The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 377 I am your ancestor!
At 2 a.m., in a temporary command post five kilometers away from the main Japanese position, under the dim light of the command post, He Wei and his officers above the rank of company commander were staring intently at the sketch of the Japanese position's defensive deployment placed on an empty ammunition box.

Ou Yuxiang, the second lieutenant platoon leader of the second platoon of the special forces company who drew the picture, did not let down his three years of study in the twelfth class of the Whampoa Military Academy. In the descriptive map he drew, the organization of the enemy's positions, force composition, firearms configuration, construction types of fortifications, main combat directions of the enemy and possible attacks and retreat routes were all marked on the map, providing He Wei and a group of officers with extremely complete information on the enemy.

Everyone stared at the sketch. Although He Wei looked normal, the other officers looked solemn. According to the content recorded in this sketch, the Japanese position was indeed well-defended and tightly deployed. In front of the position, there was an obstacle area consisting of a large number of obstacles such as stakes and barbed wire. The main position was composed of multiple field fortifications supported by bunkers, machine gun nests and other fire points, and a considerable number of shelters were built.

The bunker groups, which serve as key firepower points, are connected by covered communication trenches, and there are hidden bunkers and concealed firepower points extending within the obstacles between the main positions. They are all well shielded and camouflaged, and can be said to be a fairly solid field position.

The number of Japanese firearms recorded in the landscape map is also quite considerable. There are no less than 75 light and heavy machine guns deployed in bunkers and machine gun nests, and the number of -caliber mountain cannons is about two squadrons, about eight to ten guns.

Fu Chen, the commander of the first battalion of the assault corps, looked at the landscape drawing of the Japanese position and angrily cursed: "With the firepower configuration and position scale of the Japanese army, according to their field army organization, it is very likely the scale of a regiment. So the Japanese have invested a lot of troops on the west bank of the Fuchi River, and their force scale is definitely not less than ours. In addition, their position is so solid, this is a tough nut to crack. The 18th Division is a bunch of bastards. They lost the position that should have been used to fight the Japanese in one night. Good fellow, now the Japanese are using the position they left behind to deal with us. It's really a fucking wonder."

The commander of the first mountain artillery company of the assault corps artillery battalion said: "The artillery firepower of this Japanese army is stronger than that of a field infantry regiment. According to the organization of a Japanese infantry regiment, there are only four mountain artillery pieces in one squadron. But according to the map brought back by the special agent company, the enemy's artillery firepower is probably at least two artillery squadrons. The Japanese artillery that engaged in artillery battles with my company on the west bank of the Fuchi River when the Japanese army crossed the river to attack was also about the same number. It is very likely that they were the same group of people."

The mountain artillery company commander coughed lightly, and then said to He Wei with a cheerful expression: "Captain, if the Japanese artillery scouted by the special forces company and the Japanese artillery that covered the landing during the river crossing operation are really the same unit, then let's not say anything else, I will definitely defeat the Japanese artillery in the position. When the Japanese crossed the river and landed, my company fought an artillery battle with them for a long time. The mountain artillery equipped by the Japanese artillery is most likely the old-fashioned Type 41 mountain artillery, which cannot match the range and rate of fire of my company's Type 94 mountain artillery. Now that the special forces company has scouted out the location of the Japanese artillery position, once the attack begins, my company is confident that we can suppress the Japanese artillery and it will not be a problem to defeat them!"

An infantry company commander immediately said: "The enemy's position is so strong, we should try to fight them in close combat. We can attack the Japanese by crossing the river. We should concentrate our submachine guns and attack the enemy's trenches and shoot them."

Several other officers followed suit, clamoring to concentrate the submachine guns again as a sharp weapon for attacking the Japanese positions. Perhaps they had tasted the sweetness of concentrated use of submachine guns in the battle to annihilate the Japanese troops crossing the river. Now the officers of the First Battalion and even sergeants and soldiers at all levels have become loyal supporters of submachine guns and submachine gun tactics.

Now that they were about to attack the Japanese positions, the first thing they naturally thought of was to continue to utilize the close-combat firepower advantage of submachine guns and to use concentrated submachine gun use and concentrated assault tactics against the Japanese positions.

Fu Chen also looked at He Wei and said, "Captain, I think this method is feasible. Since we have already figured out the locations of the Japanese artillery positions and main firepower points, we might as well concentrate our artillery fire to attack and suppress the Japanese artillery positions and firepower points. The infantry units should still follow the way they fought the Japanese crossing river units, using submachine guns as the vanguard. As long as our infantry can rush into the Japanese trenches, with the firepower of our submachine guns, plus grenades and twenty-round rounds, we can't say that we can completely wipe out the Japanese troops in the positions, but it shouldn't be a problem to completely defeat them."

He Wei nodded to the officers and said, "It seems that everyone has the same idea. In that case, let's implement it as soon as possible. I have already prepared a plan for the tactics of this battle. Although my tactics are not exactly the same as the ones you just proposed, they are not much different. From a military academic point of view, our tactics for this battle can refer to the tactics of the German Army's Storm Troopers during the First World War."

"Sir, what are Stormtrooper tactics?"

an officer asked loudly.

Immediately, He Wei briefly explained the German Army's Stormtrooper tactics to the officers.

The so-called stormtrooper tactics is an infantry attack tactic that was born during the First World War. Due to the emergence of machine guns, artillery and various high-powered automatic firearms in the First World War, the battlefield form gradually evolved into trench attack and defense operations based on solid trench fortifications. In trench attack and defense operations, the attackers who sought to break through the defenders' solid positions would often return empty-handed, leaving behind a large number of corpses in front of the trenches equipped with machine guns, artillery and multi-layer obstacles.

In order to solve the problem of attacking positions centered on strong trenches, the major participating countries were struggling to think of effective trench breakthrough tactics. The Germans, who had always dominated the army, were no exception, and the German Army's Storm Trooper tactics came into being.

The German Army's Stormtroopers are elite infantry equipped with close combat weapons such as submachine guns, pistols, short rifles, flamethrowers, grenades, and lightweight machine guns. When attacking, these Stormtroopers, who are good at close combat firepower, will quickly break into the enemy's trenches under the cover of artillery fire, and quickly defeat the enemy in the trenches with powerful firepower, using their own mobility advantage to expand the results of the battle and thus occupy the position.

If battlefield conditions permit, the Storm Commandos can further expand and infiltrate deep into the enemy's territory.

In general, the Storm Troopers are a small-scale elite force that uses fierce close combat firepower and excellent small-unit light infantry tactics to break through trench positions. The Storm Troopers tactics are the small-unit assault tactics implemented by the Storm Troopers. This tactic not only avoids the group charge of the troops being killed in large numbers by the enemy, but also can infiltrate into the enemy's positions from multiple directions, using fierce close combat firepower to shake the enemy's entire line of defense and achieve a breakthrough.

The German Army's Storm Troopers also achieved extremely impressive results after being actually deployed on the battlefield. In the Kaiserin Battle of 1918, each infantry army of the German Army was equipped with a battalion-level Storm Trooper, and each infantry division was also equipped with a company-level Storm Trooper. Relying on these small-scale elite troops, the German army successfully pushed the front line 6 kilometers in six consecutive days of offensive, becoming the longest record of the German Army's offensive since the outbreak of the First World War in 60, and also creating the fastest offensive speed of the German Army in World War I.

It can be seen that the Stormtrooper tactics is indeed a very effective offensive tactic. Not only did it play a very considerable role in the First World War, it also represented the development direction of basic infantry tactics in the future. Therefore, this tactic was inherited and developed by the German Army in the Second World War. Even the famous blitzkrieg tactics theory can be seen in the shadow of the Stormtrooper tactics.

The light infantry tactics used by the Chinese People's Volunteer Army to defeat the U.S. military in Korea were essentially an Eastern upgraded version of the Storm Commando tactics.

Before the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the Central Army of the National Army learned a lot from Germany in its military construction. Not only did it introduce various weapons and equipment from Germany, it also recruited a large number of German advisers to help the Central Army train the troops. However, due to the particularity of China's national conditions, the German advisers did not teach this tactic to the Chinese army during training. However, the Storm Commando tactics were actually used in the Battle of Shanghai.

In the Battle of Shanghai on August 13, the National Army used the 88th and 87th Divisions to attack the Japanese Marine Corps and the Japanese Navy's Third Fleet Headquarters in the urban area of ​​Shanghai. After several days of unsuccessful attacks, German advisers assigned to the 88th and 87th Divisions proposed a new tactic, suggesting that the Chinese army use a part of its capable and elite infantry to carry out a single-point breakthrough under the support of fierce firepower, and use methods such as engineer blasting to attack and destroy the enemy's strong fortresses, and try to penetrate deep into the Japanese hinterland and shake its entire defense line.

The tactics proposed by the German advisers were actually a replica of the German Army's Storm Trooper tactics. After being adopted by the Chinese army's commander, it was named the Iron Fist Plan and was implemented by an elite infantry battalion of the 88th Division equipped with artillery and automatic weapons.

Unfortunately, although the Iron Fist Plan dealt a heavy blow to the Japanese army, the 88th Division was rushed into battle, lacked adequate training in the tactics, and lacked automatic weapons and engineer blasting capabilities. In addition, the street fighting pattern in the urban area of ​​Songhu was completely different from the trench warfare in the plains experienced by German advisers during World War I. Ultimately, the Iron Fist Plan failed to successfully achieve the tactical goal of completely breaking through the Japanese defense line, and this battle example became the only failed attempt at the Storm Troopers tactics in the National Army.

After He Wei explained the tactics and specific organization of the Storm Commando to the officers, the battalion commander Fu Chen said without hesitation: "Isn't the organization of my assault corps an enlarged version of the Storm Commando? The positional attack we are going to fight now is also quite similar to the trench attack during the First World War."

"well said!"

He Wei immediately spoke to Fu Chen with praise.

Indeed, the core essence of the Storm Commando is elite infantry plus a large number of automatic firearms and close-combat firearms, and the Assault Corps fully possesses both of these. The various training manuals and drill manuals developed by He Wei for the Assault Corps also incorporate many of the Storm Commando's tactical ideas.

Just as Fu Chen said, the assault corps had long since become an extra-large storm assault team, and He Wei was pointing this out now only to explain this tactical idea to the officers in a clearer way.

At this time, the commander of the special forces company, Yang Biao, suddenly had red eyes, patted his chest and shouted: "Captain, just tell me how to fight. Nine of my special forces company members died in a feint attack just now in exchange for this useless picture of the Japanese position. Now the soldiers in my company are eager to attack and kill all the Japanese in the position!"

The other officers also understood that He Wei must have already thought of a way to fight, and they all looked at He Wei with eager eyes.

He Wei gave Yang Biao a calming look, then pointed to the scenery picture on the ammunition box and said, "Okay, then I'll talk about the specific deployment. We now have all of Captain Fu's First Infantry Battalion, including three infantry companies, a heavy machine gun company, a mortar company, and a battalion headquarters company. In addition, there are also a direct engineering company, a special agent company, the first mountain artillery company of the artillery battalion, and a tank defense artillery company. Compared with the Japanese troops in the position, our forces can hardly be called sufficient, so we must make use of all tactics and combat skills as much as possible, especially the Storm Commando tactics I just talked about, and we must use them to the fullest extent."

He Wei looked at the commander of the First Battalion, Fu Chen, and said, "I am determined to use the First Battalion as the main attack force and launch an assault from the front. According to the enemy situation reported by the special agent company, there is a rain-cracked ditch 45 meters in front of the obstacle area in front of the Japanese main position. The First Battalion can use this ditch as a forward position and build a communication trench in front of the Japanese obstacle area in a close-range operation. The troops will dig the communication trench to the Japanese obstacle area and prepare for battle. When the attack signal is initiated, quickly open up a passage in the enemy obstacle area and launch an attack on the enemy's main position!" "The engineer company and the tank defense artillery company are also assigned to your command. The engineer company can assist your battalion in blasting obstacles during the assault. The Japanese also have hidden bunker firepower points in the obstacle area. The mm gun of the tank defense artillery is the most suitable for dealing with such firepower points."

Fu Chen raised his voice and stood at attention: "Yes!"

He Wei continued, "I have already explained the tactical thinking to you. I will not interfere with your specific command and deployment, but I do have a few suggestions. First, the three infantry companies in your battalion must be the main attack companies. Each company's submachine guns, grenades and other close combat firearms must be used flexibly. Flexibility is also the core principle of the Storm Commando's tactics. Second, the tank defense artillery company assigned to you should focus on shooting at the enemy's bunkers in the obstacle area during the obstacle breakthrough stage. Once the troops successfully open a passage in the obstacle area and rush up, the tank defense artillery's shooting target should also be switched to attacking the bunkers and machine gun nests on the enemy's main position. In short, you must react quickly and adjust the firepower in time."

Fu Chen nodded: "Don't worry, Captain, I will report the specific situation to you after I deploy it."

He Wei looked at the mountain artillery company commander again and said, "Your mountain artillery company has two tasks. First, during the infantry charge phase, you must suppress and attack the Japanese bunkers and machine gun nests on the main position. Also, during the attack, you must monitor the Japanese artillery. Once the Japanese artillery fires at our charging infantry, quickly suppress them. Of course, it would be best if we can directly destroy the Japanese artillery."

The mountain artillery company commander patted his chest proudly and said, "Don't worry, Captain. My artillery company will definitely provide good cover for the infantry brothers and try to destroy the damn artillery."

"Well, all units must start moving now and prepare to engage the enemy. The First Battalion and the attached Engineer Company and the Tank Defense Artillery Company must enter their positions within an hour and be ready for close combat. The artillery units must complete the approach to the enemy positions and the construction of the artillery positions within half an hour and be ready for shooting as soon as possible. The Special Forces Company fought very hard today, so they will serve as the reserve for the time being. All units must be ready for battle before 3 a.m.!"

"Yes!"

Just as He Wei was making intensive preparations for the attack, there was a commotion in the Japanese position.

In the feint attack just now, because the special forces company attacked extremely fiercely and the firepower was fierce, the Japanese army was in a state of high mental tension, so the Japanese soldiers in the position mistook the special forces company's feint attack for a real attack by the Chinese army, and all light and heavy firearms, from machine guns to mountain cannons, opened fire.

All the Japanese troops in the position, from the soldiers in the combat units to the baggage soldiers who had just received the weapons captured from the Chinese army, were all thrown into the battle.

This Japanese unit had been fighting almost continuously for two days and nights since it landed on the west bank of the Fuchi River. Now, after being hit by the feint attack of the special forces company, the Japanese troops in the position were exhausted.

Although the feint attack launched by the special forces company not long ago did not last long and did not cause any casualties to the Japanese army, it caused great trouble to the Japanese troops in the position and more or less played a role in tiring the enemy. The feint attack by the special forces company, which came with great force and then withdrew suddenly, also left the Japanese officers at all levels confused.

In short, in this battle just now, the Japanese army was exhausted both physically and mentally, and confused!
In the core command post located in the center of the Japanese position, the highest commander of the Japanese army, Kitaro Tsuchi, stood in the command post with a gloomy and tired face, leaning on his command knife with both hands, looking at the eight bloody bodies of Chinese soldiers on the ground in front of him with the help of electric light. He glanced with disgust at a Chinese soldier next to him who was covered in blood and tied up on a log supporting the command post.

An adjutant stepped forward and said to Kitaro Tsuchi, "Sir, we only found eight bodies of Chinese soldiers and this wounded prisoner in front of the obstacle area. I have checked. They are wearing German-style steel helmets and using Czech-made vz24 short rifles. They are also equipped with German-made mp28 submachine guns. Everyone has a bayonet, and they carry plenty of ammunition. Their equipment is also very special, like a vest. They are completely different from the Chinese army we have fought before, but what is certain is that they are definitely the direct descendants of Chiang Kai-shek's Central Army in the Chinese army."

"What are their numbers?" asked Kitaro Tsuchi.

"Sir, the documents and badges on these Chinese soldiers show that they belong to the Chinese Army's Commando Corps."

Tsuchi Kitaro pondered for a moment, shook his head and said, "I have never heard of this unit, but judging from their equipment and weapons, as well as their firepower and attack tactics when they attacked my position just now, they are definitely one of the rare elite units in the Chinese army. Go ask the prisoner and find out the purpose of their attack and the current location of their unit."

"Yes!"

The adjutant bowed slightly to Kitaro Tsuchi, then walked up to the Chinese soldier who was tied up, and said viciously in stiff Chinese: "Tell me your unit number, your unit's location, and the purpose of your unit's action!"

The captured Chinese soldier was a corporal in the first row of the special forces company. In the feint attack just now, he and eight other brothers who were responsible for the feint attack on the Japanese obstacle area to lure the enemy rushed to the barbed wire in the Japanese obstacle area.

He was very lucky. In the Japanese artillery bombardment, the other eight brothers were all killed in the Japanese artillery fire, but he was only knocked unconscious by the blast of the shell and injured in the arms and calves by shrapnel.

But he was very unfortunate, because when he woke up, he had become a prisoner of the Japanese army.

Facing the questioning of the Japanese adjutant, the corporal with blood on his face hesitated for a moment, then suddenly nodded at the Japanese adjutant with a flattering look on his face. His body, which was firmly tied to the log with ropes, leaned forward slightly, and then he slowly leaned his head towards the Japanese adjutant.

Seeing the prisoner's servile attitude, the Japanese adjutant suddenly became happy and leaned towards the corporal with a happy face.

Just when he thought the prisoner was about to tell him the information he needed, the muscles on the corporal's face suddenly twitched a few times, and his expression changed from flattering to cold. He suddenly hit the head of the Japanese adjutant who was approaching him, and cursed: "Fuck your mother's Japanese devil, I am your ancestor!"

The Japanese adjutant was caught off guard and was violently knocked away. He stumbled and fell to the ground. The corporal laughed and looked at Kitaro Tsuchigumi who was watching him. He kept shaking his body and struggling, and kept shouting: "I am your ancestor! Fuck you!"

Tsuchi Kitaro's lips twitched violently a few times. The previous battle had already made him extremely tired, and the strange course of this battle made him even more flustered in his judgment of the enemy situation and his command decisions.

Now being insulted by the Chinese prisoner, Tsuchi Kitaro could no longer control his emotions. He suddenly shouted, walked forward in anger, drew out his command knife with a "clang", and slashed at the corporal.

The knife flashed, and with a light swish sound, the corporal's neck was instantly cut open by Tsuchi Kitaro's sword. Blood spurted out like a pillar, and the corporal's head flew up and rolled to Tsuchi Kitaro's feet.

"idiot!"

Tsuchi Kitaro raised his command knife and shouted angrily at the head under his feet.

Kitaro Tsuchihi's face turned red with extreme anger. Although his face was burning, he looked at the head on the ground and thought about having to fight against an army with such fierce soldiers. He suddenly felt an unstoppable chill on his back.

(End of this chapter)