Page 397
Page 397
Most of Central Asia is the desert of the Gobi Desert, and if it is exposed to the wild and fights in the wild, I am afraid that the losses will be great, and our army cannot afford to consume it!"
Deputy Army Commander Chen Anbao disagreed: "Although this style of play is the safest and safest, it is too petty, passive defense is inferior, and we should not be passive defensive.
Kunshan (Chen Jihuan), don't forget that our army has decided before the war that Central Asia is the first battlefield, but it is not the main battlefield. It is difficult for the Peking headquarters to mobilize large-scale troops to come to us.
If all our troops retreat into the city, wouldn't we be surrounded by the enemy?Even if such an isolated city is kept, the initiative is lost.
What's more, the whole army has retreated into the city, what about the communication lines in the vast area?We are fighting in a foreign country!Although food and clothing can be collected locally, what about ammunition, fuel, and medicine?They have to be shipped from Xinjiang. All the way from Almaty to the east is the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang. The road is completely impassable. It has to be turned more than 200 kilometers northeast of Almaty and shipped from Shihezi in western Xinjiang.
What should we do if the Soviet army adopts a war of siege and attrition and traffic sabotage against us?Go with me?What's the use of running out of ammunition and food? "
Chen Jihuan said helplessly: "Our capital is really limited... What if we all get involved?"
Wang Jiaben, commander of the 123rd Division, said: "Although the enemy is outnumbered, our army has many other advantages, such as air supremacy and morale. And the overall level of mechanization is higher than that of our army, but it is just a giant with mud feet, so there is no need to overestimate it.
Instead of passively defending and waiting to be beaten, our army might as well take the initiative to attack and fight happily!I believe that there is great hope for defeating the Soviet army!Soldiers do not lie in many but in essence!Our 10 horses can be called 50 elite soldiers, so what if the Soviet army has [-] to [-]?Most of the elite troops of the Soviet army are in Eastern Europe, fighting against the German army. The Soviet army in Central Asia is basically only a second- and third-rate army! "
Chen Mingren was thinking: "On the one hand, we must stick to Almaty, and on the other hand, we must defeat the invading Soviet troops from the north and the south. The difficulty is indeed not small!" The Soviet Army on the North Road needs the 17th and 20th divisions to fight together, and Almaty is your 123rd division, can you hold it?"
Wang Jiaben held his head high and his chest high, and his voice was like a bell: "Don't worry, the military seat, I will guarantee you with the head of Xiang Shang, I can hold it!"
Chen Mingren thought over and over again, the Soviet army attacked Almaty from the north and the south, and the Nanjing army had only two tactics. One was to gather all three divisions to Almaty and fight the safest defensive battle; There is no doubt that the battle in the north is a field battle, and the battle in the south is a city defense battle. The latter is a little easier to fight than the former. The three divisions are naturally two in the north and one in the south.
After much deliberation, Chen Mingren made a final decision: "Take the initiative to attack to wipe out the enemy!" He looked at the map with blazing eyes, and began to give orders.
"Order the 17th Division to immediately set up a blocking line at the eastern end of Lake Balkhash, launch a defensive attack, harass the Soviet army, use mobile warfare to consume the Soviet army's vital forces, and damage the morale of the Soviet army. The defense line must be completed within [-] hours. In addition, order the engineering regiment of the division to immediately build two field airfields in the local area!"
"Order the 20th Division, mobilize two brigades to join forces with the 17th Division, and mobilize one brigade to move between Almaty and Lake Balkhash, ready to rush to help at any time, and the order is limited to be completed within 24 hours!"
"If the Soviet army goes south on the north route, it must go between the Balkhash Lake and the Sarseker Lake. The 20th Division is required to specially deploy two motorized infantry battalions to patrol the southwest of the Sarseker Lake to prevent the Soviet army from going around. Over Suthercole Lake!"
"Contact the Air Force and request to mobilize no less than [-] bombers and no less than [-] transport planes to assist our troops in the war!"
"Request the Air Force to send reconnaissance planes to conduct 24-hour reconnaissance of the enemy's situation. The key areas include the Chu River Basin in the west of Almaty, the southeast of Lake Issyk-Kul in the south of Almaty, and the area between Tastao Mountain and Ala Lake...to prevent Su The army detours and raids!"
"Notify the intelligence department to strengthen the surveillance of the Soviet Caspian Sea Fleet, in case the Soviet Army mobilizes its troops stationed in the Caucasus to enter Central Asia through the Caspian Sea!"
"Notify all ministries that [-]% of the population in Kazakhstan is Russian, and there is a great possibility of assisting the Soviet army. Please be careful!"
"Let the military supply department immediately allocate all the materials needed for each department's operations. I will trouble Shanfu (Chen Anbao's name) to supervise this matter yourself!"
Chen Mingren issued several important combat orders in one go, fully demonstrating his solid military command skills and meticulous and thoughtful thinking.
"In this battle, our army's purpose is to strike the Soviet army as much as possible without losing Almaty and the main lines of communication!" Chen Mingren finally announced.
The generals stood at attention in awe: "Understood!"
The battle first started in the north of Almaty. Since the fighting area was mainly in the saline-alkali zone at the eastern end of Lake Balkhash, the battle was called the "Battle of the East of the Lake".
The 31th Division and the 17th Division of the 20st Army that faced the Soviet Army North Road in the east of the lake were commanded by Feng Shengfa and Sun Tongxuan, although the 17th Division had a higher status in the Nanjing Army than the 20th Division (17th Division) Division is one of the five main divisions of the Nanjing Army), but because Sun Tongxuan was eight years older than Feng Shengfa and had more seniority than Feng Shengfa, Sun Tongxuan was appointed by Chen Mingren as the commander-in-chief of the northern front, with Feng Shengfa as his deputy.
Faced with the massacre of more than 25 Soviet troops, Sun Tongxuan adopted a well-regulated field defense strategy. He ordered the officers and soldiers to dig trenches and build fortifications on the saline-alkali land against time. Feng Shengfa disagreed with this. He believed that his troops were highly mobile and possessed There are a large number of cars, pack animals, bicycles, and the Gobi desert is a very flat terrain, without mountains, ravines, or vegetation for cover. If you still use trench fortifications for defensive warfare, it will be a bit scripted and lack of flexibility. After all, the position of the position is fixed. , should "positional warfare and mobile warfare complement each other."
Sun Tongxuan disagreed with Feng Shengfa's opinion. He believed that because of the flat terrain of the Gobi desert, the Soviet army was obviously stronger than the Nanjing army in terms of heavy firepower (although the Nanjing army on the Central Asian battlefield was the essence of the Nanjing army, the Soviet army was the Soviet army The second- and third-rate units of the Soviet Army, but the number of various types of artillery of the Soviet Army is still more than twice that of the Nanjing Army.
At this time, the Soviet army had more than [-] artillery pieces, about half of which were mortars. Although they suffered heavy losses on the Eastern European battlefield, they were not inferior to the German artillery force, and had a great advantage over the Nanjing army. ), so it is necessary to rely on trench fortifications to resist the heavy firepower advantage of the Soviet army.
Fighting mobile warfare has more disadvantages than advantages. It exposes the troops to the wild to be killed by Soviet artillery fire and cannot deal a major blow to the Soviet army. As we all know, when the enemy is strong and we are weak, it is the most cost-effective to fight defensive warfare.
In addition, although the Soviet army has many artillery pieces, the Nanjing Army has air supremacy and can eliminate the Soviet artillery units before the war.
The two division commanders had different opinions, and they couldn't argue for a while. In the end, they reluctantly adopted a compromise strategy. Sun Tongxuan's 20th Division and Feng Shengfa's 17th Division and the 19th Brigade started a positional battle under the command of Sun Tongxuan, and Feng Shengfa led the 17th Division of the headquarters The 17th and 18th Brigades launched mobile warfare.
According to the agreement between the two, Sun Tongxuan's department handed over most of the cars, pack animals, and bicycles to Feng Shengfa's department, and Feng Shengfa's department handed over most of the artillery to Sun Tongxuan's department.
On the afternoon of August 8th, the Soviet army on the North Road arrived at the Hudong battlefield. The Soviet army mainly consisted of the 5th Army and the 54th Army, which consisted of 65 infantry divisions, 5 cavalry divisions, and 2 militia divisions. About 11, the commander-in-chief is Lieutenant General Maxim Alexievich Pulkayev, Chief of Staff of the Central Asian Military Region of the Soviet Army.
Compared with the incompetence of his boss Tolofemenko, Pulkayev is more military-minded, and he has a strategic vision. Before the war, he predicted that Central Asia would face a strong threat from China, so he made a lot of preparations for the war. The reason why Tolofemenko, who is not as capable as Pulkayev, will climb on Pulkayev's head is because Tolofemenko, who was born as a political officer, stood in the right team during the purge movement, and Pulkayev Yeve was not reused commensurate with his ability because of "a small problem with his political position".
It's just that it's hard for a clever woman to cook without rice. Even if Purkayev is full of strategy, it is difficult to support the situation in Central Asia that is already very unfavorable to the Soviet army. When he leads the assembled 54th Army and 65th Army to the south At that time, it can be said that it was a bad start along the way.
The climate in Central Asia is hot and arid, with little rain, and the sky is cloudless most of the time. Therefore, the Chinese Air Force, which has seized the air supremacy in Central Asia, dispatches planes to search for the Soviet army as soon as the dawn breaks. It was clear that after the reconnaissance plane flew over, the bomber followed, and then unscrupulously threw bombs at the Soviet army who had nowhere to hide in the desert open space, causing the Soviet army to flee with their heads in their arms.
Fortunately, the number of bombers of the Chinese Air Force is not large. Although the bombing was carried out using wheel warfare, the bombs dropped were limited and did not cause too heavy losses to the Soviet army.
Pulkayev wrote very fortunately in his marching diary, "If the Chinese have [-] or even [-] bombers, it is certain that more than half of the troops will be lost before they reach the battlefield."
Of course, being bombed all the way along the march severely hit the morale of the Soviet army, and Pulkayev had to order the troops to travel day and night, which at least reduced a little loss.
On the Nanjing Army's position, Sun Tongxuan, Feng Shengfa and other senior officers raised their binoculars one after another. They saw the wind and sand billowing on the horizon in the distance, and Huang Tao was in the sky. .
"Get ready to fight!" Sun Tongxuan shouted and ordered.
The officers and soldiers ambushing in the Gobi trenches loaded their bullets one after another, and tens of thousands of pairs of black eyes, black muzzles and muzzles were ready to aim at the approaching Soviet army.
The officers and soldiers of the 20th Division and the 17th Brigade of the 19th Division are waiting on the ground. The officers and soldiers of the 17th and 17th Brigades of the 18th Division have launched an active attack in the flying sand and rocks. The billowing yellow sand and the deafening sounds of people shouting, horses neighing and cars sounded like a huge sickle cutting obliquely to the rear of the Soviet army. Dozens of Chinese Air Force planes also came from the sky, a few were fighter jets and reconnaissance planes. , most of which were bombers, launched bombing and strafing towards the Soviet army.
The bombs dropped by the whistling bombers formed an anti-parabola in mid-air like broken pearls. The bombs fell into flames, thunder billowed, and yellow sand and black smoke swept into the sky together. All the officers and soldiers of the Nanjing Army applauded.
Seeing that there were no Soviet planes coming to join the battle, the fighter jets circling on guard simply joined in the killing feast. A pair of aviation machine guns commanded to shoot at the Soviet army on the ground, soaring up a series of intersecting walls of fire. Wherever they went, Flesh and blood fly, ghosts cry and wolves howl.
"Okay!" "The air force is really good!" "Damn it! Blow up and kill these rascal ghosts!" The officers and soldiers were very excited.
In the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, China called Russia "the country of Rakshasa", so officers and soldiers of the Nanjing Army called the Soviet army "Raksha ghost" or "Russian devil" in addition to "old Maozi".
Sun Tongxuan watched with satisfaction the fireball black smoke that was constantly blooming in the turbulent tide of the Soviet army, and the broken limbs and arms of the Soviet army and fragments of ordnance supplies flying all over the sky along with the fireworks.
"Modern warfare can't rely on the army alone, but also depends on the air force and navy, especially the air force!" Sun Tongxuan was full of emotion, and then he faintly felt a little worried, because he realized the strength of his own bomber fleet against the Soviet army Not very big, because there are too few bombers, only forty or fifty. Obviously, forty or fifty bombers can only attack 25 to [-] Soviet troops.
"Master, look!" Cao Fulin, deputy division commander, reminded, "Master Feng and the others are attacking the Soviet army!"
Sun Tongxuan turned the direction of the telescope, and sure enough, Feng Shengfa's two brigades were attacking the Soviet army bravely.
Numerous tank tracks, car wheels, horseshoes, and bicycle wheels swept the sky like a sandstorm, sweeping unstoppably towards the rear of the Soviet army.
Zhang Lingfu, commander of the 17th brigade, Zhang Yun, commander of the 18th brigade, and other officers are well-known "fanatics" in the Nanjing Army. A well-known "ruthless character", everyone looks at death like a red-eyed desperado during a war.
The battlefield was a heart-stirring scene: 20 Nanjing troops took the initiative to launch a fierce and ferocious attack on more than [-] Soviet troops. Thunder and lightning roiled and blood poured down. In the confrontation, the tank shells shuttled among the foggy yellow sand like fire and meteors, the sound of bombardment and explosion was like a thunderbolt, and the armor-piercing bullets flew back and forth like spears thrown by heavy cavalry. The tank shells that hit the open space exploded a cloud of yellow sand and black smoke, and the gravel in the scorched earth of the bomb crater melted. The tank shells that hit the crowd exploded a cloud of blood mist and flesh and screams. Howling, the tank shell that hit the tank exploded a fireball and countless steel fragments.
Immediately after the thrilling tank battle broke out, the battlefield blossomed everywhere. The destroyed tanks were paralyzed and burned in all directions. Like a flamethrower, flames sprang out, and the armored soldiers covered in flames screamed and crawled out of the tank, rolling all over the place. Their skin was scorched and their flesh was rotten, their facial features were melted. Some of the tanks were hit by tank shells on the frontal armor. The tanks slammed and seemed to be intact. The internal organs of the tank and the armored soldiers inside were smashed by the shock wave. In the tanks that became steel coffins, some tanks exploded violently due to the detonation of the internal ammunition, completely smashing to pieces, and the mutilated corpses of the armored soldiers were thrown out high by the flames.
In the almost crazy steel strangling, the armored units of the Nanjing Army completely suppressed the Soviet Army. Although the number of Nanjing Army tanks did not have an advantage, the quality advantage was enough for the Nanjing Army tanks to kill the Soviet Army tanks like tigers fighting wolves on the battlefield. sudden.
On the battlefield full of iron and steel wreckage, the armored troops of the Nanjing Army charged bravely like a group of hard-wearing heavy cavalry, while the wounded tanks still charged forward desperately, and the tank machine guns shot at the Soviet army crowd like a rainstorm of pear blossoms, raining bullets. Wherever it went, the rain of blood was accompanied by screams, sparks on the armor of the tanks were like numbness, and ricochets flew horizontally. After the shells and bullets were exhausted, the Nanjing army tanks were still running at full horsepower, violently ramming, rolling, and squeezing the Soviet Union. The infantry crowd of the army, fast and fearless, killed the dragon armor bloody and the tracks were completely red.
Under the scorching sun, the engine covers of the Nanjing army tanks running at high speed are all scorching hot. Although there is a water cooling system, there is still a danger of engine overheating.
"The engine needs to cool down! Otherwise, it will die at high temperature!" The armored soldiers shouted.
The armored soldiers who fought hard were sweating profusely, and their faces were covered with dust and dust. It was summer, and the battlefield was the Gobi desert in Central Asia. The temperature was as high as [-] or [-] degrees. In the tank cabin, the heat from the engine running made the temperature in the tank cabin almost unbearable.
The armored soldiers were steaming like a sauna in the cabin of the tank. After the sweat flowed out, it evaporated quickly, forming a layer of salt on the skin all over their bodies.
The infantry who followed the tank poured buckets of lake water on the tank, and the tank armor, which was so hot that it could directly fry eggs, immediately raised a billowing white mist of water vapor amidst the sound of sizzling.
The 18th Regiment of the 170th Brigade is the best-equipped mechanized infantry regiment in the 17th Division, and even has four of the latest German Panzer V tanks.
The team leader Wu Junyi personally drove a No. [-] tank. After killing heartily for a while, the tank had to cool down. Wu Junyi, who climbed out of the tank, suddenly smelled a smell of meat. He was very surprised and looked around for the smell of meat. The source, after figuring out the vomiting and diarrhea, turned out to be a Soviet corpse that was blown into two pieces and fell on the engine cover at the rear of the tank. Only the upper body of the Soviet corpse was scattered on the engine. The internal organs on the cover had been cooked at high temperature, and the skin and flesh of the corpse close to the engine cover also showed the burnt yellow color of fried meat.
"Why don't you continue to attack?" Brigadier Zhang Yun drove a tank to Wu Junyi's side.
Wu Junyi replied: "The tank needs to cool down, there is no water!"
Zhang Yun looked around and said angrily, "Why is there no water? There's water everywhere! Are you blind? Can't use local materials?"
Wu Junyi looked around at the battlefield full of soldier corpses and tank wreckage, but didn't understand what Zhang Yun meant.
Zhang Yun jumped out of the tank and dragged over a corpse of a Soviet soldier lying on the ground. The "corpse" moved a bit, opened its eyes, and looked terrified. It seemed to be begging for mercy. This was a seriously wounded Soviet soldier, wasn't it? corpse.
Zhang Yun took out his bayonet and stabbed the seriously wounded Soviet soldier in the throat with the bayonet, blood gushed out like a spring, and the smell of blood hit his face.
"Isn't this water (blood)? It's 37 degrees!" Zhang Yun shouted, then jumped into the tank and walked away.
Wu Junyi's scalp suddenly went numb, and goose bumps all over his body.
This "invention" was quickly learned and used by the armored soldiers of the 18th Brigade. In the case of water shortage, the armored soldiers directly used the blood of the dead of the Soviet army to cool the tank.
Amidst the billowing black smoke and yellow sand and the stench of evaporated blood, the red-covered Nanjing army tanks charged towards the Soviet army furiously. military.
The Nanjing Army is an oriental army. Although it has been westernized to a large extent, it still retains some characteristics of an oriental army.
During the fierce battle, in order to make his own tanks more "frightening and invincible", Zhang Yun ordered the armored soldiers of each tank or the infantry fighting behind the tanks to kill the Soviet troops on the ground (including those who did not die) "if they have time". The heads of Soviet wounded soldiers were cut off, and then hung around the tank with wires through the ears or hung on the barrel, so as to mentally attack the Soviet army.
As a result, the tanks of the 18th Brigade were as hideous as if they had come out of hell. Each tank was hung with a string of Soviet military heads, ranging from a dozen to dozens. It is more than 2000 years old. The legacy of the former Qin army "holding the head in the left hand and holding the captive in the right arm", the scene is extremely bloody and horrifying.
Sure enough, the Soviet soldiers who saw this scene were all terrified, their hearts were broken, and their fighting spirit disappeared all of a sudden.
"The reason why we can defeat the little devils is because the little devils are ruthless, and we are more ruthless than them! Now it is the same with the old men! The old men are more vicious than the little devils, and we must deal with them in the most ruthless, poisonous and most ruthless way!" Zhang Yun said so.
Behind the galloping tanks are the mechanized infantry of the Nanjing Army, either riding cars, armored vehicles, motorcycles, horses, or bicycles.
The infantry on the cars carried mortars, grenade launchers, fly mine cannons, and machine guns, constantly bombarding and strafing the Soviet army. Motorcycles were equipped with grenade launchers or machine guns. There were two soldiers, one riding the bike and the other sitting behind shooting or throwing grenades.
In the melee, the infantry were just as desperate as the armored soldiers. In the hail of bullets and fireballs everywhere, the infantry charged bravely and suffered heavy casualties when they dealt a major blow to the Soviet army. After all, the Soviet army had an absolute advantage in numbers Some Nanjing army vehicles were hit by Soviet artillery shells, and the officers and soldiers of the vehicle were blown into fleshy stumps together in the blood mist. The infantry who used bicycles were the most vulnerable. Hit by locust-like bullets, the bicycle rolled over and fell into a pool of blood in the yellow sand. Damaged bicycles and fallen soldiers could be seen everywhere.
Every moment, Chinese soldiers fall on this piece of Chinese land that they have reincorporated into the Chinese territory with their lives and blood.
In the fierce battle, the infantry commanders almost all took the lead. Some led the charge, and some stood upright on the car to boost morale. After being injured or killed, they were immediately replaced by officers at the next level. The deputy head of the regiment, the chief of staff of the regiment, and several battalion commanders were killed or injured one after another. In the end, only one major and deputy battalion commander of the whole regiment assumed the command responsibility.
The fearless aura of the Nanjing Army greatly deterred the Soviet Army in the fierce battle, causing the morale of both sides to be judged.
Feng Shengfa's "movement warfare" was very correct. Although the Nanjing Army had only two brigades, it was like a mixer, which caused chaos for the Soviet Army and achieved considerable results.
After fighting fiercely for nearly an hour, Feng Shengfa contacted Sun Tongxuan and asked the whole army to dispatch and concentrate their forces to join the battle.
Sun Tongxuan felt a little secretly ashamed, because he chose to fight in positions, resulting in two divisions with only two brigades fighting, and one division and one brigade had to "sit and watch" the bloody battles of the brother troops in the fixed trench fortifications. After careful consideration, Feng Shengfa's request was rejected, and only the 20th Brigade of the 20th Division was sent out of the position and into the field.
"Master, why is this?" Cao Fulin asked puzzled.
Sun Tongxuan replied: "There are too many Soviet troops. We can't defeat or eliminate them in one fell swoop. It is certain that the Soviet troops will launch a large-scale attack tonight, so we need to have enough troops to maintain physical strength for the night." battle.
We have few people, if we all join the battle now, we are all exhausted, how can we meet the Soviet army at night? "
Cao Fulin nodded again and again: "The teacher is very considerate.
Also, why was the 20th Brigade sent instead of the 19th Brigade?The 19th Brigade belongs to the 17th Division. It is a brotherly unit with those two brigades. The degree of cooperation is better! "
Sun Tongxuan smiled and shook her head: "Two brigades of the 17th Division have already participated in the battle. If our 20th Division has not participated in the battle, but also put their third brigade into the battle, what will the 17th Division think? , Feng Shengfa and the others will also misunderstand that we deliberately preserve our strength and let them fight bayonets in front, which will have a very negative impact on the future cooperation of the two divisions!"
Cao Fulin suddenly realized: "Yes, yes!" He raised his binoculars and said in surprise, "Master, the Soviet army has retreated!"
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