Chapter 184: Tactical Deception (II)

Samarkand, the headquarters of the Central Asian Front of the Soviet Army, Zhukov's command was busy, and there were people constantly coming and going in the war room. On the huge sand table in the middle, the red and blue flags representing the enemy and the enemy, and the red flags are constantly being pulled up and replaced with blue flags.

On November 10, the squadron dispatched ground forces to storm Shymkent and Syrdaria, forming a north-south flank attack on Tashkent. The battle began at five o'clock in the morning, and Zhukov, who had been busy working at three o'clock in the night before going to bed, was called up, rushed into the war room and stared at the sand table for a long time. It should be said that what is happening now is what Zhukov is happy to see, according to the comparison of troops, the squadron does not have a million troops, and it is difficult to clean the periphery of Tashkent on the one hand, and prevent a possible flank attack in the direction of Samarkand on the other.

"Report, the Chinese people have found mechanized troops!" A staff officer quickly came in and reported loudly, Zhukov grabbed the telegram as soon as possible, this is the telegram sent back by the reconnaissance detachment, the number is the 11th Mechanized Army, the location of the appearance is in Jizzak, and at the same time there are no less than the number of the squadron of no less than ten infantry divisions.

Judging from this information, it is possible that the Chinese intended to build a defensive line around Jizzakh to block the Samarkand military group that might go north. There are a large number of squadrons in the north and east of Jizzak, and there are no less than ten infantry divisions in Sirdaria behind him, and the defense line of the squadron in Jizzyak is definitely not so easy to overcome. After all, there is a mobile force of the mechanized army, and if the Soviet army dares to go north, before eating this mechanized Chinese army, it must take into account the fierce counterattack that this mechanized army's high-speed mobility ability may cause. Similar losses, the Soviet army in Central Asia did not eat less, the Chinese mechanized troops always swim on the flank, once there is an opportunity to counterattack, will not bravely penetrate behind enemy lines, greatly disrupt the entire defense system of the Soviet army. Due to absolute air supremacy, the advance of the mechanized forces of the Chinese was after breaking through the defensive line. It is difficult to form an effective new line of defense against the attack. Such was the case with the previous campaigns in Central Asia. The assembly areas of the Soviet army are often the main targets of the Chinese Air Force.

"Let's confirm again, the Chinese are not only such a mechanized army, there are two armies where they go, two armies are three tank brigades, according to the Chinese establishment, even if the previous battle has not been replenished, at least there are close to two thousand tanks, this is not a force to be taken lightly, and their location must be clarified." Zhukov's voice just fell. Another staff officer rushed in and said, "General Lukin is in a hurry, the Chinese have dispatched at least four hundred tanks. Storming the outer line of Shymkent is underway. General Krolev said that the Chinese rushed fiercely, and three infantry divisions deployed outside the city suffered heavy casualties. The Chinese artillery fire was fierce, and at least 1,500 artillery pieces were concentrated in the early hours of this morning to bombard the positions outside the city. Before the artillery fire was prepared, at least 100 bombers and 100 fighters were dispatched to bomb indiscriminately. So far, the defense of Shymkent City is quite stable, and the squadron has advanced less than a kilometer. Battlefield observation. The Shymkent defenders wounded at least fifty Chinese tanks. ”

Zhukov's face was expressionless, dragging his chin with one hand to observe the new changes on the sand table, always feeling that something seemed to be wrong. At present, a total of three Chinese mechanized army numbers have been found, that is to say, there is also a mechanized army that has not appeared, where has it gone? Don't look at the only mechanized corps that has not been discovered, but this is more than a thousand tanks and more than 50,000 fast troops.

Pavlov suffered such a big loss in Central Asia, mainly caused by the rampage of the Chinese mechanized troops, which were under the cover of aircraft. Quickly interspersed, the Soviet defense line was divided into countless pieces, and then its infantry ate bite by bite with absolute superiority. In the previous Central Asian campaign, a total of one mechanized corps and seventy infantry divisions were almost killed in this way. If it weren't for the urgent transfer of troops from all over the country and Central Asia, it would be good if the current Tashkent army group could have 300,000 troops.

Zhukov soon got new information, the number of the Ninth Mechanized Corps of the Chinese Defense Forces appeared on the periphery of Syldaria, and with more than ten infantry divisions, it stormed the outlying positions, and in just one day, hundreds of tanks were dispatched, and the defensive positions on the periphery of Syldaria had been basically swept away.

On the periphery of the two gateway cities, one south and one north, China's ace troops deployed in Central Asia, the eighth and ninth mechanized armies, respectively, appeared. According to previous intelligence, China has also deployed two mechanized corps near Beijing, one is the First Mechanized Army, formerly known as the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Central Guard Divisions, and the other is the newly formed 10th Mechanized Army.

After the appearance of the three Chinese mechanized armies deployed in Central Asia, Zhukov still did not dare to take it lightly and ordered to intensify reconnaissance and at the same time increase the strength of the defensive line north of Samarkand. After all, between Jizzakh and Sirdaria, China has two mechanized armies, and once these two mechanized armies go south, it will be a matter of death, and they cannot relax in the slightest.

Zhukov basically still judged that the squadron was storming the Tashkent line, and even did not hesitate to use the trump card. As everyone knows, this is Liu Mingzhao's plan to hide from the sky and cross the sea, and the Eighth Mechanized Army was divided into two, under the banner of two mechanized armies, one south and one north, and cooperated with the infantry to storm the two gateways of Tashkent.

At the same time as the onslaught was launched, near the Jizzakh defensive line, there were constantly infantry divisions slowly gathering here under the cover of night, and at the same time, two mechanized corps were being transported from Beijing day and night. The assembly of the entire southward campaign required about twenty days of preparation, mainly to wait for reinforcements from the two mechanized corps.

There was a blind spot in Zhukov's thinking, that is, he could never imagine that Beijing would be able to transfer the first and twelfth mechanized armies defending Beijing to Central Asia. At the same time, I don't know that the squadron was preparing for the war with the Soviet Union ten years ago or even earlier. Military enterprises in Anhui, Hubei, Shenyang, Nanjing, and other places had an annual production capacity of 3,000 tanks a year ago, and after the start of the war, this capacity was again improved, reaching the level of 5,000 tanks of the fourth and fifth models of the Great Wall. This production capacity was far worse than that of the US imperialism at its peak, but it was enough for the war against the Soviet Union. In wars elsewhere, tanks also did not have much room to play against Japan, mainly at sea. The Seventh Mechanized Corps deployed in Heilongjiang and the newly formed Thirteenth Mechanized Corps deployed on the banks of the Yalu River were to guard against Japan. There are also three mechanized corps, which have not yet been fully established, and are temporarily deployed in Taiwan, Shanghai, Qingdao, and other places.

It is not easy for China to engage in intelligence on the Soviet Union, and it is also very difficult for the Soviet Union to engage in intelligence on China, because of the increased difficulty caused by the system, and because it has long been on guard, and intelligence work against the Soviet Union began many years ago.

The offensive war in Central Asia commanded by Pavlov, in Zhukov's opinion, was basically a joke because the battle plan drawn up was full of loopholes. It's a pity that the price of this joke is too great, millions of Soviet troops were wiped out by the squadron, and 600,000 prisoners were captured. These armies included almost all the main forces of the Soviet army in Central Asia, and if it were not for the political commissars of the Central Asian side who took Pavlov's head and forced him to order a retreat on all fronts, this loss would have been even greater.

The situation in front of Zhukov was quite difficult, the military council had drawn all the troops that could be drawn, and there were still no less than 30 infantry divisions and a mechanized corps on the way. That is, the Soviet system can ensure that the troops are quickly rebuilt after they are destroyed, and the only regret is the lack of equipment, especially the lack of tanks and anti-tank weapons.

What Zhukov can do at the moment is to order to dig more anti-tank trenches, prepare more grenades, and organize death squads. Well, the organization of death squads is the business of the commissars of the various troops. Fortunately, the main forces of the Chinese Central Asian Front were concentrated in Tashkent, and as long as they survived until the cold winter, after the Soviet army's support was intermittently assembled, it was the time for Zhukov to counterattack.

Andijan, the former commander of the Chinese Central Asian Front, Zhang Zhizhong's voice was a little hoarse, and he was still shouting loudly when he spoke: "No, at any cost, you must take Shymkent within a week, I will sue you Chen Changjie, if you can't, I will personally command the battle." ”

Liu Mingzhao held an enamel cup in his hand, leaned back in a chair in a daze, kept his eyes staring out of the window, and said for a long time: "Wenbai, do you think you can fool Zhukov?" ”

"That's all right, now the plan has already been executed, and by two weeks at the latest, both mechanized corps can be transported to Khujand, and after a short rest, the Battle of Samarkand will begin. Now I am most worried about logistics, the air force deployed in Central Asia, all of them are flying, the purpose is to ensure the smooth attack on Shymkent. The shells of that kind of large-caliber howitzer can only be transported by train, and a train full load is only enough to fight for one day. Now several fortified batteries around Shymkent have been knocked out by the cannons. The next street battle is the key, certain casualties are inevitable, and the new recruits in Dihua must speed up the replenishment. Zhang Zhizhong held the teapot and poured it hard. Liu Mingzhao smiled and poured water for him, and said with a wry smile: "I'm really worried, if Zhukov sees through my strategic intentions, and the Soviet army takes the initiative to withdraw to the west, this battle will not be easy to fight." ”

"Zhukov is really powerful, Samarkand is the lifeblood of transportation, to the west is Uzbekistan to the Caspian Sea, to the south is Dushanbe. He stayed in this place and could be said to be free to advance and retreat. In fact, we don't have a very good choice, we can't besiege Tashkent with peace of mind if we don't take Samarkand. ”

"Before leaving, the president told me that if the Soviet army could be driven into Iran, our army would pursue and kill him, which would be the best choice. I don't really understand this matter, what is there in that part of Iran that is worth me fighting? In the whole of West Asia, apart from deserts, what else is there? The mind of the great president is always so elusive. Liu Mingzhao asked this question, but Zhang Zhizhong was stumped, and he didn't understand. In this era, who would have thought that under the yellow sand of Central Asia, "oil can be dug up with a hoe." ”