A Journey Through the Flames of War in the Republican Era

The senior cadet team, the "Red Army Battalion," carefully carried out mine clearance. Someone actually dug out two hands full of stinking feces while clearing mines, a truly gruesome sight. He was so angry that he cursed loudly.

After finally clearing away all the landmines, the "Red Army Battalion" continued its advance.

Several more gunshots rang out in the distance. The senior students were already on edge, and their reaction was lightning fast. The crowd immediately scattered, lay down, and rolled around to find cover, ready to return fire. But then there was silence in the distance.

The director then gave another order: "Small enemy harassment attack, 1 dead and 2 wounded."

Colonel Horton was furious: "That damned old cat, he's given us these big gifts before we've even met!"

He vowed to catch the old fox and pluck all its fur off.

Battalion Commander Thorpe and Colonel Horton devised a plan. The senior cadets immediately dispatched a reconnaissance squad to the front, with scouts leading the way, while the main force advanced cautiously in battle formation.

Gunfire erupted intermittently from ahead, indicating a firefight between the reconnaissance squad and the opposing squad. By the time the main force arrived, the enemy had already fled. The dispatched troops were all elite soldiers; the director determined that the enemy situation was detected in time, and there were no casualties.

Subsequently, they occasionally spotted enemy scouts on horseback in the distance. They didn't approach, but it was enough to make the senior marching formation tense for a while. They stopped and prepared for battle, but the enemy only fired a few shots and then drove away.

And so they continued, stopping and starting, until they crossed the small river that separated the two areas, half a day had passed.

Song Hongfei and Zhang Yi brought the essence of guerrilla tactics, known as "sparrow warfare," to its fullest extent. They fought and ran, and before they even met, the two attacking formations of the senior "Red Army Battalion," Company A and Company B, suffered greatly, with each of them losing more than a platoon's worth of soldiers.

In fact, Song Hongfei and Zhang Yi also took advantage of their familiarity with the terrain. They and Wang Zhi had already explored this vast area of ​​mountains and rivers in order to "improve their meals".

West Point Superintendent Major General Smith and Brigadier General Edward sat on an observation platform on a high slope, taking in everything through high-powered artillery scopes and telescopes. Brigadier General Louis was in the command post tent not far away, serving as the exercise's chief director.

The "Blue Army" battalion, consisting of over 300 third-year cadets, was also organized into a battalion-sized unit, comprising three infantry companies and one artillery company. Unlike the "Red Army" battalion, which consisted of fourth-year cadets, West Point's cadet officers were all fourth-year cadets, with third-year cadets typically only holding the rank of sergeant or senior sergeant. Therefore, the "Blue Army's" battalion and company-level officers were still the original tactical instructors and sergeants from the cadet companies, while squad and platoon-level commanders were selected from the top-performing elite cadets.

The third-year Blue Team was led by Lieutenant Colonel Winters, nicknamed "Old Cat," who served as both instructor and battalion commander. Despite opposition, Old Cat proposed that Song Hongfei serve as battalion operations staff officer and company commander of Blue Team C Company, responsible for the "mobile assault," with Zhang Yi as Song Hongfei's deputy and concurrently as assault platoon leader. Old Cat's reasoning was simple: the plan was originally conceived by Song Hongfei and Zhang Yi themselves.

Before the exercise, when Old Cat called to report that the third-year cadets, who were acting as the Blue Army, planned to "minorly modify" the exercise plan and add some "realistic" elements, Brigadier General Louis was somewhat dismissive. The exercise plan submitted by the "Blue Army Battalion" was also vague, and he thought it was really just a minor modification.

When the red and blue teams brought their troops to the exercise area and set up their formations, Brigadier General Louis immediately saw through the deception and realized what was going on.

Brigadier General Louis discovered that the Blue Army had greatly expanded their defensive positions. In addition to the main position, the basic positions, auxiliary positions, backup positions, and reserve positions were arranged in a deep echelon. In front of the main position, there were warning areas, firing areas, forward defense areas, and further forward outposts, including observation posts, listening posts, guard posts, patrols, etc., to prevent enemy infiltration and surprise attacks.

The area was riddled with minefields, barbed wire, rock piles, and obstacles. The battalion's mortars, infantry guns, and heavy machine guns provided long-range, medium-range, and deep-penetration firepower, covering all aspects of the terrain with both blocking and lethal fire.

"Layered configuration, defense in depth." Brigadier General Louis was also an expert, nodding in approval. The Blues' defensive setup was excellent, and Old Cat's "combat-oriented" approach was indeed true.

However, Brigadier General Louis had some doubts. The Blue Army's position seemed to have expanded a bit too much. Not only had they created a deep defensive position at the "base," but they had also created one in another mountainous area behind the base. Furthermore, their forward outposts had been pushed forward quite far, with their field of fire almost reaching the boundary river in the middle. The entire depth was nearly 5 kilometers, which was too large an operational area for a battalion-level infantry unit.

However, this meant that once the Fourth Red Army crossed the boundary river in the middle, they would be unable to escape the surveillance and firepower of the Blue Army's sentries.

Brigadier General Louis also noticed that the Blue Army's forward outposts were meticulously arranged, extending along two small hills like two bull's horns, directly blocking the routes of the Red Army's main and secondary attacking formations. Due to the terrain constraints in this area, the Red Army had no way to avoid or bypass them; they had to capture these two strongpoints first, otherwise they would be unable to launch an attack on the Blue Army's main position and would instead be caught in a pincer movement.

"It seems that 'Old Cat' and his men were well prepared," Brigadier General Louis thought to himself. At the same time, he noticed something unusual: the two forward outposts of the Blue Army each had nearly a platoon of troops deployed, the main position had the size of a company, the reserve positions behind it had less than a company, and where was the other company and some artillery firepower?

What is the Blues up to? Brigadier General Louis pondered.

"Where is that old cat now?" Brigadier General Louis asked.

"Lieutenant Colonel Winters is at the Blues' main 'base' position." Soon, someone in the command center confirmed the situation and reported.

"Whatever tricks the Blues are up to, at this point, we can only wait until they've finished their game," Brigadier General Louis said thoughtfully.

Principal Smith soon received the report from the directing staff, which surprised him somewhat. He thought to himself that this old cat couldn't resist coming up with some tricks after all. At the same time, he found himself looking forward to it. This was the best time to test the troops' adaptability. He signaled to the directing staff to let the red and blue teams continue.

The Red Army has crossed the middle boundary river and occupied a low, gentle slope, which they had chosen long ago as a forward support position, ready to launch an attack.

Soon, the sounds of "thump! thump! thump!" rang out from the Blue Army's forward outpost, as the Blue Army's 60mm mortars simulated firing, conducting intercepting fire. The Red Army's attack formations, Companies A and B, also quickly triggered the minefield laid in front of the Blue Army's outpost, sending up plumes of colored smoke.

Immediately afterwards, the dense and compact roar of 7.62mm Browning water-cooled heavy machine guns rang out.

The Red Army ran headlong into the Blue Army's two "horns," and was blocked by concentrated firepower, unable to move.

"Take cover! Take cover! Suppress fire immediately!" Company Commander Musk roared.

"Thump! Thump! Thump!" Soon, under the command of Battalion Commander Thorpe, the Red Army's battalion's 81mm mortars also opened fire.

The Blue Army's firepower was temporarily suppressed, but the Red Army's first wave of attack was ineffective, and they had to retreat to the attack launch line.