By searching for and removing the detonating device, the Soviet sappers cleared a number of anti-tank mines. Less than the size of a canned box, the Chinese "canned" mine is terrifying, and when stepped on, it emits deadly shotguns. The "canned" type mine has a small hole in it, and before it is buried, the small hole is filled with a safety pin. Soviet sappers learned from the Germans the easy way of "disarming" such mines by inserting iron nails into small holes. Finally, every time a gap was opened, the Soviet sappers immediately decorated them with white bands and placed small orange-yellow and blue-green lights – signals to tanks and trucks without hindrance.

Despite the best efforts of the Soviet engineering units to clear many mines, thousands of booby traps and mines caused heavy casualties to the Soviet troops in the hours before dawn. Three trucks under the command of a detachment leader who was leading his troops were all blown up in eight minutes, and he miraculously survived, but the others fell forever, and the evil god of "canning" and a wide, black mine called "pineapple" blew them to pieces. A lethal 250-pound aerial bomb converted into a mine by the Chinese army turned a 30-man platoon of Soviet troops into a pile of mutilated pieces of meat in one fell swoop. There was a Soviet combat battalion of the "Dzerzhinsky Youth", and before dawn all seven of their pilots were killed or disabled by mines.

Even after the war, people often can't get rid of the surreal horrors in their minds: a dead Soviet communications officer who still keeps the telephone to his ear; another dead body with a cigar in one hand and a match in the other; a pale severed hand lost in the moonlight; An ambulance with its doors closed but bleeding outward. A German war correspondent, who stayed for only a few minutes at bandaging station No. 86 of the 11th field ambulance station of the Soviet Army, wrote afterwards: "In a small house, a doctor was removing an arm; In another room, where blood transfusions were being carried out, the wounded were lying on their backs, desperately groping for something on the three-legged table,...... Soldiers with faces like dirty cardboard slumped sideways on a bench. The doctors worked like exhausted butchers. ”

Due to the lack of mine detection devices, the progress of the Soviet troops gradually slowed down, almost as if they were crawling. Many detectors often failed, while others either broke or were destroyed in the fighting. The sappers had to search the sand with bayonets, while they used their hands and knees to detect mines by hearing, looking, and searching. Anxious emotions spread from one segment to another. The Soviets were concerned that they could clear the mines fast enough to allow the armoured forces to complete their mission by dawn — to open a gap 10 miles wide and 5 miles deep.

The answer was obvious, and the advancing Soviet armoured units struggled to break through the minefield, but were held back by the Chinese fire. Despite the unusually heavy artillery bombardment by the Soviets and the heroic plentiful assault of the infantry, the vast majority of the Chinese fortifications remained intact. At daybreak, the clusters of Soviet tanks in the northern sector could not move at all, they were huddled behind the infantry, the motors roared, and the water tanks were hot. One person described the scene as somewhat like "a chaotic parking lot in the middle of a dusty mountain valley when a massive track and field competition is being held." ”

Although the morale of the Soviet troops was still high, Hodt was still very demanding on them.

Throughout the morning of June 14, the soldiers were painfully moving forward yard by yard on the minefield, with the massive armored forces coming to a halt behind them. Holt remained at the headquarters, looking a little angry, and he gradually became suspicious of the heroism of his troops. He then ordered: regardless of whether the road was cleared or not, the armored forces immediately advanced.

The high command of the Soviet tank forces was deeply disturbed by this order. They feared that such a bold attack would lead only to heavy losses to the tank group, and that the troops would be threatened not only from undiscovered mines, but also from the anti-tank guns of the Chinese army. Lieutenant General Kuzya was simply stunned by Holt's decision. "I don't think the Germans understand how to fight with their armoured forces," he said, "and if you don't take advantage of the opportunity, you can't win." Tanks do not replace artillery. ”

From the night of the 14th to the early morning of the 15th, what Hort later called "the real emergency of the battle" came. At the urging of Hort, the Soviet tank cluster once again advanced a short distance under the cover of darkness. At about 10 o'clock, a wave of Chinese fighters violently bombarded several Soviet supply convoys. At that time, their convoy was crowded together, and under the blows of the Chinese army, one car after another was hit and caught fire, and soon, 25 burning trucks formed a bright orange fire curtain, and the sky-high fire reflected the entire sky. Taking the fire as the target, the Chinese army used field artillery, anti-tank guns, and even bombers without escort to bombard the Soviet tank clusters.

The Soviets came under direct fire from the powerful 120-millimeter cannons of the Chinese army. Major Rashkin witnessed the 27 tanks "burst into flames one after the other, as if someone were lighting a candle on a cake." He collapsed on the ground and began to weep bitterly.

Kuzya sent a hundred thousand urgent messages to Hoth. At 3:30 a.m. on June 15, in Hort's trailer, he listened quietly to Kuzya's statement. Kuzya believed that the campaign should be revoked; The few tank units that had already broken through the Chinese lines had to be withdrawn before dawn. Kuzya warned that on the other side of the front, facing them was the artillery cluster of the Chinese army.

Holt shook his head, his plan had to be carried out to the end, and retreat was simply impossible. If Kuzya and his men are unwilling to move forward, someone else will take their place.

At the beginning of the battle, the Chinese troops managed to prevent the Soviet offensive from developing into a large-scale breakthrough, however, Hort was unhurriedly eating away at Dongfang Bai's troops. Hult wasn't the type of person to get worried easily – however, he also had reasons to be anxious. His original intention was to completely devour Dongfang Bai's troops, but by the third day of the battle on June 16, the vast majority of his army had not yet achieved what he had originally hoped to accomplish in the eight-hour battle. He realized that unless new efforts were made to break the current stalemate, the Soviets might lose their fighting motivation and will to win. He locked himself in a trailer for most of the day – but when he resurfaced, a new plan was born.

So far, the Soviets have managed to break through the 5-mile minefield and most of the Chinese defenses in front of them, and are now penetrating deep into the Chinese army from the northeast. On the way forward, the Soviets also captured a commanding ground overlooking roads and railways. Hort was now considering assembling a large assault force to extend the Soviets' gains. If the Soviets could take that road, Dongfang Bai's military supply lines would be completely cut off. Hoult demanded that Rokossovsky move the exhausted Soviet troops out of the southern front for rest and replenishment, and they would take on the task of launching a new offensive.

Dongfang Bai was soberly aware of the dramatic success of the Soviet army, and he transferred an armored brigade as a reserve, and let it, together with the 41st Panzer Division, gallop 30 miles from the southern theater of operations to the northernmost section of the battle line. He understood that he had to crush the offensive launched by the Soviet troops there.

In Moscow, Stalin fell into a fog. When Hort pulled his troops out of the battlefield, the Soviet leader was extremely worried that Hort might abandon the attack. "What tricks is our German friend playing that he actually stopped fighting?" He questioned Zhukov. Stalin planned to send people from Moscow to Rokossovsky's headquarters to find out.

In fact, Hoult is further refining his battle plan. When he learned that Dongfang Bai was transferring the elite Zhong[***] team to the south road, he decided to shift the direction of the Soviet army's main attack to the north by 5 kilometers. The Soviets would remain on the northern flank for the offensive, but the main breakthrough of the 9th Army would be placed at the junction of the vulnerable Centrico-Centric [***] lines. Four kilometers away, along an area known as the Katya Trail, the Chinese army gathered a powerful field artillery unit. This was the main goal of the Soviet army. This offensive was to be carried out by the Soviet Army, which was joined by the "German Volunteers", the vanguard of which was part of the prestigious German 1st Panzer Division, whose commander Annis Brown. Major General Coxis was a battle-hardened veteran who left his mark in the battles of France, Greece and Crete. Also joining the attacking force were two Soviet infantry divisions. Hoult's plan was that when the battle began, the Soviets would first prepare for artillery fire, and the infantry units would then attack within 2,000 yards of the "Katya" trail, and then the 19th and 20th Panzer Divisions would cross the infantry units and cross the artillery positions of the Chinese army along the trail, completely breaking through their defensive lines, and it was appropriate to sweep the Chinese army away. Dongfang Bai's tank army will eventually be wiped out here - or so Hort hopes.

But the morale of the Soviet troops was plummeting at this time, and it was only after Rokossovsky harshly criticized Kuzya that the Soviet commanders accepted Hoth's assignment with a gloomy expression. At the following pre-war meeting, the commanders of the Red Army and battalion commanders made it clear that the combat missions assigned to them could lead to the loss of 50% of their forces. Coxis replied expressionlessly, "There is more than that, General Hoult has said that he is ready to suffer 100% losses." ”

At 1 a.m. on 18 June, the Soviets used 860 artillery pieces to simultaneously launch a fierce bombardment of the Chinese minefields on the side of the battle line.

At 5:30 a.m., the Soviet infantry reached their destination, and the tank group followed them closely, but this time was still a crucial half an hour behind the original plan, because they were blocked by mines and Chinese infantry on the way. Dongfang Bai quickly reacted to the Soviet shelling. He seized the time to build an anti-tank barrier, which was even more lethal than the field artillery group that the Soviet troops were originally prepared to deal with. At this time, the east began to show a slight white, and the lead-black outline of the Soviet army's vanguard tank unit was already in full view of the Chinese officers and men, who were waiting for heavy artillery on the other side of the "Katya" trail. As soon as the Soviet tanks drove into range, the Chinese anti-tank guns began to attack, and the Soviet tanks were hit by bullets one after another, and the gunners climbed out of the smoke-filled and blackened turrets, and rolled wildly on the sand, trying to extinguish the flames all over their bodies.

Both sides suffered heavy losses in this battle. Within an hour, 70 Soviet tanks were destroyed. Although the 507th Panzer Battalion of Kokschis had not yet completely broken through the Chinese positions, they did open a gap, and then two armored brigades of the Soviet 20th Panzer Division continued their attack. The Chinese army carried out a ferocious counterattack, and the Chinese tanks carried out counter-assaults on both sides, and it took all their efforts to contain the Soviet offensive.

The battle lasted most of the day. Before dusk, Dongfang Bai's troops had 135 tanks left. Although he still had more than 100 captured Soviet tanks in his hands, they were very weak. A grim and inescapable fact lay out to Dongfang Bai: his armored teaching cluster was facing extinction.

But on the second day, Yang Shuoming directly sent an order to Dongfang Bai: "As far as the situation you are in, there is no other way than to hold on, never lose an inch of land, and put every tank, every gun, and every soldier into battle...... Overcome a massive enemy with a strong will, as has happened more than once in history, and your troops will guide the enemy on their path to destruction. ”

The long hours of continuous combat coupled with the torture of illness had exhausted Dongfang Bai to the extreme, but this order made him jump up from the hospital bed.

He knew that these days of hard fighting and the sacrifices of the officers and men of the armored instructor had not been in vain.

Dongfang Bai's bold advance this time was a left hook from south to north, a short assault that lasted 15 to 20 days (in fact, it was nearly a month), and the goal was to cut into the rear of the Soviet army's battle line, cut off the main force in front of it and the supply line in the rear, and create conditions for the implementation of strategic encirclement in the campaign. In other words, what he originally did was a one-way trip, breaking through behind enemy lines, waiting for the main forces to meet, and he didn't plan to kill back at all!

The armored instructor is to strangle the noose of the Soviet army, and gradually choke the throat of the Soviets until they are hanged!

Yang Shuoming knew Dongfang Bai, so after knowing the situation, he would directly give such a stubborn order and let him wait to meet the main force.

And this order is tantamount to telling Dongfang Bai that his strategic intentions have been understood and implemented.

The iron tongs have begun to close.

Far away, there was a rolling torrent that swept across the land, and the Soviets were trying their best to attack the remaining troops of Dongfang Bai. However, they did not know that now they were afraid that they would not be able to fly. With the final offensive of the Soviet army, their final fate was sealed.

Cullen, "Eagle's Nest" command.

"I'm worried that Dongfang Bai won't be able to support them for too long." Jiang Baili said to Yang Shuoming, "According to the returning transport fleet, their ammunition is still insufficient, and the casualties are increasing." ”

"The encirclement has been closed. He should be able to survive these last few days. Yang Shuoming's gaze fell on the map table covered with dense symbols and weapon models, "Besides, as soon as we launch, the Soviets will find out that they have been fooled, and then they will just think about running for their lives and not care about him." ”

"Yes! This time it can be said that it was all in one battle. Jiang Baili thought of the encirclement and annihilation battle that was about to begin, and he could not suppress the excitement on his face when he had always been calm, "The main force of the Soviet army will cease to exist after this battle." ”

What is about to begin, after all, is the largest and unprecedented battle in Chinese history with the largest number of people participating in the battle.

"It is certain that the main force of the Soviet army was annihilated, but it is still too early to say that it was all done in one battle." Yang Shuoming shook his head, "Russia is different from the book, we can't take it lightly. ”

Listening to Yang Shuoming's words, Jiang Baili raised his eyebrows disappreciatively, but out of respect for Yang Shuoming, he didn't say anything.

"By the way, I heard that Zhaoguo is here this time?" Jiang Baili looked at Yang Shuoming, who was frowning, and seemed to be preoccupied, and couldn't help but ask.

"Here we are." Yang Shuoming glanced at Jiang Baili and replied lightly, "He took a fighter jet, and it is estimated that he has already reached the front line." ”

"What?" Listening to Yang Shuoming's answer, Jiang Baili couldn't help but be surprised, "What is this kid going to do?" ”

"He said he couldn't always stay in an ivory tower and went to the front line to experience life." Yang Shuoming's voice was still calm, as if he was saying something very ordinary, "He said that in such a war of national mobilization, there is no difference between the president's son and the son of ordinary people. ”

"Alas! These children today do not understand the thoughts of the old man at all. Jiang Baili remembered that his children had joined the army despite dissuasion, and couldn't help sighing.

"They'll understand in the future." Yang Shuoming diverted the topic and returned his gaze to the map.

"Army Group Northwest has moved north, but their strength is insufficient now," Jiang Baili said, "I estimate that Army Group North will outflank it in the south." ”

"It doesn't matter who arrives first, as long as you can tighten your pockets." Yang Shuoming said, "What I'm worried about now is that the Russians will find out in advance." ”

(To be continued)