The shredded telegram manuscript paper, drifting away in the wind, leaving a little mottled white on the withered yellow grass, the actions of General Kulykin, commander of the Transcaucasian Military District of the USSR and commander of the Command of the Campaign for the Recovery of the Outer Mongolia Region, completely confused the chief of staff of the Military District, Lieutenant General Zirnenko, who had been paying attention to his feelings.

Lieutenant General Zirnenko's eyes widened in surprise and asked, "Comrade Commander, ...... are you?" ”

General Kurygin did not look back, but said flatly, "Konev they have done their best, even if it is a punishment, what is the use?" ”

Zirnenko's body was stunned, and he thought that Commander Kurygin was not satisfied with his downplay of the responsibility of the air force of the military region in the draft telegram, and that he was not ruthless enough, and in such a way, the two of them expressed their dissatisfaction, so that his life in the military region would definitely not be easy in the future.

However, what I heard was another matter, could it be that Comrade Commander suddenly changed his character, but how to carry out the next campaign plan, the bombing of the Air Force was basically ineffective, and the first kick was not done well, how can the next routine be fought?

Therefore, Lieutenant General Zirenenko asked tentatively: "Comrade commander, is our offensive still going according to the original plan?" Do you wait for the Air Force to replenish its losses before starting the offensive? ”

Senior General Kurygin turned back suddenly, a cold light appeared in his eyes, and said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, without the Air Force, we can't fight?" When the Air Force is replenished, how long will it take, a month, two months, or even half a year, can we afford to wait? Convey my order, the campaign offensive begins according to the original plan! ”

General Kulygin's cold eyes made Lieutenant General Zirnenko's heart tremble, yes, his own construction. Neither the General Staff nor Comrade Stalin allowed the troops of the Transcaucasian Military District to delay like this, and in the case of the Air Force dying one after another, they had no choice but to fight hard, and the actions of Comrade Commander were also helpless.

The south bank of the Sesagoge River. At about 7:30 a.m. on 21 September, at the blocking position of the Outer Mongolian Frontier Army of the Independent Division, Commander Sun Zhenbang held a telescope and looked through the lookout hole of the Guò Shelter Department, and intently observed the movements of the Soviet troops on the opposite side. Peaceful, absolutely quiet. There was no precursor to an imminent Soviet offensive.

He pondered in his suspicious heart. "The air battle and bombing have been over for more than twenty minutes, and the first axe of the Soviet army has been chopped down, and next, it's time for the second move, why has it been so long. There is no movement at all, shouldn't he be stunned by Liu Cuigang's fleet? Today's offense is in vain again? That's the best, I like it! ”

The phone on the shell box of the "Jingle Bell" rang urgently. Sun Zhenbang picked up the phone, "Commander, the bombardment of the Soviet army has passed, whether the troops will immediately enter the forward position, Lao Maozi is afraid that he will start attacking!" "It was the commander of the 1st Brigade who called, and then the other three brigade commanders all called, asking the troops who had retreated to the Rocky Mountains to enter the forward position immediately, so as not to be passive.

Sun Zhenbang's face showed a struggling look, the construction of the four brigade commanders is not unreasonable, the blocking line is more than 20 kilometers wide, and the remaining troops are less than five battalions, if the Soviet army adopts the method of rapid assault, waiting for the troops in the rear, after moving to the front line, the Soviet army's attack force is basically about to board the beachhead, and it will be very passive to fight like this.

However, Sun Zhenbang always had a doubt in his heart, the bombing of the Soviet bombers did not achieve the desired effect, and the commander of the Soviet army would definitely be able to see that the position of the independent division was not destroyed, and in the absence of fire suppression, just the infantry carried out a river-crossing assault, which was similar to sending a live target, and the Soviet commander was not stupid enough to do this, wait and see!

Sun Zhenbang said: "Stay honest with me, see the situation, without my order, no troops are allowed to move to the front, in addition, prepare a regiment of troops, after receiving my order, move to the front position as quickly as possible!"

Then, Sun Zhenbang gave the troops left behind at the front line an order to enter the anti-artillery hole and shelter, and after more than ten minutes, the long wait made Sun Zhenbang's mood more and more uneasy, it stands to reason that the Soviet army should not be so quiet, fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, and his heart was depressed and uncomfortable.

At this time, from the north bank of the Sejingge River, behind the forward positions of the Soviet troops, there was a dull loud noise, and immediately, a swarm of shells, with a screaming sound, fell on the position on the south bank from far and near, exploding black pillars of earth, the earth trembled, and the smoke and flames of gunpowder spread in an instant.

With the shells of the Soviet troops. Falling on his own position, Sun Zhenbang's heart relaxed, wiped the sweat on his head, threw down the telescope, grabbed the kettle, poured it violently, breathed a long sigh of relief, and said to himself: "Is this right, if the old Mao soldiers don't open fire, Lao Tzu really can't understand their path!" ”

The Soviet artillery bombardment lasted for 40 minutes, but the intensity and intensity of the artillery fire were obviously not as effective as on the first day, and Liu Cuigang's bomber group was still very effective in striking at the Soviet artillery.

Forty minutes later, the Soviet artillery fire began to extend, "booming" to the depth, Sun Zhenbang dropped the kettle, grabbed the phone, and ordered: "The troops left behind in the front line should immediately enter the surface position, hurry up to repair the fortifications, and the troops in the rocky mountains will immediately move up the strength of a regiment, and they are about to fight!" ”

On the surface of the Sejingge River, there were attacking troops of the Soviet army, rubber assault boats, which were quickly pushed into the water, densely covered with the river, Sun Zhenbang stared at the movements of the Soviet army, and muttered in his mouth: "Damn, the Soviet army is going to work hard, dispatching no less than twelve regiments, Lao Tzu has only twelve regiments in total, this is to force me not to leave reserves!" ”

Sun Zhenbang grabbed the phone again and ordered, "The troops of Ranshi Mountain, each brigade will send an additional one and a half regiments, and the troops in the front line, wait for my order to open fire together!" ”

Ten minutes later, the rubber boat of the Soviet army, which had already crossed half of the water surface of the Sejingge River, began to shoot light and heavy machine guns on the assault boat, and the bullets were as dense as raindrops, hitting the position of the independent division on the opposite side and making it dusty.

Sun Zhenbang stared at the Soviet army, and as time passed minute by minute, the soldiers of the independent division on the position, holding their guns tightly, were so anxious that their hearts jumped, and the guns were getting closer and closer, why didn't the commander give the order to open fire? It's a real rush!

Sun Zhenbang raised his right hand and said to the staff officers guarding the telephone: "Order, mortar companies of each battalion, the shells will explode with a delay of fifteen seconds, and ten rounds will be fired urgently, and the artillery will be fired!" His right hand slashed down and gave the order to open fire.

Sun Zhenbang is smart, under the attack of the twelve regiments of Soviet troops, if the infantry weapons are used to return fire, they will definitely be able to inflict great casualties on the Soviet army, but the casualties of the troops will not be small, and the fighters exposed to the surface positions will inevitably be killed by the Soviet fire, but the mortars are different, the gunners can hide in the trenches, without affecting the effect of the artillery bombardment, and can avoid casualties.

Moreover, mortar shells are the best strike weapon for Soviet troops in such a dense offensive formation, and there are many forward artillery observation posts that provide the coordinates of the shelling at any time, and there is no fear that the shells will miss.

At this time, General Kurygin and Chief of Staff Zirnianko, on a high platform, holding binoculars, paying attention to the development of the offensive, standing in this position, can look at the entire battlefield, the two of them can see that the soldiers of the Soviet Red Army have approached the south bank, at this time, from the south bank of the Sesagoge River, on the position of the independent division, suddenly flew up countless mortar shells, like meteors flying in the sky, smashed down towards the Soviet assault boat.

The experienced Soviet veteran's face turned pale at that time, and he could hear that it was countless mortar shells, a dense scream falling from the sky, "Boom, boom!" There was a dense explosion, and on the surface of the river, it was suddenly like a boiling pot, and countless water columns rose, mixed with the residual value of the Soviet soldiers' broken arms, blood flowers, and the wreckage of the assault boat, the water column fell, and the slightly discolored color of the river water, with the turbulent torrent, took this qiē away.

Then, the second and third batches of mortar shells, one after another, on the surface of the river, exploded a net of death, Sun Zhenbang is an absolute expert, understand all infantry weapons and equipment, will need to contact objects, will explode, adjust the delay of fifteen seconds to explode, so that even if it does not touch any object, it will not affect the explosion effect of the shell, especially the high parabolic mortar, many shells, is a volley explosion.

The shrapnel of the explosion, like a goddess scattering flowers, threw countless broken and irregular steel fragments in any direction at will, unhindered into the bodies of Soviet soldiers, brought up a puff of blood, harvesting lives one by one, shrapnel penetrated the inflatable rubber boat, and the Soviet soldiers on the boat immediately fell into the water, in addition to struggling with the turbulent torrent, they also had to accept the shells that fell on the head, and the looting of countless flying shrapnel!

On the open river, there is no place to hide from the shelling, there is no safety blind spot, mortar shells fly one after another, the Soviet soldiers are killed and wounded, and they complain, the infantry of the independent division, hiding in the trenches, are so happy that they can't close their mouths, looking at the mortar shells, flying overhead, some brave soldiers, can't help but poke their heads out secretly, wanting to see the scene of shells flying.

Immediately, the fierce shouts of the squad and platoon commanders came: "Don't die, bow your head quickly!" The soldiers stuck out their tongues and retracted their heads a little unwillingly, but these squad and platoon commanders couldn't help but be curious, and quickly took a look at the probe, and immediately retracted it, with an incredulous expression, in their later words, "My God, is that clearly hitting a group of live targets!" ”

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