Volume 23 Springboard for Progress Section 38 Avoid the important and make light of it

The strong support of the aviation finally repelled the frantic counterattack of the American army. Gu Xunlei slept when he learned that the 21st Hussar Division had been defeated, he was a little afraid at first disappointed and angry. When the combat staff officer of the theater sent the relevant combat report, Gu Xunlei had already controlled his emotions, and until this time, he still didn't believe that the 21st light ~ was defeated!

The 21st Light Cavalry Division was one of the first armored units formed by the Imperial Army ~ as a tank division, a heavy cavalry division, and was only reorganized into a light cavalry division half a year ago. The numbers of the divisional units of the Imperial Army are arranged in order, and it can also be seen from the number "21" that the division is a unit that can fight well. At the beginning, when Gu Xunlei was in the Russian battlefield, the 2nd Hussar Division was one of the troops he commanded, and when he went on a subsequent expedition to Europe, the 21st Tank Division, which was still a tank division at that time, also followed him to the European battlefield. Because of this, Gu Xunlei put the 21st Light Cavalry Division in the position of the main attack, but he didn't: _ The 21st Light Cavalry Division was defeated despite how fierce the counterattack was!

It can be said that the 21st Hussar Division was defeated, and Gu Xunlei was inextricably responsible for a negligence in his command, which caused the 21st Hussar Division to not be able to turn the offensive into an offensive and was counterattacked. Secondly, precisely because the 21st Light Cavalry Division had a deep relationship with Gu Xunlei, most of its commanders learned offensive ideas from Gu Xunlei. However, they failed to learn that defense is more important than offense when necessary, and they did not pay attention when they suffered setbacks, and eventually made mistakes again and again, and finally suffered a crushing defeat. For example, after the destruction of the division headquarters, most of the battalion-sized units of the 21st Hussar Division, instead of retreating and organizing defenses, continued to attack. This can only lead to greater casualties, and at times like these, bravery does not play a good role.

After sending the other two divisions as reserves, Gu Xunlei had to temporarily order the halt of all attacks, and he needed time to readjust his forces and rearrange offensive operations. The same. After a fierce counterattack, the U.S. military also needs time to adjust its deployment and rearrange its defenses. On the morning of the same day, the two sides disengaged from contact, and apart from the fact that the air forces of both sides were still making sorties, and several large-scale air battles and bombings were carried out on that day, on the 7th day, neither side actually launched any large-scale ground battles, and the battlefield was temporarily calm.

In just one day, Gu Xunlei's hard-built confidence was crushed. The U.S. counterattack was clean. And the retreat was also very methodical, and he was not given the opportunity to attack at all. Of course. In terms of tactical comparison, Gu Xunlei is the winner. In the battle of the day. At least 21,000 U.S. troops were wiped out, and 10,000 U.S. and Mexican rebels were captured. The Imperial Expeditionary Force had 3,287 officers and men killed, 274 missing, and 7,539 wounded. These were the results of the statistics after the end of the battle, and the casualty and missing figures obtained by Gu Xunlei at that time were much higher, mainly because thousands of officers and soldiers of the 21st Light Cavalry Division returned one after another.

When the staff officer of the theater command handed in the relevant statistical report, Gu Xunlei also got the air force report. During the day's fighting, army aviation lost 137 aircraft. In addition, the naval aviation that came to support the ground also lost 24 fighters. During the battle, a total of 206 US warplanes were shot down. During the attack on five US front-line airfields, ground bombers also blew up more than 70 US fighters parked on the ground. Because the air battle was fought on both sides of the battle lines, some of the downed pilots were not able to be rescued, and some of the American pilots were also captured.

In the report of the Army Airlines, the P-51 "Mustang" series fighters are not widely used by the US Air Force. This fighter is not only able to compete with the fighters of the army and navy in air combat, but also has a very strong ground strike capability, and the rockets it carries pose a deadly threat to the ground armored units of the army, and can also hang 500 and 1000 pound aerial bombs, but most of the time they use rockets, as well as 100 and 250 small bombs. In the Imperial Air Force, only the "Peregrine Falcon" of the HNA has the same ground strike capability, while the Army Tactical Air Force, which has always attached importance to the air combat capability of fighters, does not have the ground strike capability of any fighter that can be compared with that of the "Mustang."

Later, it was this report that made the Army Airlines decide to purchase the "Peregrine Falcon" fighter. Although the Army itself had several aircraft factories, it was impossible to quickly create a new fighter at that time, and by this time the cabinet would not approve the development of a new fighter. It is precisely because of this that the production of the "Peregrine Falcon" has been rapidly expanded, and soon Chengfei and several other aircraft factories such as Xifei have also begun to produce "Peregrine Falcon". By the end of the war, the Peregrine Falcon was not only the most equipped fighter of the Imperial Navy, but also one of the main fighters of the Imperial Army. During the entire war, the "Peregrine Falcon" produced 21,000 aircraft, and after the war, more than 3,000 C0 fighters were produced in the Empire and other countries, and even the most produced fighters in the world to date. The Peregrine Falcon has thus become a famous aircraft of a generation.

These are all later words, after getting the battle summary reports of each unit, Gu Xunlei began to think about how to take the next step. By this time, he no longer had any idea of underestimating the enemy, and the ability displayed by the US commanders and the combat effectiveness displayed by the US officers and men on the battlefield were enough for him to wake up. At that time, there was a proposal to halt the offensive for the time being, that is, to end the second campaign and launch the offensive after more adequate preparations. Gu Xunlei didn't take this suggestion, but he did think so. Later, many people believed that Gu Xunlei persevered at that time, not because he knew that this battle would have a huge impact on the entire Mexican war, nor because Gu Xunlei knew that he would eventually win, but because of his own future, he persevered. In other words, if the second battle was lost at that time, Gu Xunlei would lose his positions as commander of the Mexican theater and commander-in-chief of the Imperial Army's American Expeditionary Force, and end his career as a general and commander. But no matter what, it is precisely because Gu Xunlei persevered,

There will be a later victory, and if another person is used to replace Gu Xun at that time, then there will be no victory in the second battle, and even the entire Mexican war will change.

On the 7th, Gu Xunlei inspected the front-line troops and obtained more information from the commanders of several units. For example, the U.S. military used a large number of more powerful bazookas in defensive operations, and most of the armored combat vehicles were killed by this kind of bazooka at close range, except for those blown up by bombers. In addition, the U.S. infantry was issued with a large number of grenades. During the offensive, the US military also made extensive use of mortars to increase the support firepower of the infantry units. On the contrary, the U.S. military rarely invests in armor, and its machine-gun fire density on the defensive line is noticeably much higher than before. These tactical problems also explain why the offensive is so difficult, the US military has been preparing for this defensive battle for a long time and has long summed up the tactics of fighting in the mountains.

That night, after returning to the headquarters, Gu Xunlei organized staff officers and some front-line officers who returned with him to discuss ways to deal with the new tactics of the US military. He did not participate in the discussion, but went to plan a new offensive operation. At this time, Gu Xunlei has already strengthened his determination, he can't take half a step back, otherwise the US army will take the opportunity to launch a counterattack, and when the time comes, I'm afraid he won't even be able to hold Tututepec.

On the 8th, Gu Xunlei had several units replaced by the front line launch several rounds of tentative attacks, but did not take advantage of this to launch a general offensive. The U.S. military's ground defense remains quite tenacious. There was little improvement in these attacks. The scouts who set out in the early morning of the same day sent the US military to adjust its defensive deployment in the evening, and the reconnaissance planes of the Army Airlines also sent aerial photographs and an analysis of the US military's defense based on these photos.

In the early morning of the 9th, the 89th Light Cavalry Division and the 117th Infantry Division launched a large-scale attack on the northern front, but the troops were blocked by heavy American attacks before they could advance to a kilometer. After launching three assaults, Gu Xunlei returned the two divisions to their starting positions in the afternoon. This was only a tentative offensive, and it was already clear that the U.S. military was focused on strengthening its defenses to the north.

Ten days. The 21st Light Cavalry Division and the 105th Infantry Division, which replaced the 99th Light Cavalry Division, launched a new round of large-scale attacks in the south of the battle line. Ostensibly, the US military did not have the strength to strengthen the southern line of defense. But Gu Xunlei suspected that the south was a trap, and the US military commander had never made any major mistakes, and he did not strengthen the defense of the southern front even though he knew that the southern front was a key front, which was clearly a trap.

That night, the important unit that Gu Xunlei had been waiting for finally arrived, and this was the 12th Tank Division that he had left behind in Gutierrez. This was the armored unit with the strongest armor strength and the strongest combat effectiveness in Gu Xunlei's hands at that time. Also arriving at the same time was a tank regiment of the 27th Tank Division. After six days of bloody fighting, Gu Xunlei had realized that it would be difficult to break through the American defense line with only the light cavalry division, when necessary. He's still going to have to use his tank division!

Also on the evening of the 10th, the 12th Tank Division reached the rear of the positions of the 89th Cavalry Division. And directly from the march to the offensive. At that time, the 12th Tank Division's ground baggage units had not yet arrived, and most of the combat materials it needed were directly carried by the 89th Light Cavalry Division, and the ammunition needed had to be transported by the baggage troops. In order to ensure that the attack could be launched in the early morning of the 11th, every tank of the division was fully loaded with ammunition, and additional ammunition was also carried outside the tank.

The 27th Regiment of the 5321st Tank Division was also deployed to the rear of the positions of the 99th Hussar Division that night. The regiment will also take part in the Xindi offensive, but from the very beginning, Gu Xunlei decided not to launch the main offensive on the southern front, and determined the direction of the initiative to be the northern front between Twacan and Ortizaba.

The first round of the Xindi offensive began at 7 a.m. on the 11th, with two tank battalions of the 12th Tank Division being killed first, followed by two motorized infantry units of the 89th Hussar Division. Three divisions of artillery regiments, plus five additional artillery regiments arranged by Gu Xunlei. More than 1,000 artillery pieces of eight regiments carried out a half-hour bombardment of the US positions. The bomber group of the air force also arrived before 7 o'clock, and this time the air force will provide direct air support to the attacking ground forces throughout the whole process, in addition to continuing to carry out the task of interdiction in depth. To this end, Gu Xunlei also borrowed several tactical bomber squadrons from Han Shaofeng.

The feint on the southern front began a little earlier. At about 6:50 a.m., the 5321st Regiment, accompanied by motorized infantry from the 1st Light Cavalry Division, began to attack the American lines. In order to confuse the US army, Gu Xunlei invested six regiments of artillery on the southern front, and the number of bombers put in was even more than on the battlefield on the northern front. The preparation of fire before the attack alone was carried out from 6 to 6:45. The bombers that arrived at half past six mainly used incendiary bombs and time bombs, rather than high-explosive bombs.

This time, Gu Xunlei did not involve the 127th Infantry Division, deployed on the center line, in the attack. The significance of the Central Front was not great in the first place, and the offensive capabilities of the 127th Infantry Division were relatively limited. In order to prevent the U.S. Army from launching a counterattack from the central front, the 127th Infantry Division was all turned to defense, and in addition, Gu Xunlei also formed a second line of defense behind the 46th Infantry Division, which was the most elite infantry division in his hands at that time. If it weren't for him turning the 127th Infantry Division into defense and letting the 46th Infantry Division establish a second line of defense, I'm afraid the second battle would have been a fiasco!

Unlike the first round of the attack, this time Gu Xunlei launched the attack after careful analysis and full preparation, and the deployment on the three fronts was accurate and in place, the troops invested were much larger, and all the troops participating in the battle received clear orders. What's more, from the very beginning, Gu Xunlei was directly commanded by the front line command, although he never showed worry in front of the staff officers, but he knew in his heart that if this round of attack could not open the situation, then he would definitely go home early to retire! Sea Soul Volume 23 Springboard for Progress Section 38 Avoid the important and light