Chapter 536 Forged Steel

At nightfall on October 29, on the east bank of the Valdai River, at the dock opposite the No. 1 landing site.

Lyudmila was next to the arrow launch group, watching the soldiers boarding the ship.

After sending the soldiers with healthy hands and feet over, these ships would bring back the wounded with missing arms and legs. Since yesterday, there have been no lightly wounded soldiers on the return ship. Lyudmila asked and found out that the lightly wounded soldiers were unwilling to leave their comrades behind and return.

As for the bodies, there was simply not enough transport capacity to transport so many bodies.

The soldiers who returned said that the bodies on the battlefield had been blown to pieces by the enemy's artillery fire and mixed with the soil, and the entire beach could only smell blood.

Lyudmila also specifically asked the wounded soldiers who returned if they had seen Neli.

As a result, every wounded soldier was like a chicken blood when he heard Neli's name, and began to talk incoherently about the goddess of battle, the angel of the general, and a lot of things that Lyudmila didn't understand.

As a clergyman, Lyudmila even wanted to perform a ritual to exorcise these people, but unfortunately the secular sect did not talk about exorcism. Instead, a special psychologist treated the symptoms that were previously considered to be possessed by evil spirits.

In the end, Lyudmila only knew that Nelly was still alive.

It was good to be alive.

These days Lyudmila asked when the pontoon bridge could be restored, and the answer she got was that there were too many ships on the river and there was no time to build the bridge again.

The entire shipping department was working overtime to send troops to Abavahan.

During the day on the 29th, Lyudmila saw two ships sunk by Proshen bombers. At that time, the entire river was full of soldiers who fell into the water, and it was unknown how many people were stuffed on the ship.

Proshen's bombers seemed to have specially avoided the river section guarded by Lyudmila's Arrow Group, and frantically attacked ships on the river upstream and downstream.

The Ante Air Force was also fighting bravely. The latest modification of the Yak-1 was fighting with Proshen's aircraft in the air all day and night.

Lyudmila had seen several Yak-1s trying to fly to the east bank after catching fire. The east bank was all controlled by Ante. After parachuting, they would be sent back to the base by ground troops, and the survival rate was relatively high.

The Prosons on the other side had already controlled the river bank outside the beachhead, but they had not yet deployed artillery on the shore. If they parachuted to the west bank, they would most likely be captured.

Lyudmila heard the whistle, which meant that the transportation tonight was about to begin.

She looked out at the river and prayed in a low voice for the soldiers who were rushing to the danger.

At this time, several flares were launched from the river beach controlled by the enemy on the other side, illuminating the river surface.

The enemy's machine guns began to fire at a very long distance, and tracer bullets cut through the night sky.

The artillery on this side of the river immediately opened fire, covering the enemy positions and the crossing troops.

The originally quiet night was immediately filled with blood and fire.

————

No. 1 beachhead on the west bank of the Valdai River.

Nellie heard someone talking outside the shelter, so she stood up, lifted the curtain and went outside, looking at the infantry officer who was talking.

Officer: "We need to organize a night suicide squad to clear the river beach that is being bombed. Can you naval infantry send someone?"

"I'll go." Nellie raised her hand.

The officer glanced at the gauze covering Nellie's right eye: "No, Ms. Nellie, you can't go. We are counting on you to boost morale tomorrow. And this kind of close combat may require hand-to-hand combat, which is not suitable for you."

Nellie silently picked up the engineer shovel: "I am short, but sometimes it is an advantage."

The officer sighed: "Let us do it. You really can't stay idle. You can go to the river to greet the newcomers. They lost their companions during the crossing of the river. They must be very sad."

Nellie turned her head and looked at the Valdai River.

Officer: "They need encouragement. Leave the night attack to us."

Nellie could only nod, turn around and climb out of the trench and run towards the river.

When she reached the river, she shouted to the first group of boats that came ashore: "Welcome to hell! We must hold the beach, otherwise there will be no place for the Ants to stand on the west bank of the Valdai River! Welcome to join us!"

"Oh my God," she heard a soldier exclaim, "Girls as old as my sister are on the battlefield!"

Nellie held a shovel in one hand and a bopsa in the other: "Ant's mother is in danger, everyone should fight for her!"

The soldiers, who were covered in dust by the enemy's firepower and the sudden casualties, looked at each other in bewilderment.

The priest who accompanied the army took the lead in responding: "Are your courage worse than that of little girls? Are you still men? Run, these boats still have to transport the wounded back! Don't occupy the boats!"

I don't know who started shouting first, and all of a sudden, all the recruits on the beach roared, jumped off the boat, and waded onto the beach.

Nellie stood on the destroyed tank on the shore and encouraged the soldiers loudly: "Can you imagine your mothers and sisters fighting on the battlefield like me? If not, then go to the position!"

At this time, the nanny who crossed the river with Nellie appeared holding the Ante flag high and stood behind Nellie.

Nellie's head was also wrapped in bandages, and the bandages had lost their original color due to blood, and were black and red.

The flag in the nanny's hand was also dirty, full of bullet holes.

But it still flew in the wind.

————

Plossen, the commander of the 41st Armored Corps, looked at the division commanders in front of him: "It's just a flat beach. Because it's a beach, there's no way to build a solid offensive. As a result, you attacked for two days and couldn't take it down?"

Joset, commander of the 5th Armored Division of the Asgard Knights, replied: "They are replenished from across the river every night. If we cannot organize artillery bombardments to block the enemy's transportation operations, the beachhead will never be taken."

The commander laughed angrily: "You, the armored division of the Knights of Asgard, told me that you can't defeat a position with only mud offensive, and you have to cut off reinforcements? Are you really an armored division?"

"We are really an armored division, but the enemy's desire to fight is stronger than imagined, and the accompanying infantry suffered heavy losses. Without infantry support, tanks are just meat on the enemy's position to be slaughtered!" Joset argued, "I believe We achieved a huge battle loss ratio, at least one for three, but if the enemy adds four people every day, we will never be able to occupy the position!"

The commander shook his head: "The enemy's T34 can force us to pay huge casualties when it attacks our infantry. Our tanks enter the enemy's position and become human beings?"

At this time, the infantry division commander who was watching the show spoke: "That's not the case. In fact, we destroyed a large number of T34 tanks last year and the first half of this year. Tanks are very vulnerable when they lose infantry cover on preset positions.

“But the Ant people have a crazy fighting method. Their infantry charges in tanks and only comes down in front of the position. The overall impact speed is faster and the integration is tighter.

"And our infantry got off the half-track when they were two kilometers away from the enemy, and followed the tank in a skirmish line. Even in the best-case scenario, there is a distance of about 25 meters between our tank and the infantry."

The commander of the 41st Army was silent for a few seconds: "It's too late to change the combat method. I'm here to call the Army Headquarters to see if the enemy's transportation problem can be solved. You guys can go. I hope to make progress tomorrow, not Let the command suspect that we are a bunch of losers who can't even take the beachhead."

————

"You mean shelling the other side?" The chief of staff of Prosen's Ninth Army frowned and shouted into the phone, "We have lost the artillery deployed on the shore, all of them, do you know all of them! Now the artillery of the group army needs to be used To break through the enemy's defense line, we are less than five kilometers away from the urban area of ​​​​Abavahan. We cannot take risks by deploying artillery units at this time. "

At this time, Admiral Frederick spoke: "Give me the phone."

The chief of staff immediately handed the receiver to the general.

"I'm Frederick, what did you do? I expected you to quickly occupy the beach, and then turn around and attack Abavahan!"

The voice of the commander of the 41st Army on the phone sounded very awkward: "The enemy's resistance is unimaginably fierce, and the enemy has a steady stream of support. My division commanders said that if reinforcements are not cut off, it will never be possible to capture the beachhead."

Frederick: "But that's a position on the river beach! Once the shell explodes, it will be smashed to pieces! You can't take it down, and you still want me to block the enemy's reinforcements. This is outrageous!"

"But this is the situation now, Admiral. We need to shell the other side to prevent them from reinforcing!"

Admiral Frederick sighed: "Okay, I'll think of a way - I mean, if you can't take the position tomorrow."

After saying that, he hung up the phone directly.

Chief of Staff: "If we want to bombard the other side, we have to push the artillery position towards the river again. Maybe the previous situation will happen again."

Frederick: "No, this time we have armored troops on the beach. The enemy tanks can't avoid our armor this time. You make a plan. If the beach is not captured tomorrow, let the artillery troops go forward in the afternoon. Move and prepare to bombard the other side to prevent transportation."

At this time, the logistics staff came to report to Frederick: "General, reinforcements have arrived!"

Frederick was overjoyed: "How many?"

"Two armies plus one army! There are hundreds of thousands of people!"

Frederick's eyes widened: "Really?"

"Yes, one army of the National Defense Force, and two Moravia Army Groups."

Frederick's smile froze on his face: "What? Why do you want to give me the Moravian troops?"

The chief of staff seemed to have known this for a long time, and now he said: "These Moravian troops have the same equipment as ours, or even better. And they have been training for a long time, and they are at least better than Ant's temporary infantry divisions. "

Frederick frowned: "Really?"

The chief of staff suggested: "You can try putting them into the beachhead position. According to the losses reported by the 41st Armored Corps today, they should be short of infantry. Oh, by the way, the Moravians have artillery units, which can be used to suppress the other side. , blocking transportation.”

Frederick was silent for a few seconds and nodded: "Okay, it's better than letting them eat food here for free. Let them go!"