Lin Daxin led the Guards Division and the Second Division to set off from Shenyang on August 26, which was supposed to take only one day by car, but the army walked for nearly half a month, and arrived at Dongning City in Heilongjiang on September 9.

For this kind of marching speed, Lin Daxin was depressed, it seems that he has time to buy more trucks from modern time and space, if the number of trucks is enough, there is no need to travel for such a long time. Lin Daxin also made up his mind to do his best to repair the railways in the northeast, and in addition, the newly occupied Outer Mongolia and Inner Mongolia should also build railways, which are more convenient than trucks.

It would be a waste of time to move troops within your own territory with only two legs.

Jiang Yu, commander of the Fourth Division, Zhang Daxiong, commander of the Armored Division, and Zhang Zuolin, commander of the 11th Division, invited Lin Daxin to Dongning City, and the headquarters of the Fourth Division, Chen Ergou, the commander of the Guards Division, and Wang Hongjun, the commander of the Second Division, also followed Lin Daxin to the headquarters.

After a few people entered the headquarters, Lin Daxin sat at the top of a rectangular table in the headquarters, and the other five division commanders sat on both sides of the table. ”

Jiang Yu said: "Principal, according to the report of the scouts we dispatched, the Russian army in the Far East has sent some more troops to the Twin Cities, at least tens of thousands of people. Moreover, according to the confession of the Russian troops we captured, the Russian army we fought in Dongning, that is, the Russian army that retreated to the Twin Cities, was the First Front Army of the Far East, which originally had the 4th Army, the 9th Army, the 15th Cavalry Army, the 16th Cavalry Army, the 25th Army, the 26th Army and the 27th Army. The commander was Willistov, commander of the Russian 4th Army, and the 1st Front Army of the Russian Far East, which originally had more than 200,000 troops, at least in the big battle outside Dongning. We wiped out more than 40,000 people. ”

Jiang Yu paused and said: "As for how many troops the Russian army has in the Twin Cities now, we don't know very well, but at least more than 200,000. ”

Lin Daxin nodded and said: "Regardless of whether the Russian army in Twin Cities is 200,000 or 300,000, our original plan remains unchanged, the Guards Division and the Second Division will rest in Dongning City for 2 days, and the original 3 divisions in Dongning City are also ready." On the 11th, the whole army set out and crossed the border. Attack the Twin Cities of Russia! ”

At this time, in the headquarters of the 1st Far Eastern Front in the Twin Cities, the commander Willistov said to the commander of the 9th Army Gexam beside him: "Now the 22nd Army and the 23rd Army have arrived in the Twin Cities, and the heavy artillery division sent by the Governor has also reached the Twin Cities, and the 28th Army has also been included in our First Far Eastern Front. I am ready to re-cross the border line and launch an attack on Dongning City in 2 days. ”

There was another 1 heavy artillery division, so that Willistov had enough confidence to deal with the tanks of the Dingbei Army, although the tanks and armored vehicles of the Russian army were lost, but relying on the heavy artillery troops, Willistov thought that the tanks and armored vehicles of the Northern Army could be controlled, so he prepared to attack Dongning City again.

Gexam asked, "Commander, what troops are you going to lead?" ”

"I am prepared to leave the damaged 25th and 26th armies in the Twin Cities," Willistov said. The other 8 armies all attacked, striving to occupy Dongning City within 3 days. Open access to the Northeast Hinterland. Gexam, you send someone for me to inform the commanders of the armies to come to the headquarters for a combat meeting. ”

The time soon came to September 11, Lin Daxin led the 5 divisions in Dongning City, left Dongning City, and attacked the territory of Russia, after all 5 divisions of the Dingbei Army left Dongning City. Dongning City still has a defensive force of the Dingbei Army, which is the 35th Division of the Dingbei Army formed by the expansion of the original 20th Brigade of the Dingbei Army.

And when Lin Daxin led the army to set off. The 1st Far Eastern Front of the Twin Cities in Russia, under the leadership of Commander Willistov, swooped down on the city of Dongning in the northeast.

After a skirmish, the 211th Regiment of the Second Division of the Dingbei Army's vanguard defeated at least one brigade of the Russian army, and the commander of the 211th Regiment was Li Qingyao, who was in love with Ma Yili, a nurse at the First People's Hospital of Shenyang.

Soon the commanders of both sides knew that the other army's army was on the opposite side of them, and both sides wanted to attack the other's city, only to meet them at the border.

After Lin Daxin received the news of the vanguard troops, he said to several division commanders around him: "I didn't expect the Russian Far East First Front Army to meet us here, there is nothing to say, the brave win when they meet on the narrow road, and order all divisions to assemble on the border line, ready to attack the Russian army on the border line, as long as the Russian army of the Far East First Front Army out of the Twin Cities is defeated, the Twin Cities will be within reach for us!" ”

After Willistov, commander of the First Front of the Russian Far East, knew that the vanguard encountered the Dingbei Army on the border line, he immediately sent Russian scouts to investigate the reality of the Dingbei Army.

The scouts reported to Willistov that the border line was not a small force, but the main force of the Dingbei Army in Dongning City, and Willistov immediately ordered the armies of the First Front Army to assemble on the border line, and he also had the same idea as Lin Daxin, if the main force of the Dingbei Army in Dongning City could be defeated on the border line, then Dongning City would basically be defenseless against the First Front Army in the Far East.

On September 11, both sides amassed heavy troops and built trenches and fortifications on the border between the two countries, and there were no more large-scale battles, and both were gathering forces to prepare to deal a fatal blow to the other side.

The main reason why both sides did not attack immediately was that there were so many troops on both sides that the marching army was very long, and it took both sides a day on the 11th to gather their large armies around the border line, forming a situation of confrontation.

Both sides did not launch any night attacks or other attacks that night, and both honestly waited for the next day's battle. However, under Lin Daxin's order, the officers and soldiers of the Dingbei Army dug a lot of anti-artillery holes deep into the ground overnight, and Lin Daxin knew that the Russian army's artillery was not weak, and the two sides would definitely conduct an artillery battle tomorrow, digging more anti-artillery holes, so that the forward troops could reduce their losses.

At 7 o'clock in the morning of the next day, Lin Daxin first ordered the three A reorganization divisions and the guards division. 5 heavy artillery brigades armed with 40 155-mm heavy howitzers, 13 heavy artillery regiments armed with 30 105-mm howitzers, 39 artillery battalions armed with 10 75-mm field guns and 10 75-mm mountain guns. A total of more than 1,300 guns of 75 mm caliber or more launched artillery shelling on the improvised positions established by the Russian army around the border line.

"Boom-boom-boom-" Fierce artillery fire enveloped the heads of the Russian troops, and then the Russian artillery began to counterattack, and the two sides launched a tragic artillery battle.

The First Front Army in the Far East now has a total of three heavy artillery divisions, plus each army's own 75-mm artillery, a total of nearly 800 guns of 75 mm caliber or more, more than 500 less than the Dingbei Army.

In addition, the 155mm heavy howitzers and 105mm howitzers of the Dingbei Army are all new heavy artillery with a relatively long range, and their range exceeds the 152mm howitzer with the longest range of the Russian army. After nearly two hours of artillery battle, the artillery of the 1st Far Eastern Front was somewhat overwhelmed. Of the nearly 800 artillery pieces, less than 400 remained, and more than half of them were lost. Moreover, the Russian army not only suffered heavy losses in artillery, but also suffered very heavy casualties.

That is, there are less than 400 artillery pieces left in the Russian artillery. The intensity of the artillery bombardment is also constantly decreasing, because they must constantly shift their positions, otherwise they will be immediately covered and bombarded by the artillery of the Dingbei Army, so that the Russian artillery can only put 2 guns, so they will transfer their positions, and then they will put 2 guns, and then they will move again.

The losses on the artillery side of the Northern Army were much less, and it took nearly two hours of artillery to lose more than 70 guns, and most of them were 75-mm mountain and field guns. Neither the 155-mm heavy howitzer nor the 105-mm howitzer lost much, mainly the artillery positions of these howitzers, most of which were located outside the range of the Russian artillery.

As the intensity of the Russian artillery bombardment decreased. Most of the artillery of the Dingbei Army began to cover the infantry positions of the Russian army again, the 155mm heavy howitzers continued to look for the artillery positions of the Russian army to bombard, and the 105mm howitzers and 75mm caliber artillery bombarded the forward positions of the Russian army. At this moment, the Russian soldiers in the forward positions were killed.

The 1st Far Eastern Front of the Russian Army is at the forefront of the border line, which is the 23rd and 24th armies of the Russian army, and the other Russian troops are behind these two corps.

Two armies of the Russian 23rd and 24th armies had just been sent from the Vladivostok region to the Twin Cities by the Governor-General of the Far East, Aleksayev, to join the First Far Eastern Front. The two commanders did not attach importance to the Qing Dynasty's army. It can be said that the Dingbei Army was very contemptuous, that is, the First Front Army of the Far East had already lost troops outside Dongning City. But in the hearts of these two army commanders, the army of the Qing Dynasty people still stayed in the image of holding a big sword and spear with a big braid on the back of their heads, and they thought that the current Dingbei Army had some modern weapons, and there was still no way to compare with the powerful Russian army.

Yesterday, the commander of the 1st Far Eastern Front, Willistov, ordered them to strengthen the fortifications of the forward positions, especially to dig more anti-artillery holes, but the 2 commanders of the 23rd and 24th armies of the Russian army did not implement them according to the commander's orders, but only built some simple fortifications on the front line, and the anti-artillery holes were not dug much, but the soldiers only let the soldiers dig a part of the anti-artillery holes for the Russian officers.

Now the artillery of the Dingbei Army has fallen on the heads of the Russian 23rd Army and the 24th Army, so that the Russian soldiers of the two armies who have dug fewer anti-artillery holes have tasted the consequences.

After the artillery of the Russian army was suppressed by the artillery of the Dingbei Army, the entire forward position of the Russian army was blown up by the artillery fire of the Dingbei Army.

The 22nd Army and the 23rd Army add up to nearly 60,000 people, and the entire position area of the two armies is not small, just more than a dozen trenches have been dug, but most of the positions with such a large area are now shrouded in the fierce artillery fire of the Dingbei Army, so that the soldiers of the two armies, let alone hide, it is difficult to even escape backwards.

In the temporary headquarters of the 1st Far Eastern Front in the back, the commander Willistov tonguò telescope looked at the bombed mess of the forward position, and suddenly turned pale, and slammed the telescope on the table of the temporary headquarters.

Then he said to the commander of the 9th Army, Gexam, who was in the temporary headquarters: "Narmysky and Chedanov, these 2 bastards, take my words as a deaf ear, these 2 armies are finished, there are nearly 60,000 people, under such artillery bombardment, how many people can be left, and those 2 bastards should be sent to a military court." ”

Gexam was terrified and said, "Oh God! The artillery of the Dingbei Army is so fierce, at least more than a thousand large-caliber guns, commander, our artillery has already suffered heavy casualties, how can this battle continue? ”

At the beginning of the war, the commander of the 9th Army, Gexam, saw nearly 800 artillery pieces of more than 75 mm caliber of the First Front Army in the Far East, lined up in rows on the artillery positions, and felt that the German Army, which was known as the strongest army, was not easy to gather so many artillery pieces for a campaign, and did not expect that the artillery of the Dingbei Army on the opposite side was more fierce, and not long after the war began, his nearly 800 artillery pieces could not resist. (To be continued) R655