Chapter 335: Old Friend in a Foreign Land
In Senboku, Akita Prefecture, a Soviet combat unit consisting of eight tanks and a dozen military vehicles slowly moved south along the muddy road.
Before, when the Soviet army landed in Aomori and quickly attacked Akita, the Japanese troops stationed there blew up the river bank on the west bank of Lake Tazawa in order to prevent the Soviet army from attacking them from the Hachimantai direction. It was the rainy season, and the water level of Lake Tazawa was originally high. The destruction of the river bank caused the lake water to flow back along the old valley of Lake Tazawa, forming a large flood area on the west bank. But ironically, the Soviet army, which attacked in two directions, did not come here at all. They bypassed Senboku directly, attacked Akita City along the coastline, and continued to launch an offensive against Yamagata Prefecture. After capturing Morioka, they went to Iwate Prefecture to accept the surrender of the local Japanese army.
Today, the water in Lake Tazawa has not completely receded, and the depression in the northwest of Senboku City is still a swamp. From a distance, you can see people using wooden basins as boats to fish out some soaked debris in the water.
Seeing the organized troops coming, many people who had been hiding in the shade of trees and in the wasteland came forward. They did not dare to block the troops' way forward, but just gathered on the side of the road, stretched out their hands towards the Soviet soldiers on the vehicles, and spoke something at a very fast speed.
There were also some sturdier guys who were looking at the military vehicle at the front of the team with anticipation. As the military vehicle got stuck in the mud and the wheels were spinning rapidly but it couldn't get out, these guys swarmed over, pushed and carried the military vehicle out of the mud, and then waited anxiously for the people in the vehicle to throw down some food.
The Soviet soldiers sitting on the trucks did not disappoint these people. Some bulging food bags were thrown off the trucks. Some were caught by people, while others were thrown into the mud. The guys under the trucks did not care. They collected all the food bags and sent them to the shade of the trees on the roadside.
Then, a surprising scene appeared. All the collected food bags were placed in front of a middle-aged man with a missing leg and a Japanese army "fart curtain hat" on his head. The middle-aged man carried two bags and placed them beside him, and kicked the remaining bags with his only remaining leg. The group of guys who helped push the cart rushed over and scrambled for the food like vicious dogs.
Just when the food in the bags was looted and some people were even holding the bags and licking them, an even more shocking scene occurred.
Under the command of a Soviet major, more than a dozen Soviet soldiers jumped off the truck. They dispersed the guys gathered under the tree, grabbed the middle-aged man wearing a "butt curtain hat", and dragged him directly to the wasteland beside the road. The major kicked the middle-aged man to the ground, pulled out his pistol, aimed at the back of his head and fired three shots, then turned around and commanded the soldiers to get back on the truck.
Behind a tank, Yuri was sitting in the back seat of a military jeep. He saluted expressionlessly to the major who saluted outside the car. Then he withdrew his gaze from the window and continued to look at a document in his hand.
The shamelessness of the Americans was fully demonstrated in the Sendai landing. Yuri originally thought that they had deployed at least two divisions of troops here, on the one hand to block the Soviet army from continuing to move south, and on the other hand to attack those Japanese troops who still refused to lay down their arms.
But the fact is that the US military had less than four regiments in Sendai, two of which were stationed in Taga Castle and Tomiya, and the other two were advancing towards Yamagata Prefecture in an attempt to capture Tsuruoka first.
However, it was obviously not so easy for the Americans to achieve their goal, because the Japanese army built a large number of bunkers in Yamagata Prefecture relying on the mountainous terrain. They refused the surrender order from Tokyo and were prepared to fight to the end.
Fortunately for the Americans, Moscow has given up the plan to continue advancing southward. Comrade Stalin's current intention is to control the four northern prefectures of Kyushu, namely Aomori, Akita, Iwate and Miyagi, as much as possible on the basis of occupying Hokkaido. If the Americans are very clear about their opposition and are unwilling to retreat, the four northern prefectures can also be given up, and only Hokkaido is the bottom line.
Originally when they set out from Aomori, Yuri thought they could reach Sendai in two days, but unfortunately, along the way, the damn rain got heavier and heavier, and the road was difficult to travel on. It was not until the second day that the troops reached Semboku City in Akita Prefecture, which was still a long way from Sendai.
The troops began to move forward. Yuri hoped to reach Yokote before nightfall today, and then turn east and enter Miyagi tomorrow. If all goes well, he will enter Sendai tomorrow night. He will board a ship there and then be escorted to Tokyo by the Americans, without having to continue bumping on this damn land.
Along the way, Yuri discovered a problem. In a geographical environment like Japan, there was no market for the large-scale mechanized corps operations used in the Soviet-German War. On the one hand, it was because of the topography, and on the other hand it was because of road traffic issues.
There are too many mountains on this broken island. Japan boasts all day about how strong the country is after the Meiji Restoration, but their road traffic construction is really problematic. The damn cement road collapsed directly after dozens of tanks ran over it, and it was broken like a spider web. Not to mention the large-scale combat, the logistics supply alone is a problem. In comparison, the Japanese's way of fighting in the mountains and forests is more popular, but the Japanese have been burned by the so-called Bushido spirit. Their so-called guerrilla warfare is to hide in the woods in advance, and then when the Soviet troops pass by, they rush out in a swarm of screams. No matter you are machine gunning or tank bombardment, it's not over until the last one dies.
The muddy road after the rain is simply enough to make people collapse. Sitting in the jeep, Yuri was dizzy from the bumpy body of the jeep. If it weren't for the fact that the road was too narrow and difficult to travel after leaving Senboku, and the dense jungle around, and he was not sure if there were any desperate and stubborn Japanese soldiers lurking there, he really wanted to order the escort team to set up camp early and rest for a night.
Night fighting was really not the Soviet Army's strong point, especially in such a densely jungled area. The Japanese soldiers charged with heart-wrenching shouts, which was still very scary under the cover of night. The Soviet Army had suffered a lot of losses before.
The team continued to march for nearly three hours in the mud and bumps. The road ahead suddenly opened up, and the cement road crushed by the tanks appeared again, which made the team move a little faster. It can be seen that even crushed cement roads are much easier to walk on than roads without any pavement.
After driving along this road for more than half an hour, a newly erected road sign appeared on the roadside.
It is said to be a road sign, but in fact it is a log with a wooden board nailed on it, and on the board is written "Veninsk" in Russian.
Looking at the sign, Yuri couldn't help but frown. This was pure nonsense. Road signs were used to indicate the direction for follow-up troops and to determine the location. But what was the point of putting a Russian place name on it? Could it be found on the map?
In addition, the appearance of such a road sign also reflects a problem, that is, the fact that the Soviet Union and the United States divided Japan should have spread among the middle and lower-level officers and soldiers. This small road sign actually reflects the emotions of the middle and lower-level officers and soldiers of the Soviet army. They think that if they quickly give the place they occupied a place name with a strong Soviet flavor, they can show that this place belongs to the Soviet Union.
Yuri didn't know who spread such news, and he didn't want to know, but one thing was clear: if such news reached Comrade Stalin's ears, he would definitely not be very happy.
After taking out the map and looking at the dusk light outside the car window, Yuri was sure that this place should be Daisen City. If they maintained this speed, they would reach today's destination, Yokote, in more than 20 minutes.
There were more and more wooden houses along the way, and naturally more and more people. The city was currently the main area controlled by the Soviet army, and there were more and more Soviet soldiers in uniform on the road. Yuri saw that many soldiers were drunk and disheveled, and many of them were openly hugging Japanese women in kimonos. He even saw someone sitting on a bamboo chair carried by two people and swaggering around. It was really... the military discipline was completely corrupted.
The team moved forward for another twenty minutes or so. Through the car window, they could already hear a faint "rumbling" sound. Having commanded wars for several years, Yuri was very familiar with this sound. It was obviously the sound of artillery. It seemed that Meretskov was right. The Soviet army also encountered trouble during the attack on Yamagata Prefecture.
Amid the faint sound of artillery fire, the marching team suddenly stopped. Yuri looked through the car window and saw lights coming from the side of the tank in front. They should be the lights of the car.
"Go and see what's going on," Yuri said to the guard captain sitting in the passenger seat.
"Yes!" The guard pushed the door, got out of the car and ran towards the front of the tank.
After a while, before the guard came back, a muddy military jeep drove over and stopped directly outside Yuri's car.
Yuri lowered his head slightly and saw a tall commander jumping out of the car. He was adjusting his military uniform and hat while walking quickly towards his jeep.
Because of the car light shining on the man's back, Yuri couldn't see his face clearly, but he could see the shoulder straps that marked him as a major general.
