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At half past two in the morning, the temperature dropped below zero. In the silent attack position on the east bank of the Zeravshan River, Zhao Hao, who had just been assigned to the troops, wore a steel helmet and a tactical vest with steel plates, squatted on the ground and carefully examined his 18mm shotgun boy over and over again. More than 20 years ago, the two sides were lying in deep trenches, charging back and forth, clearing the final casualties layer by layer, and the Wehrmacht had also seen it, so whether it was an officer or a newly enlisted soldier, they were all warned to be careful of trenches, and they also studied many sets of tactics for trench warfare.

Among these various tactics, there is one kind of soldier that does not change, and that is the trench commando that everyone jokingly calls "garbage sweeping". Zhao Hao was unlucky to be drawn into the commando sequence with the entire regiment this time. Although the standard M56 steel helmet on his head is the best steel helmet in the world, and the tactical bulletproof vest has a steel plate embedded in it, he is still very nervous, so after checking the shotgun, he took out the Minyuan-style pistol tied to his thigh and the offensive grenade in his waist again and again.

"Don't be afraid, just follow me when the time comes. And you, what do you say? It's frizzy, and the last time you had your machine gun, you almost pierced six holes in Lao Tzu's body. Look at your bear-like appearance, I tell you, don't look at the tall and big Russian hairy people, but in fact they are timid. When I hit Kunduz, I didn't understand it at all, just like you, and when I saw a movement in a stack of wood, I picked up my bayonet and stabbed it three times, and guess what? Damn, I hid from three Mao Zibing. On the spot, Lao Tzu was so frightened that his legs swayed, but before they could fight hard, they threw the gun first, and Lao Tzu was blind and sweaty. ”

"Haha."

The platoon commander patted him, hugged the submachine gun in his arms, and ran away from everyone's nervousness with a mouth full of nonsense and bragging.

Zhao Hao reluctantly twitched the corners of his mouth. Get up and put your head down and lie down on the edge of the trench. The Zeravshan River has thawed, the snow of the Green Ridge Plateau has made the river muddy and open, and the west bank of Hessesen is like a tomb in the wasteland of his hometown, making people feel frightened and uneasy. He knew that in that darkness, there were countless machine-gun bunkers and weapons in hand, waiting to take down his and his allies' enemies. A slight noise on the left attracted him, and he turned his head to see that on the seven or eight bridge-erecting vehicles, the engineers had already untied the cables. This detail told him that the offensive would begin soon.

But he did not know that behind the mound bunker four kilometers behind the sortie position, 36 1939 130mm motorized rocket launchers were arranged in rows at five-metre intervals, and 32 seamless conduits were already stuffed with solid turborockets. The artillerymen behind him also opened the ammunition box and stood by at any time. Throughout the battlefield, a total of 212 155-mm howitzers and more than 500 other artillery pieces were also prepared.

In the bunker closer to the river bank ahead, eight heavy barrier-breaking rocket launchers were also obscured by thick bunkers.

"Let's get started." Inside the command post, Sun Chuanfang gave the order for a general attack.

"Fire!"

A series of identical roars swept through the artillery position like thunder. Driven by the sound, 212 155-mm howitzers were the first to roar. Immediately afterwards, the 85 and 105 mm caliber suppressed artillery in the troops also roared from various positions. "Boom, boom." Just a moment. The sky was torn apart and the darkness was dispelled. Countless dazzling fireballs rose from the west bank of the Zeravshan River.

The artillery fire like a landslide made Zhao Hao feel as if the sky was about to collapse, and his pupils were full of fireballs and flashes. "80-mm mortars from battalions suppressed fire. Heavy machine guns. The division commander shouted loudly in the back, urging the battalion to open fire in full force. An 80-millimeter mortar joined in the suppressive bombardment of the near-shore area, and the battalion-level 127-millimeter heavy machine guns fired a brilliant line of fire in the direction of daytime reconnaissance. A moment later. Soviet counter-artillery fire also came, and explosions and waves of air passed in front of the sortie positions over and over again. The breakthrough section, which was less than 10 kilometers long, was full of fireballs and choking white smoke. The fierce sound of artillery, louder than spring thunder, swept across the entire banks of the Zeravshan River. Artillery fire, artillery fire, artillery fire! One high-explosive grenade after another destroyed the long trenches that the Soviets had worked so hard to dig, and the artillery regiment scouts constantly reported the results and targets to the artillery command by telephone. From his point of view, one mound after another of the mounds suspected of hiding weapons were overturned and exploded, and the stirring sheln swept across the ground like a gust of wind. In the firelight, Soviet soldiers were constantly fleeing and the stumps of the explosion were brought out.

"Be prepared, after the artillery fire, it will definitely be a forced crossing of the river. Machine guns block the river, watch out for pontoons and kayaks, and get the anti-aircraft guns ready. Anti-aircraft artillery battalion, beware of enemy aircraft attacking at night. "The Soviet officers and commissars braved the explosions back and forth to boost morale in the positions, and the elected party members and Komsomol commando soldiers all tied white towels and prepared to lead their comrades and enemies to fight to the end with their actions. The heavy artillery fire lasted a full forty minutes before it gradually subsided. But just when the Soviets thought that the Wehrmacht was going to cross the river, they rushed out of the bunkers, set up machine guns, and shook the muzzles, but the shouts sounded again from the opposite bank: "Azimuth 010, distance 7300 meters, forcibly suppress and open fire!" In a different swishing sound, countless orange-red tail flames immediately appeared in the sky, like meteors attacking from outside the sky, passing over Zhao Hao's sortie position.

"What's that?" Almost immediately, Zhao Hao, who stood up, exclaimed. But before he could understand what was like a meteor overhead, the Soviet positions on the opposite bank were bombarded devastatingly. Boom, boom, boom, boom barely made out the first explosion, and almost everyone could no longer distinguish the explosion that followed, because the sound was so dense that Gen couldn't tell how many shells had exploded at the same moment. 20 seconds, just 20 seconds! The 36 130mm mobile rocket launchers, which appeared on the battlefield for the first time, gave soldiers on both sides a witness to what a real covered artillery bombardment is. 1,152 rockets worthy of heavy artillery shells turned the Soviet position, seven kilometers away, into an impenetrable wall of fire, littered with explosions and whirling fragments. Patches of Soviet soldiers who thought the shelling was over were cut down like wheat, and a foul smell of burning wafted through the air.

"What is it? Why is there no sound of shelling? Help me, help me. "Like the end of the world in the Bible, the picture of meteors like rain deeply stimulated the Soviet soldiers, and the atmosphere of terror continued to spread. Even Zhao Hao and the Wehrmacht soldiers who were preparing to cross the river were dumbfounded. It wasn't until the bridge-erecting vehicle next to it rushed to the river bank that everyone woke up from the shock. "Be ready and play a three-three game. Keep your heads down, pout your butts, and use cover more. Shout loudly when attacking, see the target clearly, maybe it's your brother who comes out of the way! ”

Four bridge-building tanks were the first to rush to the river, and pieces of folding pontoons were opened and thrown into the river, and the heroic sappers ignored the biting water. Jump straight into the river and grab the thrown leash tied to the back of the kayak. "Machine guns, anti-aircraft guns! Shoot, shoot, don't let them erect pontoons! "At the same time. The Soviet officer, who was stunned by the scene just now, finally recovered, and urged the soldiers to fire at the pontoon bridge despite the corpses scattered on the ground. After the first folding pontoon was thrown, the second folding pontoon was quickly thrown into the river. The 110-meter-wide river channel during the spring flood period requires four folding pontoons to be spliced together, so the sappers dragged and dropped the pontoons to the opposite bank to fix them, and at the same time climbed the pontoon bridge behind it and hung it behind with long bamboo pole hooks.

Within a few minutes, the pontoon bridge at the very front reached the opposite bank. The sappers used all their strength to fix the thick cable to the shore. More sappers rushed to the pontoons, which had not yet been assembled, reinforced with steel plates and bolts. Countless bullets swept past them, and the water column stirred up by the explosion was densely packed, and many people were hit by the bullets before they could run up. In the end, they had to crawl on the bridge and take the parts from behind to hold the four pontoons together by hand-to-hand passing.

It was a numbing half an hour, and the artillery fire behind continued to extend, and mortars and heavy machine guns at close range swept over and over again. Even tanks rushed up to cover. "Up, up, up, it's our turn. Rush Rush! When the engineer squad leader on the pontoon bridge fired a signal flare, Zhao Hao, under the leadership of the platoon commander, suddenly rushed out of the bunker and ran towards the pontoon bridge. Bullets swept by, heavy panting and clattering were intertwined, and when you stepped onto the rickety pontoon, you could see corpses and blood in any direction.

The fierce fighting made the soldiers forget the tragic situation and rushed to the opposite bank like crazy. The training carved into the bone marrow taught them that if they were crowded on a narrow pontoon bridge for a long time, they would become a target for bullets. Zhao Hao's platoon was the second to rush to the riverbank, and the high riverbank along the bank gave everyone a chance to breathe, and hundreds of commandos leaned against the dead corner of the riverbank, waiting for the second round of artillery fire behind. "Whoosh." The numbing orange tail flame pulled out a cloud of smoke, crossed over Zhao Hao's head again, and then accurately turned two kilometers away from the river embankment into a sea of fire, and the soldiers could even hear the screams and shouts from the opposite side.

"Flip over, flip over! Machine guns, machine gun cover. Half an hour ago, the platoon commander, who was still giggling, had a serious face, pointed to the gap in the bushes in the river embankment, and gave a loud order. The Heavy hid behind the bushes and pulled the trigger incessantly, his long bullet strip depleting rapidly, and in the blink of an eye there was a pile of black scatterable chains under his feet. The veterans were the fastest, running across the bushes like apes, and Zhao Hao ran at the end, this was not the platoon commander who took care of it, but compared with the veterans, his movements were too slow.

Zhao Hao followed the footsteps of the platoon commander, lowered his body and flickered left and right, the steel plate and equipment made his steps gradually heavy, and his chest was even more uncomfortable as if it was burning. Seeing that he was about to rush into the hills, he thought he could have a good rest, and before he could speed up his pace, a string of bullets was fired from the opposite side. In the characteristic roar of the DP machine gun, the bullets stirred up a large cloud of blood mist in the ranks, and the comrades at the front kept falling. The three-three tactics ensured that the troops would not be defeated at one time, so the soldiers behind them fell down one after another. "84 fire!" At the platoon commander's shouting, the grenadiers, carrying 84mm recoilless guns, climbed to the front, crouched down and aimed at the machine-gun fire.

Rumble!

The concealed machine gun 100 meters away turned into a ball of fireball, but before everyone could be happy, several Soviet soldiers dragged a 37-mm anti-aircraft gun to climb the high ground behind the firelight. "Bastard! It's a battle defense gun! Stand up, run, don't stop, run! Come on! If you want to stay alive, run forward! Seeing the battle defense artillery, the platoon commander was frightened, stepped forward and waved his arms to urge everyone to run. The assault platoon, which had just disposed of the machine guns, hurriedly got up again and continued to rush in the direction of the trenches.

"Boom, boom." The 37-mm anti-aircraft guns were fast and constantly exploded in the charging ranks. A mere 500 meters seemed to be a nightmare that would never end, and people were constantly being blown up by shells. At this critical moment, a voice that had never been heard before passed through my ears, and then the anti-aircraft cannon hiding behind a big tree and using thick sandbags as cover exploded like an oversized firework. Parts and barrels were swept into the air, and the shock wave swept across the surface and spread to the commando team. Fortunately, due to the long distance, only three soldiers were accidentally injured and one died. In any case, the gap was opened, and no one cared about the unlucky ones who were injured by mistake, and everyone rushed into the enemy's first trench from the position of the anti-aircraft guns.

After Zhao Hao jumped into the trench. I also deliberately glanced back. In his eyes, two armored vehicles he had never seen before, with a row of thick iron pipes, had climbed up from the river embankment. When he saw the six thick black pipes, he knew that the terrifying shot just now must have been made by them. With the sudden arrival of heavy firepower. The panic in his heart gradually dissipated. With a fierce pull of the bolt, he followed the team close to the trench and rushed towards the dense enemy. Two obstacle breaker rockets quickly climbed to where he turned back, and threw terrifying 300mm heavy rockets at the second trench a kilometer away. Although the rockets mainly explode on the surface and are not as powerful as the 210mm howitzers, they are powerful enough against open trenches. In order to ensure a certain accuracy, the winglets installed in the tail of the bullet helped the rockets hit the trench one after another, and more than 20 kilograms of TNT explosives continued to bury a section of the trench, and the bunker of sandbags and dirt was torn apart in the explosion.

The terrible power destroyed the confidence of the Soviet army to hold on. Constantly people were scared and ran away.

The sky was getting brighter a little, Zhao Hao didn't know how many shots he had fired and how many roads he had run, he only knew that the enemy in front of him seemed to be unable to kill no matter how much he killed. Every time you grab a trench, more enemies will emerge from the corner, firing at them desperately. There were only 17 men left in the assault faction, and the remaining partners were either unable to find them or fell in hand-to-hand trench battles.

"Be careful!"

The platoon commander screamed. Shoved him violently. The moment the man fell, a powerful Soviet-made wooden-handled grenade exploded from the front. Rumbling explosion. Zhao Hao felt something slip over his face, and when he regained his sight, he found that half of the platoon leader's arms had been blown off, his bones and blood vessels were exposed, and he was still bleeding desperately. "Platoon commander, platoon commander!" "I'm not dead, I'm not dead! Haha, I'll just say, Lao Tzu can't be blown up! Rush, rush, bastard, you're crying and mourning! Lao Tzu can't die! Slaughter them for me! The paramedics quickly ran over and tied the major artery in the shoulder with a bandage and injected morphine to reduce the pain. Zhao Hao gasped vigorously, stared at the bloody platoon commander for a while, bit his lip and rushed forward like crazy.

"Avenge the platoon commander! Kill! ”

The entire trench was filled with frantic shouting. As soon as Zhao Hao crossed the corner of the trench, a snow-bright bayonet pierced the steel plate in his chest from the oblique stab. The Soviet soldier on the opposite side didn't seem to expect the tip of the knife to be blocked, and before he could react, he was pointed at the head with the M1917 Winchester shotgun produced by the purchased patent. Under his horrified gaze, an 18mm shotgun burst out of the short barrel and blasted his head in half.

Without any delay, the short two-hour battle made Zhao Hao like a veteran, with only enemies, enemies, and enemies left in his eyes! The trench was torn apart, and when the last shotgun was gone, he pulled out his pistol and knocked down the Soviet soldiers who were hiding in the holes in the side wall of the trench and tried to sneak attack, and the long-awaited charge finally sounded. Turning his head, four kilometers away on the river, thousands of comrades-in-arms rushed along the five pontoon bridges, like migrating ant colonies from the gaps opened by the commandos to the depths, tanks and armored vehicles filled in the trenches, and flamethrowers pulled out long red flames, turning the entire Samarkand defense line into a sea of fire.

Even the city of Samarkand, farther away, was flooded by rocket artillery and bombers passing through the pontoon bridge after dawn.

"You see, five infantry regiments have already passed through the pontoon bridge on the front, and the rest of the troops are also compressing the line of defense from all sides. The barrier-breaking rocket artillery brought by Zhuo Fan helped a lot, and after they went up, they had opened multiple gaps in a row, and the speed of the troops had increased a lot. Originally, it was expected to take five days, but now it looks like it will be able to complete the annihilation in three days at most. In the command post, Du Yuming, acting chief of staff, lay on the map to explain the battle situation to Sun Chuanfang: "The casualties of the engineers and the three assault regiments are very large, close to forty percent, and I have asked them to stop and rest." In the afternoon, my 10th Panzer Division will pass through the pontoon bridge and will be able to penetrate Samarkand. ”

Zhuo Fan listened quietly beside him, for him this was a precious opportunity to learn about group army-level battles, and he was very happy to learn that the rocket artillery he brought had played a major role, but he was still sad about the forty percent casualty rate that broke through in the first round last night. This means that at least 1,300 soldiers were killed or wounded, almost as many as the casualties on the first day of the Kyzylorda blockade. But there is no way, no matter how strong the barrier-breaking rocket is, it can't wipe out all the trenches, and the enemies hiding in the dead corners and bunkers will eventually rely on the infantry to find out and eliminate them one by one.

Ci is not in charge of the troops, Sun Chuanfang will not be stingy with troops, and after continuing to ask the troops to continue to attack in turn, he glanced at him and waved his hand: "Don't pestle here, go to the front and have a look, it will be good for you in the future." ”

"Yes." Zhuo Fan thanked him in his heart for giving him the opportunity to directly observe the annihilation battle of the group army, but as soon as he walked to the door and was about to set off with the 10th Armored Division, he was pulled by the communication staff officer who came in: "Zhuo Fan, where are you going?" Soon, something happened, and Mount Akdem, north of Karaganda, was lost last night. General Long sent a telegram demanding that all officers and soldiers of the East Kazakh Army Group in the theater of operations immediately return to report. ”

"Akdem Hill is lost!" Zhuo Fan was startled and immediately rushed to the map to find this high ground located directly north of Karaganda, between Karaganda and Ekibastuz. After seeing the situation clearly, Sun Chuanfang's face became gloomy. Because the highlands of Mount Akdem, at 899 meters above sea level, are the only commanding heights on the defensive line from Pavlodar to Karaganda, losing it is equivalent to a 30-kilometer gap in the thick line in the middle of the defensive line!