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The Russian Fifth Army includes one Cossack cavalry brigade and three infantry brigades, with a total strength of 20,000 people. It is also equipped with 100 artillery pieces, 300 mortars, 20 tanks and 50 trucks.
It seems to be very powerful, and the commander of the army, Major General Spanov, also plans to fight. Firstly, he can avenge the previous blood feud, and secondly, he can prove his ability and win the appreciation of Crown Prince Joseph.
The entire army arrived about 70 kilometers away from Krakow on April 18. Not far behind was the border area between Bohemia and Moravia.
I heard that the armored troops of the Yellow-skinned Monkeys were very powerful and powerful on the plains, and Major General Spanov was also very afraid of them.
Fortunately, the terrain is semi-mountainous, and our side has a large number of artillery and cavalry, which can reduce the possibility of head-on confrontation. If you can't defeat them, you can still retreat.
However, in the afternoon Antonkov, commander of the Cossack Cavalry Brigade, reported that a small group of enemy cavalry had been spotted about three kilometers east, and they seemed to be steppe people who were easy to deal with.
In view of the heinous crimes committed by the Golden Horde against Russia, Major General Spanov believed that when the enemy was outnumbered, he had reason to teach the other party a lesson.
The prerequisite is to let Antonkov scout the enemy's strength and not fall into the trap set by the opponent. They are not here to suffer defeat in the Krakow area.
If the enemy's armored forces are found ahead, forget it. Major General Spanov still knows himself and will not do stupid things in a hot head.
The intelligence obtained from the reconnaissance was also very satisfactory. The opponent only had a thousand people at most, and there was no protection from armored forces at all.
Then you're welcome, the consequence of delaying the fighter plane is to gain nothing!
Major General Spanov ordered all the 5th Cossack Cavalry Brigade led by Colonel Antonkov to attack, trying to quickly defeat the enemy in front of them.
He also sent all the tanks to cooperate and help him launch a frontal attack, so that he could get twice the result with half the effort.
"Are you taking the bait now?"
"Let's see how many guests come!"
The observation post of the helicopter formation is deployed on the top of the mountain, making it easy to use altitude to monitor surrounding dynamics.
This trick was also thought up together with the cavalry unit, and it has been successfully tried before.
The specific tactic is to land the helicopter on a gentle slope in a valley or on a mountaintop, and the cavalry is responsible for luring the enemy into taking the bait.
After the opponent rushed over, the helicopter quickly took off and cooperated with the cavalry troops in a defensive counterattack.
No matter what the opponent comes, even if there are dozens of tanks, the helicopter formation can accept them all.
Not long after, nearly five thousand Cossack cavalry appeared on the plain at the foot of the mountain.
There were twenty tanks behind them. Without air support, the Ming army would really not be able to defeat the opponent.
"Cossack warriors, the yellow-skinned monkey is in front, rush towards me and kill them all!"
Inspired by Colonel Antonkov, thousands of Cossack cavalry howled and charged towards the target not far away.
The number of enemies was very small, as if victory was within reach, everyone became more and more excited the more they rushed.
However……
A group of enemy planes suddenly flew over from behind the opposite mountain. They seemed to be the kind with propellers above their heads.
Based on their instinctive judgment, the Cossack cavalry did not consider them to be their own fighter jets.
Naturally, Colonel Antonkov also saw it. Just as he was hesitating, the helicopter formation had already opened fire.
When the two sides are approaching each other, the Ming army helicopter formation will use machine guns to shoot at the target.
The pilot will drop cluster bombs directly as the helicopter flies directly over the target.
The 5th Cavalry Brigade, which had no time to rein in its horses and turn around, was hit head-on in an instant, and within three minutes there were thousands of casualties.
Ming army pilots like to fight this kind of battle, especially against cavalry. It is actually more comfortable than fighting against infantry, because the former's air defense capability is almost zero.
The infantry may also have Frankies and machine guns, but the cavalry units have much weaker firepower, and most of them rely on horses to increase mobility and impact.
But in front of helicopters, these are just units that are willing to kill people. On the battlefield, when encountering a helicopter formation, they are just a group of lambs waiting to be slaughtered, just running a little faster.
Assuming that the opponent is covered by a small number of fighter jets, the helicopter pilot does not need to be afraid. The turning radius of the helicopter is much smaller than that of the "Albatross" fighter jet, and it can also hover in the air to straf the target.
Thirty-six helicopters came to deal with thousands of enemy cavalry without air cover. This was a one-sided crushing massacre, and the opponent had no possibility of coming back.
Although the numerical ratio between the two sides is as high as nearly 140 to one, this is an era in which high-tech weapons control the battlefield. The side with greater numbers cannot gain an advantage, and is now in a passive position of being beaten.
Due to the appearance of the helicopter formation, the Cossack cavalry immediately panicked. Although they had not fought with each other in actual combat, they had heard of the horrors of this weapon.
From the fighting scene in the past few minutes, we can conclude that our side is definitely no match for these monsters with elder propellers on their heads. The only way out is to retreat immediately.
Because of the inconsistent ideas and the fierce air attacks from the other side, the entire cavalry brigade became a mess, and countless people were shot and trampled.
Within five minutes, the "Black-footed Albatross" pilots patrolling the surrounding area also saw a large number of early warning flares launched by the Prairie Cavalry.
He immediately rushed to the battlefield, joined in this gluttonous feast, and began to feast. Since the bomb load was higher than that of the helicopter, the pilot's appetite was much greater.
Major General Spanov reinforced Colonel Antonkov's twenty tanks, albeit at the rear of the column.
After seeing the enemy plane, the crew members immediately chose to turn around and run away, but they still couldn't outrun the faster helicopter.
When the four "Black-footed Albatross" arrived on the battlefield, five tanks had already been destroyed by helicopters, and the remaining fifteen tanks were immediately rounded up.
Otherwise, it would be a wasted trip. They are not very interested in dealing with the cavalry. If they want to fight, they will hit the opponent's tanks, armored vehicles, trucks, cannons and other heavy weapons.
Within five minutes, the remaining fifteen "Paladin" tanks were turned into opened cans, and the crew members were also beaten into a honeycomb by machine guns.
Colonel Antonkov no longer wanted to kill all the yellow-skinned monkeys at this time. It would be great if he could escape with his men.
However, there are still at least two hours before sunset, so this is an extremely difficult task.
What's even more terrible is that twenty "Black-footed Albatross" covered four "air gunships" and came to the sky above the battlefield.
I originally wanted to eat some leftovers, but I flew into the distance again.
This move cannot help but give in
In fact, it was not that the Ming army pilots were short-sighted, but that they discovered a bigger prey, which was the tens of thousands of infantrymen in the rear!
The Ming army pilots did not know
Otherwise, they would not dare to march eastward in broad daylight, so they would pour all their airborne firepower on the opponent.
Especially the "air gunship". The original combat mission of this aircraft is to clean up enemy guerrillas.
Now that we have encountered a dense enemy force, there is no need to fly into the mountains to search for prey.
Major General Spanov's command does have artillery that can defend against air defense, but it cannot ensure the safety of the entire army at this time.
The Ming army pilots will first choose artillery that can defend against air defense. As long as the opponent's gun muzzle sprays fire into the sky, it will be dead.
Under the joint stranglehold of the "Black-footed Albatross" and "Aerial Gunships", all the anti-aircraft artillery and most of the machine guns of the Fifth Army were silenced in just ten minutes.
Then the fleet of aircraft began to shoot at the prey on the ground unscrupulously, killing these ridiculous things one by one like stepping on ants with boots.
Fifteen minutes later, twelve more "Black-footed Albatross" arrived at this main battlefield.
The area where the enemy cavalry had been encircled and suppressed had been reduced to a secondary battlefield, and the reinforcements had no interest in competing with the helicopters for meat.
The 5th Cossack Cavalry Brigade led by Colonel Antonkov has lost more than half of its troops, but it is still facing pursuit by the opponent.
He had no time to notify his superiors, and judging from the sound, Spanov's main force should have been discovered by the Yellow-skinned Monkey's plane and was now engaged in battle.
I hope they can repel the invading enemy and pray for each other. This is the only thing Colonel Antonkov can do. The rest is to run as fast as possible...
Those who were unable to leave the battlefield due to injuries, along with their mounts and personal belongings, were all reduced to trophies of the prairie cavalry.
Looting things on the battlefield is the happiest time for the prairie cavalry. Everyone has traveled thousands of miles to come here. Fortunately, the pilots in the sky look down upon this.
In addition to prisoners and extremely important items, other things, including the enemy's horses, can be divided up by the cavalry, as long as they discuss how to distribute them.
At this time, the prairie cavalry did not dare to rush up to chase the enemy who was already panicking. Once the two sides got into a melee, they would not only lose air cover, but might also be accidentally injured by their own fighter planes.
Before dark, thirty-six helicopters, thirty-two "Black-footed Albatross", and four "air gunboats" became the protagonists on the battlefield.
As a supporting role, the Russian Fifth Army wanted to escape from the battlefield immediately, but most of them were infantry. Facing the aircraft roaring overhead, their maneuverability was almost zero.
What's even more terrible is that the battlefield is very close to Krakow. The Ming army pilots can land safely at the airport as long as they return half an hour before dark.
After capturing the city of Krakow, Ming army fighter planes can use the airport there as a base to control the airspace of half of Bohemia and the entire Moravia.
This kind of enemy who dares to march eastward openly during the day is no different than sending his troops to death.
The Ming army didn't even need to dispatch armored troops. Just the combination of cavalry and aircraft could make the opponent miserable.
In the end, Major General Spanov could only retreat to the mountains with less than 6,000 remaining troops, which was equal to four brigades of troops being beaten into one brigade.
Fortunately, there is still a brigade of Cossack cavalry in the organization, which can run much faster than the infantry. Otherwise, not even a brigade of troops would be left.
The Russian soldiers who survived by chance thought that they had encountered a group of bloodthirsty devils and that they were completely unable to withstand such an air attack.
If the enemies all have this kind of fighting ability, then they don't want to fight this battle and can just surrender.
In less than half a day, he lost nearly 70% of his troops, which made Major General Spanov extremely frustrated.
Under the attack of the yellow-skinned monkey, all his goals of establishing a career were in vain, and now they have disappeared.
If we fight another battle with the other party, I'm afraid there won't be any people left in front of us, and they will all die under the gunpoint of the other party.
Taking the remaining troops into the mountains to rest has almost become Major General Spanov’s only choice...
There were many military commanders who suffered similar experiences to him, all thanks to Crown Prince Joseph's battle plan.
At that time, the Tatar cavalry group adopted a tactic called "thousands of arrows fired at once", which meant advancing troops from multiple directions to make it difficult for the opponent to defend themselves.
After studying this tactic, Crown Prince Joseph decided based on the current battle situation to have the Russian troops of the ten armies also divide their forces to attack in ten directions, hoping to achieve the effect of surprising the enemy.
However, the Ming army firmly controlled the air superiority on the eastern front battlefield. Any ground troops of the Holy Roman Empire heading east during the day would be subject to fierce air attacks.
There is no room for negotiation. Just fight once when you see him. Otherwise, the two major subjects of pilot training will be in vain!
Subject one is naturally air combat, which revolves around seizing air supremacy on the battlefield.
Subject two is ground support, that is, how to destroy enemy ground troops.
Naval aviation pilots also need to learn subject three, which is how to launch attacks on enemy ships.
Whether it is the Air Force or the Navy, the best pilots will eventually be concentrated into the carrier-based aircraft force.
Taking off and landing on an aircraft carrier or amphibious assault ship is a science in itself and is very difficult to master.
What the Russian troops encountered could only be regarded as second-class pilots of the Ming Army, not the most elite group.
But there is no doubt that he was taught a hard lesson by the other party.
The teacher doesn’t charge money, but he charges life!
Through the prisoners' confessions, Lu Xuecheng also learned that the other party had invested a large number of Russian soldiers, and immediately reported it to Zhang Huangyan.
It is said that there are ten armies with about 200,000 people, but it is not sure whether these are the only Russian troops. There may be so many troops in the rear.
Based on the Russian population in the Holy Roman Empire as reported by the captured officers, Zhang Huangyan believed that Leopold could at least arm about half a million Russian soldiers to participate in the war.
Of course, as long as he prepares 500,000 infantry first, he can't use one gun with two or three people, right?
Due to the increased intensity of patrols by the Air Force and the lack of prudence in the opponent's attack, the tactics of hiding day and night were not adopted.
Joseph's ten-way attack plan was finally dismantled by the coalition forces within five days and turned into a ten-way rout.
Through a summary of various aspects, it can be estimated that the total number of Russian soldiers killed and injured in the battle was no less than 100,000, accounting for about half of the troops invested by the opponent.
This means that the Russian troops fighting on the front line are basically disabled, unless Joseph sends another 200,000 or even more Russian troops to participate in the war.
However, the Ming Air Force has already seized the air superiority in the area north of Moravia. As long as the other party has large-scale military operations, it will definitely be discovered in advance.
This is the "conquering the ground with air" tactic that Emperor Haojing has always advocated, and it will make the Holy Roman Empire even more uncomfortable!
