The fighting on the battlefield in northern Outer Mongolia lasted for a whole day and a night, and the sound of guns and artillery never subsided, and the troops of the Soviet Transcaucasian Military District withdrew without stopping for a day and a night, which was a nightmare for Commander Kurygin and his hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

More than 1,000 tanks of the independent division and tens of thousands of infantry of the independent division were chasing after them, and they swept in like a hurricane, and the oppression brought to the Soviet army goes without saying, and the troops of the independent division attacking on the left and right flanks were more ferocious like a group of hungry wolves, and the retreating troops were bitten by the flesh and blood, and when there were still more than 100 kilometers away from the south bank of the Sejingge River, there were still more than 50,000 troops left in the Soviet Transcaucasian Military District, which was marching southward.

After receiving the report on the losses of the troops in a hurry from the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Ji Ernianke, General Kurygin hung his head deeply, "Defeat!" The undeniable fiasco, at the beginning of the southward march, the 300,000 strong army was so magnificent, only less than 20 days later, there were so many men and horses left, and they returned miserably, and they were chased by more than 100,000 troops of the independent division. ”

"Perhaps, at the time of the Sejingge River, the troops of the Transcaucasian Military District had already planted the seeds of destruction, and if they had not insisted on crossing the river to the south, they would not have today's fiasco, and then again, Comrade Stalin and the General Staff were pressed so tightly that they could not help themselves!"

General Kurygin knew better that even if he took the remaining troops and safely withdrew to the north bank of the Sejingge River and returned to Irkutsk, waiting for his fate, he would not complete the task set by Comrade Stalin to capture Kulen, and he would lose 80 percent of the troops of the Transcaucasian Military District, and he would fall into the abyss from which he could never recover.

Come on now. How ridiculous and unrealistic was his idea of capturing Kulen in one fell swoop after waiting for the troops of the Far Eastern Front to arrive, General Kurygin admitted that from the beginning of the Sejingge River blockade, that cunning Chinese Tang Qiuli was digging a big trap for himself, which was big enough to contain more than 300,000 troops in the entire Transcaucasian Military District.

It's your own misfortune. Or Tang Qiuli was too cunning, or Comrade Stalin and the General Staff simply made a terrible wrong decision, and countless ideas filled the heart of General Kulygin. It's like a mess of dead knots, which can't be untied and can't be untied.

General Kurygin suddenly thought of Zhukov, a famous general of the Soviet Red Army. During the First Outer Mongolian War. He was also defeated by Tang Qiuli's men, but he saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of troops and himself, and he sighed better than Zhukov.

Senior General Kurygin was not aware of it by this time. The opponent he met was such a demon, with the memories of nearly a hundred years of life before and after, and the direction of history. He had foresight and layout in advance, and every step he made fell into the calculation, how could he be invincible in the face of such an opponent?

Moreover, the corps directly under the independent division that confronted the troops of the Transcaucasian Military District, among the troops of the independent division of nearly 2 million people, is also the field corps with the strongest combat effectiveness, the most well-equipped, the most well-trained, and the most capable of fighting.

Suddenly, General Kurygin was not so enthusiastic about whether to bring the remaining troops back to Irkutsk safely, or rather, he was already disheartened, and the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Zirnenko, saw the miserable face of the comrade commander, and felt empathy, and did not know what he thought in his heart, it was too early to be sad for the rabbit to die and the fox to be sad, but there was sympathy for the same disease.

Chief of Staff Zirnenko advised: "Comrade Commander, now is not the time for pessimism and disappointment, we are not out of danger, and only by crossing the Sejinga River can we be regarded as completely freeing ourselves from the pursuit of the troops of the independent division, and the Command, in accordance with the order of Comrade Stalin, has ordered our troops remaining in the Baikal region to go south and erect a pontoon bridge over the Sejinga River to meet the retreat of the troops. ”

After looking at General Kurygin's face, Chief of Staff Zirnenko continued: "It can be seen from this that Comrade Stalin and the High Command are still very concerned about us, perhaps, the responsibility for this defeat is not all on us, and when I am out of danger, I will fly to Moscow with you and go to the High Command to explain a thing." ”

This is somewhat of a tribulation, Lieutenant General Zirnenko knows very well that General Kulygin has no good end, and he will not be spared, that ruthless leader will not forgive the general who lost the battle, not so much to help General Kulygin to strive for a glimmer of life, but to save himself!

Of course, General Kurygin understood this, but a look of gratitude flashed in his eyes, and he sighed from the bottom of his heart and said: "Comrade Zirnianko, we can only do our best to reserve some seeds for the Transcaucasian Military District, order the troops, do not stop, continue to retreat!" ”

After speaking, he laughed bitterly at himself, "Continue to retreat, it is more accurate to say that it is accurate to continue the rout, a defeat of hundreds of miles, even a decent blocking line can not be organized, the independent division troops are surrounded and attacked on three sides, how can this battle be fought?" ”

So, General Kurygin and Chief of Staff Zirnianko, with the remaining 50,000 or 60,000 tired and numb soldiers, continued to retreat in the direction of the Seshuge River amid the sound of guns and cannons clenching their heels.

By noon on 30 September, an even greater catastrophe had struck the retreating remnants of the Soviet Transcaucasian Military District, when a mixed group of fighters and bombers of the Separate Divisional Aviation Division, which had been in a bloody air battle yesterday, joined the air raid on Soviet troops.

Last night, after Le Yiqin's lander, with all his battle wounds, landed at the Kulen field airfield, he did not have time to catch his breath, so he immediately changed into a light reconnaissance plane, and flew to the battlefields of Hagengaul and Baiyinchagan under the reflection of the sunset to personally report the air battle situation to division commander Tang Qiuli.

When Le Yiqin landed on the temporary runway next to the headquarters, it was already completely dark, and the night shrouded the grasslands of northern Outer Mongolia, with a chilly north wind blowing the smell of gunpowder on the battlefield. ”

Tang Qiuli looked at Le Yiqin quietly, standing straight in front of him, for a long time, before he said: "Yiqin, it's hard work, the aviation is playing very well, come, sit down and say!" ”

Le Yiqin shook his head, stood like this and said: "Division commander, after reporting the air battle situation, I still have to rush back, after the big battle, the troops suffered large losses, the pilots' situation is a little unstable, and there are still many things waiting for me to deal with!" ”

Tang Qiuli's eyes jumped, nodded slightly, sat down on the shell box, took out a cigarette and lit it, took a deep breath, and looked at Le Yiqin with warm eyes.

Le Yiqin rubbed his forehead and said: "Division commander, in today's air battle, the losses of the southern and northern flight groups have exceeded any time, 487 fighters were shot down, 565 were damaged, 268 pilots were killed, and the pilots who parachuted have found a hundred pairs of people, and the others are still missing, however, please rest assured that the aviation has not been beaten down by the Lao Maozi Air Force!" ”

Speaking of this, Le Yiqin's voice choked up, and then quickly adjusted his feelings, and then said: "We have paid such a big price, and the Soviet Air Force has not taken advantage, and the regiments have counted a total of 695 Soviet fighters, more than 800 damaged, and 183 bombers. ”

"Also, as the supreme commander of the formation in charge of this air battle, I bear full responsibility for the losses of the air force in this air battle, and I ask the division commander to punish it, no matter what the result is, I will accept it unconditionally and without complaint!" After speaking, in Le Yiqin's eyes, there was a faint flame beating, the muscles on his cheeks bulged, he gritted his teeth, and looked at the division commander.

Tang Qiuli's body shook violently, he suddenly wanted to stand up, and sat back weakly, the shock and pain in his heart were beyond words, "In an air battle of nearly two hours, the aviation dispatched more than 1,100 fighters, and after the battle, the number of fighters shot down and damaged reached 1,0052, and the number of fighters that flew back intact was only more than 60, which is not too much to describe as the total annihilation!" ”

After all, this is a hard-fought air battle in a disadvantageous situation, and losses are inevitable, but I never thought that it would be so strict, especially since two hundred and sixty-eight pilots were sacrificed, and this loss was even greater.

With the current financial and technical level and manufacturing capacity of the independent division, no matter how many planes are lost, they will soon be able to replenish the troops, but the lost pilots cannot be quickly remedied, and that pilot has not been carefully trained by the Dingbian Aviation School for more than two years before he can fly solo and join the combat unit, and he still needs several air combat exercises before he can become a qualified fighter pilot and go into battle to kill the enemy!

The loss of pilots is too much, for an air force, it is a fatal blow, especially the loss, or the combat experience of the pilots, and the Japanese air force has been fighting for five or six years, the aviation has not suffered such heavy losses, Tang Qiuli's heart, torn like a sharp pain, at the same time, for the Soviet Union's national strength and war potential, have a deeper understanding, this is only a part of the Soviet combat aircraft!

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