- Shenyang

This is the Kwantung Army Headquarters, a group of staff officers are constantly transmitting and feeding instructions in the war room, and the commander of the Kwantung Army, Kenkichi Ueda, touched his injured leg, looked at Nomenhan on the map and said, "This time, we can't afford to fail again." ”

Staff Officer Masanobu Tsuji and Takushiro Hattori bent down excitedly and said, "Commander, rest assured, we have arranged everything and it will be foolproof." ”

Kenkichi Ueda nodded and said, "Then let's get started!" ”

The two looked at each other, bent down and drank "yes"

With this sound, the Japanese troops began to move, the various Japanese garrisons began to distribute ammunition, emergency assembly, one after another combat vehicles began to be fully maintained and overhauled, trains nervously transported ammunition and supplies, and in the cave, heavy tracked tractors dragged a cannon with a long barrel out of the cave, and the Kwantung Army took out all its money.

- Normenhan steppe

After the end of the conflict in the previous months, the Soviet army and the Mongolian army did not lower their vigilance against Japan, but continued to increase their forces, and at this time on the Mongolian steppe front, Zhukov had concentrated 4 infantry divisions, 2 cavalry divisions, 2 motorized infantry divisions, 6 tank armored brigades and 1 airborne brigade, with more than 100,000 troops. In addition, there were six divisions of the Mongol army. In the rear, there are more than 100,000 troops on standby, ready to support the front at any time.

In the middle of the night, a group of Mongolian cavalry was patrolling, they kept looking at the opposite side, less than 500 meters, where were the Japanese troops, and the two sides glared at each other angrily, but neither side dared to fire the first shot.

"Bang" suddenly a gunshot rang out, people on both sides looked nervously at their own people, this gunshot rang out far away, as soon as they heard it, they knew that it was a cold gun, the Mongols looked around, no one was injured, they were relieved for a while, but they immediately became nervous, sure enough, the Japanese patrol shouted loudly, many people brandished weapons to shoot, but were stopped, after a chaos, those Japanese patrols left with wounded members.

"Zhahe, what's going on? Shall we go back and report? A Mongolian cavalryman asked.

"Japan is a cunning fox, they must have some conspiracy, let's go back immediately." The cavalry captain also sensed that the whole thing was full of weirdness, and hurriedly responded.

- Shenyang

Masanobu Tsuji walked into the war room excitedly with a telegram and said, "On September 8, the 14th year of Showa, our army was patrolling along the Haraha River, and was suddenly shot by the Mongolian cavalry, and one person was wounded and died, counterattack!" It's time to fight back! ”

Kenkichi Ueda stood up and said, "Immediately spread the news by electricity, radio, radio, etc., order!" The 7th Division, the 23rd Division, the 24th Division, and the 25th Division are on the offensive, order! The 6th, 8th and 12th fleets of the Air Forces immediately took off and raided the Soviet Tamsk airfield. Command! The rest of the troops are ready for battle, the logistics department is ready for the transportation of ammunition and the transportation of wounded soldiers, let's go! ”

Masanobu Tsuji bowed and said, "Hey! ”——

Mount Hamardaba

Zhukov had set up his headquarters on this hill, less than ten kilometers from the Haraha River, since the last conflict, and when he heard the staff officer report on the strange shooting, he couldn't help but think of the truth about the July 7 incident he had heard in China.

"There is no doubt that this must be a trick of the Japanese, every time the Japanese start a war, they want to put the name of justice on themselves, this was the case in the Sino-Qing War, it was also the case when it fought with Tsarist Russia, it was like this in the 918 Incident eight years ago, and the 77 Incident the year before last, and I believe that this time is no exception. This is a prelude to Japan's attack! Zhukov waved his hand holding the pen and said, "But we are not Tsarist Russia, nor are we Chinese, if they dare to come, we dare to let them not go back, immediately order the troops to immediately turn their backs to the Haraha River and start preparing for battle, and those who dare to retreat without receiving an order will be executed!" Ordered the planes at the Tamsk airfield to take off and first reconnoiter the movements of the Japanese troops. ”

- Tamsk airport

This is the most important airport of the Soviet Union in Mongolia, with more than 300 aircraft, and many of them have been changed to new aircraft for this battle, but at this time, most of them are still asleep.

In the sky just over 50 miles away from them, more than 100 Japanese fighters were flying rapidly toward the airport.

"The command ordered, let our reconnaissance plane prepare to take off immediately, the Japanese army is likely to attack us!" The communications soldier took the telegram and handed it to Popov, the head of the airfield.

Popov immediately said, "It's almost six o'clock now, let's prepare the logistics, take off on time at seven o'clock, let the comrades of the aviation get up and get ready for battle." ”

"Woo woo woo"

Suddenly, a piercing siren sounded, and Popov looked out strangely, not knowing what was happening, and a guard rushed in, pointed outside, and shouted, "Planes, a lot of planes, all Japanese planes." ”

"Boom" a huge ball of fire appeared on the airfield, and the sound of a huge explosion made Popov immediately understand what was happening.

"Quick, organize a counterattack, send a telegram to General Zhukov, the outside is attacked by Japanese planes, let all the planes that can fly fly, it's over, we will all be sent to the labor camp!" Popov covered his mouth in horror and said.

Outside the headquarters, the Japanese army was like locusts, three or five groups of continuous dive attacks, and the planes placed outside the open air were blown up one by one, this was the first time that the Soviet Union felt the power of a large group of aircraft raids, looking at the Japanese fighters that seemed to never finish, the Soviet air defense garrison mentally felt great pressure, anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns could not hit a few times, they would be named by the Japanese bombs, and the Soviet army was not ready for battle at all, and it was not heavy for a while. I don't know how many Soviet pilots who were ready to make meritorious contributions to the enemy died in their quarters and on the runway before they could take off.

"Great! Don't stop, run out of bullets, drop all bombs, just leave back the fuel, and there will be no planes stopping us on the way. Looking at the Soviet airfield that had turned into a sea of fire, the Japanese pilots laughed like mad demons one by one, and a Japanese fighter dropped a bomb on a flat house, which shook violently, and then a huge fire burst out, and the violent fire tornado almost swept the Japanese plane into it.

"This is their ammunition depot or oil depot, great, we succeeded!" The Japanese pilots high-fived each other excitedly in the plane.

This surprise attack caused the Soviet Union to lose one-third of its air power in the Far East, and the front completely lost air supremacy for a time.

- Nomenkan Grassland

Groups of Japanese soldiers in yellow uniforms appeared in the sight of the Soviet troops, looking at the seemingly endless Japanese front, and all the Soviets secretly swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

Komatsubara looked at the Japanese positions in the distance and ordered, "Let the artillery attack!" Prepare your chariot units for a surprise attack! ”

Hundreds of shells fell into the Soviet positions with their light, and the sound of explosions and the wails of the wounded soldiers immediately spread throughout the positions, and the Japanese offensive began.

And nearly a thousand kilometers away from the entire battlefield, Takeda Takeo is making final preparations with a unit.

"We're checking the food and water bags, we don't have any supplies this time, we're completely on our own, everyone has to be mentally prepared, understand?"

One by one, the Japanese officers constantly checked the equipment of their men, and Chang'an Itoji, a 54-year-old man who came to North Manchuria after the July 7 Incident to prepare for the Soviet Union and suppress the local anti-Japanese forces.

He looked at the troops and said to Takeda Takeo, "Takeda-kun, do you think we are still unprepared?" ”

Takeda Yixiong looked at it, shook his head and said, "There are too many deficiencies, our target this time is Kulen, there are thousands of miles to go, it is already September, the weather on the grassland is unpredictable, it is very likely to suddenly become cold and snowy, and in order to conceal, we can't go where there is a big flow of water, there will be Mongolian tribes in those places, which adds uncertainty, but this is also a matter of no way, fighting in the grassland, it will never be able to be fully prepared." ”

Yasui Toji nodded approvingly and said, "That's right, our preparations are not sufficient, the enemy's preparations must be even less sufficient, I just got the telegram, Nomenkan has already started, Zhukov's attention must be attracted to that side, their main force and reserves will also gather over there, we are likely to not be able to touch any enemy along the way." ”

Takeda's eyes flickered and said, "That's great, by the way, how about what I prepared?" ”

Fujiji Yasui laughed, "I didn't expect you to have such an idea, it's all ready, you see, everyone is starting to wear it." ”

I saw that the Japanese soldiers began to take out a cloak, which was a mixture of yellow and green on one side and snow white on the other. Takeda Yixiong said helplessly, "I learned this from the Eighth Route Army, not to mention anything else, dressed like this, lying on the grass, even wolves can't see clearly." ”

Seeing that it was almost over, Fujiharu Yasui shouted, "Warriors of the Empire, our goal is victory, for His Majesty the Emperor, for the Empire, for the freedom and peace of the yellow race!" Advance!! ”

"Hooray! Banzai! Banzai!! "The Japanese army shouted three times long live, and the warlike spirit crossed the border line of the steppe and advanced towards Kulen, Takeda Yio walked on this red grassland he had always fantasized about with mixed feelings, he looked back in the direction of China, and did not know whether to bless the Red Party in Yan'an and Shanxi, or to say goodbye to his family who did not know where -

Mount Hamardaba

"The Japanese attack was fierce, but under the artillery fire of our troops, the positions of our troops were not lost."

"The 149th Regiment reported that the Japanese armored units appeared on the battlefield and were raiding them, and they had lost two companies and asked for reinforcements."

"The Tamsk airport reported that after counting, there were only less than forty aircraft that could be used in the underground hangar, and the person in charge, Comrade Popov, was martyred."

"The Fifth Cavalry Division came to report that it had found traces of Japanese troops on the right flank and was making every effort to block it."

"The 11th Tank Brigade called, and a large number of Japanese tank armored units appeared on the left flank, but there was no exchange of fire."

The tense battle situation is constantly updated on the map, along the line of the Haraha River, the Japanese and Soviet armies directly hit fire, both sides are fighting with all their might, in just one day, Zhukov lost 300 planes, more than 40 artillery pieces and nearly 1,000 soldiers.

Zhukov touched his lips and said, "Our advantage is that we have enough new equipment, especially armored forces, in the last conflict, we found that the Japanese tanks are extremely backward, although the basic tactical actions are very good, but they are too dull, I don't have to think about it, they must be thinking about the way of flanking this way." ”

The staff officer asked, "So what do we do?" It takes three days for the planes behind to come up, and we don't have air supremacy for these three days, so we are very passive. ”

Zhukov sighed, "This time I made a mistake, but our main force was not hit, most of the I-16 fighters are still behind, I wanted to be my killer weapon, this is good, avoid losses, let them come up immediately, in addition, reconfirm the direction of the Japanese tank forces, we have to knock them out first, as long as we successfully knock them out, we will win half of this war." ”

The staff officer nodded and said, "The best way to reconnoiter is to have planes, but we also have a lot of cavalry, so we can let cavalry infiltrate and reconnoitre." ”

Zhukov nodded, turned around and said, "Let the rear go all out to transport supplies, the war is about logistics, we are farther away from the logistics line than the Japanese, tell the rear that the front needs at least 20,000 tons of shells, less than 20,000 tons, I will let him go and explain to Comrade Stalin!" ”

- Japanese command

"They probably think that's all we have, right?" Masanobu Tsuji said to Komatsuba with a smile.

Komatsubara pointed to the battlefield not far away and said, "We attacked tentatively for a day, the battle was fierce, the Soviets had a lot of firepower, but we didn't see a large tank force, it seems that they are also hiding their strength." ”

Masanobu Tsuji pointed behind him and said, "Then let the scientific achievements of the empire educate the Soviets." ”

Behind Masanobu Tsuji, one heavy artillery after another held his head high, but a careful person can find that many of these guns are relatively old, and many of them are still from the First World War.

Japan's economy and industry are not comparable with those of Europe and the United States, although it has always been more important than the development of the army, but in the long-term war with China, there is not much use of heavy artillery, and more heavy artillery is placed in the northeast to guard against the Soviet Union, which makes these heavy artillery not many in number, and the model is older.

Under the command of a red flag, almost two hundred heavy guns of more than 100 mm began to fire, while in the Soviet positions opposite, there were only a few less than twenty heavy guns.

But not far away, on Mount Hamardaba, more than four hundred heavy artillery pieces are constantly being assembled and are about to go to the front, which is Zhukov's first killing move! (To be continued.) )