Chapter 63 Northeast of the Eastern Front

On the black soil of the Northeast, three broad and beautiful rivers flow. They are the Heilongjiang River originating from the Mongolian Plateau, the Songhua River originating from the Greater Khingan Mountains, and the Ussuri River originating from the Xihot Mountains. The Songhua River and the Ussuri River eventually

They all merge into Heilongjiang to the northeast. The distance between the two intersections is less than 150 kilometers. In the middle is a vast swamp called the "Sanjiang Plain". Due to the difficulty of development, it is sparsely populated and almost no roads have been built.

On the edge of a large swamp, several newly prosperous cities are showing great vitality. They are: Fujin, located to the west of the Sanjiang Plain and on the right bank of the Songhua River, Fuyuan, located to the north of the Sanjiang Plain and on the right bank of the Heilongjiang River, and Fuyuan, located on the right bank of the Heilongjiang River.

In the northeast of the plain, Khabarovsk on the left bank of the Heilongjiang River, in the southeast of the Sanjiang Plain, on the Rao River on the left bank of the Ussuri River, in the south of the Sanjiang Plain, on the left bank of the Naoli River in Baoqing, except for Khabarovsk, the above-mentioned

The city is now located within the de facto borders of the Chinese Empire. The term "de facto border" is used because the Chinese Empire has been claiming for more than ten years that the entire Outer Khingan Range, including Sakhalin Island,

To the south and east of the Ergun River, the more than one million square kilometers of land annexed by State E since 1858 is within the territory of the Chinese Empire. However, State E uses the 1858 Sino-Russian Aihun Treaty and the 1860 Treaty of

The Sino-Russian Beijing Treaty was used as the basis and China refused to recognize this. Therefore, China used the e-state’s massacre of Chinese in Hailanpao and the invasion of the 64th Tun area in Jiangdong as the reason. China claimed to protect all Chinese in the occupied territories and sent troops to attack the e-state’s Far East.

region, the Sino-Russian war broke out.

In the early morning of September 9, 1903, Lieutenant General Xiao Lieri, commander of the Second Army of the Imperial Chinese Army, and Major General Hu Jingwei, chief of staff, came to Raohe on the left bank of the Wusuli River. Raohe is a small county with more than 40,000 residents.

Several brand new streets are being built, and from this alone we can see the prosperity of the small town.

On this day, the city was different from the past. The construction of new streets had also stopped. Many people were driving carts filled with belongings to the outside of the city because the citizens knew that tens of thousands of soldiers had gathered outside the city, and it was obvious that a fight was about to begin.

Yes, the e-country people opposite also have cannons. If a few cannons come over, the whole family may die. Just hide for a while.

Xiao Lieri, courtesy name Hongcheng, was thirty-seven years old at the time and served as the commander of the 10th "Golden Lion" Regiment of the Imperial Guard. During the Sino-Japanese War of 1898, he led the regiment in a bloody battle with an entire brigade of the Japanese general Nogi Nogi Nogi for most of the day.

The regiment suffered nearly 80% casualties and had to return home to rest. Xiao Lie, a Japanese soldier, was also shot and injured. The battle of Neutralization made China and foreign countries sigh with its brutality. Xiao Lieri also became famous in China and became the "iron-blooded hero" that various newspapers rushed to report.

A model of "Loyal Soul". After Xiao Lieri recovered from his injuries, he led his troops to conquer Japan again and attacked Kobe. He personally beheaded them to no avail. In the Battle of Guanyuan, he led the troops of his regiment to attack the position at the northern foot of Nangong Mountain.

The main offensive force detoured behind enemy lines and opened the way. After the war, Xiao Lieri was promoted to commander of the 1st Guards Brigade. In May 1896, under the direct order of Marshal Liu Yun, Chief of General Staff, he led his brigade to assault the 1st Guards Division.

Division Headquarters, arrested the important figure in Ding Jieyun's rebellion - Major General Lu Zixiang, commander of the 1st Guards Division. He made great contributions and was promoted to division commander. Later, he entered the Imperial Army University for mid-term training. After graduation, he served as the Guards Division Commander and the Infantry Corps.

He was transferred to Beijing before the war and was given the important task of commanding the Second Field Army. The army consists of the 7th Infantry Division, the 10th Infantry Division, the 3rd Cavalry Brigade, the Independent 2nd Artillery Brigade and the Reserve 3rd Field Army.

Thirty infantry divisions, with a total strength of 112,000 troops.

At this time, Xiao Lieri was still as sturdy as before, but the beard on his face during the Sino-Japanese War of 1898-1895 had been replaced by a fashionable mustache. He had a pure black horse under his crotch, and was wearing the navy blue general uniform of the National Defense Forces. On the left

On the top of his chest hangs a dazzling silver fourth-class Blue Dragon Medal with dragon eyes inlaid with sapphires and six dragon claws. Under it is a platinum first-class White Tiger Medal with white tiger and double feathers and tiger eyes inlaid with diamonds - this is what he wears.

To prove that he is the bravest among the brave, he has more medals, but just hanging these two medals is enough to make everyone who sees them envious, jealous or ashamed. Xiao Lieri also has a gold and silver animal pattern hanging on his waist.

A saber with a sheath, but this was just a mere decoration for him. The weapon he really loved was supported on the horse by a mounted guard. It was a Qinglong Yanyue Sword wrapped in a cloth sheath, a real chopping knife.

The sword used by hundreds of people was carried by Xiao Lieri at all times. Whenever he was interested, he would take it off and play with it until the guards looked at it in a daze - that thing really weighed sixty-eight kilograms.

Xiao Lieri's chief of staff, Hu Jingwei, was a graduate of the first artillery major in mainland China. During the first neutralization campaign, he was the commander of the artillery regiment of the 1st Forbidden Division. He was ordered to command three artillery battalions to support Xiao Lieri's 10th Forbidden Regiment in guarding the neutralization.

, the two cooperated with each other tacitly, and they had just hit the Japanese army hard, and the reinforcements arrived. Because Hu Jingwei performed well during the Sino-Japanese War of 1898-1894, and organized artillery operations all the time, he was very satisfied with the superior command. He was once publicly praised by Wuwei Gong Liu Yun.

He was nicknamed the "King of Artillery", and this title spread widely, and everyone in the army knew it, and his reputation was not inferior to that of Xiao Lieri.

At this time, Hu Jingwei and Xiao Lieri immediately set up telescopes on the banks of the Wusuli River, each using their telescopes to observe the other side.

A few miles north of the Rao River, there is a river named Bigin River. It originates from the northern part of the Sikhote Mountains and flows westward into the Ussuri River. From the intersection of the rivers, it goes up to the Bigin River less than ten miles away. On the left bank of the Bigin River

There is a village named Bigin (that is, named after the river). The eastern section of the Siberian Railway passes through the town and goes directly to Vladivostok (Vladivostok) in the south and to Khabarovsk in the north.

Rovsk) connected.

To the northwest of Bigin is the swampland of the Sanjiang Plain, and to the south is the swamp plain formed by the alluvial accumulation of the Bigin River, the Big Usulka River and the Ussuri River. It is where the Chinese army encircled Khabarovsk from the south and from the north.

Blockade of Vladivostok is a must-win area. The E-Army is obviously aware of this. It dispatched the 34th East Siberian Regiment to garrison around Bijin and built a series of semi-permanent fortifications in an attempt to block the Chinese army for as long as possible in order to wait for the Amur Military District and Primorye Naval District.

troops came for reinforcements.

"Old Xiao, the time is almost up."

Hu Jingwei stroked the glass cover of his pocket watch and said, Xiao Lieri nodded slightly and pointed with his left hand to a dense forest on the right bank.

"They are still there. Our people have been paying attention there since three days ago. There should be at least three infantry companies and six to ten cannons, right in front of where we plan to set up the pontoon bridge. They are a great threat to our army.

We have to find a way to clear it out.”

"Don't worry, I personally organized the artillery deployment operation. As soon as the firepower from the other side shows up, I guarantee that he will be unable to eat and walk around in a few minutes."

Xiao Lieri put his hands on his hips and said with a smile: "With you as the artillery king, I feel relieved."

"I don't dare to take it seriously, but then again, our army divided into two groups to capture Boli. The two groups of troops were separated by two to three hundred miles, but they gave each other a chance to defeat them. Although the General Staff's plan said that our army would attack them face to face.

The army is weak, and the chance of actively seeking a battle is very small, but if the opponent's generals command it properly, we can always suffer a lot."

What Hu Jingwei said about "taking Khabarovsk in two ways" is based on the General Staff's plan. The 7th Infantry Division of the Second Army will cross the Ussuri River from the Rao River to capture Bijin, and then attack Khabarovsk from the south to the north.

Advance; the 10th Infantry Division crossed the Heilongjiang River from Fujin to Hegang, captured Birobidzhan, and then advanced from west to east towards Khabarovsk, and together with the 7th Division attacked the enemy forces in Khabarovsk. The 7th Division was responsible for the main attack

Khabarovsk, so it is equipped with two-thirds of the army's artillery and cavalry. The two brigades of the 30th Infantry Division will also follow the 7th Division to supplement possible attrition at any time.

According to the last pre-war enemy situation report sent by the base camp to the field army headquarters on September 8, the e-force units deployed in front of the Second Army were the 1st Russian Far East Army, which had jurisdiction over the 1st and 2nd Infantry Divisions of the Far East and the 2nd Siberian Infantry Division.

7 Cavalry Division, in addition to Khabarovsk (Burli) and Nikolayevsk (Temple Street) garrison troops, about 5 independent battalions, with a total strength of about 53,000 people, mainly relying on Khabarov

The Khabarovsk Fortress Group launched a defense. The Khabarovsk Fortress Group has 11 forts and 6 fortresses, connected by a number of support points and trench wire systems to form a circular defense line, equipped with more than 140 large and small fortress guns. The Chinese side on the other side of Khabarovsk

The area more than 100 kilometers long and dozens of kilometers deep is an undeveloped large swamp area in the Sanjiang Plain. It is difficult for troops to maneuver. Therefore, the General Staff decided not to attack Khabarovsk from the front, but ordered the two main divisions of the Second Army to separate in straight lines.

Launch attacks at two starting positions 150 to 200 kilometers away, cut off the contact between the enemy forces in Khabarovsk and adjacent forces, and then encircle and annihilate them.

Hu Jingwei's worry seemed to Xiao Lieri to be unnecessary, because he felt that even with only one division of troops, it would not be a problem to capture Boli, although that division was not a imperial guard division.

The Infantry Division of the Chinese Imperial Defense Force in 1903 was a large, but far less powerful tactical unit of various arms than the Guards Division.

Like the Guards Division, each squad of the Imperial Wehrmacht Infantry Division has 12 soldiers, each platoon has 3 squads, each company has 3 platoons, each battalion has 4 companies, each regiment has 3 battalions, and each brigade has 3 regiments.

Division 3 brigades.

Compared with the Guards Division, the units directly under the Wehrmacht Infantry Division are much inferior. The Wehrmacht Infantry Division has no cavalry regiment and only one cavalry reconnaissance battalion; the Wehrmacht division artillery regiment has only 4 battalions (the Guards has 5

Battalion), two of which are each equipped with 18 90mm light howitzers, and the other two battalions are each equipped with 18 105mm cannons. Unlike the divisional artillery of the Guards, which has 36 150mm heavy howitzers and 54 105mm

Cannons, in addition, the engineering regiments of the Wehrmacht divisions are also one level below the engineering regiments of the Guards division in terms of equipment.

At the brigade level, the Wehrmacht brigade artillery includes a 75mm field artillery battalion and a 100mm mortar battery, equipped with 18 75mm field guns and 6 100mm mortars, while the Guards brigade artillery

It has 18 90mm light howitzers.

The regimental artillery battery of the Wehrmacht is equipped with six 57mm mountain guns and three 80mm mortars, while the regimental artillery battery of the Guards has six 75mm mountain guns and three 100mm mortars.

The Wehrmacht's battalion fire support platoon is equipped with three 60mm mortars and two heavy machine guns, while the Guards' battalion fire support company is equipped with two 80mm mortars and two heavy machine guns.

At the grassroots level, the machine gun squad of each company of the Wehrmacht is equipped with two light machine guns, the firepower platoon of each company of the Guards is equipped with two 60mm mortars and two light machine guns, and each infantry platoon is equipped with one light machine gun.

Machine guns, a total of 5 light machine guns in the company.

Each infantry division of the National Defense Forces has about 34,000 personnel, and the full manpower rate is about 80% in peacetime. In wartime, it takes three days to a week to mobilize to fully exert its combat effectiveness.

The National Defense Forces Cavalry Brigade has a strength of about 6,500 people, which is the same number as the Guards Cavalry Brigade, but its equipment is quite different.

The Wehrmacht Cavalry Brigade is equipped with a 57mm light cavalry field artillery company with 6 guns, an 80mm mortar company with 6 guns, a machine gun company with 12 counterweight machine guns.

The Guards Cavalry Regiment is equipped with 6 heavy machine guns and 18 light machine guns, 6 57mm light cavalry field guns and 6 80mm mortars. The Guards Cavalry Brigade also has a mixed artillery battalion directly under the brigade.

Equipped with 12 90mm howitzers and 6 100mm mortars, the entire brigade has a certain degree of attack capability.

Except for General Liang Tianhe's Guards Field Army, the other three field armies under the Northeast Front are all composed of National Defense Force divisions and brigades. These divisions and brigades have the ability to destroy the same-level troops of the E Army under ideal and equal conditions in field operations, but in

When encountering a strong fortress, you have to rely on the support of independent artillery units.

The independent Second Artillery Brigade assigned to the Second Army is also divided into three three-battalion regiments. The first regiment is equipped with 9 305mm siege guns, and the second regiment is equipped with 36 150mm heavy howitzers and 18 105mm heavy howitzers.

Cannons, the third regiment is equipped with 18 105 mm cannons and 36 90 mm rapid-fire light howitzers. In accordance with the spirit of the General Staff, the Second Army will have 9 305 mm siege guns and 24 150 mm heavy siege guns of the independent Second Artillery Brigade.

Howitzers, 24 105mm cannons and 18 90mm howitzers were transferred to Raohe to support the 7th Division's battle to break through the Ussuri River and move north. Another 12 150mm heavy howitzers, 12 105mm cannons and 18 90mm howitzers were transferred to Raohe.

Transferred to Hegang to support the 10th Division's operation to break through Heilongjiang and advance eastward.

Under Hu Jingwei's careful deployment, in the early morning of September 9, the Chinese artillery in Raohe successfully entered the firing position. All the division-affiliated artillery of the 7th Division and the military artillery allocated to the 7th Division totaled 146 pieces.

The cannon is ready to fire, just waiting for that order.

The messengers shuttled back and forth around Xiao Lieri, and a series of reports continued to rise and fall.

"Report to the commander! The military artillery floating observation company has completed its liftoff, and 6 balloons have successfully launched!"

"Report to the commander! One of our airships appeared in the predetermined airspace and sent out the signal that it has entered the position and can start operations at any time."

"Report to the commander! The artillery commander requests action instructions!"

"Report to the commander! The commander of the forward battalion requests action instructions!"

…

"Are you asking for action instructions? Hmm, anxious guys, the time is about to come."

Xiao Lieri rubbed his slippery mustache and clapped his hands. A guard behind him hurriedly came over and asked, "What are your orders, commander?"

"Bring me my knife!"

The guard who carried the knife for Xiao Lieri immediately untied the cloth bag on the knife and placed the knife tremblingly in Xiao Lieri's hand - the knife was also ridiculously heavy.

Hu Jingwei shook his head and said with a smile: "Old Xiao, when did you start dancing like this again?"
To be continued...