July 13, 1934, 5:30 p.m.

Looking at the dim sky with a heavy drizzle, Tukhachevsky let out a long sigh of relief. The rain has been going on for six days, and the latest weather forecast says it will last for a few more days, at least for the first two to three days of the Nizhne-Uginsk counterattack, without worrying about Chinese planes. "Comrade Khalepsky, please come to me, and at the same time, Pavlov must hand over to me immediately if a report is delivered."

Tukhachevsky had taken over the command of the Eastern Front, and he was ready to personally direct the Nizhne-Udinsk counterattack, which was at stake in the future and fate of the Soviet Fatherland, and the time for this counterattack was to start this evening. Due to the unique white night phenomenon in high latitudes in summer, the night in Siberia during this time is not completely dark, but dusk and dawn, if it does not rain, the Chinese planes can go to the sky 24 hours a day, fortunately, God helps this time. As the time for the attack approached, tanks and assault artillery, carefully camouflaged with camouflage nets covered with leaves, drove out of the hidden places in the woods, and a large number of infantry began to assemble amid the whistles and shouts of the officers.

The battlefield is actually the best military school, and the enemy is the best teacher. Over the past two years, both warring sides have learned from each other's experiences and lessons. The Chinese and German armies learned the Soviet Union's large-depth assault tactics, while the Soviet Red Army's tank units not only learned the "mechanized infantry tactics" of China and Germany, but also copied the Soviet version of the Stalker tank destroyer, the Su-75.

This weapon was improved on the French version of the Stalker with the help of engineers from the French companies Renault and Schneider. Of course, the meaning of this improvement is not to change as much as possible, but to improve according to the poor level of heavy industry technology in the Soviet Union, and the Su-75 finally built is a stupid and stupid version of the hunter, in the case of artillery, armor, speed and other main indicators are almost exactly the same as the pursuers of France, Germany and China, the Soviet Union's Su-75 strong attack artillery has a total combat weight of more than 20 tons, and the horsepower has also increased to 200 horses. The volume is even larger. However, the Soviet tank crews and tank commanders liked this Su-75 to the extreme, and they were eager to replace their T-28 and Su-76 (strong attack guns developed on the territory of the T-28) with Su-75. It's a pity that the number of Su-75s is still not enough, although now the tank industry in the USSR has stopped production of the T-26, T-28 and Su-76 and is concentrating on the production of the Su-75, but it is still too late to replace all the T-28 and Su-76 in the short term.

So out of the 15 tank armies under the Eastern Front, the total number of Su-75s was only 1065, of which 600 were given to Pavlov. At present, there are only 465 Su-75s that can be used to attack the frontal front of the Chinese army. And this number also includes equipment under repair. Therefore, the armored assault forces of the frontal battlefield in Nizhne-Udinsk are really not enough.

Innokenti Andreevich Halepsky, who served as the commander of the armored group of the Eastern Front, was also one of the best armored experts in the Soviet Union, who had served as the head of the Red Army's automobile armored tank department before the start of the war, and after the start of the war, he also served as the commander of the Red Army's Far Eastern Front and the commander of the Red Army's Baikal Front, and now he is the deputy commander of the Eastern Front, and the commander of the armored group is a temporary appointment.

As a high-ranking general and tank warfare expert who fought hard against the Chinese army for two years on the Eastern Front, he greatly appreciated the Chinese's method of fighting positional warfare in mixed assault groups with tanks (hunters), self-propelled artillery and infantry. After all, in his call this tactic "mechanized infantry tactics". It also organized the tank corps of the Soviet Red Army according to the Chinese armored divisions, and used the Su-75's territory to create self-propelled howitzers to cooperate with armored assault group operations. His construction was quickly approved by the Soviet High Command, so the infantry under the current Soviet tank army has increased a lot, and the original tactical thinking of focusing on mobility has also changed to emphasizing attack power.

At present, the tank brigades under the Soviet Tank Army are basically the same as the Chinese armored regiments, with a tank battalion (according to the standard establishment should have 65 tanks/assault guns, but in reality it is not enough, most tank battalions have only 50 tanks), a mechanized infantry battalion (equipped with wheeled armored vehicles and armored vehicles) and a self-propelled artillery battalion (15 to 18 self-propelled guns). But howitzers, developed on the Su-75 turf, have not yet been equipped with troops. However, the T-26 that has been eliminated was used to install field guns, and a lot of Su-76P self-propelled guns were created for emergency use. Although the power of field artillery cannot be compared with the Chinese's 105mm howitzers and 150mm infantry guns, it is better than nothing. After the reorganization, the attack power of the Soviet tank corps has increased considerably, but Khalepsky still has little confidence in his mission.

"Comrade Chief of the General Staff, our armored forces are still insufficient. There are only 12 tank corps equivalent to the armored divisions of the Chinese army, but the opposing side has 27 armored divisions (including panzergrenadier divisions and armored cavalry divisions) and 9 armored regiments directly under the armored corps and armored cavalry corps. "As soon as he saw Tukhachevsky, Khalepsky began to complain." And we also have a lower rate of equipment in good condition than the enemy, although the equipment is transported to Nizhne-Udinsk by train. But almost 20% of armored vehicles are still inoperable. Comrade Tukhachevsky, it's not that I want to complain, the quality of weapons and equipment is getting worse and worse, and it can be said that most of the equipment we get is substandard products. ”

Hearing Khalepsky say this, Tukhachevsky's brows also furrowed, and he sighed: "Comrade Khalepsky, it's wartime. The industry of the USSR had to guarantee quantity first, and only then consider quality. ”

"But the enemy is also in wartime, and the quality of their weapons has always been very stable, you know. Placed together with the captured Stalker tank destroyers, our Su-75 is just a lump of garbage, which cannot be seen at all. Why was revisionist China able to produce high-quality armored vehicles, and the socialist USSR couldn't? In the past, they were much weaker than Tsarist Russia! ”

"Comrade Khalepsky! Watch your words! Tukhachevsky glared at the unabashedly Khalepsky, but did not refute his words. In fact, as the war became unfavorable, doubts about the superiority of the socialist system crept up within the Soviet Union and the Red Army. Trotsky was also deeply concerned about this, but there was nothing good to stop it. The Cheka's high-handed policy can certainly silence people for a while, but it will not cheer people's hearts up. And Trotsky himself could not think of any reason why China, which was far weaker than Tsarist Russia, could produce better weapons and equipment than the Soviet Union in just a dozen years.

As for the imperialist "help" or the imperialist blockade and sanctions against the Soviet Union, it was not a valid reason in the eyes of Trotsky and the Soviet people. Because the superiority of the GC system lies in the great liberation of the productive forces! If this great emancipation is not as great as the "help" of imperialism, then where is this superiority manifested? However, the Soviet people doubted and questioned, but when the motherland was invaded by imperialism, they would still take up arms to defend the country without hesitation.

So Tukhachevsky turned the conversation around and gently avoided this sensitive topic: "Comrade Khalepsky. I know that the enemy's armored forces are strong, but I also know that the enemy's infantry is not very large, they have only 31 divisions deployed on the front, and we have 120 divisions! Therefore, the task of your tank cluster is not to fight a decisive battle with the enemy's armored forces, but to cover the attack of the infantry assault forces, as long as the tanks are driven to a distance of 500 to 800 meters in front of the opponent's position for fire suppression. And we also have 152 artillery regiments. A total of 5,472 suppression guns, enough to blast the enemy's defensive positions into powder! ”

Khalepsky nodded, what Tukhachevsky said had long been written in black and white in the battle plan, of course he carefully studied it, although he was not very in favor, but it was also a helpless move, who made the Soviet Union now passive in the war. There is no other way out than to fight hard. As for the complaint just now, it is also for the purpose of vaccination, in case the attack fails and the troops suffer heavy losses, this responsibility is not his. So he paused and said, "In that case, then leave the front to me." By the way, where did the Pavlov cluster go? ”

"Here," Tukhachevsky said, taking the map from the staff officer beside him, pointing to a red arrow in the forest, "there are still more than 90 kilometers from Tulum." It is expected that the road to Tulum will be opened in two more days. By the afternoon of the day after tomorrow at the latest, an attack could be launched against Tulum's squadron. According to all that is currently available, the Chinese have deployed a group army headquarters, an infantry corps headquarters, an infantry division, a reserve division, and an aviation corps in Tulum, of which this aviation corps is also equipped with an air defense division that can be used for land warfare. The total number of ground forces in Tulum should not exceed 40,000, and without tanks and artillery, the number of artillery pieces should not exceed 300, and this strength should not be able to stop Comrade Pavlov's army of 200,000. So your task is to keep on the storm. Drag the enemy's armored forces with superior forces and buy time for Comrade Pavlov. As long as Tulum is taken by us, then we can surround the enemy with more than 40 divisions, and the situation on the Eastern Front will be completely opened. ”

I hope so! Halepsky nodded silently. There is really nothing brilliant about this plan, 200,000 troops and hundreds of tanks are cutting trees in the big forest while advancing, will the enemy really know nothing? Although the Chinese infantry had been driven out of the forest before the operation began, the commander of the other side was not a fool, so how could he not notice it at all?

This counterattack in Lower Udinsk is a bit of a dead horse as a live horse doctor, no matter how you look at it.

……

On July 13, at 7:30 p.m., the sky was still grayish.

At the same time that the Soviets were preparing to attack, the rear of the forward positions of the Chinese army in front of them was also a busy scene. One by one, the Stalker tank destroyers were coming down from the front-line positions, and the infantry of the brigade was moving to the rear along the communication trenches. A small number of soldiers who remained on the forward positions as observation posts went into the anti-artillery fortifications made of sandbags, wood, and steel plates to avoid the Soviet army's imminent artillery bombardment -- the Soviet army's preparations for the large-scale attack were of course detected by the Chinese army's forward troops, and although they were not worried about the Soviet armored forces, the threat of the Soviet army's heavy artillery group should not be underestimated, so Li Zongren, the former commander-in-chief of the Chinese army, immediately ordered the Chinese army's front-line troops to retreat. At the same time, he ordered the front-line troops to carry out artillery counter-preparations in order to disrupt the offensive deployment of the Soviet army.

At 8 o'clock in the evening, all 90 self-propelled howitzer and self-propelled infantry artillery battalions belonging to the three armored armies of the Chinese army were deployed to an area less than 2 kilometers away from the forward positions. The artillerymen aimed their guns at the starting position of the Soviet attack 7 kilometers ahead, based on the shots obtained from the previous repeated reconnaissance and test firings. "For the sake of the Great China Federation, open fire!"

1620 105mm self-propelled howitzers or 150mm self-propelled infantry guns, deployed on a narrow frontage of less than 50 km. In bursts of loud shouts, countless fires erupted at the same time. A huge roar joined in one piece, and the earth on the east bank of the Uda River trembled violently.

Bursts of fire burst from above the Soviet positions, and thousands and hundreds of explosion points appeared at the same time. Large and small flashes suddenly erupted on the starting position of the Soviet offensive almost at intervals, and the Soviet armored assault cluster that had just entered the position was immediately caught off guard! Armored vehicles hit directly by shells were blasted into the sky, and mortar and field artillery positions that had just been deployed at the front were bombarded to pieces. In the trenches, shrapnel flew and whistled in all directions, harvesting the lives of Soviet Red Army soldiers piece by piece!

The Soviets were stunned almost instantly by such a sudden counter-artillery preparation. Because soon the offensive will be launched. The Soviet trenches were crowded with infantry, the open space behind the trenches was full of tanks and armored vehicles, and the shells of the Chinese army were sprinkled all over the place, the density was comparable to the fine raindrops in the sky, which immediately brought heavy casualties to the Soviet troops who were preparing to attack, and the officers and soldiers of the Soviet army screamed hoarsely. Running around with their heads hugged, looking for a place where they could hide.

Tukhachevsky, who was watching the battle from the tower of the Nizhne-Uginsk Orthodox Church, was also stunned by the sudden artillery fire. You must know that although the number of tanks and armored vehicles on the front line of the Soviet army is not much, the artillery still has an overwhelming advantage! The Chinese army only has about 40 divisions, and there are 2,000 cannons in the sky, and the Soviet army has more than 5,000 cannons here! These Chinese artillerymen were not honestly beaten, but they dared to fire first! Do you really think that the more than 5,000 cannons of the Red Artillery are papier-mâché?

"Have you determined the location of the Chinese artillery?" Tukhachevsky turned his head with a grim face, and asked the staff officers behind him, who were already a little nervous and flustered. This area is plain. There was nothing to observe the commanding heights of the artillery positions of the Chinese army, and the weather was not good, so there was no observation of balloons floating in the sky. However, the Soviets still had a way to find out the position of the opponent through guò sound measurement (that is, by analyzing the sound of the cannon ejecting and the sound of explosions, and calculating the approximate location of the enemy's artillery position). In less than 5 minutes, the staff officers delivered a report from the command of the Soviet artillery. "Immediately organize an artillery counterattack! Be sure to destroy them before the Chinese artillery is transferred! ”

"Turn around, go quickly, the Soviet artillery counterattack will come soon, quick!"

Tukhachevsky, who was dazed by the anti-preparation of the Chinese army's artillery, seemed to have forgotten that most of the artillery equipped by the Chinese army's armored units could be "self-contained". The 5-minute shelling passed. More than 1,600 self-propelled guns, converted from the Hunter's Territory, rumbled and retreated to the rear. By the time they had driven more than 2 kilometers, the Soviets' shells were belatedly falling.

The commanders of the three general group armies, Xu Tingyao, Wang Geng, and Cai Zhonghu, are now guarding a former enemy command post close to the Trans-Siberian Railway, and in order to facilitate their command, the command of the three armored armies on the front line has been merged. It's not too far from the front line, it's only 6 kilometers, so you can clearly observe the artillery battle ahead. After it was established that the self-propelled guns of the respective units had been transferred unharmed. The three generals each held a high-powered telescope and began to observe the Soviet shelling. Although the Soviet artillery fire was fierce, it could not overwhelm the artillery fire of the Chinese army, which was mainly composed of self-propelled artillery, and the troops on the front line had been transferred in advance. Even if the opponent fired a million shells, it would not cause too many casualties. They are simply observing the focus of the opponent's shelling, and by this they judge the focus of their attack. Now the biggest thing for them is that the enemy is outnumbered, and the 31 divisions commanded by the three of them are more than 100 divisions of Soviet troops in front of them!

Just look at the scale of the shelling at this point, where at least 5,000 cannons are now firing. Moreover, it was a fierce bombardment on the whole front, and it was almost impossible to tell where the key point was, only to see that the forward position of his side was completely submerged by countless rising pillars of smoke and fire! It seems that the officers and men who remain on the first-line positions are really more than lucky, and as soon as the artillery fire is extended later, the troops on the second-line positions will probably brave the artillery fire to reinforce them, and I don't know how many people will fall on the way forward!

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