Speaking of the so-called "Eastern Maginot Line" built by the devils on the side near Vladivostok, to be honest, it is not a hypothetical appearance, but it is very different from the real unfinished Maginot Line.

According to the intelligence of the Soviet army, although the Japanese army invested a lot of manpower and material resources in this defense line, it was still very imperfect. The Japanese Kwantung Army, judging by itself, believed that the Soviet Army would use the Red Front in the Far East as the main direction of the assault, so it built quite a lot of fortifications in the front of the division.

Later, the Baikal Front's offensive was covered with impassable deserts and the dense primeval forests of the Greater Khingan Mountains as a barrier, so the Japanese did not consider a great threat in this direction.

According to this judgment, both the construction of the defensive line and the allocation of troops of the Japanese army showed a trend of emphasizing the east and the west lightly. That is, on the Blyukhel line, the Japanese army was stronger and the defense line was stronger, while on the Meretskov side, it was much lax.

It is conceivable that if the Soviet army had avoided reality and let the Trans-Baikal Front take the lead in the main attack, and used Blyukherr as an iron felt to attract the attention of the Japanese army, I am afraid it would have been able to pee on the Kwantung Army. The problem is that things are not so simple, as mentioned earlier, the Soviet army is not strong enough, and compared with history, there is one less front army, which leads to the fact that the Soviet army does not have an absolute advantage in terms of strength, and cannot immediately launch a full-scale offensive.

According to the plan of the Central Military Commission, there was only one thing to be done in the Far East in 1944 -- that is, to break through the so-called Eastern Maginot Line of the Japanese army, occupy the Mudanjiang, Jiamusi, and Dongning lines, and prepare for a full-scale counterattack in the coming year.

This was not an easy task for the Red Banner Front in the Far East, where the Japanese built fortified areas connected with primeval forests and mountains along the mountainous border with the Soviet Primorsky region. There are a large number of concrete fortifications and natural obstacles that the Japanese generals had considerable confidence in. They believed that if the Soviets attacked, they would have to break through the fortified areas one by one. Forcing through mountains and primeval forests means that the most difficult mode of attack requires absolute superiority in forces and a large number of high-power lethal weapons.

In fact, the Soviet Red Army was also aware of this, and after a lot of field investigation and aerial reconnaissance, Blyukhel believed that such terrain was not conducive to the Red Army to show its absolute superiority in armor and firepower, and even his own confidence was not particularly sufficient.

This can also be reflected in his report to the Military Commission: "The Japanese army has carefully constructed fortification groups, although these fortifications are some unconnected pillbox groups. It's a far cry from the Maginot Line. But it is undeniable that the Japanese army made excellent use of the terrain. It is conceivable that it is difficult for our army to deploy on such terrain, and it is not easy to give full play to the superiority of maneuver and firepower...... I need a mountain warfare expert here......"

So were there such specialists in the Red Army? Don't say it, there really is, Meretskov is a master of this. For offensive operations in areas with dense forests, lakes and sparse roads, Meretskov was already very handy. In Hungary and Romania, where there was muddy before, he didn't do badly. Not only is he experienced, but also his friends Krylov, Beloborodov, Chistyakov and Slag and Vataev have a lot of relevant experience.

The reason why the Military Commission previously appointed Meretskov as commander of the Trans-Baikal Front was based on relevant considerations. It's just that what the Military Commission didn't expect was that Blyukhel would admit so neatly that he lacked confidence in the battle on the relevant terrain and asked the Military Commission to send him a relevant expert.

But Blyukhel's request also made the military commission a lot easier. What the Military Commission is afraid of is that Blyukhel gritted his teeth and held on, so that if the real fight started, it would be bad. Now Blyukhel took the initiative to ask for it, so that the military commissar would be relaxed at once.

Therefore, the Military Commission quickly made personnel adjustments, Blyukhel remained the commander of the Red Banner Front in the Far East, and Meretskov continued to serve as the commander of the Trans-Baikal Front, but Meretskov also had to concurrently serve as Blyukher's chief of staff. Specifically, Blyukherr was responsible for the Far East in general, while Meretskov was responsible for the specific command of operations.

Immediately after his arrival, Meretskov began preparations for the campaign. Including all kinds of supplies. The preparation of equipment and the collection of intelligence must ensure that the troops can strengthen the Ussuri River. And marched on rugged mountainous terrain with dense forests.

Judging from the map, the most direct offensive route for the Far Eastern Red Banner Front is to advance along the Suifen River, Mudanjiang, and Harbin lines, and the East Manchurian Railway will ensure the material supply of the front army. But such an obvious thing can also be seen by the Japanese army, such as the Suifen River has been built into a strong fortress by the Japanese army. In fact, this line is made up of groups of fortresses, which seem impregnable.

For the average general, such a battle would be difficult to fight. It can almost only be gnawed, but Meretskov is not an ordinary general, and after careful study, he believes that this battle can be fought completely, and the losses are not necessarily large.

Why did Meretskov have such self-confidence? Because he found that these Japanese fortresses were all single points, maybe lined up on the map a lot like that. But in reality these fortresses were just a bunch of disconnected fortifications, which gave Meretskov an opportunity.

Meretskov was well aware that such a landscape could not be used for large-scale in-depth operations that the Red Army had already trained in large numbers in Eastern Europe. It was too unrealistic to launch an encirclement with a depth of more than 100 kilometers on such a terrain, so Meretskov decided to fight a shallow and deep encirclement, and only encircled and annihilated the fortresses deployed by the Japanese army on the front line, instead of choosing the closed location of the encirclement on a communication and transportation hub in the rear. This will not only minimize losses, but also prevent the enemy from escaping the encirclement.

Meretskov deployed all four armies of the Far Eastern Red Banner Front (including the Far Eastern Red Banner Primorsky Army) in the front line, which, in traditional military thinking, did not reserve reserves, and seemed to be risky. But Meretskov had a point, and it made no sense to leave the entire army group behind the battlefield as a reserve on such poor terrain. Because once the front line cannot be opened, these reserves will not be able to withstand it at all because of the bad traffic situation, and it will worsen the already bad traffic situation, and it is normal for the top and bottom to be blocked together. Therefore, it is better to put all the group armies on the front line, and order the group army, corps, and divisions to reserve a certain reserve on the front line, and then put them into battle to reinforce the first echelon according to the actual situation.

It turns out that. Meretskov's deployment was very clever and completely unexpected by the Japanese army. For example, the terrain on the offensive route of the 5th Army and the Far Eastern Red Banner Coastal Army was extremely complicated, and there were also Tiger Head Fortress and Dongning Fortress guarded by Tiger Head Fortress, and the Kwantung Army thought that this place was foolproof, and did not even think that the Soviet Army would stupidly attack here, so it was natural that the defense was lax.

And how Meretskov did it. Not only did he attack the area, but he also threw in quite a few tanks and heavy artillery. The Fifth Army and the Far Eastern Red Banner Coastal Army coordinated with each other to launch a pincer offensive toward the Mudanjiang River in the south and north, and fiercely inserted two swords in this area.

Speaking of which, the Japanese army's defensive configuration in this area is quite strong, with Hutou Fortress, Miaoling Fortress, Guanyuetai Fortress, Lumingtai Fortress and Dongning Fortress on the top of the first line, and there are two large fortresses in the later part (Banjiehe Fortress and Suifenhe Fortress).

Take the Suifenhe fortress as an example, the fortified area is 40 kilometers long, and the depth of the general zone is 10 to 15 kilometers. The depth of the highway line reaches 30 kilometers. There were four strongholds in the area near the border, each with a façade ranging from 2.5 to 10 kilometers and a depth of 2.5 to 9 kilometers, covering the road leading to the Suifen River from the east along the southern section of the East Manchurian Railway. These four strongholds occupy 25 kilometers of the 40-kilometer front of the Suifen River, interspersed with small-scale field fortifications.

Not only did the Japanese army build these fortifications with great care, and the entire defense line consisted of reinforced concrete fortifications, fire points, distribution stations and warehouses. Some reinforced concrete bunkers are one to one and a half meters thick, and are covered with armor or have armored turrets mounted. According to post-war statistics. The four main positions contained a total of 295 reinforced concrete pillboxes, 145 civil blockhouses, 58 concrete shelters, 69 armoured turrets, 29 lookouts, and 55 gun emplacements. There are machine-gun bunkers about every 250 to 350 meters, and there is an underground exit artillery firing point every 500 to 700 meters. On the periphery of the stronghold there were also layers of barbed wire, minefields and anti-tank trenches and anti-infantry obstacles. Also has cross-machine gun fire cover.

Note that this is not the end, behind this line of defense there are two more lines, one is an eighty-kilometer rear, with field fortifications built deep in the forested mountains on the west bank of the Muling River. The third road is on the bank of the Mudanjiang River. According to the Japanese conception, even if the Soviet Red Army could break through the first line of pillboxes. Crashing into the second and third lines of defense will be consumed. Then it was the turn of the Kwantung Army to counter-charge and eat the exhausted Soviet Red Army in one fell swoop.

On the one hand, Meretskov strengthened the firepower of the assault troops as much as possible, reinforcing a tank brigade or tank regiment and a self-propelled artillery regiment for each infantry division in the main assault direction, totaling about 80 vehicles. It can reach an average of 30 vehicles per kilometer.

On the other hand, a large number of engineers were also transferred, and the specific methods were: the engineers reconnoitred the terrain obstacles, ascertained the engineering operations of the Japanese army, and after the offensive was launched, they were also responsible for removing obstacles and building and repairing bridges and roads. As for the combat sappers, they were integrated directly into the front-line assault units, and each company of the 1st assault echelon reinforced an engineer detachment, which was dedicated to clearing obstacles.

Not only did the infantry have sappers, but each artillery regiment also formed a road-bridge detachment. In short, Meretskov deliberately chose a surprise but bad road conditions to attack the location and deployed a large number of troops and weapons, so it can be said that the Soviet Red Army attacked forward while building roads.

Note that this is not the whole of Meretskov's tactics, in fact the most critical points have not yet been pointed out. After all, the Japanese army's fortifications and pillboxes were not fake, and if they were to be uprooted one by one, the suddenness of the attack and the possibility of a surprise attack in depth would be greatly reduced.

In this regard, Meretskov's approach was to meet the strong Japanese defense group, the infantry and artillery stopped, surrounded and blocked with the cooperation of the engineers, and then slowly pulled out the point, while the mechanized units of the Red Army continued to attack forward, inserting into the hinterland of the Japanese army to outflank and encircle.

This hand is quite ruthless, and the devil's wishful thinking is to use the fortress to consume the Red Army, and then take the opportunity to beat the stick. And now Meretskov does not give the Japanese army this opportunity at all, and my mechanized corps ignores your fortress and directly penetrates into your hinterland to make trouble with the wind and rain, and at this time your second and third line defense is not ready at all. What are you going to do with me? What's more, those units that the Kwantung Army threw in the first line of fortresses were crucified, and either they were slowly eaten by the Red Army infantry, or they starved to death and were trapped to death, you say, retreat? If you retreat, those fortresses will not be built in vain, let alone where to retreat? The mechanized units of the Red Army had penetrated deep into the hinterland. You're not looking for death when you retreat.

It has to be said that the Japanese army had big problems with the defensive configuration of this line, they thought that strong fortresses and rough terrain would be able to hold back the Soviet troops. Unexpectedly, the Soviet army interspersed through these impassable gaps and directly beat this so-called defense line into a sieve!

When Meretskov's tactics against the Japanese fortress were reported to Li Xiaofeng, a certain immortal couldn't help but think of another battle over the fortress in this land for hundreds of years. At that time, the two sides against each other were Hou Jin and Da Ming. According to Mingyue's statement that year, Elder Sun recovered thousands of miles of land by digging pits, and later it was the eunuchs who framed him and fell short.

Let's put it this way, Li Xiaofeng still admires Mingyue's popular way of writing history back then, and also collects his masterpieces. But on the issue of Elder Sun. I really can't agree with Mingyue's conclusion back then.

According to Elder Sun's strategy, this is to prepare to repair the bunker all the way to Houjin's hometown (quite a bit of the turret tactics of a certain immortal when he first played interstellar), to put it bluntly, this set of tactics is actually the next strategy adopted by the Ming army after the field battle could not defeat Houjin. Why is it a good idea?

First, the Ming Dynasty was already financially tight, and it didn't cost money to repair the bunker? Repair the bunker and don't want the army to garrison it? Don't you need money to raise these big-headed soldiers? Let's put it this way, the more bunkers are built, the more financially strained they will be, and when the supply lines reach a certain distance. I'm afraid that if you don't use Houjin to fight, Daming himself will collapse.

Secondly. These bunker groups seem to be very good and powerful, and they seem to be able to block Houjin's troops. But the bunker is always dead, as long as the Ming army does not dare to fight in the field and does not dare to directly confront Houjin, then it will only be passively beaten.

What's more, Houjin doesn't have to gnaw on these bunkers, is it okay to encircle the point and send reinforcements. You can't leave these bunkers unsaved, can you? What's the point of building these bunkers if you don't save them?

To put it bluntly, fortress tactics are the equivalent of drawing a prison on the ground. Look at how the Turkish Communist Party repaired the scraping army in the War of Liberation, when an army loses the courage and ability to fight in the field and can only stick to the pillbox, I am afraid that it is not far from extinction. In short, the bunker is dead, and the man is alive. The most important thing on the battlefield is to grasp the initiative.

For example, now, when the Soviet army is rushing forward, the devil is dumbfounded, is this continuing to defend to the death? Or do you retreat to the second or third line of defense to resist?

Opinions within the Kwantung Army were highly unified, with some saying that they should stick to the end, while others said that they must retreat immediately, and those who were making a fuss could not reach a unified opinion. And Meretskov didn't give the devil much time to think, his mechanized infantry continued to advance at high speed, easily breaking through the second line of defense of the Japanese army and hitting the Mudanjiang River.

At this time, the Kwantung Army realized that something was wrong, and if the Soviet army was allowed to occupy the Mudanjiang River, all the troops previously deployed on the front line would be lost. At this time, the devil hurriedly issued an order to retreat, asking the front-line troops to retreat quickly.

To tell the truth, it's already late, because the devil's troops on the front line have basically been stuck by the infantry of the Red Army, how to go? Regardless of the bunker, just run away? Then you also have to ask the Red Army soldiers whether they agree with the guns in their hands or not. The devils hiding in the bunker were still so overwhelmed by the powerful firepower of the Red Army that they couldn't raise their heads, let alone run naked outside the bunker? Of course, the devil will not work if he does not withdraw, you are fake when Meretskov allocates combat sappers and self-propelled guns to the front line?

Let's just say that the breakthrough of the Red Front of the Far East in this campaign is enough to be written into textbooks. The Fifth Army, for example, advanced eighty kilometers on the second day of the battle! It took only sixty hours to complete the planned task that should have been done in eight days. As for the Far Eastern Red Banner Coastal Army, it took only 50 hours to advance to the first line of the Muling River, resulting in the fact that the Japanese second-line troops had no way to organize a defense at the Muling River, and could only retreat in a hurry in the direction of the Mudanjiang River, discarding or blowing up almost all the artillery.

As a result, the 124th and 126th Divisions of the First Front of the Kwantung Army lost a total of five and a half infantry brigades in the hasty retreat, and they were not able to play the slightest role in delaying the Red Army, they were quickly bypassed, surrounded and then annihilated by the Soviet Red Army.

And this also directly affected the situation of the Kwantung Army in the second phase of the campaign, because of the hasty retreat, the defense line on this line of the Mudanjiang River was really made of tofu scum. When the Fifth Army of the Red Army and the Coastal Army of the Red Banner of the Far East pounced on the Mudanjiang River from the north and south, the Japanese army had little to no strength to fight back...... (To be continued.) )

PS: Bow and thank you Huyan haha, lazy readers, guardians of the horoscope, xxxxxxjj, Lost Stars and Comrade Juventus!