The weather warmed up, the ice and snow fortifications lost their former strength, and the desperate attack of the Soviet troops, regardless of casualties, put great pressure on the commander of the Japanese Far East Campaign Rear Guard Group, Lieutenant General Taiichi Haruhiko, who was tasked with blocking the attack.

Now, Prince Jaehito, the commander-in-chief of the Far Eastern Campaign, has increased his original task and has to block the Soviet army for more than a week, Lieutenant General Haruhiko is an expert, and knows that the blocking battle is more difficult to fight the farther you go, and as the fierce course of the offensive and defensive battle deepens, the fortifications are destroyed, the ammunition and supplies are consumed too much, the casualties of the soldiers increase, and the morale is low, and it is more difficult for the defensive side to go to the back.

Lieutenant General Haruhiko had to think about changing the style of play, if he continued to block the attack with the current situation, he did not dare to guarantee how long the campaign guard cluster could withstand the crazy attack of the Soviet army?

After returning from the front line, Lieutenant General Haruhiko began to rack his brains to think about this problem, just in an offensive battle that repelled the Soviet army, the troops suffered more than 50,000 casualties, and if they continue to fight like this, I am afraid that after two weeks, there will be no soldiers available on the blocking position, mainly because of the Soviet artillery fire, which is too fierce, and Lieutenant General Haruhiko does not understand, it is also far from the rear, and it is difficult to supply, where did the Soviets get so many shells?

Their own artillery calculates the opening of artillery every day, and they have to transfer their positions at any time to prevent the retaliation of the Soviet artillery, despite this, after a few days, the artillery of the battle guard cluster has lost more than two-thirds, and the shells of the Soviets, as if they don't want money, must be an hour of artillery bombardment before the start of each attack, according to this scale of shelling, Lieutenant General Haruhiko roughly calculated, on his own position. More than 200,000 rounds of large-caliber artillery shells have been dropped.

"The artillery of the Soviet army is the biggest threat to the defense system, especially after the ice and snow fortifications gradually lose their effectiveness!" Lieutenant General Haruhiko found the root of the problem, but he was still at a loss how to solve it.

The twilight of the Far East, as always, is coming, and the sunset in the west has ravaged the battlefield with artillery fire for seven or eight days, shrouding it with a layer of blood-like crimson. With the arrival of dusk, the Soviet offensive finally stopped, and on the battlefield, there was a rare silence, only the smoke of gunpowder and the smell of blood. Lingering, a squad of medics. Carrying a stretcher. Walking past the eyes of Lieutenant General Haruhiko, on the stretcher, the soldier with missing arms and legs was moaning in pain.

Lieutenant General Haruhiko watched the stretchers go away, and his mood became more and more depressed as night fell. It was as if the groans of the wounded soldiers echoed in their ears, and after returning to the headquarters, they faced the dinner brought by the orderlies. He didn't have the slightest appetite, "The soldiers who can be carried down by the medical guards are lucky, after all, a life was saved, and those soldiers lying on the battlefield will not have a chance to feel the pain!" He shook his head at thought.

A relatively bright gas lamp, hung on the roof of the dripping muddy water, illuminated the headquarters buried deep in the ground, and Lieutenant General Haruhiko sat on the shell box and began to open the telegrams, documents, and various statistical tables compiled by the General Staff.

While doing these things, Lieutenant General Haruhiko's mind was still thinking about how to solve the problem of Soviet artillery, suddenly, his hand stopped, and a message from the Ministry of Intelligence attracted his attention, looking at the date of the intelligence, it was already three days ago, but the content of it, for the current Lieutenant General Haruhiko, was like a lightning bolt in his mind.

"The Third Search Brigade of the Ministry of Intelligence reported that our brigade was ordered to go deep into the rear of the Soviet position to reconnoitre, and learned that the Soviet troops opposite the Imperial Army did not use all their forces for the offensive, and about half of the Soviet troops were on alert in the direction of Chita, and the distance between them and the attacking Soviet troops was about 40 kilometers.

"In the end, it was found out that the Soviet troops on alert in the direction of Chita were prepared to deal with the attack of the Soviet troops behind the Soviet troops, the Chinese devil Tang Qiuli's troops, and according to the analysis of the distance between the Soviet army and the troops of the independent division, the battle between the two sides could break out at any time!" This information was signed by Nakasa Tsuchihashi, the captain of the Third Search Group of the Ministry of Intelligence.

Lieutenant General Haruhiko smiled bitterly, it turned out that the Soviet army only used half of its strength to attack, and it caused huge pressure on its own blocking line.

This information three days ago aroused the great interest of Lieutenant General Haruhiko, not only to find that the devil's troops of the Zhina were just behind the Soviet army, staring at it fiercely, and the actions of the Zhina people had relieved him of at least half of the pressure, and he could only secretly rejoice, in addition, what attracted Lieutenant General Haruhiko was the gap between the two armies of the Soviet Army outside the Xinganling Front mentioned in the intelligence.

"At a distance of more than forty kilometers, the gap is large enough, then, the artillery positions of the Soviet army must be in the rear!" In the eyes of Lieutenant General Haruhiko, a string of sparks suddenly appeared, and a bold plan took shape in his mind.

"Staff officer, inform the head of the intelligence department, General Iijima, to the headquarters immediately!" Lieutenant General Haruhiko commanded.

Ten minutes later, Major General Iijima, the short man with his legs and legs, and the head of the Intelligence Department of the Japanese Far East Campaign Guard Cluster, hurriedly ran over, "Your Excellency Commander, I don't know what task you have summoned your headquarters?" He stared at Lieutenant General Haruhiko with both eyes, and asked respectfully, for this sudden rise of the military star, Major General Iijima did not dare to underestimate it, compared with the previous commander, Lieutenant General Shinno, he admired Commander Haruhiko more.

Not to mention anything else, just thinking of melting snow into water and building a defense system is not the wisdom that ordinary people can have, in comparison, the former commander with the title of chief of staff of the headquarters, Lieutenant General Shinno, is much more mediocre and incompetent!

Lieutenant General Haruhiko didn't know that at this moment, so many thoughts flashed in Major General Iijima's head, and he was still immersed in his plan and asked, "Iijima-kun, is the captain of the Third Search Group of your Intelligence Department Tsuchihashi Nakasa?" ”

Major General Iijima replied: "Yes, Your Excellency Commander, the 3rd Search Group is the most outstanding special force of the Intelligence Department, and Tsuchihashi Nakasa is an elite who is proficient in the way of reconnaissance, and has reconnoitred a lot of valuable information for our campaign guard group!" ”

"Good!" Lieutenant General Haruhiko exclaimed, "Iijima-kun, immediately let this Tsuchihashi Nakasa come to the headquarters, I have an important question, I want to ask it face to face!" He commanded, and the glint in his eyes was even greater.

Major General Iijima's face darkened, and he said: "Very unfortunate, Your Excellency Commander, after Tsuchihashi Nakasa sent back this information, he lost contact with the headquarters, and more than three days have passed. ”

"Huh?" Lieutenant General Haruhiko was stunned, and a look of disappointment appeared on his face, but a small Nakazo disappeared into the battlefield whirlpool of more than a million soldiers on both sides, which was normal, he just regretted that he couldn't verify some of the situation with Tsuchihashi in person.

"Iijima-kun, Tsuchihashi Nakasa is the elite of the Imperial Army of the Great Japanese Empire, the Ministry of Intelligence must do its best to find his whereabouts, for the officers and soldiers who are for the Great Japanese Empire and His Majesty the Emperor, we must remember their exploits!" Lieutenant General Haruhiko instructed, of course, a small Nakasa, hanging up, is not worthy of his own special advice, just in front of his subordinates, to show a gesture.

Major General Iijima was so moved that he almost cried bitterly, why, that Tsuchihashi Nakasa, is his brother-in-law, and he can get such praise and care from His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, and he is worthy of death, he just wants to use the topic to play and fight for some benefits for his brother-in-law, but obviously Lieutenant General Haruhiko's attention is not on this.

Without waiting for Major General Iijima, to tell his intentions, Lieutenant General Haruhiko had already changed the subject, "Iijima-kun, according to the information provided by Tsuchihashi-kun, I have a bold plan that requires all the special forces of your intelligence department!" It's all, Iijima-kun, how many search units are there in the Ministry of Intelligence now? ”

Major General Iijima was in good spirits, this Commander, unlike ordinary people, often has unexpected whims, his bold plan, perhaps, can affect the battle situation, he listened, while nodding frequently, he couldn't help but be impressed by the boldness and sensitivity of His Excellency the Commander!

"Commander, the Intelligence Department still has a fully formed search force, with a total of more than 2,000 people in three brigades, and four brigades that are on duty, but in a short period of time, they cannot be recalled!" Major General Iijima replied precisely, this is the entire family of the Ministry of Intelligence.

"Not enough - not enough troops!" Lieutenant General Haruhiko shook his head in disappointment, and said to himself, his plan is to need at least more than 5,000 elite soldiers, take advantage of the night, bypass the front of the battlefield, follow the gap between the two units of the Soviet Outer Khinganling Front, infiltrate it, find the artillery position of the Soviet army, and destroy it as much as possible.

Moreover, this is still a mission with no return, sandwiched between more than a million Soviet troops, with the sound of explosions, the small unit that engaged in sabotage will soon be overwhelmed by the crowd of Soviet soldiers, and there is not even a corpse left, and there is no chance of escape.

Looking at the disappointment on Lieutenant General Haruhiko's face, Major General Iijima also secretly regretted that if he had reminded the commander and paid attention to the information that his brother-in-law had brought back, wouldn't he have made preparations earlier, why was he helpless now, and the two senior generals of the Japanese army were worried.

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration flashed in Major General Iijima's mind and he said, "Commander, there is a building in the rank department that can solve the problem of insufficient troops!" ”

Lieutenant General Haruhiko perked up and urged: "Iijima-kun, if there is anything to build, say it quickly!" ”

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