Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Shangganling

Chapter 525 A Thousand American Cannons Are No Match for a Stretcher

While the soldiers were enjoying their meal and resting, Chen Chengxing and his men had no time to rest.

Having finally had a chance to catch their breath, the Second General Staff needs to seize the time to reorganize the troops.

Since the outbreak of the Huaihai Campaign, the G Army has achieved unprecedented and significant victories.

But both Nakano and Hanano paid a huge price for every victory.

The casualties suffered by the troops, including those of the Second General Staff, can only be described as devastating.

At the meeting of officers at the headquarters, Chen Chengxing looked at the crowd below and said, "A month of bloody battles has resulted in heavy casualties for us."

"According to the battle loss reports from your various detachments, frontline soldiers and commanding officers have suffered huge losses."

“Some squads and platoons have been replaced five or six times due to injuries and deaths.”

"Such huge battle losses mean that the original structure of the troops has been almost completely disrupted."

"In order to maintain sufficient combat effectiveness, I plan to downsize the various detachments."

"Instead of maintaining the structure of twelve infantry battalions, it would be better to reduce them back to nine."

"In this way, the combat effectiveness will be stronger than twelve understrength infantry battalions."

Upon hearing Chen Chengxing's plan to downsize, Zheng Hua, Sun Xun, and Qin Sheng all looked at Xu Wu simultaneously.

Seeing that they had pushed him forward again, Xu Wu had no choice but to stand up helplessly.

"Captain, this account is incorrect."

"What's wrong?"

"Take my battalion for example. Before the battle, there were more than 700 men. More than 700 men were killed or wounded in the continuous battles. There are still more than 700 men left."

"Wait a minute? Can you even do math?" Chen Chengxing was a little confused.

How does 700 minus 700 equal 700?
"Captain, I didn't miscalculate. Chang Ruiyuan supplemented this for me."

"Didn't the higher authorities previously issue a policy of immediate replacement upon capture?"

"During the war, those KMT soldiers were already highly sought after."

Xu Wu then explained the specific situation to Chen Chengxing.

After converting a large number of prisoners of war in the early stages of the campaign, the excellent performance of the insurgents dispelled the concerns of the leaders.

Despite receiving only limited frontline class education, these new insurgents demonstrated considerable fighting spirit and combat effectiveness.

As a result, captured soldiers suddenly became highly sought-after by all the troops.

Moreover, the conversion rate of captured soldiers is getting faster and faster.

From the initial education, complaints, and training, to rejoining the battlefield a few days later.

Moreover, as the battle progresses, this number of days decreases.

In the end, it became clear that the people were captured in the morning, but participated in the charge in the afternoon.

The KMT soldiers, who were fighting the KMT to the death yesterday, turned around and shouted "Surrender and you will not be killed" as they charged towards the KMT.

Sometimes, new recruits are even more enthusiastic than veterans.

Among the soldiers of Huang Huanran's army who were captured in the single episode, some became combat heroes during the encirclement and annihilation of Huang Peiwu, and some even became platoon leaders.

This further motivated the insurgents, who had never seen a common soldier become an officer in their entire lives while serving in the Kuomintang army.

After hearing Xu Wu's explanation, Chen Cheng asked in confusion, "Why are there so many prisoners? Didn't you say they were all sent to Nakano?"

It was because the entire 12th Army Corps was given to the Central Plains Field Army that Chen Chengxing decided to temporarily downsize it.

"These were captured and recruited during the war, and they have become soldiers of the Second Division. We can't just pick them out."

"As for the last few prisoners, they have all been sent to the field headquarters."

After confirming with everyone that the troops in each unit were not lacking, Chen Chengxing nodded.

"Since we have enough troops, we will not change the organizational structure. The entire army should immediately seize the time to reorganize."

Having sufficient troops does not mean having a complete organizational structure. After such a long period of chaotic warfare, the organizational structures of each unit have long been disrupted.

Just as the East China Field Army and the Central Plains Field Army were taking the time to rest and recuperate, the days were getting harder and harder for the Kuomintang troops inside the encirclement.

When they evacuated from Pengcheng, in order to speed things up, Du Guangting's 300,000-strong group didn't even carry much ammunition, let alone food.

The logistics department only brought enough grain for the troops to retreat to the Huai River.

As a result, Chang Ruiyuan's airdrop order directly changed their marching direction.

After being surrounded by the Huaye Army, the army's food supplies ran out in just a few days.

Even this was the result of saving enough food for 80,000 people in Sun Yunliang's army.

However, although he had essentially abandoned the 200,000 people in Du Guangting's group, Chang Ruiyuan did not let them fend for themselves.

Whether it's the situation in Beiping or along the Yangtze River, Du Guangting needs to hold the line in the Central Plains and exert his last bit of strength.

In order to give Du Guangting a few more days to reinforce the virtually non-existent Yangtze River defense line, Chang Ruiyuan mobilized all available transport capacity.

In addition to the Air Force's transport planes, he also specially chartered planes from three civilian airlines to begin large-scale airlift resupply to Du Guangting day and night.

Thanks to the continuous airlift from hundreds of aircraft, Du Guangting Group is still able to maintain its food and ammunition supplies.

However, the good weather didn't last long. On the 18th, a heavy snowstorm hit the Pengcheng area.

Without a word, all commercial airliners were grounded; they couldn't possibly risk losing their planes for a little rental income.

The owners of several commercial airlines knew very well that if a plane crashed, the Ministry of National Defense would absolutely not pay compensation, even if they had powerful backers.

With three civil airlines ceasing operations, only the Air Force's transport planes remained operational under Chang Ruiyuan's strict orders. However, the KMT's Air Force has always maintained a 'fine' tradition of prioritizing safety.

Therefore, the Air Force's transport planes no longer landed, but instead flew at an altitude of thousands of meters and dropped supplies directly.

Seeing that most of the already scarce supplies had fallen into the G army's position, Qiu Feng stood in the snow and cursed angrily.

"Damn it! Can't those bastards in the Air Force fly a little lower? Why don't they just airdrop from above the clouds?!"

"Chief of Staff, what did Deputy Commander Du say?"

“Even Deputy Chief Siler Du can’t do anything about it,” Li Hanping said helplessly.

"Deputy Chief of Staff Du has already contacted the Ministry of National Defense and the Air Force Command."

"Those bastards in the Air Force said: 'The G Army's air-to-air fire is a huge threat. If we lose an aircraft because of an airdrop, how many sacks of flatbread and biscuits would it take to make up for it?'"

"Damn it!" Qiu Feng started cursing again.

"G Army's anti-aircraft fire poses a significant threat? How dare these bastards say such shameless things?"

However, with the Air Force doing this, Qiu Feng could only curse at himself; there was nothing else he could do.

Meanwhile, the besieged Du Guangting Group was not only severely lacking in food, but also in supplies to keep warm.

All the nearby villages were completely devastated; all the furniture, door frames, and roof beams were burned by the Guo army as firewood.

Even the coffins in the cemetery were dug up to burn for warmth, and the bones inside were naturally used as firewood as well.

Guanzhuang Town was transformed into a veritable hell on earth.

The students who followed Du Guangting's troops were incredibly unlucky.

When even the soldiers didn't have enough to eat, they had absolutely no food to eat.

In addition to not being given food, all the male students in these schools were assigned to supplementary troops as cannon fodder, while all the female students were left behind in various government offices.

After the students who were sent to serve as cannon fodder were added to the company, all of their watches, pens, and money were confiscated, and they were constantly abused by the veterans, living an inhuman life.

At night, after the soldiers of the Nationalist army had rested, the students in the trenches dared to cry, but they dared not make a sound.

"If I had known, I would have stayed in Pengcheng and not come out with the evacuation."

These middle school students all come from wealthy families.

They followed the Kuomintang's propaganda and fled, never expecting to end up like this.

"Let's hold on a little longer. I think the G army will wipe out these bandits soon."

"How could they hold on? Xu Wantang, a third-grader, was shot because the ground was frozen and he hadn't eaten anything, so he couldn't dig trenches."

"Several second-grade students were so hungry that they tried to steal the pancakes dropped by the plane. As a result, four of them were killed on the spot, and the rest were also beaten up."

These flatbreads, which they wouldn't have even glanced at before, now they can't even smell.

"Female classmates are so much better; they get preferential treatment. I wish I were a girl."

"Okay? Hehe."

“Zhong Zhaoqi from our class stayed in the news office of the 458th Regiment. She was raped every day, and several men took turns. I don’t think she even had time to sleep.”

"These are the average-looking ones. There's still no news about the pretty ones. I guess they're probably dead."

Hearing such cruel words, everyone fell silent, curling up and weeping silently.

Those bandits had a civilian house to live in, although it was a bit crowded, but at least there was a wall to block the wind. These cannon fodder could only endure the wind in the open.

In the bitter cold, Du Guangting's chief of staff, Shu Shicun, braved the wind and snow to make a round.

After returning to the corps headquarters and sitting down by the campfire, Shu Shicun said solemnly:
"Deputy Chief Commander, the situation is not optimistic."

"The horses have all been eaten, everything that could be burned has been burned, even the wooden bridge and the coffin are gone."

"The airdropped rice and pork can't be cooked properly, and we urgently need flatbread and canned food now."

Du Guangting shook his head helplessly: "The air force's transport capacity is limited, and it has all been used to transport food supplies. It is impossible to increase the transport capacity further."

"Alas, I have a thousand American cannons, but they can't outlast a single stretcher from the G army."

"The G Army's stretcher teams were transporting ammunition day and night, but my artillery shells were stuck in the Nanjing warehouse."

“Deputy Commander, if this continues, even without the G army's attack, chaos will break out within our own ranks.”

Hunger had driven everyone mad.

Every time the air force airdropped supplies, it would cause a frenzy of looting.

The soldier who gets the airdrop might be shot dead after taking a few bites of the flatbread.

The shooter had just snatched the food when he was shot dead again.

From the moment a large pancake is started until it is finished, it can sometimes cost more than a dozen lives.

"Things have come to this point, and it's beyond our control to change them."

"Send a message to the command headquarters, requesting the Air Force to increase the frequency of airdrops again, abandon canned food, and convert all airdrop capacity to flatbread and biscuits."

"Invest as much as you can."

"Yes!"

Shu Shicun was aware of the current situation, but while he could raise questions, he couldn't find a solution.

Brothers, please vote! I'll save up and add two more chapters the day after tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)