Tiger Troops: The 74th Army of the Kuomintang Anti-Japanese Ace

Chapter 17 The World's Greatest Soldier (Battle of Nanchang) (5)
After the 58th Division conquered Shaguling, Luo Zhuoying called other troops to take over the defense and let the 58th Division continue to attack.At this time, a mixed infantry brigade of the Japanese army attempted to recapture Shaguling. The 58th Division, for the sake of the friendly forces, continued to stay and fight until the Japanese counterattack was repulsed.After getting the report, Luo Zhuoying praised him very much, and specially asked the Military Commission to give Liao Lingqi a great service.

The style of play adopted by the 51st Division is different from that of the two brother divisions.In addition to strengthening the face-to-face offensive, the division commander Li Tianxia also organized two detachments to gallop behind the enemy's rear with the reinforced battalion as a unit to destroy and contain the Japanese army. On December 12, Liu Guangyu's detachment rushed into the rear maintenance meeting, burned down two Japanese warehouses and communication agencies, and then calmly withdrew.

As soon as he succeeded, the 74th Army saw the weakness of the opponent.In fact, since the launch of the winter offensive, the 34th Division of the Japanese Army has been adhering to the tortoise shell tactics. By the end of December, even knowing that some outlying strongholds were constantly under siege, the main force stationed in Fengxin did not dare to send troops out of the city to rescue them. The stronghold is defended by its own strength.

If you don't come out, then we'll go in. On December 12, Wang Junru's detachment of the 31st Division suddenly attacked Fengxin at night.Taking advantage of the negligence of the Japanese army's security, the detachment rushed in from Fengxin's west gate and north gate, and wiped out most of the security troops with machine guns and grenades.Subsequently, Wang Junru ordered to blow up two Japanese mountain artillery in the north of the city with grenades, and burned down two military warehouses outside the west gate.

The No. 30 Fourth Division of the Japanese Army never thought that the Chinese army would dare to touch its lair, and hurriedly mobilized the defenders on the outskirts of Fengxin City to come back for help.Wang Junru's detachment was flanked during the retreat, and the return route was cut off and surrounded.The [-]rd Battalion of the [-]nd Regiment went to the rescue. The officers and soldiers braved the hail of bullets and rushed into the enemy's line, desperately rescuing the brothers who were trapped in the siege. The battalion commander Wang Jingyin died in the battle because of this, but the battalion finally helped Wang Junru's detachment to escape safely.

In January 1940, the Ninth Theater ordered the winter offensive to end.During the entire offensive, the 1th Army suffered the heaviest losses and made the greatest contribution to the entire offensive.It was their elusive raid tactics that forced the No. 74 Fourth Division of the Japanese Army to abandon the secondary stronghold on the outskirts of Fengxin City and shrink its troops to Fengxin City to hold on.As a result, the depth of Fengxin's city defenses became narrower, and most of its flanking areas were controlled by the Chinese army, which could no longer constitute a complete defensive position.Soon, Fengxin was recovered by the Ninth Army in one fell swoop.

As one of the American military observers most familiar with the situation in China at the time, Carlson recognized the value of guerrilla warfare as early as the end of the Songhu Battle, believing that it could effectively make up for the lack of regular warfare.With the successive fall of Nanjing and Wuhan, the Military Commission began to pay more and more attention to the role of guerrilla warfare. Chiang Kai-shek even accepted the suggestion of the CCP for the first time, and opened the "Nanyue Guerrilla Cadre Training Course" in Hengyang, Hunan Province, specializing in the training of guerrilla tactics.The winter offensive was actually a grand exercise of guerrilla tactics. Although it made little breakthrough in regaining lost ground and annihilating the number of enemies, it achieved the purpose of harassment to the greatest extent.During the offensive, the Nanxun Railway was closed to traffic for two months, and the Japanese army relied entirely on waterways for supplies.After the offensive was over, the engineer sabotage team left by the No.19 Group Army continued to harass the Japanese traffic, and more than [-] kilometers of the Nanxun Road railroad track alone were destroyed.

Encouraged by the effectiveness of the winter offensive, the Military Council planned to launch a larger offensive in the summer of 1940 once it had completed replenishing its troops.The tactical principle of the summer offensive was still the same as that of the winter offensive, that is, regular field troops cooperated with guerrilla forces to carry out large-scale raids on the enemy's rear in order to consume the combat power of the Japanese army.

All of a sudden, guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines became the new darling of strategic planning, but objectively speaking, on the frontal battlefield, guerrilla tactics can only be used as an auxiliary to regular warfare—if the Japanese army is completely attracted by guerrilla warfare, they will break up their field troops into pieces However, if we remain unmoved and continue to launch medium-scale main battles, the living space and will of the Chinese guerrilla warfare will be severely suppressed .

As a first-class tactical master of the Japanese command, Okamura has done in-depth research on this.He believes that under the same conditions, the fighting quality of the Chinese army is far inferior to that of the Japanese army. The reason why the Japanese army can be overwhelmed and busy parrying in the winter offensive is, to put it bluntly, relying on the large number of people, that is, every time a battle is fought, the Chinese army is more powerful than the Japanese army. The Japanese army was more than ten times larger.

what to do?Okamura's approach is to concentrate the use of troops.This move was very ruthless. Two years later, when Okamura went to North China, it was this method that brought the Eighth Route Army's guerrilla warfare to an all-round low ebb.

Individual surgery
Okamura usually shows people with a refined style, but he is very determined to implement his own tactics.At the beginning, many commanders in the No.11 Japanese army opposed his tactical thinking, thinking that doing so might lead to emptiness on the left and right, and even the rear, which would be taken advantage of by the Chinese army.After Okamura heard about it, he immediately transferred all these commanders away for various other reasons.

Before the summer offensive started, Okamura attacked ahead of time, concentrating the forces of five divisions and launching a large-scale attack on the fifth theater in the north of Wuhan. This is the famous Battle of Zaoyi.

The Battle of Zaoyi caused heavy losses in the fifth theater. Zhang Zizhong, the commander-in-chief of the No.30 Third Army, was the first to kill the pumpkin shop, which shocked the Japanese war reporters.When Yukio Komata learned that Zhang Zizhong and his group army headquarters were destroyed after more than a dozen rounds of hand-to-hand combat, he couldn't help being greatly moved. The Japanese side does not have such a position, so Komata compared it to the "hand-to-hand combat" in which the commander-level of the Japanese army was also killed in battle. How tragic.

The bad results of the Zaoyi Battle did not stop there. The subsequent fall of Yichang opened the door to eastern Sichuan, Chongqing was directly threatened, and the situation of the Anti-Japanese War became extremely severe.

The Battle of Zaoyi was a demarcation point. Since then, the strategists in all theaters have been immersed in research on how to fortify. The large-scale guerrilla warfare that has just emerged on the frontal battlefield and the planned summer offensive plan have quietly aborted.

The war took a break, and the 74th Army seized the time to rest and replenish in the Shanggao area, and the officers and officers also underwent blood changes to varying degrees.Wang Yaowu adheres to the principle of selecting talents and abilities in employing people, and has little sense of sect or fellow countrymen.His younger brother Wang Zhemin followed him all the time, and was once an official to the battalion commander, but because of his poor performance in the Battle of Lanfeng, he was demoted to adjutant by Wang Yaowu.Later, Wang Yaowu found out that his younger brother really lacked talent and courage, so he never promoted him again, so that Wang Zhemin only held the rank of adjutant for many years.

Wang Yaowu trains officers and attaches great importance to the experience of being a company commander.Within the 74th Army, if an officer does not have a company commander resume, even if he has a bright academic record and qualifications, he will rarely be able to get the position of a senior military commander.

One time, Wang Yaowu went to the headquarters of the 51st Division on business and met Liu Bingjun.Liu Bingjun used to be the artillery platoon leader in another unit. After being introduced to Wang Yaowu, he was directly appointed as the deputy of the artillery battalion of the 51st Division. Later, Li Tianxia transferred him to the division headquarters as the chief of the combat section.Wang Yaowu felt that Liu Bingjun was a good material to be a commander, but because he had never been a company commander, he must have insufficient practical experience in leading troops to fight and managing the army's economy, and this would adversely affect his future personal development.

Feeling this, Wang Yaowu reminded Liu Bingjun: "Do you think it is good to be a section chief in the division? You have never been a company commander, and you will suffer in the future!"

Liu Bingjun replied angrily: "If you don't transfer me, can I go by myself?"

Wang Yaowu is strict in running the army, but he is fearless and not fierce, and he is very easy-going with his subordinates.After being contradicted by Liu Bingjun, he was not angry, but was very happy: "Okay, okay, I will tell your teacher."

Arranged by Wang Yaowu, Liu Bingjun was quickly transferred back to the Artillery Battalion of the 51st Division as the deputy battalion commander and the commander of the third company, which enabled him to fully display his talents.

The premise of cultivating soldiers is that they must understand soldiers.No matter how busy he is usually, Wang Yaowu will try his best to spare time to have individual conversations with officers at all levels, and at the same time learn about the various aspects of the officers.

Wang Yaowu's family lived in Chongqing. For a period of time, the Japanese army bombed Chongqing day and night, so he wanted to find another place for his family to hide.Liu Bingjun is from Huili. Huili is located at the southernmost tip of Sichuan Province. It is a remote town and relatively safe.Wang Yaowu found Liu Bingjun and said, "Your hometown will be taken care of. I think it's pretty good there. Japanese planes won't go there. I want to ask my family to live in your home for a while, how about it?"

Liu Bingjun's family conditions are good, the house is very spacious, otherwise Wang Yaowu would not have said so.Liu Bingjun was very happy when he heard it, and he agreed.Later, because the Chongqing bombing gradually eased, Wang Yaowu canceled his plan to move. There are a large number of officers in the 74th Army. It can also be seen from this incident that Wang Yaowu is familiar with the personal and family situations of his subordinates.

Wang Yaowu especially cherishes Qiu Weida and Zhang Lingfu, commanders who have both actual combat experience and certain military theoretical literacy, and he also knows how to encourage them according to their different personalities.Qiu Weida is introverted, calm and self-restraining. Even if you sometimes blame him too much, he will not take it to heart. The "treatment" Wang Yaowu gave him was the kind of swearing commonly used by professional veterans to arouse Qiu Weida's pride.Zhang Lingfu is different from Qiu Weida in that he is a lofty, arrogant, stubborn and stubborn man from Guanzhong.Most of the time Wang Yaowu rewarded and praised Zhang Lingfu for performing spells for others.Even if he encounters an unsatisfactory situation, Wang Yaowu will not criticize directly, but will reprimand another officer who made a mistake in front of Zhang Lingfu.Those words were actually meant for Zhang Lingfu, and Wang Yaowu's intention was to save face for the other party while giving enlightenment.

Wang Yaowu has a set of unique skills to win over people.When he was still the commander of the 51st Division, Zhang Lingfu often sent the clerk Hu Liwen to the division headquarters to deliver documents, and Wang Yaowu got to know this little guy from this.He was very kind to Hu Liwen. Once it was almost noon when Hu Liwen finished his work at the division headquarters, and when it was time to eat, he happened to meet Wang Yaowu.Wang Yaowu took his hand and chatted, and after knowing that he hadn't eaten yet, he asked him to go to the teacher's office for lunch.

A division commander doesn't know how busy he is every day. He can ask a teenage soldier to ask questions and invite him to lunch. In fact, it's all for one thing, that is, to let the leader of the soldier, that is, Zhang Lingfu, get a different courtesy.His brilliance lies in the fact that the whole process seems to be completely inadvertent, but in fact moistens things silently, and all the goals Wang Yaowu wanted to achieve have been achieved.

With the abolishment of the brigade headquarters, Qiu Weida, the former brigade commander, was left idle.Wang Yaowu first transferred Qiu Weida to be the infantry commander of the division, and then Qiu Weida himself was admitted to the special class of the Army University. Wang Yaowu then transferred him to be the deputy division commander of the 57th division, so that Qiu Weida could take the dry salary of the deputy division commander and study at the Army University without distraction. study further.

Similarly, Wang Yaowu also appointed Zhang Lingfu a transitional infantry commander during his medical treatment.Due to the limited medical conditions in the mainland, Zhang Lingfu was hospitalized for more than half a year, and his leg failed to heal. At that time, there was only one way, which was to send him to Hong Kong for treatment by British doctors.However, medical expenses in Hong Kong are very expensive and cannot be afforded by individuals.So Wang Yaowu reported to Xue Yue, and through Xue Yue forwarded it to Chiang Kai-shek, and won a special treatment fee for Zhang Lingfu.

When Zhang Lingfu returned from injury, Liao Lingqi was promoted to division commander. Wang Yaowu logically replaced Zhang Lingfu from a duty-free infantry commander to deputy division commander of the 58th Division to ensure that he had soldiers to fight.

Regardless of whether Qiu Weida, Zhang Lingfu, or Liu Bingjun, a low-level military officer, they all respect and love Wang Yaowu.The emergence of this group of young officers has become an important guarantee for the 74th Army to achieve glory.

Now if Wang Yaowu and his subordinates want to continue to succeed, what they lack may be only opportunities, and these opportunities will naturally be generously given by their opponents.

(End of this chapter)