The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 389: Troops in place, enemy attacks

In response to the impending attack by the Japanese army from land, the various units under the Banbishan Garrison Command were carrying out their corresponding preparations in an orderly manner.

In order to strengthen the equipment and firepower of the 18th Brigade of the friendly army under Ma Ji's command, under the order of He Wei, after consultation between the Chief of Staff of the Assault Corps Wang Yuanling and the Chief of Logistics Li Youcai and the Commander of the 82th Brigade Ma Ji, 7.92 Hanyang rifles, 7.92 rifle bayonets, 82 Type Maxim water-cooled heavy machine guns, Type mm mortars, boxes of mm round-nosed bullets, mm pointed-nosed bullets, mm mortar shells and long-handled grenades were taken from the batch of weapons and ammunition of the former th Division that He Wei had stolen to supplement the th Brigade of the friendly army.

The batch of weapons and ammunition given by He Wei could be considered a big deal. He gave away half of the rifle bullets, machine gun bullets, mortar shells and long-handled grenades he obtained. He also gave away all the eighteen Type 82 heavy machine guns and five Type mm mortars he obtained. Four hundred Hanyang rifles were also by no means a small number.

In terms of equipment alone, regardless of ammunition, the eighteen Type 82 water-cooled heavy machine guns that He Wei transferred to the th Brigade were exactly the number of equipment for a standard field infantry regiment of the National Army. The five Type mm mortars were also about the equipment quantity of a regiment, and the four hundred Hanyang rifles were enough to arm half of the National Army's field infantry regiment.

Since they had to rely on Ma Ji's troops to defend their positions and fight, He Wei naturally had to give them more reinforcements, so that they could work harder on the battlefield, fight better, and be more willing to risk their lives for He Wei.

Anyway, most of the weapons, equipment and ammunition stolen from the 18th Division are useless to the Assault Corps. For example, the more than 7.92 Hanyang rifles and a large number of 82mm round-nose rifle bullets are completely useless to the Assault Corps, which uses a variety of light and heavy automatic firearms that fire pointed bullets. The 81mm mortar also does not match the ammunition caliber of the mm mortar currently used by the Assault Corps.

But these weapons are excellent equipment for the officers and soldiers of the 385th Brigade under Ma Ji. The rifles currently equipped by the 385th Brigade are exactly the Hanyang-made ones, and the heavy machine guns and mortars they are equipped with are water-cooled heavy machine guns and 20-year mortars respectively, which are exactly matched with the equipment brought by He Weihei.

Therefore, it is most appropriate to equip the 385th Brigade with this batch of equipment.

Moreover, this batch of equipment originally belonged to the 18th Division, and since He was generous enough to donate to others, he should be more generous.

In addition to this batch of equipment, He Wei had previously supplemented the 385th Brigade with a small batch of Soviet-made machine guns and ammunition from the Assault Corps' inventory. Later, as Tianjia Town continued to replenish ammunition, supplies and other materials to the Banbishan Garrison Command, He Wei also sent people to replenish ammunition and supplies to the 385th Brigade from time to time. In short, as long as the Assault Corps had a share of various materials supplemented by Tianjia Town, the 385th Brigade would also have a share.

Ma Ji, commander of the 385th Brigade, was also very excited after receiving the latest batch of reinforcements. He made a special call to He Wei and said that as long as there was still one person in the 385th Brigade, they would definitely hold the current position firmly and would never let down the weapons and ammunition donated by He Wei.

According to Ma Ji, the morale of the officers and soldiers of the 385th Brigade has been rising recently after they received various weapons, ammunition and supplies from He Wei. There are even many officers and soldiers who hope that the Japanese army will attack sooner so that they can have a fight with them.

It can be seen that He Wei's continuous replenishment and support to the friendly forces did achieve great results. Not only were the weapons and equipment of the friendly forces greatly improved, but the morale and fighting spirit of the officers and soldiers also rose. There was even a trend of actively requesting to fight. This was also the situation that He Wei, who would rely on the 385th Brigade to assist in the battle, hoped to see.

It can be said that the weapons, equipment and supplies allocated by He Wei to the 385th Brigade during this period were truly worth the money.

He Wei's layout in the 18th Brigade has been effective, and various replenishments and transfers in the Assault Corps and Banbishan have also been completed. In the annihilation battle against the landing Japanese troops on the west bank of the Fuchi River, Fu Chen's st Infantry Battalion suffered many casualties. Therefore, He Wei allocated all the more than captured officers and soldiers of the original th Division who had served in the Assault Corps to Fu Chen.

Fu Chen has also gradually added these new soldiers to the First Battalion in the past few days. However, he only wanted sergeants and soldiers for this batch of officers and soldiers. Although those officers were all second lieutenant platoon leaders and first lieutenant platoon leaders of the former 18th Division, after inspection, Fu Chen found that although these officers had rich combat experience, they were not yet qualified for the positions of grassroots officers in the assault corps equipped with a large number of cutting-edge weapons.

Therefore, He Wei had to temporarily retain these officers as attached personnel in the headquarters and provide them with training, and then transfer them to grassroots units to lead troops after they met the basic job requirements.

Fu Chen also put a lot of thought into the specific replenishment of this batch of new soldiers, taking into account that most of these soldiers were conscripted men who had been conscripted not long ago, and only a small number were veterans and sergeants. Although these young recruits had fought with the Japanese and seen blood, their combat quality and tactical qualities were still very poor, even worse than the soldiers of the non-frontline combat infantry units of the Assault Corps.

Therefore, Fu Chen did not directly recruit those able-bodied new recruits to the combat infantry positions in the infantry companies of the 1st Battalion that had suffered the greatest losses. Instead, he gave priority to recruiting them to non-front-line combat infantry positions such as the ammunition soldiers and baggage soldiers in the headquarters company, battalion artillery company, and battalion heavy machine gun company.

The soldiers who were replaced from the battalion headquarters company, artillery company and heavy machine gun company, together with the veterans and sergeants from the 18th Division, were added by Fu Chen to the various infantry companies of the st Battalion, thus filling the vacancies in the combat infantry positions of the three infantry companies of the st Battalion with these soldiers with relatively high combat qualities and tactical literacy.

Through this method of supplementing, although the casualties caused by the First Battalion in the battle on the west bank of the Fuchi River were not completely made up, it was still able to recover most of its vitality on paper, and the combat effectiveness of the entire battalion was maintained to the greatest extent.

After the first battalion completed its replenishment, He Wei also quickly completed the assembly and mobilization of various units. The 10st Infantry Battalion, 150nd Battalion, rd Battalion, Artillery Battalion of the Assault Corps, as well as the Corps' directly affiliated special service company, engineering company, communications company and the mm heavy howitzer battalion of the th Mechanized Field Heavy Artillery Regiment of the Army under He Wei's command were all assembled at the foot of Banbi Mountain, ready for mobile operations and to meet the Japanese attack from land.

Halfway down the mountain, there were roars and a lot of noise.

Behind the Banbi Mountain, the three infantry battalions of the assault corps, thousands of officers and soldiers from the special forces company, engineering company, and communications company directly under the corps, as well as mules, horses, artillery, and baggage carts of various units marched steadily in an orderly manner in a combat-ready march formation along the open fields on both sides of the narrow road near Banbi Mountain, and advanced in an orderly manner towards the wide and deep positions in the lake guarded by the 385th Brigade under Ma Ji's unit.

On the highway, a convoy of more than one hundred trucks of various types was driving majestically. Leading the way was the convoy of the Second Battalion of the 10th Mechanized Field Heavy Artillery Regiment of the Army. More than sixty German Mercedes-Benz and Opel trucks of various types were towing the Second Battalion's eight German-made SFH18 150mm howitzers, and carrying a large amount of ammunition and equipment, speeding on the highway, stirring up gusts of wind and sand.

The signalmen of the heavy artillery battalion wore black goggles and drove two-wheeled and three-wheeled motorcycles, following the huge convoy in the fields on both sides of the road. Following behind the convoy of the 150mm mechanized heavy artillery battalion were Japanese-made Type trucks.

These trucks, captured in the battle to annihilate the vanguard troops of the Japanese Army's Hata Detachment, were driven by 6 Japanese truck drivers who were captured by the Assault Corps in the same annihilation battle and persuaded to surrender by the Assault Corps's rangers through various means. They were towing the Assault Corps' artillery battalion's six Type 94 75mm mountain guns, six Soviet-made 6mm mountain guns and five 76mm tank defense guns, as well as all officers and soldiers, ammunition, mules and horses, and followed the 5mm mechanized heavy artillery battalion's convoy to advance rapidly towards the 45th Brigade's position.

After all the troops had made preparations for battle, the Japanese army's mysterious Hata Detachment still did not appear in the defense zone of the Banbishan Garrison Command or even in the Fuchi River area farther away. According to the distance between the Hata Detachment and the defense zone of the Banbishan Garrison Command, even if the Hata Detachment had climbed, it should have reached He Wei's defense zone long ago.

Moreover, according to the intelligence previously collected and organized by He Wei, the Japanese Army's Hata Detachment had clearly received the task of reinforcing the Japanese Marine Corps troops on the west bank of the Fuchi River.

Normally, the Hata Detachment, which is so close and tasked with rescuing friendly forces, should have already rushed to the defense zone of the Banbishan Garrison Command under an expedited march. However, up to now, He Wei has not found any trace of the Hata Detachment. The forward search troops sent out in the past few days have also found nothing. The enemy situation is very strange.

Therefore, facing the erratic and strange behavior of the Hata Detachment, in order to prepare to meet the enemy as soon as possible to prevent any accidents, He Wei no longer let the troops stand by, but set out quickly and advanced towards the defense zone of the 385th Brigade, preparing to move the main force of the assault corps and the attached artillery units to the defense zone of the 385th Brigade before the main force of the Japanese army appeared, and make all preparations for battle.

Considering that Ma Ji's 82th Brigade already had three field infantry regiments, it was not very short of infantry units, but its artillery firepower was seriously insufficient, as the three regiments only had some mm mortars.

Therefore, He Wei decided to give priority to artillery and ordered the 150mm mechanized heavy artillery battalion to advance quickly. The artillery battalion of the assault corps also temporarily abandoned the original mule and horse mobility method and used the cars captured from the Japanese army for motorized rapid mobility, advancing towards the defense zone of the th Brigade.

The artillery unit's deployment positions had already been selected through the joint efforts and field investigations of the 150mm heavy howitzer battalion commander Hu Rizhen, the assault corps artillery battalion commander Chen Xinsheng, and other artillery officers and staff from the assault corps' staff office. As soon as the 150mm heavy artillery battalion and the assault corps' artillery battalion arrived, they could begin deploying.

As for the infantry units of the assault corps, there is no need to march forward as hurriedly as the artillery units. The enemy has not yet appeared, and the 385th Brigade has no shortage of infantry. Moreover, the hidden positions of the infantry units of the assault corps have also been selected. Therefore, the infantry units only need to march forward steadily according to plan.

On the side of the highway, He Wei looked at the huge mixed marching column of infantry and vehicles, and said to Chief of Staff Wang Yuanling: "Brother Yuanling, I will lead the main force of the corps to the defense zone of the 385th Brigade. Banbi Mountain, the baggage company and the medical team are all handed over to you. The batch of cars seized from the Japanese army, the surrendered Japanese drivers and the rangers are also left in Banbi Mountain for your command. Keep a close eye on everything."

"Now our combat focus has changed. The position guarded by the 385th Brigade has changed from the rear to the front. Banbi Mountain has become the rear. I'm leaving this job to you."

Wang Yuanling nodded and said, "Captain, rest assured. I will keep a close eye on Banbi Mountain. There will be no problems with the supply and transportation of the logistics company and the medical team. You must be careful. The movements of the Japanese Hata Detachment are very strange. There must be something wrong. The Japanese may be planning some special operation or a surprise attack."

"It doesn't matter. We will fight back when the enemy comes and we will build a wall around him. I, He, have not suffered any serious losses so far. The movements of the Hata Detachment are very strange, but we have done what we should do. The three regiments of the 385th Brigade have already prepared for battle. The main forces of our Assault Corps, except for the baggage company and the medical team, have also moved to the direction of the 385th Brigade. We are not afraid of him."

He Wei said with a smile.

Now, not only has the main force of the assault corps begun to move, but the headquarters of the assault corps, which bears the name of the Banbishan Garrison Command, has also been adjusted.

He Wei took away the Combat Training Section under the General Staff Office of the Corps and formed a temporary forward command post to unify the command of the 150st, nd, and rd Infantry Battalions, the Artillery Battalion, the Direct Special Service Company, the Engineer Company, the Communications Company, the mm Heavy Artillery Battalion, and the th Brigade of the Assault Corps that were reinforced in the direction of the th Brigade's position.

The rest of the main command structures of the corps continued to be deployed on Banbi Mountain, led by Chief of Staff Wang Yuanling, who commanded the naval artillery team, naval mine team and 75mm anti-aircraft artillery company deployed on Banbi Mountain to continue to be responsible for river defense.

At the same time, the assault corps' baggage company and medical team, as well as more than 50 captured Japanese trucks, continued to remain in Banbishan, and the ammunition supply depot and field hospital that had already been opened were further expanded. In wartime, this would become the rear base and medical processing center for the baggage logistics and ammunition replenishment of all the troops under the Banbishan Garrison Command.

Wang Yuanling is also responsible for the communication and liaison task with the Tianjia Town Fortress on the other side of Banbi Mountain. Therefore, the burden on Wang Yuanling is not small.

"Captain, please rest assured here at Banbi Mountain. There will be no problems."

He Wei reached out and patted Wang Yuanling on the shoulder, smiling and saying, "Brother Yuanling, don't worry. You and I will each do our job, and the enemy will definitely not be able to gain an advantage. I'm leaving now. If there is any situation here, please inform me immediately!"

After saying that, He Wei turned and walked towards a German Mercedes-Benz truck borrowed from the 150mm heavy artillery battalion.

Suddenly, the curtain of the back compartment of the truck was lifted, and Zhao Zhanhai, the chief of the combat training section of the assault corps' staff, jumped out of the compartment and said to He Wei anxiously: "Captain, Brigade Commander Ma of the 385th Brigade sent an urgent telegram, saying that Japanese troops were spotted on the west bank of the Fuchi River!"

(End of this chapter)