(five hundred and five) the most terrible army in the East

"However, despite these shortcomings, there is no doubt that the Chinese are able to train excellent soldiers. 1 - These soldiers, under the control of superior commanders, are our very dangerous enemies. Even if they are not yet well adapted to modern warfare fought by modern armies, it would be a serious mistake to underestimate them. The strength of Western soldiers and soldiers is determined by their personal qualities, their high intellectual and spiritual realm, their ability to act independently, and their rich cultural knowledge. Requiring a Chinese soldier to have the ability to move independently is unimaginable for a veteran who participated in the First World War. However, the behavior of Chinese people is full of contradictions, and it is also wrong to have a potential ability that has not been realized, and it is also wrong not to take these qualities into account. Since 1917, the efforts of China's leaders for democratic constitutionalism and industrialization have brought about startling changes in China. There is no doubt that the Chinese have become more sober, and their upbringing is steadily improving. It is entirely possible that after a long period of peacetime training, the Chinese will also show their initiative. ”

"The Chinese authorities will certainly attach great importance to such progress and make it further developed. The Supreme Command of the Squadron is of course most aware of the situation of their own army, they are well aware of the weaknesses of the Squadron, and they will do everything to overcome them. Their training methods are said to be aimed at improving the individual tactical movements of individual officers and encouraging the discretion of junior officers. For China's current democratic system, the improvement of individual movement and the development of free thought are considered real progress; This tendency, therefore, is incompatible with the discipline that they had to enforce unconditionally. However, if there is a longer period of peace, the squadron will find a compromise solution. ”

"The operations of the squadron, especially the offensive, are characterized by the concentrated use of a large number of troops and weapons. The squadron can not hesitate to put a large number of troops and weapons into battle. And they often achieve certain results. Chinese often put the issue of life and death out of the equation. The impact of the concentration of forces by the squadron is now more effective than ever. Two strikes have already been launched, and a third and fourth are being launched regardless of losses, and the third and fourth, just like the first or the second, are still in a state of bare and desperate to rush forward. This method is very ruthless and at the same time the most expensive method of warfare. ”

"Until the end of the fighting in Eastern Siberia, the squadron did not abandon their method of wave attack, and they kept the soldiers rushing almost shoulder to shoulder. Due to their instinct to live in groups, and the fact that the subordinate commanders would not act decisively, they had to adopt a dense formation to carry out the attack. Thanks to their numerical superiority, they were able to achieve multiple victories. However, experience has shown that if the army on the defending side is well-trained, has a large number of weapons, and the commander is decisive, then such an attack in a dense formation can be completely destroyed. ”

"The squadron has a large number of divisions, and often attacks on narrow fronts. In front of the defenders' position, there will soon be a squadron of black pressure, they seem to come out of the ground, like a tide, unstoppable, we opened the big gap with artillery fire, and it was closed in an instant. They pushed forward from wave to wave until they could no longer meet the force. There may also be a low tide. However, in many cases, they do not retreat, but rush forward with irrepressible sharpness. In order to repel this kind of attack, it is not only a matter of the soldiers, but more importantly, the role of mental factors. Only battle-hardened veterans can overcome their gripping fears; Only soldiers who are aware of their own responsibilities and have self-confidence, those who are good at mastering their own actions, can withstand the momentum of the squadron's dense formation attack. Sometimes, the assault units of the squadron received some strong liquor, and on the eve of the attack, they often heard the beastly roar of their positions. ”…,

"After 1939, the squadron added tanks to the soldiers of the cluster. Such an attack is becoming more and more difficult to deal with, and in the face of such an attack, it is also becoming more and more stressful. ”

"Although the squadron is not good at reorganizing troops at all times, they know that they should always have new units at their fingertips, so that they can replace those units that have been routed or depleted in battle. They often replace troops that have been almost depleted at an alarming rate. ”

"I've already talked about the genius of the squadron infiltration. Infiltration is a form of warfare, and no one can compare with the Chinese in engaging in such activities. I have also stressed that they have a strong interest in the establishment of bridgeheads and other forward positions. I must stress that a landing ground for the squadron does not play a role more than once. A landing ground will constantly receive new troops, new tanks, new artillery until it is completely useless. ”

"The squadron likes to let the troops move at night, and they are very clever in their actions. However, they did not like to carry out large-scale attacks at night, and this seems to be because, their junior officers were not yet fully trained at night. Sometimes, however, they also carry out limited-purpose night attacks, either to regain lost territory or to better carry out daytime attacks. ”

"To fight a war with the Chinese, we must get used to adopting new methods of warfare. Battles should be fought without scruples and flexibly. You must not be careless at any time, you must be prepared to deal with a sudden attack at any time, and do not rely on well-known tactical principles to fight, because no one knows how the squadron will react. In the face of encirclement, surprise attacks and deceptive actions, it is impossible to say how the squadron will react. In many cases, the squadron relied on instinctive reactions rather than tactical principles. It must be admitted that their instinctive reactions are often more useful to them than those things taught at military academies. At first glance, their approach may seem incomprehensible, but it often turns out to be entirely correct. ”

"The squadron had a tactical mistake, but despite the hard lessons, they were unwilling to correct it, I mean they blindly believed in the importance of the high ground. They fought to the death to attack the high ground and hold the high ground, not caring whether the high ground was important or not. It often happens that it is not tactically advantageous to occupy a certain high ground, but the squadron cannot understand this layer and fights hard to seize the high ground, so that it suffers great losses. ”

"What I said earlier mainly involves the infantry of the squadron. Despite the dramatic changes in the technology and equipment used in warfare, the Chinese infantry is still one of the most important military forces in the world, and the reason why they are so difficult to deal with is that they are the most adaptable to the natural environment. Natural obstacles are no problem for them, and they are at home in dense forests, swampy wet depressions, and roadless savannahs. They were able to cross wide rivers with the simplest of tools. They could build roads everywhere, and in a few days they could build miles of wooden rows in impassable swamps. In winter, they used a square of ten men and a hundred men to open the way in the snowy forest, and these thousand people could step out of the road in half an hour, and then send a thousand people to change shifts and tread the road, and after a few hours, a road appeared. And by any Western standard, this lot seems impassable. They had an innumerable number of manpower, and without any transport vehicles, they could haul artillery and other weapons over a variety of terrain. In addition, the equipment of the squadron is very adapted to their needs. Their cars were the lightest of the vehicles and they were small in size, their horses were hard-working and did not require much care, they were not dragged down by baggage, and they did not carry the supplies that dragged down the armies of Western countries. ”…,

"The squadron infantry is well armed. The Chinese and his anti-tank weapons are inseparable. At times, it was as if every infantryman had an anti-tank gun with them or an anti-tank gun in their hands, and they were comfortable with anti-tank weapons and used them everywhere. The squadron has a low-elongation ballistic and high-precision anti-tank artillery, which is a weapon that is convenient for use in various battles. ”

"It is worth noting here that the squadron infantry is not good at investigating the situation, and their reconnaissance is generally very weak. Even professional reconnaissance detachments did not play much. Most of the reason is that they are unwilling to act independently, and they are unable to reflect the results of reconnaissance in the form of intelligence. ”

"The artillery of the squadron, like the infantry, is also used intensively. The infantry seldom attacked without artillery preparation, but they did not pay much attention to short bursts of fire in order to achieve suddenness. They have artillery and shells, and they like to waste shells. In a large-scale offensive, the squadron had 200 guns for every half-mile frontal [Note: this figure includes heavy mortars, but not rockets. It can be increased to 300 if it is deemed necessary, but it will never be less than 150. Artillery preparation generally lasted two hours, and the gunners were instructed to consume one to one and a half days of ammunition during the entire artillery preparation phase. The other day's ammunition was prepared for the first stage of the assault. Ammunition reserves are kept in the rear. After such concentrated firing, the weak positions of the Japanese Imperial ** team would be thrown into disarray in a short period of time. Heavy weapons, especially anti-tank artillery, soon began to fire on the remaining weapons, whether they were carefully placed or those that entered the bunkers. Clusters of soldiers and tanks then rushed into the suppressed positions. If the defenders have mobile reserves, they can restore their original posture without much effort, but the Japanese imperial ** team generally does not have reserves. It was up to the surviving forward troops to bear the burden of such a battle. ”

"The artillery of the squadron can also destroy the headquarters and command posts of the Japanese defense in depth. They often do not concentrate their firepower and do not have a clear focus on the target, and carry out artillery shelling of the entire line of defense with the same intensity. The squadron's firing plan was rigid and sometimes alarming, and the artillery was not flexible enough to coordinate the actions of the advancing infantry and tanks. The artillery followed slowly, often in place, so that the shock troops, after completing a far-reaching breakthrough, were left without artillery support for a long time. ”

Therefore, it was a great mistake for the Japanese Imperial Squadron to insist on holding the two wings of the heavily wedged squadron, and it often led to the defeat of the defenders. The Japanese were often ordered to desperately defend the flank, so that hastily mobilized reserves could directly attack the flank of the intruding enemy and cut off the wedged troops from the roots. Obviously, the reserves concentrated on the flank of the enemy's breakthrough troops will be completely exposed to the squadron and become the focus of the squadron's artillery attack, and it will not take long to be crushed. Because of the tactical mistakes of the Japanese Imperial ** Brigade, the artillery of the ** squadron, which was not mobile and flexible enough, had the upper hand. It seems that the attack on the flank of the wedged squadron should be as far back as possible and out of the range of the squadron's artillery. At the same time, it is necessary to gather back the troops that are deployed on the flanks of these 'cornerstones' of the squadron, so that they do not allow them to participate in battles with great losses. Sometimes, if you don't follow the orders of your superiors to stick to the flank, everything goes well. At this time, it will be possible to stop the advance of the infantry and tanks of the squadron without artillery support, and establish a new line of defense, at which point the squadron will be forced to draw up a new fire plan and look for new artillery firing positions, which will give the defenders a respite. ”

"The best way to deal with the intensive artillery fire of the squadron is to immediately carry out an artillery counterattack at the expense of ammunition. It took quite a long time, sometimes weeks, for the squadron to deploy artillery of this size and stock up on a large amount of ammunition. Despite their good camouflage, our aerial reconnaissance and aerial photography can often detect their readiness and find out how they unfold. Every night, the squadron had to build new firing positions, but for several days these positions remained empty. Not necessarily one morning, you will find that there are already artillery on several positions, and that all of their artillery entered the positions two nights before the attack. In a few cases, when we have enough artillery and ammunition, we can take advantage of the fact that the squadron begins to deploy artillery and carry out organized artillery counter-preparation, which will achieve excellent results. Carrying out air assaults on them has also proved to be a very effective method. Sometimes, an air assault can completely disrupt the deployment of the squadron's artillery. ”…,

"The offensive tactics adopted by the artillery of the squadron have been greatly improved throughout the course of the war, many new features have appeared, and their artillery preparation has formed a truly destructive rush firepower. In particular, they used the technique of intermittent firing in a very narrow strip, which was sometimes no more than a hundred meters wide. At the same time, heavy fire was fired at the entire defensive front of the rest of the defense, which gave the impression that artillery preparations were still underway along the entire front, when in fact their infantry had already launched a charge on this narrow section. ”

"Despite its many shortcomings, the squadron artillery is a formidable force, and foreign observers have appropriately praised it. During the war, the squadron used more heavy artillery on the battlefield than any enemy nation. ”

"Let's talk about the tank crews of the squadron. The 'Walker' tank owned by the squadron was much superior to any type of tank of the Japanese Imperial Squadron, so the Chinese tank crew had a great advantage at the beginning of the war. The 'White Elephant' heavy tank they used in 1939 should not be underestimated either. Later, the 'Walker' improved tank was produced, and finally, in 1942, the 'Black Bear' heavy tank was produced, which added a new layer of trouble to our 'Tiger' tank. Chinese tank designers are well versed in their tank business, and they concentrate on solving several main problems: artillery power, armor protection and cross-country ability. So far, the shock system of their tanks is more advanced than that of Germany and other Western countries. ”

"According to my current observations, the tank tactics of the previous squadron were very rigid. By the summer of this year, the command of the squadron had learned the lessons of the previous operations and began to form a tank army with a tank corps and a mechanized corps. The tank corps was not very strong in motorized infantry and artillery, and its task was to assist the infantry divisions that carried out the breakthrough. The role of the mechanized corps is to break through and pursue the enemy in depth, according to which it has the same number of tanks as the tank army, but without heavy tanks. In addition, the mechanized corps has a large number of motorized infantry, artillery and engineering troops. It is since this reorganization that the tank corps of the squadron has developed and grown. In 1942, the tank corps had become the most powerful offensive force of the squadron in the war. ”

"The tank army of the squadron, due to its lack of experience, suffered a lot of losses at first, especially their middle and lower-level commanders did not know much and were not very suitable for tank warfare. They are not bold enough in the use of tanks, lack tactical vision, and are not good at making quick decisions. Some of the first battles of the tank army were complete failures. They used tanks intensively on the defensive fronts of the Japanese Imperial Army, and their actions were hesitant and completely unplanned. Swarms of tanks interfered with each other, often encountering Japanese anti-tank guns; After breaking through the defensive positions of the Japanese army, which should have continued to develop victories, they came to a standstill. This was a good time for the individual anti-tank artillery and infantry armed with anti-tank grenades of the Japanese Imperial Brigade. We used to think that since the Chinese made this weapon themselves, why didn't they learn to use it. It was not until the winter of 1942 that the tank tactics of the squadron improved. ”

"For the tank crews of the squadron, 1942 was still a year of learning. The fiasco of the Japanese Imperial Squadron in Eastern Siberia was not due to the clever tactics of the squadron, but due to the strategic mistakes of the Supreme Command of the Japanese Imperial Squadron and the huge superiority of the squadron in terms of troops and weapons. ”