Chapter 96: Untying
Less than half a year after the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Japanese army had occupied large areas including Hong Kong, Malaya, the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, Burma, North Borneo, the northern coast of New Guinea, Wake Island, the Gilbert Islands, and the Solomon Islands.
However, the Japanese army's successive victories were based on the continuous withdrawal of troops from the battlefields of Manchuria and China. This allowed Stalin to boldly withdraw troops from the Far East to fight in Europe.
However, because the German troops south of the Dnieper River had already made preparations for the response, the so-called winter offensive of the Soviet army not only failed to successfully recapture key points such as Kiev, but also further lost more than 800,000 troops and a large number of technical equipment.
In the spring of 1942, the German army shifted from defense to offense again.
The unstoppable German army successively captured Smolensk, Kharkov and Bryansk. The Soviet Western Front , Southwestern Front, Dnieper Front, Bryansk Front and other units suffered heavy losses again. Almost another one million Soviet Red Army soldiers were either annihilated on the spot or sent to German prisoner-of-war camps one after another.
At this point, Moscow and Leningrad were completely exposed to the German army.
Moscow was in danger! The Soviet Union was in danger! Stalin had no other choice but to continue to rob Peter to pay Paul.
As a result, the Soviet troops in the Far East, Mongolia, and Central Asia military districts were further transferred to the Moscow front. For a time, there were only a few infantry and cavalry divisions on the long border of the Soviet Union in the east.
The continuous withdrawal of Soviet troops not only enabled the Japanese army to further withdraw the Kwantung Army to the south, but also suddenly reduced the pressure on the northwest border with Mongolia.
Under this situation, in mid-April 1942, Dai Jiliang, accompanied by Deputy Chief of General Staff Xu Yongchang and others, flew from Lanzhou to Kobdo to inspect the combat readiness of the Mongolian Border Army Group.
Of course, the inspection of combat readiness was fake, but the discussion on withdrawing the Mongolian Border Army Group back to the mainland to fight was real.
For this reason, Lieutenant General Rao Shufan, Chief of Staff of the Mongolian Border Army Group, prepared a relevant report early in the morning: "Our army believes that under the situation of the Soviet army's large-scale withdrawal, it is no longer appropriate to continue to defend the existing front-line positions with divisions as units. It is indeed necessary to reduce the corresponding forces to transfer them to the domestic battlefield, but."
"But we cannot ignore the possibility of the Soviet army's comeback. Therefore, our army group suggests that while setting up front-line garrison areas and garrisons, we should also add a supplementary division on the second line to quickly replenish the front-line garrison troops and technical equipment in the future. In addition, we should continue to retain the power to counterattack on the third line."
The Mongolian Border Army Group is the largest strategic corps in the northwest, with three second-level units including the First Army, the Fourth Army, and the Kunlun Cluster.
It is composed of 13 infantry divisions, 7 division-level garrison areas (corps), 3 cavalry armies, 2 light divisions, as well as 12 combined (garrison) artillery brigades, 18 independent (garrison) heavy artillery regiments, 9 air defense regiments and 35 air defense battalions, 20 motor transport regiments, 22 mule and horse transport regiments, 10 railway engineering regiments, 35 independent engineering regiments, 8 chemical battalions and 38 independent chemical companies, 22 rear combat readiness hospitals, 126 large material storage warehouses, and a total force of nearly one million.
In addition, the First Air Force had 766 fighter planes of various types providing air support, and there were more than 200 radar stations and radar relay stations.
"The plan of our group army is to retain and appropriately strengthen the seven first-line garrisons while establishing and deploying no less than 30 new supplementary regiments in the second-line areas. At the same time, we will continue to retain 4 to 5 existing standing divisions as core forces, and the cavalry corps as mobile forces should not be transferred away." Dai Jiliang listened quietly. After Rao Shufan finished speaking, Dai Jiliang spoke up, "You mean to expand the existing division-level garrison areas and garrison corps to larger clusters, but keep a certain number of vacancies in the subordinate garrisons so that they can be filled with new supplementary regiments in the future?"
Ma Kang, commander of the Mongolian Border Army Group, replied: "We have such a plan. We also suggest that the new supplementary regiment should correspond to the construction of front-line garrison forces, so that once there is an alarm, it can be quickly supplemented one-on-one."
"That is to say, the existing garrison regiment will be expanded into a garrison brigade, but the actual combat force will still be only one regiment. The shortfall will be filled by the rear supplementary regiment during wartime?"
Although it was the first time that Xu Yongchang learned about the huge strength of the Mongolian Border Army Group, it did not mean that he would remain silent during the inspection. He just shook his head.
"The Mongolian Border Army's plan seems to only require a certain number of engineering and logistics troops to be added to the frontline garrison area, but in fact the demand for technical weapons has doubled," Ma Kang said firmly, "The insufficient technical weapons can be provided in advance by the divisions transferred to the east."
Xu Yongchang responded softly but firmly: "That being said, the ordnance department still needs to replenish it."
Ma Kang wanted to say something, but Dai Jiliang waved his hand to indicate that the two did not need to confront each other. After both sides calmed down, Dai Jiliang said, "I think the plan is still feasible. After all, it has exchanged hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers."
Ma Kang just smiled, and then Dai Jiliang continued, "But I have some personal opinions: From the experience of the European battlefield, modern warfare emphasizes flexible defense. In the face of the enemy's powerful firepower, most of the front-line fortifications cannot play a role in defending the enemy from outside the country. They can only delay the enemy and buy time for the rear forces to gather and counterattack. Therefore, whether the Mongolian Border Army's plan to establish a supplementary division to continue to strengthen the front-line defense force is appropriate still needs to be considered."
Ma Kang was silent. At this time, the Chief of Staff of the Transportation Corps, Lieutenant General Ma Dabao, took out a plan and handed it to Ma Kang and Rao Shufan: "The command system of the Transportation Corps is still being adjusted. However, considering the situation of thousands of tanks fighting on the Soviet-German battlefield, the establishment of a light division is not suitable for the Mongolian border area. In order to avoid facing the overwhelming Soviet tanks in the future, and to be able to launch a counterattack as soon as the front-line defense positions are breached, Your Majesty has ordered the Transportation Corps Staff to formulate a plan to trial the establishment of an armored cluster in the Mongolian border area. If it is proven to be feasible, it will be officially established."
Ma Kang read it quickly and found that the biggest highlight of the plan was to reorganize the light division, which was originally just a tactical command unit, into a combat corps, and to cancel the original motorized infantry regiment and armored regiment and break them up into an armored division.
Of course, this division is not a large unit like the infantry division , but is organized according to the size of the existing cavalry division of the Northwest Army.
According to the plan of the Transportation Corps Staff, the newly formed armored division will be composed of three armored regiments, each of which will have eight companies directly under it, of which 1 to 3 companies will be tank companies, and each company will be equipped with 27 tanks.
Companies 4 and 5 are motorized infantry companies, each equipped with 18 wheeled armored vehicles.
The 6th Company is a self-propelled artillery company, equipped with six 105mm self-propelled field guns, six 57mm self-propelled anti-tank guns, and six 20mm self-propelled anti-aircraft guns.
The 7th Company is the engineering company, responsible for the maintenance of various vehicles in peacetime and emergency repairs in wartime.
The 8th Company is the supply company, responsible for the transportation and supply of ammunition and fuel.
In addition, the newly-formed Cavalry (Armored) Group also has an independent motor vehicle regiment, which is equipped with heavy flatbed trailers and is responsible for the normal transportation of tracked vehicles equipped by each regiment and company.
An independent air defense regiment, equipped with 88mm anti-aircraft guns that can also serve as tank can openers when necessary.
1 independent armored search battalion to collect battlefield intelligence for the entire cluster.
In this way, the entire cavalry group will have nearly 300 tanks of various types, enough to confront the Soviet mechanized army.
"Your Excellency's intention is that the Mongolian Border Army will be integrated around the Cavalry Group and the First Air Force in the future."
Ma Guicai said this with a hint of pride.
"Of course, the cavalry will continue to be retained for a certain period of time, but as our army's equipment improves, the cavalry will eventually give way to the cavalry cluster."
"Each cavalry group can be assigned 2 to 4 infantry divisions to cooperate in combat."
Dai Jiliang's words seemed to be endorsing Ma Dabao.
"Therefore, considering that the Mongolian Border Army may have fierce confrontations with the Soviet Union in four directions in the future, Lanzhou will first build three cavalry groups under the framework of the Mongolian Border Army on the basis of withdrawing six infantry divisions. In other words, the light division will not be expanded in the short term, and the tanks produced by the Ordnance Department will be provided to the Mongolian Border direction first."
Ma Kang was not fooled by Dai Jiliang's promise, so he quickly made a request: "If this is the case, I hope to immediately organize 30 regiments of additional troops to fill the defense gap on the Mongolian border."
Lieutenant General Mi Jiahe, the commander of the First Air Force, who graduated from the third term of the Nanyuan Aviation School, also made the request: "Since your Excellency has instructed that the combat readiness mission of the Mongolian Border Army will be centered around the cavalry group and the First Air Force, the First Air Force must replace at least a quarter of its aircraft with new models every year, otherwise I will not be able to guarantee the maintenance of the First Air Force's combat effectiveness."
Mi Jiahe's request was not excessive. The First Fleet was the largest air force in the northwest, but its aircraft models were not the latest. In the past, it might have been able to rely on the Thang Long and other aircraft to fight against the Soviet-made I-16 and I-153. However, as the Soviet Union began to equip itself with new fighters such as the MiG, Yak, and Il-2, its combat and defense capabilities were greatly weakened. Therefore, Mi Jiahe asked to focus on replacing the equipment for the First Fleet.
"For this question, go and ask Ding Guo."
The situation was big and everything needed to be coordinated, so Dai Jiliang did not agree to it immediately.
"But I have good news for you. The US has basically agreed to provide me with 300 high-horsepower aircraft engines every month. If there are no problems with these engines, our monthly supply of fighter jets will increase greatly." On the way from Kobdo to Dihua, Xu Yongchang said to Dai Jiliang who was resting with his eyes closed: "Your Excellency, the eastward advance of the six divisions from the Mongolian border will greatly enhance our military's strength on the eastern front. This is a good thing. Why do you still look worried? I wonder if Cichen can share your worries."
"Brother Cichen is thoughtful, but when I think of the millions of troops fighting on the Soviet-German battlefield, I feel a little sad."
Dai Jiliang said quietly.
"Our strength is still too weak. It seems we need to cling to the Americans."