Chapter 125

The rumbling sound of artillery shattered the morning silence, and the scene of 3,500 cannons and fifty rocket launchers firing at the same time is no longer "spectacular". The city of Tashkent was turned into a living purgatory, and after a short and powerful half-hour of artillery preparation, the Wehrmacht launched an attack from the east, south and north.

The 55th Division was on the south side, and as soon as the artillery fire stopped, and at the same time as a military flag was raised, the first to jump out of the trench was Yusuf, whose eyes were round like a wounded wolf, and rushed towards the enemy who had inflicted damage on him. The second person to jump out of the trench was the first commando leader, Zhao Gang, the commander of the first battalion and one company. The young company commander raised the pistol in his hand and shouted: "Follow me!" "The flag bearer is on his heels!

This scene was filmed by a war correspondent, on the battlefield made up by the smoke of gunpowder, a young officer stood in front of the battle flag, looking back at the moment of raising his arms, his face was resolute and resolute, and he took the lead in the charge. As for Yusuf, the photographer knows who he is. It's too much, I don't talk about discipline at all, I don't give orders to rush what?

Compared with Zhao Gang, who was in the limelight in the newspapers, Yusuf played an unexpected role. A concrete-poured bunker blocked the way of a charge, and the dense artillery fire failed to destroy the fortified pillbox, and the two Maxim machine guns crossed fire, devouring more than a dozen lives in an instant. The first commando team was unfavorable, and the company commander Zhao Gang was shot in the stomach, and the flag hand was shot and died.

The bazooka men fired continuously, but they could only leave a small dimple in the bunker, which could not shake the fortifications at all. The demolition team made three unsuccessful attempts, and at the moment of great urgency, smoke rose from the bunker and the machine guns stopped firing. The assault team cautiously crawled forward and rushed to the mouth of the bunker only to find that Yu Sufu, who was holding a cigarette, was sitting on the ground smoking with a satisfied face, and the bunker was full of corpses.

The deputy captain who took over the command continued to lead the team forward, and the red flag pointed to the direction, that is, the direction of the charge. The 1st Regiment of the 55th Division won the first battle, and after an hour of fierce fighting, it broke through the city of Tashkent.

The attack from other directions did not go well, and Lukin, who was good at defense, almost turned the whole city into a fortress, and the outskirts of the city were full of strong fortifications that slipped through the net under heavy artillery fire, and every strong bunker caused great trouble to the charging officers and soldiers, and it took a hard battle to succeed.

After attacking the city, a five-story building blocked the path of the 55th Division's advance, and the dense fire of five or six light and heavy machine guns caused casualties in one squad. Hearing this, Fang Rui immediately ordered the third artillery battalion to go up. Before this battle, the 55th Division Artillery Regiment did not have a third battalion, which was a temporary addition, with a total of two guns, one each of 210 and 280 caliber guns.

Self-propelled guns on tank chassis were fired directly into the vicinity of the building, about a kilometer away, and machine-gun bullets clanged on the armor. The huge barrel of the cannon slowly aimed at the building in front of it, and the chassis shook violently, and the building in front of it trembled violently, rolling up smoke and dust. The two cannons kept firing, and two guns passed in one minute, and the dismantling was called a cool. In less than ten minutes, the building in front of him could no longer support it, it staggered and swayed, and it overturned with a bang, and the Soviet soldiers who were still upstairs were buried alive in the rubble.

After witnessing the whole process, Liu Gaoming, who came to the front line to command while the command car, sighed: "This thing, this thing, it's really fucking amazing!" "In order to attack Tashkent, Shenyang Brothers Heavy Industry hastened to produce 200 210 caliber self-propelled guns, and Hefei Tractor Factory hastened to produce 200 280 self-propelled guns.

Fierce fighting was going on everywhere in the city, and after a day of fierce fighting, the Wehrmacht achieved a breakthrough through the city on three sides, and the Soviet army stubbornly fought with the trapped beasts and engaged in fierce street fighting with our army.

The difficult days passed, and Lukin entered the night like a beast waiting for an opportunity in his hands, and the battle during the day made the Soviet troops miserable, naturally because the equipment was too backward. Eighty percent of the fortified pillboxes on the outskirts of the city were killed by the accurate bombs dropped by our dive bombers, and one was blown up one by one. The situation in the south of the city was the worst, most of the fire points were accurately knocked out by the Chinese artillery, as if the Chinese knew the defense map. With the occasional surviving firing point or two, it's hard to pose much of a threat.

The whole process was still beyond Lukin's expectations, originally thought that the outskirts of the city could be held for two days, but he didn't expect to be fully broken through in one day. Lukin has a new understanding of the combat effectiveness of the Chinese, especially the kind of large-caliber self-propelled guns, which are simply the nemesis of all kinds of buildings.

The squadron in the south of the city attacked the most fiercely, and it had already broken through into the city for more than a kilometer. Lukin decided to concentrate his reserves and launch a counterattack at night, attacking the enemy south of the city first. The calm of the night was broken at about ten o'clock, and the small Soviet artillery shelled the northern part of the city, despite the danger of being suppressed by artillery fire.

The Soviet artillery fire was only five minutes into fire, and our artillery fire began to suppress fire. In less than ten minutes, the Soviet artillery fire stopped, and at this time the artillery was very precious, and Lukin wanted to hold it for a few more days. When Cheng was bombarded and lively, the south side of the city was very quiet, and the dense Soviet troops were silently moving forward in the dark, seeing that they were less than 200 meters away from the enemy's position, and when they were about to charge, a flare was launched into the air! Smack, more than a dozen searchlights were turned on from a height, and the Soviet troops had nowhere to hide.

The sneak attack was revealed, and the Soviets let out the roar of Ulla, and ran forward without fear of death. What was waiting for them was a rain of countless bullets, more than 100 general-purpose machine guns made a tearing sound, in the blink of an eye, a chain of bullets was lighted, mortars kept firing flares into the sky, and the 75 field artillery battalion, 75 mountain artillery battalion, and 105 howitzer company of the division artillery regiment were responsible for fire blocking.

Fang Rui in the division headquarters breathed a sigh of relief, in fact, he didn't relax his preparations at the beginning, the north of the city does not mean that the south of the city is fine. Therefore, less than 50 meters in front of the position, a number of secret posts were arranged, and the Soviet troops were discovered as soon as they were dispatched, and the reason why they were close to fight was for better results.

There is no doubt that the night attack of the Soviet army failed, and Lukin was very unwilling, how could he not understand how the night attack was found out? As everyone knows, the opponent is also an army that attaches great importance to night fighting, and the 55th Division in the south of the city can be used as a vanguard to enter the city, the main reason is not Fang Rui's identity, but because Fang Rui has experience in street fighting, and the 55th Division has also conducted a lot of street combat training.

In the glow of flares and searchlights, the Soviet soldiers who were bravely advancing fell like wheat harvesting, row after row. Various weapons formed a line of death, and the corpses were quickly piled up before the position. The Soviet commander gave the order to retreat in time, but it was still a little late, and on the way to retreat, they were chased by machine guns and artillery fire, and a night attack left at least 2,000 corpses. The battle lasted only forty minutes.

U.S. Ambassador Hurley had another closed door, originally thinking that the first batch of aid had arrived in Yangon, and everyone could sit down and talk about the alliance, and no matter how bad it was, it could deepen the "friendship." I didn't want him to visit, but I was told that President Fang Da was not there, so I went out to inspect Weifu.

In fact, at this time, Fang Jianxiong was in his study, holding a small meeting with Jiang, Xu, Zhang, Gu, Yang and others, and the topic was naturally the preparation for the war with the Soviet Union and the war. In front of the three of them, Fang Jianxiong's face did not change and let the following reply to Hurley, and the others had to keep their faces tight, after all, the president lied to his face, and everyone's eyes were hiding to the side.

"Okay guys, don't hold back, just laugh if you want to. I'm a politician now, and politicians are not smarter than anyone, but more shameless than anyone. As for the Americans, it's okay to be shameless. Everyone who said Fang Jianxiong couldn't help laughing, and when he talked about this big president, he also had a clear banner, the domestic opposition parties were so tossed, and President Fang didn't make a dead move, and said that the existence of the opposition party was conducive to the integrity and efficiency of the political axe, at least on the surface.

The progress of the attack in Tashkent exceeded expectations, which made everyone feel good. The most critical moment is when the main forces of the Central Asian Front move south, and then the Tashkent army group will have the opportunity to break through to the north. Lukin also mentioned that he would either go south to flank the enemy's rear or go north to get closer to Chuikov's corps. As a result, the bearded man hesitated, still not wanting to give up the long-term operation of Tashkent. Because he had mastered the password of the Soviet army, all this information could be obtained in time, so Liu Mingzhao dared to transfer the Eighth Mechanized Army, which was originally used to monitor the Soviet army in Tashkent, to move south, accelerating the process of the campaign on the southern front.

Now in this situation, a big victory can be expected, the only way for the Soviet army to withdraw is to retreat to the west, and the ten Kazakh cavalry divisions full of hatred in the vast steppe are waiting for the Soviet army to break through. After the fierce battle, Lukin had already lost half of the city, and the fortifications made of buildings that he was proud of before were made of "tofu" in front of the sharp weapons of demolition (the language of the participating troops).

It can be said that the Wehrmacht pushed all the way forward, turning the city into ruins all the way, without the slightest hint of softness. As for reconstruction, that's not something the Chinese should be concerned about. Minimizing casualties is what officers should do.

"According to the submarine Telegram 050 stationed in Yangon, the fleet is currently less than 200 nautical miles from Kolkata. It is expected that by tomorrow morning at the latest, the army will launch an offensive against Calcutta. Xu Shuzheng, chief of the General Staff, pulled the topic back, and the others refocused their attention.

"Kolkata is the largest port in eastern India, and it is reasonable for the army to occupy the port first, and then use the port to quickly unload supplies and heavy equipment. Because of the unfavorable war in Africa, the British transferred two British divisions, and now there are only three British and Indian divisions and one British armored brigade stationed in India. The British government sent a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs asking us to send the 15th Mechanized Corps stationed in Rangoon to Mumbai, India, but Foreign Minister Wang Chonghui refused. Jiang Fangzhen always spoke unhurriedly, and his elegant appearance didn't seem to change at all.

"The British, with six infantry divisions, an armored brigade, plus a heavy artillery brigade, and the help of a fighter wing of our army, can't they hold Calcutta?" Yang Yongtai interjected, showing a sense of storage when necessary.

Xu Shuzheng glanced at him casually, and said lightly: "That's not what I said, there are not more wars than people." The key is to see whether the British fleet in India can play its due role. ”

"The British did not inform the Indian fleet of the situation, and our intelligence officers got the news that the British Indian fleet was missing. If I want to see it, if the British Far East Fleet had taken the initiative to withdraw to India before the frontal battle, it would have been able to fight with the current strength of the Navy. The British Far East Fleet was buried in vain, but it added a lot of pressure to my navy. The commander of the Combined Fleet, Fifty-Six Sanmoto, personally sat in Naha, and the three aircraft carriers plus one Yamato, as well as Nagato and Mutsu, were all to guard against China. I've already had the news reported to Britain and the United States, and it's up to them to see how they respond. "Speaking of this, Fang Jianxiong is somewhat regretful, if the British Far East Fleet took the initiative to retreat, why is he worried that India will not be able to hold it now? What is even more infuriating is that the British did not blow up the oil depot in Singapore as planned, and they cheapened themselves by more than 5 million tons of crude oil in vain. Afterwards, Britain explained to China that it was worried that they would mistreat the prisoners of war, so they did not fry the oil depot. It's all good light crude oil!

"Therefore, we can't give too much hope to the British, we still hurry up to receive American aid, especially the **-29 bomber, Huabo Company produces only 30 planes per month, and there is still a considerable distance from the annual output of 500 aircraft. According to the strategy formulated by the president to blow the book back to the Stone Age, there is a gap of at least 500 **-29s. At present, the production capacity of the two major companies of Wuhan Airlines and China Northern Airlines has been greatly improved, and a total of 4,500 new Mustang fighters were produced at the end of last year. This year's production plan is 5,000 units, and the biggest problem restricting production at present is engine output, and Wuhan claims that the annual output of 5,000 engines is already the limit, and qualified skilled workers are too short. ”

"As of December 30 last year, China's expenditure on the war has reached 10 billion yuan, which is equivalent to $2 billion at the current exchange rate. Now the war has only just begun, and the national economy has been affected considerably. This year's tax revenue will increase, and this is mainly a growth point provided by the military industry. The Ministry of Finance means that the appropriate tax hike will make up for the attrition caused by the war. "Gu Weijun opened his mouth to talk about finance, he is not good as the prime minister, and his family background is **. It is the military industrial enterprises that are fighting the war, and other industries have been affected by a certain degree because of the wanton poaching of people by the military industrial enterprises. Also because of the war, the circulation of the market has also been affected.

"Consider increasing taxes for companies that have made a fortune in the war, such as steel, petrochemicals, and military industry, and forget about other industries. In addition, it has made a request to the US political axe to issue $5 billion in treasury bonds in the US market and sell them over three years. Fang Jianxiong's opinion made Gu Weijun a little embarrassed. The matter of raising taxes is easy to do, and with so many national bonds issued in the United States, the opposition parties are going to shout the Republican Party again. (To be continued.) )