August 16th was the launch day of Piłsudski's plan, and the Romanian army commanded by General Ferreit had already made preparations. With the help of the Poles, he also knew the enemy's position well. After all, this
Poland has an inherent advantage in local intelligence.
According to the intelligence he has, General Freit already knows that the Soviet 11th and 14th Army Groups are located on the Demblin-Palchev line, which not only protects the flanks of the Soviet army besieging Warsaw, but also protects its retreat and supply lines.
safety.
In order to respond to the deployment of Soviet Russia, General Freit made the following arrangements. The 3rd Division, 7th Division, 12th Division, and 19th Division were the left-wing regiments under his personal command, and were assigned two heavy artillery regiments to target the Soviet Union.
The enemy's 14th Army on the Parchev front line.
The 5th Division, the 9th Division, the 18th Division and the Polish Third Army are the right-wing corps, with Lieutenant General Mandiv as the commander and General Simigwi as the deputy commander (Commander of the Polish Third Army). It is also equipped with a
The heavy artillery regiment was to deal with the enemy's 11th Army Group on the Demblin front line.
As for the remaining cavalry divisions and armored brigades, they serve as mobile corps to face new enemies that may appear at any time.
The new enemy mentioned here can only be the Soviet First Cavalry Army. On the vast Polish plains, the role of cavalry does not need to be mentioned. That’s why General Freit brought the cavalry division and armored brigade.
He expected this force to be able to inflict heavy losses on the Russian cavalry.
In fact, after seizing the Western Ukraine region, the Romanian military expressed concerns about the vast plain terrain of the new territory. Many of them suggested forming a new cavalry division to cope with the pressure of national defense. However, their proposal was rejected by Pleisan and other armies.
The boss pressed back, but only expanded the number of cavalry divisions.
At present, the Romanian Cavalry Division adopts a large organization; the Cavalry Division has three cavalry regiments (one of which is a mounted infantry regiment), a cavalry artillery regiment (it is said that cavalry artillery is actually a towed artillery for vehicle transportation), and a transport regiment (the largest organization
(division transportation regiment), an engineer battalion, in addition to a division headquarters security company, a communications platoon, a field hospital, a veterinary team, a chaplain, etc.
The cavalry regiment is equipped with three cavalry battalions and one machine gun battalion. Each cavalry battalion has four cavalry companies and one machine gun company. Each cavalry company has 114 officers and soldiers. The total division has 13,000 troops.
The multi-person organization is comparable to two Soviet and Russian half-cavalry divisions.
So even though Romania only has one cavalry division, its strength is not weak at all. Rather, it is accompanied by an armored brigade that is a cavalry nemesis, which is enough to deal with the Soviet First Cavalry Army commanded by General Budyonny.
Therefore, in the early morning of the 16th, the Romanian army launched a fierce attack on the Soviet Russian army on the Demblin-Palchev line.
Still familiar with artillery opening the way, three heavy artillery regiments opened fire first as the core of fire support. Maybe more than a hundred heavy artillery with a caliber of 150 or more are not conspicuous on a front of more than 30 kilometers, but how could Admiral Freit be so average?
What about allocating artillery?
He concentrated his artillery and violently bombarded several predetermined breakthroughs. At the same time, when the heavy artillery extended its fire to the rear, the artillery assigned to each division bombarded it again.
As an old rival of the Romanian army, the 14th Army also suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Vinnitsa. Therefore, under the leadership of commander Smilga, they made full use of the terrain and fortifications to avoid Romanian artillery. However, there are exceptions to everything.
"Stop running around and hide quickly."
A Soviet officer was shouting to a new recruit who couldn't stand the heavy fire.
This Soviet soldier was frightened by the shelling. He was pale and ran around the position like a headless fly. He just wanted to find a place where there was no explosion. At this time, a shell exploded near him.
, I saw this soldier getting down without saying a word.
"Why"
Seeing the sacrifice of this soldier, the officer sighed. Then he turned to the other soldiers and shouted: "See, this is what you get for running around. If you are under shelling, don't run."
Listening to the officer's roar, the recruits in the team nodded to indicate they understood.
The 14th Army, which suffered huge losses in the Battle of Vinnitsa, was in this situation because it had too many new recruits. Therefore, its actual combat capability was much weaker than before.
The shelling always had to stop, not to mention that Romania was just a pseudo-power, and shells also cost money. So after three hours of bombardment, the shelling stopped.
When the shelling stopped, the officers of the 14th Army jumped up as if someone had kicked them in the butt.
"Get out quickly, the enemy is coming."
Some officers even kicked the soldiers in the butt because they thought they were slow to respond. There was a reason why these officers rushed the soldiers quickly. In the previous battle with the Romanian army, the soldiers almost reached their positions after the shelling.
How could such an excellent combination of infantry and artillery not be impressive?
After driving the soldiers back to their positions, it turned out that the attacking Romanians were less than 300 meters away from them, which shocked many soldiers who were fighting the Romanian army for the first time.
"Fire quickly, don't let the enemy get close to the position."
Following the officer's roar, the Soviet soldiers on the position immediately used their weapons to shoot at the attacking Romanian soldiers, trying to intercept them in front of the position.
Of course, the attacking Romanian army would not let the other side get what they wanted, and they also used the weapons in their hands to exchange fire with the Soviet soldiers. For a time, the two armies were shooting at each other from a distance of two to three hundred meters.
Behind the front-line position, the commander of the 14th Group Army, Smilga, was observing the situation on the battlefield. He couldn't help but be concerned. He had already tried the Romanian army's offensive power. But this time, facing the Romanian attack, Smilga
I'm a little worried about my troops.
In his observation, the soldiers on the Soviet position were gradually suppressed by the Romanian soldiers. Many soldiers on the position were hit and fell in the trenches, while the Romanian soldiers were gradually approaching within a hundred meters of the position.
One hundred meters is a dangerous distance for the defenders. In the Soviet infantry drill, this distance is already the distance for the final charge. According to Soviet practice, everyone needs to stand up at this time and move as quickly as possible.
Rush towards the position.
So after seeing the danger of the Romanians breaking into the position, Smilga immediately issued an order. "Order the 38th Division to send a brigade to immediately reinforce the front-line position and ask them to move quickly."
Soviet and Russian reinforcements came quickly, and they rushed into the position despite the shelling. After receiving reinforcements, the firepower intensity of the front-line positions increased greatly, and the Romanian offensive was pushed back.
Looking at the soldiers on the battlefield cheering for repelling the enemy, Smilga felt a little bad. The enemy had allowed himself to send reinforcements for the first time, and the next battle would be very difficult. At this time, he asked for reinforcements.
within the scope of consideration.
At present, only the First Cavalry Army under the command of General Budyonny can provide reinforcements, so Smilga's telegram requesting reinforcements was sent to General Budyonny.
