Age of Conquest Reborn

After analyzing the current battle situation, Tang Qiuli smiled to himself and looked at the situation map of the enemy and ourselves hanging on the wall. On the north bank of the Selenge River, a thick blue arrow pointed to the south, which represented the Soviet attack.

direction.

On the south bank of the Selenge River, a red line appears much thinner. It represents Sun Zhenbang's troops, blocking the Soviet defense line. And in the vast area further south, there are several thick red lines, pointing to the target.

Selenga River area.

That is the direction of the ten mechanized infantry brigades directly under the corps, three mechanized infantry brigades, four artillery brigades, and Battelle's four tank brigades in the east. From the situation map, these four huge encirclements are divided into left and right.

In this direction, cover the Soviet troops on the north bank of the Selenge River. The overall situation of Tang Qiuli's battle layout is very clear. With an absolutely superior force, the Soviet Transcaucasus Military Region troops invading south will be surrounded and annihilated in the Selenge River area.

.

Of course, this campaign concept is still on the map, because the mobilization and deployment of troops requires time. The 1st and 2nd brigades closest to the Selenge River still have a day and a half of marching distance.

After all the troops are in place, it will be between September 25th and 26th at the earliest. In other words, it will take five or six days to encircle the Soviet army. At the moment, Tang Qiuli can only watch the various forces.

Road troops, swallow your saliva.

Tang Qiuli rubbed his swollen temples and said to Colonel Wang Jun, Chief of Staff of the Outer Mongolia Border Guard: "Sun Zhenbang is under great pressure. If his troops block the Soviet army at the Selenge River defense line for about three days, then

Our deployment will be much more calm. If the casualties are too large, the Soviet army will quickly break through its blocking line. For us, it will be very passive and we will inevitably have to fight a fierce battle around Cullen!"

Wang Jun thought for a while and suggested: "Commander, as the chief of staff of the Outer Mongolia Border Guard Army, I will state my opinions to you very frankly. I think you should cancel the frontline border guard troops on the Selenge River and implement flexibility."

The order of defense should be to order Commander Sun to hold on for more than five days. For the victory of the overall battle, our border defense troops will be worth it no matter how high the price is. Commander Sun also has the same opinion. I hope

Could you please consider it?"

Tang Qiuli shook his head and said in a heavy tone: "Chief of Staff Wang, I understand what you and Sun Zhenbang think. However, if the victory of a battle requires me to pay the price of more than 50,000 soldiers dying, such a

Victory, for me, is too heavy, not to mention that the development of the campaign may not require such sacrifices. Send another telegram to Sun Zhenbang and clearly tell him that the order for elastic defense cannot be changed!"

Wang Jun wanted to say something else, but when he saw the teacher's firm gaze, he swallowed the words he was about to say and sighed in his heart. He seemed a little disappointed and a little moved. He went out to send a telegram.

Sun Zhenbang, who was under heavy Soviet shelling, didn't know what his division commander was thinking at the moment. He kept making phone calls in the rickety shelter. However, none of the calls to the frontline units could be answered. Sun Zhenbang fell down in anger.

I got off the last phone and was breathing heavily.

The director of the communications department in the headquarters stumbled up to Sun Zhenbang and shouted loudly: "Commander, the Soviet artillery fire must have been too fierce. All the telephone lines leading to the front line were blown up!"

Sun Zhenbang turned around suddenly and shouted angrily: "Director Liu, our department has been stationed at the defense line of Selenge River for five or six days, right? Your communications department is just doing nothing? Why are the telephone lines leading to the forward positions so bad?

Not buried deeply?”

Director Liu of the Communications Department said aggrievedly: "Commander, I am not a novice. All the telephone lines leading to the front are buried 1.5 meters underground. Who knew the Soviet artillery fire would be so fierce? Don't worry.

I immediately ordered the communications battalion to send telephone soldiers to check the lines and ensure that the telephone lines are open within thirty minutes. If I fail to complete the task, you will remove me from my post!"

After saying that, the lieutenant colonel, director of the communications department, put a helmet on his head, grabbed a submachine gun, and headed outside the shelter with two guards.

Sun Zhenbang grabbed him and taught him a lesson: "You are looking for death! Lao Maozi's artillery fire is so powerful. Before you even take two steps, the artillery shells can tear you into pieces. Hey, forget it, I know who is in your communications department."

The work has been done well, if you want to blame it, just blame the old cannon soldiers!"

Director Liu of the Communications Department also had a stubborn temper. The commander's words of reproach were like knives, stabbing his heart. He struggled to persist, "Boom, boom, boom!" Another dense burst of artillery shells fell around the headquarters.

A large piece of dirt fell from the roof of the shelter, splashing dirt all over their heads and faces. Sun Zhenbang spat out the dirt in his mouth and cursed fiercely, "What a fucking unlucky person."

Then, he glared at Director Liu fiercely, turned around, picked up the telescope, and observed the movements of the forward position. In the telescope, there were everywhere the soil stirred up by the explosion of the artillery shells, the crackling flames, and the diffuse smoke. The visibility was not good.

After a few meters, he couldn't see anything. Sun Zhenbang dropped the telescope in frustration, his heart full of worry.

In such a violent and intensive shelling, what was the casualty situation of the troops in the shell-proof caves and shelters? Although the shells could not directly kill the soldiers, if they could not withstand such a shelling and collapsed, wouldn't all the soldiers inside be killed?

Are they buried alive? There are at least two squads of soldiers in each bunker and shell-proof hole. So after this round of shelling, the troops suffered casualties. Isn’t it more than half of them? What else can we do in the battle going on?

beat?

General Kulykin stood on a high ground, holding up a telescope to observe the effects of the bombardment. He was followed by a large number of senior Soviet generals. He looked at his watch and saw that the bombardment had been going on for forty-five minutes. Judging from the superficial effects,

, all targets were shrouded in gunpowder smoke, but this was not enough. If cunning Chinese soldiers were hidden underground, the killing effect of the artillery bombardment would be greatly reduced.

General Kulykin called over the Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Zernenko, and ordered: "Chief of Staff, order the artillery unit to conduct artillery fire on the original target for another fifteen minutes after the scheduled bombardment is over, with an interval of twenty minutes, and then

If the artillery fire continues, the order of the engineering troops to erect the pontoon bridge remains unchanged!"

Lieutenant General Zernenko was a little confused and asked: "Comrade Commander, what is your intention? The engineering troops set up the pontoon bridge according to the original plan. If the artillery fires again at such a close distance, it will cause accidental damage!"

General Kulykin smiled reservedly and said in a lecturing tone: "My Chief of Staff, in the ancient Chinese art of war, there is such a strategy, called the carbine. I am going to use our nearly a thousand artillery pieces to stage a modern version of the carbine.

Teach these Chinese people a profound lesson, don’t you think it is very interesting to use Chinese wisdom to attack the Chinese people?”

"As for the problem of accidental damage that you are worried about, it does not exist. The Selenge River is more than a hundred meters wide. The training level of our artillery is not so low, right?"

Lieutenant General Zernenko shrugged and said nothing more. As the chief of staff, he had fulfilled his responsibilities. As for whether it was adopted by his superiors, that was another matter. At the same time, he was also full of confidence in the commander's reply.

curious!

At exactly five o'clock in the morning on September 20th, the Soviet army's fierce bombardment came to an abrupt end, just as suddenly as it began. This change from extremely loud noise and trembling to extremely quiet made people feel...

Unable to adapt.

Sun Zhenbang felt that the ground under his feet was no longer shaking, and the sky above his head was no longer filled with huge explosions. He was stunned for a moment, and the huge roar still echoed in his ears. "The Soviet artillery bombardment has stopped!" He reacted immediately.

come over.

A few minutes later, the dawn wind in the Outer Mongolian grassland blew away the diffuse gunpowder smoke, and everything on the front line of the Selenge River was clearly displayed in his field of vision. Sun Zhenbang grabbed the telescope and looked to the other side of the river.

He saw groups of Soviet soldiers rushing out from behind the high ground on the other side of the river, as well as trucks. When they arrived at the river, the Soviet soldiers unloaded a lot of equipment from the trucks. Soon, they

The first section of the pontoon bridge was erected on the beach on the north bank of the Selenge River. The Soviet engineers moved very fast, almost at a speed visible to the naked eye. The pontoon bridge extended towards the south bank. Under observation, there were more than a dozen places.

"Understood, the Soviet army is building a pontoon bridge for their tanks to cross the river!" Sun Zhenbang turned around and ordered: "Immediately send out correspondents to various front positions and order the troops at the front to bombard the Soviet troops with mortars.

Floating bridge, heavy machine gun fire on Soviet engineers!"

More than a dozen correspondents from the headquarters agreed and were about to run out when they were stopped by Sun Zhenbang, "Wait a minute!" However, Director Liu of the Communications Department, with two guard battalions, got out of the shelter.

He knew that it was the critical moment when the commander was about to issue orders to the forward positions, and the only way to avoid delaying the matter was to repair the telephone line as soon as possible.

The correspondents looked at the commander in confusion. At this moment, Sun Zhenbang, for some reason, had a bad feeling in his heart. In the first Outer Mongolia War, he had fought against the Soviet army and knew their routines. According to normal circumstances,

, after the Soviet army's artillery bombardment of its forward positions ends, the artillery fire should be extended in depth to prevent its follow-up troops from counterattacking and cover their infantry's attack.

However, the artillery fire suddenly stopped, and engineers were sent out to set up the pontoon bridge. On the surface, it seemed normal. The Soviet commander wanted to use tanks as the first assault force. However, the Soviet engineers were just like this without the cover of artillery fire.

Aren't you afraid of being hit by fierce firepower from your own frontline troops when you build a pontoon bridge in such a arrogant manner?

In other words, the Soviet commander believed that all the forward troops of the Independent Division were wiped out by the artillery fire during the hour-long bombardment? In any case, Sun Zhenbang's bad feeling became stronger and stronger, and he ordered: "

Radio room, contact the 1st Artillery Brigade and the 2nd Artillery Brigade immediately, I have an important task for them!"

(To be continued) (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian to vote for recommendations and monthly votes. Your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile phone users please go and read.)