Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Changjin Lake, a Hundred Battles, a Hundred Victories

Chapter 291 Night Raid! The Headquarters and Brigade Commander are overjoyed.

As night fell, the soldiers of the Third Battalion on the main position of Mount Mituo seized the precious rest time to quickly repair the position and strengthen the defense measures.

However, in the stillness of the night, the Japanese devils were anything but well-behaved.

A force of about 3,000 Japanese soldiers bypassed Mount Mituo, the Fifteen Gully, and the Twelve Gully, and launched a night attack directly on Baimao Gully.

Night raids were considered by the Japanese as a core tactic of "winning by surprise," especially against opponents with superior firepower.

On the domestic battlefield, many soldiers lacked night vision due to malnutrition, making it difficult to organize effective resistance.

The Nationalist Army and the Eighth Route Army lacked systematic night combat training in the early stages, making them prone to collapse during night raids.

However, these problems do not exist in the independent detachment.

Night raids are one of the Independent Detachment's most proficient tactics; they are experts among experts.

The battle began at 2 a.m.

First, the patrolling platoon spotted the Japanese soldiers sneaking around under the cover of night and fired warning shots.

After the gunfire rang out, the small Japanese unit that had been stealthily advancing immediately launched a counterattack.

As time went on, the scale of troops deployed by both sides increased, and what started as a night raid turned into an encounter battle.

"Attack! Attack!"

A regimental commander from the Japanese 14th Division shouted loudly.

Now that we've been discovered and a firefight has broken out, we have no choice but to continue fighting.

We're already here, aren't we?
Moreover, now that both sides have discovered each other's intentions, retreating at this point would likely result in being intercepted by the Eighth Route Army, and the initiative would fall into the hands of the Eighth Route Army.

Therefore, the Japanese regimental commander had only one thought in mind: to take down the enemy in front of him, cut off the Eighth Route Army's positions at Fifteen Gully and Twelve Gully from the rear, and surround the enemy.

It could also threaten the Eighth Route Army's Mituo Mountain position.

As the battle intensified, the Japanese field guns began firing based on their range.

With artillery support, the Japanese gradually gained the upper hand.

Inside the command center, Ding Wei felt no panic upon hearing the news.

"The Japanese chose a night attack, which was expected."

"We were originally planning to fight for another day before retreating, but now we don't need to."

"Order the troops to execute the third contingency plan."

"Order the positions at Fifteen Gully and Twelve Gully to fire all their artillery at the Japanese at White Hair Gully, and then immediately retreat to the right flank."

"The Bai Mao Gou position, under the cover of artillery fire from the Shi Wu Gou and Shi Er Gou positions, withdrew to the Fengzhen defense line."

"The main position at Amitabha Mountain will provide flank cover for the positions at Twelve Gully and Fifteen Gully, which will be withdrawn."

Ding Wei quickly carried out the orders formulated by Chen Ming.

Before the battle began, Chen Ming had formulated three combat plans.

The third contingency plan took into account the possibility that the Japanese might use a night attack to find a breakthrough.

Since the Japanese wanted a breakthrough, Chen Ming would give them one.

The Eighth Route Army on the Amitabha Mountain defense line was caught off guard by the Japanese night attack and hastily retreated. Is there any problem with this logic?

A direct retreat would be too suspicious, but it would be much more reasonable to take advantage of the Japanese night attack and win by surprise.

Because in the minds of the Japanese, the capture of the Amitabha Mountain defense line was achieved through tactical victory.

The Eighth Route Army was afraid of being completely annihilated, which is why they retreated across the board.

This pattern has been repeated countless times since the start of the full-scale War of Resistance against Japan.

Because the rear positions were attacked, the front positions were worried about being surrounded and cut off from their retreat, so they abandoned their positions and fled in panic.

Under the influence of habitual thinking, the Japanese would only think of it as a victory like any other.

Of course, there is another variable: the Japanese 14th Division, since being transferred back to Northeast China in 39, has never returned to fight in the interior of China.

Now it has been 43 years, and four years have brought about tremendous changes in the situation inside the Great Wall.

However, the Japanese 14th Division was located outside the Great Wall. Even if they had heard about it, without personally experiencing this change, their mindset might not have been able to change.

Chen Ming took advantage of this, exploiting the Japanese soldiers' habitual thinking and reliance on successful paths, to set a huge trap for them.

After Ding Wei issued the order, the positions at Twelve Gully and Fifteen Gully immediately launched an artillery barrage against the Japanese from the rear.

At the same time, they packed their belongings and prepared to withdraw from the position.

However, before withdrawing from the position, they left some small surprises for the Japanese soldiers.

After receiving Ding Wei's orders, the soldiers on the Baimaogou position began to weaken their counterattack and retreat under the cover of artillery fire.

The attacking Japanese soldiers began to realize that the resistance from the Eighth Route Army was rapidly weakening, and their advance was becoming faster.

In just fifteen minutes, they successfully captured two of the three main positions at Baimaogou.

Only one hill remains. Taking it will allow us to completely control the position and achieve our offensive objective.

"Charge! Charge!"

With victory in sight, the Japanese regimental commander no longer held back and sent out all the forces at his disposal.

Large numbers of Japanese soldiers began a fierce attack on the last hill.

After another 30 minutes of fighting, the last hill in the Baimaogou position was captured by the Japanese.

The Japanese soldiers originally wanted to continue their pursuit, but were intercepted by artillery fire covering their retreat from the main position on Mount Mituo. Helpless, they could only watch the "remaining" Eighth Route Army soldiers escape.

"Send a telegram to the division headquarters: Our unit successfully captured the Bai Mao Gou position of the Chinese forces at 3:30 a.m.

The Japanese regimental commander gave the order.

"Hi Yi!"

Inside the Japanese 14th Division.

"Report: Our 59th Infantry Regiment has successfully captured the Baimaogou position held by the Chinese troops."

"The remaining Chinese troops have fled."

"Report: Our 15th Infantry Division has successfully captured the Shiwugou and Shiergou positions of the Chinese forces. The remaining Chinese troops have fled."

"Report: After the loss of three positions on the flank of the Chinese troops, the Eighth Route Army at the Mituo Mountain position has abandoned the position and is fleeing."

"Because they knew the terrain, the 59th Infantry Regiment located in Baimaogou did not find the enemy."

"."

One piece of good news after another brought a smile to the face of the commander of the Japanese 14th Division.

"Yoshi, now that the Chinese army's defense line at Mount Mituo has been breached, we can directly attack Fengzhen."

"Fengzhen's terrain is not as precipitous as Mount Amitabha, and I believe it can be completely conquered in less than a day!"

"Order the troops to rest on the spot and not to pursue. The attack will be launched tomorrow morning."

The Japanese division commander spoke up.

"Hi Yi!"

After a day of fighting, the Japanese division commander also learned about the strength of the Independent Detachment.

Knowing that the opponent was a formidable foe, they did not choose to continue the pursuit at night.

When the enemy is in the dark and we are in the light, it is not a wise move to launch a rash attack.

Although the Japanese division commander was arrogant, he was not a fool.

How could one become the commander of a Class A division like the 14th Division without ability?
After capturing the Amitabha Mountain defense line, a regiment of the Japanese 57th Division, which had been previously bogged down, was also successfully rescued.

However, during the stalemate, they also suffered considerable artillery fire from Ding Wei's troops. Although they lacked heavy artillery and field guns, they were only hit by 82mm mortars, which were not particularly large in caliber.

But the effect of mortars against infantry is absolutely amazing.

So when this Japanese division regiment was successfully rescued, it only had a little over a thousand soldiers left.

Among these more than 1,000 people, the proportion of non-combatants was not small, and the loss of combat personnel reached more than 85%.

This level of damage constitutes a destruction on the scale of institutional collapse.

Strategically, the wing had no battlefield value and was tantamount to being annihilated.

The next step is either to withdraw and make adjustments, or to directly cancel the designation.

Given the current troop strength of the Japanese, it is more likely that their unit designation will be revoked and they will be merged into other units.

It can be said that this team, because of their recklessness and arrogance, successfully sent themselves to hell.

The Japanese regimental commander who was leading the attack, fearing that he would be held accountable and disgraced, stabbed himself in the stomach with his wakizashi short sword in despair.

After the battle report reached Chen Ming's command post, Chen Ming immediately gave instructions.

"Tell Ding Wei that our artillery detachment is ready and in position, and the trap is set."

"Let him hold Fengzhen for a day, then withdraw completely from the Fengzhen defense line under cover of night, and lure the Japanese to Jining."

Chen Ming issued the order.

"Yes."

After giving the order, Chen Ming and his chief of staff began discussing how to wrap the dumplings.

Chen Mingcun's presence here signifies both examination and guidance.

A major battle of this scale cannot be learned from books; every piece of experience is invaluable and priceless.

Meanwhile, the officers at the command post all took out their notebooks to take notes while Chen Ming was teaching and testing them.

Given Chen Ming's level of expertise, even a single word of guidance from him could be something many cadres, who have fought for over a decade, might not be able to learn.

Since the leader is openly discussing and providing guidance, it means that they can learn from it.

Even if you don't necessarily understand everything, it will definitely broaden your horizons and increase your knowledge.

Even if I can't become a commander who commands large-scale operations in the future, I can still command a division, brigade, or division.

The chief of staff understood Chen Ming's intention and spoke freely about his views.

Chen Ming neither denied nor directly affirmed his views.

Instead, they took a broader perspective and analyzed the situation in detail.

At this point, the chief of staff always manages to draw inferences from one instance to another, demonstrating remarkable flexibility in thinking.

"Haha, as expected of my chief of staff, you've made me never want to put you in a field unit again."

Chen Ming said jokingly.

This was just a joke. With the chief of staff's abilities, serving as the chief of staff in the command post would save Chen Ming a lot of trouble. He is an excellent cadre.

However, for the sake of the cadre's future and development, the chief of staff would definitely have to transfer him to a local position.

Joining a regular field army or a military region is a good choice.

The battle situation in the Jin-Sui-Rehe-Cha region was reported to headquarters.

The headquarters was overjoyed when they learned of this!

Ding Wei's unit alone held off two Japanese divisions and inflicted heavy damage on one of them.

Although the battle was not yet over, the exact number of casualties could not be determined because the bodies were in the hands of the Japanese.

However, based on battlefield estimates, the Japanese have lost at least one and a half regiments in the past few days of fighting.

How many casualties did Ding Wei's troops suffer?

Two thousand two hundred and thirteen people were killed or injured!
The reason for so many casualties was mainly because the Japanese Class A divisions had too much artillery.

In positional warfare, field artillery poses too great a threat to infantry.

Of the more than 2,000 casualties, over 1,200 were caused by Japanese artillery fire.

Even so, the independent detachment still achieved a casualty ratio of approximately 1:2.

It should be noted that Chen Ming has not yet used his two core trump cards: the artillery detachment and the special operations detachment.

Other supporting firepower, such as rocket artillery battalions, was not deployed.

Even in Jining and Guihua, there were He Jianxin's troops under Chen Ming, as well as Kong Jie's troops as the general reserve force.

what does this mean?
This means that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, Chen Ming is certain to win this battle.

The Japanese have fallen into the trap. If they continue to advance, they will drift further and further away from the Japanese base in Datong and will not receive effective support from Datong.

When they arrived in Jining, Chen Ming had his two main forces, plus two elite detachments, all in one place.

At that time, the Japanese soldiers would truly be left with no one to turn to for help.

The Japanese troops in other areas were too far away to provide support.

How could headquarters not be happy?

If they win this major battle, their image both domestically and internationally will be completely transformed, and their political status will be elevated accordingly.

The direct or indirect impact is immeasurable.

Based on the success of the first phase of the campaign, headquarters issued instructions prioritizing annihilation warfare.

"Use the opportunities created in the first phase to completely annihilate the enemy's manpower."

The achievements of the first phase were commended and acknowledged, while warnings were issued to ensure that no complacency was taken due to partial victories.

Both the headquarters leaders and the rear commanders had complete confidence in Commander Chen Ming.

There was no tactical intervention; everything was done according to the command of Commander Chen Ming.

In wartime, our army has always adhered to the principle of unified strategic objectives and tactical autonomy.

When strategic objectives are aligned, but there are disagreements on operational tactics, headquarters will usually support the frontline commanders and will not intervene tactically.

This is completely different from a certain battalion commander, who could move divisions and brigades at the front without any scruples, and even forcibly move them by airdropping orders.

In addition to the commendation from headquarters, the brigade commander also sent a telegram to Chen Ming.

Few people knew the strategic objectives of the independent detachment, and the brigade commander happened to be one of them.

When reporting the battle situation, Chen Ming not only reported to headquarters but also sent a copy to the brigade commander.

After all, he was his former leader, and part of the troops he was commanding this time were from the brigade commander's unit.

Sending good news to the old leader, although not entirely in accordance with regulations, is still acceptable.

Upon learning of the Independent Detachment's battle situation, the brigade commander was very pleased and immediately sent a telegram to Chen Ming.

Chen Ming smiled as he read the brigade commander's telegram.

He knew that the brigade commander was equally unsettled after learning of the independent detachment's achievements.

The cadres who have left my ranks are now capable of handling things independently and have become a force that no one can ignore.

This made the brigade commander very happy. Even Chen Ming mentioned in the telegram that more than 300 of the hundreds of horses he borrowed from the brigade commander had died in the battle.

The brigade commander didn't mind at all and generously said that it didn't need to be returned.

It's rare to see a brigade commander so magnanimous!
Although those horses were the same ones that Chen Ming had given away for good fortune.

(End of this chapter)