readx; Ares, an important transportation artery in the Central Asian Railway, has been an important confrontation area between China and the Soviet Union since the confrontation between China, the Soviet Union and Russia, and the Soviet Union built a strong defense line here, and later the Russian army occupied this place, and naturally used the fortifications here to resist the attack of the Chinese army. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

Lieutenant General Cheng Zixian was wearing a general's winter uniform at this time, and several officers around him were patrolling the front line, and in a makeshift trench, Cheng Zixian was listening to a colonel's report.

"Since yesterday, our regiment has launched an offensive according to the order, and has broken through the two lines of defense of the Russian army in a row, but the Russian troops on the front are too many, at least five thousand, and there has been a situation of repeated contention when attacking the third line of defense of the Russian army."

Cheng Zixian nodded after hearing this, then turned to a major general and said, "Brigade Commander Lin, can the artillery brigade still allocate some firepower to support the operation in this area?" ”

Major General Lin, the brigade commander of the 11th Artillery Brigade under the Fifth Army, said: "There are some difficulties, now that our artillery brigade has transferred three battalions of firepower to support the 21st Division, if we want to reinforce this front, we can only draw the strength of one artillery company at most!" ”

The colonel said, "It's good to have a company!" ”

In the artillery establishment of the Chinese Army, in addition to the artillery regiments belonging to the masters, there are also a large number of reading artillery units, most of these reading artillery are at the brigade level, there are currently 25 artillery brigades and more than a dozen reading artillery regiments, in normal times, these artillery units are reading strength, and do not belong to the jurisdiction of the military level, but in actual combat, some reading artillery will be deployed directly under the command of the army-level command organization.

The 11th Artillery Brigade is one such thing, with a 155-mm howitzer regiment and a 155-mm cannon artillery regiment.

Not all types of artillery under the jurisdiction of artillery brigades are the same, some are 155 mm howitzers, some are 155 mm cannons, some are some early 105 mm cannons, 120 mm cannons, and even some units are equipped with 203 mm howitzers. Some reading artillery regiments are equipped with 105mm howitzers, and even a very small number of units are equipped with large-caliber cannons modified from naval naval guns, such as six-inch cannons or even eight-inch cannons, but these super-heavy guns generally exist as fortress garrisons, and the few that can be mobile are also used as siege guns, and are unlikely to be used in field battles.

The reason for this is that these large-caliber artillery pieces of the Chinese Army have been accumulated over a long period of time, even those 105 mm cannons that were in service during World War I cannot be said to be retired and decommissioned, and in addition to the continuous increase in various types of large-caliber artillery in the past few decades, it is impossible to unify the caliber and type with the divisional artillery into 105 mm howitzers.

However, after years of development, China's large-caliber support artillery has also been determined to be mainly based on 155 mm caliber, and most of the artillery brigades are mainly based on 155 mm caliber artillery, while most of the other calibers of artillery are existing products that have been discontinued.

The 11th Artillery Brigade was equipped with 155 mm guns, and even if a small part could be drawn to support their regiment, then this infantry regiment would be able to receive great fire support.

Cheng Zixian led a group of people to inspect the battle line, and in the process, he also passed through the area where the fierce battle was raging, and the large-caliber artillery on both sides kept flying around, falling on the ground and setting off a huge wave of explosions.

After returning from the front line, Cheng Zixian immediately made the latest tactical adjustments according to the situation of the field investigation, he needed to take Ares as soon as possible, if his Fifth Army could not take Ares and reinforce Turkestan in a short time, then the Third Division, which was fighting alone in Turkistan and serving as a blocking mission, might be in danger.

If the third division, the ace division, was severely damaged or even annihilated because of the delay of the Fifth Army, then Cheng Zixian knew with his toes that not only would his military career come to an end, but he would even be sent to a military court, even if there was no other crime at that time, but the words 'delayed military aircraft' would be enough for him to recover.

In order to quickly conquer Arres, Cheng Zixian did not hesitate to invest in the last reserve of the Fifth Army, with the 21st Division as the main force, and strengthened the tank regiment and artillery brigade of the Fifth Army to this side, trying to form a fist to break the defense of the Russian army and tear apart the defense line of the Russian army in Arres.

Just when Cheng Zixian was dispatching troops in order to conquer Ares, Li Yuting in Turkestan was not as dangerous as Cheng Zixian imagined, and even planned to take the initiative to attack.

"We have an advantage in firepower and mobility over them, but if we only hold Turkestan, then we will give up our mobility advantage!" Colonel Zhong Taiqing, chief of staff of the Third Division, pointed to the map and said, "We can give full play to our rapid mobility ability, go forward to meet the battle, and use our rapid mobility ability to defeat the enemy's three divisions respectively!" ”

Li Yuting also nodded when he heard this, as a mechanized unit, the biggest advantage of his third division is not defense, but offense, whether it is an armored division or a mechanized infantry division, from the day they were born, Chen Jingyun and a group of military bigwigs in the staff department have regarded them as offensive forces to build, defense has never been their essential work, from the defensive battle, the combat effectiveness that the armored division and the mechanized infantry division can exert will not be much stronger than the traditional infantry division.

"As long as we have a good timing, we can first defeat the 27th Division of the Russian Army, and then turn around and attack the 33rd Division of the Russian Army, as long as these two troops are defeated one after another, the siege of Turkestan will be lifted." Zhong Taiqing continued: "Attack is the best defense, and if we want to hold Turkestan, we must take the initiative to attack!" ”

Li Yuting turned his head to a colonel beside him at this time and said, "Colonel Han, how is the situation on the Quartermaster Department's side, how much fuel and ammunition are still in stock, can you support us to launch a large-scale mobile operation?" ”

Colonel Han, chief of the quartermaster department of the Third Division, said: "The ammunition stock is okay, but the fuel is a little insufficient, although the group army has reinforced some logistics personnel, and our baggage regiment is also fully engaged in supply transportation, but our army is too far away from the main force of the group army, and the supply line of more than 200 kilometers along the way needs to be transported by car, and the fuel consumption of the transport troops themselves is very large, and the fuel that can be transported to Turkestan in the end is not much!" ”

The biggest factor restricting the operation of a mechanized unit is not how strong the enemy is, whether its own firepower is strong or not, but from the huge pressure of logistics, in the combat state, a Chinese traditional infantry division with a full establishment of about 18,000 people needs to consume about 300 tons of materials, which is more than the consumption of divisional troops of the German army and the Soviet army, this is not to say that China's per capita consumption level is high, but because China's infantry division is larger than that of other countries, on the contrary, the per capita material consumption level of Chinese troops can only be regarded as medium. It is about 17 kilograms per person per day, while the US military consumes about 20 kilograms per person per day.

The consumption of mechanized troops is even higher, a Chinese armored division is in a combat state, and the average consumption of materials is about 350 tons, although the number of tanks in the mechanized infantry division is not as large as that of the armored division, but their other tracked vehicles and wheeled vehicles are more, so the material consumption of the two is comparable.

That is to say, the 3rd Division currently needs to consume 350 tons of combat materials per day, while the 3rd Division is currently located in Turkestan and has no railway transportation to rely on, their supply lines are completely dependent on convoys to maintain, and the supply lines up to more than 200 kilometers are extremely challenging for ordinary convoy transportation.

According to the normal and extremely ideal situation, the supply convoy can transport materials to an area about 200 kilometers away to supply the front-line troops for combat operations from the supply site, and after this distance, it is difficult to meet the transportation of the front-line troops by relying only on the troops' cars, so it must rely on railway transportation.

The Third Division was far more than 200 kilometers away from Taraz, an important material supply point of the Chinese Fourth Army in southern Central Asia, and in this case, it was no longer possible to meet the needs of the Third Division's own convoys, and it had to rely on the Fourth Army to allocate heavy convoys for transportation.

The higher the degree of mechanization of the Chinese army, the more serious its dependence on logistics becomes, and in today's Chinese army units, except for a very small number of mountain division units, once the other units are cut off from supply lines, they basically lose half of their combat effectiveness.

Among the five major military departments, there is a separate logistics department to be responsible for logistics work, and its status is the same as that of the General Staff, the Air Force, and the Navy, and the head of the logistics department is also the rank of general.

However, no matter how much attention is paid to it, there are practical difficulties and shortcomings, the third division is far away from its own main force alone, and it is not a distance of tens of kilometers, but a distance of more than 200 kilometers, and the required combat materials need to be transported from Taraz by heavy trucks, and this transportation pressure can be described as huge.

If the 3rd Division is just a simple defense, then the consumption of ammunition may be more, but it can save another large piece of material, that is, fuel!

The 3rd Division had dozens of tanks, hundreds of full-tracked and half-tracked vehicles, and more than 1,500 wheeled vehicles of various types.

"If we want to take the initiative to launch an offensive, there is not much problem in terms of ammunition, that is, we need to save some fuel, and we also have to ask the group army for logistical support, otherwise it will be difficult to meet the fuel demand for large-scale mobile operations with our existing transportation forces." Colonel Han said.

Li Yuting said: "There will definitely be logistical difficulties, in addition to requesting support from the group army, the divisional quartermaster department should also strengthen its work and try to ensure the fuel needs of the troops." ”

For the Third Division, there can be no ammunition, and even food can be shortage, but there can be no lack of oil, no ammunition at most can not be defeated, no food can be starved for a few days can be persevered, but without oil, the third division can basically be declared completely destroyed, not to mention that it will not even be able to escape.

Although facing a serious logistical test, Li Yuting did not give up the idea of taking the initiative, and this idea was strengthened after a tank company under the Third Division and an infantry company ambushed a Russian unit, defeating and severely damaging the Russian army with more than 500 troops.

The combat effectiveness of the Third Division can only be fully manifested in offensive warfare, and blindly defending is to give up one's own strengths and use one's weaknesses to confront the enemy.

On the morning of October 27, the 23rd Regiment was already the vanguard of the whole army and attacked in the northwest direction, and then the 21st Regiment and other directly subordinate units of the 3rd Division also followed, and the 22nd Regiment also set off from due west, they will wander on the left flank of the main force of the 3rd Division, and make a main posture to confuse the Russian army, and serve as a companion.

When the main force of the 3rd Division is exhausted, it can be said that the 3rd Division has basically abandoned the defense of Turkestan and no longer sticks to Turkestan, but is preparing to maneuver.

Although it is already the late winter season for the northern region at this time, the temperature has dropped very low, in Central Asia and other parts of Siberia are covered with snow, in the desert around Turkestan and the Gobi region, there is no such situation, but the temperature difference between day and night is very large, sometimes the temperature is below zero at night, but it is more than 30 degrees Celsius, and this large temperature difference between day and night has also brought great trouble to the Chinese Army's operations.

Li Yuting, who was sitting in the jeep, looked at the map in his hand and constantly made tactical adjustments according to the intelligence of the reconnaissance troops in front and the air force.

In order to support the operation of the Third Division, the combat aircraft of the Air Force set off almost before dawn, and then flew to the sky above the Third Division and further away to conduct aerial reconnaissance, so long-distance aerial reconnaissance is also thanks to the ultra-long range of F5 fighters.

At that time, the most fundamental purpose of the Air Force to develop and equip F5 fighters on a large scale was to escort long-range bombers, and what was required at that time was that the high-altitude surname could be prominent and ultra-long-range, and its range of 3,500 kilometers even exceeded the range of the B12 twin-engine tactical bomber, far exceeding the range of most combat aircraft of the Chinese Air Force, for example, there were a large number of F4 fighters in service in the Chinese Navy and Air Force, and the range of its subsequent improved models was only 1,500 kilometers. Even the Navy's F8 fighter has a range of only 1,800 kilometers. The range of the F7 is shorter, and in order to increase the speed, high-altitude ability and firepower, the range of the F7 fighter is only 1,400 kilometers.

It can be said that in terms of range, the F5 fighter is outstanding, and the ultra-long range also gives the F5 fighter more room to play, not only can be competent for his essential work: escort for strategic bombers, but also used by the Air Force as a long-range reconnaissance aircraft, using its ultra-long range, long time in the air to carry out long-distance aerial reconnaissance.

F5 fighter can be regarded as a milestone work in the history of China's aviation development, the F5 fighter with many advanced technologies can be said to represent the highest level of China's propeller fighter today, the F5 fighter not only has a long range, and the high-altitude surname can be extremely excellent at the same time, the low-altitude surname can not be inferior to the F4 fighter, you must know that the F4 fighter is a fighter specially designed to compete for air supremacy at low altitudes, although the high-altitude surname of the F4 fighter can not be dropped, However, the combat surname at medium and low altitudes can be super-first-class. The F5 fighter is not inferior to the F4 fighter in mid-to-low altitudes, which is already very good.

At the same time, the F5 fighter also has a large bomb capacity, and can carry heavy aerial bombs when necessary.

It can be said that the F5 fighter is the most outstanding fighter in the Chinese Air Force, and because of the excellent design, the surname can be quite good in all aspects, and has a huge margin, so it can also be extremely beneficial for various modifications of the F5 fighter.

The F5 fighter with such a large range is also the main fighter of the Air Force in the vast Central Asia and Siberian region, not only shouldering the task of fighting for air supremacy, but also serving as the task of aerial reconnaissance, after all, Central Asia and Siberia are too big, and the troops are often hundreds or thousands of kilometers away from maneuvering, and the Air Force cannot build a new field airfield at both ends in three days, so those F4 fighters and some other combat aircraft with a range of only more than 1,000 kilometers are not suitable for use in Central Asia and Siberia. Only F5 fighters are suitable for fighting in such areas.

And this is why China has deployed a large number of F4 fighters in the country and the southern region and served as second-line combat missions, and in the front-line battlefield of the war against Russia, the main fighter is the F5 fighter.

With the continuous air intelligence provided by the Air Force's F5 fighters, the 3rd Division was able to smoothly carry out a wide range of maneuvers and find the best fighters.

"The front is the 33rd division of the Russian army, according to previous intelligence, this division was fighting against the Soviet army in the Caspian Sea area before, and then it was urgently transferred back, and according to the intelligence of the air force, their strength has been shortened a lot, only about 10,000 people!"

In fact, not only was the 33rd Division dissatisfied, but many of the Russian units that were fighting with China were either second-line troops or first-line troops that were dissatisfied with the formation, and most of these units had gone through battles with the Soviet army, some of them had suffered heavy casualties and stayed in the rear to recuperate, and some of them were directly transferred from the Western Front to defend themselves.

Until now, none of the Russian troops have been able to maintain a full strength, and most of them are dissatisfied with the establishment, for example, Ares has the number of three divisions of the Russian army, if they are all full, the strength will exceed more than 50,000 people, but now there are only about 30,000 people.

The Russian army on the outskirts of Turkistan that is preparing to counterattack Turkistan also has the number of three divisions, and their combined strength is about 40,000 people, which are also dissatisfied with the formation.

As the war progresses, it is very difficult for the troops participating in the war to maintain a state of full strength, and they all have losses to a greater or lesser extent, and if the loss of troops is too large to reach 20 or 30 percent, it is necessary to carry out a long period of rest and recuperation to replenish the troops and equipment before they can restore their combat effectiveness.

As for the loss of more than 50 percent of the troops, it can basically be said that this unit has been crippled.

"Now the 22nd Regiment has contained another division of the Russian army, and now we have exactly this time interval to defeat the 33rd Division," Zhong Taiqing said.

Li Yuting said: "So let's prepare to attack, don't delay it for too long!" ”