Age of Rebirth

The anti-aircraft firepower of the Soviet army is fast and effective. Under the wexe of the anti-aircraft firepower on the ground, the bombers had to climb to a higher altitude, and the bombing accuracy of the Soviet army immediately dropped. More than a dozen bombers were injured, and four of them flew towards Kulun with thick smoke. Experienced pilots knew that the fate of these four bombers crashing could not be avoided.

Fortunately, the parachute crew members were in the control area of ​​their own troops, and their lives were not in danger. Colonel Meng Qingpeng, the commander of the Outer Mongolia Cruise Area of ​​the Air Force Northern Flying Group, was an old pilot. Frontier air defense battle, North China campaign, Pingjin campaign, Niuxinshan ambush of the Kwantung Army's southward corps campaign in western Liaoning, and the capture of Jinzhou campaign.

At that time, Meng Qingpeng served as the head of the First Fighter Regiment of the Aviation Corps. He had commanded mixed aircraft groups many times to bomb the Japanese army. The Japanese army is almost like an undefended army. In other words, it has no decent air defense firepower at all. Most of them use ground offensive weapons as temporary air defense firepower. This should be related to the strength of the opponents facing the two armies.

It was getting late, and the Soviet anti-aircraft firepower was very fierce. Moreover, the mission commander assigned to the Outer Mongolia cruise area was to cover the Tongbatu Brigade and Li Changjiang Brigade to evacuate Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude safely, so as not to be attacked by the Soviet Army. The pursuit and the bombing just now are already extra gains. Meng Qingpeng is not a commander who loves fighting.

After observing the situation on the ground, Meng Qingpeng ordered: "The bomber formation returns immediately, and the fighter formation. Follow me and show the Soviets' ground air defense firepower a little color. Kulun's ground air finger, immediately contact the second brigade and the fifth brigade. Ask if the two departments have withdrawn to a safe area."[

More than 100 fighter jets whizzed down from the sky, and in the dim twilight, the sparks emerging from the ground were the best targets, the ground anti-aircraft firepower of the Soviet army.For a bomber, it's a huge wexe, but for a fast, light fighter, it's extremely low.

The fighter jet group in the cruise area of ​​Outer Mongolia flew over the Soviet army for a while.Dexterously shuttled through the fire net, one shuttle after another.It poured over the head of the Soviet anti-aircraft fire group.Although there was no spectacular scene of fireworks, flames flying, and loud noises when the heavy aviation bomb exploded, the pouring machine guns also caused the Soviet soldiers to suffer and beat them all upside down.

After more than 20 minutes.Meng Qingpeng gave the order for all fighter jets to return, waiting for a fighter division of the Air Force of the Transcaucasus Military District of the Soviet Union to arrive in the airspace of Irkutsk.The fighter group of the Independent Division has long been there. The Soviet pilots saw only burning trucks, artillery, tanks on the ground, and the corpses of Soviet soldiers everywhere, and the wounded wailing in pain.

Major General Sergeyev, the commander of the Third Army, had a big quarrel with the commander of the fighter division who came to support in the ground-to-air communicator. It is no wonder that Commander Sergeyev lost his temper and asked for air support. Up to now, more than three hours have passed. According to the flying speed of the Soviet fighters, they can reach the battle airspace 10 minutes earlier.

The commander of the Soviet fighter jet division who came to provide air support was also very angry. His division had long been on standby on the runway. As long as he gave an order, more than 200 fighter jets could take off immediately. It was too late to come, and I took more than 200 pilots, just sitting in the cabin for more than an hour, which was more than an hour of suffering.

After finally rushing to the airspace of Irkutsk desperately, he was complained and accused. The commander of the fighter division, full of anger, couldn't help shouting: "Enough, Comrade Commander, if you think our support will come Later, you can report to the military region that we have missed the fighter plane, that is your right, sorry, because the enemy fleet has withdrawn from the battlefield, my troops are going back, goodbye!"

After finishing speaking, this air force commander, who was also very hot-tempered, cut off the contact unceremoniously. On the ground, Commander Sergeyev, whose face was livid with anger, slammed the communicator, looked at the dusk, The battlefield is scattered everywhere, and the breath is stuck in the chest. This day is not smooth for me. Although Irkutsk was occupied without a battle, the Chinese cavalry that should have been surrounded ran away. , was beaten up again by Chinese bombers and fighter jets.

From the perspective of the purpose of the campaign, the Third Army was victorious. According to the expected purpose, it occupied the city of Irkutsk, but from the perspective of combat, the Third Army suffered a small loss. The Chinese soldiers suffered losses on the contrary, and were coerced by that fanatical Nikolaigsky. Commander Sergeyev, looking at the darkening night on the Mongolian grasslands, was full of energy The order said: "The army headquarters enter the city!"

Suddenly, he remembered that the Chinese planes, after such indiscriminate bombing, were going to chase the retreating armored brigade of the Chinese cavalry. I don't know how much they lost, but don't kill that Nicholas. Ji, otherwise, I can't explain to the above. Commander Sergeyev ordered the staff around him, "Immediately contact Comrade Nikolagsky, the commander of the armored brigade, and ask about the current location of the brigade and the loss situation? "

After a while, I got an answer, "Comrade Commander, the current position of our armored brigade is more than [-] kilometers south of Irkutsk, and we are searching for traces of the retreat of the Chinese cavalry. Any losses! Report any new developments, Colonel Nikolagsky, brigade commander and political commissar."

Major General Sergeyev finished speaking, he could only shake his head with a wry smile, and thought to himself: "What the hell, almost all the troops of the Third Army have been bombed by the Air Force of the Independent Division to varying degrees. But the guy is fine, shouldn’t be, an armored brigade is not a small target, how can there be no loss at all?”

Nikolagsky was indeed lucky. When he commanded the armored brigade to chase south, the bomber group in the outer Mongolia cruise area had already returned. Meng Qingpeng's fighter group, because of the report from the ground radar station, had a large number of Soviet troops The fighter jets were rushing to the airspace of Irkutsk, and he didn't want to fight. It was just such a small target, and he didn't know that he would run the risk of being entangled by the overtaking Soviet fighter jets.

Moreover, there is not much fuel and medicine left in the fighter group, which is not enough to support an air battle. By mistake, Nikolagsky's armored brigade escaped, unaware that death passed by The brigade commander Nikolaigsky put down the binoculars in high spirits, and ordered: "The troops will advance immediately and camp in two hours. Tell the soldiers, don't be afraid of fatigue. We are great Soviet Red Army soldiers, and we have the strength to defeat all enemies." Confidence and courage, turn on the headlights of all armored vehicles, search and move forward!"

The brigade chief of staff and several battalion commanders around him looked at each other, and they were all grateful for the blind command of the brigade commander and political commissar. In the dark night, all the armored vehicles turned on their headlights, which was different from retreating. The Chinese cavalry unit sent a signal that we are chasing you. Moreover, the terrain is unknown and the enemy's situation is unknown. If you are chasing with such fanfare, for fear that the enemy will not know, what if you are ambushed?

But looking at the posture of Comrade Brigadier Commander, it must be whoever said it, and he couldn’t hear it. A comrade who is not good, a political cadre, and a certain unlucky person will be labeled as fearful of the enemy and has a cowardly mentality. Big hat, was approached by Cheka agents, who can bear it?

In the dark night, the headlights of all the vehicles of the Soviet Armored Brigade were turned on, and they lined up in a column on the prairie dirt road, swimming towards the south like a serpentine snake.

Due south of Irkutsk, about [-] kilometers away, in a low and sparse forest, the troops of the Second Cavalry Brigade were resting here, running non-stop for dozens of kilometers. Akatsuki grew up on horseback. Big, the Mongolian men who can eat, drink and sleep on horseback are also exhausted. After receiving the order to rest in place, the soldiers looked at the sweaty horses and felt distressed for a while.

Regardless of himself, he first took off the saddle and all the loads from the horse's back, then carefully wiped off the horse's sweat, and led it to a place with rich pasture, while watching his beloved war horse, chewing the pasture sweetly, while Sitting together in twos and threes, they took out water bottles and dry food to fill their stomachs, and whispered from time to time about the thrilling process of retreating today.

The brigade commander, Major General Tong Batu, sat alone in front of a small tree, motionless, like a statue, staring at the direction of Irkutsk with blood red eyes, beside him were the dry food and water bottles brought by the guards , but he has no appetite at all, and his heart is in pain like a fire. [

Originally, the retreat of the Second Brigade should have been dangerous. The encirclement of the Soviet army had not yet been formed. A battalion serving as the vanguard of the retreat was closely monitoring the actions of the Soviet army on both sides of the encirclement that the Soviet army was about to close. , Constantly reported to the brigade headquarters, when the second brigade withdrew from the city of Irkutsk, according to Tong Batu's calculations, the cavalry at full speed would reach the opening that had not yet been encircled in less than 10 minutes.

And the opening more than 20 kilometers wide is enough for the second brigade to safely withdraw from the encirclement of the Soviet army. It takes less than half an hour for more than 5000 people to disappear into the depths of the vast Outer Mongolia prairie. When enclosing the circle, only the dust that gradually dissipated could be seen, but an accident happened.

(To be continued) (To be continued.)