NCCnovel Chapter 462: Victory and defeat are common in the military. Our strength is still not enough and we
Chapter 462: Victory and defeat are common in the military. Our strength is still not enough and we
On April 1942, 4, the Aoki Division, the vanguard of the Aoki Detachment, arrived at Ping'an County. They would use Ping'an County as the front-line headquarters to command the large-scale mopping-up operation in northwest Shanxi. In order to ensure the safety of the Aoki Division, Jun'ichi Aoki sent a brigade of troops to occupy Zhangzhuang and began to build a camp, preparing to use Zhangzhuang as the front-line offensive base to launch a key offensive operation against the independent regiment's base.
In order to understand the true situation of the enemy, Junichi Aoki called Ichiro Nakamura and others and questioned them carefully. At the same time, he also wanted to hear if they had any good ideas. The order he received was to completely wipe out the base of the independent regiment within three months. He was full of confidence in this, but to be on the safe side, he decided to follow the advice of the commander and get rid of his arrogance.
"General, our enemy is indeed very powerful, especially its armored forces are much stronger than ours. I think we must be careful of the enemy's armored forces. The Third Reich showed us the horror of armored forces. Due to the lack of resources, the Empire cannot equip a large number of tank troops, which puts us at a disadvantage in the battle with the enemy."
"The troops' camps must be built with relatively wide trenches. The width of the trenches cannot be less than 2.8 meters, and the depth cannot be less than meters. Only in this way can we stop the sneak attacks of the enemy's armored forces. In the many battles with the enemy before, our enemies were much more skilled in the use of armored forces than we were. Every time they concentrated all the armored forces and used them, which caused us great trouble. The Second Mixed Regiment suffered a great loss."
"General Katayama's orders have always been correct, but his mistake was underestimating the enemy. If he had been more cautious, he would definitely have won." Kojiro Hirata was the first to step forward and offer suggestions.
Jun'ichi Aoki watched Ichiro Katayama's battle and found that his most stupid thing was to use the puppet army as cannon fodder. This was normal in normal times, but the key problem was the poison gas bombs. Instead of causing a large number of casualties to the enemy, they caused their own collapse. Ichiro Katayama was a little eager for quick success. If he could be slower and choose the right time to release the poison gas bombs, the outcome of the war would definitely be different.
"Hirata, your reminder is very correct. The enemy has eight armored battalions, with more than 800 tanks and armored vehicles combined, which is equivalent to the number of tanks in one of our tank brigades. In this regard, we are far inferior to the enemy."
"I will give orders to each regiment, requiring them to make anti-armor preparations when setting up camps and dig trenches three meters wide and 1.5 meters deep. If these conditions are not met, they can dig some holes in front of the camp to guard against enemy armored assaults."
"Mr. Yamamoto, you haven't spoken since we met. As your senior, I don't want to see you continue to waste your time. Among my many juniors, you are a very outstanding one, but the others have already been promoted to major generals, and you are still only a colonel, still studying your so-called special operations. I don't deny that your previous special operations did achieve considerable results, but you still didn't fulfill your promise. You didn't kill the enemy commander, which is the fundamental reason why everyone doesn't support you."
"I know your idea has never changed. You think that if you kill the enemy commander, the enemy will collapse without a fight. Your idea is actually very stupid. It doesn't conform to the reality of the battlefield at all. The Chinese resistance is more tenacious than we thought. Even if we can kill their commander, we still can't eliminate them. I believe you have already felt this, otherwise your special forces team would not have expanded several times in succession. This is very different from your previous approach."
Yamamoto Ikki did not give up his special warfare ideas. The reason why he expanded the number of special forces was actually a forced compromise. Every time he carried out a mission, he selected the best from the best. This also meant that the strength of Yamamoto's special forces team not only did not weaken in the past six months, but it continued to increase.
"General, I have never given up my special operations. I still believe that my special operations are the only effective method at present. Our enemies are very cunning. Only by eliminating their command organs can we completely solve the China problem."
"Take our imperial army for example. Once we lose our commander, there will be a brief period of chaos. The previous battle between Li Yunlong and Yoshino Masao further confirmed this. If Li Yunlong had not killed the Yoshino regiment's headquarters, it would have been impossible for them to break out of the encirclement at Shentouling."
"For the military, an excellent commander can play a huge role. War is also an art. Not everyone can become a master of art, and not everyone can become a master of war. The military geniuses in history tell us that having genius and losing genius will create a huge gap in reality."
"Take the Han Dynasty as an example. In the early period of Emperor Wu of Han, he had two famous generals, Wei and Huo, and won one victory after another. However, after losing these two military geniuses, the country was almost destroyed in the later period. I use this example to tell you, General, that the enemy's commander is the real core of the army. As long as he can be destroyed, the remaining troops will become a mob, and the morale of the army will be severely damaged. An army without a soul cannot continue to exist. Historical facts have proved this many times."
"My special forces team is ready to infiltrate the base of the independent regiment by airdrop, assassinate important enemy figures, and support the frontal attack of the army."
Junichi Aoki was speechless. Even though he looked down on Yamamoto Ikki's special forces team, it did not prove that this tactic had no merits. What's more, Commander Yoshio Shinozuka was very supportive of Yamamoto Ikki. Even if he was dissatisfied, he could not do anything to Yamamoto Ikki.
However, he was very angry about Yamamoto Kazuki's refutation, and decided to teach Yamamoto Kazuki a lesson to let him see the evil of human nature.
"Yoshi! Since Mr. Yamamoto is so confident, I will give you a chance to show off. Before the big battle, we can have an appetizer to liven up the atmosphere. Chu Yunfei, the head of the 358th Regiment of the Shanxi Suiyuan Army, has established a blocking position at Shentouling. Although this cannot cause us great trouble, it can still pose some threat to our rear. Then Mr. Yamamoto will lead your special forces to carry out the decapitation operation against Chu Yunfei. Please feel free to ask for any help you need. I only have one request of you, that is, you must destroy the command system of the 358th Regiment. Can you do it?"
Yamamoto Ikki didn't pay much attention to Aoki Jun'ichi's provocation. In order to gain more support and save the commander's face, he accepted it directly and said, "General, in three hours, I will lead the special forces to Shentouling and launch a surprise attack on the 358th Regiment's headquarters the day after tomorrow. I will prove to the general that what I said before was not nonsense."
Ichiro Nakamura immediately stepped forward to smooth things over, saying, "General, victory and defeat on the battlefield are common. There is no such thing as a general who wins every battle. Even the most powerful generals can fail sometimes. Chu Yunfei is not easy to deal with. He may evacuate Shentouling before the special forces arrive. I don't think we need to bet on Chu Yunfei. We only need to send a regiment to guard against the 358th Regiment. We should still use all our forces to deal with our real enemy."
"This time we dispatched 70,000 troops to attack the independent regiment base. The troops are not particularly sufficient. The real main force is only two divisions, and the total force added up to 4 puppet army divisions, which is exactly 80,000 people. But these 80,000 people cannot all be used for fighting. Tens of thousands of people must be sent out to maintain our transportation lines and ensure the supply of ammunition and materials at the front."
"We only have 2 troops that can really fight. We don't have enough troops. If we deploy some more troops to gradually block the line, I'm afraid the mobile troops we can use in the end will only be 1. With people against people, the ratio of the two sides is about to , but in terms of artillery and light and heavy machine guns, we are actually at a disadvantage."
"According to the intelligence we received earlier, the enemy has more than 2000 light and heavy machine guns, about 6000 submachine guns, more than 1600 artillery pieces, 836 armored vehicles, 226 fighter planes, no less than 500 million rounds of bullets, no less than rounds of artillery shells, and sufficient material reserves. Even if we are completely blocked, we can still support it for more than half a year."
"The three enemy fortifications are giving us a headache. If the air force can't destroy the fortress artillery, it will be useless even if we deploy more troops. General Katayama confirmed this to us last time, that is, our enemy has begun to change its tactics. It is no longer as stingy as before, but is very fierce and wasteful. Its firepower is very strong, and our artillery blockade has lost its effect."
"I think it's better for the army to stay put before we get support from the air force. After we take down the enemy's fortresses, we can launch an attack on the base of the independent regiment."
After hearing this, Junichi Aoki did not refute. Through the photos taken by the reconnaissance plane, he also realized how difficult it was to attack the fortress. He would not be foolish enough to fill it with soldiers. Even though most of his soldiers were recruited from the colonies and were just cannon fodder, he did not want to waste them in vain.
"Yes! I will report this to the headquarters and ask them to mobilize another division to strengthen our offensive power! Our enemy this time is indeed very strong. The two divisions are indeed a little weak. If we have another division, our chances of winning will be greater!"