Chapter 294: Commander Chen's method, a stupid method
"Why, do you think the guards at your brigade can't guarantee my safety? Do you need to mobilize the special forces?
You just said it yourself, you still haven't figured out how Xiao Qin and his men are planning to take over the Zhangzhuang stronghold.
What if Xiao Qin and his men were planning to use the special forces to take over the Zhangzhuang stronghold? Why did you call the special forces back at this time? What were you thinking?
Even if the Zhangzhuang stronghold is not suitable for deploying the special forces, Xiao Qin would not choose to deploy the special forces.
But don't forget that Xiao Qin is now discussing with two Japanese devils, Qingquan Muyi and Murakuchi Saburo, at the Xiaocaozhuang stronghold.
If the negotiation is successful in the end, I can guarantee that Xiao Qin will definitely bring a troop, or send a troop, to follow Qingquan Muyi and Murakuchi Saburo, the two Japanese devils, into the county seat of Ping'an County.
In this situation, which unit do you think Xiao Qin has is most suitable for doing this?
There is no need to talk about recalling the special forces. Tell me how you attacked the Zhangzhuang stronghold so that the casualties and losses of the troops were the lowest. Let me hear it.
See if you can figure out Xiao Qin and his men's real method of attacking Zhangzhuang."
When the general just arrived at the brigade headquarters, Brigade Commander Chen suggested that Qin Yangming's special forces be transferred back to serve as the general's guard.
Because this time when the boss came to the brigade headquarters, he only brought more than 20 guards in addition to a few headquarters staff.
Although these twenty-odd guards are genuine veteran Red Army soldiers, veteran soldiers, the elite among the elite, and their combat effectiveness can be regarded as the strongest group of soldiers in the Eighth Route Army.
Moreover, each guard is equipped with two guns, a submachine gun and a 20-shot revolver, as well as light machine guns, grenade launchers, and sniper rifles.
But I thought that the boss would go to the front line to directly command the battle.
Brigade Commander Chen was a little worried about the safety of the boss, so he suggested that Qin Yangming's special forces be transferred back to strengthen the security force around the boss.
Qin Yangming's special forces team is good at attacking, and also good at protecting personnel.
Brigade Commander Chen knew that Qin Yangming's special forces had always served as guards during non-combat periods and had always followed Qin Yangming.
Moreover, the boss needs to hide his whereabouts, and it just so happens that the special forces are also very good at hiding their whereabouts.
That's why Brigade Commander Chen made this suggestion.
However, the boss directly rejected Brigade Commander Chen’s suggestion at the very beginning.
He also asked Brigade Commander Chen not to tell Qin Yangming about his coming.
Now, when the boss saw that Brigade Commander Chen once again proposed to transfer the special forces back to serve as guards of the headquarters, he directly and seriously rejected Brigade Commander Chen's proposal.
When Brigade Commander Chen saw that the boss' tone had turned serious, he knew that the matter could no longer be brought up, so he could only nod and promise, then began to explain his method.
"My method of attacking the Zhangzhuang stronghold with minimal troop losses actually has something to do with Xiao Qin.
When we fought against the Japanese Fourth Brigade some time ago, didn't Xiao Qin first fight against the Japanese fleeing troops? That was the Yamazaki Battalion that was put together from everywhere.
At that time, Xiao Qin adopted the offensive method of advancing through earthwork.
So my method is also somewhat related to earthwork.
But I didn't approach by digging trenches.
The terrain outside the Japanese Zhangzhuang stronghold was not suitable for approaching by digging trenches.
So I combined the methods used by the Japanese in the two battle reports, the blocking battle fought by Xiao Qin at Baihuling and the defensive battle fought by Kong Jie at the ditch.
In order to break through the fire blockade set up by Xiao Qin and Kong Jie, the Japanese used a similar method.
That is to use trucks to transport a large number of sandbags, steel plates and other items to make mobile shelters, and then after approaching the position, soldiers hiding behind the mobile shelters will blast them, or build floating bridges. "
Listening to what Brigade Commander Chen said, the boss thought of a combat report submitted by the North China Wing Central Military Region, and subconsciously uttered a word.
"Earth tank!"
"Ok?"
When Brigade Commander Chen saw the boss suddenly say an unfamiliar word, he looked at him with some confusion.
He knew the word "earth" and what it meant.
He knew the word "tank" and what it was, and had even driven one.
But when these three words were combined, Brigade Commander Chen became a little confused.
What is an earth tank?
Seeing that Brigade Commander Chen was a little confused, the boss immediately started to explain.
“The same is true for homemade tanks and homemade guns. They are not real tanks, but something made using special methods that can function as tanks.
It was made by some militiamen in North China, that is, in the Yi Zhong area.
Those militiamen wanted to take down a Japanese artillery tower.
But they had no direct-fire artillery or artillery.
The main force nearby did have direct-fire artillery, but it was obvious that the main force could not use precious artillery shells for a small turret, so they lent a grenade launcher and several explosive packs to the militia.
It was the idea proposed by Xiao Qin, and then the grenade launcher was developed by the logistics department.
However, those grenade launchers only use black powder as power to launch grenades or special grenades. As for the accuracy, it is difficult to use specially made grenades.
Otherwise, you can only shoot straight at a distance of a few dozen meters at most, and it is difficult to hit the target accurately.
The militia could not borrow any cannon, only a grenade launcher and a few explosive packs.
It is obviously impossible to take down the turret using a grenade launcher, especially a grenade launcher without specially made small grenades.
So the militiamen had no choice but to use explosive packs.
According to the description of the militia, although there were no Japanese devils in the artillery tower, there were a dozen puppet soldiers and a light machine gun.
It is difficult to get close to the turret.
So the militiamen came up with an idea. They used large carts, the same carts we used to transport supplies, and added tables to create something that the militiamen called a homemade tank.
To put it simply, this earth tank is similar to the method that the Japanese used to transport sandbags by trucks and transform them into mobile shelters.
It’s just that one is human power and the other is mechanical power.
One can hold more things, the other can hold less.
Isn’t this your method? "
The boss thought about the earth tank and looked at Brigade Commander Chen with a strange expression.
Brigade Commander Chen listened to what the boss said and smiled embarrassedly.
"I was thinking that I was the first to come up with this idea, but I didn't expect that someone else had already come up with it." "Don't flatter me. Besides, this idea was not thought up by Yi Zhong either. Xiao Qin mentioned it a long time ago.
It’s just that Shanxi is mountainous and has little flat land, and Xiao Qin has seized so many direct-fire artillery.
This method is of little use to the troops in Shanxi.
On the one hand, there is no suitable terrain, and the artillery towers on the Shanxi side have at least one heavy machine gun or a grenade launcher.
The earth tanks were of little use and could easily be shot down by the Japanese with grenade launchers.
Or it could be pierced by bullets from a heavy machine gun.
After all, a homemade tank is just a homemade tank, not a real tank. Even if it is a real tank, the Japanese's tiny tank still cannot withstand the direct fire from heavy machine guns.
The last time we fought against the Japanese, the Fourth Brigade captured several tanks. The front armor of one of the tanks was directly shot into a sieve by the heavy machine guns of the Xiao Qin Pioneer Regiment.
I heard that when the logistics department was repairing the tank, they found a warhead weighing more than ten kilograms from the tank.
Zhang Wanhe was so angry that he scolded the prodigal son for the whole day.
But judging from your expression, you probably haven't paid attention to the suggestion made by Xiao Qin.
This cannot be blamed on you. After all, you are fighting in Shanxi. The terrain is different and the response methods are also different.
You naturally won't spend your energy on combat methods that don't suit the actual situation here.
Even I only passed this method to the Yi Zhong Military Region and let them handle it themselves.
Obviously, they didn't take it seriously either, until the last time some militia used this method to actually take down a small artillery tower, this method was taken seriously.
Although it was just a small artillery tower, this type of small artillery tower was the most common one built by the Japanese in Yi Province.
If we could take down the artillery tower using a simpler method, it would indeed be a good thing for our troops over there.
The troops in Yi Province and Shanxi, especially compared with your 129th Division, have pitifully small reserves of artillery shells, although they no longer need the approval of the division commander to fire a shot as before.
However, if they want to use direct-fire artillery shells, they still need approval from cadres at the level of the regiment commander.
If you want to use mountain artillery, you need the approval of the brigade commander.
After all, not every unit can compare with the 129th Division where a regimental commander can use mountain artillery.
Any main regiment of the 129th Division could use mountain artillery to fight against the Japanese, but other troops did not have such good conditions.
Especially those non-main force units, the artillery equipped by those non-main force units were replaced from the main force.
Oh, many of the main forces are equipped with the Shanghai-made K-type field artillery that your 386th Brigade replaced.
Therefore, with the method of using earth tanks, even local forces such as militia, district squads, and county brigades can attack small artillery towers without the help of direct-fire artillery.
It can also save a lot of artillery shells for the troops.
If I'm not mistaken, your method is to use earth tanks and carry out earthworks. Once you get close to the bunkers or artillery towers in the Zhangzhuang stronghold, you can directly use explosive packs to blast them, right?"
After seeing that the boss had basically told him his original preparation method, Brigade Commander Chen could only nod to indicate that it was correct.
"Boss, it's about the same, I'm going to use this method.
It's just that I don't only use earth tanks.
I used a combination of earth tanks and sandbags.
My original approach was to prepare a large number of sandbags, the more the better.
Then use sandbags to move the position forward layer by layer.
At the same time, prepare a large number of wooden boards, raw wood and other items.
Before the battle begins, I will have people create a large amount of smoke at the upwind side of the Zhangzhuang stronghold.
Let the smoke cover the entire battlefield, just like when Xiao Qin burned a lot of weeds to create thick smoke to conceal the Japanese aircraft reconnaissance, use smoke to cover the entire battlefield.
In this case, the enemy troops in the Zhangzhuang stronghold will be more or less affected by the thick smoke and will not be able to see clearly what is happening ahead.
Without sufficient vision, the Japanese and puppet troops in the stronghold would not be able to carry out accurate shooting.
After creating smoke to obscure the enemy's vision in the Zhangzhuang stronghold, I will order the artillery to bombard the Zhangzhuang stronghold, but not at a high frequency, just fire a shot every few minutes.
There is no need to even use mountain artillery, which cannot blow down the Japanese's artillery towers or bunkers anyway, so just use mortars to slowly blow them up.
Or maybe not bombing.
In short, just try to interfere with the Japanese in the stronghold as much as possible.
Then the soldiers used carts to push the sandbags that had been prepared long ago and spread them out layer by layer.
It is equivalent to expanding the position outward layer by layer, using the cover of sandbags to slowly approach the Japanese stronghold.
If we encounter trenches dug by the Japanese, we can simply fill them up with sandbags.
If there is a barbed wire fence, just cover it with wooden boards, or use grenades to blow up the supporting pillars of the barbed wire fence, then lay wooden boards on the barbed wire fence and press it down with sandbags.
To put it simply, it is to use this very stupid, but effective but can effectively reduce troop losses and save a lot of ammunition and other supplies to slowly approach the bunkers, artillery towers and other things in the Japanese Zhangzhuang stronghold.
Although there were field artillery and other artillery in the Japanese strongholds.
However, the cannons in the artillery tower certainly cannot be used normally.
If the Japanese wanted to use those artillery pieces for shooting, they had to move the artillery pieces outside the gun tower or outside the bunker.
But as long as the Japs open fire first, I believe that with the ability of Li Erhu, the artillery battalion commander of the vanguard regiment, he can definitely blow up the Japs' artillery with one shot.
In other words, the soldiers I arranged to place sandbags only had to face the Japanese's heavy machine gun fire.
But as long as there are enough sandbags and they are laid thickly, the Japanese heavy machine guns will not pose a threat to the soldiers.
When those soldiers approached the bunker or artillery tower in the stronghold, if the Japanese in the artillery tower and bunker chose to leave the cover and launch a charge, they would kill the soldiers behind the sandbags.
I think the twenty-shot and submachine guns equipped by those soldiers will teach the Japanese what it means to have a fast gun from seven steps away, and to have a fast and accurate gun within seven steps!
This method is very good, but its only drawback is that it is too time-consuming... I looked at the map they handed in, and there were no suitable shelters within a 500-meter radius of the Zhangzhuang stronghold.
That means the troops need to lay 500 meters of sandbags. Just laying the sandbags will take three or four hours even without any interference."
(End of this chapter)
