Anti-Japanese War: I have unlimited assistance

Chapter 296 Satisfying firepower!
Not long after, Liang Jinrong arrived with a company of the motor vehicle battalion.

Then the machine gun battalion arrived and provided full cover for the transfer of the tanks to the warehouse.

In the Songjia Village ambush, a total of 36 tanks were captured, half of which had to be handed over.

As for the tank soldiers, they can only apply to their superiors and transfer them from the headquarters.

It was reasonable for Li Yunlong to hand over the tanks and for the headquarters to dispatch tank soldiers.

The motor vehicle soldiers used tools to load the fuel onto large trucks and quickly transported it to the warehouse.

in the afternoon.

Xing Zhiguo from the lower company also returned to the regiment headquarters and asked Li Yunlong how the goods were received today.

Upon learning that not only 100 large trucks and 18 artillery shells had been received, but also tanks, Xing Zhiguo burst into tears of joy.

Xing Zhiguo and Li Yunlong are old comrades-in-arms. Although his qualifications are inferior to those of Li Yunlong, Kong Jie and others, he is also an old Red Army soldier and has experienced many hard times.

Now that the equipment of the Eighth Route Army is getting better day by day, Xing Zhiguo is also very happy and full of motivation.

"Commander, today I visited each battalion and company to understand the situation of the troops and found some problems." Xing Zhiguo asked Li Yunlong.

"What's the problem?" Li Yunlong asked while eating braised meat, fried peanuts and drinking wine.

We originally wanted to invite Boss Lin to a banquet today, but Boss Lin left for something, so Li Yunlong and Xing Zhiguo could only eat together.

Xing Zhiguo said, "Because we won this battle, many soldiers have become complacent and think that the Japanese are vulnerable. This is not just a case of one or two soldiers, but a widespread phenomenon. Not only that, but even some junior officers feel the same way."

Li Yunlong paused in drinking and narrowed his eyes. This was almost inevitable.

After repeated victories, one will become arrogant and look down on the enemy, thinking that he is insignificant.

This is true for any army in the world.

But this problem must be solved, otherwise the consequences will be disastrous. The attack on Qigeng Village of the 771st Regiment was the result of being blinded by victory.

Li Yunlong and his colleagues made the same mistake during the Red Army period.

After thinking for a moment, Li Yunlong said, "How about this? Let's have all the battalion commanders and company commanders of the regiment come to the regiment headquarters in the county at 10 a.m. tomorrow to hold a meeting specifically on this issue."

At present, Zhao Gang, the political commissar of the New 1st Regiment, is on his way to the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University to study.

Li Yunlong had to take care of both military and political work, and with the delivery matters, he was extremely busy every day.

Xing Zhiguo: "Yes."

The next morning.

Li Yunlong called a meeting of all battalion commanders and company commanders.

At the meeting, Li Yunlong emphasized:
"The war against the little devils is a long and arduous process."

"Any cadres and soldiers who claim to be the best in the world, are arrogant, and look down on everyone should be criticized, self-criticized, and self-examined."

“There is no such thing as an undefeated army in the world, nor is there a unit that can learn from its failures.”

“Only by avoiding arrogance and impatience after victory can we become a team that is always victorious.”

"Although the Eighth Route Army in Jinzhong won several battles, the gap between the Eighth Route Army and the Japanese invaders in all aspects is still huge."

"The Japanese are not vulnerable. We must be both brave and vigilant."

"All units must intensify their training and be ready to respond to the Japanese invaders' frenzied retaliation against the military and civilians in Jinzhong."

High morale is a good thing, but if morale is too high, the troops will easily underestimate the enemy.

At this meeting, several battalion commanders conducted self-examination and realized that they had also made the mistake of underestimating the enemy.

After the meeting, Li Yunlong went to the airport to receive the goods. Receiving the goods was the top priority.

Without weapons, ammunition and combat supplies, the Jinzhong base area cannot develop.

After this meeting, each battalion began to carry out a rectification movement. The New 1st Regiment's atmosphere of being complacent and underestimating the enemy was quickly improved, and the soldiers became more active in training.

……

While the Eighth Route Army in Jinzhong was actively training, the Japanese were also not idle.

The officers of the First Army gathered at the Japanese headquarters in Taiyuan to sum up the lessons of failure.

The battle in southern Shanxi also ended. The Japanese army ultimately failed to wipe out Wei Lihuang's Central Army, allowing Wei Lihuang's Central Army to gain a foothold in the Zhongtiao Mountains area.

After Li Yunlong led his troops to wipe out the Japanese Army's 3rd Brigade, General Wei Lihuang sent a congratulatory message to the headquarters.

The headquarters also sent a letter of thanks to Wei Lihuang. If the main force of the First War Zone had not held back the main force of the Japanese First Army in southern Shanxi, it would have been difficult for the Eighth Route Army in Jinzhong to completely wipe out the 3rd Brigade of the Japanese First Army.

Wei Lihuang and the Eighth Route Army exchanged glances, and their relationship became better and better. He even refused the order from Principal Chang to provoke friction.

This caused strong dissatisfaction to Principal Chang, so he placed Wei Lihuang under house arrest in Emei Mountain and sent Defense Minister He Yingqin to command the First War Zone to fight the Japanese army in the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain, which ultimately led to a disastrous defeat in the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain.

But these are all things for later.

The Japanese First Army Headquarters in Taiyuan.

Yoshio Shinozuka also summoned all the officers who fought in Jinzhong to hold a post-war summary meeting.

Mutaguchi Renya was the first to speak: "I believe the main responsibility for the failure of the Jinzhong Campaign lies with the poor command of the frontline officers, their lack of flexibility and adaptability, and the lack of a fighting spirit in the troops. They requested a retreat right after Yangquan was captured, showing a complete lack of bushido."

His tone was also very impolite, and he did not give any face to the commander of the 20th Division, Ushijima Tsunemi, and pointed directly at the commander of the 39th Brigade, Hirata Kenkichi.

Hirata Kenkichi's face turned pale with anger. "Chief of Staff Mutaguchi, the retreat was ordered by headquarters. At that time, Yangquan was captured by the Eighth Route Army. The locust army was running low on food and ammunition, and their supply lines were being harassed and attacked by the Eighth Route Army's special forces. What else could they do but retreat? Should the entire 39th Brigade be annihilated on the Wangjiawan front?"

"Hirata-kun, who is responsible for the Eighth Route Army's capture of Yangquan?" Mutaguchi Ren'ya demanded. "Yamamoto-kun warned you to be wary of Li Yunlong's sneak attack on Yangquan, but you ignored him. You should bear the primary responsibility for this!"

"I'm willing to take responsibility for the Eighth Route Army's capture of Yangquan," Hirata Kenkichi retorted, "but I led my troops to retake Yangquan the next day." "So what if we retake Yangquan? It's just an empty city," Mutaguchi Ren'ya scoffed, "Nearly a thousand tons of food and combat supplies in Yangquan have been taken away by the Eighth Route Army."

Hirata Kenkichi found a new angle to shift the blame, his tone stern: "The Jinzhong operation failed this time. There are serious problems with this operation plan. The person who formulated this operation should bear the main responsibility for the failure of the operation!"

Mutaguchi Renya almost jumped up at this remark. "What's wrong with the battle plan? This is the battle plan that Lieutenant General Shinozuka and General Terauchi have reviewed and approved. Hirata Kenkichi, you're so bold! How dare you question Lieutenant General Shinozuka and General Terauchi?"

"Of course I wouldn't dare question Lieutenant General Shinozuka and General Terauchi," Hirata Kenkichi snorted. "But I do question you, Mutaguchi Renya. With no knowledge of the Eighth Route Army's manpower, firepower, and basic defensive deployments, you formulated a presumptuous battle plan, which resulted in the utter destruction of the 3rd Independent Mixed Brigade. You should commit seppuku to apologize."

"I was the one who ordered the first shot of the holy war. Why should I commit seppuku to apologize?" Mutaguchi Renya was furious. He could not refute what Hirata said. He had made the battle plan without knowing any intelligence about the Eighth Route Army in Jinzhong.

Hirata Kenkichi looked at Yamamoto Ikki, who was sitting upright with a look of gloom on his face. "If it weren't for Yamamoto-kun disobeying orders and not daring to send out the special forces to eliminate the Eighth Route Army's special forces, my 6th Infantry Battalion wouldn't have been ambushed by the Eighth Route Army's special forces. If the 6th Infantry Battalion had rushed to Yangquan, Yangquan wouldn't have been captured by the Eighth Route Army. Yamamoto-kun's subversive tactics were the reason why Yangquan was captured by the Eighth Route Army. I bear secondary responsibility for the Eighth Route Army's capture of Yangquan, and Yamamoto-kun should bear the primary responsibility."

At the meeting, Mutaguchi Renya, Hirata Kenkichi, and Yamamoto Ikki blamed each other and argued fiercely.

No one was willing to take the responsibility for the defeat. After all, even if they took the secondary responsibility for the complete annihilation of the 3rd Independent Mixed Brigade, it would be enough to make the three of them suffer.

"Shut up, everyone!"

Finally, Shinozuka Yoshio snorted coldly with an expressionless face, and everyone shut up.

He did not expect that a post-war meeting to summarize lessons would turn into a blame-shifting meeting.

Shinozuka Yoshio glanced at everyone and said coldly:

"I am the commander of the First Army. The primary responsibility for this defeat lies with me, but everyone here cannot escape secondary responsibility. Anyone who continues to shirk responsibility should disarm and return home. The Great Japanese Locust Army does not need cowards who are afraid to take responsibility."

"Victory and defeat are common in the military. This meeting aims to summarize the lessons learned from the defeat and formulate new combat plans and emergency plans based on the Eighth Route Army's defensive tactics."

All the devils bowed their heads in unison: "Hi."

……

a week later.

New group.

Regiment Headquarters.

The receiving work has been completed. Logistics staff officer Wang Shoujin made a receiving list and reported to Li Yunlong with a smile on his face.

"Captain, we have received a total of 105 12mm howitzers this time."

"Twenty-four 120mm mortars."

"20 50mm machine guns."

"80 bazookas."

"Twenty-four 60mm mortars."

"Twenty-four 82mm mortars."

"More than 6 rounds of artillery shells."

"More than 400 light, heavy and general-purpose machine guns."

"More than 600 submachine guns."

"More than 6000 Mauser rifles."

"15 grenades."

"More than 500 million rounds of ammunition."

"3000 tons of grain."

"124 large trucks."

"Eighteen tanks."

"3000 tons of fuel."

"..."

This is almost the total amount received this time, including the weapons and ammunition that were reimbursed and the weapons and ammunition that were earned.

The amount submitted was less than what the New 1st Regiment received, but it was still a considerable amount. Li Yunlong had already asked Boss Lin to deliver the goods to the brigade headquarters.

"Not bad!"

After reading the list of goods received, Li Yunlong breathed a sigh of relief.

Stay safe.

Li Yunlong then took out a pen and wrote on the list for a while before handing it to Wang Shoujin: "These are the weapons, ammunition, and supplies for the Independent Regiment and the New Third Regiment. After you divide them up, have the motorized battalion deliver them to these two regiments."

"Yes!" Wang Shoujin took the list and turned to leave.

Li Yunlong's eyes flashed with shrewdness. After this battle, basically everyone in the main force of the Eighth Route Army in Jinzhong had a gun and they had sufficient bullets.

Including the inventory, each person has 200 rounds of bullets, 10 grenades, and plenty of artillery shells.

Although the captured Japanese weapons and equipment were rubbish, they were very useful for arming the militia, county brigades and district squads.

In this way, an infantry squad of the unit consists of about 15 people, equipped with 1 light machine gun or 1 general-purpose machine gun, 2 submachine guns, 1 sniper rifle, and 1 bazooka. The rest of the soldiers are all equipped with Mauser rifles.

The firepower is okay.

Li Yunlong nodded, a look of satisfaction appearing between his brows.

However, this is not enough, the troops' firepower can be even stronger.

(End of this chapter)