On the night of 23 May, the Soviet soldiers, who had been fighting all day, dragged their tired bodies under the orders of their commanders, set up bonfires, boiled the snow, cooled it, poured snow water on the fortifications, and as soon as the cold wind blew, it immediately solidified into a solid ice wall.

In the daytime battle, the Soviet soldiers tasted the sweetness of fortifications protection, if there were no ice walls, they might be one of those corpses, therefore, although they were tired and eager to fall asleep immediately, they were also busy working for their own lives without complaint, and the whole process, even without the agitation of political commissars at all levels, nor the persecution of officers, the soldiers' actions were very conscious, and the soldiers who had experienced the brutal battles during the day knew the importance of fortifications.

At this time, the Japanese troops, who had been fighting all day and were bleeding from their heads, did not rest and were preparing for tomorrow's attack, and nearly two million Japanese soldiers did not know that their commander-in-chief, Prince Jaehion, had arrived at the headquarters with an urgent telegram, and tonight, don't think about resting.

The commander-in-chief of the Kwantung Army, General Minamijiro, held the order of the headquarters in his hand, his eyebrows were twisted together, and in the daytime battle, although the Kwantung Army only dispatched five or four divisions of troops, from the rear of the Soviet position, to do a diversionary attack, therefore, the battle in this direction was far less fierce than the frontal battlefield, but General Minamijiro was not idle, and the Soviet reinforcements came, and he had a hunch that the Kwantung Army would soon be pressed up.

Therefore, General Minamijiro sent all the staff officers of the headquarters to the main direction of attack to observe the progress of the battle, and himself, regardless of the danger, followed a wing to the distance of the Soviet position. Less than a kilometer away, carefully observing the defensive situation of the Soviet position, General Minamijiro never dared to take his old opponent Zhukov, who had been fighting for several years, lightly.

When he saw that the ice and snow fortifications that had been erected almost overnight now stretched out into the distance along the vast snowy fields, like ancient city walls, under the brilliant sunshine of the Far East. When the light of the dazzling eyes was reflected, General Minamijiro couldn't help but be amazed, and admired Zhukov's military genius, who would actually use local materials and turn the ordinary into magic. Use ice and snow to build an impregnable defense.

Admiral Minamijiro had a hunch. Today in the direction of the main attack. The Far Eastern Dispatch Army and the Korean garrison troops may not be able to take advantage, but the fact is as he expected, after paying more than 100,000 casualties, not even a single Soviet position has broken through, and the direction of the Kwantung Army's attack. also encountered the same problem, in the face of the ice and snow fortifications of the Soviet army, the powerful artillery fire of the Kwantung Army only blew up countless pieces of broken ice.

Admiral Minamijiro lay on his stomach on the snow. When he saw that his soldiers rushed up like a tide, fell on their backs in front of the slippery fortifications, and then, under the dense raindrop of bullets of the Soviet army, turned into a corpse covered in blood, General Minamijiro decisively ordered the infantry to stop the attack, but with artillery fire, continue to bombard the Soviet positions and attract Soviet troops.

It is not the main direction of attack, the campaign headquarters did not ask for it, the Kwantung Army broke through the defensive positions of the Soviet army, coupled with the decisive halt of the offensive by General Minamijiro, therefore, compared with the two troops attacking frontally, the losses of the Kwantung Army can be described as minimal, but General Minamijiro could not be happy, Zhukov's ice and snow defense line, if it is not broken in an effective way, the imperial army will come back at an astonishing price, and the campaign to encircle and annihilate the Soviet Far Eastern Front will be greatly extended, in the case of the reinforcements of the two Soviet fronts, Delaying the end of the campaign was very detrimental to the Empire.

At this time, General Minamijiro had already considered the overall situation from the perspective of the commander-in-chief of the campaign, he believed that Prince Zaihito was undoubtedly an excellent commander, and he could be too inferior, of course, it also implied the meaning of fighting for the Mitsuichi faction, and before returning to the headquarters, he gave the following order to the commander of the artillery of the Kwantung Army: "All artillery groups belonging to the Kwantung Army must continuously shell the positions of the Soviet army, especially at one point, and reach the saturation range of artillery fire!" ”

General Minamijiro intends to look at the artillery fire in the case of saturation and bombardment, and the damage caused to Zhukov's ice and snow defense system, so as to find a breakthrough, and General Minamijiro has the confidence to squander the shells like this, with his back to Manchuria, and a steady stream of supplies, the Kwantung Army is not worried about the lack of ammunition.

When it was dark, the call from the artillery commander made General Minamijiro very frustrated, "Your Excellency Commander-in-Chief, according to your order, I specially organized an artillery group, with eighty 150 mm howitzers, to shell one of the Soviet positions for three hours, and the results were disappointing, the damage to the Soviet defense system was very unsatisfactory, and the broken ice that was blown up became an obstacle to the infantry charge. ”

General Minamijiro put down the phone in a bad way, and admired Zhukov very much, a defense system based on local materials actually made the army of nearly two million Imperial Japan helpless, and his own troops, encountered this situation, and the troops attacking in the frontal direction were not much better!

The staff officers who observed the attack of other troops called back to confirm this, and the casualties paid by the main attacking force made General Minamijiro speechless for a long time, and then he felt distressed, although it was not his own troops, but it was hundreds of thousands of imperial soldiers!

When it was time for dinner, General Minamijiro still didn't think of the way to crack it, he locked himself in a tent, and he wasn't even in the mood to eat dinner, that ice and snow defense line would bring huge casualties to the Kwantung Army, and the Kwantung Army, which had already suffered a lot of vitality, could no longer afford to toss!

General Minamijiro, walking around anxiously in the tent, one by one came to mind, and then, was denied, at this time, outside the tent, there was a sound of talking, and the movement was quite big, General Minamijiro, who was disturbed by his train of thought, was very displeased, he had already ordered the guards, within two hundred meters of the tent, no one was allowed to approach, how could anyone break over?

"Who's making a lot of noise outside?" Admiral Minamijiro yelled angrily outside.

The curtain of the tent was lifted, and a lieutenant with a squad came in, standing upright, and when he saw His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, his face was angry, and he trembled with fright: "Your Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, it is the captain of the mountain and forest combat team directly under the headquarters, Yokota Maeyama Osa, said that there is something important and asks to see you, and we have told him your order, but Yokota Osa has to see him, we blocked it, there was a quarrel, and it disturbed the rest of the commander-in-chief, please deal with it!" ”

"Huh?" General Minamijiro rolled his eyes suspiciously, this Yokota Maeyama Osa, he has some impressions of this person, but he is not an extremely outstanding officer, in the Kwantung Army Headquarters, the officer of the rank of Osa, grabs a handful, just with a Dazuo, he can't get into his own eyes, the reason why he has some impression of this person is because Yokota has a mountain and forest combat team.

This mountain and forest combat team, or his predecessor, Muto Nobuyoshi left behind, is to deal with the Communist Party's resistance to the United Nations, and specially established, Muto Nobuyoshi is very concerned about this, many to give care, is a trump card in his hand, it is said that in an operation in the mountains of South Manchuria, but also almost killed the now famous, the number one enemy of the Japanese Empire, that branch man Tang Qiuli.

However, General Minamijiro is not interested in this, and it is the strength that determines the outcome of the war, so he does not believe that a mountain and forest combat team with only 100 people can play a role on the battlefield where hundreds of thousands of troops are fighting, and General Minamijiro, who advocates the battle of large corps, naturally will not take such a pediatric trick to heart, and the reason why he did not disband the mountain and forest combat team is all for the sake of his predecessor Muto Nobuyoshi.

is also the next department of the Mi Cabinet, and has successively held the power of the commander-in-chief of the Kwantung Army, and it is not good that as soon as he takes office, he will deny all the qiē of his predecessor to be worthless, Muto's guy is unlucky enough, and he has come and gone, this mountain and forest combat team has been retained, of course, because the new commander-in-chief of the Kwantung Army is not welcome, and Yokota's mountain and forest combat team, from the former darling, has been reduced to an inconspicuous small role and has been completely marginalized.

This Yokota Osa is also a strange person, he is not taken seriously, and he does not complain, as usual, he still takes more than 100 people under his command, and the mysterious toss of the gods, General Minamijiro stopped reminiscing and secretly thought to himself: "Perhaps, Muto will be removed from the base camp if he goes out of the way, right?" ”

Originally, today's mood is not good, this inconspicuous Yokota, there is no need to see it, can remember this person, or because of the nondescript mountain and forest combat team, General Nanjiro felt a little tired in his heart, and wanted to let the captain of the guard with the squad drive that guy away, a guy who has never fought a regular battle, what important things can there be, General Nanjiro felt funny in his heart.

"Sue him, I don't have time, if there is anything, go to the chief of staff to talk!" The guard chief stood upright, and was just about to go out, when suddenly, Senior General Minamijiro's heart moved, "This Yokota, who usually doesn't come to him, doesn't fit in with the other officers at the headquarters, is like a lone wolf, and now, suddenly asks to see himself, is there really something important?" ”

Thinking of this, General Minamijiro suddenly became interested in seeing Yokota Daisa, so he ordered, "Let him come in!" ”

As soon as the curtain of the tent opened, a thin and tall officer came in with steady steps, "snapped" upright, a standard military salute, "Report to the commander-in-chief, the captain of the mountain and forest combat team directly under the General Headquarters of the Kwantung Army, Yokota Maeyama, ask to see you!" ”

The voice was steady and the tone was loud, General Nanjiro looked at Yokota with interest, but there was nothing surprising about it, but this guy's eyes were gloomy and a little scary, "Yokota Daisa, do you have anything important, anxious to see me?" He asked.

(To be continued)(To be continued......