I asked you to escape, but you became a soldier in World War II

Chapter 159: Fighting Songshan, I Must Help
In order to win this battle, the Supreme Command of the Allied Forces assembled the troops of the United States, Britain, Canada, France and other countries, with a total of 39 divisions (20 divisions of the US Army).
The total military strength is as high as 288 million, including 155 million combat troops.

Equipped with 1 armored vehicles and 17 military trucks.

The Air Force has 13700 combat aircraft, including 5800 bombers, 4900 fighters, and 3000 transport aircraft.

The navy consists of 5300 ships of various types, including 13 battleships, 47 cruisers, and 134 destroyers.

Despite having a huge advantage in numbers, the Allies still fully drew on the lessons learned from landing operations on islands occupied by Japanese troops in the Pacific War, and took great pains to develop new special operations equipment.

Allied inventors converted some Sherman tanks into amphibious tanks, the forerunner of amphibious tanks, the Sherman DD tank nicknamed the "Donald Duck Tank".

In addition, the Allies also developed flamethrower vehicles code-named "Crab", mine-clearing tanks responsible for clearing mines, engineering tanks for paving roads on the beach, and bridge-building tanks for crossing obstacles.

The greater challenge of landing on a beach far away from the port is how to provide sufficient supplies to the large landing force.

In order to solve this problem, the Allies simply built several huge hollow floating ports. After arriving at the beach, they were assembled and filled with water, then sunk into the sea to form an artificial port. Supplies were also provided through a 160-kilometer-long oil pipeline sunk to the bottom of the sea.

All these preparations can be said to have exhausted the highest level of landing operations at that time.

On the other hand, the German army was mainly divided into two army groups, "B" and "G", nominally commanded by Field Marshal Rundstedt.

Army Group "B" was commanded by Field Marshal Rommel and consisted of the 15th and 7th Armies;
Army Group "G" was commanded by General Blaskowitz and consisted of the 1st and 19th Armies.

总兵力计有海防师33个、攻击步兵师13个，装甲步兵师1个、装甲师9个和伞兵师2个，共58个师。德军根据错误的敌情判断，一直认为加莱地区是盟军最有可能登陆的地区。

Therefore, the main 15th Army's 23 divisions were deployed along the 400-kilometer-long coastline in the Calais area to defend the main direction;
The 19th Army's eight divisions defended the Mediterranean coast of southern France;

Six divisions of the 1st Army defended the coastal areas of the Bay of Biscay;
The 7th Army's 14 divisions defended Normandy and the Brittany Peninsula, of which only 6 divisions were stationed in Normandy.

According to the strength of the German standard division in 1944, the German ground forces that could be used directly to resist the landing of the US and British troops at the beginning of the landing did not exceed 9.

德国海军用于抗登陆的兵力仅有中、小型水面舰艇500余艘和驻比斯开湾各港口的潜艇49艘，防守法国的帝国第3航空队仅90架轰炸机和70多架战斗机可以投入使用。

The most ridiculous thing is that even with such a pitiful amount of assets, the German army was actually divided into two army groups, and the armored units that could be launched into a counterattack at the first time had to have the approval of the German army's highest leaders before they could be deployed.

You have to know that in an emergency military situation, victory or defeat can be decided within a minute, let alone in such an unfavorable situation, so failure is inevitable.

On June 1944, 6, Lin Chen and others were specially invited to board the USS Arkansas battleship of the U.S. Army in advance, so that they could observe this war feast in person.

The USS Arkansas belongs to the Wyoming-class battleship, hull number BB-33.

The Wyoming-class battleships were the oldest class of battleships in active service in the U.S. Navy during World War II, with the USS Arkansas commissioned in 1912.

But despite its age, its firepower is not at all ambiguous.

它拥有6座双联装305毫米口径主炮，还有21门127毫米副炮，满载排水量27240吨。

In the early morning of June 6, the U.S. 6nd and 82st Airborne Divisions landed near the town of Notre Dame des Beaux-Arts, occupied the road leading to the coast, and prevented the enemy from strengthening its coastal defenses.

In the early morning, after the Allies learned that the two airborne divisions had basically succeeded, the large-scale bombing of the beachhead positions officially began.

Although the German army's permanent reinforced concrete fortifications were built to an almost abnormal degree of solidity, and the Allied army's overwhelming three-dimensional bombing had little effect, its impact on the morale of the defenders was indeed huge.

No matter how good the fortifications are, they require elite soldiers, but the troops stationed in Normandy are clearly not that kind.

Therefore, the Allied breakthrough in this area was very smooth. Lin Chen and others quickly saw through telescopes that the Allied landing craft rushed up, and the amphibious landing tanks were successfully unloaded and put into battle.

Steady!

However, things were not going so smoothly in other directions, especially on Omaha Beach, where the Allied forces suffered heavy losses.

But as the Normandy landing site continued to expand and more and more troops landed, the overall situation was basically determined.

The German army only began to organize its forces to launch a counterattack at this time, but the powerful air force of the Allies made it difficult for the German counterattack forces to move forward, and the situation was clearly becoming increasingly favorable for the Allies.

When Lin Chen and others successfully landed on this European land, when everyone saw the mountains of supplies and the captured German soldiers who were all children and old people, they couldn't help but sigh that the war was about to end.

The subsequent development of the war was just as everyone expected. After a series of hasty counterattacks that failed, the German army had no choice but to retreat in large strides.

The Allied forces made rapid progress, and large tracts of territory in France, the Netherlands and other places were liberated. It seemed that the German army had no power to fight back on the Western Front.

Therefore, the Allied advance began to slow down. They were busy governing the occupied territories and did not seem to want to advance too quickly.

Lin Chen certainly knew this history, so he kept making suggestions to his superiors, hoping to concentrate the main forces to attack eastward and end the war in Europe as soon as possible.

But with the success of the Normandy Landing, the Allies no longer had the same enthusiasm for the "sailor" group, and the previous treatment of giving them whatever they wanted also disappeared.

After the liberation of Paris, Lin Chen and his friends had a great time for a few days.

He even took a photo with Lina and others in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Finally, the US military issued a transfer order to Lin Chen, hoping that he could go to the Pacific battlefield to help the US military in the Asia-Pacific region solve the Japanese problem and thus completely end World War II.

This is naturally what Lin Chen wanted.

Except for Kirilenko who strongly requested to follow Lin Chen to the Pacific Ocean, everyone else in the "Sailor" team had their own tasks. Although Lina also wanted to go to Asia, she seemed to have some unspeakable secrets and finally had to give up.

Originally, Lin Chen wanted to remind the Allied high-level officials to be vigilant about the German Ardennes counterattack at the end of the year, but after thinking about it, he gave up. Sometimes changing history too much is not a good thing.

Let everything take its course.

Lin Chen arrived in Nice in southern France at the end of June. The feeling of revisiting the old place was completely different.

Now that the city has begun post-war reconstruction, Lin Chen will take a flight from here to Egypt in Africa for a transfer, then go through Ramgarh, India, and then report to the South Pacific war zone.

Fortunately, the Axis powers are now on the decline, otherwise they would not dare to fly south in such a high-profile manner.

The other passengers, except for him and Kirilenko, were all elites in island warfare and jungle warfare. But when they heard that it was Lin Chen, they all stood in awe.

In today's European battlefield, if you have not heard of the name "Ghost", you are definitely not a soldier.

When the plane was transferring at Ramgarh, India, Lin Chen met his compatriots for the first time.

General Stilwell, the commander-in-chief of the Chinese Army in India, received them warmly. They were accompanied by famous anti-Japanese generals such as Deputy Commander-in-Chief Zheng Dongguo and Commander of the New 1st Army Sun Liren.

When they saw that Lin Chen was actually a Chinese, they were also shocked.

Especially when they learned that Lin Chen participated in most of the major European battles in World War II and grew from an apprentice to the famous "ghost" soldier king, they looked at him with admiration.

Even expressed regret,

Why didn’t we dig up such good seedlings in advance?

Lin Chen just smiled faintly and could only listen to these words.

However, when he heard that the Indian Army was currently counterattacking the Japanese Army in Burma, especially the attack on Songshan, he felt that he had to give some advice and suggestions no matter what.

After the group dinner, he specifically sought out Zheng Dongguo.

"Deputy Commander Zheng, I wonder if the offensive at Songshan went smoothly?"

If an ordinary person asked Zheng Dongguo directly like this, he would probably find it extremely rude, but Lin Chen's current identity is a major in the US Army after all, and it is said that he has experienced many big scenes in Europe.

So he decided to tell the truth.

"To be honest, the attack was not very smooth. The Japanese relied on strong fortifications to hold the dangerous position, and we suffered heavy casualties."

"Can you elaborate on this?"

Lin Chen actually didn't know much about the Battle of Songshan, and whether there were any changes in this time and space, so it would be better to listen to the actual situation.

When Zheng Dongguo heard that the famous "Ghost" was actually very interested in this battle, he naturally took it very seriously. He specially called Sun Liren, the commander of the newly formed 1st Army, and others to introduce the enemy and our situation in Songshan to Lin Chen.

Through the introduction, Lin Chen realized how serious the situation in Songshan was.

Songshan, located in Lameng Township, Longling County, controls the transportation bottleneck leading from western Yunnan to the east bank of Nujiang River and is known as the Gibraltar of the East.

Close to the Nujiang Huitong Bridge, with "a deep valley in front and a steep slope in the back", and mountains on both sides, Songshan Mountain stands abruptly on the west bank of the Nujiang River, shaped like a natural bridgehead, controlling the key point of the Yunnan-Burma Highway and the river surface 40 miles north of Dahei Ferry on the Nujiang River.

It can attack when advancing and defend when retreating; it also forms a pincer attack with Tengchong and Longling counties, supporting each other. If Songshan is not conquered, the Yunnan-Burma Highway will be blocked and transportation will be difficult. If we counterattack Longling and Tengchong, we will lose what we have gained.

Therefore, the Battle of Song Mountain was a key battle in the Campaign of Western Yunnan.

In 1942, the Chinese Expeditionary Force suffered a defeat in its first battle in Burma, the Burma Road was cut off, and the remaining troops of the Expeditionary Force were forced to retreat to the east bank of the Nujiang River, where they confronted the Japanese army across the river.

After the Japanese army entered the west bank of the Nujiang River, they took Songshan as a strategic goal that served as a security center, offensive stronghold and defensive support point, and began to build positions.

Later, after the Japanese army was defeated in the Battle of Midway, Japanese strategic experts foresaw that Song Mountain would serve as an important support point for the defense system in western Yunnan and northern Myanmar, so they planned to build Song Mountain into a permanent defense fortress.

By May 1944, the Japanese army had organized seven stronghold groups at Gunlongpo, Dayakou, Songshan, Xiaosongshan, Dazhai, Huangjiashuijing, Huangtupo and Malutang. Each bunker was centered around several of the strongest mother bunkers, which were guarded by several sub-forts. There were more than 5 mother and sub-forts in total, and the forts served as flank defenses for each other.

There are heavy machine guns in the main bunker, light machine guns in the sub-bucket and side-fire bunker, rifles, rifle grenades, and grenade launchers in the communication trench, and mortars behind the main bunker.

There are 1-3 wire fences, 1-2 stakes, mines and traps in front of the position. Water pipes and lighting equipment are also installed inside the position.

The Japanese guard force was approximately a battalion. Although we had an absolute advantage in manpower and firepower, we achieved little success.

It should be said that the reconnaissance of the Indian Army is still powerful.

Except for some details and internal situations that I don't know, I have figured out most of the rest.

But this is far from enough.

"The Japanese defensive positions lack cement, so they should have used gasoline barrels to hold soil, attached large logs around them, and then laid steel plates and other defensive materials. In this way, it would be difficult for the artillery fire of the Indian Army to be effective." Lin Chen pointed out the problem.

"We have the support of the US Air Force." Sun Liren believed that with the support of the US B25 bombers, the position in Songshan would definitely not be able to hold.

However, Lin Chen poured cold water on him, "High-yield aerial bombs will not be used here. Low-yield aerial bombs are just a tickle to the Japanese fortifications."

"What if we use tank support?" one of the officers offered his opinion.

Unexpectedly, Sun Liren scolded him, "The slope there is very large, and tanks can't go up there at all. Moreover, the terrain is so complicated that it is difficult to achieve coordination between infantry and tanks. Going up there would be like delivering food to the enemy."

"What should we do? Is the only option but to fight hard?" the officer asked angrily.

Lin Chen also felt emotional after hearing this. There was no shortage of good soldiers who were not afraid of death in the country. It was just that the officers' command was too rigid. No wonder they suffered such a heavy loss in the war against Japan.

"Commanders!" Although Lin Chen is an American military officer, his military rank is definitely the lowest among those present.

So he lowered his stance a bit and just stated his views from the perspective of a descendant of Yan and Huang.
"When we fight, we can't always think about fighting hard. This is the only way and the worst way!"

His words made everyone present blush. Many officers basically used the same tactics when fighting.
Just fight till you have everything you have!
"For example, the Japanese fortifications are so tenacious that we have to use professional methods to deal with them. You can imagine, if you lead your troops to defend such a defense system, what do you most hope the enemy will do, and what do you fear the enemy will do the most?"

"Major Lin, if it were me, I would definitely hope that the enemy would withdraw! I'm most afraid of the enemy's heavy artillery!"

The answer from one of them made everyone laugh, and the atmosphere became a little more relaxed.

After so many years of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Chinese army was really fed up with the Japanese planes and artillery, so his answer was understandable.

(End of this chapter)