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

Chapter 82: Crossing the Vistula River

Twilight.

An unusual situation occurred in the Emperor's Palace in Würzburg - an officer with a hurried look walked past quickly, which surprised the court attendants.

The Emperor's Palace is nestled among the mountains, offering stunning views. It is a magnificent and beautiful Baroque-style palace, truly magnificent.

Old William has been in poor health recently, so he came here to recuperate for a few months and plans to return to Berlin in a few days.

He had actually woken up before daybreak, so the sudden audience report did not count as waking him up from his sleep.

"Your Majesty, in the early hours of the morning, the Ivan Rus ambassador presented us with a diplomatic ultimatum demanding that we give up the lands we acquired in the peace treaty and pay financial compensation. Lord Dietrich immediately rejected this ultimatum, and we are now at war. Thirty minutes ago, the Ivan Rus launched a full-scale attack on us."

After listening to the story, old William showed disdain in his eyes.

"Can't wait any longer? More eager than expected. Unfortunately... their ambitions will soon be crushed on the battlefield." He paused for a moment, then added, "I'm going back to Bolin and preparing the train immediately."

An hour and a half later.

Recently, Princess Louise-Victoria came to the Würzburg Palace to recuperate because she was infected with pneumonia. After getting up, she learned that her father was about to leave, so she went up to ask.

She said worriedly, "The war came too suddenly. I can't imagine that the Ivan Rus people would invade us in this way."

"Veronica's childish fantasies will soon be shattered. At that time, I will 'welcome' her to Charlottenburg Palace to sign the surrender agreement, and then mercifully forgive my great-niece's crazy behavior." Old William said arrogantly in a flat tone.

In terms of kinship, Veronika Alexandrovna is indeed the great-niece of old William.

Of course, they are very distant relatives.

At the same time, on the long front, the cruelty of the battle soared to the highest intensity level from the very beginning.

Before the full-scale offensive was launched - an hour before the airstrike was launched, the Ivan Ross Empire Air Force dropped many paratrooper commandos into the shallow depths of Varland.

This time, Ivan Ross did not concentrate on using the organized paratrooper division, but instead dispersed small-scale commandos to carry out infiltration and sabotage operations.

Except for a few commandos who returned due to transport plane crashes or mechanical failures and did not participate in the battle, a total of 73 commandos landed behind enemy lines on transport planes and gliders. Their targets were 180 high-value targets, and they made arbitrary choices based on actual circumstances.

42 km northwest of Warsaw is a small town called Płock, where the supply depot of the 28th Infantry Division of the Walland Army is located.

A transport plane was turning around and returning, and more than a dozen parachutes were slowly descending in the night sky.

The fully armed commandos quickly gathered after landing and searched for weapons boxes.

They only found one weapons box containing guns and ammunition, but they did find two weapons boxes containing explosives.

Captain Sergeant Sokolov was unwilling to waste time searching and led his team directly to the highway.

They quickly laid more than twenty mines and then returned to hide in the woods on the roadside.

Although only four SVT-38 semi-automatic rifles were found and the rest of the men only had their own TT-30/33 Tokarev pistols, Sergeant Sokolov still decided to ambush the enemy's baggage convoy.

He warned: "Sidorova, concentrate on not exposing us. Irena, the war has begun, do not hesitate to shoot the enemy."

"Master, I don't think the enemy would be so vigilant searching the surroundings right after leaving the town."

"You can play roulette with your own life, but don't take us with you." Soon, everyone noticed a commotion in the distant town. Ten minutes later, several points of light appeared.

The light spots gradually approached, becoming brighter and clearer. They were a group of trucks coming from Plock, about twenty or thirty of them.

The crescent moon is extremely slender, like a silver fishhook. The moonlight is extremely weak, and visibility is very low tonight.

Everyone waited patiently until the leading truck ran over a mine and exploded.

"boom!"

The anti-personnel mine was not that powerful, and although it was not enough to overturn the heavy truck, the unfortunate Opel truck was scrapped in an instant. The engine oil and gasoline suddenly caught fire and turned the entire vehicle into a ball of fire!
Apparently, the Vallande soldiers had not expected to be attacked right outside their doorstep. Caught off guard, the convoy was suddenly crammed together in chaos.

The bullets fired from the woods were accurate and deadly. The second lieutenant wearing a wide-brimmed hat was shot dead less than four seconds after he appeared. A 7.62×54mm light pointed bullet carrying about 3300 joules of kinetic energy hit his chest, and the bullet passed through his heart.

Immediately afterwards, lemon grenades flew over one after another.

Explosions occurred one after another, and fragments flew everywhere!
The Varland soldiers hurriedly got off the car with their Mauser rifles, crawled away from this dangerous place, and hid behind the sunken roadside slope.

The sound of the Mauser rifle was particularly crisp, and the howling of the wounded was particularly miserable.

Half a minute later, the roar of machine guns resounded throughout the wilderness, and Mauser heavy-point bullets rained down on the woods, and the tracer bullets mixed in ignited some dry grass.

After losing one man, Sergeant Sokolov immediately ordered a retreat.

The group left this mess behind and quietly left the ambush site.

This situation occurred in many places simultaneously, and premeditated sabotage was one of the many components of the Northern Sphinx Plan.

Cutting off telephone lines, ambushing logistics convoys, laying mines, reversing road signs, spreading rumors to civilians...

The worst situation occurred in the Hampton area. At 5:45 a.m., Major General Adler of the 16th Infantry Division of Walland was on his way to the division headquarters when his convoy was ambushed by Ivan Ross's paratrooper commandos on the northern outskirts of Hampton. He became the first senior general to be killed since the outbreak of the war.

Ten years of meticulous preparations have been put to the perfect test today!
Measuring the hydrological conditions of the Vistula River was the most basic task, and the Ivan Rus people had already mastered the locations suitable for crossing the river.

Of course, the Vallanders on the west bank were just as rigorous and knew just as well which places were suitable for crossing the river.

The small hill dozens of kilometers south of Huasha not only has a border observation post, but also serves as a flank fulcrum for a battalion-level pre-set position.

Dense artillery shells whistled through the air, dull explosions continued to come from the rear, the stationed military camp seemed to be swallowed by hot magma, and the landline telephone was disconnected.

Under the pale light of the flares, dozens of assault boats have rushed onto the river beach one after another. Looking around, there are dense figures everywhere, and amphibious tanks are faintly visible in the middle of the river in the distance.

The exempt soldier put down his binoculars, picked up the Schmeisser submachine gun and loaded it.

He turned to the new recruit and ordered, "Muller! Deliver the situation on foot! At least one division of Ivan Rus's troops is crossing the Vistula River in front of us!"

"But……"

"Come on!"

(End of this chapter)