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

Chapter 154 | Robbers and Enemies
Dozens of eyes were focused on Shang Ke.

He continued to play with the colored pencil in his hand, switching it from his left hand to his right, and then from his right hand to his left.

“In my country, fighting to the death is a tacitly accepted virtue for soldiers. Perhaps this is due to different national circumstances.” He calmly said to the crowd, “We fought against overwhelming odds, persisted for so long, and achieved extraordinary results. I think that’s quite good.”

When faced with an invasion by a foreign enemy with an overwhelming advantage, a series of interconnected problems can arise.

To resist or not to resist?
Symbolic resistance or resolute resistance?
To what extent should we resolutely resist?
After doing your best, do you need to fight to the bitter end?

As such.

The war had already progressed to this point, and Shank knew he shouldn't force everyone to fight to the death.

Neither the Hungarian General Staff nor the Budapest City Defense Command ever issued a similar order to withdraw.

Shank has been pondering this question these past few days—how do you define an aggressor or a liberator? For Hurricane, was this a war that could lead to national subjugation and annihilation?

As a time traveler standing at the pinnacle of history, Shang Ke clearly understood the importance of unity between officers and soldiers. Since the start of the defense battle, he would frequently ask the soldiers for their thoughts during his inspections on the front lines.

Compared to the Ivan Rus', most Huns actually hated the Romanians more.

The Hungarian soldiers viewed Ivanos's army as 'bandits' and believed that as long as they did their duty to resist, it would be enough. If they couldn't win, it wouldn't be a disgrace to give up.

The Romanian army was different. In the eyes of the Hungarian soldiers, the Romanian army was an enemy. Facing an enemy, there was only the outcome of death.

At first, Shang Ke found this mentality strange, but he gradually came to understand it.

From this perspective, the Ivanros's decision to include the Romanians as vassals was a terrible move.

If the Romanians hadn't besieged the city, the defenders might not have been so determined to resist.

The situation since December has further confirmed Shank's view.

From the perspective of the Romanian army, capturing the enemy's capital was such a glorious thing that everyone was eager to do their best.

However, like Ivan Ross's army, they suffered a crushing defeat in Budapest and paid a heavy price, thus retaliating with even greater brutality and venting their anger on the citizens.

The atrocities committed by the Romanian soldiers were so widespread that they greatly dampened the will to resist of the defending troops.

That night.

Mr. Shang's reputation and abilities were already well-known, and his words were widely trusted.

As a result, more than a hundred people chose to back down, unwilling to stay and fight to the death.

In addition, individuals suffering from mental breakdowns or illnesses were also selected and sent away.

In the vast winter night, the Margaret Bridge quietly spans the Danube River, where ice floes drift, under a sky full of stars.

Shank arrived at the dock.

Those who chose to withdraw left their weapons behind and are now silently queuing to board the ship with their heads down.

In this situation, any explanation is superfluous; for example, the excuse of "I have elderly parents to care for and young children to raise" is simply impossible to utter.

Are you the only one with family? Are we all orphans?

The soldiers around him looked on coldly, and some of them made sarcastic remarks.

"Enough, stop talking. There's no need to force others." Shang Ke stopped the mockery and pointed at the group, saying, "Being able to fight until today proves they are qualified soldiers, but soldiers are also human." The sarcastic remarks stopped, and the surroundings became quiet.

Someone broke the silence, asking, "Colonel, you said they are qualified soldiers, so what about us?"

"You?" Shank looked around and after several seconds replied meaningfully, "You are true warriors, daring to face death in desperate situations."

This has always been true throughout history—it is difficult to face death calmly.

The soldiers fell silent.

The next day.

As dawn broke, Ivanos's army was surprised to find that the Hunnic troops who had been stubbornly resisting in various places had all retreated at the same time.
Supported by tanks, the Russian soldiers advanced cautiously. Apart from a few isolated Hungarian soldiers who put up sporadic resistance, the main Hungarian force was indeed nowhere to be seen.

The brief celebrations were short-lived, as various units reported encountering fierce resistance, claiming that the Hungarian army was consolidating its forces and retreating to the area around the parliament building for defense...

"Boom! Boom!"

Several large-caliber shells struck the exterior wall of the Mamara Hotel in succession, and debris and dust from the ceiling fell like sieves.

What does it feel like to be directly hit by a 203mm concrete-breaking shell? The violent explosion of each shell, weighing a full 19 kilograms of explosives, made Shang Ke, who was in the basement, feel the earth shake.

He reached out and brushed the dust off the map, muttering in Chinese, "Damn, I took four eight-inch shots in an hour. They really think highly of me."

Ivanros's army's attack on the vicinity of the Margaret Bridge can be described as a very simple and brutal three-pronged attack.

The attack began with direct fire from heavy howitzers, followed by tanks closing in to within 400-500 meters for sustained suppression, and then assault detachments composed of infantry and engineers launched an assault.

The Hungarian soldiers fought desperately against the enemy, engaging in close-quarters hand-to-hand combat from house to house and alley to alley.

A battalion of Imperial Russian infantry, supported by ten tanks, launched a fierce attack on the positions east of the Margaret Bridge, but were met with a double whammy of mortar fire and anti-tank gun fire.

The fragile T-26s were set on fire one after another. The thin steel plates were like hot knives cutting butter for the Skoda 37mm anti-tank gun. The panicked Imperial Russian tank crews often jumped out of their vehicles only to be immediately taken down by the flying bullets.

"They are still putting up a stubborn resistance!"

Colonel Belyaev, the commander of the attacking force, was furious and committed all five of his only T-34 cruiser tanks and a dozen ROKS flamethrowers to the battle, determined to quickly crush the defenders and capture the important Margaret Bridge.

The situation changed immediately. The 37mm armor-piercing rounds were as weak and ineffective against the T-34 as a tickle, either smashing it to pieces or ricocheting instantly.

"These are the enemy's new tanks. Infantry anti-tank guns can't handle them. Colonel, use those!"

Captain Zeno looked nervous and turned to ask Mr. Shang for instructions.

The latter said in a deep voice, "It's not time yet. Send out a few anti-tank teams to the flank guard positions to draw attention away from the enemy."

Is it too early?

After Shang gave the order, the three four-man teams left their reserve positions and moved to the flanks through the trenches, carrying anti-tank rifles and rifle grenades.

As soon as the brief and powerful artillery barrage ended, the Imperial Russian soldiers launched a standard combined arms attack.

While the frontal firefight was in full swing, the Hungarian anti-tank team that had flanked the enemy opened fire.

Anti-tank rifles fired in succession, but such attacks were ineffective except for making a sound. One after another, anti-tank rifle grenades flew toward the Imperial Russian tank in parabolic arcs, but their accuracy was poor due to the great distance.

(End of this chapter)