Dominate the Country

The scenery of Turinsk is very plain. The terrain is flat, there are no high mountains, no large forests, and no numerous and winding rivers on the other side of the Volga River. It is just like countless ordinary towns in the Russian inland.

Tens of thousands of Russians live and multiply in this city and its surrounding areas. Many of them have lived here for generations and are familiar with the geographical topography of Turinsk. This is an advantage of the Russian army.

The hydrological environment on the left and right banks of the Volga River is completely different. There are only a few tributaries on the left, while the right bank is distributed with a large number of winding rivers and ponds and lakes of various sizes. There is almost no connected land within 20 kilometers.

Why can Turinsk become a water and land transportation hub in the lower reaches of the Volga River? That is because the Volga River in front of Turinsk has a flat flow. When the Volga River flows through Turinsk, the waterway suddenly widens, from less than one kilometer upstream to four kilometers. Moreover, the opposite bank of the river, the right bank of the Volga River, is a rare section without crisscrossing small rivers, tributaries and lake puddles.

It is a pity that the Chinese blocked the river in many narrow places of the Volga River. They broke through the thick ice, immersed themselves in the cold river water, and placed sunken ships, hidden piles, and rafts under the surface of the Volga River. Various means emerged in an endless stream, directly abolishing the water transportation of the Volga River. As a result, when the Russian army marched towards Astrakhan, it could only transport supplies through the muddy land route. At the beginning, many warships of the Caspian Fleet passed through the Volga River and moved to the area west of Tsaritsyn. Now they are all blind.

Dmitri Sergeyevich Dokhturov, who led the troops in advance, led 30,000 Russian troops directly here, and there were 4,000 to 5,000 Russian civilians transporting materials for these 30,000 Russian troops.

The spring in Russia is a world full of silt, and the melting ice and snow make the traffic here a mess. Most of the materials carried by 4,000 to 5,000 Russian civilians are arms, and the food is only enough for the Russian vanguard for about a month.

It took the Russian army five days to walk a hundred kilometers of roads. When the Iron General led a large number of Russian troops to Turinsk, the defense positions of the National Defense Army had been trimmed. Chen Han's position is in the town of Puri on the Volga River in the north, through the village of Brisk in the middle, and to the village of Meligino in the south. Almost all of the line can be covered by the Volga River.

The flat Turinsk could not effectively restrict the Russian army's ability to maneuver freely like Borodino Village did to Napoleon. The Wehrmacht's deployment on both wings was a little weak, but it was difficult for the Russian army to outflank. If they wanted to outflank, they could only risk a large-depth detour - that is, without taking Turinsk, they sent troops to continue to move southeast along the Volga River, and completely encircled Chen Han's Wehrmacht in Turinsk, but this would inevitably require more troops and extend the front line.

You know, although the Chinese blocked Tsaritsyn and the Volga River below it, since Turinsk, the Chinese have not made any moves on the Volga River.

Therefore, the Russian army cannot use the advantages of the Volga River's water transportation, but Chen Han can. The Russian army was very hurt when they thought about it carefully.

There are many ships on the dock of Turinsk. If things go wrong, they can get away from the Volga River. After crossing Turinsk, the Russian army had to be on guard against attacks from the river and the other side. Bagration was unwilling to send troops to the right bank of the Volga River, so they could only endure it.

Therefore, although the Russians were the former landlords here, they were forced to march eastward under unfavorable conditions. St. Petersburg could not tolerate the loss of Astrakhan and the Caucasus.

Dokhturov had to make a frontal assault on a narrow front to break through the defense line of Chen Han’s army.

Pull out the nail of Turinsk.

"Our position is selected in the town of Tara, about 10 versts northwest of Turinsk. This is the best position we can find in the surrounding area." The distance is suitable, and we can always control the dynamics of the battlefield without danger. Because there is a shipwreck blockage three kilometers north of Turinsk, the Chinese army cannot sneak attack Tara Town by water, but if it attacks from the right bank, the rivers and endless puddles and lakes can keep the artillery away from the war.

The Chinese, however, had no heavy weapons and only a limited number of rockets, which posed no threat to the town of Tara.

"I hope we can easily defeat the Chinese [in Turinsk], so that we will have a very good chance of winning this war."

Dokhturov's mind was very clear. He knew the strength of Russia very well. The army had to deal with Ukraine and the Ottoman Empire in the Black Sea. The army used in the East seemed to be very powerful, but in fact it was rootless.

These 140,000 people were almost all the troops Russia could take out. The remaining reserves and second-line troops were all against the Ottomans.

Just when Russia defeated Napoleon, the Ottomans once again added 100,000 troops to Ukraine. Together with the Ottoman troops on the Crimean Peninsula, there were nearly 300,000 Ottoman troops fighting on the battlefield in Russia.

The Ottomans put a lot of pressure on Russia, and Ukraine was also something Russia could not lose. The only explanation for why Alexander I paid more attention to the East rather than Ukraine was that Chen Han was a greater threat than the Ottoman Empire.

The huge China can really eat up Russia bit by bit, and although the Ottoman Empire has been strengthened militarily in recent years, the Russians look at Istanbul as if they were looking at a pile of dead bones in a tomb.

In a word, Alexander I is more optimistic about the future of China, and not very optimistic about the future of Istanbul.

The powerful China will only become stronger and stronger, but no one is optimistic about the future of the Ottoman Empire, which looks strong now.

In the process of preparing for war, Pan Chang, who was stationed in Turinsk, deployed the army in a formatted manner to form a deep battle formation. The formation basically includes four groups: right wing, center, left wing and reserve.

The main task of the left wing army is to firmly "protect" the land passage to Astrakhan. The task of the central army is to defend the city of Turinsk and the artillery position. The right wing is guarded by the troops led by Tseringderek, the deputy king of the Torghut Khanate. The deployed troops are relatively less, but the right wing is guarded by the Volga River, and the pressure on the town of Puri is the lightest. At the same time, they were also used as reserve forces to reinforce the central and left-wing forces to carry out counterattacks.

As for the last reserve force, it was deployed in the rear of the position, that is, the location of the Turinsk dock.

The role of the reserve force is very important. It is the initiative. The commander has a reserve force in his hands, which is equivalent to the initiative in the battle.

It is also with the reserve force that a long-term struggle can be carried out and the attacking enemy can be continuously weakened.

Chen Han’s military textbook clearly pointed out: "... the reserve force should be retained as long as possible. Because a general, as long as he has a reserve force in his hands, he can be invincible."

Before the war, Pan Chang personally inspected the left-wing position. On the entire battlefield, the left wing was under the greatest pressure.

The Russian army rushed in aggressively. Pan Chang was worried that the left-wing position would be lost, so he temporarily decided to build a temporary position on three small mounds between the first-line village of Meligino and the second-line position. But in order to buy time to build the fortress, Pan Chang ordered the defenders of Meligino Village to hold the front line and play the role of the support point of the Meligino Village front line.

In the evening of the same day, the Russian army launched an attack on Meligino with 13,000 infantry, 2,000 cavalry, and more than 50 cannons. The Wehrmacht stationed there had a regiment of infantry and a cavalry battalion, as well as 30 cannons to fight back.

After an hour of fierce shooting, the Russian army stopped the offensive. Night began to fall, and when the moon rose in the sky, a more brutal night battle began. First, artillery fire, then rockets, and finally brutal hand-to-hand combat.

The battle started at 8:10 pm and lasted until 1 am. The Russian army occupied the outer position of Meligino Village at a huge cost. The Russian army with many soldiers began to attack Meligino Village, but at the critical moment, Jiang Kui arrived with a regiment of reinforcements and killed the Russians again.

By dawn the next day, Meligino had changed hands twice, and the fierce battle lasted until the sun rose. The Russian casualties were much greater than those of the Wehrmacht. They paid the price of 4,000 people, but they also severely damaged the reorganized 086th Brigade of the Wehrmacht stationed in Meligino Village. Moreover, the fortifications on the position were completely destroyed. Jiang Kui withdrew his troops to the second line according to Pan Chang's order.

The battle in Meligino Village was meaningful to both sides. The Russians showed their high morale, and Chen Han's Wehrmacht also showed their tenacity.

That day, Dokhturov asked to capture prisoners of the Chinese Wehrmacht, but the answer he got was: the Chinese would rather die in battle than be prisoners. General Surkov said: "It seems that they have not been killed enough, they should be punished mercilessly!"

Dokhturov said with a smile: "I will teach them a lesson with cannons!"

The battle for Meligino Village was just an appetizer of this war, but Dokhturov saw a certain aspect of the Wehrmacht from the middle, their artillery power was not as strong as that of the Russian army.

Combined with the actions of the Chinese to repair fortresses and fortresses in Astrakhan and Guryev, Dokhturov had reason to believe that the Chinese had placed all the cannons in Astrakhan and Guryev.

Dokhturov placed half of his troops in Meligino Village and on the left wing of Turinsk, so their center and right wing were naturally weak.

Pan Chang did not care about the loss of Meligino Village. This battle gave the Wehrmacht time to strengthen the fortifications of the main position and build a new line of defense.

Civil engineering works are not effective against rockets and hexagonal guns, but the Russian hexagonal guns and Chinese hexagonal guns have different powers, and the Russian rockets and Chinese rockets have different powers.

The data on the test site is not as accurate as the real data on the battlefield. In the battle of Meligino Village, Chen Han experienced the high morale of the Russian army and also experienced a test of the intensity of the Russian firepower.

The latter can directly return to the central main position, which is helpful for Puri Town and the Three Hills Defense Line.

The newly added defense line behind Meligino Village was named the Three Hills Defense Line. The heights of the three earth hills are limited, and the relative height does not exceed 20 meters, so it is named the "Three Hills Defense Line".