When the intensive explosion of artillery shells ended, Colonel Jiang Yuan, who had escaped because he went to the front line to observe the battle situation in person, stared dumbly at the sixteen-door 96-Type 150 that he had arranged neatly just now. Howitzers turned into piles of scrap metal.
The huge power of the 122 rocket launcher not only turned his heavy artillery into piles of scrap metal, but even overturned several tractor-trailers directly to the ground. One of them was overturned dozens of meters away from its original position. As for the artillery on the position, under this intense firepower coverage, almost no one could survive.
The Forty-seventh Regiment, which lost 70% of its artillery support as soon as the war started, was in full swing with the wolf pack-like tactics of the Eighth Independent Brigade, and the all-out attacks from the First and Third Brigades. After a while, the Forty-seventh Regiment finally lost the ability to continue the attack due to the gap in strength and firepower, as well as the situation of being attacked from three sides. On the north bank of a tributary of the Colo River, it was attacked by the 1st Brigade and the 3rd Independent Brigade, the Independent Brigade. A regiment of the Eighth Brigade encircled.
Of course, Wang Guangyu will not invest all the troops at hand just because the Japanese army is just a reinforced regiment. Although the First Division is known as the Japanese First Field Division, a mere 49th Regiment does not have such a big reputation. .Now that the teeth of the 49th Regiment have been pulled out, using two brigades to surround and annihilate a reinforced regiment is a bit too wasteful anyway.
After completing the encirclement of the 49th Regiment, Wang Guangyu left two regiments of the 3rd Independent Brigade and one regiment of the 8th Independent Brigade to be responsible for annihilating the 49th Regiment. While he led one regiment of the 3rd Independent Brigade and the 8th Independent Brigade. The brigade and the first brigade continued to go north. After seizing the entire territory of Nenjiang County designated by the headquarters, they successively seized the Sancha River and Duobaoshan mining areas, and forcibly crossed the Genli River, captured the Handa Automobile Line and entered Aihui County. And in Handa After receiving the air-dropped food and ammunition, the steam front line began to develop deep into the Heihe River.
After receiving the report that Wang Guangyu had surrounded the 49th Regiment, entered Aihui County, cut off the connection between the remaining troops of the First Division, and was developing into the deeper areas of Heihe Province, Yang Zhen relaxed. At the same time, Wang Guangyu was telegraphed to seize Sunwu County as quickly as possible with no less than two regiments of troops.
Sunwu County is the largest military industrial base in North Manchuria, excluding Harbin, which was secretly built after the Japanese army occupied the Northeast. Its military production capacity ranks third after Shenyang and Harbin, ranking third in the entire Northeast. Taking Sunwu Wu, in other words, completely interrupted the Japanese army's last capital for stubborn resistance in the northern Manchuria area.
After giving Wang Guangyu the order to capture Soochow County as quickly as possible, Yang Zhen thought for a while and added another telegram: "You can move freely depending on the situation, but you must pay attention to the Japanese fortresses in the Shengshan area north of Soochow City. In addition, during combat, if it can be solved with firepower, it will be solved with firepower. Everything is based on annihilating the enemy while reducing casualties."
After the accompanying combat staff sent the telegram, Guo Bingxun said with a wry smile: "No. 1, if you do this, don't you worry that the troops below will develop the habit of relying too much on fire support? Our ordnance construction has just begun, just for To prepare the artillery shells needed for this battle, we used our production capacity. Coupled with the arsenal's current overtime production, we can barely cope with it."
"If the army develops the problem of relying too much on fire support, it will be difficult to fight in the future. First of all, not counting local troops and the reserve teams currently being formed. We now have four field columns alone, nearly Sixteen brigades, 178,000 people. Including one brigade each of armor, cavalry, and aviation regiment, there are more than 200,000 people."
"With such a large army, the ammunition consumption in a battle is almost an astronomical figure. Our arsenal production capacity is still limited. The Americans have promised to export a batch of military equipment and raw material production equipment, but the minimum cost to ship this batch of equipment to us is It will take two months. Once the installation is completed, I don’t know if it will be ready for production.”
"And even if they are all put into production, it is still unknown how much this production capacity will be. Our foundation is too thin, and the production capacity of artillery shells has never been able to increase. Once the troops below develop too much reliance on fire support, we will not be able to do so in the short term at least. To bear this consumption. No. 1, you have to consider our military industry's affordability. We don't have the capital to waste it lavishly."
Regarding Guo Bingxun's worries, Yang Zhen shook his head slightly and said: "Old Guo, your worries are not wrong, and I understand them. But this battle is different. Yi Zong cannot delay the First Division for too long, let alone There were too many casualties. There is also a Ninth Division in Shuangcheng, and I don’t know how many reinforcements the Japanese army will mobilize to join the battle."
"Once the first column suffers too many casualties and loses its combat effectiveness, we have no other choice but to open the center gate wide and mobilize Wang Xiaoming's second column to join the battle. While Liu Changshun is still seizing the time to form new troops, the troops in the base area are already empty. Under extreme circumstances, it is not a wise idea to transfer the second column to the west. Don't forget, there is also a cunning 29th Division whose exact location we have not yet been able to locate. We cannot make a desperate move and let the Japanese army copy it. Our home base."
"Liu Changshun cannot transfer to the west. Let's talk about how much combat effectiveness we can mobilize to supplement the troops in the newly liberated areas. Reliability alone means that we cannot hastily mobilize troops in the new liberated areas. But now that the potential of the troops in the base area has been tapped, in It is no longer realistic to mobilize some military-trained reservists to join the war."
"In the case of excessive casualties of the troops, loss of combat effectiveness and loss of materials, we can only choose the lesser. After all, artillery shells are man-made, and as long as the people are saved, there will always be artillery shells. In addition, after the liberation of Harbin, The Chinese workers in its arsenal are very enthusiastic about production. They are now working overtime to make artillery shells using the raw materials in stock."
"Chen Bo and I reported that based on the amount of raw materials stored by the Japanese army in the Harbin Arsenal, as well as its maximum production capacity, if all were invested in the production of artillery shells, within half a month, it could provide two thousand seven rounds per day. 15mm Japanese mountain artillery shells, 3,000 rounds of 90mm mortar shells, and 500 rounds of 150mm howitzer shells.”
"That is to say, we can now replenish the Japanese mountain field artillery used in the army directly from Harbin. However, your worries are not unreasonable. Let's treat this matter as a special case. Although I cannot say that it will not be an exception, but for We still need to seize the time for the education of the troops.”
"It is extremely undesirable for any army to develop an over-reliance on firepower for combat. It is absolutely intolerable to not be able to fight without firepower support. And for us, we are not qualified to do so at the moment. This special Circumstances can only be approved under specific circumstances. Even if you don't have to live a tight life, you can't be extravagant and intentionally wasteful."
"But now, we still need firepower to make up for the lack of troops. Even if the conditions are insufficient, we can only bite the bullet. If the Yi Zong can free up its hands as soon as possible and does not suffer serious damage, it can still maintain its continuous combat capability. , which is also a good thing for us.”
It's not that Guo Bingxun didn't understand Yang Zhen's thinking, he also knew that there was no other way. When the troops were tight, they could only use firepower to make up for it. But Guo Bingxun was always worried that the troops would develop an over-reliance on firepower. The problem of support. And this problem will be a fatal threat to the current army.
Thinking of this, Guo Bingxun shook his head and took out a piece of telegraph paper and handed it to Yang Zhen and said: "On the 1st, Li Mingrui's side has completed all combat operations. At the cost of sacrificing 38 people and injuring 120 people, they successively captured Tiger Head Fortress: Tiger Mountain, Tiger North Mountain, Tiger West Mountain, Tiger East Mountain, and Tiger Roaring Mountain positions."
"Except for a small number of Japanese troops who escaped along the river, the rest of the Hutou Fortress garrison was completely wiped out. Major General Cang Zhouzang, the commander of the Japanese army's Hutou Fortress garrison, was killed. Twenty thousand tons of grain, a large number of bedding and ten items of uniforms and ten pieces of clothing stored by the Japanese army in the Hutou Fortress area were seized. Seven 75mm mountain guns, sixteen 92nd infantry guns, thirteen anti-aircraft machine guns, ten triple 25mm anti-aircraft guns, four 150mm howitzers, and a large amount of ammunition."
"In addition, they also rescued more than 10,000 workers who were renovating the Hutou Fortress, as well as some secret files. Li Mingrui is now asking for instructions, is it possible to use a total blasting method to completely blow up the Tiger Head Fortress? So as not to stay, It’s a hidden danger.”
Hearing that Li Mingrui had finally taken down the Tiger Head Fortress, Yang Zhen felt a little sorry for the casualties of the special operators he had trained so painstakingly, but he also knew that when facing thousands of Japanese troops, Li Mingrui only suffered casualties of more than a hundred people, which was commendable. No matter how well-trained the special forces are, humans are not gods.
However, regarding the disposal of the Tiger Head Fortress, Yang Zhen pondered for a moment before shaking his head and saying: "There is no need to blow it up, leaving it may be useful in the future. Let Li Mingrui destroy the surface features of the Tiger Head Fortress and seal all the entrances and exits of the fortifications. .Also, ask him to get me a detailed diagram of the fortress structure."
"As for their next move, let them go north to cooperate with the first column. The Japanese army has built a large fortress in the Shengshan area of the Sunwu area. Let them use the experience of occupying the Hutou Fortress to cooperate with the first column to capture the Shengshan Fortress. In addition, , let them pay attention to rescuing the workers.”
"The devils have now noticed that we are using rescued labor to replenish our troops. In order to cut off our important source of troops and to keep it secret, there have been cases of large-scale massacres of labor when our army failed in the battle."
"As a field column, the first-column combat method is not suitable as a rescue force. I think it is appropriate and necessary to transfer Li Mingrui to the first-column combat direction. The direct reconnaissance brigade has undergone specialized training. He is quite competent in the task of rescuing workers."
Having said this, Yang Zhen paused for a moment and then said: "Not only the Tiger Head Fortress must be preserved, but also the fortress areas built by the Japanese army along the Heilongjiang and Ussuri Rivers must be preserved as long as they have not experienced large-scale and severe damage. Especially their defensive functions. It must be kept as much as possible. And it must be kept strictly confidential and no one is allowed to get close. Especially intelligence personnel from Jiangbei are not allowed to get close." ^-^^-^