lcionline Chapter 226 Trench Tactics
Chapter 226 Trench Tactics
Of course, letting these people who surrendered take the lead, in addition to promising official positions and wealth to senior officers, they also did it in the name of revenge for Lin Zongde, so those low-level officers and grassroots soldiers did not cause trouble.
Xu Weigong and Chang Yunxian had the same idea, that only by consuming some of Lin Zongde's surrendered subordinates could they better rule Jiyang and Zhuyang.
Without artillery suppression, the 45th Division and the th Division could only rely on manpower.
Although they were also equipped with heavy machine guns and light machine guns, they were still easily defeated by the powerful firepower of the Nanshan Army.
After the Second Division entered Xinyuan, in order to defend the Xinyuan front, Fang Jian took out a large number of general-purpose machine guns and equipped the Second Division.
Originally, a regiment was equipped with only 81 general-purpose machine guns. After the firepower was increased, the number of general-purpose machine guns in a regiment reached more than 300. The number of submachine guns also increased from more than 500 to 1,000.
This way, whether it is long-range or close combat, there is powerful firepower support.
Although the firing rate of AK47 is not slow, it is still much slower than that of submachine guns.
After being repelled several attacks in a row, Chang Yunxian and Wu Peisheng, who were watching the battle from the back, looked unhappy.
Chang Yun first glanced at Wu Peisheng, then said to the messenger officer beside him: "Send a message to the commander of the 45th Division, telling him to capture the first line today regardless of life or death."
"Yes, Commander." The herald immediately went to convey the order.
Wu Peisheng, who was standing by, was shocked. Was Chang Yunxian crazy or was he really planning to fight the Nanshan Army? Without time to think about anything else, Wu Peisheng could only ask the messenger to pass on the order for the 10th Division to increase its offensive strength.
There was no way out. Chang Yun first conveyed the order in front of Wu Peisheng. How could Wu Peisheng turn a blind eye to it?
The Southern Army is fighting hard, it's impossible for the Northern Army to just slack off.
After receiving the order, the commanders of the 45th Division of the Northern Army and the th Division of the Southern Army both looked embarrassed and bitter.
In just half an hour of attack, their two divisions suffered no less than 4,000 casualties, with nearly 2,000 killed in battle. How long can the two divisions hold out if the battle continues like this?
The commander of the 45th Division felt helpless. He was originally a subordinate of Lin Zongde, but now he has joined Xu Weigong, but he has not gained his trust.
Now that he was assigned the mission of being a cannon fodder, he did not dare to refuse. Not to mention that his wife, children and family were in the hands of others, and he did not want to die in vain.
If the 45th Division rushed forward, the only casualties would be soldiers. If they refused to execute the order, he might be the one to die. He knew the difference between the two.
After figuring it out, the commander of the 45th Division gritted his teeth and said, "Organize a death squad and continue to attack."
"Commander, the enemy's firepower is too strong. If we rush forward like this, we will only lose our lives in vain." The chief of staff advised.
Glancing at the chief of staff calmly, the division commander said coldly: "This is the order of the commander-in-chief."
The chief of staff was helpless and was about to go down to organize the troops when the commander of the 10th Division of the Northern Army seemed to have thought of something.
"Wait a minute." The commander of the 10th Division immediately stopped the chief of staff.
The commander of the 45th Division said unhappily, "Commander Zhang, what's the matter? Do you have any advice?"
The commander of the 45th Division was unhappy. They were all vanguard troops, so why should his troops go up and die in vain while the th Division of the Northern Army could be much safer?
"We have a tactic that should be able to temporarily curb the enemy's advantage," said the commander of the 10th Division.
The commander of the 45th Division was also very unhappy with the rude attitude of the commander of the th Division, but thinking that they were all front-line troops and it would be difficult to explain if they did not do their job well, he could only endure it.
The 45th Division commander's eyes lit up, and despite his previous bad attitude, he forced a smile and asked, "Commander Zhang, please tell me, what tactics are you talking about?"
"Dig a trench."
The commander of the 10th Division then briefly introduced the strategy of digging trenches and firing against the Nanshan Army.
This strategy was obtained by Wu Peisheng from Feng Huamin before he set out. At that time, Wu Peisheng talked with Feng Huamin for a night and learned a lot about the tactics, strategies, and advantages of the Nanshan Army.
Naturally, trench tactics were derived from this. Wu Peisheng mentioned it during a meeting with all the officers, and the commander of the 10th Division just remembered it.
After listening to the introduction of the commander of the 45th Division, the commander of the th Division could not help but praise: "Good, with the protection of trenches, our troops will no longer be sitting ducks."
The two men then reported their strategies and began digging trenches.
After listening to the report from the front line, Chang Yunxian frowned and said, "Commander Wu, will this method work?"
"Commander Chang, this was the strategy that Commander Feng came up with when he attacked Nanshan. But before he could test the effect, Commander Feng was defeated." Wu Peisheng shook his head slightly, feeling sorry for Feng Huamin.
If Feng Huamin had been able to break through Yanqiu's defenses first, the outcome of the battle would have been different.
Chang Yun thought for a moment and then said, "Okay, let's try it out. Send a message to the front line and give them two days' grace. They must take the first position before October 10th."
After receiving the latest order, the two division commanders on the front line breathed a sigh of relief temporarily, knowing that they didn't have to send their subordinates to die in vain.
The Northern and Southern armies began to dig trenches. At first, the Nanshan Army did not find anything, but after digging a certain length, it was finally discovered by the officers on the position.
"What is the enemy doing? Digging tunnels? Aren't tunnels supposed to be underground?"
"Haha, the enemy won't try to dig trenches in front of our position, will they?"
The officer laughed until he couldn't laugh anymore. His face changed and he said, "Go and inform the regiment commander that the enemy is digging trenches and preparing to approach our position."
Soon the regiment commander came to the position with his guards. He took out a telescope and observed for a while, and his face did not look very good.
The Second Division had experienced the previous Battle of Yanping. Although they were not optimistic about this tactic, they popularized it to officers at all levels.
The Nanshan Army did not use this trench-digging attack tactic, but that did not prevent this tactic from causing trouble for the Nanshan Army.
The regiment commander ordered: "Have the artillery company ready and set up all the mortars. When the enemy comes up, bomb their trenches first."
As the order was conveyed, the artillery company immediately began to set up mortar positions, waiting for the Northern and Southern armies to go into battle.
The two vanguard divisions did not continue to attack the Nanshan Army's positions because they were digging trenches, which also made the soldiers of the 4th Regiment of the 2nd Division on the positions breathe a sigh of relief.
It was not until 2 p.m. that the longitudinal trench was dug to about 300 meters away from the Nanshan Army's position, and the Northern and Southern armies continued to dig horizontal trench positions.
Seeing the busy figures of the northern and southern armies, the chief of staff asked: "Captain, do you want to attack them to slow down their digging speed?"
"Okay, have each row of snipers aim at the engineers on the positions of the northern and southern armies and eliminate them at targeted locations."
Each row of snipers began to take action. After each gunshot, the engineers digging trenches from the Northern and Southern armies fell one by one.
Seeing the Nanshan Army attacking the engineers, the commanders of the 45th and th Divisions were not angry, but very happy on the contrary. This action of the Nanshan Army also proved from the side that they were afraid of this tactic.
The commander of the 45th Division said excitedly: "Pass the order to have more engineers participate in the excavation work. As long as the trench is successfully dug, there will be a huge reward."