Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 114 The Annihilation of Tarnuf's Enemy
Colonel Federer von Bock's assault battalions defeated the Luftwaffe's 57th Division defending the town of Gorlitze in just six hours, from 4 a.m. to 10 a.m., including an hour and a half reserved for artillery preparation.

It took only three and a half hours (including travel time) to defeat the 12th Cossack Cavalry Division, which had come to reinforce the 57th Division.

Then, at 2 p.m. on May 12, they immediately turned south, heading straight for the rear of Tarnuv County, a county along the railway line. Finally, they successfully maneuvered to their position late at night, cutting off the railway line between Tarnuv and the rear fortresses such as Rzesov and Przemeshir.

Throughout the day, the elite vanguard of Demacia fought two fierce battles. First, they used artillery fire to tear apart the enemy's front 5-kilometer-deep defensive line. Then, they used infantry infiltration to break through the secondary defensive line of 3 kilometers. Finally, they defeated a wave of cavalry that came to their aid.

They advanced a full 8 kilometers along the defensive lines and then another 13 kilometers in undefended open areas, accumulating a total east-west advance of 21 kilometers in a single day. Finally, they turned south and marched another 8 kilometers north-south, defeating several small reconnaissance and harassing cavalry groups along the way.

In other words, they had to fight two major battles, several minor skirmishes, and march a total of 29 kilometers through a field that was mostly muddy within a full 18-hour day.

This speed is truly impressive.

It was precisely because of their speed that, within just 18 hours, the entire Lusa Army 1, consisting of three divisions, stationed in Tarnuv County, was encircled like a dumpling.

The retreat route of the county town's garrison has not been completely cut off. Theoretically, if they move south to the rugged hilly area on the northern slope of the Carpathian Mountains, they may still be able to climb the mountains and escape the encirclement.

But Lieutenant General Belinovsky, the army commander stationed in the county town, knew very well that if he did not resist and let his troops break through the mountains, even if they made it out alive, he would be court-martialed and shot.

Breaking through the mountains meant abandoning all supplies and heavy equipment in Tarnuf, the railway town, and traveling light on foot, leaving the entire town to fall into enemy hands.

Moreover, the enemy came so suddenly that General Brusilov entrusted him with the western front defense against the enemy coming from Krakow, and he only held it for less than a day before it collapsed. How swiftly the enemy would rush towards Rzeszów and then cut off the Dukla Pass.

At that time, the main force of the entire Southwestern Area Army will be trapped in the south of the mountains and their supply lines will be cut off!

At midnight that day, a somber atmosphere enveloped the entire town of Tarnuv.

Lieutenant General Belinovsky convened his three division commanders for an emergency consultation on countermeasures.

"What should we do? The enemy is moving too fast! In just one day, we've been half-encircled, and the railway to Rzeszów has been cut off!"

Some of his division commanders advised him to take a detour and break out of the encirclement, but this was rejected outright.

Then everyone's opinions naturally and gradually converged on the dead end of "counterattacking along the railway to the rear and reopening the railway line".

Moreover, there is a friendly division on the edge of the mountainous area south of the county seat. However, since Gorlice to the north of the county seat has been breached, there is no need to defend the southern wilderness. That division can also retreat slightly, but should not withdraw directly back to the county seat.

Instead, they retreated east first and then north, which would allow them to flank the Demanians who had already reached the railway line.

Corps Commander Belinovsky: "It's decided. Now that the defensive line has been breached, there's no point in trying to hold the line at all costs. What we need now is to focus on holding the railway line and slowly retreating to buy time. The enemy's flanking force came through rugged, muddy terrain, so they probably don't have much heavy artillery. Our army has heavy artillery. By advancing steadily and retreating, we can definitely buy enough time to take our troops and heavy equipment with us!"

However, after the army commander made this decision, some army staff officers and individual division commanders pointed out some risks: "This plan is generally fine. The enemy forces that are outflanking us will take a detour through muddy terrain, and there will indeed be no heavy artillery involved."

However, the main enemy force advancing along the railway directly to our west must have a large number of heavy artillery pieces. What if we divide our forces to attack the enemy behind us, and the enemy in front takes the opportunity to launch a strong attack, causing our defensive line to collapse?

Corps Commander Belinovsky quickly realized the problem and added, "Of course, the front line cannot be abandoned. So, let the 54th Division continue to hold the front line in Tarnuv County, the 56th Division serve as the main force for the return reinforcement, and the 55th Division serve as the reserve."

Meanwhile, the 58th Division, which had circled around from the hilly area to the south, was to operate together with the 56th Division. The 56th Division would attack the enemy's front from behind, while the 58th Division would launch a pincer attack from the enemy's southern flank.

He had four divisions left: one to hold the line, two to deal with the enemy behind him, and the last division as a general reserve.

perfect.

Although they will eventually suffer repeated defeats and retreat along the railway, this tactic should allow them to hold out for three to five days, and the remaining forces will surely be able to retreat back to Rzeszów and even the Przemeshir fortress.

At least that's what Commander Belinovsky himself thought.

The plan was quickly put into action. The 56th/58th Division of the Russian Army, and even the 14th Cossack Cavalry Division sent by General Brusilov, commander of the rear army group, were to launch a strong counterattack against the vanguard of the Dmanian army that had wedged behind the railway line in the early hours of the next day, in order to retake the position and reopen the railway line.

However, they will soon experience the terrifying speed of the enemy's assault battalion tactics in switching between offense and defense.

……

"Quickly! All troops, advance at full speed! Our vanguard has breached the defenses so quickly; we must reinforce them immediately!"

In the darkness, three divisions of the 39th Corps under the German 10th Army were already frantically maneuvering eastward. Following the bloody paths forged by the assault battalions during the day, they were successively encircling the enemy's rear.

Because they had to march through muddy fields between towns, the heavy artillery units of the 39th Army were also unable to move and had to remain in the rear. The artillery regiments of the three divisions were temporarily assigned to friendly forces.

Only a very small number of 105mm field guns were still able to be deployed behind enemy lines via a few half-track vehicles that had not yet broken down.

Of the three divisions in the 39th Army, the one that followed the assault battalion the closest was only 1 to 2 hours behind. After the assault battalion moved into position in the middle of the night, the regiment that was leading the way in the 39th Army also moved into position at 2 a.m. on the 13th.

Then, on average, another regiment could arrive every hour. By dawn, the enemy had formed a full division behind enemy lines, and the enemy's northern flank still had two divisions maneuvering.

The troops that had already moved into position immediately began constructing field fortifications, digging foxholes as quickly as possible, or deploying heavy machine gun positions and light mortars based on the natural terrain.

Another 24 75mm light field guns were also deployed to the position—these guns were captured in the afternoon by Colonel Bock's assault battalions during their counterattack against the 12th Cossack Cavalry Division of the Lussa Army.

Meanwhile, the assault battalions that had been engaged in fierce fighting all day on the 12th have now been moved to relatively safe rear positions and can all sleep and rest.

They were also provided with the best food and drink, as well as rations of captured vodka to help them relax and sleep.

The essence of assault battalion tactics lies in this: once a decisive breakthrough is achieved, the offensive and defensive transition must begin immediately. The assault troops, having fought arduously to break through, should rest fully after transitioning to defensive positions, valuing their lives and energy, and never wasting them in line-filling battles. Line-filling will be handled by the line-filling soldiers.

利奥波德元帅的第10集团军，一共下辖第21军和第38/39/40军，其中后面这3个军都是新扩编的预备役，只有21军是开战时就存在的老部队。

Now, the Marshal has assigned the 21st Corps to be the assault force on the front of Tarnov County, the 39th Corps to outflank the enemy, the 38th Corps as the general reserve, and the 40th Corps to remain in Krakow in the rear, and to reinforce other secondary directions as needed to prevent any gaps in their own defenses.

With the combined force of the 21st Army ("iron hammer") and the 39th Army ("iron anvil"), the Lusha Army divisions in the Tarnuv County defense zone wouldn't be able to hold out for long.

……

Time flew by, and it was already dawn on May 13th.

The 56th/58th Lussa Division in the Tarnuv district, along with the 14th Cossack Cavalry Division that arrived from the rear in Rzeszów, finally launched a full-scale offensive against the 39th Corps of the German 10th Army, which had just moved into position.

Commander Belinovsky felt that it was only midnight, so the number of Demanians who had infiltrated behind their lines must be small, and they didn't have heavy artillery, so he attacked very urgently.

Two infantry divisions and one cavalry division launched a fierce barrage of fire against the positions that the German 39th Army had dug just a few hours earlier, followed by a frenzied charge.

The Demacians didn't have time to dig trenches and could only rely on the natural terrain and the foxholes they had just dug for defense.

When the Lussa's artillery fire came down, all the Demacian soldiers tried to stay close to the ground, but also had to support themselves with their elbows, leaving their chests and abdomens a few centimeters to a dozen centimeters off the ground, like doing a poor plank.

This way, one can avoid being killed by shrapnel, and also avoid having one's chest pressed too tightly against the ground to prevent internal organ damage from shockwaves.

All the soldiers were patiently waiting for the shelling to pass, and the soldiers on the position were arranged as loosely and sparsely as possible to avoid giving the enemy any unnecessary opportunities.

Meanwhile, Demanian combat reconnaissance planes were already flying overhead, carefully observing the layout and precise locations of Lusa Army artillery positions on the ground within the Tarnuf County defense zone, and then reporting their positions to the artillery via radio from the rear of the plane.

The heavy artillery positions of the German 21st Army, located west of Tarnuv County, immediately began to launch counterattacks against the artillery positions of the Lusa Army in Tarnuv County.

The newly deployed 150mm K16 long-range cannon has a maximum range of 19 kilometers, exceeding the range of the Russa's cannons of the same caliber by at least 7 kilometers, representing a qualitative leap. The German artillery is deployed west of the town in Tarnuv County, providing coverage of the entire county from a distance.

Therefore, the Demacian heavy artillery, perhaps unable to maneuver and flank the enemy due to the mud, was unable to bombard the large Lusa infantry force that was retreating and breaking out to the west.

However, the range was certainly sufficient to counter the artillery deployed in Tarnuf town. The artillery positions of the Russian army were generally 5 to 10 kilometers further west than the infantry that was about to attack, and this distance difference was enough for the Decannons on the west side of the town to counter them.

In short, the artillery of the French troops in the county town bombarded the German infantry in the east of the town, while the German cannons in the west of the town bombarded the artillery of the French troops in the town.

The relentless pressure caused Commander Belinovsky a major headache; his artillery barrage lasted only a short time before many of his heavy artillery pieces were countered.

He knew it was the enemy's fighter-reconnaissance planes causing the trouble, so he immediately sent a telegram to the rear, hoping that the army group commander, Brusilov, could send fighter planes to counterattack as soon as possible.

When Brusilov received an urgent telegram from the front, knowing that his men were still fighting fiercely, he was very anxious and did his best to mobilize all the aircraft he could.

……

It was now May 1915, almost three months after the Battle of Dunkirk-Yipour.

During these three months, the aircraft of the Allied countries also underwent many emergency upgrades. After all, in the fierce battle on the Franco-Belgian border, the Allied air force suffered heavy losses. The Demandian aircraft were equipped with MG15 air-cooled belt-fed light machine guns, while the Allied aircraft had few standard machine guns. Whenever their aircraft encountered each other, the Demandians had a clear advantage.

At that time, the main ones who suffered direct losses were the Bu army. So after returning, the Bu army learned from their mistakes and realized that their biggest problem was that "the Lewis air-cooled machine gun was still being tested and refined and had not yet been finalized, so the air force did not have a good enough and lightweight machine gun."

So, in March, the country made a tough decision and severely punished several people who were delaying production and pushing for perfection, forcing the Lewis air-cooled machine gun to start production immediately! Even if it wasn't perfect, they didn't care! They just wanted to make it for the aircraft!
Everything in wartime happens very quickly, especially after one side suffers a crushing defeat that leads to the annihilation of the expeditionary army; the pace of reflection is absurdly fast.

So in less than two months, the Britannians spared no expense in producing thousands of Lewis air-cooled light machine guns, equipping all their aircraft with them, and also selling several hundred to Frank and Lusa, enabling their reconnaissance planes to also be equipped with standard machine guns, thus solving their self-defense firepower problem.

Just an hour and a half after the ground battle began, dozens of Russa reconnaissance planes, at General Brusilov's request, hastily arrived at the battlefield. They were armed with Lewis air-cooled machine guns, ready to teach their Demanian counterparts a lesson.

After three months apart, one should look at a person with new eyes! Now, even the Lushar reconnaissance planes have air-cooled machine guns!

At 8:00 a.m., over Tarnuf County.

Major Nesterov, commander of the reconnaissance flight squadron of the 8th Army, arrived at the battlefield with his remaining 31 comrades.

We are no longer at the beginning of the war, and the aircraft models of the warring parties are constantly and rapidly being upgraded.

The Lussa are currently using Moran G monoplanes, while the Demanians on the other side are using Albatross I biplane fighter-reconnaissance aircraft.

（上图为信天翁1型战斗机，1915年底发展出2型，1916年发展出3型）
When they were at least 30 kilometers away from Tarnov County, Major Nesterov, with his exceptional eyesight, could vaguely spot the Dmania reconnaissance aircraft group opposite them.

He immediately became excited and shouted an order to the other flight captain closest to him:

"Each squadron will form its own formation and flank the enemy aircraft from both sides, annihilating them with side-fired machine guns! The enemy doesn't even have as many planes as we do!"

In this era, there were no loudspeakers or radio pagers; air command could only be done by shouting, which could only be heard by friendly aircraft that were very close by. Therefore, such orders could only be shouted a few times when two officers' aircraft were close together.

Another officer who heard Major Nesterov's order quickly turned slightly and swayed his wings from side to side to signal his men to follow.

The subsequent pilots followed the captain's wing movements, forming an irregular column and sparsely following behind.

(End of this chapter)