Chapter 3168 How Are You Going to Deal with the Warships?

Malachenko's idea is very simple.

Since they will go to Dalian sooner or later, the road to the south is unobstructed, and there is no threat of large-scale Japanese mobile forces, so it is possible to entrust the task of leading troops to the south to a trustworthy and reliable person to execute.

In fact, it was quite appropriate to entrust this task to Lavrinenko. The deputy commander led half of the army to open the way first, and it was normal for Malachenko to lead his troops to arrive later.

But considering that both he and Lavrinenko will seek other opportunities after the upcoming war, the leader army will soon welcome a new commander, and Malachenko has decided to nominate Kurbalov to succeed.

In the limited remaining battlefield time, it is always good to let Kurbalov take the last opportunity to exercise.

Although he did not know that he had been designated as the next candidate for the commander by the comrade of the army, Malachenko did not intend to announce it too early.

But Kurbalov also cherishes the hard-won opportunity to lead troops and exercise, and he understands that the war years are about to end and the peace years are about to come. If he doesn't seize the opportunity to practice, he may not have another chance for a long time.

So facing the question of the army commander, Kurbalov's next answer was almost without thinking, and he nodded directly.

"Please give the order, comrade, Kurbalov and all the comrades in the division will ensure the completion of the task!"

Not surprised by this expected answer, Malashenko smiled and motioned Kurbalov to sit down with him on the sofa to chat, and followed him while walking and talking.

"I still remember the scene when we first met, Kurbalov. At that time, the First Guards Heavy Tank Brigade had just been established, you were the acting brigade commander, and I came to take office. At that time, it was you who helped me quickly understand the situation of the troops. Do you remember?"

Hearing the army commander talking about the past years of the Patriotic War, Kurbalov, who was full of emotion, thought about it and nodded slowly.

"Remember, Comrade Commander. Now I think that's when I decided to follow you. Maybe it was intuition, anyway, it's something that can't be explained. At that time, I believed that following you would help me realize my ideals and ambitions of fighting for my country and crushing the Nazis' ambitions."

"I'm really glad that I made that choice, otherwise I would definitely regret it now."

Kurbalov is usually a lame general who doesn't smile and is a bit rigid and serious, but he can be quite open with Malashenko, at least he can still joke.

Sitting on the sofa, Malashenko recalled the past bits and pieces, and couldn't help feeling emotional.

While confirming that the combat mission would be assigned to Kurbalov, he didn't forget to give one last reminder.

"Since you have such ambitions, I'll leave it to you. I hope you can report back the good news of successfully completing the mission."

"But there is one thing you need to pay attention to. Because the Japanese army's transportation of treasures involves sea transportation, I estimate that you are likely to encounter Japanese naval ships at the port."

"Japanese Navy?"

Kurbarov was stunned when he heard this. This was something he hadn't thought of yet. He only nodded in response and continued to add.

"Yes, it's the Japanese Navy."

"It is true that the backbone of the Combined Fleet was broken by the Americans in the Pacific Ocean. Some of the main battleships sank and some blew themselves up, but they still have a lot of escort combat ships. I mean destroyers, not those small gunboats and torpedo boats."

"Although the anti-submarine capability of the Japanese Navy is a joke, it is simply terrible, and it is completely useless and is played by American submarines. But I expect that they will still do the basic escort work. After all, it is such a large batch of treasures, and they have to pay attention to it. In particular, this also involves the issue of "making a comeback in the future" in the eyes of these militarist fanatics. They will probably use this batch of treasures as start-up capital."

"In any case, you have a high probability of encountering larger combat ships of the Japanese Navy in the port. I expect that by At least they started with destroyers. "

"Although the Japanese army is terrible, their navy is still very capable. The ships they designed and built are also very distinctive and have some outstanding performance. In particular, the Japanese navy is very proficient in artillery, which you need to pay special attention to."

"The Japanese Navy's destroyers focus on torpedo capabilities, and the firepower of the ship's guns can only be said to be passable, and the caliber is at the same level as our army's field guns. But the firepower of the ship's guns is much stronger than that of the field guns, and there are also dual-purpose anti-aircraft machine guns, so the firepower of the entire ship against the ground cannot be underestimated."

"If there are really one or two of these things parked in the naval port, what are you going to do?"

Malashenko did not intend to give orders directly and ask Kurbalov to do this or that, but to listen to his designated successor to the army commander's opinions and plans on how to respond.

It can also be heard that the army commander is testing himself. After a little thought, Kurbalov organized his words and spoke quickly.

"I will make full use of our advantages in firepower and mobility, Comrade Commander. Of course, I will not directly deploy troops to engage in a gun battle with the Japanese destroyers, but divide the self-propelled artillery units into multiple batches and fire at the Japanese destroyers from multiple different directions."

"Their warships are anchored in the port and are not in a maneuvering state. They are large fixed targets that are easily covered and hit by artillery. And as you said, their ships are limited in number and will not be too many."

"So if there are only one or two destroyers, then the overall artillery advantage is still in our hands. Our division is confident that we can suppress and destroy the destroyers anchored in the port. Wait until the threat is lifted, and then send ground troops to clean up the mess. By then, we don't have to face the Japanese naval gunfire in the port space where the troops cannot be deployed."

"Well, this is a good idea. Give full play to our own advantages, and analyze the enemy's shortcomings thoroughly, but I will add another way."

Malachenko immediately praised the report to approve it, and kept it a secret for a while. On the other hand, Kurbalov still spoke in a humble manner.

"Comrade Commander, please speak."

"You can also call for air support to solve the problem. The comrades in the aviation force will be happy to help you send the Japanese devils' broken ships into the sky. They have been a bit idle recently because they have nothing to bomb. Since the airport was completely solved, almost all air strikes have fallen on the Japanese devils who have already been defeated day after day."

"But you also know that bombing such targets is somewhat boring. If you can add one or two more records of sinking warships before the end of the war, I believe they will not refuse."