When Yang Qiu got the telegram, it was already the morning of April 26, and because of the time difference, there were still five hours before the scheduled general attack on Tashkent. "Judging by the content, there is not much information, but you see that 10,000 barrels of diesel fuel need to be replenished here." Yan Baohang stood in front of his desk, analyzing the new telegram intercepted yesterday: "Judging from the information we have, the only thing that needs to use such a large amount of diesel fuel in the Soviet army is the T34 tank. Previous intelligence has shown that by the end of last month, about 3,000 T34s of various models had been replenished to the front line, so the base was certainly supplied to the T34 tank army. And the last sentence, be sure to leave Orenburg before May 1, which also means that the counterattack should be between May 1 and 3. ”

"So, Lukin is going to advance in depth on the axis of the heights of Mount Akdem?"

Since Yue Peng flew directly from Paris to the front, Chen Shaokuan, Zhang Xiaozhun and others began to formulate plans for Vietnam, and Song Ziqing, who remained in Beijing, and He Ning, commander of the Air Force, took on the work of the General Staff, and together with Jiang Fangzhen, an adviser to the president, a temporary presidential military staff was formed.

Jiang Fangzhen put down the information in his hand, shook his head and said, "It may not be him. According to the information intercepted earlier, the day after the German army attacked France, Stalin successively transferred 600,000 troops from the Southwest, Moscow and Don Military Districts to supplement the Siberian and Kazakh fronts. There were also about 10 divisions from Baku to replenish the Karakalpaks Front, and 14 divisions to replenish the Caucasian Front. Judging from the order of troop transfers, Zhukov's Siberian Front was the first to be replenished, but his side was only now in the midst of snowmelt, floods and mudslides were frequent, and it was completely unsuitable for the offensive. So we suspect that he will also most likely move south from Petropavlovsk to participate in the counterattack. If he did join forces with Lukin, he would be able to gather the strength of eighty divisions, five aviation divisions, and three tank corps. With such a large number of troops, a single gap in the heights of Mount Akdem is not enough. Because the Ishim and Hidirt rivers are in front of them, and the geography cannot accommodate so many troops. What's more, they also know that the mobility of the troops is not as good as ours, so there should be a breakthrough. ”

"Xu Shuzheng and Long Yun also think so, and the preliminary study should have four possible offensive points, which are Ekibastuz, Akdem Mountain Highlands, Shakhtinsk and Žekazgan from north to south." Song Ziqing continued: "After our research, we feel that Shakhtinsk and Zhezkazgan are the most likely, with the gateway to Karaganda in front and the weakest troops in the back, and there is a considerable open area between it and Kyzylorda, which is only connected by a dirt road. Liu Mingzhao's defense line of Ultau Mountain is said to be a mountain, but in fact it is a hill three to five hundred meters high. It is also more suitable for the movement of armored forces. ”

Aside from the well-defined Akdem Hill Highlands, the odds of choosing one of the three are really unlikely. After reading it, Yang Qiu's eyes were on Chelyabinsk. In the end, Lukin and Zhukov were able to bounce alive only because several key supply passages were not destroyed. Before, I couldn't do it because of the cold of winter. Isn't it mature now? So he turned his head and asked, "He Ning, can't your air force blow up a few supply channel points?" ”

He Ning was very short, standing in front of Yang Qiu like a middle school student. However, he was one of the leading officers of the Air Force, participated in all the reforms and tactical formulations since the founding of the Air Force, and took over as Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force five years ago. But this time he shook his head again and again: "There is a plan, but it will take at least twenty days to prepare." ”

"Why?" Yang Qiu asked.

Hening got up and walked to the map: "We have built five large airports in Karaganda and Pavlodar. It has the ability to take off and land large aircraft such as the H-7, and the problem lies in the distance. From Karaganda, Petropavlovsk is 620 km away, Chelyabinsk is 980 km and Orenburg is 1180 km. These three points are the distribution points of supplies throughout Siberia and East Kazakhstan. In order to completely cut off the supply of Lukin and Zhukov, it is necessary to knock out these three places. However, at present, the combat radius of our army's largest H-7 is only 400 kilometers when it is fully loaded with 10 tons, 700 kilometers for 5 tons, and 1,000 kilometers for 3 tons. Take Chelyabinsk, for example. There are complete heavy industry facilities here, and the city limits are larger. There are two aviation divisions around the city, equipped with 700 aircraft of various types, with more than 800 anti-aircraft guns of various types, supported by three or four aviation divisions in the rear of Ufa and Yekaterinburg. At the end of last year, the Soviet army also deployed two RUS-1 radars here. Although the performance of this radar is poor, it can only detect high-altitude targets at a distance of 35 kilometers, but with the combination of anti-aircraft microphones, it can ensure early warning at 40 to 50 kilometers. In addition, the average thickness of the facades of Soviet buildings was one meter, and some were two meters thick, and 250 kilograms of bombs were needed to ensure destruction. So according to our calculations, if the distance cannot be shortened to 700 km, it will take at least 3500 sorties to destroy here, plus Petropavlovsk will need about 1500 sorties, a total of 5000 sorties will be needed to ensure destruction.

There is also escort, at present, only the double-headed Jiao and Thunderbolt can escort and seize air supremacy at a long distance, the former has insufficient air combat capabilities, and the latter is only 2,300 kilometers even with three auxiliary fuel tanks. According to the calculation that the maximum combat radius is one-third of the maximum range, Petropavlovsk can be satisfied, but Chelyabinsk must come back after a circle, and it cannot be entangled with enemy aircraft on the way. The latest J-8 is currently only available with two brigades, and according to the number of bombing sorties, I need at least 5 brigades to ensure continuous escort.

According to the above calculations, each aircraft needs a minimum of 11 tons of ammunition and fuel (3 oil, 7 oil, and 1 other) per sortie, which is 55,000 tons, not including spare parts for damaged bombers. Moreover, once the bombing began, it could not be stopped, and in order to prevent the enemy from moving, it had to last from 10 days to half a month, so there could be no interruption in the supply of supplies. This amount will certainly not be available by truck, and the train line to Karaganda will not be open for 20 days, so we are not unable to dispatch, but we are short of supplies. If it is only a small-scale bombing, I suggest that it is better to abandon or let the H-5 carry out short-range tactical bombing of the lines of communication, otherwise it will only force the Soviet Union to move its machinery and equipment further away to Stalingrad and Ufa. ”

He Ning's words were like a twilight drum, waking up Yang Qiu's dream of carrying out strategic bombing, and looked at Song Ziqing's self-deprecating smile: "It seems that you don't want to think about becoming fat in one bite." ”

Song Ziqing said: "President, a 20-day delay is not a big problem, and Baili and I do not recommend telling the information to the front line." Whether it is Zhukov or Lukin, if he crashes into the ambush circle at the first counterattack, he will definitely suspect that something is wrong with the password, and if the Soviet Union changes to a new password, it will not be conducive to the future. Moreover, our current difficulties are mainly in Tashkent, because a large number of troops are pinned, so Long Yun has to plant the troops one by one like a turnip in a straight line from Kyzylordol to Pavlodar when deploying the defensive line. This wastes his athletic warfare ability. He is now aware of this problem and is discussing a solution with Liu Mingzhao. Xu Shuzheng has also temporarily given up attacking Omsk. The transfer of the 21st Army from Siberia to Pavlodar, the 26th Army in reserve and the 3rd Army of Korea have also gone up, so that we have seven armies north of the Aral Sea, and five divisions of the Kazakh Independence Army will also go west in five days, as long as the direction can be determined, and the movement of the Soviet army will only need to be delayed for a month. After Tashkent is resolved, it will still be possible to carry out counter-encirclement against it. ”

There is a point in his words, in another world, the Soviet code has never been deciphered. Not only because of the high level of confidentiality, but also because of the frequent replacement. Now that I have such a good opportunity, if I expose it too early and completely change the password structure, it will not be conducive to the future war. So Yang Qiu thought about it and decided not to tell the front line according to his method: "You go back immediately." In the name of the General Staff, remind Xu Shuzheng and Long Yun to be careful to fight back, and the others are pressed down! Contact Yue Peng again, there is no need to go back to Beijing for the time being, and supervise the Tash cadres on the spot. Be sure to hurry. ”

At the same time that Yang Qiu made the decision to suppress the telegram, a group of troops with different numbers once again gathered in the area where the fortress of the Gange Bazar had been plagued for a month. In the continuous bombardment of two hammer heavy train guns, the entire fortified area has been shattered. If it weren't for the fortress group behind him, it would have been broken through by the armored cluster long ago. ". This time it can't be smashed open, Lao Tzu directly led the troops to rush in! Zhu Dakui, the commander of the 137th Division of the 29th Army, threw his steel helmet on the ground, climbed onto the roof of the Type 35 hunting tank next to him, and looked into the distance and cursed in his mouth.

Around the tank, tens of thousands of soldiers waited as much as he did, waiting for the order to attack.

By the time the various units were in place, the field airfields were already busy. The ground crew hung three long, dark bombs under the dive bomber fuselages of three specially modified ghost cars. The new bomb attracted many officers, and even Yue Peng, who had just returned from France, squatted down to take a closer look: "This is a ground-penetrating bomb modified with a cannon barrel?" ”

"Yes, we call it the 20th bomb."

"Huh? Why the name? Dai Jintang grabbed Qiu Heng and Jia Xiaohou, who personally sent the bomb, and asked. After the start of the war, the former had already handed over the post of head of 3010 to Leng Jie and returned to the familiar equipment department. Compared with Qiu Heng, who was silent, Jia Xiaohou was full of confidence in this bomb and immediately introduced it.

It turned out that after Yang Qiu proposed to use the barrel to change to ground-penetrating bombs, Qiu Heng immediately went to the North Industries Company, which has the strongest special bomb manufacturing capacity. Jia Xiaohou learned that the front line urgently needed to stop all the work of the design department immediately, and led hundreds of technicians to speed up the research. In just five days, the preliminary design was completed. Then it took two days to cut off the three captured B4 barrels into six sections, mix the remaining remnants with a large dose of tungsten powder and use a special hardening technology, cast three conerate warheads, fill the barrels with TNT explosives, with tail stabilizing winglets, and finally install the delayed fuse of the naval armor-piercing projectile, so that the six 1200 kg ground-penetrating shells are completed.

However, no one dared to take this to the front line, in order to save time, Qiu Heng directly selected the Hushan Fortress of Jiulian City by the Yalu River for experiments. The fortress, which was burned down by the artillery king Gan Woo Bing, has been restored, but it has been put on the second line due to North Korean control. After the Air Force agreed to share technology, the Navy gritted its teeth and contributed to the fortress. But the fortress had just been chosen, and the plane had problems again. Because the maximum bomb load of the ghost car dive bomber is only 1 ton, the air force removed the armor of the two ghost cars in the experiment overnight and filled it with the best No. 110 high-grade aviation gasoline in China. In the end, Qiu Heng also transferred the armor remnants of the Shandong-class battleships directly from the Qingdao shipyard, laid 300 mm thick Krupp surface carburized armor on the top of the fortress, and the engineers also reinforced it as quickly as possible, imitating the Tashkent fortress as much as possible. After such an operation, the actual thickness of the fortress's protection has reached 500 mm. At that time, everyone thought it was too thick and definitely couldn't be smashed. Unexpectedly, the first ground-penetrating bullet successfully smashed a big hole in the armor. Although it did not penetrate, it gave everyone a lot of confidence, and finally after more than a dozen consecutive experiments, finally on the 20th day, the naval test pilot from a height of 4,000 meters, with a speed of more than 850 kilometers per hour, and a dive angle of more than 80 degrees, not only let the ground-penetrating bomb hit the fortress vertically and penetrate the armor, but also continuously penetrated two layers of 3-meter-thick reinforced concrete slabs and exploded inside.

In the end, in order to commemorate this little 20-day saga, everyone simply named the bomb Bomb No. 20.

After finalizing, Jia Xiaohou led the technical team to make another 12 pieces in one go and send them to the front line first, and because they didn't even paint in a hurry, they looked like a dark iron pipe with arrows. "Let's go, go up to heaven and see, I want to see how powerful this No. 20 bomb is." Dai Jintang, who was aroused by curiosity, was the first to sit still, and pulled several officers on the battlefield to the observation plane.

Ten minutes later, three ghost car dive bombers with more than the limit of their load staggered into the void like old pond geese.

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Note: Soviet radar technology appeared not too late, the two radars Rus-1 and Rus-2 historically began to be equipped with the Soviet Turkish Air Defense Forces in 1939