Watching the time passing by, the usually calm Wang Guangyu, who was sitting in one of the Willys jeeps donated by the Americans before the launch of the battle, was somewhat losing his composure. The Guannei troops have launched the Battle of Jehol. If they cannot arrive at the designated area on time to participate in the battle, once the 23rd Division turns around and goes south, it will bring unpredictable results to the entire war situation.
In this roundabout operation, the headquarters had great expectations. It can be said that the headquarters handed over to itself the division with the strongest combat effectiveness in the entire army, the most well-established and well-trained armored brigades among the several armored brigades. This brigade is the seed unit of the armored force of the entire army. If it cannot fight well, how can it deserve the attention of the headquarters? Wang Guangyu even felt that if this roundabout failed, he would feel particularly sorry for the car under his butt.
This American-made jeep, which has excellent off-road performance and is almost as good as a tank, was allocated by the headquarters to the roundabout troops along with the additional fuel trucks before the roundabout troops set off. It was No. 1 who named him to replace him. That Japanese-made Toyota car with poor off-road performance.
The Americans gave a total of ten jeeps to the headquarters. Compared with the huge needs of the troops, they were far behind. In addition, because the combat areas were mainly located in mountainous areas, they were specially given to Tao Jingfei on the Eastern Front and Du Kaishan on the Western Front. Except for one vehicle, the rest were allocated to the outflanking troops, namely Ma Chunsheng in the center line, Chen Hanzhang in the intersecting troops, and Wang Xiaoming in the Wuchang. None of these column commanders were allocated.
No. 1 himself, when he needed to use an off-road vehicle, he either rode a horse or rode two GAZ 64 off-road vehicles that the Soviet Far East Military Region gave to the headquarters at the end of May. Their performance was far inferior to these American jeeps. The two Soviet Because of the high fuel consumption of off-road vehicles, No. 1, who calculates his own fuel consumption very accurately, seldom uses them. When needed, he mostly rides a horse.
No. 1 would rather ride his own horse and allocate the high-mobility, high-cross-country vehicles that this unit urgently needs to the roundabout troops. It can be seen that No. 1 still has high expectations for the roundabout troops, but now the roundabout troops have made repeated mistakes, which makes them Wang Guangyu felt that he had really failed to live up to the high expectations of the headquarters and No. 1.
Gently caressing this jeep, which is one of only a few in the army, I still don’t know that this kind of vehicle will enter the Anti-Japanese War with a large number of US aid vehicles in a year’s time. Because of the huge number, it will become a common command of the anti-Japanese League level troops. Wang Guangyu was under a lot of pressure to use a car, as well as a car specially driven by the division-level commander.
Until the troops entered the important area of Eastern Mongolia, which is the most important material reserve area of the Soviet-Mongolian army in Eastern Mongolia, behind the front line of Erdenichagan, looking at the small one in front of them, it was not as big as a domestic market town, at best it was Even though it was a so-called county town on the scale of a village, Wang Guangyu breathed a sigh of relief.
The straight-line distance from here to Daliganga, the starting point for the planned direct entry into the country, is not too far away. If the location of Daliganga marked on this map is accurate, then your current location is about The turning point of the entire army's march should be less than fifty kilometers away.
Looking at the time pointed by the hands of the watch on his wrist, Wang Guangyu looked at the troops that were not repairing in Erdenichagan and were now accelerating their march. He turned around and faced the map that was full of mistakes, but he felt in his heart. After pondering whether to stop moving south, the entire army turned around and headed east, heading straight into the Japanese-occupied area dozens of kilometers away on the other side of the border, in an effort to arrive as early as possible on time.
Looking at the serious expression on the commander's face, his fingers kept sliding on the map towards the eastern border. Yang Jicai, the headquarters operations staff who was beside him and more or less guessed his thoughts, hesitated for a moment and then said: "Commander, before you make up your mind, , should we first contact the troops attacking within the pass to see how their current battle situation is and where they are progressing? If the current situation of the troops inside the pass is not too difficult, I think it is better for us to act according to the original plan."
"Before departure, the headquarters specially used a plane to allocate us a password that can directly contact the troops inside the customs. We can easily get in touch with the troops inside the customs. Commander, since we are now cooperating with the troops inside the customs, we should communicate directly with them. It’s best to avoid being too hasty in making up our minds.”
"The headquarters did require us to implement radio silence before arriving at the scheduled combat area, but it did not require us to activate radio contact even if we encounter unexpected situations. Commander, since we are late now, I suggest we still see clearly We will make a decision after the situation, Commander, we don't know if the 23rd Division will go south now, so it is not suitable to go straight into the country like this."
"If the 23rd Division has already started taking action and the entire division moves south into Rehe, we can only catch the 23rd Division's butt by passing through the East Ujim Banner and going straight to the Bahrain Left Banner. The gain outweighs the loss. Commander, the order given to us on the 1st is not only to cooperate with the troops inside the customs, but also to annihilate the 23rd Division to avenge the people of Hyrule."
"If the 23rd Division hasn't gone south yet, I think it's best for us to follow the original plan, enter the country through Abaga Banner, and then go straight to the Keshiketeng and Linxi lines to cut off the 23rd Division. The connection between various ministries and dividing and surrounding them will be more conducive to our battle."
"Commander, please don't forget that although our equipment is better than that of the 23rd Division, our overall strength does not have an absolute advantage. Once we follow and pursue the 23rd Division, we will not be able to defeat the 23rd Division in the shortest time. , if we divide and encircle it, we will probably only be able to fight a rout at most."
"Once the 23rd Division shrinks into a ball under our pursuit, judging from the real combat effectiveness of the Japanese army, even if we have an advantage in equipment, it will still be difficult for us to end the battle in a short time. If we cannot To resolve the battle in a short time, judging from the Kwantung Army's usual response speed, the reinforcements they deployed in Fengtian and Jinzhou can quickly carry out reinforcements through the railway. By that time, we are likely to be passive."
Having said this, Yang Jicai gritted his teeth and said: "And Commander, are some things we are too wishful thinking or taking for granted? We have always believed that based on the current true combat effectiveness of the Guannei Army, if all the 23rd Division Going south, it will be difficult for the troops attacking inside the pass to compete."
"The current Hebei Re-Liaoning advance has almost concentrated the main effective forces of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region and the 129th Division within the Pass. Once the troops attacking within the Pass fail, it will not only directly affect our campaign launch goal of opening up the connection with the mainland of the Pass, but also It will also affect the stability of the civil war in Guan Guan in the future, and even the life and death of the two major base areas."
"This is also the reason why the headquarters took huge risks and asked us to adopt a large detour tactic through Outer Mongolia when the Aershan frontline was unable to make breakthrough progress. I think under our current situation, even if Jiangbei is It is not easy to be in a war situation."
"But the combat effectiveness of the Kanai troops really can't compete with the 23rd Division. Commander, I'm afraid not necessarily. It is true that the equipment of the Kanai troops is worse than ours. It is not as good as that of the 23rd Division." Compared with the regular field divisions of the Japanese army, it is also slightly insufficient."
"But after our reinforcements and supplements, apart from having no tanks, at least the equipment is no worse than that of the 23rd Division, even after the Guanai troops gathered most of the artillery we dispatched. , even more than the 23rd Division in number. Of course, the large-caliber artillery cannot yet compare with the Japanese army, but at least in the confrontation, the firepower is no longer like before, completely at a disadvantage and unable to fight back. ."
"The current gap between the enemy and ourselves is mainly concentrated on the military quality of the troops, the ability of the commanders, and the logistics. It is true that the Guanchi troops are subject to innate conditions. Compared with the Japanese army, the military quality of the troops is still relatively low. There is a big gap, and the ability of the commanders is also far behind that of graduates from regular Japanese military academies. There is nothing to hide. This is the real situation, so theoretically speaking, our concerns are normal."
"But this is only theoretically normal. Commander, the military quality of the Kanai troops may indeed be somewhat different from that of the Japanese army, but the foundation of the Kanai troops are all old bones who have gone through the Long March. Their political firmness is definitely not inferior to that of the Japanese army. The reason why our training level is poor is because of insufficient ammunition and equipment, and we simply cannot achieve the training intensity we should have."
"In previous battles, the Guannai troops focused more on close combat, night combat, and hand-to-hand combat for the same reason. However, this situation has now been fundamentally changed. The shortcomings of the original equipment have greatly Part of it has been replenished by us through air transport. Although there is still a certain gap between the training level and the Japanese army that wants to help you, it is still capable of fighting the Japanese army."
"Without this ability, the Kanai troops would not have been able to survive and grow stronger despite the brutal raids by the Japanese army. You must know that the mountainous terrain is beneficial to defense, and it is also a relatively weak area ruled by the Japanese and puppet troops, but Given that the Japanese army had an absolute advantage, this so-called advantage was only relative."
"This year's Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain is a clear example. Not only were hundreds of thousands of troops defeated by the Japanese army in a very short period of time, but they were defeated by the Japanese army in a very short period of time. The Kanai troops were able to have an absolute advantage over the Japanese army. There are certain reasons for its development and growth under such circumstances.”
"Although the original military quality of the Guannai troops is relatively poor due to equipment and logistics, this is not absolute, but relative. Commander, you are the leader and have rich actual combat experience. You should know that on the battlefield There are no absolutes in anything.”
"The troops within the pass also have their advantages. The troops at all levels have rich combat experience, especially good at mountain warfare and guerrilla warfare. The commanders at all levels have extremely rich practical experience. Although the application of some tactics is still somewhat poor, their judgment of the battlefield situation and Analysis, I still have a certain degree of certainty.”