Objectively speaking, Major General Kaoru Iwata's tactics of using tanks and cavalry to deal with Eighth Route Army half-track vehicles are quite innovative.
Although it can be said that the cavalry is no longer suitable for the battlefield and will be eliminated... In the era of machine guns, there was basically no room for cavalry to survive. The reason why it still existed during World War II was just that it still had some effect on special terrain, such as fighting against the Eighth Route Army.
In mountainous areas, for example, Mao Xiong puts his cavalry on a snow-covered road where cars and tanks can walk normally.
But as the saying goes, "water is impermanent, power is impermanent, and soldiers are impermanent." Nothing is absolute on the battlefield. Even things that are about to be eliminated can still exert surprising combat effectiveness on a specific battlefield.
For example, the Mao Xiong's low-speed, bi-winged Seagull fighter jet performed very well in the Caucasus Mountains.
This time Major General Kaoru Iwata put cavalry, especially Mongolian cavalry skilled in horsemanship, into the battlefield. There were some battle examples similar to these.
At this time, the Eighth Route Army knew nothing about this. Li Yunlong and even Wang Xuexin did not pay attention to the so-called "iron-blooded troops" of the Japanese cavalry.
So at noon that day, the Eighth Route Army's offensive began.
The attack time was determined by Li Yunlong.
This is what Li Yunlong said to Wang Xuexin: "Captain Wang, our attack times are too regular. It's either early in the morning, before dark in the evening, or at night. I will have memorized these attack times. Can the Japanese not be more vigilant?"
"
Wang Xuexin thought it was right when he heard it.
If a day battle is to be fought, the Eighth Route Army will usually choose to attack in the early morning, so that it will be dark after the artillery fire preparations are completed, and then the troops can launch the attack.
If a night battle is to be fought, it should be before dark in the evening, so that the Eighth Route Army can clearly see its target and leave an impression before attacking. It can prepare for artillery fire and attack after dark.
If you want to attack by surprise, you usually do it in the middle of the night, when the enemy is sleeping soundly.
Although these time points are very suitable for attacking and are no problem from a tactical point of view, the enemy will be very sensitive to these time points if used too much. They even strengthen sentries and patrols at these time points.
If the Eighth Route Army continues to fight like this, the Japanese may be ready and waiting for the Eighth Route Army to attack.
At noon, it's a little bit up and down. It's only half a day during the day and then it's night.
To be honest, it is not a good choice to fight an annihilation battle at this time, because what if the enemy is surrounded by the enemy after all the effort, and it is about to be surrounded and annihilated, but then the sky turns dark?
But it was precisely at this moment that the Japanese were the least prepared!
In addition, Li Yunlong also gave a reason: "Japanese people often don't eat at noon. Let's feed them when they are so hungry that their chests are pressed against their backs. I think this can be done!"
Wang Xuexin didn't know that the Japs didn't eat at noon. He asked Chen Songyong in surprise: "Do the Japs only eat two meals?"
"No!" Chen Songyong replied: "This is because the Japanese have been having problems recently. They have Yingjiang pressing hard in the Pacific direction, and the expeditionary force of the stubborn army has begun to counterattack to open the external highway. In addition,
Our side is fighting like this again...the Japanese are starting to imitate our 'self-reliance'!"
"Self-reliance?" Wang Xuexin said: "You mean 'make enough food and clothing by yourself'?"
"Yes!" Chen Songyong nodded and said, "But what are the Japs talking about...'The 'Food Self-Sufficiency Movement' started at the end of last year. Many troops, including the Japs regular army, only eat a few compressed biscuits for lunch!"
Wang Xuexin said "oh".
This must be because he has been in the office for too long, so he doesn't know these details.
But this does not seem strange. The main reason why the Japanese had food problems was that they pushed the Chinese people too hard... either robbed or killed them, and they often robbed them all.
In this way, how many people can farm with peace of mind?
If the people can't farm with peace of mind, where will the army's food come from?
In addition, we suffered another major disaster in 1942 and are still in a slow recovery period in 2014. Can we have more food now?
Then Chen Songyong sighed again: "Captain, fortunately you are advanced and bought a large amount of grain before the great famine and promoted land reclamation, otherwise our life would not be easy now!"
Wang Xuexin just smiled and said nothing.
To him, this is just a trivial matter that is not worth mentioning. He has been "experienced", so how could he not be prepared if he knew that these things would happen?
But Wang Xuexin's expression looked completely different in the eyes of Chen Songyong and others... They were people who had tasted what it was like to be hungry, and at that time, large numbers of people starved to death outside the Eighth Route Army base. Now even the Japanese are reducing their rations.
The Eighth Route Army was able to buck the trend and enter a period of great development.
This is not a trivial matter in their eyes, this is life-threatening.
But Wang Xuexin did not take this credit seriously, as if this was what he should do.
This made Chen Songyong and others admire Wang Xuexin even more.
So there was no need to think too much about Li Yunlong's suggestion. Wang Xuexin agreed without much thought, but added: "If the battle starts at noon, there will be less time for encirclement and annihilation. Are you sure that the iron and stone troops can be eliminated in half a day?"
Li Yunlong on the other side raised his chin and replied with a disdainful tone: "What a piece of iron and stone, our independent group is a fire! Not to mention iron and stone, even if it is gold, we will burn it!"
At this time, Li Yunlong somewhat underestimated the enemy.
Mainly because the puppet troops were vulnerable to attacks along the way. Many troops still surrendered while fighting, and it was not clear whether they were enemies or friendly forces.
Therefore, when Li Yunlong heard that the current troops were puppet troops, even though Wang Xuexin reminded them that they were elite troops that were not easy to deal with, Li Yunlong still did not take it seriously.
This is what he said to Zhao Gang: "Elites, I have beaten even the elites of the Japanese army, are you still afraid of these elites of the puppet army? Give me a hard beating!"
Since the purpose of this battle was to fight together with the Japanese's 39th Division, the first batch of independent assault regiments were arranged.
Li Yunlong's tactics are as follows: two infantry regiments charge towards the enemy's defense line from the front under the cover of artillery. The first and third battalions of the independent regiment break through from the left wing, the second and fourth battalions break through from the right wing, and the fifth battalion serves as a reserve. New
The First Regiment and the New Second Regiment pursued the enemy after the defense line broke through, trying to defeat the Iron Stone troops.
Regarding this combat plan, Zhao Gang asked: "What will happen to the Japanese 39th Division then? They are troops equipped with anti-tank rifles. It is said that they are specially used to deal with our army's half-track vehicles!"
Li Yunlong said "hehe" and replied: "Old Zhao, let's drive the iron and stone troops into the defense line of the Japanese 39th Division like ducks. Can the Japanese anti-tank rifles still work?"