Time finally came to the early morning of June 18, 1934. At this moment, to the west of the fortified area of the Khujand fortress at the entrance of Fergan. The more than 100,000 soldiers of the 18th Group Army of the Chinese National Defense Force, who were armed to the teeth, clenched their weapons in their hands. Waiting for the start of the offensive. The imminent offensive was also part of Operation Celestial, which was planned by Bai Chongxi to seize the Ferghana Basin. At the same time, in the mountainous areas of the north and south of the Ferghana Basin, more than 100,000 officers and men of the 4th Army and the 36th Army of the Wehrmacht were also waiting for the order to start the attack in their respective starting positions.

However, the offensive in three directions was not carried out at the same time, because the means of navigation of aircraft in this era were relatively limited. During the day, it can also rely on surface reference for positioning, but at night, it can only rely on very primitive instruments and radio wave positioning, which is often prone to deviation. For an airstrike, this deviation is at best a waste of gasoline and bombs, and for a night drop, the result can be quite deadly, especially in the complex terrain of the Ferghana Basin. Therefore, the Northwest Front Command, after conducting several exercises on maps and actual exercises, came up with a method of using artillery fire to navigate the aircraft. As soon as the group transporting airborne troops entered the Ferghana Basin, the 18th Army west of Khujand began to bombard fiercely. In that case, the planes in the night sky only need to carry out the airdrop and landing directly east of the artillery bombing point, and then it is basically right.

At 3 o'clock in the morning, the command of the 18th Army of the Wehrmacht finally gave the order for an artillery bombardment, and numerous signal flares rose into the air almost simultaneously, which was giving the order to fire at various artillery positions. The prolonged standoff gave the Soviets the opportunity to further strengthen their defensive lines, with deer barricades and barbed wire up to 300 meters wide just in front of their first-line defensive positions. Plus an anti-tank trench eight meters wide and three meters deep, and a dense minefield. Most of the trench fortifications were built along the mountain, which was not only long and deep, but also had roadways and anti-artillery holes that went directly into the mountain. Machine gun firing points were dotted, as well as anti-tank gun fortifications made of reinforced concrete. In some lots. The roadway even dug through the mountain, connecting the defensive positions on both sides of the hillside. Once the Chinese army broke through the defensive line on the front of the mountain, the Soviet officers and soldiers were able to retreat to the reserve positions on the back of the mountain through these tunnels. As long as a few reinforced concrete bunkers on the top of the hill are not lost, the Soviets will be able to form an anti-slope mode of operation that will give all the attacking troops a headache. In order to exert maximum pressure on the Soviet troops who held this strong defensive line. The artillery of the 18th Army of the Wehrmacht has been significantly strengthened at this moment. Thousands of heavy artillery pieces began to roar at the same time, and began to rain shells on Soviet positions at the highest rate of fire.

Orange firelight began to bloom across the entire front, followed by a loud bang that shook the heavens and the earth. The Soviet position trembled as if it were at the center of an earthquake. More than 1,800 guns with a caliber of more than 100 mm spewed fire. According to the coordinates determined in advance, the shells were fired. Looking down from the air, you can clearly see that a road with a length of more than ten kilometers has appeared on the ground. Dense volcanic complexes up to several kilometers wide are erupting at the same time.

In the sky, 600 Ju.52 transport planes, 450 HE-111 or Ju-88 bombers and 450 Type 1933 gliders from Almaty, Bishkek and Kashgar, divided into three huge formations, have broken through into the sky over the Ferghana Basin. Since the current Soviet Air Force does not have night fighters, and all Soviet airfields in the Ferghana Basin have also been completely destroyed in the previous Chinese air raids, the Chinese Air Force did not put in escort fighters in tonight's operation.

The huge roar of more than 1,000 planes flying in formation certainly alarmed the Soviet troops on the ground, but they did not think about the airdrop. After all, in this day and age. Large-scale parachute and airborne operations have never existed. Moreover, in order to paralyze the opponent to the maximum, the Chinese Air Force has been carrying out large-scale night bombardment of Soviet cities and Soviet positions in the Ferghana Basin for several days.

Therefore, when Baranov, the commander of the Soviet Tien Shan Front, heard the news that his subordinates had reported that a large number of Chinese bombers had broken into the Ferghana Basin, he took it for granted that this was another large-scale night air raid.

"Sound the air defense siren, order the air defense forces of the cities of Fergana and Andijan, and other places, to be ready for battle...... By the way, did the 41 Army have the latest report coming? Did the Chinese infantry start attacking?" Baranov showed a worried expression, the Chinese army had not launched a large-scale artillery bombardment for a month, and today it was suddenly bombed by artillery and aircraft, and it seemed very likely that another round of onslaught had begun.

"Commander Bulganin just called, the enemy shelling was very fierce, at least 1800 large-caliber guns were thrown. However, the front-line troops of the 41st Army had been transferred to the tunnels and anti-artillery fortifications in time. Therefore, the casualties were not significant. In addition, Commander Bulganin requested the use of heavy artillery groups for artillery counterattacks. ”

Baranov shook his head: "Not allowed! Tell Comrade Sù Bulganin, now the ammunition reserves of the front army are running out, they must be used sparingly, and all shells should be used at the most critical moment! ”

"Yes. Comrade Commander. After the staff officer turned to leave. Bultman, the military and political commissar of the Tianshan Front, ran into the war room with a telegram and shouted: "Comrades, good news! Chairman Trotsky has decided to launch a major counteroffensive in Central Asia, and if we hold out for another month, the main forces will come from the west and wipe out the Chinese White Army! ”

"Ulla! Long live Trotsky! ”

"Destroy Chinese imperialism!"

Hearing this news, the Soviet staff officers in the war room cheered, and the Soviet army in Central Asia had indeed fought too aggrieved in the past three months. For three whole months, he was only beaten and did not fight back, not to mention these young officers with strong blood, even the experienced Baranov was also holding back the fire.

"Great, Comrade Bultman, now our front army is invincible." Baranov was also very happy, knowing that his Tien Shan Front had been besieged in the Ferghana basin for more than a month. Although with the dangerous terrain and strong fortifications, the squadron was kept out of the basin. However, the material reserves of the front army began to bottom out, and if the siege of the Chinese army continued for another two or three months, the Tianshan Front army was likely to fall into a desperate situation of running out of ammunition and food.

……

"Look, sir. It must be the Khujand frontline! ”

Behind Lieutenant General Huang Guangrui, commander of the Second Air Force of the Wehrmacht Air Force, the voice of navigator Lieutenant Li Jingbin was heard. Following the direction of the other party's fingers, through the hazy night at dawn, Huang Guangrui saw a long "river of fire" on the ground. "That's right, there it is!" Huang Guangrui stretched out his hand to take the navigation map and carefully compared it, and finally affirmed that he had reached the goal. So he immediately turned on the radio. Say loudly into the intercom, "Attention, attention." I am Lieutenant General Huang Guangrui, commander of the 2nd Air Force Corps, and we have reached the skies above the target. It's 3:15 a.m. Now all of you obey my orders, and prepare to reap and surrender, and prepare to reap and surrender. Bombers ready to drop flares ......"

At 3:20, a large fleet of aircraft was finally guided by flares. More than 20 kilometers west of Khujand Fortress, an open area suitable for airdrops and airdrops was found. The fleet of aircraft that covered the sky made the blood boil for all those involved in the operation. 3:22 a.m. Huang Guangrui gave the order for the start of the airdrop operation on the Guò airborne radio. All the bombers began to throw flares, since there were no thick clouds in the western part of Fergana. Therefore, the bombers and transport planes could clearly see the situation on the ground at high altitude, and below was a flat farmland, scattered with a few villages, and there was no trace of Soviet positions, and no anti-aircraft guns were firing. It's completely defenseless. So the bomber group and the transport group immediately began to reduce altitude. The He-111 and Ju-88 descended to an altitude of 2,000 meters, and then cut the cables that towed the gliders.

The altitude of the Ju.52 transport aircraft was lowered to a low altitude of 500 meters, and the yellow indicator light was lit up in the cabin of each Ju.52 transport aircraft.

"All attention, stand up, prepare in three minutes, hook up, check gear one last time!"

Major Liu Yongyao, commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the 1st Brigade of the Airborne Forces, pushed open the closed cabin door. Glanced back at a dozen airborne troops on the same plane. These people are experienced veterans, and in fact, there is no shortage of veterans in the Airborne Forces. Due to the peculiarities of the airborne combat mode, this class is not suitable for new recruits. The reason is simple, jumping off a good end plane is not something that anyone can do. As for what will happen after the jump, only God knows!

However, one thing is certain, that is, the structure of the various units is bound to be chaotic, and it is certain that the soldiers cannot find the officers, and the officers cannot find the soldiers, and it is very likely that they will suffer heavy casualties in the process of parachuting, and they may also be besieged by superior enemy forces! If it weren't for the officers and men who were extremely experienced and strong-willed, most of them would have collapsed directly.

For this group of veterans. Liu Yongyao, who has been leading troops at the grassroots level after graduating from the 10th Central Military Academy, also has no much to say. If these people are not in the Airborne Forces, but in ordinary infantry or even elite panzergrenadiers, they can be platoon commanders, squad leaders, and senior platoon and squad leaders. When they reach the ground, they will look for their companions nearby to form a temporary combat team. Even if there is no officer in command, everyone knows what to do.

At the same time as his subordinates inspected the equipment, Liu Yongyao also began the last routine inspection, the paratrooper trade is definitely a hard work, the most basic individual equipment alone includes six grenades, one kilogram of explosives, a first-aid kit, a sapper shovel, a life jacket, a Type 31 automatic rifle and six magazines with 100 rounds of 7.62mm caliber intermediate ammunition, as well as three days of rations, a water bottle, and so on with a total weight of nearly 30 kilograms.

"Jump! Jump! Jump ...... quickly" Seeing that everyone had finished checking their equipment, Liu Yongyao gave an order, and seventeen elite paratroopers began to jump out one after another. After all his men had jumped, he threw down two more umbrella bags containing machine guns and anti-tank grenade launchers, and finally jumped out of the cabin.

The parachute opening cord of the parachute has long been hung on the rope in the cabin of the aircraft. Airborne troops do not need to open the parachute by hand, unless the main parachute is not open and a spare parachute needs to be used, but the probability of such a thing happening is almost negligible. In less than ten seconds after jumping out of the cabin, the umbrella bag carried by Liu Yongyao was opened, and he only felt that the whole person was pulled by something all of a sudden, and he was instantly pulled up dozens of meters, and then he swayed and fell down.

At this time, he is in all directions, front and back, left and right, up and down. Countless white silk parachutes have been opened, like countless white clouds slowly falling. As the sky grew brighter, the paratroopers could faintly make out the outline of the surface, below which was a large flat field and a narrow lake to the west. It was the Kailakum Reservoir, which was built a few years ago at the expense of the Soviet government, and is the centerpiece of the irrigation network in the Fergana Basin. It was also the first target of the Chinese paratroopers, because this reservoir was located behind the Khujand fortress, and once occupied, it would cut off the connection between the fortress and the core area of the Ferghana Basin. If the water level is high enough, it can even flood the Seventh Army!

To the west, on the front line, where the exchange of fire was underway, the Wehrmacht shelling continued, and the entire Soviet defense system was shrouded in a constant fire. As for the fact that there are no Soviet troops in the vicinity of the Kailakum reservoir, at least for now there is no sign of a garrison.

It seems that this time the airborne landing can be a big success!

……

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack! Enemies have fallen from the sky! ”

Orderly Dudayev rushed into the building of the Kairakum Reservoir District, which had been blown up by Chinese bombs, and kicked open the door of an office that was hidden: "Comrade Captain! Comrade Karimov wake up. Imperialism is coming! ”

"Who, who hit whom?" Karimov, with an exaggerated French mustache, leaned against a broken sofa with a wine bottle in his arms and asked in a daze.

Seeing that his boss was like this, Dudayev felt a pang of despair. The GCD's employment system is sometimes really funny, this Karimov dad was a well-known drunkard and slacker in all his towns before the revolution, and he only knew that he was drunk and dreamed of death, and there was nothing in the house. As a result, when GCD came, it was because their family was the poorest. So the old Karimov joined the GCD and became the chairman of the Association of Poor Peasants! Later, the elder Karimov became the chairman of the collective farm, and during the years of the Great Famine, he was killed for preventing the peasants who were dying of starvation from going out to ask for food, and became a glorious revolutionary martyr! Little Karimov is naturally a superior martyr's child, although he can't do anything except drink like his father, but he is still reused and trusted by the organization, and his official luck is better than his father, and he was already the director of the Kairakum Reservoir Management District before the outbreak of the war, and after the outbreak of the war, he was promoted to one level. He became the chief of the Red Guards Corps in the Khujand area, commanding more than 3,000 Red Guards to guard the Kailakum Reservoir and defend the rear of the Red Army's 41st Army.

"Comrade Captain, it's the Chinese who called!" Dudayev leaned into the ear of Captain Karimov and shouted loudly.

"What!?The Khujand defense line has been breached!" Karimov looked at each other with incredulous eyes, and the wine was almost halfway awake.

"It was not the Kuzhan defense line that was broken, but the Chinese who fell from the sky. They parachuted off the plane, just east of us! ”

"Jump, jump, jump off the plane?" Karimov was still confused. Dudayev did not have the patience to explain any further, grabbed the other party's arm and ran out, and when he reached the outside of the building, Karimov was immediately startled by the sight in front of him. The silhouette of a number of airplanes loomed in the sky, and flares were constantly dropped, illuminating the plain to the east of the reservoir in a miserable white. Countless white parachutes are slowly falling from the sky, and an ape plane is simply landing in a wheat field!

"Ahh Oh, my God! What the hell is going on?" Karimov reached out and tugged at his long beard, making sure that he had not dreamed, and then rushed to his headquarters in a rage, not to organize resistance, but to call for help to the headquarters of the Soviet 41st Army in the Khujand fortress.

Knowing that the squadron was airborne behind his back, the commander of the 41st Army, Govorov, was so anxious that he jumped to his feet: "Damn! Damn it! Why didn't you think that these China would be airborne! What can I do? What can I do? The army in the basin is empty, and it can't hold it at all! ”

"Comrade commander, quickly send a cavalry division to reinforce the Kailakum Reservoir, and we must not let the Chinese control the place, otherwise we will suffer from the enemy!" The chief of staff on the side hurriedly reminded.

"Yes, yes, yes! Send cavalry to clean them up! Sue the drunkards of the 41st Cavalry Division, the survival of the entire Tianshan Front depends on them! ”

Although the Soviet Red Army in this time and space opened the era of mechanized warfare, their cavalry was not eliminated. In the ordinary Soviet army group, there was no tank unit, but a cavalry division was used as a mobile unit. After receiving the order, the 41st Cavalry Division of the Red Army, which had more than 3,000 cavalry, immediately set out and galloped towards the Kailakum Reservoir under the harassment of Chinese artillery fire.

By this time, Lieutenant General Jiang Chunlin, the commander of the Chinese paratroopers who had landed safely, had already assembled about 2,000 men to launch the first wave of the offensive against this geographically critical reservoir. (To be continued.) You are welcome to come to the Biquge www.biquge.info to vote for recommendations and monthly passes. For mobile phone users, please go to read