Leninabat (now Khujand) is located on the banks of the Syr Darya River and at the west entrance of the Fergana Basin. It is one of the famous ancient cities in Central Asia. It was built in the fourth century BC and was an important stop on the trade route between China and countries along the Mediterranean coast.
, Han, Yuan and Qing dynasties have always been China's inherent territory. In 1866, it was merged into Imperial Russia. Later, the Soviet Union inherited the territory from Imperial Russia. After the 1525 planning and construction, it developed into the second largest city in Tajikistan in the late 1930s.
The four divisions of the Ninth Army led by Lieutenant General Zhou Dingcheng were leading the troops to defend the Leninabat area.
Zhou Dingcheng is a veteran of the Anjia Army. When An Yi's model battalion was expanded into a supplementary regiment, Zhou Dingcheng was the commander of the machine gun company. Later, with the expansion of the Anjia Army, he served successively as deputy of the third regiment of the independent division and commander of the second brigade of the Jiangxi Security Command.
, deputy division commander of the 16th Division and other positions, although he has no achievements worth showing off along the way, but because he has followed An Yi for a long time, the troops under his command have inherited the fine traditions of the Anjia Army, with solid training, tenacious style, and the courage to fight tough battles.
When assigning this mission, Zhou Dingcheng took the initiative to request his troops to stay in Leninabad to act as a magnet for attracting Soviet attacks. When Li Jinlong asked whether additional troops were needed to be supplemented, Zhou Dingcheng calmly analyzed that the Soviet army was already in decline due to serious food shortages.
The tired division can hardly exert its normal combat strength to 11%. Coupled with the defenses built previously, the four divisions under its command are enough to cope with any challenge without wasting troops.
The area that Zhou Ding City needs to defend stretches from the Sulyukta Pass in the west to the Kokand Valley in the Fergana Basin in the east. It has a diameter of 110 kilometers from east to west and steep mountains to the north and south, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack. Zhou Ding City is arranged on the western front.
One division was deployed on the eastern front, leaving two divisions as strategic reserves.
The battle started on the 26th, and it has been a week now. The Soviet army has not made any progress, and as time goes by, the Soviet army's combat effectiveness is getting weaker and weaker. So far, the Soviet army has suffered at least 30,000 to 40,000 casualties.
people, and the 25th Mountain Division responsible for the defense of the western front suffered less than one-third of its casualties, which shows that the Soviet army has become a tired division.
In the war room of the Ninth Army Headquarters, Deputy Army Commander Lieutenant General Wu Yanzi calmly analyzed: "According to various circumstances, the Soviet army's food shortage has reached an extremely serious situation. Because we insist on strengthening the walls and clearing the country, at the same time the Soviet army is in Almaty and Qi
The massacre in Mkenten has spread all over the world through real photos, and the people of Central Asia have stayed away. Wherever the Soviet army went, there were empty houses, and they have not received food supplies until now. Judging from the intelligence fed back by the captured prisoners, the Soviet army
The army has been insisting on two meals for quite some time, and now it cannot even effectively guarantee two meals. One meal has become the norm! Under such circumstances, it is sheer wishful thinking to want to penetrate our defense line and join up with the Tianshan Corps on the southern front.
.”
"That's right!"
Chief of Staff Major General Zhuang Zhenhua seconded the opinion: "The situation of the Soviet army is indeed very difficult! Kulik set up its food, ammunition and oil supply base in Ursachiyev more than anything else. How many of our special forces brigade
It was discovered the first time it touched the edge. Fortunately, the losses were not big. The Soviet army not only deployed a tight air defense net in Ursachiyev, but also had a lot of light and dark firepower. Whether it was an air strike or a ground attack, our losses were not worth the gain. However,
, if we destroy this supply base, the Soviet army’s fighting spirit may collapse!”
Zhou Dingcheng looked at the map carefully for a while and nodded silently: "The Soviet army gave up along the Caspian Sea Railway, which finally led to today's predicament... It seems that the war in Central Asia can be ended early! In the name of the group army, to
The front army and the theater headquarters suggested using missiles from the Second Artillery Corps to carry out precise attacks on their food bases, how about that?"
"OK!"
Colonel Gao Chongqing, Chief of the Operations Department, was very excited: "The headquarters has given us the power to use the Second Artillery according to actual needs. I have long wanted to see the power of this big killer weapon we have! Now the Soviet army is clearly holding on,
I would like to see how they can maintain the war without food, oil and ammunition supplies! Kulik always thought that the troops he commanded were powerful in combat, so we should help him understand the reality. With the current situation in Central Asia
According to the situation, as long as Kulik's main combat corps is annihilated, Chuikov's Almaty Corps and its southern Tianshan Corps will have no choice but to be captured, and the war in Central Asia will be successfully ended!"
Wu Yanzi and Zhuang Zhenhua agreed, and the matter was settled like this.
Soon, the telegram reached the war zone commander Hu Jialin.
As soon as Hu Jialin and Huang Zhilue discussed it, they immediately contacted Ye Cheng and Li Jinlong through encrypted telegrams.
At this time, Ye Cheng and Xiao Wu had successfully joined forces. Xiao Wu left an infantry division and a tank brigade to guard the Shokpal Pass and block Chuikov's regiment's westward path. The main force followed Ye Cheng's cluster to fight south. It is expected that two
Tashkent can be reached by rail in three days.
Li Jinlong's main force is resting in the Samarkand area and Jizzak to the east of the Latau Mountains, and can coordinate the southward offensive of Ye Cheng's cluster at any time. If the morale of the main force of the Central Asian Red Army led by Kulik is completely destroyed before then, it will be for
The future decisive battle will only have advantages and no disadvantages.
Soon, both Ye Cheng and Li Jinlong replied by phone in agreement with Zhou Dingcheng's suggestion. After some radio contact, it was decided that the general offensive time would be advanced from the previous August 15th to August 8th. Before that, the Second Artillery Force would attack the Soviet Union.
Conduct precise strikes against the army's logistics supply base to accelerate the progress of the war in Central Asia.
...
Begovat (today's Bekabad city), the war room of the Soviet Central Asian Theater Command.
Kulik's face was ashen, and the hand holding the letter was shaking slightly.
The letter was sent by General Valentin (then known as the commander of the Second Group Army) who replaced the executed Stern as the commander of the Tianshan Corps on the southern front. After crossing the mountains and ridges, a company of officers and soldiers responsible for delivering the letter arrived at Begovat.
Only five people were left, and the rest of the soldiers either fell off the cliff or were blocked by Anjia Army guerrilla posts, and died heroically.
From the letter, Kulik felt a deep crisis!
Ares was lost! Tashkent was lost! Jambul was lost! Now it is very likely that Frunze and Chucheng were also lost! Judging from this result, the main force of the Chinese army was not concentrated on the southern front. It was most likely to go north at the beginning.
He escaped into the Karatau Mountains and took advantage of the opportunity of his main force to move south, giving himself a severe blow from the abdomen and back!
Deceived!
Kulik was in a state of confusion. He did not expect that he would fall into the enemy's plan step by step. So, could the current strategic situation be premeditated by the opponent?
Kulik told himself to calm down, closed his eyes and meditated for a while, strode to the map, and carefully observed the situation. The more he looked at it, the more frightened he became.
Now, the entire main combat group is stationed in a narrow area starting from the Syr Darya River in the north, to the Sulyukta Pass in the east, and to Ulyanovo in the west. The area is only a hundred square kilometers. Since there has been no worry that Tashkent and other places will be attacked
, therefore he did not pay attention to the river defense security of the Syr Darya River. As for the Western Front, he had never thought that the war situation would be so bad before. He believed that as long as the main force of the Anjia Army trapped in the encirclement was annihilated, the situation would naturally be clear, and it would be easy to attack anywhere by then.
So much so that it is still not clear whether the Anjia Army is heavily defended on the Western Front.
Kulik thought calmly for a long time and finally made up his mind. He motioned to Mehris to take the five Red Army soldiers who reported the message down to have a meal, then returned to the conference room and issued the order in an irrefutable tone:
"I now issue the following orders in the name of the commander-in-chief of the theater: First, the Sixth Army continues to attack the Sulyukta Pass. The Second Army, the First Cavalry Army and the armored group immediately move west to capture the east of the Latau Mountains.
In the important town of Jizzak, the Fifth Army and the Second Cavalry Army tried to move to the north bank of the Syr Darya River to see if there were any defensive positions built by the Chinese army. The Third, Fourth, and Fifth Cavalry Army moved to the northwest grassland area. The Seventh
, the Eighth Group Army was assembled as a reserve group, ready to go into battle at any time. The Third and Fourth Group Armies, which had suffered heavy losses before, were merged into one group army after their rest and recuperation.
"Comrades, the current military situation is urgent, and we are very likely to fall into a big trouble. If we do not quickly find out the enemy's situation and find a way out, we will fall into an irreversible situation. Therefore, after the meeting is over, everyone takes action immediately and must not retreat in any way.
.”
Many generals stood up, saluted and left immediately.
...
At noon on August 3, when the Second Cavalry Army passed the Syr Darya Railway Bridge, it encountered intensive fire from light and heavy machine guns on the other side of the river. The Cavalry Army launched intensive charges five times. However, since the emergence of such a powerful weapon as the machine gun, the troops'
Combat effectiveness is not determined by the number of troops. In particular, the cavalry can only attack on the railway bridge, which is even more difficult. After half a day of fierce fighting, the cavalry suffered heavy losses and retreated in embarrassment.
In the evening, the Soviet Fifth Army arrived on the south bank of the Syr Darya River and quickly deployed. After a brief exchange between the Army Commander Vladimir and the Cavalry Army Commander Lieutenant General Ivanovich, he took several officers and lay down.
The forward troops carefully observed the situation on the other side of the river in the trenches they had just dug.
The criss-crossing ravines and uneven fortifications in the telescope made Vladimir take a breath of air. With rich combat experience, he knew that if infantry alone initiated a forced crossing, the current Fifth Army would not be able to bear the huge losses.
Due to a serious shortage of fuel, fewer and fewer trucks can be driven. Vladimir only brought two artillery regiments. Each of these two artillery regiments was equipped with forty-eight 76.2mm Putilov field cannons. There were no large-scale
caliber heavy artillery.
A staff officer made a rough estimate and found that the position on the opposite side was more than 400 meters away from the Syr Darya River. He couldn't help but asked strangely: "Comrade commander, the position set up by the Chinese is a bit strange. Why is it so far away from the river bank?"
"
"This is how cunning the Chinese are!"
Vladimir put down his telescope with a solemn expression and let out a long sigh: "The opponents we face are well-trained and have rich combat experience. Our artillery's 76.2mm Putilov field cannon has a limited range, and they have placed their defensive positions
Set it up far away from the banks of the Syr Darya River, so that their defensive firepower points are out of the direct strike range of our artillery. We can only kill and injure the enemy through large-area shelling, but cannot carry out effective precise bursts of fire!"
General Antonido, the political commissar of the group army (called the political commissar of the second group army at this time) hesitated for a moment, and couldn't help but asked: "Comrade Vladimir, the Chinese defense position is very complete. Do you want to ask the headquarters for instructions to mobilize a force?"
The tank troops will come to cooperate with us?"
"No need! It's just that our infantry and cavalry attack is fine. If we mobilize the tank troops, the Chinese will probably blow up the bridge! The tanks can't cross the river and can only become decorations. And if we separate the air defense troops to cover the tanks, it will be greatly reduced.
Weaken our own air defense force! What I am worried about now is the western front. If the main force of the Chinese army exists in the Jizzak area, our situation will be very bad!"
Vladimir, who was sallow and skinny due to long-term malnutrition, once again raised his binoculars to observe the position on the other side of the river. He couldn't figure out a clue for a long time. In a battle without air superiority, he was timid at every turn, which was suffocating.
After hurriedly returning to the temporary headquarters, the artillery commander General Viktor was waiting for Vladimir: "Comrade Vladimir, our troops have been deployed, do you want to attack immediately?"
Vladimir was about to refuse, but after thinking about it carefully, he waved his hand and said: "Bombard for a quarter of an hour and see the effect! Pay attention to the layout of the anti-aircraft machine gun and anti-aircraft gun positions. Our bombardment is likely to provoke retaliation from the opponent's fighter planes!"
"yes!"
Victor happily accepted the order and left.
Five minutes later, following an order, the Soviet gunners who had been waiting for a long time pulled the gun ropes at the same time. Amidst the roar, the muzzles of the ninety-six 76.2mm Putilov field cannons flashed at the same time, and orange streaks followed.
The red flames roared towards the Chinese garrison position opposite.
Before the first batch of grenades exploded, the well-trained Soviet ammunition handlers had already stuffed the 76.2 mm shells into the smoking gun barrel. The deputy gunner pushed the gun bolt, and the gunners fired again with a gap of a few tenths of a second.
, when the second group of shells passed over the Syr Darya River, the first group of artillery shells had just exploded on the Anjia Army's position.
The Anjia officers and soldiers who had been well prepared, except for a few officers and soldiers in the first trench who stayed in the bunker to observe the enemy's situation, all other officers and soldiers entered the anti-gun cave to avoid the coming fierce bombardment.
"Shhhhh-"
One after another, the 76.2mm artillery shells screamed fiercely and hit the surrounding trenches.
"Rumble--"
Amidst the continuous explosions, the ground suddenly shook violently like a strong earthquake, and clusters of scarlet fireballs rose up from the ground one after another.
Amidst the firelight and thick smoke, dirt flew from the ground that was hot under the August sun, and thousands of shrapnel screamed in all directions at high speed.
Nearly a hundred 76.2mm Putilov field cannons, shrouded in gunpowder smoke and dust, fired wildly at a top speed of ten rounds per minute. A group of bullets flew through the sky like a star chasing the moon, and fired fiercely.
Smashed inside and outside the trenches built by the Anjia Army.
The officers and soldiers in the artillery-proof cave opened their mouths and endured all this silently. There was no trace of fear on their faces. They had experienced many battles and knew that as long as they were not directly hit by artillery shells, hiding in the artillery-proof cave was very useful.
It is safe, and even some officers and soldiers with excellent psychological quality simply close their eyes and rest.
The casualty occurred at the observation post that stood in position to monitor the movements of the Soviet troops. A soldier, crouched as much as possible, lay tightly in the bunker. From time to time, fireballs exploded not far away from him, and sharp shrapnel exploded.
A strange scream passed over his head.
"puff!"
Amidst the dull sound, a piece of shrapnel pierced the trench wall next to the soldier. The soldier shook the mud off his head and glanced at the still buzzing and trembling shrapnel with lingering fear. If it was just more than ten centimeters away, he would
He was stabbed to the core. Big beads of sweat rolled down the soldier's face. Having participated in many battles, he knew that he would not be so lucky every time, and there was an anti-cannon hole not far behind him.
.
The desire for life made the soldier want to retreat to the shell-proof hole that represented safety more than once. This idea became even stronger when the squad leader more than ten meters away from him turned into a rain of blood in a gorgeous fire.
Already.
"No!"
In the struggle between the soldier's responsibility and the instinct of survival, the low whistling sound made the experienced soldier roar. He didn't even have time to roll over. A 76.2mm cannon shell that was accurately hoisted into the trench was on top of the bunker where he was.
Falling. The powerful penetrating power of the cannon shell suddenly penetrated the top of the bunker. The shell exploded, and the powerful shock wave made the soldiers fly into the air. The body gushing with blood was cut into several pieces by the swarming shrapnel in an instant.
A head drew a strange arc in the air and landed on the battlefield. There was a hint of relief in the eyes that slowly closed.
The Soviet artillery bombardment did not last long. Five squadrons of bombers came in dense numbers from the direction of Tashkent. The Soviet anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns screamed desperately to prove their presence.
Vladimir's worries finally came true. However, he thought he would attract a few tigers at most, but he did not expect to attract terrible wolves. It would be okay if there were a few bombers, but with such a dense group of aircraft, he could only pray that the air defense positions would perform extremely well.
It's an ordinary function.
Unfortunately, Vladimir's wish did not come true, because the artillery of the Anjia Army on the other side of the river, which had been holding back for a long time, finally launched a counterattack.
Twenty-four 120mm howitzers, twelve 150mm howitzers, and twenty-four Type II eight-barreled 150mm rocket launchers (Type I was gradually phased out because it integrated too many barrels and was not conducive to loading), roaring angrily.
A large-caliber bomb exploded on the Soviet air defense position. Many anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns were accurately hit by the shells not long after they were fired. The gunners and machine gunners, together with the weapons they operated, were turned into pieces of fragmentary objects everywhere.
Flying shot.
Just as the Soviet air defense forces were in chaos, a hundred B2 bombers were overwhelming, forming up in rows in the sky, diving towards a target, and each huge aerial bomb made a breathtaking scream.
Attack the Soviet artillery positions.
In the earth-shattering explosions, huge orange fireballs soared into the sky from the Soviet artillery position. One hundred B2 bombers that went back and forth for low-altitude bombing dropped nearly a thousand 50-kilogram, 100-kilogram or even 2-ton bombs.
A hundred and fifty kilogram aerial bombs, the entire Soviet position groaned in pain in the explosion that destroyed everything.
Cannons were destroyed and decomposed in the bombardment, and balls of mud rose into the sky, mixed with rain of blood, leaving huge pits on the ground.
After a quarter of an hour of back-and-forth bombing, the Soviet artillery position was in a shambles. Nearly a hundred cannons could not be found intact. More than 5,000 artillerymen, including the artillery commander Victor, were all bombing fiercely here.
He was killed in the attack, which made Vladimir, who gave the order for the artillery attack, beat his chest and feel regretful. He felt that the future of seizing the position on the north bank of the Syr Darya River was bleak.