Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 293 The Advantages of Light Infantry
Therefore, assuming the casualty rate of the infantry lions reaches over 30%, the number of soldiers left fighting on the front lines might be reduced to just over a thousand. Furthermore, wounded soldiers require care; lightly wounded soldiers can manage on their own, but seriously wounded soldiers require two people to carry each one. When the casualty rate reaches 30%, the remaining thousand-plus soldiers will also be divided among caring for the wounded, leaving very few armed men on the front lines, rendering the infantry lions ineffective.

Most importantly, the groans of the wounded soldiers were also a key factor affecting morale. For example, in the barracks at Hagaru-ri Airport, a large number of wounded soldiers lay on their beds groaning in pain, which naturally lowered the morale of the entire camp.

Seeing the miserable state of the wounded soldiers, the uninjured soldiers naturally became afraid of getting hurt themselves, and once soldiers are afraid of getting hurt, what fighting power do they have?

Many would definitely choose to surrender. It was precisely because of this consideration that Smith thought of sending the wounded away first, otherwise a large number of wounded would drag down the entire Marine Corps.

Of course, historically, the definition of casualty rate and combat effectiveness has not been fixed, and different countries have different opinions on it.

For example, in East Asia, the Japanese army set a relatively high casualty rate that it could tolerate. In the early stages of World War II, the Japanese army was formidable, fighting across the two major battlefields of Korea and East Asia. Although it encountered strong resistance in Korea, the casualties of the Japanese army were relatively small.

The Japanese army's organization differed from that of the Western Army. From top to bottom, it consisted of Lion Regiment, Battalion, Company, and Squad. The Japanese Army's Type A Lion Regiment had a large number of personnel, about 10,000 more than the Western Army's "Lion," with a total number of about 27,000. The Type B Lion Regiment also had about 25,000 personnel.

The Japanese Army's Type A Lion Regiment had two infantry regiments, as well as one regiment each of engineers, cavalry, artillery, and supply transport, plus the Lion Regiment Command and the regiment command. These were all non-frontline combat personnel.

According to the organization of the Japanese army during World War II, a regiment consisted of two infantry regiments, with each regiment having about 3,800 men, so a regiment would have about 7,600 men. Based on this calculation, the front-line infantry of the Japanese Type A Lion Regiment was around 15,000 men, which was more than 50% of the total number of men in the Lion Regiment.

The Lion Regiment of the Japanese Army during World War II was a formidable fighting force because its frontline combat personnel accounted for a much larger proportion than those of Western armies, and its casualty rate even reached over 40% while still maintaining combat capability.

In the late stages of World War II in the Pacific theater, the Japanese army had lost all sense of casualty rates; "gyokusai" (honorable death) was their only tactic. At this point, regardless of branch of service, anyone who could handle a gun was expected to fight. On Iwo Jima, a hellish island, the Japanese garrison of over 20,000 men suffered only 1,000 captured, a casualty rate exceeding 95%!
Many people were surprised by this, as it turns out that half of the troops on the front lines were not actually fighting! In fact, this reflects the precise division of labor within the heavy-armored army.

Many positions in the military are technical branches, such as communications, artillery, and motor transport. Their training is more focused on professional skills, requiring a long period of training to become proficient, which incurs a significant time cost.

These technical troops didn't receive infantry squad or platoon tactical training under the Japanese; instead, they practiced driving skills, telegraphing, and artillery aiming. Sending them to trenches to defend positions or to charge into battle would simply make them cannon fodder. Losses of technical troops were difficult to replace, and the consequences of losing artillery support or command being cut off from the outside world were far more severe. Unless the unit was surrounded by the enemy, in which case every soldier would have to take up arms and break out, technical troops were rarely deployed to the front lines.

A heavily armed army is a tightly organized whole, like a sophisticated machine, where every part is crucial and its loss would impact combat effectiveness. While 30% casualties is a scientifically statistic, it's not an inviolable rule. Armies can unleash astonishing fighting power at times, fighting to the death despite heavy losses. Similar instances occurred in World War II and the subsequent Sino-Japanese War and the Sino-Japanese War.

Of course, more importantly, most of the troops aiding Chaozhou were light infantry, as can be seen from their weapon configuration: rifles and submachine guns. As for large-caliber artillery, they were basically nonexistent, and armored tanks were not even worth mentioning.

This is precisely why the logistical pressure is naturally less. Take Wu Qianli's Eighty-Nine Lions unit, for example; they are basically all light infantry. Only Battalion Commander Yang's unit has an artillery battalion; the rest are all light infantry. As for troop transport vehicles, they are practically nonexistent; they all rely on their own two feet to travel.

This is why infantry accounted for a very high percentage of combat operations, reaching 80% or even more.

This allows them to exert greater combat effectiveness in close-quarters combat, especially in nighttime raids.

For example, last night's attack on the Polar Bear Regiment. Although the Polar Bear Regiment had strong firepower, a single regiment was equipped with eight 155mm howitzers.

As a result, most of the howitzers fell silent during the night battle and could not fire. In such a sudden night attack at such close range, the artillerymen had no way to calibrate their bombardment. They couldn't afford to blow up their own troops!

However, things are not so easy now. As time goes by, the sky gets brighter, and visibility improves, so it is no longer possible to launch a close-range surprise attack and take over the Hagaru-ri airport as we did last night.

Of course, this was unavoidable. The crucial 58 Lions failed to arrive at Hagaru-ri Airport on time and failed to capture it, ultimately causing the entire encirclement plan to fail.
You have to understand that Hagaru-ri Airport is the pocket of the entire encirclement!

If it had been more than 10,000 men from the 58 Lions, instead of Wang Gensheng's 800 men, who attacked last night, then after capturing Hagaru-ri Airport, they could have held onto the airport using the fortifications around it, thus tightening the encirclement plan.

At that point, the Lion Army would have no choice but to surrender, but unfortunately, they did not scout ahead beforehand, which led them astray and delayed their opportunity to strike.

While Wang Gensheng's 800 marines were all elites, it was impossible for them to be used as one against ten on the front lines, especially in positional defense, where they could not leverage the advantages of special operations.

While Wang Gensheng waited anxiously, the more than one hundred bomb craters at Hagaru-ri Airport were filled in, and Wang Gensheng could even see transport planes flying in from the horizon.

If that happens, the final result will be just like in the movie "The Battle of Chosin Reservoir," where we can only watch helplessly as Smith evacuates the remaining Marines of the entire Lion Army back to Xingnan Port.

(End of this chapter)