Chapter 18: Military Academy Confrontation (2)
Song Zhe Wu knew that this was Shang Zhen testing him again. To be honest, Song Zhe Wu didn't think much of this kind of drill. As for the attacking side, except for their individual soldier quality being not bad, everything else was mediocre. Frankly speaking, it's likely to offend these instructors, and in the future when fighting against them, they would have to spend more effort; if he were to flatter them with insincere words, his "glorious image" in Shang Zhen's eyes would inevitably be tarnished a bit. After thinking about it, weighing the two evils and choosing the lesser one, he decided to speak the truth. Even if these instructors hated him for this and transferred to another unit, if because of his words they could reflect on themselves and improve, in future battles against the Japanese devils, they would be able to deal a heavier blow, and Chinese soldiers would shed less blood. Moreover, if he didn't show off some skills now, many people among them would think that this Major General was bought, which wouldn't be beneficial for giving orders to them in the future.
In the midst of everyone's expectant gaze, Song Zhe Wu cleared his throat and spoke in a deliberately calm tone: "Since Chairman Shang has given the order, I'll do my best to offer my humble opinions. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Firstly, I think the trainees' individual combat skills are not bad at all - their posture during attacks, route choices, and use of obstacles are all quite good." Amidst everyone's "this is obvious" expressions, Song Zhe Wu suddenly changed his tone: "However, this should be the only highlight of this exercise." As soon as these words left Song Zhe Wu's mouth, Shang Zhen, Wang Zhe, all the instructors, department heads, and team leaders were shocked! This exercise had been completely ordinary in terms of tactics, with some parts even following foreign military regulations. Yet in Song Zhe Wu's eyes, it was a complete failure! After their initial shock, most people quickly became dismissive, thinking to themselves: "He's just making empty boasts, talking big but lacking substance." They thought he was just an official who had bought his position with money. Shang Zhen didn't entirely believe Song Zhe Wu's words either, but Liu Pei and Wang Xinggang had said that Song Zhe Wu had a unique approach to training troops, and the soldiers of the Security Regiment were indeed well-trained. So he wanted to hear more about why Song Zhe Wu was saying this - could it really be as bad as he claimed?
Everyone's expression, Song Zhe Wu saw it all and smiled: "Maybe you think I'm being mysterious, or maybe some of you think I don't know what I'm talking about. Now let me comment on this attack and defense exercise. First, the coordination between infantry and artillery was not good. Specifically, the infantry's attack and the artillery's shooting were disconnected. The infantry started charging 200 meters away from the target position after the artillery stopped firing. This distance is too far, even if they didn't make any tactical evasive maneuvers, it would take at least three minutes to cover. To be fair, the attacking side was quite fast this time, taking only two minutes and twenty seconds to reach within 100 meters of the target position. However, from 100 meters to 30 meters away from the target position, they took another two minutes, totaling four minutes and twenty seconds. This amount of time is enough for the defending side to enter their positions. The defending side entered their positions in two minutes and thirty seconds, just as the attacking side reached within 80 meters of the target position. Second, during the attack, there was little coordination between soldiers, and almost no mutual cover between squads. Third, the artillery did not conduct follow-up shooting after firing at the target position. The defending side only left one squad on the position, and the rest entered after the artillery stopped firing. If they had conducted follow-up shooting, the troops hiding behind the mountain would have suffered heavy casualties when entering their positions. The defending side also had problems - their anti-artillery distance was too far, if the enemy had conducted follow-up shooting with dense fire, the defending side would have been almost wiped out after entering their positions. Second, after retreating, the attacking side did not promptly set up anti-artillery defenses, resulting in significant casualties from the second round of artillery fire. This kind of attack and defense is just a matter of numbers - as long as one side has enough people, they will ultimately win."
When Song Zhe Wu finished speaking, everyone remained silent. They didn't think that what he said was unreasonable; on the contrary, they thought it made a lot of sense, but it's easy to say and hard to do.
Gu Xiong took a step forward and saluted Song Zhe Wu, asking: "Commander Song, your words just now made a lot of sense, but how do we solve it?"
Song Zhe-wu asked Gu Xiong-yi a question, representing everyone's thoughts. Looking at Gu Xiong-yi, he said: "To solve these problems, pay attention to the following points: First, the attacking side's starting point for the attack should be advanced to within 100 meters of the target position. Second, during the charge, soldiers and squads should cooperate with each other, cover each other, and cross-charge. At the same time, do a good job of fire suppression; as the defending side, leave one squad on the position, and the rest can dig solid shelters behind the position to avoid artillery fire, but not too far from the position."
Gu Xiong was still savoring Song Zhe Wu's words, while most people remained expressionless.
Song Zhe-wu thought to himself, if he didn't bring out his true abilities, it would be hard to calm them down. "Chairman Shang, everyone listen to me, since there's no sensory image yet, why not let my guard company play the role of the attacking side and conduct a drill?" The crowd's eyes lit up, and they all agreed in unison.
Shang Zhen, relying on his many years of military experience, felt that Song Zhe Wu's words were very reasonable. He genuinely wanted to see how Song Zhe Wu would organize such an attack. Most others, however, just wanted to see him make a fool of himself and had been waiting for him to take action, not expecting him to bring it up himself.
Song Zhe-wu had Chu Feng call over the 4th company commander, Wang Da-hu. In front of everyone, he instructed him to lead the 4th company and the 3rd district team in a defensive exercise. Wang Da-hu ran off to organize his troops, while Gu Xiong-yi also returned to the 3rd district team to make arrangements.
After a while, both sides sent out signals of readiness, and everyone picked up their binoculars to observe.
On the 4th line of the array, 3 rows of 9 60mm mortars and 6 82mm mortars from the machine gun company were lined up in a row. As soon as the order to start firing was given, the 15 mortars immediately began simulated firing. Everyone was amazed at Song Zhe-wu's company, which had so many mortars.
After the artillery fire began, the soldiers of the 4th Company quickly moved towards the starting point of the attack and lay down to cover at a distance of 80 meters from the target position, waiting for the attack order. When the mortar position sent out the signal for extended firing, three platoons jumped up and quickly formed into small groups of three people. These small groups, visible from a distance, still maintained their company and platoon formations. Three platoons advanced in front, two in the back, and within each platoon, two squads advanced in front and two in the back. The soldiers within the group, between groups, and between companies alternated covering each other, advancing and breaking through. Occasionally, some soldiers took advantage of the terrain to cover themselves and shoot up at the mountain.
The 4th company's offensive speed was extremely fast, covering a distance of 80 meters in just over 30 seconds. Before the defenders could even enter their positions, the leading platoon had already charged up to the mountain top position. The referees on the mountain top immediately raised their signal flags, indicating the end of the exercise. Observers could easily imagine that even if the company only had 4 light machine guns, not to mention the over 40 P18 submachine guns, it would be enough to annihilate the two companies that had not yet entered their positions.
Watching the exercise results, Shang Zhen couldn't help but take a breath of cold air, and everyone else was also shocked with their eyes wide open. Can a spear be used like this? This was almost everyone's thought.
An instructor whispered, "In actual combat, such a close attacking distance is impossible. There's no country's infantry regulations that have such a close distance." Everyone was still in shock and no one spoke up, the instructor's words clearly entered Song Zhe Wu's ears.
Song Zhe-wu smiled and said: "Yes, currently there is no infantry regulation in any country that stipulates such a close attack departure point. However, the regulations of various countries stipulate different distances, which means that if only one is correct, the others are wrong. It can also be believed that these regulations all have room for improvement. As for misinjury, I conducted on-site inspections in Laiyuan and found that on hard ground, the shrapnel from a 75mm mountain cannon was more than 2 meters above 40 meters away, while on soft ground, the shrapnel was within 2 meters at 20 meters away. Mortars have less impact, so in the two types of terrain mentioned earlier, they need to expand their distance by about 10 meters. Considering that the artillery position is in a mountainous area, the attack departure point was chosen at around 80 meters away. At this distance, safety can be basically guaranteed."
The instructor saw Song Zhe Wu listening to his words and raised his voice, continuing to refute: "But the accuracy rate of artillery fire will not be that high. Commander Song's premise is that all shells must fall outside 80 meters."
Song Zhe Wu nodded: "You're absolutely right, on the condition that they all fall outside 80 meters. However, if the first shot of the security team can hit an accuracy rate of 80%, this is enough, even if there are occasional mistakes, paying a small price for a bigger victory is worth it."
"I'd rather have it this way," Song Zhe-wu said to Shang Zhen, "Chairman Shang, let my artillery have a live-fire exercise." Song Zhe-wu had already made up his mind to thoroughly subdue these future subordinates of his.
"Alright." Shang Zhen immediately agreed. He also had some doubts about Song Zhe Wu's words, an 80% accuracy rate was impossible without ten years of experience.
Then, according to the order, after the artillery company commander received a signal that all personnel on the small mountain had withdrawn and could be bombarded, he carefully aimed and quickly issued a firing command. With more than a dozen almost simultaneous sounds of mortar shells being fired, a few seconds later, fifteen clusters of smoke and dust rose from the small mountain.
"Good!" Shang Zhen was the first to cheer, and from a distance, it seemed that all the shots had hit their targets accurately.
Soon, the spotters reported back with specific data. Of the 15 rounds fired, 13 fell within two meters of the trench, with two rounds landing directly in the trench and the remaining two falling within four meters of the trench.
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