Zhukov's prudence was derived from his own personal experience and lessons, and for more than two years, he had witnessed the combat effectiveness of the soldiers of the Kwantung Army, the kind of ferocity and bravery, hidden in the short body, which could explode at any time, and the opponent who did not take his life seriously was often the most terrible!

And the cunning and ruthlessness of the commander-in-chief of the Kwantung Army, General Minamijiro, and the wisdom of the Orient are very scheming, which also made Zhukov quite a headache and jealous, and during the more than two years of the Far Eastern Front, Zhukov himself often summed up and reflected.

In Outer Mongolia and the Far East, at different times and places, he fought with the generals of two Asian countries, one was during the First Outer Mongolian War, the commander of the independent division Tang Qiuli, and the other was the current commander-in-chief of the Japanese Kwantung Army in the Far East, General Minami Jiro.

The first time he fought with the Orientals, Zhukov was defeated, he became a prisoner, he was unwilling and inexplicable, the second time, a draw, an undefeated stalemate, Zhukov in his heart, compared Tang Qiuli and Nanjiro, and came to the conclusion that the Chinese Tang Qiuli was a thousand times more difficult to deal with than the Japanese Nanjiro, and fighting against it was definitely the most terrible nightmare.

The second conclusion was that Minamijiro was not an opponent of Tang Qiuli, and the Kwantung Army was not an opponent of an independent division, so at the beginning of the Third Outer Mongolia Campaign, when Zhukov was appointed by the General Staff as the commander-in-chief of the Soviet Army in the Far East, he was inexplicably relieved in his heart, and it seemed that subconsciously, it was a happy thing not to fight against that terrible Chinese Tang Qiuli.

Attaching importance to Tang Qiuli is not the same as despising Nanjiro, in Zhukov's eyes, more than one million Kwantung Army soldiers who were chased by the front and back are a monster that can still hurt people. Although it is in a desperate situation, its destructive power is still there, and in the case of its absolute superiority in all aspects, it is still necessary to deploy cautiously, otherwise, even if it is victorious and eats the Kwantung Army, the Soviet troops in the Far East will be covered with bruises and a tragic victory. This is not in line with my original intention!

Therefore, upon learning that the troops under the command of General Gregariv, occupied Birobidzhan and Khabarovsk, blocking the retreat of the Kwantung Army, Zhukov immediately gave the order to act. Pursuing troops, slow down the pursuit. Steady progress. For the blocking forces of the Soviet Kwantung Army, to find one and annihilate one on the spot, because the tank and artillery units that entered the swampy area and fell behind, it was necessary to do so as quickly as possible. Catch up.

As for the staff officers' proposal, they should send some troops to the left and right to detour to the two flanks of the Kwantung Army, forming a situation of encirclement on all sides. It should be more secure, Zhukov denied it without hesitation, is it on paper!

This move was not necessary and a waste of time, crossing the Burea Mountains and the Kukan Mountains, and without more than 20 days, it was impossible for the roundabout troops to reach the designated position, and in these 20 days, the Far Eastern campaign had already ended, and the time set by Zhukov for himself to end the Far Eastern campaign was 10 days, and within 10 days, the encircled Kwantung Army troops must be completely annihilated, Comrade Stalin did not want to delay the war, and he was afraid that other changes would happen.

As for the question raised by the Lieutenant General of the Military and Political Department of the Front, who had a Cheka background, who was worried about whether the Kwantung Army would bypass the blocking line of General Gregarif's troops and flee from both sides or from one side, over the Bria Mountains and the Kukan Mountains, Zhukov could only smile bitterly, and then secretly shook his head, a common-sense question raised by an idiot.

Not to mention the insurmountable difficulties faced by crossing the Buleya Mountains and the Kukan Mountains, which stretch for hundreds of kilometers and are covered with snow, without logistical supplies, and without troops chasing and fighting, they can drag down the Kwantung Army, not to mention that General Gregariv's troops can do lateral maneuvers at any time, and can intercept and kill the Kwantung Army troops at any point on the Manchurian border, even if the exhausted Kwantung Army troops withdraw to the Manchurian border, waiting for them are the Soviet Red Army soldiers who are waiting for them.

This is also the reason why Zhukov was not afraid of the Kwantung Army breaking through from both flanks, on the contrary, he also hoped that if Minamijiro did this, the troops in the Far East would reduce a lot of casualties.

After adjusting the deployment, Zhukov sent a telegram to Stalin, carefully reporting on the situation in the Far Eastern theater, coming up with a timetable for his complete annihilation of the Kwantung Army, and explaining the reasons.

Stalin's reply was very fast, "Comrade Zhukov, I don't have too many instructions on the campaign to encircle and annihilate the Kwantung Army in the Far East, and you will decide everything according to the actual situation on the battlefield, and I only put forward one request, which is to cleanly, completely, and completely destroy the Japanese Kwantung Army troops, and then march into Manchuria!" ”

In early April 1942, Stalin was in a very happy mood, the war in the Far East was even smoother than he expected, more than one million troops of the Kwantung Army fell into Zhukov's encirclement, and it was only a matter of time before the entire army was annihilated, and the rich and vast black land of Manchuria was about to be transferred to the territory of the Soviet Union, and it was not an unattainable dream to set up a yellow Russian administrative region.

Stalin, who was in a good mood, was very satisfied with Zhukov, and then he turned his eyes to the southern region of Outer Mongolia, as long as Vasilevsky could capture Seyinshanda and open the passage to Inner Mongolia in China, and then cut off a large piece of meat from the Chinese, it was not impossible, but Vasilevsky's actions were too cautious, and the speed of advance of more than a million troops was not satisfactory!

Comrade Stalin was not satisfied, and soon, the commander of the Soviet Outer Mongolian Front, General Vasilevsky, who was directing the troops and cautiously advancing towards Seyinshanda, received a telegram from the General Staff.

The content was very simple, urging his troops not to be afraid of the head and tail, to speed up the speed, and strive to capture the Seyin Shanda as much as possible, and the troops were approaching the border of Inner Mongolia.

Stalin asked Vasilevsky's troops to speed up, and he himself wanted to be faster, but he could not do it faster, and from the early morning of 2 April, the troops of the Outer Mongolian Front moving south were attacked from the air by the fighter formations and bomber formations of the Northern Flying Group of the Independent Division's Air Force.

Nearly 1,000 fighters and bombers of the independent division's air force took turns to go into battle, pouring heavy aerial bombs and machine-gun bullets on the heads of the soldiers of their own units, overturning the trucks of the baggage troops, detonating ammunition, and tearing apart the soldiers' bodies.

Although strict air defense measures were taken, little was achieved, and more than one million troops marched south side by side, and there were too many air attack targets to choose from, and the combat planes of the independent division could appear in any place at any time, and before the air defense units had time to react, they would strafe and bomb indiscriminately, and then quickly slip away.

Throughout the day, in the sky above the heads of Soviet soldiers, planes of the independent division appeared at any time, and then there were rainstormy bullets, bombs falling from the sky, and at night, wherever there was light, ghostly Chinese fighters would be invited, and the bullets fired, and later, the Soviet soldiers were nervous, and the roar of combat planes constantly echoed in their ears.

The air raids of the Northern Flying Group have seriously delayed the marching speed of the Soviet army, and if it continues like this, let alone five days, even if it is a month, it will not be able to catch up with Saiyinshanda, and moreover, it will pay unbearable casualties.

General Vasilevsky, furious, and furious, dealt with the enemy's planes, only his own planes, and sent a telegram to the air force units assigned to him, ordering the air force units to send fighter planes to clear the air of the independent division of aviation in the airspace where all the ground forces of the front army were marching, and to ensure the speed of the troops' march.

The commander of the air force who received the telegram could only smile bitterly, according to the current way of marching of the Outer Mongolian Front, more than one million troops, distributed over a width of several hundred kilometers, if you want to ensure the safety of all airspace, it is simply impossible to do it without more than 1,500 fighters, and this is the problem.

Fighters and pilots are not a problem, the Air Force General Command, in order to ensure victory in the war in the East, can replenish the losses of the Far Eastern Air Force in the shortest possible time, and the key to the problem is the airfield.

The airfields destroyed by the small units of the independent division, after repair, can be used normally, but only five, and the other field airfields, which are still in a semi-paralyzed state, are all put into use, and the fastest will be a month later.

The field airfields that can be used are all small airfields close to the Ural Mountains, including the two that have not been attacked, according to the calculation of full load, these five airfields can take off and land only more than 300 fighters, and how many fighters are the fighters of the independent division aviation, six or seven hundred, more than two to one ratio, isn't it to die when they go up?

The commander of the Air Force has tried his best to answer the orders of the commander of the front army in a euphemistic tone and the most cooperative attitude, explaining his difficulties, not because he does not want to provide air cover for the ground troops, but because he is powerless, and the Air Force is doing this job, and the Red Army is a family, but the difficulties are actually existing, and I ask Comrade Commander to understand the Air Force's hardships and dare to guarantee that in two weeks, the Air Force will be able to dispatch at least more than 1,000 fighters.

After reading the telegram, General Vasilevsky was so angry that he was furious, and scolded the air force bastards, enjoying the best treatment, taking the highest allowance, at the critical moment, it was useless at all, in his opinion, the air force was deliberately disobeying his own orders, it was a typical fear of war, and the excuse was so clumsy!

Three hundred fighters, won't they come together to provide air cover for the four armies in the vanguard?

So, a telegram of complaint flew to Moscow, to Stalin's desk.

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