Chapter 289 If they can’t hold it, our Eighth Route Army will defend it!
"This battle plan... is full of loopholes... it can even be said that it is not a qualified battle plan.
At least that's the case with this battle plan for these four regiments."
After listening to what Brigade Commander Chen said, the boss made the final conclusion.
“If we want to rely on this battle plan to successfully achieve our combat objectives, the total strength of the four regiments must reach 15,000, or at least 12,000, and they must all be veterans who have fought in major wars!
If the four regiments, the Vanguard, Independent, New 1st, and New 2nd, each have 3,000 veterans, and the equipment level of the New 2nd can reach the level of the Independent or New 1st, then this battle plan, apart from being a little bold, can still work. "
"But the problem now is that the total number of people in the four regiments may be around 12,000, but among these 12,000 people, at least half are new recruits!
Although the recruits in their four regiments are comparable to the veterans in other troops.
But in terms of combat effectiveness, they are definitely not as good as their own veterans.
Among them, the Japanese defense forces in Ping'an County had more than a thousand troops themselves, plus two regiments of puppet troops, the number of enemy troops in the entire Ping'an County was at least four thousand.
In a siege, the defending side has a natural advantage. Under the same equipment conditions, the attacking side must have at least three times as many troops as the defending side.
The ancients said that the way to use troops is to surround them with ten of them, attack them with five of them, and divide them into twice the number of their opponents, so that they can fight back.
Although this is not ancient times, with a large number of hot weapons, the difference in numbers is relatively not that important.
But it was difficult for the 3,000 people in the vanguard to attack a fortified city with at least 4,000 defenders...
Moreover, the vanguard regiment is best at fighting in the field, in positional battles, and in encounters, rather than in siege battles.
In the siege, even if the vanguard group successfully captured Ping'an County, it would suffer heavy losses.
Let’s not talk about whether Kong Jie and the New Second Regiment can hold off the Japanese reinforcements coming from Shuiquan and other directions for such a long time.
Without considering other circumstances, it was almost impossible for the vanguard regiment to capture the Ping'an County town, which was defended by more than 4,000 people and had strong fortifications.
Especially since the heavy weapons and equipment of the vanguard group could not be brought over, the main attacking force was one or two mountain cannons and some infantry cannons. With these weapons and equipment, they wanted to capture the county seat of Ping'an County...
Unless all the Japanese in the county were killed, or the puppet troops in the county mutinied like when the New 1st Regiment attacked Linyuan County, and turned their guns directly on the Japanese.
Otherwise, I really have no idea how the Vanguard Group can take over Ping'an County on their own.
As for Li Yunlong's support with the independent regiment, combined with the troops of the independent regiment and the heavy weapons of the two regiments, it would not be a big problem for this force to capture Ping'an County.
However, the Independent Regiment captured the Zhangzhuang stronghold. Even though Li Yunlong had a large number of artillery that the Vanguard Regiment did not take away, it would still take Li Yunlong a lot of time to capture the Zhangzhuang stronghold given the strength of the fortifications there.
There are not many defenders in the Zhangzhuang stronghold. Even if Li Yunlong can wipe out all the Japanese and puppet troops in the artillery tower of the Japanese stronghold near the Dongzhang River, I don't think there are many defenders in the Zhangzhuang stronghold.
No Japanese soldier or puppet army could escape into the Zhangzhuang stronghold.
But even if that is the case, there must be at least 600 defenders in Zhangzhuang stronghold..."
"Well, Boss, the latest intelligence is that there is a whole squadron of Japanese soldiers in the Japanese stronghold of Zhangzhuang, more than 200 people, and nearly two battalions of puppet troops... The total strength is about 800."
After hearing the boss talking about the number of enemy troops in the Zhangzhuang stronghold, Brigade Commander Chen quickly told the boss the latest information he had obtained to prevent him from making a wrong judgment.
"Eight hundred people?! Damn it, how could there be so many people in Zhangzhuang stronghold?!
The intelligence sent by the Shanxi Suiyuan Army said that the Zhangzhuang stronghold was originally designed to be defended by a force of about 600 people. How did the Japanese shove 800 people into the Zhangzhuang stronghold?!"
"Boss, can you believe what the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army said? They originally guaranteed that there would be no problems at Niangzi Pass and that there was no need to increase troops for defense? What was the result?
Damn it, the master had reminded Yan Laoxi at that time to send reinforcements to Niangzi Pass, as the Japanese were likely to attack Niangzi Pass.
If Niangzi Pass is lost, we will definitely lose the Battle of Xinkou, and we may not even be able to defend Taiyuan.
In the end, Old Yan just wouldn’t listen. Damn it, did he really think we would harm him?
If Yan Laoxi had listened to you and sent more troops to Niangzi Pass, we might have won the Battle of Xinkou.
Even if we can't win, we can at least draw with the Japanese.
It won’t get to the point where they can’t even defend Taiyuan later on.
Old Yan is really shameless. He can't even defend his old nest in Taiyuan... Our Eighth Route Army has the equipment and numbers of the Shanxi Suiyuan Army. Damn it, if the Japanese devils can get into the mountains..."
"Alright, alright, stop complaining about the past. If Yan Laoxi can't defend it, then we will defend it next!"
Listening to Brigade Commander Chen's complaints, the general raised his hand to interrupt him and spoke to him in a firm tone.
Since Yan Laoxi could not defend his own territory, resulting in a large amount of land being occupied by the Japanese, then the Eighth Route Army will take these places back from the Japanese and defend them!
There were many twists and turns in the matter, and the boss didn't want to discuss these too much with Brigade Commander Chen, so when he saw Brigade Commander Chen involuntarily began to change the subject, the boss spoke directly and brought the topic back on track.
"You just mentioned the latest intelligence that the Japanese have sent reinforcements to Zhangzhuang stronghold... So are there any changes to the fortifications at Zhangzhuang stronghold? Is it the same as the last intelligence?"
“Almost, with two more trenches.
The Japanese built a canal on the Dongzhang River... It should be an old canal. The Japanese used it and then diverted the water to the Zhangzhuang stronghold.
The Japanese built two trenches on the outskirts of the Zhangzhuang stronghold, both of which were filled with water. The trenches led directly into the stronghold. There were also a large number of drainage ditches and many idle trenches, so water attack was not feasible.
Then there are various obstacles outside the stronghold, such as mines, barbed wire, and chevaux de frise.
The most important high ground in the center of the stronghold is the three ten-meter-high artillery towers. The three artillery towers are in the shape of a triangle. No matter which direction the attack comes from, one will have to face attacks from at least two artillery towers.
Then there were a large number of bunkers and blockhouses, with outer walls, trenches, bunkers, blockhouses and artillery towers connected by tunnels. No one knew what methods the Japanese used.
Not only can the water be diverted, but it can also ensure that the water will not seep into the tunnel and cause tunnel landslides or something. How strange.
With so much water, any soil would be softened.
But I have never heard of any tunnel collapse in the Zhangzhuang stronghold.
The tunnels in Baihu Ridge have collapsed several times. If there weren't so many tunnels and ventilation holes and resting points set up everywhere, an accident would have almost happened.
As a result, there has been no tunnel collapse in the Zhangzhuang stronghold.”
When Brigade Commander Chen talked about the tunnels in Zhangzhuang, he couldn't help but think of the tunnel warfare Qin Yangming had mentioned. Although Qin Yangming was the first to come up with the tactic of tunnel warfare.
However, it was not the Taihang Taiyue Military Region of the 129th Division that mastered the tunnel warfare to perfection.
But the troops from Wing Province area.
Because Yi Province is located on a large plain, there is no complex terrain at all.
The guerrillas over there wanted to deal with the Japanese, and they could only rely on various woods and green tents to deal with the Japanese.
But ever since the tactic of tunnel warfare was developed by Qin Yangming.
The soldiers in Wing Province, especially those from the local forces, felt like they had found a treasure and mobilized the masses to build tunnels in the villages.
When the Japanese came, they hid the villagers in the tunnel at the bottom.
The soldiers then used the remaining tunnels to deal with the Japanese, and used the complex tunnels and various buildings in the village to kill and injure the Japanese.
However, whether it was the troops from Yi Province or the tunnels dug by Qin Yangming himself, they all had more or less landslide problems.
Even in Wing Province, there were casualties due to tunnel collapse.
However, according to the information collected by Brigade Commander Chen, the tunnel dug by the Japanese in the Zhangzhuang stronghold did not seem to have experienced any landslides.
This made Brigade Commander Chen curious.
Even the specially reinforced tunnel built by Qin Yangming on Baihu Ridge had experienced landslides.
As a result, the tunnel built by the Japanese in the Zhangzhuang stronghold was soaked in water every day, but there was no landslide.
Brigade Commander Chen was a little confused, but soon he stopped worrying about this issue.
After all, tunnel warfare is mainly used for defense, and is used when there is a huge disparity in strength between the enemy and us.
However, if the two forces are evenly matched, or if the Eighth Route Army takes the initiative to attack, then the tunnel will be of little use.
It won't be long before the Eighth Route Army is involved in a major war with the Japanese. This time, the Eighth Route Army is taking the initiative to attack, and it will continue to take the initiative to attack in the future as well, and will no longer be forced to defend.
The issue of the tunnel has become a small problem.
Unless the Eighth Route Army loses the battle.
But Brigade Commander Chen does not think that their Eighth Route Army will lose this battle!
"Oh, by the way, Boss, Xiao Qin sent a telegram saying that according to the information provided by two Japanese devils, Murakuchi Saburo and Qingquan Muyi, there are several more field guns at the Zhangzhuang stronghold, the 88mm field guns produced by Yan Laoxi."
"How many field guns are there at Zhangzhuang stronghold?!"
After hearing Brigade Commander Chen say that there were more field artillery at the Zhangzhuang stronghold, the boss stood up immediately.
The 88mm field gun produced by Yan Laoxi was used by the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army when it retreated from Taiyuan. In order to speed up the retreat, the artillery units of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army directly sank a large number of artillery pieces into the river.
Then the Eighth Route Army salvaged those artillery pieces in the cold winter, including two 88mm field guns.
However, in the whole of China, including the Japanese, only Yan Laoxi's family used the 88mm caliber field gun.
Therefore, only Yan Laoxi has artillery shells of this caliber.
However, Yan Laoxi had already lost the Taiyuan Arsenal, and the equipment that was rushed out could only produce some infantry weapons such as bullets, rifles, grenade launchers, mortars, and light machine guns.
There is simply no ability to produce large-caliber artillery shells anymore.
Therefore, the shells in Yan Laoxi's hands were all previous stocks, and every time one was used, one less shell was left.
It was impossible for Yan Laoxi to give the artillery shells that he himself was short of to the Eighth Route Army.
Since Yan Laoxi was unable to produce artillery shells, the Eighth Route Army was even less able to produce 88mm field artillery shells.
Moreover, the Eighth Route Army had no way of getting replenishment of artillery shells of this caliber from the Japanese.
So they had no choice but to return the two 88mm field guns to the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army.
Because the Eighth Route Army Headquarters used the remaining artillery pieces to form the initial headquarters artillery regiment, which belonged to the Eighth Route Army's artillery regiment.
Therefore, the boss was naturally deeply impressed by the 88mm field gun produced by Yan Laoxi.
I also know the approximate data of the 88mm field gun produced by Yan Laoxi.
If we only talk about the range, then the range of the 88mm field gun is similar to that of the 105mm field gun currently equipped by the heavy artillery regiment of the Eighth Route Army headquarters.
It can hit targets twenty miles away.
The mountain artillery equipped by the Eighth Route Army, especially those equipped by the Vanguard Regiment, could only fire at a maximum range of about sixteen miles.
The range of the 88mm field gun is four miles away, and this distance of four miles means that the mountain artillery of the Eighth Route Army will be suppressed by the field artillery stored in the Zhangzhuang stronghold of the Japanese!
The Japanese field artillery could launch artillery attacks on the Eighth Route Army from outside the range of the Eighth Route Army's mountain artillery.
However, the Eighth Route Army's mountain artillery was unable to launch a counterattack against the Japanese stronghold in Zhangzhuang.
"What do you think? The fortifications at Zhangzhuang stronghold were originally very strong. Even a 75mm mountain cannon might not be able to break through those bunkers and turrets... When Yan Laoxi built the Zhangzhuang stronghold, I heard that he used mountain cannons for acceptance inspection.
The same 75mm mountain cannon fired one shot, and the bunkers only had some cracks on the surface.
This is the case of direct shooting at close range.
Even if the Japanese in the Zhangzhuang stronghold had no artillery, the independent regiment would still have to spend a lot of time and pay a huge price to attack the Zhangzhuang stronghold.
But now there are eight more artillery pieces in the Zhangzhuang stronghold, and they are field artillery pieces with a much longer range and much greater power than the mountain artillery equipped by the independent regiment! "
(End of this chapter)
