Chapter 203 Dumbfounded

"Your Excellency the Commander is right. The Germans have strong machine gun fire and small-caliber artillery, but that doesn't mean that their artillery fire is really powerful. Didn't they respond when we shelled before? As long as we can With powerful artillery fire, destroy their defense line in one fell swoop, and the final victory will definitely be ours." As soon as Admiral Samsonov said the words, the generals of the Russian army responded immediately.

Other Russian generals also said the same thing. However, they also have a question in their hearts, that is, is the German artillery also hidden?

In any case, General Samsonov, he still intends to give it a try. If it doesn't work, find another way.

The artillery of the Russian army quickly completed its preparations. They carried out all the remaining shells. But even so, a cannon only received twenty or thirty shells.

There is no way to do this. Who made Russia's transportation facilities so bad? It is not so easy to transport a large amount of war materials from the hinterland of Russia to the front line. In addition, the Russian army is now undergoing full mobilization, which has squeezed out a large amount of railway transportation capacity. It will be even more difficult for the front-line troops to get more supplies.

"General, the Russian artillery is ready again. They obviously intend to use artillery fire to destroy our defense line." A staff officer reported to Lieutenant General François.

Over a grove not far from here, a hot air balloon was floating at an altitude of hundreds of meters. The German observers above could clearly see the movement of the Russian army and communicate with the German army on the ground by radio in time.

"Order our artillery to get ready! The artillery observation balloon is also launched. Once the Russian artillery fires, immediately suppress them and destroy them all!" Lieutenant General Francois ordered.

Even though Lieutenant General Francois only had four infantry divisions in his hands, the number of artillery was not large. The Russian army on the opposite side had the artillery of ten infantry divisions. But even so, Lieutenant General Francois was not afraid.

After the reorganization of the 8th Army, the artillery of each infantry division has been greatly enhanced. In addition to the cannons of the artillery battalions of each regiment, the entire infantry division has a total of 54 75mm field guns, 36 105mm light howitzers and Eighteen 150mm heavy howitzers. The four infantry divisions have a total of 216 75mm field guns, 144 105mm light howitzers and 72 150mm heavy howitzers. In terms of quantity, it is no more than ten infantry divisions of the Russian army. You know, the Russian infantry division usually only has 48 76.2mm field guns. This is still at full capacity, and once the replenishment cannot keep up, half of them are not bad.

As the main force for attacking Germany, the Northwest Front of the Russian Army has 30 infantry divisions fully staffed and equipped with enough field artillery. But that's all. The 76.2mm field gun of the Russian army has a slightly larger caliber than the 75mm field gun of the German army. But it is far inferior to the new German artillery in terms of range and power. Not to mention the rate of fire, it is completely incomparable. The 75mm field gun equipped by the 8th Army is an imitation of the French 75mm field gun, with a maximum rate of fire of 15 rounds per minute, which is three times faster than the Russian 76.2mm field gun.

The Russian Second Army has only a dozen 105mm field guns. As for larger caliber cannon, none were available. The current Russian army is not another Soviet army that attaches great importance to artillery in time and space. In terms of artillery fire, it cannot be compared with the European powers at all.

"Fire!"

Following the order of the Russian commander, more than 400 cannons of the Russian army began to roar. The gunners worked hard to stuff the shells one by one into the barrel, and then fired the shells out.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Accompanied by roars, shells roared and smashed into the German positions. Gunpowder smoke and dust flew up again.

However, the German soldiers on the position had already been ordered to retreat into the fortifications, leaving only a small number of observers on the position. Therefore, the shelling of the Russian army could not cause much damage to the German army at all.

General Samsonov and other Russian generals couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when they saw their own artillery starting to show off. The seriousness on his face also dissipated a lot.

However, after only a few minutes, their faces changed drastically.

Three minutes later, the German shelling launched a counterattack. According to the data obtained by the observers on the observation balloon, the German artillery directly aimed at the Russian artillery positions.

"Fire!"

Under the command of the commander, the cannons began to roar.

Before, when the artillery fire of the Russian army was raging, they did not get the order to fire, so they had to keep silent and let the artillery of the Russian army show off their might.

Now that the shelling order has been issued, they naturally don't have to keep it anymore.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The 150mm heavy howitzer, 105mm light howitzer and 75mm field gun fired one after another. Hundreds of cannons roared like thunder.

Under the action of huge kinetic energy, one after another shells roared and smashed into the artillery positions of the Russian army.

"Shh! Shh! Shh!"

When there was a piercing whistling sound in the sky, the Russian artillerymen on the artillery position raised their heads in horror one by one. As artillerymen, they naturally knew what these sounds meant. This is clearly the ear-piercing sound made by the high-speed flight of the cannonball and the violent friction with the air. This also means that the German shells are about to hit their heads.

"Run! The German shells are coming."

"My God! The Germans directly covered our artillery positions!"

Frightened voices sounded one after another, and the artillerymen of the Russian army fled in fright.

Shells fell from the sky one after another and hit the artillery positions of the Russian army.

"boom!"

The explosion sounded, and the air wave spread to the surroundings, and many Russian artillerymen were directly blown away. Even those cannons were blown up and down during the explosion. There are also cannons, even the barrels are twisted into twists.

As for the artillery, many of them were directly torn to pieces.

The heavy artillery of the German army was so powerful that it caused great damage to the artillery of the Russian army, and one artillery position after another was directly destroyed.

The generals of the Russian army watched this scene dumbfounded, and they were all dumbfounded. Although they had guessed before, the German artillery may be hiding its strength. However, now they know how powerful the German artillery fire is.