The counterattack of the Outer Mongolian border guards was fierce and rhythmic, and the coordination of artillery fire and light and heavy weapons formed a net of death on the surface of the Sejingge River, and the troops of the Soviet army crossing the river and attacking were in the position of being passively beaten, and the result of retreating and continuing to advance was the same, and they would face a dense rain of bullets like flying locusts.

On the north bank of the Quege River, the face of General Kurygin, commander of the Transcaucasian Military District of the Soviet Union, was already gloomy, and he never imagined that an hour of shelling, coupled with 20 minutes of horse-back artillery shelling, and nearly 100,000 rounds of large-caliber shells smashed down, still did not destroy the defense line of the troops of the independent division, did not inflict heavy casualties on the enemy, and the firepower of the counterattack was still so fierce, and the artillery of the independent division, which had never shown its face, was also powerful at this moment.

Although the number and caliber of artillery are not enough to change the dominance of the battlefield, and the so-called suppressive shelling is even more like harassment in the eyes of General Kulygin, there is a reality that cannot but make him vigilant.

Undoubtedly, the commander of the independent division on the opposite side was a smart man and a person who knew how to forbear, and only used artillery fire after the battle lasted for more than an hour, so what else did he have behind or hidden tricks to deal with his own attack?

The first battle of forcibly crossing the Sesagoge River made General Kurygin very dissatisfied, with an hour of artillery coverage, a 20-minute artillery attack, three mechanized infantry divisions, and four regiment-level attacks, and in the main assault direction, two regiments of troops were released, but on the river surface, they became a live target for the soldiers of the independent division, and the pontoon bridge built by the engineer unit was blown up to the point that only a few wooden stakes remained. This battle has been fought, wreck!

General Kurygin admitted that he overestimated the might of his artillery fire and underestimated the battlefield survivability of the soldiers of the independent division, and that the superiority of troops and firepower was offset by the natural barrier of the Sejingge River, and that as long as the tanks could not get to the south bank, they would rely on infantry alone. It was impossible to break through the defense line of the troops of the independent division.

General Kulygin put down his binoculars and said to the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Zirnianko: "Comrade Zirnianko, convey my order, the troops stop the offensive!" ”

The situation on the battlefield, Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Zirnenko. It's all clear in their eyes, and they continue to fight like this. Four regiments of several thousand soldiers. I am afraid that we will all become floating corpses on the surface of the Sejingge River, and stopping the offensive is the best choice, and now that Comrade Commander has finally seen the situation clearly, it is a great blessing for the attacking troops. He immediately conveyed the commander's order to the commanders of the 1st and 3rd Mechanized Infantry Divisions and the 37th Mechanized Infantry Division of the Third Army.

On the surface of the Sejingge River, the Soviet soldiers who were beaten to a pulp. After receiving the signal to stop the attack, like a dream amnesty, he hurriedly turned the assault boat and rowed to the north bank, and on the south bank, the soldiers of the Outer Mongolian border guards who were defending naturally would not let go of such a good opportunity, and heavy machine guns and mortars extended their fire one after another, and drove thousands of Soviet soldiers back to the north bank with a burst of dense bullets and shells.

At about 6 o'clock in the morning of 20 September, after more than two hours of fierce fighting, the first attack of the Soviet army was repulsed, and the surface of the Sejingge River, which was shrouded in a thin layer of cold mist, returned to calm, and a round of morning sun was about to erupt in the eastern sky.

Sun Zhenbang put down the binoculars, let out a long sigh of relief, it was already a sweaty military uniform, he grabbed the kettle, drank wildly, and then asked the staff officer: "Are the phones leading to the various positions on the front line connected?" ”

Before the staff officer could answer, a soldier covered in blood, broke into the command headquarters, and said to Sun Zhenbang with a crying voice: "Commander, when our Director Liu was rushing to the forward position and directing the repair of telephone lines, he was suddenly shelled by the Soviet army and was seriously wounded, I am afraid that he will not be able to do it!" ”

The kettle in Sun Zhenbang's hand fell to the ground with a "bang", and several directors of the frontier army headquarters got along with him day and night, and the friendship between comrades-in-arms could not be explained clearly in one or two sentences, especially Director Liu of the Communications Department, when he formed the Yellow River Defense Headquarters, he was his old subordinate, serving as the chief of the telecommunications section, and later, following him, he became an organized member of the Outer Mongolia Frontier Army, and stayed in the Outer Mongolia region for several years, and was an old subordinate who shared weal and woe.

Sun Zhenbang grabbed the guard and asked eagerly, "What about Director Liu?" ”

The guard replied: "It has been sent to the field hospital!" ”

Sun Zhenbang shouted loudly: "Guard, follow me to the field hospital, the chief of the combat section, immediately count the casualties and ammunition consumption of the troops, I will come back to see!" ”

When Sun Zhenbang rushed to the field hospital, it was already late, and what he saw was a white sheet, covered with corpses, and the dean and the military doctor were full of shame, and when they saw the commander coming, they hurriedly greeted him.

The dean said: "Commander, we have done our best, when Director Liu sent it over, the person was already dead, the injury was too serious, the shell exploded at close range, the shrapnel almost tore the person apart, we ......"

Sun Zhenbang waved his hand, stopped the dean's words, and said in a low tone: "Dean Liao, I know that you have done your best, and I hope that your hospital will arrange manpower to send Director Liu back to Kulun, we can't bury him here, just bury him in the border guard Kulun Memorial Cemetery, and when the battle is over, I will go to see him again!" ”

On the way back to the headquarters, Sun Zhenbang's mood was very heavy, this was the first person in charge of the department directly under the headquarters who died after the start of the Sejingge River blockade battle, and he was also the first to die among the comrades-in-arms who got along day and night, remembering what he said at the headquarters at the time, Sun Zhenbang was very self-blaming, if it wasn't for his fierce attitude, he would not have rushed to repair the telephone line after the first shelling of the Soviet army, and he would not have sacrificed.

Although it is said that the dead cannot be avoided in a war, if the comrades-in-arms around him are killed because of his own reasons, Sun Zhenbang will not be able to let go.

On the north bank of the Sejingge River, at the temporary station of the Command of the Campaign for the Reconstruction of Outer Mongolia of the Transcaucasian Military District of the Soviet Union, the commander General Kurygin, was holding an emergency military meeting, and the commanders of four mechanized infantry divisions, four tank brigades, two armored brigades, and four artillery divisions were all present.

The chief of staff, Lieutenant General Zirnenko, was reporting on the casualties of the troops, "The battle began at 4 o'clock this morning and ended at about 6 o'clock, and our army dispatched a total of more than 6,000 troops from four infantry regiments to launch the first attack on the troops of the independent division on the south bank. ”

"The results of the battle are as follows: the attacking troops suffered more than 2,400 casualties, the engineers who erected the pontoon bridge suffered more than 400 casualties, the artillery units lost more than 280 people, and 25 artillery pieces were damaged.

General Kurygin knocked on the table and said in a stern tone: "Comrades, everyone has heard it, this is the result of our spending more than 100,000 rounds of artillery shells and dispatching more than 6,000 troops, more than seven to one casualty ratio, perhaps, some comrades will say, and after the shelling, we can't see the result, I believe, the result will not satisfy us, judging from the infantry firepower of the counterattack of the independent division's troops, Tang Qiuli's troops were not hit by Yan zhòng at all!" This is an indisputable fact! ”

The division commanders of the Soviet army all drooped their heads and did not say a word, and the commander was angry, don't ask for trouble, they became a punching bag, besides, the main attacking force did not do its best, and a regiment lost almost half of its strength.

In the tent, there was silence, only the roar of General Kulygin, and the dejected appearance of the commanders, which made him more and more angry, and General Kurygin resisted the urge to scold, and then said: "The soldiers of the independent division, what is the secret of being able to survive under our heavy shelling for an hour, that comrade knows?" ”

The division commanders raised their heads, and General Kurygin could see from their blank eyes that his words of inspiration were playing the piano to the cow, "The secret lies in the excellent soil work ability of the soldiers of the Independent Division, they hide themselves underground, our shells cannot kill and injure the Chinese, and the soil on both sides of the Sejingge River is not suitable for building strong fortifications on the surface, so the soldiers of the Independent Division hide themselves underground, a very clever way," General Kurygin said word by word.

"So, how do we solve this problem?" General Kurygin said with inspiration, he very much hoped that his subordinates could have so many people to propose even relatively effective solutions, but he was disappointed, and the eyes of his subordinates were still full of confusion.

General Kurygin sighed secretly, he couldn't count on these people, he shared his worries, he continued: "There is only one solution, completely destroy the underground shelters and anti-artillery holes of the soldiers of the independent division, but our artillery fire does not pose a mortal threat to them, therefore, the only way to solve the problem is to dispatch the bombers of the air force to bomb the positions of the independent division troops in all directions and in a large area, especially in the direction of our main assault, and even more saturation bombing!" ”

The commanders of the Soviet army woke up like a dream, yes, if the shells didn't work, they would use aerial bombs, why didn't they think of it, what a stupidity!

General Kurygin disdained to see the admiring gaze of his subordinates, and said to the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Zirnenko: "Comrade Zirnenko, immediately convey my order to the Air Force, dispatch the strength of a bomber division, all bombers, all bombers, must be able to destroy the shelter and anti-artillery holes about four meters deep underground, and in addition, tell the comrades of the Air Force, in an hour and a half, I want to see our bomber group!" ”

(To be continued) (To be continued.) For mobile phone users, please go to read. )