At Kulik's urging, Chuikov launched a fierce attack on the Shokpal Pass guarded by Xiao Wu's Corps at 7 a.m. on the 25th.
Chuikov gathered all the artillery he could get his hands on. The artillery position consisted of more than 900 artillery pieces of various sizes, and the subsequent scene of the cannons firing in unison was extremely spectacular.
Each artillery shell dragged a sharp whistling sound and flew towards the intended target. The four-kilometer-wide Shokpal Pass position was like a huge erupting crater. Soon the entire position became a ruin.
A large number of trenches were filled, fortifications were destroyed, and bunkers collapsed.
The entire Shokpal Pass has a depth of 20 kilometers and a valley about four kilometers wide. There are steep mountains on both sides of the valley. Railways and roads pass through the center of the valley. There are four villages scattered along the road. Of course, at this moment, in the village
The residents have long since disappeared, and these villages have become the temporary garrison of Anjiajun.
At this time, Chuikov, commander of the Almaty Corps, stood at the Otar forward headquarters six kilometers away from the mountain pass. Together with his five group army generals and the regiment staff, they watched this artillery bombardment of unprecedented scale for them.
During the nearly hour-long shelling, the Soviet army fired a total of more than 30,000 artillery shells at the Anjiajun position. Almost every inch of the mountain pass was baptized by artillery shells. In the early morning light, it was seen through the telescope
Seeing the miserable appearance of the mountain pass positions riddled with holes, almost all the Soviet generals were convinced that after this saturation bombardment, the biggest obstacle standing in front of them might be the rugged and difficult-to-travel terrain like the surface of the moon after the bombardment.
The fierce bombardment gradually became sparse, and the Soviet artillery changed to a barrage attack method to suppress any counterattack that the Anjia Army might launch at any time.
The Soviet ground troops, led by grassroots commanders and political cadres, began to attack the Yamaguchi position.
The 32nd Tank Regiment of the 9th Army of the Soviet Red Army, the 28th Division of the 10th Army and the 32nd Division of the 11th Army, nearly 30,000 troops, led by the flying red flag, rushed out of their own
The defense line rushed towards the position guarded by Anjiajun like a tide.
In just half an hour, the first layer of defense zone consisting of barbed wire, minefields and trenches on both sides set up by the Anjia Army was broken through by the Soviet army. The few machine guns of the front-line officers and soldiers of the Anjia Army survived the artillery fire.
The firepower weakly blocked the attackers, but this could only slightly delay the Soviet army's actions. More Soviet troops burst in from the gap and continued to move forward.
Since the launch of the attack, the Anjia army has hardly fought back. Except for sporadic exchanges of fire, the Soviet army has not encountered a large number of opponents. This makes the Soviet generals watching the battle from behind very satisfied, because in their view, the Soviet army on the opposite position is very satisfied.
The Chinese have been wiped out by their sudden and determined cannons.
At ten o'clock in the morning, the Soviet army broke into the Anjia Army's position to a depth of two kilometers. However, the Soviet army's advance was not very fast because many Red Army soldiers were hungry and could not cheer up even on the battlefield.
, In addition, launching an upward attack from the bottom up requires more energy. At the same time, the completely destroyed railways, roads, and countless craters created by the previous round of shelling hinder the path forward of the leading tank troops.
After two hours of assault, the tank troops stopped advancing. The commander of the 32nd Tank Regiment, Colonel Alexander, reported through the vehicle radio that due to the severe damage to the road, nearly half of the T26 tanks had problems with their tracks.
, asked to send engineers to repair the road, and struggled for a long time until the engineering troops directly under the Tenth Army caught up and paved the road with thatch and steel plates, and then the tanks resumed their advance.
At twelve o'clock at noon, Colonel Alexey, commander of the 28th Division in front of the sudden attack, reported that his troops had followed the tanks, advanced four kilometers deep into the mountain pass, and occupied ten kilometers due east of Shokpal City.
Five kilometers away from the village, they are continuing to advance in order to completely penetrate the Anjia Army's defense line. Colonel Alexei asked the follow-up troops to follow up immediately to protect the safety of the assault force's flanks.
A series of unexpected and smooth breakthroughs surprised Chuikov and the generals around him. Chuikov had deep doubts in his heart, ignored the cheers from the generals around him, and did not issue an order to increase troops, but returned to command.
The troops looked at the map and thought about why An Jiajun was so vulnerable?
The staff of the Corps Headquarters and more than a dozen group army generals looked at each other. They didn't know why Chuikov was unhappy. In their view, it was extremely correct to concentrate superior artillery fire on a frontal, head-on assault tactic, no matter how strong the fortresses and fortifications were.
, and it is impossible to survive such a large-scale bombardment.
You must know that the Soviet artillery is not only howitzers, but also a large number of 107mm, 122mm cannons and 152mm howitzers, especially the 152mm howitzer. When it fires armor-piercing projectiles, it can penetrate the 124mm at a shooting distance of one thousand meters.
It’s easy to imagine how much damage thick steel armor can do to civil fortifications. Under such a scale of artillery fire, is there anything to doubt about the enemy’s retreat?
However, the urgent report from the front soon made everyone understand that Chuikov's worries were not unnecessary.
Less than a quarter of an hour after the Soviet tanks entered the village fifteen kilometers due east of Shokpal City, the artillery of the Anjia Army, which had not opened fire, began to perform.
Large-caliber howitzers and mortars carried out coverage bombings on the roads and villages where the Soviet army was advancing. At this time, the Soviet infantry and a large number of tanks were crowding in dense formations in the villages and on nearby roads.
Advance unhurriedly. To make matters worse, due to the continuous bombardment, the Soviet army's artillery shells were insufficient, and the command was chaotic. At this time, the Soviet army's heavy artillery firepower had stopped, so they were unable to suppress the Anjia Army's artillery.
As the shells fell like hail, almost in the blink of an eye, all the Soviet soldiers became a mess. No matter how the grassroots commanders and political cadres shouted, they could not stop the troops from blowing up the camp. The whole valley was full of panic.
Soviet soldiers running to avoid artillery fire. The Anjia Army's artillery fire was too dense, especially with a large number of rocket launchers in the middle. The Soviet army, which was squeezed in the valley, suffered heavy casualties and was defeated.
Just as the Soviet army was in chaos dodging artillery attacks, the tank troops of the Xiao Wu Corps of the Anjia Army appeared directly in front of them. One hundred and eighty T28 and BT7 tanks from the First Mechanized Tank Brigade of the First Mechanized Army fiercely charged at the Soviet army.
At the same time, on the mountains on both sides, the charge horn sounded loudly. A large number of Anjia Army soldiers wearing camouflage uniforms rushed down the mountain under the cover of anti-aircraft machine guns and various caliber anti-aircraft cannons, towards the chaotic Soviet army.
Pounce.
This infantry unit that suddenly appeared was Pei Yannian's Third Group Army of the Central Front Army of the Mongolian Military Region, which was urgently transferred westward from the Mongolian Military Region at the beginning of the Far Eastern Army's withdrawal. Due to the chaotic situation when the Far Eastern Army withdrew, even most of the Far Eastern Army officers and soldiers did not
Knowing that the empty train carriage carrying passengers from the south was actually filled with Anjia officers and soldiers, and that after the train arrived at the station, they were all taken away by trucks and troop carriers from the Xiao Wu Corps without alerting anyone. Therefore, the Soviet intelligence department did not know.
Not surprising.
Pei Yannian was the chief of staff of the Mountain Army of the Southern Yunnan Military Region. When the Mongolian Military Region was in urgent need of personnel, he transferred personnel from Jiao Guangxu's subordinates. Faced with the promotion of their old man, both Jiao Guangxu and the commander of the military region Dai Zhengliang were sincerely happy and did not
To stop it, this time it enters Central Asia to fight, which is a great opportunity to prove its ability to command troops.
The Third Group Army of the Mongolian Military Region has three divisions: the 7th, 8th, and 9th, as well as the guard division directly under the group army. Each division has three infantry regiments, one motorized infantry regiment and one artillery regiment. In addition, the division headquarters also has one directly under its jurisdiction.
Anti-tank battalion, a reconnaissance battalion, an engineer battalion, a communications battalion and a field reserve battalion, with a full strength of 15,000 people.
Assisting the 1st Tank Brigade in the attack this time were the soldiers of the 7th Division.
The quality of the Soviet army was still relatively high. Under the threat of death, they quickly calmed down. Under the leadership of grassroots commanders and political cadres, they used bomb craters, mountain forests and some protruding mountains to resist, while the Anjia officers and soldiers were three-dimensional.
Attack - snipers cover the rear, infantrymen charge with semi-automatic rifles with bayonets, non-commissioned officers carry submachine guns, officers follow with box guns, firemen hold automatic rifles to shoot, and rocket launcher men shoot.
The quasi-Soviet army carried out precise strikes on its firepower points, and the entire attack could be said to be like a silver bullet, impeccable.
At this time, in the village to the west, the officers and soldiers of the 7th Division, who had already reached the tank unit before the tank troops, quickly dispersed and penetrated quickly. At the same time, the Anjia officers and soldiers who had been ambushing in the village emerged from the cellars and ruins one after another and attacked the troops occupying the village.
The Soviet army launched a fierce attack. Facing the Anjia officers and soldiers who appeared out of nowhere, the Soviet army was shocked. Their morale was severely damaged. At the same time, affected by hunger, they could not even exert 10% of their usual 10% combat effectiveness.
At this time, a "buzzing" sound sounded above the battlefield, and the Anjia Army's aircraft fleet appeared in the northern sky. Almost in the blink of an eye, they flew over the battlefield. However, due to the entanglement between the two combatants, the Anjia Army's aviation force was unable to participate in this battle.
In the thrilling battle, three squadrons of sixty B2 bombers quickly turned around and flew towards the Soviet artillery position at the foot of the mountain. Seeing the Soviet army hurriedly moving the artillery, they immediately dived down and gracefully dropped a string of bombs.
, Chuikov, who saw all this through the telescope in the bunker, was heartbroken.
As the bombs fell on the Soviet artillery group, various types of artillery of different calibers turned into scrap copper and iron. The barrels and windlass flew everywhere in the air. The torn corpses of the artillerymen were constantly rubbed in the fierce airflow and turned into pieces.
It was a ball of meat, scattered in all directions. Until this time, the Soviet anti-aircraft machine gun and anti-aircraft artillery positions woke up from a dream, and roared angrily. But at this time, the B2 bomber had completed dropping bombs and returned to a distance of one or two kilometers.
High in the air.
The battle ahead has entered a fierce stage, with tens of thousands of people fighting in a narrow area. The light weapons of the Anjia army are obviously much more powerful than those of the Soviet army. The general-purpose machine gun improved from the mg34 machine gun is much more powerful than the Soviet Jegega
The Lov light machine gun and the Tokarev light machine gun are much stronger in terms of rate of fire and firepower sustainability. The Anjia army, which is equipped with a large number of submachine guns, automatic rifles, and rocket launchers, can almost completely defeat its opponents.
Finally, as Anjiajun's tanks entered the village, taking advantage of armor and artillery fire, they turned the Soviet army's poor T26 tanks into piles of burning iron coffins, and uprooted each of the temporary firepower points set up by the Soviet army. Anjiajun
The offensive finally changed from quantity to quality.
The Soviet army in the village collapsed first. Under the impact of the rout, the Soviet army on the rear road also collapsed. However, at this time, the rear road had been cut off by the officers and soldiers of the Seventh Division. Tens of thousands of Soviet troops rushed in the valley.
There, under the squeeze of tanks, the number of people was getting smaller and smaller. By 5 p.m., the remaining 8,000 Soviet troops knelt on the ground and raised their hands in surrender. The first wave of the Soviet offensive resulted in the loss of two soldiers.
The infantry division and one tank regiment ended, but the Anjia army only paid three platoons of soldiers who were deployed in the front line to lure the enemy and more than 600 soldiers who died after the general offensive was launched.