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

Chapter 157 | On the Eve of Desperation

Shank didn't really understand why the German Emperor was so obsessive.

According to scattered information from the embassy, ​​William the Elder still refuses to agree to a repeat of the 'sincere understanding' agreement publicly signed with Marianne's side, nor is he willing to bow down and ask for help.

The Varlanders were so arrogant that the Mariannas were naturally unwilling to be treated with the same courtesy, and some politicians were completely gloating over their misfortune.

"It's ridiculous. If the Germans are really wiped out by the Russians, do the French really think they can escape unscathed?" Shank's assessment was that these two countries were not only arrogant but also had their own selfish motives.

However, the situation on the main battlefield in Central Europe was at most a matter of life and death, while the situation facing Shank was so dire that it could be described as imminent danger, with the Defenders of Budapest facing a life-or-death crisis.

帝俄第41步兵军稍加修整，简单调整了部署——以第140步兵师与第22坦克旅进攻国会大楼南面；以第143步兵师与罗曼尼亚第22步兵师进攻北面。

The royal guards and the 'Hungyatti' military police regiment, led by Mr. Shang, guarded the north side of the Capitol building's defense zone, thus directly bearing the repeated attacks of more than 10,000 enemies.

At this moment, the battle between offense and defense gradually escalated to a fever pitch, reaching an unimaginable level of frenzy.

The officers and soldiers of the 1st Battalion of the Military Police retreated to the last line of defense—Morris Public Cemetery.

Here, they dug up graves and used shovels to expand them into mortar bunkers or foxholes for two men. They placed stone tombstones as bases in front of the foxholes and then piled up soil to serve as protective breastworks.

After a hail of mortar shells covered the cemetery, hundreds of enemies launched an attack from multiple directions.

"Surrender immediately, Huns!"

"You are dead!"

"How long do you intend to hold out?!"

The Luo army infantrymen screamed hysterically as they advanced little by little, but each time they were decimated by grenades and side-fired machine guns in the last few dozen meters.

By the afternoon, the Romanian army had launched three consecutive attacks, all of which ended in failure. Many people were terrified by the fierce fighting here, and one company even fled en masse.

"These useless bastards who only know how to rob and rape! Get the Romanians out of here!"

Left with no other choice, Colonel Belyaev had to send one of his own men to replace them.

The 143rd Infantry Division's most elite reconnaissance battalion was also deployed to the battle to clear the Maurice Cemetery. The Imperial Russian artillery even pushed the 122mm howitzers of the division's howitzer regiment to the front line, firing continuously towards the cemetery from a distance of only a few hundred meters, facing the dense barrage of bullets.

Amidst the deafening explosions, many Hungarian military police, along with their weapons, were buried by artillery fire in this sorrowful place.

Ordinary rifle bullets could hardly penetrate the gun shield of a howitzer, while bullets from heavy machine guns clanged and rattled as they hit the gun shield.

In an effort to dampen the enemy's morale, a light machine gun squad braved a hail of bullets to get close to the front line of the position, where they could even see the faces of the Imperial Russian infantry.

The assistant gunner replaced the ZB-30 light machine gun with a special magazine, which was filled with German-made 7.92mm tungsten-core Smk armor-piercing rounds.

"beat!"

"Send them to hell!"

"Give me another magazine!"

The Czech-made Brno light machine gun has a somewhat muffled and unpleasant sound, but this cannot conceal the fact that it is a good gun.

Several bursts of bullets struck the gun shield precisely. The brass of the bullets shattered upon impact with the armor, but the tungsten carbide cores inside penetrated the steel plate of the gun shield, causing bursts of blood mist to splatter behind them. The Imperial Russian artillery crew suffered heavy casualties...

The battle was extremely intense. The Imperial Russian soldiers advanced in inch by inch, crawling slowly forward, throwing grenades as they got closer. Grenades flew towards the Hungarian positions like baseballs, some exploding, others being picked up by the Hungarians in their foxholes and thrown back.

Explosions of all sizes occurred one after another, and flying shrapnel and bullets constantly claimed lives.

As they closed the distance, the Imperial Russian soldiers shouted "Hurrah!" and launched a mass charge, pouring into the cemetery like a tide with their Mosin-Nagant rifles fixed with bayonets!
Many people jumped straight into the foxholes in the cemetery and engaged in brutal hand-to-hand combat with the military police officers and soldiers who fought to the death.

Both sides were already bloodthirsty, wielding rifle butts, bayonets, and entrenching tools as they fought fiercely in the narrow foxholes.

The shouts of anger in both languages ​​echoed through Morris Public Cemetery until the foxholes were filled with the bodies of soldiers from both sides, with three or four men falling in almost every foxhole and bunker.

While the cemetery was engulfed in such a bloody battle, a brutal showdown was also taking place at the Mamara Hotel.

The civilian buildings near the Mamara Hotel have been reduced to ruins by artillery fire and demolition, but this eight-story reinforced concrete hotel still stands.

The paint on the exterior walls of the building had long since disappeared, and it was riddled with bullet holes of all sizes. Most horrifying of all were the holes created by large-caliber concrete-breaking bombs.

From last night until now, the enemy has repeatedly sent four or five reinforced infantry companies to attack the Mamara Hotel.

After fierce fighting, the enemy successively removed more than a dozen barricades and five platoon-level strongholds converted from civilian building ruins, and now the Mamara Hotel is largely isolated.

Excluding the remaining six or seven hundred members of the royal guard, the remnants of the 'Hungati' military police regiment, including the regimental headquarters, the first and second battalions, the engineer company, the cavalry company, the motorcycle patrol squadron, the field communications squadron, and so on, even including the lightly wounded, totaled only a little over seven hundred men.

Now, the entire group has been compressed into a small area only seven or eight hundred meters deep, centered around the Mamara Hotel, and continues to resist by relying on a dozen or so building ruins.

"Beep——"

The persistent, rather than brief, whistle echoed, highly recognizable—a common retreat signal used by Imperial Russian offensive forces.

A Russian assault group attempting to break into the Hungarian hotel position suffered a humiliating defeat, adding many more corpses to the battlefield.

As if to vent their anger, the enemy fired several more shots at the hotel.

How many attacks have we launched today? Shank has lost count.

"Colonel, we can no longer maintain our position. The First Battalion is almost wiped out in the direction of Morris Cemetery. What should we do next?"

Captain Zeno had been a little flustered, but now he was completely calm and surprisingly composed, as if he had accepted any outcome, including death.

"Where is Mirko?"

"Just now, Major Mirko was killed in action."

Did that career officer, who was determined to defend his honor, sacrifice himself?

Mirko left a good impression on Shank; he was very responsible, and now he has also fallen in Budapest.

Shang Ke took a deep breath, checked his watch for the tenth time this hour, and ordered, "There are five hours until nightfall. We'll break through to the southwest at night. Until then, everyone stay at their posts."

"Breakout?"

Captain Zeno and the other officers present all looked worried, their expressions clearly indicating a lack of confidence.

"Lost your memory from the shelling?" Shank finished the last sip of water in his canteen, pointed northwest, and laughed, "Forgot about those tanks?"

(End of this chapter)