Chapter 621 border exercise
Given that some unpleasant historical event happened this year, the KGB’s current aim is to figure out the approximate number of Chinese troops currently on the border between the two countries, but this is not done by sending agents, but using high-altitude reconnaissance or Spy satellites, and information gathering. In Serov’s eyes, China in this era is not a place where agents can go casually. It is too dangerous, and the public’s awareness of prevention is too strong.
Hastily dispatched agents trained by the KGB to China, which was really caught in the sea of people’s war. However, it seems that the military strength in the Sino-Soviet border area has increased a little compared with ten years ago, and the friction is not without it, but it is still within the scope of calm, and there is no sign of tension.
“Although I don’t believe that China has the courage to attack us, the relevant preparations must continue. In this way, starting from the Hongqi Border Defense Military Region near Turkey, to the Red Flag Border Defense Military Region in the Far East, the relevant ten Red Flag Border Defense Military Regions are now starting preparations, and within a month Afterwards, the border defense exercise will be carried out. The exercise does not require the participation of any continuous combat troops of the Ministry of Defense, but all our own border defense forces are used, and the number of participating troops is set at about 80,000.” Serov brought the head of the General Administration of Border Defense Zelyanov to the board. Will come to discuss this matter.
“Does it show strength? If it starts from the Caucasus, it doesn’t mean that it is obviously facing any country. It’s not bad.” Zelyanov nodded and asked, “How much intensity? The Ministry of Defense just finished the exercise in the Caucasus. ”
“Use whatever you have. I want to give the neighboring countries an impression that even if the border guards are dispatched, it is enough to destroy them.” Serov turned his back to Zelyanov and said while looking at the world map, “Three thousand tanks, five hundred armed helicopters, three thousand artillery pieces, I don’t know much about the navy, air force and airborne troops of other border guards, so it’s up to you to decide.”
The establishment system of the border guards and the Soviet armed forces is different, so check the Soviet data carefully. It was found that the Soviet border guards were not the army, but a paramilitary force, not affiliated with the Ministry of Defense. Instead, it belongs to another non-military branch. This other non-military department is actually the intelligence department KGB.
The border guards of the Soviet Union are more independent, with their own three armies and airborne troops. During the Soviet era, the border guards were successively under the control of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the KGB. During the Cold War, the border guards and the troops directly under the KGB had the same uniform but different logos. If anything, the border guard commander’s hat is green, the rest of the KGB’s direct units are not.
The juvenile military academy run by Dzerzhinsky back then was actually an orphanage managed by militarization and some boarding schools covering junior and senior high school education. The irreplaceable father of an orphan, and the only parent of the border guard.
This kind of history has continued, and now the KGB still has the tradition of selecting healthy children from orphanages for training, so as the irreplaceable father of this generation of Soviet orphans and the sole parent of the border guard, Serov wants to see how his children are in the end. He is so talented, if he hadn’t been afraid of trouble, he would have pulled out the Internal Affairs Army to participate in the exercise.
The matter is settled like this, which is also a test of the combat capability of a KGB border guard. “The time is set for next month, that is, in March. What about the imaginary enemy? It is all countries bordering the Soviet Union.”
“Including China?” Zelyanov asked silently, he wanted to know what his boss thought.
“Including all countries, but before the exercise starts, let the other side know that our attitude has not changed. I want to prevent some things through this exercise, Comrade Zelyanov, think about it, before we conduct this kind of exercise During large-scale exercises, all the countries bordering us will be more vigilant and restrain their armed forces. Sometimes it is not a bad thing to show our strength.” Serov’s attitude slowed down and he wanted peace at the time, but he also had The position is that the Soviet Union cannot actively seek China, because this is the answer given by the comparison of the national strengths of the two sides. If he ran over and voluntarily gave in, he might not know what would happen when he came back.
Serov knew about the island where the accident was going to happen. The Soviet Union’s attitude, in short, was that the Soviet Union recognized the island as China’s, but would not make concessions in this situation. In fact, if the Soviet Union was not being scolded every day, this island should have been five years ago. It was returned to China, and it was not without peaceful efforts before. The Soviet border guards have always advocated peaceful settlement of territorial disputes through dialogue. And in 1964, the then commander of the border guards, Admiral Zilyanov, was ordered to consult with China on these issues. To accomplish this mission, he was given the title of Deputy Minister. Zilyanov had the courage to declare at a consultation that there might be concessions on some islands, including Damansky. Last year it also said that disputes would be resolved peacefully through dialogue.
“After the end of the exercise on the 1st of next month, we must let armed helicopters participate in the patrols of some unresolved islands in the future to prevent friction and misjudgment, or dispatch some air forces to monitor. Don’t be afraid of trouble, be careful not to. Wrong,” Zelyanov nodded and asked, “Chairman, it’s actually not appropriate because of the friction between several islands. We all know that it is China’s territory. Since it will be returned to them sooner or later, why not solve this problem? ?”
“You are a member of the Central Presidium, and will you hand over the island when you are scolded every day?” Shelov shook his head with a wry smile, “We claim to have the most powerful army in the world, with tens of thousands of tanks, artillery, nuclear weapons, and fighter jets. Come to calculate, in this case, take the initiative to return the island to a country that scolds us every day? When will they calm down, let’s talk about this issue again, and when they don’t always make trouble for us, it’s time to give them back.”
Therefore, Serov must not take the initiative to go to China and say to return the island to you. He can only choose another method, show his strength and let the other party restrain it, and at the same time continue to let Zelyanov negotiate. The island belongs to China, but in view of the current situation In this case, let’s set a timetable first and talk about the handover.
Many people in the Soviet Union know about the treaty with China during the imperial-Russian period, but if they know it, they know that it is impossible for such a powerful army of the Soviet Union to not fight a single battle. First, they lost 1.5 million square kilometers of territory, especially if the other party’s national strength is worse than their own. so much. This is a feat that even a leader like Ge Maps has not done, so don’t expect normal Soviets to do it. Serov has been belittling China’s military strength in the Ministry of Defense, just because he is afraid of the old marshals and focuses his attention on the eastern border. He has also been proving that there is no threat to the eastern border, and this exercise is also for the Department of Defense.
The border guard exercises were soon approved by the Central Presidium, and the time was set for March 1, starting from the Caucasus on the border between the Soviet Union and Turkey, and continuing to Central Asia, Siberia and the Far East, involving ten Red Flag border military districts. The border joint combat exercise began Now, the KGB border guards dispatched one-third of their strength, with a total of more than 80,000 people, more than 3,000 tanks and more than 3,000 artillery pieces, and started this exercise on the border line of nearly 20,000 kilometers.
Before the start of the exercise, the Soviet Union had notified all bordering countries. Serov delivered a speech in the capacity of the chairman of the KGB, emphasizing the importance of national security, and then announced the start of the exercise. The combat troops of the major Red Flag Frontier Military Regions were urgently mobilized and began to follow the exercise plan. Destroy the invading enemy and conduct counter-offensive combat games at any time.
All the Soviet troops in Eastern Europe are first-level combat readiness units, that is, they are full of personnel and equipment. But that was only in Eastern Europe. In other directions, especially the third-rate troops like the border guards, there was a serious shortage of personnel, but not many tanks. So there were 80,000 people participating in the exercise, but more than 3,000 people gathered. The inconsistency of the tanks. No matter which country it is, the border guards are equipped with too many tanks. Except for the Soviets themselves, no one thinks this is normal.
The exercise lasted for 14 days. The Soviet Central Presidium held a meeting. The committee members gave high praise to the border guards, but also pointed out many shortcomings, such as the lack of good troop clusters in the conflict area, the tank operations of the border guards and troop reconnaissance. Poor organization; no night observation, etc. A series of measures to strengthen border defense were adopted at the meeting.
At the combat meeting of the Ministry of Defense, Defense Minister Marshal Andrei Grechko said happily, “The border guards have proved the combat capability of our Soviet armed forces and can effectively intimidate some potential enemies, but we should still Seeing some deficiencies, the strength of this exercise of the border guards is still lacking, but some things are still very novel, such as the strength of electronic warfare, which seems to be more proficient than the Red Army.”
Of course, if there is any good thing, Serov will keep it for himself. At least when the Ministry of Defense is still relatively resistant to electronic tubes, the Border Guard and the Internal Guard have already replaced all the electronic tube equipment.
This exercise also used the Hail Bazooka, a 122mm 40-barrel self-propelled rocket developed by the Soviet Union. The gun began to be equipped with the Army Artillery Corps in 1964. At present, the artillery regiment of the motorized infantry division and the tank division has a БМ-21 rocket artillery battalion equipped with 24 guns. Mainly used to destroy enemy tactical nuclear weapons, fight with enemy artillery, and strengthen the firepower of regiment artillery group. It is usually deployed within a range of 2 to 6 kilometers behind the frontier, and the suppression depth is 14 to 18 kilometers.
“Comrade Ustinov hasn’t come yet?” This meeting is unusual. In fact, it is to communicate with the Ministry of Defense about a new round of weapons research and equipment process. In other words, the arms race is about to intensify. (To be continued~^~)