"Where are the cavalry? Sun Liren, what about them? ”

"Three hours earlier, the cavalry had all crossed the Turgai River and were now moving south along the western side of the Turgai River Valley. Sun Liren and they have also divided their troops, this is a telegram half an hour ago, and the fastest is Wang Wenshan's 66th Mechanized Infantry Division, which has already run 100 kilometers to the west! ”

"100 km? Wasn't he intercepted by the Soviet cavalry division?! At seven o'clock in the morning, Liu Mingzhao and Mei Sheng, who had not slept all night, were studying the war situation, and Army Commander Long Yun and Song Ziqing, Qin Zhangshu, and Air Force Chief of Staff Zhao Meihang, who came to supervise the battle, walked into the headquarters together. When he learned that the 66th Mechanized Infantry Division had been running 100 kilometers for more than three hours, Qin Zhangshu was shocked. Chief of Staff Sun Chuanfang and Deputy Commander Fan Shisheng were both stationed in Petropavlovsk and the Ishim River, so it was Kong Qinggui, director of the Theater Operations Department, who introduced the war situation. Speaking of the speed of the 66th Mechanized Infantry Division, he was also speechless: "Yes, I didn't believe it at first, so I specially asked the reconnaissance plane to verify it." According to Wang Wenshan's own words, when he encountered last night, his main force did not entangle, and only dispatched the 1st Tajik Armored Regiment and an infantry wheeled armored battalion, and defeated the Soviet cavalry division.

"In the encounter, the cavalry division met the armored regiment and died for an hour." Mei Sheng, the commander of the theater who was born in cavalry, had the most right to speak, so he was worried about Li Yuguo's cavalry cluster instead. "Sun Liren and Yang Yuchun's direction is directly north, if nothing else, it will not be blocked until 200 kilometers away in Semyo Zornoye. Wang Wenshan and Gong Chu took the long route to the west and then to the north. Now look, it's no problem to go through the central depression. But at this point, Tobol, 130 kilometres south of Kostanay, is sure to be met with resistance from Lukin. So in general, they won't have problems during the day until tomorrow morning. I was worried about whether the four Kazakh and Tajik cavalry divisions would be able to withstand the massive retreat of Malinovsky and Zhukov. ”

"It's a pity that the airborne divisions all have missions in the southeast, otherwise they can support them." Song Ziqing was also a little worried. Only Liu Mingzhao was indifferent: "Don't worry about the cavalry cluster." In my opinion, Malinovsky probably has no chance of breaking through them. ”

"Oh? Are you so confident in Du Zishan? ”

Facing everyone's eyes, Liu Mingzhao was happy: "I don't have confidence in Du Zishan, I have confidence in Stalin." You see, the forwards of Zhukov and Malinovsky are only 80 kilometers away from Rzezkazgan and 50 kilometers from Alkarek. These two places are important supports for the southern section of our Central Asian defense line. With hundreds of thousands of dead and wounded and finally crossing the salient, and there is no detailed information to determine how many of our troops have entered the plateau, do you say that Stalin was a man who easily gave up the big fat in his hands? ”

"You. I have thought through people's hearts. Long Yun nodded approvingly and looked at Zhao Meihang: "Chief of Staff Zhao, I have to work hard for you this time." The interference of the Night Owl Brigade will be intensified, and even if Timoshenko reacts, he will try to delay the radio communication to Irgiz as much as possible. Here on the Turkai Plateau, it is necessary to intensify patrols and cut off Soviet reconnaissance planes from the sky! As for Du Zishan's side, we must transfer all the bombers that can be dispatched to help him. ”

Zhao Meihang is a former commander of the Persian Gulf Theater Air Force, after a major reshuffle last year. Took over as Chief of Staff of the Air Force. The stakes of this battle were very high, so he also went to the front line to personally sit in charge. "Commander Long, rest assured, within five days from now, there will be eight fighter groups in the sky over the Turgai Plateau at any time at your disposal. As for Commander Du's side. Hehe, those boys below me are more anxious than you? After he finished talking about the deployment of the air force, Kong Qinggui's finger went back to Irgiz: "Now it's up to General Du to see if he can recover from the defeat." Make the enemy look away. ”

"He can do it."

When Qin Zhangshu slapped the table vigorously, Kirponos's telegram finally arrived in Orenburg. The astonishing news immediately turned the Soviet theater command upside down. "Kirponos should be shot! He made an unforgivable mistake! Timoshenko stomped his foot angrily. The spitting star almost sprayed in the officers' faces. In just a dozen hours, the turning point from heaven to hell made him extremely resentful. But it is useless to get angry again, and it is not time to find a scapegoat, and the most important thing now is to find out how many troops the other side has entered the plateau, and provide sufficient intelligence support for interception and adjustment.

"All planes! Dispatch cavalry! No matter how big the sacrifice is, you must block the enemy and buy time! "On the one hand, Timoshenko demanded that all fighters take off, and at the same time began to make a major adjustment of the troops. Lukin's Siberian Front will definitely not be able to participate in the siege of Petropavlov, and will need to withdraw all of them to defend Kostanay first. Without his support, it would have been impossible for Vasilevsky and Rokossovsky to take Petropavlovsk, which was heavily guarded, and they would have to go on the defensive. As for the Ishim River breakthrough, he did not want to give up and demanded that Rokossovsky must keep it anyway, so that after stabilizing the southern front, he could continue to cross the river and attack from this gap.

Lake Sarekopa must also continue to defend it, because the striker has been fine in the past, and it is a big deal to fill it with human lives, but if the follow-up supply channel is opened, Lukin will be finished. As for Irgiz thinking of this, all Soviet officers looked pained. It took 23 days and 120,000 casualties to open the salient, but because of Kirponos's 'mistake', it became a lone army. Therefore, some officers believed that when tens of thousands of enemies were already rapidly moving south from the west of the Grand Canyon, they should retreat immediately, otherwise they would be completely surrounded.

But there are also those who do not support retreat, arguing that even if China implements a counter-encirclement, it will take time to draw troops. Because previous battles had shown that the Irgiz troops had been crippled and did not have many reserves at all, there was a chance to complete the task before the arrival of the enemy's reserves. "Can't retreat!" Stalin was the most determined of all. Seeing that Alkarek and Rezikazigan are already close at hand, if you take one of these two places, not to mention Sarekopa, and even the entire Akmola region will fall into chaos, and then the Chinese counterattack will be paralyzed because there is no supply.

The order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief made the officers who supported the retreat not dare to talk nonsense anymore. Timoshenko also did not dare to disobey Stalin's orders and immediately sent a telegram to Malinovsky, asking him to continue the offensive. But because of the continuous electromagnetic suppression of the Night Owl Brigade, it was not until two o'clock in the afternoon that Malinovsky took advantage of the gap between the alternating electronic jammers to receive this telegram. "Retreat, retreat immediately! It's a trap! Comrade Malinovka, I have already sent for the interrogation of prisoners of war. They say that 23 days of fighting. Don't you think it's strange that there are only a small number of reserves put in? The Chinese have abundant human resources, and even if the troops are tight, they will not be able to gather a reserve for an army in three weeks. "Zhukov did not agree with Stalin's order, stood in front of Malinovsky and loudly persuaded him to give the order to retreat." Comrade Zhukov! Do you know what you're doing?! After listening to his words, Mehris jumped up again, picked up the telegram and waved it vigorously: "This is an order from the Supreme Command!" As an officer, it's your responsibility to get the job done, not to believe the captives' nonsense. Go and run away like a coward again and again! ”

Zhukov was furious after being scarred, and without saying a word, he punched Mehris with a nosebleed. This annoyed Mekhlis, who immediately asked the gendarmes of the Political Department who came with him to arrest Zhukov, and also called Stalin to complain in person. At the moment of the great enemy, Malinovsky did not want to divide internally, so he had to pull the two apart, and then let Zhukov lead his Crimean Army Group to protect the important town of Zban, Lake Akol, on the left. Take the main forces yourself and continue the attack.

In Zhukov's eyes, this unclear and hesitant order was actually a helpless move. Malinovsky is well aware that he is now more than lucky. But now his troops are all in an offensive formation, and if he suddenly retreats, not to mention how much chaos it will cause, the psychological blow to the soldiers alone is enough to kill. So Zhukov had to defend the left flank. As long as they can hold on and don't give their opponents a chance to cut off their retreat from the Caspian Sea and Lake Akol, there is still hope for a last-minute escape.

But Du Zishan was not ready to give him a chance.

Zhukov has not yet arrived in Zban. Du Zishan has already reached the northern lowlands. This was one of the launching points of the counterattack, and the 30,000 officers and men of the 16th Army and two reserve divisions who had withdrawn from the heights of the salient were ready to go. "Commander, why are you here? It's not safe here. Zhao Wenwu, the commander of the 16th Army, who was wrapped in a thick bandage on his head, saw him and immediately stood up with a group of officers. The faces in front of him that had been baptized by war made Du Zishan very proud, and waved his hand loudly: "Why can't I come?" I said Zhao Wenwu, you also followed my ass back and crawled out of the dead pile in the German trenches in Rainywell, when did you put the word safety on your lips? Can there be a safe place in this war? "Huh." The officers laughed. After they finished laughing, Du Zishan straightened his face: "Have all the weapons and ammunition been replenished?" Do you want me to give you some more time? ”

"Commander, rest assured, everything has already been replenished. The withdrawn soldier had been sleeping last night, and he would have been in good spirits. Even if you play for another 23 days, you will still be with you to the end! ”

Du Zishan nodded lightly: "Very good, I won't say more nonsense." I know that you are very tired now, and I know that you have grievances, and blame me for not committing to the reserves, which led to a lot of casualties among the troops! This is my responsibility. But if I had to do it again, I wouldn't have changed my mind! Why? I'll tell you now. It was because of your tenacity that the headquarters was given time to mobilize troops! With the feat of 10 divisions successfully breaking through the Salycopa theater of operations in the middle of the night yesterday and drilling into the Turkai plateau! By tomorrow at the latest, they will be able to break through the outer line of defense in Kokshetau, and then build an airfield to send the follow-up troops over! The command has not forgotten us, and has organized 4 cavalry divisions and 3 armored regiments to detour south from the west of the Grand Canyon, and in 12 hours at the earliest, it will be possible to cut off the connection between Aktobinsk and Irgiz! So, you've done a beautiful blockade! The President, the Prime Minister and the General Staff all sent letters of thanks personally! Now, the counteroffensive has begun, General Li Yuguo has defeated the Soviet army in Lake Sarekopa, and Petropavlovsk and the Ishim River have also successfully dragged the enemy's main forces. The more he spoke, the more serious he became, as if a layer of frost had fallen on his face: "We are about to fight another tough battle, and the enemy on the opposite side has received the news and is ready." But I'm not afraid, because I believe that victory will be ours! Pick it up. ”

As soon as he waved his hand, a guard brought a nylon bulletproof vest full of magazines and a brand new submachine gun. In front of hundreds of officers, he put on his vest, skillfully opened the bolt and inserted it into the magazine, and then raised his submachine gun, like an undead veteran who stepped on the battlefield again, straightened his waist: "Just before coming, I had already sent a testamentary telegram to the headquarters. I told them that I would take you to avenge myself! Even if the president came to persuade me, it was useless. As they kill my people, I'll kill him back!" He killed one of me! I'll kill all three! ”

"Let's go!"

"Kill!"

At three o'clock in the afternoon, in the shouting and killing in unison. 250,000 murderous soldiers, led by General Duzishan, launched a counteroffensive against Malinovsky's West Kazakh Front from Zban in the north, Alarsk at the northern tip of the Caspian Sea in the south, and the Aksala-Baikonur line. More than 6,000 artillery pieces, roaring at the same time, the entire sector of the Soviet attack was covered with shells. The Air Force even mobilized more than 700 bombers of various types to carry out continuous and fierce bombing of the Soviet troops from Rzekazgan and Arkarek. In particular, the H-7 long-range bomber, a four-engine bomber that mainly bears medium and long distances in peacetime, shows a super bomb-carrying capacity. When performing this short-range front-line interdiction mission, each aircraft can be fully loaded with a full ten tons of anti-personnel munitions. As soon as they flew over the Soviet troops, a sea of explosions and flames of tens of square kilometers would appear on the ground, drowning all the Soviet soldiers inside.

Although Malinovsky had a premonition of a counterattack. It was also ordered to move to the defensive digging bunker trenches, but the news of the late arrival was delayed too much. In the face of sudden and heavy fire coverage, within two hours, the Soviet army paid a heavy price of tens of thousands of deaths. Although he also rallied a large number of artillery counterattacks, including the Katyusha rocket launcher that was first put into service, the dive bombers that circled almost all the time in the sky made it impossible for the Soviet artillery to fire a few shots. The loss of the most trusted artillery undoubtedly aggravated the confusion of the Soviet troops. By the time the opponent's fire was ready to end, hundreds of tanks / armored vehicles appeared on the horizon again. Zban, who was supposed to be defended by Zhukov, did not wait for him to reach the front. It was broken by Du Zishan's two armored regiments. The two armored regiments that set out from Aralsk were even more aggressive, taking advantage of the unique saline-alkali plains around them, and soon pierced the front line of the Soviet 28th Army, and tens of thousands of soldiers who followed behind were even more gods to block and kill gods and Buddhas.

By eight o'clock in the evening. Malinovsky's West Kazakh Front was completely in disarray, with the continuous electronic suppression of the Night Owl Brigade, a large number of night combat aircraft, and fierce ground artillery fire. There are also almost unstoppable armored clusters, which make it completely impossible for the armies to communicate, and even the communication between divisions and brigades cannot be guaranteed. Facing chaos. Malinovsky had to order the troops to retreat to the west. The great chaos foreseen by Liu Mingzhao began to spread like a plague, and the Soviet soldiers who lacked command and were exhausted were no longer the proletarian Red Army that thought they could save the whole world, and according to later statistics, more than 30,000 artillery pieces and thousands of light and heavy machine guns were voluntarily abandoned, as well as more than 400 tanks, 500 armored vehicles, and thousands of trucks were thrown away because they ran out of fuel, and many of them didn't even care about destruction! The ammunition and supplies that took half a year to gather were scattered all over the battlefield, and soldiers were scurrying westward like headless flies everywhere.

Mehris was also angry at this time, trembling with the Politburo gendarmerie, and fled west under the protection of dozens of T34 and BA-10 armored vehicles, almost without wetting his pants. On the contrary, Zhukov fought steadily, tangled up 4 infantry divisions and 97 tanks, and protected Malinovsky and the command while fighting and retreating. But as soon as he retreated to Caracol, he ran into his old rival, and in the counterattack of Rezikazgan, he and Zhuo Fan chased him like a lost dog, Zhou Yawei, the former commander of the Second Armored Division.

Now Zhou Yawei is already the commander of the 112th Mechanized Infantry Division, although it is a new mechanized infantry division formed after the counterattack war, but they are all Type 36 'Siberian Tiger' main battle tanks, 'Iron Bull' half-track personnel carriers and the Type 40 'Yak' full-track infantry fighting vehicles that made their debut. Needless to say, the first two are also new equipment that Yang Qiu used to use the drawings of the Soviet BMP-1 tracked infantry fighting vehicle in later generations, combined with more than ten years of domestic experience in armor use, which took six years and was finalized last year. It was similar in shape and data to the BMP-1, with only the turret, replaced by a combined turret with a 70mm low-pressure gun and a 25mm cannon on the Tanuki light tank, which shone in India.

Zhou Yawei did not know that Zhukov and Malinovsky were on the other side, and due to the continuous suppression of the 'night owls', the communication of his own radio station was also intermittent, so he had been separated from several other regiments at that time, and only two Siberian Tiger tank battalions and one 'Yak' tank battalion were in his hands. "Call the lighter! Offensive! But he did not hesitate, immediately called the night lights overhead, and gave the order to attack the Soviet troops several times over. Soon, three night lighters modified from the Y-10 (similar to the C46) flew into the sky, and a large searchlight mounted on the left side of the tail shot straight down, leaving Zhukov with nothing to hide. "For victory! For the Motherland! For the brothers who died in battle! Offensive! "The deeds of Zhao Siyuan and the Irgiz Heights have spread throughout the army, and the young soldiers of the 112th Mechanized Infantry Division are also the same as the robes of the 19th Army, holding back their strength to avenge their comrades. The standard armoured battalion of the Wehrmacht was 44 tanks, and the charge of 88 tanks of two battalions was not much worse than that of an armoured division. Although the Soviet tank brigade desperately defended, it was destroyed one after another.

It is also ineffective for infantry to attack when they are close to it, because the Type 40 'Yak' infantry fighting vehicle is a tracked infantry fighting vehicle that can accompany a tank charge, and the 70 mm low-pressure gun and 25 mm machine gun side by side on the turret are a sharp weapon against the infantry. Even if you manage to get closer, you will be killed by the H37 automatic rifle sticking out of the shooting holes on both sides.

Seeing that his troops were defeated by three battalions, Malinovsky let out a long sigh and knew that he could not escape. In order to save the remaining soldiers, he had to let Zhukov lead a small number of troops to go first, and he stayed behind to continue to collect the remnants of the nearby army, and then relied on the Irgiz Heights to hold on and wait for Moscow's support.

Mehris also did not succeed, and the armored battalion protecting him was overheaded by 4 H-10 attack aircraft. As mentioned earlier, the H-10 was designed by a domestic civilian small aircraft company, and the Air Force was originally not interested in this kind of aircraft. But unexpectedly, by chance, after being converted into an attack aircraft similar to the American A20, its powerful weapon plug-in ability has made it the army's favorite short-range support attack aircraft, and soldiers affectionately call it a bomb truck.

The attack aircraft team first used four 250-kilogram sub-mother aviation armor-piercing shells to 'clean' Mehris's armored battalion, and in an instant, more than a dozen vehicles were paralyzed through the top. Then 24 ground-in-the-ground rockets were used to attack the remaining tanks, and finally a 40mm rapid-fire gun with tungsten alloy armor-piercing shells in the nose was used to ravage again. In this way, in just ten minutes, an armored battalion was completely destroyed by 4 H-10 attack aircraft, and the wounded Mehris was captured by the infantry who arrived.

On the night of July 3, fierce and bloody, by sunrise Malinovsky's troops had lost all their heavy equipment, and about 190,000 men were surrounded in the Irgiz Heights. With the exception of Zhukov, who led 40,000 light infantry to decisively burrow into the rugged Turgai River valley and advance towards Lake Sarekopa in an attempt to join Kirponos, the rest were either killed or captured.

Looking at the Irgiz Heights, which took him 23 days and more than 100,000 casualties, Malinovsky suddenly felt that God seemed to be playing a joke on him.

But he didn't know that a bigger and worse 'joke' was dragging him, and the Soviet Jews like him, into a terrible mael...... (To be continued......)