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Volume 1 On the Songhua River Chapter 1917 Compressing the Soviet Army¡¯s Space

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    Faced with the three-sided encirclement of more than 200,000 troops of the Independent Division, General Kulykin, commander of the Soviet Transcaucasus Military District, and Lieutenant General Zernenko, chief of staff, had different opinions on whether to stand firm and wait for reinforcements or break out and retreat.  Two partners who had been partners for many years had a falling out.

    After all, General Kulykin was wily and pre-emptive. He said he was letting him rest, but in fact it was equivalent to placing Lieutenant General Zernenko under house arrest. The sudden change shocked all the officers in the headquarters. Everyone was confused. What happened to the Independent Division troops step by step?  They are pressing hard, constantly compressing the battlefield space, and shells are exploding left and right. They do not find a way to get the troops out of the crisis as soon as possible. How come the commander and chief of staff are fighting each other?

    Looking at the defeated Lieutenant General Zernenko, a look of regret flashed across General Kulykin's face. After all, the two had worked together for several years, and they cooperated with each other quite well. If there was no friendship, even he would not  If you don't believe it, you have no choice but to do this. It is impossible to shoot him. It has not reached this point. As long as he stays out of the way, he will not be relieved of his position as chief of staff of the military region.

    However, something must be said. General Kulykin looked regretful and said: "Comrade Zernenko, I tell you clearly that your idea of ????breaking out and retreating is not only unrealistic, but also dangerous.  Tang Qiuli always had many tricks in his military use. In the first war in Outer Mongolia, he used the strategy of encircling a point and attacking with reinforcements. In the ancient Chinese military art, there was such a strategy called "encircling three and missing one."

    "The main forces of the independent division are attacking in the east, west and south directions. Why are there not only in the north direction? You don't think that any Chinese Tang Qiuli would make such a low-level mistake? So, I can make it clear  Let me tell you, the most fatal blow to us should be on our way to the Selenge River. Your insistence on the view, even at the risk of your own life, just fell into Tang Qiuli's trap. As the chief of staff, you are qualified.  As a battlefield commander, you are far behind!"

    Lieutenant General Zernenko's face showed a hint of fatigue, and he said: "Comrade Commander, I am willing to take any responsibility for what I did today. However, I still want to say that because of your stubbornness and arrogance, you will be buried alive."  The lives of more than 200,000 soldiers in the Caucasus Military District!" After that.  Lieutenant General Zernenko staggered and turned around to leave under the supervision of several guards.

    The battlefield is unpredictable.  No one can fully grasp it.  Tang Qiuli, who originally had to open the northern entrance due to lack of troops and was unable to encircle him on all sides, had to make Liu Chun's cavalry troops fight an unsuitable blocking battle because General Kurekin made a wrong judgment.  This may be unintentional!

    After the initial chaos, the Soviet army, under the command of commanders at all levels, gradually recovered, relying on the crude temporary fortifications excavated.  Organized resistance began. Although it could not stop the pressing pressure of the independent division troops, it successfully forced Liu Hongzhang's troops from the East Road Assault Group, Qiao Manshan's troops from the West Road Assault Group, and Yang Ketian's frontal assault.  The troops, Battelle's armored force, slowed the attack.

    The sound of guns and artillery on the battlefield was endless, and the flames of exploding shells illuminated half of the pre-dawn sky. The smell of gunpowder smoke drifting in the wind mixed into a picture of a night battle in full swing. Tang Qiuli was observing in the headquarters.  From his point of view, the situation on the battlefield was very clear. The three-pronged attack force fought in a very organized manner with clear front lines, gradually reducing the Soviet troops' living space.

    Chief of Staff Zhao Yuhe hurriedly came in and said: "Division Commander, the battlefield situation has changed. I have received a report from the headquarters of the Three-Road Assault Group that the Soviet resistance is increasing. The speed of our assault has been slowed down. All commanders have  Officials ask for instructions, should we intensify the attack? "

    Tang Qiuli smiled coldly and said, "The trapped beast is still fighting. Order all troops to maintain the current attack rhythm. Don't be impatient. There is no need to risk huge casualties. Don't worry, the Soviet army cannot escape. Order all artillery groups to move forward immediately.  Use multiple artillery fire to compress the Soviet defense circle and kill its effective forces. Battelle's armored forces must master the rhythm. Yuhe, this encirclement and annihilation battle will not end in a day or two. The 2.78 million Soviet troops,  That¡¯s enough for us to eat for a few days!¡±

    Having said this, Tang Qiuli suddenly asked: "Yuhe, didn't the Soviet army make any move to break out? Why didn't I hear any reports on this?"

    Zhao Yuhe also looked confused and replied: "Commander, I am also surprised. According to normal circumstances, once the troops are found to be in danger of being encircled, they should break out immediately before the encirclement is closed. However, the Soviet army took  Another way was to make a limited contraction of the troops and dig field fortifications on the spot to block our army's attack, which seemed to be a posture of standing firm and waiting for reinforcements. "

    "Oh?" Tang Qiuli raised his thick eyebrows in surprise, his eyes flashing. He walked quickly to the map and began to think about it. After a while, he turned around suddenly and said to Zhao Yuhe: "There is only one possibility, the Soviet army  Commander CooleyGeneral Jin made a wrong judgment on the battlefield situation. He believed that we deliberately left an opening in the north to chase and annihilate them during their retreat. In other words, I still had ambushes from Checheerleg to Seleng.  On the way to the Ge River, ambush them!  "

    "Kurekin is betting that we can't eat them as quickly as possible. He is waiting for reinforcements. The first ones to come are probably the Soviet air force, Yuhe. This is an excellent opportunity. Order, head on.  Yang Ketian of the Assault Group, commanding the three mechanized brigades of the East Point and the two tank brigades with armored troops, immediately withdrew from the battle and detoured from the left to block the gap in the north. Yang Ketian's detour troops must complete the task within two days.  Arrive at the south bank of the Selenge River.¡±

    "Order, Cavalry Commander Liu Chun, your Zeng Shiqiang Brigade and Bagena Brigade, change the original mission of blocking the retreating Soviet army, and instead cut off the Soviet army's logistics supply line, in the area north of the Selenge River,  Carrying out mobile operations, Liu Chun's Brigade and Tong Batu's Brigade immediately attacked Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude respectively, aiming to destroy the Soviet logistics supply base. "

    "Order, the main force of Le Yiqin's aviation force is to move forward and control the air combat battlefield in the airspace north of the Selenge River. After Yuhe adjusts the deployment, this will be a real encirclement. After three days, there will be no food, grass and ammunition.  , without reinforcements arriving quickly, how long can the more than 200,000 Soviet soldiers hold on? The next battle will be easy to fight!" Tang Qiuli said with confidence.

    After the division headquarters issued the order to adjust the offensive rhythm, the independent division's offensive speed immediately slowed down. The Soviet army, which was overwhelmed, secretly breathed a sigh of relief, taking advantage of the fact that the artillery shells flying in the sky stopped falling like raindrops.  In order to save their own lives, the Soviet soldiers consciously and voluntarily dug temporary fortifications and counted on them to save their lives, without the encouragement of political commissars or the shouts of officers. No one dared to be lazy.

    On the outside of the encirclement, at the independent division artillery command post, the commander, Major General Zheng Yong, put one hand on his hip and one foot on the shell box, shouting into the phone: "Yes, the position will be moved forward immediately. Where is the new position? It's right here  It's too dangerous for the infantry to be close to the front line! It won't take more than an hour, so move quickly! I'm going to see the artillery bomb hit the old Mao Zibing's head!"

    Putting down the phone, Zheng Yong grabbed another phone, "Is this Brigadier Liu? I'm Zheng Yong. Because the width of the battlefield is limited, the artillery positions of your East Road Assault Group should not move forward too much.  , it¡¯s best within ten kilometers, just form overlapping firepower with the artillery on the west route! This will save you time and energy!¡±

    With the same phone call, Zheng Yong called Major General Qiao Manshan, the commander of the West Road Assault Group. After putting down the phone, Zheng Yong said proudly to several staff officers in the command post: "Did you see it? At the critical moment, the division commander  I¡¯m still thinking about our artillery. If you don¡¯t believe it, it¡¯s our artillery¡¯s shells that ultimately resolve the battle!¡±

    Forty minutes later, the silent artillery fire of the Independent Division's artillery unit roared again. Under the faint light of dawn, groups of artillery shells, with ear-piercing screams, turned the Soviet temporary position into a sea of ??flames.  The hell of death.

    "Boom, boom, boom!" Balls of fire were shining, and broken metal shrapnel flew across, cutting the bodies of the Soviet soldiers wantonly. The broken arms, mixed with the soil, flew into the air. The Soviet soldiers, who were half dead from exhaustion, were sad.  It was discovered that the calculated distance should be outside the range of the independent division's artillery fire, but now, it happened to fall within the range of artillery fire.

    The temporarily excavated field fortifications were just waist-high and did not even have artillery holes. How could they withstand such intensive and violent artillery fire? Large-caliber grenades fell with several loud noises. The soil raised by the artillery shells was mixed with the blood of Soviet soldiers.  , flying in all directions, leaving the Soviet soldiers with nowhere to hide. Within ten minutes, the Soviet troops on the periphery could no longer withstand the attack of artillery fire and retreated to the central area. As for Commander Kulykin, he was not allowed to retreat.  The one-step order became empty talk.

    At about seven o'clock in the morning on September 28, after an hour and a half of fierce fighting, more than 200,000 Soviet troops were surrounded by independent division troops from three sides and were compressed into a small area of ??less than 300 kilometers in radius.

    General Kulykin saw that the situation was not good. More than 200,000 people were crowded together. A falling artillery shell from the independent division's artillery could kill a bunch of soldiers. The prerequisite for standing firm and waiting for reinforcements was that there was enough space and  Strong fortifications, but neither of these are available.

    In order to change the extremely passive situation, General Kulykin ordered the troops to counterattack the Independent Division troops in three directions at the same time. The Soviet counterattack hit the iron plate, and what greeted the Soviet soldiers was as dense as a torrential rain.  The bullets, the cannonballs that formed three-dimensional walls of fire, were the muzzles of countless guns spitting out tongues of fire.

    Apart from leaving behind bloody corpses, the Soviet counterattack yielded nothing!

      (To be continued) (To be continued)
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