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Volume 3 Far East Story Chapter 437 Everyone is taking detours

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    11:00 on July 14, 1918, headquarters of the 3rd Ural Cavalry Division of the Allied Forces in Buzuluk Town

    "Division commander, the enemy's trench has advanced to 800 meters in front of our position. Fight! If we don't hit Yegorov, it's time to build his trench with ours!" Division Chief of Staff and Commander of the Sixth Brigade  **Vsky really couldn't hold his nerve this time. The calls from the commanders of the battalions and companies on the position to call for battle rang out, and the staff at the division headquarters were busy answering the calls.

    "There are more than 30,000 Soviet Red Army troops on the opposite side. How many people are digging trenches at this moment? 3,000 people were killed. My mortar shells were reserved for Yegorov's large army. At this moment, a few soldiers  The rats are hiding in the trenches and digging holes in the ground. It would be a waste to use our artillery shells on them!" Nezhkov shook his head and still refused to order an attack.

    "Division Commander, the enemy's cavalry may have really detoured to the south to take our retreat. How about we take advantage of the enemy's lack of time to attack from the north and south and defeat the infantry in the north first, and then turn around to deal with the cavalry in the south.  How about it? Otherwise, if the opponent attacks from the north and the south, it will be difficult to fight!" **Vsky said unwillingly.

    Nezhkov frowned when he heard this, and said calmly, "Originally, we were prepared for the enemy to attack from the north and south, but the Buzuluk River and the Domashka River formed a figure of eight and blocked Buzuluk.  The town is sandwiched in the middle. Haven¡¯t we surveyed the terrain along the river from Buzuluk to the south? There is no suitable river section within 20 kilometers that can be crossed again!¡±

    "But if the other party is not afraid of taking a long detour and crosses the river again from 20 kilometers away, then we still have to be attacked from both sides?" **Vsky is obviously also a persistent leader.

    "Being attacked from both sides? Okay, if he hadn't been attacked from both sides, would Yegorov be able to stay in Buzuluk Town so honestly and not leave? If he wasn't afraid of turning back, four hours from morning to now would be enough for him to turn back.  On the other side of the Buzuluk River, this guy just wants to take the shortcut to Buzuluk Town and go south to liberate his hometown!" Nezhkov said disapprovingly.

    "Division commander, when will the fifth brigade arrive for reinforcements? It should be almost three hours before they set off, right?" With a sudden change of his eyes, ?ovsky decided to focus on the fifth brigade of the third cavalry division.

    "Nedev's 1st Regiment of the 5th Brigade set out from Neftersk in the west three hours ago. The journey is almost 70 kilometers. If everything goes well, they should have arrived ten to fifteen kilometers to the west by now, but  Since the radio hasn't been turned on yet, it probably hasn't arrived at the designated location yet," Nezhkov said after calculating the time.

    "Report to the division commander! A call came from Nedev, commander of the fifth brigade. The first regiment of the fifth brigade has arrived across the Masika River, ten kilometers northwest of Buzuluk town. Please ask the division commander for instructions on the next step!" A communications staff officer  He hurried in to report.

    It should be said that the largest ferry crossing of the Domashka River is here in the town of Buzuluk, and the ferry of the Buzuluk River is also the same, so the location of the town of Buzuluk is so critical and important, but since the Third Cavalry Division of the Allied Forces  The main Sixth Brigade occupied the town, which made it impossible for the retreating Soviet Red Army to use these two ferries to cross the river under the cover of coalition firepower.

    That's why Yegorov's main force had to cross the river downstream of the Buzuluk River. It was precisely because the Domashka River and the Buzuluk River formed a big figure-eight shape lying down. Therefore, if they did not cross the river and go south along the Buzuluk River, then  It will be farther and farther away from the Volga River in the west.

    As for continuing to cross the Domashka River to the west, the first crossing point of Budyonny's Special Cavalry Division Cavalry Brigade had to choose. In fact, it was the only suitable place to cross the river downstream of Buzuluk Town, and this place  It is less than 7 kilometers away from the town of Buzuluk, and is almost entirely exposed to the range of the coalition's artillery batteries.

    The 4,500-man cavalry suffered one-third casualties when they crossed the river at that position. Yegorov could not imagine what it would be like if more than 32,000 slower infantrymen crowded into that section of the river to cross the river. That was purely a miscalculation.  The five infantry divisions of the Ninth Army were sent under the enemy's artillery to be beaten. The casualties at that time were simply unimaginable.

    In fact, for Yegorov, it is not too late to review and retreat to make amends. He should evacuate the entire army from the north of Buzuluk Town, return to the downstream river mouth, and try to find a way to build a pontoon bridge to cross the Buzuluk River.  , retreated southward along the circuitous route taken by the cavalry division political commissar Xia Jianke and the 2nd Cavalry Brigade.

    The reason why Yegorov did not choose to go directly east to the south of the Buzuluk River was that in addition to having to detour more than 100 kilometers, the continuous retreat for three days and three nights caused the physical and mental strength of the troops to drop to a very dangerous level.  Due to the continuous march last night, the whole army was exhausted by early morning. At this time, the town of Hou Buzuluk was very close. If Yegorov, a Buzuluk man, led the army, he would not dare to cross the house.  Words to the south.

    Yegorov felt a little helpless.The villager confessed that, of course, underestimating the enemy was also a key factor. He did not expect that the coalition forces had a cavalry brigade guarding Buzuluk and built strong defenses. Moreover, as expected, this cavalry brigade was equipped with an artillery company.  !

    From another perspective, Yegorov hoped that after crossing the river, the Buzuluk River would become an obstacle to the pursuit of the coalition forces behind him. At that time, he even planned to capture the town of Buzuluk and move the Budyonny Special Cavalry Division.  Two artillery companies and a heavy machine gun battalion of the ** Artillery Regiment stayed to guard Buzuluk and prevent the coalition pursuers from crossing the river from Buzuluk Town. This could buy the main force of the group army a day or more to retreat.

    The town of Buzuluk became such a hard nut that it was beyond the expectations of all the commanders of the Ninth Army. Although the ground battle had not officially started yet, the atmosphere on the position was extremely depressing. The Ninth Army of the Soviet Red Army  Here, the engineer battalions of Inza Division and the entire army group have gone to rest. At this moment, a regiment of Kikweize's 16th Infantry Division is digging trenches.

    The four longitudinal trenches have advanced from the expected starting trench of the Soviet Red Army's attack 1,100 meters away to the coalition position to 800 meters, and are still advancing. The Soviet Red Army's advance trenches have been drawn.  Set at a location 500 meters away from the coalition position.

    In this position, except for machine guns and snipers, ordinary soldiers, whether they use Mosin-Nagant rifles or the M1 Garand semi-automatic mounted rifles equipped by the coalition cavalry squads, are on the edge of the effective combat range. Only top-notch sharpshooters can do without a scope.  And if you only rely on the mechanical sight to hit the target at a distance of 500 meters, you have to rely on the blindfold for the rest.

    As a Russian force in the coalition, the 3rd Ural Cavalry Division has far less sniper rifle equipment than Li Mingzhong¡¯s mixed cavalry brigade. Almost one company has a two-person sniper team, equipped with an M1 Garand semi-automatic sniper rifle.

    As the trenches of the Soviet Red Army dug within 800 meters, Nezhkov finally relaxed. A sniper team of 32 companies entered the position and began to snipe the enemy infantry within 800 meters. However, the division commander Nezhkov gave special attention to it.  In a word, don't aim at the head. If you injure each one, you will have one less burden on the opponent. If you injure one, Yegorov may have to send two people to drag and carry the wounded.

    These simple combat principles were all taught in the crash training course for battlefield commanders held by the coalition headquarters east of the Ural Mountains. Increasing the enemy's wounded is more beneficial to oneself than adding an enemy's dead body. What's more, regardless of consciousness,  Whatever the situation, whether it is the Soviet Red Army or the White Guard, they are all the people of this fertile land. Sooner or later, they will eat from the same pot. There is no need to kill them all. A living enemy is more wounded than a dead enemy.  The body is more valuable!

    The sound of sniper fire coming one after another on the coalition position scared the Red Army infantrymen who were sweating profusely and still digging trenches on the opposite side. Kikweize's infantry regiment soon suffered hundreds of casualties, most of them injured, either with their ears knocked off or their buttocks.  The body was lifted too high and a piece of flesh was ripped off. Only a dozen of the unlucky ones were killed, but the number of wounded continued to increase. The wounded screamed so hard that the entire trench excavation work was on the verge of stopping.

    The high morale on the coalition positions was in sharp contrast to the gloom and mist on the Soviet Red Army positions opposite.

    At this time, Nezhkov was worried whether he should let the first regiment of the fifth brigade pursue the opponent's Budyonny Cavalry Brigade southward along the Domashka River, or whether he should stay where he was and simply wait for Yegorov.  When the infantry launches an attack on Buzuluk Town, give the opponent a hard blow from behind!

    At the same time, Hashemi's 2nd Regiment of the 5th Brigade of the 3rd Cavalry Division has arrived fifteen kilometers east of Buzuluk Town after setting off from Sorochinsk. It is taking a short rest and asking for instructions on the next step.  direction.
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