Taiyuan, headquarters of the Japanese 20th Division.
General Shan Shanyuan walked into the conference room with his head held high, and the officers sitting on both sides immediately stood up to pay tribute.
This is a belated military review meeting. The content of the review is the lessons learned from the destruction of the 20th Division. According to the usual practice of the Japanese army, this review meeting should have been held more than ten days ago when the 20th Division was severely damaged.
However, since the Japanese army never understood how the 20th Division was severely damaged, the meeting was postponed.
Until yesterday, the defeated troops of the 20th Division finally fled back to Taiyuan, including soldiers of the 39th Infantry Brigade. The Japanese spy agency in Shanxi finally figured out the reason for the destruction of the 20th Division through various spies.
After hearing the news, Shan Shanyuan flew directly from Peiping to Taiyuan and personally presided over a military review meeting.
Shan Shanyuan waved his hand and motioned for all the officers present to take their seats.
The officers attending the meeting included Lieutenant General Keitake Yamashita, the new division commander of the 20th Division of the Japanese Army, Lieutenant General Toranosuke the new chief of staff, Koshiki Toranosuke, Major General Shunsaburo Maicang, commander of the ninth mixed brigade of the Japanese Army stationed in Taiyuan, and Major General Shunsaburo Maicang, stationed in Guo County (
Imahara Taira) Major General Shigeharu Yanashita, commander of the 3rd mixed brigade of the Japanese Army, Colonel Yasushi Inoue, the head of the secret service stationed in Shanxi, and others.
"Your Excellency, General, after more than ten days of careful investigation by the secret service, combined with the reports of hundreds of defeated troops, we can now basically restore the detailed situation of the 20th Division's heavy damage!" Colonel Inoue Yasushi, the head of the Japanese spy agency in Shanxi
He stood up suddenly and said loudly, "What the China Army has adopted is a tactic of cutting off the head and tail and attacking the central part!"
"Cut off the head and tail and attack the middle part?" Shan Shanyuan said solemnly, "Inoue-kun, continue on."
"Hai." Inoue Jing lowered his head suddenly, and told how the Baoshan Division used landmines to severely damage the forwards of the 20th Division and the 39th Infantry Brigade, and how it used an ambush to surprise Niangziguan and block the 40th Infantry Brigade, making it unable to do so.
The situation of joining up with the 20th Division Headquarters, and finally launching a strong attack at night, annihilating the 20th Division Headquarters in one fell swoop is exactly what happened.
It must be admitted that the situation grasped by the Japanese secret service in Shanxi is basically consistent with the facts.
Shan Shanyuan nodded expressionlessly. The core combat capability of the 20th Division is the two infantry brigades.
But the battle had just begun, and the 39th forward infantry brigade suffered heavy losses. The 40th rearguard infantry brigade was also blocked to the west of Niangziguan by the Chinese army relying on favorable terrain. Although the 20th division headquarters was close to
There are 20,000 people, but half of them are non-combatants, and the remaining half are long-retired soldiers in the countryside, with extremely poor close combat effectiveness.
In addition, the steep terrain of the Jingxing Grand Canyon was not conducive to the performance of the Japanese field artillery group. With the help of the complex and changeable terrain, the Chinese Army could easily attack at close range. In addition, it was a night battle, and the 20th Division headquarters was completely destroyed.
It makes sense to annihilate them. After all, the Baoshan Division on the opposite side is a famous ace unit with extremely strong close combat and night combat capabilities!
"Everyone..." Shan Shanyuan looked around at everyone and asked, "Is there any lesson worth learning here?"
Yamashita Jingwu said: "Your Excellency, General, the lesson of the Battle of Niangziguan is that Yue Weihan is very good at using terrain, and even better at using unconventional tactics such as 'mine warfare'. The Baoshan Division is also very good at night combat, close combat and mountain combat. The Imperial Army
If we go into the mountains to sweep up, we must mobilize at least four divisions or more of troops, and each division must form a group, and engineers must explore the way!"
Yuesheng Huzuki said: "Your Majesty General, the current focus of the Imperial Army's operations is the frontal battlefield in Central China. Therefore, I think it is better to take a defensive stance against the Baoshan Division. The Baoshan Division retreated to the Jingxing Grand Canyon and occupied a favorable terrain. However,
If you think about it the other way around, why don’t they imprison themselves in the mountains?”
"You mean..." Shan Shanyuan said happily, "Trapped Baoshan Division in the Jingxing Grand Canyon?"
"Hai." Yuesheng Toranosuke lowered his head suddenly, then stood up and strode to the map hanging on the wall. He picked up the command pole and explained to the map, "General, please see, this is the Jingxing Grand Canyon, starting from Pingding County in the west.
, as far as Huolu County in the east, has been controlled by the Baoshan Division. The 20th Division can capture Pingding County, and then the 6th Division captures Huolu County, which can block the east and west exits of the Jingxing Grand Canyon."
After saying this, Yuesheng Hunosuke added: "In this way, the imperial army will be in an absolutely favorable situation. If the Baoshan Division does not want to sit back and wait for death, it can only give up the terrain it has and take the initiative to attack; if the Baoshan Division is trapped and cannot get out, it will wait until Central China
Once the fighting on the battlefield has come to an end, the imperial army can assemble more than ten divisions and attack with heavy troops!"
"Yo Xi!" Shan Shan Yuan nodded happily, "Yue Shengjun, your advice is very valuable!"
"Hai!" Koshiki Toranosuke suddenly lowered his head and said, "Your Excellency, General, after capturing Pingding and Lu County, although we can block the Baoshan Division's heavy equipment from leaving the valley on the main road, we cannot prevent their infantry from leaving the valley through the small road. The imperial army must improve
Be vigilant and beware of the Baoshan Division setting out in battalions, companies and units, and then suddenly gathering in a certain area and launching a surprise attack."
Shan Shanyuan nodded and said to Yamashita: "Yamashita-kun, we must recapture Pingding County within two days!" After saying this, Shan Shanyuan said to Inoue Yasushi: "Inoue-kun, the secret service must also step up the recruitment of civilians.
Pingding County built more artillery towers and strongholds to monitor the Baoshan Division in the Jingxing Grand Canyon the most closely!"
"Hai!" Yamashita Keiwu and Inoue Yasushi stood up at the same time and lowered their heads suddenly.
Jingxing County, Headquarters of the 39th Group Army.
Yue Weihan was sketching on paper, calculating something.
Yue Weihan has already chosen the location to build the fortress, but the specific design and construction plan have not been finalized yet.
What Yue Weihan wants to build is a serious large-scale fortress, not just building a few bunkers, nor just digging a few air-raid shelters or tunnels. Such a large project must have specialized engineering and technical personnel to take charge of it. First of all,
Make a suitable design plan based on the mountain topography, and then strictly implement the plan according to the plan!
The supervision of the project must also be handled by specialized engineering and technical personnel. No one else knows the strength of the structure, right?
It would be a lot of fun if a layman was allowed to supervise it, but the fortress built with great effort and a lot of manpower and material resources could not withstand a barrage of small-caliber howitzers from the Japanese army.
Fortunately, the first batch of experts and technical workers requested from Chairman Chiang Kai-shek have arrived in Jingxing County.
More than twenty experts among them are either professors from major universities or engineers from all walks of life. However, none of the experts and technical workers from the arsenal are missing. This is obviously not a coincidence. Of course, the National Government has experts in weapons, Hanyang Arsenal
There were even thousands of skilled workers. This was obviously deliberate by Chairman Chiang Kai-shek.
Not long after Yue Weihan drew, he tore the paper off the notebook, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it into the trash can.
In the trash can, there are already more than a dozen pieces of waste paper, all of which are Yue Weihan's "design plans". However, this so-called "design plan" for the fortress makes even Yue Weihan blush, even though it is useless to lead troops to fight by himself.
He is a good hand, but he is really a layman when it comes to civil engineering, not even someone who has traveled through time.
"Chief seat!" Chu Zhongtian suddenly strode in, stood at attention and said, "The experts are here."
Yue Weihan quickly put down his pencil, closed his notebook, and then personally greeted him outside the headquarters gate.
Outside the gate of the headquarters, Yue Weihan finally met the twenty experts. Some of them were wearing suits, some were wearing Chinese tunic suits, and some were wearing homespun gowns. Most of them were wearing thick myopia glasses and were polite and polite.
When Yue Weihan looked at them, the experts were also looking at Yue Weihan.
Seeing that this group of experts exuded simplicity, wisdom, and enterprising spirit, Yue Weihan couldn't help feeling slightly excited, not only because the Taihang base area urgently needed these experts, but also because the experts of this era are the ones who really do the work.
Scholars, experts with truly noble morals and truly superb academics.
At that moment, Yue Weihan shook hands with the experts one by one, exchanged greetings, and then invited them into the headquarters.
After the experts had all sat down, Yue Weihan personally served tea to the experts, and then asked them one by one for their names and professions. When it was the turn of a middle-aged man in his early forties, he stood up and introduced himself: "Commander Yue, I am Mao Yisheng,
He studied civil engineering at Cornell University in the United States, and then studied bridge studies at Carnegie Mellon University Polytechnic Institute in the United States."
Yue Weihan suddenly trembled when he heard this, and the bottle of heat in his hand almost fell to the ground!
Mao Yisheng!? This is truly a real civil engineering expert and an absolute bridge expert! The first steel-structured railway and highway bridge in Chinese history, the Qiantang River Bridge, was built by Mao Yisheng in the 22nd year of the Republic of China (1933)
The person who presided over the design was probably less than five years after it opened to traffic, right?
Seeing Yue Weihan in a hurry, Mao Yisheng wondered: "Commander Yue, what's wrong with you?"
Yue Weihan put down the bottle of warm water and said with an excited expression: "Mr. Mao, you came just in time. Our Taihang base is planning to modify two large fortresses. Building materials and labor are not problems. The key is that we can't find qualified designers. Now we can
Well, with you as a civil engineering expert, the design problem is solved!"
Mao Yisheng nodded and said: "Commander-in-Chief Yue, the design plan is not a problem, but you have to clarify the specific requirements, that is, the various design indicators of the fortress. In addition, I also have to go to the fortress site to conduct on-site surveys, and then there are
That is, I would like to recommend two colleagues to you, who are also experts in civil engineering."
"Oh?" Yue Weihan couldn't help but said with joy, "These two experts are also present?"
Mao Yisheng nodded, pointing to the two experts behind him and introduced: "This is Mei Xiaochun, who graduated from Purdue University in the United States with a master's degree in civil engineering, and this is Qin Qiuyang, who graduated from Cornell University in the United States with a master's degree in civil engineering."
The two experts also stood up one after another. Yue Weihan quickly stepped forward to shake hands with them. After shaking hands with the remaining experts one by one and exchanging greetings, Yue Weihan turned back and ordered the adjutant Chu Zhongtian: "Zhongtian, let the cooking team prepare the banquet immediately.
Tonight, I want to give the experts a clean slate!"