Canteen System Assistance Notes

Chapter 40: The So-Called Tacit Understanding

Canteen System Assistance

By Forgotten Maple X

2151 words

2020-10-16 12: 00: 00

Japan's "motorized infantry" at this time was actually quite "watered down." Normally, entire units would be maneuvered by truck, with soldiers dismounting and marching just before entering the battlefield. However, while the 5th Division's "motorized infantry" theoretically comprised a battalion, it only had a few dozen trucks, many of which had to be shared with the artillery. Consequently, the soldiers' ammunition and luggage had to be transported by horse-drawn carts and Japanese drivers.

However, this did not change the full initiative and tactical prowess of the Japanese grassroots troops. In this respect, the Japanese army at this time was at a very high level. In the ravines and valleys outside Fanshi Pass, those Japanese soldiers directly under the Fifth Division, without smooth command, relied on their understanding of the battlefield and the tacit understanding they had cultivated over time to spontaneously form an assault force towards the high ground.

They used the ravine to hide themselves and advanced quickly towards the high ground, trying to drive the enemy troops away from the cliff through close combat. Otherwise, the entire marching column would be blocked in the center of the valley and unable to move.

At the same time, almost all the Japanese firepower began to pour towards the Eighth Route Army that was making a detour on both sides of the high ground, intending to suppress the Eighth Route Red Army that was encircling them.

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In the mountains and rivers with sparse vegetation, heavy rain can often wash out a sharp groove on the high ground of the hillside. This groove is a natural trench that can effectively block firepower from some directions. If firepower is deployed solely on the front, although the opponent can be forced to unable to climb out of the trench, the killing efficiency of the living force will naturally be greatly reduced.

"All our machine guns are on the ridge. It's steep here. If the Japanese get close, their guns are too high to reach them!" Wang Tiechui explained the situation as simply as possible. "I'll take one over there!"

"Okay, go!"

Captain Wu Jin slapped his head, turned around and shouted, "Speed ​​up!"

Without further delay, Wang Tiechui rushed out along the back of the ridge without looking back, taking a three-man machine gun team with him. Amidst the increasingly dense gunfire and explosions, he crossed the ridgeline and moved quickly on the reverse slope of the high ground, trying to cross the gully that the Japanese were climbing.

If only we could find an effective machine gun position... Damn, this wheeled gun mount is really heavy.

While complaining, he seemed to hear Japanese shouting in his ears. Wang Tiechui didn't dare to look up and ran for a while with his head down. The ridge of the mountain top began to stretch towards the direction of the Japanese army, and seemed to go around the back of the gully.

Right here, the reverse shooting point!

Wang Tiechui lay prone on the ground, slightly sticking his head out. As expected, a narrow ridge extended from the Laoye Temple plateau, exposing the flanks of the Japanese troops climbing up. The Japanese were lined up in the gully, firing several Type 99 light machine guns at our positions in the distance.

Behind the ridge, the battle was fierce in the marching columns. The firepower of the vanguard battalion and the ambush troops on the southern ridge was gradually squeezing the Japanese into an increasingly dense formation. Their resistance was also becoming more and more fierce, like the resistance of a trapped beast.

After removing the gun mount, placing the machine gun, and pumping in cooling water, Wang Tiechui took the red shovel carried by the deputy squad leader and began digging on the ridge. However, this was an area of ​​severe soil erosion, and only a thin layer of loose soil remained on the top of the mountain. His shovel soon hit hard gravel, and the breastwork used to protect the shooter could only create a low layer of earth.

But they couldn't wait much longer. Wang Dachui stopped the deputy squad leader and the deputy shooter who were piling up rocks. "This thing has a shield! Climb down and hide!"

He patted Maxim's rolled steel shield.

"Fire!"

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A machine gun suddenly appeared high up behind them, about a hundred meters away. This was probably the nightmare of all veterans.

To counterattack, they had to expose their backs to the frontal fire and struggle to raise their guns upwards. However, the front was also equipped with three machine guns and several turtle fist launchers organized by Company Commander Wu Jin, making turning and attacking extremely difficult. To make matters worse, the vanguard battalion, which was already suppressing the Japanese army with good coordination, was dividing a part of its forces to cut off the connection between this enemy bulge and the main camp in the valley.

Maxim's distinctive grunting sound echoed, and the Japanese soldiers in the narrow gully immediately fell in a row, most of them shot in the back. The squad leader raised his command knife, but it was impossible to lie down or stand up. He could only open his mouth and roar something incomprehensible, trying to avoid the volley of bullets.

Unlike the Fengtian Army, the Eighth Route Army's newly issued Maxim ammunition belts held 250 rounds, and two belts could be chained together to hold a further 500 rounds. The nature of the water-cooled machine gun meant that as long as the water in the jacket remained below the boiling point, it could fire virtually indefinitely. Wang Tiechui took inventory and found that the two 250-round boxes brought by the two assistant gunners, plus the 100 rounds draped over the gunner's shoulders, would be enough to last for a long time.

By that time, even if the Japanese troops were not killed by machine guns, they would be destroyed by the flanking vanguard battalion and the frontal infantry battalion.

But soon, there was a slight sound of breaking air in the air.

Boom! A cloud of dust rose from the nearby hillside.

It's a grenade launcher!

Wang Tiechui shuddered, his mind racing back to his two previous "commanders," the elderly Maxim, who had also lost all his machine gunners in a Japanese grenade launch explosion. Now, the same scene haunted him like a madman, only this time, as the leader of this makeshift machine gun group, he was responsible for the lives of every man in it.

"Grenade launcher! Where did it come from?!"

The squad leader shouted, trying to find a grenade thrower soldier wearing a steel helmet and leather boots. But this thing is an indirect fire weapon, and most of the Japanese soldiers who use it are veterans with extremely long service. They can always launch attacks from some tricky corners, and most of them will never find the source of the deadly ammunition until they die.

Another earth flower exploded nearby. It was obvious that the guy was getting more and more accurate in shooting.

"Pack up the stall and retreat!"

Wang Tiechui gritted his teeth and gave the order. Now that the battle situation was clear, it would take some time to deal with these Japanese soldiers. There was no need to take the risk.

At this moment, as if by appointment, a flurry of mortar shells flew in from the other side of the distant mountain ridge. With a slight whirring sound, they landed around the makeshift position. Instead of exploding, they quickly emitted a thick, choking smoke screen, obscuring Wang Tiechui's range of fire and blocking the grenade launcher's field of view.

This is also a tacit understanding.

The smoke bombs fired by the 686th Regiment were fired at the right time, providing him with a retreat route; at the same time, the thrilling bugle calls sounded again almost from all directions.

"Ding da ding ding ding ding!"

This is the signal for the general attack.

Chapter 41: Close Combat

Canteen System Assistance

By Forgotten Maple X

2645 words

2020-10-19 12: 00: 00

(Some people ask me how can I reset the cafeteria to support the Communist Party, because I am the author of the cafeteria pit, okay? What's wrong with me being happy to rewrite my own book?)

When it comes to 101's command style, some say he combines the characteristics of a tiger and a fox, agile yet fierce. Others say he can command any number of troops, taking on a million-man army without batting an eyelid, a terrifying "war tiger." Alternatively, they say he's the type to use up all the cards in his hand and achieve a perfect 150 on a 100-point test.

When the dust settled on the high ground beside the Laoye Temple, he decisively pushed forward the next step of the plan:

Part of the 685th Regiment advanced to Paochi Village on the left, one battalion of the 686th Regiment stayed temporarily on the Laoye Temple Hill, and the rest of the troops immediately followed the 685th Regiment, crossing the mountain and detouring to the northeast side of Paochi Village; while the 687th Regiment sent a battalion along the mountain range to Tuanchengkou behind the enemy; finally, the reserve 688th Regiment would cross the battlefield and serve as the main force of this attack.

Brother Biao wants to poke the Japanese's anus!

From then on, the battlefield entered the second part that had never been completed in history.

At this time, the Japanese troops at Fanzhi Pass were mainly from the Miura Detachment of the 5th Division, commanded by Major General Miura Toshiji, commander of the 21st Brigade. He had three infantry battalions and one artillery battalion under his command, which was a strong force.

In the front, his troops were attacking the Kuomintang 71st, 72nd, 73rd Divisions and the 8th Independent Brigade in front of the positions, while his friendly army, Captain Hide Awayahara, had led two battalions to defeat the Kuomintang 84th Division and was pressing the Kuomintang positions to the south, combining front and flank, intending to eventually occupy the pass and annihilate the resistance.

Of course, this meant that the Japanese army hardly took the usual path.

This tactic was quite crude, wild, and stupid: due to terrain restrictions, the Japanese troops could not be deployed smoothly; because of crossing mountains and ridges, the Japanese soldiers could not carry any heavy weapons; because of the existence of the reverse slope, the barreled artillery could not even successfully attack the national army on the reverse slope.

However, nearly five battalions of Japanese soldiers still steadily pushed back three and a half national army divisions.

So, Major General Miura was comfortably commanding the troops on the front lines from Paochi Village. He couldn't even give orders via radio, as the three battalions at the front weren't part of the same regiment, but rather were dispatched from each regiment independently. To command, he had to issue a command order, which would then be delivered to the front by a messenger on horseback or in a car. For this reason, he didn't even leave the regiment's guards with him; they were all dispatched. However, from his prior knowledge of the enemy situation, he had no idea that such a mysterious entity as the "Eighth Route Army" existed on this battlefield. He only had around thirty or so staff officers and guards with him.

This small village, where a rider constantly ran in and out and a charcoal truck drove back and forth, was like a searchlight at night in the eyes of the 101st scouts, extremely conspicuous - but they were also wondering what level such a small-scale command center was?

Compared to the historical annihilation of Laoye Temple, which required hand-to-hand combat, this time, under the combined fire of multiple machine guns, turtle fists, and the vanguard's vigorous automatic firepower, it was over in almost no time. The supply troops, lacking battalion artillery, even with their so-called "motorized" infantry, were defeated like warlords by our superior forces in manpower, firepower, and even physical fitness. The Japanese army's vaunted bayonet fighting skills were of little use.

The 115th Division, now free, could devour the enemy's supplies before the Japanese army's call for help was even completed, and clean up the mess while it was going. The reserve 688th Regiment, which hadn't yet gotten its fill, passed through the Nationalist defense zone south of Laoye Temple and launched an attack westward, toward Guangou. The 685th Regiment, acting as the "blocking force," split its forces and attacked from Xinzhuang, intending to encircle the small mountain village from two directions.

These two places happen to be the high ground to the east of Paochi Village. Once crossing here, the Eighth Route Army can overlook the entire 21st Brigade’s headquarters - Paochi Village.

The journey of several miles was almost completed in an instant. Just as the soldiers of the 688th Regiment passed the confused Kuomintang troops, three consecutive signal flares were raised in front of the Kuomintang positions on the south side of Guangou, and on the sloping hillside, Japanese helmets with "fart curtains" began to appear.

The 3rd Battalion of the Miura Detachment gave up attacking the National Army in the front and began to attack back, trying to rescue Paochi Village which was about to be besieged.

The two armies were caught off guard and engaged in a close combat.

"Assault!"

The Japanese commanders were very decisive. At such a close distance, after they fired a bullet from the chamber, they, under the leadership of the sergeant, collectively turned on the safety and installed their bayonets.

This was the Japanese army's habit of charging, because when dealing with the National Army, the Imperial Army had never lost by launching a bayonet charge within a hundred steps.

But this time, the first wave of attack that awaited them was a small black dot that flew over the heads of the "yellow-clad Nationalist Army" soldiers in front of them. When this thing flew over, the Nationalist soldiers, who looked noticeably stronger, collectively fell to the ground.

The 688th Regiment handed over all its "turtle fists" to the troops in front, but they kept a large number of "grenade launchers" that could be mounted on the front of rifles! This kind of grenade launcher that uses blank cartridges to push grenades can play an unexpected role in many places where grenades cannot reach.

Horizontal explosions of grenades sounded evenly among the Japanese vanguard, taking a lot of lives. Before the grenade throwers in the rear had time to take off their grenade throwers to fight back, a second group of soldiers appeared behind the group of lying "National Army soldiers". They took advantage of the explosion to disrupt the Japanese deployment and quickly advanced forward, waving their arms and throwing a round of grenades.

The explosion sounded again, and the distance between the two sides had approached 50 meters.

After two rounds of explosions, there were not many Japanese soldiers left standing in the first row. However, they had a large group after all, and the following Japanese soldiers immediately surpassed the front row and rushed forward.

What awaited them was a row of gun barrels: the "nationalist" soldiers who had just fallen asleep had now stood up, raised their rifles, and unleashed a dense volley of gunfire. As soon as the gunfire died down, they, armed with submachine guns and rifles with fixed bayonets, engaged the still dazed Japanese soldiers in front of them.

Perhaps it was the malice and inertia of history that the hand-to-hand combat that was supposed to take place at the Laoye Temple was eliminated by the intensive automatic firepower of the vanguard company, but it happened instead on an unknown hillside at the foot of the Great Wall.

At this time, the Japanese army was extremely good at bayonet fighting. The Type 38 rifles were suitable for hand-to-hand combat, the high morale from their undefeated record, and the long and rigorous infantry training made them almost unafraid of any opponent who dared to fight them in bayonet fighting. In North China, all opponents were small fry with weak physiques, low technical and tactical skills, and lack of courage. When faced with the glaring bayonets, they would only flee, surrender, and die. The braver ones would only shout and charge, and then be stabbed in the chest with bayonets and finally fall down.

Even though they encountered the rather confusing "three-pronged attack", the Imperial Army still won in the end!

Almost all the surviving Japanese soldiers thought so, but soon they found that something was wrong.

Following an incomprehensible shout of "Comrades, follow me", those holding submachine guns began to quickly move to the flank, while the riflemen in the front rushed forward howling as if they were possessed by evil spirits.

First came the bayonet fights with rifles, soon followed by some who used their rifles like clubs, and then came some who carried broadswords. This unusual group of "Nationalist soldiers" was incredibly strong, no match for the pale and skinny Nationalist soldiers, and even better than the Yan army they had just fought. Although they were slightly inferior in bayonet fighting skills, their fighting spirit was almost as tenacious as their own.

Some were hit by bayonets, but they still grabbed their rifles and fought back.

Some people had half of their faces stained red with blood, but they were still sprinting towards the next target.

Some even fought until their bayonets broke and their swords were blunt, and they picked up stones to fight...

Often, due to the enemy's unreasonable strength, the Japanese soldiers would suffer a slight disadvantage in the mutual wrestling. Moreover, the enemy was not completely reckless, and they were almost always feinting and deceiving. At such times, there would always be flanks to surround and attack the noble imperial warriors in an unfair many-to-one situation.

This unscientific!

Chapter 42: Arresting the Captain

Canteen System Assistance

By Forgotten Maple X

2094 words

2020-10-20 12: 00: 00

After tumbling back from that counter-fire point, the flanking infantry of the friendly 687th Regiment bypassed his firepower point, attacked from behind, and annihilated the Japanese army. The brothers of the 687th Regiment praised this unexpected and tricky machine gun crew, believing that they had effectively advanced the situation. As a result, Wang Tiechui was "friendly patted on the shoulder" more than a dozen times in a row, and it felt like his shoulder was about to dislocate.

He poured the boiling water in the machine gun into the condenser, disassembled the machine gun and carried it up. He finally returned to Wu Jin's company.

As a result, Squad Leader Wu came up and punched him, then looked him up and down, front and back, and after finding that he was not injured, he patted his shoulder hard:

"You little bastard! The King of Hell didn't take you away this time, so be careful next time!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he went to check on the other soldiers.

Grass.

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The fighting at Laoye Temple was over. Since we'd been warned that wounded Japanese soldiers would often detonate grenades, potentially harming our medical personnel, the task of collecting the wounded and prisoners was largely left to soldiers with ropes and stretchers, making progress slow. Tiechui's previous position at the new recruit camp had primarily involved helping the machine gun company dig pits and carry ammunition, a task that didn't require much physical effort. Now, he'd mostly been assigned to help clean up the battlefield.

The 685th Regiment on the western edge had already attacked deep into the Japanese army. The reserve 688th Regiment had headed towards the Great Wall earlier. The 686th Regiment had withdrawn a battalion to follow, while the new recruits' regiment was temporarily asked to stay and follow the troops originally assigned to the 686th Regiment. Now there are only two companies left here.

After a brief inquiry with the gunner company's clerk, Dachui gained a general understanding of the current battlefield situation—the battle was going smoothly, and the offensive plan was successfully completed. He glanced at the three remaining machine guns on guard on the high ground, and at the excited new recruits he had been assigned, looking around and on guard. Dachui then sent the chief and deputy machine gunners back to their units. He then sat down on the ammunition crate and, along with his squad leader, began loading the machine guns with bullets.

Anyway, we are still following the machine gun company, so let's replenish some ammunition.

In the previous battle, they had fired through a box and a half, nearly 400 rounds of ammunition. Because the situation was urgent, Wang Tiechui hadn't brought a bag to collect the shell casings, and the yellow shells were scattered all over the ground. If the new recruits were required to stay behind to clean up the battlefield, then he would definitely bring the whole class with him to pick up those shell casings one by one.

What a joke! This thing has more than 400 rounds of reloadable ammunition, it can be used for a while!

There's a new loader for threading bullets. Grab a handful and put it in the funnel, then stuff the empty canvas chain into it and crank the crank to string the ammunition in. It's much faster than threading it by hand. This thing can even take bullets directly from the Mosin-Nagant's bridge clip and thread them into the belt. It's very useful.

However, just as he had put on a 250-round ammunition belt, Wang Tiechui heard the iconic whistle.

Two short sounds, then turn into one long sound.

Grass, gather!

He jumped up, stuffed the belt he had put on into the ammunition box, then grabbed the squad leader and another half-empty belt and shouted to the new recruits in his squad who were on guard.

"Everyone is here! Assemble!"

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The machine gun company received new orders. The 688th Regiment, which had previously bypassed the Great Wall, had a skirmish with the Japanese army. The 685th Regiment, which was located on the side, took the initiative to separate a battalion to attack the Japanese army from behind. The attack power on the designated Paochi Village was reduced. In order to ensure "almost certainty", reinforcements were needed.

This was mainly because the Kuomintang generals in the front ignored our troops engaged in bayonet fighting with the Japanese, ignoring their soldiers' eagerness to attack, and chose to remain motionless. The 688th Regiment's battlefield was originally in front of the Kuomintang positions, but these Yan troops watched our troops and the Japanese engage in close combat without even firing a shot.

There is no other way, I have to rely on myself at this time.

The divisional commander ordered the 686th Regiment, currently on the Laoye Temple plateau, to immediately withdraw a company, bringing with them new recruits and a machine gun company, to cross the hill and attack the east side of Paochi Village along Xinzhuang, forming a pincer attack from both sides. This was intended to quickly disintegrate the Japanese rear-line forces and eliminate the suspicious "command post"!