In March, the focus is on Siberia.

By March 10, the Russian army not only recaptured Novosibirsk, which was occupied by Chinese troops five times, but also gathered nearly 1.2 million ground troops on the front line, of which 500,000 were on the Western Front, the main force was 12 divisions that Brushilov had pieced together in the east, and the other 700,000 were on the Eastern Front, the main force was eight divisions stationed in the area west of Lake Baikal, and most of the rest were reserve forces armed during wartime.

There is no doubt that the Russian army's military strength advantage is very obvious.[]

You should know that on the Siberian battlefield, the Chinese army had only two armies, with a total force of less than 100,000, and the deployment time exceeded two months.

The problem is that military strength has long been no longer the decisive factor in victory.

More importantly, the Russian army's offensive intentions were too obvious, and it took too much time to mobilize and deploy troops, completely losing flexibility and suddenness.

You should know that for the Chinese army, all the battle preparations can be completed in just a few days.

Don’t forget that at that time, 80% of the Chinese Air Force’s airlift power was used in this direction. In January and February, the Air Force received more than 100 large electric transport aircraft. While making up for the losses of the “Amman Battle”, it also had surplus, which was equivalent to enhancing the airlift power in the Siberian direction.

That's why Qi Kaiwei saw the opportunity to completely defeat the Russian army and at least defeat the morale of the Russian army.

If one can defeat one million and two million Russian troops with a hundred thousand troops and achieve a decisive victory, then all Russian soldiers and civilians will lose confidence in victory due to despair.

For this reason, Qi Kaiwei made sufficient preparations.

In late February, Qi Kaiwei ordered the 38th Army to capture Novosibirsk for the fourth time, and after completing the tactical counterattack, it blew up the city's infrastructure. On March 3, the 38th Army captured Novosibirsk for the fifth time. After destroying more than 20,000 Russian troops, it carried out more comprehensive damage to the already tragic city, and even blasted all buildings above three floors. Then the 38th Army retreated to the rear of the Yurga defense line, giving each combat force two days of rest.

When the 38th Army focused on attacking Novosibirsk, the 15th Airborne Army expanded the scope of tactical assault to 500 kilometers, focusing on attacking small cities and roads outside large and medium-sized cities, destroying the transportation lines that the Russian army must rely on.

In order to enhance the attack effect, the 15th Airborne Army also attacked several Russian troops' command centers deployed in front, and irregularly ambushed the Russian patrol troops in the war zone, and even sneaked into some Russian troops' garrisons, creating a huge psychological burden on the Russian troops deployed in front.

According to the information disclosed after the war, before March 10, tens of thousands of officers and soldiers in the Russian army on the Siberian battlefield suffered from "war phobia". This disease is mainly manifested in the inability to move due to fear when encountering emergencies.

This series of tactical actions seriously disrupted the Russian army's counterattack deployment.

As a result, Brushilov had to postpone the counterattack from February 20th to February 25th, and then to March 1st, and finally set it on March 10th.

In fact, by March 10, the preparations of the Russian army were still not in place.

According to the information disclosed after the war, only six of the twenty main divisions of the Russian army reached combat state, and the other fourteen had problems of one kind or another. For example, the eight divisions sent from Iran lacked troops, and some companies had less than fifty people. The lack of military strength was not the most important problem. The Russian army deployed in front at that time was seriously lacking in fighting spirit, and the proportion of officers and soldiers was disastrous.

While the Russian army was unable to launch an attack for a long time, the preparations for the Chinese army were intensifying.

At that time, whether it was the 38th Army or the 15th Airborne Army, the counterattacks launched were very limited and the pressure on logistics support was not great. At the same time, the operation to transport combat materials to the front line did not stop, and the transport force increased and continued to increase.

By March 9, the 38th Army and the 15th Airborne Army had hoarded more than one million tons of combat materials.

What is this concept?

Even if all the troops were dispatched, the 38th Army's one-day combat consumption was only about 15,000 tons. Even if the situation of the 15th Airborne Army was similar (in fact, not as good as the 38th Army), the stockpiling of materials on the front line was enough for the two armies to use for more than a month. Because during the battle, air transport would not stop, at most it would only reduce the amount of transportation, so the materials hoarded by the two armies could be used for at least several months.

Obviously, a battle will take several months.

Infrastructure expansion is also carried out simultaneously with hoarding materials.

By March 9, in the occupied areas of Siberia, in addition to four civil airports, there were fourteen field airports, twenty-two tilted rotary wing aircraft take-off and landing sites, thirty-four barracks, sixteen large warehouses, twenty-eight military assembly sites and hundreds of artillery positions in the occupied areas of Siberia. In addition to the original hundreds of kilometers of highways, there are also fast passages opened by engineers.

It can be said that the Chinese army has completed systematic defense deployment on the Siberian battlefield.

With the combat effectiveness of the Russian army, it is almost impossible to break through the defense zones guarded by the two main armies.

During this period, Qi Kaiwei determined the basic defense tactics.

According to his deployment, the 38th Army will be responsible for guarding the entire defense zone and launching tactical counterattacks when necessary. The 15th Airborne Army will be responsible for attacking the Russian reserves, that is, cutting off the Russian front and rear contacts, and creating opportunities for the 38th Army.

Of course, this is just an early defensive tactic.

As long as this tactic is used correctly, it can rely on the existing solid defense line, consume the vitality of the Russian army, and attack the morale and fighting spirit of the Russian army.

After killing the Russian army's live power in large quantities, the combat operation will enter the second stage.

At this stage, the 38th Army will act as the main offensive force, and the 15th Airborne Army will use its excellent battlefield mobility to be responsible for dividing and surrounding the Russian army, assisting the 38th Army to annihilate the main force of the Russian army and disintegrate the Russian army's offensive operations.

At that time, Qi Kaiwei also formulated a third phase combat plan.

According to his plan, after completely annihilation or severely damage the Russian army, the 38th Army will move westward, push the front to the west of the Balaba grassland, and capture Omsk with great strategic value, thereby completely changing the overall situation on the Siberian battlefield.

However, during the deliberation, the combat plan at this stage was rejected.

Interestingly, the vetoer is not Mu Haoyang, but Huang Hanlin.

Although Qi Kaiwei did not say it clearly, his purpose was to complete the strategic siege of Kazakhstan and put pressure on Kazakhstan. If Kazakhstan stands on China's side, it will bring extremely important military significance, such as completely solving the logistics supply problem.

Obviously, Huang Hanlin cannot be unaware of how valuable it is to fight for Kazakhstan.

Even if the military significance is not considered, the political significance must be considered, that is, Kazakhstan is a member of the CIS and an important part of the Russian economy. If Kazakhstan can be won over, it can disintegrate the Russian economy and cause heavy damage to Russia in politics and diplomacy.

The problem is that Huang Hanlin does not want to suppress Kazakhstan through military means, but instead puts his hopes on diplomacy.

At that time, Du Xiaolei was already in contact with the Kazakh authorities and offered conditions for joining the war with Kazakhstan and was carrying out active diplomatic efforts. Moreover, the Kazakh authorities were also moved, but they had not made a decision for the time being, or it was not time to make a decision.

In this way, Huang Hanlin hopes to allow the Kazakh authorities to make free choices.

It can be said that this has great political significance. If Kazakhstan does not make a decision on its own, but is forced to make a decision after being oppressed, the political significance will be greatly reduced. As a politician, Huang Hanlin must consider the feelings of other CIS member states.

Of course, there are also great problems in the specific implementation.

You should know that Qi Kaiwei only had two armies on the Siberian battlefield. Even if it was strengthened, such as adding an army aviation wing to the 38th Army, greatly improving the independent combat capability of the army, making it a mobile force similar to the 15th Airborne Army. The problem is that the Russian army has 1.2 million, and even the total strength of the twenty main divisions is more than 300,000.

In other words, even if the Russian reserve troops are not considered, their strength is only one-third of that of the Russian army.

It is undeniable that the favorable conditions such as equipment performance, tactical thinking, officers and soldiers are all in the hands of the Chinese army, but the huge gap in force will still bring many problems. The result is that even if you can win, you may not be able to expand the results of the battle. If you want to expand the occupied areas at the beginning of the battle, then you will inevitably be reserved for military actions during the implementation of the battle, which will inevitably cause negative impacts, such as the fact that the tactics are too radical, causing a large number of unnecessary casualties.

It can be said that only by eliminating the most fundamental problem can we avoid making unnecessary mistakes, and the most fundamental problem is the wrong purpose of the battle.

Of course, neither Mu Haoyang nor Huang Hanlin opposes reaping greater results when necessary.

Mu Haoyang also made a promise that after the battle, he would consider replacing the 38th Army with the 42nd Army, or replacing the 15th Airborne Army with the 16th Airborne Army, so that the officers and soldiers who had been fighting on the front line for more than two months would be withdrawn and rest. To this end, Mu Haoyang also put forward a prerequisite, that is, the army's combat operations in Siberia must comply with the overall strategy.

In any case, by mid-March, the Chinese and Russian troops had completed the preparations for the battle.

Although the Russian army's preparations have not been in place and according to Brushilov's plan, the attack will have to be postponed for a few days, as the US-Russian coalition's advance slowed down on the battlefield of Iran, the Russian president had to intervene again, allowing Brushilov to launch an attack within three days.
Chapter completed!