Since the barbed wire appeared in the last World War, it has become a weapon for the defensive side. The attacking party wanted to cross the barbed wire fence and had to stop. And this gives the defensive side an opportunity to use its intensive firepower. They can use this opportunity to cause great casualties to the enemy.
Now the Russian army is facing such a problem. They have already paid a lot of losses in order to cut through the barbed wire fence of the Polish army. Under the barbed wire fence, a thick layer of corpses had been piled up.
"Boom!" A cannonball fell and blew up a wooden stake supporting the barbed wire fence. The Russian soldiers crowded behind took the opportunity to rush in.
"Go to hell, damn Poles!" a Russian soldier shouted.
However, the oncoming machine gun bullets killed most of these Russian soldiers. The rest of the Russian soldiers had no choice but to lie on the ground and did not dare to attack again. Bullets whizzed past their heads, making many people so frightened that they almost peed. Of course, the ground covered with thick snow was so cold that some Russian soldiers even froze.
In the night battle, many of German military's technical weapons were unable to function. Such as large-caliber heavy artillery and Air Force fighter planes. Otherwise, it would be impossible for the Russian army to break through the front-line positions defended by the Polish army and White Army. Therefore, when the Russian army invested a large number of troops that could not match the losses, of course the strong firepower of the defenders caused huge losses to the Russian army. However, some lines of defense were inevitably broken through by the Russian army.
Russian soldiers carrying rifles with bayonets jumped into the Polish trenches. But the oncoming bayonets pierced their chests.
"I'm going to kill you, Poles!" a tall Russian soldier shouted.
However, his body was almost frozen, so much so that his reactions became less sensitive. A short Polish soldier easily blocked the Russian soldier's bayonet. Then he turned around quickly and thrust the bayonet into his chest.
"Bah! Are Russians all so useless? Such a tall figure actually has no power at all!" Poland soldier said disdainfully. He seemed to have forgotten that the Russian soldier he killed was only wearing a single coat, and his muscles had been frozen into purple. And his body was wrapped in thick cotton clothes.
Although the fighting skills of Russian soldiers are very poor, they have often been able to take advantage of them in previous battles by virtue of their physical strength. But this time, they were frozen and shivering, but they couldn't take any advantage in the hand-to-hand battle with the Polish Army. Instead, they were killed one after another by the Polish Army.
After discovering that these Russian soldiers were not that strong, the morale of the Poland soldiers was even higher.
However, as more and more Russian soldiers poured into the position, the defense lines of the 22nd Infantry Division of the Polish Army and 23rd Infantry Division were also in emergency.
Under such circumstances, Polish 3rd Army Corps Commander Lieutenant General Vashkevich had to send reinforcements to the front line. Fortunately, he had already ordered other troops to deploy an infantry regiment on standby. Therefore, he still has enough reinforcements in hand.
When the fresh troops of one regiment after another were put into the battlefield, Polish Army finally drove out the Russian troops who had invaded their own defense line, and barely managed to re-maintain the defense line.
"Tell the troops on the front line that as long as we persist until dawn, we will win! By then, German Air Force will make these Russians pay a heavy price!" Lieutenant General Vashkevich ordered.
Although the current battle is still very fierce, their defense line may be broken by Russians at any time. But Lieutenant General Vashkevich is still very optimistic about this battle. He still has a lot of reserve teams that he has not used. If necessary, more troops can be mobilized from other troops for reinforcements.
Although the combat effectiveness of Russians is very strong, the cold weather and poor supplies have reduced the combat effectiveness of these Russian soldiers to a very bad level. This allows Polish Army to withstand the Russian attack at a relatively small cost. Lieutenant General Vashkevich even believed that if they could withstand Russians's attack in this fierce battle, it would be of great benefit to the Polish Army and him personally.
The Russian troops Commander General Zhukov and Lieutenant General Konev are also always paying attention to the development of the war situation. Although their faces were expressionless. However, their nervousness can be clearly seen in their eyes.
"Comrade Commander, our troops just broke through German defensive line, but they were driven out not long after. The casualties of the troops are very high now!" said a Russian army staff officer.
"Order the troops to continue the attack, and no orders are allowed to retreat without authorization! Violators will be dealt with according to military law. This time we must tear open Poles's defense line at all costs!" Lieutenant General Konev ordered.
"Yes, Comrade Commander." The staff officer immediately went to the fleet to give orders.
Although, the heavy casualties of the troops made Lieutenant General Konev feel like he was bleeding. However, the more it reaches such a juncture, the less able it is to relax. Otherwise, all previous efforts will be wasted. All the previous losses were in vain. Lieutenant General Konev doesn't want to end up like that.
"Order 33rd Army Corps, enter the battle in one hour!" General Zhukov ordered.
The fierce battle had caused great losses to the attacking 19th Army Corps and 20th Army Corps. Many troops have been disabled and the losses have been extremely heavy. Under such circumstances, new forces must be invested. Otherwise, when 19th Army Corps and 20th Army Corps are unable to launch another attack, they will no longer be able to pose any threat to Poles's defense line.
"Yes, Comrade Commander."
As the Russian army continues to invest more troops on the front line, both Polish Army and Belarusian Army are under tremendous pressure. In order to hold the line of defense, they also had to invest more troops in the defense. Although the casualties of the troops were not small, they were generally much smaller than those of the Russian army.
Time passed little by little, and when it was already bright, the Russian army still failed to break through the defense line of the Polish army and White Army. Obviously, this attack failed again.
In order to avoid suffering greater losses, General Zhukov once again issued the order to retreat.
Shortly after General Zhukov's order was issued, German Air Force fighter planes appeared. They began bombing and strafing the Russian army, further increasing the Russian army's losses.