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Text Chapter 871 Bloody Battle in the Highlands

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    In one night, three infantry divisions and 594 tanks were lost (the troops attacking Satpayev also lost 58 tanks). The price was to sink three combat engineer regiments and 20,000 veterans!  The former is the truly elite division of the Soviet army, composed entirely of engineers, miners and veterans who have participated in at least three battles. Therefore, even though the Slavic nation has always had a tradition of not risking their lives in war, Zhukov had to immediately summon officers to study countermeasures overnight.

    But the more detailed the understanding, the more Zhukov felt that this trench was not simple, especially because the trench was too deep and surrounded by rocky hard soil, making it very difficult to fill it up.  And because there are mounds of soil on the other side, even if a bridge is built, there will be a height difference. When the tank goes uphill, it needs to face the anti-tank firepower on the mountain behind. When going downhill, the weakest top will be exposed. The 20 mm thick top steel plate is connected  Small-caliber combat artillery can easily penetrate it.  Just when no one had a good idea, Golikov suggested abandoning the front and taking a detour from the north.  But this proposal was rejected by Zhukov, because once his main force also moved north, it would definitely attract the defender's armor to the north, which would cause the Fifth Tank Corps, which was detouring from the north, to be discovered in advance.

    What made him make this judgment was that the soldiers who escaped said that they saw at least 100 tanks on the Uletau Highlands (Soviet soldiers regarded hunter-killer tanks as their main tanks, which was common in World War II), and  The troops attacking Satpayev were also counterattacked by at least one complete tank division.  According to intelligence, the standard armored division of the Chinese National Defense Force is composed of two regiments, each regiment has about 118 tanks, so this size has exceeded three regiments, which happens to be the total armored strength of the Second Army.  Therefore, he judged that the 2nd Armored Division of the Wehrmacht was in front of him. If it went north, the 2nd Armored Division would also go north, and the outflanking of the 5th Tank Corps would turn into a strong attack.  Fighting against the absolute main force like the Second Armored Division in the wilderness was completely denied after East Kazakhstan.

    After much consideration, he decided to continue the attack. However, since the Soviet army did not have mechanized bridge-building equipment, he finally decided based on everyone's opinions to use heavy artillery to flatten the mounds, and then use trucks filled with sand to rush directly into the trenches.  Trucks and sand filled some key locations. Finally, fast tanks and tractors were used to drag the steel plates closer, and engineers completed the laying.  After determining the trench-filling tactics, hundreds of soldiers from the punishment battalion were first put on trucks filled with sand. In order to prevent these people from escaping and becoming timid midway, Zhukov also ordered all brake devices to be removed.

    Then, he ordered to bring all the steel plates that could be scraped together, and finally quietly moved the B4 and BR5 heavy artillery that had not been destroyed closer to the trench.  But he was actively preparing for the second wave of attacks, but he didn't know that Liu Mingzhao had expected five days in advance that his weak position would be selected as a breakthrough point, so he not only selected the Golan Trench and K16 that were suitable for the terrain, but also targeted it.  He also concentrated all the armored units that could be mobilized from the surrounding areas into his hands. In the end, he decisively gave most of them to Zhuo Fan to fight with his Fifth Tank Army.

    At 6 o'clock in the morning, the first wave of 120 IL2s and 68 Tu2s coming to support from Alkarek and other field airports finally arrived, and together they dropped 250 tons of bombs on the Uletau Mountain defense line.  But they did not show off their power for long. The Chinese Air Force, which came at high speed from Zhezkazgan and Kyzyl Odar, took over the sky.  112 Thunderbolts formed the largest air cover aircraft group since the war. It only took 50 minutes to wipe out all the Soviet fighters at the slight cost of losing 12 aircraft.

    When the Soviet soldiers hiding in the bunker watched blankly as one of their own aircraft fell down, Zhukov had already taken advantage of the air strangulation battle to block the airspace and made it impossible to bomb, and issued an attack order.  The order is simple: "Fill the trenches and break through the defense lines at all costs. Anyone who dares to attack will be executed on the spot, regardless of officers or soldiers!"

    While this cold order chilled the hearts of the Soviet army, he also ordered that all the vodka collected along the way be distributed to every punishment battalion and assault soldier.  First the threat, then the strong drink. The alternation of hot and cold not only showed his ability to manage the army, but also aroused his desperate desire to die, which was depressed by the massacre last night.

    At 6:25, the attack began.  Thousands of artillery pieces locked their sights on the trenches and the Uletau Mountain highlands at the same time. The most powerful 20 B4 type 203mm and 6 BR5 type 280mm howitzers concentrated their firepower to destroy the trenches.  Especially the 246 kilogram high-explosive grenade equipped by the latter can blow up trenches and mounds to pieces every time it falls.  In just twenty minutes, 160,000 artillery shells of various types fell on the entire Uletau Mountain defense line!  This is equivalent to dropping 3,400 tons of steel!

    But Zhukov's artillery encountered an opponent this time. Since the Uletau Mountain defense line was originally the key point to prevent the Soviet army from entering Kyzylorda, Liu Mingzhao continued to strengthen it since he led the Second Army to station.  When the transportation capacity was tight due to heavy snowfall in winter due to road closures, we even took the initiative to reduce rations and ammunition, leaving the supply tonnage for materials such as cement and steel plates. After five days of emergency reinforcement before the war, I cannot say that it is foolproof, but at least it is very complete.  Moreover, Liu Mingzhao also withdrew the garrison troops to the fortifications on the west slope early.?allowed the troops to avoid most of the shells.

    The crazy artillery fire did not last long. The K16 cannon on the hilltop took the lead in targeting the most powerful BR5 and B4 heavy artillery from a high altitude below zero.  With a range of up to 22,800 meters, flat trajectories and strong bunker protection, they quickly destroyed the BR5 position and also destroyed seven B4 positions.  Immediately afterwards, a group of thunder and lightning machines descended from the sky and launched a wave of strafing fire at the Soviet artillery positions.

    Although Zhukov regretted that he did not completely destroy the trenches, it did play some role. Moreover, his current logistics could not sustain a longer bombardment, so after ordering the artillery fire to be extended, he ordered the offensive troops to set off.  In order to break through the weird trenches in one go and drag the enemy's main force to the highlands of Uletau Mountain to provide cover for the Fifth Tank Corps, he deployed more than 1,300 assault groups consisting of trucks, tanks, armored vehicles and tractors, and also deployed 5  Infantry divisions followed as a second wave of force.  To prevent confusion, the assault troops were also organized into thirty small groups and each vehicle was equipped with a flare gun.

    The rolling iron stream was once again rushing toward the defense line. Since fighter planes were dealing with Soviet artillery, the main force in long-range strikes was the artillery of the Second Army.  Hundreds of artillery pieces exploded tanks and vehicles into fireballs. At the same time, the anti-tank gunners hiding in the bunkers also ran all the way from the west slope to the east slope position.

    Due to advance judgment, after Liu Mingzhao transported three anti-tank gun battalions by air transport and other means within five days, the anti-tank capabilities of the Second Army were already quite strong.  The first to open fire was the No. 133 Hunter-Destroyer Tank, which had destroyed 11 tanks in a single vehicle yesterday. The commander, who was familiar with its performance, directly targeted a leading T34 2,600 meters away, and chose high-speed tungsten bullets to ensure penetration.

    "Boom!"

    The power of the 105mm sub-mounted cannon is too great. Even at such a distance, the high-speed tungsten bullet still penetrated the front face of the T34 and hit the internal shell.  The T34 exploded and decomposed in the fireball, kicking off another round of death march for the Soviet army.  After the first hit, all 157 anti-tank weapons ranging from 70mm to 105mm opened fire, especially the 105mm rifled cannon equipped on the Hunter-Dragon B vehicle. Even with ordinary carbonized steel armor-piercing bullets, it can hit within 2,000 meters.  Wear any part of T34.  But today's anti-tank firepower is not as easy as last night. As long as the aircraft cannot cover it in time, the hidden Soviet artillery will pour artillery shells on the anti-tank points, causing many anti-tank positions to be destroyed by Soviet artillery.

    As tanks and vehicles were destroyed one after another, the path of the Soviet charge was littered with burning steel debris, and the bodies of soldiers crackled in the flames.  The infantry following behind did not dare to look at the ground. Only Zhukov turned a blind eye to these losses and focused on the punishment battalion filled with sand and soil following the tank.

    Valensi was originally a second lieutenant, but was sent to the punishment camp for early retreat during the East Kazakh Campaign.  The punishment camp was a place where every Soviet soldier didn't want to be, because this was actually a death squad.  And his mission this time is to drive the truck filled with sand directly into that damn trench!  Along the way, there were dead bodies and exploding tanks everywhere. Since all the trucks of the suicide squad had their brakes removed before departure, he had only two choices, either to jump out of the truck and become a deserter and be killed by the infantry behind him, or to complete the mission, as long as  The honor of captain and company commander can be restored without dying.

    So, like everyone else, he pressed the accelerator to the bottom, kept turning the steering wheel, and sometimes even ran over the bodies of his comrades, just to fight for that glimmer of opportunity.  "Boom!" While a T26 on the front left was destroyed, he picked up the wine bottle and drank most of the bottle of strong vodka in one gulp.  His burning throat made his eyes bloodshot, and he looked at the thin trench, roaring like a wild animal and breaking through the fireball.

    Without brakes, the truck filled with sand and soil rushed directly into the trench at a speed of 60 kilometers per hour.  Then it crashed hard into the destroyed bt7 below.  The violent impact shattered the windshield, and the fragments pierced directly into his body.  But he couldn't care less about the pain now and rushed out of the deformed carriage while rolling and crawling.  Just as he jumped into the trench and ran all the way, one truck after another fell from above, and in the end he had to squat in a blind corner holding his head.  Perhaps because of God's favor, he was not buried alive by trucks and sand, nor was he beaten to death. Instead, he spent six years in a prisoner of war camp.

    Under the desperate trench-filling tactics of Valensi and other punishment battalion soldiers, sections of the trench soon appeared filled with sand and truck wreckage. Although the tanks had to wait for the steel plates to be laid before they could go up, a large number of infantrymen who had made it to the position were  Already skirmishing rapidly uphill from these gaps.

    When the first Soviet infantryman crossed the trench, the light and heavy machine guns deployed by the Second Army on the hillside opened fire at the same time. The road section that was soon filled was filled with corpses.

    The tractor with steel plates tied to both sides finally arrived. The Soviet engineers quickly cut the rope and rushed towards the gap filled with the steel plates.  But like the infantry, they were also covered by crazy firepower, and hundreds of engineers were killed or injured in just a few dozen meters.  When the steel plates were finally laid, the tanks behind themIgnoring the corpses on the ground, he directly crushed the flesh and bones and rushed forward.

    But this T34 tank still did not cross the mound, because when going downhill, the top cover was exposed and was hit by three 40mm anti-tank guns at the same time and stopped.  This stop directly killed the tanks behind. Because the road was blocked, the desperate tanks gathered in front of the passage and became a magnet for artillery shells, attracting more anti-tank firepower.

    Explosion flame explosion!  There was such a scene in front of the entire trench.  Due to the strong anti-tank firepower of the Second Army, only thirteen of the thirty trench-filling points calculated by Zhukov were completed. The remaining punishment battalion trucks were either destroyed by anti-tank firepower or died in vain because they avoided artillery fire and did not reach their positions.  Thirteen landfill sites were thirteen tank graves, and hundreds of tanks and vehicles were destroyed in just a few minutes.  But when the armored force suffered another devastating blow, the infantry group following the tank finally rushed to the trench.  They were much more flexible than tanks. Some people bypassed the tank obstacles, and some people directly used the wooden planks they brought to build bridges to cross the obstacles.

    The infantry attack was flexible, but the casualties were even more tragic. In just one hour, tens of thousands of Soviet infantrymen lay in front of the high ground, and the number of injured was even more numerous.  But Zhukov did not stop this desperate offensive method. Perhaps he believed that as long as he persisted until the afternoon, the detoured Fifth Army could open up the situation, or he saw that the infantry had torn apart the defense line and thought he could break through the defense line soon, or maybe he saw that the infantry had torn apart the defense line and thought he could break through the defense line soon.  It was he who realized that if the situation could not be opened here, the counterattack would fall short, so he mobilized four infantry divisions again and launched the third wave of attack.

    The investment of nearly 100,000 Soviet troops increased the pressure on the Uletau Mountain defense line several times. Although the Air Force continued to provide support, at this time the second wave of fighter jets consisted of 48 BF109s, 75 MiG-1s and 225 IL2s.  Formations began to arrive from all directions, and the Soviet pilots sacrificed themselves for time, delaying enough time for Zhukov.

    One hundred thousand Soviet troops and 40,000 defending soldiers of the Second Army fought against each other on a short 47-kilometer-long highland. During the repeated charges and countercharges, the hillsides of the highlands were covered with corpses of both sides.  But just when the defense line was tight, Liu Mingzhao did not hurry and quietly returned to the Zhezkazgan headquarters. He handed the helmet to the guard and walked to the map: "Have the support troops set off?"

    "Shuai Xu is very generous this time. The first batch of six divisions and three armored regiments have already set off from Talos (Taraz). The 103rd Armored Division and the two cavalry divisions of the Kazakh Independence Army have also moved closer to us from Karaganda.  , it is expected that they will all arrive within four days." Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Xu Zuyi pointed at the map to introduce the progress of the reinforcements.

    "8 infantry divisions, 5 armored regiments four days, it should be about the same." Liu Mingzhao calculated the time, marked it in his notebook, and looked at the operation map for a long time, and then raised his head after a long time.  : "By the way, where is Zhuo Fan?"

    "Here, 137 kilometers north of us. The reconnaissance plane reported an hour ago that his main force had passed through Kurgason, but did not stop, and did not even deploy defensive positions!" Xu Zuyi also participated in the above  He is a veteran of the Wehrmacht in the Second European War. He is a top student in the third phase of the artillery department in Baoding and studied in France for three years.  It was not easy for him to survive twenty years in the military to reach this point, so in his life he disliked officers who did not work hard and only wanted to be promoted.  He was also not very friendly towards Zhuo Fan, who was promoted from major to brigadier general in just two years. He said with a bit of complaint: "Look, Kurgarsen is the only way to go! There are now three Soviet armored divisions and three infantry  The division pounced on him 40 kilometers east of him. Logically, he should have set up his position first, but he had better go straight into the woods to the north, and the reconnaissance planes couldn't find him. Moreover, this guy kept the radio silent after setting off, even me  The telegrams I sent were ignored!¡±

    "You didn't stop? What bad idea does this bastard have?"

    (To be continued)
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