Kuniaki Oiso said that the Japanese Armored Group of the Far East Front was still more than 100 kilometers away from Nerchinsk. In fact, it was not true that the Japanese armored group led by Rommel and Yamashita Tomofumi quietly entered Nerchinsk yesterday evening.
The suburbs were not in a hurry to launch an attack simply because they were not well prepared.
Because he was worried that the Soviet Red Army on the opposite side would be alert and weaken the suddenness of the attack, Yamashita Tobumi even kept the Japanese base camp a secret.
But now, the Japanese army's preparations have been basically completed.
Almost at the same time that Kanin Gong Zaijin rushed to the Army Headquarters and held an emergency staff meeting regarding the main force of the North China Front being encircled, Yamashita Tobumi and Rommel also summoned the division commanders of more than a dozen armored divisions and infantry divisions.
They got up and held a pre-war meeting, mainly to arrange the order for the general attack.
After the meeting, more than a dozen division commanders went back to prepare themselves.
The next day, the eastern sky just showed a trace of fish belly white. More than thirty attack aircraft squadrons of the Fifth Flying Regiment directly affiliated to the Japanese Far East Front, as well as more than a dozen combat reconnaissance aircraft squadrons, including the Zero Fighter Squadron led by Shima Katsuzo
, taking off from multiple airports at the same time, flying towards Nerchinsk like locusts.
Yesterday, the reason why Rommel and Yamashita Tomofumi did not launch a general offensive as soon as they arrived in Nerchinsk was mainly because the more than a dozen support airports on the front line had not been repaired. In order to support the advancement of the Far East Front, the Kwantung Army ignored the agitation in the Northeast.
During the civil uprising, more than 100,000 civilians were arrested from the three northeastern provinces and forcibly taken to the Daxinganling Mountains to build an airport.
When Yamashita Fengwen and the armored group led by Rommel advanced to the vicinity of Nerchinsk, more than a dozen airports scattered in the Greater Khingan and Lesser Khingan Mountains were basically repaired. However, more than thirty attack aircraft squadrons of the Fifth Flying Regiment
And a dozen reconnaissance fighter squadrons need time to transition.
Because of this, there was a little delay.
Almost at the same time as more than 700 fighter planes took off, artillery regiments affiliated with various tank divisions began bombarding. A total of more than 500 field howitzers of different calibers fired at a total rate of dozens of shells per second.
, dumping tons upon tons of high-explosive ammunition onto the temporary defensive positions constructed by the Soviet army on the eastern outskirts of Nerchinsk.
Forty minutes later, the Japanese bombardment ended. Bombers and reconnaissance fighter jets taking off from various airports arrived one after another and continued to bomb Nerchinsk indiscriminately. At about 10 o'clock in the morning, the bombing finally ended, and then twelve
The tank division was divided into two assault groups on the left and right, and launched a pincer offensive towards Nerchinsk.
Although the Soviet army has made certain defensive deployments at various stations along the Far East Railway, and Nerchinsk, as the seat of the Eastern Cluster headquarters, has deployed more troops, this more troops is only relative, as the entire Eastern Cluster is the center of combat focus.
Still in the direction of Chita, there was only one army, or three divisions, in Nerchinsk.
Moreover, the artillery regiments of these three infantry divisions have remained in the direction of Chita and have not been transferred back.
Of course, this is not the worst. The worst thing is that since Chita was occupied by the Japanese army for more than a year, and the Siberian Railway was also interrupted for more than a year, most of the aircraft in the eastern cluster have been turned into decorations.
Parked in the hangar as a collection, the tank can only be used as a fixed turret.
The result was undoubtedly disastrous. The temporary civil fortifications built by the Soviet army could not withstand the bombardment of Japanese bombers and artillery. Fighters could not take off for support. Tanks with fixed turrets still posed a certain threat, but they could easily attract Japanese rocket launchers.
There is a concentrated fire, and once you are attacked by a rocket launcher, you will be unlucky!
Therefore, the Japanese offensive can only be described with one idiom, that is, it was devastating!
The defensive fortifications built by the Soviet army in the northeast of Nerchinsk seemed to be quite strong. However, once they were attacked by the Japanese armored group, they immediately turned into ice and snow under the scorching sun, melting invisible and leaving less than two feet in front and back.
Within hours, all three lines of Soviet defense were destroyed.
By two o'clock in the afternoon, the two Japanese attack pincers met in the southwest suburbs of Nerchinsk. At this time, dozens of divisions gathered in the eastern cluster of Chita front line showed their backs without reservation.
Under the tracks of the Japanese armored group, she looked like a young woman taking off her shirt in front of a group of big men.
…
It was not only the Eastern Cluster that lost its shirt, but also the North China Front of the Little Japanese.
In order to direct the next general attack nearby, Xu Rui once again moved his regiment headquarters forward to Gaobeidian.
At this moment, the headquarters in Gaobeidian was buzzing with telegrams and telephone calls. Signal soldiers and staff officers were walking back and forth, presenting the latest battle reports to Xu Rui and Wang Husheng.
At the beginning, the Japanese launched several counterattacks.
In particular, the 35th Division of Zhuoxian County invested an infantry regiment and launched a counterattack against Gu'an County in an attempt to restore the previously abandoned Gu'an County seat. However, it was easy to abandon the defense, and it would be difficult to restore the old position again.
It was difficult, and finally, after being strongly blocked by the Chahar Independent Regiment, they retreated to Zhuoxian County.
After several counterattacks were thwarted, the Japanese became more honest.
Du Junjie led two staff officers to convert the latest battle report submitted by the Ninth Battalion into an assignment on the map. Then he turned to Xu Rui and Wang Husheng and said: "Commander, and the political commissar, it seems that the little devil has completely given up on his fantasy.
I stopped thinking about breaking out and started building fortifications honestly, preparing to hold on as a team."
Xu Rui said suddenly: "Defying to the death is nothing more than defending to the death. We don't want it."
"Exactly." Mei Jiuling, the tank battalion commander who had just returned to the regiment headquarters, also agreed, "The little devils can't even defend Peiping, let alone the barren mountains and ridges here."
Wang Husheng waved his hand and said, "You still can't be careless."
After a pause, Wang Husheng continued: "Throughout the ages, have there been many examples of opponents being reversed on the eve of victory? Let's not talk about the distant ones. In the Central Plains War, Chiang Kai-shek's Central Army was beaten to a pulp by Feng Yuxiang's Northwest Army.
It was over, and its destruction was imminent, but was it not reversed by Chiang Kai-shek in the end? So we cannot be careless."
Xu Rui laughed when he heard this and said to the battalion commanders around him: "Listen to the political commissar and don't be careless!"
After finishing speaking, he said to Du Junjie: "Ajie, hurry up and draw up a general attack plan. I can see that if you don't eat hundreds of thousands of little devils in front of you in one day, your political commissar will not be able to sleep well at night."
Wang Husheng blushed and said, "Old Xu, we can't be so anxious about the general offensive."
Xu Rui said: "Don't worry, let Ajie draw up the general attack plan first."
As soon as he finished speaking, a correspondent walked in with a solemn expression and handed a telegram to Du Junjie.
After Du Junjie read the telegram, his expression suddenly changed, and then he hurried over to report to Xu Rui and Wang Husheng: "The regiment leader and the political commissar have something big going on!"
Xu Rui said: "Don't worry, Ajie, what's the matter?"
Du Junjie took a breath, tried his best to suppress the emotions in his chest, and said: "I just received a notification from the Soviet army, saying that the armored cluster of the Japanese Kwantung Army suddenly appeared in Nerchinsk this morning. The Soviet Union in Nerchinsk
The Japanese army was caught off guard and was quickly wiped out. Now the Japanese armored group has rushed directly to the Chita battlefield."
"What?" Wang Husheng said in surprise, "Nerchinsk has been lost now?!"
Xu Rui's expression instantly darkened. Logically speaking, he had already warned Zhukov to be more vigilant. If the Soviet military had been on guard first, it would not have been possible for them to fight like this!
At this time, He Shuya said quietly: "Commander, the Soviet army is probably in big trouble!"
"Yes." Mei Jiuling nodded and said, "Nerchinsk is not only the headquarters of the Eastern Group of the Soviet Far East Front, but also the last line of defense for the Eastern Group to resist the armored group of the Japanese Kwantung Army. Nerchinsk
Once it falls, the more than 500,000 Soviet troops gathered in the Eastern Group on the Chita battlefield will be attacked from both sides, and their defeat is certain!"
"Not only! There are things more terrifying than this!" He Shuya shook his head and said to Xu Rui, "Captain, we are afraid that we will also be in trouble. To be on the safe side, I am afraid that we cannot wait until Guizishan is exhausted before launching a general attack.
We must launch a general attack immediately and strive to eliminate them in the shortest possible time!"
After a pause, He Shuya continued: "Then, free up your hands and deal with the Mongolian army and the Japanese army in Shanxi as soon as possible. There is not much time left for us, we must hurry up."
"Yes!" Xu Rui nodded sincerely, "We really don't have much time left."
"Captain, what does this have to do with us?" Mei Jiuling said blankly, "Wasn't the destruction of the Soviet Army's Eastern Cluster originally within our expectations? Now it's just a few days early, and we have no idea about the overall situation.
It doesn’t have any impact, so why do you say we don’t have much time left? Why is that?”
"Yes, why?" Du Junjie also looked confused.
Xu Rui's mood at this time was so bad that he didn't even bother to explain. He shook his head and said, "Ajie, please call Irkutsk immediately and warn Zhukov that the Soviet army must strengthen its defense immediately, otherwise, the consequences will be disastrous!"
"Yes!" Although Du Junjie was full of doubts, he still went to the communications office to convey the message honestly.
Watching Du Junjie's figure go away, He Shuya said quietly: "Commander, you have reminded Zhukov many times to strengthen the defense against the Japanese armored cluster's blitzkrieg. Zhukov also replied that he would pay attention to it. However, in actual combat, the defense line of the Soviet eastern cluster failed.
It’s almost like paper, which shows that there are some situations that we don’t know about.”
Xu Rui's face became increasingly gloomy and he said, "Shu Ya, what do you mean?"
He Shuya took a breath and said quietly: "Captain, what I mean is that we probably have to prepare in advance! In order to avoid extreme situations when the time comes, we will be caught off guard!"
"Be prepared in advance?" Xu Rui heard this with awe.