Astara, on the left bank of the Caspian Sea, is located in the Lankaran lowland of the Azerbaijani steppe, leaning against the Talyshen Mountains. It is at the end of the Soviet Caucasus Railway and is an extremely important border city in northern Persia.
After the war broke out, because Astara guarded the narrow bottleneck of the lowlands along the Caspian Sea, it happened to block the Als River pass in the middle of the Talyshen Mountains and shielded the flank security of the Ardabil line. It was the northern section of the defense line of the Anjia Army.
important support point.
According to Hitler's combat plan, after breaking through Astara, the left wing of the German Caucasus cluster will move south along the lowland highway on the west coast of the Caspian Sea. The main strategic intention is to capture the important towns of Anzali Port and Rasht on the south coast of the Caspian Sea, and then follow the Kizil
The Leuzan Valley passed through the Alborz Mountains, captured Tehran in one fell swoop, and cut off the retreat route of the Anjia Army near the border.
If the gap in the Alborz Mountains defense line cannot be opened, the main force will simply follow the smooth lowlands along the Caspian Sea coast to Central Asia to achieve a strategic detour.
Of course, the realization of this battle plan that was thought up on the head is not easy. Not to mention that the narrowest beach in the lowlands along the Caspian Sea is only one kilometer away from the mountains and hills. As long as the Anjia Army deploys a certain amount of troops in the Alborz Mountains,
The German army's retreat may be cut off at any time. In addition, the more than ten cruisers and destroyers serving in the Caspian Sea Fleet of the Anjiajun Navy are elusive and can deal a devastating blow to the German army at any time.
However, Hitler always liked to show off his wild and unrestrained combat ideas in front of the map. He worked hard to formulate the strategy. The specific implementation was a matter for the Wehrmacht. He only needed to see the results. He never cared about whether it would work or not. In short, he couldn't do it.
It's a question of the general's ability.
The battle that broke out on the night of the 22nd has lasted for nearly a week.
During this period, although the German army tried every means, they could not even break through the outer defense line of Astara City. With the help of the artillery position built by the Anjia Army on Talyshen Mountain and the South China Navy warships from the Caspian Sea, the German army was unable to break through.
One step forward.
On the morning of the 29th, the angry German army launched a new round of attack.
Shortly after dawn, the roar of huge aircraft engines filled the sky, and a huge flight formation consisting of more than two hundred bombers and an equal number of fighter jets appeared in the northern sky.
The Anjia Army Air Force, which had already detected the movements of the enemy's fleet through radar, quickly dispatched all five squadrons equipped with A32 jet fighters stationed at military airports around the Caspian Sea. The two sides were stationed more than ten kilometers north of Astara.
A battle broke out in the sky south of Kelan Town, and fighter jets from the German flight formations responded.
Long before the expedition, the German pilots received death orders. They must completely destroy the Anjia Army's defense line at all costs and create conditions for a general ground attack. Therefore, the German bomber groups lowered their flying altitudes regardless of the matter and flew in dense groups toward the enemy.
The defense line built by Anjiajun swooped over.
At this time, the multiple forts located on Talyshen Mountain on the left side of the battle line had removed their camouflage. The 75mm anti-aircraft guns on the top of the forts were aimed at the eastern sky.
In one of the fortresses located at the mountain pass of the Ars Valley, Major Song Bin, the commander of the air defense battalion standing in front of the periscope of the headquarters, saw the enemy plane entering the range and shouted "hit" into the microphone. More than 20 doors attached to the fort were
The 75mm anti-aircraft guns roared almost simultaneously, and the adjacent forts also spewed out dense barrages. The continuous and violent shooting formed a dense firepower network in front of the path of the German fighter planes.
The seven or eight bombers rushing at the front were unable to dodge. They collided head-on. Half of the fighter planes turned into brilliant fireballs in the air. The other half of the planes were damaged and turned over in the air, with thick smoke rising from the tails of each one.
It fell towards the ground, and a violent explosion was heard immediately.
The bomber behind quickly turned to avoid anti-aircraft fire, then turned its nose and no longer attacked the intended target, but flew directly towards the mountains on the left wing.
"Attention. The enemy plane is coming towards us. Hit me hard!"
Song Bin shouted hello, reminding the officers and soldiers under his command. Each gunner quickly turned the muzzle and fired continuously at the approaching bombers. Four or five enemy planes were unable to dodge and were hit by the dense rain of bullets and exploded into pieces.
At the same time, the cannons and aircraft machine guns on the German bombers also began to fire wildly. A string of bullets hit the outer wall of the fort, splashing dense sparks.
These fortresses built against the mountains have a semi-open air defense position on the top floor, a howitzer emplacement pointing east in the middle floor, and a machine gun position on the lower floor. They are all made of reinforced concrete structures.
In order to curb the German offensive and block the westward-moving valley passage, the Anjia army built more than ten forts at the eastern foot of the Talyshen Mountains running north to south, and dug tunnels in the heart of the mountains to connect the various forts, making them accessible and attackable.
Retreat can be defended. In the previous two days of fighting, the German army, which could not deploy its troops, tried to capture the highlands of Talyshen Mountain. They placed artillery on the mountain ridges to bombard the Anjia army's defense line, and surrounded the Astara side and rear. They did not want to
It hit an iron plate and suffered heavy losses.
All the fortresses near and far opened fire at the same time. A huge number of 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine guns and 20mm cannons were mixed in among the anti-aircraft gun emplacements, intertwining into a terrifying barrage. German bombers were constantly hit by bombs and exploded in the air, but the German pilots remained brave and fearless.
Pilot a bomber and launch a death-defying charge into these fortresses.
As the bomb bays of the bombers opened, hundreds of heavy bombs fell one after another, surrounding each fortress in the explosion of fire, air waves and splashing shrapnel.
"boom--"
The aerial bombs were too dense. A semi-covered anti-aircraft gun position was hit by a falling aerial bomb, and the gunner and loader were blown to pieces. Immediately afterwards, the gun position more than 20 meters to the right of the command post where Song Bin was located
The ammunition warehouse was just penetrated by a 500-kilogram armor-piercing aerial bomb, and a series of explosions immediately set off, blowing the 75mm anti-aircraft gun on the gun emplacement to pieces. The long barrel flew dozens of meters away, and the defender
Several officers and soldiers on the gun emplacement died heroically.
The entire foothills were filled with thick smoke and fire.
The desperate bombing by the German army brought huge casualties to the Anjia Army air defense troops. Broken limbs and broken arms could be seen everywhere, and the anti-aircraft guns were blown into piles of scrap metal. Except for those who were seriously injured and unable to move, all the soldiers held on.
At his position, he kept shooting in the air.
Among them, a young soldier's right arm was completely cut off by shrapnel, and his left arm still held a box of artillery shells. He stumbled forward and stopped in front of a 20mm machine gun emplacement.
One of the gunner's legs had been blown off by an aerial bomb, but he completely ignored the gushing blood and clung to the handle, spraying vengeful flames at the enemy aircraft until he fell in a pool of blood.
The bomb feeder moved the gunner's body away with all his strength, sat on it, and used his elbow to aim at the enemy plane that was diving over again. He roared and pulled the trigger with his remaining left hand. The shells ejected formed a straight line and hit the oncoming enemy plane.
A bomber. When the German pilot saw thick smoke coming from the engine, he hurriedly opened the door and jumped out. The one-armed gunner turned the muzzle and fired relentlessly at the German pilot carrying the parachute bag until the enemy was shot into the air.
It won't stop until it blooms.
German bombers were constantly circling, swooping, strafing, and dropping bombs in the rain of bullets. They were trying to raze these fortresses that blocked the German attack to the ground. However, the Anjia officers and soldiers responsible for air defense tasks had already put their life and death at risk and faced the enemy with a dense rain of bullets. Short
In just over ten minutes, one-third of the anti-aircraft artillery positions were lost, but the Germans also paid a heavy price, losing more than 80 valuable bombers in this wave of ground-to-air battles.
The German bombers dropped all their bombs and saw that the entire mountain was surrounded by fire, and then returned angrily. At this time, the battle between the two fighter jets in the air continued. The German fighter jets relied on their numerical advantage to fight against An Jiajun's jet fighters.
, covering the retreat of the bombers, German fighter jets continued to fall from the sky to the ground.
As the smoke gradually dissipated, although the top building of the fortress on Talyshen Mountain was in pieces, the main structure was not greatly damaged. This made the commander in the German forward position bunker who had been observing the bombing results with binoculars furious, but
There was nothing I could do. I could only order the troops to launch another wave of useless attacks and use the casualty figures to silence the superiors.
...
Nanhua, Xinjing. Staff Operations Command Center of Duzhu Temple.
An Yi was discussing the counterattack plan sent by Yin Jinan in Baghdad with a group of generals from the Military Commission and the General Staff Department.
During this week, the German offensive was fierce, launching attacks on almost all fronts. However, facing the three-dimensional defense of the Anjia Army, they were extremely uncomfortable. In addition to leaving a large number of corpses in front of the position after repeated attacks,
, there are almost no outstanding results.
So far, the German army has lost as many as 100,000 troops. Continuous defeats have depleted the German army's energy. The fierce artillery battle has also caused problems with the German army's artillery and ammunition base. The entire front has slowly fallen into a stalemate. Today
The air battle that took place in Astara on the northern front was already the largest air strike force assembled by the German army recently.
In the far north, as the German army transferred its main force to the south, Stalin, who was under sudden pressure, slowly recovered and continued to send newly formed troops to the Moscow battlefield. In recent battles, due to the influence of severe cold,
Coupled with the serious supply problems of the German army, the German army was completely driven out of Moscow three days ago and retreated to the mountains and hills east of Moscow. The Soviet-German battlefield experienced a dramatic change.
Seeing the weakness of the German army, Yin Jinan actively mobilized troops and assembled two tank armies and four motorized infantry armies on the Baghdad-Ramadi-Qayim line, preparing to use the partial divisions of the two motorized infantry armies to attack the enemy.
The Syrian desert encircled Damascus, attracting the German troops to split up. Then two tank armies and two motorized infantry armies launched a general attack on the German front directly in front of the Qaim defense line. With the cooperation of the air force, they destroyed the German front in one fell swoop.
enemy.
Once the German Army Group A is successfully eliminated, Army Group B in northern Syria will be left alone. At that time, we can fight steadily and gradually drive the German army out of the Middle East. The northern front will push the front to the Turkish border, and the southern front will threaten Egypt, which will threaten Germany and Italy.
North Africa carries out deterrence.
The generals were all talking, half in favor and half in opposition, and they kept arguing.
Seeing An Yi frowning and thinking without expressing any intention, Yang Jie finally couldn't help but said: "This plan is quite risky, with two motorized infantry armies going deep into the Syrian desert. General Jinan values the suddenness and intends to use active
Mobile warfare is used to contain the opponent and look for fighter opportunities. However, as long as the German army tries its best to seize this partial division and then mobilizes superior forces to pursue and intercept it, these two armies without logistical supplies will fall into an isolated and helpless situation or even be completely annihilated.
"German Commander-in-Chief Rundstedt was very cautious in deploying troops. It was not that he failed to see the loopholes in the southern desert. He deployed General Zalmut's Eleventh Army and the Romanian Fourth Army in the Damascus area. In addition, in
The Hungarian Second Army, the Italian Eighth Army, the Romanian Third Army and the Bulgarian First Army remained on the second line as maneuvers, giving them an absolute advantage in terms of strength.
"The German Army Group is a strategic organization...for example, the Eleventh Army, which is the old unit of Marshal Manstein, the current commander of Army Group B. It consists of the Eleventh Army, the Thirtieth Army and the Fiftyth Army.
The Fourth Army, of which the Eleventh Army consists of the 22nd, 76th, and 239th Infantry Divisions and the Romanian Sixth Infantry Division, as well as the Romanian Fifth and Eighth Cavalry Brigades; the Thirtieth Army consists of the
The 198th Infantry Division, the Romanian 8th and 14th Infantry Divisions and the 6th Cavalry Brigade; the 54th Army has the 50th, 72nd and 170th Infantry Divisions, and the Army Headquarters also has
Romanian Cavalry Command.
"You might as well do the math. The Eleventh Army alone has ten divisions of troops that have undergone rigorous training and have gained numerous battle achievements. Although the number of officers and soldiers in a single division is smaller than ours, the total strength of a group army is
It is equivalent to our two motorized infantry armies, plus other troops, how to fight this battle?
"The current situation is that the enemy facing multi-front operations is having difficulty in supplying food and ammunition, but our reserves of materials are very sufficient. The ammunition and food originally intended for operations on the eastern front are being continuously sent to the Gulf area. My opinion is not to
Attack blindly and continue to hold back the enemy in front of you. Then use the air force to attack its railways and highways, and even airdrop troops to harass the enemy's rear... Our Jewish troops can be of greater use at this time!
"As long as this battle continues for another month or two, the enemy's material supply will definitely be in big trouble with the coming of winter, and the enemy may even collapse without a fight!"
Yang Jie's words made everyone's eyes light up. Hu Jialin, who had been silent before, agreed. There was a lot of discussion in the conference room. However, many generals felt that passive defense was too conservative after all, and the German army may not be willing to act according to the script we set.
Seeing that the opinions were still inconsistent, An Yi finally spoke:
"Relatively speaking, Jinan's combat plan is more proactive, but the risk is too high. There are many unknown factors in attacking in desert areas. There are serious problems with the logistics and material supply of troops deep into enemy territory. If it is not good, it will be a bomb.
The outcome of exhausting food and defeat is too high. As Deputy Chief of General Staff Yang Jie said, the Germans are more urgent now. We really don’t need to be too impatient. The best thing to do is to wait and see how the situation changes.
Policy.
"I have another worry. The German army has been attacking our front and only launched a few tentative attacks at the junction. The intensity is not strong, which is very abnormal. I suspect that this is the enemy's trick to try to focus our attention.
Go to the front of the battle line, then assemble heavy troops, suddenly exert force, and open a gap from the joint. Therefore, it is necessary to retain a strong strategic maneuver force behind the battle line!
"Among the three German armies, the Turkish cluster in the middle and the Caucasus cluster in the north cannot deploy their superior troops due to the narrow terrain. Relatively speaking, it is easier for us to defend due to our favorable geographical location. I am very worried.
The Germans will transfer troops from the other two fronts to the southern front to once again strengthen the strength of the two major combat groups A and B on the southern front. So, whether deliberately or not, once we blindly mobilize our troops to cross the border, in addition to the possibility of falling into the enemy's
Surrounded by superior forces, the enemy can also take advantage of the vacancy caused by our attack to break through us in other places. Then, like on the Soviet-German battlefield, they can wave the pincers on the left and right wings to create an encirclement situation. As long as they eat us
With the troops in the encirclement, our entire Western Front is doomed!
"Therefore, I think it is not the time to go all out now. It would be safer to wait until our follow-up troops are in place to block the gap before looking for the enemy's loopholes!"
“Very good!”
Deng Bin nodded repeatedly: "In this way, even if our army fails for a while, it will not lead to a war of annihilation. We can also use this time to completely destroy Ceylon Island, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which threaten the safety of our routes.
The Japanese troops on the Maldives Islands have been cleared and the safety of sea supply lines has been fully ensured."
"That's it!"
An Yi did not let everyone discuss any more, Gan Gang said arbitrarily: "Call Jinan. The situation is not clear yet. We will not launch a counterattack for the time being. We should focus on stabilizing the front line at the moment. We must pay close attention to the enemy's movements, beware of the enemy's tricks, and build fortifications."
More observation posts must be deployed in the surrounding areas to avoid leaving any loopholes for the enemy to exploit!"
"yes!"
Minister of Operations Liu Yu recorded An Yi's order, An Yi signed his name, and then the message was sent to West Asia.
~~~~~~~~~~~
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