Speaking of this, Liu Yanlai shook his head and said: "In village street fighting and town battles, the most troublesome thing is the accidental injuries to the people during the battle. Especially now that we are still fighting on the local territory, and the battlefield is surrounded by our own flesh and blood compatriots. For This situation is even more troublesome.”
"Commander, among the two counties of Tongliao and Kailu, the largest number are not Japanese or Kwantung Army, but local Chinese people. Although the two counties are not big, they are transportation arteries in the hinterland of Northeast China. These two counties are important passages into the nomadic areas of Mongolia and have a large population. The Japanese army was so crazy that they didn't even care about their own countrymen, let alone the Chinese who were not even human in their eyes."
"During our battle in Bayantala, we have discovered more than once that the Japanese army captured ordinary people into fortifications and used them as human shields. The armored brigade was directly under the motorized infantry regiment and inserted itself between Tongliao and Kailu, cutting off the two sides. This situation also happened many times when we contacted the Japanese military."
"In the more populous counties of Tongliao and Kailu, I am afraid that the Japanese army will use a large number of local Chinese as human shields. Commander Wang also encountered the same battle on the Linxi battlefield. They captured the Linxi county town. At that time, the local people suffered heavy casualties."
"If we use a large number of flamethrowers, this burning can certainly speed up our progress, but the Japs are finished, and the common people who are used as human shields by the Japs will not be spared. It is difficult to judge on the battlefield what is inside the Japanese fortifications. How many common people are there or are there any common people?"
"We cannot ask our soldiers to brave the enemy's firepower and run to the Japanese fortifications to see if there are any compatriots inside. Commander, I am afraid that after entering the city, we will not only be unable to use flamethrowers, but also artillery. Reduce use as much as possible.”
After briefly talking about his worries, Liu Yanlai said with a wry smile: "Actually, the problem of thickened gasoline is easy to solve. It sounds difficult to deal with, but it's actually not complicated. It's just that the gasoline is mixed with some yellow soap powder or six. Six powders, blend them according to a certain proportion, stir evenly and you’re done.”
"As long as we can get these two things, we can prepare enough thickened gasoline. We have gasoline. Yellow soap powder is a bit difficult, but it is not impossible to solve it. It's just that the thickened gasoline we prepare ourselves may be different due to the proportion. , it will have a certain impact on the life or use of the flamethrower, but it can still barely solve the problem."
"But according to the plan you just made, our next main battle is to enter street battles and battles for villages and towns. The most difficult thing now is how to use these equipment in the battle for villages and towns. We must control the use of equipment by the troops. We must impose strict restrictions, otherwise if it causes heavy casualties to the people, Commander No. 1 will not be able to spare us."
"And the most important thing is that our 75mm mountain artillery shells and 82 mortar shells were used too much in clearing minefields before, and now they are somewhat insufficient in quantity, while our minesweeper tanks can only Clearing anti-infantry mines and dealing with these large numbers of anti-tank mines is of little use. Of the six mine-clearing tanks in the only mine-sweeping truck platoon, the mine-clearing rollers of four of them have been damaged and cannot be used anymore."
"There are also those anti-tank trenches. We lack wood to build passages for tanks. From the moment we entered the Horqin Left Wing Center Banner, we did not find a complete piece of wood. Almost all the shaped trees were cut down by the Japanese army. All the Except for the houses that were converted into fortifications by the Japanese army, they were also blown up by the Japanese army. Part of the wood that was finally raised was used to build a pontoon bridge on the Xiliao River."
"On this triangular battlefield, the Japanese army built not just one anti-tank trench, but at least three in each direction. In the north of Tongliao, they dug an anti-tank trench three and a half meters wide and two meters wide every five kilometers. Judging from the fact that an anti-tank trench requires three passages to build a deep anti-tank trench, the demand for this wood is very high."
"But what we are facing now is that we lack enough wood. The wood in hand is not enough to build an anti-tank trench. The troops below also want to quickly open a channel for the tank, but now it is really difficult for a clever woman to make a meal without rice. , we can’t fill it with tanks, we only have tanks for the whole army, and if we destroy one, we will lose one.”
Regarding the difficulties raised by Liu Yanlai, Chen Hanzhang looked at the old comrade from the Second Route Army who was personally transferred to the Armored Forces Headquarters as Chief of Staff by No. 1 and said with a wry smile: "Old man, our current conditions are better. , but I found that both us senior commanders and the troops below have a problem."
"Compared to the days when the guerrillas had to earn a single meal, a bullet, or even a cotton-padded coat by themselves, and they had to use their lives, this flexibility has become worse, especially the ability to adapt to the battlefield situation, but it has declined. Too many times, I look to my superiors when I encounter problems, but I don’t know how to use my brain.”
"In a word, we have lost our own brains. Now the living conditions have changed, and the equipment conditions have improved. We have tanks, heavy artillery, and aircraft that we could not even think of in the past, but our flexibility is gone. The adaptability of senior commanders has also deteriorated much compared to the past."
"Indeed, in this battle, the Japanese army adopted new tactics that we have never encountered before. The Japanese machine guns, anti-tank firepower, and artillery on the Tongliao front line were unprecedented in comparison with any single division of the Japanese army before. When fighting, it is incomparable."
"Especially because the minefield is so vast and dense, we never expected it before. But apart from a little bit of hard work, do we really have nothing to do? It's still our previous tactics. The main reason is that it is too rigid and the command system is too rigid."
"There is nothing wrong with clearing landmines under the enemy's nose and using artillery fire as much as possible to reduce the casualties of engineers, but we not only have body-barrel artillery, but also a large number of rocket launchers, and we are engaged in such head-on battles against fortress groups. At a time when the Japanese military movement almost entirely relied on communication trenches, and almost all artillery positions were underground, so the use of our rocket launchers was quite restricted."
"But we think that although the rocket launchers cannot blow up their permanent fortifications, there should be no problem in clearing the surface fortifications and minefields. In the case where the use of rocket launchers is greatly restricted, then why don't we use rocket launchers to clean them In the minefields of the Japanese army, they have to use barrel artillery and mortars, which are more suitable at the moment."
"The explosion range of one 122 rocket shell is much higher than that of the 75mm mountain field artillery. Using a salvo of ten 122 rocket shells, the minefield cleared is enough for us to quickly pass through the two regiments. , and by the way, surface obstacles on the Japanese positions, such as barbed wire and other explosives, can also be cleared away."
"Both our 122 rocket launchers and 107 rocket launchers can be disassembled and used, especially the 107 rocket launcher. After being disassembled, it can even be used by tactical teams. A 107 rocket launcher can be disassembled. Use two to four tubes as an organized unit to advance with the infantry and tanks. When encountering a minefield, two salvos are enough to open a passage for infantry or tanks."
"Each battalion of our rocket artillery unit is equipped with a certain number of incendiary bombs. The 122 rocket launchers are also equipped with a hundred special incendiary bombs. These ammunition cannot penetrate the Japanese army's permanent fortifications, but they can be burned with fire. Is there any way to drive the Japanese troops out of the fortifications?"
"And our engineers can only clear mines one by one or rely on armored minesweeping vehicles, instead of using explosive packages and blasting tubes to open a demining channel in the Japanese minefields. If several blasting tubes are tied together, isn't it just one Is it a long mine-clearing equipment? Six blasting tubes tied in series can be used to clear minefields."
"There are also flamethrowers. Not all of them can be used to clear mines. I don't believe that the Japanese anti-tank mines and anti-personnel mines can withstand explosive blasts and fires. We can use artillery to open up the movement channels of tanks, and then use tanks to cover them." Can the engineers open up the infantry attack channel?"
"I admit that during the training, I, the commander of the armored forces, made some dogmatic mistakes in some aspects. I did not fully expect that the Japanese army could also use landmines on a large scale, because there were very few cases of the Japanese army using landmines in our previous battles. Even if there are such situations, they are only in small numbers and cannot be called minefields at all.”
"When we broke through the Songhua River, the Japanese minefields we encountered were not minefields at all. They only deployed a few hundred mines on the main channels. The impact on our offensive was simply negligible. It can be said that such a large area This is the first time we have encountered a minefield."
"But where have the heads of our commanders at all levels gone, and the ability to respond quickly on the battlefield has also been lost. Could it be that they will not be able to fight without artillery cover? If they did not prepare the necessary equipment in advance, they will not be able to make it themselves now. The situation is different and the enemy's situation is different, so the tactical means adopted will change with the change of the enemy's situation."
"There are so many wooden stakes used to fix barbed wire on the Japanese positions we captured. We divided these wooden stakes into wooden strips and tied them with explosives. Is it difficult to make blasting equipment to clear minefields? Our mine clearance equipment is insufficient, but the explosives The quantity is quite sufficient.”
"Before we set off in a roundabout way, the headquarters allocated 200,000 kilograms of explosives to us. When we were interspersed, we also seized more than five tons of Japanese explosives. The amount of explosives in our hands is quite sufficient. This kind of operation by the Japanese army It’s not that we have no way to deal with the situation, but our commanders at all levels are too rigid in their command and lack the initiative and flexibility.”
"As for the anti-tank trenches that are really short of wood, let the engineers use blasting methods to open the passage. If that still doesn't work, use tanks to fill it. The Japanese anti-tank trenches are only three and a half meters wide. Our main tank is the T-26 light tank. The length of the tank is four meters."
"With two tanks and a small amount of wood, we can completely fill a simple passage through the anti-tank trench. As long as we open the passage and clear out the Japanese flat-firing artillery on the opposite side, our tanks can remain in the anti-tank trench. Can I pull it out and continue using it after the war?"
"There is also the use of equipment captured on the battlefield. When did we learn to ignore the captured equipment? In the battles in Bayantala and north of Bayantala, more than ten weapons and nine weapons were captured. Why don’t we use the 2nd Infantry Cannon, the 37 Type Rapid Fire Cannon, the Taisho 11 Type Infantry Flat Fire Cannon, and the 97 Type 20mm Automatic Cannon.”
"In the organizational structure of our army, 14mm anti-aircraft machine guns can indeed be used as long-range cover firepower for infantry when necessary, but when the number is insufficient and unable to follow the movement of front-line attack troops, why can't we use much lighter ones? In addition to the incomparable rate of fire, it will be replaced by a 20mm automatic cannon with a longer range."