What he just reported to Lieutenant General Haruhiko, commander of the Intelligence Department of the Rear Guard Cluster Command of the Japanese Far East Campaign, was only a search unit directly under the Ministry of Intelligence, and according to the practice of the Japanese army, there was an establishment of search units from the wing to the division level, and they were responsible for some special tasks such as reconnaissance, infiltration, and sabotage, that is, the prototype of the special forces.

If it is calculated in this way, the number of search troops in the entire campaign guard cluster, hundreds of thousands of troops, and search troops may reach tens of thousands, therefore, Major General Iijima said: "Your Excellency Commander, there is no need to worry about the lack of troops to implement the plan, in addition to the three search groups directly under the Ministry of Intelligence, you can also draw a certain number of search troops from various divisions and regiments to carry out your plan!" ”

"Yo Xi!" Lieutenant General Haruhiko shouted happily, and the problem that plagued him was solved, "Iijima-kun, this plan will be handed over to you for specific implementation, but you must remember one thing, the main purpose of the raid here is to destroy the artillery positions of the Soviet army, other than that, everything else is secondary, it must be closely organized and carefully planned, and within three days, I want to see the results of the operation!" He explained sternly.

Put forward the idea of destroying the Soviet artillery positions, the general direction of Lieutenant General Haruhiko, if it comes to specific implementation, Lieutenant General Haruhiko has self-knowledge, compared with the seemingly rude farmer-like Major General Iijima in front of him, he is much worse, Iijima, this guy, is born to engage in intelligence, and he is very good at it.

Major General Iijima accepted the task without modesty, which was also his own business, "Your Excellency, commander, without further ado, I will immediately organize the assembly of the sneak attack troops, and within two hours, the specific plan of the operation." It will be delivered to you, and in three hours the first troops will be ready to depart, and perhaps without waiting for three days, at the latest by ten o'clock tomorrow night, you will hear the good news! He said confidently.

"Iijima-kun, please! The safety of hundreds of thousands of Imperial soldiers in my campaign guard cluster is entrusted to Iijima-kun! Lieutenant General Haruhiko said with a twinkle in his eyes, and after speaking, he got up and bowed deeply to Major General Iijima. The tone is sincere and sincere.

On the same night, in the Far Eastern Theater, the commander of the Soviet Far Eastern Front, General Zhukov, stared blankly at the outside of the shelter, reflecting half of the sky's artillery fire. Ban Xiang didn't turn back, covering the staff officers in the department. They were all silent. Only the ticking of the radio, monotonous and repetitive, disturbed people's minds.

Lieutenant General Godayav, Chief of Staff of the Far Eastern Front, silently looked at the back of Comrade Commander, does he know Zhukov's mood at this moment. Very bad and shouldn't have been bothered, however, some situations have reached a critical juncture. Comrade Commander must be made known.

Chief of Staff Godayav pondered for a while, picked and said: "Comrade commander, the development of the battle situation is becoming more and more unfavorable to us, because the weather is getting warmer, and our ice and snow fortifications have collapsed in many places under the shelling of the Japanese artillery. ”

Zhukov's back shook slightly, but he didn't turn his head, and Chief of Staff Godayav continued: "Judging from the current battlefield situation, the most tense and dangerous is the southern direction, however, the other three directions are not optimistic, under great pressure from the Japanese army, in several key areas, repeatedly fighting with the Japanese army, the troops suffered heavy casualties, but they could not repel the Japanese army, Comrade Commander...... "His tone was very heavy and he couldn't go on.

Zhukov turned around, in the dim light, his face was haggard and frightening, in fact, since the Japanese army completed the encirclement and began to attack, he had almost no time to close his eyes, the solid ice and snow defense line could only block the Japanese attack for a while, but it could not work forever, because the weather was an invincible enemy.

According to Zhukov's prediction, before the weather warms up, the Outer Khingan Front and the Baikal Front will rush to the Far Eastern battlefield by taking advantage of the ice and snow defense line and holding on for about 10 days, and the troops of the Far Eastern Front will rush to the Far Eastern battlefield.

However, as the Japanese offensive became more and more fierce, especially the first line of positions in the southern direction, which lasted less than three days, it was broken through by the Japanese Kwantung Army, which greatly surprised Zhukov, according to the defense plan, the first line of positions should be held for at least five days, and at that time, without the Japanese attack, Zhukov would also order that all the troops of the Far Eastern Front should withdraw to the second line of defense.

The sudden change disrupted Zhukov's steady defense, gradually retreated, stuck to the plan of waiting for reinforcements, and gave up the first line of defense, not actively, if the troops on the first line of defense were not decisively withdrawn, they would be divided and surrounded by the Japanese army, and they would be eaten in one bite.

Despite being passive, Zhukov still had enough confidence to hold on until the reinforcements arrived, but, the ruthless fact that gave the famous Soviet general a series of blows, and it originally only took five or six days to reach the reinforcements on the periphery of the Far Eastern battlefield, but they were blocked by the Japanese army at a distance of hundreds of kilometers from the battlefield, and in five days, they did not advance an inch.

The Japanese commander should have sensed an unexpected change in the situation of the battle, and increased the intensity of the offensive against the Far Eastern Front, judging from the fighting and troop casualties in the last two days, this has undoubtedly been confirmed, the reinforcements have been delayed, the Japanese offensive has intensified, the casualties of their own troops have been huge, the ammunition and supplies have been severely consumed, the weather has become warmer, the fortifications have gradually lost their original role, and several unavoidable serious problems have been placed in front of Zhukov.

Zhukov had nothing to do about this, and his originally firm heart turned out to be desperate, and he seemed to feel the result of the total annihilation of the Far Eastern Front, and he knew better that the supreme commander of the Japanese army in the Far Eastern Theater was determined to annihilate the Far Eastern Front, but he was powerless to change the predictable result, and Zhukov's mood was extremely bad.

However, he did not dare to reveal the slightest hint in front of his subordinates, and only in the telegrams exchanged with his old friend, General Gregarif of the Outer Khinganling Front, a little inadvertently revealed that the current Far Eastern Front was relying on the arrival of reinforcements soon, and this breath was hard to support, once the reinforcements were blocked, the news that it could not be rescued in a short period of time spread among the troops, and all the defense lines of the Far Eastern Front would completely collapse in an instant.

Chief of Staff Godayav, the reported casualties of the troops, in Zhukov's heart, did not stir up a trace of waves, I have seen and heard too much, in the face of the siege of the Japanese army on all sides, the Far Eastern Front did not pay the price of tens of thousands of casualties that day, but today's casualties are larger.

Seeing that although Zhukov turned around, he still did not speak, and he looked depressed, Chief of Staff Godayav couldn't help but say: "Comrade commander, we must come up with a solution to the problem of the southern defense direction, otherwise, it will affect the entire front, and I will transfer the Ninth Army and the Fourteenth Army to carry out a partial counterattack against the Japanese Kwantung Army and recapture several key areas!" ”

Zhukov's eyes fluctuated slightly, he looked at Chief of Staff Godayav and said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, in view of the current situation of the troops, do you think that it is still capable of organizing a local counterattack?" ”

Without waiting for Chief of Staff Godayav to answer, Zhukov himself said: "Now, every army group has suffered heavy casualties, the body and energy of the fighters are almost to the limit, and there are ammunition and provisions, we cannot organize a counterattack, so let's order all the troops, taking advantage of the cessation of the Japanese offensive, to shrink the scope of defense again, give up the struggle for some key points, we must maintain sufficient strength!" ”

Chief of Staff Godayav hesitated and reminded: "Comrade commander, we have once again shrunk our positions, the space of the battlefield has shrunk to the point where it is impossible to turn around, and without the depth of defense, once the Japanese break through a little, the situation will be irretrievable, or please think carefully?" ”

Zhukov looked at his chief of staff, his gaze remained unchanged, and said: "Execute!" After saying that, without looking at anyone, he went straight into the depths of the shelter, and the chief of staff of Godayav sighed and began to give orders to the various army groups.

Zhukov's heart was even heavier, the order just now was actually a last resort, although there was not much depth of defense, but it increased the thickness of the forces in each defensive direction, which was also the last move to resist the Japanese attack, the Far Eastern Front and himself had no way to retreat, "Old friend, what happened to you there?" Could it be that more than a million troops could not break through the resistance of the Japanese army? Zhukov thought to himself.

In Zhukov's heart, he did not blame his old friend in the slightest, the commander of the Trans-Khinganling Front, General Gregariv, Zhukov knew that his old friend would definitely do his best, for this, there is no doubt at all, if it was the commander of the Baikal Front, General Kirganin, maybe not so active, Zhukov believes that it is because of this that he will be puzzled by the fact that the reinforcements have not moved an inch in five days under the resistance of the Japanese army!

General Zhukov, commander of the Soviet Far East Front, had a desperate thought in his heart, in the Far East city of Khabarovsk, in the General Headquarters of the Japanese Far East Campaign, Prince Zairen, who commanded the troops to storm the Soviet army, was also in the office, roaring angrily and losing his temper, for only one reason, the offensive of all the troops was progressing too slowly, so slow that Prince Zairen had the urge to kill.

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