Canteen System Assistance Notes

The Stuart Transformer, equipped with a rocket-powered obstacle-clearing vehicle, led the combat engineers to fire a detonating mine-clearing cable over a hundred meters in length, blasting a dragon of fire through the Japanese mixed minefield and instantly opening a hundred-meter-long passage for the assault troops. Soldiers clad in bulletproof armor and equipped with automatic firepower, like surfers chasing the wind and waves, strode forward in the wake of a surging tide constructed by physics and chemistry...

Compared with fighting on a battlefield with complex terrain and mixed fronts, on the flat terrain of the North China battlefield, this kind of fighting with the railway behind the back seemed a little "clumsy", and lacked the "mercury pouring out of the ground" elegance and beauty of the PLA offensive in another time and space.

However, when this "clumsy" massive offensive strikes like a landslide, any opponent with insufficient strength and solid foundation will completely lose the ability to meaningfully resist!

Although it was quite normal for gaps and weak points to appear in a line of defense about 75 kilometers long defended by two divisions, the attack that could have been blocked by the first-line earthworks and trenches and bunkers and then blocked by the second-line mobile forces directly penetrated the two layers of defense of the Japanese army, making the entire so-called "elastic defense" expectation come to nothing.

After the guerrillas, local forces and administrative agencies in the rear took over the security work, the mobile corps was freed up and used quite "brutal" means to drill several holes in the Japanese defense line. After breaking through the holes, they quickly attacked along the defense line, intending to disintegrate the overall defense structure of the Japanese army.

The Japanese front-line defense almost completely collapsed within two days, but as an industrialized imperialist army after all, Iimura Jo's Seventh Army Command still issued the "turnaround" order with the help of a basic shortwave radio station.

The 82nd and 83rd Divisions, which had lost nearly two regiments at the beginning, began to retreat tremblingly. Under the influence of leather boots, slaps and shouts, these two Japanese troops actually maintained most of the basic structure of the troops, and gradually advanced towards the third line of defense - the fortified area with Anyang as the core - in a manner of alternating cover.

The troops of the two divisions deployed in Anyang also began to move south along the railway in an attempt to provide support.

However, at this moment, Yang Dusheng, who was well versed in mechanized and motorized warfare, finally played another card in his hand:

Several "advance assault teams" consisting of reinforced tank units, mechanized infantry units using Big Brun, and reinforced with Stuart and Big Brun transformable vehicles as appropriate, rushed through the Japanese defense lines that had been penetrated by the assault force like wild horses, and rushed in the direction of the Japanese retreat.

Their goal was complex, yet simple—after their initial punch through the defenses, they had to deliver another powerful blow to the Japanese troops, who were still trying to retreat in an orderly manner.

Author's words

"Then you have to follow up with a punch," said Yang Jisheng.

Chapter 797: Shotgun March (2) Axe Chop

General An Guo held the handle of the commander's hatch with his hand and raised the telescope to observe into the distance.

3月10日，自鹤壁集-濮阳进攻战役开始2天后，日军82、83师团于一线的防御在事实意义上已经不存在。

The sound of gunfire and cannon fire could be heard over the surrounding fields, even amidst the roar of the engines; in the distance, columns of smoke rose high, carrying flames.

The colors were deep red, orange, and black; and in the near distance, several small craters were still smoking, and some of them were unknown parts of human bodies and Japanese

Fragments of military uniforms were smoking and burning.

Just 10 minutes ago, General An Guojiang's "advance assault team" created it.

It was a small Japanese unit, probably from the 82nd or 83rd Division. After the main force was dispersed, they took refuge in a village that had been bombarded several times. They suppressed their desire to fire at the reconnaissance troops and waited until An Guojiang's reconnaissance and assault teams had passed by before leaving the village and "turning" north.

But how could the experienced Captain An not know this common tactic used by horse bandits?

When the squad disappeared behind the dirt slope outside the village, he ordered all vehicles to gradually reduce the throttle until the engines were at idle speed and waited for another ten minutes.

--Then, accompanied by the assault team's large Bren mortar and M3 half-track armored carrier, they picked up a machine gun that was shooting at a moving target in the wild.

meeting.

But...Commander An Guo was not very satisfied with this battle.

In traditional military offensive and defensive operations, the task of "pursuing the enemy after breaking through the defenses and expanding the victory" was carried out by cavalry. However, on the current battlefield, this task fell to tanks and mechanized infantry. Due to objective conditions, the Eighth Route Army's advance teams carrying out "penetration" operations were relatively small and lacked ammunition. Furthermore, because the Anyang area was garrisoned by Japanese troops, with numerous village fortifications and dense defenses, the advance teams had to consider the possibility of being entangled by the enemy and unable to escape. This pursuit and "penetration" operation somewhat put the cart before the horse.

Therefore, the end line of this planned deep breakthrough was almost at the Hong River south of Anyang City, only 27 kilometers away from the Japanese army's first line of defense, which was almost the distance the Japanese army usually marched in one day, which seemed quite stingy.

This places high demands on the speed of pursuit and intrusion. In the limited combat time and space, Captain An hopes that he can build a training ground in the snail shell to achieve greater results and create opportunities for the main force to bypass and annihilate the enemy.

Then, on my side, I captured a small team?

Within the frequency band designated for communication, the other three "advance assault teams" are regularly reporting their relative positions to the calibration objects, and informing on enemy engagement and combat situations.

After the pursuit began, some of them tracked the Japanese supply detachment and regiment headquarters, discovered a Japanese logistics point used as a temporary assembly point, and completely destroyed it; some used radio direction finding to chase down two battalion headquarters that had just turned on the radio to report the situation and request orders; and some encountered several Japanese troops in succession, with the entire detachment following behind them like a ghost, charging and killing them continuously, breaking up the remaining troops and turning them into a complete rout...

Unpleasant, quite unpleasant.

"Captain An, the two survivors are dead, and we haven't gotten anything out of them. The Japs' common soldiers probably really don't know anything."

Just as his anxiety began to rise, the infantry leader, or the regimental chief of staff of the motorized infantry unit, came over.

After the previous round of "target shooting", the team of fifty or sixty people had basically become ghosts, and there were only a few who could be used as a tongue. The chief of staff handed over a tattered piece of paper.

"But, I found this on that team leader."

The regimental chief of staff handed over a piece of paper. "It looks like a hand-drawn map. Captain An, you know Japanese. What does the Japanese language next to the 'red dot' on the north side of the map say? Take a look."

"Red dot?"

A red dot drawn in red pencil was marked with the words "Location No. 4" and "Arrive before 12:00 on the 11th" written in Japanese.

The drawing is crude, with distorted shapes, distortions, and even the wrong scale, but it still shows the relative positions of some key landmarks.

North of Tangyin County, above the Tang River, at the intersection of the highway and the river... By comparing it with regular military maps, we can basically determine the specific landmark it represents.

This location No. 4 refers to the "Tanghe Bridge", an ancient bridge over the Tang River in the Song Dynasty!

An Guojiang could not confirm whether this was a traffic bottleneck heavily guarded by the Japanese army - after all, there was a railway bridge that could cross the Tang River 15 kilometers further west - nor could he confirm whether the Japanese army had any deployments here, but he knew that this damn place must be very important to the Japanese.

After all, although the Tang River is not wide, only 25 meters, its deep-cut river channel configuration makes it a natural anti-tank trench. If the Japanese army wants to move in smoothly, it is best to rely on bridges!

"Okay! Target Tanghe Bridge, bypass Tangyin County, and set off!" After reporting the situation, General An Guo's team began to run on the road.

Guided by his systematic learning background and experience gained from many battles, Captain An led the entire advance team to march northward.

The almost completely cut down forests and green wheat dotted between the fields spread from the front of the convoy and then quickly disappeared in the rising dust, while the human traces such as collapsed and demolished houses and abandoned positions were gradually increasing around them.

They quickly bypassed the Tangyin County, which had high walls and deep trenches, and approached their target.

After all, the narrow strip of land of more than 20 kilometers is not very "deep", and the ups and downs of North China are just gentle hills a few meters high. But for the Japanese soldiers running in it, this distance that can be easily covered in a day is now like a soup pot filled with hot oil, bubbling and boiling.

The Japanese were like struggling eels, while the Eighth Route Army was a chef holding a spatula and a pot lid. Now, General An Guo wanted to throw a brick on top of the ping-pong pot!

"Command! Stop the car! Who are you..."

Whoosh—bang!

There was no time to answer, and they didn't even hear the other party's question before the entire convoy rushed through a checkpoint.

The wooden barriers blocking the carriages and horses were knocked aside by the tanks, and the heavy machine guns providing fire support were shattered by a .37mm high-explosive round. Soldiers leaned out of their half-tracks and strafed the emerging Japanese with automatic fire, mowing down the infantry who attempted to turn their Type 2 twin 7.5mm spore-jetting cannons. Immediately, amidst the pile of corpses, the infantrymen leaped from the rear and sides of the vehicles, occupied the Japanese positions, and prepared to launch an attack.

This wasn't just a bridge; it was a Japanese logistics hub and a temporary staging area for troop movements. General An Guo had no idea that his tomahawk-like attack had pierced the chaotic Japanese second-line defenses, bypassing Tangyin County, the fortified stronghold originally intended to hold off the Communists, and striking their largest staging area besides the Tangyin train station. He only knew he had stumbled upon a hornet's nest!

People! Horses! Cars! So many!

The baggage train, infantry, and staff units... a Japanese army unit of at least 800 people was huddled together in an area less than one kilometer in front of them, waiting for the military police in charge of traffic control to let them cross the bridge; officers were running back and forth on horseback, blowing whistles loudly, whipping the Peninsular laborers and those Type 1B and Type 2B recruits, trying to maintain order on the bridge.

At this moment, the ferocious, exceptionally elite invading army had vanished, leaving only a panicked group of enemies, ready to be slaughtered. Their morale, quality, and physical fitness could no longer sustain a timely and effective response to the rapidly changing situation. When the An Guojiang detachment's test shells landed among the crowd, these armed and unarmed Japanese troops offered no resistance at all!

82mm mortars and 107mm recoilless artillery shells were fired from the "Big Bren" and Stuart transformable vehicles in the rear, flying over the infantry, tanks and armored vehicles that were forming an attack formation, and blasting dazzling orange sparks among the crowd in front; long chains of fire stretched out from machine guns and gun barrels, like golden wild bees flying wildly, splashing and jumping on the ochre land of North China, and taking away "lives" that should not have appeared here.

“Keep your distance, don’t get close!”

An Guo held the battalion commander's throat with the transmitter and shouted orders over the radio. His tone was calm and steady.

"Everyone, maintain your formation and fire freely!"

Chapter 798: Shotgun March (3) Air Hunter

...Burrowing Owl repeats, attack entry direction AY-C04, heading 010, disengaging to the right; target is located on the road near the orange smoke trail, mixed enemy marching formation; friendly forces are 2000 meters east of the smoke.

"Repeat correctly. The target area is clear and cloudless, with a northwest wind of force 4 and good visibility. There are a small number of small-caliber anti-aircraft machine guns south of the target. Report back when you can see the smoke."

"Understood... The burrowing owl is calling the sparrow. They've spotted orange smoke." "The sparrow is calling the burrowing owl. Please scout the village west of the smoke and report back when you find the threshing ground and the road intersection."

"The Burrowing Owl understands that the threshing ground west of the orange smoke has been discovered."

"Sparrows call to burrowing owls, check the dirt road through the threshing grounds, search north, and report back if you spot enemy mules and horses marching in formation."

"The burrowing owl understands that it can detect a mixed enemy marching column, at least 12 carts and 4 trucks."

"Sparrow confirms, this is your target."

"Burrowing Owl, understand. Entering attack route... Heading 010, disengaging to the right. Friendly forces are 2000 meters east of the smoke. Requires four 500kg airburst bombs, standard detonation altitude. Requesting attack!"

"Sparrow confirmed, ready to attack!"

The noise of the radio briefly calmed down. In front of the team members guarding the combined image rangefinder, telescope, and voice radio antenna, four "Pirate" fighter jets smoothly cut in from the west of the battlefield. After circling around for reconnaissance, they cut into the battlefield from north to south in a fairly standard posture.

They slid down from the sky in a shallow dive, releasing the massive bombs mounted on their bellies. After leaving the fuselage, the bombs quickly deployed their four tail deflectors, rapidly reducing their speed and plummeting towards the Japanese troops, who were fleeing along the road, abandoning their vehicles in a panic. Then, with the activation of the altitude-finding fuses, four gray flowers of death blossomed smoothly in the sky, showering down a hailstorm of steel arrows, burying all living things in the impact zone in a shower of dust and sparks.

“Boom boom boom boom—!”

"Sparrow calling Burrowing Owl, attack effectiveness is good, please return to standby, over."

With the joyful call on the radio, the Haiyi Battle Team "Burrowing Owl" climbed up the altitude amid the Japanese army's mocking "special anti-aircraft machine guns" and climbed back into the sky. The village that seemed to be as calm as a deep pool was suddenly

Soldiers covered in leaves and hay, armed with rifles and rocket launchers, began to appear around them.

"Comrades, our air force comrades have finished fighting, it's our turn!" "Follow me!"

On the eastern foot of the Taihang Mountains, on the Pinghan Line that runs from north to south, the Japanese defense line has fallen into chaos and disintegration.

Now, the Japanese trenches could not stop the assault, the strongholds could not interfere with the logistics; the defense could not stop the penetration, and the attack became a "turnaround" or "fight with honor". The Eighth Route Army not only made great strides forward on the ground battlefield with a "steady and lively, penetration and advancement" attitude, but also penetrated and annihilated several Japanese regiments along the way, approached the city of Anyang, and began to gradually

While the Japanese and puppet army strongholds around the city were being eliminated, the war was also steadily advancing over the North China Plain, where the spring weather was still chilly.

The Eighth Route Army Air Force, which had been built from scratch, had already

Able to completely suppress the Japanese Army Air Force's forces in the interior of the country and achieve statistical significance of "seizing air supremacy in the theater" - now, in addition to the "China-US Joint Air Force" mainly responsible for Shandong Province and the sea and anti-Japanese operations, in infrastructure projects

With the support of the soldiers and the "road overhaul" of the base, the Eighth Route Army was now able to maintain 200 aircraft of various types over the war zone, and could send more flights in a short period of time to attack Japanese aircraft at the cost of sustainability.

At the same time, the Eighth Route Army's "Air Force", which was born from the Army, was also taken care of by the Army's big brother: the local troops and main forces in each base knew that "if we knock out the Japanese's airport, our planes will fly in the sky", so except for Beiping, Quancheng, Jiaoao and Shimen Zhengding, the Eighth Route Army

In addition, the Japanese airfields could not operate smoothly at all, supporting the inland aviation to compete with the Eighth Route Army for air supremacy.

As one side gained strength while the other declined, the skies along the Pinghan Railway and the North China Plain were occupied by the Eighth Route Air Force with its red star and central emblem and blue and white tail rudders.

Although considering the rapid changes in the battle line and the rapid infiltration of troops, the Eighth Route Army did not dare to let go of its hands and feet to provide ground support, nor did it have the capital to learn from the American tycoons and let the aircraft bear the firepower preparation work before the battle. However, through some activities in the base area and behind the enemy's rear, the "air-to-ground guidance group" and the "Maxwell

The "Electric Reconnaissance Team" can still attack and kill outside the artillery coverage area with a reaction speed of at least 40 minutes and at most 150 minutes.

The Japanese army was discovered to have logistics supply points, troop assembly areas or high-level command posts.

The density of the Eighth Route Army's air raids was far from enough to cause heavy losses at the battle level like the US Army did during the Korean War in another time and space. However,

Like cutting the neck with a blunt knife and tearing the eye with a small knife, the continuous attacks on key nodes are still like mosquitoes that refresh in the room at any time after dark in the summer. They are enough to keep the Japanese army awake at night and cause a little change in their fighting mentality.

It's okay if we can't defeat them on the ground...

Could it be that we, the Imperial Flying Cavalry, the Imperial Warhawks, are actually inferior to the American fighter planes flown by the Red Army?

"We must send out reconnaissance planes! The fighting is intense right now, and the frontline messengers, telephone lines, and wireless communications have been severely damaged! The Hundred-Type Reconnaissance Aircraft is the fastest way for the headquarters to obtain the latest information on the battlefront!"

At the Seventh Army Headquarters in Qingyuan, Iimura Tsutomu took the phone from Chief of Staff Matsuide Iwa and emphasized again in a hoarse voice, "The day before yesterday,

The downing of the Hyaku-Shiki was due to engine failure, an accident! The Communist Army has not yet been able to intercept the Hyaku-Shiki fighter!

"What? Continuously dispatched, in poor condition, exhausted? Ridiculous! Where's your character? Come up with a plan! We must conduct reconnaissance east of Handan today. There's a battle going on over there, and we know nothing about it!"

Iimura Joi slammed the receiver back onto the phone, then collapsed onto the recliner beside him, covering his face with his hands and taking a long breath, trying to relax himself a little.

After taking over the command of the front line of the battle, he has not had a good night's sleep for 7 consecutive days, and he only sleeps for 3-5 hours a day. Although the fierce battle situation and the atmosphere of the command center that is like a shot of chicken blood make people excited, even if he takes "awakening drugs" to fight fatigue, the heavy command work still makes Iimura Ji exhausted.

Especially at this moment when the pressure is like a mountain and gradually approaching.

It had been two days since the Communist Army broke through the Hebi Ji-Puyang defense line. The Yingduan (82nd Division) and Yingmai (83rd Division) Corps had already lost three regiments of troops. The 50th Division (formerly the 1st Independent Mixed Division) was supporting them and defending Anyang, relying on a large number of village fortifications and strongholds to delay time. However, the Communist Army's offensive was extremely sharp, and a large number of troops disappeared like snowflakes. Many command posts did not even have time to regroup and reinforce.

Even the transmission of battlefield intelligence began to have problems... Regardless of whether radio transmissions could be intercepted or deciphered, as long as a unit at or above the battalion headquarters set up a radio station in the same location and transmitted messages intensively, within a day, Communist guerrillas used for reconnaissance would appear nearby. If the delay lasted any longer, they might be attacked or even attacked by airstrikes.

Telephone lines along railways and highways were also frequently targeted—the Eighth Route Army, now too lazy to even cut and reconnect them, seemed to have developed a method of violently removing them, often uprooting and sweeping away kilometers of wires. The section from Qingyuan to Peking remained relatively accessible, thanks to day-and-night patrols.

As for the transmission of human intelligence... well, Iimura Jo felt that having the divisions and regiments send messengers to the headquarters was like feeding fried tofu to a fox or meat buns to a dog. They threw a lot of them down, but not many came back, and they were giving away horses and Mazdas for nothing...

Now, news came from the 50th Division headquarters in Handan that the Eighth Route Army had been detected to be making movements in the mountainous area west of the city. However, while the relevant situation was still under investigation, the 50th Division's wired telegraph and telephone lines were out of service.

We can only rely on "Hundred-style Detective"...

However, just as Iimura Joi was taking the time to take a nap and unconsciously muttering about the only available "high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft", several Eighth Route Army pilots were also muttering about this excellent reconnaissance aircraft of the Japanese Army.

"Up to that point, the Type 6 reconnaissance aircraft was the most direct and rapid means for the Japanese army to obtain intelligence on our troops and the front lines. By flying high and high over the front lines of the battlefield and bringing back film, it could theoretically provide firsthand information on the frontline situation within six hours.

"The Type 100 currently deployed in China is primarily from the 15th Flying Squadron, with one squadron each deployed in Peking, Xuzhou, and Jinling, totaling 18 reconnaissance aircraft. Each squadron is equipped with anti-aircraft artillery and has multiple alternate airfields.

The Type 100 reconnaissance aircraft can reach a maximum speed of 605 kilometers per hour at an altitude of about 5000 meters. It is often deployed alone and has a flight time of more than 1000 hours.

The old pilot is flying, stealthy, cunning, and difficult to deal with. He has used route changes, altitude changes and other means to escape our interception many times.

Fall once...”

Pilot An Tianjiang silently recalled the intelligence about the Japanese "Hyaku-Shiki Reconnaissance Drone" in his mind, flying at an altitude of 3000 meters and leading the entire four-plane formation to continue climbing towards high altitude at the maximum climb angle.

He expertly endured the overweight brought on by the climb and the squeezing sensation caused by the constant-pressure anti-gravity suit, while paying attention to the instrument panel that looked like a clock shop, and at the same time paying attention to the other people in the four-plane formation.

"Kestrel O3, O4, keep watch, maintain search. The enemy aircraft is small, high, and very cunning."