Chapter 817 Jī Battle Arsenyev

The General Staff of the Soviet Army placed Timoshenko's Second Army in the Far East in the vicinity of Haishanwei and Ussuriysk, and in terms of strategic layout, there may be some truth and played a role in deterring the Japanese Kwantung Army, but in terms of the campaign, it put the Second Army in an extremely disadvantageous position.

The Japanese coveted the territory of the Soviet Far East, the aggression and expansion in their bones, and the greedy ambition for territories outside the homeland, prompting the Japanese to take any risk, and Tang Qiuli's fire on the Sino-Soviet border was nothing more than adding another handful of firewood to boiling water that was already 99 degrees Celsius.

The Japanese army began its offensive on September 10, and by September 14, it had occupied most of the Soviet Far East, except for the Second Army, which occupied all of Sakhalin Island, and when attacking Kamchatka, it encountered stubborn resistance from the newly formed Kamchatka First Army of the Soviet Army.

The Third Army of the Kwantung Army was attacked by the Soviet army under the command of Timoshenko, and repulsed to the Paspan line west of Spassel Dalyny, losing more than 40,000 men, and Timoshenko's plan was that after repelling the Japanese troops attacking the Arsenyev area from the direction of Ussuriysk, the Second Army immediately left the battlefield and marched north, taking advantage of the fact that the first line of the Boli line had not been cut off by the Kwantung Army, and withdrew the main forces of the group army to Kamchatka.

Then, integrating all the troops of the Far Eastern Military District, moving south from the direction of Boli, and launching a large-scale counterattack on the troops of the Kwantung Army, the campaign layout adopted by Timoshenko, under the current shape of the Far East, was the best way in the middle of the way, and it was also the only measure he could take, all in order to prevent the group army from falling into the encirclement of the Japanese army.

The tactical counterattack carried out by Timoshenko was unprecedentedly successful, and the Third Army of the Kwantung Army was beaten back again and again, but his good luck ended here, and the First and Second Armies of the Kwantung Army, which had completed the task of the campaign, pressed towards Timoshenko's troops from two directions under the order of the commander of the Kwantung Army, Kenkichi Ueda.

In the face of hundreds of thousands of Kwantung Army troops, Timoshenko was forced to shrink his troops to the Arsenyev area, using the original fortifications to resist stubbornly and wait for reinforcements.

The Arsenyev region is a shallow hilly area, the only part of the Soviet Far East that can take advantage of the natural terrain and landforms, the important place for military deployment, the turbulent Daobi River, is the natural barrier of the region, after the battle, the Soviet army oppressed by the superior forces of the Kwantung Army retreated here.

At the beginning of the formation of the Second Group Army, he set up the headquarters of the group army here, and it was the terrain conditions here that he took a fancy to, and when the Sino-Soviet border had not yet been alarmed, he ordered his troops to build a large number of fortifications here.

After several weeks of refinement by Soviet soldiers, the Arsenyev area has become a key area of defense with dense bunkers, field fortifications and fortifications, and various jiāo moats, and the 200,000 Soviet soldiers who have retreated should be grateful to their commander, Comrade Timoshenko, otherwise, the current situation of the Second Army is to be destroyed.

On 15 September, the Kwantung Army, which numbered more than 400,000 troops, had tightly surrounded about 230,000 troops of Timoshenko's Second Far Eastern Army in the Arsenyev area, and the Kwantung Army's encirclement of the Soviet army had been completed.

In the early morning of 16 September, the Kwantung Army launched a fierce attack on the Soviet position, and the troops of the two sides directly engaged in the battle reached more than 260,000 people, of which the Kwantung Army dispatched six divisions and three brigades and regiments, with a large number of field artillery.

The defensive battle in the Arsenyev area of the Far East broke out in an all-round way, and after one day of the battle, the attacking Kwantung Army troops occupied the outlying areas of Arsenyev at the cost of more than 30,000 men and more than 50,000 wounded, and the Soviet Second Army suffered more than 50,000 casualties, of which more than 18,000 were killed. Soviet troops were compressed one step closer.

When night fell, the sea breeze blowing from the Sea of Japan, with a slight autumn chill, blew the smoke of gunpowder everywhere, the embers of the war, wisps of black smoke and dark red flames, the craters all over the place, and the bloodstained corpses of soldiers on both sides, all of which told the cruelty of the jī battle during the day.

In the small city of Arseniev, there are no more intact houses in the city, and in one day, this small border city of less than 80,000 people has withstood the cruel test of purgatory, and more than 100,000 large-caliber shells of the Kwantung Army have fallen in the city, and all the residents have entered the underground hidden department.

In the eastern corner of the city, in a relatively complete room, a few gas lamps, the room that did not shine much was bright, there were no glass windows, it was tightly blocked, more than a dozen radio stations, intense work, staff officers and communication soldiers coming in and out, with a nervous look, General Timoshenko, commander and political commissar of the Second Army of the Soviet Far Eastern Military District, was dictating the telegram.

"The General Staff also transferred to Comrade Stalin, and throughout the day of 16 September, the Kwantung Army invested more than 170,000 troops, with a large number of artillery, to carry out a large-scale attack on our positions, and the battle was fierce, and by this evening, it had occupied all the positions on the outskirts of Arsenyev, and our troops suffered more than 50,000 casualties."

"In just one day, more than one-fifth of the troops were killed or wounded, and this was an unprecedented thing in the Red Army's previous operations, and it can also be seen from this that the Japanese Kwantung Army was determined to destroy our group army, and the war situation continued to develop in this way, and after more than 10 days, the Arsenyev area will definitely be lost, and if there is no logistical supply, our department will be able to hold out for about a week, and I ask the General Staff to truthfully report the situation of the Second Army in the Far East to Comrade Stalin."

This is a typical war of attrition, the key is that Timoshenge cannot afford to consume, whether it is in terms of troops, ammunition, materials and provisions, it is not conducive to a long-term situation, there is no rescue outside, there is a shortage of food and grass inside, and the continuous combat attrition, Timoshenge cannot afford to fight such a battle.

Stalin, who received Timoshenko's telegram, stepped up his rescue of the Second Army, he could no longer afford to lose it, and lost the Pacific Fleet, if Timoshenko was wiped out by the Japanese again, the day when the Soviet Union would return to the Far East would be far away, and the nearest unit of the First Kamchatka Army was in a battle with the Second Army of the Kwantung Army, and it would not be able to get away for a while.

The only thing that can be counted on is the Transcaucasian Front, which is a huge force with nearly 350,000 troops, equipped with a large number of artillery regiments equipped with 155 mm howitzers, more than 900 tanks, and more than 400 aircraft.

Stalin's telegram to the commander of the Transcaucasian Front, Colonel-General Paulpilyusky, was extremely urgent: "Comrade Paulpilyusky, how many days does it take for your front to join the Far Eastern theater at the earliest?" At present, the situation of the Second Army in the Far East is very disadvantageous, and only your troops can reinforce Comrade Timoshenko. ”

Admiral Paulpilyusky was also distressed, even if his troops were forced to march day and night, it would take six to seven days at the fastest to reach Boli, and not counting the time delayed by the Kwantung Army's blockade, if it was slow, it would not be possible to reach it without ten and a half days and a half.

He sent a telegram back to Stalin, "In 12 days, all the troops will reach the Far East," which is already the limit, and General Paulpiliusky does not know how to fulfill this promise, but Stalin's reply is only a few cold words: "No, the Transcaucasian Front must be put into battle within six days, that is, from now on, on September 22." ”

There was no room for negotiation, and the date was directly limited, and Admiral Paulpilyusky was almost crazy, but he did not dare to bargain, from Stalin's telegram, he had already guessed that Timoshenko's situation was extremely bad, so he had to be ruthless and rush with his troops, fortunately, most of his front army were motorized divisions, and he should be able to join the Far Eastern battlefield within the time specified by the leader.

Otherwise, waiting for oneself is a military tribunal, the troops of the Soviet Transcaucasian Front, who did not dare to delay along the way, rolled all the way eastward, and Stalin, after the whip of Admiral Paul Piliusky, was slightly relieved that this biggest bargaining chip was thrown in, and the situation in the Far East could be changed immediately, and sent a telegram to Timoshenko, asking him to hold out for more than a week.

It's just that the Soviet troops in the eastern part of the Ural Mountains and in Asia have all been transferred to the Far East theater, and if a new war breaks out in other places, what should Stalin do?

Playing the cards in his hand, Stalin was a little unwilling to compromise with Tang Qiuli, and sent a telegram to Molotov, who had already arrived in Minusinsk, asking him not to negotiate with Tang Qiuli for the time being, and waiting for Moscow's order, Stalin's vacillation disease was committed again.

Tang Qiuli, who was in the Sutai region of Uriya in the ancient west of the outer Méng, kept receiving information from Tang Qiuli in Haishanwei, the Japanese and the Soviets were fighting lively, but he was so idle here that he was almost asleep, Zhukov and the Soviet soldiers who surrounded him were extremely obedient, did not cause trouble at all, and behaved like a good student.

But he never sent a representative to contact him, Stalin was intent on hanging himself here, and Tang Qiuli's anger increased little by little.

This morning, I received a telegram from Feng Jiwu, who had already established himself in the Baikal area, that from the direction of Transcaucasia, a large number of Soviet troops, with a strength of about 120,000 troops, had reached the west of the Baikal region and were rapidly advancing to the east.