Age of Rebirth

Facing the three-sided encirclement of an independent division of more than [-] troops, on the issue of standing firm and waiting for reinforcements or breaking through and retreating, due to disagreements, General Kurygin, commander of the Soviet Transcaucasus Military Region, and Lieutenant General Zirenenko, chief of staff, agreed Two long-time partners fell out.

After all, General Kurygin was scheming and preemptive. He said he was going to rest, but in fact it was tantamount to putting Lieutenant General Zirenenko under house arrest. The sudden change shocked all the officers in the headquarters. Everyone couldn't figure it out. Pressing and constantly compressing the battlefield space, the cannons exploded on the left and right. Without seeking a way to get the troops out of the crisis as soon as possible, why did the commander and the chief of staff fight each other?

Seeing Lieutenant General Zirnenko with a gray face, General Kurykin's face flashed a look of pity. After all, the two had worked together for several years and cooperated with each other quite tacitly. Believe it or not, I had to do this because I had to. It was impossible to shoot him. He hadn't reached this point yet. As long as he didn't get in the way, he wouldn't even be relieved of his position as the chief of staff of the military region.

However, there are some things that must be said. General Kurykin said with regret on his face: "Comrade Zirenenko, let me tell you clearly that your idea of ​​breaking out and retreating is not only impractical, but also dangerous. Tang Qiuli has always been very cunning in his military operations, and in the first Outer Mongolian War, he used the strategy of encircling points to fight for aid, in the ancient Chinese art of war, there is such a tactic called encirclement, three lacks and one."

"In the east, west, and south directions, the main force of the independent division is attacking. Why not in the north direction alone? 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, even at the risk of risking your life, just fell into Tang Qiuli's trap. As the chief of staff, you are qualified, As a battlefield commander, you are much worse!" [

Lieutenant General Zirnenko showed a trace of exhaustion on his face, and 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." More than 20 soldiers of the Caucasus Military Region lost their lives!" Finished.Lieutenant General Zirnenko staggered under the guard of several guards, turned and left.

The vagaries of the battlefield.No one can fully grasp it.Originally due to insufficient troops, Tang Qiuli had to open the northern opening to encircle him from all sides, but because General Kurykin made a wrong judgment, Liu Chun's cavalry troops did not have to fight an unsuitable blocking battle.This may be a heart-to-heart!

After the initial chaos, the Soviet army, under the command of commanders at all levels, gradually recovered, relying on the crude fortifications dug temporarily.Organized resistance began. Although it was impossible to stop the pressing oppression of the independent division troops, it also 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 who attacked from the front. The troops, Battelle's armored corps, slowed down their attack.

The sound of guns and cannons on the battlefield can be heard endlessly. The flames of the cannon explosions reflected half of the sky before dawn, and the smell of gunpowder smoke wafted by the wind mixed into a picture scroll of night battles in full swing. Tang Qiuli was in the headquarters, observing The situation on the battlefield, from his point of view, the battlefield situation is very clear, the three-way attacking troops fought very well, with a clear battle line, gradually reducing the living space of the Soviet troops.

Chief of Staff Zhao Yuhe hurried in and said, "Master, the situation on the battlefield has changed. We have received a report from the headquarters of the Three-way Assault Group that the resistance of the Soviet army is increasing. We need to slow down the speed of our assault. The officials asked for instructions, should the attack be stepped up?"

Tang Qiuli sneered, and said, "The beast is still fighting, order the troops from all walks of life to maintain the current attack rhythm, don't be impatient, don't take the risk of huge casualties, don't worry, the Soviet army can't escape, order the artillery groups to move forward immediately, Use more artillery fire to compress the Soviet army's defensive circle and kill its vital forces. Battelle's armored troops must master the rhythm, Yuhe, this encirclement and annihilation battle will not end in a day or two. I've been eating for a few days!"

Speaking of this, Tang Qiuli suddenly asked: "Yuhe, didn't the Soviet army take any action to break out of the siege? Why didn't I hear any reports on this?"

Zhao Yuhe also looked puzzled, and replied: "Master, I also have qgu. 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 In another way, the troops carried out a limited contraction, dug field fortifications on the spot, and blocked 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 flickered, and walked quickly to the map, thinking about it. After a while, he turned around abruptly and said to Zhao Yuhe: "There is only one possibility, the Soviet Army General Kurykin, the commander, made a wrong judgment on the situation on the battlefield. He believed that we deliberately left an opening in the north, and chased and wiped them out during their retreat. On the way to the Selenge River, ambush them!"

"Kurekin is betting that we can't eat them as soon as possible. He is waiting, waiting for reinforcements. The first to come is probably the Soviet Air Force. Yuhe, this is a great opportunity, order, front Yang Ketian of the Assault Group commanded the three mechanized brigades in the east and the two tank brigades attached to the armored forces. Arrive at the south bank of the Selenge River."

"Order, Liu Chun, commander of the cavalry unit, Zeng Shiqiang's brigade and Bagenna brigade of your department, change the original task of blocking the Soviet army and withdrawing the Soviet army, and 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 Tongbatu's Brigade immediately rushed to attack Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude respectively, with the aim of destroying the Soviet army's logistics supply base."

"Order, Le Yiqin's aviation unit, the main force will move forward and control the air battle battlefield in the airspace north of the Selenge River. Yuhe, after adjusting the deployment, this is the real encirclement on all sides. Three days later, the internal food and herbs, How long can the 10,000+ Soviet soldiers, who arrived quickly from outside, persist, and the next battle will be easy!" Tang Qiuli said confidently.

After the order from the division headquarters to adjust the attack rhythm was issued, the attack speed of the independent division troops immediately slowed down. The Soviet army, who was overwhelmed, breathed a sigh of relief secretly, taking advantage of the cannons flying all over the sky, not falling like raindrops. In order to save their own lives, without the encouragement of the political commissars or the yelling of the officers, the Soviet soldiers consciously and voluntarily worked their lives to dig temporary fortifications, counting on them to save their lives, and no one dared to be lazy.

On the periphery of the encirclement, at the Artillery Command Post of the Independent Division, the commander, Major General Zheng Yong, with one hand on his hips and one foot on the cannon box, shouted into the phone: "Yes, the position will move forward immediately, where is the new position? In the current position of the infantry, it is too dangerous to be close to the front? Bullshit! In less than an hour, it will be the rear! Move quickly! In four or ten minutes, I want to see the cannon hit the old soldier's head!"

Putting down this phone, Zheng Yong grabbed another phone, "Is this Brigadier Liu? I am Zheng Yong. Because the width of the battlefield is limited, the artillery positions of your East Road Assault Group should not move too far forward. , within ten kilometers is the best, and the artillery on the west road can form overlapping firepower! Let your brother save time and effort!"

On the same phone call, Zheng Yong called Major General Qiao Manshan, the commander of the West Road Assault Group, and put down the phone. Zheng Yong said triumphantly to several staff officers in the command post: "Did you see that? I still think about our artillery, if you don’t believe me, just look at it, it’s our artillery’s cannon that finally solves the battle!”

Four or ten minutes later, the artillery fire from the artillery unit of the Independent Division roared again. In the twilight of dawn, groups of artillery, with piercing screams, turned the temporary positions of the Soviet army into a sea of ​​flames. hell of death.

"Boom boom boom!" Groups of flames were shining, broken metal pieces flew across, wantonly cutting the body of the Soviet soldier, the residual value of the broken arm, mixed with the soil, flew into the air, the Soviet soldier who was half dead from exhaustion, sad It was discovered that the calculated distance should be outside the range of the independent division's artillery fire, but now, it happens to fall within the range covered by the artillery fire.

The temporarily excavated field fortifications were just waist high, without even a blast hole, how could they withstand such intensive and violent artillery fire, the large-caliber grenades fell, there were several loud noises, and the soil raised by the artillery was mixed with the blood of Soviet soldiers , flew in all directions, and bombed the Soviet soldiers to hide. For more than ten minutes, the Soviet troops on the periphery could no longer withstand the artillery attack and retreated to the central area one after another. As for Commander Kurygin, he was not allowed to take a step back. The order has become empty talk. [

At around 28 o'clock in the morning on September 20, after an hour and a half of fierce fighting, more than 300 Soviet troops, surrounded by independent division troops that had come up from three sides, were compressed into a small area with a radius of no more than [-] kilometers.

General Kurykin saw that the situation was not good. More than 20 people were crowded together. A single shot from the artillery of the Independent Division could kill a bunch of soldiers. fortifications, but neither of these are available.

In order to change the extremely passive situation, General Kurykin ordered the troops to counterattack the independent division troops in three directions at the same time. The Soviet counterattack hit the iron plate, and the Soviet soldiers were greeted densely like a torrential rain The guns, which form a three-dimensional wall of fire, are the muzzles of several guns spewing out tongues of flame.

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

(to be continued) (to be continued...)