Red Moscow - #2391 - Chapter 2390:

Chapter 2390

 Early the next morning, Sokov came to the temporary headquarters and was about to ask Captain Feng if they had set off. Unexpectedly, as soon as he entered the door, he saw Yakov talking to an Asian-faced soldier wearing the rank of lieutenant. He couldn’t help but frown slightly, thinking that this man came out of nowhere, and he seemed to have never been there before. Have seen this person.

When Yakov saw Sokov come in, he quickly stopped talking with the lieutenant and said excitedly: “Misha, let me introduce to you. This is Company Commander Chen from the 88th International Brigade. He is here to assist.” Captain Feng started working. Comrade Lieutenant, this is General Sokov, the commander of our group army.”

“Hello, Comrade General!” After Lieutenant Chen raised his hand to salute Sokov, he began to introduce himself: “I am Lieutenant Chen, commander of the sixth company of the third battalion of the 88th International Brigade.”

“Hello, Lieutenant Chen.” Sokov knew that the 88th International Brigade was a four-battalion unit. Below the brigade commander was the battalion commander, and below the battalion commander was the company commander. Although the other party’s military rank was not high, his position was not low. He quickly held the other person’s hand, smiled and said: “Welcome to come and start work with us!”

“Comrade General.” Lieutenant Chen asked hesitantly, “I wonder where our intelligence section chief, Captain Feng, is now?”

“Yasha.” Seeing that the other party wanted to see Captain Feng, Sokov quickly said to Yakov: “Call Captain Feng and ask him to come here and say that his comrades are here.”

“I’ve already called him.” Yakov raised his hand to look at the time and said, “I’ll be there soon.”

As soon as Yakov finished speaking, a report came from outside the tent.

Sokov recognized the voice of Captain Feng and quickly said outside: “Come in!”

After Captain Feng entered the tent, he raised his hand and saluted Sokov and Yakov: “Comrade Commander and Chief of Staff, I have been ordered to come here, please give instructions!”

Sokov pointed to Lieutenant Chen who was standing next to him and said, “Captain Feng, look who’s here!”

After Captain Feng saw the other party clearly, he exclaimed: “Lieutenant Chen, why are you here?”

“The brigade commander was worried that you didn’t have enough manpower, so he sent me over to assist you.”

 “How many people did you bring here?”

“15 people.” Lieutenant Chen might be worried that Captain Feng would think there were too few people, so he specifically explained: “The comrades in our brigade are all assigned to their respective units of the Soviet army. The number of people left is limited. I can bring so many people here. Considering the special situation here, the brigade commander specially sent a few more people.”

“I know, I know. The brigade commander always attaches great importance to this unit, otherwise he would not send me, the intelligence section chief, here…”

Captain Feng and Lieutenant Chen were talking in Chinese, but they never dreamed that Sokov, standing next to them, could understand their conversation. While Sokov was listening, Yakov suddenly asked: “Misha, do you know what they are talking about?”

“I don’t know.” Sokov quickly shrugged his shoulders, spread his hands, and said with a look of helplessness: “Although I don’t understand what they are talking about, I feel that after their comrades reunited after a long separation, they must Talking about old times.”

“Oh, that’s it.” Yakov nodded after hearing this, and continued: “Before you came, I received a call from General Lyudnikov. He said that he sent a captain to meet Captain Feng in Xinjing. , and will cooperate with their actions in Xinjing.”

“Very good.” After Sokov learned that Lyudnikov agreed to his request, he felt much more at ease. With the strong assistance of friendly forces, there should be no problem in finding Commander Yang’s head: “Yes With the cooperation of General Lyudnikov, Captain Feng and others will encounter greatly reduced obstacles when carrying out their work in Xinjing.”

“Also, the group army headquarters has left Solon and is heading here.” Yakov continued: “I believe that our new headquarters will be established in Zhengjiatun by noon at the latest.”

“Yasha, I feel that establishing the headquarters here is not the best choice.”

“Why?”

“Both Solon and Zhengjiatun are just small places. They are obviously not suitable as group army headquarters.” Sokov stated his thoughts plausibly: “As for Fengtian, as a big city in the Northeast, it is better for us to establish a headquarters. The best choice.”

“So, you are planning to move our headquarters to Fengtian?”

“Yes, that’s what I think.” Sokov nodded and said in a positive tone: “If the headquarters is located in a big city, communication and transportation will be very convenient, and the supplies of our troops will become more convenient. It has to be more convenient.”

“Well, what you said makes sense.” Yakov nodded and said, “Then after the headquarters arrives, I will let them continue on their way to establish a new headquarters in Fengtian.”

“Comrade Commander,” Captain Feng, who had been chatting with Lieutenant Chen for a while, came to Sokov and asked, “I wonder if we should proceed as planned?”

“Of course, Comrade Captain.” Sokov nodded vigorously and gave the other party a positive reply: “Of course you will set off according to the original plan. But the only change is that I will set off with you. After we arrive in Fengtian, I will stay while you continue to march towards Xinjing.”

“Captain Feng.” After hearing what Sokov said, Lieutenant Chen quickly asked Captain Feng in a low voice in Chinese: “What are you doing in Xinjing?” Captain Feng quickly deposited Commander Yang’s head in the medical school in Xinjing. Lieutenant Chen was briefly introduced to the matter in the basement.

But after hearing this, Lieutenant Chen glanced at Sokov and Yakov with vigilant eyes, and then lowered his voice and asked: “Captain Feng, do you think they are trustworthy?”

“Of course.” Captain Feng nodded and said, “If they are not trustworthy, who else is trustworthy?”

“Okay, then I will act with you.” Lieutenant Chen said: “The more people we have, the more powerful we will be. If there are more people, even if something goes wrong, the chance of escape will be higher.”

“Comrade Commander.” Seeing that Lieutenant Chen wanted to act with him, Captain Feng asked tentatively: “Lieutenant Chen wants to go to Xinjing with me. Do you approve?”

“No.” Unexpectedly, Sokov refused simply: “He can’t go to Xinjing.”

“Why?” Lieutenant Chen suddenly became anxious when he heard Sokov said that he was not allowed to go to Xinjing.

Sokov looked at Lieutenant Chen, whose face was flushed with anger, and said with a smile: “Lieutenant Chen, I have arranged enough manpower to assist Captain Feng in carrying out his work in Xinjing, so I don’t need to trouble you to accompany him. Besides, I still have some things in Fengtian City that I need you to do.”

“What happened?” When Lieutenant Chen asked, there was obvious anger in his tone.

Captain Feng was worried that Lieutenant Chen’s attitude would anger Sokov, so he quickly gently pulled the hem of his clothes from behind to signal him to stop talking nonsense, so as not to make things difficult to deal with.

“As far as I know, in big cities like Fengtian, although countless anti-Japanese comrades and progressives were killed by the Japs, there are still a large number of such prisoners in the Japs’ prisons. The task I give you, It is to lead people to liberate them, treat the injured, see the sick, and provide them with various daily necessities. How about, can you complete such a task? “

 Lieutenant Chen originally thought that Sokov was making things difficult for him and would assign him some difficult task. But after hearing about his mission after arriving in Fengtian, he immediately realized that he had wrongly blamed Sokov. He quickly stood at attention and replied loudly: “Comrade General, please rest assured, I will definitely complete the mission you gave me successfully. Task.”

 Half an hour later, a convoy of five jeeps and three trucks was ready to set off.

While waiting for the troops to board the vehicle, Sokov asked Lieutenant Chen: “I heard that before the start of this battle, your International Brigade sent a lot of personnel to our army, right?”

“Yes, Comrade General.” Now that the Japs have surrendered, there is no need to keep the arrangements before the war secret. Lieutenant Chen truthfully told what he knew: “As early as July, our brigade sent 340 commanders and fighters were sent to the Soviet army as an advance detachment to conduct unified military training. Among them, 160 were assigned to the First Far Eastern Front, 80 were assigned to the Second Far Eastern Front, and 100 were assigned to the Transbaikal Front. At the end of July, the brigade There, 290 commanders and fighters were captured, forming more than 20 task forces, and secretly parachuted to Mudanjiang, Jiamusi, Harbin, Qiqihar, Xinjing, Fengtian and other places to conduct pre-war reconnaissance, and track down the Kwantung Army’s 17 strategic fortresses and borders. The three lines of defense above are all marked as targets for air strikes.

After the battle started, the commanders and fighters of our advance detachment and the task force that penetrated behind enemy lines, from the Heilongjiang River Basin to the Xiaoxing’an Mountains, either guided the ground troops at the border or communicated with the Air Force via radio to guide them to attack all military targets of the Kwantung Army. “

After hearing this, Sokov nodded and asked: “I bet your brigade will not suffer small casualties in this battle, right?”

“Yes, Comrade General.” Lieutenant Chen nodded and continued: “Hundreds of people have already died in the two groups of troops dispatched before the war. Now we are also deploying manpower to cooperate with the 384th Ground Infantry Division of the First Far East Front Army. Attack the Dongning Fortress, which is well-defended by the Japanese.”

“Dongning Fortress?” Hearing the name of this place, Sokov couldn’t help but widen his eyes in surprise: “The Kwantung Army has been operating there for many years, and the defenses built are specifically to prevent our army from attacking. To defeat it, I’m afraid It’s not that easy.”

Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Lieutenant Chen was surprised and said: “Comrade General, the news I received is that the Soviet troops have successfully breached the Dongning Fortress.”

“Impossible, this is absolutely impossible.” Although Sokov did not know the specific circumstances of the Soviet army’s attack on Dongning Fortress, he clearly remembered that it took the Soviet army 21 days to completely conquer Dongning Fortress. . It has only been ten days since the Soviet Union declared war on the island country. Logically speaking, the battle at Dongning Fortress should have been extremely brutal. How can it be said that it has been conquered? So he said stubbornly: “Lieutenant Chen, I think you must be wrong. The Dongning Fortress has strong fortifications, sufficient ammunition and material reserves, and the terrain is dangerous. If you want to conquer such a strong fortress in just ten days, Fortress is simply impossible.”

After saying this, he began to try hard to recall information about the Dongning Fortress. The fortress was built in the spring of 1935. In order to build the fortress, the Japs deceitfully recruited laborers and some prisoners of war from caves, Hebei, Jilin and other places. 170,000 workers participated in the construction of Dongning Fortress. The little devils never treated the workers who built the fortress as human beings. Not only did they not have enough to eat, they often had to be whipped by the supervisors. Dozens or even dozens of workers died every day. In an area covering an area of ​​20,000 square meters, the graves of more than a thousand workers were found.

 After the start of the Far East Campaign, the troops of the First Front Army used aircraft, tanks and artillery to support the infantry in launching an attack on Dongning Fortress in three directions. Although the Little Devils were at a disadvantage in terms of strength and equipment, they relied on solid fortifications and complex terrain to stubbornly resist the Soviet attack. They held on for seven days before the fortress was forcibly breached by the Soviet army. The Japs without reinforcements fled towards Jilin, but a large number of Japs were still left in the fortifications and continued to resist.

 Due to the fierce bombing and artillery shelling by the Soviet army, all communications among the defenders of Dongning Fortress were interrupted. Even the surrender order issued by Tianhuang was not known, and they continued to hide in the fortifications and resist. Later, the Soviet army found Lieutenant Colonel Kono Sadao, a logistics staff officer of the Third Army, and asked him to enter Dongning Fortress under a white flag and convey Tianhuang’s surrender edict to the defenders inside. By September 28, more than 900 Japanese soldiers walked out of the fortress under white flags and surrendered to the Soviet troops outside.

 The Xunshan Fortress, located nine kilometers south of Sanchakou Town in Dongning County, is a medium-sized underground military fortress. Their location was hidden and they were not discovered by the Soviet army, so they did not participate in the battle. It was the local people who accidentally discovered this fish that had slipped through the net when they went up the mountain to collect firewood, and quickly reported it to the Soviet army. After receiving the report, the Soviet troops immediately dispatched aircraft and artillery, using tactics of bombing from the sky and bombing from the ground, to launch an attack on the Xunshan Fortress. The fighting lasted until August 30th.

 At this point, World War II came to an end. Later historians called the battle to conquer Dongning Fortress the last battle of World War II.

It is precisely because of his understanding of this history that Sokov was able to tell Lieutenant Chen without hesitation that the Soviet army had not completely captured the Dongning Fortress from the Kwantung Army. But Lieutenant Chen was skeptical of his statement. After all, Dongning Fortress was thousands of miles away from here, and Sokov did not have clairvoyance. How could he know that the Soviet army had not completely occupied Dongning Fortress? However, considering the identity of the other party, he still said euphemistically: “Comrade General, I have only been out for two or three days. Maybe there are new changes in Dongning Fortress, and I am not qualified to know about it at my level. “

As soon as he finished speaking, Captain Feng shouted from a distance: “Lieutenant Chen, what are you still dawdling about? Hurry up and get in the car and set off.”

 (End of this chapter)