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

Chapter 98 Deep In-Depth Interweaving and Detours

Chen Ming was overjoyed by the reaction of the two Japanese troops.

The enemy actually split their forces, sending two groups to try and encircle the second battalion, which was being lured deep into their territory.

It was as if a strong man had opened both fists and was punching the second battalion at the same time.

The attack seemed fierce and powerful, but in reality, it had already revealed a weakness.

"Pass on my order: the Second Battalion shall halt its retreat, immediately change course, and split into smaller units to infiltrate between the two Japanese forces," Chen Ming immediately issued the order.

Now that the Japanese have opened their fists, staying put and defending is the best course of action. The enemy could easily combine their forces and attack the second battalion that is defending.

The best way to deal with this kind of Japanese offensive is to advance instead of retreating, and crash into their arms.

This way, the Japanese soldiers' fists would be unable to exert any force, and they would be divided into two parts by the second battalion sandwiched between their arms.

With the Independent Detachment possessing superior numbers, the Japanese troops, already trapped and divided, were like turtles in a jar.

Upon receiving the order, Wang Dafei of the Second Battalion immediately issued the command.

"Stop retreating, the rear becomes the front, break into smaller units and immediately penetrate between the two Japanese units!"

"Yes."

The soldiers of the Second Battalion immediately changed formation and moved between the two Japanese units.

During this period, due to the scarcity of supplies and weapons, the vast majority of our troops were light infantry, and their heavy firepower was far inferior to that of the Japanese.

Light infantry also has its advantages, namely, it can gather and disperse quickly, and can turn in any direction it wants.

At the same time, because our army has long been in combat with a lack of ammunition and logistics, its own logistical needs are extremely small.

Therefore, they can gather and disperse at will, and can be divided into small groups to infiltrate the enemy's positions.

Ordinary armies, because they must stay together and maintain logistics, must knock down enemy positions during their marches; otherwise, if they bypass enemy positions, it means that their logistics cannot be delivered.

Without logistics, how many shells could soldiers carry, no matter how powerful the artillery was?

Therefore, it appears particularly rigid and clumsy.

Chen Ming ordered his troops to break up into smaller units, infiltrate through gaps in the Japanese forces, and then regroup to cut off the connection between the two groups of Japanese troops.

This tactic, in later terminology, is called the deep penetration tactic.

However, because it was relatively close to the Japanese, it could not be considered a large depth of operations, but only a small depth of operations.

The two battalions, working together in a flanking maneuver, formed a strategic and tactical combination involving a large depth and a wide flanking maneuver.

When the soldiers of the Second Battalion broke into smaller groups and infiltrated the Japanese troops from among them, the Japanese chief of staff was completely bewildered.

"What kind of tactic is this? Have the Eighth Route Army gone mad and willingly walked into our encirclement?"

He couldn't understand the Second Battalion's strategic intentions, but judging from their current performance, advancing with light troops was a major taboo in military strategy, and this Eighth Route Army seemed to be throwing their lives away.

After crashing into their arms, this group of Eighth Route Army soldiers completely lost contact with the troops behind them and were cut off from logistical supplies.

Here's a piece of common military knowledge: because troop movements and defenses are usually not concentrated in one place, but rather consist of multiple scattered defensive lines.

The gaps between the positions were extremely large, allowing a small number of troops to control a large amount of land.

These gaps were impassable for the army, and they dared not bypass them, otherwise, if their supplies were cut off, the army would not be far from destruction.

Therefore, to break through, the only option is to knock down these scattered positions one by one, but this gives the enemy enough time to deploy reinforcements.

This is how ordinary armies fight.

The tactics employed by the Second Battalion overturned the Japanese chief of staff's understanding of military common sense.

He racked his brains and finally came up with a reasonable excuse.

"This Eighth Route Army unit has already collapsed and is attempting to use a small force to break through our defenses. Order the troops to immediately encircle and tighten the defenses, and wipe out this collapsed Eighth Route Army force," the Japanese chief of staff ordered.

In his eyes, the Second Battalion of the Independent Detachment was no longer a threat.

In modern warfare theory, armies must be stationed together; a dispersed army is ineffective in combat.

Once an army loses its organizational structure, even if tens of thousands of soldiers survive, their combat effectiveness will be automatically assumed to be zero.

This is why even a scattered Nationalist army of tens of thousands could be chased by a single Japanese company.

Losing organizational structure is tantamount to completely losing combat effectiveness.

However, just as the Japanese chief of staff ordered his troops to prepare to wipe out this disorganized "rout" force...

The second battalion, which had crashed into their arms, miraculously and quickly regrouped, setting up positions on the spot and dividing the two Japanese battalions into two parts.

"What? What kind of unit is this? How could they be able to regroup so quickly after being dispersed into countless small groups?"

The Japanese chief of staff stared in disbelief, unable to believe what he was seeing.

This is not common sense!
After the second battalion regrouped and resumed its original formation, it became extremely difficult to quickly eliminate this force.

However, the Japanese chief of staff didn't pay much attention. What did tactics matter? This Eighth Route Army unit was currently surrounded. Even if they had any schemes, they couldn't carry them out while surrounded.

However, at that moment, the message from the communications soldier struck the Japanese chief of staff like a bolt from the blue.

"Sir, enemy cavalry and a large infantry force, numbering over three thousand, have been spotted in the rear."

"Reporting to the commander, a large enemy infantry force of more than two thousand men has been spotted on the left flank of our unit."

"Reporting to the commander, a large enemy infantry force of more than two thousand men has been spotted on the right flank of our unit."

The sudden news stunned the Japanese chief of staff, who took a while to recover.

"What? You mean we're already surrounded by the main force of the Eighth Route Army? How dare the Eighth Route Army gather so many troops when facing the locust army's sweep?" the Japanese chief of staff asked incredulously.

"Yes, sir." The Japanese scout's tone was also heavy.

"Baka! What is Brigade Commander Katayama good for? He has only 3,000 men, yet he allowed the main force of the Eighth Route Army to surround our army."

The Japanese chief of staff roared in exasperation.

According to intelligence, the total number of Eighth Route Army units attracted by the Independent Mixed Fourth Brigade was about 20,000.

Intelligence obtained from other units indicated that approximately four thousand people had broken through the encirclement.

Now, only the Eighth Route Army soldiers who haven't broken through the encirclement remain surrounded.

But now, the Eighth Route Army has actually mobilized its main force to surround his two battalions.

what does this mean?
This means that the 3,000-strong Independent Mixed Brigade No. 4 could at most tie down 3,000 Eighth Route Army troops.

Otherwise, the Eighth Route Army wouldn't have been able to mobilize so many troops to besiege him.

The Japanese chief of staff cursed the brigade commander in his heart for being a good-for-nothing, for letting the Eighth Route Army escape right under his nose without even realizing it, putting them in danger now.

Even now, the Japanese chief of staff has never considered that the Eighth Route Army was able to liberate so many troops only because the original 3,000-strong force had been wiped out.

After cursing, the Japanese battalion commander forced himself to calm down.

The most urgent task now is to get the two battalions together and then break out of the encirclement.

They could either join up with the three thousand Japanese soldiers or return the way they came and wait for reinforcements from the rear.

Otherwise, the Eighth Route Army could simply send out a portion of its troops to contain one of the battalions, while concentrating its overwhelming forces to eliminate the other battalion first, making it difficult for the remaining battalion to escape.

They were on the march, without having built a sufficiently strong defensive position or fortifications for protection. If the Eighth Route Army were to engage in hand-to-hand combat, they would not be able to defeat them.

"Immediately order the troops to advance, defeat the Eighth Route Army troops ahead, and join up with the three thousand soldiers of the brigade headquarters," the Japanese chief of staff ordered.

A force of 3,000 men has appeared in our rear, so retreat is definitely not an option.

To defeat three thousand men in a short time, we must commit all our forces. This would leave us vulnerable to attacks from the Eighth Route Army in the center and on both flanks, which would be extremely dangerous.

Encircling and annihilating the Second Battalion in the middle wouldn't work either, as they would be attacked simultaneously from all directions by the Eighth Route Army, allowing the encircled Second Battalion to launch a surprise attack from the center, making it even more dangerous.

There is only one way now: to break through the Eighth Route Army's frontal positions, establish contact with the 3000 soldiers at the brigade headquarters, and only by joining forces can we have a chance to reverse the tide of the battle.

Chen Ming laughed when he saw the Japanese soldiers attacking in his direction.

"The Japanese devils probably don't know that the three thousand men of that damned Fourth Brigade have already been wiped out by us. They can only dream of breaking through and joining up with us."

"Order the troops to fight freely according to the second operational plan!" Chen Ming ordered.

This was the first time he had used a deep flanking maneuver, the primary condition for which is absolute battlefield control.

Otherwise, if the troops are discovered by the enemy as soon as they infiltrate, they will be slaughtered by enemy fire.

The enemy has no way of knowing the whereabouts of our troops, which is the primary prerequisite for achieving deep penetration.

Chen Ming, who possesses a three-dimensional combat map, happens to have this advantage.

He could perform extreme micro-management on the battlefield, mobilizing troops to move right under the noses of the Japanese, so that they couldn't even detect our troops several kilometers away.

This allowed the two battalions to maneuver around the Japanese flanks and rear, achieving the strategic objective of encircling and dividing the Japanese forces.

With Chen Ming issuing the order to attack, the various units launched a fierce offensive against the Japanese.

Determined to break through Chen Ming's position, the Japanese detached a portion of their troops to contain and delay the Eighth Route Army's attacks from the surrounding areas, and then gathered 1,200 men to launch an attack on Chen Ming's position.

The Japanese are preparing to fight to the death!
If the position cannot be captured in a short time, and the Eighth Route Army in other directions eliminates the covering troops, the remaining troops will no longer be able to organize an attack.

This is the disadvantage of being surrounded; no matter which direction you attack, you will be attacked from other directions.

However, in the direction of the Japanese attack...

Chen Ming deployed a guerrilla brigade of more than 500 men, plus heavy machine gun firepower drawn from three main brigades, forming a temporary support force of more than 20 heavy machine guns.

With such powerful firepower, let alone the Japanese soldiers who numbered only 1,200.

Even if you give him three thousand men, before you take down the heavy machine gun positions, any number of charges he makes will be suicide missions.

(End of this chapter)