The artillery battle at Nomenkan lasted until late at night, and Komatsubara walked on the hot ground to inspect his artillery position, and in front of him, the barrel of a 150-mm cannon had been twisted by the bombardment, a scene that Komatsubara had never seen before, and the ground was full of shell shells and shrapnel, and the red blood and black iron made the original yellow-green grass turn black and brown, and as soon as he breathed, the strange smell of gunpowder and blood and dust mixed with his nose came to his nose.

"How much did our army lose?" Komatsubara asked, looking at the Japanese artillery commander with a bandage in his left hand.

"On the preset positions, the losses of the new howitzers with defense were not large, less than ten, but the losses of other artillery in the front were extremely large, because the artillery of the Soviet army was more convenient to shoot because of the front, and a total of thirty-one heavy guns were lost. Five or six hundred artillerymen and other personnel were killed in the battle alone, and even more were wounded. ”

"Why is there such a big loss?" Komatsubara asked incredulously.

"Our old artillery has nothing to cover on the front line, and many artillery pieces have cracks and explosions in such high-intensity battles, which should be a problem of maintenance and materials themselves." The artillery commander said with his head bowed.

"Some of the artillery here is already during the Russo-Japanese War, and the number of our new artillery is still too small, I heard that the empire has increased military spending to manufacture new equipment, I don't know how big the losses of the Soviet army are, if it does not reach a hundred, we will be in danger." Komatsubara said with squinted eyes.

"The artillery is most afraid of aircraft, and if we can let the aviation to help in the war, our advantage will be obvious." The artillery commander said with his head bowed.

Komatsubara sighed, "Today's aviation is supporting the central battlefield, and all of them have not come, and tomorrow the artillery battle will come to support." Everything, wait for tomorrow. ”

- The next day

As soon as the sky was dark, and before the artillery on both sides had fired, nearly 100 planes appeared in the sky.

"Long live His Majesty the Emperor!!" Looking at the planes of their own army in the sky, the Japanese soldiers shouted excitedly. It was a super-large bombing formation consisting of fifty-six bombers and forty-eight fighters, and since the last successful raid on the airfield, the Japanese army had been completely obsessed with the thrill of bombing in such large formations.

Koyama Izumi, who was the leader of the bomber formation, looked at the position below and said, "Reduce the altitude to 1,500 meters and start the bombing mission!" ”

When the Soviet troops underground saw such a scene, whether it was anti-aircraft machine guns, ordinary light machine guns, rifles, and anti-aircraft guns, they all opened fire together, and they clearly knew that the target of these planes was the artillery position behind them.

On the artillery position, the artillerymen and truckers who got the news desperately prepared to move, but the time was too little, and by the time the first bomb fell, the Soviets had less than 30 guns hanging on the trucks and left.

The Japanese fighters also swooped down, constantly firing at the fleeing Soviet artillerymen, and the machine-gun bullets on the planes could make the artillerymen fall to the ground and not move.

"Quick, hurry up and ask General Zhukov for air support!!" Frass shouted loudly, looking at the tortured artillery unit, and only felt that blood was dripping from his heart.

The shells of the "Bang Bang Bang" anti-aircraft guns continued to explode in the air, and one by one the black smoke clouds caused the Japanese planes to catch fire and fall from time to time, but this was too far from the explosion on the ground.

"The aviation reported the exact artillery position of the Soviet troops and began to attack!!" Komatsubara looked at the telegram and shouted loudly, and soon the Japanese artillery began to roar, and more than a hundred heavy guns caused the Soviet artillery positions to be dealt a greater blow.

-- Mount Hamardaba

"When will our plane arrive?" Zhukov asked anxiously.

"Half an hour, they've taken off." The staff officer immediately replied.

"Half an hour, okay, we're going to change our strategy, this incident has made me understand one thing, we need to concentrate on firepower, not artillery!" Zhukov pointed to the map and said, "Immediately disperse the artillery to five preset positions, we have a longer range than theirs, and we can completely destroy their artillery." Also, pull up all the remaining artillery. Napoleon said that artillery is the god of war, and this is still true, and this artillery battle must be won!! As long as we win the artillery battle, we will win! ”

-- Nomenkan position

The Japanese bombardment was nearing its end, and looking at the bottom of the sea of fire, Xiao Shanquan nodded and said, "How much have we lost?" ”

"About eleven or twelve planes, all of which were shot down by anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns, and the air defense of the USSR was still good. Much stronger than the people of China. ”

"Enemy planes, a large number of enemy planes appeared in the direction of ten o'clock, thirty no, at least sixty!!" A loud shout sounded in the plane, and Xiaoshanquan hurriedly looked, and sure enough, dozens of small dots appeared in the direction of ten o'clock.

"What kind of aircraft are they? The bombers immediately formed a formation, the fighters took cover, our mission has been completed, there is no need to entangle with them. Xiao Shanquan said immediately.

"Wait, it's an I-16 fighter, it's all it, damn it, they don't look the same as before, maybe a new model." The observer next to him said.

"Our Ninety-Seven and Ninety-Six have caught up, and the Ninety-Five means to continue to protect us from leaving." Another observer said.

"The Ninety-Five Style is not their opponent at all, that's right, let's hurry up!" Xiaoshan Quan shouted loudly.

"Rats, do you want to slip away after the fight?" Ivan was a Soviet pilot, and this time he flew the latest Soviet plane, and there was a secret weapon ready to be used in this battle.

Seeing twenty or thirty Japanese planes rushing towards his group, he smiled and said, "Let these little dwarfs try the taste of rockets, get close to them, and launch rockets!" ”

Xiao Shanquan was horrified to find that after these I-16 fighters relied on their own maneuverability to evade the fire of the Japanese plane, they suddenly launched a kind of flaming shell from above him, and the shell quickly hit the Japanese plane at a distance of only more than 100 meters, and after a ball of fireworks, the 97 fighter, which was famous among the Japanese army, turned into a fireball and fell.

"It's a rocket!! Damn, this is a rocket, I see, this is the kind of plane they helped the Chinese Red Party, I have heard of such planes, I always thought they were exaggerating! Such an aircraft must not be able to fight them in close combat! Komatsubara hurriedly took the radio microphone and shouted, "Stay away from them, attack from afar!!" Don't give them a chance to melee combat! ”

But it was too late, in the era of air combat with machine gun strafing, close shooting, or even head-to-head shooting was the best way to kill the enemy, which made most of the Japanese planes extremely close to the Soviet planes, and there were fireballs falling constantly, in this battle, the Soviet Union lost 70 heavy artillery, plus the original artillery lost more than 130 guns, but the Soviet army still had more than 400 heavy artillery, while the Japanese only had 150, and more importantly, air supremacy shifted from the Japanese army to the Soviet army.

-- Moscow

"The Japanese are a vicious wolf that can never fill their stomachs." Stalin said lying on a recliner and smoking a pipe.

"Comrade Stalin, the Chongqing government has once again asked for new loans and aid, and has asked us to take the sea route instead of Xinjiang." Beria said respectfully as he stood beside him.

"Well, promise them, but they need to promise us one condition." Stalin sat up and said.

"On what terms?" Beria asked

"From October to November at the latest, the Chongqing government must fight a large-scale counterattack, so we say that the Soviet government doubts that the Chongqing government has the determination to persist in the war of resistance to the end, and we need the Chongqing government to give us actions to prove their determination." Stalin said as he looked at the map on the wall.

"Is there any scale requirement for this? How much aid do we give? Beria continued.

"At least 300,000 troops will be invested in the counteroffensive campaign, and we will provide assistance of 30,000 rifles, 1,000 light and heavy machine guns, 500 mortars, 100 mountain artillery, 80 tanks and armored vehicles, 100 fighters and bombers, plus supporting ammunition and fuel, and repair equipment." Saying that, Stalin stood up in annoyance and said, "China is a country that cannot produce anything, and I have simply become the logistics department of Chiang's intermediaries, haven't they thought of building their own steel mills and arsenals?" ”

Beria hesitated for a moment and said, "According to intelligence, the Chinese Red Party is building a large number of factories in Shanxi, building factories, and resuming production, and there are already military factories in Shanxi, and now the Chinese Red Party has not asked us for anything for a long time." ”

Stalin shook his head and said, "This is also a good thing for us now, by the way, send a telegram to the Chinese Red Party, asking them to launch a major campaign to attract the attention of the Japanese army." ”

Beria saluted and said, "Yes, Comrade Stalin." ”

-- Yan'an

"Look, what should I do about this?" Chairman Mao threw the telegram on the table and said.

Ren Bishi was the first to speak, "The last time the conflict between Japan and the Soviet Union asked us to launch an attack, and now we want to do it, is it a relationship between comrades or something else?" Isn't that a bit excessive? ”

Lin Boqu nodded and said, "But after all, we are still red comrades, and it's not good to not do anything at all." Besides, if the Soviet Union can declare war on Japan, the time for our victory in the War of Resistance will inevitably be greatly advanced! ”

Chairman Mao hummed and said, "The battle between Japan and the Soviet Union will not last long, Germany's calm in Europe represents the arrival of greater action, the center of gravity of the Soviet Union is in Europe, if the Soviet Union wins this war, it will not be a fierce war, but a peace, if the Soviet Union loses, then it will seek peace, in short, it will not declare war." ”

Mr. Zhu looked around and said, "Militarily speaking, the Japanese army and the Soviet army are fighting, resulting in their Kwantung Army, the Mongolian Army and the Korean Army's three strategic corps are unable to move, and the Japanese army in North China is dragged by the guerrillas in Shandong, Hebei and other places in China, and they cannot be dispatched, and the time is ripe for us to attack Suiyuan!" ”

"To attack Suiyuan? This is the second province of our counteroffensive! ”

"I just don't know how our ammunition and equipment are now, we have the right time and place to fight Shanxi, and the terrain in Suiyuan is relatively flat, which is more conducive to the Japanese army."

"Not only that, we have to defend it, but also Chongqing, we also have to consider whether a new anti-red upsurge will be launched at that time, in Hebei, those people have become traitors, and we can't do anything about it, but if the situation becomes Chongqing and the Japanese army's encirclement and suppression of us, we will be too passive."

Everyone talked about it, Chairman Mao glanced at Zhou Guansheng, Zhou Guansheng nodded and said, "We must first firmly hold up the banner of the anti-Japanese united front, as long as we continue to fight the Japanese army and regain the lost territory, the people will see it, as long as there is the support of the people, we Chinese Red Party members are invincible and fearless." ”

"As for the military." Mr. Zhu stood up and said, "This point is enough for the Eighth Route Army and the Shanxi Monarchs to deal with the 100,000-day puppet army in Suiyuan, and we can fight it, and we can defend it!" Our aim is not to reach the grasslands, but to take the entire Hetao region, with the Yellow River as the line, and if conditions permit, to fight for the rest of the area. ”

Everyone looked at each other, nodded their heads, and stopped talking.

Chairman Mao stood up and said, "Then it's decided, Mr. Zhu, who will be in charge this time?" ”

Mr. Zhu said, "He Huzi of the 120th Division has been staring at Suiyuan for a long time, so let the 120th Division lead the battle, assisted by General Fu Zuoyi, in addition, I suggest that the team in our border area can also join the battle. ”

Chairman Mao nodded and said, "Okay, I agree, just do it!" ”

-- Taiyuan

"What? Want to fight Suiyuan? Yan Xishan almost jumped up after hearing this, "This devil finally retreated in Hebei, and fought again in Mongolia and the Soviet Union, we just need to wait and see what happens."

Yan Xishan said halfway, as if he had reacted to something, and said with a different expression, "But after all, the Soviet Union is our friend, and the enemy of the enemy is a friend, not to mention that it is a friend, this friend has been attacked, we should indeed have a reaction, otherwise, we must not be blamed to death?" Beat! Just hit Suiyuan! ”

Mr. Peng was reluctant to pay attention to Yan Xishan, but Zuo Quan explained, "Chairman Yan, we attacked Suiyuan not to contain the Japanese army from attacking the Soviet Union, but because the Soviet Union successfully contained the main force of the Japanese army for us, so that the time was ripe for us to attack Suiyuan." ”

Fu Zuoyi asked, "I understand that the Japanese Kwantung Army, the Mongolian Army and the Korean Army cannot be transferred, but do we have the strength to fight the Japanese army in the plain area?" And if we fight it, can we hold on? ”

Ren Chi, who participated in the meeting, stood up and snorted and said, "Comrade 203 said that fighting a war is to fight steel and productivity, can this war be fought, go to our factory and take a look, will you understand?" ”

Yan Xishan asked, "I have spent my energy on education and railways during this time, but I haven't seen the restoration work of the factory for a long time, so it has changed a lot?" ”

Mr. Peng took the lead and walked out and said, "It's a mule or a horse, just take it out and you'll know." Let's go, let's take a look. (To be continued.) )