Sato Kotoku was very confident in his unit's ability to fight at night, especially after learning that the 3rd Brigade of the 73rd Wing, the last reserve of the division, had also arrived on the battlefield.

At about 8 o'clock that night, under the cover of light rain, all the members of the 2nd Brigade of the 73rd Wing went out, slipped down Zhanggu Peak in the night, and advanced in the direction of the Black Mountain Heights in the dark. It should be said that there was really no problem with the Japanese army's ability to fight at night, at least the Red Army at that time could not catch up. From the time they left Zhang Gufeng to the foot of the Montenegro Heights, the Japanese army's movements were not discovered by the Red Army.

Seeing that there were only the last two hundred meters left, Kotoku Sato, who personally commanded the night attack, licked his lips and ordered to the left and right: "Speed up and prepare to attack!" ”

Just as Sato Kotoku was speaking, a fireball suddenly burst out dozens of meters in front of him, and then a violent explosion exploded in his ears. Before Sato Kotoku could figure out what was going on, explosions rang out one after another, and many ghost soldiers were inexplicably blown into sieves.

"What's going on! Who is exposed! Kotoku Sato shouted in exasperation.

But no one could answer his question for the time being, because more than a dozen flares flew from the top of the Black Mountain Heights, illuminating the entire hillside into a white field. Then the light and heavy machine guns of the Red Army at various firing points opened fire fiercely, and more than a dozen tongues of fire instantly knocked the Japanese soldiers who got up and charged to the ground.

This is not the worst, and the worse thing is that the artillery of the Red Army reacted very quickly, and the mortar detachments specially used to support the Montenegrin heights opened fire fiercely, and for a time the devils were firmly pinned to the hillside and could not move.

"Yaga!"

Nobuki Morimoto, who was observing the battle on the other side of the Tumen River, saw this scene through his binoculars, and after scolding, he ordered his artillery to open fire immediately. In any case, the artillery of the Soviet army must also be suppressed. Otherwise, Sato Kotoku's troops will be meat buns and dogs, and there will be no return.

The Japanese artillery concealed on the west side of the Tumen River immediately opened fire. Fiercely bombarded the summit of the Montenegrin Heights and the Soviet mortars hidden behind the Montenegrin Heights, but they only finished a salvo and immediately destroyed the counterattack of the Red Army's long-range artillery. The 152-mm and 203-mm heavy guns quickly suppressed the Japanese field artillery.

At this time, Sato Yukitoku had just had time to order the troops to retreat. As the saying goes, it is easy to go up the mountain and difficult to go down, and the devil soldiers in the middle of the mountain can hardly raise their heads in the face of the superior firepower of the Red Army, so they can only lie on the ground and climb backwards, not to mention the awkwardness.

"Let the heavy machine gun on Zhang Gufeng cover Sato Yutoku, quick!" Nobuki Morimoto gave another order.

Zhanggu Peak is much higher than the Montenegrin Highlands. The Japanese heavy machine guns at the top of Zhanggu Peak were able to reach the heights of Montenegro, but the Japanese did not dare to do so during the day, because the Red Army had air superiority, and once they found their machine gun fire points, they would dive and drop bombs, and they would knock out these fire points in minutes.

There were not so many scruples at night, but what the Japanese army did not expect was that their fire support did not suppress the Soviet troops on the heights of Montenegro, but were stunned by the powerful firepower of the other side.

Ichiro Suzuki, a Japanese soldier who was captured after the war, recalled: "The Soviet fire on the heights of Montenegro was extremely fierce, and it was easy to dumb our heavy machine guns, and the rows of bullets that rained down easily penetrated our field fortifications. Many of the machine gunners hiding in the fortifications were broken in two......"

So what exactly did the Red Army use as a secret weapon? In fact, it is not a secret weapon, it is nothing more than anti-aircraft machine gun flat fire. Li Xiaofeng had already foreseen that the Japanese army would storm the Montenegrin Heights. In order to increase the firepower of the defenders, he airlifted four 14.5 mm ZPU-2 anti-aircraft machine guns from the 32nd Infantry Division's anti-aircraft artillery battalion to the Montenegrin heights by helicopter, and their task was to suppress fire.

It has to be said that these four-door twin ZPU-2 played a huge role, almost sweeping the Japanese firepower points. In fact, Li Xiaofeng once wanted to transport the 37-mm anti-aircraft gun, and it would be cool to use the anti-aircraft gun to shoot flat.

Under the suppression of the four ZPU-2s, the Japanese heavy machine guns on Zhang Gufeng soon became mute, and Sato Yutoku's troops could only retreat without cover, killing and wounding more than 200 people along the way. The 2nd Brigade of the 73rd Wing was directly directed, and basically lost its combat effectiveness.

This defeat was a heavy blow to the Japanese army, and when the superior night battle also lost its effect, they no longer knew what else they could do to hold their positions. Especially in the second half of the night, when the Soviet army also began to fight at night, the devils really had mixed feelings.

The night battles of the Red Army were different from those of the devils, and the people who participated in the night battles were still combat engineers, and the scale was not as large as that of the devils, and they basically belonged to the company and platoon level. Don't look at the small scale, but the lethality is not small, flamethrowers, cloud burst bombs, grenades and explosives, little by little encroaching on the Japanese position, the accumulation of a lot is considerable.

And once the Japanese army was unwilling to be squeezed out so little by little, and launched a counterattack, anti-aircraft machine guns and mortars from the heights of Montenegro would open heavy fire. With such a combination of punches, the devil was almost powerless to fight back, so that the devil, who has always been good at night fighting, wished that it would be better to get dawn earlier.

However, when the day dawned, the devils were not pleased, and the Red Army's air force and artillery continued to bombard their positions throughout the day, pinning them down. So much so that Nobuki Morimoto more than once asked the North Korean military command for air force support.

Is that devil's air force capable of supporting Zhang Gufeng? It's a pity that no, after the baptism of the Spanish Civil War, the Red Army's air force has almost undergone a radical change, a large number of excellent pilots have grown up, and the performance of the fighters has also been greatly improved, and the new fighters represented by the Yak-1 firmly control the air supremacy, so that the devils can not cross the thunder pool one step.

To be honest, this is still the Red Front of the Far East that is not very well equipped, and if it is replaced by the Baltic Front, the Belarusian Front and the Ukrainian Front, it can really stab the devil's chrysanthemum.

Therefore, even if the devil's fighter tried to get close to Zhang Gufeng, every time it was either in vain or the plane was destroyed and killed, which also deeply stimulated the devil and made the devil speed up the research and development progress of the new fighter.

Back on the ground battlefield, following the capture of the Montenegrin heights on 13 July. On July 14. Li Xiaofeng chose the key target of the attack as the 52 Heights southeast of Zhanggufeng. The 39th Infantry Division, supported by air-ground fire, occupied the heights in just two hours. However, as after yesterday's occupation of the Montenegrin Heights, the 39th Infantry Division did not continue to attack Zhanggufeng, but chose to stick to the position and strengthen its position.

This time, Sato Kotoku on Zhang Gufeng was dumbfounded, he didn't expect the Soviet army to suddenly become so shameless and patient. The two days of fighting were completely different from the previous three days, the Soviet army in the first three days was like Zhang Fei with hairy hands, and the Soviet army in these two days was as quiet as a virgin.

If Sato Xingde has a choice, then he must choose the Soviet army like Zhang Fei, and now the Soviet army's "mother" style of play really makes him very uncomfortable.

"Dazuo. Do you want to attack at night? ”

Facing the inquiries of his subordinates, Sato Kotoku smiled bitterly: "Forget it, Lucia's ghost beast has increased its vigilance, and night attacks will not be useful." Let the soldiers rest and prepare for tomorrow's hard battle! ”

Kotoku Sato had already realized that tomorrow would be a tough battle for him, but what he didn't expect was how painful it was. In the early hours of the morning, Zhang Gufeng's Soviet troops first began to attack and harass the Japanese positions, constantly encroaching on the Japanese positions as they did last night. The difference. Yesterday there was only one side of anti-aircraft machine gun fire support from the Montenegrin Highlands, and tonight even the 52 Highlands were equipped with ZPU-2 anti-aircraft machine guns.

The 14.5mm anti-explosive and armor-piercing shells fired from two sides made it almost impossible for the devil to look up. By dawn, the Soviet troops on Zhanggu Peak had reoccupied nearly half of their positions. For the devils, the shape is already extremely bad, they have no power to fight back, as long as the Soviet army continues to use the same tactics, at most it will take three days, they will lose Zhang Gufeng. And once Zhang Gufeng is lost, none of the defenders on Shacao Peak will want to run away.

Unable to sit still any longer, Otaka Kamizo kept sending telegrams to Kotaro Nakamura, demanding immediate reinforcements. The problem is where Nakamura Kotaro has reinforcements to send, and there is only one 19th division in the North Korean army, and now the entire division is trapped in Zhang Gufeng, so he can't be allowed to personally take the troops directly under his headquarters to the front line, right?

In desperation, Kotaro Nakamura could only kick the ball up and respond to Odaka Kamezo's request to the staff headquarters, so that Kanin Miyajihito had a headache.

On 14 July, after learning of the report that the 19th Division's battle was "not going well," Xianyuan Gong Zairen sent a telegram with very special wording to the Kwantung Army, asking the Kwantung Army to conduct a field training at Zhanggufeng.

Why is it in the name of night fighting? It's very simple, Xianyuan Gong Zairen didn't dare to report the news of the 19th Division's "unsatisfactory" to Hirohito, once Hirohito knew that Zhang Gufeng had suffered a big loss to the Japanese army, no one could say whether it would sway immediately. So I could only secretly reinforce the 19th Division.

However, Xianyuan Gong Zairen thought about the problem too simply, as the main force of the Japanese army fell into the Chinese battlefield, the Kwantung Army was also transferred a lot of troops, and the existing strength of the Kwantung Army really had no time to take care of Zhang Gufeng. As soon as they were preparing to mobilize, the 2nd Independent Red Banner Army of the Far Eastern Red Banner Front, which was confronting the Kwantung Army, and the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Army in Hung Yen Province immediately made a move and began to exert pressure. Immediately, the Kwantung Army did not dare to move, so it could only honestly stay where it was.

On July 15, three days after Apanashchenko was shot, Li Xiaofeng again convened an operational meeting of the commanders of the Far Eastern Red Front Army and above.

Compared to three days ago, the officers were much better, the battle was going smoothly and they were much less stressed, and the way someone commanded the battle was much softer than Apanashchenko. There is no longer Apanashchenko's commanding tone, nor does he interfere with specific tactical commands. Someone only made a general arrangement, and paid great attention to the opinions of the junior officers in the specific methods of combat, which made the officers of the Far Eastern Red Banner Front, who had been very bitterly suppressed by Apanashchenko's paternalistic style, feel that they had been in a drought for a long time.

Not only is he very open-minded in command, but Li Xiaofeng also does not make a big fuss about politics, unlike Mehris who goes online at every turn, or buttons his hat. On the contrary, he has been decompressing the officers, always emphasizing not to have a psychological burden and not to worry about being punished for not going well in battle.

With such a two-pronged approach, the commander of the Red Front Army in the Far East finally began to perform at a normal level, which also made the battle smoother and the losses smaller.

However, in this harmonious atmosphere, Li Xiaofeng put forward a new demand: "Now the enemy's main force has only two positions left: Zhanggufeng and Shacaofeng. The Reconquista is only a matter of time for us. In this case. We should adjust the campaign objectives. Our army should aim to completely annihilate the enemy's 19th Division on the opposite side, and strive to deal the heaviest blow to the enemy at one time, so that they will not dare to cross the thunder pool for several years to come......"

Li Xiaofeng's request was very difficult for the senior commanders of the Far Eastern Red Banner Front, because the previous order of the Military Commission was there - not to prepare to cross the border. Although someone had captured the Montenegrin Heights before, this was also a crossing, but this kind of small-scale crossing of the border was completely different from the nature of crossing the Tumen River with great fanfare. If the Central Military Commission really wants to investigate, who will bear this responsibility?

"The responsibility is on me alone." Li Xiaofeng knew very well what the generals were worried about. He did not hesitate to resist the responsibility, "Now let's talk about the specific battle plan, the 32nd and 40th Infantry Divisions and the 2nd Mechanized Brigade after resting and recuperating crossed the river from the upper reaches of Zhanggufeng to outflank the enemy's 19th Division......

In fact, there is nothing new about Li Xiaofeng's battle plan, and it can even be said that it is very simple and has no technical content, and it can be summed up as a roundabout outflanking four words. Some comrades may think that this is too simple, isn't it a bit of child's play?

It is no child's play at all, and now the main force of the 19th Division is trapped in Zhanggufeng, and there are no redundant field troops except for the troops directly under the division, baggage troops, and artillery on the other side of the Tumen River. For the Soviet army. As long as you bravely cross the Tumen River, quickly interspersed. Then came the good days of eating meat, and it was not difficult at all.

In fact, it was not a military issue that constrained the Soviet army from completely annihilating the 19th Division of the Japanese Army, but a political issue, that is, the instruction of the Military Commission tied the hands and feet of the Soviet army. And now that Li Xiaofeng has cut this rope, the next battle is almost nine times out of ten.

"Comrade Felix has arrived in Vladivostok."

After the military meeting, Yakov said to Li Xiaofeng. Li Xiaofeng knew very well what Yakov meant, that was actually to let him take it easy, don't give the man in the iron mask a handle at this time, and it is best not to disobey the instructions of the Military Commission.

Li Xiaofeng patted Yakov on the shoulder and said with a smile: "You don't know Comrade Felix very well, although he is called the Man in the Iron Mask, he is not ruthless at all times. ”

Yakov was a little incomprehensible, anyway, he had never seen Dzerzhinsky bend the law for personal gain, and he didn't believe that the Man in the Iron Mask would open up to Li Xiaofeng. So where does Li Xiaofeng's self-confidence come from?

Very simply, Li Xiaofeng can be regarded as having seen through Dzerzhinsky, and all the fairness and justice of this person have a premise -- to safeguard the overall interests of the Soviet Union and the Soviet people. In other words, when attacking the enemy, he can "bend the law for personal gain" with his own people.

And what Li Xiaofeng is doing now is in line with this premise, and he will not be polite to the Japanese Dzerzhinsky, so even if Li Xiaofeng clearly violates the resolution of the Military Commission, as long as it is beneficial to the national interests of the Soviet Union, Dzerzhinsky will turn a blind eye.

Sure enough, when Dzerzhinsky received Li Xiaofeng's order to cross the border to attack the Japanese in Vladivostok, he did not say anything at all, which shocked his good apprentice Susnov.

"Comrade Felix, Comrade Andrei is a flagrant violation of the instructions of the Military Commissar, this is chaos, you should categorically stop him from doing anything wrong!"

Dzerzhinsky took off his reading glasses, looked at Susnov and said: "Comrade Mikhail, I ask you, what is nonsense? ”

"Uh......" Susnov was stunned, he quickly realized that Li Xiaofeng's behavior may not be called "nonsense" to Dzerzhinsky, "but, the instructions of the Military Commission? ”

"Have you ever heard of the term Shiyi time shift?" Dzerzhinsky asked calmly, and without waiting for Susnov to answer, he explained to himself: "It was a situation when the Military Commissar gave instructions, but now the situation has changed, and if the previous instructions are mechanically adhered to, it is called dogmatism, and measures will be in vain to annihilate the enemy's chances." ”

After a pause, he said earnestly: "It is true that Comrade Andrei has many problems and many problems. However, in the face of safeguarding national interests, he has fulfilled his duties. His current judgment and decision are the most appropriate way to safeguard national interests. In this case, there is no need for us to stick to those rules and regulations to create obstacles, because if we do so, we will harm our national interests. ”

Suslov was a little dazed, and he seemed to have only figured out for the first time Dzerzhinsky's insistence, and the man in the iron mask had spent his life defending national interests in the way he thought was most appropriate. And this is something he can't do for the time being, and the so-called "persistence" and "selflessness" that he has expressed before seem to be at a lower level. There is much more to which he learned from Dzerzhinsky.

Looking at Susnov in deep thought, Dzerzhinsky's iron face showed a rare smile. To tell the truth, he could have come two days early for this trip to the Far East, but on the way he chose to recall Susnov, who had gone to work in the local area, to bring back to his side, in order to give the final education to this young man whom he was very optimistic about, and it was time to teach Susnov some deeper concepts and methods.

Taking a breath, Dzerzhinsky suddenly asked: "Do you think Comrade Andrei's accusations against Apanashchenko and Mekhlis are really true?" (To be continued......)

PS: Bow and thank you agz00025, Juventus, Spike Potato and Kamen Angel 555 comrades!