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Volume Three Far East Stories Chapter 364 Stepin¡¯s Big Adventure

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    At 1 pm on July 12, 1918, near the small town Bogdanovka, fifty kilometers southwest of Pavly

    "Chief of Staff, when will we set off? After a morning's rest, the soldiers' mental and physical strength have recovered a lot, but they can't cook in pots and can only eat dry food. I said, why don't we continue setting off quickly? The coalition forces must not have expected us.  We can go that far, and we are off the main road. You can see the coalition reconnaissance planes buzzing like flies in the sky on the north road all morning, but they didn't expect that we were not walking on the main road at all."

    The speaker was Liukin Voronezh, the commander of the Voronezh Infantry Division. He had a stubble on his face and was the commander of the oldest division of the Ninth Army. At this moment, he saw that the weather was good and the soldiers were resting well, so he decided to hurry up and seize the time.  Continue to retreat to Samara. Anyway, the further away from Bafre, the safer it will be.

    Stepin of the Ninth Army spread out the map on his knees, frowned and looked at it for a long time, then raised his head and said, "Comrade Voronezh, we are still at least 160 kilometers away from Samara. It is estimated that even if it is smooth sailing, it will take two and a half to three days."  It can only be reached by the road, and with so many artillery, this movement is not small. The reason why the coalition reconnaissance plane did not find us for the time being is because we took the main road last night, and the ruts are not easy to distinguish on the main road. If we leave here  It¡¯s a forest, and it¡¯s easy to be discovered by the enemy during the day.¡±

    "Chief of Staff, it doesn't matter if we are discovered by an enemy reconnaissance plane. The enemy is at least half a day to a day's journey away from us. The coalition infantry will not be able to catch up with us for a while. When their air force comes for air strikes, we can hide and evacuate.  ?

    This is at least 270 kilometers away from Ufa. The enemy's planes coming from Ufa will not stay too long and have to fly back. Moreover, don't forget, since we are luring the enemy and attracting their attention, we are the main force.  Create conditions for a breakout. If we really don't reveal any traces, the enemy can't find us and he will have to wander around looking for the commander and the others. Isn't this very dangerous?  "

    Liukin Voronezh had obviously already thought about how to convince his chief of staff. As expected, Stepin was moved by the persuasion and thought to himself,

    "Liu Jin is right. When the enemy finds out that our ground forces are at least a day away from each other, we are not afraid of pursuers. As long as we prevent air strikes, we can attract more enemy attention to the main force of the group army. As for the direction of Samara, maybe  The enemy is not well-prepared. Our nine artillery companies and five heavy machine gun battalions can attack them and take advantage of the opportunity to take back Samara."

    "Comrade Division Commander, I know that your division has strong combat effectiveness and experience in air defense, but are you sure that the coalition ground forces really can't catch up with us? There is a road 3 kilometers to the north. If the opponent's cavalry and armored forces pursue us along the road, it will take two people in half a day.  You can catch up in an hour." Stepin's heart was beating a little fast.

    "Why are you afraid of it? The White Guards' Cossack cavalry has average combat effectiveness. The coalition has armored forces. How far can they catch up? We have 9 artillery companies and 5 heavy machine gun battalions. It's not certain who will beat whoever catches up.  We are mainly taking anti-aircraft measures. I am also prepared for this. I have just asked people to cut down trees in the grove and make dozens of wooden gun racks." Liukin Voronezh said as he dragged Stepin to a horse-drawn machine gun carriage.  forward

    Stepin took a look and saw that the front wheel of the original wheeled Maxim heavy machine gun was mounted on a one-meter-high wooden gun stand. The machine gunner sat on the floor of the carriage and could shoot in the air at a 45-degree angle. Of course, the pitch  The angle is very small, but you can aim and shoot in the air anyway.

    "This gun stand is quite solid and cannot be rotated. How will you change the aim then?" Stepin asked, looking at the mounted anti-aircraft machine gun in front of him with his hands behind his back.

    "Hey, Chief of Staff, let's drive the horse and move the carriage directly. If you want to go left, go left, if you want to go right, go right. I heard that as long as the pilot sees that the machine gun on the ground can hit his plane, he will instinctively pull  Gao He avoids our anti-aircraft machine guns. We don't expect to be able to hit many coalition aircraft. At least we can scare the opponent from flying too low and dive and shoot, right?" Liu Jin said with a smile.

    Stepin was still hesitating. He could see that Liukin was holding back his anger and wanted to make a comeback to show the coalition forces. At least it was a drag trick. In the end, he was holding 9 artillery batteries and 5 heavy machine guns.  As for the battalion, an infantry division only has more than 7,000 people. The artillery and heavy machine gun battalions include more than 2,000 people. In addition, there are more than 8,000 lightly wounded people following the action. This team is fully prepared and can definitely pretend to be the main force of the group army.  work

    Liu Jin couldn't help it. Yesterday's midnight march was a disaster for the wounded. There were hundreds of people left behind along the way last night, so he gritted his teeth and thought about seizing the time to retreat to the southwest during the day, or else he would continue to hide in  The morale of the team in the woods is really going down.

    "Chief of Staff, you take the lightly wounded to withdraw first. Division political commissar Shokhov takes the artillery company to the center. I will take the infantry division and the heavy machine gun battalion to the rear. If the enemy air force dares to pursue me, I will give it to you.""Don't hesitate any more when you come down. If the wounded continue to march in the middle of the night, they really won't be able to walk," Liu Jin shouted at the top of his lungs.

    Stepin thought for a long time and finally agreed to Liujin's request. Half an hour later, this mighty army came out of the hidden woods and stepped onto the road. Group Army Chief of Staff Stepin led 8,000 lightly wounded people on the road.  In the front and in the middle are nine artillery batteries commanded by Voronezh Division political commissar Shokhov. The courageous Liukin rolled up his sleeves and led his division. At the rear, five heavy machine gun battalions were modified with gun racks to become anti-aircraft machine gun and anti-aircraft battalions, surrounding the team.  With surrounding guards, this bold Soviet Red Army force finally restarted its retreat to the southwest

    The Ninth Group Army's bold move was due to a time lag. It waited ten minutes for the distant coalition reconnaissance plane to fly from west to east before quietly embarking on the road. As a result, it waited until Stepin's troops returned from the direction of Samara.  When the Hawkeye 4 early warning aircraft discovered it, this mighty force had been driving south on the road for more than an hour and arrived at a position four kilometers southwest of Severno County.

    At this time, in fact, just an hour ago, the armored regiment occupied by Chiang Hongyu's troops in Bavre had been chasing southwest along the road from the Ufa coalition command post. Liujin thought that the coalition forces were at least half a day to a day away from him.  However, the 4th Armored Regiment of the 2nd Mixed Armored Brigade set out from Bafre and marched along the road, advancing 40 kilometers in an hour. At this moment, it was only 20 kilometers away from Stepin's large force.

    July 12, 1918 14:00 Ufa

    "Eagle Eye 4 reported that on their way back from Samara, they discovered Soviet Red Army ground troops near Severno County, 150 kilometers away from Samara. They were at least two divisions in size and mixed with various elements.  There are less than 9 artillery companies, and there are at least five battalions of horse-drawn heavy machine guns. The opponent seems to have modified the heavy machine guns to shoot directly into the air from the carriage. Hawkeye 4 encountered the opponent no less than three times when approaching for reconnaissance.  A volley of firepower was fired. Fortunately, it was raised in time and there was no serious problem." Tian Jun, chief staff officer of the war room, walked in quickly and said.

    "Finally found out, hahaha. The enemy did run to the southwest. I didn't expect them to run so far in one breath and now they can't escape." Utsunomiya, the deputy chief of staff of the coalition, laughed and jumped up after hearing this.

    "Only two divisions? The Ninth Army has six infantry divisions and one cavalry division." Wang Geng frowned slightly and continued,

    "Have no other enemy troops been discovered on the two wings of this enemy team?"

    "Nothing has been found so far. The Hawkeye 4 has already circled the opponent's sky. It seems that there are no other enemy troops within a radius of 20 kilometers. In addition, the 4th Armored Regiment of the 2nd Mixed Armored Brigade set off from Bafre to pursue westward in the afternoon.  We are less than 20 kilometers away from the enemy, but they only have one regiment. The opponent has 9 artillery companies and 5 heavy machine gun battalions. If we catch up and launch an attack, I'm afraid our strength will be a bit weak," Tian Jun replied

    "Order the air force to dispatch and send three squadrons of dh4 reconnaissance bombers to rush over for air support. The opponent is prepared for air defense. Don't dive and strafing yet. Just bomb directly at 3,000 meters horizontally. Cooperate with the 4th Armored Regiment to stop this part of the enemy." Wang Geng  gave an order

    "In addition, three squadrons of Handley Page 0400 heavy bombers were ordered to take off over Bafre and stand by. Three Chinese FR18 "Excellence" attack bombers took off at the same time to escort. In addition, where is Jiang Hongyu now?" Wang Geng  Continuing to give orders, he turned around and asked
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