Apalikov pondered for a while, nodded and said, "The Chief of Staff's opinion makes sense. Without the support of howitzers, it will bring great difficulties to our offense. Commander Obmochaev, what do you think?"

Obmochaev shook his head and said, "Although there is no support from howitzers now, our division has a regiment field artillery battalion, with a total of 54 field artillery. Although the field artillery is not as powerful as howitzers, it is numerous. According to the information we have, the army of overseas Chinese recruited after they came to China, and the weapons they used were basically seized in previous battles. The number of artillery is not large. It is said that overseas Chinese are buying weapons from the governor of Hubei Zhang Zhidong. Therefore, relying on the 54 field artillery existing in our division, we can provide firepower support for the attack. And I also believe that we Russian warriors have enough courage and strength to defeat any enemy."

After a pause, Obmochaev said again: "Now we must break the defense line of overseas Chinese as soon as possible. Only in this way can we attack Shanhaiguan with all our strength. It is best to leave howitzers to attack Shanhaiguan. As long as we break through this line of defense, the remaining defense line of overseas Chinese will be easier."

According to the Russian army, each regiment will be equipped with a field artillery battalion equipped with 18 m1877-type 87mm field artillery. One division has three main regiments, and there are three field artillery battalions, with a total of 54 m1877-type 87mm field artillery. Generally, the weight of field artillery is lighter, usually about 2 tons, and the shells are not heavy. Therefore, it is used as a regiment-level support firepower and can follow the army.

Obmochaev was born into a Russian military family. He was 45 years old this year. He belonged to the young and strong faction in the Russian world. The young and strong faction was usually radical. Three years ago, Obmochaev studied in France for a year as a military exchange activity for the French-Russian alliance. At this time, the dominant idea of ​​the French 6th Army was to attack, and he attached importance to the spiritual combat power of the soldiers and put his spiritual combat power to an overwhelming position. He believed that the result of the war was dominated by the strength of the spiritual combat power of both sides. The strong spiritual combat power could be used to continue to move and oppress, and prompt the defender to collapse. Therefore, field artillery is no longer regarded as a defensive rather than offensive weapon. Medium-caliber light field artillery should follow the infantry to carry out battlefield maneuvers under the promotion of manpower to support the infantry's attack.

This theory is also in line with Obmochaev's appetite. Because he attaches importance to attack and the spiritual combat power of soldiers, this is actually the dominant idea of ​​the Russian 6th Army. Therefore, after returning to China, Obmochaev was promoted to division commander and promoted this tactical concept in the division he commanded. This time, he followed the Russian army to attack Northeast China. Obmochaev was ambitious. On the one hand, he wanted to establish his own merits and on the other hand, he also wanted to verify his tactical theory on the battlefield.

In previous battles, the Russian army had almost no resistance in Northeast China. Although they were at a strife when fighting with Japan for the Korean Peninsula, Bijing did not really fight, and Obmochaev did not have the opportunity to verify his advanced tactical theory, and he felt quite regretful. Now it is time. Overseas Chinese are not an incompetent opponent. Only in fighting with such an opponent can they verify whether their tactical theory is effective. Therefore, Obmochaev was eager to go to war without waiting for howitzers and artillery to arrive. Of course, Obmochaev also firmly believed that his troops would be able to break through the positions of overseas Chinese and win.

Apalikov thought about it and felt that Obmochaev made sense. Although the defense line of overseas Chinese was about 10 kilometers northwest of Shanhaiguan, it was like a bone, sandwiched in the throat of the Russian army, making it impossible for the Russian army to attack Shanhaiguan with all their strength and must first break through the positions of overseas Chinese. Therefore, Apalikov also understood the intention of overseas Chinese, which was to use the defense line outside the pass to consume the Russian army. Moreover, the terrain of Shanhaiguan was dangerous and the city wall was high and thick. It was indeed necessary to use heavy howitzers to bombard it. It could not consume too much on the defense line outside the pass.

It is naturally good to let Obmochaev attack overseas Chinese if he can break through the defense line of overseas Chinese. If he cannot break through, he can also test the strength of overseas Chinese and be able to have a clear mind. Although Russia has also collected a lot of information about overseas Chinese, Bi Jing has never fought with overseas Chinese troops, so he has no intuitive understanding of the strength of overseas Chinese troops.

So Apalikov nodded and said, "Okay, Commander Obmochaev, tomorrow morning, you will lead the Fifth Division to attack the overseas Chinese positions. I will supervise you personally, hoping that you can show me a perfect victory."

Obmochaev immediately stood attentively and saluted, saying, "Yes, Commander, please rest assured."

The next morning, Obmochaev led the Russian army to attack and attacked the People's Army's positions.

Although Obmochaev was full of confidence in victory, he was a soldier with a formal military education after all. After all, he still did not dare to be careless when he arrived on the battlefield. After all, the enemy had already arranged positions. Although Obmochaev advocated attack, he also knew that attacking the enemy's position that had arranged defense lines would cost a heavy price. Therefore, it was not to send the 6th army to attack the enemy's defense line first, but to use artillery to strike the enemy's position to weaken the defense of the enemy's position.

The 877-year-old 87mm field gun equipped by the Russian army is still a type of artillery developed by Germany and Russia in the era of the Three Emperors Alliance. However, at this time, when this type of artillery passed, although the caliber of this type of artillery was considered to be relatively large among field guns, it had already lagged behind the German 1897 77mm field gun in terms of performance, and it could not be compared with the legal 1896 75mm field gun. However, the latest Russian army's 19oo 76mm field gun has just been established and has not yet equipped the Russian army in large quantities. Therefore, the Russian army can only continue to use this type of old field gun.

In this era, the range of field artillery is generally between 5-7 kilometers, but it is best to be about 5 kilometers. Last night Obmochaev had determined the location of the artillery position. The three field artillery battalions were divided into three positions, each of which was about 3 ooo kilometers apart, and about 5 ooo kilometers apart from the first line of defense of the People's Army. A regiment was about 1 ooo meters in front of the two artillery positions, and each regiment was arranged about 15 ooo meters behind the artillery position, which was the front command of the Russian army. The commander Lieutenant General Apalikov and Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Sokolov also observed the battle at the front command.

After the Russian army entered the positions, Obmochaev ordered three field artillery battalions to take turns to open fire and launch artillery on the positions of the People's Army.

Although it was just a field artillery, it was numerous after all, so the momentum of the artillery bombardment was quite amazing. In a blink of an eye, the People's Army's position was covered by an explosion, and thick smoke spread.

The first round of artillery fire of the Russian army lasted for nearly ten minutes. Each artillery fired about 15 rounds, and about 80 shells were poured into the positions of the People's Army, but the other party had no response and seemed to have no power to fight back. Obmochaev, Apalikov, and Sokolov were very satisfied with the effect of this round of artillery fire, believing that even if the People's Army's positions were not flattened, it could at least half of the defense of the People's Army. So Obmochaev immediately ordered a regiment to attack the positions of the People's Army, and at the same time ordered the field artillery battalions on both sides to continue firing, maintain pressure on the positions of the People's Army, and provide fire support to the infantry, while the field artillery battalions in the middle advanced forward and charged with the infantry. This is also the concept of Obmochaev's supremacy of offensive supremacy.

A regiment of Russian troops immediately unfolded their formation and advanced towards the People's Army position, which was still shrouded in thick smoke. But at this moment, the artillery on the People's Army position also roared. Although the fire was much smaller than that of the Russian army, the shells fell into the Russian army's queue and exploded, which still caused the Russian soldiers to fly and fly, and they were injured and killed and fell to the ground.

However, this was also within Obmochaev's expectations. Because the opponent could not have counterattacked. If only one round of artillery could be used to attack overseas Chinese, then the Eight-Nation Alliance would have to hang himself. Therefore, the opponent's counterattack was normal, and the casualties caused to the Russian army were also losses that the attacking party had to pay. Moreover, Obmochaev was also a person who had been on the battlefield for a long time. It can be judged from the opponent's counterattack that the number of artillery in the enemy's army was far less than that of the original side, and the losses caused to him were very limited. As long as the Russian army broke through this distance, entered the blind spot of the opponent's artillery, and attacked the opponent's position, Obmochaev also firmly believed that the Russian fighting spirit would definitely overwhelm the opponent.

In fact, not only Obmochaev, Apalikov, and Sokolov also made similar judgments, so both of them were full of confidence in the outcome of this battle.

Of course, this does not mean that Obmochaev sat on the Russian army and allowed the People's Army's artillery to strike during the rushing process. After all, the Russian artillery is not vegetarian, and the opponent's artillery exposed his position as soon as the opponent's artillery was opened. Although the field artillery battalion in the middle was preparing to advance and could not fight back, the artillery on both sides was still firing and bombarding. Therefore, Obmochaev immediately sent someone to order the left and right field artillery battalion to determine the position of the enemy's artillery position and attack the enemy's artillery position.

But soon Obmochaev received a reply from the left and right field artillery battalions. The smoke on the opponent's position was too large and it was impossible to judge the position of the enemy's artillery position for the time being. He could only wait for the smoke to dissipate.

When Obmochaev heard this, he frowned slightly. Although such a situation is common on the battlefield and is not surprising, Obmochaev still felt a little uncomfortable in his heart, and it seemed that something was wrong.
Chapter completed!