Chapter 19 Chapter Nineteen

Biography of Hussars Lieutenant General Tanaka Shinichi, head of the Eighteenth Division, was really depressed. According to the "Law of Brigades" in the past when China and Japan fought against each other, when launching an attack, it is often easy for a Japanese brigade to take down a Chinese division. After packaging, its combat effectiveness has improved by leaps and bounds. Let alone a division, even a company can still defend your brigade. Tanaka graduated from the thirty-fifth class of the mainland university. After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, this guy was also the one who yelled loudest. However, he had been a high-ranking official in the military department until recently, and only recently went to the front as a division commander.

If you don’t come early or late, if you come at this time, it will be useless. Seeing that the Chinese defenders in "Lijiazhai" fought more and more courageously, the head of the Tianzhong division had to switch from attack to defense to avoid greater losses. But now, it is very difficult not to lose, because Sun Liren came in person. Just after the search company was besieged in "Lijiazhai", Sun Liren wanted to lead the main force to rescue, but Portner, the chief of staff of the Indian Army, refused to let it go because the supplies could not keep up. Americans' military methods are more scientific and rational. Fighting a war is like doing a chemical experiment in a laboratory. All ingredients must be prepared, or even exceed expectations, before a match is struck.Porter believed that since there was such a strong main force of the Japanese army in the Hukang Valley, it would take a considerable amount of time to replenish ammunition, food and grass, otherwise it would not be enough for a battle.

Sun Liren also received American-style military education, so he has no doubts about this theory, but what he disagrees with is the opponent's disregard for the actual situation on the battlefield. The 18th Division is not as scary as you imagined. I still beat it into a mess even if I was there alone. At this time, time is an opportunity, how can I miss it? The dispute between the two sides alarmed Stilwell himself. Among the Chinese generals, Stilwell had different feelings for Sun Liren, mainly because Virginia and West Point were the "Twin Constellations" in the U.S. military academy, and Sun Liren's new 38th Division with American tradition was withdrawing into India Sometimes there is also the "contribution of escort", all of these together, naturally make Stilwell think more highly of Sun Liren.

Listening to what Sun Liren said seemed reasonable, Stilwell decided to fly with him to the front line to see what happened. At first glance, it was even more optimistic than what Sun Liren said. Not only could the Japanese army fail to capture the "Lijiazhai", but there was also a big problem with the supply in the rear. According to the old military theory, Stilwell believed that the army was the protagonist on the battlefield, and the air force was insignificant. However, in the second expedition, if there was no expeditionary air force including the "Flying Tigers" to help, it would have been difficult. How many unnecessary losses.

At this time, the Japanese Air Force was already in a state of disarray. The well-trained old pilots were killed and injured, and the pilots were replaced by all "crash course students". They were no match for the American pilots. This group of people did not know where they were driven to. Because of the mastery of the air, the Expeditionary Air Force can bomb whatever they want. The Japanese army's transport convoy comes to bomb one by one. The speed of the mules and horses, and how much ammunition and food they can transport, the dilemma of the Eighteenth Division can be imagined.At the same time, the Chinese army can have whatever they want, and they don’t even need to go through the road, just let the transport plane drop it. The "Lijiazhai" can live happily until now, which is a clear proof.

seeing is believing.Stilwell understood that what Sun Liren said was correct, and if he followed what his chief of staff said, it would really delay the opportunity of the war. He agreed with Sun Liren's opinion on the expedition. For the rescue of Sun Liren's entire division, the head of the division, Tanaka, was prepared. The siege of "Lijiazhai" made him feel very uncomfortable, and he wanted to find an outlet for a long time. On the front where the New 38th Division is about to pass, he set up numerous obstacles and dense firepower nets in order to "encircle and fight for aid"-although the "Lijiazhai" cannot be captured, but if he can use this as bait to catch a big fish There's nothing wrong with coming out.

It seems that Portner's fears are about to come true. However, Sun Liren's tactical level quickly left everyone dumbfounded. In the northwest corner of the Hukang River Valley, there is a place called "Yubang", which is located on the side of the 18th Division. The New 38th Division infiltrated one battalion after another. Since there were not too many troops at the beginning, Tanaka didn't care. When he discovered that Yu Bang had become the starting point for Sun Liren's detour, the defense line on the front of the river valley had completely failed. Quickly plug the leak again, but it won't work.

The "continuous effect" in "Lijiazhai" continued to expand, and the combat effectiveness of the new 38th Division was no longer beyond Tanaka's imagination, but it made him tremble all over. In the past, detours were a unique skill of the Japanese army. When the combat power was changed, this tactic became a weapon frequently used by Sun Liren. Tanaka Yubang had just organized a new line of defense, but Sun Liren quickly emerged from his back, and cut off his rear with a detour. With the army's morale in chaos, the Japanese army had to abandon the newly built position. withdraw.

One, two, three, four... None of them worked, so Tanaka could only retreat again and again. On December 26, seeing that the time was ripe, Sun Liren led the main force of the gathered New 38th Division to attack suddenly. "Historical Records" records that in the war against the Xiongnu in the Western Han Dynasty, Huo Qubing, the general who was best at light riding and attacking, was characterized by not taking the front, not following the routine, unconstrained, and wherever he thought, but the ones who recruited and attacked were all the Huns. Achilles heel. The plagiarism troops are not comparable to ordinary troops. "The generals of the hussars are often selected." Huo Qubing's soldiers and horses are all carefully selected.

Among the troops stationed in India, the new thirty-eighth division has the best equipment. In addition to the two mountain artillery battalions, there is also a howitzer and heavy artillery battalion. With only the reserve weapons in stock, another division can be equipped, which is enough to be called It is the "Modern Plagiarism Army". The "Plagiarism Army" rushed for three days in a row. Not only did the siege of "Lijiazhai" self-solve, but the 18th Division was also completely expelled from the state. This was the first time that the 18th Division suffered a defeat after going south. In the captured military documents, the "Ju Corps" exclaimed: "The troops stationed in India are eager to return home and cannot be stopped."

ninety-nine eighty-one The children's slides have been set up, and someone will push the "Chrysanthemum Corps" to continue to slide down. This person is Liao Yaoxiang. Liao Yaoxiang is from Shaoyang, Hunan, and he is from the same town as Cai E, a military strategist in the Republic of China. He was named "Yaoxiang", which also means "yao Sanxiang". In fact, not only Sanxiang, but also the whole country and even the world, but Before you can get the scriptures, you have to suffer. After Liao Yaoxiang graduated from middle school, he wanted to go to Guangzhou to apply for the Whampoa Military Academy. However, the Liao family was not rich. They spent all their money to help him finish middle school. In the end, they couldn't even raise the travel expenses for the exam in Guangzhou, so they had to give up. Liao Yaoxiang tried his best and worked hard for a year before he could afford enough travel expenses to go to Guangzhou, where he was admitted to the sixth phase of Whampoa as he wished. The first difficulty, pass. When I graduated, an opportunity came my way, that is, the country wanted to recruit a group of students studying in France in the Whampoa Military Academy. Everyone knew that if they could make it this time, they would have great prospects when they came back. Liao Yaoxiang signed up, and his test results made him elated: the top three. His luggage was packed, but in the end he was removed from the list because he failed the interview. The evaluation given by the examiner was almost exactly the same as that of Hu Zongnan back then, saying that he was short and studying abroad might damage the image of Chinese soldiers. Liao Yaoxiang is not too tall, but he is not too short either, at least he is better than Hu Zongnan. Unfortunately, the standard for studying abroad is much higher than the "enrollment standard". The second difficulty came. Liao Yaoxiang showed more courage than Hu Zongnan. Hu Zongnan just cried at the examiner, which aroused Liao Zhongkai's attention and interference. Chiang Kai-shek was already a high-ranking and powerful man at that time, and you could see him whenever you wanted. The guard at the gate would not let him in, so he just sat on the steps and waited for Chiang Kai-shek to come out. When Principal Huangpu heard about this incident, he thought the young man was quite interesting, so he agreed to summon him. Liao Yaoxiang is not afraid of tigers as a newborn calf, and immediately yelled that the exam was unfair after meeting him. More than 1,000 people participated, and the top 44 were admitted. I was in the top three in the written test, but my name was lost. It was so unfair. To say that I am short is not to choose a son-in-law for the French. Is it so important whether I am tall or not, and whether I am good-looking or not? Like Hu Zongnan, Liao Yaoxiang also mentioned Napoleon—this once mighty French emperor, he may not be taller than me. When Chiang Kai-shek learned that Liao Yaoxiang was from Cai E's hometown, he used Cai E's military works to test him. Unexpectedly, Liao Yaoxiang knew it very well. In his whole life, Chiang admired Zeng Guofan and Cai E, two Hunanese, in terms of using troops to govern the army, so he decided that the Huangpu student in front of him was a piece of material, and specially approved Liao Yaoxiang to join the list of studying abroad. The experience of studying in France is a major pivot point in Liao Yaoxiang's life.After returning to China, he joined the most elite teaching corps at that time, and later served as the staff officer of the lieutenant colonel of the brigade. After encountering a dilemma, God still seemed to think that he was too smooth to be talented, so he set up a big difficulty again, which is the difficulty of Nanjing. Liao Yaoxiang, who was penniless at the time, was even more desolate than Qiu Qingquan who was trapped in Nanjing together. If it wasn't for a fellow villager who helped him in times of crisis and had Qixia Temple to take refuge temporarily, this man would be a powerful man in the future, which would make the Japanese army change their faces. The famous anti-Japanese generals can only end their journey like those soldiers and civilians who were massacred. After Liao Yaoxiang escaped danger, he was recruited into the Fifth Army.Among the young generals of the Fifth Army, Qiu Qingquan was in the second phase of Whampoa, and Dai Anlan was in the third phase of Whampoa. None of them was older than Liao Yaoxiang, so he could only be Qiu Qingquan's deputy commander at the beginning.It wasn't until after the great victory at Kunlun Pass that "Crazy Qiu" was promoted to the deputy commander of the Fifth Army because of his meritorious service, and Liao Yaoxiang was able to get back on his feet and became the head of the new 22nd Division. Those who have good things to study, the so-called "ninety-nine-eighty-one difficulties" in the Chinese literature does not really refer to it. Mr. Wu Chengen did not hesitate to use the method of breaking one difficulty into two or three to make up for it. In this way, Liao Yaoxiang's "dilemma and three difficulties" "It's already quite a lot. Seeing that it is about to "heaven will send a great responsibility to the people", but it seems that the eighty-one difficulties are one less difficult. The last difficulty is on the way to the "Western Paradise", and its unbearable degree exceeds the difficulty of Nanjing.Liao Yaoxiang's military accomplishments are not inferior to Sun Liren's Liao Yaoxiang can regard Qixia Temple in Nanjing as a blessed place for him to start again, but he is most unwilling to recall the past of Savage Mountain.Of the 7,000 people in the New 22nd Division, more than half of them lost in that man-eating devil's den. Even Liao Yaoxiang, the division commander, survived by drinking the sap of wild plantain trees. Being able to get out of Savage Mountain requires extraordinary willpower. When Liao Yaoxiang later expanded his army, he stipulated that in the New 22nd Division, anyone who had this experience would be promoted to a higher rank, so all veterans became platoon leaders. Liao Yaoxiang, who has experienced ups and downs, is even more advanced than Sun Liren in the study of jungle warfare. As early as during the training period in India, he combined his experience and thinking in Savage Mountain and wrote the book "Forest Tactics" as the new twenty-two teacher training materials. The biggest difference between jungle warfare and plain warfare is that you must learn to fight blindly. In the primeval forest, day and night are almost the same. You can’t see the sun anyway, and you are often in a dark environment. At this time, you have to lower your head to load bullets and pull the bolt, and it will be fatal. Liao Yaoxiang blindfolded the officers and soldiers during training, allowing you to practice loading, firing, and even troubleshooting weapons without seeing anything. In order to adapt to jungle warfare, the 18th Division has specially trained many snipers with excellent marksmanship. These snipers acting alone are very threatening. His perfect marksmanship will make you feel less safe in the jungle. As a future attacker, it is not just a matter of training one or two snipers, but everyone must become a sharpshooter so that they can effectively protect themselves. Among the weapons aided by the United States to China, the number of rifles is relatively old, and it is still a clearance product during World War I, but it is much better than the Type 79 and Zhongguan. The coolest thing is that there is no limit to the bullets during training. You can shoot as much as you want. How many. To some extent, sharpshooters are fed by bullets. On the domestic battlefield, real bullets are even reluctant to be used in training. It is of course difficult to train sharpshooters. Liao Yaoxiang said, to what extent do you want to practice, six bullets in the gun chamber, five minutes to finish shooting, at least five enemies can be eliminated. After Sun Liren experienced the Battle of Yeren Mountain, he understood the importance of building machine gun nests in trees, but Liao Yaoxiang knew it long ago. When crossing Savage Mountain, people squatted on the trees and could see clearly from below. With a single shot of machine guns, it would be easy to knock down ten or eight of you. Liao Yaoxiang drilled the whole army and asked everyone to learn how to climb trees. Fifteen-meter and twenty-meter-high trees can be climbed without a hair. Jungle warfare is blind warfare and tree warfare.Everyone is not fighting for high ground like in plain warfare, but is actually fighting for trees, big trees one after another. The perilousness of Savage Mountain has made Liao Yaoxiang unforgettable all his life, but it is also this last difficulty that has made him a tiger in the mountain comparable to Sun Liren. Oriental Barton Liao Yaoxiang never forgot the shame of the past. He said that the devils drove me to the Savage Mountain. Today I will not only drive the devils into the sea, but also fight to Tokyo. To drive the devils into the sea, we must first make the "King of the Subtropical Jungle" unable to stay in the jungle. After capturing Yubang, the Chinese troops stationed in India pushed into the center of the Hukang Valley, where the headquarters of the Eighteenth Division was located: Mengguan. In January 1944, Liao Yaoxiang's new 22nd Division began to attack Mengguan from the front. The front is no better than the back. Mengguan is the key business location of the "Ju Corps". Anyone who comes is enough to drink a pot. Exactly as Liao Yaoxiang had expected, most of the fights in the jungle revolved around big trees.When attacking, first of all, instead of looking forward, you have to look up to see if there is any enemy in the tree, and if there is any enemy, you must shoot him down, otherwise there will be all kinds of inexplicable casualties. The solid foundation laid during the training made the new 22nd Division almost half a veteran of jungle warfare as soon as it entered the battlefield. The blind combat and tree warfare deduced from "Forest Tactics" also immediately changed from the training version into reality. Seeing that the jungle game is difficult to win, the "Chrysanthemum Corps" placed their bets on the permanent fortifications built in the forest. Ordinary bunkers are no problem for the New 22nd Division. Although the equipment of the troops stationed in India is generally not as good as that of the British and American troops, it surpasses the Japanese army, especially in terms of specialized equipment, which is far behind the opponents. A company of the New 22nd Division has six heavy mortars. When it goes on the offensive, there are artillery, tanks and other battalion-organized special forces directly under the army behind its buttocks. Three to one, that is, there is an artilleryman behind three infantrymen. The light and heavy mortars were concentrated, and with one shot aimed at it, the entire Japanese bunker was turned upside down, and fragments of covering materials and sleepers flew all over the sky. The most difficult factor is the combination of fortifications and terrain. The "Chrysanthemum Corps" was stuck on the avenue, with cliffs on both sides, and there was only one road left to go, and then put the main force in the middle of the road to hold the fortifications, and then look at the fortifications, which are unimaginably strong. The so-called fortification is actually a tree, a huge banyan tree like "Lijiazhai". The Japanese army hollowed out the bottom of the tree and used escalators to go up and down. This thousand-year-old tree spirit is stronger than any covering material. It doesn't matter if you bomb it with planes, artillery bombardments, or tanks. What's annoying is that if your infantry doesn't go up, it won't shoot. It will carry a turtle shell on its back and let you bombard it. When you finish bombing, the Japanese soldiers will climb out of the tree hole and shoot with machine guns. The New 22nd Division charged repeatedly, and Liao Yaoxiang used all the special forces to cooperate. After more than ten days, there was still no way to take the dryad. You can't hit and hit, and you can't go around and you can't get around. It's really "one man guards the gate, and ten thousand men can't open it". Liao Yaoxiang is short-sighted and usually wears a pair of glasses. Everyone calls him "Blind Liao" behind his back.But this gentleman is not blind at all in terms of command. Like Sun Liren, he also likes to fight smart battles. If there is no head-on progress, then send a regiment to make a detour. Liao Yaoxiang told the head of the regiment responsible for completing the detour: "Even if you climb, you have to climb to the rear of the Japanese army. As long as the rear is in chaos, the front will be unable to defend." A regiment of 4,000 people, armed with light and heavy mortars, stepped in. Detours are easy to say, climbing cliffs, walking cliffs, pulling trees and vines, all walking is not an ordinary road. Many people's hands and feet are worn out, either bumping into rocks or sand, and turning to the back of the mountain with bruises all over their bodies. The attention of the Japanese army was directed towards the front, and they did not expect that a powerful enemy would suddenly appear from behind.The detour troops used the jungle as cover and approached the enemy's position before dawn. They used mortars to bombard them continuously at dawn, and then the infantry rushed in with submachine guns, and within a short time all the Japanese troops on the main road were eliminated. Later, Liao Yaoxiang mastered the rules and simply arranged a group to do roundabout work.This regiment never walked from the front, and its mission was to turn around. Even if the front did not need to cooperate with the attack, it would lie in ambush behind the Japanese army, and if it had nothing to do, it would pick up the reinforcements of the 18th Division and the supply troops for fun. Long-distance raids, or circuitous interspersed, the fear is that after a long time, food and ammunition will not be enough, and the circuitous troops have no such worries at all. Feeling the shortcomings, the radio station greeted and informed the location, the plane flew over immediately, the troops were replenished, and continued to intersperse and attack. Finally, they even let them take over the field artillery area of ​​the 18th Division. Liao Yaoxiang mainly attacked from the front, accompanied by small detours. At the same time, Sun Liren's "hussars" launched a large detour from the side. situation. The road has been opened, and it's time to perform your unique skills. Liao Yaoxiang focused on mechanized warfare in France, and after joining the Fifth Army, he pondered this all day long. Therefore, he has unique skills in infantry-vehicle coordination tactics. A military tank battalion under his management is like a godsend. The Chariot Battalion started from the east side of Mengguan, crossed the primeval forest, detoured to the south of Mengguan, and completely cut off the rear supply line of the Mengguan defenders. The Chinese tanks then rushed into the customs, galloping all the way, as if entering no one's land, the Japanese military fortifications were washed away one after another, and the once arrogant Japanese soldiers fled in all directions. It’s been a long time since I’ve had such a good time. It feels like I don’t need to buy a ticket to go to the zoo, but I have the opportunity to see monkeys for free. On March 5th, the Indian Army conquered Mengguan, but the iron flow was rolling and did not stop. The Chariot Battalion continued to overtake and pursue. When the tank suddenly appeared in front of them, everyone in the 18th Division was stunned. They were either shot to death by bullets or crushed to death by tracks. Liao Yaoxiang relied on tank troops to destroy the "Chrysanthemum Corps" Liao Yaoxiang broke into the headquarters of the Eighteenth Division in a tank, not only destroying its command system, but also seized a seal of the commander of the division. So far, the Battle of Hukang River Valley has been perfectly concluded. The 18th Division is a super master regiment. It originally had three regiments with a total of 32,000 people. The total casualties in this battle reached 12,000. In addition to the loss in the Battle of Savage Mountain, its main force was extremely damaged. Seriously, the entire "Chrysanthemum Corps" is on the road to collapse. On the other hand, the entire garrison in India suffered only more than 4,000 casualties. That is to say, the excellent strategic and tactical command of the Chinese, the bravery and combat skills of the officers and soldiers, and the indispensable powerful fire support caused the casualties between China and Japan to be reduced. The comparison of the ratio is completely reversed: the main force is against the main force, one to three, that is, one Chinese soldier can easily defeat three Japanese soldiers. After Sun Liren was praised as "Oriental Rommel" by foreign public opinion, Liao Yaoxiang followed suit with his bold and resolute style and became famous as "Oriental Patton". Stilwell was surprised and delighted by this. This old American man has many common advantages of American generals, that is, he has a kind attitude towards soldiers no matter on the training ground or on the battlefield, and rarely puts on airs. Therefore, the general veterans stationed in India later had a good impression of him and called him "Old Joe" (take the first letter of Stilwell's English name).The reason why he desperately suppressed Chinese military officers and caused unrest in the army is largely out of stubbornness and prejudice. But what he saw and heard on the battlefield gradually changed this impression. In the final analysis, Lao Qiao was born in a famous West Point school and led troops in the United States. can be greatly appreciated. Originally, Stilwell stipulated that both the New 38th Division and the New 22nd Division should be under his direct control. After the first battle in the Hukang River Valley, he began to return the command to the commanders of the two divisions, and he was no longer aggressive towards Zheng Dongguo.