Bismarck once said:
The truth is only within the range of the cannon
So is the offense!
The defensive depth of a Japanese C-level division is generally three to five kilometers;
If the attacking side does not have enough artillery, it may be difficult for a Japanese group to break through the defense line for several days;
Because they can constantly replenish personnel and equipment, China cannot afford such a positional war. For example, in Guanjia'ao, it is difficult for tens of thousands of Eighth Route Army troops to break through the circular defense line of hundreds of Japanese.
It can be said that the range of the cannon determines the scale of the offensive battle you can wage. The reason why Chu Xiong dared to attack the Japanese defensive positions at the division level was because he had the Wei Shen Cannon with a range of up to 5 kilometers, and a large number of guns with a range of several The 100-meter Wei Yixiao Pao is his confidence!
With a salvo of 32 Wei Shen cannons, the Japanese defensive positions were almost all within the range of the artillery fire, which meant that the Japanese defense had no depth.
A large number of positions were destroyed, a large number of personnel were killed and injured, and the defense system was smashed to pieces;
After Wei Shenpao's indiscriminate attack, Wei Yixiao's cannon came close and fired, focusing on the Japanese within a few hundred meters, and easily broke open the Japanese's turtle shell.
Don’t underestimate the heartless artillery. Huaihai has fought annihilation battles against artillery regiment-level targets. Of course, this must be coordinated with large-scale howitzers and field artillery;
This is similar to the offensive method used by Wei Shenpao and Wei Yixiao on the Zezhou battlefield.
The Japanese under the city of Zezhou were completely stunned by the bombing, with heavy casualties and heavy casualties. The command system at all levels was almost paralyzed, and the defensive formation began to loosen.
Naturally, Master Chen and Chu Xiong would not miss this excellent opportunity. They issued the order to "blow the charge horn" almost at the same time.
The charge horns sounded almost simultaneously from the north and south directions, which frightened the Japanese soldiers. The main attacking regiments from the south and north directions, the 882nd Regiment and the 771st Regiment, were like two huge awls, wedged hard into the Japanese defense lines. middle;
Their purpose is to use swift and violent attacks to quickly penetrate the Japanese defense line and cut the Japanese defense line in half.
"Ta-ta-ta..."
"Boom boom boom..."
The offensive formation of the 882nd Regiment looked like a huge triangular pyramid from a high altitude, quickly wedged into the junction of the 71st and 72nd Divisions. Although the two Japanese divisions had more than 10,000 people left, There are no more than a few hundred people who can fight the 882nd Regiment in the middle position, and other troops are beyond their reach.
The Japanese defense line was only less than three kilometers deep. After being covered by the artillery fire of Wei Shenpao and Wei Yixiao cannon, the positions were almost destroyed, the organization was in chaos, and it was impossible to organize an effective blocking;
The vanguard battalion of the 882nd Regiment pierced the Japanese defense line almost at a trot, and the other two battalions followed closely to expand the results.
As soon as the 882nd Regiment penetrated the Japanese defense line, the 1st and 2nd Preliminary Regiments came out from the left and right wings and began to cut up the 71st and 72nd Divisions who were fighting on their own;
At the same time, more than 10,000 Jin-Sui troops in the city also fought out from the south gate and east gate, echoing the Eighth Route Army and attacking from both sides.
The Japanese completely collapsed and began to break out;
If they don't break out, once the cut is in place, they will be surrounded and annihilated, and no one can escape!
Seeing that the Japs were defeated, Chu Xiong decisively issued a general attack order. The Preliminary 3rd and 4th Regiments fought out from their preset positions to chase the defeated Japs. The 881st Regiment served as a reserve just in case.
When Chu Xiong goes to war, even if he is sure of victory, he will leave enough reserves to prevent the enemy from taking advantage of him.
Soon after the 71st and 72nd Divisions were defeated, the 73rd Division also began to be defeated. The battle soon lost its suspense and turned into a situation where the Japanese were on the run and the Eighth Route Army and Jinsui Army were chasing them.
Chasing and annihilating enemies is also very particular. You cannot chase them in a swarm, you must pay attention to tactics, so as to be efficient!
The independent brigade has specially trained regiment and battalion level commanders in the previous training. To put it simply, it means cutting-encircling-annihilating;
Cut off a piece of the enemy, leaving a part of the troops to surround it, and then begin to annihilate it;
Other troops continue to pursue, cut, surround, and annihilate!
This tactic seems slow, but it is very efficient!
As long as the enemy's troops are cut off, no one can escape. This is also a tactic of mobile warfare.
Rather than injuring ten of his fingers, it would be better to cut off one of his fingers!
In the process of chasing and annihilating the Japanese, each unit has a clear division of labor and performs its own duties, so the efficiency of killing the Japanese is very high;
The Japanese squadrons and brigade were cut up, surrounded and annihilated by the independent brigade regiments, and suffered heavy losses!
The Jinsui Army was different. They only chased in a swarm and competed with the Japanese. They looked very powerful, but in fact they didn't kill many Japanese.
The reason is very simple. Those who escape will always run faster than those who are pursued. Moreover, the Japanese will send small groups of troops to block the attack and delay the pursuit of the pursuers.
The pursuit and annihilation battle lasted until noon. It wasn't that we didn't want to pursue them anymore, but that we couldn't run any more. They were chased for more than ten miles. That would be tragic!
All the troops stopped one after another, and under the leadership of the battalion and company commanders, they cleaned the battlefield and consolidated the results;
This battle has already made a lot of money, so you have to know how to stop when you are good.
Because the troops were too scattered in pursuit, it took a lot of time to clean the battlefield and tally the results. The results were not tallied until dark.
Since the Independent Brigade adopted tactics of division, encirclement and annihilation, it was actually fighting a war of annihilation. The results were the first to be counted. The chief of staff counted the number of enemies annihilated and captured by each regiment. Once compiled, the total figures came out;
He excitedly reported to Chu Xiong:
"Reporting to the brigade commander, a total of more than 5,600 Japs were killed, and 36 75mm field guns, 25 infantry guns, more than 80 mortars, more than 3,000 long and short guns were seized, and grenades, bullets, and supplies cannot be counted."
Since it was a joint operation between the Eighth Route Army and the Shanxi-Sui Army, it is really difficult to distinguish the outcome of the battle. We can only say that each has his own story and expresses his side.
After the three parties gathered together, the total number of enemies annihilated was roughly calculated, which was about 12,000;
If we add in the nearly 10,000 Japs that were wiped out by the Jinsui Army before, the Japs lost no less than 20,000 soldiers on the Zezhou battlefield!
This number is indeed difficult to calculate. Perhaps only the Japanese know it.
Since the Jinsui Army was the protagonist in this battle, and the Eighth Route Army was just here to help, the two sides agreed that the number of Japs to be annihilated would be two to the Jinsui Army and one to the Eighth Route Army;
The captured weapons and equipment also belong to whoever captures them. Zezhou City belongs to the Shanxi-Sui Army, and the 81st Division of the Eighth Route Army only takes away the captured trophies.
The Jinsui Army gained fame, the Eighth Route Army gained benefits, and each got what they needed!
In the Battle of Zezhou, the Jinsui Army's five divisions had 40,000 men, but in the end only 15,000 were left able to fight. Even if several thousand wounded were added, they could barely make up 20,000, with more than half of them being casualties and severely damaged.
The 81st Division suffered a total of more than 2,000 casualties, mainly from the North Attack Group;
The Independence Brigade lost 285 people and injured more than 480 people;
The 81st Brigade lost 537 people and injured more than 1,100 people;
The reason why there were so few casualties was that this battle was almost resolved with artillery. When the infantry charged, the Japanese had little resistance.
On December 23, with the joint efforts of the Jinsui Army and the Eighth Route Army, the Battle of Zezhou ended successfully, with more than 20,000 enemy troops annihilated and no trace of enemy troops captured.
The Jinsui Army took the lead in releasing the battle report, and word of Zezhou's victory spread throughout China overnight!
