kvmb Chapter 160: Tsarist Russia's complete defeat, airborne landing in the Hamar Daban Mountains
Chapter 160: Tsarist Russia's complete defeat, airborne landing in the Hamar Daban Mountains
This time, Liao Jie experienced what it meant to push forward smoothly.
The entire Second Independent Army seemed vulnerable in the face of the fierce offensive of the 11th Armored Division and the 10th Mechanized Infantry Division.
Especially after defeating two enemy infantry armies in succession, the morale of the entire Second Independent Army collapsed.
When their soldiers saw the tanks of the Renaissance Army, they all dropped their weapons, knelt on the ground and raised their hands in surrender.
Lieutenant General Sergei, the army group commander, was unlucky and was killed by a high-explosive bomb from a Type 4H tank.
The gunfire didn't stop until nightfall.
In this battle, the 4th Armored Division and the th Mechanized Infantry Division killed more than enemies, captured more than prisoners, and thousands of people were missing.
The destruction of the Second Independent Army also marked the beginning of the destruction of the entire Far Eastern Front.
After resting for a night, Liao Jie continued to lead the 11th Armored Division and the 10th Mechanized Infantry Division towards the Shuangchengzi defense line hundreds of kilometers away.
With the mechanized troops marching at a speed of 200 kilometers per day, they would be able to reach Shuangchengzi in two or three days, and attack the defenders of Shuangchengzi from the front and back, thus breaking through this line of defense.
This also directly led to the failure of the Tsarist Russia's plan to use the mountainous terrain of Shuangchengzi to block the Renaissance Army.
The city of Khabarovsk also welcomed the 7th Mechanized Infantry Division of the 4th Army, which arrived by boat from the Songhua River.
One Marine division plus one mechanized infantry division was already capable of encircling and wiping out the Tsarist Russian troops trapped in Khabarovsk.
Just as Liao Jie led his troops south, the Fifth Army led by Zhao Qi also made a breakthrough.
With his tactic of using artillery to push forward, most of the Tsarist Russia's fortifications on the Manchuria defense line were destroyed.
This line of defense has also lost its effectiveness.
So Zhao Qi gave an order and concentrated the troops of four divisions, with the 25th Armored Division as the vanguard, and launched a fierce attack on the th Army of Tsarist Russia.
The 25th Army itself had suffered heavy losses in the shelling and bombing, so how could it withstand the attack of four divisions?
The 25th Army suffered a defeat that day.
Under the relentless pursuit of the 12th Armored Division of the Renaissance Army, only a few troops escaped, while most of the troops were either annihilated or captured.
On this front, the Fifth Army also made a breakthrough.
The next target is Chita.
Although there is a 35th Army Group here, the Fifth Army is not at a disadvantage in terms of manpower.
In addition, Zhao Qi requested assistance from the Air Force and carried out a three-day strategic bombing of Chita, which caused serious damage to various facilities and demoralized the army.
It was basically impossible for them to stop the Fifth Army in Chita.
It is precisely because of this that General Ivanovich, who has now arrived in Irkutsk, directly ordered the 35th Army in the Chita direction to evacuate to Irkutsk at night to strengthen Irkutsk's defense.
General Ivanovich arrived in Irkutsk in a biplane transport plane last night and continued to command the troops to resist.
After the Second Independent Army was lost, he realized that there was no possibility of defending Khabarovsk.
Compared with Vladislavl, the Irkutsk region is obviously more important.
So next he will do his best to defend the Irkutsk region.
The 35th Army's withdrawal from Chita was discovered the next day.
The Air Force's long-range reconnaissance aircraft did not find the 35th Army when conducting reconnaissance in the Chita area.
So tactical reconnaissance aircraft were dispatched for low-altitude reconnaissance.
However, there was no resistance.
Zhao Qi was almost certain that the 35th Army had withdrawn from Chita.
After reporting this important information, Chief of General Staff Ling Liang immediately found Jiang Hua.
"Commissioner, we must not allow the 35th Army to withdraw to the Irkutsk region. Otherwise, it will hinder our subsequent plans and make it difficult to complete Operation Begonia Leaf before winter."
Ling Liang said to Jiang Hua solemnly.
Jiang Hua thought for a moment and then ordered: "Find them, and then send the First Airborne Army to fly in front of them to intercept them. Stop them at all costs."
The success of Operation Begonia Leaf is related to the upgrade of the Red Alert base.
So even if it costs some price, we have to stop the other party.
It was not difficult to find the trace of the 35th Army.
The other party evacuated so quickly that they could only take the train.
In fact, only a part of the troops retreated by train.
Another part of the Tsarist Russian soldiers evacuated by road.
The reason was that the Irkutsk region was subjected to strategic bombing and there were not enough trains to evacuate tens of thousands of people.
Therefore, only some of them could evacuate quickly by train first, and then return to pick up the other soldiers.
However, during the day, all the Tsarist Russian soldiers marching on the road hid in the woods.
Because they have developed a fear of flying.
As soon as I saw a plane in the sky, I couldn't stop feeling scared and wanted to run for my life.
Although no Tsarist Russian troops were found, speeding trains were discovered on the railway.
After more than ten hours of driving, the first train arrived in Udinsk.
Udinsk was also subjected to strategic bombing by B-17s and B-29s, and the train station and railway were destroyed.
So here they can only walk from here to the Irkutsk region.
The situation in the Udinsk direction is also very critical.
The defense line in the direction of Qiakhtu is also crumbling, and it is estimated that it will not last for too long.
Therefore, the 35th Army had no intention of staying to defend Udinsk, but began to march quickly towards the Irkutsk region.
Udinsk is only over 300 kilometers away from Irkutsk.
Based on a forced march speed of 60 kilometers per hour, it would take at least five days to arrive.
The strategic bombing of Udinsk by Guo Mingxuan, commander of the Second Army, played a key role at this time.
After learning the specific situation, the General Staff immediately made detailed arrangements.
This time, two airborne divisions will be dispatched to conduct airborne operations in the Khamar-Daban Mountains between Irkutsk and Udinsk.
The Khamar-Daban Mountains are located close to the southern shore of Lake Baikal. They are a small mountain range covered with primeval forests.
Relying on the mountainous terrain here, the two airborne divisions, one in front and one behind, can withstand the attacks from Irkutsk and the 35th Army respectively.
As for the supply of the two airborne divisions, they can only rely on Air Force transport planes.
Time quickly entered August and it was August 8st of the Renshen year.
Only half a month had passed since Operation Begonia Leaf began.
On this day, a large group of transport planes arrived over the Hamar Daban Mountains under the escort of Mustang fighter jets.
Dozens of even larger transport aircraft have also been added to this huge fleet of transport aircraft.
This transport aircraft was also produced specifically for this operation.
It was the BV-40 large seaplane that Sandezi had put into service in the early 222s in the original time and space.
This large seaplane has a maximum take-off weight of 49 tons and a fuselage length of 37 meters, more than twice the length of the B-29 strategic bomber.
It uses six BMW aviation engines with a power of 6 horsepower, with a maximum load capacity of 800 tons, a maximum speed of 15 kilometers per hour, and a range of 350 kilometers.
Next to it is the world's largest freshwater lake: Lake Baikal.
This advantage must definitely be utilized.
Therefore, Jiang Hua urgently produced a batch of BV-222 large seaplanes to transport troops and supplies.
Its size is enough to transport hundreds of fully armed paratroopers at a time.
The 60 BV-222 seaplanes dispatched this time transported a total of nearly 6000 people.
Lake Baikal has also become a water airport for these big guys.
One after another, BV-222 large transport aircraft successfully landed on the surface of Lake Baikal under the skilled techniques of the pilots.
Tsarist Russia was completely unaware of this situation.
Therefore, the airborne troops' operation was very smooth and did not encounter any obstruction.
In just 6 hours, more than people from two airborne divisions and their equipment were transported to the Hamar Daban Mountains.
Immediately, the 19th and 20th Airborne Divisions began to build positions overnight.
It was two days later when Tsarist Russia discovered this situation.
This situation was discovered by the reconnaissance troops of the 35th Army.
When Lieutenant General Victor, commander of the 35th Army, learned of this, his face was filled with disbelief.
"How did the Renaissance Army get ahead of us and establish a position in the mountains?"
In response to Lieutenant General Victor's inquiries, the commander of the reconnaissance battalion was clueless, which made Lieutenant General Victor so angry that he wanted to kill him.
"Immediately conduct reconnaissance of the Hamar Daban Mountains and quickly determine the enemy's size."
In addition to conducting reconnaissance, Lieutenant General Victor also contacted the Irkutsk region.
General Ivanovich was also shocked when he heard the news.
"Airborne troops, those damned airborne troops from the Renaissance Army again."
General Ivanovich was deeply impressed by this elusive airborne troops.
The reason why the First Independent Army was defeated so quickly had a lot to do with this airborne troop's landing and occupation of the Ice City.
Now this airborne force has appeared again.
They were airdropped right in their faces, trying to stop the 35th Army from entering the Irkutsk region.
The 35th Army is crucial to the defense of Irkutsk.
So General Ivanovich dispatched the 5th Army in the Irkutsk region without hesitation.
This is also the last army group in his hands.
This is also the reason why he insisted on the 35th Army to withdraw to the Irkutsk region.
After the 35th Army evacuated to the Irkutsk region.
He then ordered the 16th Army and the 53rd Army located in the direction of Qiakhta to evacuate.
In this way, he had the strength of four armies, and it was no problem for him to defend the Irkutsk region for several months.
By that time the railway bridge over the Yenisei River had long been completed.
The Irkutsk region will also become their stronghold for counterattack.
Unfortunately, with the appearance of the Renaissance Army's airborne troops, his plan encountered an unexpected problem.
But in his opinion, this accident can be solved.
The size of the Renaissance Army's airborne forces will definitely not be too large, and they will not have tanks or heavy artillery.
Faced with the double-sided attack from two armies of more than 100,000 people, there was no possibility of holding out.
At most it would delay them for a few days.