It's better to conquer them than to command the steel torrent

Chapter 110 Chapter | Difficult Choice
That night, Ivan Rus's army continued to expand the breakthrough, and a huge gap of seven or eight kilometers long had been torn in the Toktau area of ​​the Tisza River defense line.

In order to delay time, the Hungarian army tried its best to block Ivan Rus's army from advancing northward.

The battle was extremely brutal and the situation was extremely dangerous. The army headquarters sent five telegrams asking for help overnight!
However, the elite division-level units in the Zhanpulun Mountains were still halfway, and it would take at least forty-eight hours for them to reach their respective preset blocking positions.

Where did these forty-eight hours come from?!

At such a critical moment, is there any life-saving straw?
The General Staff, desperate to find a solution, had to approve the only feasible plan at the moment - to try to open the gates of the Tisarek Dam and release water, and to take destructive measures if necessary.

"Class-A Confidential Order No. 10 of the Royal Hungarian Army General Staff, dated October 5th, to officers only..."

"To avoid the worst-case scenario, we had to take extreme measures to delay the enemy's offensive and buy 48 hours for the deployment of our strategic reserve..."

"Order the 17th Infantry Division, which is closest to the Tissarek area, to form a battle group to carry out the task of controlling the dam..."

"If control cannot be achieved, bombardment or demolition of the dam is permitted... Order 722 takes the highest priority."

Because the situation was urgent, the General Staff did not have time to seek the opinions of all military and political leaders when making decisions, so they had to act first and report later.

Sigrid initially opposed this approach, suspecting it was just wishful thinking on the part of the staff and that it might not be able to delay the enemy at all.

"I can't possibly agree to this kind of crazy behavior. It's like the hysterical struggle of a desperate clown. You are not worthy of wearing a military uniform!" she said angrily.

"This is the only way to save our troops, Your Majesty." The brigadier general of the General Staff was helpless.

"I'd rather be defeated with honor than win with dishonor," she huffed. "Who came up with that? He must be court-martialed!"

"It was Major Shang Ke from the Military Technical Advisory Group. He said: If we save the land but lose the people, we will lose both the land and the people. Even if the dam is gone, it can be rebuilt later. Your Majesty, we agree with his opinion." The brigadier general replied calmly.

Sigrid was silent for a long time, and the anger in her green eyes faded away.

At the same time, a dozen kilometers west of Tissalek...

这时候是10月5日半夜23时47分，历时四个小时，风尘仆仆的商克在一片混乱中终于找到了王家陆军第17步兵师。

The condition of this unit is relatively good, and each regiment and battalion is evacuating their positions in an orderly manner.

Because the area near Tiszalok was not the main attack area of ​​Ivan Rus's army, the Hungarian army here was under less pressure.

The order from the General Staff was passed down to this unit without authorization. The division staff did not dare to delay and quickly formed the Bella battle group - in fact, it was composed of an engineer reinforcement company, a cavalry reconnaissance company, and two infantry companies, with a total of more than 800 people.

Shang Ke passed through a dense forest and arrived at their gathering place.

The soldiers were resting in groups of three or four against the tree trunks. The convoy of several off-road vehicles was where the commander was. Major Bella was carefully studying the map with a flashlight.

"Commander, Major Shang from the advisory group is here."

"Advisory Board?"

Shang Ke met a man who looked quite capable, about thirty or forty years old, this was Major Bella.

Major Bella was the commander of the division's cavalry reconnaissance battalion, a professional officer with twenty years of military service. After the end of the European War, as a fresh recruit, Bella had participated in the war against the invasion of the Romanian army.

The two saluted each other and shook hands.

Major Bella's first impression of Shang was that he was more like a conspirator with a dagger hidden behind his smile, rather than an upright professional officer.

"The cavalry has already set out; we're collecting ammunition and food, and we're expected to leave at 2:00 AM. After a two-hour march, we'll arrive at our planned position west of Tiszalek. The engineering unit will follow in trucks carrying explosives," Major Bella explained succinctly. "Is there no backup plan? What if we can't successfully control the dam?" Shank asked in Hungarian.

"Yes, our division is withdrawing gradually, but the artillery regiment will leave two guns behind, and they will follow with the engineers."

"Two guns? What caliber?"

A captain intelligence officer sent by the division headquarters replied: "Don't worry, it's a 150mm howitzer, an old one from the Austro-Hungarian era, the Vz.14."

Shang Ke nodded, then reminded: "Do you have a towing vehicle ready?"

"Don't worry, these old guys are light enough for a truck to tow them."

Light artillery cannot shake reinforced concrete dams, and heavy artillery is too clumsy and often cannot be towed by trucks, so special heavy-duty towing vehicles are needed.

However, the Hungarian army happened to be equipped with many Vz.14 150 (149.1) mm howitzers from the Austro-Hungarian era. This short-barreled gun with a caliber of only 14 times is very light, weighing only 2.8 tons, making it almost the lightest artillery of the same caliber in the world.

To ensure that the dam could be destroyed in an emergency, the Hungarian army also collected as many concrete-busting bombs as possible instead of ordinary grenades.

Under the Emei moon at midnight, a group of people marched quickly eastward.

The cold moonlight was extremely dim. No one could have imagined that when the Tisza River defense line completely collapsed, a temporary battle group that was ordered to take action was rushing towards the target in the opposite direction of retreat.

The lightly equipped soldiers were marching quickly. All around was silent, with only the sounds of footsteps and breathing, and the faint sound of gunfire coming from far away.

Shang Ke is now thankful that he had sometimes participated in the Royal Guard's foot march training before, otherwise he would not be able to withstand such a forced march.

"Sir! Sir! I feel it! Report! I have made contact with the cavalry (reconnaissance) company!" a female sergeant shouted.

"How's the situation at the dam?" Major Bella asked loudly.

"No, this is bad, sir, they've been exposed...flares!"

After the female sergeant finished speaking, she subconsciously raised her hands to cover her eyes, as if she was also blinded by the dazzling light of the flare.

Everyone looked into the distance and could vaguely see that the night sky there was indeed brighter.

Shang Ke and Major Bella looked at each other and shouted almost in unison: "Hurry! Everyone hurry! Run! Run! Run!"

Continuous gunshots rang into their ears. Although the soldiers were already a little tired, they all forced themselves to run faster. The crew members carrying the mortars were even more tired and panting.

Two infantry companies, one in front and one behind, rushed towards the Tisza River.

The soldiers rushed out of the woods, and suddenly the view became clear!
The cavalry company was divided into two parts, occupying two slopes respectively, and was now exchanging fire with Ivan Ross's army in the distance.

"Listen up! Company B is reinforcing the Cavalry Company! I will lead Company A to capture the dam! Attack forward!"

Major Bella immediately gave the order, then turned to Shang, who was a few meters away, and said sternly, "Major Shang, if I fall, please lead the troops to complete the mission. Thank you!"

The latter was infected by the fearless spirit of the crowd, straightened his expression, nodded and said: "I promise!"

The two infantry companies quickly deployed into a sparse formation and charged towards their respective targets!

(End of this chapter)