After nearly ten hours of anxious waiting, they finally received a call back that Yi Liangpin had arrived on time. While Wang Guangyu and Chen Hanzhang breathed a sigh of relief, they immediately sent a report to Yang Zhen, who had rushed back to Yilanzhu Mountain, and reported Yi Liangpin's arrival on time. The good product has been successfully put in place.
After receiving Wang Guangyu's telegram, Yang Zhen, who seemed calm on the surface, but actually had his heart on edge, breathed a sigh of relief. The Sixth Division's retreat was cut off. The next step depends on Wang Guangyu on the front line. Guangyu and Chen Hanzhang have performed well. Although the plan has gone smoothly so far, for Yang Zhen, this is just the first step in a long march of thousands of miles.
Previous victories do not mean that they can be maintained in the future. Before the outbreak of the Pacific War, no one could share the pressure on them, or even cooperate with them. Although the containment of the Japanese army, especially the Kwantung Army, on the Guannei battlefield was not small, it was not small. This kind of containment is limited, because Beiman is too far away from the pass.
Moreover, in Yang Zhen's heart, there is still an idea that makes him somewhat uneasy but cannot express it. His arrival has changed the course of history and the fate of too many characters. The Pacific War will still be like the history he knows so well. Will it explode as expected? Yang Zhen had no idea at all.
If the Americans had not participated in the war, once the Soviet-German war broke out, all channels for outsourcing supplies would be cut off. Without the ability to sustain large-scale and sustained military production, how long could we last? Without steel, gasoline, and various military raw materials, etc. With all the necessary supplies, do I really still have hope of completely defeating the Japanese army?
He changed the situation of the Sino-Japanese war, but he could not change the situation on the European battlefield. The German army, which had won a great victory in the Western European war, may have begun to move eastward.
Although he has now laid down a large base area, his troops have increased from two to three hundred when they broke out from Harbin the year before last to nearly one hundred thousand in field troops now, including artillery, armor, and aviation. Although both armor and aviation are still there. We are training, but it is only a matter of time before we join the war, but there is still a long way to go before we can completely defeat the Japanese army.
The Japanese army has no weak troops. This is Yang Zhen's first impression of fighting the Japanese army since he traveled back to this era. The fact that he has been able to reach this day, from a few hundred people at the beginning to more than 100,000 well-equipped troops, is not so much The true combat effectiveness of the troops exceeded that of the Japanese army. It was better to say that it was 50% of our own efforts, 30% of luck, and 20% of foresight.
Although the Kwantung Army initially valued itself because of the incident with Unit 731, it did not fundamentally change its impression of itself. The initial underestimation of the enemy, coupled with a series of tactical mistakes, was accurately grasped by itself. , brought about today's situation, but this definitely cannot mean that the Japanese army's combat effectiveness is poor and vulnerable.
No matter which unit he encountered, the Japanese army's tenacious fighting spirit, strong technical and tactical skills, strong tactical command ability, and high quality of individual soldiers were rare in his two generations, at least what he encountered in later generations. Those, whether they are the special forces of foreign armies or some so-called hegemonic countries, are arrogant and think that they are the best in the world. None of them can compare.
Even the Fourth Division, which is known as the Soft Persimmons, has high quality of its individual soldiers and junior officers that are unmatched by other armies. The reason why they are called Soft-legged Crabs is not because of their poor military quality, but because of their poor military quality. Because its own fighting will is weak.
The reason why I am where I am today is not because the military quality of my troops truly exceeds that of my opponents. There are many reasons that determine victory or defeat on the battlefield. Just like a few years later, even at the end of World War II, the overall quality of the Soviet army was still insufficient. Compared with the German army, it still won the Soviet-German war.
Whenever you underestimate this powerful opponent, although there are certain inevitable factors for failure, accidental factors also account for a large part, you will pay an unimaginable price. In every battle, even if you lose one A small oversight may ruin the hard-won situation.
When there is a lot of pressure, it is motivation, but most of the time it is still pressure. When later generations read biographies of the Liberation War, they always disagree with the description that the commanders of the major field armies during the war were highly nervous and often suffered from insomnia. Which of the four major field armies at that time was There are not many talents, but with capable subordinates, why does the coach still have to work so hard?
But when he was really immersed in the situation, Yang Zhen realized that this was not something that his subordinates were unable to do. After a battle, from planning to implementation, every column, division position, and even marching route had to be thought about. After a big battle, Yang Zhen felt completely exhausted.
Standing on the top of Zhushan Mountain, looking at the blazing fire on the southern horizon and the faint sound of dense artillery fire, Yang Zhen knew that it was a brigade launching a strong attack on the Japanese Sixth Division. Tonight was the most critical moment in the entire Western Front battle. One night, whether your follow-up plan can be realized depends on how you occupy it tonight.
After pondering for a long time, Yang Zhen finally decided not to interfere and let Wang Guangyu and the others fight tonight. What he should learn now is the ability to control the battle situation, rather than replace those front-line column commanders and brigade commanders to command a tactical level battle. of battle.
After making up his mind, Yang Zhen turned around and took a cigarette from Xiao Huzi behind him and lit it. However, he didn't take a puff. He just looked at the rising smoke and listened to the faint sound of gunfire coming from the south. He was constantly calculating the next move of the Japanese army, especially after Wang Guangyu completed the southern battle of Yilan, the next specific action would be to go east to penetrate the Japanese army in Muling, or to go west to participate in the attack on the 14th Division. Go into battle.
After thinking about it for a while, Yang Zhen realized that he was used to thinking about problems on the map, and he really couldn't adapt to leaving the map. Although he took Du Kaishan to almost all the areas where the Japanese army faced off in the south last winter, all the terrain was basically in Yang Zhen's direction. Inside Zhen's head, but leaving the map, Yang Zhen was still a little uncomfortable.
After stubbing out the cigarette that he had not smoked, Yang Zhen turned around and walked down the mountain back to his headquarters. As soon as he entered the headquarters, he saw a staff officer coming over and handed a telegram to Yang Zhen and said: "No. 1, No. 3 The call came in, the situation on the Western Front has changed, and the Japanese army has made new moves."
When Yang Zhen heard Guo Bingxun's telegram, he quickly took it and read it carefully. He then walked to the map and looked at the new movements of the Japanese troops that the staff had mapped out according to the map. The Japanese troops on the western front actually rushed from Mishan within six hours. The 11th Division added six squadrons of infantry, two squadrons of artillery, and two squadrons of tanks, and attacked Tao Jingfei's headquarters from the south flank, which was blocking the Eighth Division.
Although with the assistance of his old partner Du Kaishan, Tao Jingfei now has four and a half regiments, but facing three Japanese regiments plus six infantry squadrons, as well as superior ground and air firepower, he is under unimaginable pressure. After nightfall, although the Japanese aviation forces retreated, the Japanese army increased the front-line heavy artillery equipment and even transferred two 240 mm heavy artillery.
Although the range of this heavy artillery is not as good as the Japanese 150mm howitzer, and the rate of fire is slow and the size is bulky, but its lethality is extremely high. One shell can flatten an entire hill. The Japanese army equipped this heavy artillery with the long-range 105 cannon and the 150 howitzer specifically to suppress Tao Jingfei's depth.
While using artillery fire to block the reinforcements of the follow-up troops, relying on the superior strength and firepower, chariots were used to cover the infantry on the defenders' front-line positions, and repeated and sustained attacks were carried out across the entire front regardless of priority. The intensity of the attack did not weaken even at night. , trying to lead the way with one point, breaking through one point, causing the entire defenders to collapse, and then using long-range artillery fire to eliminate the defenders on the way to retreat.
The Eighth Division's move was very vicious. They knew that the opponent in front of them was resisting tenaciously to ensure the safety of their main force fighting in the south of Baoqing and the east of Boli. As long as their superiors did not give orders and did not even fight to the end, they would be They absolutely dare not retreat, and no matter how the opponent fights, there is only one main combat purpose, and that is to ensure the safety of the flanks of the Baoqing battlefield.
After discovering this idea of the opponent, the Japanese army deployed its main heavy artillery firepower to suppress the opponent's depth, using long-range firepower to carry out a large number of damage to the enemy in depth, and handed over the task of supporting infantry operations to the division. It belongs to the mountain field artillery and the three newly transferred field artillery squadrons and two mountain artillery squadrons.
There are only a few roads from the junction of Baoqing and Mishan, where the Eighth Division's attack was launched, to the main battlefield in the southwest of Baoqing County. These two Type 96 240mm guns with a range of more than 16,000 meters The heavy howitzers cooperated with the Muling Heavy Artillery Regiment, which was deployed in full force and was equipped with the ** Type 150 cannon with a range of more than 18,000 meters, to build a firepower network between Tao Jingfei's front-line position and the depth. From time to time, precise strikes are carried out against the identified deep deployment of troops.
At the beginning, Tao Jingfei, who had no precautions and had never even seen such heavy artillery, suffered great losses under the bombardment of such heavy artillery. Tao Jingfei, who was arranged in a trapezoidal shape and blocked the attack layer by layer along the mountainous terrain, and the two companies responsible for in-depth defense. , without firing a single shot, the hillocks they were defending were razed to the ground by the Japanese 240mm heavy artillery. The two companies suffered all casualties under the huge destructive power of the 240mm heavy artillery shells.
After nightfall, Tao Jingfei's pressure not only did not ease, but in fact increased with the arrival of the two 240 mm heavy artillery. The connection between the front-line position and the depth was almost completely interrupted, and all wired telephones were paralyzed. If all the front-line companies were not equipped with walkie-talkies, I am afraid that by this time, Tao Jingfei would have lost contact or even control over the front-line companies.
Under the repeated attacks of the Japanese infantry and artillery tanks, the front-line troops suffered more casualties than during the day. In order to reinforce the front-line positions, Tao Jingfei, who was blocked by the long-range firepower of the Japanese army, could only adopt small batches and multiple batches of reinforcements to even or even The platoon worked as a unit to reinforce the front-line positions, but even so, the losses were heavy. Often a company would go up, and by the time they arrived at the designated location, not even one platoon was left, and the rest were killed on the way.
In desperation, Tao Jingfei, who was already a little weakened and unable to hold on, could only send a telegram to Guo Bingxun, requesting that at least one regiment of reinforcements should be transferred within ten hours, or that the entire army should send troops to Guo Bingxun during the break between Japanese artillery fire.