The town of Guangde County was not attacked by thieves, but by a "military disaster".
Lei Xiong took orders and led the main force of the independent battalion to establish a blocking position three kilometers west of Guangde City. His head was not ordinary.
Looking at the various tunnel drawings Tang Dao drew for him, he once wondered if Tang Dao wanted to tire him and the main force of the independent battalion to death.
Tang Dao took away two infantry companies, leaving him with less than 900 people in total. It might be okay to dig a few trenches in 24 hours with just these 900 people, but if he wants to do what Tang Dao said,
It is simply a fantasy to dig tunnels in the mountains that can protect against heavy artillery bombs.
However, the manpower problem was soon greatly alleviated. Leng Feng quickly returned with a company, and even brought two Sichuan infantry battalions to report to Lei Xiong. The manpower suddenly increased by a thousand people.
But the manpower of two thousand people is still insufficient.
In the afternoon, Tang Dao, who was on the front line of Jiepai, sent a report to Lei Xiong through the field radio carried by the second company, saying that the Sichuan troops on the front line were determined to fight to the death on the front line to gain 36 hours for the Shuishan position.
Lei Xiong is also an extremely decisive person, and he knows that these 36 hours were hard-won, and they were all sacrificed by the officers and soldiers of the 145th Division of the Sichuan Army.
We are short of manpower, right? Then recruit.
In fact, the people who retreated from Guangde City did not go far. They were basically scattered in the mountains nearby. They all wanted to escape this war before returning home. The special team scouting near Mouse Mountain had already reported that the area was 5 miles away.
There are many people hiding in shacks in the mountains, but they don't know that this place is about to become a battlefield.
Perhaps, it is the battlefield with the fiercest fighting along the entire defense line of Guangde.
Originally, Guo Shouzhi meant to send several infantry squads to the surrounding mountains to persuade the people who were fleeing the war to leave. If they ran any further, they might be covered by artillery fire.
Lei Xiong has this in mind. We don't have enough manpower right now! These people can definitely come in handy.
Of course, there will not be any forced labor recruitment, but an employment system.
The 10,000 yuan that the independent battalion headquarters originally used to distribute to soldiers who had meritorious service awards was placed in front of the temporary battalion headquarters built of wood.
Nearly a hundred soldiers sent out informed the people in the mountains that all the people who came to participate in the construction work of the position would have 24 hours of working time, food and drink, and young adults would receive 2 yuan per day plus a pound of rice and noodles, and women and children would receive 1 yuan per day plus a pound of rice and noodles.
This salary is not generally good. The return on labor in this era, even in the most economically developed cities in China, such as the north and south, a factory worker who works hard for a month only earns only seven or eight yuan, let alone Guangde.
In this small town located in the mountainous area of southern Anhui, an average family may have enough money to spend a month across the ocean.
Although they were building a position and fighting might start at some point, the reward was astonishing. There was also a pound of rice and noodles to take, and there were women and children. Materials like food were even more precious to people who were fleeing.
In just three hours, more than 6,000 people came to the Mouse Mountain position. Including the original nearly 2,000 officers and soldiers, the Mouse Mountain position, which was not that big, was full of people.
More than 10,000 yuan was sent out to the ocean, and the originally sufficient logistical supplies were greatly reduced, but the vast crowd gave Lei Xiong enough confidence.
However, the first military order he issued was not to dig a tunnel on the spot, but to have all soldiers and civilians cut down trees.
Cut down all the trees and shrubs facing Guangde City on Mouse Mountain guarding the simple road from Guangde to Wuhu.
There is strength in numbers, but within a few hours, the east-facing slopes of several highlands in the Mouse Mountain area have become bare. Not to mention Tibetans, even a rabbit hiding on the mountainside can be clearly seen from the top of the mountain.
While logging, all living animals that could be seen became food for people to replenish their energy. Whether it was hares, pheasants or cute little squirrels, they all became protein for the sweaty soldiers and civilians to replenish their physical fitness.
In a state of war, human lives are in danger, let alone animal protection.
Protecting the environment and caring for animals can only appear in peaceful and prosperous times. The dove of peace soaring in the sky is just a dish in the war years.
When the soldiers and civilians swept away the wood and shrubs and set fire to the weeds, the east-facing hillside was filled with darkness and silence.
Lei Xiong had two reasons for cutting down trees. First, he had no reason to leave any cover for the incoming Japanese troops, which would only make him uncomfortable; second, building tunnels and anti-blast holes required a large amount of wood.
support.
There are mostly miscellaneous trees on the mountain, and cutting them down alone is not enough, so we need to dismantle the existing ones.
The deserted county town was the best supplier of lumber. Thousands of soldiers and civilians whose lives were threatened were like locusts crossing the border. It took half of the night to tear down any useful wood or steel in the small town of Guangde.
Being clean is even more miserable than being attacked by bandits.
Of course, the people were opposed to demolishing their homes like this, but Lei Xiong's words touched their hearts.
"If everyone is so distressed that they have to demolish it, the position will not be built, and then our army will have to defend Guangde City. Under the artillery fire, our entire army and Guangde City will be reduced to ashes."
That means that the current demolition is just to remove the doors, windows and beams, but if we are forced to use the small city wall of Guangde as a defense line, then nothing will be left in Guangde City.
The common people are just ordinary people. They hide in the mountains because they are afraid of the Japanese killing people and setting fires. But it does not mean that they are willing to leave their hometown where their ancestors have lived for generations. They always want to wait for the war to pass so that they can return home. If you hear this, it is better to listen to the sir.
It's better to order it to be demolished, so that at least some brick walls can be left, which is better than leaving a pile of ruins.
With this idea in mind, he was more active than the soldiers in demolishing the buildings, fearing that the "extremely evil" Chief Lei would lead his troops to Guangde City.
The motivation to dig trenches and build tunnels was even stronger than before, not just for the sake of money, rice and noodles.
It is supported by the desire to leave a place for the elderly and children to live.
A very simple wish, but unfortunately, it is destined to be just a dream in the cruel war.
In the Japanese war zone, even if you were alive, you were humiliating and humble.
But this unrealistic mentality is extremely effective in building a position on Mouse Mountain.
In fact, in the evening, Tang Dao rode the mount he borrowed from the Sichuan Army Lieutenant General and made a special trip back to the 'big construction site' where work was going on in full swing.
There are three mountains in the entire Mouse Mountain, which are like a Chinese character, surrounding the simple winding road.
Without capturing these three mountains, the Japanese infantry might still be able to cross the mountains to Wuhu, but their artillery and baggage would have to stop far away to bask in the sun.
And what can pure light infantry do out of the mountains of southern Anhui? Go and kill the Chinese army around Jinling City?
In fact, the Japanese themselves also know in their hearts that the reason why Japan is strong in this war against China is not to say that the army is mostly composed of veterans and how strong its combat effectiveness is, but the current industrial and economic strength of China and Japan.
Japan, which has learned from the Western world for nearly a hundred years, has caught up with the second industrial revolution and has a well-established industrial system in Japan that can build aircraft, tanks, cannons, and even big things like battleships and aircraft carriers.
And what about China at that time? There was no heavy industry, and even light industry was mediocre.
The so-called dimensionality reduction strike is just that the Japanese army has one more weapon than the Chinese army - artillery.
Without the God of War, the Japanese army would be just like that. Even if it was strong, it would only be limited.
Therefore, these three highlands named No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 by Tang Dao are the must-attack places for the Japanese army who want to advance westward.
The officers and soldiers of the Independent Battalion have experienced the Battle of Songjiang and the defensive battle on the Jiaxing front line, and can be regarded as out-and-out veterans.
However, this was their first experience in mountain defensive warfare. Although they were novices, it would be ridiculous to say they were proficient. Everyone, including Lei Xiong, still used the same old methods, building trenches along the mountains. For life,
The anti-slope tunnel battle still remains in the memory that Tang Dao has constantly mentioned in the past two days.
Therefore, Tang Dao had to take this trip, otherwise, when the Japanese planes, tanks, and artillery attacked, let alone the more than 2,000 men he had in hand, even if there were several times more, they would not be enough to kill the Japanese.
For the three highlands, a trench was first built fifty meters below the top of the mountain in the traditional way, and then another trench was built on the ridge line.
Of course, compared to the two main battle trenches, what is more important is the tunnel located behind the ridge.
Because of the shooting angle, the Japanese artillery can only cause damage to the soldiers in the trenches at most, and is of no use to the infantry hiding behind the ridge. However, the Japanese army also has bombers, and the aerial bombs dropped from the sky can no longer damage you whether you are in front of the mountain or in front of the mountain.
Behind the mountain.
At this time, you have to look at the tunnel.
That was the essence of the most classic anti-slope tunnel battle developed more than ten years later in the Battle of the Icefields. It was those seemingly inconspicuous tunnels that protected Chinese soldiers from countless bombs dropped by American cowboy planes.
of bombs.
The two defensive trenches each have several communication trenches leading to the top of the mountain and tunnels behind the mountain.
The trenches in front of the mountain and the tunnels behind the mountain that have already been constructed are still being excavated according to Tang Dao's instructions.
However, when Tang Dao came back after inspecting the entire defense line and saw the prototype trenches that had just been dug by the soldiers in the main position on the top of the three highlands, he not only shook his head.
Although it is not a straight line, the soldiers still chose the simplest arc trench in order to save labor and time.
But what's the use? If the Japanese use heavy artillery, as long as one shell falls into the trench, the air wave will sweep dozens of meters, and an infantry squad or even half an infantry platoon will be destroyed.
Such trenches will only become a nightmare for soldiers.
They still have too little understanding of field fortifications. If they saw Chinese soldiers more than ten years later criss-crossing the Five Sacred Mountains with trenches that they were unfamiliar with and would get lost, they would definitely be ashamed.
No matter how rushed you are, you can't make things shoddily.
