As of May 10, the war in Central Asia was progressing smoothly.
On the western front, Tang Wen led four divisions. The main force was divided into two lines, advancing all the way to Krasnovsk, the most important port city of the Soviet Army on the east coast of the Caspian Sea, and all the way directly south from Kyzylkaya, approaching Turkmenistan.
The capital is Ashgabat.
On the right wing of the Center Army, after receiving the notice that the Far Eastern Army might withdraw northward at any time, the theater headquarters used an airship to airlift a division to Saulan City in the middle of Karatau Mountain. The reserve was safe. Even if the Far Eastern Army retreated northward, it could still
Block the route of the Soviet army going north. On the left wing of the center route army, Ye Cheng and Li Jinlong led the main combat group and advanced rapidly along the railway line. The forward troops had already advanced to the outskirts of Charzhou, and they would launch an attack as soon as the main force arrived. Char was to be captured.
After encircling the city, the entire army will move eastward along the railway line to capture cities along the Caspian Railway such as Bukhara, Samarkand, Inzhak and Bekabad, and push towards Tashkent, where the Soviet Central Asian Military District Headquarters is located. To be completed
At this step, the entire strategic layout of the middle road is truly achieved.
On the eastern front, at the southern foot of Chuyili Mountain, the Eastern Front Cluster of the Far Eastern Army and Xiao Wu's Corps are preparing to launch a final wave of offensive to annihilate the Soviet army's effective forces, and then withdraw north. At that time, General Xiao Wu will lead the mechanized Corps to face the highway from Xinjiang alone.
The threat from the main Soviet army heading towards Almaty.
The half-full moon hung high in the sky, and the earth was deathly silent.
The heavy artillery group of the Far East Army has been loaded onto trucks and transported to the north after receiving the order. Tonight's artillery suppression will be completed by the artillery unit of Xiao Wu's regiment alone.
Twenty-two kilometers south of Hantao City, on the main artillery position behind the coalition's first-line position, the 150mm and 120mm caliber heavy artillery of the artillery brigade directly under the Mechanized Cluster of the Mongolian Military Region raised their muzzles, and thirty-six I-type 24 vehicles from three self-propelled rocket artillery battalions
The 150mm rocket launcher is adjusting its firing angle.
There was silence on the artillery position. Colonel Dai Zhicheng, the commander of the artillery brigade, stood behind the artillery position, raising his wrist to look at his watch from time to time. There were less than three minutes left before the artillery attack, and everyone in the artillery brigade was fully prepared to respond.
Dai Zhicheng was confident about the results of this artillery attack.
The power of rocket launchers has been fully verified.
The thirty-six rocket artillery vehicles here can fire more than 800 powerful rockets in a dense formation deep into the enemy's position in a few seconds. This is an absolute carpet bombardment.
Enemies within the bomb strike point will have nowhere to hide during the bombardment.
If we add six heavy artillery battalions with a total of 108 150mm and 120mm caliber heavy howitzers, the Soviet army on the opposite side will suffer.
The second hand of the watch beat slowly, and every passing minute affected Dai Zhicheng's heart. He slowly put the whistle in his hand to his mouth, puffed up his cheeks, and was ready to blow the battle horn at any time.
"Didi——"
When the minute hand on the pocket watch pointed to six and the second hand pointed to twelve, Dai Zhicheng blew the whistle in his mouth for the first time, and with this whistle, the artillery position of Nuo Da suddenly boiled.
"Whoosh——"
Different from the deafening roar of the ordinary artillery in front, the I-type rocket launcher position was filled with sharp and ear-piercing sound waves breaking through the air.
And in this intensive whistling sound, each point of light was like a meteor shower rising from the ground, tearing apart the black night sky in an instant.
A moment later, on the opposite side of the coalition station line, where the Soviet army deployed on the northern front line of Burlik, dense red clouds suddenly arrived with rolling thunder.
The suddenly rising flames were like fire from hell, with a ferocious evil smile, mercilessly devouring the lives of Soviet officers and soldiers on the entire front.
Colonel Miliya, commander of the Second Division of the Kyrgyz Army, realized the danger of his position the moment the artillery fire came over him.
Judging from the intensity of the artillery fire, he could also guess that the coalition forces on the opposite side must have used vicious artillery that seemed to come from the abyss of hell.
As early as the end of last year, in response to the call of the Soviet Central Committee, the Central Asian Military Region organized three armies to fight north. As a regimental commander, he participated in the Siberian Battle. In that battle to determine the ownership of Siberia, he encountered
The cruel scene when he was struck by this damn artillery fire was still fresh in his memory.
At that time, he was thinking, why did the Far East possess such powerful weapons? And the great Soviet Union, which concentrated the best of industry and agriculture in the country, not only had fewer aircraft, tanks and armored vehicles than its opponents, but also lagged behind in artillery. In the future, this war would still be difficult.
How to fight?
Today, Miliya has assumed the position of division commander, but the equipment of the troops has still not improved. This time, the opponent has obviously used more of the terrifying killing machines from hell, and the intensity of its artillery fire is heart-wrenching.
crack.
The position of the Second Division was built at a dangerous mountain pass. The width of the mountain pass was five kilometers, and the entire depth of 500 meters was covered with dense defenses.
The fires that followed one after another were like plows on the backs of oxen, plowing through the Soviet positions inch by inch. The entire front was from front to back. Wherever the fire passed through, there were lines of Soviet soldiers.
The figure was either torn apart into pieces, or was lifted out of the deep trench, and fell into the soft scorched earth dust with its incomplete limbs.
The steel plow made of raging fire smashed the bunker fortifications it stepped on, plowed away the machine gun barriers it touched, and destroyed the tanks, armor, trucks, motorcycles and the neighing war horses that it came into contact with.
After nearly thirty minutes of non-stop artillery fire, Colonel Milia estimated that the coalition forces had poured nearly 10,000 artillery shells and rockets on the front they were holding.
Under this almost saturated artillery fire, almost the entire position was plowed over.
Miliya wanted to know how many casualties the troops suffered and how serious the damage to the position was, but he also knew in his heart that now was not the time to count these numbers. Artillery strikes would never be the final result of the battle.
It can only be a prelude to the beginning of the battle. After the artillery attack is over, what will follow will inevitably be a more ferocious and violent cluster charge by the coalition forces.
"Papa -"
Amidst a series of sharp crackling sounds, red or green flares pierced the night sky, rising straight into the sky from the coalition positions in the distance, illuminating the originally dark land almost instantly.
Miliya's heart tightened. He knew that this was the signal for the Far Eastern Army to launch a general offensive, and the next close-quarters battle was about to begin.
The situation was just as Miliya had guessed. The Far Eastern Army deployed two armies at once on a five-kilometer-wide front. In order to ensure a smooth breakthrough attack, both armies put their mechanized divisions at the forefront.
By the light brought by the flares, the Second Division of the Soviet Kyrgyz Army guarding the front, from the division commander to the ordinary soldiers below, could clearly see the T26, T28 and BT7 vehicles on the military buffer zone in front of their troops.
The tank swayed its huge body and slowly pressed towards its forward position.
Behind these slowly advancing tanks, closely followed by the Far Eastern Army's sickle-axe red flag, fluttered in the night wind filled with gunpowder smoke.
Seeing this scene, all the Soviet officers and soldiers felt nervous.
"What to do? We need artillery support. Can anyone tell me how we can stop these damn tanks?"
At this time, the losses of the artillery regiment that Miliya was most concerned about had been reported. The 24 107mm field guns equipped by the artillery regiment had all been scrapped, and the twelve m1932 45mm anti-tank guns arranged in the front-line bunkers were already under fire.
Sinochem was reduced to scrap metal. Miliya's questioning made several surrounding officers feel helpless, but it could not stop the advancement of the Far Eastern Army tanks at all, nor could it stop the charge of the Far Eastern Army infantry behind the tanks.
What the Second Division needs most now is artillery firepower and armored support, but the reality is that the entire unit has nothing. The entire Second Division is filled with despair.
Relying solely on the infantry that suffered heavy losses after being hit by artillery fire to resist the Far Eastern Army's advance with tanks, the possibility of victory in this battle is too slim. Miliya now feels that the only thing he can do is to fight as many as possible
Hold on for a while.
"Don't take a step back"
“Hold on at all costs!”
This is a fatal order issued by Kulik, the highest commander of the entire Central Asian theater, to all northern front troops. Division Commander Milia must abide by it unconditionally, otherwise he and his family will be greeted by the horrific life in a concentration camp.
"Prepare cluster grenades!"
"Tie up the explosives and wait for the enemy tank to come up and blow it up!"
One by one, the seemingly tragic orders were conveyed to the grassroots commanders. Except for the deafening roar of tanks coming from the opposite side, the entire position was completely silent.
...
The battle started at 11:00 midnight. With the support of artillery fire and armored troops, after five hours of fierce fighting, the troops who broke through from the front of the mountain pass successfully tore apart the Soviet defensive positions like a round sword.
The Scimitar of the Moon turns all enemies who dare to resist into corpses.
This full-moon scimitar did not stop its advance after breaking through the Soviet defense line. On the contrary, from the moment it broke through the Soviet front line, a large number of Far Eastern Army follow-up troops poured out from the mountain pass.
They came in and surrounded Burlik City ten kilometers south from the east and west sides.
Burlik is the intersection of the Far East Railway and the Caspian Railway. Its geographical location is very critical. The coalition's operational intention has been very clear, which is to outflank the four Soviet divisions assembled in Burlik, and then gather all its forces.
Eat it in one go.
As long as this part of the enemy is eliminated, the Soviet army's defense on the front line of Chuyili Mountain will truly collapse, and the Far East Army can retreat with confidence, because as the strength of the troops waxes and wanes, even the Anjia Army's own strength is enough to deal with it. The next battle.
...
Tashkent means "Stone City" in Uzbek. It was named because it is located in the alluvial fan area at the foot of the mountain and has huge pebbles. This is an ancient city with a long history. A city was built as early as the second century BC. Famous for commerce and handicrafts, it became the only place to pass through on the ancient Silk Road. After the Russian Empire annexed several khanates in Central Asia, it established the Governor-General of Turkestan in Tashkent, which governs the four Soviet Union states of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Republic, while another Steppe Governor-General governs the Kazakh steppe.
After the October Revolution, Tashkent established the Soviet Union and became the capital of the Soviet republic of Uzbekistan in 1930. After hundreds of years of construction, Tashkent has become an indestructible battle fortress.
Tashkent is the headquarters of the Central Asian Military District. Since the war in Central Asia began, Tashkent has naturally become the headquarters of the theater headquarters.
Kulik, a commander of the First Army Group of the Red Army (ranked as a general), participated in the European War. In 1918, he joined Voroshilov's Fifth Army of the Ukrainian Red Army and established meritorious service in the battle to defend Tsaritsyn. In July 1920 He began commanding the artillery of the 1st Budyonny Cavalry Group in March. He was wounded five times and seriously injured twice. He served as the director of the Red Army Artillery Bureau at the beginning of last year, and later served as a military adviser in Spain. After returning to China at the beginning of this year, he was appointed as the Central Asia Commander-in-Chief of the Theater.
Affected by the great purges, Bolshevik party organizations throughout Central Asia suffered a devastating blow. Secretary of the Central Asian Bureau of the Soviet Communist Party Ikramov was arrested and shot. All high-level party and government officials, including the Chairman of the Uzbek Soviet and the People's Commissar, were purged. Stalin was deeply affected by this. Couric, who was highly regarded, was therefore dictatorial and had the highest decision-making power for theater command.
Controlling four million square kilometers of land and the army on it with one person, it is logical that Couric should have all the glory, but now he is not happy at all, but feels exhausted mentally and physically.
In the war in Central Asia, they were defeated in consecutive battles. The defense lines of Chuyli Mountain in Kazakhstan and Kurandag Mountain in Turkmenistan, which were originally thought to be impregnable, suffered devastating blows. The Uzbek Corps, which was concentrated on Nukus as a strategic mobile force, also suffered a devastating blow. This was a devastating disaster, and the entire war situation took a turn for the worse.
Insufficient troops have become Kulik's top problem.
"what to do?"
After receiving the news of the attack on the mountain pass defense line in the north of Burlik City, cold sweat broke out on Kulik's forehead.
The reason why all the troops were not deployed at the mountain pass was that Kulik, who was an artilleryman, knew that the Far Eastern Army had an absolute advantage in artillery fire. Covered by a cannon, the denser the troops were, the more severe the damage would be. In fact, the coalition's attack had already started before Kulik's attack. It was expected, but the question now is, under the opponent's thunderous attack, will Burlik defend or not?
If defended, the four divisions would most likely fall into the enemy's siege and the entire army would be annihilated.
Withdraw, Burlik is the railway hub. Once abandoned, the Caspian Sea Railway and the Far East Railway will be controlled by the opponent. The entire army will be divided into several sections by the enemy. The enemy's middle and western armies only need to slowly press westward step by step. The entire The war in Central Asia will face collapse.
Just when Kulik couldn't make up his mind, an urgent message from Moscow made him quickly make up his mind and immediately made several adjustments:
First, the troops stationed in Burlik left one of their most elite divisions to use the city defenses to carry out the most resolute resistance, waiting for the main force to assemble and buy enough time for the counterattack, and the rest of the troops to retreat across the Chu River; second, order the troops stationed in Turkmenistan to
A garrison division in Ashgabat, the capital of Stan, and the garrison troops along the railway quickly moved westward and evacuated by railway to Frunze, the capital of the Kyrgyz Republic. If the city of Charzhou was occupied by the enemy, they would go there by road and be sure to avoid it.
The main force of the enemy army should preserve its strength; third, order Chuikov to speed up the march and rush to Almaty as soon as possible to wait for the next combat order; fourth, the two armies stationed in Tashkent should immediately relocate the people, remove factory equipment, and move towards Frunze
Move to avoid a decisive battle with the Far Eastern Army coming from the Western Front.
It turned out that a secret message from Moscow informed that the top brass of the Far Eastern Republic had ordered all troops fighting in Central Asia to be transferred northward, and that the entire Far Eastern Army in Central Asia would be evacuated in the near future.
Until now, Kulik did not know that the Anjia Army acted alone on the left flank of the Center Army, nor did he know that the fall of the Chuyili Mountain and Turkulandag Mountain defense lines was directly related to the Anjia Army. He thought that everything was caused by Bu Liu.
The actions of the troops led by Marshals Hull and Yegorov made him full of awe of the Far East Army, but looked down upon the Anjia Army. In Kulik's mind, the Chinese army had no combat effectiveness at all. If it left the Far East Army,
, even if he is outnumbered, he is confident that he can achieve a complete victory.
In Kulik's view, if the Far Eastern Army wants to retreat, it is most convenient and quickest to take the Central Asian Railway. Rather than leaving troops along the Caspian Sea Railway and letting the Far Eastern Army destroy them one by one like crushing ants, it is better to shrink all the troops.
Stand up, conserve your strength, wait until the Far Eastern Army withdraws, and then concentrate your superior forces to seek bad luck for the Chinese who think they have taken advantage.
Under the guidance of this strategic thinking, Kulik was even prepared to give up Tashkent, which had strong city defenses and was blocked on the return railway line of the Far Eastern Army on the Western Front.
As long as we can send away the plague god of the Far Eastern Army, any giving up will be worth it!
...
The sky in the east gradually brightened, and the morning light enveloped the earth. As the sky became brighter and brighter, the Far Eastern Army, which had reached Burlik, began to launch a general attack.
Rocket shells flying all over the sky announced the beginning of the attack.
Although trucks carrying infantry, half-track armored personnel carriers, and a large number of light and medium tanks rumbled forward at the same time around Burlik City, the momentum was earth-shattering. It seemed that the main force could cross the Chu River at any time, capture Chu City, and then threaten the Kyrgyz capital.
Frunze.
However, when the Far East Army arrived on the west bank of the Chu River and saw that the Soviet troops on the other side of the river were waiting seriously, they retreated and immediately launched a general attack on Burlik City.
Half an hour later, the streets in the north of the city were already full of Far Eastern Army officers and soldiers. However, the casualties of the Far Eastern Army were increasing because so far, they still could not take out Soviet snipers hidden in Islamic-style houses.
The hands and cleverly disguised anti-tank positions were helpless. In order to achieve a quick victory, the Far Eastern Army invested a lot of troops. The battlefield started from the northern edge of the city and extended to the center of the city. The most intense battle was in the center of the city.
Six-story municipal building.
As the commanding heights of the entire city, this building has extremely important strategic value. The Soviet army can use this building made of reinforced concrete as an artillery observation post and first sniper point. If the Far East Army occupied this building,
Then you can mount the cannon to threaten other parts of the city.
Therefore, the gains and losses of this building are of extraordinary significance.
The fierce competition has caused the municipal building, which has long been beyond recognition, to change hands almost every ten minutes.
The soldiers of the Far Eastern Army who rushed into the building were often knocked to the ground by grenades thrown from above before they could even gain a foothold. The Soviet troops who had accumulated strength upstairs immediately took advantage of the situation and launched a counterattack, but their results were also limited.
Quite limited, because once you leave this building, the world outside is controlled by the Far Eastern Army.
The fighting on the outer lines was also very fierce. As a railway transportation hub, Burlik Railway Station was built very large, covering an area of about 20 acres, including a large passenger and freight station and a huge cargo yard. However, during the first round of bombardment,
, countless artillery shells blasted it into ruins.
After the ground troops began, the Far Eastern Army soldiers responsible for attacking the train station felt something was wrong because they found that the opponent in front of them was very fierce. According to common sense, after the artillery bombardment, the opponent should adopt defensive tactics and wait for a firm footing before launching a counterattack.
But no one expected that as soon as their artillery stopped attacking and the infantry's offensive formation was deployed, countless Soviet officers and soldiers appeared in front.
Under the example of the Soviet political cadres who took the lead, under the continuous urging of the internal affairs committee members, and under the guns of the supervisory team, the Soviet soldiers rushed forward in piles, and even if there was only one person left, they could only rush forward.
Go up if there is artillery cover, or even if there is no artillery cover.
The three Soviet divisions that evacuated the city of Burlik left all their submachine guns and light machine guns to their comrades. Therefore, the Soviet division that defended the city was equipped with extremely powerful firepower.
The battle was extremely fierce. The soldiers of the Far Eastern Army, who had just prepared to launch a charge, had just occupied the Soviet position under the cover of artillery fire. They began to use machine guns, submachine guns and rifles to build a solid fire net. At this time, countless Soviet soldiers shouted and rushed.
He came up, and then fell to the ground like wooden stakes.
Facing a desperate situation, the Soviet army showed its combat effectiveness to the fullest. Two troops with the same beliefs started fighting house-to-house. First they fired guns, then grenades, then flamethrowers, and finally entered hand-to-hand combat - fighting with bayonets and engineer shovels.
The Soviet army not only had good shooting skills, but also had the courage to fight tooth and nail. Many grassroots platoons and companies of the Far East Army were wiped out in a short period of time. Many of them were shot in the head by the enemy's sharpshooters.
...
When the sun rose to the middle, the Far Eastern Army finally captured the commanding heights of the city. A large number of mortars and anti-aircraft machine guns were carried to the roof to suppress the Soviet firepower points inside and outside the city. The balance of victory and defeat gradually tilted towards the Far Eastern Army.
tilt.
On a hill two kilometers north of Burlik City, Xiao Wucong watched the progress of the entire battle through a telescope, his face extremely calm, and it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
Chief of Staff Yang Siyue frowned more and more: "The Far East Army's urban combat capabilities still need to be strengthened. If we were to fight it, we should have won it by now!"
Xiao Wu held up the telescope with his right hand, raised his left hand and shook it: "Not necessarily! If we were commanding old troops, it would be no problem, but the two mechanized armies we are taking over now were newly established. Although they fought after entering Kazakhstan,
There were several tough battles, but there was still little experience in urban combat. Only through the explanations of grassroots non-commissioned officers, it was difficult for the officers and soldiers to understand the essentials of urban combat summarized by the military academy. In general, the Soviet army's combat effectiveness was still very tenacious.
It’s unexpected that the army has so many sharpshooters!”
Yang Si nodded and said with some regret: "Yes, I guess they are an elite force, but it's a pity that they were used as abandoned ones..."
"wrong!"
Wang Chenglong, the director of the operations department, observed for a long time and suddenly said: "The Soviet army in the encirclement circle definitely does not have four divisions, at most one division. Now that the defense line is being squeezed step by step, reinforcements have still not been sent, so we can only
There is an explanation, the enemy simply has no reinforcements to send!"
Xiao Wu put down the telescope, turned his head and said with a smile: "Did you find it? In fact, I knew it when the battle started. Although the Soviet army fought fiercely, their counterattack was obviously not strong enough, which led to a tug-of-war. Otherwise, with today's Soviet army
The combat effectiveness shown, as long as follow-up reinforcements are guaranteed, the Far East Army will be driven out of the city.
"Obviously, the enemy's main force has retreated to the west bank of the Chu River. Our opponents may have known that the Far East Army was about to withdraw, and began to pay attention to conserving their strength, but they were afraid of being discovered by us, so they used the most elite division to contain them.
We thought the main force was here... Huh, that's why I didn't take the initiative to ask for cooperation in the offensive. The troops stationed in Xinjiang have already pressed in from the west, and we have to preserve our strength..."