Episode 160 Conquest of Sakhalin

Just after Christmas, when the ice cover of the Tatar Strait (the strait between Sakhalin Island and the mainland) was at its strongest, three lightly armored divisions of the Ming army crossed the strait from the narrowest part of the strait, that is, the "Soviet Port" at the mouth of the Heilongjiang River.

For the sake of safety, the Ming army sappers used a lot of logs to line up wooden rows on the ice of the strait and made several "tank passages" for the passage of tanks, heavy artillery and vehicles. In this way, the weight of several tons or more than ten tons can be spread over a large area and prevent accidental cracking of the ice. As for the rest of the people and light vehicles, they went directly over the ice next to them.

Contrary to the expectations of the Ming army, the Ming army did not encounter resistance at all when crossing the strait. After entering Sakhalin, there was not a single shadow of Soviet troops. According to the idea of the Ming army, entering Sakhalin Island from the frozen strait was a military operation that was easily expected, and the Soviet troops on the island would definitely resist at the narrowest point of the strait and block the landing of the Ming army. But none of this happened, as if it were an uninhabited island.

After landing, there were only two small villages within 20 kilometers from north to south. The interpreter asked the residents of the village, and they were told that some soldiers had come in October, as well as cadres. They made some observations and measurements, and then went south, and never came again.

The Ming army knew that the political, economic, and military centers of Sakhalin were all at the southern end, centered on the capital "Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk" and the military port "Korsakov". The Ming army judged that it may be that the Soviet army on the island knew that its strength was weak, and felt that it was too far away from the southern end, more than 700 kilometers, and it was difficult to guarantee such a long supply line with its own strength, let alone hold it, and it was easy to be cut off by the Ming army and surrounded in sections. So the Soviets might have retreated to the next best thing, fortifying somewhere further south, where it was easier to secure supplies. In this way, the military can also be more concentrated.

Although they knew that the Soviet army on the island was very weak, the Ming army still did not dare to slack off, and immediately sent the reconnaissance troops to the east, south, and north.

After setting foot on Sakhalin Island, more than 10 kilometers along the coast, there are lakes and blisters of all sizes, all over the place, full of holes, like a sieve. The large one is one or two square kilometers, and the small one is only a few hundred square meters. And now it's a harsh winter, and the lake is frozen and covered with thick snow, blending in with the surrounding snow scene, making it difficult to tell which is the ground and which is the lake.

This is very dangerous for both tanks and heavy equipment. The Ming army didn't know how thick the ice was in these lakes and whether they were frozen to the end. The Ming army then asked the locals to be their guides and led the Ming army around these large and small lakes and into the inland areas. Fortunately, the locals are very simple, and in addition to the Russians, there are quite a few yellow people - Sakhalin was originally a Chinese territory, and it was ceded to Tsarist Russia in the mid-19th century.

The Ming army felt that the atmosphere here was very different from that on the mainland. The Far East was far less influenced by the Bolsheviks than the European part, and in the almost primitive environment of the northern tip of Sakhalin, there are significantly fewer traces of the Bolsheviks. Here, in the relationship between people, there are much less "social, political" factors and more "natural" factors. Even in the eyes of the local people, you are a human being, and I am also a human being. Since we are all human beings, we should unite and survive in this harsh natural environment. As for what doctrines, they are all floating clouds here. Not only do you not understand it, but you also don't need it.

These locals, who lived entirely on hunting and fishing, did not seem to see the Ming army as invaders, but as their own "kind".

Like the early colonists, the Ming army carried many "gifts" to get along with the locals: brand-new fishing nets, advanced shotguns and bullets with double lines, knives and scissors made of high-carbon stainless steel, high-quality hardware tools, flashlights and batteries, various Western medicines, coffee, tea, vodka, Chinese liquor, canned goods, and large chunks of chocolate, cheese, and candy. These well-made light industrial products have never been seen not only by the locals, but also by the common people of Moscow.

The Bolshevik government of the Soviet Union gave the villagers the impression that they would only steal things. And as soon as these foreign troops arrived, not only did they not rob things, but they also sent so many things, all of which were good things that their ancestors had never seen for generations...... The simplicity and friendliness of the locals, coupled with practical gifts, really saved the Ming army a lot of trouble. Led by local guides, the light armored units of the Ming army successfully bypassed one glacial lake after another and entered the interior.

The northern part of Sakhalin is fairly flat, with the exception of a few hills, most of which are plains. The Ming army did not advance to the south first, but first took root and advanced north. The place where the Ming army landed was in the north of the island, more than 700 kilometers away from the southernmost point, but only more than 200 kilometers from the northernmost point. The Ming army planned to fight steadily, first taking full control of the northern end, so that there was no need to worry about the rear behind, and then marching south.

Within two days, on December 29, the Ming army had advanced to the northernmost point of Sakhalin, Cape Elizabeth. Further north, the icy Sea of Okhotsk. On December 30, the Ming army advanced southward, entering the mountainous and hilly areas of central Sakhalin.

It's all snow-capped forests. The road was difficult to walk, but fortunately I never encountered the Soviet troops. Passing through a few mountain villages in the middle, I asked the locals that either they had never seen the Soviets before, or they had only seen them a long time ago. Many of these isolated villages are even seeing the army for the first time. They were not hostile to the Ming army in the first place, and after receiving so many exquisite gifts, they welcomed the Ming army, and each village enthusiastically sent guides to lead the Ming army troops over the mountains and mountains, and went south from the best road.

It was in the midst of the smoke of gunfire on the sea and land of Northeast Asia that 1938 came. After the Ming army marched for half a month in the Linhai Snow Field in the central part of Sakhalin, on January 12, the vanguard encountered Soviet troops for the first time.

This is a small Soviet reconnaissance force, with a strength of about only one platoon and dozens of people. Dressed in white camouflage uniforms and carrying rifles on their backs, they were walking face to face with the Ming army in the dense forest. A reconnaissance company of the Ming army collided with them and exchanged fire. The Soviet army had only one light machine gun in a platoon, and the rest were all rifles, while the general-purpose machine guns of the Ming army were mounted at the squad level. Each squad had a Woodpecker machine gun. In addition to these dozen or so general-purpose machine guns, nearly half of the soldiers of the Ming army were equipped with submachine guns. In this dense forest environment where the exchange of fire was very close, the Ming army's firepower superiority completely overwhelmed the Soviet army.

After a short battle, more than half of the Soviet scouts were killed. The rest were captured.

During the interrogation of these captives, the Ming army learned that the Soviet troops on Sakhalin Island had completely abandoned the defense in the north and center, as the Ming army had suspected, and instead concentrated their forces on the southern end. Their main line of defense was in the "bee waist" between the middle and southern sections of Sakhalin.

Sakhalin Island is a long and narrow island running north-south, with a maximum length of more than 900 kilometers from north to south and a maximum of more than 150 kilometers from east to west. At the southern end, the island is only 25 kilometers wide and is flanked by icy sea. In order for the Ming army to enter the southern part of Sakhalin, it was necessary to break through this 25-kilometer-wide front.

Such a narrow defensive line is obviously very conducive to the defense of the Soviet army, which is only 120 kilometers away from Sakhalinsk, the nest of the Soviet army on Sakhalin Island, and the Soviet army can do it both in terms of concentrating troops and supporting logistics.