"By August 10, we must completely cut off the railway to the front line and set up positions within a radius of 4 km in two days. We will choose to fight each other in the wilderness. We will be a magnet that will firmly attract the main force of the Russian mobile corps and provide an opportunity for General Peng Yi to outflank him in a roundabout way. Before the departure of the troops on August 6, Cai once again emphasized the mission of this battle.

Because there are no big cities between Nebuchu and Chita, there are only small stations and military stations that serve as transit points on the way. According to the general understanding, if you want to cut off railway transportation, you only need to blow up a few railroad tracks. Why do you need to send a large number of troops? It's easy to blow up a few rails, but it's also easy to press a few rails at the pit stations along the way. Back then, if you directly dug up hundreds of kilometers of railroad tracks in one night like the Battle of the Hundred Regiments, then you had the ability, but now the Huaxia Army is obviously unable to mobilize so many manpower. The best way to do this is to occupy a section directly, and then set up a position and wait for the Russians to come! There can't be too many troops, too many Russians don't dare to come, and they can't be too few, if they are eaten less, they will lose a lot.

This first task was still very easy to accomplish, and there were very few Russian troops stationed along the line. Basically, if you can get there on time, you'll almost be able to take it. Then the troops of the two brigades began to deploy. A SMALL NUMBER OF THESE TROOPS WERE DEPLOYED IN THE EAST TO DEFEND AGAINST THE RUSSIAN ARMY RUSHING FROM THE FORTRESS, AND IN ORDER TO PREVENT THE OTHER SIDE FROM HAVING THINGS LIKE TRAIN GUNS, THE CHINESE ARMY ALSO SPECIALLY FOUND A FEW 105MM HOWITZERS FOR COUNTER-ARTILLERY. And the main forces were deployed on the southern front. Used to defend against the attacks of the Russian mobile corps, estimated before the start of the war. The number of cavalry, armored units and elite infantry in Russia will not be less than 40,000. THEY ARE ARMED WITH A VARIETY OF ARMORED VEHICLES AND 75MM RAPID-FIRE GUNS, AND OCCASIONALLY HEAVY FIREPOWER SUCH AS 107MM CANNONS. In firepower they were superior to the two brigades of Chinese armored forces. The only drawback is the lack of mobility.

Therefore, what the main force on the southern front had to do was to defend the front with a part of the elite infantry and the improvised trench system, and at the same time concentrate the elite armored detachments to find the weak points of the opponent and constantly carry out short assaults. After all, once the large-caliber howitzers and cannons are deployed, the hastily established defensive line will definitely not be able to withstand the repeated bombardment of artillery and the attack of a large number of elite infantry.

"It's going to be a war of movement and a dynamic defensive war, and we can't count on the defensive line, and we can't rely solely on defense to stall for time." Looking at the infantry units that were busy building positions, Cai Ye said with some worry. Tanks have never been purely positional defenses. Delay and wear down the enemy with positions, and then the armored forces launch a counterattack to finally break the opponent's offensive spearhead. Although there is no such thing as elastic defense in this era. But some sharp-eyed people can already relate to it.

The Russians were not slow to react, (nonsense, logistical supply lines were all cut off.) It's going to stop soon, and if you react slowly, you won't be able to help! A Chinese armored unit inserted from the north successfully cut off the supply lines of the Russian army. And it is entrenched in the communication line and does not evacuate, and it has the intention of establishing this area as a bridgehead. THE PLACE, 50 KM WEST OF NEBUCHU, IS A FLAT PLAIN. In general. It's definitely not a convenient place to defend. But this position definitely stuck in the throat of the Russians. In addition to cutting off supplies. Another reason is that they can cooperate with the frontal Chinese Army to attack the Russian field corps on the southern front at any time.

The tactics of attacking with armored forces as the spearhead and a large number of artillery allowed the Russian Far Eastern Army to lose the entire northern front. And now, if you keep the armored spear against your back, coupled with a frontal attack, even Kuropatkin does not think that he can guarantee the safety of the southern front. It was impossible to completely retreat to the fortress area of Nebuchu, and the supplies in the fortress area were simply not enough to sustain so many troop consumption. And even if the supplies are enough, once they are surrounded to death, they will definitely sit on the empty side, and when the Russian army finds a Chinese armored unit wedged into its rear, its first reaction is that this nail must be removed!

And after a couple of tentative attacks. The Russians found that the size of this force was not very large, and the total number was only about 10,000 people. And there were no signs of reinforcements in the rear. In the eyes of the Russian army, this may be due to supply compensation and road problems that have caused the disconnection of troops. This is definitely an opportunity. At least before the arrival of reinforcements, if the Russian army can eliminate this elite armored force, although it will not reverse the unfavorable situation on the battlefield, it will at least be a big victory, which can effectively consume the opponent's mobile forces.

"Compared with the Huaxia Army, our unit has a great disadvantage, and the same company, the Huaxia Army has more than 100 people, is equipped with more than 10 machine guns of various kinds, and has a large number of grenadiers and other weapons that do not occupy the establishment. And we have only more than 70 people in a company, and the number of machine guns is less than 6. We are at a greater disadvantage in terms of armored forces. Our armored vehicles are not suitable for the needs of the battlefield, those capable of attacking quickly do not have sufficient firepower and defense, and those with sufficient firepower have poor mobility. So we have to have an overwhelming force advantage before we can attack. General Linevich, who commanded the entire mobile corps of the Russian army, said this after learning the news that Kulopatkin was going to attack.

"THE CHINESE ARMY IS EQUIPPED WITH 105MM VEHICLE-MOUNTED HOWITZERS, AND THIS KIND OF HIGH-MOBILITY ARTILLERY POSES A GREAT THREAT TO US. This artillery has a very long range and high mobility, which makes it extremely useful in counter-battery operations. MY 75MM RAPID-FIRE GUN HAS NO ADVANTAGE AT ALL, AND THE 107MM HOWITZER HAS A CLOSE RANGE AND IS EASY TO SUPPRESS. So we need an artillery that far surpasses our opponents in terms of performance, both in terms of range and power. Then General Mishinko, who was in charge of the cavalry, added.

After many cases of tank and artillery storming cavalry, General Misinko fully realized that without the support of superior firepower, cavalry could not make a bargain against infantry supported by a defensive system, and if he attacked armored troops, it would be tantamount to death! So the cavalry general strongly demanded an attack with the support of heavy artillery units. Otherwise, just the general-purpose machine guns and mortars that the infantry have are enough for them to drink a pot!

"DO YOU MEAN THE 107MM CANNON? Well done, two generals, I agree to your request, but who can tell me how you can get these expensive and cumbersome artillery pieces to the front? You should know what the so-called road is. TRANSPORTING A HEAVY 107MM GUN OVER LONG DISTANCES IS AN EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TASK IN ITSELF. We shipped all these things in the back of the day and assembled them on the spot, and you were going to take them apart into parts and assemble them on the battlefield? Kulopatkin asked rhetorically.

"We've thought about it." Linnevich smiled. "It's not okay to transport it as a whole, and it's not okay to transport it all if it's completely dismantled. However, we came up with a compromise solution, we removed the barrel from the gun carriage, divided it into two sections and transported it, and when we arrived on the battlefield, we just had to return the barrel to its position. In addition, we also have some tools placed on the four-wheeled wagon that transports the barrels, so that the road can meet the requirements and the battle can be put into battle relatively quickly. ”

IN FACT, THIS MODE OF TRANSPORTATION IS VERY COMMON IN HISTORY, FOR EXAMPLE, THE GERMAN'S 210MM HEAVY HOWITZER IS TRANSPORTED BY A FOUR-WHEELED CARRIAGE, THE BARREL IS DRAWN OUT AND THEN PLACED ON THE CARRIAGE, AND AT THE SAME TIME, THE BODY OF THE ARTILLERY CARRIAGE IS USED AS THE REAR HALF OF THE FOUR-WHEELED CARRIAGE, AFTER ENTERING THE POSITION, THE BARREL IS RE-ALIGNED, AND THEN IT CAN BE FIRED.

"OKAY, I'LL MOBILIZE UP TO 3 ARTILLERY BATTERIES FOR YOU, A TOTAL OF 12 107MM CANNONS AND CORRESPONDING AUXILIARY UNITS, SO OKAY, NOW TELL ME YOUR PLAN." Kulopatkin said with some remorse, to be honest, he really didn't want to transfer these heavy artillery from the well-defended bunkers in an unfavorable situation. IN THE FACE OF SHELLS IN THE WILDERNESS, THERE IS NO ESSENTIAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A 107MM HEAVY GUN AND A 75MM RAPID-FIRE GUN.

"WE NEED A LARGE NUMBER OF 47MM AND 57MM RAPID-FIRE GUNS, OUR OFFENSIVE POWER IS VERY WEAK, AND WE ARE INFERIOR IN THE ALLOCATION OF SMALL ARMS AND MORTARS, SO THE WHOLE ENCIRCLEMENT PROCESS WILL BE RELATIVELY LONG. We must encircle them and consider possible reinforcements from the other side, and place blocking positions in the direction where the other side is likely to attack. We can turn this place into a cemetery for the Chinese Army's tank troops, but it will take a large number of rapid-fire guns to rain down enough bullets. Lynevich continued.

At this time, Kulopatkin considered that this might be a trap for the Chinese Army, and if his elite troops were exhausted, would the other side suddenly attack the southern front. But in the current situation, there is no possibility of gains and losses. The complete severance of the logistics line means that there are fewer and fewer supplies on the front line. This nail must be pulled out, and in addition, Kulopatkin believes that it is much better to liberate the elite corps from the range of the opponent's heavy artillery strikes, and then form a fist to launch a defensive counterattack, than to rely on the opponent's position to disperse the defense under the rain of bullets. So after thinking about it again, Kulopatkin still agreed with the idea of Linnevich and others to concentrate superior forces to attack the opponent.

This time, Kulopatkin sent almost the most elite to Lu, and this force included the following parts, the 10th and 17th armies from Europe, as well as 1 reserve division in Kazan, the only divisional armored vehicle unit of the Russian army. In total, there are 80 infantry battalions and 10 cavalry battalions, as well as more than 300 armored divisions of various combat vehicles and vehicles, plus a total of 220 powerful support units of various artillery. (These include 60mm mortars, mortars, and light guns that have been delegated to the company level)

Although this force was supposed to be drawn from all parts of the Southern Front, since the junction of the Southern Front and the Nebuchu Fortress Group was closest to the battlefield, most of the artillery was drawn from here. The Russians are not ignorant of the vulnerability of the junction, but this place is within the range of the Russian fortress artillery, so they believe that the lack of some light artillery will have little impact on the situation of the battle. As for the remaining two Siberian regiments that remained on the southern front, a large number of carriages and other transports were drawn to support General Linevich's actions. It can be said that for this battle, the Russian army really did its best!

First of all, I wish all book friends a happy New Year and all the best~~~. Secondly. Thanks to the book friends Kong Chen and the Wind of the Split Wings for their tips, as well as the book friends Bareback, lx731209, Zhiqiu Yiye 1117, Croaking Frog, and 1999 Soldier Online for their monthly pass support~~~. (To be continued......)