On the other side of Crocker Range, along the defensive lines of the German 227th Infantry Division and 229th Infantry Division, the German officers and men of the two divisions had spent nearly half a month carefully constructing a solid defensive line in the valley at the mountain pass.
The entire defensive line stretched for more than ten kilometers, guarding the only exit from Crocker Range. If the Island Nation's Army wanted to cross Crocker Range, it had no choice but to pass through here. Everywhere else was steep mountains and dense forests, terrain through which large units simply could not march.
The German military had dug three lines of trenches along the defensive line. Barbed wire had been strung between each trench, and landmines had been buried beneath it. Communication trenches linked the lines together.
In front of the first trench, they had laid an extensive minefield and erected no fewer than three belts of barbed wire.
Behind the defensive line lay the artillery positions. These included the Heavy Artillery Brigade under the German 23rd Army Corps, the Artillery Regiments of the 227th Infantry Division and 229th Infantry Division, and the Field Artillery Battalions of each infantry regiment. In addition, the Artillery Regiments and Field Artillery Battalions of the 225th Infantry Division and 228th Infantry Division had also all been reinforced here. Although these two Infantry Divisions had suffered considerable losses in the previous battles, most of those losses had been artillery, while the infantry had suffered little. In this defensive battle, those artillery units could still be put to use.
As for the artillery of the 221st Mechanized Infantry Division and 222nd Mechanized Infantry Division, it had gone to reinforce the 226th Infantry Division.
With the German military having carefully constructed such formidable defensive lines while also massing