afterglow

Chapter 197 Going to a foreign country;

In this way, Xia Xiaoshi learned about Zhou Changfeng's illness the next day, and it was informed by two officials from the Ministry of War.

The latter told her that if it was not necessary, please pack your luggage and go to France to take care of him. It happened that the counselor and military attache of Daming's embassy in the Netherlands were going to rotate, and the Ministry of Rites had already booked a flight and could take her along.

Xia Xiaoshi agreed without even thinking about it, and when Xia Bing, who was in the yamen, arrived home, she saw that both mother and daughter looked anxious and worried.

Of course, Gao Linglu must only be worried about her daughter.

After learning about the situation, Xia Bing felt very surprised. He couldn't figure out why such a strange situation happened suddenly, and he still needed his family to accompany him.

Even though this is barely reasonable in terms of rules - because the notification requires relatives to be accompanied, and for Zhou Changfeng, the only two who meet this requirement are the eldest sister and fiancee, and the latter has a higher priority than the former.

Looking at the rare diplomatic visa, Xia Bing was even more puzzled. How did he get such a special thing?
He called the Department of Etiquette and Affairs to ask for verification, and the other party gave an affirmative answer.

In fact, apart from a few counselors and military officers, Xia Xiaoshi was also accompanied by two naval officers, a man and a woman. They claimed that they were also ordered to "take care of" Zhou Changfeng and would go with her on the way, which made her even more confused.

Is he so important?A lieutenant colonel in the Navy is worth all the trouble?

Everything seemed so hasty, Xia Xiaoshi, full of doubts, boarded the Youyun-[-] passenger plane anxiously, and embarked on a long journey to a foreign country.

Two days later.

After completing the infantry coordination training, the [-]th Brigade is conducting actual combat training before the battle. The continuous gunfire makes this place seem to be a battlefield.

This is the result of reducing the training time. Zhou Changfeng originally planned to conduct a week of regular field training, but the Republican Army Command repeatedly emphasized that the enemy forces in the direction of Talavera may change, and asked the [-]th Brigade to move out as soon as possible. .

However, Zhou Changfeng knew that this was a trick, so he kept perfunctory and delayed for several days, until two days ago he began to prepare for the battle.

"Sir, this is a message from the headquarters, they request..."

"I don't look at it, throw it away."

The clichés of the Republican Army Command have no value other than an emphasis on necessity and a urge to change the game.

With a wry smile, Miller crumpled up a piece of message paper and threw it into a trash can beside him, then asked, "Should we still set out on schedule?"

"Of course." Zhou Changfeng answered simply.

Who would like to be reluctant to give away the equipment and keep urging him?

In the past half a month, Zhou Changfeng has spent the rest of his time analyzing the current situation in Spain, apart from personally organizing the training of each battalion and each company.

Although the Republican Army has stabilized its position, it is still at a disadvantage strategically. It can be said that without the important foreign aid of the German Society, their ending will not be much different from history.

However, there is a good saying that the bystanders are clear and the authorities are obsessed. The politicians of the Republican government do not seem to realize this. These Spaniards are still fighting endlessly, and even want to change the president again.

On the day before his departure, Chretien learned another news, that is, the diplomatic pressure from Britain and France made the Spaniards' attitude towards the international brigade more and more vacillating. There were rumors that some people were considering dismissing the country International travel.

While the officers were whispering, Zhou Changfeng said meaningfully, "When they start to succumb to the foreign policy of Britain and France, the countdown to defeat will begin."

The French certainly did not allow a different kind of Spain influenced by the Germans to appear in their west, and neither did the British.

After waiting and watching for so long, I am afraid that the two countries have secretly chosen the side of the National Army, and may even have exchanged diplomatic memorandums-under what circumstances, Britain and France will recognize the regime of the National Army.

But the fighters of the International Brigade didn't know this. Most of them were gearing up to fight to the end with what they thought was an extremely evil opponent.

The train bound for Los Naval Morales rattled for nearly [-] hours, and two trains loaded with dozens of wagons unloaded more than [-] people and all equipment from the [-]th Brigade. .

It is only forty kilometers away from the front line, so close to the enemy is an exciting thing for some people, especially those young people in their twenties, who are already thinking about who they will compare to in the future Killed more enemies.

But those veterans in their 40s who had participated in the European War seemed much calmer. They knew the horror of the battlefield, and any flying bullet could kill their lives.

In a sense, they may be more courageous and fearless than ignorant and ignorant young people.

"It is not suitable to stay here in the urban area. Go to the western suburbs to camp and report all known information in time."

"Yes."

The city of Talavera de la Reina is built along the river, and most of the urban area is on the north bank of the river.

This is the largest river on the Iberian Peninsula - the Tejo River, which flows from east to west and finally flows into the Atlantic Ocean in Lisbon, Portugal.

According to known information, most of the No.90 Sixth Infantry Brigade of the National Army, which is still being repaired, is stationed in the urban area, on the north bank; a battalion is stationed on the hills in the southeastern suburbs, on the south bank.

The regiment-level unit of the 38th Infantry Division of the Italian Army is located in the outer suburbs to the southwest of the city. Its camp is on the south bank, bordering the Tejo River in the north and a hilly area in the east.

In terms of overall terrain, the south of Talavera is a large area of ​​hills and undulating terrain. This rugged area is ten kilometers wide from east to west.

In Zhou Changfeng's eyes, this is undoubtedly an excellent place. If it is changed to Tanyuan, which is flat and plain, it will not be suitable for his side.

"This side has been very quiet for the past month, and there are not many infiltration operations on both sides." Miller looked at the battle briefing in his hand, and stated: "The largest battle was the exchange of fire between the platoon-level patrols two weeks ago. "

"Are there any reconnaissance results of the enemy's main positions, bunkers, and minefields? They can't do nothing, right?" Zhou Changfeng stretched out his hand and drew a circle on the map.

The "they" in his mouth refer to the No.40 Seventh Brigade of the Republican Army and the "San Bartolomé" militia battalion that are confronting the enemy here.

"Uh...sir, they only reconnaissanced an area three miles to the southwest, last month."

"Are they on vacation? Such a long time away from basic work?"

"Xia, things in Spain are always so bad." Brett seemed to have expected this situation a long time ago.

Zhou Changfeng couldn't help but rolled his eyes, then pointed to the map and ordered: "The reconnaissance and search company will infiltrate the south and southeast, and find out their deployment in the hills; the 71st Battalion will deploy units to form four platoon-level Combat patrols, ready to support or conduct combat reconnaissance."

"Yes!"

Now that the combat patrol team has been organized, Zhou Changfeng has already made up his mind to start a small-scale battle in advance.

He focused his infiltration on the large hills on the south bank of the Tejo River, but in order to attract the attention of the enemy, he asked the 72nd Battalion to organize a reinforced platoon-level infantry unit to conduct fire reconnaissance to the southwest of the Tejo River.

This is an unremarkable trick to prevent the enemy from knowing our army's intentions.

After a short rest for one night, the whole army officially marched to the front line.

In the afternoon of the next day, the headquarters of the [-]th Brigade was set up on the southern slope of a small hill less than [-] kilometers away from Talavera, and the three battalions were also deployed in an inverted triangle pattern of two in front and one in back.

The ministries are dispatched according to the given tasks, and the personnel and equipment of each unit are carefully selected to ensure that at least three veterans lead the team among them.

Company C of the 72nd Battalion used a platoon to strengthen two MG34s and a GrW34 mortar to form a feint attack unit. There were about fifty people. They approached the river in the wilderness, and then went upstream for about two kilometers.

The setting sun at dusk stretched their shadows very long. The recruits were both nervous and excited, while the faces of the veterans could not see other colors. They were always looking around vigilantly.

At this time, someone shouted in a low voice: "At eleven o'clock, the enemy sentry!"

Only a few bright spots that are faintly visible a few hundred meters away?
The officer leading the team picked up the binoculars and observed carefully for several seconds, but couldn't see clearly, because the sun was about to set, and they were now in a backlight position, with limited illumination, and ordinary binoculars were not capable of observing in this situation.

"They are smoking, there is no mistake." A veteran said firmly: "19 years ago in Amiens, I saw with my own eyes several German recruits who did so were blown away by shells."

This is exactly the case. In the bunker in the distance, four Italian soldiers with cigarettes in their mouths were chatting boredly, wondering if they should eat something to fill their stomachs after the changing of the guard.

Since it was performing fire reconnaissance, this infantry unit immediately chose to deploy on the spot, with three squads lined up, two MG34s arranged on the left and right wings, and the mortar was arranged in a small depression diagonally behind.

"Fire!"

"boom!"

A W34 80mm mortar shell roared out, drawing a parabola in the night and landed in the Italian camp about one kilometer away.

After the piercing sound, the shell exploded, and a truck was overturned on the spot, and the leaked gasoline instantly turned it into a blazing bonfire.

And the Italian soldiers in the outer security positions here were stunned - when did the enemy get under their noses? !
They reacted immediately, firing flares into the sky while firing.

When the yellow signal flare rose into the air, one of the soldiers manipulated the Breda M7930 light machine gun to fire a few bursts in the general direction, but immediately caused a series of dense bullets to fight back.

MG34's unique "thump thud thump" gunshot roared in this wilderness, and the horn-shaped flame arrester only slightly reduced the muzzle flame, and the flickering bright yellow flame was particularly conspicuous under the night.

The reaction of the Italian army can be said to be quite slow. When the first flare they fired was lifted into the air, 2 minutes had passed since the first shell fell in the camp.

The unit of the 72nd Battalion did not stay for long, but quickly shifted its position to prevent being identified by the Italian army.

Mistakenly thinking that the Italian army had been raided by the Republican Army, they were taken aback. Several Fiat heavy machine guns deployed on the main position opened fire one after another, revealing their position at once.

Several Brescia M35 45mm light mortars are also pouring ammunition in the general direction. This kind of small thing with special ammunition feeding mechanism and full of Italian characteristics uses blank shells to push ammunition, which can put 480g heavy high-explosive shells Launched about 500m away, the rate of fire is very fast.

Heavy machine gun tracer bullets flitted across the dark air, as if a knife had cut through the darkness, and the continuous exploding high-explosive bombs were like fireworks popping up on the ground.

After fighting for a while and changing places, the unit changed positions four times during the one-and-a-half-hour firefight, and did not retreat quietly until most of the ammunition was exhausted.

Because the situation was unknown, the Italian army, who did not dare to take the initiative to attack at night, chose to hide and defend, and only fired back in the general direction.

It can be said that although the two sides fought extremely fiercely, the actual effect was very limited. There were only a dozen casualties in the Italian army, and this team only suffered four casualties.

Just when the attention of the Italian army was almost completely attracted by this infantry detachment, which seemed to have hundreds of people, but actually only had dozens of people, several teams of the reconnaissance company successfully penetrated into the hilly area from the southeast.

Their main task is to find out several suitable routes, and at the same time confirm whether there are enemy guard posts and mines in this area.

"boom!"

The sudden explosion frightened everyone who had their hearts in their throats. The recruits were still in a daze, but the veterans had already made a gesture and fell down.

The painful cry for help came immediately, it turned out that someone had just stepped on a landmine unfortunately.

"Get the bandages!"

"Enemy! Two o'clock direction!"

"Bang—bang—"

Several Italian troops suddenly appeared obliquely in front, and a short encounter broke out in an instant.

"Da da da da-"

The distance of only tens of meters is already quite close tactically. In this close combat with low visibility, how can the bolt-action Carcano rifle be compared with the Steyr submachine gun?

Although one member of the six-member reconnaissance team was reduced due to landmines, the rest still easily overwhelmed the sluggish Italian troops, and only one person fled.

"We've been exposed!" Someone asked while holding a bandage to the comrade whose left leg was broken by a landmine, "Should we leave here?"

"Negative! Owen, you take him back, we have to find a way, it should be near here!"

Since there is an Italian guard post here, it means that there must be their stronghold or camp nearby.

Corporal Nathan, who led the team, once served in the First Red Division of the U.S. Army and participated in the Battle of Cantigny, which was the first battle of the U.S. Army after it crossed the ocean and arrived in Europe.

He rummaged through the corpses of several Italian soldiers, but found nothing of value except personal belongings, and then led the other two to continue to infiltrate deeply.

Throughout the night, such scenes continued to occur in this vast hilly area.

But compared to the sporadic fights here, the infantry unit with great fanfare in the southwest is what they pay more attention to.

Zhou Changfeng dispatched another combat patrol team to support them. Before dawn, they approached the river beach in front of the Italian army.

After firing the smoke bombs, they poked the long measuring poles into the river water, pretending to measure the hydrology of the Tejo River.

The Italian army in the distance can only vaguely see the general idea. In their eyes, this is undoubtedly an ironclad proof that "the enemy will cross the river to fight"!

　Try the two-in-one chapter from today, after all, it is a war plot.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)