In the headquarters of the Central Asian Front, the dim lights and the atmosphere were unprecedentedly depressing, and all the major generals gathered together, Zhang Henian's eyes were red, his face was gloomy, and he said after a while: "What do you think of the losses in the past two days?" ”

After being silent for a while, Zhou Zijian said with some sadness: "We made a serious mistake, and the smooth start made us underestimate the ability of the Russians to resist. The general idea made us ignore many details, such as the fact that at the beginning, the armored forces did not get the cover of the air force, and they rushed forward. At the time of the attack, the infantry did not follow up very well, the artillery preparation was insufficient, and the air liliang was not in place. ”

"And the worst thing is that time is not on our side." Chief of Staff Rong Zhen also said: "Armored assault pays attention to one blow, then declines, and three exhaustions. From the breakthrough of the Alashan Pass, we have run more than 500 kilometers, the soldiers are already a little tired, and the pressure on logistics is increasing. Moreover, because of the dispersion of some forces along the way, we only have more than 20,000 men at our disposal, which is not numerically superior, and if we continue to wear it down, Russian reinforcements will arrive, and our situation will be too dangerous. ”

When Zhang Henian heard this, he couldn't help but nodded: "What you said is right, I will explain the situation to the president, the current situation is all caused by my mistakes." But here I want to know, do you have any good ideas? ”

"Commander-in-chief, I don't believe that the Russians can fight with steel by relying on flesh and blood." Huang Xiansheng said loudly: "At dawn tomorrow, I am willing to take the first regiment as the main force, and I will definitely break through the defense line, no matter how much it costs." If I can't take it, I'll see you. ”

Rong Zhen waved his hand: "It's not good, if we say that on the first day, we will show this momentum." Maybe if you fight it, you can really win it. Now the Russians are in a big rage, and if they go desperately, even if Karaganda is defeated, there will be Astana behind. If we continue to fight hard, we will also lose the ability to continue attacking, you must know that only the loss of Central Asia will not be able to make this polar bear succumb. ”

"Chief of Staff, do you have any good ideas?"

Rong Zhen walked to the side of the sand table without hesitation, pointed to a place and said, "Here." As long as we take here, the Russian army in Central Asia will become a turtle in an urn, and it will also be able to threaten Omsk and Novosibirsk, and the main communication artery will be in our hands. ”

Zhang Henian and others all gathered around and took a closer look. The location Rong Zhen pointed out was Kreku, an important town about 200 kilometers northeast of Astana. There is a railway connection to Omsk. As Rong Zhen said. As long as it controls it, it can threaten the Trans-Siberian Railway, and it can also block Russian reinforcements, making the Central Asian troops a turtle in the urn.

There is no doubt that this scheme is currently the most haode choice, as long as it is realized. can break the existing deadlock. But there was also a serious challenge, and it would take at least 300 kilometers to get from their position to Kreku. Even at the fastest speed, it took about five days, the battlefield was changing rapidly, and they had to cross the most inhospitable no-man's land in Central Asia, the variables were very large, and the difficulty was really amazing.

Once the Russians mobilized reinforcements in advance, the attack would be difficult to complete. The big guys are thinking about whether they should gamble or not.

But at this time, someone suddenly ran in, holding a telegram in his hand, and hurriedly delivered it to Zhang Henian, unfolding it to see that this telegram was sent by the Supreme Command.

When Zhang Tinglan was fighting, he trusted his generals very much, and basically would not interfere with their combat operations, after all, the commanders at the front knew the situation on the battlefield better than those who were thousands of miles away.

However, this time Zhang Tinglan made an exception and sent a telegram, which also shows the seriousness of the matter, Zhang Henian and they opened the telegram and saw it, and immediately had a headache, it turned out that according to reliable intelligence, the Russians had sent reinforcements. Tukhachevsky personally led two divisions to Omsk.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this Tukhachevsky is not simple, he is known as the Red Napoleon, he is like a god with soldiers, he was sent here, I am afraid that the situation will be worse." Rong Zhen said with a little worry.

Zhou Zijian couldn't help but say: "Look at it, what will happen if Tukhachevsky captures Kreku? ”

Everyone gasped when they heard his words, this idea was indeed too terrible, once Koreku fell into the hands of the Russians, they would definitely move south, attack Akdouka, and cut off the rear route of the Chinese army.

Originally, the Chinese side attacked Central Asia in order to attack the Trans-Siberian Railway from this flank, but who knew that the Russians would take advantage of the loophole and threaten themselves in turn, and everyone's faces were very gloomy.

After a while, Zhang Henian slapped the table and said loudly: "Now it seems that no matter what, we must take Kelieku first, and everyone will talk about any good ideas, right?" ”

Rong Zhen calculated the distance, and then said: "Commander-in-chief, it will take at least five days for us to reach Kreku, and the Russians have a railway to use, so three days is about the same, and there is a difference of two days in between, and we can't catch up with it anyway." There is only one way, and that is to use Wu Kaijie's first cavalry division and rely on them to seize Kreku. ”

As an old brother who had been with Zhang Tinglan at the beginning, Wu Kaijie has always had a very high status in the National Defense Army, and his promotion is not slow, and together with Ma Zhanshan, he can be called the two best commanders of the cavalry.

After fighting once between Korea and Japan, the Feng army realized the value of using jeeps for a quick assault, and Wu Kaijie proposed to equip the cavalry with motor vehicles, but the ability was limited at that time, and there was no large number of installations.

However, with the implementation of the First Five-Year Plan, the country's industrial strength has increased rapidly, and the equipment of the Feng army has also reached the time of upgrading, and the traditional cavalry can no longer meet the needs of the battlefield.

As the first ace main force to embark on mechanization, the Guards Division is mainly positioned as the sharp knife of the whole army, so it is equipped with the latest medium tanks. The 1st Cavalry Division was also upgraded, but they were positioned as a fast maneuver to maximize the superiority of the cavalry.

The 1st Cavalry Division was mainly armed with high-speed light tanks, wheeled combat vehicles, as well as a large number of jeeps, half-ton wagons. The main task of the 1st Cavalry Division is to counter infantry and cavalry, to achieve rapid support and rapid strikes.

At the beginning, Zhang Tinglan wanted to send the 1st Cavalry Division to the Far East, but later considering that the situation in Central Asia was complicated, but the bandits were rampant in various regions, and the troops had to penetrate deep into Russia, the logistics line was greatly threatened, so Zhang Tinglan decided to transfer the 1st Cavalry Division and let them be responsible for logistics security.

At this time, the main force of the 1st Cavalry Division happened to be stationed in Akdouka and other places, Rong Zhen mentioned them, Zhang Henian was also bright, and immediately clapped his hands and said: "Okay, give Wu Kaijie an order, let him rush to Keleku within two days and firmly control this place." ”

Zhang Henian looked at Zhou Zijian again, and then said: "Deputy division commander, you take a brigade of troops and continue to attack Karaganda, and I will lead the other soldiers to quickly rush to Kereku." ”

"Commander-in-chief, why don't you leave it to me, you stay here."

"No need, I must let the Russians know how powerful Zhang is great!" Zhang Henian clenched his fists so loudly that he was full of anger in the past two days, and he wanted to sprinkle it on the Russians.

Soon everyone did a good job of division of labor, the guards division was divided in half, and Zhang Henian quickly left the periphery of Karaganda with the main force.

At this time, Wu Kaijie had already received an order, and as soon as he heard that he was asked to attack Kreku, Wu Kaijie also came to his senses. The 1st Cavalry Division is a unit with great achievements, and you can't squat behind to watch your family, what has it become!

Wu Kaijie also knew that the soldiers were fast, so he specially drew 80 Type 16 wheeled armored vehicles from the 1st Cavalry Division to act as the main force of this attack.

The so-called Type 16 wheeled combat vehicle is Zhang Tinglan's reference to the Jishu standard of the American M8 Greyhound wheeled armored vehicle during World War II, but also made some adjustments suitable for China. For example, the Americans used a 6-cylinder gasoline engine, and China is still quite backward in this field, and China's strength is the diesel engine jointly developed with Germany. Therefore, the Type 16 is equipped with a 6-cylinder oil extractor, and the power reaches 140 horsepower.

Due to the use of diesel engine, the total weight reached 8.2 tons, the whole car adopts a 6*6 wheeled structure, the maximum speed on the road has reached 70 kilometers, and the off-road speed has exceeded 40 kilometers.

And it is simple to operate, easy to maintain, and it caters to the characteristics of the Chinese army, the Type 16 is equipped with a 37mm main gun, a 7.92mm coaxial machine gun, and a 12.7mm machine gun on top.

The 37 mm main gun has the ability to threaten most of the tanks currently in service, and the configuration of the machine gun makes it have considerable attack power on the air and the ground.

Of course, wheeled combat vehicles are lacking in off-road performance compared to tracked combat vehicles, but wheeled vehicles also have advantages, that is, they are simple to maintain, and the wheels hold on for longer than tracks, so in long-distance running, wheeled combat vehicles still have an incomparable advantage.

The soldiers of the 1st Cavalry Division were also full of confidence in this new weapon, and Wu Kaijie led a total of 80 Type 16 combat vehicles, as well as 200 jeeps, and a large number of logistics vehicles, to form a rapid assault force.

They followed the Silk Road that merchants had walked out of thousands of years, and quickly went north to Kelieku, and the 16 chariots rushed wildly on the endless plains, like a huge wolf pack, mighty and unstoppable.

And at the same time, the Red Napoleon, Tukhachevsky, also led two divisions of troops, quickly towards Kleku, the victory or defeat of the war has turned into a speed confrontation, both sides are running wildly, whoever is fast, who can seize the opportunity! (To be continued......)