Chapter 26: Defensive Barracks Step (Upper)

  Liaobu Town, Sanying Command Center.

  After sorting out the spoils of war, after supplementing some prisoners of war, Sun Xinghua expanded the machine gun company. Using a 75MM field artillery exchanged with smart computers and a field artillery captured from Chen Jun's army, six heavy machine guns, and twelve light machine guns, Sun Xinghua expanded the machine gun company into four reinforced companies.

  The first row is an artillery row, with four 75mm field guns under its jurisdiction.

  The second row is a heavy machine gun row, with five Madsen heavy machine guns under its jurisdiction.

  The third row is a heavy machine gun row, with five Madsen heavy machine guns under its jurisdiction.

  The fourth row is a light machine gun row, with twelve Madsen light machine guns under its jurisdiction.

  To effectively lead the machine gun company, Sun Xinghua transferred Sanlian Party Representative Guan Linzheng to the machine gun company as deputy company commander, and Military Supply Officer Sun Guangping concurrently served as Sanlian Party Representative.

  Cai Guangjie, the representative of the Third Battalion Party Committee, also served as the party representative of the machine gun company.

  "Commander, how should the troops be deployed? Should the entire Second Company be transferred to the outer city defense positions?" Cai Guangjie walked over to Sun Xinghua and asked.

  Xun Xinghua spread the map on the table and took a close look at it.

  "Now it's most likely that we'll arrive at Liao Bu Town first, where only Yuan Shaojiu's defeated troops are left. As for Chen Jun's reinforcement troops, I think it's very likely they will depart from Dongkeng Town, so let's deal with Yuan Shaojiu's defeated troops first, and as for Dongkeng Town, send a small team to observe." Sun Xinghua thought for a moment before looking at Cai Guangju.

  Just as Sun Xinghua finished speaking, the deputy commander of the machine gun company, Guan Linzheng, the second company commander Hu Wei, the party representative Song Huiwen, the third company commander Dong Tianyong, and the party representative Sun Guangping walked in from outside.

  "You've come just in time, let's discuss how to deploy the troops." Cai Guangju smiled when he saw these officers.

  Everyone's morale is great, and the battles along the way have been almost all smooth sailing, especially the ambush on Chen Jun's transportation team. Each company has made a lot of gains, not only acquiring a large number of hand grenades, but also replenishing a lot of guns and ammunition.

  There were more than 700 rifles captured, and Sun Xinghua left 200 of them behind. The rest of the rifles were sealed and prepared to be handed over to the regimental headquarters to shut He Yingqin's mouth. As for Chiang Kai-shek, Sun Xinghua drew out a portion of ammunition to hand over to him, in order to shut his mouth as well.

  "Captain, you can give the order now. I trust you." Dong Tianyong was only twenty-five years old and had been through many battles. He could see that Captain Sun Xinghua in front of him was indeed capable, otherwise he wouldn't have won victory after victory.

  "Yes, Battalion Commander, you can give orders directly." The Second Company Commander Hu Wei also said a sentence.

  Sun Xinghua furrowed his brow and smiled, saying: "You all say your own views."

  This is not that Sun Xinghua has no plans, but he does not want these officers to be too dependent on themselves. He now needs to cultivate the independence of these officers. The battlefield is changing rapidly, and relying solely on instructions for combat will eventually lead to defeat, especially in future battles with modernized troops, which will test the commander's battlefield command experience even more.

  "Commander, we should take advantage of the outer fortifications to attack Yuan Shuai's defeated soldiers. Their defeated troops will definitely arrive here first. We can use this opportunity to launch a surprise attack and win a victory." Hu Wei immediately added that on the outskirts of Lao Botown, there were fortifications built by Chen Jun's soldiers, which had been reinforced by the three battalions and were now very solid. Moreover, since Chen Jun was defeated, he would not have many heavy weapons, so Hu Wei suggested defending the outer positions.

  Sun Xinghua nodded, but didn't say anything, and looked at Dong Tianyong beside him.

  Dong Tianyong walked up to the map, pointing in the direction of Dongkeng Town and said: "If Chen Jun has reinforcements, they will definitely depart from Dongkeng Town. We'll dispatch a small unit to monitor Dongkeng Town, concentrate our forces to annihilate the defeated troops, lure them into the city, and take advantage of the complex terrain within the city to encircle and annihilate the defeated army."

  "No, there are still civilians in the city, how can we fight inside the city. We must intercept Chen's troops outside the city and engage them in battle outside." Cai Guangji hastily said a sentence.

  Dong Tianyong didn't continue speaking and instead looked at Sun Xinghua with his eyes.

  Sun Xinghua shook his head, it can't be done this way now. Once the troops do something that harms the civilians, let alone the issue of public opinion, even Chiang Kai-shek won't easily forgive himself. Although luring Chen's soldiers into the city can reduce casualties for the troops, Sun Xinghua dare not do such a thing.

  "What you all said makes some sense, but now we can't lure Chen Jun's soldiers into the city to fight. Once Chen Jun's soldiers enter the city, the civilians will suffer, not to mention that we are not incapable of blocking them outside." Sun Xinghua pointed at the map and calmly said a sentence.

  The officers saw Sun Xinghua speak up and turned to look at him.

  "Company 2, Platoon 1, equipped with three machine gun platoons and a mortar platoon, deployed on the outer line of defense. Company 2, Platoon 2, artillery platoon, and infantry platoon, deployed on the second line of defense. The company headquarters and three platoons are held in reserve."

  "Three companies of the 7th battalion are monitoring Chen Jun's movements in Dongkeng Town, with the company headquarters bringing the 8th company, and the artillery company is responsible for defending the city."

  "Third Company, Ninth Platoon, Battalion Headquarters Guard Squad, serving as the battalion's reserve force."

  Sun Xinghua quickly gave orders.

  "Commander, the entire machine gun company is assigned to the first line of defense. If the Japanese break through the first line of defense, we'll likely lose most of our heavy weapons. Moreover, the first line only has one infantry platoon, it's unlikely they can hold their ground." Cai Guangju expressed his opinion after listening.

  The other two battalion commanders also looked over at Sun Xinghua, apparently thinking that his deployment was somewhat unreasonable.

  "I know you're worried about the insufficient troops on the front line. However, you're focusing on personnel but neglecting the weapons. The three machine gun squads of the machine gun company have a total of ten heavy machine guns and twelve light machine guns, plus four Browning automatic rifles in one squad, with extremely strong firepower. And behind them are two 37MM infantry cannons and four 75MM field artillery supporting, Chen's troops lack heavy weapons, they want to take down the first line of defense, it's probably very difficult." Sun Xinghua said seriously.

  Ten heavy machine guns, sixteen light machine guns, against troops that were almost all rifles, and occupying the defensive side, had a great advantage, so Sun Xinghua dared to give such an order.

  The weapons are heavy in front and light behind, the troops are light in front and heavy behind. This is also a common deployment used by the Liberation Army in the liberation war of later generations. Often after attacking one side occupies a line, the troops have already paid a great price in casualties, and the numerous forces behind launch a counterattack, and the attacking side cannot hold on.

  "The company commander is right. Even if the first line of defense falls, we can concentrate our troops in the back and quickly reinforce them. The Chen army soldiers want to occupy the first line of defense, I'm afraid they will have to pay a great price in casualties." said Second Lieutenant Hu Wei.

  Cai Guangju also understood Sun Xinghua's intention and didn't say anything more.

  The officers saluted and began to return to their respective positions on the battlefield to make preparations.

  Updated early with one more chapter... Seeking recommendation votes...