Colonel Fan Dezhi, commander of the First Regiment of the First Mechanized Brigade of the Corps directly under the Independent Division, saw that the face of the brigade commander Liu Hongzhang was not very good-looking, and he was quite anxious, although he still felt a little aggrieved in his heart, he did not dare to say more, and hurriedly took Liu Hongzhang, chief of staff of the brigade Liu Chenglin, and Meng Zhaoxu, chief of the operations section of the Outer Mongolia Frontier Army Headquarters, and his party to the depths of the shelter department.

Meng Zhaoxu, who was lagging behind, quietly asked Liu Chenglin: "Chief of Staff Liu, what does it mean that Commander-in-Chief Liu asked Commander Fan to go to the cauldron?" ”

Liu Chenglin looked at Liu Hongzhang, who was walking in front, and whispered the ins and outs of this "cauldron" allusion, briefly introduced it, and at the end, added, "After serving as a staff officer for the division commander for a few months, when I came back, our brigade has such a rule!" Meng Zhaoxu suddenly realized, couldn't hold back a laugh, and hurriedly followed the few people in front.

Fan Dezhi's group of positions, the location is good, the shelter is hidden deep underground, the lookout hole is very hidden, a high-powered telescope is set on the lookout hole, Liu Hongzhang leaned over to take a look, the situation on the opposite river beach is unobstructed, although it is in the dark night, the actions of the Soviet soldiers, the observation is not very real, but the shadowy black shadow, but can see a rough idea, the Soviet soldiers are moving eastward.

Liu Hongzhang admired Sun Zhenbang's efforts in the position fortifications, very admired, if there was no early efforts of the Outer Mongolian border guards, even if their own troops intervened, there would not be such good terrain conditions to take advantage of, Liu Hongzhang observed very carefully, he found that the sudden movement of the Soviet army was not to prevent the attack of the independent division troops, but to gather to a few discoveries, because the Soviet troops did not make a fighting posture at all.

Liu Hongzhang looked at the luminous watch, and at about 1:20 a.m. on September 22, he thought sharply. "There are still more than 30 minutes before the scheduled counterattack time, and according to the speed at which the Soviet army is moving now, many fronts to be attacked will be empty, at least, in this area of their observation, the Soviet soldiers will move back to other places, which means that they will deploy small-caliber artillery firepower. A lot of shells, they will fall where no one is. ”

"There is also an important point, which can change the outcome of the counterattack, if the Soviet troops complete the movement, the hedgehogs are gathered. Several heavy groups were formed, each with more than 10,000 people. That's a few hard bones. Unlike now, more than 50,000 Soviet troops, evenly distributed on a 20-kilometer-wide river beach position, were relatively scattered, and launched an offensive in advance, taking advantage of the opportunity of the Soviet army to assemble. Ask for a surprise! ”

Liu Hongzhang instantly made up his mind, picked up the phone in the masking department, and directly went to the command headquarters, saying, "Deputy Commander Ouyang." I was in the position of the 1st Regiment at the front, and according to what I personally observed, the sudden movement of the Soviet troops was to concentrate the forces, so I decided to launch an attack on the Soviet troops half an hour earlier, at 1:30 in the morning, and immediately issue combat orders to all units, and I commanded at the nearest regimental headquarters of the 1st regiment! ”

Ouyang Yishan pondered, he believed in Liu Hongzhang's command experience and judgment, this old man, when he arrived on the battlefield, that head was not an ordinary good envoy, "Okay, Commander-in-Chief Liu, I will immediately issue a combat order to the troops, you are in the forward position, you must pay attention to your own safety!" I don't want to see you carried back," he said dryly, joking in passing.

Liu Hongzhang replied in a low voice: "Don't worry, the bullet that hit me hasn't been made yet, the little devil can't hurt a single hair of my old Liu, and don't think about it, by the way, after the counterattack is launched, immediately send a telegram to the division commander, save him from worrying!" ”

At 1:30 a.m. on September 22, it was the darkest hour of the day, and the night wind was much quieter, and the roar of the river became louder and louder, and the night was extraordinarily quiet.

Suddenly, on the south bank, on the rear position of the Outer Mongolian border guards, there was a loud thunderous sound, and the firelight instantly illuminated the night, which was more than 400 mortars and more than 400 recoilless guns, when the shells were fired, the flames sprayed out of the muzzles, and then, in the sky, there was a scream of shells piercing the night sky, and one shell, dragging the dark red tail flame, came all over the world.

The Soviet soldiers who were assembling were suddenly stopped by this loud noise, and the experienced veteran's face turned pale at that time, which was the sound of countless mortar shells firing in a salvo, falling from the sky.

"Boom, boom!" The shells smashed the Soviet beachhead, the fire flashed, the smoke filled the air, and the Soviet soldiers who were assembling in the predetermined direction were shrouded in a whirling steel fragment, and the formation was suddenly disrupted.

The power of mortar shells and recoilless artillery shells is far less than that of large-caliber heavy artillery, and a large area is exploded, but it is better than a large number and high density, Sun Zhenbang has been operating for many days in the position on the south bank of the Sejingge River, and he knows every piece of terrain conditions well, especially when the artillery is at a disadvantage, what is required is accurate shelling, therefore, from the river to the beachhead, the shooting elements are carefully calibrated, and there is no need to test fire and correct the target.

It can be said that every inch of land from the position of the Outer Mongolian border guards to the south bank of the Sejingge River is within the calculation, and these specific numbers are not used, but it is cheaper Liu Hongzhang, and the shelling begins, that is, the effectiveness of the shooting, and the shells accurately fall in the pile of Soviet soldiers.

The high-speed rotating steel fragments ruthlessly cut the bodies of the Soviet soldiers, and where the firelight flashed, the Soviet soldiers were blown up and thrown into the air, and a few puffs of scarlet blood were splashed in the night sky of the grasslands of northern Outer Mongolia, making the night wind immediately have a strong smell of blood and gunsmoke.

The battle broke out suddenly, and the south bank of the Gege River was stunned, as if activated by an instantaneous electric current, bursting out with pale red flames, Liu Hongzhang lay in front of the high-powered telescope, and kept shouting at the top of his voice: "Good fight!" It's really fucking enjoyable, old grandson, my old Liu admires you! ”

When the first round of shells fell, Major General Wadkin was furious and secretly cried out: "Oops! The Chinese army found out about its actions! He immediately conveyed the order to the staff officers to temporarily halt the build-up of the troops and move to the defense on the spot, and at the same time to report the sudden shelling of the troops of the independent division to the commander, General Kurygin, and explained that his troops were in a very disadvantageous position.

The prepared hand of Major General Vadkin, at this moment, played a role, and the Soviet troops, who served as the cover for the assembly of the troops, immediately began to shoot, and a dense rain of bullets poured down on the positions of the independent divisions, and in the rain of flying shells, there were countless ballistic trajectories of bullets, blocking the passage to the river beach.

Major General Wadkin's arrangement is absolutely correct, as long as the troops of the independent division are prevented and counterattack while the shelling is carried out, they can hold the foothold on the south bank, as long as the shelling has passed, the shelling will always stop, and if the infantry of the independent division rushes up, it will be a catastrophe!

As soon as the Soviet covering troops opened fire, Liu Hongzhang, who was lying in front of the telescope, was happy at that time, he really wanted to come to something, and was worried that he could not find the Soviet army's firepower points, which was good, and all of a sudden came out, before the infantry launched a counterattack, clearing these firepower points was tantamount to removing the stumbling blocks, which would reduce a lot of casualties and resistance of the troops.

More than 20 companies of recoilless guns immediately found the target, the soldiers in a group of several guns, found the fire from the Soviet light and heavy machine guns, and sent a few shells, at first, the Soviet commanders, did not notice this situation, thinking that it was the mortars of the Chinese army, carrying out accurate shelling, but as one by one the fire points were terminated, the light and heavy machine guns and machine gunners were torn apart by the shells.

The officers of the Soviet army realized that the situation began to be strict, and the troops of the independent division used new weapons to deal with the fire points in the fortifications, and they were no strangers to this situation, and during the day, the tank units of the military district, dealing with the fire points on the positions of the troops of the independent division, was this trick, accurate, direct and effective, aiming directly at the tank guns, relieving too much pressure on the troops, and now, it was their turn to be unlucky!

The situation everywhere is summed up to Major General Wadkin, the sweat on his face will come down immediately, no matter what new weapons are used by the troops of the independent division, there is only one purpose, to destroy the firepower points of their own troops, clear the way for the infantry assault, and when the firepower points of their own troops are all killed, they will immediately face the infantry of the independent division that pounces on them, and for the troops who are fighting on their backs and are under heavy shelling, that is the beginning of the real disaster!

Major General Wadkin lay on the lookout hole of the shelter department, nervously observing the situation on the battlefield, while anxiously waiting for Commander Kuregin's order, suddenly, he saw with his own eyes that a heavy machine gun not far from the shelter department, "clucking" is playing happily, from the position of the independent division, a shell flew straight in, right in front of his eyes, exploded a ball of fire, when the fire flashed, the original heavy machine gun fire point, turned into a crater, surrounded by several bloody corpses, and parts everywhere.

Looking at the cannonballs flying in the sky, Major General Wadkin suddenly woke up, "Reinforcements!" Reinforcements from the troops of the Independent Division must have arrived! He clearly remembered that in the course of the two-day battle, the mortar and light and heavy machine gun fire points of the defenders of the independent division were almost destroyed by their own tank fire, and the several attacks before the evening were repelled by submachine guns, rifles and grenades, so many mortars and unknown direct-aim artillery guns?

"Cunning Chinese, damn Chinese, touch up like a devil, fuck, this battle can't be fought," Major General Wadkin cursed viciously, while shouting at the communications staff officer beside him: "Send a telegram to Commander Kuregin immediately, on the position of the independent division on the opposite bank, there are Chinese reinforcements, our department is in an extremely dangerous situation, ask Comrade Commander for approval, the troops withdraw to the north bank, so as not to suffer heavy losses!" ”

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