Chapter 1474 - 28: The Frontline Battlefield

Chapter 1474: Chapter 28: The Frontline Battlefield

Although the Russian army has significant advantages in numbers and firepower, and its fighting will is much higher than that of armies from Ukraine and Poland, the well-constructed defense lines managed to withstand the first wave of the Russian offensive.

Boom...

The artillery fire in Donbass stirred up a vast cloud of smoke and gunpowder flavor permeated the air, the deafening artillery sound exerting immense psychological pressure on the Ukrainian soldiers.

However, this was not enough to make the Ukrainian army in Donbass mentally collapse.

A seasoned veteran from World War I, upon hearing the sound of Russian artillery, shouted forcefully: "Get into the trenches, it’s time to work, kids!"

Under the veteran’s leadership, the new recruits in the Ukrainian army did not panic and disrupt the formation due to the Russian artillery fire. Panic can be contagious, but calmness can spread just the same.

Under the cover of overwhelming artillery fire, large swathes of Russian Red Army suicide squads began their first round of attacks, gripping Mosinka-Nagant rifles, with hunched backs, attempting to approach the Ukrainian positions.

"Machine gunners, wait for the enemies to enter range before opening fire. Focus on densely packed areas — this is not the time to fear wasting ammunition!"

"Fool, who allowed you to open fire now? Didn’t I say to wait for the enemies to enter range before shooting? Firing now only attacks the air..."

Ta-ta-ta...

Under the sweeping fire of the Maxim machine guns equipped by the Ukrainian army, an impenetrable barrier seemed to form in front of the suicide squads.

There was no doubt that in this plain area, Ukraine possessed exceptionally wide views, allowing most of the Red Army’s movements to be observed by the Ukrainian troops.

Moreover, utilizing shooting holes and various cover, Ukrainian soldiers could calmly slaughter the Red Army suicide squads.

In such a disadvantageous situation, the Red Army commander decisively stopped this pointless sacrificial activity.

However, at this time, under the commanders of the Ukrainian army, Ukrainian forces began a retaliatory counterattack on the Russian positions.

Although Ukraine’s firepower is not as strong as Russia’s, its scale and quantity are not far off, with weaponry and ammunition donations from various European countries ensuring they wouldn’t be depleted in the short term.

Boom...

Ukrainian artillery began a tit-for-tat counterstrike, primarily targeting the Red Army’s artillery positions and trenches.

Moreover, it was very apparent that the artillery, rifles, and machine guns supplied by European countries to aid Ukraine were far more reliable than the equipment of the Russian army.

And the training provided by Germany and Austria to the Ukrainian army was indeed invaluable at this moment, allowing Ukrainian soldiers to maximize the power of these advanced tools.

Though time constraints made it impossible to reach the precision and composure of World War I’s Germany and France soldiers, it was more than sufficient for dealing with the Russian Red Army artillery.

The pity is that the quantity of artillery and ammunition in Ukraine remains limited, meaning future large-scale replenishments must rely on back-end transport and even require supplies from Germany and Austria.

Russia has a different scenario — Eastern Ukraine, on the Russian side, was itself a heavy industrial base during the Tsarist Era. As the war broke out, all military factories ramped up production, fully supplying weapons and ammunition to the frontline Red Army.

Currently, both Russia and Ukraine have advantages and disadvantages, though overall, Russia holds the upper hand. This advantage primarily arises from the gap in national power, but it cannot effectively translate into frontline military combat power.

No matter how strong the fighting will of the Red Army is, it is clearly impossible to use mere flesh and blood to withstand bombardments and bullet attacks.

Unless they can break into the Donbass trenches, close combat would allow them to fully realize this fighting will.

However, under the suppression of machine guns and artillery, breaking into the front lines of the Ukrainian positions is difficult, not to mention engaging in close combat with the puppet army.

In long-range warfare, the Red Army’s advantage is also not significant, only oscillating back and forth against the well-equipped puppet army through superior firepower.

Thus, on the first day, multiple rounds of artillery battles, charges and counter-charges ensued, with Ukrainian and Russian soldiers’ lives being grimly reaped by the relentless battle like cutting chives.

This infuriated the commanders on both sides, especially the attacking Russian Red Army officers.

"Damn, the Ukrainian puppet army holds geographical advantage, relying on the Donbass defense lines to maximize security — this is very unfavorable to our attack. If we wish to minimize casualties, we need more artillery to demolish the puppet army’s fortresses and positions."

"The puppet army is equipped with a large quantity of weapons and equipment originally left behind or recently supported by the Allies and Entente. This is a very bad situation, because of the world war, no one knows how much ammunition stock Europe has accumulated."

"Judging by our own country’s situation, the armaments piled up by imperialism must be astronomical figures, given the higher industrial levels of UK, France, Germany, and Austria compared to the Tsarist Era. Their weapons and ammunition stockpiles should certainly surpass those of Tsarist Russia."

Due to World War I, the European powers, including the former Tsarist Russia, accumulated a staggering amount of weaponry stockpiles — this also included colossal weapons and ammunition production lines.

As for current Russia’s conditions, the Russian Labor Party government mainly inherits the ammunition factories left over from the Tsarist era. With regard to weapons and ammunition, though plentiful, many were taken by Ukraine, Poland, and other countries due to Tsarist Russia’s initial massive military defeats.