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Chapter 1623 Fierce battle under the rain curtain

At nine o'clock on the morning of the 14th, in the midst of strong winds and pouring rain, the main force of Hu Jiyang's corps entered Almaty. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

As experienced by the vanguard last night, there was not a single person in the entire city of Almaty, not even cats, sheep, cats and dogs, mice, cockroaches, ants and other living creatures, and all the houses were empty and lifeless.

Hu Jiyang set up his headquarters in the former city hall in the center of the city, and immediately sent troops to the thermal power plant and major factories and enterprises. With a steady stream of coal being fed into the turbine boilers, the main blocks of Almaty were able to restore electricity.

At noon, the 1st Division and 1st Brigade of Xiao Wu's Corps, which were stationed at the Shawkpal Pass, also entered Almaty smoothly.

So many people disappeared inexplicably, and everyone felt inexplicable. In order to prove his innocence, Hu Jiyang specially assigned a camera team under the Political Department of the Corps to faithfully record everything that happened after entering the city, proving that all the problems here were caused by the Soviet army. As for the specific reason for the disappearance of all the residents, although everyone had the answer in their hearts, no one said it, after all, there is no evidence now, and no one would believe that such a sensational thing could happen.

In view of the fact that the once prosperous Almaty had become an empty city, Hu Jiyang and Liu Yu jointly sent a request to the Theater Command and the South China Headquarters to send immigrants from other places to Almaty as soon as possible.

In later generations, Almaty was able to develop into the largest city in Central Asia with a population of more than 2 million, and there was a natural reason for it. Located on the ancient Silk Road, the city became a transportation hub in the thirties after the Central Asian Railway, the Caspian Railway and the Near Eastern Railway were connected. Due to the irrigation of the numerous mountain streams in the Transalai Mountains, the land in the area is fertile, and in addition to the production of cereals, the southern suburbs of the city are full of orchards, and the dense pastures on the nearby mountains are uniquely blessed with the development of animal husbandry, and there is no problem at all in arranging two or three hundred thousand immigrants.

The command of the corps on the Eastern Front, a military meeting is underway.

"Judging from the current situation, the southward movement of the Soviet army is already a sure thing. To the south of Almaty, across the Alatau Mountains and the Broken Leaf Lake, the Soviet troops had to march eastward to retreat south, detour to the Gilgaland Pass, follow the plain area along the Broken Leaf Lake to Naryn, and then join the rest of the Soviet army in the Zaral Abad area. The General Staff suggested that our troops continue to the south, squeeze the living space of the Soviet troops, and force them to accelerate their escape to the south. ”

Liu Yu held the message and stood in front of the map, his baton constantly moving his position.

"But the weather—"

Hu Jiyang stood up from the presiding position, came to the window, pushed open the window, and suddenly the sound of "whooshing" rain came, because the wind was very strong, several generals sitting at the conference table four or five meters away felt the invasion of the rain.

Hu Jiyang closed the window and returned to his seat: "Now we can only wait for the rain to stop before deciding on the next move, the plateau area here is a geologically unstable zone, earthquakes and mudslides are frequent, we have to think about the safety of our officers and soldiers." ”

Wang Yu, the commander of the guard army directly under the legion, frowned slightly: "According to the feedback from the scouts, the Gilgaland Pass garrisoned by the Soviet army is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and now that the weather is bad, the Soviet army may not be able to think that we will attack, or under the cover of the rain curtain, we can take it without much effort." If we wait for the weather to improve before attacking, I fear that there will be huge casualties. ”

Hu Jiyang asked in surprise: "Is the terrain of that mountain pass very dangerous?" ”

Wang Yu nodded: "The Gilgaland Pass belongs to the most important artery of the Alai Mountains, the Soviet army is condescending, although most of the fortifications are civil structures, built on the mountain, but the shooting range is extremely wide, our army is in a situation of attacking from the back, if we don't think of another way, it will be extremely difficult." ”

At this time, Hu Jiqin hesitated, and Li Xiao, the commander of the Tenth Group Army, stood up and said: "The first few times it was the mechanized troops of the Guard Army who took the lead, and now it's our infantry's turn to perform!" How about letting the 30th Division, which has always been the reserve of the corps, go up and break through? ”

Hu Jiyang and Liu Yu discussed in a low voice and agreed to Li Xiao's request, but asked the commander of the 30th Division to pay close attention to changes in the surrounding environment, and if a mudslide is discovered, he should immediately avoid it, and never allow the situation of disregarding the lives of officers and soldiers for the sake of grabbing merit.

......

Faizabad, located west of the Pench River in northwestern Afghanistan, is the capital of Badakhshan province.

In fact, it is the political, economic and cultural center of a province, but in reality, this so-called capital city is about the same size as a small county town in China at this time, with two or three hundred Islamic-style tulou, plus many wooden shanty houses, and then surrounded by a circle of adobe bricks, it is a city. But in this barren land, Faizabad is truly one of the largest cities in northwestern Afghanistan, and several tributaries of the Penchi River flow through the eastern and northern parts of the city, bringing some greenery and vitality to the cities in the wild land.

Located at the intersection of western and northwestern India (at this time Pakistan was not separated from India), Xinjiang and Tibet in China, and Central Asia in the Soviet Union, it has long been an important trading hub, and as long as it is not covered by heavy snowfall, the city is full of merchants from India, China, Iran, Russia and Afghanistan trading everything from Chinese tea and silk to small Russian handicrafts and metal tools.

Although it is said that the city has long changed owners, from this bustling street, it is not at all clear that this small city has experienced the baptism of war, and the business travel is still endless, giving the prosperous world a little comfort like a lost dog.

After Sheng Shicai led his troops into Afghanistan from Ishkassim and the Wakhan Corridor, he was met with frantic resistance from nearby tribes, and the other party once gathered an army of 50,000 and constantly attacked Sheng Shicai's march route. After more than two months of campaigning, after destroying five tribes and gaining the allegiance of three tribes, he finally gained a firm foothold in this area.

Subsequently, the Soviet army continued to enter Afghanistan, and now the total number of Xinjiang troops has reached 170,000, and the Afghan government, frightened, asked the British for help, while hoarding heavy troops in the Hinduku Mountains north of Kabul, to prevent Sheng Shicai from leading his troops south. Sheng Shicai, on the other hand, sent troops to purge the tribes that opposed him in the surrounding areas of Badakhshan Province, preparing to build the area into a consolidated base area.

North of Faizabad.

In the operational command room of a small two-story building on the site of a middle school built by the British, Sheng Shicai was reading Cui Kev's call, and the more he looked at it, the more annoyed he became, and his face turned red.

Chuikov asked Sheng Shicai to quickly raise the food and grass needed for 400,000 men for a month, and when the army had moved south to converge, it would move westward along the area south of the northern border line of Afghanistan into Iran, and then return to the Soviet Union from the lowlands along the Caspian coast. And the current situation is that Afghanistan is barren, and Sheng Shicai can't even meet the grain and grass in his headquarters, let alone reserve so much grain and grass.

Sheng Shicai was accustomed to being the king of Xinjiang, and he was very unwilling to leave Xinjiang under the strong drive of Cui Kev, and now he wants to let him give up everything and follow the Soviet army to the Soviet Union, which is completely unacceptable to him. Although under the high pressure of the Soviet army, Sheng Shicai cannot return to Xinjiang for the time being, as long as the Soviet army leaves, when the international situation changes greatly, there may not be any hope of returning to Xinjiang, and then sit on Xinjiang and Afghanistan, wouldn't it be happy?

Sheng Shicai put down the telegram, shook his head slightly, and the anger on his face quickly disappeared. He knew that now was not the time to turn his face with Chuikov, his 100,000 Xinjiang army, only less than 50,000 could really be mastered, and most of the rest were led by the backbone of the Central Asian Red Army, and he was now methodically sending those uncontrolled troops out to fight, anyway, the commanders and political cadres of the Red Army often rushed to the front during battles, and the death rate was very high.

After getting up and looking at the map of Afghanistan for a long time, Sheng Shicai strode to the telephone, shook the phone of Ivan, the commander of the Soviet army stationed in the town of Rustak, more than 30 kilometers west of the city of Faizabad, and relayed Chuikov's order, calling for an all-out attack to the west at all costs, on the one hand to collect grain and grass, and on the other hand to open a road for the troops to advance westward.

Sheng Shicai made specific demands that all recalcitrant tribes be exterminated, the policy implemented in Jiangxi should be implemented, the local tyrants and inferior gentry should be cracked down, the land should be distributed equally, the property of Islamic temples should be confiscated, a Soviet government should be created, and reactionary elements should be paraded and criticized. Sheng Shicai specifically pointed out that confiscated grain and property must be handed over, and that internal affairs personnel and political work cadres in the army must strictly enforce military law and severely deal with those who possess them.

After making the call, a grim smile appeared on Sheng Shicai's face.

The wealth of the Afghan tribes is far beyond expectations. Although Afghanistan is a country with barren land and not rich in products, it has accumulated amazing wealth for thousands of years due to its long-term location on the east-west transportation arteries and the development of commerce and trade. In addition, since Ahmed. After the Shah unified Afghanistan, he invaded India several times, plundered a lot of wealth, and followed Ahmed. Which of the Afghan tribes that Shah went out with was not fully loaded? Later, although the dynasty changed several times and the country gradually withered, the strength of the tribe did not lose much.

Taking this battle into Badakhshan as an example, from the five tribes that were exterminated, Sheng Shicai obtained a total of more than 3,000 kilograms of gold, more than 6,000 kilograms of silver, plus countless jewels and jade antiques. These belongings were secretly collected by Sheng Shicai and used as military funds for the development of the Soviet army after it went west in the future.

And so much wealth is only the harvest of a province, it is hard to imagine how much will be gained if all those tribes on the way west are wiped out.

Thinking of this, Sheng Shicai made a few more phone calls one after another, recruiting henchmen for secret business.

......

Tatarsk, an important city on the Trans-Siberian Railway, was hit by continuous heavy winds and rains, combined with frequent thunderstorms, which brought the Japanese offensive to a standstill.

However, when the Soviet intelligence agencies received accurate information that the factories and enterprises of Western Siberia were urgently moving to Central Asia, and that the city of Tatarsk had only eight divisions of the two armies of the Anjia Army, the Japanese base camp did not care about the actual situation on the front line and issued an order for the armies to continue the offensive.

For two days and two nights, the two sides engaged in a fierce offensive and defensive battle. By the 14th, the ammunition reserves of the artillery units were less than three bases, and due to the extremely bad weather, the airships could not be replenished, and the situation of the battle took a sharp turn for the worse.

On the afternoon of the 14th, the Japanese launched a new round of attack.

First of all, there was still no new artillery suppression, the Japanese concentrated more than 400 artillery pieces to carry out an artillery bombardment for half an hour, under the ravages of continuous artillery fire, the trees and weeds in front of the Anjia army's position have long disappeared from the ground, only the black tree trunks stand there, the trenches between the bunkers, and the communication trenches leading to the rear, most of them have been razed to the ground, and the surface of the exposed concrete blocks has been blown into potholes.

After the artillery fire stopped, the Japanese army dispatched a large number of infantry, and launched a new round of attacks under the cover of the Type 97 medium tanks newly transferred to Siberia to fight.

Dressed in khaki uniforms and already soaked all over their bodies, the Japanese troops, like ants moving densely, launched a full-front assault from a front more than 10 kilometers long from the north and south, in a vain attempt to break through the defense line held by the Seventh Army of the Anjia Army in one fell swoop, and then break into the city of Tatarsk in one fell swoop.

When the advance of the Japanese army advanced to less than 100 meters away from the front-line position of the Anjia Army, there was still no movement on the position of the Anjia Army.

The commander of the First Army, Kiyoji Kazuki, who was in charge of the attack on the northern front, was wearing a raincoat and was in his heart after seeing the situation of the position of the Anjia Army through the lens of the telescope that was soaked in the rain. But he knew that now was not the time to retreat, whether it was to provide a dry resting place for his troops after the capture of Tatarsk, to avoid non-combat attrition of the troops, or for the sake of what the Japanese would need to achieve after advancing into Siberia, he had to give the order to charge.

The Type 97 medium tank, which had just been introduced last year, roared and began to accelerate, and the infantry swarmed up, ready to break through the defense line of the An Jia army in one fell swoop.

At this time, in front of them were a steep slope of more than 70 degrees of elevation made of concrete, and the tanks could not continue to advance, so they had to reverse and retreat to give way to the infantry. The ghost soldiers, who had been prepared for a long time, quickly carried the ladders from behind and prepared to climb the slope.

At this time, the gunfire on the position of the An Jiajun was loud, and the general-purpose machine gun sprayed tongues of fire from the concrete bunker, intertwined into a deadly fire net, mercilessly harvesting the lives of the devils.

The location of these bunkers, carefully calculated by the engineering experts of the Far Eastern Army, almost no dead spots for shooting, An Jiajun hid in them, operated machine guns, and attacked devils as they wanted. At the same time, countless figures jumped up from the trenches and struggled to drop their grenades down the steep slope, where a large group of devil soldiers gathered together, while the Japanese Type 95 medium tanks that were on cover had retreated to the rear.

The grenades exploded in the middle of the Japanese group, setting up a mist of blood in the sky, and before the Japanese who had been lucky enough to escape the attack had time to rejoice, more grenades fell from the sky, enveloping them in flames, and dozens of Japanese medium tanks behind bombarded the defenders' positions with machine guns and tank guns in order to save the lives of the infantry.

The 88 antiaircraft guns of the air defense units of the Seventh Army and the rocket launchers equipped by the infantry did not show weakness in launching a counterattack, destroying more than a dozen Type 97 medium tanks with armor thickness of 25 mm in succession.

Seeing his soldiers slaughtered, Kazuki Kiyoji was shocked and angry, and in order to save the front-line troops, he ordered the artillery to suppress the artillery again, covering the position of the Anjia army with dense shells to cover the retreat of the attacking troops.

The bombardment of the Japanese artillery was extremely accurate, and the exposed fire points and bunkers on the positions of the Anjia Army were immediately drowned in the Japanese artillery fire, and the rain of bullets fired at the devils appeared to stagnate for a short time.

The ghost soldiers who survived hurriedly got up from the ground and ran back lifelessly, but An Jiajun did not let them go. During this period of infantry attack, one cannon after another had been pushed out of the rain-proof bunker, quickly locking on to the target and intercepting the retreating Japanese troops.

More than 40 120mm and 150mm caliber heavy guns opened fire at the same time, and with the earth-shattering sound of explosion, huge smoke rose in the middle of the positions of the two sides, and the flames of explosions flashed from time to time in the middle, and the flying shrapnel cut the Japanese troops who tried to flee back into pieces.

Of the six infantry wings that the Japanese had put into attack, less than 20 percent of the soldiers returned to their starting positions, and nearly a third of those killed were not found intact. And the losses of the An Jia army were minimal, only a few hundred soldiers were killed in the enemy's shelling.

In the early morning of 15 August, in the drizzle that was still falling, the Japanese attack troops silently advanced to a distance of more than 100 meters from the Anjia Army's defense line in the darkest period before dawn and lurked down, waiting for the order to attack.

The commander of the First Army, Kiyoji Kazuki, and the commander of the Third Army, Shunroku Hatata, carefully planned to focus the attack on the whole front in order to concentrate their forces more, and carefully selected areas that either had a small slope at the front of the defenders' positions or were seriously damaged in the previous day's battle.

At six o'clock in the morning Siberian time, the Japanese commander gave an order, and the devil soldiers who had been dormant for a long time jumped up one after another, shouting and rushing towards the position of the An Jia army.

In order to increase the suddenness of the attack, the Japanese not only omitted the artillery bombardment before the attack, but also did not send tanks to cover it, and planned to use the agility of the infantry and the high speed of the impact to catch the Anjia army by surprise and break through the position in one fell swoop.

The Japanese army's various measures obviously achieved good results, and its attacking troops rushed out of a few dozen meters before encountering resistance from the Anjia army, and only some of the firing points reacted in time, unable to form a cross-fire network to stop the Japanese advance.

When the forward of the devil rushed through the last few tens of meters, most of the firepower points of the An Jiajun began to shoot, and the soldiers of the An Jiajun who were sheltering from the rain and resting in the hidden soldier cave were awakened by the fierce gunfire and rushed out one after another, rushing out and rushing towards the traffic ditch, but it was too late. After the devils in front had already rushed into the trench, they quickly broke through along the trench to both ends under the cover of machine-gun fire, and threw grenades into the firing holes when they encountered the bunker, so that the fire network that had just formed was once again notched. The follow-up troops of the devils are constantly rushing up, and the situation is precarious!

The officers and men of the 20th and 21st Divisions of the Seventh Group Army of the Anjia Army, who reacted, did not flinch, and used semi-automatic rifles, automatic rifles, submachine guns, and grenades to start a trench battle with the devil soldiers, and no matter how the enemy attacked, they would never take a step back.

Relying on the superiority in troops, the Japanese army, with the help of light and heavy machine guns and grenadiers, made multiple breakthroughs, quickly divided the various units of the Anjia Army, and then advanced one by one in bunkers and trenches.

After receiving an urgent report from the front, Kiyoji Kazuki and Shunroku Hata did not hesitate to join the reserves, and continuously sent fresh troops to the front. Although the An Jiajun used the advantage of melee weapons to greatly kill and injure the Japanese army, it was quickly unable to support it in the face of superior forces, and the defense line was crumbling!

After receiving the report, Hu Jialin's face changed drastically, and he did not hesitate to order Dong Jinming's First Group Army, which had arrived on the night of the 12th and was the main force and general reserve of the city defense, to send artillery to assist the artillery unit of the Seventh Army in intercepting the follow-up forces of the Japanese army, and then ordered He Yifei, commander of the Seventh Group Army, to quickly dispatch the reserve to expel the devils from the front.

At this time, many sections of the front-line positions had been lost, and some devils who were eager to make meritorious contributions even began to attack in depth.

Fortunately, at this time, the artillery of the Anjia Army joined the battle in time, and the continuous shelling soon formed a separation zone nearly two hundred meters wide in the middle of the battlefield, blocking the follow-up troops of the Japanese army on the other side. The Guard Division and the 19th Division of the 7th Army, which arrived as reserves, joined up with the officers and men of the 20th and 21st Divisions on the defensive line, a total of four divisions, and launched a battle with the Japanese army, fighting for every trench and every bunker.

Because the follow-up troops of the devils could not come up, in the face of the gradually increasing squadrons, the Japanese had to huddle around those newly occupied bunkers, stubbornly resisted, and waited for support from the rear, but in the face of the superior firepower of the Anjia Army concentrated the heavy artillery of the two group armies for bombardment, the reinforcements could not come up for a long time, and they suffered heavy losses, and the defensive circle became smaller and smaller.

Seeing that the victory of the hand was about to be lost, Kiyoji Kazuki and Shunroku Hata were about to go crazy, and while ordering the artillery to suppress the artillery fire of the Anjia army, they dispatched tanks to cover the troops blocked by the artillery fire to quickly pass through the separation zone and reinforce the front line.

Under the counterattack of the Japanese artillery, the artillery bombardment of the Anjia army, which began to have problems with the supply of ammunition, began to weaken, and the barrage formed by the continuous shelling also appeared a gap.

At this moment, if the squadron can destroy the remnants of the enemy before the Japanese follow-up troops come up, it can still ensure that the defensive line is not lost, otherwise the chances will become slim, and they will have to retreat to Tatarsk City, and together with the First Army, they will fight for the advancing Japanese army street by street.

Submachine guns, automatic rifles, and semi-automatic rifles opened fire one after another, and the bazookas were aimed at the Japanese machine-gun positions and bombarded, and the soldiers in front fell, and the soldiers in the back immediately followed, using the most primitive tactics of the sea of people to open a gap in the defense line formed by the remnants of the Japanese army, and then had a hand-to-hand white-knuckle battle with the devils. In the face of absolute superiority in troops, the Japanese troops who broke through to our positions were finally completely wiped out.

After clearing the defensive line, the officers and men of the Anjia Army rushed forward against the follow-up troops of the Japanese army without stopping, and for a while, the shouts of killing resounded in the sky. The officers and soldiers of China and Japan fought together, and although dozens or even hundreds of people fell every second, no one took half a step back, and the follow-up troops of both sides continued to join the battle group.

With the passage of time, the balance of the war gradually tilted in favor of the Anjia army, because the Anjia army not only had an advantage in weapons, but also because of the close distance, the rear troops could arrive quickly, and finally gradually occupied an advantage in terms of troops, and after an hour of fierce fighting, the Japanese army finally could not support it and retreated.