Canteen System Assistance Notes

The Taihang Mountains, which run through the entire North China Plain from north to south, are an important part of China's geological "three major terraces." Their terrain is difficult to navigate, making it difficult for troops to travel. From north to south, there are eight main passes through the mountains, known as the "Eight Passes of Taihang"—Jundu Pass, Feihu Pass, Puyin Pass, Jing Pass, Gankou Pass, Bai Pass, Taihang Pass, and Chenguan Pass. These passes connect the mountains.

Shanxi, Henan, and Hebei provinces, for those who want to enter Shanxi from the east to the west

People, this is the only way.

On the table were documents sent by the Military Commission and the Urban Work Department, as well as information collected by the base's intelligence agencies from the surrounding areas. He could not hide the fact that the Japanese army had begun to mobilize.

The old army may have assembled in Shanyangcheng and Gandan, advancing along the Fengfeng, Shexian, and Licheng lines, and the Huixian and Lingchuan lines. The enemy forces here would primarily be the newly formed 1st and 8th Independent Mixed Brigades, with a combined strength of 14,000 men. Alternatively, similar to the nine-pronged siege of 1939, the attack could have been launched from the Yushe and Wuxiang lines. Here, the enemy forces would primarily be the 36th Division, with a strength of approximately 23,000 men.

"Oh, there's also a group with Qinyang as the assembly point. They should be preparing to attack Wei Junru's army there."

The tea on the table had been brewing for a long time. Chen Shukang took the large enamel pot, took a big sip, and then grabbed a few dried blueberries and put them in his mouth. Liu Shuai had gone to Fushe for a meeting and brought back a big bag of these things, saying that a comrade had given them to him. They were delicious, but they were too sweet, and the seeds inside would get stuck in the teeth, which was uncomfortable.

"Come, let's mark the sand table."

But it wasn't a big deal; the comrade probably meant well. Chen Shukang, holding a pencil, worked with the frontline staff to mark the positions of both sides on the sand table. The Japanese were blue, our army was red, and the Nationalist and Yan forces were black, small flags densely packed across the map.

The first class of the Whampoa Military Academy didn't teach sand table and map exercises, so Chen Shukang learned this on his own. This group of staff cadets, all trained by the Central Committee's Chief of Staff, Zuo, had solid basic skills, but lacked real-world combat experience. Chen Shukang figured that this time, he had been selected as the frontline commander of the counter-mopping-up campaign on the western front, the Taihang and Taiyue areas. He would report to Xu Zijing, Liu Mingzhao, Zhang Hao, Nie Yunzhen, and General Peng. If he taught them well, they should be able to grow.

"Come on, comrades, what are your thoughts on the war situation?" Chen Shukang looked at the sand table and pulled his political commissar Wang Xingting to start a pre-war reminiscence.

"The enemy situation, the central government's report is very clear, our own situation is

The report is accurate, and it's almost accurate. Everyone, please stop repeating the enemy situation."

Because our army was much stronger than it had been historically, the Changzhi Basin, a key grain-producing area in Shanxi Province, was always under our control. Therefore, Chen Shukang no longer needed to adhere to the strictures of avoiding direct confrontation due to the strength of the Japanese army. He could confront the Japanese army head-on when he had the advantage in numbers.

However, we cannot completely follow the previous anti-Japanese encirclement and suppression methods and push the enemy completely and deeply into the base area to fight - there are already some bottles and jars in the base area, and the troops can no longer come and go freely.

However, the top leader asked the question directly, and the many young staff officers looked at each other. Although their minds were full of ideas, no one was likely to be the first to speak out. For a moment, the command center fell silent, and only a bunch of people were left staring at each other.

Upon seeing this behavior, Chen Shukang decisively "sold out" his political commissar: "Ha, comrades, you are now 129, and you are all grown-up girls. What are you waiting for my lame old father to pull you back from your husband's family? Ha! Come on, Blind Wang, you take the lead!"

Aside from General Peng, Chen Shukang basically called everyone by nicknames, even asking them to call him "Cripple." And Wang Xingting, because of his severe myopia and the large, bottle-bottomed glasses he wore, was always called "Blind Man." The two men had a very good relationship, so close that they could walk at night holding each other's hands with a wooden stick. Wang Xingting stepped out, adjusted his round glasses, and gave an order to the bewildered group of staff officers:

"Okay, comrades, come, follow me, take a deep breath--"

The atmosphere became lively, and everyone relaxed. The so-called first phase of the war, the "temple planning" began in the staff room of the 129th Division.

"The Japanese can't attack all of them. They'll need troops to remain in their garrisons to defend them. The 120th Division will also contain the Japanese. Based on the last counterattack against the Nine Route Army, the Japanese generally retain one-third to one-half of their forces in their garrisons and the surrounding 'security zones'. So, we're facing approximately 25,000 men, distributed in three directions."

"Our forces, including the divisional headquarters, the newly formed 1st Brigade, the 10th Brigade, the 11th Brigade, the 770th Regiment, and the Cavalry Regiment, total approximately 11 regiments. The 386th Brigade can be mobilized immediately, and they have four regiments. If you include the Third Death Column, there are still three regiments—but like the 212th Brigade, they are heavily influenced by Yan Laoxi, so I'm afraid they will be weak."

The new staff officers generally expressed little trust in the "Xth Shanxi Youth Death Squadron," prompting Wang Xingting to remind them that those troops were essentially our own, and that they should maintain a united front and avoid accidentally harming their comrades. However, even including the troops from the Third Death Squadron and the military region, the total number of our troops, as counted by the staff officers, was only 65,000.

"In total, we have a 2.6-to-1 advantage over the enemy. However, based on our experience in the Xiangchenggu battle, quickly encircling and annihilating the Japanese is still much more difficult than with the Nationalist army. Ideally, we'd have to create a 1:3 ratio..." Looking at the battlefield situation map, someone sighed, "We have to fight on three fronts, resisting three Japanese armies simultaneously. That's a bit of a hassle."

"Fighting on three fronts? Young comrade, why do we need to fight on three fronts?"

Wang Xingting asked back.

"Because the Japanese army is attacking from three directions simultaneously, ah...the enemy's marching distances are different, and the combat situations they face are also different, so they can't always march at the same speed and move forward in unison." After being reminded, the young man finally realized: "So we don't need to fight them together!"

After saying this, he tapped his head, picked up the calculator on the table, and looked at the squares on the sand table: "The route the Japanese troops are taking between Huixian and Lingchuan is through the high Baixing Mountains with deep valleys. Our troops can play the role of defeating the enemy with fewer troops. The mountain over there collapsed before. Can the Japanese army get in?"

"Of course, as long as the Japanese are willing to use explosives to blast the mountains!" someone answered.

"Then we can mobilize our troops to the nearby Licheng frontline to conduct a concentrated attack on the Japanese army! After the attack, we can turn around and deal with the blocked enemy forces.

Separate the tasks so that one of our troops can function as two.

Use them to form a numerical advantage on the local battlefield!

"Oh, the distance between the two fronts is between 100 and 80 kilometers. It's a bit farther to Wuxiang, about 150 kilometers... Well, we only need to deploy troops in those two directions!"

"No, we just need a direction."

Chen Shukang, who had been sitting nearby, laughed. He stood up and pointed at the Japanese arrows and flags scattered in three directions on the sand table. He said confidently, "Set up a banquet, feed one table of guests, then the second table, and then the third table." "Why? The distance between the three battlefields is as far as 150 kilometers!"

"One hundred and fifty kilometers, is that far?"

Chen Shukang and Wang Xingting looked at each other and asked with a smile.

Chapter 188: Our Army's Military Fortune Prospers!

What should the Eighth Route Army avoid in defensive battles?

Don't stick to one place.

As Chairman Mao said, in order to attack, one must defend, and in order to defend, one must attack. After the Japanese army was deployed, they should learn from Wei Junru's troops in the Zhongtiao Mountains, relying on the abundant reserves of 150,000 troops, to play a dense layered resistance with the Japanese army, gradually fighting for victory, and then wait for the Japanese army to penetrate too far, the kinetic energy of the attack will be exhausted, and finally retreat in the face of difficulties. Such a routine is not realistic for the Eighth Route Army.

On the one hand, the Eighth Route Army had few people, and more than 60,000 manpower could not withstand too much consumption. On the other hand, although this method of tiered resistance was a very feasible and even very wise strategy for the National Army, if Chen Shukang gave up the tactics that the Eighth Route Army was good at and fought such a "stupid battle", he could be shot directly.

Can the misguided counter-encirclement and suppression strategy happen again?

As for the Japanese army, at least for the Japanese land at that time, there was no line of defense on the map that could stop them. Even if they encountered stubborn resistance, under continuous fierce attacks, victory would eventually belong to the Imperial Japanese Army. Since the full-scale invasion of China began, the Japanese army's own battle reports showed that the Imperial Army had never suffered a defeat on the front battlefield.

They believe that this time will not be the case either.

The commander of the 1st Independent Mixed Brigade, Taniguchi Goro, who only has the same pronunciation as a certain anime director, has just taken over as the commander of this newly reorganized unit. The 1st Independent Mixed Brigade, which was reorganized a few months earlier in history, is not as well-equipped as its predecessor: they do not have mecha units (tanks) or their own independent mountain artillery units.

It consisted of only five infantry battalions composed of returning soldiers.

However, Brigadier General Taniguchi was quite confident. Although this time he only brought three battalions and some people from the brigade headquarters, a total of nearly 4 people; the remaining battalion had to stay in Xingzhou and take part-time responsibility to control the surrounding security, and another battalion was temporarily understaffed - the Japanese army in North China was losing blood at an increasingly rapid rate, and this phenomenon existed in all units - in order to ensure this attack on the hateful Eighth Route Red Army, the headquarters split an infantry battalion of the 110th Division and strengthened a field artillery company of the 110th Division, bringing in four 75mm Type 94 mountain guns.

Such a force made Brigade Commander Taniguchi feel overwhelmed. He led an infantry battalion as the vanguard, two battalions in the rear, and one battalion as the rear guard, protecting the field artillery company. They advanced along the Chengkou Xing on the map, preparing to attack "Shexian County" where the Eighth Route Red Army was entrenched.

Along the way, the Eighth Route Army repeatedly sent guerrillas to harass them, and the 72nd Infantry Battalion, at the vanguard, repeatedly stepped on landmines. However, after sacrificing nearly thirty lives, Taniguchi assigned engineers to the front of the column, clearing mines while advancing. Although the pace was slow, no one stepped on mines. Moreover, the battalion commander, able to concentrate his forces, led his vanguards to proactively attack the harassing Eighth Route Army troops, forcing them to retreat and only resort to surprise attacks at night.

This could not stop the Japanese army's resolute advance. At this time, the First Brigade had already crossed Longhu Township on the outskirts of Shexian County, and with about 20 kilometers to go, it began to advance towards the core base of the Eighth Route Army.

However, as the Japanese advanced deeper, the Eighth Route Army's resistance intensified. The previous small-scale harassment disappeared, replaced by semi-permanent fortifications on the hills on both sides of the road and the destruction of the road. This was a common tactic of the Eighth Route Army. The accuracy of the fire-spouting pits was questionable, and they were no match for the Type 92 infantry guns accompanying the vanguard.

The 72nd Infantry Battalion, at the forefront of the troops, was composed of veterans. They employed their usual tactics against the Kuomintang's positional warfare: using machine guns to suppress the enemy's firing positions, then, protected by shields, they advanced their Type 92 infantry guns to within 20 meters of their positions. Then, they loaded their high-explosive grenades and engaged the enemy positions directly. Because the distance was so close, this firing was nearly always accurate, and they proudly reported to their unit:

"Our troops attacked countless Red Army bunkers and dugouts, hitting the target with every shot. The Red Army, including their men and guns, were reduced to ashes!

Upon receiving this news, Brigadier General Taniguchi was overjoyed: "These Eighth Route Army guys only know how to hide and shoot from behind. How can they be a match for the Imperial Japanese Army if we openly fight them?"

"It's not tactics that determine the outcome of a battle! It's strategy, strategy!"

"Guest Battalion, speed up your march!" He ordered the telegraph operator, and in the meantime, sent a messenger to tell the 3rd Battalion from the 110th Division this order, "Before tomorrow night, we must plant the imperial flag on the city wall of Shexian County!"

Advance, camp, stand guard, and rest; then on the morning of the next day, break camp, start, and set off again. The Japanese army, arranged in three sections, occupied the ridges on both sides of the road, strictly guarding against the guerrillas' continued harassment.

The engineers, who had no automatic vehicles, carried shovels and dustpans, and filled the "X"-shaped deep pits dug on the road. They also sawed down fallen trees and removed roadblocks nailed to the ground with wooden stakes, which seriously slowed down the troops' advance. However, in the end, the Japanese army broke through these layers of obstacles and pushed the front line out of the annoying valley.

Looking at the basin spreading out before him, Wu Lang at the valley entrance felt refreshed. He climbed up the surrounding hills and watched the sunset hovering over the mountains at the end of his field of vision, sighing with emotion.

"What a beautiful golden color! What a pity, what a pity,

“It would be even better if I could stand on the top of the city and enjoy such a beautiful view!”

He turned around with his hands behind his back and asked, "Staff Officer, where is our rear guard?" "Report to you, sir!"

The staff officer beside him stood at attention, unfolded his notebook, and reported loudly: "The rear guard is carrying artillery and is moving slowly. They are still eight kilometers away from our unit along a mountain road. They should have camped. We estimate that they will arrive tomorrow morning once the road is smooth!"

"What is the enemy situation now?"

"Reporting to you, sir. According to our scouts, the Red Army has intercepted them 5 kilometers outside Shexian City, firing from behind buildings. Because it was already dark in the river valley, our scouts did not pursue them. Instead, following your advice of caution, we retreated and began marching towards the high ground outside the city, striving to seize the commanding heights."

The subjective initiative of the Japanese squads is very good, which is also an important factor in the Japanese army's ability to withstand the chaos and turmoil of middle and high-level officers.

After a while, he ordered the orderly to take out the map from the leather bag and unfold it.

After observing for a long time, he raised his chin and nodded.

"The enemy's defense is strong, and the surrounding terrain is complex, but!" He pointed his finger at the location of Shexian on the map.

"The enemy's Eighth Route Army is adept at guerrilla warfare, but weak at defending their positions. They are unprepared for our nighttime assault! As long as our army uses the cover of darkness, prepares for artillery fire, and seizes the opportunity to launch a fierce attack, we will surely break through the city's defenses and take it down in one fell swoop. "No army can withstand the fierce attack of my three thousand Imperial warriors. Pass my orders!"

Taniguchi gave the order to the messenger:

"With the 73rd Infantry Battalion as the vanguard, and the 3rd Battalion of the 110th Division as support, after the 72nd and 73rd Battalions have prepared for the artillery bombardment, launch a frontal attack! The 72nd Infantry Battalion will maintain its current position, attack the commanding heights outside the city, and provide guerrilla support to our troops in the siege!" He proudly announced: "Let us tell the Eighth Route Army that only those with power are worthy of deciding fate.

"May you all strive hard and have a prosperous military career!"

Chapter 189: The Imperial Army is Unstoppable!

The Japanese army rarely chose night raids in 1939. This wasn't because the Japanese army's grassroots couldn't support night raids, but rather because the cover of night prevented the Japanese army, with its superior firepower, from leveraging its advantages, giving the Nationalist army a fighting chance. However, if the commander decided to launch a night raid, the excellent grassroots quality and initiative would still support the Japanese army's night raids.

After all, with the current strength of the 1st Independent Mixed Brigade: 4 infantry battalions, a company with 8 Type 92 infantry guns, plus a reinforced 75 mountain gun company, this is a total of more than 5,000 troops. Put them on the front battlefield, they are enough to penetrate the defense line of an entire Nationalist army, or defeat an entire Nationalist army group in a field battle!

Taniguchi Wulang desperately hoped his troops could replicate the feat of the Hata Detachment during the recent Battle of Jiangcheng: with a force of over 10,000 men, they had broken through three lines of defense of the Nationalist Army in 20 days, defeating a Nationalist army group, two corps, two divisions, and a brigade, and conquering five locations in a row. While their current size was smaller than then, and they didn't have as many allied forces to support them, how many men could the Eighth Route Army have before them?

Because the independent infantry artillery squadrons and mountain artillery units were still behind and unable to provide support, the three battalions that had already arrived gathered their four Type 92 infantry guns (one battalion was short of infantry artillery) and pushed them on horse-drawn carts, preparing to approach within 2 kilometers of the Shexian city wall for close-range fire, supporting the two battalions responsible for the main attack on the city. Meanwhile, another battalion was climbing the mountain, preparing to seize a high ground on the hill outside the city.

The battle started soon, but it was beyond the expectations of Brigadier General Taniguchi.

Although he was the first to issue the order to attack, the other side actually launched the attack earlier: under the setting sun, the Eighth Route Army in the west took advantage of the gap when the Japanese army had not yet fully assembled and actually took the initiative to launch an attack!

Across a small ravine east of Shexian County, the Eighth Route Army had actually laid a wooden pontoon bridge and established a starting position. Just then, the Japanese troops, who had been gathering safely, thinking they were still far from the city, came under heavy fire from 82mm mortars. Then, a group of Eighth Route Army soldiers, all armed with short machine guns, cloaked in the grass and, within minutes of the shells landing, charged towards the 73rd Infantry Battalion.

The Japanese army's formation was immediately in chaos, but due to their good infantry quality, a large number of Japanese infantrymen, led by sergeants and sergeants, quickly began to resist spontaneously. They relied on the hard fields, trees and stones to resist, and shot at the looming Red Army.

By the time the 3rd Battalion, unable to deploy directly due to the width of the battlefield, arrived to support, a simple defensive line had already been established by the 73rd Infantry Battalion. However,

The Eighth Route Army did not engage in much entanglement, and after killing and wounding dozens of people,

They chose to retreat and returned to the other side of the river along the pontoon bridge.

"Kuso! You actually let a bunch of random soldiers sneak up on you and get away with it! This is a disgrace to the Imperial Army! Pursue them, pursue them!"

The 3rd Battalion of the 110th Division, which was borrowed from the enemy, was very angry. They felt very uncomfortable with being played like a kite by the enemy. They passed the 73rd Battalion that had just begun to build a defense line and followed the

(Lu's floating bridge attempted to launch a deep pursuit.

If we attack during the enemy's retreating chaos, we might be able to seize the opportunity and storm the city in one fell swoop!

However, the Japanese soldier who was halfway through the charge suddenly felt his feet go empty and he was flying up. Boom!

The Eighth Route Army installed explosives on the wooden floating bridge!

Just as the 3rd Battalion had rushed forward, about a hundred men, the bridge was blown skyward. Immediately afterwards, the previously silent firing points on the other side erupted in flames, forming a crisscrossing fire net that completely engulfed the more than one hundred Japanese soldiers trapped in their positions. The 3rd Battalion didn't even have time to rescue them. Within ten minutes, the continuous gunfire and explosions on the other side ceased, returning to a deathly silence.

The situation quickly reached the ears of Brigade Commander Taniguchi Wulang. Just now, the 72nd Infantry Battalion, tasked with charging the mountain, had been unable to deploy smoothly due to the mountainous terrain and had been driven back by a barrage of grenades from the Eighth Route Army. The enemy even launched a counterattack, engaging the retreating troops in hand-to-hand combat. Only the infantry and artillery below the mountain had timely reversed their fire, breaking up the opposing formations and allowing the 72nd Infantry Battalion to retreat smoothly.

Even the Eighth Route Red Army soldiers didn't see clearly, and more than 200 people were lost at the valley entrance.

The somewhat immature brigade commander was racked with anxiety. The night raid he'd just boasted about had been disrupted before it even began. How many enemies were there? How strong were they? How much damage had they just suffered? He had no idea. The strength of the Eighth Route Army before him was becoming increasingly uncertain. Hadn't prior reconnaissance indicated that the Eighth Route Army consisted of only one regular division and a few guerrilla units? This time, our army was attacking from three fronts. Was it just my good luck that all the regular troops were on my side?

"If you are not prepared to be killed, you are not qualified to kill. As an officer, you cannot show a lack of confidence in yourself."

He muttered to himself, thinking.

Now the sun has set and night has fallen. The enemy has become alert and the surprise of the attack has disappeared. From a rational point of view, it is not a good idea to launch a night attack now.

It's just futile.

But there were no other friendly forces nearby, so there was no need for display of power. Taniguchi took a deep breath and issued his orders: "All units should retreat and set up camp, taking turns on guard to guard against a nighttime Red Army attack. Have the 72nd Infantry Battalion form a search squadron, advance from the mountains to search and determine the Red Army's strength. Then, send a radio message to allies, informing them that our forces are encountering desperate resistance from the main Red Army force and are organizing a resolute attack."

"Wait until the rear team's artillery arrives tomorrow morning, then we'll launch a concentrated offensive!"

—-—-----

After the order was issued, except for the mountain-attacking force which was still on alert, the other two battalions of the Japanese army began to retreat slowly, retreated to the valley entrance and began to prepare for camping.

Although today's attack suffered a setback, the main reason for the setback was that the infantry and mountain artillery squadrons that lagged behind had not yet arrived. As long as those barreled artillery, especially the Type 94, arrived, the Red Army's ridiculous mortars would be no match. And under the cover of the artillery fire, the Imperial Army would always be able to break through the defenses and storm the city walls!

The Japanese soldiers did not lose their fighting spirit. They set up camp and began to cook dinner. Because the supply train was still lagging behind, the ration soldiers dug a pit on the spot and used the brown rice, soy sauce, and miso brought by the brigade headquarters, as well as some vegetables picked up from the village, to cook a pot of vegetable porridge.

She County is located in a mountain basin. From the valley entrance to the basin on the east side, it is about ten miles away from the county seat: this is basically the upper limit of the domestic army's single attack distance at that time. Under the premise that the other side does not have a barreled artillery, this distance is very safe. The Japanese army did not even cover up the smoke from cooking, and just exposed it to the Eighth Route Army.

The veterans clamored, driving away the new recruits at the front of the line, and began to collect their food near the canteen. As the brigade commander, Taniguchi Wulang, besides rice porridge with vegetables, also had pickled plums, canned beef, crab omelette, and eggplant salad. The only imperfection was that the village outside the city had long been occupied by the Eighth Route Army's "fortification and clearing of the countryside." The orderly couldn't find a table or chair, so he had to set up the dining table on a large millstone.

"My dear colleagues! Just wait until tomorrow morning, and everything will inevitably change!"

Brigadier General Taniguchi waved his hand, raised his glass, and encouraged the staff officers around him, "With the artillery support, we will definitely break through the defenses of the evil Red Bandits and capture this place with unstoppable force! Tonight, except for the troops on duty, everyone must get a good rest."

"Hai!"

The staff officers bowed their heads and stood at attention, thanking the brigade commander for his kind concern. However, just as everyone sat down to eat, a noise was heard from the distant city walls.

Bang, bang, bang! The continuous sound was like the roar of artillery fire. The staff officer beside him pushed Taniguchi to the ground, protecting his body, and shouted: "Enemy attack! Alert, alert!"

Then, dense shouts and machine gunfire were heard from the direction of Shexian County. It was as if the entire army was having lunch when all the Red Army soldiers in the city rushed out at once, charging towards the Japanese positions!

The veterans dropped their jobs, kicked the new recruits, grabbed their rifles and ran to their battle positions. The grenade throwers grabbed their launchers and grenade bags, lowered their heads and looked for a launching position; the machine gunners ran to the temporary machine gun position, turned the machine gun, and were ready to shoot at the charging crowd at any time.

Then, the shouts and sounds of gunfire disappeared as if nothing had happened. And then, this thing happened five times in one night.

Imperial Army, sleep well tonight.