Start as a young leader, grow bigger and stronger, and create more glory

Chapter 268: Mountain Path, Circuitous Tactics

The Type 85 122mm self-propelled howitzer is the main force of the regimental artillery battalion of the armored regiment and mechanized infantry regiment. It uses the Type 85 armored vehicle chassis. Like the Type 86 infantry fighting vehicle and Type 63 armored vehicle, it can cross the river directly without any preparation.

At 8 o'clock, the 60st Machine Gun Regiment, which was temporarily organized into the 1th Army, crossed the river at Shanyang and held the position together with the 1st Mechanized Infantry Regiment.

To the north of Gongguo, the 8th Mechanized Infantry Regiment had already successfully crossed the river with several armored vehicles, but they were in trouble again.

This side is the same as the east side, with half-human-high weeds and slender trees, and armored vehicles cannot pass through.

"Captain, what should we do? The tanks can't get through, and we can't push the trees? Our armored vehicles can't do that!"

The company commander looked at the other side of the river, then at the big tree that was blocking the road. "Since we know this road can get behind the enemy, if we withdraw, we can just let the artillery fire and blast a way out! But the sound of the explosion will definitely attract the enemy, and then this road will be meaningless!"

"Captain, we have to find a way out without alerting the enemy. This is almost impossible!"

As if he had made a decision, the company commander punched the armored vehicle hard and said, "That's it. We have hundreds of mortar shells with us. We will use the mortars. The explosion is small and should not alarm the Japanese.

But the distance we can set up the mortar is limited, and the grenades will hit the treetops!"

The platoon leader who was speaking seemed to understand what the company commander meant. He said in a resolute tone: "Company commander, you give the order. We will do whatever you say!"

"Use the rocket launcher first, but we have too few rockets, which is definitely not enough! For the rest, use the mortar to lower the firing angle as much as possible, but the space is limited and we may be accidentally injured by shrapnel. Brothers, do you dare to fight this battle with me? If we survive, we will be heroes. If we are killed in the explosion, we will be dead heroes!"

"Done!"

"Done!"

......

So, the semi-suicidal explosion of the 8st Company of the 6st Battalion of the 82th Mechanized Infantry Regiment began. The main reason was that the shore was only a few meters away from the bushes and fortunately it was wider, so two platoons of six armored vehicles were stopped. If the mm grenade exploded, its shrapnel could reach the entire shore.

boom....

This was the explosion of a rocket fired from an RPG-7 rocket launcher. The caliber of the rocket was 85 mm, and it just happened to break a tree off from the roots.

"Captain, it's feasible. But we only have 12 rockets, which is far from enough. We can only rely on mortars!"

"Then use the mortar, and use an armored vehicle at the bottom to bear the recoil. Remember to hide behind the armored vehicle immediately after firing to avoid being hit by shrapnel!"

Then, a series of explosions were heard. Some trees were directly blown down, and those that were not blown down were pushed down by an armored vehicle.

Ten minutes later, the road extended inward by about 10 meters, but three soldiers were killed by grenade fragments because they failed to dodge in time, and two others were injured.

"Report to the battalion commander. The rest will be left to them. We will abandon the armored vehicles and walk to the front to guard and prevent the Japanese from discovering this place!"

At 8:30, the main force of the 8th Mechanized Infantry Regiment began to cross the river and open up a road overnight.

At 10 o'clock in the evening, the temporary command post of the 3rd Mechanized Infantry Division of Gongguo.

"Reporting to the division commander, the 8th Mechanized Infantry Regiment has crossed the river. After advancing 3 kilometers, we arrived at an abandoned village. There is a small road leading south, and no trace of the Japanese was found!"

Fang Yue, who was standing by, was immediately overjoyed. He looked at the guide next to him and asked, "Fellow countryman, do you know where that is?"

The guide thought for a moment and replied, "If I'm right, that village should be called Tangli Village. There was a famine in the early years, and the people in that village moved away, so no one went there. There is a road leading to Baoshan County, but no one has walked on it for many years, and it's probably overgrown with grass. And that road is very narrow. I see that your cars are so big, there is no way to drive through!"

"What?" Fang Yue was delighted again: "You mean, that road leads to Baoshan County?"

"Yes, that's right! I went there to visit relatives 10 years ago."

This was an unexpected gain, a huge gain. If we could take Baoshan County directly through this road, we could form a huge encirclement and surround the Japanese between the Nujiang River and the Lancang River.

"Advisor Wei, time is urgent. So, I will be in charge of Gongguo's offensive here, and you will lead your 8th Mechanized Infantry Regiment and 101st Motorized Infantry Division to go around and directly attack Baoshan County!"

As the former commander-in-chief of the war zone, Wei Li must have thought of this excellent opportunity at the same time. If it was used well, it would be possible to wipe out all the Japanese in Yunnan Province.

"Okay, I'll lead the troops and set off immediately under the cover of night. Let's contact each other by radio if there's any situation!"

Then Wei Li looked at the guide and said, "Countryman, I'll have to trouble you to lead the way for us."

The guide was a middle-aged man in his 30s. He straightened his chest and shouted, "Don't worry, no one knows that road better than me. As long as we are fighting the Japanese, I will definitely help!"

In the middle of the night, under the leadership of Wei Li and Dai Ming, the 8th Mechanized Infantry Regiment, the 101st Motorized Infantry Regiment, the 102nd Motorized Infantry Regiment and the 103rd Motorized Infantry Regiment, a total of four armored vehicle regiments quietly crossed the river overnight.

Only the 7th Mechanized Infantry Regiment and the 7th Armored Regiment remained in Gongguo, but the artillery fire here did not stop. The purpose was to attract the attention of the Japanese and buy time for Wei Li to go around.

"Making dumplings? That's interesting. Fang Yue and the others can come up with some new tricks!"

Xu Le was also slightly surprised when he learned about this, and asked Xu Da: "Xu Da, this seems to be the first time we use tactics in combat! You said that this little Japanese is really something, with the terrain of Yunnan Province, even the former Sichuan Army and Guizhou Army could not break in, and this little Japanese dared to rush in without knowing the place, it's really like you don't take the road to heaven, but you insist on breaking into hell!"

Xu Da said worriedly, "Young Marshal, if Advisor Wei and his men want to go around, they will have to abandon their armored vehicles and move forward on foot. The weapons and ammunition they can carry are also limited. Once they start their attack on Baoshan County, the Japanese in Gongguo and Gongpo will definitely come to support them. Although they will not be able to counter-encircle Advisor Wei and his men, they will be under considerable pressure in the short term!"

"That's true, but they have a lot of mortars, which can play a huge role in this kind of terrain! And we also have the air force!" Xu Le thought for a moment and said:

"Communicator, send a telegram to Advisor Wei. From now on, the command of Aviation Brigade 1 will be handed over to him. Tell Brigade Commander Wang to be ready to attack at any time to support Advisor Wei's troops!"