I am Jiang Weiguo in World War II

Page 478

Sun Tongxuan's judgment was correct. Although he didn't know the Soviet army's battle plan, he analyzed the situation. Kecheng is a desert area scattered with some villages. There are neither important military towns nor important throats. There is no meaning or concept of capturing here, and at the very beginning, the Soviet army outflanked the rear of Sun Tongxuan's troops, with very obvious intentions.

After the troops shrunk the line of defense, they quickly started civil engineering work to strengthen the fortifications. When the Soviet army came, the officers and soldiers of the Nanjing Army were frantically digging trenches and foxholes.

The first Soviet army to arrive in Kecheng was Budyonny's cavalry unit. Countless cavalrymen rolled over like dark clouds, and the earth was trembling and roaring. The number was as high as [-].

Although the cavalry is already in decline, it still has some advantages that tanks cannot compare with, that is, the ability to march across mountains and rivers. In places with poor traffic conditions and no roads, the cavalry's marching ability, mobility, and flexibility greatly exceed that of tanks. , In addition, the "damage rate" of war horses during the march is also much lower than that of tanks (even if they are intact and do not participate in battle, they will need to be repaired after driving two to three hundred kilometers because of the wear and tear of parts), so Dake City battlefield first Up is Budyonny's cavalry.

Due to the time constraints of the Soviet army, after arriving in Kecheng and taking a short rest, Budyonny gave the order to attack.

The tanks and artillery units of the Soviet army have basically not arrived at this time.

Lying in the waist-deep trenches, the officers and soldiers of the Nanjing Army watched intently the galloping cavalry in the distance.

Lan Yundong, the commander of the 203rd Division, Ye Peigao, the commander of the 204th Division, and Gan Lichu, the commander of the 205th Division, were all in a very heavy mood, but they also behaved cheerfully and calmly.

The three division commanders patrolled the position with ease, encouraging the morale of the officers and soldiers:

"Haha! Our chance is here! If we win this battle, our division will be the main force like the 77th division!"

"The old man looks down on us! They were beaten into a mess by the 77th Division and other brother troops on the battlefield of Champion City, so they came to 'bully' us! Are we soft persimmons?"

"What are you panicking about? Isn't I still here? I'm really going to die. I'll die with you!"

The calmness and bold words of the officers gave the soldiers great peace of mind and confidence.

Budyonny accurately timed the attack. His cavalry troops arrived one after another at noon and in the afternoon. After a few hours of rest, night fell, and it was snowing lightly at this time. The night and the wind and snow made the Nanjing army Difficult to see the enemy clearly.

In order to further disturb the Nanjing Army, Budyonny ordered the troops to be divided into two. Most of the weapons and ammunition of the whole army were concentrated in one half of the troops to strengthen their firepower and combat effectiveness. The other half of the troops lacked guns and ammunition. Very weak, the former acted as the main attack force, the latter acted as a feint attack force, the former launched a strong attack with live ammunition, and the latter ran back and forth in front of other defense lines of the Nanjing Army, making deafening noises, thereby confusing and restraining the Nanjing Army.

At eight o'clock in the evening, the Soviet army launched an offensive.

"Ulla!" Budyonny waved his saber high.

"Ulla!" The earth-shattering roar in Russian resounded through the night sky instantly, followed by the sound of horseshoes shaking like thunder and as dense as a torrential rain.

The momentum of the tens of thousands of cavalry attacking together can be described as terrified, the ground was shaken rumbling, the snow and frozen soil on the ground were trampled into powder by horseshoes, and then lifted into the air, surrounded by wind and thunder, The dust billowed like a black cloud over the Soviet cavalry group that launched an overwhelming impact, gathering into a sea of ​​boiling under the storm, thunderous and extremely shocking.

The charging Soviet cavalry first advanced slowly, then slowly accelerated, until finally they sprinted at full speed, roaring away like arrows off the string, and countless arrows off the string converged into a violent wave like a thousand arrows. , The galloping Soviet cavalry was about to take off like a plane before taking off.

"Let go!" The artillery gunners on the Nanjing Army's position angrily controlled the few howitzers, mountain cannons, and a small number of infantry artillery and mortars to shoot at the Soviet cavalry who were approaching rapidly like a tsunami wave. At the same time, the artillery gunners in the Soviet cavalry unit also began to bombard.

There are not many artillery pieces on both sides, and there are only a few large-caliber heavy artillery pieces, so the artillery battle that broke out is not intense.

The Soviet artillery shells that fell on the Nanjing Army's position did not cause much damage to the Nanjing Army. In the cavalry group, flesh and blood flew everywhere. After the bullets fell into flames, the blood mist billowed and the pieces of flesh danced wildly. The cavalrymen who were killed in the explosion fell to pieces and fell off their horses. The stumped limbs and broken arms flew in the fireball blast, and the wounded cavalry and horses also died quickly. The Soviet cavalry and horses killed by the artillery shells had no time to scream and wailed after falling to the ground, and were rushed up from behind in the blink of an eye. The accomplices trampled into meat paste.

The Nanjing Army's position continued to burst into flames of artillery fire, and the Soviet cavalry group continued to be filled with bloody winds.

"Hurrah!" the howl in Russian completely drowned out the explosion of shells and the neighing of horses.

The cavalry was very fast when they sprinted. In just a few minutes, the Soviet cavalry group roared to the front of the Nanjing Army's position like a torrent. The horses of the Soviet cavalry in batches screamed and wailed, blood gushed like a spring, and people turned on their backs. It was because they stepped on a landmine planted by the Nanjing military first. He was thrown from the horse due to inertia, and either died or was injured after landing heavily.

The screams of the cavalry and the hiss of the horses were deafening along with the explosion of the landmines. In the fireball, human flesh and horse flesh splashed together, and the blood of human horses and horses splashed together. The Soviet cavalry continued to rush up frantically. The two sides were in a formal confrontation In the past, a large number of Soviet cavalry died, some were killed by shells, some were killed by landmines, and some were killed because of traps, pits, and antlers in front of the Nanjing Army's position. Fixed in front of the position, a large number of Soviet cavalry ran into them because they had no time to evade. They were pierced by these antlers like mutton kebabs. The death was terrible, but the subsequent Soviet cavalry swarmed up. He and the war horse quickly filled the traps and pits of the Nanjing Army.

"Fight!" The volcanic eruption of Chinese shouting and killing rose into the sky together with the sound of gunfire, and the Nanjing Army's defense line burst out like a storm of bullets, covering the engulfing Soviet army impermeably. The cavalry group was shot so that the Soviet cavalry group turned into pieces of fleshy blood plasma as if they were driven into a meat grinder. The Soviet cavalry shrouded in the firepower net twitched like an electric shock in clusters. The screams of people and the wailing of horses formed a deafening sound wave, and the strong smell of sulfur and the pungent smell of blood suddenly rose together. Almost all the Soviet cavalry rushing to the front were cut off by the bullets, and the rows were broken. The human body and the horse's body all spewed blood and fell to the ground with a bang, the head of the rotten watermelon rolled all over the place, and the minced meat like meat paste and the ruptured internal organs fluttered like cherry blossom petals in the sky.

Where the bullets of the Nanjing Army went, the Soviet cavalry group was submerged in the sea of ​​blood one by one, and the ghosts cried and howled amidst the chaos of the demons. The powerful power was smashed into pieces, the body was exploded with a blood hole the size of a washbasin, and the Soviet army who was hit by the bullet on the arm or thigh danced in the blood mist.

Thousands of dazzling bullets sprayed from the Nanjing Army's position swept back and forth across the Soviet cavalry group like electric welding arcs, and the highly dense Soviet army was shattered, staggered and swayed amidst wailing and blood rain. Wherever they went, the Soviet army turned into a rain of blood and flesh, and the crowds and horses rolled down at a rapid speed and turned into pools of rotten bones. The corpses of the dead are intertwined and scattered all over the field, and the battlefield has become a huge slaughterhouse.

Because it was at night, the visibility was not high, and the follow-up Soviet army did not know the situation ahead, but only knew to go forward and continue. As a result, the corpses of the Soviet army in front of the Nanjing Army position were like a mountain, and the follow-up Soviet army continued to charge by stepping on the corpses of their own troops.

"Brothers! Good fight!" Peng Zuoxi, the deputy commander of the 203rd Division, stood on the first front line and cheered loudly, but suddenly, a Soviet cavalry jumped up from the pile of dead men and dead horses in front of him, and rushed towards Peng Zuoxi at a very high speed. .

"Woo!" The Soviet cavalry howled like a wild beast, and the saber in their hands struck Peng Zuoxi like lightning in a strong wind.

Peng Zuoxi was caught off guard and didn't react at all. His last consciousness found that he was decapitated.

From the one-meter-high fountain of blood sprayed from his neck, Peng Zuoxi's head flew into the sky, his eyes were still wide open, as if he didn't believe this scene.

The "beautiful scene" of the Nanjing army's machine guns shooting at the Soviet cavalry group did not last long. Relying on the impact and high speed of the horses, the Soviet cavalry stepped over the mountain of corpses and blood, and quickly rushed to the Nanjing army's position. It fell sharply to the Soviet army.

The Soviet cavalry who rushed to the Nanjing Army's position galloped on horseback, shot at the Nanjing Army with carbine guns, hacked at the Nanjing Army with sabers, and threw grenades at the Nanjing Army like raindrops, and the position quickly fell into melee.

The bloody wind is spreading crazily everywhere. The Nanjing Army with rifles and the Soviet cavalry with carbine guns started shooting each other. The war horse was blown down with blood dripping from the fireballs of grenade explosions one after another, and the sharp saber hacked and slashed, splashing a fountain of flesh and blood. There were heavy casualties, the wounded horses neighed and ran wildly, the killed Soviet army and the dead Nanjing army rolled into a ball, bloody and bloody, severed limbs were strewn across the pillow, and bloody human heads rolled around like balls.

Both sides were red-eyed. The Soviet cavalry who had run out of bullets and threw grenades frantically slashed at the Nanjing Army with their sabers. On the ground, the brains of the officers and soldiers of the Nanjing Army whose heads were split open were splashed, and the officers and soldiers of the Nanjing Army who had their arms cut off screamed in agony. The officers and soldiers of the Nanjing Army howled and took up their bayonets and rushed towards the Soviet cavalry, and were then knocked into the air.

On the bloody battlefield, a large number of soldiers from both sides were knocked into the air and trampled to death by the galloping horses. Many wounded soldiers of the Nanjing Army who fell to the ground were ruthless and directly fired grenades, blowing up all the surrounding soldiers from both the enemy and us.

"Ula!" The Soviet cavalry charged crazily.

"Kill the thief!" The officers and soldiers of the Nanjing Army resisted frantically.

The bloody battle that changed the color of the mountains and rivers made the officers and soldiers of the Kazakh army who participated in the battle with the Nanjing Army frightened one after another.

The Kazakh army cannot be said to be a mob, because it is full of hatred for the Soviet Union. The Kazakh army is still relatively brave in combat. The officers and soldiers were all terrified, because it was too bloody.

After fighting fiercely for more than half an hour, the various departments of the Kazakh army who have persisted until now relying on blood and courage can no longer hold on. Deserters began to appear, and the trend of fleeing showed signs of rapidly expanding.

"Fleeing in battle, shoot to kill!" Amidst the screams in Kazakh, the Nanjing Army who discovered the escape of the Kazakh army unceremoniously shot the deserters with machine guns, and drove the Kazakh army back to the battlefield again with thunder.

In the headquarters of the 100th Army, Sun Tongxuan smoked restlessly. The situation in Kecheng has become very clear, and the Soviet army is going to eat his troops.

In this regard, Fu Zuoyi had ordered Li Yutang to take the 88th and 99th divisions back to Kecheng to support the battle, and the Nanjing Army Headquarters also ordered Chen Mingren to mobilize the 17th Division from southern Kazakhstan to Kecheng to participate in the war.

Reinforcements are on the way, but Sun Tongxuan doesn't know if the troops can last until the reinforcements arrive.

At this moment, Sun Tongxuan received a bad news report: "The Soviet army has tanks and heavy artillery to join the battle!"

Chapter 555 Sudden changes in the battle situation (5)

Lin Shijie is an ordinary guard of the 203rd Division of the Nanjing Army. His hometown is in a small village in the countryside of Liling County, Hunan Province. His original name was Lin Xiaowu. Fifth and his parents were both illiterate peasants and women in the countryside. In fact, it was a "tradition" in most parts of China at this time to add the numbers one, two, three, four, five, and the surname to form the first name according to the order of birth. ".

After becoming a guard of the 203rd Division Guard Battalion, when Lin Xiaowu reported his name and hometown to the division commander Lan Yundong, Lan Yundong smiled and said: "So you are also from Liling County, we are fellow villagers! Your name is Lin Xiaowu? Let me give you an official name, let’s call it Lin Shijie, how about being a hero for generations?” Lin Xiaowu was so excited that he could hardly speak, he didn’t expect that he and his teacher He is actually a fellow villager, and the teacher gave himself such a literary, meaningful and blessed name.

From then on, Lin Xiaowu...it should be said that it was Lin Shijie, secretly swore in his heart that since he was a guard of the division's guard battalion, even if he risked his life, he must protect the safety of the division's seat. My responsibility as the guard of the division seat is also to repay the kindness of the division seat for giving me a name.

After the Battle of Kecheng broke out, Lin Shijie was completely stunned. He had never seen such a cruel, tragic, and bloody battle, and he didn't even think about it. But after regaining his senses, he immediately devoted himself to his own At work: Follow the division commander Lan Yundong closely at every step, ready to fight the enemy who threatens the division commander at any time, and ready to use his body to block bullets or shell fragments for the division commander.

Lin Shijie has always felt that the commander is a gentle and refined person, who loves soldiers like a son, is kind and tolerant, rarely gets angry, and basically never sees him angry or angry, but in this crazy night, the commander seems to have changed A man with distorted facial features, a ferocious expression, red eyes that spit fire, and a daunting majesty and violence all over his body.

"Hold on! Be sure to hold on!" "Fight against the enemy!" "Kill the enemy and serve the country! Serve the country with benevolence!" Lan Yundong, who was running on the front lines, kept roaring hoarsely, with blue veins on his forehead The roots burst.

"Master's seat! It's too dangerous here! Please retreat to the back!" The battalion commander of the guards held Lan Yundong with tears in his eyes.

"Go away!" Lan Yundong kicked away the battalion commander of the guards, and continued to run on the front line waving his pistol, urging the troops, boosting their morale, and inspiring their morale.

Lin Shijie, like other guards, followed Lan Yundong inseparably with a submachine gun in his hand.

Although Lin Shijie focused all his attention on Lan Yundong, he couldn't help being stunned by the scene of the bloody battle that was close at hand. His ears were filled with deafening shouts, roars, howls, Explosions, strafing sounds... All kinds of sounds were so loud that they poured into his ears like a flood, almost shattering his eardrums, and made his brain ache, and his eyes were full of dazzling bullets, blood, flames, or incomplete scattered ones. The ground or fragmented corpses flying all over the sky, the mottled and intertwined chaotic figures almost dazzled his eyes and made his heart faintly sick, and his nose was full of the choking smell of blood and sulfur.

He saw: the corpses of the Soviet army piled up like a mountain in front of his own position, countless dead people and dead horses piled up into rolling hills, and those dead people and dead horses were basically dismembered corpses and rotten flesh, some They were blasted into a mass of broken limbs and bones by shells, some were machine gunned into piles of rotting meat full of holes and blood gushing, some were blown up by landmines, and some fell into traps and became pits. The piles of rotten meat that died inside, and some hit the antlers and were stabbed to the core, the fragments of the smashed and broken corpses were scattered in the wild, and the internal organs flowed out from the shocking huge wounds on the corpses, the broken pieces Dead people and broken dead horses piled up together, gushing human blood and gushing horse blood flowed together, the snow on the ground was melted by fleshy blood and blood, and the hot flesh and blood exuded curling heat in the cold wind and kept Not frozen into flesh and blood ice, because more flesh and blood are still splashing and splashing;

He saw: more Soviet troops were still rushing up madly, their heavy horseshoes trampled on the pile of dead horses of their fellow Soviet troops, trampling the rotten flesh and blood everywhere into patches of red mud or After being shot, they fell to the ground and became new rotten flesh and blood. Many Soviet cavalry who were not injured or were injured after falling off the horse died tragically under the horseshoes of their accomplices because they had no time to dodge. Falling heavily, the seven orifices bleed, the five internal organs are broken, and the horseshoe tramples on them amidst the strange screams, or the bones are smashed, the internal organs are smashed, or the hands and feet are broken, and the head bursts. Those who were still alive after being knocked and stepped on made screams that were extremely shrill and life-threatening. Some rolled around in pain, and some staggered and staggered on the battlefield, their eyes glazed over. If he was in a daze, he would either be knocked into the air and trampled to death again, or he would be hit by a hail of bullets and die.

The wounded Soviet cavalry wriggled, struggled, and wailed among the dead, while the wounded horses galloped and neighed everywhere. Some wounded horses were dripping with blood and collided with other horses in the chaos. The wounded horses were broken by bullets or their hooves were blown away by landmines. They neighed in mourning, rolling over and over, trying to stand up again;

He saw: more and more Soviet cavalrymen had rushed to their own positions, like a pack of ferocious wolves, galloping, charging, attacking and killing. He didn't care, and started to charge fiercely.

The turbulent torrent of Soviet cavalry set off earth-shaking shocks and soaring smoke and dust on the Nanjing Army's position. The out-and-out horses galloped and swept away thousands of troops. The army brothers are indeed doing a good job. They didn’t collapse at all in such a dangerous situation. They fought head-to-head with the Soviet cavalry. The officers and soldiers of the Nanjing Army in the bloody battle were either firing wildly, or throwing grenades frantically, or frantically firing shells with mortars and grenades, or frantically bombarding the Soviet army with flying thunder cannons.

The 203rd Division is the "second-line force" of the Nanjing Army. It is not as broad as the "first-line force" such as the 77th Division. Therefore, it is still equipped with a large number of flying thunder cannons. After showing off their power, one by one large explosive packs roared away, and the Soviet cavalry was blown up and down, blood spattered and bruised.

Despite the shocking bloody courage of the brothers, the situation of the battle is still leaning heavily towards the Soviet army.

Lin Shijie saw one scene after another that made his eyes cry and his heart bleed:

A group of machine gunner brothers roared angrily in their firepower points, manipulating the mg-34 machine gun in their hands to continuously shoot arc-like projectiles at the oncoming Soviet cavalry, flying fire meteors, the Soviet Union The army cavalry fell to the ground one after another, and the dead and dead horses rolled into a ball. The follow-up Soviet cavalry rushed up at a speed of [-] meters. At the end, more than a dozen Soviet cavalrymen galloped wildly, rounding from the side to the vicinity of the fire point of the machine gun, and the group of machine gunner brothers were all blown to pieces in the explosion of the falling grenade;

A group of infantry brothers engaged in close combat with the Soviet cavalry rushing towards them on the ground. Bullets and grenades were flying across the two sides, and people and horses kept falling down.

The Soviet cavalry howled like ghosts, and their sabers were flying. An infantry brother who raised his gun to resist was cut off by the saber. After falling down, an infantry brother who had no time to evade was cut on the helmet above his head by a saber. Sparks splashed and blood splashed at the same time. The helmet and the head inside the helmet were chopped into two pieces together. The right arm, white light flashed, the right hand holding the grenade had been chopped off by the saber of the Soviet cavalry, fell to the ground and the grenade held by the severed hand exploded violently, a cloud of blood fog in the thunderbolt fire dance wildly;

A brother who was injured and fell to the ground was crawling dying, and at the same time he looked up with difficulty to look at something. When he saw a Soviet cavalry approaching, he slammed the grenade in his arms, and his whole body was instantly smashed to pieces. The Soviet cavalryman and his horse were also hit by grenade fragments like pear blossoms in the rainstorm. The horse neighed and fell down, and the cavalry also fell down;

An uninjured brother was running fast with his hunched body. He was running towards a small group of Soviet cavalry, and when he rushed to the middle of the opponent, his whole body instantly turned into a ball of fire. They fell down one after another.

...

The 203rd Division is the key attack unit of the Soviet cavalry group. Due to the night and snow, Sun Tongxuan could not judge how many enemy troops there were. In addition, Budyonny used the "blossom on the tree" suspicious method, which made the 204th Division and the 205rd Division The [-]th Division was unable to respond effectively for a while.

Sun Tongxuan was not unresponsive. He needed time to prove that the Soviet army attacking the 203rd Division was the main force, but Budyonny did not give him enough time. The 203rd Division lasted much less than Sun Tongxuan estimated. After just over an hour , The position of the 203rd Division was washed away a large part, and the reason for this result was not that the officers and soldiers of the 203rd Division did not work hard, but the fundamental reason was the serious shortage of ordnance and ammunition.

After running out of bullets, the officers and soldiers of the 203rd Division could only hold up their bayonets and start hand-to-hand combat with the Soviet cavalry under the order of advance and no retreat.

The result of the hand-to-hand combat between infantry and cavalry is needless to say.

The first unit of the 203rd Division to collapse was the 1029th Regiment.

When the messenger reported the news to Lan Yundong, who was covered in blood because he was supervising the battle at the front line, Lan Yundong was furious: "What does Yan Jiaxun (the head of the 1029th Regiment) do? Tell him to roll over! I want Kill him!"

The messenger came again more than half an hour later, holding a bloody head in his hand.

The messenger cried bitterly: "Yan Tuanzuo personally went into battle to kill the enemy, but was beheaded by the Soviet cavalry! The brothers fought desperately to snatch his head back!"

Lan Yundong was heartbroken: "Why did he go to battle to kill the enemy himself?"

The messenger burst into tears: "Because all the brothers in the regiment are dead!"

Only then did Lan Yundong understand that the 1029th regiment collapsed because almost all of them were killed in battle, not because they were defeated. In fact, this is the "tradition" of the Nanjing Army. If the army collapses, basically all of them are killed in battle.

In the fierce battle that lasted for an hour and a half, both the Soviet Army and the Nanjing Army paid a heavy price. The Soviet Army suffered more than [-] casualties, and the Nanjing Army also suffered more than [-] casualties. However, this ratio of casualties is not fixed. The cavalry group rushed forward to the Nanjing Army's position. The Nanjing Army suffered few casualties, but the Soviet Army suffered heavy casualties, because the Nanjing Army relied on the trenches to kill the Soviet Army overwhelmingly. But after the Soviet Army rushed to the Nanjing Army's position, the situation was reversed. , the two sides broke out in close combat, and the casualties of the Nanjing Army immediately surpassed the Soviet Army. The casualty ratio was further against the Nanjing Army.

In fact, not all the Soviet cavalry who rushed to the Nanjing Army's position fought close combat with the Nanjing Army on the position. A large number of Soviet cavalry broke through the Nanjing Army's position and directly attacked the deep hinterland, giving full play to the mobility advantage of the cavalry.

According to common sense, if an army deploys defense, it will definitely deploy most of its troops on the first line of defense. Although it will also prepare the second and third lines of defense, its strength will definitely not be as large as that of the first line of defense. After the Soviet cavalry broke through the first line of defense of the 203rd Division, they continued to penetrate and attack. On the one hand, they disrupted the integrity of the defensive positions of the 203rd Division, and on the other hand, they also reduced the casualties of the Soviet Army and flooded into the Nanjing Army-controlled area. The blow to the internal Soviet army must have been much worse than that on the frontline positions.