On the night of the 20th, the 3rd Infantry Division of the Russian Army began to withdraw from Novoshakhtinsky and rushed to Shuangchengzi by car, the retreat was strictly secrecy, the patrol and duty of the front line were carried out by the rearguard troops as usual, the main force detoured to the railway station from the road outside the city, and did not alarm the residents, the train was forbidden to sound when it departed, the wagons for transporting troops were painted with the Red Cross disguised as wagons for transporting the wounded, and the wagons for transporting artillery were covered with wood around the artillery and disguised as wagons, and 3 cavalry regiments and a large number of road patrol teams were arranged along the line. Throughout the night, the Chinese army did not notice the movement of the 3rd Division, and sent a small cavalry reconnaissance team to reconnoiter the condition of the railway line was either repulsed or destroyed, and the reconnaissance team did not obtain information of practical value. Until the early morning of the next day, three brigades of the 13th Infantry Division and the 33rd Brigade of the 11th Division were still assembled around Novoshakhtinsky, supported by two cavalry regiments, totaling 48,000 troops, including 36 150-mm heavy howitzers, 72 105-mm cannons and 48 90-mm howitzers, and 72 75-mm field guns and 24 100-mm mortars. At this time, in the circular position of the Russian army in Novoshakhtinsky, only less than 2,000 mounted infantry who could quickly withdraw from their positions were arranged at the front. False cannons made of wood and iron sheets were installed on the original artillery positions, tarpaulins and tree branches were also set up above the dummy cannons to conceal the stuffing, and the tents in the camps of each regiment, which could be used by about 20,000 people, were also left in place in order to deceive the Chinese army's aerial reconnaissance team.

At 9 o'clock in the morning of the 21st, Lieutenant General Chen Xingyun, commander of the Third Field Army, received a report from the reconnaissance plane: "...... The enemy positions are relatively quiet, some of them seem to have been camouflaged for anti-aircraft operations, and most of the artillery discovered yesterday is no longer in place......"

Chen Xingyun did not care about this report, and did not hesitate to give the order: the 32nd Brigade was prepared to carry out a feint attack on the Shuangchengzi Fortress according to the plan, the 33rd Brigade was prepared to carry out the interspersed operations between Novoshakhtinsky and Shuangchengzi according to the plan, the 13th Infantry Division was prepared to flank the enemy forces in Novoshakhtinsky according to the plan, and the floating air clusters of the field army should also attack in batches according to the plan to support ground operations.

The order was transmitted to the front line, and all units of the 3rd Field Army began to act at the same time at 9:30, and the 32nd Infantry Brigade and the 13th and 14th Regiments of the 5th Cavalry Brigade deployed from 5 kilometers south of Novoshakhtinsky, dispersed a small number of Russian cavalry units and road patrol teams, launched a fierce attack on the two Russian stronghold groups along the railway, quickly seized these two strongholds, arranged two back-to-back defensive lines in the north and south, and cut off the railway connection between Novoshakhtinsky and Shuangchengzi.

The 13th Division concentrated more than 200 artillery pieces to fiercely bombard the defensive line northwest of Novoshakhtinsky, and the Russians, of course, were unable to fight back, and the forward defenders withdrew from their positions one after another, mounted their horses and retreated to the swamps and forests in the east.

The 31st Brigade, under the watchful eye of Zhao Minhe, chief of staff of the Third Field Army, launched a feint attack on the Shuangchengzi Fortress. In order to achieve the effect of attracting the attention of the Russian army, the artillery strength to provide fire support for the 31st Brigade is also very considerable, with a total of 18 150-mm heavy guns, 54 105-mm cannons and 18 90-mm howitzers, and 24 brigade-affiliated 75-mm field guns have also been assembled. The three 305-mm heavy siege guns of the 20th Special Heavy Artillery Regiment of the 4th Independent Artillery Brigade arrived only last night, and they were assembled overnight, and they also joined the artillery bombardment early in the morning, and first made a row of shocking loud sounds, and the 350-kilogram huge projectiles flew along the low-extension trajectory towards the solid cement fortress of the Russian army, exploding several brilliant fire balls. Immediately, the large and small artillery pieces were opened together, and the front of the Russian position suddenly turned into a sea of fire, and some of the fortress batteries were also surrounded by bullets.

The Russian attacking troops had not yet entered the starting position at this time, so they were not seriously hit, but the fierce artillery bombardment surprised Lieutenant General Stessel, thinking that his own intelligence had been wrong, but the real direction of the Chinese army's attack was here, and he hurriedly sent people to various positions to inquire about the situation. Unexpectedly, news soon came that the Chinese infantry was jumping out of the trench from the west of the fortress under the cover of artillery fire and approaching the forward position of the fortress.

"No, did we misjudge? Has the enemy already thrown all the reserve divisions into battle? ”

Stessel wondered.

"It's useless to worry now, order the heavy artillery of the fortress to open fire on the enemy infantry."

Major General Kondrachenko next to him said, and Stessel couldn't come up with an idea for the time being, so he had to do it.

After a while, someone came to report that the enemy infantry had already taken refuge as soon as the fortress's heavy artillery fired.

"But that's it."

Stessel became proud, but Kontrachenko next to him said disapprerovingly: "If the other side really wants to attack the fortress, the artillery preparation time should be much longer, and the infantry attack should be much more resolute, and it will not give up so easily, I think the enemy is just moving, and the intention is probably to contain our army, so that our army cannot rescue the 3rd Division." The 3rd Division has withdrawn, and now we can use at least ten infantry regiments and five cavalry regiments to attack the enemy in front of us, and the available field artillery has also increased to 300, and the more than 10 heavy guns in the fortress can also bombard the enemy's positions in that direction. In this way, the combat objective of annihilating or inflicting heavy damage on the west side of the fortress is more likely to be achieved. Now we should use all 300 artillery pieces at hand to bombard the enemy's infantry and artillery positions, and the infantry will launch a surprise attack in three waves according to the revised plan in the early hours of this morning, and the cavalry will cover and outflank the enemy flanks on both flanks of the infantry, and resolutely carry out the annihilation operation. ”

"Well, the annihilation operation, so it's time to begin."

Soon, the 260 artillery pieces properly arranged by the Russian army began to bombard the positions of the Chinese army, and the three 75-mm field artillery batteries of the Chinese army arranged in the front line were suppressed within a few minutes, and the trenches and firing bunkers built by the Chinese army were destroyed by section by section, and the 94th and 95th regiments of the 32nd brigade of the Chinese army, which had just retreated to the starting position, were bombarded by such rapid and intensive artillery fire, and suffered heavy losses, and some of the companies disintegrated, and the routed troops rushed to the rear.

The Chinese airships and planes that were patrolling in the air immediately reported the location of the Russian artillery group to the ground, and the Chinese heavy artillery fired from the air to counterattack the Russian artillery positions, but because the Russian artillery was mostly placed in strong strongholds and bunkers, it could not be effectively suppressed.

After more than one hour of artillery preparation, 10 Russian infantry regiments belonging to three divisions began to launch waves of assaults on the positions of the Chinese army, with a total of five regiments forming the first wave, three regiments forming the second wave, and two regiments being the third wave and reserve.

The operational front of the Russian army is about 10 km, and the main assault front is about 5 km. The 2 regiments of the 3rd Division were deployed in the northern section of the front, the 4 regiments of the 4th Division were deployed in the middle of the front, the 4 regiments of the 5th Division were deployed in the southern section of the front, the 4th and 5th Divisions were responsible for the main attack, and the 3rd Division was responsible for covering and pinning.

The starting position of the Russian army was only 1,000 yards (914 meters) from the bunker of the most advanced outpost of the Chinese army, and about 2 kilometers from the main line of defense of the Chinese army. Between the positions of the two sides are mixed with grass, fields, fences, small slopes and sparse trees, the firing range of the Chinese army is not very open, and the Russian army has a lot of cover available, not to mention that the Russian army has an absolute numerical superiority, the first wave of attacks launched five full infantry regiments of about 20,000 people, although the second and third waves of five regiments are not yet formed, but there are also about 17,000 people. In addition, the Russian army also deployed about 4,000 cavalry of 5 cavalry regiments on the flanks and flanks of the infantry units to carry out cover and rapid support tasks. After more than 10 days of fighting, the 32nd Brigade of the Chinese Army in front of the Russian army had only 8,000 available soldiers, and the two regiments deployed in the front line were hit by Russian artillery fire at the beginning, and their combat effectiveness was seriously reduced.

Seeing the sudden change in the situation, Lieutenant General Zhao Minhe, chief of staff of the field army, who had been staying at the forefront to watch the 32nd Brigade carry out a feint attack, immediately rode his horse and rushed to the headquarters of the 11th Division, 2 kilometers behind the main position line of his own side, found the division commander, Major General Zheng Hong, and said: "Quickly send a reserve, the enemy is attacking with heavy troops." ”

Zheng Hong pointed to a staff officer who was panting beside him: "The lower officer has already known the way, I just want to go to the front to see it with my own eyes and make a decision......

"I've already seen it, now let's go to the front together, but we must immediately order the 31st Brigade to move, and send a telegram to the headquarters to ask them to send reinforcements."

"Yes, I'll do it."

When Zhao Minhe and Zheng Hong came to a small slope a few hundred yards away from the main position of the front line, the two clearly saw a stream of people pouring out of the forward position of the fortress, spreading out into a straggler line on the field, little by little, piece by piece, one by one, approaching where the two were.

With a "boom", a shell hit Zhao Minhe more than ten yards in front of him, and the ashes fell on Zhao Minhe and the others, and one of the accompanying staff officers was hit by shrapnel in the lower leg and was ordered by Zheng Hong to rush back to the headquarters to bandage.

Three or four more shells hit the vicinity one after another, and Zheng Hong became nervous: "Chief of Staff, it's too dangerous here, let's go back to the division headquarters." ”

Zhao Minhe looked in the distance in front of him, and then turned his head to look at the woods behind, behind the woods was where the headquarters was located.

He nodded: "If it's dangerous here, let's change places, but don't go back to the division headquarters for the time being, let's take a look elsewhere, the enemy has just started to move, the situation is not clear, we can organize a counterattack only after we see it clearly." By the way, sent a telegram requesting air support? ”

"It's already been sent, I don't know when the road will come."

Zhao Minhe patted the horse's head, raised his horsewhip and pointed to a low slope closer to the position: "I hope they hurry up, okay, let's go over there and take a look, I don't know how long the 32nd Brigade of Ludao can hold up." ”

"The 32nd Brigade can withstand it, I dare to pack a ticket." Zheng Hong said.

"Let's see."

Zhao Minhe clamped the horse's belly between his legs, whipped the horse, and rushed down the dirt slope, and Zheng Hong and others followed behind and slipped down. A minute later, a cannonball hit Zhao Minhe's immediate place, and Zheng Hong, who inadvertently looked back at this scene, couldn't help but gasp.

At this time, the regimental and battalion light artillery of the Chinese army arranged in the concealed bunker began to bombard the Russian infantry, and the Chinese snipers equipped with precision sights frantically slaughtered the leading officers of the Russian army with accurate firepower, and the light and heavy machine guns also spoke intermittently, and several battalions led by the Russian army were seriously killed, but the fierce artillery fire of the Russian army gradually suppressed the resistance of the Chinese infantry. The Russian infantry approached step by step, seized a number of outpost strongholds, and pressed towards the main position line of the Chinese army, seeing that the Russian soldiers were getting closer and closer, and the people in the front were about to step on the edge of the trench of the main position line, suddenly several rows of guns and bullets came quickly, sweeping down a piece of Russian soldiers, it turned out that the 32nd Regiment as the reserve of the 96th Brigade had already arrived, and the battalion and company were used as units to fill the battle line, temporarily curbing the advance momentum of the Russian army.

Major General Na Yingjie, commander of the 6th Division in the Far East, personally led three regiments of his headquarters to storm in the southern section of the front, and after paying a huge price, he broke through the position of the 94th Regiment of the Chinese Army, and Major General Misinko, commander of the 6th Cavalry Division of Siberia, immediately led 3,200 cavalry of 4 regiments of his headquarters to quickly penetrate through the breakthrough and swept towards the artillery positions, logistics warehouses and headquarters in the rear area of the Chinese army.

Zhao Minhe really saw this scene in his eyes, expected that things were not good, and was so anxious that he wanted to lead the guards around him to block the Russian army, of course the guards did not allow it, and Zheng Hong next to him was even more kind and persuasive, and together with everyone he held Zhao Minhe hostage and retreated to the division headquarters. Running halfway, dozens of Russian cavalry were killed in the oblique stab, and rushed over with sabers overhead, the guards raised their guns to stop the shots, knocked down several horsemen, and the rest swarmed closer, Zhao Minhe and Zheng Hong also pulled out their revolvers, pulled the trigger in a row, and shot down several enemy soldiers. However, the enemy soldiers were numerous, roaring, in the blink of an eye, the battle had turned into hand-to-hand combat, the knife flew bloody, the horse neighed, and after a while, only three or four of the dozen or so guards were still on horseback, and the accompanying staff officers all fell off their horses, Zhao Minhe and Zheng Hong also had to draw out their command knives to fight with the enemy, but after several slashing and killing, the enemy still had twenty or thirty horsemen, and their own soldiers were almost completely wiped out. Zhao Minhe couldn't help but shout: "Heaven wants to bury me here!" ”

The Russian soldiers didn't know what he was called, so they spurred their horses and gathered around to kill him, and the commander of Zheng Hong and Zheng over there, seeing that the situation was critical, rushed over and whipped him hard behind Zhao Min's hippo, only blocking himself in front of the enemy soldiers. Zhao Minhe's war horse neighed, rushed out of the enemy formation, and ran north, Zhao Minhe turned his head to look, but saw Zheng Hong was surrounded and killed by enemy soldiers, so he turned the horse's head, and waved his knife to help the battle, and slashed two enemy soldiers in a row, but a bullet hit, and the left shoulder of Lieutenant General Zhao was in the middle, his hand was soft, he released the reins, and fell off the horse. Seeing this, Zheng Hong rushed over to the rescue, but when he was distracted, he was cut in the right arm by an enemy soldier, and the saber fell down, seeing that he was defenseless and would be captured. Suddenly, a burst of bullets knocked down more than a dozen Russian soldiers, and the remaining Russian soldiers were greatly panicked and turned around to flee, but they were blocked by the Chinese cavalry of the brigade, and they were all killed.

Zheng Hong looked carefully, and it was the cavalry reconnaissance battalion of the division headquarters that came to the rescue in time, and the battalion commander Wang Tao collected the revolver at this time and rode over to salute. Zheng Hong praised him twice, and asked him to send someone to tie Zhao Minhe, who was shot and fell to the ground. Wang Tao summoned two hygienists to bandage the wounds of Zhao Minhe and Zheng Hong respectively, and reported: "The 91st Regiment of the 31st Brigade has already arranged defenses at the division headquarters, the 92nd Regiment has rushed to protect the artillery positions, and the 93rd Regiment is coming. ”

Zheng Hong nodded and said, "As you said, take care of Chief of Staff Zhao." ”

Zhao Minhe heard it over there and replied to him: "Master Zheng, I have nothing to do, so I'll get on the horse." ”

"Then I'll rest assured, let's go back to the division headquarters now and make plans again."

"No problem."

The group hurried up and rushed to the division headquarters, and Brigadier General Pan Xuan, the commander of the 31st Brigade, immediately greeted him and apologized first, Zheng Hong told him not to care, so he asked him about the situation of the 31st Brigade first.

"The cavalry of the enemy brigade has just launched an assault on the division headquarters, and has been repelled by the infantry and brigade artillery of the 91st Regiment, and the 92nd Regiment is defending on the side of the heavy artillery position, so it must be fine, the 93rd Regiment is coming, and it should arrive immediately."

As he spoke, several shells exploded near the tent at the division headquarters, presumably light artillery used by the cavalry, which did not cause much damage. Zheng Hong immediately went out of the tent to watch, and saw that a large group of Russian cavalry in the south was forming a battle formation, and turned back to Brigade Commander Pan and said, "It seems that the enemy cavalry is still rushing over, can you withstand it?" ”

"Please rest assured, I've laid it all out, and I'll die as many as I want."

"I hope so."

Zheng Hong put down the binoculars, but saw that Zhao Minhe had already wrapped his wounds, approached him, felt guilty, took off his military hat, bowed his head and apologized to him: "Chief of Staff, I am incompetent, I just packed the ticket and said that there was no problem, but I saw that the 32nd Brigade was defeated......"

Zhao Minhe drooped his left arm, shook his head and comforted him: "It's not your problem, the main thing is that the military department didn't figure out the situation, and in addition, the fact that the Russian army was able to invest so many troops to launch an offensive shows a problem." ”

Zheng Hong raised her head and let out a puzzled "oh".

"The 5th Division of the Russian Army is to hold the east bank of the Suifen River, and there is the 2nd Division of the Japanese Army opposite it, because the front is dozens of kilometers long, it is impossible for the 5th Division to join the offensive operations on the Shuangchengzi side. According to prior intelligence, the Russian army also does not have other field reserves. In this way, if the Russian army can invest so many troops to attack this side, it must have transferred the 3rd Division of Novoshakhtinsky. ”

"But isn't the 13th Division plus the 33rd Brigade attacking Novoshakhtinsky?"

Zhao Minhe punched the pole of the tent: "We have fallen for the enemy's plan to get rid of the golden cicada." The 3rd Division must have secretly withdrawn to the Shuangchengzi fortress overnight and immediately entered the offensive after daybreak, while only a small rearguard force remained in Novoshakhtinsky. ”

Zheng Hong swallowed his saliva and said in a low voice, "So, what should I do now?" The 32nd Brigade may have fallen into a state of collapse, and if the heavy artillery positions were swept away by the enemy, the strength of the 31st Brigade would still not be enough to withstand the attack of the enemy's three divisions. ”

"Quickly send a telegram to the military headquarters and tell them that the enemy's 3rd Division is already in Shuangchengzi, please transfer the main force to Shuangchengzi to support the 11th Division...... Forget it, I'll draft the message. ”

Zheng Hong nodded: "It couldn't be better for Chief of Staff Zhao to tell Commander Chen." ”

When Zhao Minhe's telegram for help was delivered to Chen Xingyun's desk, Chen Xingyun was reading the telegram sent by the headquarters of the 13th Division, which was full of words such as our army's attack was going smoothly, the enemy was vulnerable, and they abandoned their positions and fled.

Seeing the telegram sent by the adjutant, Chen Xingyun asked, "Who sent it?" ”

"Sent by the headquarters of the 11th Division, signed by Zhao Zhao, Chief of Staff of the 3rd Army."

Chen Xingyun nodded thoughtfully, took the telegram, and saw that it was written: "Commander of the 3rd Army, Chen Jian, the former 11th Division has sent a telegram asking for help, but has not received a reply, for some reason, the 32nd Brigade Front has been broken through by the Russian army, and the 11th Division has become a front line, and it is found that the enemy number in front of him contains the 3rd Division of the Far East, it can be speculated that Novoshakhtinsky is really an empty city, and there is no need for heavy siege, please immediately transfer troops that can move quickly, rush to support the 11th Division, the situation is critical, and the danger is full of dangers, if you delay a little, you may become a catastrophe!" ”

Chen Xingyun frowned and said to himself: "Is that really the case? I'm afraid it's a trick of the enemy, maybe it's a trick, the 11th Division won't be so bad that it will be crushed with one blow, so it's better to send planes to see it first, or it's safer to take Novoshakhtinsky first......"

Thinking so, Chen Xingyun immediately asked the staff officer to draw up an order, asking the aviation floating group directly under the field army to send "all aircraft that can carry weapons" to the area of Shuangchengzi to find out the situation of the battlefield and support ground operations.

The telegram replying to Zhao Minhe was: "Zhao Jian, chief of staff of the 3rd Army, the army headquarters is sending flying units to support and ascertain the situation, and now that the fighting on the Novoshakhtinsky side has begun, it is very inconvenient to temporarily transfer troops on the front, and it is planned to send the 102nd Brigade of the 34th Reserve Division to support, and the unit will arrive in 3 to 4 hours, if the situation is really critical, the headquarters can make another plan, please assist the commander of the 11th Division, Zheng Division, to command the troops to defend on the spot......"

As soon as he saw this reply message, Zhao Minhe was furious, threw the message on the ground, and said hatefully: "Good Chen Yuqing, don't take my words seriously at all, just do it, I will die here today, to thank Wuwei for his kindness!" ”

Zheng Hong persuaded on the side: "Sir, please calm your anger, the commander did not say that he would not send reinforcements, the flying troops will arrive soon, and I still have three regiments available in my hands, it should not be a problem to resist for a while, and I will be able to ensure that the commander is safe." ”

Zhao Minhe let out a sigh and said indignantly: "A few broken planes, what's the use!" ”

At this time, a staff officer in front reported that the enemy cavalry had rushed over, Zheng Hong hurriedly went forward to watch, and saw a large force of Russian cavalry surging like a tide, but he was hit by a burst of artillery fire, the smoke exploded, the flesh and bones flew away, and the Russian army was a little chaotic, but it still rushed forward desperately.

"It is indeed brave and unusual, but it is a pity that in these times, it is useless for cavalry to attack fortified positions head-on."

Zhao Minhe commented that although he was injured and angered by Chen Xingyun's message, he was still able to keep a clear head when faced with practical problems.

At a distance of 1,000 to 200 yards from the Chinese army's position, the Russian cavalry was swept down by dozens of light and heavy machine guns of the Chinese army, and the cavalry artillery and machine gun teams that were responsible for fire support were also beaten into a mess by the accurate mortar fire of the Chinese army, and the attack completely failed, with more than 1,000 Russian corpses, and none of the cavalry participating in the assault fled back.

The sobered Russian army began to move the light artillery positions forward and extended the heavy artillery fire forward, and 40 kg of 152-mm heavy artillery shells began to fall frequently on the positions of the Chinese army. Under the guidance of school-fired balloons and airships, dozens of 150 and 105 mm cannons were concentrated to bombard the Russian light artillery that had broken away from the fortified positions, and the light howitzers and field artillery opened heavy fire on the approaching Russian infantry, thwarting the attempt of the first attack wave of the Russian army to further expand the results, and the remnants of the first attack wave of the Russian army were forced to retreat to a covered area and wait for backup. The remnants of the 32 Brigade of the Chinese Army seized the opportunity to break away from contact with the enemy, withdrew from their positions in batches, and assembled in the vicinity of the division headquarters and heavy artillery positions; except for the 94 th Regiment, which had been heavily damaged and basically lost its combat effectiveness, more than half of the other two regiments of the 32 Brigade were still able to carry out combat missions normally, but the brigade had lost most of its brigade-affiliated artillery and about half of its regimental artillery.

At about 12:30, the 93rd Regiment of the 31st Brigade rushed to the division headquarters, and Zheng Hong ordered the regiment to assemble in the woods behind the 91st Regiment's position as a reserve for counterattack. As soon as Zheng Hong finished giving the order, he heard a buzzing sound in the air, and it turned out that the flight unit had already arrived, densely packed, about twenty or so.

"It's okay to get all the old bottoms out."

Zheng Hong looked at the sky and sighed.

The 3rd Field Army's aviation floating group consists of 38 aircraft and 8 airships, including 10 FJZ-2 "Whirlwind" single-seat reconnaissance planes, 10 FJZ-3 "Cangfeng" single-seat reconnaissance planes, 10 FJZ-4 "Huofeng" two-seat reconnaissance planes, 4 FJZL-5 "Gale" two-seat reconnaissance planes, and 4 FJQH-1J "Qingfeng J" reconnaissance and calibration planes, and 4 reconnaissance airships and 4 school-firing airships. Since the start of the war, 2 "Whirlwind" and 1 "Fire Wind" have crashed as a result of accidents. On the morning of the 21st, most of the available planes had been dispatched to support the operations on the Novoshakhtinsky side, and as soon as they landed, they received an order to transfer to the Shuangchengzi side to support the operations. Among the planes assigned by the cluster, only the two-seater "Huofeng" plane had a rear-firing machine gun mount and a special bomb rack that could hold 16 grenades, and the rest of the planes were originally not armed, but in actual use, the flight unit equipped the "Whirlwind" and "Cangfeng" planes with self-made grenade pylons, so that these two single-seater planes also had the ability to attack enemy forces exposed to the ground; in addition, four "Gale" two-seater reconnaissance and liaison planes were also installed with machine guns and grenade pylons without authorization to carry out ground support missions. At about 12 o'clock on the same day, the Chinese army's flying units that arrived in the airspace near Shuangchengzi included 8 "Huofeng", 6 "Cangfeng", 4 "Gale" and 4 "Whirlwind". Of course, the Chinese planes did not sit idly by, and the "Fire Wind" and "Gale Wind" equipped with machine guns successively dived down to the advancing Russian straggler line, and when they pulled up, grenades were dropped by the rear seat observers and strafed the enemy with machine guns. The attack of the flying unit seriously dampened the morale of the Russian troops, and the Russian officers and men fell down one after another when they saw the planes rushing in, but this did not prevent the machine guns on the planes from being effective, and the Russian soldiers found that they would still be hit by bullets falling from the sky when they lay down on the open ground, so they began to look for the woods that the planes could not "see", but the battlefield was looted by artillery fire several times, and there was almost no woods to evade the planes' attacks, and some desperate Russian soldiers scattered backwards one after another, regardless of the officers' obstruction.

Zheng Hong saw this scene from afar and shouted excitedly: "Chief of Staff, the enemy's front has shaken!" ”

Zhao Minhe saw clearly from the side, thinking that he had underestimated the role of the aircraft, and nodded: "I saw it, take advantage of this time, send the reserves, but you can't just send one regiment, leave the position of the 91st Regiment to the remnants of the 32nd Brigade, and let the 91st Regiment and the 93rd Regiment insert together from the right to recapture the original position." Heavy artillery should block and fire at the enemy's starting position to prevent the enemy from putting it into reserve, field flat-fire artillery should advance and attack the enemy's position at close range as much as possible, and light howitzers should concentrate on bombarding the enemy's moving infantry to kill and wound as many enemy forces as possible......."

"Yes! I'll go and set it up right away. ”

"Remember, it's good to retake the position, don't chase too far."

"Understood!"

In the roar of heavy artillery, the 31st and 93rd regiments of the 91st Brigade rushed out of their positions and launched a counterattack against the Russian offensive forces that had been shaken. The 75-mm field flat-fire guns of the Chinese army advanced with the troops, and slammed some of the Russian infantry hiding in the trenches with strong close-mortar fire, and the ferocious fire of the Chinese howitzer artillery limited the mobility of the Russian troops, making it impossible for them to support each other, and the heavy artillery made a dense wall of fire in front of the starting position of the Russian army, so that the two regiments of the enemy's 3rd attack wave and reserve could not move forward to support. With the support of artillery and aircraft, the two regiments of the 31st Brigade concentrated on the southern section of the enemy line, where the Russian army was commanded by Major General Na Yingjie, commander of the 6th Division in the Far East, nominally containing three infantry regiments, which had in fact been severely weakened in the previous offensive, and the three light artillery batteries that followed the infantry advance were all destroyed by the Chinese heavy artillery during the movement, in addition to the serious lack of ammunition for the Russian infantry. The 22nd Far Eastern Regiment, which was at the southernmost end of the front, was attacked by the 91st Regiment of the Chinese Army, suffered heavy casualties and was expelled from its position, and the 91st Regiment then divided its troops to the north to support the 93rd Regiment in the operation, and repulsed the demoralized 21st and 23rd Regiments of the Russian Far East in one fell swoop, of which the 21st Regiment discarded all the machine guns because "...... No bullets, useless ......"

At this time, the left flank of the Russian army had been broken through, but the Chinese army had no reserves available, and it was difficult to expand the results, but was pressed by the three infantry regiments (14th, 15th and 16th regiments) commanded by Major General Dmitrivsky, commander of the 4th Division in the Far East, in the middle of the Russian front. At this time, in the northern section of the Russian front, two regiments (the 9th and 11th regiments) under the command of Major General Khvostov, commander of the 3rd Division in the Far East, were attacking the heavy artillery positions of the Chinese army from the flank and attempting to return to the headquarters of the 11th Division of the Chinese Army.

Lieutenant General Zhao Minhe, chief of staff of the 3rd Field Army, who left his post without permission and wandered on the front line, was a little anxious at this time: "If this continues, the 91st and 93rd regiments are likely to be eaten, so hurry up and retreat!" The enemy is too tenacious, our army is temporarily under-strengthened, and the counterattack is too reluctant, so let's hold it first! ”

Zheng Hong was busy dispatching troops to defend the heavy artillery position, and finally took a breath, and was ordered to withdraw the attacking troops.

Suddenly, a cavalryman reined in his horse in front of the tent at the division headquarters and asked who the division commander was, Zheng Hong called out "I am" and called the cavalryman over, who turned out to be a liaison officer sent by the 13th Regiment of the Fifth Cavalry Brigade.

According to the liaison officer, the 13th Cavalry Regiment had been ordered by the military headquarters to rush to two miles west of this place and was ready for deployment at any time.

Zheng Hong was happy in his heart, that is, he asked the herald to call their regiment commander, and after the regiment commander arrived, he gave such an explanation, and handed over the division's cavalry reconnaissance battalion to him for command, and the regiment commander gladly accepted the order, led his troops to kill the generals, but did not break through the enemy formation head-on, but went around from behind the current position of the 91st Regiment, passed through a forest, and attacked the flank of the 22nd Infantry Regiment on the southernmost part of the Russian army's entire front. I saw 2,000 cavalry spread out in three layers, shouting and charging, and the sound was terrifying. The 22nd Regiment of the Russian Army had been repelled once by the 91st Regiment of the Chinese Infantry, the strength was weak, and the morale was even weaker. The 13th Cavalry Regiment broke through the position of the enemy's 22nd Regiment, and after circling the 21st Regiment of the Russian Army non-stop, it defeated the 21st Regiment in one fell swoop and captured the commander of the 6th Far Eastern Division, Major General Nayingjie, and his brigade commander, Major General Barayev.

The 91st Regiment of the Chinese Army fought out of its position at the right time, cooperated with the 13th Cavalry Regiment, launched a surprise attack on the 23rd Regiment of the Russian Army in front of it, and after defeating the regiment, it made a detour behind the 4th Division of the Russian Far East.

Major General Dmitryvsky, commander of the 4th Division in the Far East, discovered the abnormal movements of the Chinese army in time, ordered the three infantry regiments to retreat immediately, and sent the attached 24th Cavalry Regiment to the Chinese army to cover the retreat, the Russian cavalry rushed to the Chinese cavalry, the two sides fought a melee, and the Chinese infantry rushed to help the battle, and the Russian 24th Cavalry Regiment was almost all wiped out from more than 800 people below the regiment commander, and they were captured either killed in battle, and no one escaped (in fact, there was no escape). The suicidal assault of the Russian cavalry allowed the 4th Division to withdraw from the battlefield relatively smoothly, although in the process of retreating, the division was heavily bombarded by heavy artillery, the losses were not small, and the division commander, Major General Dmitrivsky, was also seriously wounded, but after all, the regiments did not collapse, and the formed units were basically preserved.

Since the 4th Division had retreated, the 9th and 11th Regiments of the 3rd Division, which were storming the heavy artillery positions of the Chinese army in the northern section of the battle line, were pressed by the Chinese troops from both sides and had to retreat, and the Chinese troops did not pursue them. At 5 o'clock in the afternoon, the 102nd Brigade of the 34th Reserve Infantry Division arrived, replacing the 32nd Brigade, which had lost its offensive power, and was reorganized into the 11th Division. Subsequently, the 33rd Brigade also rushed back at dusk and returned to the command of the 11th Division, and Major General Zheng Hong finally had three usable tours in his hands.

The battle on the Novoshakhtinsky side was lackluster that day, and the three brigades of the 13th Division of the Chinese Army cautiously broke into the Russian positions after two hundred artillery bombardments for 2 hours, only to be blocked by a small number of rear guard units of the Russian army, and after a period of fire, the Russian soldiers immediately fled, and the Chinese brigade did not know what was going on, but instead summoned artillery bombardment, and as a result, the fighting stopped, and it was not until 16 o'clock that the new Shakhtinsky was completely occupied, killing 246 enemies and capturing 217 enemies, and the price paid was 35 killed and 87 wounded. One-third of the casualties were caused by accidental bombing by their own fire. In the course of the battle, the 33rd Brigade, which was responsible for cutting off the connection between Novoshakhtinsky and Shuangchengzi, lost 44 people, wounded 126 people, killed 129 enemies, and captured 71 enemies.

The focus of the fierce battle between the two sides on that day was Shuangchengzi, the 11th Division of the Chinese Army and the 3 divisions of the Russian Army were damaged to varying degrees, the 32nd Brigade of the 11th Division of the Chinese Army was the most seriously damaged, and 1,291 of the 8,000 people who participated in the battle that day were killed, 2,757 wounded, and 615 missing, that is, more than half of the personnel (4,663) were lost, and they could no longer carry out offensive operations, and had to withdraw to the rear area for rest. The 33rd Brigade had about 8,500 men in battle that day, 638 killed, 1,957 wounded, 278 missing, and about a third of its personnel lost (2,873), barely remaining on the front line as a garrison. There were also many losses in the cavalry artillery of the division headquarters and divisions, with a total of 87 killed and 215 wounded. The 13th Cavalry Regiment was the most critical force in the battle that day, the attack launched by the regiment from the enemy's flank directly contributed to the collapse of the attacking force of the Russian 6th Division, which had brought its combat effectiveness to a critical point, and then triggered the retreat of the rest of the Russian army, but the loss of the regiment was not small, 287 of the approximately 1,600 officers and soldiers who participated in the battle were killed, 512 were wounded, and nearly half of the losses were lost. In addition, more than 34 artillery pieces of the regiment were lost (captured, destroyed).

According to the information released after the war, the 6th Division of the Russian Army suffered "unbearable" losses that day, after seven hours of fighting, the division that was originally the general reserve of the First Army in the Far East, the three infantry regiments directly involved in the battle suffered more than half of the casualties, and the three artillery batteries were completely destroyed, with a total of 2,251 killed, 4,109 wounded, 863 missing (mostly captured), and the loss of personnel reached 7,223 people, while the total strength of this division was only 18,000 people. The 4th Division of the Russian Army was able to successfully retreat to its positions due to the cover of the suicidal assault of the 24th Cavalry Regiment, but it still suffered heavy casualties throughout the operation, with a total of 1,297 killed, 2,874 wounded, 901 missing, and 5,072 casualties. The 3rd Division of the Russian Army, due to its position in the assist position and only sending two infantry regiments directly into the battle, suffered small losses, but also 506 people were killed, 1334 were wounded, 112 were missing, and a total loss of 1952 people. The losses on the cavalry side were even heavier, of the five cavalry regiments participating in the battle, three regiments were completely wiped out, one regiment was severely damaged, and a total of 3,128 people were killed and missing. Russian artillery, sappers and garrisons of the fortress also suffered losses in the heavy shelling of the Chinese army, 181 people were killed and 349 were wounded. Due to the precise strikes of the heavy artillery of the Chinese army, which has the means of air calibration, the Russian army has lost a lot of artillery, and there are only 4 artillery batteries that have been completely destroyed, and a total of 67 artillery pieces have been damaged or destroyed.

In contrast, in the battle of Shuangchengzi on the 21st, the Chinese army lost a total of 8,673 personnel, and the Russian army lost 17,905.

“…… In a spiritual sense, this battle highlighted the determination and courage of the Russian army, inspired the will of the army and the people to fight, and improved the internal situation of our army......"

—Stessel, Commander's Notes.