Republic of China game

Page 477

Chapter 0746 Chinese Expeditionary Force ([-]) Key Battle

At this time, it was a quiet time on the front line of the Northern Army Group in Latvia.

From the end of May 1937, after the Northern Army Group was formed and stationed in Latvia, which had just "joined" Germany, they joined the Soviet army along Latvia and Estonia, the Great Luki region of Russia, and Polotsk-Georgia in northern Belarus. A half-year-long standoff took place in the Ruboye area. On September 5, after the outbreak of the Great War, the Soviet and German armies once fought a less intense battle, but the imaginary decisive battle never happened.In late October, when the Soviet-Polish war was about to end, this place entered a "quiet period" that is also very rare in world military history. For half a month, the entire front was almost forgotten.

However, the Germans have assembled a considerable number of troops here. As of November 1937, 11, the Northern Army Group had a total of 10 German infantry corps, 15 Chinese infantry corps, and 2 Italian army with 1 people. The expeditionary corps, and 5 Russian infantry corps, have a total of 5 armies or legions, 23 infantry divisions, with as many as 69 cannons, and a total strength of more than 6000 million!However, the army group did not have an armored division attached to it.In addition, near Riga, the capital of Latvia, the German engineers also established a series of large-scale air bases. The 115 aircraft of the Aviation Division) are based here as the main base.

The Germans concentrated such a large force here, of course not for defense. According to their "Barbarossa Plan", the main task of the Northern Army Group was to divide the troops into two routes after Germany launched a full-scale attack on the Soviet Union, passing through Estonia and Great Luki. Attack on Leningrad, the second largest city in the Soviet Union.

Perhaps for the convenience of command, the Northern Army Group organized the 2 Chinese armies, 5 White Russian armies, and 1 Italian armies that arrived one after another into an army group, and crowned it with the designation of the Russian First Army Group to indicate that this multinational force It was used to restore the Russian Empire.The defense zone of this army group was arranged on the Valmiera-Alux line at the junction of Latvia and Estonia.Among them, 3 Russian corps were commanded by Duke Rakovsky and were responsible for defending Alux, 2 Chinese corps and 1 Russian infantry corps were in charge of Valmiera, and 1 Russian corps and 1 Italian corps were in charge. General Reserve.

The front where the Russian First Army is located has also been a peaceful scene of "no war on the western front" in the past October. There were only a few small-scale attacks, and most of the time there were even harassing attacks Shelling was rare.Although the battle was not fierce, the high-level officials of the Allied Forces of the Three Kingdoms did not dare to take it lightly. After all, the lessons learned from Poland are right in front of us.They spent a lot of energy and material resources to build a complete line of defense along the northern border of their own Latvia.All commanding heights have been transformed into heavily fortified machine gun firepower points, which can block the entire front with cross-firing.At the front of the first trench, an anti-tank trench was also excavated, and obstacles such as barbed wire, minefields, and deer villages were set up.There are as many as 10 artillery regiments of artillery support firepower behind the entire line of defense!In addition, the two Chinese infantry corps in the group army each governed a light tank regiment, with nearly 32 No. 2 tanks.However, the preparations for defense came to an end. There were no permanent fortifications of reinforced concrete, fortification areas and other larger defensive projects.

Because the Soviet army on the northern front is currently on the defensive, and it seems that the Germans and their allies are really going to attack.In fact, the operational plan for the offensive had already been sent from Army Group Northern Headquarters in Riga to the division-level military chiefs.According to the operational plan, the offensive would be launched no later than early December 1937, depending on weather conditions.Only when the rain and snow in Eastern Europe have completely passed in November and the muddy ground is frozen as hard as stone will the offensive be launched.This day is at most 12 days away from now.

……

In the forest in northern Latvia, there is still silence on one side.The snow is still fluttering underground. This snow has been falling intermittently since November 11th, and today is the third day.The snow became bigger and more urgent, and the cold wind carried fine ice particles, so that the soldiers of the expeditionary army from China began to taste a little bit of the Russian winter.

A team of armed reconnaissance teams of the Expeditionary Army wearing white camouflage smocks was walking through the forest against the wind and snow.In this vast snow scene as far as the eye can see, maybe you will bump into the armed reconnaissance troops of the Soviets!The Soviet Mosin Nagant rifle may suddenly sound!When the Soviet-Polish War in West Belarus is not over, it is a relatively safe thing to conduct such armed reconnaissance in this middle zone between the two armies.The Soviets were outnumbered in the trenches.Let alone control this middle ground.Every day these reconnaissance teams will press directly in front of the trench defense system of the Soviet Red Army to observe and record their movements.Lurking and arresting the lone Red Army officers and soldiers, some detachments even infiltrated behind the Soviet defense line, approaching and observing their artillery positions and transportation network!But as the Soviet and Polish armies battled in West Belarus, such reconnaissance became more and more difficult.The Red Army has obviously opened up its own power search curtain.Assault ferociously on any scouting force found, squads of Red Army patrols haunt here day and night, preventing anyone from approaching their lines!By this time, even the most careless Italian officers could smell something amiss.Especially when the heavy snow fell on November 11, the figures of Soviet engineers took the opportunity to appear behind the minefields arranged in front of the expeditionary army's front. Everyone felt that maybe the Soviets were really crazy. The attack is underway!

More reconnaissance teams were sent out, and more information was collected on the desks of Wei Lihuang and Du Yuming.The information was quickly submitted to General Rundstedt.The general answer of the Northern Army Group is.At present, all the armies under the Northern Army Group have similar reports. It is estimated that the Soviet army is planning a new military operation. It is hoped that all troops will do a good job of defense and at the same time strengthen their preparations for attack-apparently General Rundstedt also feels that It's not good, but he doesn't have many troops at hand.Although the Northern Army Group has 115 million people, Latvia is being attacked on three sides. Now the defenders on each side report that the situation is abnormal, and of course the Army Group can only let them be on guard.

Lieutenant Liu Yunfei's reconnaissance platoon started from its own front line at the deepest night, and carefully avoided several Red Army patrols along the way.Keep touching their defense line.Their goal was the junction of two Red Army infantry divisions, which was also densely forested.As long as it can penetrate, it will be possible to find out a little bit about the situation behind the Red Army's front.Whether it is to defend against a possible attack or to attack the Soviet army, this information is needed.With the strict orders from his superiors, he, a platoon leader who was a veteran of the Far East War, had no choice but to take risks.

The forest gradually became thinner.And the forest area where his target is located is still behind a rush-built road.It is also the place where the Red Army is most heavily guarded.Lieutenant Liu raised his left hand and clenched his fist.The long and sparse security formation immediately drew together.Hearing Liu Yunfei whispered: "Old Maozi is strict, we will definitely not be able to get through during the day, and now we are looking for a camp on the spot. Set up a security position, and we will try to sneak over after dark..." He didn't finish his sentence , I heard the faint sound of horseshoes coming from the urgent road outside the forest.Everyone got down at the same time.Liu Yunfei stopped for a while, and with a wave of his hand, he led several brothers bent forward and touched them.When they reached the edge of the forest, they jumped up the tree in twos and looked out.

The outside of the forest was still shrouded in white snow, and the road they were going to slip across lay quietly 1 kilometer away.But their biggest discovery today is not this, but the south of the road, which should have been two or three kilometers away from the Soviets' forward position.A long and winding trench is being dug out, and it has been dug to a depth of almost one person. From a distance, a steel helmet with a red star mark can be seen protruding from the trench!The earth-colored fresh soil was continuously shoveled out by engineers.The logs used to strengthen the fortification are being transported here from nowhere by horse-drawn cart.What the Soviets are building should be the starting position for the attack!And judging from the scale of the trench that can't be seen at a glance, it can accommodate at least several juniors to attack the starting position!There is also the sound of construction in the north of the road, but because of the heavy snow, it is not clear.According to common sense, it should be the second-line reserve position of the Soviet Red Army, or it may be an artillery position.The Soviets moved forward!And there are a lot of them!What are they up to?

Several Soviet cavalry reconnaissance teams have mounted.Holding a sharp saber, he opened a security curtain in the middle of the two armies.Several other infantry patrols were also heading towards the woods.This is the Soviet Red Army wanting to control this middle ground... and it seems that they have enough troops and firepower to support their advance. Could it be that the main force of the Soviet army in Belarus has been transferred here?They are going to do it again in Latvia!

What Liu Yunfei saw in the forest near Valmiera was also discovered by the reconnaissance units of the German and White Russian troops stationed in Aluksny, Rezekne, Daugavpils and other places.Several White Russian spies lurking in the Soviet Union also reported through secret channels that they saw the Red Army's marching ranks filling the avenue behind them. Behind the Red Army's front, a large number of artillery firing positions have also been set up, a large number It's hard to calculate!The whole of Latvia seemed to be surrounded by millions of Soviet Red Army overnight!

It turned out that in the last few days of the Belarusian campaign, a large number of Soviet Red Army began to secretly withdraw from the battlefield, and boarded a large number of military columns bound for Veliky Luki, Estonia or Vitebsk... At the same time, Belarus All means of transportation and roads are also controlled by the Soviet military. They tried every means to transport more than 150 million troops and more than 1 cannons from Belarus to designated locations around Latvia in just a dozen days .If you count the forces of the original Leningrad Front and the Belarusian Front, before November 11, the Soviets had concentrated 12 infantry corps, 56 cavalry corps, and 10 infantry corps in northern Belarus, the Greater Luki region, and Estonia. The huge force of the tank army!And more than 4 various artillery pieces have secretly entered the frontline positions!This power is enough for them to launch an attack at the scheduled time on November 1th!Moreover, due to the unique system of the Soviet Union and the continuous rain and snow, the large-scale military mobilization of the Soviet Red Army has basically been kept secret. Although the high-level military officials of China and Germany have discovered some clues, they have not been confirmed by intelligence. Only two days before the launch of the Soviet offensive, the undoubted facts were put in front of the Chinese, German, Russian and other troops.

The initiative on the battlefield seems to be once again controlled by Tukhachevsky. He can now use 350 million people to attack 250 million people, and in his main direction of assault, Latvia, the Soviet army can even use it in a short period of time. 250 million people came to attack the 115 million people in China, Germany, Russia and Italy!

When the Soviets finally swaggered and exposed their full attack intentions, from their lineup, the military leaders of China and Germany could already predict that the Latvian campaign would be a decisive battle!If the Soviets are defeated in this battle, they will completely lose their offensive power, and what awaits them is death!If the Northern Army Group composed of the Allied Forces of Germany, China and Russia is defeated or even annihilated, the situation of the Soviet Union on the Western Front will be completely reversed!And this is their last chance.

……

1937年11月13日晚上8点。距离苏联红军总攻发起的时间仅仅只有4个小时了。

The position of the Chinese Expeditionary Force is now a busy scene.Throughout the day today, there were reports from the security positions that the Soviet Red Army entered the attacking position one by one, and the artillery dragged by horses swaggered to attack.Now the Soviet Red Army no longer conceals their true intentions, but races against time to deploy the troops in place at last!The Valmiera area, which the Chinese Expeditionary Force is responsible for defending, is obviously the main direction for the Soviet army to break through!There are so many of them that it is terrifying!The firepower will also be strong to an unbearable level!Considering the offensive mode of sea of ​​fire + sea of ​​people used by the Soviet army in the battle against the Polish army, Wei Lihuang and Du Yuming realized that they had to adjust their original deployment, adopt a flexible defensive mode, and quickly withdraw the frontline troops to the reserve position. In order to avoid being massacred by the powerful artillery cluster of the Soviet army.

The Soviet artillery had already begun harassing shooting and test firing.On the one hand, it interferes with the adjustment of the enemy's deployment on the opposite side, and on the other hand, it corrects the data for future large-scale bombardment.At the same time, an attempt was made to lure the Chinese artillery to return fire, measure their position, and then annihilate them with long-range artillery.Although it was only a tentative shelling, the huge lineup of the Soviet artillery group still made the warm-up before the war so earth-shattering!

On the original frontline positions, pillars of smoke and flames suddenly rose. The Soviet army's field artillery, howitzers, large-caliber mortars, and the B-4 heavy howitzer known as Stalin's pendulum all began to spit shells.It exploded in front, back, left, and right of the first-line field trenches of the Chinese army, setting off dust and smoke all over the sky.And at this moment in those trenches, the officers are directing the troops to retreat down the communication trenches.The machine guns, mortars, infantry guns and anti-tank guns that had been erected were all dragged down and moved towards the rear.But not everyone can withdraw.Every 200 meters or so in the trench, there was an observer holding a telephone.They want to stay here, keep abreast of the movements of the Soviet infantry, and will be the first warriors to suffer casualties.

At this time, the heavy snow was still fluttering, and it became bigger and more urgent than the previous few days.The cold wind is like a knife, blowing on the face one after another, like a knife cutting.Such weather is not good for the Soviet army attacking in the snow, but it also prevents the powerful German Air Force from dispatching!According to the weather forecast, the heavy snow will fall at least until after November 11, and then there may be 18 to 1 days of cloudy days, and then there will be another heavy snowfall for several days until the whole of Eastern Europe is completely covered by white snow!

"Has the 18th Army been withdrawn? What did Huang Wei do? He was dawdling, thinking he had a lot of time? Tell him that within half an hour, the frontline troops of the 18th Army must withdraw to the reserve position! And the reserve position must immediately Fortify!"

"Where are the heavy anti-aircraft artillery regiments of the Germans? Have they moved their positions? Send them to Gui Suithen (Gui Yongqing) for unified command. If the Soviet planes can't come, let's use the 88mm anti-aircraft artillery as field artillery."

"Have you contacted the headquarters of the Northern Army Group? When will the reinforcements come up? What? Rommel's [-]th Armored Division is here to reinforce them. They are getting on the train in East Prussia. When will they arrive?"

Wei Lihuang was sitting in the headquarters in Valmiera city, his face sank like water, his hands held calmly, and he looked like a confident general.In his mind, he is trying to fully grasp the distribution of all the forces of the two Chinese infantry corps and one Russian infantry corps under his command.The chief of staff, Du Yuming, was on the phone, keeping in touch with the troops in front at any time, and urging them to quickly complete the action of shifting positions, so as not to be covered by the sudden Soviet artillery fire.Time passed by like this, and the moment when thousands of cannons roared is coming...

Chapter 0747 Chinese Expeditionary Force ([-]) Sea of ​​Blood, Sea of ​​Fire, Sea of ​​Tanks

November 1937, 11 at midnight.Valmiera, northern Latvia.

A flash of light suddenly passed over the front of the Soviet Red Army, turning the night into daylight.Many Chinese officers and soldiers nervously watching the direction of the dark Soviet position on the opposite side felt that their eyes were dazzled for a while, and then a huge and unimaginable roar sounded in their ears, and then turned into ghosts and wolves. Screaming.The shelling of the Soviet Red Army has begun!And there are as many as 1370 medium and heavy howitzers, 2160 light howitzers, field guns, mountain guns, and hundreds of 120mm heavy mortars roaring simultaneously on a not very long front!The fiery red ballistic trajectory immediately interweaved giant nets made of flames in the sky.In just a few seconds, groups of shells exploded on the positions of the Chinese army, the earth trembled, and the mountains and rivers changed color!

Sitting in the headquarters ten kilometers away from the front line, Wei Lihuang and Du Yuming saw everything in the house shaking, and the glass windows that had been taped trembled.The lights flickered on and off.Puffs of dust fell from the ceiling.All the people in the headquarters stopped walking at this moment, put down their work, and just listened to the explosion with their ears upright, unable to distinguish the explosion point from the loud explosion sound at all!

After an indeterminate amount of time, Du Yuming suddenly said in a deep voice: "Listening to the sound, there are at least 3000 cannons firing at the same time! According to the standard of the Soviet Army, there are almost 60 regiments...that is the standard configuration of 12 infantry corps!"

卫立煌抬眼看了下忧心忡忡的杜聿明，淡淡道：“还有直属总部的火炮……应该没有12个军，不过8到10个军是一定有的。光在瓦尔米耶拉就投入40到50万人！这个图哈切夫斯基还真是个狠角色啊！”

"Junzuo, it looks like our main attack direction is here."

"There is a road leading to Riga here. They want to open the gap as quickly as possible, and then use mechanized and cavalry troops to quickly assault Riga, destroy the airport there, and at the same time attack the German Sixth Army or Seventh Army from the side... ..."

"The Northern Army Group is in a state of emergency on three fronts, so there is no reinforcements to send." Du Yuming frowned and calculated, "Reinforcements can only be sent by the Central Army Group in Lithuania. The road conditions in the past two days may be less than three to four days. Can't make it to Riga."

"Then it will take at least five days for the reinforcements to be fully reinforced. This is already the most optimistic estimate. During these five days, we cannot be defeated by the Soviet Red Army...Guangting, you stay at the headquarters. I will go to No.18 The military headquarters is in charge. Keep in touch, and you have to deal with any situation ahead. By the way, Alexander the Great (commander of the Russian First Army, Wei Lihuang's nominal boss) there is still a Russian army and an Italian army to send , you communicate with him, no matter what, you have to give two Russian divisions." After Wei Lihuang gave the order, he was ready to go to the front line. Du Yuming glanced at him and knew that the determination of the chief Wei was unshakable.He just nodded silently: "Okay, it's a blessing for the whole army to go to the front line to unify the command of Chief Wei. I will try my best to fight for reinforcements. There is no problem keeping the two Russian divisions!"

After Du Yuming finished speaking, he solemnly gave a military salute to Wei Lihuang, and Wei Lihuang also returned the salute solemnly.The guard commander of the Chinese Expeditionary Force strode out of the headquarters with several staff members without looking back.Du Yuming, Chief of Staff Du, just stood there and watched his back go away.Before the upcoming unprecedented and tragic war, no one knows whether we will meet again in the next life!

……

"...the artillery of the Soviet Red Army is undoubtedly powerful. In Valmiera, their artillery preparation time is also unprecedentedly long. It is the longest I have ever encountered! They assembled about 12 cannons and blasted For [-] hours, this style of play made people think that we had returned to Verdun in World War I. Fortunately, before the Soviet artillery bombardment started, the headquarters ordered us to abandon the forward position and shrink to the reserve position to avoid the bombardment. Their first tens of thousands of shells were shot in vain! However, after the barrage bombardment of the Soviet artillery began, the platoon under my command was ordered to return to the front-line field position! Before that, all of us They all left suicide notes! Because we know that the time has come to dedicate ourselves to the great cause of the country!"

"... There are forty brothers in our platoon, with three MG3 general-purpose machine guns and one 37mm anti-tank gun. Before the war, we also received three Min-12.7 automatic rifles, in addition to 26 Zhongshan-style rifles And 15 Min 14 submachine guns. This kind of equipment was very good at the time, better than the German Wehrmacht. It was stronger than those Soviet infantry. So we were not particularly worried before going up. But When we saw with our own eyes the tide-like stream of people rushing in, and heard the sound of frenzied hollers faintly overshadowing the guns, we knew what a real war is!"

This is part of the content of General Hao Boxiong, who later became the chief of staff of the National Defense Forces, in his "Memoirs of the Expeditionary Force".

"Fire! Fire! Fire quickly..." Hao Boxiong, who was still a second lieutenant at the time, had only one thought in mind at that time, which was to block the surging crowd attack of the Soviets as far away as possible from him.So as soon as the enemy came within effective range of his rifles and machine guns, he shouted the order to fire.

Although the textbooks of the Whampoa Military Academy require commanders to fight the enemy as close as possible to maximize the advantage of firepower.But on the entire Valmiera front that day, no front-line commander dared to do this.The moment Hao Boxiong gave the order to fire, gunshots erupted in the trench that had been suppressed for a long time, and hot bullets poured down like raindrops.The approaching crowd suddenly slowed down, and retreated in some places, but this situation did not last long.The Soviet mortars following the infantry movement began to fire violently, suppressing the positions of the Chinese National Defense Forces.Group after group of fireballs, shrapnel and other things rolled up by the shock wave swept by like a whirlwind. Many people died for the country without even screaming!Most of the people, including Second Lieutenant Hao Boxiong, who graduated from the 12th class of Whampoa, had to retreat to the trenches in order to save their own lives.In this way, the firepower on the position was reduced by a large amount, and the Soviet army's attack became even more unstoppable.

boom!boom!boom--

Just when everyone thought that the position was about to be lost, a dense and urgent artillery fire suddenly hit the dense formation of the Soviets.There were screams in Russian spoken on the battlefield!This is more than 3 cannons from 12 artillery regiments of the Chinese Expeditionary Army and the Russian 1000rd Infantry Army. They fired at ultra-high frequency, and a high wall of artillery fire swept across the charging Soviet army...

The artillery attack was ordered by Wei Lihuang. He is now in a shelter set up on a hillside only 3 kilometers away from the first-line position. He and the 18th Army Commander Huang Vigg guards an artillery mirror.Seeing the Soviet army's aggressive human attack being swept away by the Chinese army's sea of ​​fire, he cursed bitterly: "Damn it! We outnumber the people! These Russians are really blind..."

……

At this time, it was opposite Wei Lihuang.Tukhachevsky, the god of the Red Army, also came to the front to supervise the battle.

"This Malinovsky is simply an idiot!" Tukhachevsky saw that another round of the Red Army's offensive was overwhelmed by Chinese artillery fire, and angrily raised his hand and threw the telescope in his hand heavily. When they reached the ground, they smashed two precious Zeiss lenses to pieces. "We fought for a whole afternoon, and we didn't even break through the enemy's first line of defense! The fight continues like this..." He couldn't help but waved his fist heavily, not knowing if he wanted to hit Major General Malinovsky head, or to smash China's defenses?

Lieutenant General Zhukov, the deputy chief of staff of the Baltic First Front, who had just arrived, squinted at Malinovsky who was sweating profusely.To be honest, he is somewhat disapproving of the current style of simply using infantry + artillery to tear apart the enemy's defenses in order to preserve the strength of the tank force.What is the difference between this style of play and the positional warfare of World War I?If you use this tactic to deal with a weaker opponent like Poland, it is barely enough, but when you encounter enemies like Germany and China... the results will naturally be very limited.

So Zhukov suggested: "The situation is very urgent now. I think we should send Baghramyan's 3rd tank army ahead of time and let the tanks lead the infantry to attack." He paused and added: "Comrade Marshal, now is the best time to invest in tanks."

"Konstantin, our tanks are too small to withstand consumption, and we can only invest them at the most critical moment." Tukhachevsky patiently explained.In fact, he is still very optimistic about Zhukov. The young Red Army general's performance in this Belarusian campaign was extremely eye-catching.In the Battle of Wowomin in Poland, Zhukov actually performed well, and the reason for the defeat really did not lie with him.It is really that the Chinese tanks are too powerful... Thinking of this, Tukhachevsky woke up suddenly.Isn't the opponent this time Germany, which has a powerful tank army?The T-26s of the Soviet army are not enough for the 10 German armored divisions to get between their teeth, and now they are playing the idea of ​​​​playing fast and slow, so they are not afraid of losing tanks, but only of losing time.

"Comrade Konstantin Zhukov, I understand what you mean." Tukhachevsky's face darkened. "We don't have many tanks but less time. Let's prepare the battle plan now... We have to trade tanks for time. Let Balagmyan's 3rd Tank Corps send two battalions to Lukin's 46rd Army. [-]th Infantry Army, let Lukin go up tonight."

"Okay! Comrade Commander." Zhukov breathed a sigh of relief, and then hurried to arrange the attack of the tank troops.

Although the Soviet army is redeploying its troops, it is preparing to launch a coordinated attack by infantry and tanks, trying to defeat the Chinese army in one fell swoop.But their shelling did not stop.Moreover, in order to cover up the focus of the attack and kill the Chinese infantry, the artillery fire of the Soviet army began to shift between positions, blasting this position for a while, and then moving to other positions to play wild.Every time the artillery fire is transferred, the defenders think that the Soviet infantry offensive is about to start, but whenever the troops enter the trenches, they are often greeted by overwhelming firepower that suddenly turns around.After several casualties, the Chinese army no longer easily entered the first-line position from the reserve position.

And this is exactly what the Soviet army wanted.At 10:20 that night, the originally messy Soviet artillery fire suddenly burst into unison, and a high wall created by the artillery fire was formed in front of the Ramiere Heights defended by the 36th Regiment of the 108th Division of the Chinese National Defense Army. The speed of advancing about 10 meters is slowly pressing towards the Ramiere Heights.Behind the wall of fire that the Chinese observation post could not see through, 50 T-26 tanks lined up and slowly advanced. Groups of Red Army infantry wearing steel helmets and white overalls followed these tanks and advanced steadily. .