Canteen System Assistance Notes

"Baga! You idiots!"

As soon as he heard the words "mission accomplished", Tsuchida Heigo's blood pressure soared. In the training beforehand, he repeatedly emphasized that before determining the location of the enemy leader,

The key to disguise infiltration is to avoid fighting! He slapped

Go and give the squad leader a "three-pendemand".

"There was an encounter, why didn't you report it?"

"I'm so sorry, sir!" The squad leader didn't even try to hide, but pointed at a soldier behind him. "Signature soldier Koji has died a heroic death! His radio was also damaged and is no longer usable!"

Plans cannot keep up with changes, and actual combat operations are always full of various variables.

As the commander of the Tsuchida Advance Team, Tsuchida Heigo felt all eyes on him. The situation had changed significantly. The combat unit had been exposed. Although they had defeated the Red Army they encountered, it was clear that the Red Army would send troops to encircle and destroy them. If they continued with their original plan, disguising themselves as a merchant caravan and its escort, they would likely be blocked by the Eighth Route Army.

From a rational point of view, it is obvious that the mission should be declared a failure and evacuated early.

The countless Japanese troops who swept through the disturbed and hostile base area proved the suicidal nature of this behavior with their own lives. If an immediate evacuation was announced, the advancing team would be only a dozen kilometers away from the Japanese-controlled area, making it easy to escape.

Moreover, there were six detachments launching decapitation attacks against the Red Army base, so it was normal that some would succeed and some would fail.

But as a Showa staff officer, a mountain warfare expert who created the "Handbook of North China Mountain Defense Operations", a guerrilla warfare god of the Japanese army, and a tactical master who claimed that his ancestors were "descendants of ninjas", how could Tsuchida Heigo give up so easily?

Tsuchida Heigo waved his hand with a determined look. He turned around and asked the puppet soldiers and members of the propaganda team who were leading the way:

"The intelligence we received earlier about the Eighth Route Red Army's command center recently being active in the Heshun area is correct, isn't it?" "Hey! Your Excellency, the intelligence indicates that it is indeed true!"

"Well... now, since there's no time to verify the authenticity of the intelligence in detail, why not charge forward bravely and give it a try!" He made a knife with his palm and slashed down suddenly, as if holding a saber, cutting the enemy in half. Tsuchida ordered without hesitation:

“Everyone has!

"Abandon the carts, dismantle the weapons and transport them! Build booby traps out of the excess ammunition and plant them on the spot! Let's take the small road!" Then, the entire team charged towards the Heshun area, like Oda Nobunaga at Okehazama!

Chapter 311: The Vanguard and the Rangers

The overall style of this stealth assassination operation is to think about the big picture and spend time on details.

Compared with the historical style of the Mashiko Advance Team, which was "large-scale contingent sweeping and encirclement, and small-scale disguised decapitation raids", the "Tsuchida Advance Team" in this time and space was more of an assassin and wolf pack-style infiltration combat intention.

It was in this situation that Tsuchida Heigo's luck proved effective. While Heshun County didn't have the Liu Mingzhao he'd longed for, it did host an Eighth Route Army headquarters. Qin Jiwei, from the newly formed 11th Brigade, the 129th Division's Independent Detachment, had previously established his headquarters in Huili Village. Located near the outskirts of the base area, it served as a frontline for resisting Japanese infiltration and the campaign to clear the countryside. Establishing a frontline headquarters there would facilitate command of various units and coordination of counter-mopping-up operations.

At this moment, because of the distraction of the Japanese 53rd Division (formerly the 4th Independent Mixed Brigade) on the periphery and the intelligence about the Japanese infiltration force, this detachment of our army, which was undergoing reorganization into a field army, deployed two regiments of troops, blocked traffic, arranged defenses, and cooperated with the guerrillas to search for the small Japanese forces that had infiltrated. There were really not many forces left around the chief officer Qin Jiwei.

This abnormality seemed to have been noticed by Tsuchida Heigo.

"Mr. Shida! We have rediscovered the traces of the Eighth Route Red Army!"

The vanguards at the front reported that although two-thirds of the "Yatengu Four Heavenly Kings" had been lost, their quality remained unquestionable. After separating a portion of the combat troops from the First Shinsengumi's "Special Operations Squad," the entire vanguard group, along with the more advanced propaganda squad—the traitor group—demonstrated exceptional capabilities during the reconnaissance.

Since abandoning the carts, the advancing team had avoided the main roads, crossing mountains and ridges, gradually advancing southward, repeatedly evading the Red Army guerrillas' searches. Soon, the elite search scouts tracked down a unit of the Eighth Route Army. Based on footprints and traces in the mountains and forests, they determined that this unit consisted of at least a hundred men, each carrying a heavy load, clearly no ordinary Red Army guerrilla force.

During this period, the vanguard group and the special operations team engaged in a brief firefight with them, and with their more powerful pistol and machine gun firepower, they suppressed the enemy. Although the enemy wisely broke off contact and laid booby traps to slow the advance team, the shell casings that were not collected in time still exposed their identities.

It was a unique Mauser pistol and Mauser long-point bullet, along with traces of grenade launcher fire and horseshoe prints. Combined with the enemy's brief, intense firepower and masterful tactical maneuvers during the brief exchange, Tsuchida concluded: This was clearly an elite unit, a high-ranking target.

Maybe it's the Red Army headquarters that's on the move!

"Yoshi!" Tsuchida Heigo cheered frankly. His appearance had taken a toll after a few days of fatigue, but his spirits were even more excited. "Can you confirm that these are the Red Army from before? Where did they go?"

Earlier, during the aerial duel between the two sides, his own advancing team had been misled by the enemy's false footprints, had followed the wrong direction, and had nearly lost the enemy's trail. Fortunately, the members of the vanguard group had recaptured the trail of that unit. Now, catching up with this cunning enemy force again made him extremely excited.

"Sir! No problem! The number of people and equipment are basically the same. They may have abandoned some supplies and are traveling light. They are less than five kilometers away from us!" The scout pointed at the map with the compass and did some basic mapping. "They may be here, in this area, and they are likely heading towards Huili Village!"

Two lines appeared on the map. The line representing the Eighth Route Army was following a small path, skirting a mountain ridge, towards Huili Village in Heshun County. The line representing the advance team was following them about five kilometers behind, catching up. The two sides were advancing at a very similar speed. If this continued, the Tsuchida advance team would encounter this unit outside Huili Village in about an hour.

By then, the enemy will occupy the village and defend it from a dangerous position, which will probably be very troublesome.

Tsuchida Heigo held his chin and thought for a while, several tactical possibilities searched through his mind: the advance detachment had a total of more than one hundred soldiers. If they wanted to attack the village, they would inevitably get involved in close combat in the streets and curtain fighting, which has always been the specialty of the Eighth Route Red Army. Even if their side could win, the casualties would certainly be great... It would be even better if they could gain the upper hand and avoid battles that they are not good at.

"Give me the pencil."

He asked for a pencil, drew a third line on the paper, and instructed:

"We'll climb over this hill, cross the ridge, and seize this village before them! The First Squad and the First Shinsengumi will clear the village, set up defenses, and provide a frontal resistance. The Second Squad and the Second Shinsengumi will attack this Eighth Route Red Army from the flank. With both internal and external support, we'll annihilate them outside of Kairi Village!"

Kikuchi Satoru was a lieutenant colonel. In a normal unit, he would usually lead a battalion or serve as an adjutant in a regiment. But even if he didn't have such a large force under his command, other officers of the same rank would still have to give Kikuchi some respect.

The reason for this is naturally because his identity is different - Kikuchi Kaku is a "military police" of the North China Front Army, and belongs to the Tianjin Military Police Battalion under the Military Police Command of the North China Expeditionary Army.

In North China and even Northeast China, besides carrying out military discipline inspections and internal disciplinary work, the military police also had a major mission: to eliminate "reactionaries" who "endangered public order, corrupted the people, and threatened imperial rule." Kikuchi Kaku's daily workload consisted of battling overtly and covertly with our soldiers in the Jidong area, preventing them from infiltrating Tianjin and preventing them from swindling supplies around Tianjin. He also led raids into the Jidong base area.

Now, he was asked by his superiors to take his commando unit and follow the 27th Division to the southern part of Shanxi Province to participate in the operation of covering the troops and infiltrating the Taihang area.

The task of obtaining intelligence on the Eighth Route Red Army.

As a captain transferred from the Jinyang Military Police Battalion, Kikuchi Kaku had ample experience with the terrain surrounding Shanxi Province and a thorough understanding of the Eighth Route Red Army entrenched in the Taihang Mountains. To carry out his mission of infiltration, reconnaissance, and intelligence gathering, he carefully selected an elite commando unit of approximately one hundred men, dressed in Chinese military-style uniforms and equipped with German-style weapons from the warehouses. This formed the "Kikuchi Commando."

They hid during the day and moved out at night, sleeping in the open air, avoiding the main roads, and infiltrated the Taihang base from east to west. Based on vague intelligence, or even intelligence such as "there has been no intelligence in a certain area", they planned their routes, trying to find possible material warehouses, command centers or transportation hubs, and investigate the elusive main force of the Eighth Route Red Army. Unfortunately, they achieved little and the personnel were extremely exhausted.

But recently, based on the latest intelligence, when they were heading towards a target called Heshun County and preparing to explore a target called Huili Village, short and intensive gunshots were heard from the rangers' rear guard, and a short encounter broke out.

I've been targeted by the elite Eighth Route Army!

Kikuchi Kaku wasn't alarmed, and was even a little surprised. Encountering resistance and pursuit meant he was heading in the right direction. Could it be that there was indeed some crucial Eighth Route Red Army organization in the village at that time?

After a long period of fruitless pursuit, he finally felt a sense of relief as if the clouds had cleared and the sun had broken. Kikuchi Kaku ordered the deployment of false tracks to mislead the pursuers, and then ordered the entire army to march lightly and quickly, trying to shake off the enemy as quickly as possible and speed up towards Huili Village.

While obtaining intelligence, Kikuchi also hopes to gain solid military merits.

"Report to you, sir! We've spotted traces of the Eighth Route Army in the village! They're wearing dark green uniforms, and everyone is armed. There are about a squad of them."

The scouts who had gone out to reconnoiter brought back exciting news: "The Red Army is moving earth and rocks to reinforce the houses and form fortifications. Some of them are still in the village laying radio antennas. Sir, there are elite Red Army defenders here, as well as telecommunications equipment. This must be the Red Army's command center!"

"Yoshi! Very good!"

Kikuchi Kaku praised them with equal frankness. After a moment's thought, he issued a battle order to the Rangers: "Get all the teams ready. We are about to attack!"

"The first squadron will cooperate with the artillery squadron and attack from the front; the second squadron will go around to the side of the village and launch a flank attack on it!" Kikuchi Kaku drew a heavy circle on the map with a pencil, covering the village. "I will call for air support from the Army Aviation for the offensive operation.

"Gentlemen, may our military fortune flourish!"

Chapter 312: You're hitting your own people!

Two teams of Japanese soldiers disguised as the Eighth Route Army, two camouflaged attack teams that did not inform each other, and two commanders who chose to take risks and be radical for their own reasons. When all these elements were in place, two Japanese detachments carrying out special missions broke out in a fierce battle in Huili Village, Heshun County, on the northern edge of the Taihang base.

The Tsuchida Volunteer Corps, crossing the mountain ridge in a straight line, reached their destination earlier than the Kikuchi Rangers. The Eighth Route Army had already evacuated, leaving them with only an empty village. Tsuchida Heigo then assigned some of his soldiers to search the village and set up a shortwave radio antenna, preparing to intercept the approaching "Eighth Route Red Army" head-on.

The Kikuchi Rangers, who were secretly marching along the winding mountain path, were more cautious than the Tsuchida Rangers, who were advancing rapidly. They not only sent personnel to climb up the village north of the

The mountaintop was used to investigate the situation, and before the attack, personnel were dispatched to detour to the south of the village.

The 27th Division conveyed a request for air support and prepared to launch a fierce fire attack on the Eighth Route Red Army in the village.

In an instant, there were rumbling sounds of artillery and deafening gunfire outside Ikeda Village, and two elite Japanese troops started a firefight.

The first to speak were the four 50mm grenade launchers outside the village.

In pursuit of mobility and concealment, Kikuchi's troops did not carry heavier mortars or indirect fire artillery, instead handing all fire support to grenade launchers. In the hands of carefully selected veteran Japanese soldiers, these grenade launchers could hit anything within 700 meters with near-perfect accuracy. Upon opening fire, they knocked out a Zhi-style light machine gun deployed in a firing position, killing one Eighth Route Army soldier and injuring one.

The enemies outside the village not only came faster than they had imagined, but also bypassed the guards they had arranged on the periphery. Tsuchida in the village was shocked and ordered his troops to counterattack urgently, and asked the second team that was circling the mountain north of the village to speed up.

Bang! A green flare flew into the sky, and the two 70 indirect fire cannons in the village immediately launched a counterattack. The suppressive power of the regular barreled artillery was quickly manifested. The 70 shells with higher firing rate and lethality immediately dispersed the grenade launcher shooters who were firing and successfully injured several of them.

The infantry of both sides quickly engaged in a fierce exchange of fire. The superior grassroots quality and initiative of the Japanese troops were quickly demonstrated on this narrow battlefield, which tested individual strength. Small units on both sides automatically divided themselves into groups according to rank, engaging in crossfire on the "enemy" on the local battlefield, concentrating their firepower to suppress or eliminate the "enemy" machine gunners while protecting their own.

Afterwards, both Ikeda and Tsuchida sighed—

"These Eighth Route Army troops are truly an elite force!"

Since neither side carried heavy machine guns, they relied on a combination of grenade launchers and light machine guns, and even their tactics were nearly identical. With so much firepower going back and forth, Tsuchida's sole advantage, artillery, was soon struggling to fully utilize its full potential as the battle lines became increasingly intertwined.

Now, Tsuchida's vanguard unit couldn't break out of the village, and Kikuchi's commando unit couldn't get in. The battle quickly intensified, turning into a stalemate of mutual fire. Everyone was suffering and extremely anxious. Both Tsuchida and Kikuchi thought almost simultaneously: This is the Eighth Route Red Army base. A large Red Army force might soon surround us.

"We must find a way to resolve this battle as quickly as possible!"

A green flare flew up from the hillside outside the village, signaling the arrival of Tsuchida's flanking force. They rushed down the mountain and circled around to the flank of the Eighth Route Army outside the village.

Grenades exploded densely outside the village, and the enemy lines began to loosen. Tsuchida drew his pistol and was about to command the vanguard team to press forward to support the second team's flanking attack. At this moment, another red flare soared into the air from the south side of Huili Village, and suddenly there was a burst of fierce gunfire and grenade explosions.

Tsuchida was also attacked from the flank by the enemy.

It was like a rival opera, with both sides not only adopting similar accents but also singing the same piece, a true example of "enemies meeting, eyes blazing with envy." He could only lead his last dozen or so reserve troops to reinforce, attempting to plug the gap and avoid a disadvantageous close combat with the "Eighth Route Red Army."

Finally, the two sides began to draw close enough that the shouts of the enemy soldiers and the commands of the junior officers could finally be heard between the gunfire. Although the people on one side wore dark green military uniforms and merchant jackets, the other wore khaki "Red Army uniforms" and German-made Nationalist Army helmets...

But Amaterasu, what these guys said sounded like Japanese to me? Do the Eighth Route Red Army also speak Japanese?

Voice commands on the battlefield are very inefficient, and most of the time, information is transmitted through whistles, hand flags, bugles, and other means. However, in such a chaotic situation,

It is inevitable that some people will shout out Japanese words such as "onboard" in a hurry.

More and more frontline fighters began to hesitate, inevitably doubting the identity of the other side's "Eighth Route Red Army elite." But the battle was fierce, and in the blink of an eye, how could anyone react so quickly?

By the time the information was reported up the chain and finally reached Tsuchida Heigo and Kikuchi Kaku, both sides had already suffered twenty to thirty casualties and were severely weakened.

"Eighth Route Army soldiers in the village! Listen up! The powerful Imperial Army has surrounded you. You have nowhere to escape, even if you had wings you can't even fly!"

Finally, the gunfire stopped for a while, and the Japanese squad, which had been fighting fiercely, finally maintained a trace of calm. People outside the village set up a metal trumpet.

He began to shout to the village, "Put down your weapons now and surrender obediently, the Imperial Army

It can guarantee your safety!"

"Kuso, these guys! How dare they pretend to be the Imperial Army!"

Although Tsuchida Heigo said this, he was actually panicking. He asked the Xinminhui traitors in his team to climb up the mud house and greet the other party's mother and ancestors cordially, while on the other hand he asked the signalman to send a telegram to inquire. "You are a bunch of stupid idiots! The Imperial Japanese Army has always only accepted the surrender of the enemy! If you stop playing the role of the Imperial Army and surrender obediently,

We might even be able to give you a chance to live!"

There was silence on the battlefield for a moment. Suddenly, the other side suddenly asked a question. The speaker also changed. Although the language was still Chinese, it was obviously at the level of "Chinese is for beginners":

"Your Excellency, the Special Army University, do you know what the Emperor's gift is for the top six students?"

When asked what the Emperor's prizes were for the top six students at Army University, the traitor from the New People's Society scratched his head, a look of help in his eyes. Soon, a Japanese official from the pacification team climbed onto the mud house and shouted, "Saber-like!" He immediately retaliated in Chinese with a question: "I'm excited about the baseball game. The national finals are a huge success. Do you know where the stadium is?"

"Hondou Koshien!"

After the short answer, the battlefield fell into an awkward silence. An increasingly terrifying truth slowly began to emerge - as if unwilling to give up.

Tsuchida Heigo raised his voice and shouted something in Chinese.

"You naval idiots! Attacking your own forces is foolish!"

"You are the navy horse shit!" This time, there was no more clumsy and self-righteous pseudo-Chinese. The aggressive Japanese was thrown back directly, along with the other party's identity, making the facts clear.

On the hill outside Huili Village, several people wearing the dark green denim uniforms of the Eighth Route Army were busy.

They received intelligence that two small groups of Japanese troops had infiltrated the base and were approaching the front-line headquarters. Qin Jiwei, the front-line commander living in Huili Village, immediately decided to pack up his weapons, cover the civilians and evacuate the area immediately.

However, just as Qin Jiwei watched the guards and the villagers get far down the mountain and out of danger, he unexpectedly discovered his staff officer, Lai Pengying, lying on the ridge, looking down with a telescope. "Pengying, what are you looking at? The Japanese invaders are entering the village. What's there to see?"

"The fighting has begun! The fighting has begun! Look, Brigade Commander, who are these devils fighting with whom?"

"What's going on?" Qin Jiwei was a little confused by Lai Pengying's excitement. He also lay down, took out his binoculars and looked around. "Is it our military sub-district's special forces battalion?" "It shouldn't be. These should be those two groups of devils. Our special forces battalion has not been active in our area recently according to the notice. It can't be them."

In sight, the two Japanese squads, rather than attacking Huili Village from both sides in an outflanking formation, engaged in a fierce battle. Wearing different colored uniforms, they engaged in a fierce battle, fighting each other for a while before finally ceasing fire. They sent men holding plaster flags to the village entrance to meet and negotiate.

Oh my goodness, are these Japs having a gunfight?" Qin Jiwei felt the veins on his forehead throbbing wildly, "It turns out they are not from the same group? How come we only found out now?" "Who knows what the Japs are doing..." Lai Pengying shook his head, indicating that this matter was beyond his understanding.

"Chief Qin, Staff Officer Lai! Text message, telegram!"

At this time, the signalman crouched down and ran over to report: "Our division's new second regiment has arrived. They have occupied the hilltop and captured a Japanese scout!" "Okay! Let them..."

Before Qin Jiwei could finish his words, the drone of an airplane could be heard in the distance. Everyone quickly lay low, using the grass and trees for cover. A moment later, two Japanese planes carrying bombs arrived from the northwest. The planes seemed uninterested in them, simply circling a few times before charging towards the Japanese soldiers at the entrance of Huili Village, emitting a whirring, shrill roar.

"Uh...let them wait until the Japanese planes have finished bombing the Japanese, then launch the attack!"

Chapter 313: Kikuchi ascends to heaven, Tsuchida falls to the ground

(Funny chapter, don't take it seriously)

What kind of aircraft did the Japanese send?

Two cutting-edge Type 97 light bombers took off from the Shimen airfield and quickly arrived. These single-engine, two-seat light bombers belonged to the Japanese Army Air Force and were stationed in the Shimen area. They could carry up to 40 kg of bombs and were used for tactical bombing missions. They were considered one of the high-end options for the Japanese military's "aviation tactical guidance" in the country.

Because the request for air support came from outside Kairi Village, Kikuchi Kaku represented the North China Military Police, and the 27th Division, which he accompanied, was a unit solely under the command of the North China Expeditionary Force, without a "corps" rank above it. Therefore, his request was escalated from the 27th Division headquarters to the Expeditionary Force headquarters, and then forwarded to the nearest Army Aviation unit for execution, allowing aircraft to take off and provide support.

If Tsuchida Heigo, operating under the First Army, had made the request, the First Army in Jinyang could have directly dispatched its own reconnaissance aircraft carrying bombs to provide support, which would have been much more efficient. Because of this, the two Type 97 light bombers, arriving late from Shimen, caught Tsuchida and Kikuchi in the act of negotiation.

From the pilots' perspective, a group of "our troops," dressed in khaki uniforms, were advancing from outside the village. They fought bravely, engaging the "Eighth Route Army" in dark green uniforms in a fierce engagement, reaching close range, practically sprinting. However, due to the separation between the First Army and the North China Army Aviation, they had no idea of ​​the "Eighth Route Army"'s true identity. However, the two Army Aviation pilots still felt that bombing the front lines was unacceptable when the enemy and our forces were so close.

So, they exercised their right to make impromptu judgments: two Type 97 light bombers lowered their wings and rushed towards the two Type 7 indirect-fire artillery positions in the village that had just ceased fire. Attacking here would not only avoid the risk of accidentally injuring friendly forces, but would also greatly weaken the enemy's firepower, killing two birds with one stone.