Chapter 1136： cannon fodder

South of Smolensk, this is the headquarters of the 1st Army of the Polish Army. Their task was to attack Smolensk from this direction to cooperate with the attack of the German Third Army.

Army commander Lieutenant General Saker, with a group of generals, watched the attack of the Polish army not far from the city of Smolensk.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Da da da!"

The continuous sound of guns and cannons undoubtedly indicates that the battle is very fierce. However, Lieutenant General Saker was not worried at all. After all, there are only a few Russian troops in Smolensk. Now that the German army and its allies are attacking on all sides, they will inevitably divide their troops to garrison. In this case, there are actually not many Russian troops they have to face.

Although the combat effectiveness of the Polish Army is far from being comparable to that of the German Army. But Lieutenant General Saker believed that there was no problem at all in dealing with the Russian army in the city.

"How is the battle in the city?" Lieutenant General Saker asked.

"General, the troops we have entered the city are fighting fiercely with the Russian army. The resistance of the Russian army is very tenacious, and our casualties are heavy. However, all the troops are still advancing steadily!" an officer reported.

Lieutenant General Saker nodded: "Tell the generals on the front line that these Russians are nothing more than trapped beasts. As long as the few remaining elites are wiped out, the next battle will be much simpler."

"Yes, General!"

"In addition, let the generals on the front line not worry about casualties at all costs. Any troops that suffer losses will be replenished first! This time, we must perform well!" Lieutenant General Saker said.

The other Polish generals also nodded repeatedly.

This battle is the first battle for the Polish Army to participate in the war, and they naturally hope to perform well. As one of Germany's many protectorates, the Kingdom of Poland also felt tremendous pressure. If you can't perform well in the war, then you won't be able to compete with other protectorates when distributing the results in the future.

On the battlefield, the performance of the Polish army can only be regarded as quite satisfactory. Although the instructors of the German army had also trained how to fight in the streets before, the understanding of these Poles was not sufficient. This made them suffer a lot of casualties in street fighting.

However, with their strength and firepower advantages, they were able to move forward steadily after paying a considerable price, reducing the living space of the Russian army and causing further casualties to the Russian army.

The 1st Army of the Berlin Army invested a full five infantry divisions in the first round of offensive. The remaining five infantry divisions are on standby at any time. Once the troops on the front line suffer too much loss, they will provide reinforcements. In addition, the 1st Mechanized Infantry Division of the Polish Army can also be put into battle when necessary.

In the armies of Germany's many protectorates, each group army did not have an armored division, but was replaced by a mechanized infantry division. In addition, depending on the size of the mobilized troops, some armored units will be formed. For example, the number of troops mobilized by the Kingdom of Poland is as high as two million. Then, the German army will help them build two armored divisions. The Kingdom of Belarus mobilized only 400,000 troops, so the German army only helped them build an armored brigade. The same is true of the rest of the countries. With the help of Germany, form armored divisions, armored brigades or armored regiments, etc.

On a street in the south of downtown Smolensk, hundreds of Russian soldiers are guarding one end of the street. With the barricade and two heavy machine guns, they firmly blocked the attack of a battalion of the Polish Army.

The streets are already full of corpses. Almost all of these corpses were left by officers and soldiers of the Polish Army. In the previous battles, they had launched several attacks, but each time they were beaten back by the Russian machine gun fire. Not only did they not achieve any results, but they caused huge losses.

"Bastard! Where are our mortars? Fire me and blow up all the Russians!" The battalion commander of the Polish Army major ordered viciously.

"Sir, we have tried several times before. The Russian barricades were deployed in our shooting blind spot. We conducted several rounds of shelling, but none of them had any effect." A captain officer replied.

"Then think of other ways! Company 1, detour from the left and outflank the rear of the Russians!"

"Sir, the other street is also garrisoned by Russians. A company of the 3rd Battalion is attacking there. However, their attack is also not smooth, and they are blocked by the Russians, and the loss is not small."

"Bastard! Is there no other way?" The major battalion commander was dissatisfied.

"Sir, can we request fire support from the rear? Let the rear cover this area with artillery. In this case, the Russians will definitely not be able to hold it!" An officer suggested.

After thinking about it, the major and the battalion commander really had no other way, so he had to treat the dead horse as a living horse doctor.

"Come here, send a telegram to the division headquarters, we need fire support!"

A few minutes later, I received a reply from the division headquarters asking them to withdraw from this block. Fifteen minutes later, the artillery of the division headquarters will carry out a covering fire attack on this block.

The Polish army immediately withdrew from this street.

"Comrade commander, those Poles are retreating!"

"Great, we repelled the Polish attack!"

"Hooray! We won!"

The Russian military divisions on the ground cheered one after another.

However, there was a sharp whistling sound in the sky, and the expressions of many veterans changed drastically. They could hear the sound of shells piercing the air at high speed.

"Get cover, Polish bombardment!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The shells fell like raindrops, and there were continuous explosions. The position of the Russian army was completely shrouded in gunpowder smoke and flames.

A few minutes later, the position has become a mess. Limbs and broken arms are everywhere. The Russian officers and soldiers on the position almost died in the shelling.

The Polish soldiers immediately launched an attack and captured this position without much effort.

Although, the Polish army, like other armies of the slave states, was regarded by the German army as cannon fodder that could be consumed at will during the war. However, for the Russian army, even these cannon fodder are difficult to chew off. Of course, they can occupy a certain advantage in the battle with the Polish army and cause greater casualties to the Polish army. However, the Polish army has an absolute advantage in military strength. Even if the loss is greater than that of the Russian army, the Polish army must win in the end.