Anti-Japanese War: From Becoming Chu Yunfei to Rising

Chapter 266: Suematsu Shigeharu: What a tough opponent, Chu Yunfei is in the middle of the river! (Subscribe)
A hint of white just appeared on the horizon.

boom! boom! boom!
The continuous explosions sounded like a wake-up call.

The Japanese army thoughtfully gave the soldiers a reminder before the attack.

However, this was not a Japanese artillery bombardment.

Instead, the Japanese pursuit troops stepped on the warning mines that the soldiers had buried in advance.

"So anxious?"

The veteran company commander stationed at the frontline defense position tremblingly lit a cigarette handed to him by a soldier beside him.

"Keep your heads down, don't shoot without orders!"

"Everyone's life is precious." The veteran company commander emphasized.

The troops under Chu Yunfei's command.

It's not a warlord army.

The old soldiers tricked the new recruits into dying, while the veterans supervised the battle and provided support in the rear.

Instead, it was a real, organized leap forward attack.

As for defensive battles, they tend to be more timid and be as cautious as possible.

"Hoo~!"

After exhaling a long puff of smoke, he took a deep breath, quickly stood up and lifted the telescope hanging on his chest.

"Captain, the Japs seem to be coming up."

"They are still far away. Have you seen our landmark? They are still about 300 meters away."

"No one is allowed to shoot. All our machine gun firepower has been concentrated on the front line. If something goes wrong, our tactics will be in vain!"

"Yes!"

The 5th Infantry Regiment was responsible for fighting this first battle.

Cao Potian concentrated all the light and heavy machine guns in the regiment to the first line of defense.

On small arms firepower.

Not to mention the Japanese, even the US infantry division cannot match the density of frontline firepower.

Chu Yunfei's headquarters was set up 25 kilometers behind the battlefield.

As for him, he was at the forward command post of the 5th Infantry Regiment.

In fact, it is only less than five kilometers away from the first-line defense position.

This is the location of a standard regimental command post.

The division level is generally around 12-20 kilometers.

At this time, Chu Yunfei carefully held up the telescope and observed the situation on the front line: "These little devils are really a bit strange. They attacked without any probing, and just pressed forward."

"Sir, this little devil doesn't think highly of us."

Cao Potian squatted aside, shoveling the millet porridge in the bowl with pickles and eggs, while watching over the small pot beside him.

As soon as the sun rose, all the open flames were extinguished.

There were some canned beef cooked in the pot, but they were all Cao Potian’s favorite.

The chunks of soy beef brisket rolled back and forth in the boiling soup.

It smells delicious at first glance.

Cao Potian picked up one of the pieces and put it directly into the bowl, then continued: "Are you planning to use a surprise move to give us a hard blow?"

Chu Yunfei looked back at Cao Potian and smiled: "You really know how to enjoy..."

"The deployment has been arranged. We, Cao, don't have much ability to adapt to changes. If anything goes wrong, I will lead the guard company to take over."

Cao Potian is a rough man with a delicate mind.

Although he said that.

However, Chu Yunfei couldn't find any major problems with the locations of the three lines of defense.

The Guard Company is actually not Cao Potian’s reserve force.

It was the elite Second Battalion under his command.

The troops were resting in a village behind the third line of defense.

It can be used as a decisive offensive force in battle at any time.

Cao Potian's awareness of attack and defense transitions is relatively good.

He had no intention of staying in his position in this battle.

But there is no way to avoid the necessary consumption.

Although it seemed very "biased" to leave the 2nd Battalion behind as a reserve.

In fact, this is also because the Second Battalion will undertake the assault mission during the transition from offense to defense.

"The defense fortifications in Liao County are temporary after all. According to the original battle plan, after blocking the enemy for three days, we will withdraw to Changzhi. This will give the Japanese an opportunity, and they will continue to penetrate into our southeastern Shanxi region."

Chu Yunfei stood next to the map, but his consciousness was once again immersed in the three-dimensional combat map.

The Japanese offensive was swift and powerful.

Faced with the minefield prepared by the 3rd Infantry Regiment, they seemed to be completely unaware of it.

The attack was the same as usual.

The barbed wire fence surrounding the warning minefield had already been destroyed by Japanese engineers.

Even the outer warning mines were actually dismantled.
It's just that there are too many mines.

There were so many that the 114th Engineer Regiment worked for more than six hours but still couldn't dismantle them all.

Qilin Village is the forward guard position of the 3rd Infantry Regiment.

When the Japanese army advanced to a distance of about 150 meters.

The defending troops immediately opened fire under the command of the company commander.

Light and heavy machine guns fired in unison.

The mortar company, which had been waiting for notification, also provided the most direct fire support to the front line.

The Japanese army seemed to have anticipated this. They quickly lay on the ground and launched a counterattack.

Grenade launchers were used to carry out targeted clearing of our army's heavy machine gun positions.

Our army's machine gunners quickly opened fire, suppressing the Japanese grenade launcher shooters and machine gun fire points.

The training levels of both sides were similar. Although the Japanese army was at a disadvantage in light weapons firepower, they were at an advantage in heavy weapons firepower.

The 75mm mountain artillery position opened fire quickly...the forward positions of the rd Infantry Regiment were bombarded fiercely.

As soon as daybreak came, the annoying Japanese fighter planes were already circling in the sky.

After dropping the bombs, the light bombers quickly left the battlefield and did not provide close support.

And those fighter planes were like vultures, circling over the positions of both sides.

Swooping down, the machine guns spewed out fire snakes, hitting the soldiers.

The anti-aircraft machine guns were completely destroyed in the first Battle of Zhengtai Road.

There is no news yet on new military purchases or anti-aircraft guns as aid.

Currently, Chu Yunfei's troops have no way to deal with the Japanese fighter planes.

As for the Japanese military airports, they were either in Taiyuan or in Pingjin.

The conditions for a raid are not met.

The front-line defense is much more difficult than previous battles.

"The attack of these little devils is even more fierce than when we were in Lanfeng. It seems that they are really coming for us."

Sun Ming stood aside with great emotion. He put down the telescope in his hand, walked quickly to Chu Yunfei's side and advised: "Sir, do you think we should ask our mountain artillery regiment to provide some artillery support?"

"Now is not the time."

"Do you want to wait until the Japanese fighter planes fly away?" Cao Potian burped, a little confused.

Chu Yunfei pointed to the top of his head perfunctorily.

Sun Ming raised his eyebrows: "Could it be that the Japanese are hiding from us in the sky, and once there is an artillery attack, they will come down to bomb our artillery positions?"

"I mean, it's still early now. We have to wait until the evening when the Japanese are no longer in a position to bomb, and then we can expose our heavy firepower. Before that, we can only hold on."

Cao Potian nodded in understanding.

Don't say it's them.

As the war progressed, all the troops looked basically the same.

There are no guns or cannons, and even bullets are extremely valuable now.

The previous water-splashing style of play basically cannot be replicated.

Unless the Soviets or the Americans are willing to provide full assistance.

The Americans are too far away.

We can't rely on anyone at this stage, so the only one is the Soviet Union.

I hope the Soviet Union, the leader on the list, can be more powerful.

At the very least, the production capacity of light weapons must be supplied.

The situation in Europe is becoming increasingly tense.

Increase the production capacity of the military industry in advance.

It was also a good thing for the Soviet Union.

From Chu Yunfei's perspective, it is a win-win situation.

Come down like this.

The Guanghua brand cigarette factory founded by Chu Yunfei in Yuncheng area sold its products not only in the Eighth Route Army base area and the Kuomintang-controlled areas.

The Soviet Union, with its relatively poor light industry, was also one of the best dumping locations.

The quality of Quwo dry tobacco is much better than the Mahelka smoked by Soviet farmers, workers and soldiers.

Mahelka is unprocessed tobacco leaves.

Although it is cheap, the quality is very poor and can even be described as rough.

The packaging is simple and the taste is spicy.

It is much worse than the dry tobacco produced in Quwo area.

In terms of supply and demand and quality, the cigarettes produced by Guanghua Cigarette Factory.

This thing is considered a fine product in the Soviet Union, a country with a lame industry.

Chu Yunfei had even planned to persuade Yan Laoxi to acquire most of the Quwo tobacco workshops after this battle.

Unify production to improve efficiency.

More than 50 percent of the tobacco leaves are roasted to make shredded tobacco.

Sold to the Soviets in exchange for weapons and equipment to arm their troops.

The remaining production capacity is mainly supplied to combat troops and poor people in Shanxi.

Although the quality is not high, it can satisfy their needs for tobacco consumer products.

What is more important is the spiritual value.

Smoking = supporting the war.

Support the war of resistance = hero.

After following this logic, even those who don’t like smoking will be willing to spend some money to support it.

As for cigarettes of slightly better quality.

It is mainly sold in the Kuomintang-controlled areas. The price of cigarettes is relatively high.

This is also related to the inability to mass-produce cigarette paper. Don't underestimate cigarette paper and packaging boxes.

You should know that Yan Laoxi specially invited relevant technicians from Japan at that time to overcome this difficult problem.

Of course.

If the conditions are really limited.

You can also roll it up in newspaper and smoke it directly.

Maybe the ink smell is a bit strong.

A box of cigarettes costs twenty national currency.

According to current purchasing power.

That’s the equivalent of two hundred bullets, which ordinary people certainly can’t afford.

As for the Soviets.

If they are willing to pay high prices to import and supply them to middle and lower-level officers.

Chu Yunfei was also happy to sell.

anyway.

From Chu Yunfei's bird's-eye view.

At this time, on the front line of the battlefield, the Japanese army suffered a minor loss and quickly retreated.

The battle lasted less than fifteen minutes.

Nearly two hundred bodies were lost along the three or four kilometer attack line.

As for the wounded, they retreated quickly with the help of other Japanese soldiers.

The soldiers stationed at the front-line guard positions followed the original combat plan.

Quickly abandon the position and retreat to the front-line defense positions in the rear.

As for the small amount of military supplies that they didn't have time to take away.

The way to deal with it is also quite simple, just a few grenades.

Basically it is damaged and cannot be used.

It had been less than two minutes since the evacuation was completed.

The Japanese artillery units opened fire on the frontline positions.

One shell after another hit the position that the soldiers had just abandoned.

Their infantry units launched another charge under the cover of artillery fire.

The Japanese troops who occupied the front-line alert position did not immediately launch a pursuit.

Instead, he cleared the trenches as soon as possible to ensure his own safety.

Whether it is an anti-artillery hole or a soldier who has sacrificed his life.

They all carried out a careful "inspection".

There were constant explosions and gunshots.

It was the first time that Chu Yunfei saw Japanese combat troops being so cautious.

The reason why the Japanese did this is obvious: they had suffered similar losses before.

The 114th Division seemed to be quite familiar with the trench warfare style that the Chinese troops liked to use.

This style of fighting is only suitable for dealing with the early Japanese army.

They were arrogant and did not think that there would be any Chinese troops bold enough to resist their attack.

However, the Japanese army often adjusted quickly after a setback in the attack, and the experience would also be promoted in the division and other units.

As for the soldiers who fell in the trenches and pretended to be dead.

When the Japanese rushed over, they were attacked from behind with a volley of bullets.

It can only appear in TV dramas.

It does not conform to the actual fighting style of the Japanese army.

Because the Japanese army mainly relied on grenades when clearing trenches.

After there was no resistance in the trenches, they foolishly jumped down the trenches and stabbed the fallen bodies with bayonets.

The sooner the trenches were cleared the better.

Japanese troops on the battlefield generally did not stab corpses with bayonets.

After all, during a battle, such inspections are too inefficient.

A few minutes could very well mean the difference between the success or failure of a battle.

No one dares to be careless.

The first round of attack came at a considerable cost, but overall the offensive went smoothly.

When Shigeharu Suematsu received the report, the attacking Japanese infantry regiment had already continued its attack.

The retreat of the 3rd Infantry Regiment's combat troops gave Major General Mitsusaburo Akiyama, who was commanding the assault, a good opportunity to pursue them.

Under his command, the Japanese troops under his command launched another attack without any hesitation.

The two sides soon engaged in fierce fighting again.

The headquarters of the 114th Division of the Japanese Army.

Chief of Staff Saburo Isoda walked quickly to the side of Division Commander Shigeharu Suematsu and whispered, "According to the latest report, our attacking force has suffered more than 700 casualties. Brigade Commander Hikaru Akiyama hopes to get support from the aviation unit to bomb the enemy's second-line defense position."

Suematsu Shigeharu nodded: "Send a telegram to the First Army Headquarters immediately."

"Haha!" Saburo Isoda turned and left.

Suematsu Shigeharu said, "The enemy's will to resist is not as strong as we thought. It seems that they do not intend to compete with our army in Liao County."

Operations staff officer Ueda Keiichi expressed his opinion: "Your Excellency, the enemy is fighting and retreating, and the direction of their retreat is exactly Changzhi, the core area of ​​Chu Yunfei's troops. I think the enemy is likely to have placed its main force in the Changzhi area. If a decisive battle is fought in the Changzhi area, they can also get reinforcements from other national army units."

"It's just that our reconnaissance troops haven't found any other combat troops with the wrong numbers yet. The telegram intercepted by the intelligence department is very likely to be true." Fujimoto Sayoya said solemnly, "If the Chinese command really drew troops from Shanxi to reinforce the northern battlefield in Wuhan, then the information about the lack of troops in Shanxi is very likely to be true."

The Japanese soldier Ueda Keiichi picked up the baton beside him, pointed at the Changzhi area and said, "Although we cannot confirm the authenticity of the intelligence, there is one thing we need to pay attention to, that is, Chu Yunfei is very good at showing weakness to the enemy, and then luring the enemy deep into the territory, and then encircling and annihilating them with superior forces and firepower."

As he spoke, he slowly pushed the chess pieces belonging to the National Army to the vicinity of Changzhi area.

"The Chinese don't have so much ammunition and shells.

Our intelligence shows that the Second War Zone of the Chinese Army has not received large-scale supplies recently.

This shows that even though they knew that our army was prepared to carry out large-scale operations in Shanxi.

But they also did not provide supplies to China's Second War Zone.

For the current Chinese command.

Their energy is mainly focused on the Wuhan battlefield.

Wuhan is the national economic, political and cultural center of China.

Now our army is advancing like a broken bamboo, and the situation in Wuhan is already precarious for the Chinese army."

Fujimoto Sayaka paused, then faced his colleagues’ questioning gazes and continued to emphasize, “Everyone, division commander.

The Shanxi region may be very important to the Chinese.

But in the eyes of the Chinese command.

After all, his territory was that of Shanxi warlord Yan Xishan.

Rather than the central territory.

The Chinese have an extremely strong sense of local attachment.

If our intelligence is correct.

Chiang Kai-shek drew four divisions from the Second War Zone, two of which were combat units of the Central Army.

This represents a further decline in Chinese military power in the Shanxi region.

It is normal for our army to achieve such a good result in this battle, and there is no need to worry too much."

Ueda Keiichi shook his head and immediately retorted: "If we fight according to the intelligence of the intelligence department.

Well, China has 32 infantry divisions and two cavalry divisions in Shanxi and northern Shaanxi.

If the information is true.

Even if we withdraw four divisions, it will only slightly weaken the enemy forces. The remaining enemy forces are more than five times the number of our attacking forces."

"Their combat forces are extremely dispersed. They not only need to defend the Taiyue Mountain area, but also need to garrison Linfen and other places. The enemy forces that can fight in southeastern Shanxi alone total nine divisions." Fujimoto Sayaka seemed quite confident, and he added: "And according to our pre-war reconnaissance.

The enemy's 35th Corps has less than 8,000 men, and although it is as numerous as three divisions, it is clearly not a cause for concern."

Two operations staff officers.

It seems to be a tit-for-tat, but in fact it is just to provide ideas for the division commander Shigeharu Suematsu.

If we look at the intelligence collected before the war and the current strategic situation.

It is unlikely that Chu Yunfei would lure the enemy deep into our territory and then encircle and annihilate their troops.

At this stage, the number of Chinese troops in Shanxi is indeed a mystery.

The Japanese couldn't figure this out, nor could Yan Xishan, Wei Lihuang, or Chang Kai-shen.

But there is one thing that both the Japanese and Chinese sides can be sure of.

That is...the combat force is definitely not as large as it appears on the surface.

The conditions of the troops in the Second War Zone must have been very bad.

But Chu Yunfei is the ace force of the National Revolutionary Army after all.

What exactly is going on.

If the original battle plan is followed.

The 108th Division and the 114th Division would be needed to attack the Flying Tiger Honor Division in Changzhi.

But now.

The 108th Division, which launched the attack first, has not yet broken through the Shexian defense line.

At this time, they had already broken through the first line of defense of the Flying Tiger Honor Division.

Just imagine.

If they could defeat, severely damage, or even annihilate Chu Yunfei's troops with the strength of one division...
The thought of this.

Shigeharu Suematsu came to his senses in an instant.

What a tough opponent! Chu Yunfei is in the middle of the river.

I almost fell into your trap.

"Should the division commander immediately send the main force to advance the pursuit?"

"No!" Suematsu Shigeharu waved his hand confidently: "I think this should be Chu Yunfei's trick. Continue to move forward steadily."

"Hai!"

the other side.

"Report to the commander, the Japanese army did not pursue us as we expected"

Chu Yunfei turned his head and looked at the cavalry communicator of the 5th Infantry Regiment who was chasing him.

"What is the specific situation?"

"After a brief rest, the Japanese army once again maintained its original offensive rhythm and searched in the direction of our army's retreat."

Chu Yunfei frowned slightly: "Got it, let Cao Potian execute according to the backup battle plan..."

"Yes!"

(End of this chapter)