In light of a not-so-pleasant historical event this year, the KGB's current goal is to figure out the current size of China's troops in the border area between the two countries, but not by sending agents, but by using high-altitude reconnaissance or spy satellites, as well as information gathering. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 infoChina in this era, in Serov's eyes, is not a place where agents can go casually, it is too dangerous, and the people's sense of precaution is too strong.

Rushing to send KGB-trained agents to China is really a sea of people's war. However, at present, it seems that the strength of troops in the Sino-Soviet border area has increased a little compared with ten years ago, and friction is not without friction at all, but on the whole it is still within the scope of calm, and there is no sabre-rattling at all.

"Although I don't believe that China has the courage to attack us, the relevant preparations must continue, so that starting from the Red Flag Border Military Region near Turkey, all the way to the Red Flag Border Military Region in the Far East, the relevant ten Red Flag Border Military Regions are now beginning to prepare, and in a month later they will conduct a border defense exercise, which does not require the participation of any combat troops of the Ministry of National Defense, but will use all our own border guards, and the number of participating troops will be set at about 80,000 people." Serov brought the head of the Main Directorate of Border Guards, Colonel-General Zelianov, to discuss the matter.

"Do you show strength? If you start from the Caucasus, it is not bad that you do not have an obvious meaning to any country. Zelianov nodded and asked, "How strong?" The Ministry of Defense has just finished its exercises in the Caucasus. ”

"I can use whatever I want, and I want to give the impression to neighboring countries that even if the border guards are dispatched, it will be enough to destroy them." Serov turned his back to Zelianov and looked at the world map and said, "I don't know much about the navy and air forces and airborne forces under other border guards, so it's up to you to decide." ”

The system of establishment of the border guards and the armed forces of the USSR is different, carefully look at the Soviet materials. It turned out that the border guards of the Soviet army turned out to be not an army, they belonged to the paramilitary armed forces, and they were not subordinate to the Ministry of Defense. Rather, it is subordinate to a separate non-military component. This other non-military department is actually the KGB, the intelligence department.

The border guards of the USSR were more independent, with their own three armies, as well as the Airborne Forces. During the Soviet period, the border guards were under the control of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and then the KGB. During the Cold War, border guards and units directly under the KGB had the same uniform and different markings. If anything, the hat of the commander of the border guards is green, and the rest of the direct units of the KGB are not.

At that time, Dzerzhinsky's junior military school was actually an orphanage managed by militarization and a boarding school that partially covered junior and senior high school education, and most of the graduates entered the intelligence and border guard system, so he was the irreplaceable father of orphans in the whole Soviet Union and the only parent of the border guard.

This history has continued, and now the KGB still has a tradition of selecting healthy children from orphanages to be trained, so as the irreplaceable father of this generation of Soviet orphans and the only parent of the border guard, Serov wants to see how capable his children are, and if he is not afraid of trouble, he wants to pull the internal army out to participate in the exercises.

The matter was thus decided, and this was also a test of the combat capability of a KGB border guard, "The time is set for next month, that is, March, what about the imaginary enemy?" That is, all the countries bordering the USSR. ”

"Does that include China?" Zelianov asked after a moment of silence, wondering what his boss was thinking.

"Including all countries, but before the start of the exercises, inform the other side, our attitude has not changed. I want to prevent something through this exercise, Comrade Zelianov, you have to think about it, when we conduct exercises of this scale, all the countries bordering us will be vigilant and restrain their armed forces. Sometimes it's not a bad thing to show us what we're capable of. Serov's attitude was slow, he wanted peace at that time, but he also had a position, that is, the Soviet Union could not take the initiative to ask China, because this was the answer given by the comparison of the national strength of the two sides. If he runs over and gives in, he may not know what will happen when he comes back.

Serov knew that the island was about to happen, and the attitude of the Soviet Union, simply put, was that the Soviet Union recognized the island as Chinese, but would not give in in this case, in fact, if it were not for the fact that the Soviet Union was being scolded every day now, this island should have been returned to China five years ago, and it was not that there were no efforts for peace before. The Soviet border guards have always advocated the peaceful settlement of territorial disputes through dialogue. Also in 1964, the then commander of the border guards, Colonel-General Ziyanov, was tasked with consulting with China on these issues. In order to accomplish this mission, he was given the title of Deputy Minister. At a consultation, Ziyanov had the courage to state that it was possible to make concessions on a number of islands, including Damansky. Last year it was also said that disputes should be resolved peacefully through dialogue.

"After the exercise on the 1st of next month, in the future, we must involve helicopter gunships in patrolling some unresolved islands to prevent friction and miscalculation, and we will still dispatch some air forces to conduct surveillance. Don't be afraid of trouble, there's nothing wrong with being careful," Zelianov nodded and asked, "Chairman, in fact, it's not appropriate because of the friction between several islands, we all know that it is Chinese territory, and since sooner or later it will have to be returned to them, why not solve this problem?" ”

"You are a member of the Central Presidium, and you will hand over the island when you are scolded every day?" Serov shook his head with a wry smile and said, "We claim to have the most powerful army in the world, with tanks, artillery, nuclear weapons, and fighter jets all in tens of thousands. When they calm down, we'll talk about it again, and when they don't always give us trouble, it's time to give them back. ”

Therefore, Serov will definitely not take the initiative to go to China and say that the island will be returned to you, he can only choose another way, show his strength and let the other side restrain himself, and at the same time continue to let Zelianov negotiate, the island is Chinese, but in view of the current situation, we will first set a timetable and talk about the transfer.

Many people in the Soviet Union knew about the treaty with China during the imperial period, but they knew that it was impossible for such a powerful army of the Soviet Union not to fight a single battle, and first lost 1.5 million square kilometers of territory, especially since the other party's national strength was so much worse than its own. This is a feat that no leader like the Gogo map could do, and don't expect normal Soviets to do it. Serov has been belittling China's military power in the Ministry of Defense, just because he is afraid of the old marshals and focuses on the eastern border. He has also been demonstrating that the eastern border is not a threat, and the exercise is also for the Ministry of Defense.

The exercise of the border guards was quickly approved by the Presidium of the Central Committee, and the time was set for 1 March, starting from the Caucasus on the border between the Soviet Union and Turkey and continuing to Central Asia, Siberia, and the Far East, and the joint combat exercise involving the border of 10 Red Banner border military districts began, and the KGB border guards dispatched one-third of their strength, totaling more than 80,000 people, more than 3,000 tanks, and more than 3,000 artillery pieces, on a border line of nearly 20,000 kilometers.

Before the start of the exercises, the Soviet Union had already notified all the bordering countries, and Serov, in his capacity as chairman of the KGB, made a speech emphasizing the importance of national security, and then announced the start of the exercises.

All Soviet troops in Eastern Europe were first-class combat-ready units, that is, they were fully manned and equipped. But that was only in Eastern Europe, in other directions, especially in third-rate troops such as the border guards, in fact, there was a serious shortage of personnel, but there was not much shortage of tanks, so there was an incongruity of 80,000 people participating in the exercise, but gathering more than 3,000 tanks. Regardless of the country, the border guards were equipped with too many tanks, and no one except the Soviets themselves considered this normal.

The exercises lasted 14 days, during which the Presidium of the Central Committee of the USSR held a meeting, at which the members spoke highly of the border guards, but also pointed out many shortcomings, such as the lack of good clusters of troops in the conflict zone, and the poor organization of tank operations and troop reconnaissance of the border guards; There is no night observation etc. A series of measures to strengthen border control were adopted at the meeting.

At the operational meeting of the Ministry of Defense, Defense Minister Andrei? Marshal Grechko said happily, "The border guards have proved the combat capabilities of our Soviet armed forces, which can carry out favorable intimidation against some potential enemies, but we should still see some shortcomings, the intensity of this exercise of the border guards is still lacking, but some things are still very novel, such as the strength of electronic warfare, it seems that they are more skilled than the Red Army." ”

Of course, if there is anything good, Serov will keep it for his own use, at least when the Ministry of Defense is still relatively resistant to the tube, the border guards and the internal guard have long replaced all the tube equipment.

The exercise also used Hail rocket artillery, a 122-mm 40-barreled self-propelled rocket launcher developed by the Soviet Union. The gun began to be equipped with army artillery units in 1964. At present, the artillery regiments of the motorized rifle division and the tank division have a battalion of Бm-21 rocket artillery, equipped with 24 guns. It is mainly used to destroy the enemy's tactical nuclear weapons, fight the enemy's artillery, and strengthen the firepower of the regimental artillery group. It is usually deployed in the range of 2~6 kilometers behind the front of the square, and the pressing depth is 14~18 kilometers.

"Comrade Ustinov has not yet come?" This meeting was unusual, in fact, it was to communicate with the Ministry of Defense about a new round of weapons research and equipment process, in other words, the arms race will be intensified. (To be continued.) )