Chapter 26: Tactical Deduction

  Chen Haisong took a sip of tea, gently put down the teacup and said: "You are good at using your own advantages, cavalry play high-speed mobile forces, heavy troops divide the enemy in front of you.

  Select key targets, launch a swift attack, soldiers are fierce and fearless of death, swarm forward, dare to engage in close combat.

  Do not engage in a stalemate with the enemy, do not fight a war of attrition, and withdraw quickly if the first strike does not succeed.

  Counter-encircled the pursuing enemy quickly, indeed played to the cavalry's advantage, brought into play the soldiers' capabilities, avoided the weakness of falling behind in weaponry and inaccurate shooting being taken advantage of.

  The Battle of Gu Lang was the first encounter between your army and mine.

  October 23rd, since we crossed the Yellow River, we have been on the offensive. Ma Bufang's Fifth Cavalry Division has been garrisoned in villages and towns, many of which have been captured by me.

  After receiving the order to go west, the Fifth Army and the Thirtieth Army have gone west. My unit of more than 6,000 people is defending Gulang, as the rear guard of the entire army.

  The county seat of Gulang was destroyed by the earthquake, which is not conducive to defense. My Red Ninth Army had 2 divisions and 6 regiments dispersed in the highlands around the county seat to organize a defensive position. It should be said that the preparations were sufficient.

  But as it was the first time to fight with your department, the advantages of cavalry and offensive tactics were not clear, so basically configured firepower according to the defensive infantry tactical requirements.

  On November 16, after the battle began, our army's front-line position was still tenable, while your army surrounded but did not attack the defensive position, using the speed of cavalry to break through the combined position of our army and rush straight to the city, with no defense in the city at all, being caught off guard.

  Between you and me, nearly 10,000 people were killed in the small county town, there were no combat troops in the city, only logistics personnel, and there were no weapons, many people fought with carrying poles and iron spoons, so the loss was relatively large.

  But your militia discipline is too poor, seeing the silver coins all over the ground, they actually dismounted and scrambled for them, we were able to organize our troops and use firepower to drive out the militia who had broken into the city.

  Unfortunately, we organized over 800 people to chase out of the city, but were ambushed by you and unable to break through, all died in battle.

  In the south of the city, on a small hill, my 74th Regiment was stationed. I never thought that cavalry could ride horses up the mountain. After our position was breached, we all retreated into the bunkers to resist. Your soldiers swarmed up and actually used their sabers to chop at the bunkers, so ferocious, resulting in the entire regiment being annihilated.

  This was the most perfect battle of your cavalry's offensive tactics, and I was in the city at that time.

  After this battle, the commander of the 9th Army, Sun Yuqing, was wounded and later dismissed from his post. Chen Bozhen, the chief of staff, and more than a dozen divisional and regimental officers were killed. The army suffered nearly half casualties, lost its radio station and supplies, and was severely weakened.

  "From this, I think your attacking ability is basically unmatched in today's China."

  "Now that you know our army's attack is fierce, why don't you hurry up and withdraw? If you stay here, you will be eliminated by our army sooner or later." Ma Yuanhai said with a smile.

  "The Battle of Gular was purely an encounter battle, and we lost due to unclear enemy situation."

  In fact, you didn't gain much advantage either. The city wasn't taken, more than 2,000 people died, and it only caused us relatively heavy losses.

  "After this battle, our army also took effective defensive measures against the characteristics of cavalry, such as setting up deer fences, digging trenches, improving shooting accuracy, and not pursuing retreating enemies, which greatly reduced personnel losses."

  "However, your army is still retreating without stopping and we have also eliminated the Fifth Legion. Doesn't this prove that our cavalry's attack on your unit is effective?"

  "You should know that our army was fighting far away from the rear, without supplies. Later on, we basically relied on cold weapons to fight. Strategically, there were hesitations and delays in withdrawing troops, and communication between units was not smooth, which allowed you to take advantage of the gap."

  We lost at strategy, but not at tactics.

  Imagine that the three thousand people under General Dong Zhen's command, who lacked guns and ammunition, were able to hold on for six or seven days relying on the high platform and city walls. It can be seen that cavalry without mobility is not very effective.

  "If our troops had communicated smoothly and reinforcements had arrived quickly, the outcome would have been vastly different."

  "Our army can take advantage of the mobility and numerical superiority of our cavalry to launch another assault on the surrounded and supported Gwei troops, you will still suffer losses." Zhang Shizhi said discontentedly.

  Chen Haisong looked at him and said sincerely, "Yes, I admit that with the current equipment and mobility of our army, we can't gain an advantage in a field battle or isolated defense against you, and will eventually be slowly consumed."

  So I chose not to engage you head-on, but instead took advantage of your optimistic mood and the weakness of your rear defense, using our army's advantages in guerrilla warfare, mobile warfare, close combat, and surprise attacks on your scattered and isolated troops, finally controlling your vital points.

  "The fall of Zhangyue will be the turning point of the entire campaign."

  In fact, the role of cavalry in modern armies has become smaller and smaller, and many countries no longer have established cavalry units.

  The reason lies in the fact that cavalry has too single a role, with large targets and weak firepower, relying on close combat. Flanking attacks may be possible, but frontal assaults are bound to suffer losses, as artillery, machine guns, landmines, and trenches can all effectively block the mobility of cavalry, eliminating them from the battlefield without even needing close combat.

  Our army's defeat was due in part to improper deployment and partly because of weak firepower, with too few automatic weapons scattered about and a lack of ammunition.

  "If I were to go back to Gulong now and command a division, I could completely annihilate your two cavalry brigades' attack of over 3,000 people."

  "I don't know how Director Chen will use his troops." Zhang Shizhi asked disapprovingly.

  Chen Haisong casually picked up a piece of paper and drew for less than a minute, and the map of Gulang County town and its surrounding terrain appeared before several people.

  "He pointed at the map and said: 'Set up an infantry battalion plus an artillery company in the highlands south of the city, to intercept enemy forces from the south at any time and assist in attacking other directions;

  In the east and west of the city, each with an infantry regiment, each regiment has a machine gun company, an artillery company and three infantry companies.

  One hundred meters in front of the position, set up abatis, chevaux de frise and trenches, and lay out landmines.

  The front defense position is 900 meters wide, with 120 rifles, 18 light machine guns, 9 heavy machine guns, and 9 mortars.

  When the cavalry approaches beyond 500 meters, the mortar fires and disrupts the formation. At 500 meters, the heavy machine gun sweeps and disperses the group target. At 200 meters, the light machine gun joins in the sweep. When approaching obstacles, the advance is blocked, personnel accumulate, and all firepower opens up.

  "Even if you send in a thousand men at once, I'm afraid only a few will be able to escape this hail of bullets."

  Chen Haisong watched the two enemy leaders staring at the map in deep thought, and added: "Of course, this is the result without considering your air bombing, artillery preparation and other situations."

  We will eliminate the threats they may pose through fortification works, digging traffic trenches and hiding caves.

  You can also attack from the front and rear or divide your troops to block, prioritize solving the high ground in the south of the city, but this time, your troops cannot rush into the city directly, because there are trenches, not wide or deep, but crisscrossing, unable to gallop horses, as long as you stop in front of the formation, you will be met with precise killing by rifles.

  "You can't ride a horse up the mountain either, there are steep cliffs, two meters high, ladders to climb, hand grenades exploding, detouring from other places, landmines, mortars, machine guns." The two of them were sweating profusely upon hearing this.

  The prerequisite for defeating cavalry in a defensive battle is to slow them down, the basis is firepower, a large number of explosives and automatic weapons, combined with accurate rifle shooting and setting up obstacles, making it impossible for the cavalry to survive.

  In the previous segment, our army had fewer weapons and a shortage of bullets, and responded poorly, which allowed Ma's cavalry to show off their might. However, now that the Independent Regiment has 4,000 men, a large number of machine guns and mortars, as long as we set up defensive positions and coordinate our firepower well, it would be hard not to win.

  I really want you to see with your own eyes what it's like when a large cavalry unit charges forward and gets destroyed. What do you think?

  Zhang Shizhi shook his head and said: "This is unimaginable, and has never been encountered before. Which army would give a regiment so many heavy weapons?"

  Western countries have long entered the era of automatic weapons and heavy artillery, with a large number of armored vehicles equipped, with firepower, speed, and protection far beyond our imagination. You haven't seen it, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

  The Japanese army, which is about to become our opponent in battle, far surpasses us in terms of firepower density, shooting accuracy, and the number of artillery, several times over, and also has a small number of tanks.

  "What's even more difficult to deal with is the Bushido spirit of Japanese soldiers, who are loyal to their country and ruthless to their enemies, unyielding and taking it as an honor to die on the battlefield. They have a high level of training and strong tactical skills. Once they meet on the battlefield, one must be mentally prepared and take necessary precautions."

  "In addition, don't always think about facing the enemy head-on on the battlefield. The purpose of war is to eliminate the enemy's living forces. As long as this goal can be achieved, all tactical means are permissible."

  Your Liao Ming army was accurately blocked by our army in the wild, flanked and surrounded, and split to consume the land.

  Ma Bu was ambushed and killed in his sleep at his garrison.

  Ma Quanyi's team was ambushed and forced to surrender after being trapped in a house.

  Your second trip was ambushed and divided into captivity.

  "Time and place may differ, but the effect is the same; it's all about seizing the opportunity, meticulous planning, and bold action."

  "Is there no chance for our cavalry then?" Zhang Shizhi asked with a worried expression.

  "In the country, cavalry is still a formidable force, playing a significant role in field battles, because everyone is poor and has few cavalry-destroying forces, unable to restrain its mobility and speed."

  But in foreign wars, it is absolutely impossible to launch a head-on attack. Utilizing mobility to carry out rear raids, flank encirclement and battlefield pursuit will definitely yield remarkable results.

  You should study these aspects carefully, come up with a good plan and conduct specialized training."

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