Chapter 245 Tank Collision Wu Zhiwei is a special-grade pilot at Kulen Air Base, and in the regular training assessment, he has always ranked in the top ten or so of the hundreds of pilots in the entire base.

He was one of the first pilots after the founding of the People's Republic of China and was also the squadron leader of the 2nd Fighter Flight Squadron at the base. At the very beginning of the Sino-Soviet border war, Kulen's air force was ordered to attack, traveling more than 100 kilometers north to the front line of the Hudaili River to carry out air support and aerial reconnaissance missions.

The sky outside the cockpit has gradually begun to clear, and some of the last flying snow has become thinner, and some of it has just fallen on the plane and turned into water, which means that the snow is almost gone.

Twenty planes and 16 fighters formed four temporary squadrons, and eight two-plane formations of long-wingmen in combat configurations escorted four H-3 bombers and roared toward the sky over the Hudaili River battlefield.

The Jian-3 fighter and the H-3 bomber, as the backbone of the Air Force in recent years, are the main force of the Chinese Air Force in accordance with the tradition of the southwest period, when fighters and bombers are synchronized. Improvements and modifications based on them will lead to all aircraft types except for mainframes and super-large aircraft.

Since the Jian-1 fighter is based on the German BF109 and was developed in accordance with China's actual conditions and needs, after entering the third generation, the Jian-1 fighter has basically shaken off the characteristics of the first generation of fighters. With a semi-metallic fuselage and more powerful engines, the J-3 fighter has a maximum flight speed of 620 kilometers, which is at least 100 kilometers higher than the speed of the BF109, which is being mass-produced by the Germans.

What is even more surprising is that when the Germans finalized this fighter in 1936, they received help from China, which allowed them to finalize and produce more BF109A/B aircraft in advance.

As for the H-3 fighter, it has almost abandoned the design idea of the prototype bomber and instead adopted the design idea of the B-25 bomber similar to that of the Americans, just because China is ahead of the Americans in terms of high-tech materials and aircraft design, with a range of 1,700 km, a maximum speed of 466 km, and a bomb load of 1.8 tons, thus positioning the H-3 bomber as the best medium-sized ace bomber in the early stage of World War II.

These two models are undoubtedly the most advanced aircraft in China, and although they are not the most advanced models, they will be mass-produced.

"Fighter squadrons No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, responsible for dive attacks. The bomber squadron paid attention to the selection of high-value targets for bombing, and the 4th fighter squadron entered the airspace of the USSR to reconnoiter the situation within a range of 100 km. ”

The commander of this air mission is a lieutenant colonel aviation regiment commander at Cullen Air Force Base, who has unusually rich flying experience and sufficient ability to deal with emergencies.

"Understood!"

At some distance from the position of the Hudaili River, the 4th fighter squadron broke away from the formation and entered Soviet airspace from the other direction, while the remaining three fighter squadrons and bomber squadrons were combat-ready.

"No. 1, No. 2 are responsible for the positions on the left flank, No. 3, No. 4 are responsible for the Soviet troops on the front, action!"

As soon as the lieutenant colonel gave the order, Wu Zhiwei, who was in charge of the 3rd Fighter Squadron of the action force, took the lead in leading the entire squadron of four fighters and swooped down towards the Soviet troops on the opposite side.

At that moment, Wu Zhiwei had a feeling of blood boiling, and the plane he piloted was the first to rush into the airspace of the Soviets, and he firmly believed that this was the first time, but it would never be the last.

Perhaps there have been many cross-border reconnaissance operations between China and the Soviet Union, but this is the first time that China and the Soviet Union have entered into actual combat like this one.

"Humph!"

Wu Zhiwei snorted lightly and took the lead in pressing the launch button of the aviation machine gun, only to see two fire snakes suddenly erupt from under the belly of the dive-diving fighter, and at the same time, on the Soviet position, the Soviet Red Army, which had originally formed a group and was ready to attack again, was torn apart by the bullets of the aviation machine gun before it could figure out which country the plane belonged to in this snowy day.

Like a plough, Wu Zhiwei drove the fighter plane and swooped down over the Soviet army at a low altitude with a relaxed maneuver, first strafing the Soviet troops, and then roaring towards the group of trucks behind the Soviet troops.

"Bang ......"

The crackling sound, the incomparably dense, the rampant bullets of the aviation machine guns, smashed the trucks into hourglasses, splashed glass everywhere, and from time to time the trucks were hit in the fuel tanks, which soon caused a violent explosion.

Behind him, there were three J-3 fighters frantically abusing the Soviet Red Army, which did not even have a single anti-aircraft gun.

"Whew!!"

Chinese fighters screamed and rushed towards the Soviet positions, although only two squadrons of fighters rushed to the frontal Soviet troops, but these eight fighters still brought a huge psychological burden to the Soviet troops.

The ultra-high decibel scream seemed to burst the eardrums of these Red Army recruits. Watching the shiny metallic plane swoop down, everyone subconsciously ran up, and they didn't even know where to hide.

On the empty side of the Hudaili River, there was really no place to hide, which was why the recruits ran so fast that they even forgot to lie on the ground.

"Comrade Belev, we were subjected to air strikes by Chinese!!"

In fact, without the report of the company commander under his command, Belev, as the battalion commander of the Soviet Red Army, it is clear that in this ghost place, except for the plane that must be Chinese, is it German? "Immediately report to the division headquarters and ask the Kyakhta airport to immediately support us."

Just gave the order sensibly, but Belev knew very well that when the snow had not completely stopped, there was little hope to count on the support of Kyakhta, which was close at hand.

He is not an air force general, but judging by his military common sense, the planes attacked by the Chinese were very fast and fierce, and the stopping area of the trucks was even covered by the cannon fire of their fighters.

Watching the rapid attack of the Chinese planes, screaming and diving down, Belev, although disappointed with the performance of this recruit unit under his command, still shouted: "Get down, get down!!" Light machine gun anti-aircraft fire ......"

However, his roar was completely covered by the whistling of Chinese fighters, who, without any enemy planes and without being subjected to effective anti-aircraft fire, relied on their enormous range and repeatedly bombarded this two-kilometer or so frontal position.

Looking at a battalion with heavy casualties, Belev knew that his fate would be to be sentenced to life imprisonment, or even to be shot on the battlefield by the incoming mid-level political commissars of the Red Army. But he couldn't care less.

As an officer loyal to the Soviet Union, his faith in the Bolsheviks was not as high as it seemed, but he loved the Soviet Union as a whole. He was well aware that although the Chinese had only braved the snow to take off a dozen planes, this had already signaled heavy casualties in two Red Army battalions.

He could only pray that the follow-up reinforcements would break through the Chinese positions.

"May the spirit of the Bolsheviks bless them."

After silently praying, the not very loyal Bolshevik officer rushed out of a boulder where he was hiding, and frantically pulled the soldiers who were running wildly to the ground, while shouting loudly, "Shoot in the air, shoot!! ”

However, as soon as he finished shouting, he heard the whizzing sound of the propellers of the plane, and the shrill decibel told him that the plane was close at hand.

Rumble...... As if in a sudden relief, Comrade Belev, in a violent explosion, was lifted up by a 50-kilogram aerial bomb that exploded ten meters away, and a person, divided into two parts, one part of the body, and the other part of a leg flying in the other direction.

"It hurts, Chinese is much more powerful than those counter-revolutionaries......

This is Belev's last consciousness.

Four fighters on aerial reconnaissance missions dispersed in echelons into Soviet airspace.

Jiang Wuming was the squadron leader of this squadron, and as soon as he entered the airspace of the Soviet Union, he felt a different feeling.

Although this was not the first time that the Chinese Air Force had reconnoitred the Soviets' border vicinity, it was the first time that Jiang Wuming had piloted a fighter plane to play the role of a reconnaissance plane and carry out a mission against the Soviet Union.

While maintaining in-flight radio contact with the other three aircraft, he flew the J-3 fighter jet quickly over the heart of the Soviet Union.

Looking at the white mountains and plains below, Jiang Wuming knew that this huge place used to be the territory of China, but now, there are Soviets living on them, and Bolshevik farms have been built one after another.

There were also very few Soviet farms below, often only a few kilometers away, and the Soviet peasants who were also working in the fields and taking care of the crops on those snowy days, when they looked up and saw him, they thought it was a Soviet plane.

"No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, have you noticed?"

Jiang Wuming didn't find anything in the snow with an extremely wide field of vision, this kind of snow day, if even a company of people marched on the snow, or seven or eight trucks were advancing at the same time, it could be seen several kilometers away.

"Report, not found for the time being."

The other three planes reported one after another, and no one was found.

Jiang Wuming looked at the instruments on the plane and found that he had penetrated more than 30 kilometers into the Soviet airspace, including the circling airspace, and at least a quarter of the range within 100 kilometers, but he still did not find that if he went further and farther to the left, it was the Kyakhta of the Soviets.

"Maybe there's something to be found in that direction."

As soon as Jiang Wuming pulled the longitudinal rod of the plane, the plane began to turn and flew in the northwest direction.

After about seven or eight minutes of flight, Jiang Wuming had already penetrated about 60 kilometers deep into the territory of the Soviet Union.

"Hey, what's that?"

Through the protective goggles, Jiang Wuming saw that at a distance of about 1 kilometer horizontally, there was a long queue of vehicles, about the size of at least a division, a long convoy, and even some trucks could be seen pulling artillery.

Almost at the same time, the huge convoy of Soviet troops also spotted the incoming plane, and the commander of the Soviet army looked at it with a telescope and found that it was not a Soviet aircraft model, and immediately stopped the truck with anti-aircraft guns and prepared for anti-aircraft fire.

However, after all, Jiang Wuming was piloting a high-speed plane, and the Soviet army did not arrange air defense positions in advance.

Bang bang bang...... As soon as the Soviets put the anti-aircraft guns away and had not yet torn off their gun jackets, Jiang Wuming quickly dived down and directly used the machine guns under the belly of the aircraft to start slaughtering the dense Soviet troops.

The panicked Soviet troops, although they were scattered, were still difficult to dodge in the face of the only plane.

The dense explosions, along the route of the Soviet army's march, kept exploding, until the cannon was fired, Jiang Wuming did not stop, pressed the launch button of the aviation machine gun again, and then wreaked havoc on the red side of the Soviet convoy.

If it is wartime, when the Soviet army is on higher alert, it is difficult for an aircraft to achieve such a result, however, the Soviet army marches within the country, the vigilance is too low, and the Soviet army, which has not experienced inter-country battles, has insufficient air defense experience.

Even if the Soviet commander found out that it was not a Soviet plane and gave the order quickly, how could he have time.

In this way, a plane, until it had strafed all the ammunition, caused more than 200 Soviet casualties, and blew up more than a dozen trucks, finally pulled up the height and withdrew at full speed.

The heavily armed Soviet troops, marching in the snow, in the direction of the border, then it is very likely that they will go to support the direction of the Hudaili River.

"Report to the captain, find a large Soviet Red Army, request an attack."

In just a few minutes before and after, two of the other three fighters also spotted two other Soviet marching convoys.

In the Soviets' plan, a total of three divisions of early combat units, because they were too close to the border and had a large target on the march in the snow, were all found by Chinese planes without being disturbed by any Soviet air force.

When Jiang Wuming finally prepared to return, he saw a boundless Soviet tank division from the air, with hundreds of Soviet tanks, heading in the snow towards the Hudaili River on the Sino-Soviet border.

......" report, chairman, this is the latest report from the front. ”

In the Führer's Office Center, Zhang Shusheng took the latest report handed over by the operational staff officer and looked at it carefully.

The occurrence of this Sino-Soviet border battle was not unexpected by him, what was uncertain was the determination of the Soviets to fight and the planned scale of the battle.

If it had been a peaceful era and there were some conflicts on the Sino-Soviet border, he would never have been so nervous, and the famous treasure island in later generations was only a local skirmish.

However, the current Sino-Soviet relations are far more tense than in later generations, and the scale of the garrisons on both sides is no less than when the relations between the two sides were at their most tense in later generations.

Moreover, Stalin, who had just signed a Soviet-German non-aggression pact with the Germans, had inflated ambitions and began to think about Mongolia again, which made Zhang Shusheng have to be vigilant that once Stalin was determined to split Mongolia, then China and the Soviet Union would only have to start a war in Asia in advance.

Although a full-scale war would affect China's interests, it did not mean that China would be afraid of the Soviet Union. It was now the end of 1939, and the new batch of mobilization plans of the People's Army had just been completed, and as many as 400,000 People's Army, newly armed after the outbreak of World War II, had been able to serve as a garrison after half a year of intense intensive training. These recruits, who were originally reserve forces, were much stronger than the Soviet troops that pulled peasants.

Moreover, an atmosphere of becoming more and more martial and military has also permeated the land of China for several years, and as the Baath Party has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, the ruling ideology of enriching the country and enriching the people, strengthening the country and the army, has also been well implemented.

After reading this report, Zhang Shusheng breathed a sigh of relief, judging from the report, the Soviets mobilized about three divisions, or more troops to participate in this border war, maybe there will be more troops participating in the war. What is somewhat surprising is that through aerial reconnaissance, it was discovered that the Soviets also mobilized a tank division, which seems to be their trump card in the war.

In order to allow the vanguard to quickly break through to the Coulomb line and prepare for the follow-up plan, Stalin's capital was large enough.

Coincidentally, the Chinese mechanized division is also about to enter the city of Selenga, where Hudaili is located, and the Chinese and Soviet tank forces are about to collide, who will win and who will lose.

"The collision of Chinese and Soviet tank forces is about to be staged, and although the victory or defeat is expected, perhaps some others should be prepared. After the tank battle, the Soviets should have been given an even bigger surprise. ”

Zhang Shusheng thought about it a little, weighed the pros and cons, now is not the time for a full-scale war with the Soviets, relying on a strong memory, he remembered that there are about 600 fighters of all kinds deployed in Mongolia, because of his strong vigilance against the Soviet Union, the Mongolian direction is definitely one of China's military priorities, and he has basic considerations in his heart, picked up the phone on the table, and said, "Let the Chief of General Staff Jiang General Staff, Minister Cai of the Ministry of National Defense, and Commander Fan of the Air Force come to me." ”

From time to time, three important members of the Republican [***] side came to Zhang Shusheng's office.

"Chairman!"

The three generals sat down after saluting, and each of them got the front-line report that Zhang Shusheng had just read.

Zhang Shusheng picked up the teacup on the table, took a sip, and then said, "From the current point of view, we have the advantage in this conflict. At present, there is no suspense in the ground battle for the time being, the main thing is the upcoming tank battle, which will test the Chinese and Soviet tanks, who is better. ”

"From the point of view of the size of the troops, the number of tanks in our mechanized infantry division is 51, the Soviets are about one tank division, about 100 tanks, we have suffered a loss in terms of quantity, but our tanks are Tiger 2 tanks, and the Siberian Military Region of the Soviets is generally equipped with relatively backward tanks, and it is estimated that there will be a lot of nests on the march in the snow, and we still have a great chance of winning." Cai Ye knows the situation of the 11th Mechanized Infantry Division very well, in addition to being a semi-tank division, this division is actually an anti-tank division, "Moreover, this division has strong anti-tank capabilities, equipped with a large number of anti-tank guns and rocket launchers, if it will fail against the Soviets, then the division commander Rao Guohua should be punished!" ”

Zhang Shusheng nodded, and then said, "At present, it is not time for a full-scale war between China and the Soviet Union, neither China nor the Soviet Union is ready, Stalin wants to fight a border invasion war related to Mongolia, which is what they often do in Europe, of course, the Germans are also like this." We must not back down, we must take strong measures so that Stalin can see the catastrophic consequences of the continuation of the war, so I have a preliminary plan. ”

Zhang Shusheng knew very well that neither China nor the Soviet Union dared to start an all-out war, in this way, both sides would have huge trouble, and Stalin's personal will was a typical weirdness, once the Chinese side showed any weakness, it would eventually lead to Mongolia being really divided by the Soviet Red Army, which had not yet been attacked by the Germans, and once China showed a very strong posture and came up with a full-scale war posture, Stalin, a madman, would calm down instead.

"What do you mean, Chairman?" The three of them suddenly became interested, and it was a good thing to have a fight, at least they could teach a lesson to the Soviet Unions, who had no one in their eyes and were arrogant.

"I'm ready to launch a massive air raid on the USSR!"

Zhang Shusheng walked in front of the world map behind him, slapped him near Kyakhta, and drew a circle on that piece of Soviet territory, "Knock on the mountain and shake the tiger, a huge air raid on the border areas of the Soviet Union!" ”

(To be continued)