Speaking of the so-called "Oriental Maginot" defense line built by the Japanese on the side near Vladivostok, to be honest, it is just a fair name, but it is a world of difference compared to the real Maginot defense line that has not been completed.

According to the information mastered by the Soviet army, although the Japanese army invested a lot of manpower and material resources on this line of defense, it was still very imperfect. According to its own judgment, the Japanese Kwantung Army believed that the Soviet army would use the Far East Red Flag Front as the main assault direction, so it built quite a lot of fortifications on the front of the unit.

Later, the Baikal Front's attack was covered with inaccessible deserts, and the dense primeval forests in the Greater Khingan Mountains were used as barriers, so the Japanese army believed that the threat in this direction was not great.

According to this judgment, the Japanese army showed a trend of focusing on the east and neglecting the west, both in terms of the construction of defense lines and the configuration of troops. That is, the Japanese army was relatively strong and had a relatively strong defense line, while in the side of Meletskov, it was much more relaxed.

It can be imagined that if the Soviet army avoided the real and let the Baikal Front serve as the main attacker, and Buluhell as the iron felt to attract the attention of the Japanese army, it would probably be able to urinate the Kwantung Army. The problem is that things are not that simple. As mentioned earlier, the Soviet army lacks strength and has one less front army compared to history, which leads to the Soviet army having no absolute advantage in terms of military strength and cannot launch a comprehensive attack immediately.

According to the Military Commission's idea, in 1944, the Far East had to do only one thing, which was to break through the so-called Eastern Maginot Line, occupy Mudanjiang, Jiamusi, and Dongning, and prepare for a comprehensive counterattack next year.

For the Far East Red Flag Front, this was not an easy task. The Japanese army built a fortification area connected with the primeval forests and mountains along the mountainous areas bordering the Soviet coastal area. There were a large number of concrete fortifications and natural obstacles, and the Japanese generals were quite confident about these obstacles. They believed that if the Soviet army came over, they would have to break through the various fortification areas one after another. Forcing the mountain range and the primeval forest, that is, they must adopt the most difficult offensive model that requires absolute military advantage and a large number of powerful killing weapons.

In fact, the Soviet Red Army also realized this. After a lot of field investigations and aviation reconnaissance, Buluhell believed that such a terrain was not conducive to the Red Army's absolute armor and firepower advantages, and even if he had no confidence in himself, he was not particularly sufficient.

This can also be reflected in his report to the Military Commission: "The Japanese army carefully constructed a group of fortifications. Although these fortifications are all unconnected bunker groups, which are far from the overall defense line like the Maginot Line. But it is undeniable that the Japanese army made great use of the terrain advantages. It can be imagined that our army is difficult to unfold on such terrain and is difficult to exert its maneuver and firepower advantages... I need a mountain warfare expert here..."

So are there any such experts in the Red Army? You can say that, really, Meletskov is an expert in this field. He is already very good at attacking areas with dense forests, lakes and sparse roads. He did not do badly in Hungary and Romania, which was muddy. Not only was he experienced, but he also had rich relevant experience with his friends Krelov, Beloborodov, Chisdakov, Zha and Vatayev.

The reason why the Military Commission appointed Meletskov as the commander of the Baikal Front before was related considerations. However, what the Military Commission did not expect was that Buluhell would admit so neatly that he lacked confidence in the battle of the relevant terrain and asked the Military Commission to send him a relevant expert.

However, Buluheer's request also made the Military Commission much easier. What the Military Commission is afraid of is Buluheer gritting his teeth and holding on, so that if he really fights, he will be bad. Now Buluheer takes the initiative to make the Military Commission relax suddenly.

Therefore, the Military Commission quickly made personnel adjustments. Bulukhel was still the commander of the Far East Red Flag Front, and Meletskov continued to serve as the commander of the Post-Baikal Front, but Meletskov also served as the chief of staff of Bulukhel. Specifically, Bulukhel was responsible for the overall Far East, while Meletskov was responsible for the specific command of the operations.

After Meletskov took office, he immediately carried out the preparations for the battle, including the preparation of various materials and equipment and the collection of intelligence. It is necessary to ensure that the troops can be strong in the Ussuri River and march on the dense forests and rugged mountains.

From the map, the most direct offensive route for the Far East Red Flag Front was to advance along the Suifenhe, Mudanjiang and Harbin lines, and the East Manchuria Railway would ensure the supply of the front army. However, such obvious things can be seen by the Japanese army, such as Suifenhe has been built into a solid fortress by the Japanese army. In fact, this line is full of fortresses, which looks indestructible.

For ordinary generals, such a battle is difficult to fight, and it is almost impossible to fight hard. However, Meletskov is not an ordinary general. After careful research, he believed that this battle could be fought completely, and the losses were not necessarily large.

Why did Meletskov have such confidence? Because he found that these Japanese fortresses were single points. Perhaps it was like a line on the map, but in fact, these fortresses were just a group of unconnected fortifications. This gave Meletskov an opportunity to take advantage of.

Meletskov knew very well that in such a landform, the Red Army had already practiced a large-scale deep combat in Eastern Europe. It was too unrealistic to launch a surround of hundreds of kilometers on such a terrain, so Meletskov decided to fight a shallow and deep encirclement. It was only to encircle and annihilate the fortresses deployed on the front line, rather than selecting the closed location of the encirclement on a rear communication and transportation hub. This not only reduces losses as much as possible, but also prevents the enemy from escaping from escaping.

Meletskov deployed the four armies of the Far East Red Flag Front (including the Far East Red Flag Coastal Army) on the front line. In traditional military thinking, it seems very risky to not reserve reserves for such deployment methods. But Meletskov made sense. It is meaningless to leave the entire army as reserves behind the battlefield in such a bad terrain. Because once the front line cannot be opened, these reserves will not be able to bear the bad traffic conditions at all, and will also deteriorate the already bad traffic conditions. It is normal to block all the army up and down. Therefore, it is better to place all the army on the front line and order the army, army and division to reserve certain reserves at the front line, and then invest in the first echelon of combat reinforcements according to the actual situation.

Facts proved that. Meletskov's deployment was very clever, completely beyond the expectations of the Japanese army. For example, the terrain on the offensive route of the 5th Army and the Far East Red Flag Coastal Army was extremely complex, and there were also Hutou Fortress and Dongning Fortress guarding. The Kwantung Army believed that this place was foolish, and did not even think that the Soviet army would attack it stupidly. Naturally, it was lax defense.

As for how Meletskov did it, he not only attacked this area, but also invested in considerable tanks and heavy artillery. The Fifth Army and the Far East Red Flag Coastal Army cooperated with each other, launched a clamp attack towards Mudanjiang, one in the south and one in the north, and stabbed twice in this area.

Speaking of which, the Japanese army's defense configuration in this area is quite powerful, including Hutou Fortress, Miaoling Fortress, Guanyuetai Fortress, Lumingtai Fortress and Dongning Fortress on the front line. There are also two large fortresses in the later part (Banjihe Fortress and Suifenhe Fortress).

Take Suifenhe Fortress as an example. The building area is 40 kilometers long, with a depth of ten to fifteen kilometers in the general area, and the road line reaches 30 kilometers in depth. There are four strongholds in this area near the border, each with a frontal range of 2.5 kilometers to 10 kilometers, and a depth of 2.5 to 9 kilometers. Along the southern section of the East Manchuria Railway, the road leading from the east to Suifenhe. These four strongholds occupy 25 kilometers of the 40 kilometers of Suifenhe frontal, and are accompanied by small-scale field fortifications interspersed.

Not only did the coverage be wide, the Japanese army was also very careful in building these fortifications. The entire defense line consists of reinforced concrete fortifications, firepower points, power distribution stations and warehouses. Some reinforced concrete bunkers are one meter to one and a half meter thick, and the outer layer is covered with armor or armored turrets. According to post-war statistics, these four main strongholds have a total of 295 reinforced concrete bunkers, 145 civil and wooden bunkers, 58 concrete shelters, 69 armored turrets, 29 lookout bases and 55 artillery positions. There is probably a machine gun bunker every 250 to 350 meters, and there is an artillery firing point at the underground exit from 500 to 700 meters. There is also layered barbed wire mesh, minefields, anti-tank trench purchases and anti-infantry obstacles, and cross machine gun fire cover.

Please note. This is not the end. There are two lines of defense behind this line of defense. One is 80 kilometers behind, and field fortifications are built on the deep mountains covered with forests on the west bank of the Muling River. The third is on the banks of Mudanjiang. According to the Japanese army's idea, even if the Soviet Red Army can break through the bunker group on the front line, it will be consumed after hitting the second and third lines of defense. Then it is the Kwantung Army's turn to counterattack and eat the exhausted Soviet Red Army in one fell swoop.

However, when the battle really broke out, the Red Army's tactics were completely beyond the expectations of the Japanese army. On the one hand, Meletskov strengthened the firepower of the assault troops as much as possible, and strengthened a tank brigade or tank regiment and a self-propelled artillery regiment for the infantry divisions in each main assault direction. There were about 80 vehicles in total, which could reach an average of 30 vehicles per kilometer.

On the other hand, a large number of engineers were transferred. The specific method was: engineers reconnaissed terrain obstacles and figured out the Japanese engineering operations. After the attack was launched, they were also responsible for clearing obstacles and building and repairing bridges and roads. As for combat engineers, they were directly assigned to the front-line assault troops. Each company in the first attack echelon strengthened an engineer detachment, which was specifically used to clear obstacles.

Not only the infantry had engineering cooperation, but each artillery regiment also formed a road-bridge team. In short, Meletskov deliberately chose an offensive area with unexpected but harsh road conditions and equipped it with a large number of troops and weapons. It can be said that the Soviet Red Army was building roads while attacking forward.

Please note that this is not the whole of Meletskov's tactics. In fact, the most critical points have not been pointed out. After all, the fortifications and bunkers of the Japanese army are not fake. If they are to be removed one by one, the suddenness of the attack and the in-depth assault may be greatly reduced.

In response, Meletskov adopted the method that after encountering the Japanese strong defense group, the infantry and artillery stopped, surrounded and blocked with the cooperation of engineers and slowly pulled out the points. The mechanized troops of the Red Army continued to assault forward and inserted into the Japanese hinterland to encircle.

This move is quite ruthless. The Japanese were willing to fight with the fortress to consume the Red Army and then take the opportunity to beat the baton. But now Meletskov doesn't give the Japanese army this opportunity. My mechanized corps ignored your fortress and directly penetrated into your hinterland to make trouble. At this time, your second and third-line defenses were not ready at all. What's the matter with you? What's more, the troops that the Kwantung Army threw in the fortress were nailed to death, either slowly eaten by the Red Army infantry. Or they starved to death and trapped to death. Do you say retreat? If you retreat, those fortresses will not be in vain. What's more, where to retreat? The mechanized Red Army troops have already penetrated into the hinterland. You are not seeking death when you retreat.

It has to be said that the Japanese army’s defense configuration on this line has a big problem. They thought that the solid fortress and rugged terrain could block the Soviet army. But unexpectedly, the Soviet army penetrated through these difficult gaps and directly smashed the so-called defense line into a sieve!

When Meletskov's tactics against the Japanese fortress were informed to Li Xiaofeng, a fairy couldn't help but think of another battle over the fortress on this land for hundreds of years. At that time, the two sides against the Later Jin and the Ming Dynasty. Master Sun Chengzong, who was very much admired by Mingyue, used the Japanese army's almost the same fortress tactics to deal with the Later Jin army. According to Mingyue's statement, Elder Sun used the method of digging pits to recover thousands of miles of land, and later the eunuch party framed it, which caused the failure.

Let me put it this way. Li Xiaofeng still admires Mingyue's popular way of writing history back then, and also collected his masterpieces. However, on the issue of Elder Sun, he really cannot agree with Mingyue's conclusion back then.

According to Elder Sun's strategy, this is to prepare to build bunkers and go to the hometown of Later Jin (it is quite a bit about the turret tactics of a certain immortal when he first played the interstellar interstellar game). To put it bluntly, this set of tactics is actually the worst strategy that the Ming army could not defeat the Later Jin in the field. Why is it the worst strategy?

First, the Ming Dynasty was in financial difficulties at that time, so it was not enough to repair bunkers. If the bunkers were repaired, the army would not have to be stationed? If these big-headed soldiers were raised, the more financial difficulties would be. When the supply line reached a certain distance, I am afraid that the Ming Dynasty would collapse without the need for the Later Jin Dynasty to fight.

Secondly, these bunker groups seem to be very good and powerful. They seem to be able to block the attack of the Later Jin army. However, the bunkers are always dead. As long as the Ming army dares not fight in the field or fight directly with the Later Jin army for one day, they will only be passively beaten.

What's more, the Later Jin Dynasty doesn't have to forcefully chew these bunkers. Can you surround and fight support? You can't put these bunkers without saving them, right? If you don't save them, what's the point of building these bunkers?

To put it bluntly, fortress tactics is equivalent to drawing a jail. See how the Communist Party of China repaired the scrambled army in the War of Liberation. When an army loses the courage and ability to fight in the field, it is probably not far from destruction. In short, fortresses are dead. People are alive, and the most important thing on the battlefield is to take the initiative.

For example, now, when the Soviet army was rushing forward, the Japanese were stunned. Are they continuing to defend the enemy? Or are they retreating to the second or third line of defense to resist?

The opinions within the Kwantung Army were highly inconsistent. Some said they would stick to the end, while others said they had to retreat immediately, and they could not reach a unified opinion. And Meletskov would not give the Japanese a lot of time to think. His mechanized infantry continued to advance at high speed, easily breaking through the second line of defense of the Japanese army and attacking the Mudan River.

At this time, the Kwantung Army realized that something was wrong. If the Soviet army was allowed to occupy Mudanjiang, all the troops deployed on the front line would be lost at the tiger's mouth. At this time, the Japanese hurriedly issued a retreat order, requiring the front line troops to retreat quickly.

To be honest, it's too late, because the Japanese troops on the front line have basically been stuck by the Red Army infantry. How can I go? No matter whether the bunker is running away, you have to ask the Red Army soldiers whether the guns and cannons are agreed or not. The Japanese hiding in the bunker are still unable to raise their heads by the powerful firepower of the Red Army, let alone running naked? Of course, the Japanese cannot retreat. Do you think that the combat engineers and self-propelled artillery assigned to the front line by Meletskov is fake?

Let me put it this way, the breakthrough of the Far East Red Flag Front Army in this battle is enough to be written into textbooks. Taking the Fifth Army as an example, it advanced eighty kilometers on the second day of the outbreak of the battle! It took only sixty hours to complete the task that should be completed in the planned eight days. As for the Far East Red Flag Coastal Army, it took only fifty hours to advance to the Muling River front line, resulting in the Japanese second-line troops being unable to organize defenses in the Muling River, and could only retreat in a hurry to the Mudanjiang direction, discarding or blowing up almost all the artillery.

The result was that the 124th Division and the 126th Division, which belonged to the First Front Army of the Kwantung Army, lost a total of five and a half infantry brigades in the hasty retreat, and they were not able to play a slight role in the Red Army. They were quickly bypassed by the Soviet Red Army, surrounded and annihilated.

This also directly affected the situation of the Kwantung Army in the second phase of the battle. Because of the hasty retreat, the defense line on Mudanjiang was really made of tofu. When the Fifth Army of the Red Army and the Far East Red Flag Coastal Army rushed towards Mudanjiang from both north and south, the Japanese army had almost no strength to fight back... (To be continued.)

ps: Bow thanks Hu Yan haha, lazy readers, people who guard the signs, jj, lost stars and comrade Juventus!
Chapter completed!