The operational meeting of the Third Army of the Japanese Far East Dispatch Army was full of doubts, and the new commander of the Third Army, Lieutenant General Haruhiko Taichi, did not seem to be able to convince the public, and his approach to troop deployment was unanimously opposed by the commanders of the four lieutenant generals and divisions.

The commanders of the four veteran divisions of the Third Army, when they were talking at length, Lieutenant General Haruhiko, who looked like a university professor more than a soldier, had a calm face, and never interjected or interrupted their speeches, only the officers closest to him caught the commander and a few rays of cold light hidden behind the gold-rimmed glasses.

The venue calmed down, Lieutenant General Haruhiko slowly stood up, took off his gold-wire glasses, wiped them slowly, and slowly put them on, and then, raised his head, met the eyes of dozens of officers, smiled gently, and said in a warm tone: "Gentlemen, have you finished your words?" I have some other ideas! ”

No one answered, they all shouted for dozens of minutes, and everything that should be said was put on the table, and the eyes of the Japanese officers, like focus, were cast on his face, wanting to see His Excellency the commander, how to deal with this situation, what he said, if he could not convince, or suppressed the arrogance of the four veteran division commanders, in the future, the prestige of Lieutenant General Haruhiko would be swept away, and the life of the Third Army would never be better.

Seeing that the eyes of the officers were all focused on him, and no one answered, Lieutenant General Haruhiko smiled slightly, "Smack!" With a sudden muffled sound, Lieutenant General Haruhiko slammed his palm and slapped it on the table, shaking the things on the table, jumping up, and shaking the officers attending the meeting, their hearts fluttered, including the four division commanders who did not save face for His Excellency the Commander just now, and their hearts were also shocked, and their eyes looked at Lieutenant General Haruhiko who was suddenly furious.

Lieutenant General Haruhiko's face could no longer see that kind of warm smile. Instead, it was so cold that it made people's hearts tighten, "Gentlemen, what you just said has its own reasoning, and what you said is also the actual situation, the Third Army is a unit with very weak combat effectiveness and very little combat experience among soldiers, and it is also a weak brigade in the combat sequence of the Far East Dispatch Army, which I already understood when I was appointed by the Military Command Department!" ”

"But. I feel sad and ashamed of the remarks and thoughts just made by the commanders of your four divisions, that the ace unit of the Imperial Japanese Army was not the result of countless baptisms of fire in bloody battles with the enemy. only grew up, therefore. Your building yì. It seems reasonable, blindly seeking stability, thinking about a way out before the war, in fact, he has lost the courage and indomitable spirit of being a general of the Japanese Empire. Having lost the spirit of bushido, if the Third Army is in your hands, it will always be the object of ridicule by other troops! ”

Lieutenant General Haruhiko's words stabbed the four division commanders who were talking eloquently just now. They were full of discomfort and had a fever on their faces, but it didn't mean that they agreed with Lieutenant General Haruhiko's words, "Who wouldn't talk big, fighting a war depends on strength!" ”

Lieutenant General Haruhiko ignored their disdainful eyes, changed his previous gentleness, and his eyes flashed with a bloody cold glow, "The Third Army needs a great and complete victory to establish an image within the Far East Dispatch Army, and the soldiers of the Great Japanese Empire also need the blood of the enemy to inspire their inner bravery, I have made up my mind, you don't need to say more, according to the previous deployment, hurry up and prepare for the battle!" ”

Ho! Unexpectedly, I didn't expect that this seemingly weak commander Haruhiko still had such a bloody side, and the Japanese officers who participated in the meeting had a strange feeling in their hearts, and when they looked at Lieutenant General Haruhiko, they had more deliberately hidden fear, of course, excluding the four division commanders who were not convinced.

Of course, Lieutenant General Haruhiko saw the reaction of the officers, and his tone became more and more cold, and said: "This is an order from the military headquarters, all the gentlemen here, if any of you have doubts about the order, or think that it is too risky, you can resign and not participate in the battle here, I will never embarrass him, approve it immediately!" If there is no objection, I don't want to see a situation that I don't want to see when carrying out the battle order, and although Haruhiko believes in being kind to people, he will never mind killing! ”

This is domineering enough, and it is categorical and blocks all the room that can be turned around, and it is polite, but the subtext is unambiguous, "It's okay if you don't do it, hand over the command, get out of here immediately, if you want to do it, you have to listen to me!" "Finally, with a murderous warning, if the one who doesn't open his eyes is mischievous to me behind his back, or he is disobedient, then don't blame me for being ruthless and sacrificing the head of one of you!

Lieutenant General Chunyan's words are all said to be this part, even the four old qualified division commanders who are full of discomfort do not dare to resist in person, they can only listen with full thoughts, and they don't dare to answer a word, after all, where is the difference in position, the trouble that the boss wants to find, it is not enough to be caught, there is no need to think about it, the four people in their early years have quietly become turtles with shrunken heads, and the other officers, let alone dare to blow up the thorns, stood up together, and responded violently: "Haiyi! -- I respectfully obey the orders of His Excellency the Commander, and serve the Japanese Empire and His Majesty the Emperor. ”

The listless figures of the Soviet soldiers, like a swarm of ants scattered in the sunset, appeared one after another in the telescope of Lieutenant General Haruhiko, he put down the binoculars, with a smile of longing passion on the corner of his mouth, "Finally, the history of the Third Army will be rewritten by this battle, and those few inactive guys will be ashamed of their short-sightedness and cowardice!" "The qiē that happened at the military meeting always made Lieutenant General Haruhiko haunted and uncomfortable!

A staff officer hurriedly walked into the shelter department, "Your Excellency Commander, I have received information from the search force, the Soviet troops heading to the east bank of the Artan River this time are numbered the 15th Army of the Soviet Far Eastern Front, and the commander is Lieutenant General Asilov, the first to enter our sight is the strength of a division of the vanguard of the First Army of the group army, the main force of the Soviet army, which is about 60 kilometers away from the vanguard division, and the commanders of the two divisions on the preset position ask for instructions, do you want to annihilate this part of the Soviet army?" ”

Lieutenant General Haruhiko couldn't help frowning, he was very dissatisfied with the short-sightedness and impatience of the two division commanders, "He also boasted that he was a veteran of the battle formation, and the troops of the two divisions were ambushed head-on, is it just for the sake of one division of the Soviet army, and exposing their campaign attempts, a few guys who are not worthy of the name!" In his heart, Lieutenant General Chunyan scorned those veteran division commanders fiercely.

Lieutenant General Haruhiko did not pay attention to the staff officer's words, but asked rhetorically: "Where are the two divisions that detoured to the left and right flanks of the Soviet Army now?" ”

Staff Officer Dazuo replied succinctly: "Commander, according to their telegram, it will take another hour to reach the predetermined position and launch an attack on the Soviet army!" ”

"Roar! -- Order, the troops on the frontal position, each send a large brigade of troops, after 30 minutes of blocking the Soviet troops, withdraw to their positions, the main force continues to hide, without my order, not to launch an attack, order the artillery brigades and regiments of the army, the artillery wings of each division and regiment, to enter the artillery preparations! Lieutenant General Haruhiko ordered succinctly.

This staff officer opened his mouth, hesitated and did not immediately convey the order, as if he felt that the order of His Excellency the commander was a little inappropriate, according to the current marching speed of the Soviet army, after an hour, I am afraid that he will step on the frontal position, the ass of the imperial soldiers, how to keep it hidden, and also, the Soviet army is the strength of a division, and only two brigades are dispatched, so it is almost the same as sending them to death, right?

"Huh?" Lieutenant General Haruhiko snorted gloomily, and Staff Officer Osaku shuddered and left in a hurry.

Twenty minutes later, in the afterglow of dusk on the Far Eastern steppe, a fierce burst of gunfire suddenly sounded, shaking the blood-red in the sky, the vanguard of the unprepared Soviet 15th Army was suddenly attacked, and the formation was chaotic at that time, and the Soviet soldiers jumped out of the truck in a mess, not knowing how many Japanese troops were in front, let alone how the Japanese suddenly appeared in the Aldan and the east coast area?

However, in the end, it was a unit that came out of the battlefield, and the combat experience was very rich, and the Soviet division commander quickly judged the situation, and the Japanese troops in front of them did not have many troops, and after a short period of panic, the Soviet soldiers established a position while dispatching the strength of two regiments to attack the Japanese troops in two brigades, and although the Japanese soldiers had fewer troops, they also did not show weakness to counterattack, and the gunfire became more intense.

Twenty minutes later, the Soviet army's divisional artillery set up a simple artillery position in the shortest possible time. With the first shell, roaring towards the Japanese army, a few minutes later, a group of shells, constantly falling on the positions of the two brigades of Japanese soldiers, the Japanese soldiers blood and flesh flying, the battle on the east bank of the Aldan River, officially began.

The telegram from the front quickly flew into the hands of Lieutenant General Asilov, commander of the 15th Army, and after reading the content of the telegram quickly, Lieutenant General Asilov's scalp exploded, and the hairs on his body stood up, "It's time to come, it's still here after all!" It's just that, in an unexpected situation, the battle happened suddenly! ”

What he was worried about was not the encounter in the area on the east bank of the Aldan River, the telegram of the vanguard had already explained that the strength of the Japanese army was only three or four thousand, but it explained a serious problem, in this area where the army of his own group army had more than 100,000 troops, and the appearance of Japanese troops was not a good sign!

Lieutenant General Asilov immediately made a judgment that this was the Japanese unit mentioned in the enemy briefing of the Front Headquarters, and it was the vanguard of the Japanese army that exchanged fire with the vanguard division, which meant that the Japanese army had reached the west bank of the Aldan River and could cross the river at any time to launch an attack on the 15th Army.

(To be continued)(To be continued......