Canteen System Assistance Notes

But at the same time, Wang Tiechui, who is experienced and has a deep understanding of the terrain and military situation, also knows that even this pre-war mobilization is not an easy task.

Although a few years ago, with the key node Hengshui on the Shide line

With the liberation of the county, the Jizhong and Jinan bases no longer had physical separation, but going south from Wuyi to Jinan and arriving at Quzhou meant

Then they advanced 130 kilometers based on their own strength - you know, it took the troops two days to walk slowly for more than 2 kilometers from Hejian to Wuyi. Wang Tiechui ordered the machine repair company to immediately carry out an inspection and maintenance of the tanks and trucks after arriving at the destination to prevent those precious vehicles from having problems.

Now, we have to go another 130 kilometers... Even though Japanese tanks have a simple structure and can adapt to the relatively poor road conditions in China, and although the Ji-Zhong Military Region can find "blue-plate cards" that used to be refrigerated goods transport vehicles, it still cannot guarantee that every tank can be allocated a trailer.

The pressure of the 130-kilometer tracked advance mission still falls on this "mobile brigade" which was formed just over a year ago.

However, it is not what a qualified commander should do to directly emphasize the objective difficulties when encountering a task and hold a parochial mentality.

Through military organizations, they contacted and coordinated with the administrative agencies of the base areas, and asked these comrades within the administrative system to mobilize villages and towns along the way, the Youth Anti-Japanese Vanguard, the Women's National Salvation Federation, and other organizations. They were also instructed to minimize disruption to the children in school, ensuring that these highly motivated "former Children's Corps members" remained in class and listened attentively.

Working overtime with comrades from the General Staff, we developed a suitable marching plan and logistics plan for this small "mobile brigade," relayed orders through an effective communication system, and explained the purpose and significance of this mobilization to the soldiers, ensuring they did a good job of ideological work.

We also need to maintain effective liaison with higher-level agencies to ensure that certain key points specifically instructed are completed...

Everyone, including Brigade Commander Wang Tiechui and Political Commissar Lei Zhende, got busy. After everything that could be considered was taken into consideration and all possible situations that could be imagined in advance were prepared, this "mobile brigade" officially began its "Southern Expedition".

Soldiers from four infantry battalions lined up in long rows, riding variable-speed mountain bikes assembled at the base, moving together with power-assisted carts, three-wheeled motorcycles from the "supply center," and even light trucks; the Type 94 ultra-light armored vehicles painted with big red stars towed the artillerymen's artillery and ammunition, trudging south along the gravel-paved roads within the base; and the nine most "delicate and needing care" Japanese tanks were directly maintained by the brigade's machine repair company and the reinforced blue-plate truck transport company to ensure that they were always available.

The troops' daily marching speed was also carefully compressed to 50-60 kilometers per day, and the driving speed was also adjusted to reduce the wear and tear of consumable parts such as tires and tracks, as well as the consumption of precious fuel.

And when you have done all the preparation you can, things often go unusually smoothly.

The test full of surprises and setbacks that had been imagined did not occur. The troops' march of about 130 kilometers was more like a pleasant outing: one could even say that when the troops marched near the Shide Line, everyone had to deliberately violate the principle of concealing their intentions during the march, stretching out their formation, raising dust, and making a lot of fanfare, as if they were afraid that others would not see them.

Thus, on the evening of March 5, 1943, the "Mobile Brigade" of the Hebei-Central Military Region successfully arrived at its destination ahead of schedule.

So, Wang Tiechui misses this serious yet lively atmosphere and this simple and plain breakfast.

Because of the fine tradition of the People's Army, Wang Tiechui's troops did not even cook their own meals during the three days of the march. Whenever they arrived at the designated campsite for the day, the locals nearby would be organized early to help the troops chop firewood and boil water. In some places, they even mobilized the masses to send them free Japanese truck parts that had been dismantled earlier, helping this mobile brigade, which had a lot of Japanese equipment, to enrich its spare parts warehouse.

I always feel like I not only eat other people's food, but I also take other people's things, and they even thank me...

The knocking sounds of the thermos bucket and the large steel spoon gradually became clearer, and the hot breaths and whispers of the comrades were drowned out by the phrases of "Next one, okay", "Don't waste it, come back for more after you finish eating" and "There are plenty of pickles, plenty of them".

The cook put a big steel spoon into the thermos bucket, stirred it vigorously, turned his wrist and raised his arm, and a big spoonful of golden bean paste was brought up.

The bean paste, infused with yellow millet flour, steamed. The slightly sticky paste, coated with chopped scallions, tender sweet potato vermicelli, and crispy cabbage, lay flat on the spoon, slowly emitting an aroma rich in five spices. The squad leader moved the spoon toward the soldier's lunch box. With a flick of his hand, the yellow bean paste landed squarely in the center of the aluminum lunch box, filling the entire container perfectly—no spillage while walking, no leaking of excess.

Before he could blink, the cook in the back poured a large spoonful of crushed peanuts and soybeans with sesame salt into the bean paste, creating a fluffy golden island on a golden ocean. Finally, he raised his chin slightly and gestured for the soldier to help himself to the fragrant and crispy scallion pancakes and pickled beans, pickled cucumbers, and other pickles to suit his taste.

"Ah! Let's have fermented soybeans today! I haven't had it in a while, I have to try it!" Lei Zhende, who was standing behind Wang Tiechui, poked half of his head out to take a look. "And there are scallion pancakes - good stuff."

"It's good stuff!"

The head cook exclaimed loudly. He scraped the steel spoon in the thermos bucket and tapped the handle against the rim.

"This time the food was really good! Besides white flour, cabbage, peanuts, soybeans, canned meat... we also had donkey sausages. Each person got two, and they filled several carts! We originally wanted to make sausage rolls, but the donkey sausages were too salty and we couldn't eat them alone..."

The squad leader paused here. As an old soldier, although the Eighth Route Army's previous food standards were set quite high, this increased supply standard before the war would always mean some sacrifices and farewells that no one wanted to see.

He watched the soldier, who had finished making the bean paste and picked up the pickles and scallion pancakes, walk away. Then he cast his gaze at the people behind him who were feasting, as if wanting to take a closer look. But just as the cook was about to let out a sigh, Wang Tiechui took a few steps forward and arrived in front of the thermos.

"That sausage is too salty. What good food is the old squad leader going to give us?"

"Oh! Ha!

"We in the kitchen have decided to make sausage and scrambled eggs for everyone for lunch today..."

Chapter 795: Battlefield Meals (Part 2) It’s good to have something to eat

In the north of Handan City, Sergeant Dojiro Watanabe of the 50th Division (formerly the 1st Independent Mixed Unit) was in his room.

There was no one else around. Battalion Commander Yuan had originally gone to the small stove and placed a steel coin on it. He waited carefully until smoke began to rise from the chimney leading to the outside of the house. Then, he carefully took out a small cloth bag from the large wooden box he had brought with him, and used his fingers to hold the thread that sealed it, and pulled out a small opening.

He slowly and carefully poured out the contents of the bowl. But when the yellowish white substance piled up to half the height of the bowl,

When he saw the talisman, he shuddered with pain and quickly cast a spell, looking left and right, and trying to grab some of the things inside.

Stuff it back into the cloth bag.

And what he got from the old sergeant, who treasured the jade item so much, was not a bag of rice that was "very rare".

The wok was already heated. Watanabe Dojiro personally poured half a bowl of rice into the bottom of the oil-free iron wok and began to stir-fry it over low heat. The dry rice grains rustled as they heated in the wok. The old sergeant slowly stirred the wok, allowing the rice, still partially peeled, to mature. It gradually turned a charred brown, making a popping sound, expanding or bursting into a popcorn.

He patiently fried the rice until the grains turned light brown. Then, Wataru Dojiro poured a large amount of water into the pot until the rice was completely submerged.

The rice in the pot sank to the bottom, while some popcorn fluttered to the surface. Sergeant Watanabe glanced at the firewood in the stove, calculated the time, and stopped working. Next, he needed to let the concoction simmer for about two hours over low heat, using the residual heat. Then, he would place it in a warm blanket and paper scraps to soak overnight until tomorrow. At that point, he only needed to heat it once more, and the "cooked rice" would have tripled in volume.

This is probably what Sergeant Watanabe will have for breakfast tomorrow morning.

Of course, only the volume doubled, while other things remained unchanged. In fact, due to long-term soaking and water absorption, the taste of these "silver relics" has become rotten to a certain extent - when putting them into the mouth, people probably don't feel like they are eating rice, but rather like eating cotton wool soaked in water.

"Mr. Kusunoki Masashige, you're truly a hero for being able to eat something like this..."

He sighed, glanced at the "Nan Gong meal" he had just finished eating on the table, then stood up, put on his clothes and walked out the door.

Ah, after all, today is a visiting day. I’m going to meet some old friends whom I haven’t seen for a long time. I should eat well and be in high spirits.

"Watanabe, you're a sergeant now, acting squad leader. Why do you still have to cook for yourself? Can't you just call a new recruit?"

"That's right. When I was in Tianjin, I also let new recruits do it. That new team leader even dared to call me a jerk. You don't even know the rules!"

"That's right..."

At the 50th Division's military post station, three sergeants and sergeants in their thirties created a reserved atmosphere, leaving the surrounding tables automatically empty. Watanabe Dojiro poured tea, steeped countless times, into his cup until it was so full he couldn't lift it. He lowered his head, stretched his neck, and took a sip from the rim, savoring the almost indistinguishable sugar flavor. He said,

"Tanaka, Oguriyama, since we last met, you've all been fighting in good places! Unlike here—there aren't many places to find rice around Handan right now. At the beginning of this year, the communist... the markets outside the city are no longer available for purchase, so you can only 'exchange' for it. The little rice I have is from my previous savings, so how can I let a new soldier handle it?"

"Oh, that's true..."

Watanabe Kamejiro, Tanaka Masashi, Oguriyama Takashi, three sergeants,

The commanders were all from the 1st Independent Mixed Brigade, which is now the 50th

They had served in the 75th Independent Infantry Division.

The team served under them, and they were all from Jinchi's hometown, so the relationship was further deepened.

1-Now, the 50th Division where Watanabe Kamejiro is located, and Tanaka Masashi is located

The (new) 83rd Division and the (new) 82nd Division where Takashi Oguriyama was stationed

Being deployed together rarely, the three acquaintances kept in touch through letters.

Appointment, meet again in Handan.

"But it's really too much for a sergeant to cook his own food!"

Compared to Sergeant Oguri who expressed his understanding, Sergeant Tanaka still shook his head.

The head expressed denial, "The rice is indeed not much! But it should not be scarce either."

Is it really that lacking? Things like Nangong rice and Baoguo rice that are made up of water

These are okay for recruits, but they are not what a sergeant should eat.

Bar?

"When there are difficulties in preparing dishes, one needs to be self-disciplined and dedicated; when there are difficulties in the battle, one needs to be

There is no other way to supplement food. The Japanese should just eat rice!

Eat rice! Eat dry rice! Otherwise, why would we join the army?"

he wondered.

He was at the starting point of the Baoding-Daming grain-producing area, where the Japanese army was heavily stationed.

area, because the density of Japanese troops has exceeded a certain threshold, the 83rd Division

The "public security situation" around Zhengding where they were stationed had improved significantly, so within the range controlled by field artillery and the area that the troops could reach in a "one-day advance and return", the Japanese army there could barely maintain a certain ability to collect food. Therefore, although they often had to use miscellaneous grains to make up the numbers, Tanaka Masayoshi could still eat some rice.

But the other two clearly disagreed. Oguriyama Koso sighed deeply, while Watanabe Dojiro calmly finished his sweet tea and poured himself another large cup. As he refilled his cup, the almost unsweetened tea, he asked,

"Tanaka, you don't know.

"Why am I allowed to 'act as squad leader'?" "I really don't know. Please enlighten me."

Watanabe Dojiro took a Jinmian cigarette, lit it with the fire from the tea-making charcoal stove, and slowly began to tell the story.

In this time and space, the 50th Division, reorganized from the former 1st Independent Mixed Brigade, had been heavily reinforced and rebuilt in Handan after being nearly completely wiped out in the Battle of Huangtouling in the Taihang Mountains. Watanabe Dojiro, fortunate enough to remain behind, witnessed the rotation of his direct squad leaders.

After the Battle of Zhongtiaoshan in 1949, the 50th Division stationed in Handan never won a real victory again. And from 1949 to now, Sergeant Watanabe has changed a total of nine squad leaders.

Among them were the first and third squad leaders who died in the "food security operation," the second who was killed by a Communist guerrilla sniper, and the fourth who died of an intestinal obstruction after hastily eating half-cooked rice during a food collection operation. There was also the fifth, who died of infection after stepping on a Communist mine while harvesting wheat in the "absolutely safe zone" outside the city and being hit in the thigh by a spiked shrapnel. And there was the sixth, whose cause of death remains a mystery; he was found in the toilet, already erect.

Everyone said that the sixth team leader was visited by the ghost of someone he had killed before and drowned in the cesspool.

The only lucky individual was the seventh squad leader. He took office in late 1942 and was a bright, cultured man. However, less than a month after joining the unit, he was convicted by the military police of violating the Public Security Law and being charged with anti-military thought for "reporting" officers on arms trafficking. He was sentenced to three years in prison and sent back to mainland China to serve time in prison. This incident was the envy of everyone and was a topic of much discussion within the squad.

Of course, Watanabe Dojiro would never tell the story of the eighth and ninth squad leaders—

The former, likely a local prostitute in Handan, had become embroiled in a jealous feud with someone, lost money gambling, and, in a fit of rage, went to sell his saber and pistol in a quest for the "Reincarnation Book." However, he wasn't wearing the correct attire, wasn't giving the correct signals, and was acting stealthily, so he was captured by the Communists as an infiltrated spy. Because he had previously killed numerous Nationalist prisoners, everyone assumed he would be sent to the coal mines by the Communists to die.

And the latter.......

Watanabe Dojiro would never say that this young Showa general went deep into the communist army area to fight and collect food because he wanted to make achievements, and was then "dealt with" by himself and several colleagues.

"How... could this happen?"

"What's the big deal?" Sergeant Oguriyama took the last pebble mixed with soy sauce and miso from the small dish on the table, slurped it in his mouth, and spat it into the bucket beside him. He leaned back in his chair, making a creaking sound, and relaxed a lot.

"At least I won't run into Lao Bao here, and there's rice to eat."

"Who is Lao Bao? And isn't there a small station in Tianjin?" Tanaka Masashi asked. "I heard it tastes great. If I get a chance, I must try it."

"There's good rice at the station, but it's just so much. How can soldiers like us get enough?" Sergeant Oguri glanced at Sergeant Watanabe, who was adding water to the teapot, and said lazily, "We can't even get much flour over there - the people of the Kwantung Army have rice to eat, but that's not us. At least I, a sergeant, have mixed noodles to eat, but the guys under me can only eat acorn noodles. Before we were transferred here, two officers were sent to the military hospital because they couldn't produce urine.

"We all said those two guys were lucky not to be able to come here and eat rice porridge..."

"No, maybe those two guys are the lucky ones." Watanabe Dojiro suddenly interrupted Oguriyama Takashi and said.

"Do they just want to keep eating that acorn flour 'steamed bread'? Is that edible?"

silence.

"Hey... I know we've had a lot of setbacks in China, but aren't we winning in Southeast Asia? Why doesn't the headquarters allocate more guns and troops to us?"

Hearing this, Sergeant Masashi Tanaka, who had been serving in the Shimen area, sighed. Sergeant Oguri, a former returning soldier who had been shot and discharged but later re-enlisted, also shook his head and gave a wry smile.

"Ah, yes, now...I can't figure out who is the luckiest!"

Chapter 796: Xiashe Marches In (1) Collapsing Line Combination Punch

During this time, the Japanese army in North China underwent a transformation. Initially, based on their habit of fighting against the Nationalist army, they would only break their marching posture and launch an attack when they were about 3 kilometers in front of the Eighth Route Army. As a result, they were bombarded by the Eighth Route Army, which had just been equipped with mortars and mountain artillery, and suffered heavy casualties.

Although it was impossible to push forward the revision of the Infantry Drill Manual, the Japanese troops in North China soon realized one thing at the cost of blood: when facing the Eighth Route Army, they could no longer assemble carelessly 3 kilometers away.

After all, the Japanese army was an industrialized army. After some discussion, they quickly and tacitly changed the assembly distance to 5 kilometers.

This distance allowed them to avoid the 82mm mortars, the most common artillery used by the Eighth Route Army. Furthermore, due to their observation distance and deployment positions, they were mostly immune to 100mm mortars and various 75mm mountain artillery. Therefore, from 1939 to 1943, the Japanese army rarely encountered bombardment while concentrated, unless ambushed or attacked.

However, this obviously cannot represent the current situation faced by the Japanese troops on the Hebi Ji-Puyang front.

In fact, objectively speaking, since the Longhai Line was officially cut off by our army in 1942, although the Japanese army in North China lost the large-capacity east-west railway transportation line, if they were willing to take the land route, the Japanese army on the east and west sides still had an intermittent and smooth transportation line.

That is Hebiji-Puyang-Heze-Jining.

Because the Yellow River was still raging in its floodplain, the previously "surface river" in Shandong and Hebei provinces had dried up, becoming farmland or sand. Therefore, this future "cross-river" route remained convenient. Furthermore, because the Huaibei base area had always been relatively weak in size and combat effectiveness, and the newly established Henan base area was separated from it by the Yellow River floodplain, making direct support difficult, the Japanese army was able to maintain a certain level of transportation along this route through repeated operations.

This is also the reason why the Japanese army chose Hebi Ji-Puyang as the first line of defense in the defensive battle on the eastern foot of Taihang Mountain.

But now, when the area around Jining was liberated by the Shandong Field Army, Heze was surrounded by local armed forces and was waiting for the main force to come with the "big pipe" to break the city, the eastern half of this transportation line was declared collapsed, and the Japanese troops on the front line would need to face the next round of offensive of the Eighth Route Army - a powerful offensive launched by the Eighth Route Army's Central Plains Field Army, with the mobile corps as the spearhead.

Since the 36th Division was declared destroyed, the first thing they encountered was a frontline battle that was like a diffuse cloud.

为了掌握战场情报,进行主动防御,居于一线的的日军82、83师团派出了他们的的搜索联队,搭配一些强化小队、伪军汉奸进行情报作战、1亿交本一求掌握我军动态,遮断我军对其防御阵线的1贝食-二这两个新编成的师团虽然武装简配了不少,大队炮筱那个双联7.5厘米喷进炮和70毫米曲射炮所替代,但是师团部的搜索联队还是齐装满员,基本没有什么缩水的。

Unfortunately, they encountered the Eighth Route Army's "Division Reconnaissance Battalion" using large Bren armored carriers.

With the active cooperation of the masses, the Japanese army could hardly obtain any intelligence by using disguise and infiltration, while our army was able to use wireless, wired and human intelligence networks to obtain information about the Japanese reconnaissance forces, not only strangling the Japanese mobile forces, but also counter-attacking the Japanese formations.

Conduct fire reconnaissance on the ground.

Even some of the fire reconnaissance units that had been preemptively reinforced by the tank forces were transformed into "powerful reconnaissance battalions" with short-range penetration capabilities: they used radios to call for fire attacks from the rear and launched short, high-intensity assaults, striking at vulnerable points in the Japanese defenses. By the time the Japanese were forced to send reinforcements to drive them out, their defensive deployments had already been exposed, allowing the Eighth Route Army to disrupt them.

The search regiments of the two divisions and the traitorous puppet troops were forced to retreat in the outpost battles, forced to retreat into the key points of the earthwork defense line to survive. With their defeat, the entire Japanese army's control over the front line was suddenly reduced to relying only on telescopes and a few high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft. Of course, this situation did not last long. After this reconnaissance battle reached a certain threshold of qualitative change, the Eighth Route Army, having found a sufficient gap in this temporary defense line, finally launched a real attack.

On March 9, 1943, the "Li Deteng Hail" that had appeared before roared again on the front lines. Flame-laden rockets rained down from the sky like a torrential downpour of steel, annihilating the already fragile earthworks and trenches with a breathtaking roar and heart-wrenching explosions. Simultaneously, the 122mm and 155mm howitzers, already deployed, advanced like meteorites in the direction of the breakthrough, crushing the Japanese resistance psychologically, physiologically, and physically to smithereens.