Chapter 2343

Although the Soviet army had done all kinds of confidentiality work in advance in the Far East Campaign, it was impossible for the little devils to not notice it at all. But although the little Japanese tried every means, they were still unable to obtain the Soviet army's specific attack plan.

　　I don’t know when and in what direction the Soviet army will launch an attack. The little devil can only judge based on some clues. The day before yesterday, when Sokov ordered the artillery to use heavy artillery to bombard the 44th Army's defense area, the little devil had an illusion, thinking that since Sokov could use heavy artillery to bombard his own defense area unscrupulously, it proved that this might be the direction of the opponent's attack. , so they began to dispatch troops and generals here. On August 8th alone, an infantry brigade, two tank brigades and two artillery regiments were mobilized to prepare for the attack.

When the Soviet army fired tens of thousands of artillery and simultaneously assumed an offensive posture along the border that was thousands of kilometers wide, Lieutenant General Yoshio Hongo thought that this was just a bait released by the Soviet army and they were really preparing to attack. The place was not the area that was under shelling at the moment, but the area where there had been no movement. Therefore, when his subordinates called to ask for instructions whether to transfer the troops deployed in front of the 53rd Army to the area under bombardment, he said righteously: "No, the Russian 53rd Army has not moved yet. There must be some conspiracy. If I move the troops away now, once they get the news, they will break through our defense line from this direction."

After giving the order to the troops to stand still, Yoshio Hongo called the 3rd Front Army Headquarters and reported to General Haremiya Jun, the commander of the Front Army who had just been awakened from his sleep: "Your Excellency, Commander, the Russians Although a large-scale artillery bombardment was carried out on the defense areas of our 44th Army, their attack direction was obviously not in those areas."

 “Oh, why do you say that?”

"The day before yesterday, the Russian 53rd Army carried out a fierce artillery bombardment on the defense area of ​​our 44th Army, and sent infantry units reinforced with tanks to approach our army's defense line, just to ask for a reconnaissance team that penetrated deep into our defense area. .”

Harem Chun couldn't help but be startled after hearing this, and then asked: "General Hongo, why didn't you report such an important matter to me?"

"I don't think it's necessary." Hongo Yoshio said carelessly: "Since they are aggressively asking us for a reconnaissance team, what's more important is that the members of the team are Chinese anti-alliance elements."

"What, the reconnaissance team composed of anti-alliance elements went deep into your army's defense area. In order to rescue them, the Russians even carried out violent shelling on your defense line." Harem Chun said with interest: "It's so interesting ”

"Yes, Your Excellency, Commander." Yoshio Hongo poured his speculation into Chun Gong: "The reason why the Russians tried every means to rescue this reconnaissance team is obviously because the team possesses important information. They are trying to use this intelligence to plan an attack on our army."

"If it happened the day before yesterday, wouldn't the time be too short?" Haremong Chun said: "Even if the reconnaissance team obtained important information about our army, with the character of the Russians, it would not be possible in a day or two. Within, we developed such a complete attack plan.”

"Your Excellency, Commander, I still believe that the Russians will use me as a breakthrough point." Yoshio Hongo said: "Therefore, I will basically concentrate the main forces near the border on the front of the Russian 53rd Army. If they really If he wants to make a breakthrough from here, we will give him a head-on blow."

Harem Jun had reservations about Hongo Yoshio's judgment: "General Hongo, if you concentrate all the troops near the border on the front of the Russian 53rd Army, once the Russians launch an attack from other areas, then your The defense line will collapse in an instant."

"No, Your Excellency, Commander." But Yoshio Hongo still maintained enough confidence: "Other areas are blocked by the Greater Khingan Mountains, which is not conducive to the deployment of the army at all. As long as the Russian commanders have no problem with their minds, they will That’s not where I would choose to break through the defense.”

"Okay, General Hongo." Seeing Hongo Yoshio's confidence, Haremiya Chun didn't say anything more, "I wish you victory and completely crush the Russians' attempt to attack."

"You can rest assured of this, Your Excellency, Commander." At this moment, Yoshio Hongo was full of confidence: "The Russians will not attack unless they attack. Once they attack, the defense area of ​​our 44th Army will become their burial place. .”

 Hongo Yoshio's blind confidence successfully infected Harem Chun. So much so that when he spoke to the Kwantung Army Commander Yamada Otsuzo, he confidently said: "Your Excellency, Commander, the Russians are about to launch an attack on our army's defense zone, but we are confident of completely crushing their attack."

"You're right." Yamada Otsuzo is obviously full of confidence in this war. After all, he has millions of troops under his command. If the Russians want to eat so many of their troops, he must first grow good teeth. Otherwise, the troops deployed on the border alone would be enough for them to drink: "We have a million troops. Unless the Russians dispatch two or three times more troops than us, they will never be able to break through our borders in a short time." Defense. As long as our soldiers hold on to the defense line and inflict huge casualties on the Russians, Stalin will then order the offensive to stop due to the heavy casualties of the troops."

Precisely because the Kwantung Army was filled with a kind of blind optimism from top to bottom, the Soviet army's violent shelling of the Kwantung Army's positions in the early morning did not attract the attention of the Kwantung Army's senior officials, and naturally no corresponding action was taken. Deployment adjustments.

At dawn, the Soviet bomber formations took off one after another and flew towards the depth of the Kwantung Army's defenses. They bombed the military targets that had been reconnoitred long ago and cleared obstacles along the way for the ground offensive troops.

When Harem Chun received a report from the front line and learned that the Soviet air force was carrying out violent bombings in depth of his defenses and that the ground troops also launched an attack, he realized that the problem was a bit beyond his imagination and quickly called the chief of staff. , instructing him: "Call the Army Aviation Corps and ask them to dispatch reconnaissance planes to conduct reconnaissance of the Russian defense areas."

Harem Chun's order was conveyed quickly, and the two reconnaissance planes staggered into the sky and flew towards the area where the Soviet troops gathered, trying to figure out what happened.

But unfortunately, one of the reconnaissance planes broke into the combat area of ​​the 17th Soviet Army and was discovered by Soviet fighter jets responsible for air cover. Four fighter planes immediately broke away from the formation and headed towards the Japanese reconnaissance plane. The position flew. Just a few minutes later, the Japanese reconnaissance plane was hit and exploded in the sky. The pilot didn't even have time to parachute, and the plane and the plane turned into pieces and fell from the sky.

 The other reconnaissance plane was luckier and was not discovered by the Soviet Air Force, which was responsible for the **** mission. After making a rough circle around the area where the Soviet troops were active, the pilot hurriedly returned to the airport and reported the detected intelligence. After Harem Chun saw the photos taken by the pilot, he couldn't help being stunned. It can be seen from the photos that in the direction of Liquan, 1,000 tanks and vehicles are heading eastward; in the direction of Kailu, another 1,000 tanks and vehicles are heading southeast.

Harem Chun fell weakly on his seat and murmured: "How is this possible? How is this possible? Why did so many Russians break through our defense lines?"

"Your Excellency, Commander," the chief of staff came over, picked up the photo and looked at it, then looked at Harem Chun with sympathy and said to him: "If the intelligence detected by the reconnaissance plane is not wrong, it means that the Russians are sending our troops to A large-scale attack was launched. Although there are many troops shown in the photo, I feel that this is only a small force among them, and there should be a larger force following behind."

If it were normal times, Harem Chun would definitely scold him if he heard his chief of staff say this, saying he was talking nonsense, and even slap him a few times to make him remember it better and stop talking nonsense all day long. . But at this moment, he looked confused and asked the Chief of Staff: "Chief of Staff, what should we do next?"

“What else can we do, of course, report the matter to Commander Yamada Otsuzo and see what he thinks about it.”

Harem Jun grabbed the phone and was about to dial when he suddenly remembered Hongo Yoshio's 44th Army and asked the chief of staff: "What about Hongo Yoshio's 44th Army?"

"Your Excellency, Commander, I just called General Hongo Yoshio to ask him about the situation on the battlefield." The chief of staff pointed to the map and introduced Harem Jun: "The area where heavy troops are concentrated is calm, and the Russian 53rd Army opposite is not. Any sign of attack. On the contrary, the 17th and 39th Group Armies on their left and right flanks are launching a fierce attack on the 44th Army's defense zone. I have ordered General Yoshio Hongo to immediately move the troops preparing to face the 53rd Group Army, Send reinforcements to both wings, and be sure to block the Russian attack and prevent them from easily breaking through our defense line."

"Chief of Staff, you did the right thing." Harem Chun agreed with his Chief of Staff's decision: "Now it seems that the 53rd Army was the bait sent by the Russians. They deliberately bombarded our defense area two days ago. It gives us the illusion that this force is the main force attacking our defense area, attracting our army to transfer the main force to this area, thus causing the defense forces in other areas to become weak."

If Sokov were here and heard what Harem Chun said, he would definitely cry out. The reason why he ordered artillery to bombard the 44th Army's defense area at that time was simply to rescue Captain Feng and his reconnaissance team. Nothing else was considered. But he didn't expect that the flowers he planted deliberately did not bloom and the willows that he planted unintentionally made shade. His actions actually misled the little devils, causing them to impatiently move the main troops on the border to their front, thereby reducing the offensive pressure on friendly forces.

An hour after the ground troops' offensive began, Malinovsky asked Zakharov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, how is the progress of our troops?"

"It went very well, Comrade Marshal." Zaharov introduced to Malinovsky: "The 37th Army in the north encountered some stubborn resistance during the attack. The attack speed was slightly slower, but it still advanced. More than ten kilometers. The ones that made the most progress were the 17th and 39th Group Armies. The enemy transferred the defense forces in these two directions. As a result, after our offensive started, we basically encountered no resistance. Now they have moved forward. We advanced more than thirty kilometers."

"It's really amazing." Malinovsky couldn't help saying with emotion after hearing this: "When we were attacking the German defense area, we could advance several kilometers a day, which was considered a brilliant result. Unexpectedly, today and Kanto During the battle, our troops were able to advance more than 30 kilometers in one hour, which is simply incredible."

"Comrade Marshal, there is nothing incredible." Zakharov said with a smile: "According to the intelligence analysis we obtained, Sokov's seemingly reckless behavior the day before yesterday caused an illusion to the Kwantung Army, thinking that the 53rd Army The area where we are located is the main direction for our army to break through. Therefore, they concentrated the main forces deployed on the border on the front of Sokov's troops, thereby weakening the frontal defense forces of the 17th and 39th Group Armies, and our army could It went so well.”

"Chief of Staff, it seems that the punishment we imposed on Comrade Sokov can be lifted." Knowing that the troops were progressing smoothly, Malinovsky was naturally overjoyed. At this moment, it seemed that Sokov ordered the troops without authorization the day before yesterday. Firing at the Kwantung Army's defense area was not only right, but actually meritorious. If he hadn't caused the little devils to have the illusion, the progress of the 17th and 39th Group Armies would have been so smooth.

"Okay, I'll call him immediately." Zakharov was very happy when he learned that Sokov's punishment was about to be lifted. He quickly grabbed the phone in front of him, picked up the receiver and said, "I'll call him right away." call him."

"Wait a minute, Comrade Chief of Staff." Malinovsky stopped Zakharov, drew on the map with his hand, and then said: "If the 17th and 39th Group Armies continue to maintain the current advancement speed , then by tomorrow, there will be a gap between them that is tens or hundreds of kilometers wide. In order to prevent our troops from being divided by the enemy, I plan to put Sokov's 53rd Army into battle before noon tomorrow and let them Cooperate with the 6th Guards Tank Army to advance forward and fill the gap between the two armies."

"I agree with you, Comrade Commander." Zakharov nodded and said, "I will notify Sokov immediately and let him prepare for battle."

After the call was connected, as soon as he heard Sokov's voice, Zakharov smiled and said: "Misha, I'm calling you. I have two things to announce to you. First, from now on, cancel As a punishment for you, you will still be the commander of the 53rd Army."

The officer's reinstatement had long been expected by Sokov. He was not as emotional as Zakharov imagined, but asked calmly: "Chief of Staff of the Front Army, I wonder what the second thing is?"

"Because the 17th and 39th Group Armies are advancing too fast, by this time tomorrow, there will be a gap hundreds of kilometers wide between them." Zaharov said: "The task of your group armies is to cooperate The 6th Guards Tank Army launched an attack, broke through the enemy's defenses and then advanced south to fill the gap between the two armies. Do you understand?"

"Understood, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army." After hearing the order given to him by Zakharov, Sokov was overjoyed and quickly replied: "I will convey your order to the troops now and let the commanders and soldiers prepare for battle. .”

 (End of this chapter)