Just after Stalin's order was given, the reality began to spread gradually, and in the face of the facts, the empty talk on the drawings seemed too pale.

Beginning at dawn on 7 April, the wired communications between the headquarters of the five military districts on the eastern border and the various army groups were disrupted, and the military districts and army group headquarters were unable to quickly convey orders to the lower levels. As for wireless communications, due to technical and financial constraints, the Soviet Union's radio communication equipment was only equipped to the regimental level, and its capabilities were already very weak.

Now, because of the interference of the special reconnaissance units of the Chinese army, it has become useless at all, and the millions of troops in the five military regions have actually found a dangerous situation in which the military regions cannot find a group army, a group army cannot find a division, and a division cannot find a regiment.

As a result, the information received throughout the Soviet Union was extremely contradictory, especially since a large amount of it was false. And the General Staff, which was the nerve center of the Red Army, could not obtain correct information from the subordinate units at the military district level, and the orders of the Supreme High Command became a dead letter.

It was not until late at night on April 9 that the Supreme High Command convened another meeting, and Voroshilov read out the Bulletin No. 4 on the situation of the battle drafted by the Supreme High Command: "This morning, the troops of the Chinese army crossed the Sino-Soviet border area and bombed a large number of Chinese cities in the eastern region. Now the heroic Soviet Red Army has stopped the enemy's offensive, counterattack operations have been launched in some areas, and our army is severely punishing the Chinese army for the French and Eastern invaders! ”

"Is this the real situation?" Stalin looked weak when he asked this, which showed that he was already a little tired.

"Comrade Stalin......" Voroshilov, whose voice was not very high, looked rather ugly. Somewhat embarrassed, he said, "The No. 4 battle report should be a reassuring ......."

At this moment, Molotov walked into the conference room, and Stalin stood up, because he needed to know the attitude of the country to the east at this time. "Comrade Stalin, I met with the ambassadors of Britain and the United States, who expressed regret over the actions of the Chinese army and at the same time refused to make any promises to us." He lifted his glasses, "Our ambassador in Washington didn't get to meet the senior officials of the U.S. government......

"It seems that they can't take care of so much anymore, and they can't finish their own affairs......" Stalin's face showed a hint of relief. But Stalin, who was woken up in the middle of the night, was stunned again.

In the early hours of the same day. In Kazakhstan, a million-strong Chinese army launched an attack on the Soviet Union on an unprecedented scale in different positions, and its main target was the entire area west of the Ural Mountains. and waited for an opportunity to march westward. Strive to capture Moscow with a strong offensive ahead of Germany.

The Xinjiang Theater, which serves as the commander-in-chief of front-line operations, is deployed to the Third Group Army, the Fifth Group Army, the Tenth Group Army, and the Ninth Group Army of the Chinese National Defense Forces. It has 12 armies, 42 combat divisions, 8,000 tanks, 10,800 armored combat vehicles, 16,000 large-caliber artillery pieces, and a total strength of 800,000 troops.

The Air Force is an aviation cluster in the Xinjiang Theater. The cluster has four aviation campaign army groups, 8 tactical aviation divisions, 24 aviation regiments, 12 air defense divisions, and about 8,000 combat aircraft. In addition to the second-line troops, logistics and transportation troops, and so on, the total strength of the entire Xinjiang Theater is as high as more than 1.6 million. It is the most ordinary theater of operations, and it also accounts for one-sixth of the total strength of the entire imperial army.

At 4 a.m. on 7 April, the powerful ground forces of the four armies belonging to the Northwest Theater of Operations of the Chinese National Defense Forces began a large-scale offensive on the Siberian part of the Soviet Union east of the Ural Mountains.

The timing of the attack was largely due to Hitler's demand that the noble Aryans be the first shot in the final massacre of the Slavic "inferior people". Chen Shao did not admit the so-called racial theory at all, let alone cared about the so-called first or second shot.

It was three full days late, in fact, in order to give the Soviet Union time to reflect, the Siberian Plain was under a large-scale attack, and the Soviet Union would inevitably concentrate its forces in the security zone to the east. Three days was enough time for the Soviet Union to transfer a lot of troops from the hinterland.

For the Chinese Empire, the entire main battlefield of millions of troops in the two theaters of war was the West Siberian Plain, which covered an area of 3 million square kilometers, and then crossed the Ural Mountains and crossed the Ural River. Among the three armies deployed on the front line, two-thirds of the heavy armored forces of the Imperial Army were concentrated, especially the Fifth Army, which served as the middle breakthrough, and the 51st Army, the 52nd Army, and the 53rd Army were all heavily armored armies, especially the 51st Army and the 52nd Army, known as the two ironclad tigers in the Northwest Theater, and they were like two iron fists smashing on the central part of the Soviet Union's Yenisei River defense line.

On April 8, at 4:30 a.m., after almost forty minutes of urgent work by dozens of engineering regiments, the troops of the Fifth Army began a large-scale river crossing operation. Of course, due to the tight time and heavy tasks, in addition to the pontoon bridge, thousands of motor boats were also used to cross the river, including a large number of rubber boats, assault boats, and so on. After the troops were stationed in the Siberian forest area, all the field troops made thousands of improvised wooden boats out of felled wood, which greatly enriched the equipment for crossing the river.

Under Chen Shao's tutelage, the Imperial Army has become an out-and-out heavy-armed army, and on the frontage of the Fifth and Eighth Group Army, which crosses the river for more than 300 kilometers from Kanst in the south to Surgudiha in the north, various division-level units, corps-level units, and artillery units directly under the group army have concentrated a total of about 5,000 large-caliber artillery pieces, including nearly 1,000 rocket launchers.

In the early morning of the same day, with the intelligence support of reconnaissance data sent by the reconnaissance units and the air force, the artillery units of the group army began to extend the shelling in the direction of depth after shelling the Soviet army's firing points, various large fortifications, machine-gun pillboxes, artillery positions, tank assembly areas, and other key targets on the opposite bank.

General Yang Chengwu, commander of the Fifth Army, assembled about 300,000 soldiers of the Imperial Army with the three armies and the supporting units supported by the theater on the east bank of the Yenisei River, and they were racing against time to cross the river.

If someone is watching from the plane at this time. You will find that the overall situation of these troops is in order. Many soldiers lined up and boarded various ships in turn, while the pontoon bridges carried by sappers were mainly used by tanks, vehicles, and artillery units. When the artillery support on the front line was extended to the depth of the Soviet army, the two main divisions of the 51st Army and the 52nd Army began to establish beachheads as the first batch of landing troops in the whole army.

Now the vanguard of the troops has already engaged the Soviet troops, the follow-up troops have not yet boarded the boat, and the middle troops are forcing their way across the river. Such a scene would naturally be easily discovered by the Soviet reconnaissance troops, and those artillery positions that were temporarily muted soon recovered.

Soviet artillery units, assembled from second-line positions, quickly fired hundreds of flares on both sides of the Yenisei River, providing a significant target for Soviet reconnaissance units at night. And the Soviet reconnaissance aircraft that took off at risk. It is often possible to send some intelligence back to the artillery positions.

Suddenly, the Soviet artillery returned fire, and for a time, thousands of shells mixed with sharp shouts exploded on the Yenisei River. Meantime. In the Surgut region. The vanguard of the Soviet armored forces, which had already organized part of its forces for a counterattack. It had already encountered the vanguard of the 51st Army in the area southeast of Surgutikha.

The Imperial Chinese Air Force also invested thousands of aircraft in this river crossing operation, but there was one problem that the Germans had not encountered before, that is, the area of Western Siberia was too large. And everywhere there are plain meadows, everywhere can be used as field parking airfields for aircraft. In this way, there was a problem for the bomber units of the Imperial Air Force, especially for bombing at night, the air defense of the Soviet Army was not weak, and the bombing force of the Imperial Air Force was too scattered, so the effect was not very good in an hour of bombing.

Many of the remaining Soviet planes took advantage of the gap before the arrival of the second echelon of Imperial Air Force fighters to take off urgently, posing a certain threat to the Imperial air power, as well as the hundreds of thousands of troops who were crossing the river.

At half past five o'clock in the morning, when the sky had already dawned, many of them had passed through the air defense line organized by the fighter units of the Imperial Air Force and arrived at the Yenisei River crossing, when the Fifth Army had just passed three-fifths of its troops.

The Soviet Tu series of twin-engine medium bombers immediately dived downwards and dropped one high-explosive bomb after another at a low altitude as close to the river as possible, while the Il-series attack planes attacked with rockets, and the La-series fighters strafed the Imperial troops on the ground with machine guns and machine guns. This caused a lot of trouble for the troops who were crossing the river.

The troops of the Fifth Army continued to cross the river to attack, and the Soviet planes continued to cause countless problems in the Imperial Army, of course, the number of Soviet planes that could fly over was not too many, and the damage they could cause was limited. Moreover, a dense network of anti-aircraft fire has been established on the ground, and these Soviet fighters are actually not pleased.

Despite this, a large number of Imperial fighters still rushed over to escort the hundreds of kilometers of river from Cantes to Surgutiha, which also greatly accelerated the speed of crossing the river.

In the area on the east bank of the Yenisei River, the air defense units of the Air Force of the Northwest Theater of the Imperial Army also turned on almost all the searchlights, and the anti-aircraft artillery on the ground fired fiercely, and anti-aircraft guns of various calibers competed with each other: twin 23-mm anti-aircraft guns, twin 37-mm anti-aircraft guns, twin 57-mm anti-aircraft guns, single 100-mm anti-aircraft guns, and so on.

Of course, in the night sky before dawn, most of the anti-aircraft artillery only relied on searchlights to guide the anti-aircraft artillery, and its effect was indeed unsatisfactory. If the firepower was not dense enough, and nearly half of the anti-aircraft firepower was guided by radar, I am afraid that these Soviet fighters would have caused a lot of damage to the troops crossing the river.

By 7:30 a.m., the Imperial Army's river-crossing offensive had been going on for more than three hours, and the Fifth Army had landed nearly 250,000 troops on the east bank, of which the troops of the three main forces had basically reached the west bank of the Yenisei River in formation.

In particular, the 129th Mechanized Infantry Division of the 51st Army made a sudden and major turn to the south in Surgutikha, and in response to the fact that the headquarters of the 52nd Army opened a huge breakthrough in the middle of the Yenisei River defense line, the 52nd Army, with the main tank units attached to the army, concentrated the main forces of the group army and assembled at several bridgeheads.

In the area west of Kanst on the Southern Front, the various units of the 52nd Army, after crossing the river, dispersed in companies and platoons to various places along the coast, looking for entrances and exits to the underground fortifications built by the Soviet troops, and engaged the Soviet defenders fiercely. Border troops belonging to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Soviet Army, which served as the defense of the border areas. There is still a very stubborn resistance, but this resistance can only be a moth to a fire, and it gradually weakens later.

At eight o'clock in the morning, the units of the 51st and 52nd armies of the Fifth Army of the Imperial Army had occupied surface positions 2 to 5 kilometers deep on the west bank of the river. And most of the underground fortifications in this area were basically occupied by the superior imperial army.

The follow-up units began to transport large numbers of heavy armoured, artillery, and mechanized units, which were immediately engaged in battle as soon as they crossed the river.

Compared to the large number of sacrificial soldiers of the Imperial Army, the vast number of tanks of various types in the field units of the Imperial Army is a formidable force. In this era, tanks were always the nemesis of infantry and all types of trenches and fortifications, especially in plain areas such as Siberia. The role of tanks is even more obvious.

Since it was a surprise attack. The Soviet army did not fully mobilize for the war, especially compared to the Soviet army on the Western Front, which had not yet figured out the situation, and the Eastern Front did not dare to act rashly. In this way, the secret assembly of tens of thousands of tanks was completed. And now. After the landing event is basically over. A large number of tank units were advancing at a rapid pace, accompanied by infantry.

The troops of the 51st Army, which had been blocked on the outskirts of Surgutikha, finally received support from the armored divisions of the army group after holding out for several hours. This made the 51st Army's advance speed up a lot at once.

In the previous offensive, the artillery units of the group army had already given the Soviet army a taste of power, and the 105-mm guns equipped with regimental artillery, the 122-mm guns of the divisional artillery units, the 155-mm and 203-mm guns of the artillery units of the group army, and the 130-mm, 122-mm, 227-mm, 19-, 24-, and 40-barreled rocket launchers had already established artillery positions after crossing the Yenisei River, and at this time shells were pouring shells on the second-line fortifications built by the Soviet troops on the west bank of the Yenisei River.

In order to defend against the attack of the Imperial Army, the Soviet army built a large number of underground fortifications on the west bank of the Yenisei River, which were solidly structured, deeply buried and had a large number of auxiliary facilities. The positional defense force composed of hundreds of thousands of troops built a large number of trenches, communication trenches, anti-artillery shelters, air-raid shelters, permanent firepower points, trenches, barbed wire, and triangular cement mounds for blocking tanks in surface positions, all of which were permanent defense fortifications of the Soviet army.

And in a place where Siberia is almost entirely a permafrost, the Soviet army can still build such a huge group of underground fortifications underground, and it has to be said that Stalin has made a bloody investment. But under the blow of tens of thousands of artillery guns in the Northwest Theater of Theater of Operations, and millions of shells fired for several hours, most of them were destroyed.

Until the afternoon of the same day, just after the successful implementation of the central breakthrough of the Fifth Army, the forward units were advancing towards Tomsk without hesitation. Their goal was to occupy Tomsk, Kemerovo, Novokuznetsk, and Abakan, which were distributed from north to south. And then use this as a base for advancement, especially to build the Northern Railway of the Empire to connect with the Trans-Siberian Railway as soon as possible. Then advance to the line of Novosibirsk, Barnaul, Omsk.

The Ninth Army on the Northern Front had also managed to break through hundreds of kilometers of defense from Surgutikha in the south to Norilsk in the north, and the forward line of troops had been directed towards Novourengoy, and their aim was to capture Surgut on the Nadem-Nizhnevartovsk line. On this basis, advance to the Tyumen-Kurgan line and finally occupy Yekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk.

The Second Army on the Southern Front was the most rapid in its advance on the first day of its launch, and on that day it had completely surrounded Almaty, Bishkek, and Dushanbe. After occupying three places, the troops were divided into three routes, all the way to the north to Astana, the middle to the northwest, and strive to capture Tashkent as soon as possible, and the Western Route Army will continue to advance along the northern shore of the Caspian Sea, striving to capture Ashgabat as soon as possible, and then block the retreat of the Siberian Soviet army.

April 9, Fuyuan City (Chita), Northwest Theater Command of the Imperial Chinese Defense Forces.

"The Soviet army deployed more than 2 million troops on the Eastern Front, and there are four military districts, namely the Turkmen Military District in Central Asia, the Siberian Military District in the Western Siberian Region, the Ural Military District in the Ural Mountains, and the Caucasus Military District in West Asia."

As the deputy chief of staff of the former Mongolian Military Region, General Hu Zongnan performed very well in the Sino-Soviet border conflict a few years ago. At this time, Chen Shao was transferred to the Northwest Military Region as chief of staff, and it has to be said that it was out of concern for his old subordinates. At this time, he was talking eloquently in front of the core figures in the war zone.

"Of course, the three military regions of Turkmenistan, Siberia, and the Urals in front of us, that is, the three front armies, have a total of 16 group armies, with an average of about 100,000 people in each group army, and the rest of the troops are placed in the Caucasus region and the lower reaches of the Ural River to prevent us from attacking the Eastern European Plain from the south."

"Then, we still have twice the strength advantage of the enemy in front of the 16 group armies," Army General Bai Chongxi, deputy commander of the Northwest Theater of Operations, echoed, "but the battle lasted for two days. It's not going particularly well on all fronts! ”

Bai Chongxi is right. From the beginning of yesterday's river-crossing operation, the Chinese army found that the Soviet army's resistance was very stubborn, far exceeding the previous estimate of the Soviet army before the war, and now it is in three directions. In addition to the fact that the attack on the troops of the Turkmen Military District proceeded relatively smoothly. The other two armies did not go well. The reserve 21st Army (after the 18th Army), which was originally left in the Mongolian region, belonged to the second-line troops. ) is already moving fast towards the upper reaches of the Yenisei River.

"Could it be that the troops beat the British and the French successfully, but the Soviets did not succeed." Chen Gengpeng said unhurriedly, "When Du Yuming was fighting the Americans in the Pacific Ocean, he was still not easy, and he still fought very hard, but the Americans and the Soviets are not at the same level, and the Soviets' combat effectiveness must not be underestimated." ”

Speaking of this, Chen Gengpeng was a little dissatisfied, he knocked on the table and said, "I have long said that we should not underestimate the enemy, but pay attention to the enemy. However, there are still quite a few operational intelligence departments at all levels who are careless and underestimate the enemy. When crossing the river yesterday, why didn't some group armies put the fighters of the Air Force on the front line, and they did not expect that the Soviets' planes would be able to take off after our bombing? Now it's good, the losses are actually three times our pre-war estimate, and the lesson is ...... Lesson me! ”

"Commander, after the successful implementation of the central breakthrough of our Eighth Army, the forward forces are advancing towards Tomsk, and we have put the most powerful armored forces here in the right place." Bai Chongxi stood up and said further, "The enemy has deployed its troops from north to south in four positions: Tomsk, Kemerovo, Novokuznetsk, and Abakan, and the enemy's four army groups are deployed here. And on the front line of Novosibirsk, Barnaul, Omsk, the enemy gathered troops of 2 army groups. ”

"The deployment of our troops here is indeed too weak, and the two units of the 101st Army and the 103rd Army under the jurisdiction of the Tenth Army should be put into this direction," Hu Zongnan picked up the pencil in his hand and stroked it, "As long as our 51st Army, 52nd Army, 53rd Army, plus the armored column directly under the Fifth Group Army, these four fists hit together, and we will not be afraid of anything in this direction." ”

Chen Gengpeng looked at the map and did not speak, and Bai Chongxi continued: "The Ninth Army of the Northern Front has also successfully broken through the defense line of hundreds of kilometers from Surgudikha in the south to Norilsk in the north, and there is already a group army in Novourengoy that is surrounded by us, but the attack is blocked; The Soviet army deployed 2 army groups on the Nadem and Nizhnevartovsk fronts. On the Surgut, Tyumen, and Kurgan lines, two group armies were again deployed, and there were also heavy corps in Yekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk, which were very strong in combat. ”

"The enemy is obviously in echelon configuration, resisting step by step, and now we are constantly attacking to wear us down and consume us." Hu Zongnan frowned, "Is it possible to consider transferring the 102nd Army and the 103rd Army under the jurisdiction of the Tenth Army to them, so that their strength advantage can be obvious, otherwise, ......?"

Hu Zongnan glanced at Chen Gengpeng, and saw that he was still silent there, so he coughed, and Bai Chongxi also glanced at Chen Gengpeng. "Do you think that's okay?"

Chen Gengpeng suddenly came to such a sentence. Bai Chongxi and Hu Zongnan glanced at each other and did not speak, while Chen Gengpeng stood up, put on the generalissimo's tweed army coat and walked to the huge map.

"Mr. Chen!" Bai Chongxi walked over and moved closer to Chen Gengpeng, "Do you see if you tell this plan to the Supreme Command of the Ministry of National Defense, we ...... it."

"Do you think that's okay?" Chen Gengpeng still said, "If we put the Tenth Army on this, what should we do next?" It is not easy for the troops in the Xinjiang theater either. We still have India behind us, even if the war breaks out in India, the occupation of India will have to advance further to West Asia, and it may enter Africa in the future, and the troops in the southeast theater will have to deal with the United States, what are we going to do? ”

"The reserves of our five armies are sufficient, and the combat effectiveness of this million-strong army is not as strong as our main force, but it is much stronger than that of the Soviets." Hu Zongnan also walked over, "Our 19th-24th Group Armies in China have also basically taken shape. The battle on other fronts is perfectly manageable. ”

"No...... The Soviets also had reinforcements. Chen Gengpeng's hand was turned behind his back, and at the same time he turned around, "Spring and summer are handed over, and there is a lot of rain." Our long supply lines will fall into great passivity. Even if we fought the Ural Mountains before winter. If we were to take advantage of Eastern Europe before the Germans, we would have to fight the Russians in the winter, which would be extremely unfavorable for us. Besides, we may have to ...... with Germany in the future" Speaking of this, Chen Gengpeng stopped and looked at the two generals in front of him.

The two didn't know what to say, but seeing that Chen Gengpeng didn't finish speaking, they had to continue to listen quietly. "This is not the first time that we have encountered this kind of combat mode of resistance of the enemy, and in the wars of the past ten years, we have always been offensive strategically, and our enemy has always been defensive. This situation is not unheard of in North Korea and Southeast Asia. Chen Gengpeng walked to the side of the map and picked up a teaching stick.

"The Second Army on the Southern Front has advanced most rapidly in the past two days, and has now completely surrounded Almaty, Bishkek, and Dushanbe, and the enemy has only two army groups here. Astana, Tashkent, Ashgabat, the enemy turned out to be only 1 army group. Chen Gengpeng smiled and said:

"Of course, these places are desolate and barren, and the enemy still has hundreds of thousands of troops in the Caucasus, in the Ural region, to prevent us from attacking the Eastern European Plain from the south along the northern shore of the Caspian Sea."

Chen Gengpeng paused, "But what if we attack to the north, instead of attacking the Ural River, but suddenly attacking Novosibirsk to the north?" The enemy's resistance and echelon deployment of troops will be completely disrupted by us. ”

"In other words, we should storm the southern front at this stage," Hu Zongnan took a step closer, "and the central and northern lines should be put aside first...... Or are reinforcements going to go on the southern front? ”

"The Tenth Army is placed on the middle line, don't move it, it is appropriate to transfer the 53rd Army and the 60th Army to the Eighth Army, but don't move the northern front first," Chen Gengpeng suddenly became interested, "The Second Army pressed the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd armies in a triangle from the south, and the 23rd Army, the 24th Group Army, and the 25th Group Army of the second-line troops were the follow-up troops, concentrating millions of troops to storm the enemy in the Siberian Military District from the east, south, and north. Even if you crush your teeth, you have to swallow them in your stomach, spread the power in three directions, and concentrate it in one direction. ”

"As long as Novosibirsk is occupied by us, the next step is to divide the enemy into three major parts: southern Siberia, central Urals, and the northern shore of the Caspian Sea, so that they cannot take care of each other, and also create an opportunity for us to break through the enemy's Urals and Caucasian defense lines!" Bai Chongxi was also very excited.

"The Soviet Union was facing a two-front attack with the Germans, and the enemy's forces would move east and west along the two fronts, and would be deployed at any time." Chen Gengpeng calmed down suddenly, "This gives us a lot of opportunities, we have a lot of super weapons!" In particular, there are quite a few 'special ammunition' in stock, which are most suitable for use in the areas where the enemy's forces are most concentrated, and we will certainly use them when we need them. ”

When Hu Zongnan and Bai Chongxi heard this, they immediately gasped, and their eyes met Chen Gengpeng's resolute gaze, so they nodded in unison, and the three of them knew in their hearts that if they wanted to reduce losses, this was a means that must be taken.

While the three senior generals of the Northwest Theater were discussing their strategies, the 52nd Army, the vanguard of the Eighth Army on the Central Front, had already attacked the outer defensive line east of Novokuznetsk.

At 10 p.m. on April 9, after nearly six hours and at the cost of nearly a battalion of casualties, the 52nd Army of the Imperial Army finally cleared the underground fortifications along the Trans-Siberian Railway and the Advanced State Highway east of Novokuznetsk. They almost used a gradual blasting method, slowly advancing kilometer by kilometer. Some of the pillboxes built by the Soviet army were too tricky for the artillery to reach, so they had to use manual blasting, which gradually increased the losses and took a lot of time.

As a heavy army, the 52nd Army has five heavy divisions under its jurisdiction: the 521st Mechanized Infantry Division, the 522nd Mechanized Infantry Division, the 523rd Armored Mechanized Division, the 524th Heavy Armored Division, and the 525th Heavy Fire Support Division.

At this time, more than 100,000 troops of five divisions, thousands of tanks, armored combat vehicles, large-caliber artillery and trucks opened up a long formation. Pounce on Novokuznetsk. Due to the huge losses in the operation of crossing the river. And in the process of advancing in depth to the Soviet troops, a large amount of resistance was encountered.

The 52nd Army of the Chinese National Defense Forces acted very carefully, and every time it touched a hill, it would let the self-propelled artillery units of the artillery division shell fire for a period of time. Then carry out the shock with medium tank units. Finally, the infantry immediately behind the tank was allowed to come forward and occupy it. Such a tactical move. Although it reduced the army's losses, it made its offensive extremely slow.

By 2 a.m. on the 10th, the troops of the 52nd Army finally reached the outside of Novokuznetsk.

Meanwhile. The 51st Army, which was also advancing like a turtle, moved to Tomsk, and other units of the Eighth Army also came to the designated positions one after another, and the first punch thrown at the iron walnut of Novosibirsk was about to fall on the Novokuznetsk-Tomsk line.

Since the founding of the Chinese National Defense Force, back to the southwest period, artillery has always been an indispensable main force in the army.

Artillery units have become the most distinctive units of the army's front-line combat units, and units at all levels of the Chinese National Defense Forces are equipped with a large number of artillery units. The infantry regiment is equipped with an artillery battalion, the infantry division is attached to an artillery regiment, the army has its own independent artillery division, and the group army even has several independent special artillery brigades of its own. Even though the Soviet Union and Germany had a large number of army artillery units, they did not have such a large establishment system.

Fortunately, China's logistics work has always been very hard, and as long as it does not go deep into the barren mountains and mountains, the staff of the logistics department can basically meet the consumption of the troops. Let these heavy firepower work smoothly.

In the battle of Novokuznetsk, the Chinese army encountered an opponent that it had never encountered before, and the Soviet Red Army put up a very stubborn resistance. In order to reduce losses, the Chinese Defense Forces had no choice but to slow down the pace of their advance, deploy powerful artillery forces in the vast fields of Siberia, and carry out round-the-clock non-stop artillery attacks on the Soviet troops defending Novokuznetsk.

The battle lasted from April 10 to 12, and the attacks of both sides damaged each other, but the main decisive battle had not yet taken place. For three days, the 52nd Army of the Chinese National Defense Force, together with the 53rd Army, concentrated more than 200,000 troops to attack in turns.

At 4 a.m. on April 13, the Chinese National Defense Forces concentrated a total of 6 heavy howitzer regiments, including 2 artillery regiments with 200 105-mm howitzers, 2 artillery regiments with 200 122-mm howitzers and 2 regiments with 175 155-mm howitzers, 2 artillery regiments with 100 175-mm cannons and 36 203-mm cannons, and 4 rocket artillery regiments. There was 2 regiments of 200 24-barreled 130-mm rocket artillery and 2 regiments of 200 40-barreled 122-mm rocket launchers, which was the highest artillery density since the beginning of the war.

The first to be hit were the Soviet artillery positions, and since the Soviet artillery units were mainly focused on carrying out interdiction strikes against the attacking Chinese troops, they did not attach special importance to the enemy's artillery units in the enemy's depth. The first task of the forward observation units of the heavy artillery units of China was also to transmit the coordinates of the Soviet artillery units back to the troops.

At this time, it was not yet dawn, but the artillery reconnaissance planes of the Imperial Air Force and the reconnaissance detachments of various units of the army had infiltrated into the depths of the Soviet army, and had already reported the accurate location of the only artillery division of the Soviet army, including four artillery regiments, to the artillery headquarters of the Novokuznetsk offensive force, and this information enabled the artillery units of the Chinese National Defense Forces to obtain first-hand information.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"

Constant explosions came from several locations in the depths of the Soviet army, and more than 400 rocket artillery pieces equipped by the Chinese Defense Forces also carried out dense rocket artillery covering fire on the Soviet army's second-line infantry defense line. The Soviets had not yet fully reacted at this time, and the howitzer regiments of the Chinese Wehrmacht were able to destroy these cannons that had not completely taken off their armor very accurately.

In the vicinity of the artillery positions, a large amount of ammunition stored by the Soviet troops was also killed. Bright balls of fire bloomed in the dark night before dawn, and from the feedback from the reconnaissance team, they could even see the explosion of the ammunition storage point turned into a crater and poured countless debris in all directions. The powerful air wave blew away everything in the vicinity of the bombing site, and the Soviet artillery that did not have time to retreat was scattered hundreds of human or limb fragments everywhere.

However, after all, the Soviet army was still well-trained, and although the emergency evacuation carried out by the Soviet army was able to retain some of its equipment, two-thirds of the nearly 200 artillery pieces of the four artillery regiments were still destroyed, especially the command structure of the four artillery regiments was completely destroyed, and the formation of the troops was completely complete, making it difficult to carry out an effective counterattack. The results of the four rocket artillery regiments and the two large-caliber cannon units that specialized in attacking the Soviet tank concentration area and the strong defensive line built by the infantry were not small, and the first salvo was fired. 9,000 rockets of various calibers were smashed on the heads of Soviet positions.

At this time. Many of the soldiers of the Soviet army were still resting, they were hiding in the artillery holes, and perhaps under the blows of ordinary artillery, they could have survived. But in the face of specially modified rockets. These infantry, unprotected by armor, suffered heavy casualties. The reason for this is that there are many "submunitions" in the warheads of rocket artillery. These submunitions bounced back and forth in the infantry trenches built by the Soviet army, killing many Soviet soldiers in entire shifts.

And on the perimeter of the city, in the area where tank units were assembled in the woods. The situation was not much better, many Soviet tanks were overturned by large-caliber rockets that exploded nearby, and even after receiving a direct hit, the armor of the hull was pierced through a huge bullet hole, entering the body and exploding. Of the more than 200 tanks of a tank division, more than 100 were completely destroyed, more than 50 were damaged and could not move, and the remaining 50 or so tanks were more or less problematic in artillery, tracked devices, and engines, and lost part of their combat effectiveness.

After dawn, the mixed bomber formation of the Air Force of the Chinese National Defense Forces appeared, and the Warhawk-3 of an aviation regiment escorted nearly 300 Djinn bombers, and the cloud-like group of aircraft carried an boundless chill to the head of the Soviet army.

Alerted by the early morning artillery fire, Soviet artillery was scrambling to fiddle with twin 37-mm anti-aircraft guns on the anti-aircraft gun positions of the semi-abandoned airfields of the Soviet troops. Faced with the threat of hundreds of aircraft, the Soviet anti-aircraft artillery responded calmly, and the young gunners opened the chambers, exited the smoking shells, and the loaders held the shells and stuffed them. The gunner then shook sharply according to the data reported by the observer, making the barrel more vertical and aiming at the horizontal bomber group high in the air.

"Dang!" "Dang!" "Dang!" A 37-mm anti-aircraft shell was sent into the sky, and there were three more black dots in the dense air at high altitude, but there were really not many that could be hit in a hurry. The whistles came and went, and the officers kept waving their arms to command the soldiers, and at this moment, a dozen small black dots appeared in the sky, slowly growing larger.

The observer suddenly shouted: "Comrade Sergeant, it's an enemy plane!" ”

The artillery battle decisively gave the order: "Shake down!" Shake it down! ”

The small black dot quickly turned into an airplane, this is a whole brigade of Warhawk-3, roaring straight down, the two wings of machine guns flashed, two clouds of smoke and dust exploded on the ground, the gun mount sandbags ate several bullets, a swarthy thing fell straight down, with a loud bang, the bomb exploded twenty meters away. Several soldiers heard a "woo-" sound overhead, and the plane swept past their scalps and pulled up again.

The first round of bombs dropped by the Warhawk-3 was a little off, ranging from a few meters to more than ten meters, but fortunately, it was still on the runway of the cement airfield, although it did not directly hit the Soviet plane, but the shrapnel and shock wave still made the runway temporarily unusable, and damaged many anti-aircraft gun positions.

Colonel Gao Yingbao, the commander of the 75th Aviation Regiment, the leader of the Warhawk-3 aircraft group, was observing from a high altitude and saw that there were almost no anti-aircraft guns firing so soon, so he excitedly ordered: "The second wave of attacks begins!" The second and third teams are coming with me! Then he led the remaining two brigades of 24 Warhawk-3s to roll on the left side, firing their guns and going straight down.

By this time, several Soviet planes had already taken off, and units of the 75 Aviation Regiment immediately flew over to entangle them. The 12 Warhawk-3s of the second brigade pounced on the hangar, the fuel depot, and the airport command building. Gao Baoying personally piloted the plane to pounce on the command building, and at the same time, two 20-mm machine guns spat out tongues of fire, coupled with the coordination of the wingman, four lines of fire jumped and intertwined on the command building. The large glass window of the tower shattered instantly, and several Soviet officers who had not had time to run down immediately shot their heads.

The 22 Warhawk-3s that pounced on the hangar also achieved great results, and the 250-kilogram bombs took special care of them. Three of the four large hangars on the east side of the airport were bombed once, and one was hit twice in a row, and the planes and fuel pumps inside were detonated and plunged into a sea of fire. Of the six small hangars in the northwest direction, two of them were hit by bullets and were exploding and burning, and the other four were not hit, but there were heavy casualties inside, and no planes took off again. By about 6:30 a.m., the Soviets had completely lost air supremacy in Novokuznetsk. The last of the aviation strength that was finally preserved was also lost.

Next, it was the turn of the heavy units of the 52nd and 51st armies to show their skills, but this was also accompanied by stubborn resistance from the Soviet army. By morning, after hours of fierce fighting, the 52nd Army's armored units and mechanized infantry gradually drove the Soviet troops out of the straggler lines of the first line and the underground fortification groups of the second line, and the effective control zone east of Novokuznetsk was getting bigger and bigger.

The southern route of the 521st Mechanized Infantry Division and the 525th Heavy Armored Division appeared to be quite difficult to attack, as their frontal enemy resistance was quite stubborn. The attack of the Northern Route Army, consisting of the 522nd Mechanized Infantry Division and the 523rd Armored Mechanized Division, was slightly smoother.

By this time, the troops of the northern route had already entered the city northeast of Novokuznetsk, engaged in a long street battle with a regiment of Soviet troops entrenched there, and finally occupied the northeast part of the city by virtue of their numerical superiority, and then advanced along the railway and road to the railway station north of Novokuznetsk. By the afternoon, the troops on the southern front had finally advanced two blocks.

"Comrade commander, our artillery and air forces have suffered heavy losses, and now ......" Colonel Khakurov, commander of the 111th Infantry Division, ran to the corps headquarters, and while he was reporting, a shell again fell near the headquarters.

The Soviets here were the 37th Siberian Army, which had created a meritorious service in Siberia during the Civil War, and at this time it organized the last battalion of armored forces into battle.

"Okay, my comrade division commander!" The commander of the corps, Major General Makurtsky, threw away his hat at this time, "My last tank battalion has been dispatched, you immediately return to your division headquarters, go back immediately!" ”

"Comrade Commander!" Khakurov rushed over, "You can go and see, what our lads are fighting with the enemy, our tanks are too unbeatable, and the enemy's tanks seem to be too many to fight......"

"What! Roshka ...... Have you been discouraged by the enemy? Makulsky pulled out his pistol, "If you dare to let the troops retreat to the city, I will shoot you myself, believe it or not?" ”

The military commissar of the second-class army next to him wanted to come up and dissuade the two.

"Borysky! You're saying I'm afraid of death! Khakurov calmed down suddenly, "I think our losses are too great, we can fight, but we can only use the death to fight, today...... Just today, there were at least twenty lads lying beside me...... Twenty ...... We're going to fight...... We will! Khakurov's eyes suddenly burst into tears.

"............" Makulsky opened his mouth but did not speak immediately, "Roshka, I will give you the police battalion company, and in the evening I will send you the transport battalion and the communications battalion, you are organizing a counterattack and conducting a ...... at night"

He patted his division commander on the shoulder, "Use darkness, submachine guns and grenades to destroy the enemy!" (To be continued......)