A Journey Through the Flames of War in the Republican Era

Fu Mengteng, chief of staff of the Training Corps, introduced the battle situation in front of the battle map: "Our Training Corps has deployed a battle line from Sanzhang Village and Yantou Village in the north to Beihui Dongfang Village in the south. The Southeast Army is blocking us from the terrain. Zhangjialing, the core position of its Chishui River defense line, is located on high ground and controls the entire open battlefield. Its defensive fortifications are particularly strong. In recent days, our army has attacked the west bank of the Xitong Highway multiple times but has failed to break through. We have had to retreat to the east bank of the Chishui River, resulting in a stalemate."

Fu Mengteng pointed to the location of Yantou Village on the map and said, "Our army has achieved a breakthrough at Yantou Village, but it is located at the northernmost end of the battle line, far from the enemy's core defense line, Zhangjialing. Due to geographical limitations, it is difficult to deploy a large force to continue expanding. On the contrary, because the force is difficult to deploy, it is vulnerable to long-range artillery fire from the enemy in the Zhangjialing area. If the main force wants to break through the Chishui River defense line in a comprehensive manner, it must also achieve effective breakthroughs on the central and southern lines."

The team members at headquarters looked at the map and nodded silently, racking their brains for a solution.

On the west bank of the Chishui River, Yantou Village, Qinglong Village, Ganjiacun Village, Chishui Railway Station, Chishui Street, Fanjiacun Village, Caiguo Village, and Zhongwang Village were lined up in a row of strongholds, running north to south. Further inland were strongholds such as Yaoli Village, Xinzhuang Village, Zhangling Village, and Changmin Village. These strongholds were the main trenches of the Southeast Army's Chishui River defense line. The continuous trenches, fortifications, and strongholds completely divided the entire battlefield.

The two sides were locked in a stalemate in trench warfare. The Southeast Army continuously strengthened its defense system, constructing a large number of various bunkers, fortifications, and firing points. Outside the positions were numerous barbed wire fences, abatis, and minefields. The artillery and numerous machine guns from Zhangjialing formed a fire net that covered the open battlefield of the Chishui River. It was indeed extremely difficult to break through the defense line on a large scale.

The Chishui River battlefield lacked sufficient area for large-scale troop deployment and open flanks, rendering any traditional infantry group assault tactics ineffective. The Central Army launched numerous frontal attacks along the Chishui River line, only to be met with fierce artillery fire from the flanks at Zhangjialing.

Zhangjialing is located about 3 li southwest of the Chishui River highway bridge, east of Zhanglingzi Village. Its strategic location offers a commanding view, bordered by the Qinling Mountains to the south and the Wei River to the north. It is approximately 4 li from the nearest point on the south bank of the Wei River and less than 7 li from the northernmost point of the trenches at Yantou Village. To the north, it controls the Xi'an-Tongguan Highway and the Longhai Railway; to the east, it controls the open plain 1500 meters west of the Chishui River. The entire battlefield lies beneath its commanding gaze. For many days, the Southeast Army constructed formidable defensive fortifications at Zhangjialing, which they called "Steel Armor Ridge."

Since the 20th, the Central Army, supported by artillery fire, launched several attacks from its positions on the east bank of the Chishui River towards the Zhangjialing area, but all failed to break through. The Southeast Army held firm to its strong fortifications at Zhangjialing, putting up a tenacious resistance. The two sides fought fiercely for many days, with continuous artillery fire. The Central Army's westward advance was blocked, and the two armies faced each other along the Chishui River, resulting in a stalemate.

The Longhai Railway passes through Chishui Station, west of the Chishui River, dividing the area between Yantou Village and Zhangjialing in two, and extending westward to Weinan County. The area north of the Chishui River highway bridge to the south bank of the Wei River was the attack zone for the sergeant battalion, special service battalion, and 1st Regiment of the Training Corps.

Under the command of Battalion Commander Li Zishu, the 1st Battalion of the 1st Regiment of the Training Corps crossed the Chishui River between the Xitong Highway and the Longhai Railway and launched several attacks on the Chishui Railway Station. They were met with fierce resistance from the Southeast Army, and the fighting was exceptionally intense. The 1st Battalion's repeated attacks failed, forcing them to halt, and the two sides entered a state of mutual surveillance and stalemate.

The Xitong Highway runs through Chishui Street. South of the highway is the front line of the 2nd Regiment of the Training Corps and the 28th Division of the Central Army, directly facing Zhangjialing, the core position of the Southeast Army west of the Chishui River. It is also the closest place to Zhangjialing and the place where the fighting is most intense.

Gui Shuaizhen said, "Because Zhangjialing is a major constraint, our army will find it difficult to break through head-on. I have decided that the right flank will use elite troops to penetrate along the breakthrough point at Yantou Village and attack the depth of the Southeast Army north of the Longhai Railway. The left flank will use the 2nd Regiment to attack head-on along the Chishui Bridge on the Xitong Highway, while the remaining forces will contain the enemy's troops and firepower. After the penetrating troops have reached their positions, they will join forces with the 1st Regiment and the Special Service Battalion to launch a pincer attack and capture the line of Qinglong Village, Ganjiacun, and Chishui Railway Station south of Yantou Village. The most important thing is whether the troops penetrating through the breakthrough point can successfully attack the depth!"

This crucial point, as everyone naturally knows, refers to the sergeant battalion that secured the breakthrough point at Yantou Village. No one but the sergeant battalion could carry out the operation of penetrating deep into the enemy's flank and rear.

Song Hongfei was not surprised. In his previous operational plan to attack Yantou Village, the plan was to "break through one point and shake the whole line." Once the breakthrough was made and the initiative on the battlefield was seized, it would depend on how far the General Headquarters and the Eastern Route Army Group Command wanted to expand.

Song Hongfei stared at the map, silently calculating factors such as the strength, firepower, distance, time, and positional deployment of both sides. Seeing his focused expression, the others thought that other units would probably not be able to undertake the task of penetrating deep into the enemy's flank and rear.

Gui Shuaizhen looked at Song Hongfei and said, "Battalion Commander Song, the mission of penetrating deep into the enemy's flank and rear will be carried out by your sergeant battalion. After your battalion has penetrated to the area west of Ganjiacun and north of Changmincun and Xinzhuangcun, it will join forces with the 1st Regiment to launch a pincer attack on the enemy north of the Longhai Railway and south of the Wei River!"

Song Hongfei said, "There is no problem with fighting, but such an assault requires a lot of firepower and mobility, which is still a bit insufficient for our sergeant battalion alone."

Gui Shuaizhen and Xu Yuexiang couldn't help but exchange a smile.

Gui Shuaizhen said, "I knew you, Song Hongfei, had already set a trap for me! These past few days you've been talking to me about tanks and armored vehicles, which is really giving me a headache. Where am I supposed to find them for you? Now that the commander of the armored forces, Commander-in-Chief Xu, has arrived, you should report the battle plan to Commander Xu in detail."

Song Hongfei stood at attention: "Yes, sir!"

Xu Yuexiang laughed and said, "It seems you've had your eye on my chariot for a while now, and you're thinking of taking it?"

Song Hongfei admitted somewhat embarrassedly that when he formulated the plan to attack Yantou Village, he had already envisioned the subsequent combat operations after breaking through the breach.

Xu Yuexiang said, "Then tell me in detail."

"Yes!" Song Hongfei walked to the map, making marks as he reported his plan in detail.

The plan was largely similar to the operation to attack Yantou Village. The biggest difference was that this time, armored troops were incorporated. The combined assault force, consisting of infantry, armored troops, and artillery, used its strong mobility and firepower to launch a tactical deep attack from the breach, fiercely penetrate the enemy's flank, and attack from both sides with the frontal assault force to capture the area north of the Longhai Railway, thus shaking the enemy's entire Chishui River defense line.

In terms of the specific composition of the assault echelon, it is divided into two echelons. First, the superior forces and firepower are concentrated to break through a selected defensive area. Then, the left echelon is supported by fierce artillery and accompanying artillery to carry out a slow advance barrage support. It quickly wedges in from the rear to attack the enemy's main trench. It also breaks through and restrains the enemy's mobile reserve forces in the main trench from multiple directions and points, creating favorable conditions for the second echelon.

The second echelon on the right flank then moved swiftly, making incursions over a wider area and longer distances along the open farmland on the south bank of the Wei River. They resolutely and rapidly wedged in to carry out a deep offensive, quickly disrupting the enemy's battle formation before their follow-up troops and reserves could move forward to provide support.

In this way, the enemy's forward defense line was tied up by our first echelon and could not be withdrawn. Its follow-up troops could not deploy to form a solid defense under the continuous deep attacks of our second echelon. Its deep position support points were suppressed and captured by our second echelon and long-range artillery. Ultimately, its entire defensive line was in a state of being overwhelmed and completely shaken and collapsed under our deep attacks.

The core idea of ​​Song Hongfei's battle plan was rapid maneuver and flanking maneuver, that is, to use armored forces to continuously maneuver and penetrate deep into the enemy's flanks and rear, bypassing targets that were not easy to attack, leaving them for follow-up troops to eliminate, so as to disrupt and destroy the enemy's defense system in the shortest possible time.

This entire set of ideas and tactical methods reached an extremely high level in strategic and tactical theory. Everyone present listened attentively, their faces showing deep thought, and they secretly exclaimed: The creativity of war is truly amazing.

To be fair, Song Hongfei actually combined the Soviet Union's "deep battle theory" with Germany's "blitzkrieg" tactics. These two approaches basically laid the foundation for the mechanized continental army offensive tactics that would last for decades after World War II. The difference was that Song Hongfei's operational plans were much smaller in scale and complexity. This was a military strategic thought that transcended the times and was naturally advanced to the point of being incomprehensible at the time.

In fact, until the 1980s, the guiding principle of NATO forces' operations was still how to stop the follow-up attacks of the Soviet second echelon deep into enemy territory.

Xu Yuexiang pondered carefully, and couldn't help but exclaim in admiration. Others, who didn't understand mechanization, only thought Song Hongfei's tactics were profound and ingenious, but they didn't have any other deeper thoughts. As the father of armored forces, he naturally understood that this was a world-leading mechanized warfare theory.

He had long wanted to show the powerful combat capabilities of mechanized forces to some of the high-ranking officials in the Chinese government who had been criticizing the excessive spending on armored forces, in order to shut up these narrow-minded people.

Unfortunately, the Nationalist Army's infantry units had virtually no understanding or training in combined arms operations. In the minds of many generals, tanks were merely used to cover infantry combat. The armored troops were isolated and helpless, having never had the opportunity to fully demonstrate their capabilities since their inception.

Xu Yuexiang pondered for a long time. The Sergeant Battalion of the Training Corps was an independent battalion with a short command hierarchy and a moderate troop size. Coordinating operations between the Sergeant Battalion and armored units would best leverage their advantages in mobility and flexibility. Looking across the entire Chinese Army, no other unit had received the same advanced military doctrine and tactical training as the Sergeant Battalion. Having this highly sought-after figure, who had pioneered mechanized warfare theory and practical examples, take charge was the most suitable option. Furthermore, even if the operation failed to achieve the desired results, no one else would dare to criticize it.

Xu Yuexiang judged that with the Southeast Army's weak anti-tank capabilities and lackluster combat effectiveness, the loss of tanks in such a combined infantry-tank deep assault operation would not be significant. It was a golden opportunity! It would achieve multiple goals at once, so why not take it? He couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement.

Xu Yuexiang immediately ordered: "Notify the company commanders and above of the tank training battalion and armored reconnaissance battalion to come here immediately!"