On April 1, the Xiao Wu Mechanized Corps of the Western Front Army of the Military Region, serving as the vanguard, swept across the prairie and joined forces with the rear column of the Central Army in Karaganda.
During this period of time, due to passive avoidance of war, the Far East Army used the autumn wind to sweep away fallen leaves and captured a large number of areas in northwest and central Kazakhstan. The arrowheads of the Central Route Army have captured the important town of Jezka, more than 400 kilometers southwest of Karaganda.
Zigan, the Western Route Army occupied Fort Shevchenko, an important port city on the Caspian Sea coast.
In addition, our Mongolian Military Region used a large airship formation and two flight regiments equipped with AN6 large transport aircraft to rush to transport three fully-equipped infantry divisions and two mechanized engineering divisions to Guriyev, and build fortifications along the Ural River.
The northernmost point is Uralsk (today's Ural City), an important city on the main railway line leading to Kazakhstan. The entire front is 300 kilometers long, making the defensive task extremely arduous.
At the same time, the tank army group led by Ye Cheng and the motorized front army led by Li Jinlong crossed the Gobi and deserts of the Mongolian Plateau, crossed the Altai Mountains, and entered Ust-Kamen, the bridgehead in Central Asia.
With the addition of two effective forces, the strength of the Anjia Army entering Central Asia was significantly strengthened. Subsequently, the leadership of the Central Asian Corps was quickly reorganized. Ye Cheng served as the commander of the Central Asian Corps, Li Jinlong served as deputy commander, and Hu Jiyang served as the commander-in-chief of the former enemy.
The above three people, plus Xiao Wu and An Mingqi, formed the Central Asia Five-man Bureau, which was fully and specifically responsible for commanding the war in Central Asia. At the same time, Xiao Wu officially left the Yecheng Front Army and was specifically responsible for the mechanized cluster of the original Mongolian Military Region. The First Tank Army was composed of
Lieutenant General Peng Wanjun, deputy commander, was promoted to commander, Lieutenant General Deng Shaoqi, former commander of the Second Tank Brigade, was transferred to deputy commander, and Colonel An Ruoyi, former deputy commander of the Second Tank Brigade, served as brigade commander and was promoted to major general.
After discussion, the Central Asia Bureau continued Hu Jiyang's operational thinking. While consolidating the defense of Ust-Kamen, it continued to increase troops to central and western Kazakhstan.
The Soviet army gathered all its troops on the eastern front and passively waited for the Anjia Army to move south. It wasted many fighter opportunities. Finally, it discovered the Anjia Army's intention, immediately changed its strategy, and mobilized its troops to the southwest. It established layers of defenses to delay the Far Eastern Army and the Anjia Army's southward movement.
, winning valuable time for the Soviet army’s strategic counterattack.
In Fanzhi County, Tojo Hideki seemed to have aged ten years suddenly, wearing a pair of glasses and lying in front of the map with a very serious expression.
Defeated! Still defeated!
In the Battle of Xinkou, more than 100,000 elite troops were lost in one fell swoop (many troops were not gathered together and were in the process of collapse). In addition, during the retreat from Yuanping to Daixian, they encountered multiple rear-end attacks from the Chinese army. The troops had no morale and suffered a huge defeat.
Unfortunately, from Guo County to Daying Town and then to Yangmingbao, we lost troops and generals along the way. When we fled to Fanzhi County in one breath, we suddenly discovered that Yanmen Pass, Huyukou and Ruyuekou had been occupied by Communist guerrillas.
After attacking for two consecutive days, the above three crucial passes were still not captured, and the pursuers had successively broken through several lines of defense outside Yangmingbao, which made Tojo Hideki feel a deep crisis.
"Have Huyukou and Ruyuekou been captured?"
Hearing the sound of footsteps, Tojo Hideki raised his head and saw that it was Major General Ohkawa Isaku, the chief of staff, and asked quickly.
Okawa Kazsaku saluted Tojo Hideki, shook his head and smiled bitterly: "I don't know how China developed. In just over half a year, so many armies were established. Not only did Yanmen Pass not cover an inch of land, we also had to pay tribute to Huyukou and Ru
The troops attacking at Yuekou were defeated again!"
Tojo Hideki's eyes widened and he said in disbelief: "We have lost almost four to five thousand imperial warriors in the past few days. Based on a battle loss ratio of one to four, the Chinese Communist guerrillas have lost at least 20,000 people. A total of them
There are only 40,000 to 50,000 people, where do you get so many troops?"
Okawa Kazsaku shook his head: "This is not the key. What is strange is that most of the weapons they use are Imperial Army standard weapons, from Type 38 rifles to Type 11 light machine guns, Type 92 heavy machine guns, and
They even have grenades and mortars, and judging from the seizures, they are all made by the Empire. I now wonder if they robbed the Empire’s arsenal, otherwise where would they have come from so many Empire weapons?”
Tojo Hideki was stunned for a moment, stood up and took a few steps back and forth, thoughtfully: "There can only be one explanation, and that is that the empire's most powerful opponent, the Anjia Army, sold it to these Tubal Road."
Facing Okawa Kazsaku's puzzled gaze, Tojo Hideki sighed: "In the confrontation with the Anjia Army, the previous Pingjin Battles and the Jidong War, our army suffered countless losses. Where did those guns and ammunition go? The Anjia Army's standards and
We are different, and their weapons are more advanced than ours. They will not use the imperial weapons to equip the troops. So, where do these weapons go? It can only be the Communist guerrillas! Think about the development of the 18th Army deep into our hinterland
In the base area, which unit is short of guns and ammunition? I guess they are all allocated from previous seizures by the Anjia Army.
"Now I understand why Ishihara-kun, Itagaki-kun, Doi Yuan-kun and many imperial generals are so afraid of the Anjia Army! In the Battle of Xinkou, the Anjia Army was a newly formed unit and had such a strong combat capability.
It’s hard to imagine what it would be like if it were the Anjia Army in Nanhua or Mongolia. Faced with such an opponent, I really can’t think of how to defeat them..."
Okawa Kazsaku consoled him: "Your Excellency, please don't be discouraged. Even if you fail, it is better than fearing the enemy like a tiger. Okawa firmly believes that you can lead the troops out of the predicament."
Tojo's eyes became serious: "Although the base camp has urged me several times to leave the army by special plane, return to Peiping, and then return to Tokyo to report on my duties, Tojo will never leave Shanxi without taking the army out. Tojo swears to the soldiers
We will live and die together.”
"Bang--"
The door was suddenly knocked open from the outside. Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Ryosuke, the commander of the 9th Division, rushed into the room and shouted: "The army is unstoppable. They have broken through the front line of our defense at Yangmingbao. The forward is approaching the Qili River. How to make a decision?"
, Commander, please make up your mind as soon as possible..."
Before Yoshizumi Ryosuke could finish speaking, the roar of fighter planes suddenly sounded in the sky. His face suddenly changed, and he turned around and ran out the door.
During this period, the Anjiajun Air Force had complete control of the air. The Japanese army was severely disrupted, both offensively and defensively. What was particularly serious was the attack on command institutions, which resulted in the death of a large number of combat and confidential staff personnel.
Hideki Tojo and Issaku Okawa were as vigorous as rabbits. Not far away from the temporary headquarters, a large house where they temporarily lived had been hit by dozens of aerial bombs. There was a loud explosion, flames shot into the sky, and smoke filled the air. When everything calmed down,
, the entire yard has been razed to the ground.
Tojo Hideki's face was extremely ugly. This was the eighth command post he had changed within a week. Since the Japanese army's command post was lined with large and small antennas, and the higher the antenna, the higher the level of the command organization, so Anjia
The army's air force specifically searched for these places to bomb, and the bombings were accurate, which made Tojo Hideki a little nervous.
"Bageya Road, order the 118th Division to capture Huyukou and Ruyuekou at all costs, otherwise military law will be imposed!" Hideki Tojo roared hysterically.
"Hey Yi——"
Okawa Kazsaku took the order and left.
...
Late at night on April 1st, the northward detachment of the Anjia Army, which had been advancing with the Japanese in its rear, met with the main force in the ancient city northeast of Yangmingbao. The northward detachment was immediately disbanded, each unit returned to the army, and the task of attacking the enemy was handed over to the main force of the 30th Group Army, which had completed its rest.
troops to complete.
At seven o'clock in the morning on April 2, all the artillery and small artillery of the Anjia Army roared together, the ground trembled, and the overwhelming artillery shells fell like hailstones on the position opposite the Qili River.
A series of loud noises were heard from the enemy's position, weak civil fortifications flew into the sky, and the enemy's defense line suddenly turned into a sea of fire.
The shelling lasted for half an hour. Although officials at all levels repeatedly warned to save money, the Anjiajun artillery still poured more than 6,000 artillery shells into the puppet army positions.
During this half hour, the engineering troops sailed upstream from the Hutuo River and entered the Qili River. Under the cover of artillery fire, they quickly landed on the other side of the Qili River. Immediately, thirty pontoon bridge vehicles rushed to the river and threw down the pontoon bridge components.
, the engineering troops quickly supported the components across the 234-meter-wide Qili River. The six components just formed a pontoon bridge, and thirty pontoon bridge trucks could be used for the construction of five pontoon bridges.
Half an hour later, the bombardment ended, the pontoon bridge had been built, and the tank group rushed up quickly. Behind the tanks, there were still anti-aircraft artillery vehicles. The infantry soldiers shouted, followed the tanks and anti-aircraft artillery vehicles, crossed the pontoon bridge, and attacked the Japanese army.
The position rushed away. From time to time, enemy fire points spit out tongues of fire, and they were quickly destroyed one by one by tank guns.
The tank stopped when it rushed to a distance of more than 100 meters from the trenches, and began to use its vehicle-mounted machine guns to rain down bursts of bullets into those trenches.
According to experience, in these trenches, the "filial son brigade" is often ambushed. During the Xinkou Battle, these dutiful sons wearing white scarves on their heads left a deep impression on people.
As expected, the "kamikaze" hiding in the trench could no longer hold back, jumped up one after another, and pounced in the direction of the tank.
The gunners in the tank, as well as the anti-aircraft artillery vehicles that had rushed to the tank to assist in defense, fired their machine guns and spit out streaks of scarlet flames from the barrels.
The "suicide squads" who had just jumped out of the trench were immediately beaten to draw strange arcs in the air, and fell down in the trench one after another with flying scarlet blood lines.
Tanks and anti-aircraft artillery vehicles fired in unison, like scythes harvesting life. The enemy soldiers were bloody and wounded, causing heavy casualties.
However, the tenacity of the Japanese far exceeded imagination. The Japanese firepower points hidden in the second and third trenches suddenly spit out countless tongues of fire. Many soldiers who followed the tanks and anti-aircraft artillery vehicles were caught off guard.
They fell into a pool of blood one after another.
The surviving soldiers lay down one after another, letting bullets whizz past their heads, suppressed by the enemy's fierce firepower and unable to raise their heads at all.
When the soldiers operating the tank saw this, they could no longer hold back. The long muzzle flickered, and immediately spit out a long tongue of flame. There was a loud "boom", and a bunker that was spitting out flames flew into the sky in the light of the fire.
Various tanks fired one after another, destroying the temporary hidden firepower points one after another.
At this time, the Air Force also came to join in the fun. Two bomber squadrons taking off from Taiyuan Airport circled over the position and dropped aerial bombs one after another, causing the Japanese to flee in all directions.