Commanding more than 1 million troops, changing the original plan to directly take Kulen, turning north, and killing the commander and political commissar of the Soviet Outer Mongolian Front and General Vasilevsky all the way to Mijiansinsk, he was very unhappy, unhappy to the extreme.

When the Soviet soldiers cautiously walked into the town, all they saw were empty houses, dead streets, sand and dust raised by the north wind, and well-built fortifications, but there was no one in sight.

Of course, there were countless mines, and there were loud rumbling sounds, and in an instant, the earth was like a boiling pot, and almost one of the first divisions to enter Ulan Guben was buried in the flying ruins and frozen clods.

General Vasilevsky, who received the report, was speechless for a long time before gritting his teeth and saying, "That hateful Chinese, this cunning and difficult opponent!" ”

As for what should be done next for the two army group units that seem to be very smooth and have already occupied Ulan Guben, General Vasilevsky is quite hesitant and follows the main force of the southern front of the front army to the north.

Instead of the main forces of the southern front of the front army, continue to follow the original plan, go straight to Kulen, attack the city along the way, and seize key points, according to common sense, the strength of the two group armies of nearly 300,000 people should be enough, but, from the Tangnu Mountains, facing his own army of more than one million, that Chinese Tang Qiuli. dared to strike head-on, and gave himself a dismount cleanly, and then the 43rd Army was surrounded by Minusinsk.

Although he only made two shots, Tang Qiuli's cunning and unpredictable use of troops made General Vasilevsky absolutely not dare to take it lightly. What was the result, the whole army was wiped out!

If he hadn't personally learned Tang Qiuli's methods, General Vasilevsky would not hesitate to order the two army groups to take Kulen directly. However, now he did not dare. Who knows that Chinese. Did you set a huge trap for your 300,000 people somewhere on the way to Kulen?

Although it has been 100% determined, Tang Qiuli's main force is in the area of Minusinsk. is encircling and annihilating its own 43rd Group Army, but who dares to guarantee that this Chinese will not conjure up hundreds of thousands of troops. The two armies that swallowed themselves in one bite followed in the footsteps of the 43rd Army, and when the time came, almost all the troops of the front army were attracted to the northern front, and it was too late to rush to the rescue.

Information? General Vasilevsky, the most disgusting and disgusting thing now is these two words, he has lost even the last bit of trust in the intelligence services, whether it is the Main Directorate of Military Intelligence of the General Staff, or the Intelligence Department of his own front army, he would rather believe in his military intuition than believe in any intelligence!

After some hesitation, General Vasilevsky gave an order to the two army groups that had entered Ulanguben, "immediately take the existing occupied area as the center, expand the results of the battle in the periphery, sweep away the remnants of the independent division in the area, and without the order of the front command, you must not go south in the direction of Kulen!" ”

After dealing with this troublesome matter, there are even more troublesome things, I don't know, where so many small units of independent divisions came out, hiding in the dark corners like poisonous snakes, from time to time to come out and bite a bite, although the losses caused to their millions of troops are minimal, not even a little damage to the fur, but it is impossible to prevent it, and it slows down the marching speed of the troops even more.

When the posture was opened, the artillery and tanks were all out and ready to fight, the small troops of the independent division slipped away like rats without a trace, and in desperation, General Vasilevsky had no choice but to order to send troops to pursue and suppress them.

What was even more troublesome than the ghostly small units of the independent division was that the road to Minusinsk to the north, all the bridges, and the dangerous intersections were destroyed, and all the engineering units of the front army, working hand and foot continuously, could not guarantee the normal marching speed of the troops.

The road, which was originally relatively flat and spacious, was sold by a small unit of the independent division, I don't know how many mines, maybe when, suddenly there was a burst of explosions like the sky cracking, marching to Dorie, and hundreds of corpses, hundreds of wounded soldiers with broken hands and feet, every day, the troops began to march with such an explosion, for this qiē, General Vasilevsky, all felt that they were about to collapse!

And what really broke down Comrade Commander was the telegram sent by the commander of the 43rd Army, Lieutenant General Bamiyanov, from the Minusinsk battlefield, in which the most striking thing was the following paragraph:

"Comrade Commander, I have to report to you and the Front Command with a heavy heart that in the Minusinsk battlefield, after more than two days of fierce fighting, our army group suffered all casualties, and there were less than 20,000 troops left, but, despite the great price we paid, we still failed to complete the task assigned by the Front Command, and the troops of the independent division, before the arrival of our reinforcements, withdrew from the Minusinsk battlefield, in front of them, the whereabouts are unknown."

Enough, a telegram of thousands of words, you don't have to read it, this passage alone is enough to make people go berserk, and now, General Vasilevsky's expression is on the verge of going berserk, he wants to kill!

Bamyanov should be killed! Losing a group army of more than 100,000 people, still failed to entangle which Chinese's troops, based on this article alone, should be killed, but think about it carefully, is the responsibility really all on the 43rd Group Army?

The intelligence department, as well as itself, seems to be responsible, from a certain point of view, the 43rd Army stands out alone, occupying Minusinsk, it is precisely the implementation of its own orders, speaking of which, its own responsibility is even greater, if the other four armies are not transferred, even if Tang Qiuli's troops are concentrated on the northern front, they do not have such a big appetite and swallow more than 550,000 of their own people, so Bamyyanov can't kill them!

In the final analysis, it was still a mistake in his own command, not to mention, a commander of a group army could not be killed so lightly, and there had to be a reasonable explanation from top to bottom, and General Vasilevsky began to have a headache again.

Just as the two group armies that decided to attack Ulan Guben at the beginning, how to move next, the more than one million troops that went south continued to move north, which had lost any meaning, and that Chinese Tang Qiuli bit the 43rd Group Army to the point of dying, even with flesh and bones, swallowed more than 100,000 of his own soldiers, and then, with his whole body retreating, before his big net was closed, the main force of the independent division floated away.

Drifting away, nowhere to be found, the Baikal Front went south, and it would take seven or eight days to reach Kulen, which was enough for Tang Qiuli and his troops to run to a safe place, and the Outer Mongolian campaign had not yet officially begun, and on the periphery of Minusinsk, a fully organized group army was put in, which was regarded as a head-on blow to the Tangnu Mountains, and in total, the loss of troops of the Outer Mongolian Front had exceeded about 200,000 people, which could be described as a disadvantage.

How should this be reported to Comrade Stalin, General Vasilevsky, worried, of course, it can still be carried out according to the original plan, the troops of the southern front, turn around and return, continue to attack Kulun, but, back and forth, that is more than ten days, that cunning Chinese, I don't know what other conspiracies and tricks are on the periphery of Kulen?

General Vasilevsky, whose hair was about to turn gray with worry, finally made up his mind and instructed the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Pozhnev: "Comrade Chief of Staff, truthfully report the situation in front of the Outer Mongolian Front to the Political Bureau, and in addition, order the troops, part of the four group armies of the two roads and the north road, to move south from the direction of Minusinsk, and the main force of the south road to immediately approach Kulen through the direction of Ulanguben, and the troops of the two routes should encircle Kulen as quickly as possible!" ”

Chief of Staff Pozhnev, a little unclear, entered the coordination of the General Staff of Tongguò, the Baikal Front, has already begun to move south, after the capture of Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude, the troops are coming to Kulen, it is only a matter of five or six days, and the Outer Mongolian Front is in a hurry to go south to Kulen, what is the point?

The top priority at the moment is to find the traces of the main force of the independent division as much as possible, otherwise, if Tang Qiuli is allowed to command more than 200,000 troops with strong combat effectiveness and continue to stir up trouble in the Outer Mongolia region, it will definitely be a great disaster!

How could Vasilevsky not see the doubts of his chief of staff, sighed slightly, and said: "Comrade Pozhnev, since the beginning of our division, our Outer Mongolian Front has suffered successive defeats, and there is even a group army, which was almost eaten by that Chinese into a system, how will the General Staff think of it, what will the Political Bureau think, and how will Comrade Stalin view of us?" ”

"Therefore, only by preempting the Baikal Front, capturing Kulen, and then, looking for fighters, chasing down the troops of the Independent Division in the Outer Mongolian region, will the face of the Outer Mongolian Front be saved, and this is no longer just a matter of simply seizing a city, do you understand, my Comrade Chief of Staff?"

Having said that, if Chief of Staff Pozhnev doesn't understand it anymore, it will really be a mallet, and the joints and mysteries in it need not be said much, but there is still a problem that needs to be decided by the comrade commander!

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