"Wuhan has been lost." Zhuo Fei was the last to leave Bremerhaven, but he didn't expect Zhuo Fei, who set off last, to catch up with Lin Biao and them in Sri Lanka two days ago, and before Zhuo Fei, who was reunited in the supply point, became happy, he received a telegram from China.

The loss of Wuhan had long been expected by Zhuo Fei, and at the beginning of his lobbying of the Nationalist Government and the CCP for cooperation, he had already foreseen that Wuhan would inevitably fall. "How did this come to pass?" Two of the officers of the Nationalist Army were drawn from the Wuhan Defense Line, and although the Wuhan Defense Line was not impregnable, the Nationalist Army had always believed that the Wuhan Defense Line they had built should be supported for at least a year.

"Although the Wuhan defense line, our troops have an advantage, but in terms of firepower configuration is much inferior to the Japanese army, this is an offensive and defensive battle, and the fight is a firepower duel." After witnessing the heavy firepower assault battle of the German army, Lin Biao and others also began to pay attention to the lethality caused by the heavy firepower configuration on the battlefield. It is an indisputable fact that the Japanese army's heavy firepower has always been stronger than that of the national army, starting from the Lugou Bridge Incident, the Songhu Battlefield, the Nanjing Battlefield, and the Battle of Xuzhou.

"No way, who said that our weapons configuration is not as good as the little devil, but now that we also have tanks and artillery, I don't believe that the little devil can continue to run rampant like this." The officer of the National Army who spoke looked at the ships in the harbor that had been restocked, for in the hold of those ships were tanks and cannons that gave him confidence.

"In fact, the sophistication of weapons is not the absolute factor that dominates the victory on the battlefield, I personally believe that the formulation of tactics and the execution of soldiers are the most critical factors for battlefield victory." The replenished fleet slowly left the port, and when they set off again, Zhuo Fei and the others had already gathered on one ship, and it was Zhuo Fei who expressed his opinion at this time. "When I went to Chongqing to lobby the chairman of the committee, I already knew that the battle of Wuhan would end in failure, because it was imperative for the Japanese army to take Wuhan, and there were too many loopholes in the tactics of the national army."

"Ladies and gentlemen, please look at the map, the Japanese once talked about conquering China in three months, but unfortunately their wild talk ended up being a joke. The capture of Shanghai was a strategy for the Japanese to attack north and south, and the subsequent attack on Nanjing was to force the Nationalist government to surrender to Japan, believing that as long as the Chinese capital was occupied, the Chinese should bow to the victorious side like those dynasties in history. Of course, this idea of theirs also failed, and the Chinese did not give up resistance. ”

"The chairman of the committee moved the capital to Chongqing, while most of the government offices and the non-commissioned high command remained in Wuhan, which in a sense has become the political, military, and economic center of China. The Japanese who were bent on occupying all of China absolutely did not want to see China re-emerge, and the occupation of Wuhan would have been very helpful for the Japanese army to use the water to transport troops, so it was not unusual for the Japanese to occupy Wuhan in such a situation. ”

"If you study the Japanese nation carefully, you will find that there is a stubborn character in the bones of the Japanese people that we think is stupid. It is precisely this stubborn character of theirs that makes the soldiers of the Japanese army often appear to be decisive and assault when carrying out battle orders. The national army suffered heavy casualties on the main battlefield, and the defensive areas were also retreating again and again, and there were many new soldiers in the army. In such a state, it is undoubtedly a fool's dream to use confrontation tactics to defend Wuhan to the death. ”

"So what do you say? Shouldn't we hold on to Wuhan? Zhuo Fei's statement immediately attracted rebuttals, some people were looking down and thinking about Zhuo Fei's words just now, but some people immediately asked Zhuo Fei rhetorically.

"Of course not, Wuhan must be guarded, otherwise it will open the door and let the Japanese in." Zhuo Fei shook his head and said, "But if I am in command of the Wuhan Campaign, I will definitely not use so many troops to engage in any positional warfare with the Japanese army, and in the face of the strong firepower of the Japanese army, no matter how many troops are placed on the front, it will be useless." As he spoke, Zhuo Fei had already taken the map brought by the guards and spread it out, and then pointed it out on the map with his finger.

"Everyone, please look at the map, the location of Wuhan is considered a very important place in everyone's opinion, but in my opinion, regardless of what will happen to Wuhan after the Japanese occupy Wuhan, I only need to deal with it with one move. Disperse the troops, while confronting the Japanese army head-on, organize veteran troops to infiltrate the enemy-occupied areas or behind the Japanese army and constantly attack the Japanese army, and at the same time sabotage and attack the Japanese army's transportation lines, as much as possible to contain the Japanese army. Holding on to Wuhan is just to buy time for us to train and integrate the new army, so killing and defending the city is not the goal, the purpose is only to delay the speed and rhythm of the Japanese attack. ”

"You are all excellent soldiers who have fought major battles, but do not underestimate this guerrilla tactic; as long as you command and coordinate properly, guerrilla warfare carried out by a small group of troops alone may not be able to achieve brilliant results. In the war, the first thing is the tactical method of warfare, like the Germans like a lion fighting a rabbit like a strong attack, we can't afford to play now, whether it is the supply of fuel or ammunition, it is an important factor restricting us. ”

Zhuo Fei's words were a little chaotic, but the officers present kept silent and began to ponder, in the Ruili training camp, there was a training course on guerrilla tactics, so they were no strangers to the guerrilla warfare that Zhuo Fei had just said. But when it comes to the use of guerrilla tactics in a battle of such scale as the Battle of Wuhan, they can't figure out why, can just sending a few small troops to attack and destroy the supply lines of the Japanese army become the key to the success or failure of a campaign?

"Of course, this is not absolute, as I just said, the main purpose of holding on to Wuhan is to delay the continuation of the Japanese army's offensive, and in order to achieve this goal, guerrilla warfare combined with a frontal confrontation is the best strategy against the enemy. Guerrilla warfare is not a panacea for all diseases, and the implementation of guerrilla tactics also requires the cooperation of many factors; if we simply want to rely on guerrilla tactics but win against the enemy, no matter how elite the guerrilla squad is, we will not be able to defeat the enemy in the face of the enemy's superior forces. ”

"The situation of the two sides, the terrain, the comparison of troops, intelligence analysis, and the allocation of weapons can all become factors that affect the victory of the battlefield. At present, the Wehrmacht can only form Sun Lianzhong's First Army, and the batch of heavy equipment we brought back, according to the previous plan, will allocate at least half of it to the First Army, if the Japanese army continues to move south, maybe Sun Lianzhong's First Army will be pulled out to meet the Japanese army. ”

Zhuo Fei's words made Lin Biao ecstatic, he was in Sun Lianzhong's First Army, and among these officers seated, he was the only one who belonged to the First Army. If half of the heavy equipment brought back to China this time belonged to the First Army, he, a division commander who had personally witnessed the attacks of the German armored clusters, might have become the commander in command of these heavy equipment. Lin Biao's expression at this time did not escape the corner of Zhuo Fei's eyes, and it was Zhuo Fei's idea to take Lin Biao to Germany to watch the war, because Zhuo Fei wanted to know whether the commander of the Northeast Field Army, who had been fighting for 100 miles in one day in the Liberation War, could achieve glory in the national war.

Lin Biao's command ability is recognized in later generations, especially good at long-distance raids and sports warfare, among these trained officers in the Ruili training camp, he is one of Zhuo Fei's most optimistic armored commanders. The officers of the Eighth Route Army had little access to tanks. Even in the battle, he could only encounter the Japanese army's bean-shaped small tank, but Lin Biao was able to drive the No. 3 tank around the battlefield in just three days, after the German tank soldier was taught.

As an armored commander, you must first understand the tanks and armored vehicles you command, even if you can't be as skilled as a real tanker, at least you must control and understand the various data of the tanks you command. The discussion about the Battle of Wuhan came to an end for the time being, and when everyone else left the deck and returned to their cabins, Zhuo Fei secretly signaled that Lin Biao would stay at the end.

"Division Commander Lin, you and Dai Anlan will be the commanders of the armored forces of the National Defense Forces, the joint command has been adjusted, and you and Dai Anlan's two divisions will form separate armies. Counting the tanks and armored vehicles I brought back to China, excluding those that were left for training, the only I can send you at present is 400 German No. 3 tanks, 60 heavy fire assault armored vehicles converted from No. 2 tanks and other types of armored vehicles, and finally 100 light armored personnel carriers converted from tracked tractors. ”

"In addition, I can also allocate a batch of military trucks to you, according to the operational deployment of the joint command, your armored division is the first armored division, and Dai Anlan commands the second armored division, with 8,700 troops in each division. With the exception of the direct armor, the other soldiers are equipped with weapons according to the infantry configuration, and I don't know the specific requirements for you from the command yet, but according to my speculation, it is very likely that you will leave Ruili before August. ”

Lin Biao was not too surprised by Zhuo Fei's words, although the command headquarters reduced his strength to 8,700 people, Lin Biao did not express a different opinion on this. As early as when Germany visited those German armored units, Lin Biao had already inquired about the establishment and scale of the German armored forces through a translator, and Zhuo Fei could allocate nearly 400 tanks and armored vehicles to him, according to the command tactics of the German armored forces, this is a proper armored assault group.

"Division Commander Lin, prepare in advance, if you have time to study and study the armored command tactics of the Germans, you will definitely be able to use them in the future." Zhuo Fei handed over a copy of the German armored command tactics that had been translated to Lin Biao, as for whether Lin Biao took it to heart, this was no longer something that Zhuo Fei was worried about.