Chapter 70: God Favors the Best Artillery
Sleep? That was for the weak, a concept that the population of Tsaritsyn became well accustomed to as the shells fell on top of their homes throughout the night. The Spring Offensive had begun, and the Red Army was caught with their pants down.
They, after all not expected the Iron Brigade to receive so many volunteers in such a short amount of time. To the extent that it was now known as the Iron Division. And to be fair neither had Bruno. Regardless, barrages battered the city and its defenders throughout the night.
Every thunder which echoed in the distance was a shot fired towards military targets, and not necessarily areas which civilians inhabited. Or such was Bruno's objective. Though he did not care if civilians were caught up in an attack targeting hostiles, the reality was deliberately targeting civilians was something Bruno was not fond of.
It served no tactical or practical purpose. And any idiot who said that it would break the people's morale was an idiot. More often than not, such deliberate and indiscriminate attacks against unarmed civilians served the opposite purpose.
Because of this, Bruno made sure the calculations used by the artillery batteries were precise as they rained shells down upon the Bolsheviks who were in the trenches, and fortifications they had built to defend the city.
The Red Army was forced to endure the artillery fired throughout the night, with the battery only ceasing once the sun had risen with the dawn. It was then that the Red Army could gain some rest, retaliating as they fired off their own artillery back at those who would try to seize the city from them.
Of course, this wasn't exactly as easy as Yakov Sverdlov thought it would be. After all, Bruno's artillery strikes didn't just serve the purpose of battering the enemy fortifications. Rather, they also acted as a method to conceal their real targets. Which were the munitions and supply depots as well as and artillery pieces used by the Red Army within the city.
For example, the Russian Forces infiltrated the city in civilian garb throughout the night, under Bruno's orders. Where they detonated explosives within the munition stockpiles and used thermite to disable the enemy guns.
Or at least a large portion of them. Because of this, the artillery fire which targeted the Iron Division and the Russian Division supporting their efforts were fewer than 20. Bruno had planned such sabotage operations months in advance.
Thus, the men of the Iron Division had spent the last few weeks establishing an elaborate trench system around the city of Tsaritsyn. Thus, when the Red Army did finally manage to retaliate with barrages of their own.