As soon as the sky was dawning, the Soviet Russian army, which was bound to win, launched a fierce artillery bombardment of the Japanese Dongning defense line with nearly 1,000 light and heavy artillery. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 Among the artillery involved in the war, the most eye-catching are the four heavy artillery divisions directly under the jurisdiction of the Front, which are equipped with 122 mm and 152 mm heavy guns put into production in the mid-to-late 30s, especially the M20 152 mm cannon howitzer, although there are problems such as low shooting accuracy, but its range and power are first-class, and the durability of the barrel is very good. As early as the First Battle of the Haraha River, the Soviet Russian artillery brutally ravaged the field artillery units of the Japanese Kwantung Army, and at the beginning of the Second Battle of the Haraha River, the Soviet Russian artillery with a larger scale showed an overwhelming advantage in the river-crossing attack.

Under the continuous shelling of the Soviet and Russian troops, the Japanese troops holding the Dongning defense line suffered considerable losses, and because the number and range of artillery were obviously inferior, the Japanese artillery had no choice but to continue to stay in the artillery forts or hidden positions protected by various camouflage means, hoping that their own aviation units could regain air supremacy and weaken the threat of Soviet and Russian artillery with bombing and strafing.

In order to carry out the combat operation codenamed "Conquest of the East," the Japanese Kwantung Army and the Korean Army dispatched more than 1,700 combat planes to the front-line airfields, and fighters accounted for nearly half of them, but in the week after the campaign was launched, the Japanese air force not only failed to accomplish the predetermined goal of seizing air supremacy on the battlefield, but on the contrary lost more than 700 fighters under the fierce resistance of the Soviet Russian Air Force and ground air defense forces. In the face of a swarm of Soviet and Russian fighters, the Japanese aviation unit was forced to switch from offensive to air defense, and then gradually withdrew from several airfields at the forefront. As the Soviet offensive forces approached the Dongning defense line step by step, under the strong orders of the Japanese base camp, the aviation units of the Kwantung Army and the Korean Army had to fight on their backs. On the afternoon of April 8, the Japanese army sent more than 300 sorties of fighters to the Dongning defense line, and on the whole day of April 9, the Japanese army successively dispatched more than 500 sorties, but the desperate battle of the Japanese pilots did not slow down the offensive rhythm of the Soviet and Russian troops, hundreds of I-16 and Yak-1 launched a happy hunt at medium and high altitudes, and a large number of anti-aircraft artillery weaved a terrifying fire net at low altitudes, and the Japanese fighters were like moths to the fire, one after another were shot down......

The huge artillery bombardment lasted for an hour after hour, but the artillery fire of the Soviet Russian army did not have the slightest intention of stopping, a large number of howitzers spewed flames from the artillery positions deployed ten kilometers or even fifteen kilometers away, so that the hills where the Japanese defense line was located were always shrouded in thick smoke and shrapnel, and the high-explosive shells of different calibers were amazingly powerful, and the Japanese officers and soldiers hidden in the concrete fortifications left only a few observation posts, and the rest retreated to the depths of the bunkers that could avoid being directly shocked by the shells, to maximize the maintenance of combat effectiveness. Even so, the defensive value of this line of defense has been weakened by the destruction of various defenses.

In an underground bunker about five kilometers behind the forward position, Lieutenant General Kengo Noda, commander of the 14th Division, pointed to the battle map and shouted in the dim light provided by the electric light, "Organize death squads, attack the Russian artillery at night, and destroy those deadly heavy artillery!" ”

"That's a good idea, the Russians are waiting for us to do that!" The commander of the 3rd Division, Lieutenant General Botaro Toshima, choked angrily.

"What then? Once the batteries are all removed, rifles and bayonets alone will not be able to hold this line! Kengo Noda poked at the battle map with his thick, black fingers.

"Noda-kun is right, you can't defend it with rifles and bayonets, and Toshima-kun's judgment is completely in line with common sense, the Russians are too familiar with our tactics, and they will definitely focus on guarding against our night attacks."

The current commander of the Dongning Line, Komatsubara, who commanded the 23rd Division against the Russian army during the First Battle of the Haraha River, became a national hero admired by all the people with a "brilliant victory" with fewer victories, but the commander of fame and fortune was not blinded by the glory of the past, on the contrary, the tragic scene of that battle left a deep impression on him, making him more cautious and rational when facing his old enemy again.

"It's not okay to hold on, it's not appropriate to attack, so what should we do?" Kengo Noda asked, spreading his hand.

Komatsubara groaned: "Don't be in a hurry, don't be impatient!" Don't be angry, don't be discouraged! With stillness, brake! ”

It lasted more than six hours, from early morning to early afternoon, with an interval of no more than an hour, and more than 200,000 shells were rained down. Before the smoke of gunpowder dissipated, countless Russian soldiers had already rushed over, and hundreds of combat vehicles and armored vehicles carrying mechanized infantry were concentrated in the open area where Dongning Town was located, and launched a thunderous cluster assault with the coordination of a large number of infantry.

Before the Russian assault group approached the main position, the Japanese trenches were quiet as if they were empty, but when the footsteps of the Soviet Russian soldiers were clearly audible, the Japanese defense line suddenly erupted into fierce firepower, dark red bullets and white tracer bullets formed an impermeable fire network in front of the position, and many figures wearing yellow khaki uniforms fell without saying a word, and then the infantry guns and mortars behind the Japanese positions also opened fire, and large and small shells flew over the position. Huge chunks of turf, large clumps of mud, and bloody limbs thundered up on the otherwise vibrant meadow......

Even the soldiers who have participated in many brutal battles can't help but look away from the front when faced with this monotonous and brutal killing. In the deep trenches, short Japanese soldiers had to stand on pre-dug steps or platforms made of empty ammunition boxes before they could fire at the front of the position with their wooden weapons, and some soldiers carried ammunition boxes to and fro, replacing empty ammunition boxes from next to the machine-gun positions, each with one or two soldiers next to them.

It was not surprising that the defenders met with fierce resistance in front of the line, and the attackers quickly adjusted. The field artillerymen and mortars who accompanied the advance projected shells at the defenders' positions at any cost, weakening the defenders' defensive firepower through temporary fire suppression, and the well-trained Soviet Russian infantry did not charge blindly, some relied on the cover of the chariots to move forward step by step, and some used the craters on the ground or the trenches dug by the defenders to evade the bullets, and built firing points on the spot - those heavy machine guns with shields and rollers were the characteristics of the Soviet Russian army, Their heavy roars were also a great threat to Japanese soldiers who were firing from the trenches.

Urged by the sound of gunfire, the Soviet tanks with puffs of green smoke accelerated their advance, and as they were about to rush to the Japanese position, a tank suddenly exploded without warning. The flames dissipated, smoke rose from under the car, and although the turret and the car were unharmed, it stopped when its inertia was exhausted. Immediately after that, the same situation appeared with another tank, then the third, then the fourth. In less than a cigarette, at least 30 Russian tanks were injured by mines, most of them immobilized by damaged tracks or load wheels, and were forced to become fixed fire points for the attackers at the front of the battlefield.

The defensive firepower of the Japanese front-line positions is fierce, the machine guns, grenadiers, machine guns and small-caliber anti-aircraft guns in the fortress and trenches are particularly active, and the riflemen are also wantonly hunting and killing the exposed Soviet and Russian soldiers, and the dense firepower quickly forms a deadly fire network in an area at a distance of 500 to 700 meters from the front of the position, but these can not threaten the heavy combat vehicles equipped by the Soviet Russian army, more than 20 KV-1 are like war elephants on the ancient battlefield, although there are not many of these rough and thick guys, But if used correctly, it can be the difference between victory and defeat.

Seeing the enemy's heavy tanks approaching without fear of artillery fire, many Japanese soldiers were frightened, and the firepower on the position was suddenly a little chaotic, and this situation greatly boosted the morale of the Soviet and Russian officers and soldiers. When the first KV-1 passed through the Japanese minefield and trenches and ran over the Japanese forward positions inexorably, the Soviet Russian soldiers who were lying down in order to avoid the strafing of the defenders finally broke out into a loud and loud "Ula" sound, the red flag fluttered in the rain of bullets, and the bayonets glistened in the smoke of gunpowder......

"Hell, the Russians are using flamethrowers!"

Seeing a Soviet tank that was only moving forward at first with a dull head suddenly spewing out a long fire dragon with a slender "barrel" dozens of meters away from a machine-gun fortress, the Japanese machine gunner Iida Ichiro and his partner were horrified - how painful it would be to be scorched by hundreds of degrees of flames? Or will the person be turned to ashes in an instant, and it will be completely over without any pain?

As far as the eye could see, Russian infantry armed with submachine guns and flamethrowers swarmed in, coldly clearing one pillbox after another. I don't know if it was out of nervousness or because I happened to encounter a situation, the machine gun Iida was operating actually jammed, and he tried to troubleshoot it with trepidation, but the more frightened he became, the more his hands and feet refused to obey the call. Seeing that the tanks and skirmishers of the Soviet army were getting closer and closer, after a final hesitation, without the commander giving the order to retreat, Iida threw away his machine gun and ran back, and his partner followed closely.

Like most of the permanent fortifications on this line, there was a short passage at the back of the machine-gun fort, leading to a criss-crossing communication trench. Under the devastation of the Russian covering fire, these trenches dug up by relying on the terrain were no longer in shape. The Japanese soldiers who chose to flee at this time were almost invariably shot from behind by the enemy, and the helplessness and despair of their fall reflected the line of defense, which was rapidly crumbling......

(End of chapter)