In the six months since the 25th Regiment has been stationed in the Blue Valley, the League of Nations troops have not been idle. The area of the fortress has expanded from about 100 acres to less than half of the valley. This is only on the surface.
In addition to the buildings on the ground, there are air-raid shelters and warehouses under the fortress. The nearby mountain ridges have actually been hollowed out, and the defenders even dug a tunnel leading out of the valley. The Bulgarians had no idea about this.
Colonel Gomez was experienced. Without the cooperation of armored troops, attacking a fortress with complete fortifications would most likely lead to death, so all the troops participating in the first wave of attacks were Bulgarians.
Colonel Paulus was very dissatisfied with this.
But Colonel Paulus did not dare to say anything. Colonel Gomez was reluctant to join the German troops and would not feel sorry for the Bulgarians.
The terrain in the valley is still very open, and there is a battalion of Bulgarian troops preparing to attack the fortress.
While the bombardment was still going on, Colonel Gomez ordered the attacking troops to set off, get as close as possible to the fortress, and advance on the impact point of the shells.
For German infantry, infantry-artillery coordination was a routine operation.
Not for the Bulgarian troops.
Infantry and artillery coordination requires rigorous training to be mastered proficiently. The Bulgarian army has almost never conducted training on infantry and artillery coordination.
It's not that the Bulgarian generals don't pay attention to it, but it's not necessary.
The training of German troops has always used France, Britain, and even southern Africa as imaginary enemies.
Before the outbreak of the war, Bulgaria had no desire for external expansion at all, so it is understandable that its armaments were depleted. After all, troop training costs money.
And a serious problem is that the quality of the Bulgarian artillery is obviously not as high as that of the German artillery. The quality of the artillery is also not good. The requirements for artillery in infantry-artillery coordination are also very high. If one fails, the artillery shells will fall on one's head.
superior.
Therefore, after receiving the order to attack, the attacking Bulgarian army moved obviously a bit slowly.
To be reasonable, everyone, the Bulgarian army does not refuse to accept orders. There are only a few armies in the world that obey orders and prohibitions, and Bulgaria is obviously not one of them.
What's more, there are minefields ahead, and the Bulgarian army does not have as many demining methods as the southern Africans.
"Order the troops to speed up." Colonel Gomez looked indifferent. The Bulgarian army was just cannon fodder for the Germans.
Half a year after the war broke out, only two villages were "occupied" and not even a real battle broke out.
The Germans are well aware of these little tricks played by the Bulgarians.
It's just that the Germans' attention has been on Russia in the past six months, so they just let it go.
Now that the Russian war situation is gradually getting anxious, the Germans are determined to cut off aid from southern Africa. If the Bulgarians can die instead of the Germans, Colonel Gomez will be happy to see it happen.
"The effect of the shelling is not obvious. We need more powerful artillery." Colonel Paulus was in a dilemma. The 150-caliber artillery was still not enough in front of the permanent fortifications built of reinforced concrete.
People in southern Africa are really afraid of death. They spare no expense when building fortifications. The top of the bunker is more than one meter thick, and it is covered with logs and sandbags to enhance the protection. Unless it is directly hit by a large-caliber artillery shell, it will not be possible at all.
Cause fatal damage.
The Germans only have 8 150-caliber artillery pieces. The firepower density is far from enough for the fortress. The power of Miss 75 is even less powerful. It can deal with simple trenches. For a fortress with an underground transportation system, it can't even be scratched.
Not really.
"Don't imagine that more artillery will help. The most critical factor in winning victory is people." Colonel Gomez was worried.
There are also artillery in the fortress, and usually the fortress artillery is much more powerful than field artillery.
The quality of the artillery in Southern Africa is no less than that of the German artillery. Based on the experience gained by the German army on the Russian battlefield, the artillery must move its position an hour after firing, otherwise it will face counterattack from the opponent's artillery.
Colonel Gomez didn't know that the most advanced artillery radar nowadays was installed in the Blue Fortress, so the fortress's fire counterattack was much faster than Colonel Gomez expected.
"Our troops have never received training in this area before." Colonel Paulus did not dare to stand up. Under the urging of the officers, the Bulgarian soldiers finally left the bunker and launched a suicide attack on the fortress.
There is a minefield ahead, so it is really suicide.
The key point is that people in southern Africa are still very insidious, and the power of landmines is not great. The goal is to injure the attackers, rather than kill them completely.
The attacking soldier who stepped on a landmine would be in dire straits. His lower legs would be blown to pieces, but he would not be able to die for a while. He could only struggle and cry out for help from his companions.
Even if they are sent to the rear, it is difficult to receive complete treatment.
Even if they are cured, they will still be disabled. They will be unable to live without prosthetic limbs for the rest of their lives. They will definitely not be able to continue fighting. The Germans will not waste precious medical resources on them.
The Bulgarian army indeed lacks the will to fight. Just after a soldier stepped into a minefield and unfortunately hit the jackpot, he immediately retreated like a tide, much faster than when he attacked.
Gomez had no time to punish these soldiers at this time. The artillery in the fortress had already begun to counterattack. The German artillery was facing an unprecedented crisis.
Fortress artillery is indeed more powerful than field artillery. The Blue Fortress is equipped with a 203 mm heavy fortress artillery produced by Nyasaland Military Industrial Group, with a maximum range of 25 kilometers, which is almost twice as high as the German 150.
At this time, the artillery no longer used balloons for calibration. Don't forget that there were bunkers on the surrounding mountains that no one could open. The machine gun shooters in the bunkers used radios to easily calibrate the artillery's firepower. The German artillery was completely
tragedy.
The 203mm fortress gun is much more powerful than the 150mm. The weight of the shell exceeds 100 kilograms. It is powerful enough to overturn a heavy tank. One shot will not leave any survivors within a hundred meters.
There are 6 203mm fortress guns in the Blue Fortress.
Although the number is small, the power is still very scary.
The power of artillery lies in its volleys. If you are not in it, you cannot feel the feeling that the mountains are shaking and the earth is shaking, and that death will come at any time.
The German artillery underestimated the time for the southern African artillery counterattack. When the fortress artillery fired, there were still unfinished artillery shells piled on the German artillery position. These artillery shells had been installed with fuses and were in an unstable state. One shell hit
The artillery shells piled up on the German artillery positions triggered violent explosions. After a round of attacks by the southern African artillery, six of the eight 150 guns were directly destroyed, and only two survived.
What else are you fighting for? Just pack up and run away.
It is a pity that the artillery companies in southern Africa did not give them a chance to escape.
It also takes time for artillery to move its position, unlike self-propelled artillery that fires and runs away.
The firing speed of the 203mm fortress cannon can reach three rounds per minute. A mechanical device is used to load the shells. After the first round of fire strikes, there is free time. The faster the firing speed, the better.
For more than ten seconds, the field artillery had no time to load the next shell, and another round of shells came one after another.
After Colonel Gomez learned the news that the entire artillery force had been wiped out, he decisively issued a retreat order.
This battle cannot be fought.
At least it can't be fought until it is supported by large-caliber artillery or armored troops.
But it was too late to retreat. It took time for the artillery to move their positions, and it was even more troublesome for the infantry to retreat.
The Germans do not have tanks, but there are tanks in the fortress, and they are "Leopard" tanks that are classified as heavy tanks according to German standards. There are 12 tanks in total.:.
As soon as Colonel Gomez's retreat order was given, the tank troops in the fortress rushed out.
It was obvious that the Southern African army had a backup plan when laying out minefields. In the lens of Colonel Gomez's telescope, the "Leopard" tank easily passed through the minefield without any damage, and not a single mine was detonated.
Then the "Leopard" easily crossed the small river that Colonel Paulus regarded as a "natural danger", and roared over with an overwhelming momentum. At this time, the Bulgarian soldiers who had participated in the attack did not even return to the starting position.
superior.
It's too late to retreat.
The Southern African army is not only very skilled in infantry and artillery coordination, but its infantry-tank coordination is also obviously not on the same level as the Bulgarian army. It is stronger than any army Colonel Gomez has encountered before.
The soldiers rushing over with the "Leopard" tanks were all Southern African soldiers wearing four-color camouflage.
They lined up in two rows behind the wide tracks of the "Leopard", giving no chance to the enemy in front.
In order to match the advance speed of the infantry, the "Leopard" is not very fast. When the German machine guns fire at the infantry behind the tank, the "Leopard" will stop and the huge turret will start to rotate, pressing against the machine gunner.
Crazy shooting and artillery fire completely destroyed the machine gun position.
"Attack, order your troops to attack!" Colonel Gomez was already red-eyed. Even though these tanks were not very fast now, once the German army was defeated, the tanks would not be slow at all in pursuit.
"We lack anti-tank capabilities." Colonel Paulus was sweating profusely and looked at Colonel Gomez with anger.
It's all the fault of you arrogant Germans. If you hadn't insisted on attacking, then we could have maintained a peaceful situation and wouldn't have fallen to this point.
Colonel Gomez was even angrier.
When did the German troops, which swept across Europe and captured hundreds of thousands or millions of Russians in Russia, ever fight such a frustrating battle?
You can't blame Colonel Gomez for being arrogant.
Consider that millions of Russian troops have collapsed in front of the German army. There were indeed many heroic deeds during the Great Patriotic War. However, when the Russian army was defeated, there were countless cases of entire divisions and entire regiments surrendering. In this case, it is really
It's hard not to be proud.
In Gomez's view, the pampered southern Africans are nothing compared to the Russians who at least have courage.
"Now I order your troops to counterattack and give my troops time to retreat." Colonel Gomez looked crazy. The servant army was just cannon fodder.
"As you wish!" Colonel Paulus roared and rushed out of the command post.
Want to run?
You also have to be able to run away.
Under the command of Colonel Paulus, the Bulgarian army organized a counterattack.
At this time, the infantry accompanying the tank attack came in handy.
Bulgarian soldiers still use bolt-action rifles.
The basic weapon of the Southern African army is the Nyasaland semi-automatic rifle. Squad leaders and sergeants use automatic rifles. Light machine guns and grenade launchers are distributed to the squad level. The number of precision shooters is variable. Regular field troops, even ordinary
Soldiers, their shooting skills are at least passable.
Although automatic rifles and submachine guns are similar, their power is different.
Russia's Bobosa uses 7.62×25 Tokarev pistol bullets, with an effective range of 200 meters. In actual use, most of them are within 100 meters, and accuracy cannot be guaranteed any further.
The automatic rifles equipped in southern Africa use rifle bullets with an effective range of 600 meters. Not only are they powerful, their accuracy is also guaranteed. They use 30-round magazines, and the continuity of their firepower is also guaranteed.
The high-level dual-purpose machine gun and coaxial machine gun on the "Leopard" tank are not vegetarian either.
So when the Bulgarian army launched an attack, they were hit head-on by the "Leopard" and southern African soldiers. As soon as the two sides came into contact, the Bulgarian army was quickly defeated.
It was truly a rout.
Many Bulgarian soldiers did not even run. After throwing away their rifles, they knelt on the ground with their hands on the back of their heads and immediately surrendered. Anyway, their legs could not outrun the tracks and wheels.
The Bulgarian army is unreliable, so Colonel Gomez still has to do it himself.
Although the Germans did not have tanks, they still had a lot of trucks, enough to pull all the German troops away.
After the Southern African artillery destroyed the German artillery positions, it targeted the German and Bulgarian army camps.
Throughout the Blue Valley, the fortress artillery has completed the formulation of the firing table early. The German artillery positions are outside the visual range and require guidance from observers. The Bulgarian army camp is within the visual range and does not need guidance at all.
The shells hit the German and Bulgarian army camps directly.
What chilled Colonel Gomez was that there were no decent fortifications in the Bulgarian army camp, not even a single trench was dug, and the Germans had nowhere to hide.
This is normal. The Bulgarian army did not attack, and the southern African troops in the fortress did not attack. Colonel Paulus was not prepared for the outbreak of battle at all.
It was useless to prepare. Colonel Paulus did not have reinforced concrete to build permanent fortifications, nor did he have tanks or artillery to cooperate with the defense. A small number of anti-tank rifles were supported by Germany.
Forget about anti-tank guns. The German anti-tank guns are not enough on their own, and they have no ability to support the Bulgarians.
Before the outbreak of the European War, European countries generally did not have anti-tank guns, and anti-tank rifles were sufficient to deal with light tanks with weak armor.
With the advancement of technology, tank armor is getting thicker and thicker, and countries are paying more and more attention to anti-tank weapons. Germany developed the Pak38 anti-tank gun with a caliber of 50 mm two years ago. Due to production limitations, it has not been used until now.
There is no large-scale equipment army.
When firing at a distance of 914m, the Pak38 anti-tank gun can penetrate an armor plate with an inclination of 30 degrees and a thickness of 50.8 mm.
This power is not enough for the "Leopard" tank. Provide you with the fastest updates and free reading.:.
