Chapter 216 Pursuit (seeking a monthly ticket)
"Quick! The train is coming soon, and all departments should be ready. Be sure to bring all the equipment on the train within half an hour." A regiment commander ordered the officers and soldiers of the battalions and companies below.
Tannenberg Railway Station has become the busiest railway station in East Prussia. The 11th Corps, 20th Corps, and 8th Armored Division of the 8th Army had to be transferred from here to Lake Masuria.
The 8th Armored Division has already left one step ahead. They need to receive new tanks, and then spend time familiarizing themselves with their new tanks so that they can form combat effectiveness as soon as possible and catch up with the battle against the Russian 1st Army .
A few minutes later, a train pulled into the station. During the time when the train was adding water and coal, the soldiers entered the carriages in order. Of course, in order to transport as many soldiers and equipment as possible, each carriage was packed to the brim, like canned sardines. Although it is not as good as the Spring Festival travel in later generations of Huaxia, it is almost the same. In particular, Germans are generally taller, and it is undoubtedly even more aggrieved to squeeze them into the carriage.
It's just that these Germans are tough. Soldiers, in particular, are able to endure pain, and no one complains of suffering.
In order to transport as many troops as possible to Lake Masuria, in addition to railway transportation, road transportation is also essential. Maybach trucks, loaded with heavily armed German soldiers, rushed towards Lake Masuria. Although, the weight of the current trucks is not large, a truck can only transport a squad of soldiers and their equipment. However, Qin Tian equipped the 8th Army with more than 2,000 trucks. Deducting the trucks used to transport supplies, he could transport the soldiers of a division and their equipment to Lake Masuria at one time.
Thanks to Germany's great emphasis on transportation construction, whether it is railways or roads, the density is the highest in the whole of Europe, and the quality is also the best. This allows the German Eighth Army to quickly transfer in.
According to the plan of the 8th Army Staff Headquarters, it only took two days to transport the 11th Army, 20th Army and 8th Armored Division to Masurian Lake. In other words, on the night of August 23, they will all be able to reach the east of Lake Masuria and enter the predetermined position. From August 24th, it will be possible to launch an offensive.
It is almost impossible for the Russian 1st Army to withdraw from the Masurian Lake area within two days. Especially with the 17th Army following them and launching an attack. They had been delaying the Russian 1st Army before, and had to retreat many times in order not to scare the Russians. Therefore, most of the combat power cannot be brought into play. Now it is undoubtedly to let them let go of their hands and feet. This will naturally allow the 17th Army to fully display its combat effectiveness, thereby further causing greater casualties to the Russian army, delaying their retreat speed, and creating opportunities for the main force to catch up. Buy more time.
"Fire!"
On the morning of August 23, on the artillery position of the 87th Infantry Division of the 17th Army of the German Army, a door of 75mm field guns, 105mm light howitzers and 155mm heavy howitzers had raised their muzzles and aimed at the Russian army. A blocking position.
When the commander of the Russian 1st Army, General Leiningkamp, also expected that the German army would pursue them when he retreated, so he left a lot of Russian troops to block the German army in order to delay the German army. Their main force retreated to buy more time.
Although the 1st Army suffered heavy losses in the previous battles. However, the main force is still there. After all, this group army is a huge group army with 20 infantry divisions and two cavalry divisions. It has a very strong force, with a total force of more than 300,000 troops. Even after deducting the battle damage, there are still nearly 300,000 troops, which is still a powerful group army.
It's just that General Leiningkamp was frightened, and he didn't dare to stay and continue fighting. The German 8th Army can easily eat the 2nd Army, which undoubtedly proves that their combat effectiveness is much stronger than that of the Russian 2nd Army. You know, even the 1st Army is not capable of defeating the 2nd Army in such a short period of time. Therefore, General Leiningkamp naturally believes that his 1st Army is far from being the opponent of the German army. Then, for him, retreat has undoubtedly become the best choice.
Even General Ivan Jilinski, who stayed in Warsaw, held the same view. Therefore, Admiral Leiningkamp was able to make up his mind to speed up the retreat and ignore the others.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The German artillery fired violently, smashing shells one by one onto the positions of the Russian infantry divisions. Intensive explosions sounded, and the Russian army, which had only built a simple defensive position, could not withstand the fierce German shelling at all. Their fortifications were easily destroyed by shelling. The Russian soldiers hiding inside were either killed or injured.
The German shelling lasted for half an hour. Such a violent shelling directly smashed the Russian army's defense line to pieces, and the casualties were even more severe.
Even, the Russian army in some areas has voluntarily retreated due to heavy casualties.
Subsequently, the Germans launched an offensive.
The powerful firepower gave the German army a great advantage in defense, and they could use powerful firepower to kill the enemy. When attacking, the powerful firepower also makes them have extremely powerful attack power.
When the German army attacked, the Russian army on the defense line was often suppressed by the powerful firepower and couldn't even lift their heads, let alone counterattack. In addition, the morale of the broken troops is already relatively low, and the will to fight is also very weak. Facing the powerful German attack, their defense quickly fell apart.
After the line of defense was breached, a large number of Russian troops fled in all directions. Once caught up, these Russian soldiers will often raise their hands and surrender. For those with weak will to fight, keeping their own lives is the most important thing.
This made the German 17th Army capture many Russian officers and soldiers during the pursuit of the Russian army. In order to accommodate these prisoners of war, a lot of their time was wasted.
But even so, it was not so easy for the Russian 1st Army to leave Lake Masuria.
In order to escape the pursuit and interception of the German army, the Russian army even voluntarily gave up a large amount of heavy equipment. They never thought about how they would fight the Germans without these heavy equipment once blocked by the Germans.
