Volume 1: Inner Mongolia Fengyun] Chapter 580: The Digging Pit of the Eastern Crusade -

Chapter 580: The Digging of the Eastern Crusade

The Northeast People's Liberation Army is serious this time, and it is enough to hide and pretend to be a grandson once. The defenders of the first line of Baicheng and Yaonan did not expect that the Chinese army, which was still like a mouse a few days ago, would suddenly seem to have changed a unit, and the spirit looked like a chicken blood, and the weapons and equipment were all replaced with temporary new standard weapons, and the Japanese veterans who participated in the 39-year Nomenkan battle could see at a glance that the team was basically Soviet stuff except for the military uniforms and flags on their bodies that were different from the Soviets.

Within two days, by 6 o'clock in the afternoon of the 15th, the Japanese troops on the Baicheng, Yaonan, Tailai, Sheli, Shuanggang, and Tongyu lines collapsed, and more than 12,000 Japanese troops were killed and captured by Lu Zhengcao's headquarters, but there was no complete formation above the brigade and regiment, although a major general and two large generals were killed, but there was no total annihilation of the Japanese army's brigade and regiment-level troops, which has to be said to be a pity.

After dealing with the Japanese troops on the front line of Baicheng, Lu Zhengcao's headquarters quickly assaulted, and the whole army rushed towards the Songyuan area. With the addition of this group of new forces, the 83rd Division of the Japanese Army stationed in the Songyuan area was soon in danger under the attack of the squadron from east to west. In desperation, General Yamada Otozo sent more than 200 fighters to cover the breakthrough of the 83rd Division at 2 pm on the 17th.

Originally, according to the judgment of General Yamada Otozo, after breaking through the defenses in the Songyuan area, the team should go all out to attack Changchun in the south or attack Harbin in the north. However, to the surprise of General Yamada Otosan, Lu Zhengcao's department actually opened the way with cavalry troops and attacked eastward with all his might. And the speed is so amazing that it seems that these people don't need to rest at all.

Just when General Yamada was wondering what Lu Zhengcao's department was going to do, Han Yunhua received a telegram from Moscow. The telegram was sent by Stalin himself, and there was only one message, that is, the great victory of the Soviets in the Battle of Stalingrad.

On 14 April, Paulus, commander-in-chief of the German Field Marshal of the Sixth Army, sent a final telegram to the German headquarters: "The Sixth Army, faithful to its oath and aware of its extremely important mission, has steadfastly held its post for the sake of the Führer and the Fatherland, and has fought to the last soldier and shot at every shot." Just when Hitler was convinced that Paulus would lead the Sixth Army to fight until the last moment or commit suicide, when the Soviets stormed the German headquarters in a department store, Paulus chose to surrender.

On April 16, 1942, the remnants of the 11th Army, besieged north of Stalingrad, also announced their surrender. At this point, the Battle of Stalingrad ended. Field Marshal Paulus, commander of the German 6th Army, Lieutenant General Pfefer, commander of the 4th Infantry Army, Lieutenant General Kurzbach, commander of the 51st Army, Major General Kolfes, commander of the 295th Division, and other 23 generals, 2,000 officers below the rank of colonel and 164,000 German soldiers who were extremely hungry and tired were captured, and about 170,000 people died, and only more than 30,000 wounded patients were evacuated by air in advance.

After reading this telegram, Han Yunhua's thoughts came and went, and this telegram had almost no similarities except that the result of the final battle was the same as in history. Historically, the German army surrendered to the Soviet army on February 2, 1943, a full 10 months earlier than in history. In addition, the Germans suffered much greater losses than in history, with the number of prisoners falling from 91,000 to 164,000, and the death toll from 140,000 to 170,000.

At this moment, Han Yunhua really felt the change of history, and his little butterfly finally blew a typhoon that swept through history.

No matter how you look at it, the Battle of Stalingrad is one of the most tragic battles in World War II and even in the history of human warfare. The entire campaign lasted almost 7 months. Due to the scale of the battle, the number of casualties could not be accurately counted, but both sides committed almost all the mobile forces they could. Even in the final stage of the campaign, the Germans still dealt a heavy blow to the Soviet army, and at the same time, the Soviet army almost wiped out all of the German 6th Army, including the 3rd, 29th, and 60th motorized infantry divisions, the 14th, 16th, and 24th armored divisions, the 44th, 71st, 76th, 79th, 94th, 100th, 113th, 295th, 297th, 305th, 371st, 376th, 384th, and 389th infantry divisions, and the 9th anti-aircraft artillery division. In addition, a large number of directly subordinate units, including the 51st and 53rd Mortar Regiments, the 2nd and 30th Smoke Launcher Regiments, the 4th, 46th, 64th, and 70th Artillery Regiments, the 54th, 616th, 627th, and 849th Artillery Battalions, the 49th, 101st, and 733rd Heavy Artillery Battalions, and the 6th and 41st Light Engineer Battalions, were eliminated under the 6th Army.

In any case, the Battle of Stalingrad was still a victory for the Allies, and Han Yunhua was extremely happy at this time. The defeat of Japan at Midway, the turning point of the entire Pacific theater, the defeat of Germany at Stalingrad, and the turning point of the European theater will continue at this momentum, and the defeat of the Axis powers will be greatly advanced. The Battle of Stalingrad was far more significant than the Battle of Midway, in which the Axis suffered 1.5 million casualties, resulting in the loss of 25 percent of the Germans on the southern flank of the Eastern Front in the Battle of Stalingrad. After the Battle of Stalingrad, the German army completely lost the strategic initiative on the Soviet-German battlefield, as the Chief of the General Staff of the German Army, General Zeitzler, said: "Our loss of 250,000 officers and soldiers in Stalingrad is equivalent to breaking our backbone on the entire Eastern Front." ”

If we look at the number of soldiers lost alone, it seems that the Germans did not suffer a loss, because while the Germans were severely damaged by the Soviets, the Soviets also paid a heavy price, and the specific number of Soviet casualties was: 474871 killed, 650,878 wounded or captured, a total of 1,129,619 casualties. In this battle, the losses of the Soviet army still exceeded that of the German army, but the difference was that the German army was wiped out by the whole organization, its combat effectiveness ceased to exist, and the new troops could not form combat effectiveness without a period of training. And the remnants of the Soviet army replenish the new recruits, with the old leading the new, can quickly form combat effectiveness. Moreover, it was difficult to replenish the personnel and materials of the German army, and the speed and quantity of the replenishment of the Soviet army far exceeded that of Germany. Germany's strength weakened as a result.

At the same time, Han Yunhua also suggested to Stalin that the Soviet army should continue to develop its offensive in the direction of the upper reaches of the Don River and Kursk, but not to the Kharkiv region. In addition, the Soviet Union should do its best to save the citizens of Leningrad, because the reconquest of this Soviet city, which had been held for more than 900 days, would certainly greatly boost the morale of the Soviet military and civilians. At the same time, the USSR should attack in the direction of the Caucasus, in anticipation of the recovery of the entire Caucasus.

These are some things that Han Yunhua knows about the Soviet-German war, but since he did not pay special attention to the Soviet-German war, a lot of information has been forgotten, and there is only one suggestion for Stalin. Han Yunhua knew that after the Battle of Stalingrad, the Soviet army's offensive operation in the Kharkiv region failed, and several group armies were completely annihilated, but Han Yunhua did not say this to Stalin, anyway, even if he said it, Stalin did not believe it.

However, Han Yunhua clearly remembered that in the near future, the largest decisive battle in the history of World War II and the largest tank battle in history will break out in the Kursk region of the Soviet Union. Therefore, at the end of the telegram, Han Yunhua specially reminded Stalin to pay attention to the collection of information about this area and the reserve of armored forces, in fact, even if Han Yunhua did not remind him, the Soviet army would have obtained accurate information before the battle.

Han Yunhua ... [This chapter is not finished, please click on the next page to continue reading!] ］