Canteen System Assistance Notes

As a result, this ancient city, built in the age of cold weapons, boasted a perimeter wall, with a maximum thickness of 30 meters at the base, a sloped elevation of nearly 15 meters, and a width of over 10 meters at the top. The wall was constructed entirely of rammed earth core and clad in glutinous rice mortar and blue bricks. It was bordered by the Fen River to the west, and a moat connected to the river, encompassing the walls, more than ten meters wide. The banks on either side of the moat had been repaired, becoming steep and high. This triple defense would have been considered a fortress on the scale of Constantinople (minus the strait) in Europe, during the early days of firearms.

In another time and space, in 1948, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) with a force of approximately 5300 troops laid siege to Pingyang, a city held by the Nationalist Army. During the battle, our troops bravely engaged in earthwork, tunneling, and underground blasting. Ultimately, although they annihilated over 25000 Nationalist troops, the campaign took nearly two and a half months and resulted in nearly 15000 PLA ​​soldiers killed or wounded.

At this moment, the Japanese 41st Regiment and its commander, Shimizu Nobuki, stationed there, though lacking much frontline command experience, having been promoted from the position of military attaché to the Emperor, possessed a scholarly, academic demeanor that suited him well as a "fortress commander"—not particularly adept at fighting, but a disciplined approach that was more than needed for defensive operations.

In addition, the commander had another channel of information.

After the Battle of Western Mongolia in August 1941, as a core member of the "Wumingkai" under the "Issuekai", Lieutenant General Shimizu Noriki, while accepting the command of the First Army, also followed the advice of the core figure of the Issuekai, Okamura Yasuji - he began to prepare for the future and repaired fortifications in Pingyang.

Therefore, when the order to the 41st Division to "hold on and wait for help, do not attack, and buy time" was conveyed here, the commander of the division, Shimizu, did not feel that the sky was falling and the earth was collapsing, and hope was cut off. Instead, he felt that he was "fully prepared and waiting for this moment."

During this period of more than half a year, Qingshui Guizhi recruited a large number of puppet troops and civilians, found materials from the period when the Japanese army studied the French and German armies, began to dig anti-tank trenches outside the moat of Pingyang City, and built a large number of bunkers in and under the city.

Although the Baojin Ironworks left by Yan Xishan could no longer produce steel bars and steel plates, its cement plant still had considerable production capacity. The 41st Division first forcibly relocated many villages within its control area, then forced puppet troops and the masses to dig up schist, burn bricks and stones, and build brick-concrete and stone-concrete fortresses. Key areas were reinforced with sandbags, sand-filled gasoline barrels, and cement blocks.

These bunker fortifications are arranged in clusters along the city's streets, walls, moats, and anti-tank trenches. Their firing ranges can cover each other, and they are connected by telephone lines and trenches to facilitate communication and dispatch between troops. They are woven into an indestructible network.

At the same time, the 41st Division also fully utilized the ability of "on-the-spot deployment" of troops. It dismantled a lot of tracks on the adjacent Tongpu Railway South Line and laid a defensive branch line extending westward from Pingyang Railway Station. It also used rail-guided automatic vehicles to pull armored carriages for patrols back and forth, serving as a rapid fire support unit for the fortress area.

Anyway, if they don't demolish the railway, the Eighth Route Army will do it.

Although due to time constraints, insufficient manpower, and limited resources, the people secretly refused to cooperate, engaged in sabotage, and tipped off the Eighth Route Army, most of the most important southern line projects were completed before March 1942, basically forming a complex defense consisting of village fortifications, anti-tank trench positions, railway defense lines, moats, city walls, and fortifications within the city.

It is even said that he risked offending friendly forces by intercepting the 37th Division's special heavy artillery regiment that was being transferred from Fenglingdu to Jinyang and preparing for demobilization, and reinforced it in the artillery positions in the city.

Now, facing such an "iron wall", even if a legitimate Chilu army came, it would probably not be able to easily break through such a Pingyang City, right? Lieutenant General Shimizu Noriyuki served as a military attaché in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and had a certain understanding of the Soviet Army's army construction.

He recalled the recent news about the fierce battle between Dokko and Chilu and laughed: The Communist Army was a student of Chilu's army, and Chilu was defeated by Dokko, while the Imperial Kingdom was an ally of Dokko...

Commander Shimizu finally felt a sense of security.

Objectively speaking, this sense of security is indeed well-founded - not only based on Pingyang's strong defensive fortifications, but also based on the battle situation of the entire Shanxi Province campaign.

Up to now, although the Eighth Route Army on three fronts has destroyed the 37th Division and the 53rd Division (formerly the 4th Independent Mixed Division), annihilated most of the 52nd Division, and surrounded the 35th Division, its offensive speed has obviously decreased with the resistance and defense of the Japanese army, and is no longer as unstoppable as before the start of the battle.

As for the southern route, the Communist army's attempt to advance northward through the Shuque Valley through the Jinzhong Valley would inevitably require passage through Pingyang, nestled on the banks of the Fen River. The artillery within the city, commanding a commanding position, could block the entire valley passage with firepower, preventing large-scale enemy infiltration. Furthermore, while only a tenth of the railway remained, the land section of the southern section of the Tongpu Line was at least a passable highway. If the Communist army intended to advance northward and attack Jinyang, they would also have to capture Pingyang.

This means that the nominal initiative on the southern front has returned to the hands of the Japanese army, at least temporarily!

Seizing the brief opportunity, the First Army began to actively mobilize troops to strengthen the defense here.

Along the Shuque Valley behind Pingyang, the Japanese 65th Division (formerly the 16th Independent Mixed Division) was originally stationed. Although its two regiments and the search regiment had been taken north to the Sanggan River defense line and successfully passed away there, its division headquarters and the last regiment still remained.

By allocating Korean armed civilians and military police from Jinyang City, the Japanese army replaced the defenders of Huozhou, Jiexiu and Lingshi, and stuffed the remaining troops of the 65th Division into Hongdong County behind the 41st Division, eliminating the possibility of the Communist army sneaking across the defense line under the cover of night and stabbing Pingyang from the rear.

Immediately thereafter, the 239th Regiment of the 41st Division, originally stationed in Hongdong County, was able to move south to reinforce the area around Pingyang, which was previously occupied only by the division headquarters and the 237th Regiment. The 236th Division, originally stationed in Xiangfen, after encountering the Eighth Route Army, orderly reorganized its forces and retreated, eventually safely retracting into the "fortified area" of Pingyang.

The Japanese army now held a dense defense in this area. If we include the conscripted Japanese residents and puppet troops, their strength reached nearly 350 men. They also held the initiative: if the Communist army wanted to continue its offensive, it would have to attack the Japanese army's carefully constructed, permanent defenses, which were waiting for them to tire.

Shimizu Kiyou stood up from his seat with an expression that said "I've got the plan."

As long as the troops hold on long enough, not only will the 41st Division be abandoned, but even if the Communist Army runs out of attack kinetic energy here,

Then the 41st Division can even launch a counterattack after the arrival of reinforcements, and bite back at the enemy.

A mouthful of hand.

Furthermore, I heard that Okamura's reinforcements have already boarded the train and are rushing here at full speed. This battle still has to be fought!

Chapter 605: Pingyang Campaign (2) Thunder of Wisdom

Pingyang City is solid. Although its original classical defense system is outdated, it still shows its vitality on the Chinese battlefield, not to mention the primary fortified area formed after the Japanese army renovated and reinforced it for half a year.

Although many of these facilities were not underground, and there were no steel-reinforced, concrete-clad ammunition depots like those at the Sevastopol Fortress, the vast majority of Japanese fortifications were semi-permanent structures of brick and concrete overlays or mortared stone overlays, far from the impenetrable naval guns of the Normandy beaches.

However, no matter how simple the fortification area is, it is still a fortification area; no matter how simple the fortification group is, it is still a fortification group! So in general, the Eighth Route Army was still very cautious.

Therefore, the 21st, 12th and 13th Divisions of the Northwest Field Army coming out of the border areas and Guanzhong all brought sufficient technical support equipment, and specialized in the equipment configuration for urban fortifications based on relevant technical experience. Among them, the 21st Division was an old unit that participated in the Battle of Western Mongolia, and the 12th and 13th Divisions also had many soldiers who fought in the Gaojing City during the February Incident. They were old units with certain experience in attacking strongholds.

But even so, all the soldiers were repeatedly told: This time we are not fighting the National Army, but the Japanese; this time the enemy bunkers are more numerous and stronger, unlike the time in Lucheng, where one round of artillery and one round of barrels could basically solve the problem! Be prepared to bite the bullet!

In any major war, logistics are essential.

In fact, during the more than a week that the Japanese army stopped because they believed that the Eighth Route Army had suffered serious damage from destroying the 37th Division and blocking the 36th Division and needed to "repair", the Eighth Route Army was protecting the infrastructure engineering troops while they were working - mainly repairing roads.

A thousand engineering vehicles and soldiers were the first to cross the newly completed Yumenkou Highway Bridge, clutching the long-prepared engineering blueprints. They crossed the Hejin Triangle area controlled by our army and advanced along the existing highway, filling craters, reinforcing bridges, and setting up military stations.

After the road was slightly restored, the infrastructure engineering corps directly built a minimalist version of the railway marshalling yard in the Hejin Triangle, and began to lay emergency rails directly along the parallel line of the existing highway. This wartime standard emergency railway has no track, but is made by laying sleepers directly on the compacted land. It has a very low load capacity and an extremely short service life, basically no more than 5 years.

But, it’s built incredibly fast!

Experienced construction engineers set to work, using Dongfeng Tianjin truck-mounted rapid track-laying vehicles modified to lay tracks in three shifts a day, capable of laying tracks for up to five kilometers. Four sets of equipment were centrally located, working in coordination at multiple locations and continuously. In less than five days, they completed approximately 45 kilometers of emergency track, including a block station, sidings, and coal and water supply areas, thus integrating the transportation capacity of the Jiefang District into the original Tongpu Railway South Line.

Subsequently, small internal combustion "locomotives" also converted from truck heads began to pull trains and began to transport various supplies to the front line. Although this was a makeshift vehicle, its transportation capacity was still far superior to that of truck transport teams. Together with various Mercedes-Benz vehicles, they transported a large amount of equipment and supplies to the front-line assault troops, and transported the road construction team to the southern section of the Tongpu Railway, working together with the engineering troops.

Repairing the Tongpu line that had already been broken into pieces.

The masses mobilized by the base area not only enthusiastically provided water, cooking, and supplies for the Eighth Route Army, but also returned a lot of the previously torn-up railway tracks...

With such logistical support, the main attacking force of the Eighth Route Army on the front line received the "armed to the teeth" treatment.

Because the Japanese army adopted a defensive posture, the Xiangfen area, which had no strategic location, was quickly controlled by our army. While the vanguard troops were testing and investigating each other with the Japanese army, Nanxindian and Dengzhuang, which were only a few kilometers away from the edge of the fortified area, also became our army's control areas and could be used as the starting point of the battle.

On the battlefields of all directions, the teams that served as vanguards received a second supply of ammunition, while the battalion-level units that were reorganized into assault combat groups were given enhanced equipment - flamethrowers that were well received in the Yangquan battle, lightweight and flexible 82mm recoilless guns, APU version of 82mm high and low pressure guns that can be maneuvered over short distances. Some units were also equipped with tanks... The weapons carried by many soldiers also underwent priority updates - Avs semi-automatic rifles, belt-type RP machine guns, double-rationed various types of explosives... Even the turtle fist rocket launchers on their backs were replaced with second-generation rocket-extended range ammunition.

The local troops assigned to the battle were also undeterred. Their ammunition was essentially on par with that of field troops, and they even received double the grenades. Mortars of all classes were also over-issued with ammunition. Even the 160mm heavy mortar, usually the base's "bottom-of-the-barrel" weapon, was pulled by six horses and rushed out.

在阵地的后方，3个MO型122炮团、2个M1917型155榴弹炮和1个D1-施耐德155毫米加榴炮炮群已经在各自预定的阵位展开完毕。统共294门大口径火炮以及各野战部队的75毫米M1山炮以不同的任务目标，被划分为不同的炮兵群，静静等待着战斗开始的号令。

Meanwhile, in several villages surrounding Nanxindian and Dengzhuang, familiar black Dongfeng Tianjin trucks filed into the area under the cover of darkness. In these heavily protected villages, engineers, using cranes, forklifts, and loaders, busily erected flat-plate slot antennas constructed from prefabricated steel components on slopes, hillocks, and even on the tops of ancestral halls.

After a whole night and nearly 6 hours of hard work, accompanied by the dawn, the surveying soldiers completed the final geodetic positioning work, and the "automated soldiers" wearing glasses input the relevant data into a device with a string of flashing light bulbs.

Then, in the invisible electromagnetic field, a spring breeze sounded like rolling thunder, and a light bulb or an icon lit up on all the automatic radio terminals within the coverage area.

The experienced signalmen smiled knowingly, donning their monitoring headphones or switching their radios to receive mode. Sure enough, amidst the rustling white noise, a charming and soothing bulletin emerged. "Automated command and communication system, fixed communication nodes A, B, C, and D are online!"

"Automated command and communication system, mobile communication nodes Z1 and Z2 are online!"

“第三次时间校准开始......5、4、3、2、1!”

The Pingyang Campaign officially began at this point.

Chapter 606: Pingyang Campaign (3) Chaos Attack

As a breakthrough against the fortified area, the Pingyang Campaign did not begin with a "cannons fire, blast the motherfucker" city-breaking operation, but rather began with the clearing and breakthrough of the outer strongholds.

It was like a large bunker, often with several sub-bunker bunkers providing cover, creating crossfire. Having learned from the French and Germans, the Japanese army, having some background in industrialized warfare, knew how to build bunkers. Limited by time and workload, they evicted the inhabitants of the surrounding villages and occupied their homes. After forcing the laborers and puppet troops to dig a pit, the Japanese surrounded it with sandbags and gasoline barrels, adding covers where necessary, and finally filling it with weapons like the 92mm rifle and 70mm indirect fire cannon, forming the core firepower of the stronghold.

Around the artillery positions, the 41st Division tried its best to find a variety of light and heavy firepower, such as 37mm infantry guns, Type 97 anti-tank rifles, Jin-made 75

Artillery, supplemented by light and heavy machine guns, relying on village buildings to form a cover fire point, forming

At the same time, such a stronghold with a village as its core is often connected to several surrounding villages through telephone lines and trenches, allowing mutual support from infantry artillery and indirect fire artillery to form a solid defensive grid.

If our army attacks the city without clearing out these village strongholds, the Japanese troops in the bunkers will pose a threat to the flanks and rear of our attacking forces; and if we attack but our forces are tied up, the Japanese artillery fire in Pingyang City will rely on its high ground visibility and indirect fire positions to kill our troops who are unable to advance or retreat.

Therefore, it is necessary to clear these several defense grids consisting of more than ten villages, and the battle must be fought quickly and fiercely. However, we cannot let our confidence in holding firepower swell and fight like a fat bear digging sweet potatoes, getting impatient and angry and making a mess.

"Full battery fire, enemy bunker, take target number 3, plus 5 on the sight, right 0-20, instantaneous delay fuses, half each, four rounds in rapid succession, fire!"

"All battery guns, bunkers, target number 3, sight plus 5, right 0-20, instantaneous fuses for guns one, three, and five, delayed fuses for guns two, four, and six, standard delay, four-round rapid fire, ready to fire!" "Bang!"

The 100-caliber shell, dragged along by gravity within the barrel, triggered the primer and powder charge at the tail tube, giving the warhead a brief burst of energy to break free from gravity. It slid through the air with a gentle sound like silk brushing against the face, descending towards a distant village occupied by Japanese troops. Seconds later, the chemical energy stored within the warhead's warhead would be triggered by the fuse, sending a shock wave and shrapnel scattering over a radius of more than ten meters, reaping the lives within.

At the same time, farther and higher, Pingyang City was bathed in artillery fire.

There are many ways to break through the iron tortoise of the circular defensive position. The method with the least potential casualties and the fastest progress is undoubtedly to use superior artillery fire to destroy the artillery positions at the core of the circular fortification. After the Japanese Type 4, 15-torch howitzer spores in Pingyang City were completely suppressed by the D1-155 Schneider howitzer, the three field divisions at the forefront deployed their attack formation.

Adhering to the "four groups and one team" model of the East China Field Army era, the front-line teams were divided into battalions, and each company was composed of an assault team, a firepower team, a support team, and a demolition team. Based on the experience of the offensive battles in this time and space, a stretcher team was added to the back (not needed when the East China Field Army fought against the National Army), ready to go to the front line to rescue the wounded at any time.

A young soldier from the frontline assault team crouched on the ground, clutching his submachine gun. The weight of the bulletproof armor and magazine on his chest made him uncomfortable, and his conical helmet felt a bit heavy. He rolled over, half-lying, staring at the sky, listening to the whistling of artillery shells, waiting for his squad leader to blow the whistle to attack.

Fighting the Japs this time is indeed more troublesome, he thought.

This wasn't the first round of artillery fire. In the previous battle against the Nationalist forces in 40, a rapid burst of fire from the 75mm and 100mm cannons would send the entire Nationalist position scurrying back like a swarm of rats. Even Nationalist troops hunkered down in fortified positions would likely nervously expose themselves to the incoming fire, only to be destroyed by the drawn, direct fire.

The Japanese now appeared much more well-trained. The first two rounds of artillery fire had clearly taken out many of the outer Japanese fortifications, but the truly crucial heavy machine guns, Taisho infantry guns, and 20mm anti-tank guns were all well-hidden, unwilling to be easily exposed. Meanwhile, the 92mm cannon, occupying a courtyard in the center of the village, remained entrenched in its semi-underground bunker, firing continuously. The 100mm mortars fired several rounds in a row, but the enemy's firepower showed no sign of stopping.

I'm afraid only the 122mm and 155mm cannons from the artillery column can deal with it... But with so many strongholds and bunkers scattered all over the place, can the artillery column take care of them one by one?

As expected, this round of artillery shells only silenced the 92mm gun in the center of the village for a minute. Then the firepower that was fired every ten seconds to try to block the subsequent reinforcements of the assault team appeared again, like a nagging ghost.

Sure enough... the young soldier pulled the handle of his Type 81 submachine gun, released the safety, and waited in tacit agreement for the squad leader's whistle. Soon, two long whistles rang out, and he snapped the mint candy in his mouth and immediately jumped to his feet.

"superior!"

--------

The outskirts of the originally quiet village were suddenly filled with gunfire and flames.

The Japanese were indeed concealing their firepower, not releasing their weapons until they saw the rabbit. As the assault team's soldiers straightened up from the low ground and ran forward, countless tongues of fire began to emerge from the long-collapsed outer buildings. The young soldier listened briefly and heard the screaming of two "Pheasant Neck" guns and a "Type 2" rifle on his own attack surface alone.

There were a few, and the artillery had indeed blown up some of them...

But even this limited firepower was quite troublesome—the buildings and vegetation on the outskirts of the village had long been cleared by the Japanese, and the only cover they could find was the barbed wire stakes and the remains of deer that had been destroyed by the artillery fire. However, the accompanying smoke bombs did at least have some effect.

The young soldier expertly rolled sideways, ducking into the smokescreen. Though his gear slowed his movements slightly, the enemy's attention didn't seem to be focused on him. He quickly dropped to the ground, rolling several times before ducking into a freshly-blasted crater, carefully looking up.

"Little Japanese, I told you to shoot..." The young soldier discovered a "pheasant neck" gun that was firing at his comrades.

He pulled a "disposable turtle fist" from his back, held up the sight, and roughly estimated the distance from the firing point to his side. But just as he was about to pull the safety release on the warhead and press the safety button on the launch tube, the 82mm rifle of the rear support team erupted in a huge puff of dust, and an 82mm high-explosive shell landed next to the firing port formed by two earth-filled oil drums. Elsewhere, the turtle fist shooter in the squad fired a rocket turtle fist at the same place, destroying half of the machine gun bunker.

"Fucking chicken!"

Cursing, the young soldier's movements didn't slow him down at all. He quickly locked the safety button on his turtle fist, flipped it back behind him, and then scrambled to his feet. A gap in firepower was rare, so he had to follow his comrades forward!

I'm an armored assaulter. In ancient times, I'd be the first to reach the city. Now, if I fall behind my comrades, won't I be laughed at to death?

The young soldier held his breath, quickly accelerating, and rejoined the mini-assault vanguard formed by his two comrades. They crossed the dangerous open area and quickly jumped into the trench, which was half-collapsed by artillery fire and scattered with all kinds of debris and corpses. Beep—beep—!

The squad leader's whistle could still be heard amid the clamor, signaling his comrades to storm the residential area. Amidst the din of gunfire, the familiar clatter of submachine guns and the rapid-fire blast of semi-automatic rifles gradually overwhelmed the crisp crackle of Type 38 rifles and Jin-made submachine guns. The high-pitched hum of TNT explosives and the strange whistling of flamethrowers, a mix of leaking gas and exploding gas, also began to rise above the background.

Now that the flank was safe, the young soldier continued forward with confidence, running towards the core of the stronghold with his comrades: the artillery position half-buried underground.

one-------

Overhead, the slight whistling of the mortars continued. In order to avoid accidental injuries, the artillery fire no longer bombarded the stronghold itself. The falling area began to shift from the circular position, blocking the communication trench behind the stronghold, and preventing the Japanese army from reinforcing this place from other directions.

As the attack deepened, the Japanese resistance gradually weakened. However, even with sufficient siege weapons and advanced communication and command systems, casualties were still inevitable when attacking the village stronghold.

A hidden machine gun point and a counter-machine gun point blocked an alleyway. Several veteran Japanese sergeants held them, holding off firing until our vanguard passed through the rear. Although they were quickly discovered by the waiting support team, pinned down by machine guns and then fed with 82mm cannonballs, they still inflicted four or five casualties before the veterans were vaporized.

Two 37mm infantry guns hidden on the roof suddenly attacked, taking out a half-man team, but they were immediately taken care of by the Japanese. Two Japanese artillery teams were hit by four rockets and seven disposable rounds. One team was trapped in a room and then burned by the door with a rocket launcher. The other team occupied a small courtyard and resisted stubbornly. After knocking down two soldiers, they were blown into the sky by the blasting tube in the hands of the third soldier.

This is a battlefield, people will die!

The young soldier didn't dare to delay. He held his submachine gun, activated the flashlight and laser pointer on his thermal jacket, and continued searching. After breaking into the semi-underground bunker, the three of them navigated the trench network, narrowly defeating two Japanese soldiers who suddenly attacked and injured others. Everyone who saw a seemingly intact human body had to shoot it twice.

But...it's really weird!

According to pre-war reconnaissance and intelligence, the Japanese had already driven the villagers away, and there were indeed no civilians left in the village. Therefore, the Eighth Route Army did not hesitate to use firepower throughout the attack. But why, as the attack deepened, I saw more and more strange "Japanese soldiers"?

Some "devil soldiers" had no weapons, only a bayonet; some "devil soldiers" were not wearing khaki uniforms, but still carried guns; and some were holding a mortar shell in their hands before being shot, their feet tied to heavy objects with ropes.

But the battlefield was urgent, and the situation didn't allow him to dwell on it. The Japanese army's last bunker was right before his eyes, so why not charge forward? His comrades pulled grenades from their chest straps and rolled down the earthen wall into the bunker.

boom!

"Put down your weapons. Those who surrender will not be killed!"

The young soldier, relying on his armor, charged forward. Shouting in strange, unconventional language, he quickly scanned the entire bunker. In the sunlight filtering through the gun emplacements, the flashlight cast a snowy beam through the dust. With deft pull of the trigger, he dispatched two Japanese artillerymen who were attempting to grab their rifles.

But the next second, his eyes widened.

Behind the artillery, a baby-faced figure appeared.

It was a face not much different from his own, still with a babyish air, and with short hair, it was hard to tell if it was a boy or a girl. His face was filled with confusion and fear, as if he had been frightened to death.

But as the still moving Japanese artillerymen were quickly shot down by automatic fire, the confusion on that delicate face began to change. His expression began to twist.

From fear to anger.

The doll shouted:

"Dead pine!"

Then he looked around and began to pounce on the scattered rifles.

Da da da!

The little soldier pulled the trigger without mercy.