In the valley that stretches northwest of the Balhu Left Banner, scattered with an army of more than 100,000 people of the Fourth Route Army, who have been here for more than a month, this is a mountainous area, and here to the north are stretching mountains, not only dense trees, but also extremely sparsely populated. However, a large number of plainclothes personnel were still scattered within a few dozen miles of the periphery of the troops to prevent Soviet spies from infiltrating.

It's already early November, in Laiyuan, the leaves have fallen off at this time, but here although the cold wind is howling, the temperature at night is already more than 20 degrees below zero, but the eyes are still full of green, the mountains here are full of coniferous trees, mainly Mongolian oak pine and sylvestris pine and low Yan pine, their leaves do not fall off in winter.

The Fourth Route Army had already changed into winter clothes a month earlier, and braziers had been raised in various tents. Because of the need for secrecy, the troops in the various valleys were exempted from training except for the necessary early training. This also makes this mountainous area, which is home to more than 100,000 people, very quiet.

Song Zhewu's headquarters was located in a sunny mountain col, and dozens of tents made this small mountain col seem a little crowded. In the largest tent in the middle, four pots of red charcoal fire made the tent warm like spring. Song Zhewu is holding a military conference at the moment, and the participants in the meeting are: Li Wentian, Mengxi, Zhang Yafei, Xu Fang, Zhao Fengwu, Han Guang, Mike, and there is another person, this person is Gao Zhihang.

Although Gao Zhihang can't be regarded as a member of the Fourth Route Army now, Song Zhewu is bound to Gao Zhihang, and he is now bent on Gao Zhihang as his chief of staff of the Air Force, and he also wants to tie Gao Zhihang to his Fourth Route Army as soon as possible.

Because this meeting was to discuss the plan for the upcoming battle against the Soviet army, Meng Xi, chief of operations, first introduced the situation of the enemy and us on the eastern front, especially on the front line of Manchuria on the western front.

According to the information provided by the Northeast Army, on September 17, the commander of the Soviet Far East Special Army, Bryucher, signed Order No. 14, ordering the Special Far East Army to be stationed in the border area in the autumn and winter, to make full combat preparations, and to end the battle before the Songhua River froze. Therefore, on the Eastern Front, under the commander-in-chief of the Chief of Staff of the Special Far Eastern Army, A.Я Lapin, they first occupied Fuyuan, as well as the Black Blind Island, which was under the jurisdiction of Fuyuan, and cut off the passage of Chinese ships through the main channel of the Heilongjiang River near Boli. ”

On October 11, the Soviet Army, led by the "Lenin", launched an attack on Tongjiang with four shallow-water heavy gunboats and several gunboats, three armored speedboats, one minelayer, two minesweepers, the 40th Air Group and the 68th Seaplane Air Brigade, in cooperation with the Amur Infantry Division. After two fierce battles, two gunboats and two armed steamers of the Northeast Army were sunk, the light river cruisers Jiangheng, Jiangping, Jiang'an, and Jiangtai were wounded, and one floating battery, one tugboat, and five barges loaded with military supplies were captured by the Soviets at the Tongjiang mooring. Only 1 Soviet warship was heavily damaged. The Northeast Army retreated along the river bank to Fujin upstream. At 1 p.m. that day, Soviet troops occupied Tongjiang. ”

"The Soviets did not take advantage of the victory to continue the large-scale offensive from the Eastern Front, but temporarily withdrew the troops occupying Tongjiang, which the commander believed was a reaction of the Soviets who wanted to further observe the attitude of the Nanking political axe and the authorities in the northeast and the international community; At the same time, it is diplomatically testing whether Nanjing will soften its stance. ”

Since the great powers only expressed their concern and did not make further moves, on October 30, the Soviet army began a large-scale attack on Fujin, and Soviet planes first bombed the Chinese Songhuajiang Fleet in Fujin, and the 9th and 7th Brigades of the defenders of the Northeast Army abandoned the city for fear of being surrounded. On November 1, the Soviet army entered the city. In this battle, 1 river cruiser, 1 gunboat, and 3 armed steamers of the Northeast Army were blown up, 300 officers and men were killed, and hundreds were wounded and captured. On the Soviet side, 3 people were killed and 11 wounded. After the battle, the Soviets blew up all military targets in Tongjiang and Fujin: forts, barracks, warehouses and radio stations, making it difficult for the Northeast Army to restore its combat capability in Tongjiang and Fujin for a considerable period of time. ”

For such a large-scale battle, the Soviet army only suffered less than 20 casualties, which surprised Zhang Yafei, Xu Fang, Zhao Fengwu, and Mike. Mike shook his head like a rattle and said, "No! no！ The combat effectiveness of the Soviet army was by no means so strong, otherwise they would not have suffered such a big loss in the war with the Allies in World War I. They were facing the army of two well-equipped brigades of the Northeast Army, and the Soviet army was the attacking side, and a big battle of tens of thousands of people could not have only less than 20 casualties in any case, and such casualties were even similar to a live-fire exercise, which must have been a mistake in the war report. ”

Song Zhewu smiled bitterly and said to Mike: "This is true, the battle report released by the Northeast Army is much better than this, but that one is fake." This telegram was sent to me by Zhang Xueliang himself, and I even called to confirm it. ”

For such a weak combat effectiveness of the Northeast Army, Gao Zhihang, who is now very much in the Northeast Army, feels very ashamed. Although he is not in the army, and he has not even joined the Northeast Army for a short time, he has long heard that although the Northeast Army is well-equipped, its combat effectiveness is not very strong. However, he still said with little confidence: "This must be those two brigades passively avoiding the battle." ”

Song Zhewu realized that Gao Zhihang, who was still nominally the Northeast Army, was a little embarrassed, and said to Mengxi: "Director Meng, continue to introduce the battle situation. ”

"The Soviet forces occupying Fujin had withdrawn to Boli on November 6, and there was no other fighting on the Eastern Front for the time being. The Northeast Army of the Western Front now has more than 26,000 troops stationed in Manchuria, Zhalainor, and Hailar, more than 80 75mm mountain artillery, 3 armored trains, and 5 aircraft. In addition, the Northeast Army built a vast fortification belt in Manchuria and Zhainuoer, and established counterattack points in the fortified belt, each of which had many firepower points, bomb shelters and bunkers with permanent surnames, and connected these fire points, bomb shelters and bunkers into a complete defense system through trenches and channels. Bomb shelters and bunkers are covered with railroad rails and covered with soil or stones, which are very strong. These fortifications were supplemented by anti-tank trenches 4 metres wide, with mines and obstacles. It should be said that the defense measures are very complete. ”

"The troops of the Western Front of the Soviet Army are mixed with the troops of the Far Eastern Special Army and the Transbaikal Military District to form the Transbaikal Army Cluster, which is under the command of the commander of the Far Eastern Special Army, and is commanded by General Vostrezov, and the headquarters and airfield are located in the vicinity of the Dauri station opposite Manchuria, and the specific forces include: the 21st, 35th, and 36th Infantry Divisions, the 5th Reading Cavalry Brigade, the Reading Briat-Mongolian Cavalry Division, and the Heavy Artillery Division. In addition, there are the 18th Reading Engineer Battalion, 1 battalion of the 9th Railway Corps, 1 tank regiment, 1 armored battalion, the 26th Air Brigade, and the 6th and 25th Aviation Squadrons. The total strength is about 40,000 people, and about 32,000 troops can be used in the front line. The exact number of heavy guns of 105mm caliber and above is unknown, but it will not be less than 50 guns, 3 armored trains, 36 tanks, and 32 aircraft. ”

After Mengxi introduced the situation, Li Wentian, who presided over the meeting, said: "This is the situation, the total strength of the Soviet army's east and west fronts is about 100,000 or more, divided into two clusters in the east and west, and its middle cluster is divided into two small clusters, Suifenhe and Boli. On the Western Front, although we did not have planes, tanks and heavy artillery, we were three times the number of Soviet troops, and it was not difficult to defeat them, of course, it was inevitable to pay heavy casualties. However, if you want to completely annihilate the more than 40,000 Soviet troops on the Western Front, it will be quite difficult. ”

"The Soviet army has built a large number of permanent fortifications with the Dawuli station as the core, and if we take the initiative to attack the Soviet troops opposite Manchuria, under the blow of their aircraft and heavy artillery, even if we win, we will inevitably suffer heavy casualties. And the fighting must end in four days. ”

"The two clusters of the Soviet army in the east and west are 2,000 kilometers apart, and if the two places need to rescue each other, it will take more than four days to take a train at the earliest. If we were to completely annihilate the Soviet army on the Western Front, we would only be given four days, and this was not counting the time for our exhausted divisions to leave the battle after the victory. Otherwise, we will be bitten by the Soviet troops who come to our aid, and we will suffer a big loss. It is even very likely that we will not be able to destroy the Soviet troops on the Western Front within four days, and in the end we will be attacked by the Soviet troops and the Soviet troops on the Western Front and the Manchuria area. ”

"For the above reasons, we could not take the initiative to attack the Soviet troops in the Veliya Uri area, which is why we were here to cover and wait for a month. Our plan was to wait until the Soviet troops on the Western Front began to attack Manchuria, and then make a surprise attack to concentrate the main Soviet forces in the field. Therefore, in accordance with this guiding principle, we have developed two sets of operational plans. Next, the director of the War Division will introduce the battle plan to you. ”

Mengxi took out the battle plan from his wallet and walked to the hanging military map of the Manchuria area, pointed to the map and said: "The first set of battle plans is to assume that the Soviet army will attack Manchuria on a large scale with the main force, and once the Soviet army launches an attack, we will form the first group with the first and second regiments of the supplementary first division, the artillery regiment, the reconnaissance battalion, the guard battalion, the communications battalion and the first and second regiments of the cavalry brigade of the supplementary first division, totaling more than 28,000 people. Xu Fang, commander of the 1st Supplementary Division, was the commander-in-chief of the 1st Group, which crossed the border west of Hulun Lake within two days, inserted itself into the rear of Dawuli, blocked the railway from Manchuria to Chita, and blocked any Soviet troops that came to help. At the same time, the main forces swept the command structure of the Soviet troops in the Veliko Uri area from behind, destroying its airfields and logistical structures. ”

"The second group is composed of the second supplementary division, the remaining troops of the supplementary first division, and the remaining troops of the cavalry brigade, with a total of more than 60,000 people. Deputy Chief of Staff Li served as the commander-in-chief of the Second Group, and within two days of the Soviet army starting to attack Manchuria, it surrounded the Soviet army attacking Manchuria; The Third Group, consisting of all the troops of the 1st Division, with a total of more than 35,000 men, was the main strike group, and after the battle began, it quickly rushed to Yimin and took a train to Manchuria via Hailar to join the battle. Since the second group's largest caliber mortar is only 82mm, there is no mountain artillery, and it lacks heavy weapons to attack the fortified positions, after encircling the main force of the Soviet army, it can not attack, just encircle the Soviet army, and then destroy the Soviet army after the first division arrives. ”

(To be continued)