Canteen System Assistance Notes

"Unless the Communist Army gains wings and calls upon the gods to help them, we can hold out here for at least three months!"

"Three months? Let's see if the Japs can hold us off for three days!"

The Eighth Route Army commander, Cheng Zaidao, had no particular regard for the Japanese commander's arrogance, nor did he intend to give the Japanese three months. After receiving his mission from the General Front Committee, he arrived in Yangquan, the starting point of the Zhengtai Line, that same day and began planning the upcoming Zhengtai Line-Shimen Campaign.

The first thing the Central Plains Field Army needed to deal with was the Niangzi Pass and Jiuguan lines, which were heavily defended by the 110th Division.

Although our reconnaissance forces had already "scouted" this area thoroughly, its geographical location, characterized by high mountains and deep valleys with only a narrow path, made it difficult for even the fully equipped field army columns to deploy smoothly. An offensive would not only require a battle for commanding heights with the Japanese in the surrounding Taihang Mountains, but also a relatively small force to penetrate the narrow, pre-defined battlefields, where the Japanese army's numerous bunkers formed a defensive pass.

To this end, the independent heavy armored column, consisting of three armored battalions, a self-propelled artillery/assault gun battalion, an armed engineer battalion, a mechanized infantry reconnaissance battalion, and corresponding transportation, repair, communication, and medical units, became the protagonist. Equipped with heavy tanks (by domestic standards) that even Yang Jisheng's "mobile corps" had not yet equipped—namely, the M3 Grant medium tank from the Lend-Lease Act and its own modified variants—as well as a variety of other vehicles and personnel, this tank regiment was undoubtedly the "heaviest armored unit" in the Eighth Route Army at this time.

Together with the field divisions that have undergone specialized training in mountain combat and are equipped with special equipment, they will be tasked with making a "forced breakthrough" from the Niangzi Pass line and breaking through the Japanese mountain fortresses.

On the flank of the front line, the situation was different at the "Old Pass" (Jingxing Pass) located south of Niangzi Pass.

Because the railway didn't pass through this area, the traffic conditions at Jiuguan were even worse. While this made it difficult for Cheng Zaidao to deploy M3 medium tanks or deploy troops larger than a regiment on the front, the poor traffic conditions were equally detrimental to the Japanese. Reconnaissance revealed that the Japanese fortifications here were significantly weaker than those at Niangziguan, consisting at best of a partially constructed bunker of cement rubble and earth.

More importantly, the Japanese army obviously attached more importance to Xinniangzi Pass, which had a railway, and deployed a defense force there composed mainly of Japanese soldiers; while on the Jiuguan line, the Japanese army only deployed about two battalions of infantry and a large number of "anti-communist volunteers": probably because they felt that the mountains here were high and the valleys were deep, and they could use a small number of troops to defeat the larger force and stop our army.

Cheng Zaidao and Chief of Staff Fan Chaoli arranged a professional "mountain field division" transferred from the Taihang base, as well as about three independent regiments familiar with the local environment, and reinforced some independent artillery battalions newly equipped with "mountain rocket launchers" here to provide fire support that overwhelmed the Japanese artillery fire in areas where large artillery was inconvenient to move.

"Looking at it this way, we've become Guan Yu on horseback. We have to pass five passes, kill six generals, and head east from Niangzi Pass, cross Tao River, exit Changshengkou, and finally break out of Luquan before we can truly be considered 'escaping Cao Cao.'"

"Getting out of Luquan is just the first step. Once we're out of Luquan, the battlefield will truly widen, and we'll be able to deploy our troops smoothly." Cheng Zaidao placed his hands on the map, staring intently at the red and blue arrows poised for action. "Next, there's Shimen City, pockmarked by the Japanese, waiting for us!"

"Commander Cheng, the Front Committee said we have three days to break through the defenses of the Japanese 110th Division and rush through these 90 miles." Fan Chaoli sensed another meaning in Cheng Zaidao's words, "but they didn't say we have to take down Shimen in three days! Political Commissar Zhang even gave us special instructions before he left, saying that we shouldn't just focus on attacking and suppressing without paying attention to rhythm for the sake of speed.

"Eat quickly, but don't choke," he instructed. "No, no, no, Chao Li, you think I'm some reckless man? The past is the past, and the present is now. I have the goods in hand, so why would I rush into a bloody fight with the Japs without thinking about the consequences? I wouldn't even want to trade a Japs squad for one of our tank crews!"

Cheng Zaidao walked out of the command center.

Yangquan has now entered a state of war. The surrounding hills have been placed under martial law. A large number of troops, supplies and equipment are being unloaded, transported, or undergoing final pre-war inspections, preparing to enter the final starting positions before the war.

"The core objective of the General Front Committee is to annihilate the main force of the Japanese army south of Shimen and eliminate the effective forces of the Japanese invaders on the Pinghan Line. Therefore, our comrades in the south have the snake's head, and our comrades in Handan have the snake's belly. As for us, we are actually grabbing the snake's tail and blocking all the Japanese invaders who are still there and coming to reinforce us in the encirclement."

He frowned,

"But whether we were fighting Zhengxian, Anyang, or Handan, the Japanese always assumed we were advancing with our main force, fighting from south to north in an orderly fashion. Even if we lost, we could still retreat—once we pulled the plug on the 110th Division's position on the Zhengtai Line..."

"Then Iimura Jo and Okamura Neiji, won't they go crazy?" Cheng Zaidao spread his hands. "Smart people are easy to figure out, but crazy people are hard to deal with!"

Chapter 806: The Decisive Tide (2) Guiding Victory

In front of Niangzi Pass, the large-scale war that had been briefly suspended since 1942 finally reignited.

Last time, the Eighth Route Army, riding horses and mountain bikes, drove three-wheeled motorcycles in pursuit, and finally stopped in the fire net formed by the Japanese artillery counterattack. After that, it was a year-long battle of "cold guns and cold artillery."

The Eighth Route Army's exceptional marksmen, Zhu's marksmen, and marksmen who weren't restricted to rifles left traces of battle along nearly every commanding height and key position along the Line of Control. They surveyed the terrain, scouted the enemy, and drew regularly updated maps of enemy fortifications and visible troop deployments. They also marked possible concealed firing points and tunnel entrances for the attacking forces.

Now, this effort full of subjective initiative is gradually being transformed into material existence that can change objective existence through flying artillery fire and rolling iron torrents.

Viewing the battlefield from within an advanced optical sight is a conflicting experience.

The binoculars offer variable magnification of 2-4x, with a 60° field of view at 2x, allowing the observer to easily observe a large area of ​​the battlefield. Through the eyepieces, the battlefield, filled with fog, fire, and smoke, seems close at hand, yet the explosions and gunfire nearby seem out of sync, as if hundreds or even thousands of meters away. This state of being close yet distant, both immersed in the scene and detached from it, always creates an eerie feeling.

In his vision, several oddly shaped, turretless tanks were at the forefront, advancing slowly along the cleared firing range toward the Japanese position. Their speed was not fast, but not too slow either, just enough for infantry to jog and keep up with. This not only facilitated the advancement of the infantry with guns behind them, but also allowed them to take care of the second row of tanks advancing in a diagonal formation.

Unlike the first row of "tanks," the second row's tanks seemed even more bizarre. They had a small turret on top, but a larger howitzer mounted on the side of the hull—and, like the first, their front and sides were covered with "inert reactive armor" shaped like yellow glutinous rice cakes to improve their protection.

"Four long-nosed tanks, six crooked-nosed tanks, and almost a company following them, right?" The observer knew that these tanks were all American M3 Grant medium tanks or their variant, the M3-122 Grant assault guns, but that didn't stop him from giving them nicknames.

The "Long Nose" assault gun has no turret. Although it is not very flexible, its frontal armor is thick (75mm/43°+30mm NERA). The gun is powerful and can fire 122mm high-explosive shells, concrete-destroying shells, smoke bombs and a type of armor-piercing shell with a special-shaped charge. It is enough to directly destroy all exposed armored targets and bunkers in front of the Japanese army; although the "Crooked Nose" has not undergone major modifications due to time constraints, its own armor is 51mm. After the "Yellow Cake" is installed, its protection capability is also greatly increased. The large and small guns fire together, like a mobile dynamic bunker, which is very useful on the domestic battlefield.

However, compared to the names he casually called out using the "gun barrel method", he suddenly became a little curious about what the Japanese would call these two big things that appeared on the Chinese battlefield for the first time.

However, no matter what the Japs intend to call it, the shells falling on their heads will probably not be "lighter".

The observer rotated his eyepiece, following the tanks' diagonal line forward. The soil around Niangzi Pass was shallow, and digging deeper revealed solid shale. Therefore, the Japanese were unable to dig deep tunnels or anti-tank trenches beyond their surface positions. However, the rugged terrain also effectively limited the tanks' effectiveness in attacking the pass, hindering their ability to fully utilize their mobility, one of the three key elements of a tank's strategy.

However, the strong armor of the two "Grant" tanks can still play a powerful role at this time.

With two loud bangs, two red flares rose into the sky as the troops advanced to a certain threshold. Along with the sudden outburst of shouts and cries, the Japanese positions, already ravaged by barreled artillery, mortars, and rockets, suddenly erupted in a ferocious barrage. From Type 99 rifles and pheasant necks to rocket-propelled projectiles, and even the remnants of Japanese firepower, including the 11-year infantry gun and the 70mm indirect fire, began to fiercely fire at the attacking team.

In just a few minutes, observers saw multiple rounds of anti-tank ammunition with tracers, fired from the hidden positions of the Japanese on both sides of the mountain, hitting the front armor of the two Grant tanks. However, except for a rocket that seemed to have broken the track of an original Grant tank, rendering it unable to move, the remaining bullets had little effect on them.

Our troops on both sides of the hills and in the rear immediately retaliated, and the infantry accompanying the tanks also began to use automatic firepower to fight back against the Japanese troops who emerged from the cliffs and tried to throw "anti-mech mines" and "cloth-bag bombs" at our assault soldiers, blocking them out of range.

In the observer's view, a soldier from the assault company put down his gun and crawled on the ground. After moving to the back of the tank, he took out a telephone-like device fixed on the vehicle body and shouted to the crew members inside the vehicle to describe the location of the Japanese firepower point. Then, the machine gunner on the other side used tracer bullets to continuously shoot at an exposed Japanese firepower point to indicate the target for the tank.

The next second, the engine of the Grant assault gun spewed out a puff of black smoke, and the vehicle body was quickly pointed at the target that was spewing flames - then, a 122mm concrete-destroying bomb quickly hit the side wall of the semi-buried bunker, sending this bunker, which was strong enough to block howitzers of the same caliber, to the west.

"it is good!"

The observer secretly cheered. In his opinion, with the core bunker disabled, the Japanese resistance in this area would soon be broken by his comrades: Next, it would be time for the mountain infantry to attack the bunker and eliminate the remaining enemy forces.

However, seemingly irritated by the few minutes of tank target practice, a flash of fire appeared in the Japanese positions at the "big and small openings" of Niangzi Pass, behind the battle line. Faster and with lower trajectories than the previous anti-tank guns, several lines of fire crossed nearly a kilometer and thundered down upon the advancing tanks. A Grant assault gun, struck in the front armor, tilted and froze; another Grant tank, struck in the side engine compartment, erupted in smoke, which gradually turned into a raging fire after more than ten seconds!

90 wild!

The observer's hair stood on end, alarm bells blaring in his head. Before heading to the battlefield, everyone had brainstormed what weapons the Japanese army had that could threaten the "Grant family," the vanguard of this battle. The ultimate conclusion was that only if the 110th Division could move its "Type 90 Field Gun," originally intended for indirect fire suppression, into frontline bunkers and use it for direct anti-tank fire, would this be possible.

As a veteran, he was very familiar with the enemy division's ultimate firepower and could tell it just by listening. The moment the observer caught the sound, he knew his mission in this battle had finally been activated!

"Damn, the Japs are really patient! My dear 90 Ye, you've been holding on until now to hold the fire!"

Almost subconsciously, at the same time the command came, the observer - oh no, or the "Type 43 Guided Rocket (for personal use)" guide - had already started the action with his hands: opening the protective cover of the control button, unlocking the firing trigger, powering up the aiming system, unlocking the infrared tracking angle measurement system... accompanied by the humming sound of the refrigerant tank, the red aiming scale lit up in the wide-field sight previously used to observe the battlefield environment, and the crosshairs in the center of the scale had firmly locked onto the field artillery position that had just finished firing.

"Aiming mode 1, semi-auto guidance, override at your convenience - ready!" he roared.

"Projectile self-test is normal, ready!" "Target, enemy field artillery position, fire in order!" "Fire!"

The whirring of a gyroscope echoed first, followed by the rocket charge, ignited by an electric igniter, propelling the 127mm "small-medium" projectile, dragging a thin guide wire as it soared from the launch tube's track. Amidst the swift smoke, it was supported by a trained shooter, guided by a "slightly" high-tech back-end system. Finally, a "return gift" of a warhead weighing over three kilograms was delivered to the Type 90 field artillery position, which was about to fire its second round.

Boom!

Chapter 807: Decisive Tide 3) Steel Waves and Iron Rain

"Turn left, a tight turn! Avoid the barbed wire!"

General An Guo shouted loudly in the tank, but amid the huge noise, only the throat microphone with strong noise reduction ability could pick up his slight voice, which made him want to sit in the gunner's seat on the left, and then step on the driver's shoulder with his foot to command him to turn left and right.

Fortunately, the custom-modified American-made intercom system was still working properly, relaying General An Guo's instructions to the driver. This command-model M3A3 Stuart avoided a fence of wooden stakes and barbed wire that hadn't been destroyed by the detonating cord and caught up with the tank column ahead.

After all, if the command vehicle does not charge, when it runs over the barbed wire, there is a probability that the tank will roll the barbed wire into the tracks and road wheels, which will cause the vehicle's running system to malfunction. Therefore, in this non-essential link at the moment, General An Guo decided not to treat the American vehicle under his butt roughly.

"As before, keep your distance from the vehicle ahead! Drive smoothly!" General An Guo gave the driver his final instruction and began operating the vehicle's terminal. Soon, a stream of thermal transfer paper emerged. He tore it off, examined it in the light from the commander's hatch, and confirmed with the radio operator and mechanic.

"From the regimental headquarters?"

"Yes!"

"Okay! Camp frequency!"

After the brief communication, General An Guo unfolded the map, pressed the transmitter button on his chest with his sleeve, and shouted an order, "Everyone in the battalion, all vehicles, pay attention!

"Order from Regimental Headquarters! Keep left on the road ahead, maintain column movement for 3500 meters, and proceed to Matou Village! Coordinate with friendly units to attack enemy stronghold No. 72. Password 'Toona sinensis leaves - Soapberry trees', move out!"

The Mobile Corps, which had departed from Luoyi, had already completed its turnaround and was advancing northward along the Pinghan Line. After a cycle of breakthrough, rest, and breakthrough, the Mobile Corps and its attached Field Army units had penetrated Xinxiang, Hebiji, and Anyang, reaching the city of Handan. Together with the Central Plains Field Army, which had advanced from three routes through Bokouxing, and the field and local forces from the Ji'nan base area, they encircled Handan on three sides.

After all, the Shimen City further north had already been attacked by the North China Field Army and the Central Plains Field Army. All the Japanese soldiers fleeing north from Handan, even if they could break through the field army encirclement along the Lanyang River, even if they could escape the pursuit and interception of the military and civilians in the base areas along the way from Handan through Xingtai to Shimen, would still encounter the second desperate red iron wall along the Shimen Lituo River.

In short, apart from the 82nd and 83rd Divisions (also known as the Yingduan and Yingmai Corps in the Japanese army) that had already fallen to the west, the 110th Division, the 28th Division of the Kwantung Army, the 50th Division (formerly the 1st Independent Mixed Division), and the 80th Division that had just been put into the encirclement were still in this multiple encirclement. Liu Mingzhao and Yang Jisheng were sure to wipe them out!

"Attention, all vehicles of the first and second companies, keep observing and advance at a steady speed!"

"clear!"

The Eighth Route Army had strict radio regulations, which ensured that all crew members would not use the frequency band to speak incompletely during combat. General An Guo suppressed the urge to look out of the turret to survey the battlefield and instead scanned his surroundings through the commander's periscope.

The bunker complex, designated as Large Stronghold No. 72 on the map, was located south of Handan City, nestled in a large village called Nanzhangzhuang, along the Pinghan Line. However, looking over there now, not a single house could be seen—the Japanese had driven out the inhabitants, demolished their homes, and then used cement to build a cluster of low, semi-underground bunkers.

The distant bunkers almost blended with the horizon, barely rising above the ridges of the fields. Meanwhile, because the soil was good, the area surrounding the position had been dug by the Japanese into a "moonscape": numerous trenches for personnel communication crisscrossed and connected numerous hidden bunkers and firing points. Of these, the one that had the greatest impact on the troops was, of course, a five-meter-wide anti-tank trench.

"Second Company's odd-numbered vehicles, prepare to release smoke screens to cover the engineering work!" "Okay!"

Several smoke canisters were launched into the air, creating a dense wall of white smoke over the Japanese positions. This was followed by the smoke screen shells fired earlier by the artillery. The infantry, accompanying the tanks, spread out to either side, taking up more of the craters created by the artillery and rockets, the surrounding rocks, and the wreckage of houses as cover to shield the mechanized engineers approaching the anti-tank trench. Armored American T9 high-speed tractors followed, spewing thick smoke. These massive vehicles, loaded with engineers, carried several of the Eighth Route Army's own steel rutted folding bridges, ready to deploy beside the anti-tank trench for operation.

And at this moment, the Japanese troops in front of them finally couldn't hold back anymore.

The Japanese frontline commanders in charge clearly understood that if they waited until those square-headed monsters unloaded the 7.5-meter trench bridges they were carrying, those terrifying steel tracks would probably crush their own positions!

Suddenly, as telephones rang in the Japanese positions, hidden bunkers opened fire. Machine guns, flat-fire cannons, and even 75mm "new-style jet-propelled cannons" began to fire at the attacking front. The remaining artillery fire in the rear turned to their own anti-tank trenches, firing at pre-determined parameters.

This did inflict some damage on the Eighth Route Army. However, the direct fire from the front was inaccurate due to the smoke, and the artillery in the rear clearly couldn't provide sufficient interception density. The 50th and 28th Divisions arrived in a hurry, lacking the resources of the 110th Division. They didn't have a large artillery reserve, let alone the money to drag precious 75mm field guns to the front line for direct fire.

As for the Type 41 and Type 94 mountain guns that fire Type 95 armor-piercing shells, they can only increase the workload of the logistics soldiers responsible for replacing additional armor.

The swirling jets of turborocket shells were blocked by the Stuart's frontal armor, and were then met with a barrage of 37mm guns. The newly exposed rear artillery positions attracted the attention of the hovering "Otter" artillery observation aircraft, which subsequently received the utmost attention from "smoke colored rockets" and "counter-artillery suppression operations." Under the roaring engines of the Corsair fighter/bombers, sections of 7.5-meter-long tread bridges were pushed out by a hydraulic and steel cable system, firmly attached to the other side of the anti-tank ditch.

Immediately afterwards, the engineers completed the withdrawal of their equipment and casually launched several obstacle-clearing rockets loaded with silk explosive packs. This convenient demolition equipment not only swept away the remaining barbed wire, mines, and obstacles behind the anti-tank trench, but its extremely high detonation speed and overpressure also "swept" several passages through the previously created smoke screen, as if several fire dragons appeared out of thin air on the battlefield and pounced on the Japanese troops in front of them!

"Second Company, provide cover. First Company vehicles will pass through in order and accompany the infantry in attacking the enemy positions!"

"Three companies, keep observing—be prepared for support!"

Finally, General An Guo could no longer endure the scorching heat inside the vehicle, observing the battlefield through the small periscope. After a few words of advice to the gunner, he put on his helmet, revealing half of his head, and began to observe the battlefield in front of him.

Experienced soldiers were overtaking the tanks, following the reserved passages or carrying metal ladders across the wide anti-tank trenches, launching attacks on the Japanese troops in front. The semi-buried bunkers, which were almost flush with the ground, might have been a particularly difficult target, but under the cover of the tanks and various accompanying firepower, the soldiers could find various tricky angles to deliver their cannons or explosives into them, or wait for Stuart to lower his bulldozer to directly cover the entire firing hole, and then, like a game of whack-a-mole, knock down any Japanese troops attempting to move out of the rear trenches.

General An Guo saw some soldiers already leaping into the Japanese trenches. He withstood several shots from the Japanese soldiers in front of him, then, while they were stunned, knocked them down with his submachine gun. He saw those once arrogant devils, invincible in bayonet fighting, turning and fleeing like stray dogs, no longer even having the courage to fight our soldiers in close combat...

He saw a red cloud floating in the wind above the city wall of Handan, which was heaving in the smoke in the distance.

"Comrade, use the machine gun for a moment!"

A man climbed up from behind the tank, breathing heavily and speaking with a familiar Shaanxi accent. Judging from the small red flag and binoculars slung around his waist, he was probably a grassroots commander commanding the front line. The man didn't care about answering, but blew a few short notes with the whistle in his mouth, then pulled the ammunition belt and operated the modified .50 Browning machine gun next to the commander's seat.

"Okay! Fight well!"

An Guojiang got back into the car, and the next second, the metallic melody unique to the 12.7mm Browning ammunition rang out, bringing a storm of light and flames to the group of Japanese soldiers who were desperately resisting.

Chapter 808 The Decisive Tide (4) Each Flying

When there are distant and dense sounds of gunfire and thick or dim smoke coming from the infinitely far left side of the field of vision to the infinitely far right side of the field of vision, ordinary people will fall into a sense of isolation and fear as if they are between heaven and earth but have nowhere to hide.

Especially when behind you are the endless Taihang Mountains, when in front of you is the "Communist Army Base" with flat terrain but full of "malicious enemy bandits", when on your left and right are "brutal enemy troops" who want to eliminate you physically and destroy you mentally... this kind of fear and anxiety will turn into a poison that is enough to cause a person to stop breathing, spreading from the heart to the whole body, and putting people in a paralyzed state where they cannot move.

Paik Sun-yup of the Suwon Regiment on the Peninsula, the Peninsula's "Iron-Blooded Loyal Emperor and Anti-Communist National Volunteer Combat Team", or Lieutenant Shirakawa, were in this state of "sincere gaze and pure eyes".

"Are they still there? Are they still there? Are they still there?"

"Sir, they are gone, they are gone, they are gone!" Following the report in a tearful voice, a group of people fell to the ground with their limbs spread out, as if an oscillating fan with its power lines pulled out, gasping for breath after surviving a disaster - Paik Sun-yup and several people from the battalion headquarters of the 1st Battalion of the Kwantung Army's "Peninsula Suwon Regiment", as well as more than 200 Korean soldiers who had followed them, all collapsed on the ground in this small village called Xiyang Village.

After following the 80th Division through Shimen and Xingtai, the Communist Army launched an attack on the Shimen area where the 110th Division was stationed. Before the 80th Division could decide whether to continue south or turn back to provide assistance, they themselves were attacked by the Communist Army from their eastern base. Caught off guard, the "Peninsula Suwon Regiment" and the 80th Division were dispersed by the Eighth Route Army while on the march.

And just now, the confused "Peninsula Suwon Regiment" was attacked by at least three communist troops: a communist army that was probably a local force led a guerrilla force, and another force equipped with tanks - or tanks captured from the Empire of Japan - and launched an attack.

These three forces, with the tank mobile force in the lead, circled to the flank of the Suwon Regiment and then launched a fierce attack, cutting off another battalion from the formation. Afterwards, most of its infantry rushed out and surrounded the separated second battalion and part of the first battalion.

Then, the encirclement was filled with the roar of gunfire, mortar shells and direct-fire shells rained down, and there were even the sounds of large-caliber guns that could cut a person in two with one bullet. Faced with such an enemy attack, how could the remaining people who had not yet been surrounded dare to organize a counterattack, let alone rescue their friends? Being able to maintain the most basic organization in the chaos and break through the sluggish consumption of the Communist guerrilla forces was already an outstanding ability of Paik Sun-yup.

"Now……"

What should I do now?

Continue the attack?

It was obviously impossible. Not to mention the main force of the Communist Army that had crossed Handan to pursue them, even the Communist tank unit and local guerrillas that were separated to chase them could not be defeated by the Peninsula Suwon Regiment after they left the 80th Division.

Turn to evacuate?

This seemed like a feasible solution, but Handan in the south was being attacked by the main force of the Communist Army, and Shimen in the north was also under attack by the Communist Army. Going westward into the Taihang Mountains would be a trap, while going east would lead to the southern Hebei base area, the starting point of the Communist Army's attack. The section between Handan and Shimen was also infested with large numbers of Communist guerrilla forces, leaving no safe place. Where could they retreat to?

Logically, a soldier, especially one at the commanding level, shouldn't be caught off guard on the battlefield. Although he was merely a commander of the Korean puppet army, Paik Sun-yup was a "prodigy of the imperial state," having graduated from the Fengtian Military Academy in Manchukuo in 1941. He had also served as a squad leader in the recruit training unit in Jiamusi, specifically responsible for training both the Koreans and the puppet Manchukuo "Imperial Army," and thus had considerable practical experience.

However, the current situation really makes Lord Shirakawa unable to think of any solution.

Previously, he had basically been used as a mouthpiece for the Japanese captain, so when faced with the current crisis, Paik Sun-yup's disciplined instinct told him that he should seek out the highest-ranking Japanese officer for instructions, and then pass the orders up and down... However, before this attack, the tank-driving troop had caught up with his special team, like a pack of wolves chasing a goat.

Under constant pursuit, division, harassment, or short, fierce artillery bombardments, or inexplicably accurate air strikes, the entire Peninsula Battalion, and even the entire Japanese command of the special task force, had been almost completely wiped out. Now, the troops were scattered by the surprise attack, and their communication equipment was completely damaged, making it even more difficult to contact their superiors...

No, no matter if there is any solution or not, no matter what other people do... if I continue like this, I will definitely not survive!

"In short! Forget about everything else, and don't be afraid!" Paik Sun-yup shouted, searching his brain for words. Troop action depended on morale, and regardless of the logic, he decided to boost morale and establish his command authority as a lieutenant—the highest-ranking officer present.

However, just as things settled down a bit, the scene erupted into a chaotic commotion. A group of people, ignoring the outer security and the troops' rest, began to argue incessantly, completely ignoring him.

"The Communist attack team is like a wild dog! We can't escape or defeat them. Now we must find the headquarters!"

"How do we find them? Send someone out to contact them? Who can guarantee that the people we send out won't escape along the way or be intercepted by the Communist army? In my opinion, it's better to contact other brigades and hold our ground!"

"You bastard! Do you look down on the will of the Imperial people of the Peninsula? Have you forgotten the Battle Training?"