Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 317 Blocking
So, following Smith's orders, the remaining 16,000-plus men of the Marine Corps abandoned their heavy equipment, trucks, and tanks, and began advancing on foot.

When Wang Gensheng received this news from Li Xiu, his face immediately turned gloomy.

Although Smith lost a significant amount of heavy equipment, making the encirclement and suppression of the Marine Lion easier and simpler.

However, the 26th Army hasn't arrived yet! Even if they flew, they couldn't get here! And the Marine Corps, having lost its heavy equipment, could naturally bypass the minefields on the road and walk directly up the mountain. After all, the slopes that tanks and trucks can't climb are easy for people.

But in that case, wouldn't everything Wang Gensheng had done before be in vain?

All that hard work of laying three kilometers of landmines overnight would have been for nothing!
So Wang Gensheng immediately picked up his M2 heavy machine gun and addressed the group:
"Trying to cut your losses and survive? Not so easy. Today, even if we lose a tooth, we'll show Smith how powerful our reinforcements are!"

Wang Gensheng's blocking position was located three kilometers from Shuimen Bridge, at the end of the minefield on the highway.

Time was of the essence. Although it was a repelling attack on the enemy, no complete defensive positions had been set up; only a simple one could be established. However, at this moment, Baili Xiu approached Wang Gensheng with a somewhat grim expression and said:
"Si Ling, our fire support group doesn't have many shells! We didn't carry many shells before because we were carrying bombs, and now each M2 mortar doesn't even have ten shells!"

That's right. Originally, the artillery of the Marine Corps' fire support group was all Japanese grenade launchers. However, on this battlefield in the new country, apart from their own Japanese weapons, there were only American weapons. So, in order to make it easier to replenish ammunition, after the grenade launchers ran out of ammunition, Wang Gensheng simply abandoned the grenade launchers and replaced all the artillery in the fire support group with M2 mortars.

That's right. On the eve of the war to aid Chaozhou, especially during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, the Chaozhou troops were still armed with Wan Guo brand weapons!

This naturally puts enormous pressure on logistics. For example, the special grenades for the Type 89 grenade launcher, genuinely produced by the Japanese, that Wang Gensheng had in his possession could not be produced domestically at all; they were the kind that were used up one less time after another.

Therefore, based on the principle of using war to sustain war, reducing logistical pressure, and ensuring its own combat effectiveness, Wang Gensheng chose the M2 mortar equipped by the US army as the main artillery of the firepower group to replace the grenade launcher.

Of course, this situation will be eliminated with the arrival of Sukoku weapons. With the arrival of Sukoku weapons, the Chaozhou troops on the Chaozhou battlefield will replace their Wanguo brand weapons with uniform Sukoku weapons to reduce the logistical pressure.

After all, some of the troops sent to aid Chaozhou were still carrying the Japanese Type 38 rifles with 6.5mm bullets, while others were carrying the Chiang Kai-shek rifle, and some were even carrying the Springfield rifle. This meant there were three different types of rifles, which naturally increased the difficulty of supplying ammunition.

In addition, the bullet calibers of light machine guns are also different. For example, the bullet calibers of the Czech light machine gun and the Type 96 light machine gun are different. This is unlike the US Army, which uses the same bullet for rifles and light machine guns, which greatly reduces the logistical burden.

Although the M2 60mm mortar weighs 19 kg, which is not comparable to the 4 kg of the Type 89 grenade launcher, it is superior to the Type 89 grenade launcher in terms of power, range, and accuracy.

Of course, it wasn't just a matter for the fire support team. Wang Gensheng's assault team had brought artillery shells with them, so they hadn't brought much ammunition either. However, regarding Baili Xiu's concerns, Wang Gensheng waved his hand and said:
"What are you afraid of? We'll have everything after a battle! We don't have many weapons and ammunition, but the enemy has a lot! Anyway, the weapons we have now are American-made, so as long as we win the battle, we won't have to worry about running out of ammunition!"

After saying that, Wang Gensheng addressed the soldiers of the assault team:

"There will definitely be a small reconnaissance team coming later. Let them get close and fire. That way we'll have ammunition to replenish!" With Wang Gensheng's words, Baili Xiu was no longer worried. To be honest, Wang Gensheng never expected Smith to have such courage, daring to abandon heavy weapons such as trucks and tanks.

Keep in mind that there are still more than 60 kilometers to go from Shuimen Bridge to Xingnan Port! Abandoning the troop transport trucks means that they will have to walk more than 60 kilometers to reach Xingnan Port.

This was a huge test for the pampered soldiers of the US Army. Of course, the term "pampered soldiers" was used by the troops supporting Chaozhou. The reason they were called pampered soldiers was because the US Army had to travel by car everywhere, hence the name.

However, the U.S. military has standards for the physical fitness assessment of its soldiers, so there is no situation where soldiers cannot walk without troop carriers.

Following Smith's order, the American soldiers disembarked and began carrying ammunition and weapons, preparing to walk back.

However, after all the US soldiers had disembarked from the trucks, the staff officer asked Smith:
"What should we do with these vehicles? Should we blow them up?"

Regarding the question about staff officers, Smith shook his head and said:
"Leave it to the reinforcements!"

Upon hearing Smith's words, the staff officer was immediately taken aback. To be honest, if Smith hadn't been a typical white man, the staff officer would have suspected that Smith was an undercover agent. However, he still asked:

"It's not good to leave these to the enemy! Won't it increase their fighting strength? There are nearly three thousand vehicles!"

In response, Smith asked in return:

"Increase the enemy's fighting strength? No, no, how could you think that! Shouldn't you be thinking about increasing the enemy's casualties?"

"But······"

Seeing that his staff officer hadn't reacted yet, Smith had no choice but to speak directly:
"The reason our trucks can travel so safely is because our planes are patrolling the skies. If the reinforcements capture these trucks and they also ride in trucks, do you think our fighter pilots will let such large targets pass by? A truck is always a much larger target than a person!"

Indeed, in Smith's mind, leaving these trucks to the Chaozhou army, which lacked air superiority, would make them easy targets for fighter jets, whether they used them to transport supplies or troops.

Just like in the movie "The Battle of Chosin Reservoir," the artillery battalion finally captured a few cannons and towed them away on trailers, only to have them blown up by fighter planes. Not only were the cannons and trucks gone, but the personnel also suffered heavy losses.

Therefore, without air superiority, developing heavy weapons would only make you a target for enemy aircraft. Only light infantry can evade detection by enemy aircraft. After all, without heavy weapons, individual soldiers can easily hide. For example, the 9th Army Corps, with over 100,000 soldiers, entered the Chosin Reservoir area without being detected by reconnaissance aircraft.

(End of this chapter)