ps: The serial number of the previous chapter is wrong, it should be chapter 1033.

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Forced by the importance of the Urals, only half an hour after Stalin made the decision to retreat on his own initiative, this telegram was intercepted by the hunter brigade that went deep into the Urals to carry out telephone monitoring missions, and quickly placed it in front of Yang Qiu.

After more than a month of fighting, Kirponos's 2nd Ural Front still had 300,000 horses, Lukin's Siberian Front had nearly 550,000, plus the main forces of Rokossovsky and Vasilevsky, the Soviet army still retained 2 million troops on the periphery of the Urals. Once they retreat to the Ural Plateau, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack, it will bring great trouble to the subsequent operations, so no matter what, it is impossible for Yang Qiu to let so many enemies retreat.

"Be sure to defeat Kirponos and Lukin!"

The order of the General Staff was quickly issued to the front line, and in order to annihilate as many living forces as possible before the Soviet army retreated to the Urals, Long Yun and Mei Sheng put almost all the forces they could put into the counteroffensive. On the main Ishim line alone, 1,300 tanks, 1,500 bombers and 55 divisions were committed.

Knowing that the Ishim River was in passivity, Timoshenko, who was allowed to retreat, did not dare to slack off any longer and immediately began to break through the siege. Although his command ability is not as good as that of Lukin and others, he is a cavalryman, but he adheres to the tradition of attacking the east and the west in retreating. Neither the plan of Vlasov's army to the west nor the plan of Lukin's army to the north was adopted, but it was decided to break through from both sides of the northwest at the same time. Although Lukin strenuously opposed this plan, believing that it would divide the already insufficient assault force, Vlasov, who did not trust him, took the initiative to take on the task of the west and led the 24th Army to break through to Magnitogorsk in the west.

Timoshenko was really not a good commander, and he did not listen to Lukin's objections at all, and insisted on a two-sided breakthrough. Tactically, his plan also made sense, since a dispersed breakout would ensure that at least one unit would leave. But he overlooked a very important issue. That is, the mobility of the Siberian Front. After continuous air raids and artillery bombardment, the troops had lost more than half of their horses and trucks, which further weakened their already weak mobility, and the railway to Chelyabinsk was completely impassable due to the continuous bombardment and the destruction of small enemy forces. But Timoshenko could not listen to this, and in the end, seeing that he could not stop it, Lukin had to persuade him to put the main force in the north, and then put the breakthrough time in the first half of the night. This allowed him to use the night as much cover as possible, and persuaded him to order Kirponos and Rokossovsky to retreat at the same time, dividing the enemy's pursuit.

On the morning of July 21, Vasilevsky, who had been entangled in the north. Using the primeval forest as a cover, he took the lead in retreating with the main forces to Tyumen and Khanty-Mansiysk. At the same time, Rokossovsky also abandoned the entanglement north of Petropavlovsk, retreated the two army groups to Kurgan, and also sent the Moscow Central Army to move to the southwest to meet Lukin's retreat.

While the pursuit and counter-pursuit were being fought on the northern front, a unit had been waiting here for seven days on the Turan plain, west of Costanay.

The ancient effects of geological subsidence have created the wonders of the Turan Plain. Hundreds of glacial lakes dot the area, like a mythical world. In the woods next to the lake, the 'Tanuki' light tank No. 3535 was covered under a camouflage net, and the gunner He Hai sat quietly on the turret. The 70-mm infantry guns and 25-mm machine guns were pointed side-by-side to the northeast. He is a native of Xinyang, Henan, and the day he joined the army happened to be the day when the East Kazakh siege was exposed, and the annihilation of 1.17 million made him very excited at the same time. It is also full of yearning for Central Asia. Eventually, after graduating from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Xinyang University, he became a tank soldier and underwent 13 months of hard training. Finally a dream come true. The perennial snow-covered Tianshan Mountains, fertile prairies, and rich resources have opened his eyes to those who have never left Henan. After surviving the first Central Asian winter in Kyzylorda, he and his troops arrived here again.

"He Hai, what are you looking at?" The loader got out of the turret and pushed He Hai, who was a little dazed.

"There, Urals." He Hai let go of half of his ass and pointed to the mountains to the west: "The dividing line between Europe and Asia." I've already figured out that when I hit the boundary marker, I'll have to step on Asia with one foot and Europe with the other, and take a few photos as a souvenir. ”

"Look at you, that's it. I don't want to step on the boundary monument, if I want to shoot, it must be Moscow, it must be Red Square. The loader stuffed a piece of chocolate into his mouth and threw it into his mouth: "Anyway, we've been fighting for five or six days, why don't you let us go out?" Although I don't know the intercontinental boundary monument, I can't be the last to go up, right? ”

"What's the hurry, hundreds of thousands of hairs, you have to slowly pull out their thorns, and finally be ruthless."

"That's right." The loader stretched out his waist, and the majestic Ural Plateau in the distance also filled him with reverie. "He Hai, is it fun to go to college? You said if I didn't fight, would I be able to go to college? ”

"Of course, everybody should go to college."

Two young tank men chewed chocolate, chatting from the war to the university, and did not notice that a small group of Kazakh reconnaissance cavalry appeared in the distance, escorting a few people dressed as herdsmen through the position and running towards the headquarters of the 66th Division behind. It turned out that these were several Kazakh herdsmen who had escaped from the city, and they wanted to take a detour to the east to ventilate and report the news, but they did not expect to be discovered by the Kazakh reconnaissance cavalry after drilling into the lowlands.

"Are you sure it's a build?"

"Yes, yes, it's all loading." Wang Wenshan was sent here by Liu Mingzhao to set up an ambush a week ago, and he was already a little impatient when he heard the rumbling cannons. So when I heard from the herdsmen that the Soviet troops were showing signs of escape, I hurriedly asked loudly. The appearance of a red face and a thick neck frightened these herdsmen who were kind enough to report the news. Fortunately, the staff officer next to him understood Kazakh, and asked the Kazakh cavalry company commander to translate, so he was appeased. "Okay, great. Fast! Go and report to the Chief of Staff. By the way, give them some military tickets and send someone to escort them to safety. "After entering the Kazakh battle, the troops all distributed some military tickets. Because military tickets were allowed to be freely exchanged for the Chinese dollar, these military tickets were very popular in Central Asia.

By the time the herdsmen had left with their military tickets, Vlasov's 24th Army had already rushed out of the city of Kostanay. Since Lukin insisted that the main force break through in the first half of the night, he had to leave early in the evening, leaving the troops with an hour-long sky blockade. "This bastard!" Sitting in the bumpy KV100, Vlasov is still haunted.

Vlasov was worried about the sky, but Wang Wenshan, who had never been afraid of the sky and the earth, was taken aback by the scale! The 9th Tank Army alone has more than 300 T34/57, T34/76, KV100 and BA10 armored vehicles, not to mention that there are 5 infantry divisions behind! To know. In addition to his own 66th Mechanized Infantry Division, he now has only 151 motorized infantry divisions and 2 wheeled armored regiments. "Attack, strike!" However, he did not hesitate, because Liu Mingzhao sent him to ambush the Soviet army that broke through. Under the order of the division commander, 113 Type 36 'Siberian Tiger' and Type 31 'Golden Leopard' tanks of the 66th Mechanized Infantry Division Armored Regiment took the lead, and the 24 'Tanuki' and 78 'Hound Dog' wheeled armored vehicles of the 535th Wheeled Armored Regiment to which He Hai belonged were assigned to protect the 227 'Iron Bull' half-track infantry fighting vehicles/trucks and self-propelled howitzers of the 66th Division, and the 536 Wheeled Armored Regiment and 24 'Hunting Tiger' hunting tanks protected the 151st Motorized Infantry Division to follow behind.

In order not to startle the snakes, Wang Wenshan's ambush site was 20 kilometers away from the railway line that had been blown up, so the first wave to arrive and intercept it was 24 'ghost car' dive bombers recruited by reconnaissance planes. "Lie down! Lie down! Flak. Knock them down. "Vlasov had been preparing for air strikes for a long time, so when the plane was spotted, the anti-aircraft guns and heavy machine guns mounted on the trucks opened fire at full speed. Under the intensive firepower, two 'ghost car' dive bombers soon pulled black smoke down. But the remaining bombers still dropped bombs on the tank clusters. However, dive bombers did little damage to armored forces, after all, not everyone could drop bombs on moving tanks. But the second wave of 42 H-10s that came immediately after that was definitely the tank nemesis. Each with 8 rockets, 3 100-kilogram anti-armor submunitions, and a 40-mm rapid-fire gun in the nose is almost as powerful as an artillery battery. Dense rocket artillery and submunitions, which quickly destroyed more than 70 Soviet tanks / armored vehicles.

The last bombers also took advantage of the last daylight to carpet bomb the infantry cluster. Stir up the whole formation. Finally sent off three waves of bombers, but the staff officer shouted again. "Comrade commander, there is an ambush!" The sun was setting in a twist, and billowing sand and dust were raised from the south.

"Rush in!" After learning from the reconnaissance plane that the Soviet formations were blown up. Wang Wenshan immediately took off his headphones and ordered to accelerate the sprint, without giving his opponent any room for adjustment. Receiving the order, the tankmen stepped on the accelerator one after another. Monsters of steel roared and rushed towards their enemies as they looked like madness.

Vlasov didn't expect that there was really an ambush, and hurriedly let the 9th Tank Army meet it. Buy time for the infantry in the rear. "Boom, boom." The reaction of the Soviet artillery was fast, and the armored regiment was only halfway through when dozens of 122-mm howitzers began to pour shells. However, the grenades posed little threat to the tanks, and the flat grass allowed the armored regiment to quickly rush through the artillery fire zone. "Flares!" Waiting for the main armored regiment to get close to the target, He Hai loudly asked the loader to stuff a 70mm flare. "Bang bang." More than a dozen flares rose into the air at the same time, guiding the gunners in the direction. "Boom, boom." Relying on the thick skin and thick flesh, the 'Siberian Tigers' main battle tank battalion approached until 800 meters before the battalion commander gave the order to open fire. Although they could see through the night like the 'Night Tigers', in the white light of the flares, more than a dozen T34s rushing ahead were destroyed by them.

The tank regiment opened the way in front, and He Hai's regiment also protected the 'Iron Bull' half-track infantry fighting vehicle to rush into the battle circle. The 66th Division is a mechanized infantry division, and many people often do not understand the role of the armored division, the mechanized infantry division and the motorized infantry division. To put it simply, the Panzer Division is the vanguard of the attack, crushing the enemy with its powerful destructive ability. Motorized infantry divisions are simply motorized infantry, and soldiers need to get off the battlefield and enter the battlefield on foot. The mechanized infantry division is located in between, with both attacking armored regiments and a large number of infantry fighting vehicles with strong protection capabilities, which can directly drive into the battlefield to release infantry for combat. Like the 66th Mechanized Infantry Division, there is not only an armored regiment, but also the 'Iron Bull' half-track infantry fighting vehicles are all fully enclosed, with a 12.7 mm heavy machine gun on the roof, and 8 infantry can be carried in the compartment.

In view of the excessive reliance on anti-tank guns in the Battle of the Bulge, Liu Mingzhao deliberately asked the Air Force to send a large number of 84-mm recoilless guns this time. This individual equipment based on Gustav uses a hollow charge warhead, which ensures the penetration of the frontal armor of the KV100, and even He Hai quietly stuffed one into the car. "Right!" As soon as one of the gunners jumped out of the car, he was dragged by the squad leader to climb in front of a T34/57 whose tracks had been blown off, but which was still firing. "Fire! Rumble! "I saw a flash of sparks, and the shell blew a big hole in the side of the T34.

In the dark night, there were flickering cannon sparks everywhere, endless machine gun bullet rain, and fiery red meteor-like ballistics, which made He Hai dizzy. It's a pity that the 'Tanuki' tank under his feet, which is an improved version of the Type 26 tank and has a total weight of only 18 tons, can't stop the T34/76, let alone the T34/57 and KV100, so the regiment commander immediately led everyone to intersperse the Soviet infantry behind.

The news of Vlasov's breakthrough to the west was quickly put in front of Liu Mingzhao. But he did not immediately commit the last two panzer divisions. This made Gong Chu and the others very puzzling, according to their thoughts, since the enemy had broken through to the west, they should let the strongest 2nd and 101st armored divisions go up and implement rapid annihilation.

"I know, but can any of you guarantee that it's not bait?" Looking at the puzzled generals, Liu Mingzhao explained the reason. Since Timoshenko's telegram only asked if it was possible to retreat, and there was no text on the direction of retreat, no one knew where the Soviets would run.

"But what if it's true? If you get rushed, it's too late to go! Yang Yuchun was more anxious and didn't worry about Wang Wenshan.

The air in the headquarters was close to solidifying, and Liu Mingzhao was under tremendous pressure at this time. Since the air force could not transport tanks, there were only two main armored divisions left that could carry out mobile operations, and they threw themselves into the west without determining the specific direction of the enemy's breakthrough, and it was difficult to make up for mistakes once they made mistakes. So after thinking for a long time, he shook his hand firmly: "No, definitely not!" Whether it is Lukin or Timoshenko, they all know the truth of encircling three queyi. What's more, it was already night, and the troops that came out were also ambushed, which would make them unable to judge the number and be suspicious. At this time, it was impossible to go south and east, and their only way was to go north, to converge the main forces of the northern line and then retract to Chelyabinsk. ”

Gong Chu nodded: "It makes sense, then what should we do?" ”

"Let Sun Liren lead the 2nd Division and the 101st Division to move north in advance, and then let Xu Xiangqian lead his troops to the west, putting on a posture of rushing to the west. Remember, remind him that the enemy will come out from the north at any time, so be loud and slow in your movements. In this way, if it is true in the west, his 8 divisions can also arrive tomorrow morning, and if Timoshenge and Lu Jinzhen come out to the north, they can also cooperate with Sun Liren to attack! ”…… (To be continued......)