, Akdouka, Command of the North-Western Front

The fingers yellowed by the tobacco pointed left and right on the map, and from time to time copied the colored pen to draw two bars, and the commander of the front army, General Liang Tianhe, was not in a sunny mood that day.

Five days earlier, the base camp had finally agreed to send reinforcements of six divisions and five brigades to the Northwest Front, and at the same time ordered the 10th Army on the Central Asian side to draw two divisions with a cavalry brigade and a reserve of the main group of the northern army—the situation seemed to be very good.

Tomorrow, the main group going north will force its way across the Irtysh River and launch a general offensive against the enemy in Semipalatinsk, and it is precisely because of this that Liang Tianhe is worried.

The base camp must have sensed something, so it was so generous to send elite Praetorian Guard troops to reinforce the Northwest Army—it was clear that these reinforcements were supposed to be the exclusive reserve of the Northern Army.

So, is it really as Chief of Staff Yan said, that there is a trap carefully set by the Russians in front, just waiting for the Northwest Army to jump in and send them to death?

But what kind of base camp can be said without mentioning this, can it be ......

His fingers pressed the picture with the inscription "Semipalatinsk", and his mind was still uncertain, but he heard someone open the curtain and enter.

"Commander, you haven't slept yet."

The person who came was his chief of staff, General Yan Canglong, who had gray temples.

"Oh, Lao Yan, didn't you sleep either." Liang Tianhe turned around and beckoned Yan Canglong to sit down.

Yan Canglong's buttocks hadn't sat down yet, so he got straight to the point and said, "The commander is worried about the city." ”

Liang Tianhe sighed and took out the last cigarette from the cigarette case, but he couldn't find a match.

"Use mine—" Yan Canglong pulled out a pack of brand-new, unopened matches and handed it to him, "The base camp didn't give us new instructions. ”

"There are no new directives...... In other words, we must continue with the original mission. ”

Liang Tianhe lit a match. He lit a cigarette, took a deep breath, and exhaled it with a long breath, the smoke clouding the dim light.

"If we do find something, shouldn't we be reminded of it? That's the lives of 200,000 officers and soldiers. ”

Yan Canglong rested his hands on his obviously bulging belly, squinted and said, "Maybe the base camp thinks that this is a great opportunity to seize and eat the enemy's most stubborn mobile corps." ”

"You can't use two armies as bait, and there is also an armored armies among them!" Liang Tianhe said indignantly.

"In the eyes of the enemy, it is because of such a sumptuous meal. It's worth using the last mobile corps to take the risk. And in the eyes of the base camp, such a powerful heavy army group will not be easily defeated, and it is enough to hold out until reinforcements arrive. Yan Canglong analyzed in a light tone.

Liang Tianhe laughed strangely when he heard this, tore off the half-smoked cigarette in his mouth, and slammed it to the ground - sparks splashed everywhere, and the green smoke scattered.

"Anyway, it's not right to say hello to me beforehand, it's not right. Nothing is right at all! Dog Ridi, really my surname Liang is raised by my stepmother! ”

Yan Canglong hurriedly straightened up and comforted: "Commander." Please calm down, now everything is just our speculation, the military order is like a mountain, the order of the base camp cannot be carried out, it is better to ...... Shall we write a report on any anomalies that have been discovered recently? ”

Liang Tianhe sneered: "That thing is useless, the General Staff Intelligence Office and the Cabinet Intelligence Office are not dry meals." We know the truth. They will know the way, and we who don't know the way have to rely on them, if he doesn't want to say it. It is useless for us to beg him to force him. ”

Yan Canglong lowered his eyelids, shook his head slightly, and said, "You can't be unreasonable......

"Old Yan, this is pedantic. Politics is unreasonable. Liang Tianhe made a sincere teaching.

Yan Canglong pouted unconvinced: "But we are here for the army." ”

Liang Tianhe waved his hand and said: "War is just a way of politics, and the army is just a tool of politics, there is nothing to fight about - Lao Yan, I think it is better to arrange the arrangement as soon as possible, even if it is really given to Mao Ziyin, the main force must be withdrawn, especially to keep the armored group army." ”

Yan Canglong nodded and said, "I've been thinking about this thing these days. ”

After speaking, he approached the map board and picked up a colored pen to draw.

"As of yesterday, two divisions of the reserve directly under the Front Army have been assembled in Ayaguz, and they can be driven to Seycity within 5 days. Two divisions and one brigade transferred from the 10th Regiment arrived in Saicheng. The 6th Division and 5th Brigade, which were transferred from Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, and Zhili, will not be able to complete their redeployment around Saicheng for a month and a half at the earliest. ”

"And the original task given to us by the base camp was to advance to Barnaul before the autumn flood in September, that is, after the capture of the city, we would have to push 400 li in less than two months."

"Our original plan was to launch the siege on July 3, complete the attack by July 10, enter Rubtsovsk in late July, capture Aleysk in early August, and > in mid-AugustNaur Raiders. ”

"In this way, we can expect that after the completion of the siege of the city, the strength of the main group can be increased to eight divisions and thirteen brigades, and by the time the Rubzovsk attack is completed, it will be further enriched to ten divisions and fourteen brigades. By the time the Barnaul offensive unfolded, we would have at our disposal in this direction the huge strength of the 16th Division and the 19th Brigade, three times the initial strength of the main group, and the combat strength would be directly catching up with the main force of the Northern Army. ”

Liang Tianhe coughed dryly, took a sip of tea, got up close to the map board, glanced at the map, and then at Yan Canglong, and asked with a slightly hoarse throat: "Well, this is indeed the case - what are you going to do?" ”

"Barnaul must go until the base camp gives a clear order to stop the offensive, but we can adjust the operational policy so that the infantry units can play a greater role in the offensive."

Liang Tianhe gave a meaningful sigh of gratitude, his fingers touched the picture, and subconsciously turned a few small circles: "You mean, let the infantry-based 5 go in front and install 2 sets in the rear?" ”

"Not exactly. I would like to split the armored forces into two categories. "Yan Canglong is confident.

"Two categories?"

"Yes, the first type is the old chariot with poor mobility but strong firepower, which is assigned to each infantry division in a company and platoon unit to support the infantry to sweep away the enemy's strongholds along the railway, and at the same time, it also serves as the pioneer of the infantry divisions when they launch a breakthrough operation after the ambush. On the other hand, there are new types of highly mobile combat vehicles and half-track vehicles, which are combined into two or three fast columns, equipped with cavalry units of considerable size, and whose tasks are to conduct guerrilla warfare, mobile patrols, or detour behind enemy lines, or to meet the enemy attacking from the flanks and rear, without being limited by the speed of the march of ordinary infantry units. In this way, advancing can destroy the enemy, and retreating can open the way for the army to protect the road......"

Speaking of this, Yan Canglong pointed to the double-layer circle mark marked with Semipalatinsk on the map, raised his eight-point tone and emphasized: "The most important thing is that around the city, heavy troops must be deployed!" ”