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The news of the bloody battle in Semiyi spread far and wide, and the texts sent back by war correspondents and the photos of the city like a broken ghost town mounds made tens of thousands of people feel worried. ◎◎ Even the military strategists in Europe and the United States were shocked, they did not expect that the Chinese Defense Forces, which had made all the limelight in Ahvaz and Afghanistan, would be beaten so badly by this sneak attack, let alone that Stalin's determination was so great! In order to break through the East Kazakhstan, he actually threw more than 300,000 troops into besieging a city in one go. Moreover, the rapid offensive capability of the Soviet army in East Kazakhstan to break through 200 kilometers in depth within half a month also smoothed out the shadow of the defeat of Ahvaz, and also reminded European countries of the era of the Russian gendarmerie. Britain and France even sent special envoys to Moscow to inquire about the situation of the war, and at the same time to try to ask whether the attention of the Soviet army could be returned to Europe and jointly contain Germany. However, since the war in Central Asia has not yet ended, these contacts are still superficial, and at this time, all countries hope to wait for the war situation to be clear before placing bets.

It is a pity that compared with the coast, Kazakhstan is too closed inland, and European and American military experts can only judge it from the news released by China and the Soviet Union. In fact, Kulik is already in a dilemma. On the one hand, the loss of air supremacy led to supply chaos, which forced the front-line troops to slow down the attack. On the other hand, the strength of the Wehrmacht's defenses began to increase with the arrival of reinforcements, which made Moscow extremely worried that the Wehrmacht would launch a major counterattack, so Stalin sent several telegrams almost every day urging Kulik to take Semiy as soon as possible at all costs.

Stalin's fears were correct, and as the Soviet offensive weakened, the Talas plan for a counterattack was gradually lifted. But at this critical juncture, the winter rain that enveloped Almaty for 10 days cast a haze over the whole plan.

Inside the Almaty airbase, the nose of 76 Dapeng gliders is wide open to the left. Officers and men from the 1st Airborne Division are racing Type 33 Hound 6x6 wheeled armored vehicles, jeeps and 1914-style 105mm field howitzers into the engine room. Next to them, the 156 Y-6s and 82 Y-10s, whose tails and wingtips are painted in a striking orange-red identification color of friend or foe, have been covered with tarpaulins, and they will transport the 1st and 2nd Airborne Divisions to the other sides of Lake Balkhash after sunrise and a total of 566 transport planes and 163 gliders from other airfields.

In order to accomplish the largest airborne operation in the history of the Wehrmacht and even the human war, the General Staff Headquarters and the Air Force have brought out almost all their elites, not only transferring the 1st Airborne Division from Sumatra to the northwest, but also organizing the best pilots of the whole army to conduct airborne training. But just when everything was ready, the weather suddenly became a big problem for everyone.

Zhuo Fan arrived at the airport by car. The presidential plane has landed on the runway ahead of schedule.

"President, Chief of Staff!"

After the reporters and staff members who got off the plane first were in place, Yang Qiu and Yue Peng walked out of the cabin. When Xu Shuzheng saw the two of them, he immediately led Chu Nan and other senior officers to salute before raising his arms. I saw several men in teacher's costumes catching up from behind. "Let me introduce you to you. This is Professor Zhu Kezhen, the president of Zhejiang University and a famous meteorologist in China, this is Mr. Wang Changming, who is also an authority on meteorology and has also published a paper on Atlantic weather at Cambridge University. ”

After Yue Peng introduced Zhu Kezhen and other meteorologists, several officers of the Northwest Military Meteorological Bureau who came to greet him immediately stepped forward to salute their disciples. Xu Shuzheng was also worried about the weather, and met this well-known meteorology expert in China and even in the world. hurriedly greeted: "Principal Zhu, this time it's really troublesome for you." ”

Although Zhu Kezhen is an authority on meteorology, he has a good temper, and he waved his hand and smiled: "General Xu, don't torture me." Compared with you, Kezhen, these people who hide in the rear to eat idle meals, are really ashamed. ”

"Look at what you said, China's meteorology can be said to have been established by you from its inception to the present. Even the Meteorological Bureau in the army, the ** of the Ten are all your disciples. You can come all the way. Xu's heart was finally able to land. ”

After everyone exchanged a few words, Zhu Kezhen looked up at the clouds in the sky and asked, "General Xu, how long has it been raining?" ”

"It's been about ten days." Xu Shuzheng beckoned and called Zhuo Fan to the front: "Professor Zhu, this is Lieutenant Colonel Zhuo Fan who is in charge of this operation, you can ask him for the specific situation." ”

Zhuo Fan had also heard of Zhu Kezhen's name, and when he saw him and several other meteorological experts, he immediately took out a thick amount of information: "Professor Zhu, this is the local climate data we have collected in the past 20 years and the weather change data in the last month, as well as the cloud movement and location data that we have detected with radar, and I have also asked more than a dozen local old herdsmen for reference. Judging by the overall indications, there should be a window period after three days. However, we still don't know for sure, because the speed of the clouds is very fast, and there has been widespread snowfall in Siberia recently, and it is really uncertain whether the northerly wind belt will bring the university over, so please help you and a few professors to see if it will take a look. ”

Zhu Kezhen was also not polite, and immediately took over the information. But he didn't look at it immediately, but asked first: "President, it is difficult to accurately predict the weather with the current means, and we only make rough inferences." Before I do that, I want to ask if you can't skydive as long as it's raining. ”

"Yes." In addition to the war in the northwest, Yang Qiu came to Arabia this time because he was very worried about the weather accident, so he specially invited Zhu Kezhen and other meteorological experts. When he heard the inquiry, he immediately replied: "If the rain covers the parachute, it will make the parachute very heavy and clumsy, resulting in a fast landing speed, and it is easy to fall and injure the soldier." In addition to rain, snow and frost can also be troublesome, and it is best to have sunny days. ”

Zhu Kezhen nodded, and didn't want to delay for a moment after understanding the conditions needed: "President, arrange a room for us, it's better to have a plane to go up and have a look." "No problem, Zhuo Fan is ready." Xu Shuzheng had already died in a hurry, and rushed to let Zhuo Fan take everyone to the weather station, and after specially taking care of the Air Force to arrange the best plane, he and Yang Qiu went to the military headquarters of the 15th Army in Almaty.

After arriving at the military headquarters, he did not delay for a moment, and immediately took Yang Qiu to the combat command room and introduced the battle situation to the map: "On the whole, Kulik has now fallen into the trouble of supply, due to the rapid penetration in the early stage, we have frequently bombed and harassed the supply line, and the Soviet troops in both directions have already experienced a shortage of supplies. In order to solve this trouble, Kulik has given up the supply of trucks since yesterday and has adopted the method of carrying cavalry at night to carry out small-scale replenishment of the Soviet troops in the two directions of Kulik and Zhambyl, so as to ensure that they can continue to ensure the intensity of the offensive.

The most intense fights right now are Semiyi and Mount Aitau.

Kulik had already gathered fifty percent of the forces of the northern front to storm the Fifth Army. Long Yun also called me this morning and said that last night alone, more than 3,000 soldiers were killed and wounded, and even Yao Yukun, the commander of the 37th Division, was wounded. However, he was quite confident, saying that the 5th Armored Division, the 22nd Infantry Division, and the 123rd and 124th Divisions had been organized into assault clusters, and as long as we waited for our side to move, we would be able to go straight to Pavlodar along the east bank of the Irtysh River. The intensity of the Soviet attack on the side of Mount Aitau was also very high, and the forward was less than 40 kilometers away from Broken Leaves. In order to confuse Kulik and the Soviet army, I have already sent the 1st Army and the 31st Army to the front.

Now that the deployment on our side has been completed, there are a total of four assault clusters.

The first cluster is Balkhash. There were the 1st Army of Chunan, the 29th Army of Yan Lisan, the 1st and 2nd Airborne Divisions, the 126th Infantry Division and the 133rd Infantry Division, totaling 250,000. After the group successfully crossed the Great Lake, the troops divided into two routes. The 29th Army and two airborne divisions outflanked the rear of Mount Aitau to the south, and the 1st Army and two infantry divisions went straight to the north, breaking through the Soviet 16th Army and outflanking Karaganda, and then moving horizontally to Pavlodar to complete the encirclement.

The second group consisted of Long Yun's 5th, 22nd, 123rd, and 124th Infantry Divisions, targeting Pavlodar, preparing to stop Zhukov's infantry corps before Omsk moved.

The third road is the East Kazakh front, consisting of the 104th Central Guard Division, the 6th Panzer Division, the 7th Panzer Division, the 17th Mechanized Infantry Division, and the 7th and 22nd Armies, with a total of 300,000 troops already assembled in Zaisangbo.

The fourth road is Aitao Mountain, with the 16th Army and the 31st Army as the main force, with a total strength of 200,000. After cooperating with the 29th Army to eat the Soviet troops on the southern front, they would turn around and continue to attack Taraz south. The troops then split into two routes, one to attack Turkestan to the west, and the other to continue south to Tashkent, where they joined the 103rd Division, the 14th Army of the Xie Ruyi, and the 18th Army of Lopekin from Andijan Khujand. If it can be done, three armies can be gathered before January to go south to warmer Uzbekistan and sweep away the Soviet troops in Samarkand and other places.

The 16th Army, which is attacking Turkestan to the west, will continue to advance towards the Aral Sea as long as the weather permits, and after the first and third clusters have completed their clearance, the rest will also move south to approach the Aral Sea, striving to complete the defense line from Pavlodar to the Aral Sea as soon as possible, and completely wipe out the Soviet forces in Central Asia by the spring of the next year. ”

"What about Sun Chuanfang?"

Sun Chuanfang had already joined up with the three divisions of the 24th Army that supported him and was stepping up the attack on Herat, but Bai Chongxi's mountain infantry division and the two divisions of the Mumeng were still climbing the mountain in the plateau of Khorasan Province in Iran, and said that it would take at least ten days to launch an attack, so he was afraid that the attack would be too fierce to scare away the Soviet army, so he never used all his strength. But he said he had figured out a way to take Mashhad, and asked me to tell the president and the chief of staff that he would be able to get this Soviet force to India by the end of December, as long as Bai Chongxi's two divisions could arrive. ”

"What can he do? Do you still fly over? ”

After listening to all of Xu Shuzheng's reports, Yue Peng smiled and just wanted to continue asking, when the phone rang suddenly. Chu Nan, who was next to him, walked over and picked up the phone, only to listen for a while, and then screamed violently.

"President! Professor Zhu Kezhen said that the analysis of the Military Meteorological Bureau is correct, and there should be a window period in three days! ”