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

Chapter 6｜Sharp and Decisive

The girl's figure was incongruous with her heavy winter coat. She nervously clutched her boat cap and hesitated, "Major, maybe fifty, maybe seventy..."

Upon learning that the number of Chinese troops was not particularly large, Novikov immediately ordered the troops to withdraw their positions and for everyone to concentrate on defending the north side of the military camp.

After saying that, he said bitterly: "Is this the special ability they brag about? You didn't detect the enemy's appearance in advance!" He knew that it was useless to complain about this now, but he still couldn't help complaining.

"I'm sorry, Major, I was sleeping..." The aggrieved Yegorova suddenly raised her head and said in panic, "The enemy is approaching us!"

The engineering squad led by Shang Ke advanced unimpeded all the way to the northeast of the military camp, encountering almost no enemy and only killing two dazed enemies.

Then Shang Ke was tripped by something and fell to the ground, splashing snow into his mouth.

The sergeant helped him up, squatted down, fumbled around for a few times, and actually pulled out two telephone wires.

The two looked at each other, and Shang, overjoyed, led his team straight to the command center along the telephone line without hesitation.

As soon as they turned the corner, five or six bullets were fired at them, and everyone quickly retreated.

A few seconds later, a black object was thrown over. Shang Ke looked closely and found that it was a lemon grenade!

The corporal closest to the scene kicked it away quickly. The grenade rolled more than ten meters before exploding, splashing a large cloud of snow.

A burly corporal was so angry that he pulled the fuse of a bag of explosives and threw the one-pound gift back at the other party. After a loud bang, no more enemy bullets came.

A simple block of explosives has no prefabricated fragments and relies solely on shock waves to kill targets, thus acting as a large offensive grenade.

In the blink of an eye, the four enemies who were stunned by the explosion were shot dead before they could react.

The soldiers, full of vigor and momentum, rushed into the concrete bungalow like a hot knife through butter.

Several Imperial Russian staff officers and signalmen inside drew their pistols and fought back bravely. The private who rushed in first was hit by several bullets and died. The corporal who followed closely behind him fired a burst of submachine gun, knocking down two people before the gun suddenly jammed.

Shang Ke inadvertently became the third person to break into the command center. In a split second, he had no time to think and instinctively shot at the enemy with the pistol in his hand.

There is an essential difference between indirect killing and direct killing. Shang Ke clearly saw the Russian communications soldier seven steps away falling down with a scream. His body twisted left and right and struggled for a few times before only slight twitching remained.

The loud noise of gunfire inside the room seriously affected hearing, causing pain in the eardrums and filling the room with buzzing noises.

He stood there for several seconds until the sergeant tapped him on the shoulder.

"Excellent work, Chief Shang."

At this time, a corporal discovered something strange - there seemed to be someone hiding in the corner of the compartment!
Several people nearby gathered around warily, with three rifles pointed at a thin figure.

Yegorova was roughly dragged out and the soldiers immediately confiscated her Nagant revolver.

After taking two deep breaths, Shang Ke almost recovered.

Seeing that the girl's shoulder insignia showed the rank of warrant officer, he said, "Or an officer? You can take this away."

Soon, the rest of the officers and soldiers advancing from the west and south also arrived.

Fang Rui looked around and praised Shang Ke and his team for their outstanding initiative.

Next, everyone discovered that most of the remaining enemy forces had retreated to a narrow area north of the barracks. The density of their forces and firepower was significantly higher, making a breakthrough nearly impossible for the ambush team, lacking artillery support. Upon hearing someone suggest a forced attack, Shang Ke couldn't help but deny it, saying, "We don't even have mortars. No chance."

Fang Rui, looking serious, leaned over and ordered, "That's right. We shouldn't linger in the battle. All units should withdraw from the battle as planned."

After that, he asked again: "Captain Shang, you took a lot of photos, right?"

After hearing this, Shang Ke realized that he had only taken a few photos from a distance at the beginning, and had forgotten his job after leading the engineering squad to make a detour.

So he kept taking pictures all the way back until the film in the camera was used up.

Two green flares were launched into the air one after another, which was the signal to retreat. Then, the firing of flares in the direction of the heavy machine gun position stopped.

When the last flare floating in the air burned out, the snowfield fell into darkness again.

The crescent moon has set, the sun has not yet risen, and the bright stars have dimmed a little. This is the darkest moment before dawn.

Because the night attack was so successful and the enemy was caught off guard, the Bundeswehr's reprisal was unprecedentedly successful, resulting in relatively few casualties. The soldiers were able to take the few victims with them, wrapping their bodies in tent cloth and tying them with ropes to facilitate dragging them across the snow.

The retreat was actually easier than expected. Fang Rui had originally expected to be chased and intercepted by a large number of enemies, but that was not the case.

After daybreak, a small service liaison plane flew across the border and found the ambush and cover teams heading southwest.

The liaison plane flew by at low altitude and speed, dropping an airdrop mailbox with a few words scribbled on the paper inside.

"Then retreat southwest. Speedboats will pick you up. A small group of enemy cavalry is pursuing you from the east."

Earlier, in order to support the two crossing detachments, Xu Bowen, after obtaining approval, ordered the artillery to open fire. Just two hours earlier, the three outposts of the Ivan Rus border guards near this section of the border were successively bombarded and fell into chaos.

Therefore, only one outpost hastily sent troops to pursue, and there were only a dozen cavalrymen - strictly speaking, they could only be considered mounted infantry.

Fighting a large force with a small force is like hitting a rock with an egg, so the enemy fully utilized the mobility advantage of having four legs over two legs.

The dozen or so cavalrymen quickly seized the nearby commanding heights, then set up two light machine guns on the hill and opened fire fiercely.

The tactical advantage of being high above offset the disadvantage in numbers. Dense bullets flying from more than 800 meters away continuously fell in the middle of the team. More than 100 people from the two Chinese army teams were suddenly suppressed and stuck in place, unable to move forward or backward.

Fang Rui hurriedly ordered the heavy machine guns and the only mortar to be set up on the spot to fight back.

A 60mm high-explosive bomb flew out of the chamber and landed on the hill where the enemy was located in a standard parabolic trajectory. The 121 grams of TNT filled inside exploded, raising a cloud of smoke.

After being hit by two mortar shells in succession, the enemy's light machine gun fell silent.

This team of imperial Russian cavalry did not persist, but quickly moved their position, preparing to repeat the delay on the next hill.

"Speed ​​is the essence of war. With the advantage of mobility, we can seize the initiative. We are still more than ten miles away from the lake. This is too passive." Seeing the enemy running away, Staff Officer Liu was speechless.

"I'm afraid the planes will be here soon. Let's find a high ground to guard temporarily and leave after dark." Fang Rui observed the surrounding terrain and prepared to choose a suitable place.

Shang Ke, who had been thinking for a long time, suddenly said, "Wait, there is another way."

(End of this chapter)