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At 12 noon on 3 April, eight Type 25 tanks and five Hound armoured vehicles arrived south of Bukhara. The sudden appearance of the enemy in front of them surprised the Soviet 255th Infantry Division stationed here, because it was 230 kilometers away from the main battlefield in the east, and it was surrounded by desert and was not worth occupying. So at first, the division commander Kafsky judged that it was a small force, but when he deployed the defensive line, a complete armored regiment let him know why the other side was here. Because this is the end of the Turkestan mountain range, although it is far away from the central battlefield, if the opponent breaks through into Navoi behind him, he can smoothly cross the mountain moat and form a left hook against Samarkand.

However, he was not too worried, because he already had a new killer feature, that is, six Zis-57 anti-tank guns and six latest T-34/57 tanks that were urgently transported from Moscow before the Urgench railway was cut off. Unlike most Soviet generals, Kavsky, who graduated from the Frunze Academy, was very good at defense, so he immediately followed the Wehrmacht's best armored breakthrough infantry clearance tactics, split and deployed six anti-tank guns in the villages on the left and right flanks, and then deployed the T34/57 in the dead corner of the city to cover it with hay and camouflage, and then put the remaining T26 in front of it, trying to use the sacrifice of the T26 to lure the opponent into the ambush circle of the powerful 57 guns. In the end, he also placed the main infantry on the second line east of the city, so that when the enemy tanks rushed in, he could use the new tanks as arrows to catch the opponent by surprise and throw in the infantry.

Ji Ming, who was opposite him, was different, the creed of the Wehrmacht armored division was to attack, constantly attacking. If it weren't for the fact that the 10th Armored Division and the 106th Infantry Division had been advancing for 10 hours in a row, they would have been sleepy and tired, and according to Du Yuming's character, they would have used two divisions to directly flood this small city. So Ji Ming's tactics were very simple, two tank battalions did a pincer attack from the left and right. The defensive forces were mobilized, and the remaining three battalions covered the infantry for the main attack. "Listen up! I know it's hard for everyone to travel, but because of the hard work, you need to rest, so you must take Bukhara and seize the water as soon as possible! Do you understand? With Ji Ming ready to mobilize before the fight, the left hook against Samarkand was finally unleashed.

"Fire!"

With Ji Ming's order, 8 85-mm field howitzers took the lead in launching an artillery strike. This lightweight field howitzer has replaced the old 70 infantry guns and 75 mm field guns as the standard weapons of the Wehrmacht. Although the caliber was only increased by ten millimeters, the projectile power was twenty percent greater than that of the 75 gun. Under the covered fire of boom, boom and boom artillery, smoke billowed from the small city of only ten square kilometers. The rudimentary mud buildings kept collapsing, and from time to time Soviet troops who were not hiding well were killed. Soon, four 122-mm howitzers and 10 76-mm field guns deployed by Kafsky began to return fire, and the shells kept going back and forth to destroy the surface between the two sides.

"Assault! Assault! Infantry keep up! ”

Two armored battalions were the first to break out of the covered hills, and 81 tanks of 31 tanks split into two lines. Billowing sand and dust were crushed from the sand, rushing towards the east and west sides of the city. "Don't rush! Hold steady and wait for the tank regiment to lure them over. Seeing the tank sortie, Kafsky excitedly shouted into the phone, and after stabilizing the anti-tank artillery position, he ordered the T26 of the tank regiment to attack.

After the chaos of the early stages of the war, the Soviets realized that there was a big gap between the weapons in their hands and their opponents. No one already thinks that the T26 can deal with several times the Type 31 tank. So the Soviet tank crews knew very well that their job was to lure their opponents to anti-tank positions next to their villages. "Boom, boom." The open sand became the best place for tank battles, and the two tank battalions that attacked the two flanks cooperated very tacitly, and when they saw the T26, they immediately separated a company to stop and fire. The remaining tank companies accelerated their pursuit to avoid slowing down due to the opening of their guns. Designed with the needs of future warfare in mind, although the Type 31 tanks with a margin have gradually given way to the Type 36, it does not mean that they are already lagging behind. Contrary. Even now they can still be proud of the world, and even Britain and the United States have repeatedly said that they want to buy in bulk.

Abundant margin design ideas. The L56/70mm rifled gun was very powerful, and it led the long-barreled revolution of the world's tank guns as soon as it appeared. Britain, France, Germany, the Soviet Union, and even the United States and Japan began to lengthen the barrels of new tanks to enhance their power. The rifled guns, which were enough to penetrate the T34, with the cooperation of the gunner's periscope, quickly destroyed 7 T26s, and the remaining T26s immediately accelerated and fled towards the village when they saw that the situation was not good. "The gunner is in position! Armor-piercing shells are prepared. Seeing that the tank was drawing the opponent, Captain Amov of the anti-tank company immediately gave a loud order: "The azimuth is due south, at a distance of 1500 meters, reload." Machine guns pay attention to fleeing enemies. ”

At Amov's orders, three slender 57-mm barrels crept out from behind the mud house. The ZIS-2/57 mm anti-tank gun is a weapon that was forced out, and the clumsy anti-tank means in the Battle of Ahvaz and the East Kazakh Campaign made the Soviet Union learn from the pain, even if it knew that this kind of gun was difficult to process, the rifling accuracy of 30 shells would be worn out, and the 40 shells would spin and other disadvantages, they still gritted their teeth and concentrated the few precision manufacturing capabilities in the country, at a rate of 100 guns per month, just to stop the powerful 31 and 36 tanks before the emergence of new tanks. Although it had just been equipped, Captain Amov was well aware of the advantages and disadvantages of this gun, and with the cartridge of a 76 mm shell, it could hit a muzzle velocity of 1,000 meters per second, which was enough to ensure the penetration of a homogeneous steel plate of 107 mm/35 degrees at a distance of 1,000 meters. However, in order to be safe, he did not attack rashly, and still chose to continue to close the distance.

Rumble! It was only after another T26 was caught up and exploded not far away that Amov gave the order to attack. "Boom, boom!" Three armor-piercing shells made of hard high-carbon steel exchanged from Germany slammed into three unsuspecting 31 tanks at a distance of 650 meters. The penetration depth of the 57 guns at this distance was as high as 130 mm, which was already far more than the level of frontal protection of the 31 tank, so two of the three tanks suddenly emitted black smoke, and the remaining one stopped after being hit by the side transmission.

After the first victory, Amov was immediately full of confidence and immediately aimed his gun at the tank behind. "Boom, boom!" The speed of the anti-tank company was extremely fast, and less than ten seconds after the destruction of three 31s, the second round of shells was fired. Although this time, due to the short aiming time, two shots flew off. But there was still one shot that hit the turret of the 31 tank. The scattering stream formed by the shell after penetrating the armor killed the gunner and loader directly. "Anti-tank guns! All reverse, pay attention to the search! "Four tanks were destroyed in just two consecutive rounds, something that had never happened since the start of the war, and the company commander Chang Gui immediately realized that he had been attacked by new anti-tank weapons. After more than two years of training in the mountains of Afghanistan, although the officers and men of the 10th Armored Division were almost replaced, the combat effectiveness and adaptability of the troops were very fast, even better than the several ace armored divisions in front, so the tank company immediately changed from advancing to retreating. Tank crews use various means to search for mysterious enemies.

Seeing that the opponent was going to run, Amov was unwilling to let go of such a good opportunity, so he gritted his teeth and ordered the ammunition man to transfer first, and he himself led the anti-tank gun to fight another round. But it was this round that made the three-door ZIS-2/57 completely exposed. The moment when three shells burst out of the muzzle. At least three 31 tanks caught the muzzle flames. Although one was still destroyed, the remaining seven vehicles of the tank company transferred all the muzzles. "Grenade! Fire at full speed! Kill them! Enraged, Changgui shouted and attacked, and seven tank guns fired grenades in Amov's direction, knocking down the building repeatedly. A moment later, the two tank companies that were dragging behind also caught up, and after learning of the situation, the battalion commander ordered all of them to open fire, and put in the infantry to find this new anti-tank gun.

The news that the left and right flanks were suddenly confronted with new anti-tank weapons quickly reached Ji Ming's ears. He also immediately abandoned the tactic of covering the infantry with tanks, and should use the infantry lead tactic to protect the armored battalion a little deeper. This change caught Kafsky off guard. Because from the beginning of the war, the offensive tactics of the Wehrmacht have always been the lead of the air force, the breakthrough of the armored forces, and finally the follow-up of the infantry to clear up. Now it's all at once disrupted. It made him very uncomfortable.

Even Du Yuming and Lin Xunnan, who were behind them, learned the news and realized that there were extremely valuable things hidden in the small town that was just a roundabout plank road. So immediately a whole infantry regiment was sent in trucks to participate in the attack. "Fire, suppress fire!" The loss of more than a dozen tanks in one attack made Ji Ming's eyes red, and he stood on the tank with a cold gaze, directing the tank artillery to constantly bombard Bukhara. Under the cover of heavy fire, the infantry, which had increased to five battalions, took on the main attack, and under the cover of 60 and 80 mm mortars, the infantry continued to advance alternately, and machine gun bullets rained down on the enemy.

The Soviets defended with great tenacity, constantly blocking the Wehrmacht's footsteps with buildings and bunkers, but Kavsky's formation and lagging reaction speed caused the troops to suffer greatly. Since most of the infantry was arranged on the second line east of the city, when Ji Ming changed his tactics to let the infantry take the lead, the Soviet infantry who had just taken cover had to crawl out of the trenches and bunkers and expose themselves to the superior firepower of the 10th Panzer Division.

"Three o'clock, 873 steps. Behind the earthen wall a T34! Machine guns, aimed at earthen walls to guide artillery! "A platoon commander who spotted the T34/57 was running back under the cover of a machine gun, shouting into the individual radio how many steps he had run, and using the simplest way to alert the tanks that were following behind. After hearing that a specific location was needed, he dropped the microphone and directed the machine gun to point at the T34's hidden position. After the two H32 general-purpose machine guns punched a cloud of dust on the earthen wall, the gunner immediately aimed at the direction of the bullet and decisively chose the high-speed tungsten bullet that was distributed. "Boom!" Although the 1935 L56/70 mm rifled gun was inferior to the ZIS-2/57, it could still penetrate 100 mm/30 degrees of homogeneous steel plate within 1000 meters, and with high-speed tungsten bullets, it could penetrate to a depth of 110 mm/30 degrees. So the high-velocity tungsten bullet easily penetrated the earthen wall and then rushed into the ammunition bay from the side under the tail of the T34 turret. After a loud bang, the detonated shells not only lifted all the earthen walls, but also lifted the turret of the T34 directly more than ten meters high.

The infantry lead tactics paid off, as the six T34/57s that Kafsky had hidden to be the surprise soldiers did not work, and only two 31 tanks were destroyed before being beaten to death by a larger battalion of tanks led by the infantry. Seeing that the killer weapon was destroyed, Kafsky had no choice but to order the infantry to press on and try to fight a bad battle in the city. The sound of Ula Ullah's charge resounded through the small city, and the small place instantly turned into a bloody hell, and the soldiers on both sides repeatedly strangled around the earthen walls and buildings, and the corpses were scattered everywhere. Although the Wehrmacht was smaller, it had a greater advantage in firepower, the HJ32 machine gun was more powerful than the DP, each squad was issued with howitzers and submachine guns, and the battalion was issued with four 84mm recoilless guns, even if it was a single weapon, the H32 semi-automatic rifle with a 10-round magazine was faster than the Soviet Mosingana hand bolt.

Faced with Wehrmacht troops from three sides, by five o'clock in the afternoon Kafsky had to withdraw from the battle with more than a thousand remnants. A second-line infantry division, holding off an armored regiment and an infantry regiment for four hours and destroying 21 Type 31 tanks, was overdone, but this success was overshadowed by a strategic failure. The loss of Bukhalin would mean a huge hole to the west of Samarkand. On the contrary, after realizing that the new anti-tank gun could inflict fatal damage on the Type 31 tank, Du Yuming reacted faster, decisively shortened the rest time, and with a continuous left hook, captured Navoi, 70 kilometers away, in the early morning of the next day, completely opening the road to Samarkand.

"Great! Sun Chuanfang has been holding back in Afghanistan for two years, and he can finally do a good job. This left hook, well hit! In the front command of the Tashkent campaign in Shymkent, after Du Yuming took Bukhalin and Navoy, Xu Shuzheng also shouted a few hellos excitedly. Even Dai Jintang and his staff officers were happy, because the road from Bukhalin and Navoi to Samarkand was already smooth, and there was no danger to defend.

"Take Navoi, and Samarkand is open to the west. In addition, the 15 main divisions of Xie Ruyi and Sun Chuanfang attacked from the north and south, and Samarkandji was nine out of ten. Yue Peng, who stayed to inspect, also nodded, picked up the teacup and covered his hands, and his eyes circled around and still fell on Tashkent: "Look at it now, this turtle shell is really nerve-wracking." ”

Seeing his worried look, it was Xu Shuzheng who comforted: "Don't worry. Eat Samarkand, Apanashchenko's last retreat route is also broken, and there is only a large array of turtles left, can it still fly into the sky? Yue Peng nodded after listening, remembered the new anti-tank gun reported by Du Yuming, and paid attention: "By the way, the new anti-tank gun that Du Yuming said should be sent to Zhengzhou immediately, and I will arrange for special testing to see what new things Stalin has come up with." ”

"Don't worry, I've already arranged for the plane to go." After Xu Shuzheng finished speaking, just as he was about to continue to arrange reinforcements for Du Yuming to expand the power of the left hook, the communications staff officer hurriedly ran in. After saluting him and Yue Peng, he reported: "Report, Beijing emergency call." Let the Chief of the General Staff and Commander Xu go back to the meeting immediately. ”

"Oh? What's wrong? ”

"Report to the Chief of the General Staff, I just received information that the Germans have landed in Norway!"