Red Moscow

Saveliev learned that there were no enemies in the front position, and immediately issued an order for the entire army to attack, and then called Kravchenko to report to him the situation here.

"Comrade Commander," Saveliev immediately reported to him after hearing Kravchenko's voice: "Our army has successfully occupied the Kwantung Army's position."

After hearing Saveliev's report, Kravchenko said with some confusion: "I didn't hear any gunfire at all, and the battle ended like this? Is the Kwantung Army in front of you so vulnerable?" "

"Comrade Commander," Saveliev said: "We occupied the position without fighting at all, because the enemy in front had already fled."

"What, the enemy escaped?" Kravchenko asked in confusion after hearing this: "Where did they escape to?"

"I don't know..." Before Savelyev could finish his words, there were bursts of explosions outside. He couldn't help but frown and asked his chief of staff: "What's going on? The explosions outside are from what happened?"

Kravchenko on the other end of the phone also heard the explosion. He quickly asked: "General Saveliev, what is the explosion coming from the phone?"

"Comrade Commander, I don't know either." Saveliev was also confused at the moment. He didn't know what the explosion coming from outside was about. He could only send people out to check and ask Kravchenko at the same time. He explained: "But I have already sent people to check. I think it won't take long to find out what is going on."

Kravchenko knew very well that investigating what caused the explosion would not be something that could be completed in a minute or two, so he said reasonably: "Well, I understand, you can send someone to investigate first, and we will wait until we have more information." Report the results to me again.”

The staff officer sent by Saveliev soon came back to report: "Report to the commander, the explosion came from the direction of the position occupied by our army, and there was smoke rising from that direction. It seemed that something had been blown up. ”

After hearing the staff report, Saveliev couldn't help but frowned. He asked the chief of staff who was on the phone at the side: "Chief of Staff, have you figured out what exploded?"

"Please wait a moment, Comrade Commander." The chief of staff quickly covered the phone with his hand and said to Saveliev: "I am calling the vanguard to find out what happened. With the news, I will report to you immediately."

Seeing that he could not ask anything useful from the chief of staff, Saveliev walked out of the headquarters, raised his telescope and looked into the distance. But regrettably, he could only see the billowing black smoke rising from behind the position occupied by his troops, but he still had no way of knowing what happened.

Just when he put down the telescope and was about to re-enter the headquarters, the chief of staff hurriedly walked out and reported to him: "Comrade Commander, it is clear that the explosion just now was caused by the Kwantung Army. Although they We gave up our position, but when we retreated, we blew up some infrastructure. In other words, we originally hoped to get water and fuel supplies here, but because the water pump house and oil depot were blown up , our chances were completely disrupted.”

Before the troops set off, Saveliev was worried that something unexpected would happen during the attack, which would prevent him from seizing the enemy's positions and replenishing the troops' urgently needed water and fuel within the areas they controlled. When he just learned that the frontier had successfully occupied the enemy's position, Saveliev felt a burst of joy in his heart. But now that the enemy had destroyed the water source and oil depot, causing his supply plan to fail, he felt extremely troubled.

Saveliev returned to the headquarters, picked up the phone on the table, connected to the group army headquarters, and reported the information here to Kravchenko: "Comrade Commander, we all understand that it is the Kwantung Army that is retreating. At that time, the water pump house and oil depot were blown up, causing our plan to replenish water and oil here to come to nothing."

Kravchenko also felt very uncomfortable when he learned that the planned replenishment of water sources and oil depots had been destroyed by the Kwantung Army. But now that it had happened, he could only find a way to remedy it. He said into the microphone: "General Saveliev, order your troops to speed up their march. We must hurry up before the Kwantung Army blows up more infrastructure. Control these areas.”

"Understood, Comrade Commander." Saveliev quickly replied loudly: "I will order the troops to speed up their advance to prevent the Kwantung Army from destroying more useful infrastructure."

After Saveliev put down the phone, he immediately said to his chief of staff: "Chief of Staff, give an order to our troops to speed up their advance. They must advance far enough before the fuel is exhausted. Prevent the Kwantung Army from destroying more infrastructure that is useful to us."

"Comrade Commander," the Chief of Staff reminded Saveliev, "according to the amount of fuel we carry, we can advance up to a hundred kilometers. According to the map, these areas are uninhabited. If you can't find them, If there are no suitable supply points, our troops will have to stop on the unobstructed plains because they have run out of fuel, waiting for the Air Force transport planes to airdrop supplies to us."

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Saveliev said with a serious expression: "Under the current circumstances, we can only move forward and get some water and oil supplies before the Kwantung Army destroys all the infrastructure. Only in this way can we ensure The troops have the ability to continue fighting."

"Okay, Comrade Commander." Seeing that Saveliev was determined to let the troops continue to advance deeper into the enemy's defenses at the risk of running out of water and fuel, the Chief of Staff could not say anything else and could only follow the opponent's instructions. Instructions were given to the troops below to move forward as quickly as possible to prevent more useful infrastructure from being destroyed by the Kwantung Army.

The tank troops who received the order immediately moved forward at full speed, trying to seize these places from the hands of the Japs before they could blow up the new infrastructure. But God is not as good as God. The Soviet tanks and various vehicles drove in at the fastest speed, but the 63rd Division, which saw the situation was not good and began to escape, had already planted explosives in various infrastructures. When the Soviet troops approached, they immediately detonated them without hesitation. When the Soviet troops arrived, they saw burning ruins.

In the evening, the 5th Guards Mechanized Corps, which had advanced 120 kilometers, had to stop its advance because of exhaustion of fuel.

After Saveliev learned of this situation, he immediately issued orders to the brigades to camp on the spot, and it would not be too late to move forward after their superiors sent the air force to airdrop supplies.

Kravchenko learned that Saveliev's troops had stopped advancing. Although he was unwilling to do so, he had no choice. Tanks, armored vehicles and cars without fuel were just a pile of scrap metal. If it is attacked by an air attack, it is simply a living target.

The idea that the vanguard might be attacked by an air attack was suppressed by Kravchenko as soon as it came up. If we are fighting the Germans at this moment, then after the mechanized troops have exhausted all their fuel and parked on the open plains, it will simply be a target for enemy aircraft to practice bombing. But now they are facing the Kwantung Army. Although they have millions of people, judging from the battles in the past two days, these little dwarfs have no ability to resist in the face of the Soviet army's powerful offensive. As for the air force, if they had one, they would have already launched an attack on their own troops. But so far, they have not seen even a single plane from the other side appear in the sky. So, why is it being attacked by air? That is simply impossible.

Considering that the 5th Guards Mechanized Corps, which served as the vanguard, had to stop on the plain waiting for supplies from the rear due to running out of fuel, Kravchenko called the commander of the front army Malinovsky and informed him that Report to him on the situation here.

Kravchenko's 6th Guards Tank Army came from the Second Ukrainian Front, and Marshal Malinovsky happened to be the commander of this front. Not only do the two have a superior-subordinate relationship, but they also have a good personal relationship. So Malinovsky learned that it was Kravchenko who called him, so he took the microphone from the adjutant's hand, put it to his ear, called Kravchenko's name and said with a smile: "Andre Lie, you called me, do you have any good news to tell me?"

"Yes, Comrade Marshal." Kravchenko said with a smile: "My troops have advanced one hundred and twenty kilometers southward today. It will take up to two days to reach the outskirts of the large city controlled by the enemy."

"Well done, Andre." Malinovsky said approvingly: "According to your current advancement speed, I think this goal is completely achievable."

"But we are in a little trouble now and need your help."

"What's the trouble?" Malinowski asked.

Kravchenko quickly reported to Malinovsky in detail that the Kwantung Army retreated without a fight, but during the retreat, the infrastructure along the way was blown up, making it impossible for the troops to replenish water and fuel in these areas. After reporting again, he finally said: "Comrade Marshal, if we don't get timely supplies, we will not be able to advance to the big cities controlled by the Kwantung Army according to the original plan."

"Well, the troops have no fuel." After listening to Kravchenko's report, Malinovsky turned to Zakharov sitting next to him and said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, Andrei told me that his The troops are unable to move forward because they have run out of fuel. Do you think a transport convoy directly under the front army will be sent to transport fuel to them?"

"Comrade Marshal, I think it is very unrealistic to use a transport team to transport oil to them." Zakharov immediately put forward the opposite opinion, "Letting a huge convoy pass through a mountainous area with complex terrain like the Greater Khingan Mountains, I am afraid it will cause A huge loss, and it will also affect the normal march of the follow-up troops."

Seeing that Zakharov rejected his plan, Malinovsky couldn't help but frowned. He asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, what can you do to solve the fuel shortage problem of the 6th Guards Tank Army?" Woolen cloth?"

"This is not a problem." Zaharov replied: "I immediately contacted Marshal Hudyakov and asked him to dispatch the air force to provide fuel supplies for the 6th Guards Tank Army. Using transport aircraft to airdrop supplies is not only fast, but also And you don’t have to worry about terrain restrictions, so this is undoubtedly the best solution.”

After Malinovsky waited for Zakharov to finish speaking, he said into the microphone: "Andre, you heard it. My chief of staff told me that the fastest way to replenish fuel for you is to ask the Air Force to Transport aircraft were dispatched to airdrop fuel and various supplies to frontline troops."

Kravchenko called Malinovsky, hoping to contact the Air Force through him and conduct airdrops for his troops. At this moment, hearing what Malinovsky said, he quickly said: "That's really great. , Comrade Marshal. With the supply of fuel, we can quickly push into the enemy's hinterland and occupy more areas. On behalf of the commanders and fighters of the entire group army, I would like to express my gratitude to you."

"Andre, please tell the commanders and fighters on the front line that the supplies to them will be airdropped early tomorrow morning, so they don't worry."

"I understand, Comrade Marshal, I will convey your message to the commanders below."

After ending the call with Malinovsky, Kravchenko called Saveliev and told him that the Air Force would airdrop the troops early tomorrow morning. While being excited, Saveliev also raised his concerns to Kravchenko: "Comrade Commander, now our army's tanks, armored vehicles and various vehicles are exposed in the open ground. If they are attacked by enemy planes, The air strike will probably cause a lot of casualties."

Unexpectedly, Kravchenko said disapprovingly after hearing this: "General Saveliev, you are too worried. Judging from the battles in the past few days, the Kwantung Army has no air force that can be put into battle. Otherwise, how could it be possible in Why can’t they be seen in the sky?”

Saveliev, who was originally a little worried that the troops camping on the open plains might be attacked by Kwantung Army air attacks, completely put his heart back in his stomach. Since the commander said that the enemy would not send out the air force, then it must be The air force will not be dispatched, so I don't have to worry anymore.

Precisely because he underestimated the enemy, Saveliev did not deploy anti-aircraft firepower around the camp, which led to him suffering a big loss soon after.

The commanders of the brigades under the mechanized army did not say anything when they saw the commander, and they asked themselves to deploy air defense forces. Naturally, they would not feel unhappy. After all, advancing one hundred and twenty kilometers a day is also very tiring. things. Rather than spending effort to deploy thankless and useless anti-aircraft firepower, it is better to let the commanders and combatants rest early, and after receiving fuel supplies tomorrow, they can continue to rush into the depth of the enemy's defenses.

At eight o'clock in the evening, it was already getting dark, and the roar of airplane engines suddenly came from the sky.

Saveliev, who was talking to the chief of staff in the tent, heard this voice and said in confusion: "Didn't you say that we would airdrop supplies to us tomorrow morning? Why did they come tonight?"

But the chief of staff listened for a moment, and his expression suddenly changed. He shouted at Saveliev: "Comrade Commander, the roar of the aircraft engine is coming from the south. It is not our aircraft, but Kwantung Army aircraft. Air raid warnings should be issued immediately to the troops to prepare everyone for air defense."