The order I received before was to hold on until noon on the 30th, which is tomorrow. The British and Indian troops usually do not attack at night, which means that we only need to be prepared to repel three or four more attacks.
Therefore, Zhou Changfeng was not stingy when arranging the fire support plan. Except for reserving ten shells for each gun as emergency ammunition, the rest were evenly distributed.
The base number of 80mm mortar shells is eighty rounds. Since we were traveling over mountains and ridges with light equipment, we only brought this base number.
But now it seems that the situation has changed? The retreat of the 12th Division was not smooth. The battlefield conditions were changing rapidly and anything could happen. Zhou Changfeng could not complain about this.
In the afternoon, he convened a meeting with the chief officers of each team.
Looking at the five or six officers of varying heights, fatness, and thinness in front of him, Zhou Changfeng, with a calm expression, briefly described the situation between the enemy and ourselves, and informed him of the latest instructions from his superiors.
Liu Qidong, whose military uniform was covered in dust, said in surprise: "If the defense time is extended, our ammunition will be completely insufficient. It will be difficult to fight this battle after the mortar shells are exhausted."
"We have to fight even if it's difficult, right?" Zhou Changfeng smiled lightly and continued: "We have to be prepared to hold on for two extra days, that is, until the night of the 2nd."
Xue Can said with some trepidation: "This...battalion commander, they estimate that they will attack once more today, and then at least four times tomorrow, and at most until tomorrow night...most of the ammunition will be used up..."
"Just a reminder to make you mentally prepared. The headquarters is still not sure whether the 12th Division can retreat across the Janamu River on time. If not, we will continue to be stuck here." Zhou Changfeng pointed. Pointing to the sky, "As for the ammunition issue, the command will coordinate with the Air Force and try to carry out airdrops."
The officers present all nodded and said nothing.
Zhou Changfeng knew that as a commander, he must remain calm at all times - if the backbone of a team is not calm, it will not be long before the team falls apart.
He said calmly: "After two battles, what do you think?"
Liu Qidong naturally had the greatest say in this regard. He replied without hesitation: "The training of the soldiers is not bad, and the quality of the officers is quite high, but the will to fight is weak and morale is not high; there are no bright spots in tactics, that is, the artillery has destroyed the infantry." After the charge and infantry charge, the artillery bombardment was supplemented by smoke screen support and flank attacks. The offensive formation was mainly a rear triangle."
Sun Cheng, the second captain next to him, pushed up his glasses and said disdainfully: "To put it bluntly, he is too dull and can only follow the script. However, soldiers are unpredictable and water is unpredictable. If you don't know how to adapt to changes, you will naturally suffer losses."
Zhou Changfeng put his hands on his hips, pretending to be helpless and shaking his head: "Their previous attack was really... Haha, when they were mainly attacking the highlands, they also sent a detachment to pretend to attack the city to contain the firepower here? No, they just ignored it. Rushing to the high ground..."
Xue Can, who was smiling, also echoed: "The battalion commander is very knowledgeable. The direction and location of the enemy's detour are very different from what you said. The team we sent to the woods made a lot of money."
"Then how will these guys fight next?"
"Let me tell you, I think we need to send a team under the cover of chariots to go straight to the south of the city and block between the high ground and the city in order to separate us."
"Chariots are difficult to deal with. We only have four combat guns in total."
The officers discussed the matter in a flurry of conversation, tracing their fingers back and forth on the map.
Zhou Changfeng picked up the kettle from the chair next to him, unscrewed the lid and took a sip of tea. Then he wiped his mouth and said casually: "Probably they will go around the large forest in the north and set up positions there to contain our urban area; Then send a detachment to cut into the junction between the city and the highlands, hold on to the spot to cut off the connection between our two places, and finally besiege the highlands with all our strength."
Cannon captain Fan Wenhai blinked and speculated: "The battalion commander won't be right this time, right? If so, that would be amazing."
Xie Wancheng glared at him when he heard this, "What are you talking about, you skinny guy? Isn't it a good thing that you got what you expected?"
"Battal Commander, what did you expect?" Xue Can asked curiously.
"It's very simple, because this is the most reasonable offensive deployment. The British lack experience and are not lacking in brains. They can also learn." Zhou Changfeng yawned and said nonchalantly: "But the tuition is about the same. Two hundred lives.”
"Indeed." Xie Wancheng nodded thoughtfully, "Then how are you going to respond, battalion commander? We currently have limited troops and cannot take the initiative to attack."
His words really touched Zhou Changfeng's heart. Now that the ratio of his own troops to the enemy's forces was at an absolute disadvantage of six to one, he really couldn't take the initiative to attack. Otherwise, he would have to ambush a detachment in the woods and then severely deceive Ying Yin. Army once.
However, there are many ways to trick people. If one method doesn't work, just try another one.
Zhou Changfeng shrugged, picked up a plan from the side and handed it over, and everyone gathered together to read the scrawled words.
"Oh!" Fan Wenhai's eyes widened and he said in surprise: "Battalion Commander, you are so... heartless... uh... ruthless, extremely ruthless."
Liu Qidong also bared his teeth and marveled, "The strategy of using fire to replace soldiers is brilliant."
"How many incineration bombs are there in total?"
"Four boxes, twelve rounds in total."
"Okay, time waits for no one, get ready now."
"Got the order!"
In fact, what is different from what Zhou Changfeng said is that the commander of Task Force Wilson is not inexperienced. He has served longer than Zhou Changfeng.
Henry Wilson was born in London, graduated from the prestigious Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, and participated in the brutal European War. Ten years ago, he was transferred to a battalion commander of the 1st Brigade of the British Army stationed in Indu. Seven years later, He was promoted to commander of the 6th British Brigade and was promoted to major general in April last year.
Wilson is tall, friendly, experienced, and has a flexible tactical style. The reason why the two attacks ended in disastrous defeat may be attributed to errors in intelligence judgment.
The intelligence officers of this task force still thought that the Ming army facing the enemy was another small force sent by the 12th Division. They believed that they had suffered considerable losses and lacked ammunition supplies, so they were embarrassed. hit.
The basis of their judgment was based on aerial reconnaissance. The Third Guards Brigade, which came for reinforcements, was still marching in the direction of Medog. It was expected that it would take three days to reach the battlefield. The remaining two divisions were being restrained and retreating slowly, so this It is unlikely that any fully-organized Chinese troops will arrive at Demaghi for some time.
Crossing the mountains? This is a possibility that is tacitly excluded from the outset.
As for MI6, which should have played a major role, they failed to provide effective intelligence because they found that there was a completely opposite conflict between the intelligence sent back by agents behind enemy lines and a key informant, so they could not tell whether it was true or false.
