∷ Shuha Novel: Novel

Chapter 565: The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Burning Kruren (2)

The weather conditions in the Krulun Valley, as Huang Yinghuan predicted, after midnight, the cold north wind blowing from the empty and cold Siberia, after crossing the stretching Kent Mountains, whistled over the flat Krulun Valley grassland, and the wind became more and more fierce, and the grass on the valley plain, which was as dense as a sea of grass, was bent over by the frenzied north wind, as if it was suddenly shortened by a large section.

In such bad weather, in the long camps of the Soviet troops stationed along the river, there was not a single sound except for the thousands of gas lamps that flickered in the wind, and the shadows of lonely sentries in the dim light and shadow of the flickering gas lamps.

The 120,000 Soviet officers and men, who had been tired for more than ten hours, were now asleep in their tents.

What the sleeping Soviet officers and soldiers could never have imagined in their dreams was that for many of them, this night might be the last sweet and warm dream they could enter in their lives.

At half past two in the morning, five kilometers north of the Soviet guard post, in the dark and shady hills on the edge of the Kent Mountains, a large number of troops of the Fourth Route Army had quietly gathered at this moment.

In an area more than 10 kilometers longer from west to east than the Soviet barracks area, behind the hills, in the cols, and in the woods, there were everywhere the officers and men of the Fourth Route who were sitting on the ground under black pressure and their horses.

This was the troops of Xu Fang's 44th Army, Zhao Fengwu's 45th Army, and Han Guang's 2nd Army, which was assigned to a division assigned to them, with a total of more than 140,000 people.

The two armies of Xu Fang and Zhao Fengwu sneaked into this area in batches after midnight, and they would be the main force of the Soviet army that carried out Song Zhewu's fire attack on the East Road.

To the east, on the south bank of the Krulen River, ten kilometers away from the Soviet camp, there was the exhausted and dissatisfied Zhou Yaoming's 48th Army, which had not yet had time to recover, and the main force of Han Guang's Second Cavalry Army.

Fifteen kilometers south of the Krulun River, there were more than 100,000 men of Ma Fawu's 46th Army and Wei Guanghui's 1st Cavalry Army. Their task was to attack the remnants of the Soviet army on the East Road from south to north with Xu Fang and Zhao Fengwu from south to north.

In order not to alarm the Soviet troops, all units of the 44th and 45th armies received strict orders not only to refrain from making noise, but also to allow ordinary soldiers not to even say a word except for the officers' deployment of combat missions. Even more than 100,000 war horses were put on halters, and their hooves were wrapped in thick cotton cloth. Before entering the hidden territory, all personnel were ordered to dismount and lead the march.

And all this is to achieve one goal, that is, to reduce the noise of the troops as much as possible, if there is a slightly louder movement, it is likely to be heard by the Soviet troops who are in the limelight.

The soldiers of the Fourth Route Army, who were waiting for the order to attack, all sat on the ground and rested quietly, they were recuperating their strength and preparing for the upcoming battle.

In the hollow behind a small hill, Zhao Yilian's soldiers were resting and waiting.

Zhao Yi is a native of Northeast China, and he is a Harbin college student who joined the Fourth Route Army during the great victory in Manchuria.

For college students who joined the Fourth Route Army, Song Zhewu's principle was to send them to continue their studies and return to work in the Fourth Route Army after completing their studies. These people were either sent to study at the Northern National University of Defense Technology, or they were sent abroad to study for further study.

However, for this practice, there are some college students who do not work or die, and have to enter the combat army, and Zhao Yi is one of them.

These people are educated, they are all potential talents of excellent officers, and it is also a very good thing to have them join the combat unit, and these people have been sent by Song Zhewu to study in the non-commissioned officer corps of the teaching corps.

Although Zhao Yi is very good-looking, he has excellent physical fitness, has a university culture, and is very good in military training and military theory study, and soon stands out among the students of the teaching team. After graduating with honors in the non-commissioned officer corps, Zhao Yi was sent to the officer training brigade to study, and then assigned to Xu Fang's 44th Army.

In the 44th Army, Zhao Yi was originally to be arranged to be a staff officer in the military headquarters, but he insisted on going down to the front line. …,

Xu Fang admired Zhao Yi's xìng style very much, and after reading his academic performance and the instructor's comments, Xu Fang did not let Zhao Yi start as a platoon commander, but directly sent him to the company as a company commander.

Zhao Yi also did not live up to Xu Fang's promotion, and in the various training assessments of the troops, Zhao Yi's company soon became the first in the whole division, and also ranked among the best in the 44th Army.

Zhao Yilian had more than 100 people in the company, plus their war horses, which occupied an area of more than 300 square meters, but it was still crowded.

Zhao Yi checked the situation of each platoon, stared at the soldiers, and returned to the company headquarters after checking the weapons again.

The company headquarters was set up behind a large leeward rock, and the deputy company commander Yu Lianhai was wiping his Jinzao barge gun in the faint moonlight. Now in the Fourth Route Army, all the officers below the battalion level have been reequipped with shell guns with fast and slow machines produced by the Northern Machinery and Equipment Manufacturing Company itself.

Zhao Yi and Yu Lianhai discussed it again, and felt that they were still not at ease, so they asked the herald to find a few platoon commanders, and he had to tell them again.

This combat mission was issued very suddenly, and it was a different from the conventional fire attack, which made Zhao Yi feel very unsure, he wanted to tell a few more platoon commanders about the details, and he also had to encourage them again.

Facing a few platoon commanders who looked excited, geared up, and leaped into the test, Zhao Yi began to whisper again.

“…… Lao Zizi has an advantage in firepower, and in normal operations, our army does not have an advantage, and is even at a disadvantage. ”

"This time, we are going to use the cover of fire attack to quickly approach Lao Zi and press Lao Zi to the river beach. Our Air Force Corps wiped out Lao Zi's air force during the day yesterday, and as long as it is dawn, we will still have planes to bomb Lao Zi, and it will be easy to eliminate this gang of Lao Tzu. ”

In fact, Zhao Yi didn't know that Manlai Airport was brightly lit at the moment, as bright as day, and groups of bombers and attack planes were taking off from the runway one after another, about to rush to the battlefield to carry out night bombing.

“…… You all listen to me, we are 15 kilometers away from the Krulun River, 10 kilometers away from the Lao Zizi guard troops, our troops responsible for arson, will be 1000 meters away from the Lao Zi guard post to prevent fire, and together with the fire, we will follow the line of fire and charge on horseback. ”

"This time, let our 44th and 45th armies accomplish this task, because both of our armies will ride horses. Otherwise, with the fire, the fire head will advance very quickly, and the infantry will not be able to keep up at all. ”

The platoon leader rubbed his hands and said proudly: "That is, this main attack belongs to us, not to say that the infantry can't keep up with the fire, but they can keep up, they run more than ten kilometers with full armor, and when they reach the Krulun River, they don't have the strength to kill the old man." ”

This time, the first platoon grabbed the task of the first echelon, and the first platoon commander was very excited and proud, which made several other platoon commanders blush.

Zhao Yi nodded and said, "Let me emphasize again, the characteristic of this battle is to emphasize a fast word." ”

"Platoon commander, this time the heavy machine guns of the machine gun companies in the battalion have been assigned to each company, and the two tǐng heavy machine guns that Jiā gave you, you must ensure that they arrive in time. Although it was very windy tonight, the fire would burn quickly, but the camp of the old man was set up within a kilometer of the river bank, and the old man would have the opportunity to run into the river beach and the Kruren River, and the fire would not cause them much casualties. As soon as the fire is extinguished, the old man will inevitably fight back. They are in a hurry, and it is impossible for them to have time to bring heavy weapons to the river beach, but small weapons will still be brought, and the machine guns are in place in time, which is very important, understand. ”

"Understood." A row of long tǐngxiōng replied in a suppressed voice.

Zhao Yi gave the two tǐng heavy machine guns that the battalion temporarily reinforced to their company, all of which were given to the platoon as the first echelon, and the two bazooka groups, which were also temporarily reinforced, were directly commanded by Zhao Yi and followed the platoon to act. Zhao Yi did this by adhering to the consistent style of the Fourth Route Army, "In terms of firepower allocation, it is necessary to focus on the front and light on the back; In the distribution of troops, it is necessary to give priority to the front and the rear. This is also what Song Zhewu has repeatedly emphasized and advocated.

The advantage of this is that while maximizing the damage to the enemy, you can better preserve your liliang and have enough stamina.

The second platoon commander said with a bitter face: "Company commander, I have no problem with you giving a platoon of heavy machine guns from the battalion, but I still have an opinion on giving all the light machine guns of several of our platoons to a platoon." If a platoon can't stop Lao Zi, let Lao Zizi rush up and fight with us, we don't have machine guns, how can this battle be fought? ”…,

The words of the second platoon leader, the resonance of the third platoon leader and the fourth platoon leader, nodded and whispered.

Zhao Yi waved his hand and explained: "This time, as long as we can press Lao Zi on the river beach, or drive Lao Zi across the river, we will win." The old man's food is all in the camp, although after the fire, the food will also burn, but it will definitely not burn completely. The wildfires on the steppe are burning fast and extinguishing quickly, and if the old man rushes into the camp, not only will we have great casualties, but the remnants of the Soviet army will also take back some of the food, and they will have a chance to run back to the Soviet Union. ”

"If we hold on, even if the whole army runs across the river, even if the hundreds of thousands of troops of our army on the south bank of the river do not fight, it will be almost impossible for Lao Zi to return to the Soviet Union, and more than 100,000 people will starve to death. It can be said that as long as Lao Zizi is not allowed to recapture the camp, this big battle, we will win. ”

"And the old man will not fail to understand this, they will definitely fight back desperately, they will be desperate when they charge, it is likely that tens of thousands of people will charge together, if the firepower of a platoon is insufficient, let the old man rush in, we will have to fight with the old man with bayonets. Although we have two armies, the distributed front is too long, and the whole line is pressed, there is no depth, and the firepower of the first line is not strong, so we will not let the old man rush up. ”

Zhao Yi then said: "Besides, why don't you think about it, according to the intelligence, although Lao Zi cleared the fire escape, it was too narrow, such a strong wind, the fire would rush out more than 10 meters in a second, and it would not be used at all." The fire will burn to the camp of the old man in ten minutes, and the old man got up from his sleep and reacted that he was running to the river beach a few hundred meters away, and the time was so tight that many people would not even have time to get their weapons. Moreover, the smoke will be very large, and it will be blown by the north wind to the camp of the old man, and the choking will choke the old man. You can collect their abandoned machine guns in the old man's camp, and maybe you'll have a lot of hands when the time comes......"

At this time, a herald of the battalion headquarters ran over while constantly avoiding the officers and soldiers and war horses resting on the ground in the dark, and asked in a low voice about the location of the company headquarters.

"Company Commander Zhao, the battalion commander ordered, immediately enter the offensive position." After saying that, he quickly ran to the three companies on the left.

Zhao Yi looked at his watch, waved his hand and ordered several platoon commanders: "It's 2:50 now, we have ten minutes, we will return to the unit immediately, prepare for battle, and gather and set off in five minutes." ”

As soon as the platoon commanders returned, the whole company immediately became nervously busy.

The soldiers opened their large sheepskin pouches filled with water on the ground, and more than a hundred people cooperated with each other to drench their uniforms, and then soaked the thick cotton cloth wrapped around the horses' hooves.

The officers and men, who were drenched all over, were shivering with cold under the cold north wind. Despite this, the officers and men were meticulous in their work.

Although the wildfires on the grassland burned quickly and went out quickly, the temperature was very high, and the burned grass was hot, and there might even be remnants of sparks. Not only Zhao Yilian had to do this, but also a troop of more than 100,000 people.

Five minutes later, Zhao Yi took his company to the grassland 300 meters away, and at this moment, in the left and right directions of Zhao Yilian, there were secretly armed officers and soldiers leading horses, and in front of them was the endless grassland of the Krulun River Valley.

The temperature in the second half of the night was around zero degrees, and in the bone-chilling wind, the watery soldiers were gritting their teeth and enduring it.

Fortunately, the wait was not long,... Whole, on the hill behind them, three red flares were raised, which were very conspicuous in the dark night sky, which was the order to attack.

Loud orders immediately sounded in the crowd, and Yijing didn't need to hide it anymore, even if the Soviets discovered the intentions of the Fourth Route Army at this time, they didn't have time to make any effective response.

Zhao Yi gave an order loudly, and turned over on the war horse.

At this moment, in the dark depths of the grassland of the southern river valley, dozens of dark red fires suddenly flashed at the same time, each of which was about 500 meters apart. This is the soldier in charge of fire prevention, igniting the gasoline that has already been transported there.