PM1910, or the Sokolov wheeled heavy machine gun.

The most creative thing the Russians did was to move heavy machine guns onto horse-drawn carriages. In the Russian Civil War, the Sokolov heavy machine gun mounted on a carriage became a killer of cavalry.

The Russian heavy machine gunner who had just been killed was immediately dragged away, and then a Russian replacement machine gunner rushed to the heavy machine gun, grabbed the Maxim's handle and continued shooting.

However, before the substitute heavy machine gunner's finger could pull the trigger of the heavy machine gun, amid a burst of gunfire from the G98 rifle, the Russian heavy machine gunner fell face down on the sandbag-filled heavy machine gun position.

This time, Teng Yuzhao saw it more clearly. The Russian army's substitute heavy machine gunner was shot with his brain burst, and the splattering blood and white brain matter even splashed onto the faces of nearby Russian soldiers.

Teng Yuzhao knew that it was not because the soldiers in his guard squad were incredibly good at shooting that they could accurately hit the target's head at a distance of about 300 meters. This was the result of these soldiers concentrating their rifles on an obvious target, and the head was hit by chance in the chaos.

Fortunately, at that time no army in the world had paid attention to the problem of head protection for soldiers, because the great powers at that time generally advocated the strong offensive theory of "attack, attack, and attack again", and large-scale trench defense operations would not appear until World War I more than ten years later. Therefore, the proportion of soldiers killed by bullets in the head was not obvious, so that at this time, no army in any country in the world was equipped with any kind of helmet.

Seeing this, Teng Yuzao was relieved. He even began to think about how to set up snipers in his vanguard army.

However, in order to avoid attracting the attention of the great powers to the sniper, Teng Yuzhao decided to change the name of his sniper. The name "Jiejun" is a good one, which is enough to cover up the huge role played by the sniper in a battle.

Teng Yuzhao put down the telescope in his hand, reached out to take a G98 rifle beside him, pulled the bolt, and then neatly aimed the crosshairs at the Russian major commanding the second row through a firing hole in the machine gun bunker.

The Russian army had already entered a distance of 200 meters. Teng Yuzhao was worried that unexpected problems might occur to the vanguard soldiers in the first battle. To be on the safe side, he decided to start shooting at this distance.

"Heavy machine gun, fire!" As he shouted, Teng Yuzao had already pulled the trigger of the G98 rifle in his hand. After Teng Yuzao gave the order to shoot, the Maxim heavy machine gun mounted on the shooting hole immediately made a low but very rhythmic shooting sound, almost at the same time as his rifle fired.

Because of the obstruction of the Russian soldiers in the front row, Teng Yuzao needed a certain angle to hit the Russian major accurately. Moreover, the Russian major would be constantly obstructed by the soldiers in the front row in the marching Russian army column. The effective shooting interval was very short, almost fleeting. Therefore, after finding an opportunity, Teng Yuzao decisively pulled the trigger of the rifle without hesitation and fired the hot bullet.

However, perhaps he was tripped or he suddenly stepped on empty air, but when Teng Yuzhao fired the shot, the Russian major, who was marching with firm steps, suddenly swayed. His right hand holding the saber suddenly dropped, and his body staggered. He hurriedly covered his right shoulder with his left hand, and fell to the ground, seeming to be cursing and shouting loudly.

Although Teng Yuzhao's shot did not hit the Russian major's vitals, it should have hit his right shoulder, and the injury seemed to be quite serious.

However, the coalition's attack did not stop because the Russian major, the highest commander, was injured, and an officer soon took over his command.

This is where modern Western armies differ from domestic armies. The coalition forces did not panic after suddenly losing their supreme commander, but continued to obey the orders of the successor commanding officers.

"Da da da", as the Maxim heavy machine gun began to fire, a string of hot 11.43mm caliber bullets flew out of the Maxim's muzzle at high speed. The hot bullets with powerful kinetic energy swept towards the neatly arranged and aggressive coalition forces like a rainstorm. Led by the sound of the Maxim heavy machine gun, the battlefield was suddenly filled with the sound of dense rifle and heavy machine gun shooting.

Although the sound of gunfire on the battlefield was dense, the firing of the four Maxim guns could still be heard immediately.

Amid the intensive firing of heavy machine guns and rifles, a light red mist suddenly rose up in the coldly shining ranks of the Russian army, making the slightly messy formation of the Russian army appear strange.

Teng Yuzhao knew that this was the blood spurting from the bodies of the Russian soldiers who were hit. Under the morning sunlight, the halo appeared, making it look as if the Russian army column was shrouded in a layer of dazzling red strange fog.

"Da da da", under the sudden and intensive rain of bullets, the soldiers in the coalition forces' ranks were knocked down one after another, especially the four heavy machine guns that fired fiercely at a large angle of almost 150 degrees, which killed and wounded the coalition soldiers in large numbers, and constantly created gaps in their neat ranks.

Under the dense rain of bullets, although their comrades kept falling down, the Allied soldiers who were not hit still marched rhythmically without hesitation, holding their sharp bayonets, and walked firmly towards the vanguard position. When the people in the front row were knocked down, the soldiers in the back row would quickly replace them. Then more soldiers were killed or injured, and then more soldiers would replace them in turn. The only thing that remained unchanged was their increasingly faster pace and their fearless momentum that seemed to be ready to die.

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(End of this chapter)