As it turned out, the Chinese's strategy was a great success. Dozens of "Zero" fighters took off to intercept them, and three "Kuaidao" bombers were damaged by the fighters who successfully slipped into the battlefield, but almost all of the planes that participated in the battle turned into piles of wreckage on the Siberian steppe. However, the "powerful" propaganda organization of the Chinese Air Force once again "dealt a heavy blow" to the Chinese Air Force, and the report reported that 33 Chinese fighters and 12 "Kuaidao" bombers had been shot down, but did not mention the heavy losses of the Chinese side. Seeing that the army had basically lost its air defense capability and that the morale of its ground troops was extremely low, Zhong Liwei decided to pull the trigger for the execution of the Siberian garrison. Early in the morning of 22 November, a large number of fighters of the Northeast Army swarmed out and went straight to the point that had already been stepped on by the reconnaissance planes: Because the rear supply lines were bombed intermittently, the Chinese army had no choice but to set up a number of temporary ammunition and fuel supply points on the front line. On this morning, all the precious supplies sent by the rear army were reduced to brilliant "fireworks" on the Siberian steppe.

The Northeast Army on the ground used armored troops as the spearhead and easily broke through the defense line of the Japanese army. The torrent of steel rolling forward was unstoppable, and everything in its path was reduced to ashes. At this time, the fighter unit of the Army Air Force was either killed or wounded, and a single light explosion and a few heavy bombs embarked on the final decisive voyage under the eyes of the remnants of the soldiers at the airport. The vast majority of young pilots failed to break through the barrage jointly erected by the Northeast Army's air-ground forces, and a very small number of fighters used the same "meat bullet" tactics as the troops on the ground -- ramming the armored units of the Northeast Army.

After a thorough "clean-up" on 22 November, the vast majority of the pilots of the Chinese Air Force in the next few days were left with some reconnaissance missions, and the occasional bombing mission became a "sought-after commodity" among the various units; after the targets that finally appeared were picked up by the reconnaissance planes of the Northeast Army, it became commonplace for the attacking troops who rushed to arrive to have to return empty-handed while scolding their mothers. Later, the Chinese Air Force simply sneaked into the hinterland of the country to "open meat," and of course this kind of "spontaneous" behavior, which was "supposedly" not in line with the dogma of the extremely rigid Northeast Army, was launched with the tacit consent or even instigation of the higher-level leaders. On 24 November, 39 "Kuaidao" bombers, escorted by a large number of fighters, "happened to get lost" near Mount Sukhara and bombed two trains and a large section of railway tracks into ruins.

At this time, there was no concept of "battle line" on the Sangye River battlefield, and only a large number of troops were left surrounded by the heavy army group of the Northeast Army in the solid support points scattered everywhere, and they resisted stubbornly. With the natural beast surname and survival **, the besieged army launched a breakthrough without any chance of winning again and again, and in the face of the Northeast Army's sea of tanks, aircraft and artillery, this behavior of the army is not so much a breakthrough as suicide. Although the army aviation was about to drown in the sea of Chinese fighters in the air at this time, the fighters of the army still risked their lives to take off every day in an attempt to provide a little help and hope to the Chinese army on the ground.

At this time, the elite of the army aviation stationed in eastern Siberia had been exhausted, and the top brass of the army aviation, who was completely disappointed with the battle situation at the front, refused to send new fighters and supplementary troops to the Sangye River. The results of this battle between the two generations of fighters in the East Siberian region were self-evident, and the scene of these planes being surrounded and intercepted by the "hungry" Chinese air force fighters of the brigade and finally being smashed into a ball of fire quickly became a famous sight over the Sangye River.

Looking at the wreckage on the airfield and the names crossed out one by one on the compilation table, the unbearable huge losses completely crushed the army aviation stationed in Eastern Siberia. At the end of November, the Army Air Corps Headquarters received a report on the strength of the Army Air Force stationed in Eastern Siberia, saying that it still had about 160 planes that could be called "airplanes," and the vast majority of them could not immediately take to the air to meet the enemy. Zhong Liwei sneered when he heard the news, this general's temper was hot, and it was quite terrifying to have bad water, and more and more fighters became a puddle of rags on the grassland.

On November 31, Zhong Liwei officially reported to Yanjing that all the troops that had crossed the border between Central and Siberia had been wiped out. In the later attack on the strong support points of the Yue army, the Northeast Army of China suffered huge losses that should not have been beared, and the ferocity and tenacity of the trapped beast himself exceeded the imagination of the high-ranking generals of the Northeast Army, and Yanjing's order of "total annihilation within a time limit" forced Zhong Liwei to make the decision to attack.

After realizing that there was no hope of survival unless they surrendered, the army calmed down from the panic of the early days of the siege, and they became an army of zombies with weapons in their hands, without a trace of fear, pity, or other normal feelings. In the face of such a group of monsters who believe that "the life of the warrior with the heart of immortality (死なんと戦えば生き, one of the most famous words of Uesugi Kenshin, copied from "Wu Tzu"), the fighters in the sky, the roaring artillery and even the rampage of the steel monsters have lost their strength, and the only way to use the flesh and blood of the soldiers of the Northeast Army to turn into a huge grinding disc to grind away the will and life of the army little by little.

In the face of huge casualties, Zhong Liwei did not chase after the poor warriors, but nailed the torrent of steel that could have rolled forward across the border to the actual demarcation line before the start of the Battle of the Mulberry River. He did this because of the new changes taking place on the other side of China's border, thousands of miles away. With the fall of Turkey, the Soviet army has begun to move eastward in large quantities, and the Chinese people at this time did not know that the real war was coming, but Yanjing was soberly aware that the rapid fall of Turkey would make the decisive battle between the Soviet Union and China break out soon, and the heavy clouds of war were gathering over China's western frontier. In this kind of situation where the mountains and rains are about to come and the wind is full of buildings, Yanjing needs to obtain even a moment of tranquility in the east.

Although the noise on the battlefield has gradually calmed down, the propaganda war on the other front has just begun. Faced with a well-known outcome, Tian Tian shamelessly announced that it had shot down a total of 2,260 Chinese planes, and the Chinese Air Force, as the Chinese government said it had a much worse record, believing that it had eliminated a total of 1,246 fighters. Of course, this is just a big talk contest with 50 steps and 100 steps of laughter, and if the bullhides boasted by both sides are true, then the air force invested by both China and Ben in the normal battle of the Sangye River will not be enough to be shot down by the other side. The losses announced by both sides were discounted, with the Chinese side announcing that a total of 251 warplanes had crashed or gone missing from July to November 1942, while the Chinese side admitted only 162 warplane losses.

The air operations at the Sangye River had a tremendous impact on the development and performance of both China and the air force in the early stages of World War II. In order to cope with the flexible Chinese fighters, the fighters developed and equipped in the early stage were extremely good in terms of maneuverability, and their range also surprised the United States and Britain and other countries. However, due to the unprecedentedly strong firepower of the new fighters that the Northeast Army later participated in, the Northeast Army discovered in time the problems of its fighters in terms of defensive strength and airframe strength, and got back on the right track. The successful ground support of the army air force in the early stage of the war enabled the army to accumulate sufficient experience in close air support, and the absorption and digestion of this experience enabled the combat effectiveness of the light and heavy explosive units to be greatly enhanced in the later period, and the allied forces on the battlefield suffered greatly. China, on the other hand, saw the outstanding performance of high-speed bombers and strengthened its view of "bombing to win," so much so that later an "air fleet" appeared to bomb the mainland into a sea of fire.

In addition, since both China and the Japanese have chosen the reference system of the aviation industry as an opponent with a relatively backward technological level, because they have a certain misunderstanding of their own level of development, when they face the Americans in the Pacific Ocean with extremely strong research and development capabilities, and when China meets the Soviets, who are technologically advanced and have reached the peak of their technical and tactical level with the help of the Germans, the two Asian powers are destined to fall into a new bloody battle.

The greatest significance of the air battle on the Sangye River is that the terrifying sight of the sky stained red with blood has become accustomed to both sides of the Chinese and Chinese sides, and this is the most terrifying thing about the veterans, they are not afraid of death, but they are afraid of being forgotten.

In the face of the fiasco of many attacks, the Siberian garrison was not convinced, and the stakes of war became bigger and bigger, and more and more troops and equipment were put into the battlefield. In order to make up for the shortage of troops on the battlefield, Lieutenant General Komatsubara, the headquarters of the Siberian garrison army, was transferred to the regimental level of the 1st Garrison Brigade, the 14th Infantry Brigade and the 3rd Cavalry Brigade of the East Siberian District. Ishihara mixed brigades and other units brought the strength of all branches of the armed forces under the command of Lieutenant General Komatsubara on the Kuroha River front to 180,000.

In order to make up for the lack of firepower, the headquarters of the Siberian garrison transferred the 5th Field Heavy Artillery Wing, the 7th Field Heavy Artillery Wing, and the 3rd Brigade of the Lushun Heavy Artillery Brigade from the interior of East Siberia. In addition to the existing artillery units, the Sangye River front army has a total of 1,238 heavy artillery, field artillery heavy mortars, various mountain artillery rapid-fire guns, and anti-aircraft guns.

In order to make up for the shortage of anti-tank weapons, all infantry squadrons on the Sangye River front organized "meat bomb attack squads", that is, people carrying explosives to the tanks. Died with the tank. Because the tanks of the army are inferior to the Northeast Army in terms of quantity and quality, and the lack of tanks to make up for the lack of "meat bullets" is a major invention of the Siberian garrison on the battlefield; after all, tanks are expensive to build, and "meat bullets" are cheap to come by, and they can embody the so-called "bushido" spirit.

After the troops and equipment were fully prepared, the army formulated a general offensive plan with artillery warfare as the mainstay, followed by infantry attacking from both flanks.

On November 27, 1942, the weather was fine, the red sky was rising, the military flags were unfurled on the front of the army for more than 70 miles, and the various wings looked at each other from afar, waiting for the order of the general attack.

At 6 o'clock in the afternoon, 58 bombers and fighters of the Chinese army first flew over the Sangye River and bombed and strafed the positions of the Northeast Army on both sides of the strait. At the same time, several gray oblong observation balloons were raised over the heavy artillery positions of the Yue Army, and in the hanging baskets under each balloon, three artillery observation officers were looking for the heavy artillery positions of the Northeast Army on the west bank plateau.

At 6:30 a.m., the army first fired a group of field artillery to lure the Northeast Army's heavy artillery to return fire, so that after the target was discovered, it would be corrected to the target observed in the past, and then the Northeast Army artillery was bombarded with heavy artillery.

The field artillery of the second artillery group was bombarded by the group for an hour, and the artillery commanders could not see whether the artillery of the Northeast Army had fallen into the trap. By 7:30 a.m., another 30 minutes of lure bombardment had been carried out, but there was still no response from the artillery positions on the west bank. Rear Admiral Uchiyama waited impatiently, ordered the two artillery groups to attack and fire at full efficiency at 8 o'clock, and suggested that Lieutenant General Komatsubara order the infantry to attack at 10 o'clock in the afternoon. At 10 o'clock, the order of the division commander to attack reached the wings and even the brigades.

At 8 o'clock, all the artillery of the army fired at the same time, and the warheads of the heavy artillery wing with a caliber of 160 millimeters and a length of 60 centimeters flew from a position of more than 10 kilometers behind the infantry to the west bank of the Sangye River. Mountain artillery, mortars, and infantry artillery of various divisions and regiments also helped to fire at the same time. From the beginning of the war to the present, the army has never used such large-scale artillery, and this is also an unprecedented first time in the history of the army's warfare. Rear Admiral Uchiyama was able to command 338 field heavy guns and 472 field guns to fire at the same time, and his excitement can be imagined. It is said that the artillery positions of the army are in full swing, the men and horses are busy, the artillery shells on the positions are piled up, and the scorching shells that are rolling are shining yellow and shiny, and they are hot to the touch. The gunners, covered in sweat, shouted loudly as they pushed the shells into the chambers. On the platform on the west bank of the Sangye River, black smoke rose one after another, and the cars and armored vehicles on the slope of the west bank drove towards the back slope of the platform in groups, and there was a chaotic roar. From the observation balloon, the artillery of the Northeast Army has been eliminated at least 10 main positions so far; The artillery of the Northeast Army is being dragged by a tractor to change positions; The artillerymen of many artillery squadrons were beaten dumb and could not return fire. All in all, the results are significant.

Major General Uchiyama ordered: artillery fire was extended, and the shelling was extended by one hour, that is, the infantry charged at 11 o'clock.

10 a.m.; Several "woolly rhinoceros" heavy fighters of the Northeast Army flew at a low altitude and rushed straight to the various observation balloons of the Chinese army along the undulating ridge line of the sand dunes only a few meters above the ground. A machine gun fire, one after another balloons exploded in the sound of "bang bang", like huge fireballs, attached to the grassland, large pieces of debris flying in the air with smoke and fire. After the observation balloon exploded, the artillery officer suddenly became blind and stopped firing, and it was only after a long time that the artillery resumed spewing fire in the indirect observation calculations of the ground observation post. The artillery group fired for a whole day.

Tens of thousands of tons of steel poured on the artillery positions of the Northeast Army on the West Bank Plateau. The single consumption of ammunition is staggering in the history of military warfare. However, the artillery of the Northeast Army was not significantly weakened, and after noon, the artillery of the Northeast Army began to counterattack after moving to a new position. The shells were like pouring rain, and the more they hit, the more fierce they became, which made Major General Uchiyama extremely surprised, wondering how the Northeast Army had so many cannons, could it be that the artillery bombardment did not achieve the expected results? Judging from the artillery battles in one day, the Northeast Army's artillery firing capacity is at least four or five bases, and it can be inferred that the Northeast Army's ammunition reserves are quite sufficient, and the artillery can be good.

On this day, about 120 light and heavy bombers of the 2nd Flying Regiment of the 2nd Flying Regiment of the Chinese Army flew over the Sangye River in a group of 6, and more than l00 antiaircraft guns of the 6 antiaircraft artillery regiments on the ground of the Northeast Army rose up to meet the battle, and the blazing antiaircraft shells flew into the air, exuding tens of millions of white bullets. More than 100 Chinese planes also flew head-on, and the planes of both sides fought like shuttles over the Sangye River, and 34 planes of the 2nd Flying Regiment of the Japanese Army were shot down and fled in disarray.

Before the shelling that day, the infantry brigades of the army had received an order to attack 10 hours before noon. Later, Major General Uchiyama temporarily decided to extend the shelling for an hour, and the infantry sortie was changed to 11 o'clock, because of the fierce artillery battle between the two sides, the positions were littered with shells, the communication between the various wings and the major units was intermittent, and the telephone lines were blown to pieces. In order to repair, squads of telephone soldiers were killed, and some brigades lost contact with the wing from the very beginning of the shelling. Therefore, the order to extend the sortie for an hour, some infantry brigades and squadrons did not know.

At 10 o'clock, that is, when the artillery battle between the two sides was at a fever pitch, several of the main attacking troops of the Yue Army at the forefront jumped out of the trenches and shouted "Hurray!" "Charge to the positions of the Northeast Army on the shore. As a result, the charging infantry was not only subjected to artillery and machine-gun fire from the opposing Northeast Army, but was also bombarded by field artillery shells flying from their own rear. The 72nd Brigade of the 5th Infantry Wing charged to the death at 10 o'clock in the rain of shrapnel. At 10:30 a.m., when the army rushed to the position of the Northeast Army, there were only about 100 of the 1,000 people in the whole brigade. The Northeast Army is retreating. The L Brigade occupied its position, but was bombarded by its own rear artillery group, and almost the entire team was destroyed. He gritted his teeth and scolded Artillery Major General Uchiyama, vowing to send Uchiyama to the Military Law Council for trial. Rear Admiral Uchiyama never expected that his temporary motion in the shelling would be extended by one hour and would cause such great losses to the infantry. However, as the front-line commander of the general attack, Michitaro Komatsubara, could not temporarily change the orders given during the operation that had already begun, considering that communications might be cut off during the bombardment. Experienced commanders would not have agreed with the decision of Major General Uchiyama to extend the shelling for an hour. So, the responsibility lies primarily with Lieutenant General Komatsubara.

(To be continued)