Yang Zhen believes that the key node of this battle is in a fast word. And in order to cut off the connection between the various units of the Japanese army in the shortest possible time. The best way to achieve this goal is to use tanks to carry out large-depth interspersed operations. Use the rapid advance of the tank cluster to cut off the connection between the various units of the Japanese army and isolate the various positions of the Japanese army.

In accordance with the current deployment posture of the Japanese army, a large-scale interspersed encirclement battle will be carried out. The Japanese forces around Shenyang were cut off from each other before they could reinforce Shenyang, and the Japanese heavy forces north of Shenyang were encircled. But the biggest headache at the moment is the lack of tanks.

In the battle at the end of '43 and the beginning of '44, the two battlefields of North China and Northeast China were combined, and the total number of tanks lost was quite large. The need to replenish the losses of the previous battle, the need to expand the armored forces, and the need to feint the troops, the number of tanks is very large.

Moreover, according to the rapid assault tactics formulated by Yang Zhen, the slow-moving British tanks were basically unable to participate in flank roundabouts, and could only push flat from the front. However, according to the plan formulated by Yang Zhen this time, it is precisely based on rapid assault. After removing these imperial tanks, the tank gap is even larger.

Under the situation of slow production speed, if you want to completely rely on your own production to make up for the gap, at least this battle will not be able to start for four or four years. Since the end of the battle, the Americans have only given the Anti-Japanese Union 150 M4 medium tanks, 100 M5 light tanks, and a batch of half-track armored vehicles in May.

By the time the Normandy landings began in June, the Americans had largely stopped fighting against United Nations tank aid. After the start of its landing operation, there were a large number of battle losses on the European battlefield almost every day, and the Americans, who were somewhat anxious, did not even let the Anti-Japanese Union see a single plane bullet.

The Germans that the Americans are currently encountering in the Western European theater are definitely not comparable to the Japanese in terms of tank strength or anti-tank strength. Including the 88-millimeter anti-aircraft gun, which could penetrate a qiē tank during flat fire, the German army's large-caliber anti-tank guns were complete in number and quite large. The German tanks, both in terms of artillery and armor performance, are not comparable to the Japanese tanks.

In the face of the powerful anti-tank artillery fire of the German army, as well as the counter-charge of more than 2,000 No. 4, Panther and Tiger tanks successively invested by the German army, plus self-propelled assault (1) (1) (1) (1) and M≈C ▲ guns. Even with air superiority and naval superiority, the U.S. army, plus some British and Canadian armies that used American-made tanks, as well as the armored units of the French and Polish armies, still suffered heavy losses under the German resistance at any cost.

The M-4 tanks used by the Americans, and the Cromwell, Churchill and other tanks used by the British, were basically powerless in the face of the Germans' Long-Barreled No. 4, Panthers, and Tiger tanks. Coupled with the German flat-firing eight-eight-millimeter anti-aircraft guns, as well as a large number of iron-fisted bazookas equipped with infantry, the losses of the American and British troops were unusually heavy.

In particular, the Sherman tank used by the U.S. military is called the Langson lighter because it basically uses a gasoline engine. In the European theater, facing the German army's 75 mm or even larger caliber tank guns and anti-tank guns, they were basically destroyed as soon as they were hit.

There was a record of one hundred and seventy tanks destroyed in one day by a British armored division. If it weren't for the overwhelming bombing of the US and British air forces, the German counterattacks were often abandoned halfway, or the troops participating in the war were forcibly blown up by the air raids, and the US and British troops who could not land would have been driven back to the sea by the tanks of the German counterattack.

The British advanced seven miles in a modest battle, losing 400 tanks and wasting thousands of tons of bombs dropped by thousands of bombers. According to this loss figure, if Berlin is hit, Yang Zhen estimates that the number of tanks lost by the United States and Britain is enough to pile up mountains.

The huge battle losses on the battlefield in France, coupled with the counterattack launched by the Soviet army since the end of 43, caused huge casualties and equipment losses. The Americans, who needed the Soviets to contain the Germans on the Eastern Front and could not move westward, were put to the last place in the tank replenishment of the Confrontation Alliance. From April 44, the number of tanks arriving in the Northeast became smaller and smaller, until a complete interruption at the end of May.

After the end of the battle in Belarus, the Soviets also handed over more than 300 German No. 4 tank trophies, but these quantities simply did not make up for the need. On the contrary, the light weapons and ammunition they handed over and seized were enough to last three years for the troops in North China. However, the number of tank gaps has not been able to replenish the required number.

The Germans, who were fighting on three fronts, were already unlikely to put more tanks on one battlefield. The stubborn resistance of the German army to the Soviet attack, as well as the overwhelming artillery fire invested by the Soviet army during the attack, also made the amount of booty of the Soviets not increase greatly with the progress of the war.

Until the end of the Battle of Falais, the Americans finally breathed a sigh of relief. At Yang Zhen's resolute request, all German tanks and all artillery guns captured by the United States and Britain on the Western Front were handed over to the Anti-Japanese Union. In addition, within a few months, the Anti-Japanese Federation produced 280 tanks with all its might, and the Americans gave another batch of 140 M4 tanks in early August, so that the required number was sufficient.

However, the last batch of American-made tanks arrived in August, that is, the 4th Armored Division that participated in the battle, and it was not until 18 October that they really formed their combat effectiveness. And these tanks are also the penultimate batch of German-made tanks and American-made M 4 medium tanks received by the Anti-Japanese Union from the Americans.

By the end of 44 and November, after the Americans had handed over more than 200 German No. 4 tanks and more than 100 150 howitzers, they completely stopped handing over German trophies to the Anti-Japanese Union. And the American-made tanks were only given at the end of the year, and a batch of M-5 light tanks and 200 medium tanks were given.

But fortunately, by this time, the tanks of the Germans in the front-line troops were basically all No. 4 and Panther tanks. Although this structure is a bit more complicated, it is also really amazing, and it can penetrate two Japanese tanks next to each other in one shot.

A total of 120 Panther tanks obtained by Yang Zhen on the eastern and western fronts were incorporated into a heavy tank battalion for each armored division. As for the rest of the No. 4 tanks, they were supplemented with two divisions, Panzer 1 and 2, as supplementary tanks. And several separate tank regiments were formed.

The arrival of these tanks, and at the same time his own feints in Tanggu and North Korea, achieved satisfactory results, and Yang Zhen really made up his mind to start the operation. Yang Zhen, who arrived at the front line of Guojiadian on 17 October to set up a front-line command post, held an operational meeting at the column level. This was also the only operational meeting held by Yang Zhen in the final battle of the South Manchurian strategy.

Looking at the senior generals below, Yang Zhen and the military representative sent by the central government around him, Mr. Lin, the deputy commander of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region who cooperated with the anti-United Nations operation on the western front, and Guo Bingxun glanced at each other, and he always skipped the opening remarks, and directly turned around to face the large combat map hanging behind him, and Guo Bingxun, chief of the general staff of the Anti-Japanese Federation, began to arrange the task.

Receiving Yang Zhen's signal to start, Guo Bingxun walked to the map and picked up the baton and said: "In this battle, the headquarters is very determined. There is only one goal, and that is to capture the whole of South Manchuria. In this battle, the headquarters mobilized all the troops that could participate in the battle, and they were divided into four strategic groups. ”

"The western cluster was commanded by Wang Guangyu, and eight divisions plus an armored brigade, three independent tank regiments, and local troops of the Rehe Military Region were unified under the command of eight divisions, one armored brigade, three independent tank regiments, and local troops of the Rehe Military Region to launch an attack on Jinzhou and Jinxi from the Songtoumen and Yangshan lines. And with a force out of Qinghemen to seize Yixian, complete the division of the Japanese army in western Liaoning, and finally seize the Jinzhou line to cut off the Beining Railway. ”

"At the same time, the first and third columns of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, plus the first, second, and third independent brigades of the Eastern Hebei Military Region, accompanied by the independent tank regiment and the howitzer regiment directly under the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, launched an attack from the Shanhaiguan line in the direction of Xingcheng and Huludao, and cooperated with the western cluster to launch an attack in the direction of Jinzhou."

"The Central Cluster is under the direct command of the headquarters and is divided into two tactical corps, the East and the West. The Western Front Corps was commanded by Chen Hanzhang with six infantry divisions, the 1st Armored Division and the 4th Armored Division, as well as the 1st Independent Cavalry Brigade, the 3rd Zhouqiao Regiment, and the 3rd, 6th, and 8th Engineer Regiments directly under the General Headquarters. ”

"After the corps completed the forced crossing of the Liao River, it reinforced four infantry divisions with one armored division, seized the line of Xinchengzi and Hushitai, and cut off the retreat of the Japanese army north of Shenyang. At the same time, with the strength of two divisions, he seized the sub and cut off the connection between Xinmin and Shenyang. The department also has a task, that is, to seize Shenyang City before the Japanese army reacts. ”

"The Western Front Corps was under the unified command of Du Kaishan, with the 3rd and 5th Armored Brigades, the 1st Mountain Infantry Division, and 7 Infantry Divisions, rapidly advancing south along the Xifeng-Shenyang highway from Xifeng. It converged with the western cluster on the first line of Xinchengzi and Hushitai, and completed the encirclement of the Japanese army north of Shenyang. ”

"The Eastern Cluster is equipped with two armored brigades, one cavalry brigade, and five infantry divisions under the unified command of Wang Xiaoming. The entire eastern cluster has only one goal, that is, to concentrate one qiē force, ignore the resistance of the Japanese troops along the way, and advance at high speed in the two directions of Anshan and Benxi Lake. In a word, if you can arrive at Anshan, Benxi Lake, and Miyahara within the specified time, even if you complete the strategic task of rectification. ”

"This line is located in the hilly area of eastern Liaodong, full of mountains and forests, and it is quite difficult to put it in front of the eastern cluster. Under the condition of the mountainous highways being extremely harsh and the enemy troops blocking them along the way, it is undoubtedly quite difficult to enter Anshan and Benxi Lake in the shortest possible time and cut off the Anbong Railway and the Zhongchang Railway. ”

At this point, Guo Bingxun put down the baton in his hand, looked at Wang Xiaoming, who was somewhat hesitant on his face, and said: "The headquarters also knows that this task is not easy to complete, so No. 1 and I will give you a chance to choose." Can you guarantee this, if you can't do it, you can consider replacing the headquarters. ”

"Anshan and Benxi Lake are the two largest steel bases built by Japan in South Manchuria, and these two places must be recaptured in their entirety. The terrain along the way is quite complicated, and most of them are fighting in the mountains. Under the circumstance that the matter is crucial, the headquarters will not force a commander to accomplish such a task. ”

Hearing that the headquarters had some doubts about whether he had the determination to complete the task, Wang Xiaoming's face turned red, and he stood up and said: "No. 1, No. 3, the old rules of the Anti-Japanese Federation, the orders of the superiors must be completed at any cost." Since the headquarters handed over this direction to me, then I only have one sentence, you will kill my head if you can't complete the task. ”

"However, I have two requests, I hope that the headquarters will transfer Cao Yafan to me as deputy commander. He is an old man of the First Army, who participated in the Southern Expedition of the First Army, and he is quite familiar with the mountains and rivers of Liaodong. Let him command the vanguard troops, and it will be quite convenient for our operation. Also, there is a Soviet-style 160-mm mortar regiment at the headquarters, and I hope that this mortar regiment can be transferred to me as well. ”