Blood-Red Front

Liu Tianle was numb, and Chu Shengjun on the other side of the river was even more numb.

"You're saying our entire machine gun squadron, with 12 heavy machine guns, was completely destroyed in less than 15 minutes?!"

Upon hearing the report from the front lines, Major Fukuyama, the newly promoted battalion commander in charge, was completely distraught.

The captain of the machine gun squadron, with his head hanging low, reported, "Sir, although I don't believe it myself, it's the truth."

"For some reason, the enemy was able to accurately locate all of our firing positions. The heavy machine gun emplacements that I had set up on the flanks for defense were all shelled, and they didn't even fire a shot."

As he spoke, the captain almost cried.

Having served in the army for over a decade, he had never encountered anything like this before.

At this moment, the deputy battalion commander also reported: "In addition to our battalion's heavy machine guns, neighboring battalions' heavy machine gun positions have also been shelled."

Yes, after destroying the heavy machine guns on the front of the Independent Battalion, Lin Zhiyuan also directed Liu Tianle to strike the Chusheng heavy machine gun positions that were attacking friendly forces.

At this moment, the other brigades were angrily cursing Fukuyama.

"Baka... How is this possible...?"

Fukuyama felt like his head was about to explode; this was completely contrary to normal combat common sense.

In other places, Fukuyama would probably have slapped him several times and berated him for reporting false information.

But now, his heavy machine gun position was destroyed right under his nose.

"We haven't made an inch along a small river that's no more than a hundred meters wide for a whole week!"

"Commander Matsui called, asking when we would be able to break through Wenhe."

"Although Commander Matsui didn't say it explicitly, I could tell that the headquarters was probably not very satisfied with our performance." Ishi slammed his fist on the table.

Not only is the 101st Division making slow progress, but the 3rd Division and the 11th Regiment, which are responsible for the frontal operations, are also suffering heavy casualties, with the daily casualty figures being terrifying.

Unable to achieve a frontal breakthrough, the 101st Division's flanking maneuver became the nascent army's only hope.

"Division Commander, it might not be that easy to break through head-on," the chief of staff said, adjusting his glasses.

"But time is not on our side now. If we cannot break through Wenhe as soon as possible, the battle situation may turn against us."

The Xia army doesn't only have Wenhe as its defensive line. Breaking through Wenhe can only be considered as clearing the biggest obstacle. Every meter after that needs to be broken through little by little, which will take time.

How many soldiers do we have left in the army?

"If we include the three thousand new recruits we just brought in, the entire division has a total of 2 men, and its organization is basically complete."

"Complete?" Compared to the chief of staff's optimism, Ishi shook his head.

"7 casualties in a week, how many of those 7 were front-line infantry? Can the front lines really maintain sufficient firepower now?"

The 101st Division had a full complement of 24,000 men, but if you deduct the engineer, mountain artillery, and supply regiments, and then deduct the division, brigade, and regimental command and logistics personnel, the number of infantry, machine gunners, and artillerymen truly available for front-line combat was at most 13,000.

Seven thousand casualties mean that more than half of the front-line troops have been killed or wounded. Even with the addition of three thousand new recruits, there will still be a 30% shortfall.

And Ishmael knows very well what this means.

"Chief of Staff, we can no longer rely solely on frontal attacks; we must devise a different strategy."

There is an old Chinese saying: "In war, one engages with the orthodox and wins with the unorthodox." Now is the time to use unorthodox tactics.

After a moment's thought, Ishigaki ordered, "Select an elite squad, infiltrate deep behind enemy lines, locate the enemy command post, and destroy it!"

This was a solution that Ishii came up with based on the encounter of the 68th Regiment. Since the Xia Army could attack the headquarters of the Chusheng Army, the Chusheng Army could naturally also attack the headquarters of the Xia Army.

Sometimes, an elite squad can inflict damage comparable to a regiment, and it might even produce surprising results.

"Yes! I'll take care of it right away."

……