Langpur, an important town in northern Bangladesh, is strewn with corpses and craters stretching from the Gorodoya River to the small town. The lush woods were blown to shreds, and there were traces of explosions and fighting everywhere. In the crooked and almost unreformed trenches, the periscope of the artillery that had been blown off quietly poked out. The owner of the periscope was a second lieutenant company commander of the 166th Division, named Huang Shi'an, whose regiment was responsible for dragging four Soviet Indian divisions here together with two infantry regiments of the 5th Division of the Group Army and the 713th Regiment of the 154th Division. In order not to let the Soviet and Indian troops find out the problem, Fei Wenhua has always put on a posture of only four regiments, even if the strength of Lamber has increased to seven regiments at this moment, and there is also a rocket artillery regiment, he still adopts a rotation system to ensure that he is not seen by the enemy.

Until last night, I don't know what kind of madness the Soviets who had lost their lives in India, they had to put in one more regiment after shelling for a whole night and launching three successive waves of charges, regardless of the consumption of ammunition. The trenches in front of them were almost filled, the positions were littered with corpses and blood, and the hot and humid climate gave the trenches a foul smell. After six days and six nights of fighting, he had only about 60 guns left, almost all of them wounded, only four machine guns left, and the only supporting fire was a 60-mm mortar. As soon as the periscope was extended, he saw a pair of cloudy dead fish eyes, and a Soviet second lieutenant with his legs blown off was lying horizontally less than ten meters in front of him, staring lifelessly at the periscope. "Made! Scare Lao Tzu! The second lieutenant took a sip, without the slightest panic, and under the fierce battles and battles for days, he and the soldiers had already become numb to the corpse.

"How's the company commander?"

"I can't see clearly, it seems to be gathering, at least three or four hundred people."

"paralyzed! Why can't you kill it? A platoon commander listened. The bloody spit sprayed directly onto the corpse of a Soviet soldier next to him, and he kicked it a few times before he took out half a crumpled pack of crumpled cigarettes from his pocket and stuffed it into his mouth, lit it with a kerosene lighter and took two puffs before exhaling a breath. complained: "Company commander, why do you say that we came all the way from Kunming to this *** place?" ”

"Fight! What else can be done? Huang Shi'an snatched the cigarette from his hand and sat down in the pile of corpses.

"Then there's no need to come here to fight? Is it bad to fight from Yunnan to Myanmar? ”

"I don't know, I heard the head of the regiment. The above is afraid that the Japanese soldiers in Bangladesh will collude with the Soviets and Indians here to threaten the southwest of our country, so we will cut off the connection between the Japanese and India. ”

"Afraid of a ball! India's soldiers have not fought in the past few days. You look at those headscarves, they can't even bend over and run. As soon as the gun went off, he lay on the ground. Made, I don't know if the Indian ladies are also virtuous, if so, when I am empty, I will take a gun to the town and put two shots, and I don't even have to spread the bed. ”

"Huh." The soldiers gathered around were amused. Even Huang Shi'an kicked falsely and scolded with a smile: "Look at you bear-like, all day long, girls." Sooner or later, he will die on the belly of a woman. After scolding, he got up: "Seriously, do you know how many people there are in India?" I tell you, two hundred million! Listen clearly. It's 200 million! What are the Soviets best at? It's not the set of demagogic things, if they bewitch five or six million soldiers to fight us in Yunnan and Guangxi with the Japanese, how many people on the border will have to leave their homes? Not to mention that we have to fight Central Asia, Persia and Japan. How can there be so much energy. ”

The soldiers nodded their heads again and again, and even the platoon commander understood. Angry: "Made! Later, Lao Tzu must him a few more hairs, no matter what, I can't let them bewitch so many soldiers and horses! ”

"Yes, everyone will fight at the Soviets later, watch them." The sniper was holding his gun, and as soon as he said this, a shell flew over the trench and hit the woods behind. "Boom, boom!" Dense shells rained down, and Huang Shi'an and his comrades took their places as if they had been beaten with blood. When they were arranged, they saw a BT7 tank rushing up again with four or five hundred Soviet-Indian soldiers.

"Watch out for tanks! Throw a grenade, put 80 fire ready. "The Soviet-Indian army attacking Rambull attacked again, and even tanks that had only been used once in a few days were sent, apparently to crush the position in one fell swoop. With a crunching sound, the BT7 tank drove faster and faster, and appeared in front of the position in a few minutes. "Grenade!" In Huang Shi'an's heavy drinking, the grenadiers rushed out of the position with 80mm recoilless guns, knelt down on one knee and aimed at the front of the tank, and pulled the trigger fiercely. Rumble! In a cloud of flames, the BT7 tank turned into a fireball, and as soon as the grenade hit was about to climb back, it was hit in the thigh by a Soviet bullet from behind, and he lay on the ground unable to move. "Machine guns cover me!" Seeing this, Huang Shi'an and his two comrades-in-arms jumped out of the trench with arrows, and dragged the injured grenadier back to the trench.

The Soviet-Indian soldiers who lost their tanks not only did not retreat, but the artillery fire became more and more urgent, and soldiers were constantly hit by shrapnel and fell in the trenches. "Chief of Staff! Let's get on! In the command post, the three regiment commanders who came to support one after another after the outbreak of the battle clenched their fists, their faces were red, and their necks were beating with green tendons. In the next six days, a total of six regiments of the 153rd and 154th Divisions transferred from Afghanistan arrived in India, two to participate in the raid on Steel City, one to support Sirjar, and the remaining three were transferred to Rampur, even the rocket artillery regiment of the Seventh Army. But fearing that too many troops would be invested at one time to scare away Kozilov, Fei Wenhua had to endure a huge sacrifice and deliberately pressed the support troops in his hands, creating the illusion that the position was crumbling, and inducing the four Soviet divisions to continue the attack, dragging them so as not to flee back to the steel city.

The battle for the position was close to white-hot, and even though no less than 4,000 corpses were dropped in six days, the four Soviet Indian divisions led by Soviet veterans were still surging like a fierce wave towards the outer positions of Lambcheng! Inside the trenches, soldiers on both sides rolled into a ball, choking their necks and gouging out their eyes, bayonet sappers slashing each other's flesh and stabbing each other's flesh, grenades slamming on people's heads, and occasionally someone pulled a grenade, and with a single explosion, fell to the people around them. Everyone showed the greatest ferocity in their efforts to kill the person in front of them, and the shallow trenches were completely a hellish scene of Shura, with dead officers and soldiers on both sides one after another. Flares rose from the position, which meant that the position was close to collapse and needed reinforcements, and when the reserves, who had already suffered nearly half of the casualties in the back, saw the flares, they rushed into the trench again with a dense barrage of bullets.

This kind of strangulation, which was almost hand-to-hand, made Fei Wenhua sweat profusely. The fists are clenched out of the water. But Li Zongren's order was to receive a telegram in order to fight back. "Chief of Staff!" When a regimental commander saw that he had not yet given the order, his eyes were red. If it weren't for the strict military regulations that have been strictly observed for many years, I am afraid that he would have bypassed the command headquarters and rushed up with his soldiers. Just when the tension in the headquarters was tense and Fei Wenhua was so anxious that he was sweating all over his body, the voice of waiting for six days finally sounded. "Report! It's the commander's telegram! Pokaro, Pocalo Steel City is ours! The staff officer jumped up excitedly! It doesn't take much military knowledge to know that taking Pokaro Steel City means that the Wehrmacht has gained a foothold in Jharkhand. As long as follow-up support can keep up. It doesn't take a few days to occupy the entire state. This is tantamount to breaking the three-sided encirclement and suppression of the CPI, the Congress Party and the Japanese army, and not only the implementation of the counter-encirclement of East and West Bengal controlled by the Japanese army in one fell swoop! It also directly threatens Uttar Pradesh, the stronghold of the PKI!

"What are you waiting for? Offensive! Offensive! Offensive! After enduring for six days, the anger of being suppressed and beaten by the enemy army completely exploded at this moment, and the roar of joy and counterattack made Fei Wenhua's whole body hot. Three infantry regiments, which had long been ready to go, joined the battlefield. The thirty-six hidden rocket launchers roared wildly at the same moment, and the position that was crumbling just now was instantly unbreakable.

"Company commander, company commander! Look! Huang Shi'an had just killed a Soviet soldier, and before he could aim at the next target, he was pulled and twisted by the bloodied platoon commander. When I saw the dense support troops along the trenches, a rush of blood rushed to the brain, and tears came out! "Wehrmacht. Offensive! With this slogan from Wuchang resounding in Langbul, the Chinese people finally gained a firm foothold in the South Asian subcontinent.

After learning that Pocaro was lost, the back road was cut off, and he had already been exhausted. Kozilov, who had almost run out of ammunition, did not struggle, leaving behind more than 4,000 corpses and retreating to Jamshedpur through Japanese-controlled West Bengal. Shojiro Iida, who attacked Siljair and Imphal, was also distraught, but he did not expect West Bengal to be threatened overnight. I had to abandon the offensive and retreat to Dhaka and Kolkata first. Meanwhile. Chuikov also immediately changed the defense to the offensive, and reached an agreement with Nehru's Indian National Army overnight, with a total of 400,000 troops holding the line of Burhapur and Nagpur, waiting for the fighters to appear. Considering the immediate threat from Uttar Pradesh, he also transferred four to Valasina to defend this strategic point on the Ganges River into the north.

Both Auchinleck and Kuinan chanted excitedly when they learned that Li Zongren had raided Pokaro Steel City. Even Churchill personally telegraphed the Allied Command in India to thank Li Zongren and the Chinese Indian Army for bringing the Indian war situation, which had been precarious a few days ago, into a strategic stalemate.

On October 23, the day Li Zongren captured the city of Pokaro, and sent two more regiments to attack Danbad. After the 19th Infantry Division of the Communist Party of India stationed here learned of the loss of the steel city, the Indian soldiers, who were seriously undertrained, had no intention of fighting at all, and even if the Soviet army overseer battalion killed hundreds of deserters in a row, it still could not recover the defeat. After only three hours of fighting, 5,000 Indian soldiers were captured, and the rest were all dispersed, with only a few fleeing into West Bengal, from where they made a detour to Jamshedpur to join Kozilov.

The Indian soldiers were so quick to disperse that even the copper smelters and mines were not destroyed. Regrettably, according to Indian soldiers, five days ago, 10,000 tons of copper ingots, which were originally intended for shipment to Britain, and 300,000 tons of crude steel from Pokaro Steel City had been shipped back to Uttar Pradesh by the PKI, and about 3,000 tons of copper ingots had been handed over to the Japanese according to the agreement.

After taking Danbad, Li Zongren launched an attack on Ashsol in West Bengal and Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand. Having lost all his heavy weapons, Sani Romans could not hold back the onslaught of the Panzer Regiment, and by the afternoon of the next day he withdrew from the city to Laurkla in Olissa and, together with Kozilov, held the southward passage of Ranchi. At the same time, Li Zongren secretly dispatched troops to occupy the Makobodhi temple complex and a large number of temples northeast of Pokaro under the pretext of searching for enemy troops, and transported at least 2,000 precious cultural relics and a large number of gold treasures back to China overnight. According to investigations by the British and Indian governments after the war, at least 50,000 Indian cultural relics, gold, silver, and jewelry worth 3 billion yuan were looted by the Chinese troops stationed in India during the war, and China also looted a large amount of materials from India, including one ton of ore, 20 million tons of crude steel, and 500,000 tons of copper.

"Pokaro Steel City is less than forty percent damaged? Danbad went only two regiments and captured five thousand people? Even the copper mines and smelters remain intact? In the front-line headquarters of the Abadan-Persian Theater, Bai Chongxi repeatedly flipped through the battle report that had just arrived under the lamp, looking incredulous. Next to the company, Li Mingrui and Zhu Jiande and other officers of the Persian Gulf Army. Also secretly dumbfounded. "Hehe, I didn't believe it at first, and I asked the Tibet aircraft carrier to send a reconnaissance plane to confirm it in person." Zhu Binhou said with a smile next to him: "The plane only learned that the one stationed in Danbad is an all-India division, and the training of soldiers is less than three months. ”

"No wonder, I said, how can Lao Li be so brave." Bai Chongxi smiled. He and Li Zongren are fellow villagers and classmates, and they are also best friends, and he is also very happy that his old friend became famous in India.

Zhu Jiande also shook his head with a wry smile: "These Indians." Why bother? ”

"It can't be said that Nehru actually had a good time to launch it. We were caught between the Soviet Union and Japan, Britain could not protect itself, and there were 200,000 Soviet troops to help us, relying on India's manpower and material resources. If you can keep a few steel mills and industrial facilities, it is not much to arm an army of five or six million. What a pity! Lao Li was too ruthless this time, and he cut off their seven inches, otherwise I am afraid that Mumbai will be lost. Chief of Staff Li Mingrui smoked a cigarette, and remembered the situation a few days ago. If Nehru and the PKI do capture Mumbai, they will probably have to divide their forces to defend the Muslim League-controlled areas. At that time, even if the combat effectiveness of the Indian army is poor, the Persian Gulf Army will be overstretched in terms of strength.

India has entered a strategic stalemate. So that Bai Chongxi no longer had to worry about the Muslim League in the east, he turned his mind back to the Middle East and the Mediterranean, and asked: "Is there any movement from the Soviets?" ”

"There are no major changes, only four or five railway corps have been transferred to Armenia and Azerbaijan," Li said. There are also a dozen railway air defense trains. It is estimated that the railway line is frightened by our bombing and wants to strengthen air defense. On the contrary, the defense of the Caucasus and Baku has been greatly strengthened, and intelligence says that Baku has deployed about 2,000 antiaircraft guns of various types and five or six hundred of the best fighters, and the strength of the Caucasus has increased to 800,000. Including the Persian side, the total is more than one and a half million. It is said that the USSR has begun to arm the Kurds. About 100,000 Kurdish, Armenian and other guerrillas were armed and ready to be thrown into the Middle East theater. "Since August, the Persian Gulf Army has been constantly bombing the railway transportation lines in Tabriz and Azerbaijan, causing difficulties in the supply of the Soviet Iranian Front." By the way, the intelligence also said that Moscow had appointed Yeremenko as chief of staff of the Iranian Front, and it should be there soon. ”

"Is Yeremenko the one under Budyonny back then?"

"Yes, it was recommended by that old fellow Budyonny. It is said that this person is brave in battle, optimistic and strong, and his shortcoming is that he likes to talk big. Li Mingrui said: "Before he came, he repeatedly said in front of Budyonny that Pavlov did not want to make progress, and with the geographical location of Persia, he could completely contain Central Asia and make greater contributions." ”

"Contact the country and send this person's information as soon as possible." After speaking, Bai Chongxi asked about the internal situation in Iran.

"That old boy from Mossadegh is now active, and is pouring all the dirty water on the heads of the Soviets and the Kurds, as the president demands, and many people believe him. However, there seems to be some disagreement within them, and some people feel that they should not cooperate with us, especially after the bombing of London, many people are not optimistic about us. Pahlavi also seems to be worried, and has been urging me to go north as soon as possible in the past few days. ”

"Humph! A group of short-sighted people. Zhu Binhou snorted coldly.

Li Mingrui smiled: "I don't blame them." Now India is in turmoil, Italy is sending troops to Egypt and Greece, and the Soviets are strengthening Persia and Iraq on the other. What about our side? Britain could not protect itself, our country was caught between Japan and the Soviet Union, the Malacca shipping route was also temporarily suspended, and the Central Asian railway could not be opened to traffic until the beginning of the year, so it could only use the Afghanistan and Muslim League railways to supply supplies. HeheJudging from the overall situation, it's no wonder that people are afraid, not to mention that even among us, there are soldiers muttering. ”

"They only saw the rise of Soviet-German-Italian power, but they didn't know that these countries had great weakness. Just the grain, the three together can't last three years! As for the Japanese president, if he didn't want to wait, how could there be a place for Hirohito to jump. ”

"yes." Bai Chongxi agreed with Zhu Binhou's words, if the president hadn't wanted to wait for the attitude of the United States, I am afraid that Tokyo would have been blown to pieces. However, the pressure on his side is also greater, there is no Malacca, the supplies can only go through Afghanistan, and then through the railway from Rahal to Karachi to supply, because this section of Afghanistan has to rely on trucks, so the supply is very small. The recent outbreak in Italy, in particular, has added to tensions in North Africa and the Middle East. Thinking of this, he hurriedly asked about the joint plan of the Navy and the British Navy: "Bin Hou, when are you and Cunningham going to do it?" ”

"The Tibet will be able to leave and return by tomorrow morning at the latest, and when they reach the Red Sea, I will go to Alexandria. I guess in early November, otherwise Cunningham wouldn't have been able to hold out. ”

Although Bai Chongxi is the commander of the theater, the Third Fleet is subordinate to the navy, and he only has the right to make suggestions. Therefore, he was more worried about the fleet's operation, and reminded: "The Italian navy is still quite powerful, and your French ships can't cross the canal, so you must be careful, don't delay the big event in Andaman . "The Third Fleet was deployed in the Persian Gulf, in addition to ensuring the safety of the Persian Gulf and the Suez Canal, it was Yang Qiu who deliberately placed it outside, preparing to flank the important pawns of the Andaman and Malacca, so everyone was very afraid of the unexpected situation like the Ryukyu Naval War.

"I will be careful, until you wait for the news of India to reach Moscow, I estimate that Stalin will take advantage of the winter truce in the north to open up the situation from the Middle East and contain us and Britain to support India." Zhu Binhou also reminded.

"Hehe, we're waiting for him." Bai Chongxi smiled, picked up the teacup and was about to drink water, when a communications staff officer ran outside the door. Panting and rushing into the office, he shouted: "Report, General Staff emergency telegram!" At 18:47 p.m. today, a German submarine sank the Queen Mary, a British royal cruise ship, off the coast of New York. It has been confirmed that there are at least nine hundred American citizens on it! The USS Milwaukee light cruiser and two destroyers, which arrived to the rescue, were also attacked, with the USS Milwaukee being hit and sunk by two torpedoes, the USS Stephen also being sunk, and the other USS McGee exploding upon returning to port. ”

There was no reaction in the office for a while, and it was not until the second report of the staff officer that everyone suddenly opened their mouths and stood up one after another. But they didn't cheer or be happy, but Bai Chongxi and Zhu Binhou frowned slightly. At this time, a heavyweight ally like the United States will definitely be a major turning point from the perspective of war, and it can quickly change the balance of power between the alliance and the enemy.

But from a national point of view, is it a blessing or a curse?