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Text Chapter 1025 The Great Battle (9)

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    July 2, 1941.  .

    The tug-of-war between China and the Soviet Union around the Ishim River defense line has entered its 23rd day.  The shells were fired more and more densely, and the charge became more and more urgent. More than three weeks of fierce fighting had exhausted the soldiers on both sides.  The excitement of fighting turned to numbness, and the blood froze into ice.  As the Southeast Ryukyu Campaign comes to an end, and the Japanese troops on the Korean Peninsula are constantly being annihilated, Stalin's patience has been exhausted to the extreme!  He sent more than a dozen telegrams to the front line every day and made dozens of phone calls. The telegrams were filled with urgent words such as urging and strict orders. Even Soviet Chairman Kalinin secretly came to Chelyabinsk to supervise the troops on the spot.  Combat.

    Vasilevsky and Lexiwen fought inextricably on the most difficult combat terrain in the world. Lukin and Rokossovsky still had a balanced offense and defense, relying on the gap left by Xu Xiangqian's mistake to defeat Ukraine's third team.  The Army Group and the Siberian Army sent across the Ishim River, trying to cut off the supply channels, and at the same time stormed Petropavlovsk from the northwest.  But Sun Chuanfang and Fan Shisheng opposite them were equally sophisticated. While dragging the enemy's main force behind the city, they forced Xu Xiangqian's eight divisions between them, making it impossible for them to connect from beginning to end, and they could only passively fall into a war of attrition.  .  The Ilgiz protrusion in the south was already too tragic to describe in words. Zhukov's arrival made Malinovsky's troops stronger. While the 'villain' Mehelis hated the two of them, he also secretly  Be alert and alert.  A flood offensive regardless of cost or casualties left Du Zishan breathless. Sometimes a unit would be deployed in the morning and had to withdraw in the evening due to losses exceeding 50%.  Many times, he wanted to invest a total of two armies of reserves at all costs, but in order to paralyze the enemy and not destroy the counterattack plan, he had to wipe his tears, grit his teeth and stuff the casualty reports into his pockets.

    Kirponosky from central Sarekopa is old-fashioned and calm. He has fought against the Chinese Army several times in Afghanistan and East Kazakhstan. He knows very well that in the face of the opponent's super armored power, any negligence may cause unimaginable losses.  Therefore, he relied on the Great Lakes to play steadily, neither advancing nor taking risks. Like Vasilevsky, he used the tactic of flying on both sides to hold back the opponent's vitality.

    For more than three weeks, the stalemate between millions of soldiers has even made the domestic people forget about the "Eastern Siberia Merger Act" that is about to be voted on in Congress. Even the peninsula and Ryukyu have become unimportant.  Many people began to worry about the disciple soldiers thousands of miles away.  How is your child doing?  No matter how hard the Soviet soldiers fought, they couldn't finish it?  Will you lose?  Each problem makes this summer more hot and uncomfortable.

    The sprouting of flowers always comes quietly with the severest cold.  Even Kilponoski didn't know that deep to the east of the fierce battlefield in front of him, steel chariots had already gathered in place. They were lurking in the grass, hiding in the mountain cols, and hiding among the trees.  , wrapping his figure in a thick camouflage net.  "Are you all here?" Sun Liren held a riding crop in his hand, walked past a row of tanks covered in camouflage nets, and entered the command post where officers gathered.  "Here, they're all here." Gong Chu handed him the roster with eager eyes.

    3 armored divisions, 3 mechanized infantry divisions and 4 motorized infantry divisions, plus additional reinforcements, in this area less than 15 kilometers wide, there are 12 armored regiments, 15 motorized infantry regiments, and 3 night fighting regiments.  Tiger Battalion, 10 armored engineering battalions, 8 mechanized pontoon battalions, 6 Fury self-propelled artillery battalions, 4 half-track anti-aircraft artillery battalions, 8 105 mm self-propelled artillery battalions, 4 150 mm self-propelled artillery battalions,  2 210 self-propelled heavy artillery battalions¡­.  A total of 78 Type 25C ¡®Civet¡¯ light reconnaissance tanks, 108 ¡®Night Tiger¡¯ tanks, 122 Type 31 ¡®Leopard¡¯, 878 Type 36 ¡®Siberian Tiger¡¯ main battle tanks, and 516 fully tracked armored personnel carriers.  In addition to self-propelled guns, half-track personnel carriers, trucks, motorcycles, jeeps, etc., more than 4,000 vehicles of various types were right under his nose.  You must know that during last year's spring and summer offensive in Central Asia, all domestic armored divisions and mechanized infantry divisions were equipped with a certain proportion of mules and horses. However, just one year later, a purely mechanized force was replaced by national industrial generalization, standardization and  Emerged with the support of almost unlimited military spending.  Of the more than 300 divisions in the army, two-fifths have been motorized and mechanized.

    But what puzzled him and the officers present was that, faced with the anxious stalemate on the front line, the headquarters seemed to have forgotten them.  "No! We can't wait. I think it's better for us to go to Commander Mei and ask him for a clear explanation than to wait here!" Yang Yuchun, surnamed Lie Ruhuo, pinched the cigarette butt hard and stood up loudly.  He is the commander of the 29th Motorized Infantry Division and a well-known desperate man in the army. He is more enthusiastic in fighting than Zhao Dengyu.  But it was his bad temper that got him into trouble so many times, otherwise he wouldn't be still a brigadier general and division commander now.  Gong Chu knew his temper well and held him back: "Yuchun, don't be so impulsive."

    "Impulsive? Why am I so impulsive!" Yang Yuchun breathed hard, his chest almost burning: "Mr. Sun, you are here to comment. Who are the brothers in front of me?You're not risking your life by holding your head!  Who is not eagerly waiting for reinforcements to come up?  At this juncture, why are we not allowed to go?  And you, you touch your chest and say, who wouldn¡¯t feel guilty after reading this kind of battle report?  !  The common people are frugal, and the president has worked hard for decades to finally build so many tanks for us. Is it possible that we are just allowed to watch Pao Ze bleed and die?  Can you just sit still and eat?  "

    The words made everyone look annoyed, and Sun Liren was equally troubled.  He is also a noncommissioned officer exchange student. In order to avoid ideological rigidity and promote competition within the military, he was sent to the Virginia Army Academy in the United States to study abroad for three years after graduating from Baoding. After returning home, he first worked in the National Guard and then went to the grassroots level for training.  He only reached the position of commander of the 2nd Armored Division at the end of last year.  This journey was particularly difficult compared to Zhuo Fan and others. The main reason was that the military felt that the U.S. Army's combat thinking was outdated and the German Army was more advanced.  For this reason, he also applied for advanced courses at the National Defense University.  But deep-rooted thinking made it easier for those army cadets who studied in Germany and France to get ahead, so he always felt aggrieved.  After all, my trip to the United States was arranged by the army.  Now that he is standing in the position of the ace division commander, he naturally wants to make achievements and prove himself.

    Seeing that he was silent, Gong Chu, who was more introverted and calm, had no choice but to continue to persuade him: "Yuchun, let's wait a little longer. The commander is not free at the moment."

    "What happened if we don't have time? Just leave us here and ignore us if we don't have time? If the commander can't do it, I'll go to Chief of Staff Liu! Go to the Commander-in-Chief!" Yang Yuchun was determined to ask Chou Yinmao and rolled up his sleeves.  Just walk outside.  Just two steps away, a voice came from outside: "Haha, who is looking for me?"

    "Chief of Staff? Stand at attention!"

    Everyone turned around and saw that Liu Mingzhao and Song Ziqing, dressed in ordinary combat uniforms, walked into the crowded command post hand in hand.  The officers who had been angry just now fell silent. Even Yang Yuchun's fiery temper did not dare to break out in front of the two of them.  The Rhezikazgan Counterattack and the Battle of Petropavlovsk alone have established Liu Mingzhao's status in the army. Many people know it. If General Chu Nan had not been more senior, he would have been defeated.  He succeeded Marshal Yue as Chief of General Staff.  What's more, next to him stood Song Ziqing, who was second only to Marshal Yue Peng and had controlled the Ministry of National Defense for more than thirty years.

    But these two legendary figures in the eyes of the soldiers did not have any airs. They patted their butts and found two blackened wooden stakes. After sitting down, Liu Mingzhao was deliberately surprised and said: "Eh? Just now they were shouting.  Killed, why are you all wilted now? Haha, sit down, sit down, I am not Stalin, I don¡¯t give others a chance to speak. Tell me, why do you want to see me?" The affectionate words made everyone relax.  Yang Yuchun plucked up the courage to say that he wanted to join the war and didn't want to wait any longer.

    "Haha, what did I think it was?" Liu Mingzhao smiled, looked at Song Ziqing, picked up a dead branch and said, "Soldiers should have a temper and dare to put forward different opinions. This is what you did.  Very good! I remember that the president said this to Minister Song back then. Soldiers, fight!"

    "Yes, the president said that these four words are still on my desk." Song Ziqing nodded and motioned for Liu Mingzhao to continue.

    Liu Mingzhao said: "Since we are soldiers, we must not do anything while watching Pao Ze bleed and sacrifice in front and remain indifferent. But I want to ask you, now that you are asked to go up, how are you going to fight?"

    "This is not simple. According to the plan, we will defeat the Second Ukrainian Army in the front, and then turn around and attack north towards Kostanai to outflank the enemy's flanks." Yang Yuchun had a hot temper, but his mind was very flexible and he quickly revealed the direction and target of the assault.  After Song Ziqing listened, he interrupted and asked: "Then let me ask you, what should I do about the Ilgiz protrusion?"

    "Let General Du Zishan continue to defend and try to hold off the enemy's four armies to buy us time."

    "Haha, are you so sure that the enemy will listen to your obedience and be held back? What if they see that the situation is not good, or notice our movements, and immediately retreat and catch up?" Liu Mingzhao picked up the dead branches and drew on the ground.  stand up.  In less than a moment, the terrain and battle situation from Ilgiz to Sarekopa were roughly outlined.  "Let me ask you, how far is it from Irgiz to us?"

    "207 kilometers, separated by canyons." Sun Liren vaguely understood and answered immediately.

    ¡°So how about from us to Kokshetau?¡±

    "310 kilometers, we must first defeat the Ukrainian Second Army, there are about three armored brigades, and five to six cavalry divisions. Even if we are faster, it will take at least two days and two nights to rush to Kokshetau. There are  At this time, the Soviet army can lay down a certain defense here. Because there are more than 100 kilometers of canyons blocking it, if the Soviet army in the protrusion takes the initiative to retreat and support Kokshetau, we cannot quickly cut it off. In this way, they can  To KokshetauThe movement, together with the Lukin Department, formed a pincer attack on us.  "Sun Liren's eyes became brighter and brighter, and he saw the whole situation at once.

    Liu Mingzhao nodded with satisfaction, but did not say the answer. Instead, he recalled the European War: "When I was hiding in the trenches on the Western Front in Europe, I was always thinking, how could the fight be like this? Why was there a stalemate?"

    "Because there was a lack of assault forces such as tanks and aircraft at the time." A thin officer stood up, pushed past his colleagues and rushed to the front. It was obvious that he also had a quick temper.

    "What's your name?" Liu Mingzhao looked at him, which made the officer a little uneasy, and he quickly saluted: "Reporting to the Chief of Staff, my name is Wang Wenshan, and I am the commander of the 66th Infantry Division." "Wang Wenshan, yes, you got it right.  Under the circumstances at that time, technical power could not guarantee the rapid movement of the troops, so it could not cut off the enemy's supplies and logistics, so the battle lines could only be arranged in parallel, thus falling into a cruel trench stalemate! As for our current troubles, Commander Sun has just said it.  The existence of the canyon makes it impossible for us to cut off the march routes of the four Soviet armies in the south. Once they take the initiative to retreat, we can watch. That's why I asked you to wait."

    "But when will we wait?" Yang Yuchun asked anxiously.

    "Waitwait until they break through the defense line!" Liu Mingzhao broke off the dead branches with force, his voice clear.

    Song Ziqing was afraid that everyone still didn't understand, so he said again: "Stalin can no longer calm down, so as long as the Soviet army breaks through the Ilgiz salient, it will definitely require the four armies to penetrate in depth at full speed! When they went deep to the east, they found that  We suddenly set off from here to attack Kokshetau, what do you think will happen?"

    They are all division-level officers. Naturally, they know how happy and excited an exhausted unit that has reached its limit will be when it suddenly breaks through the defense line.  No matter who it is, I am afraid that they will be impatient to penetrate deeper in order to gain a greater strategic advantage before taking a break.  Therefore, the formation, mentality, fighting style, equipment, etc. of the troops will be in a complete offensive state.  If you suddenly find that the rear is lost at this time, you will definitely fall into a chaos from attack to retreat!  Putting aside the price, all the heavy equipment had to be thrown away!  To prevent your opponent from quickly counterattacking and becoming a liability.  Thinking of this, the way everyone looked at Liu Mingzhao could not be described as admiration, but a kind of awe, deep awe!  Not only did he want Ilgiz to become a big hole that the Soviet army had to fall into, but he also wanted to drag the other foot into it after they completed their breakthrough!

    "Chief of Staff, Minister. I still have a question. Since we have already prepared to use the salient to hold down the four armies and complete the flank encirclement of Kokshetau, why don't we just hit them and then take the initiative to let them go?" asked.  It was Gong Chu who was obviously more stable than Sun Liren and others.  Liu Mingzhao raised his head, his face gradually serious: "Four armies, more than 550,000 troops, if we let them in intact, who can guarantee that there will be no accidents? And if they don't exhaust the enemy here, they  How can there be ecstasy after a breakthrough, and how can one be confident and bold enough to go deeper?¡±

    "Isn't General Du Zishan very dangerous? Once the Soviet army goes deep, how can they stop it?" Sun Liren asked worriedly.

    "It's very simple" Liu Mingzhao slowly stood up, packed his military uniform and walked out.  He walked all the way to the door before stopping to unravel the answer: "Because I ordered him not to send a single soldier from the reserves of the two armies!" This sentence made all the officers' eyes widen.  The fact that the two armies of the reserve have not moved means that General Du Zishan has been relying on two armies to block the 23-day mad attack of four Soviet armies until now!  Of course, they knew better that probably 10% of the soldiers of the 16th Army and the 33rd Army would be killed in the salient.

    "Let's make final preparations." Song Ziqing also sighed: "We have just received the news The 412 height, the most critical part of the protrusion, has been cut off for three hours. So the chief of staff has just ordered General Du to come from the front line  retreat!"

    =====

    "Commander! Let the reserve team go up!" In Irgiz's command post, the deputy commander of the 16th Army, who was already in his fifties, held the door frame, his face covered in blood, crying and begging to let the reserve team go up.  "Please! Leave some seeds for our 16th Army! If we continue to fight, our brothers will all dieCommander!" The sad voice made all the officers lower their heads.  A reserve division commander rolled up his sleeves and waited for orders with red eyes.

    Standing opposite him, Du Zishan, who had no black hair on his temples in just three weeks, also had red eyes and his heart was trembling.  Why doesn't he want to move up the reserves? Why doesn't he want to keep the 16th Army and the 33rd Army? Many of them are soldiers he brought out with his own hands!  But he couldn't open his mouth, there were so many military orders!  Military orders are like mountains!  "No! Go and tell your commander that I gave the order not to send the reserve force. Because this is the headquarters, the general staff, and the president's order! As long as the order is not issuedNow, who dares to mention the reserve team and military law?  "

    "Commander!" Seeing that he could not convince Du Zishan, the deputy commander had no choice but to pick up his helmet.  But after taking a few steps, he suddenly turned around and knelt down on the ground, kowtowing vigorously: "Commander, if there are still people in our 16th Army who can survive, please take care of us! We must save the 16th Army! Brother,  Let¡¯s take the first step! Everyone who is coming, anyone who belongs to the 16th Army, come up with me!¡± The deputy commander gritted his teeth and stood up, roared, and led more than a hundred soldiers who had gathered to face the artillery fire again.

    Looking at their backs, Du Zishan seemed to have aged dozens of years. He sat down slowly, his eyes full of tears.  "Commander! It's connected, it's connected! Highland 412 is connected!" But he couldn't calm down, he had been contacting the communications staff of Highland 412, and jumped up again.

    "Quick, take it!" Du Zishan braced himself and held the edge of the table tightly, not even noticing Chief of Staff Xu Zuyi entering the door while holding the telegram in his hand.

    There was a rustle in the speaker, and after a long time, a familiar and loud voice suddenly came out.  "Report to the commander! The national flag is still there! The military flag is still there! The position is still there! National Defense Forces, fix bayonets!" In the loud shouting, Xu Zuyi let go of his hand and the telegraph newspaper fell to the ground.

    On the paper, it was Liu Mingzhao's order just now that he could mobilize the reserve team and take the initiative to retreat to lure the enemy deeper.

    After the excitement, the radio station fell into eternal silence. Zhao Siyuan and the soldiers of Highland 412, as well as the entire Ilgiz salient, left behind an eternity.  Behind them are the Soviet troops with both feet in the quagmire, unaware of the over 400,000 ecstatic Soviet troops heading eastward, unaware that they are rushing to their death

    (To be continued.)
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