"To the west?"

Before the battle report of Timiriyatevka came back, Liu Mingzhao first learned the information that Lukin led the troops to break through to the west. "This Lukin, it's really troublesome." Gong Chu also shook his head again and again at this accident, and listed Lu Jin as the number one enemy in his heart.

Liu Mingzhao deeply agrees with this, Lu Jin is really difficult to entangle. In the siege of East Kazakhstan, he saw through the landing on Lake Balkhash and almost wiped out the airborne troops, and then led a group of remnants to block the onslaught of the 1st Armored Division for two days and two nights, and finally escaped, making Chu Nan suffer a big loss. In the Battle of Rezkazigan, taking advantage of the melting of ice and snow and the surge of the river, he suddenly attacked the heights of Akdem Mountain, and blocked the 40 divisions of Long Yun's main force for half a month with weak troops. If Zhukov hadn't been defeated too quickly and Zhuo Fan pierced his flank, it would not have been possible to forge the legend of Zhezkazgan. In the final siege of Petropavlovsk, he led the remnants to hold on for 31 days, and he was able to lead the Siberian Army Group to break through the encirclement at the end of the mountain, showing super defensive and battlefield prediction capabilities.

Even this time, it was because Kirponos failed to hold the plateau pass, and in the end Stalin and Timoshenko were successively commanded, and the success fell short. It can be said in all seriousness that so far Lukin's defeat has been caused by the mistakes of his allies, and he has not committed any mistakes himself. Now too, because according to common sense, since he took the initiative to break off, he should follow behind Timoshenko, but he suddenly went west to join Vlasov, and immediately caught Liu Mingzhao's biggest flaw.

This flaw is the special terrain of the Urals.

Because of the glacier subsidence in ancient times, the topography of the Ural region is very special, with the steep Ural Mountains in the center, and the wide Ural River splitting the plateau in half, with numerous lakes, meandering rivers, and extremely high vegetation coverage. So the Urals resemble a low Bashu Basin. The effect of glacial subsidence has given birth to the fertile Ishim and Turan plains, but it has also brought about the reality that there are few roads into the Ural Plateau from east to west. On the border between plains and plateaus, hundreds of kilometers from Kurgan to Aktobinsk, there are only a few roads that can be used for the movement of troops, and even fewer roads that can be used by heavily armed troops. It's still summer, and if it's winter, it's only railways and airlines, and the rest of the roads don't even want to go.

At that time, the Wehrmacht was able to loot the Russian Urals. It was because the troops were in it at that time, and there was no need to go over the mountains. Otherwise, Nicholas II would have been able to hang any army attacking from east to west at the mouth of the passage by sending a few hundred thousand peasant troops. Even with the efforts of the Soviet government to build a railway over the past two decades, there are currently only five routes for heavy troops to enter and exit. From north to south, Tyumen, Kurgan, Troitsk, Karetar and Orsk were the Tyumen passages, which proved to be unsuitable, since the Tyumen to Yekaterinburg railway was a long stretch in the mountains, which could be easily sabotaged by Soviet troops. And after entering the Urals, it is not easy to fight. Because there is an essential difference between this and Central Asia. The Kazakhs and other ethnic groups in Central Asia have always maintained their own cultural traditions, and because of the mistakes of Tsarist Russia's immigration suppression and the Soviet-era famine, the elimination of kulaks and traditional herders, and the establishment of collectivized farms, they have a general hostility towards Moscow. It can easily stir them up. But the Urals are the symbol of the Rosslavic two-headed eagle, and centuries of rule have made it not only a stronghold of the East, but also a true Slavic cultural circle.

Don't underestimate the cultural sphere, it doesn't just mean that the people here are really Russians. It also means that once the troops enter, it will be a long-term guerrilla war and a war of attrition, which is very different from that of Central Asia. Yang Qiu and the General Staff knew this, so they demanded to consume the enemy on the periphery of the Urals at any cost. It is also required that two or three key mountain passes into the Urals must be controlled, ensuring that they are not blocked outside the plateau.

The closest access to Kostanay is Troitsk in the northwest and Karretal in the west. Behind the former is the Ural town of Chelyabinsk, garrisoned by 80,000 Soviet troops, and it has to eat Rokossovsky's Moscow Army Group Center first, so there is little hope for a quick victory. The latter was originally nine out of ten, but Lukin's sudden westward movement suddenly brought variables.

Coupled with the troops who went to support last night, Wang Wenshan's troops were only 4 divisions at full strength, which was enough to deal with Vlasov's 24th Army, but with Lukin's 100,000 horses, it couldn't be stopped. If Lukin preempts Carretar first, with his defensive ability, the loss will definitely be very large if he has to attack again. But if the encirclement is abandoned and Wang Wenshan is allowed to turn around and seize Kartalé first, then Vlasov and Lukin's 100,000 men will take advantage of the lowland glacial lakes and dense forests to escape. Let them withdraw to the Urals, which will also have a detrimental effect on the subsequent battles.

So Liu Mingzhao was faced with a choice, whether to capture Kartale first, or eat Lukin first.

"Take Kartaré first!" Yang Qiu, who was far away in Beijing, did not hesitate to choose to occupy Kartale first. Yue Peng and Jiang Baili also agreed, and the former pointed to Magnitogorsk further west: "Magnitogorsk is the largest steel base in the Urals. At the beginning of the 40s, there were 1.3 million tons of steel production here. Although Stalin ordered the relocation last year and carried out sabotage, many of the foundations could not be taken away. If you take here, you can transport some small equipment over to solve the ordinary steel needed by the front line. ”

Zi'an is right, no matter how strong Lukin's ability is, he can't change the decline of the Soviet army. From Afghanistan to the present, we have defeated almost 6 million troops, and the pre-war Soviet veterans are left with the group that defended Germany in Europe, and there are less than 600,000 horses when the full battle is full. What's more, after taking Magnitogorsk, he can still go south along the Ural River and cooperate with Duzishan to attack Orsk. It is also possible to build a defensive line on the Ural River before the onset of winter, and use it as a base for strategic bombing. If Sun Chuanfang can eat Kurgan, he can master the three entrances and exits, which can basically meet the supply needs later. Jiang Baili also agreed to attack Kartale first, and also raised the need to establish a defensive line on the Ural River and a strategic bombing base.

With the support of the president and the two marshals, Liu Mingzhao, who had already decided to capture Kartaree first, did not hesitate any longer, and immediately ordered the main force to speed up, and at the same time let Wang Wenshan turn around and go all out to seize Kartaré and occupy Magnitogorsk before Lukin arrived.

"Quick! Drive the oil truck over. ”

The sudden order filled the Turan Plain with tension. When He Hai and the battalion commander turned around and returned to the supply point, there was already chaos here. Everywhere there was a shout of refueling and replenishing ammunition. Next to each tanker truck are a dozen vehicles waiting to be refueled. "Platoon commander, where are we going?" He Hai and his comrades grabbed a refueling pipe, stuffed it into the tank and asked the platoon commander loudly. ”

"To the Urals!" The platoon commander rubbed his hands excitedly, and the pockmarks on his face glowed red. He Hai was also stunned: "Entering the Eurasian dividing line? We, the Category B Wheeled Tank Regiment! "According to the usual practice, such a major task must be carried out first, and a lightly armed wheeled armored regiment actually took the lead, no wonder there were hot shouts all around.

"Nonsense, I'm telling you, this time it was the Chief of the General Staff who personally ordered our regiment! Why are you still standing stupidly? Remember. Multi-bring ammunition and diesel. The squad leader pushed He Hai, who was in a daze, and pointed to the ammunition supply vehicle in the distance. Give me 70 grenades, and 25 more. He Hai came back to his senses and immediately joined the team to replenish ammunition, and finally hung a 200-liter diesel drum on the butt of the car with his comrades, after all, it is 150 kilometers from here to Kartale.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, three lightly armed wheeled chariot regiments rushed in front of the main force of the 66th Mechanized Infantry Division, stuffed with soldiers and weapons, and dragged all kinds of heavy equipment. With a battalion of Siberian Tigers main battle tanks, they took the lead in advancing towards the Urals. In order to protect the safety of the march, the air force also dispatched a large number of fighters to cover it.

Wheeled armored regiments are lightly armed units, somewhat similar to the light armed rapid reaction units of later generations. Of course, at this time it was only a supplement to the main armored forces. The reason for these two years is a large amount of equipment. First, the production of main battle tanks has not increased much, and secondly, because of the vast area of Central Asia, there is a need for light armored forces that can be reached quickly. A standard wheeled armored regiment with 1 battalion of light fast tanks. 2 wheeled armored battalions, 1 infantry battalion, 1 artillery battery, 1 anti-aircraft company and 1 engineer company, equipped with 38 Type 26 tanks, 76 wheeled hound armored vehicles, 26 trucks, 12 wheeled anti-aircraft trucks, 16 jeeps, 33 motorcycles, 12 85-mm towed cannon howitzers, etc. All belong to the fast vehicles. In a field like the Turan Plain, it is easy to travel at a speed of 40 kilometers per hour.

The Soviet Union is a country with well-established railways and poor roads, and there is a heavy-gauge railway from Kostanay to Kartaré, but there are no roads, so after entering the mountainous area, the advance of the troops slows down significantly, because it has just rained, so it took He Hai and everyone five hours to reach the mountain pass. The troops did not attack at night, and the commander, Colonel Cai Rui, asked everyone to establish a defensive line to adjust and rest, and at the same time sent several infantry reconnaissance companies to reconnoiter in advance.

Colonel Cai Rui is the eldest son of the late Marshal Cai Yi, after graduating from the Baoding Army Academy, he also studied in Germany for two years and is an excellent army officer. But this time he didn't go well, although He Hai couldn't see the battle in front clearly, but the fierce explosions and the continuous withdrawal of wounded soldiers proved that this small railway city was not easy to fight. In a daze, he finally waited for the sun to rise, and He Hai saw the whole picture ahead.

It can be seen that the air force has 'washed' it in advance, so the whole town can no longer see its original appearance, and the bombed railroad tracks cross from the north of the city, plunging headlong into the endless Trans-Ural Plateau behind. There is only one way into the plateau, and it is surrounded by impassable hills and dense forests. Along this railway, there is direct access to Magnitogorsk, the most important steel base in the Ural region of the Soviet Union. It is said to have the best iron-rich ore in Trans-Urals, with reserves of more than 1 billion tons, as well as 4 blast furnaces, 16 open-hearth furnaces and 11 heavy rolling mills. Of course, the Air Force has been 'patronized' dozens of times since last year, so the Soviets have long since moved everything that is left to take with them to the west of Kazan. And not only here, but the entire industrial facilities of the Urals were transferred during last year's bombing. However, industrial equipment can be transferred, resources and foundations cannot be taken away, so after the occupation of this place, the Wehrmacht can also rely on the long winter to build small steel mills and theater maintenance bases to provide security for the capture of the Urals and the advance into Europe.

"The Air Force is coming." Amid the shouts of his comrades-in-arms, a large wave of 'ghost car' dive bombers and H-10 attack planes swept over He Hai's head. Loud and violent explosions were heard from the direction of the small town, and all the suspected targets were heavily bombarded. After the bombers completed the sweeping mission, the 'Siberian Tigers' main battle tank battalion of the 66th Mechanized Infantry Division took the lead in attacking under the cover of artillery and infantry, using smoke cover.

"Get in the car." As soon as the main tank regiment moved, He Hai's tank battalion was also ordered to follow behind the main battalion to protect the infantry. "Pay attention to the search, cheer me up!" The class leader shouted loudly, reminding everyone to be careful around. The Tanuki is the latest modification of the Type 26 though. But it wasn't the luxury of installing twin periscopes like the 'Siberian Tigers', so He Hai and the loader had to be in charge of a narrow aiming window alone. The town has been completely destroyed, littered with rubble, and many corpses of Soviet soldiers and locals can be seen. However, it is very strange that the Soviet army, which has always been fighting for every inch of land, does not know whether it is due to insufficient troops or other reasons, and it does not use the complex urban environment to block the attack.

It wasn't until he approached the hilly heights to the west of the city that He Hai finally understood why the Soviets had abandoned the city. "Be careful!" In the tearing roar, 1,000 meters away on the mountainside, several fireballs suddenly burst out, and I didn't wait to see what kind of artillery it was. The two 'Siberian Tigers' at the front seemed to be forcibly held down, and flames erupted in the blink of an eye. "Heavy artillery! There are heavy artillery! "Since the 'Siberian Tiger' first appeared in the Central Asian battlefield, this kind of tank has rarely been destroyed head-on, so this damage has also made everyone's hearts ache.

"Mountainside forest, 1,000 meters away, wind speed three blocks." Before the shouting in the headset was over, the loader had already stuffed the 70mm grenade into the chamber and shouted vigorously: "70 rounds, reloaded!" ”

"Boom." He Hai saw it very clearly just now. So soon the shells were fired. The 70-mm low-pressure infantry gun is a short-range suppression artillery with a small caliber and high speed, which is very effective against infantry and soft targets. But this time He Hai hit a wall. There were obviously very thick fortifications on the mountainside, so the shells emitted only a ball of fire, but no human figure was visible. The speed of the troops reacted quickly, and more than a dozen tank guns and artillery behind immediately suppressed the Soviet heavy artillery. But unexpectedly. A few more fireballs erupted from the forest near the suppression point, and He Hai could even hear the clanging of shells hitting the tank's main armor.

In less than a few minutes, four Siberian tigers, which had been rampaging in Central Asia, were destroyed. In the face of heavy anti-tank guns of unknown models. Colonel Cai Rui immediately ordered the retraction of the city. The 'Siberian Tiger' couldn't stop it, and the 'Tanuki' couldn't do it, so the squad leader hurriedly ordered the car to reverse. But just as he was dodging his comrades-in-arms and turning, He Hai suddenly felt as if his body had been smashed by something, and then he fainted. When he woke up again, he saw that the loader was covered with blood, and his fingers were shaking in front of his eyes: "He Hai! He Hai! Answer me! ”

"Not dead." After He Hai answered, he glanced into the car with difficulty, only to find that two large holes had been opened in the front side of the car body, as if the shell had directly penetrated the car body, and the driver and squad leader had died because of their position. Later he learned that during the few minutes he was unconscious, nine tanks had been destroyed one after another, and that he had been attacked by a 100-mm naval gun. The 'Siberian Tigers' were destroyed by three 130-mm naval guns. Fortunately, the 100 mm cannon deployed in the mountainside bunker was a real naval gun, not used by the KV100 tank, and the muzzle detractor was installed to reduce the recoil, resulting in much less armor-piercing ability. Because of the great power, the shell directly penetrated the hull of the 'Tanuki', and there was no detonation or fire.

There are precedents for small-caliber naval guns to go ashore in the armies of various countries, and even the new main battle tank of the Wehrmacht was developed using the navy-type 105-mm naval gun as a prototype. But it was the first time that a naval gun was used as an anti-tank gun without modification. Due to the weight of the 100-mm and 130-mm naval guns, the Soviet troops only used them to defend fixed passages and could not be directly used in field battles. "It's okay, let's go." Seeing that he was fine, the loader hurriedly took out the submachine gun and tactical vest under the seat, and also carried the 84mm recoilless gun, and drilled out of the turret together. After getting out of the tank, He Hai found that there were many wreckages of his own tanks around, and the infantry had also withdrawn to a small city in the distance early.

The shells kept falling, so that the two kept changing bomb shelters. Fortunately, the Soviet troops in the mountain pass were insufficient, so they did not dare to attack, and only blocked the road with artillery and machine guns. After the two returned to the city to find their troops, the air force that had received the news also rushed to support, but the hillside slopes and heavy bunkers caused both dive bombers and attack planes to run into a wall.

The weakness of the lightly armed division was laid bare in front of heavy artillery and bunkers, and Colonel Cai Rui's successive attacks were routed by the Soviets, with more than two hundred dead and wounded, and more than twenty tanks destroyed. This battle made He Hai realize the difficulties of the Urals for the first time. "! If I can get closer, see how I clean them up! The loader, with a thick gauze on his head, was furious and hugged the 84mm recoilless gun tightly. It's a pity that the recoilless gun has a short range, and he can only stare at the cliff.

He Hai was also full of anger, thinking of his tragic death of his comrades-in-arms, he grabbed the submachine gun and walked out. "He Hai, where are you going?"

"Go to the battalion commander."

"Wait for me." The loader and the soldiers around him were very depressed, and when they saw him go to the battalion commander, they also chased after him. After coming to the battalion headquarters, He Haigang wanted to propose to let them attack again, but saw the battalion commander put down the radio and shouted: "You guys came just in time, who has played with remote control cars?" ”

"RC cars?"

Everyone listened inexplicably, when did they still have the heart to play with toys? However, seeing that the battalion commander asked seriously, He Hai immediately raised his hand: "Battalion commander, I assembled a radio-controlled car by myself in college. ”

"Very well, follow me."

Without saying a word, the battalion commander stuffed He Hai into a three-wheeled motorcycle and came to the command headquarters. After the car arrived at the headquarters, 5 Yunqi also appeared above everyone's heads at the same time. This single-engine short-range contact support aircraft has a strong low-altitude short-range take-off and landing capability, and only needs a flat ground the size of a football field to take off and land. After the plane landed, several airborne troops moved out of it five tracked trolleys more than one meter long that resembled miniature tanks.

"You're the operators? Will you use a radio-controlled car? After the airborne soldiers and Cai Rui muttered a few words, Cai Rui walked up to He Hai and two other soldiers who knew radio remote control. After explaining, He Hai learned that these 'small tanks' turned out to be a kind of radio-controlled blasting vehicles called 'Earth Dragons'. Originally, the Falcon team had a dedicated operator, but because one of the planes failed to return home in the middle of the process, it needed to be solved on the spot.

Running a remote-controlled demolition tank is not complicated, as long as you know some simple electronic technology, and you need to be able to avoid debris and obstacles. After He Hai tried it a few times, the Falcon team began to stuff explosives into the 'Earth Dragon'. "How much can it hold?" He Hai looked at these armbands of the airborne troops, who had never seen them, and asked about the data.

"You say this cockroach?" The Airborne Soldier was a big man, pointing to the 'Earth Dragon' in front of him.

"Cockroaches." I really didn't know what was going on in the minds of these guys, so I just nodded.

"It's not much, it's just 80 kilograms of explosives."

"80 kilograms is not much?" He Hai found that he couldn't talk to these old oilers, so he had to retreat to the side as an assistant. The remote-controlled tank called the 'Cockroach' by the Falcon Squad uses a small gasoline engine, uses wireless remote control, and has a maximum combat distance of 870 meters, so if you want to get close to the Soviet fortifications on the hillside, you need a series of tactical cooperation, but this has nothing to do with the river and sea, this is a matter for the command.

After installing all five Earth Dragons, the Falcon Squad hung them on the back of the Tanuki light tank. This is because the Tanuki light tank is fast and has some armor, which can help them get close to the enemy quickly. Soon, He Hai, like the falcons, put on a steel helmet, put on a special nylon and steel plate bulletproof suit, and sat directly on the trailer of the tank butt and waited for departure.

At eight o'clock in the evening, Cai Rui ordered the fifth attack. Unlike the previous ones, this time the artillerymen used a large number of smoke bombs in addition to ordinary grenades, and even the mortars of the troops were desperately trying to create smoke to cover the assault 'tanuki'.

The smoke made it impossible for the Soviet troops to aim, so they could only fire blindly, and in the fierce explosion and the sound of shrapnel hitting the tank armor, the "Tanuki", which was protected by 14 "Siberian tigers", began to accelerate, and when they reached the predetermined position, He Hai and everyone immediately untied the "cockroaches", and six people dragged one and rushed into the grove at the foot of the mountain under the cover of machine guns and artillery.

"Untie! Battery, give me the battery. ”

"Let them provide the coordinates with tracer bullets!"

Ten minutes later, five small black 'cockroaches' made a soft noise, crawled in the low grass, and crawled towards the Soviet fortifications on the hillside little by little...... (To be continued......)