As the top commander on the front line, Song Biao personally arrived on the battlefield to inspect. He was not to direct the army in combat, but to further accurately confirm the combat effectiveness of the Japanese army and the Northeastern Army.

War is the only practical standard to test the level of military combat effectiveness.

On the Chunniling Highlands, Song Biao carefully inspected all the Japanese army's fortifications. It was probably because of the heavy losses suffered in the Liaoyang Battle. Compared with the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese Army had obviously made great progress in the construction theory of fortifications.

Progress, the fortifications in Chunniling and the entire Qingcheng defense line have an obvious point-line-surface depth system.

The Japanese army built multi-layer trenches and more than 20 earthen forts on the sloping ridge about 700 meters long in the Chunni Ridge Highlands. There were also several solid bunkers built with cement. The barbed wire was stretched very wide, and more than 20 barbed wires were used.

The firepower of heavy machine guns is deployed to strangle large-area attacks.

Offense and defense are always a pair of spears and shields in modern warfare. If fortifications are used for stronger defense, how to attack a stronger fortification system? These two points are important indicators to test the positional warfare level of the troops.

The Battle of Chunniling Highlands had just ended. Corpses of the Northeastern Army were scattered everywhere on the hillside. The blasted corpses were scattered everywhere, and the land was dyed red with blood. Layers of new soil and debris were also blasted away by artillery around the Japanese military fortifications.

The rocks and fire are still burning, and the smoke is billowing.

Experience told Song Biao that this battle was not brutal. The Japanese army's defenses were indeed of a certain level, but the defense design still failed to make adequate preparations for large-scale artillery attacks. The trenches were relatively small.

Shallow. There are too many earth fortifications, too few bunkers, and especially the lack of facilities such as cat-ear holes, making the infantry easily injured in the covering strikes of shrapnel.

On this high ground, the Northeast Army lost about 600 soldiers, but they still relied on artillery and infantry coordination to attack quickly without fear of sacrifice under the cover of artillery fire and machine guns. Popnin submachine guns and shotguns were used to clear the trenches.

the enemy in the

The solid cement bunker uses shelling, grenade blasting, and even a 37mm rapid-fire machine gun. Aim at the hole to fire phosphorus smoke bombs to suppress the enemy's machine guns. The final solution is to rely on soldiers to rush up and kill the inside with grenades.

of enemies.

Next to a bunker that had been blasted open, soldiers were carrying their comrades who died on the battlefield. When they saw the emperor appearing on the battlefield, everyone was particularly happy and sad.

Some soldiers were eager to run over, and the non-commissioned officers stood up to stop them. Song Biao raised his hand to greet them from a long distance away, indicating that they could continue working and not pay attention to his arrival.

War is an empirical matter that can be predicted. How many people and ammunition are usually required to capture a high ground or a bunker are relatively stable figures. Unless the opponent's morale drops significantly in the later period, or the ammunition supply is exhausted.

When Song Biao inspected Chunniling, he had a more accurate estimate of the combat strength level of the Northeastern Army and the Japanese Army. Only when the war actually started could he estimate the opponent's level and prove his own level.

Evaluating based on the performance of this battle, Song Biao roughly guessed that in order to complete his battle plan, the entire Northeastern Army would have to sacrifice about 50,000 soldiers out of nearly 500,000 soldiers.

If he is willing to pay such a price, the five divisions of the Japanese army will basically be within a hundred kilometers of the south side of the Yalu and Tumen rivers.

Hearing that Song Biao was coming, Chen Wu and Sun Shulin, the commander of the 14th Infantry Division, dared to come in a hurry. They both rushed over on horseback. When they arrived in front of Song Biao, they saluted. Sun Shulin was in good condition.

Chen Wu was obviously personally commanding at the front line. He was covered in dirt and dust, and his face was also full of gray. He looked quite embarrassed, but his happiness was genuine.

Song Biao happily shook hands with them and praised: "This battle was very good. Keep working hard. I think you won't give Masataro Fukuda a good life."

Chen Wu laughed and said: "Your Majesty, we are really overkill. Two divisions surrounded their brigade and captured it easily."

Song Biao hummed and said, "It's one thing that we have more troops. You guys did a good job."

After saying this, he and Sun Shulin asked: "Is the situation over there with the 14th Division still stable?"

Sun Shulin nodded and said: "Stable, the training level of the Fourteenth Division is still good. After adjusting the equipment and organization, and replacing a group of officers, including establishing the staff office system, the reorganization is relatively good at present.

.I used an infantry regiment to fight a regiment of the Japanese 21st Brigade. We had the advantage and kept them pinned outside the 158th Ridge."

Song Biao praised: "Okay, as long as the Fourteenth Division is stable, there is no reason for the Fifteenth and Twelfth Divisions to be unstable. The Northeastern Army, the New Army and the Patrol Army can all execute orders steadily."

, moving forward, the Japanese army has no reason not to lose."

Sun Shulin said: "Your Majesty is wise."

The 14th Infantry Division was reorganized from the Fourth Town, which was Yuan Shikai's direct unit. In order to reorganize it, the Army Ministry first exchanged a group of troops and officers with the 20th Town and the 22nd Town.

A large number of recruits and non-commissioned officers were recruited from the Northeast Patrol Army to supplement the troops. The division commander was Sun Shulin, the former instructor of the 1st Cavalry Division, and Guo Yuchi, who was from the Far Eastern Department, was appointed as the instructor.

At this time, Song Biao was not sure about the combat level of the Japanese army, so he asked Chen Wu and Sun Shulin: "What do you think of the current level of the Japanese army?"

Chen Wu immediately said: "It's worse. It's worse than the Russo-Japanese War. Your Majesty, let's put it this way. If I were to guard Chunni Ridge, there would be the same infantry regiment here. Even if others were three

If an infantry regiment attacks, I can hold on for at least three days. Not only is the Japanese army's equipment worse than ours this time, but the soldiers are not as capable and courageous as last time. Let's put it this way...!"

He gestured carelessly, pointing from the trench left by the Japanese army to the temporary fortification in front, and said: "There is a distance of three hundred meters from that point to the Japanese defense line. First, the artillery fired 6,000 rounds of artillery shells.

Two bunkers hidden in the middle

It exploded. I personally mobilized 110 light machine guns, more than 200 Popnin submachine guns and more than 20 heavy machine guns to suppress the opponent. However, the opponent's infantry regiment only had less than 10 heavy machine guns. I not only had machine guns

and submachine guns, and grenade launchers

, mortars and machine guns, suppressing them and hitting them. The Japanese soldiers did not dare to shoot at all. As a result, our two charge companies easily tore open the openings from both sides. It only took me 20 minutes to suppress this wave. The Japanese soldiers were completely

There is no time to react. If you wait

In the past, even if we rushed up, the Japanese army wouldn't all put up their bayonets and fight us head-on? No, they had nothing. They surrendered directly, so I say that the Japanese army is not as capable as before, otherwise it will be beaten by us.

I was stunned."

Song Biao nodded slightly. He also felt that the attack went smoothly.

In his analysis, he has always felt that the military quality of the third-level officers of the Japanese army, generals and lieutenants, is still very good. They have accumulated war experience and strict training and theory. The Northeast Army has a big gap in this aspect, mainly due to the recruitment of Russian soldiers.

Military advisors and the implementation of the staff headquarters system are used to make up for this.

In terms of soldiers, the quality, spirit and combat level of both sides are similar. However, as for the non-commissioned officers, the Japanese veterans suffered heavy injuries in the Russo-Japanese War and there is insufficient follow-up replacement. The Northeast Army has a large number of non-commissioned officers’ accelerated education mechanism and continuous training.

They were trained in bandit warfare and were relatively better than the Japanese army.

As for equipment and theory, the Northeast Army is obviously much higher than the Japanese Army.

After a real fight, the question of who is stronger and who is weaker, and how much stronger and weaker will really come to light.

Song Biao turned to Sun Shulin and asked, "What do you think?"

Sun Shulin was obviously not as arrogant as Chen Wu and replied: "Strength and weakness are all relative. As far as the 14th Division is concerned, the Japanese army is really not weak. There are only two key differences. One is our army's attack and

The speed of action is fast. The second reason is that our army has a large number of troops, and other reasons are secondary."

Song Biao replied noncommittally: "Perhaps, fast advance and fierce attack have been the consistent requirements of our army over the years. The Japanese army is not yet accustomed to such speed. Before they sort out their ideas and countermeasures, the armies must continue to speed up the attack at all costs."

The price is to constantly and quickly encircle and annihilate the opponent. We must continue to attack and encircle. It is getting late.

, you go back first and continue to command the troops. You must also take the opportunity to move forward at night and strive to completely annihilate the Japanese Fifth Division before 12 noon tomorrow. The three divisions will then encircle and annihilate the Sixth Division and the reinforcements of the Korean rebels, and stabilize the situation.

Shuozhou, go south to attack Taichuan County, and prepare for the decisive battle with the Japanese Manchurian Army Third Army in Taichuan."

"yes!"

Chen Wu and Sun Shulin obeyed the order at the same time and left Chunni Ridge together.

Song Biao continued to study in Chunniling for a while, carefully checking some details of the Japanese army's fortifications, and asked the translator to sort out the documents of the Japanese 9th Brigade as soon as possible, so that the staff could more accurately estimate the Japanese army.

combat level.

From 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., within 12 hours, Song Biao used three infantry divisions and seven newly formed infantry regiments, plus the Northeast Artillery Corps to encircle and annihilate the Japanese 9th Brigade and the 5th Division directly under the

The 5th Field Artillery Regiment and the more than 3,000 Korean rebels relied on the four words "rapid advance and fierce attack."

This kind of speed and fierceness is a stable inertia gradually formed during training and equipment adjustment. It is like a person with quick hands and feet who can do everything quickly. When the Northeast Army attacks quickly according to this inertia, the Japanese army will be beaten as soon as they come up.

Confused.

The commander-in-chief of the Japanese Manchurian Army, General Oshima Yoshimasa, is indeed not as good as Oyama Iwa. Such a dispersed arrangement seems to be comprehensive. When faced with a force like the Northeastern Army that pursues fast and fierce maneuvers and quick attacks and annihilations, he really can't beat him no matter how hard he fights.

of.

After confirming that the Japanese army could not adapt to the combat characteristics of the Northeast Army for the time being, Song Biao seemed much more relaxed. After returning to the front-line temporary command headquarters, he did not make too many adjustments and let the entire army forcibly advance according to the original plan.

In order to avoid the advantage of the Japanese navy, Song Biao and the General Staff conducted a lot of analysis and decided to set the main direction of the Northeast Army's offensive in Shuozhou, attack Taichuan all the way south from Shuozhou, and use Shuozhou and Turtle City to attack Taichuan.

Create a fuss about the passage connecting multiple basins between Taichuan and Sichuan, and establish a supply line hundreds of kilometers long on this line.

In the section of the Yalu River between Taiping Bay and Jiulian Town, the Northeastern Army sank many steamers to block the river, preventing the Japanese Navy's small warships from going up the river. They took the opportunity to build many bridges around Hekou Island to improve the entire

The supply line of the Northeastern Army.

Before capturing Taichon, the 4th Infantry Division would also bypass Soju and move south, leaving only the 1st Infantry Division and the 12th Infantry Division to attack the Japanese 3rd Division stationed between Uiju and Sinuiju, but not to annihilate them.

.Prevent the Japanese Manchurian Army's Third Army from hastily retreating when the situation is over.

After the main force separates the Third Army, the 1st and 12th Infantry Divisions, with the support of the 2nd Artillery Brigade, must annihilate the 3rd Division as soon as possible, and the entire army will converge southward to fight the decisive battle with the Japanese Third Army in Taichuan.

All of Song Biao's tactical plans were based on one thing, which was to make full use of the Northeastern Army's characteristics of good equipment, large supplies, fast speed, and fierce attacks. He was not afraid of sacrifices and injuries, fought decisively with speed, and continuously achieved encirclement and annihilation of the enemy with several times the force.

combat objectives.

…

As we all know, Suvorov's military theory did not receive real attention in the Soviet Union until the 20th century. The military general who really carried forward this theory and effectively solved the balance between "fast" and "fierce" before the 1950s was

Mr. Su. Mr. Su's method is also very simple, which is to break through the inertia of traditional military organization and greatly expand the size of each column. Emphasize the ability of rapid mobile combat and use the advantage of numbers to solve the constraints of "fast" and light troop equipment.

The Northeast Army is basically implementing this policy, and on this basis, it emphasizes three major strengths. First, the basic skills of artillery and infantry coordinated operations are very solid. It can be said that an army can be formed without artillery, and it will win with artillery;

Firstly, it has strong capabilities in large-scale maneuverable surprise operations and outflanking operations; thirdly, in small-scale areas, small groups of elite troops have strong capabilities in sudden penetration and infiltration operations.

In addition to the three major specialties, the Northeastern Army also emphasizes the expansion of the supply troops, focusing on organizing militia to participate in the war through recruitment, propaganda, forced recruitment, etc., making full use of China's manpower advantages to greatly increase supply and transportation capabilities.

The strength of the Japanese Army is not weak. It is stronger than the Northeastern Army in many aspects, but in the initial stage it was extremely unsuitable to the Northeastern Army's combat style and new tactics under the new theory.

Before the command organization had time to react, the troops were already surrounded and divided.

They were constantly surrounded on several sides by forces four or five times their own. This situation was just like the situation during the War of Liberation and the U.S. Army in the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea. In fact, the overall strategic plan made by the Northeast Army on the Korean battlefield and the Huaihai Campaign
To be continued...