A cannon shot at the foot of Suli Mountain opened the curtain on the entire southern Korean campaign.

At 10 o'clock at the foot of the mountain in Chapter 305 of the morning of May 17, the First Group Army of the Northeast National Defense Army of Fu Zuoyi's division took the lead in launching an all-out attack on the East Asian Dispatch Army.

Tan Zhengfu is the battalion commander of the 3rd Infantry Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division, a native of Guangdong, graduated from the Army Command Department of the Guangzhou Military Academy, Chinese New Year's Eve this year, with the rank of captain, he served in this imperial ace mountain division unit for eight years, if he entered the Foshan Youth Military Academy at the age of 14 to graduate from the Guangzhou Military Academy at the age of 22, he also received professional military education for up to half a year before serving, and his military age is 16 years according to the imperial military service law.

He recalled that when he was a teenager, because his family was poor, he could only apply for free military schools if he wanted to get ahead, so he embarked on this road.

Although the salary allowance of officers is not as high as the national average in the past, the welfare package and various preferential terms can still make Tan Zhengfu feel satisfied, his wife is an accountant in the Jixian Textile Factory, and was also introduced by the Military Security Association, and the married life can be regarded as happy.

The 10th Mountain Division is the ace mountain division of the empire, stationed in Jixian County all the year round to defend the Beijing Division, and has 4 days of vacation every month to go home to live, if it is a school officer, the family can arrange work with the army, so it will be better.

Therefore, Tan Zhengfu also wanted to be promoted to the rank of major as soon as possible, but this was not the main reason for him to participate in this war, he came to participate in the war because of his vocation, and his duty was to obey the command of his superiors and the Central Military Department.

Every soldier and junior lieutenant in the battalion was his subordinate, his friend, and when the troops were transferred to the Korean Peninsula, he had promised them not only to lead them to victory over the Japanese army, but also to bring them home alive.

They come from all over China, and now a common home is the 110203 camp headquarters in Yukou Town, Jixian County, where they are home, they are a family, and they will go back.

Even if he dies in battle, he will take everyone's body back to the National Martyrs Cemetery in Jixian County.

When the artillery fire resounded on the opposite position, Tan Zhengfu, who was in the front-line trenches, silently took out a silver pocket watch from his pocket, opened it to look at the time, and his eyes stayed on the family photos in the pocket watch at the same time, he and his wife were on both sides, and the two children were in the middle.

Here's a family portrait of him.

He missed his daughter and youngest son, he missed his wife, silently put his pocket watch close to his mouth and kissed it, there was an indescribable sour feeling in his heart, and his eyes couldn't bear to be filled with tears.

War is so brutal.

At this moment, he can really feel this cruelty more and more, as if he is in the hell of the human world.

In the Random Arrow Operation, the main force of the First Army will set out from Bao'en County to attack Sangju, and the 10th Mountain Infantry Division will set out from Yeongdong County to attack Gimcheon, and with the cooperation of the 2nd Airborne Division, it will cut off the possibility of the Yue Army going north to support Sangju, and then make a detour to attack Chi Valley, or it is necessary to cooperate with the main force to fight and cut off the line of the Yue Army to support Gumi. The plan of the Central Military Department was to arrange for the 243rd Airlift Division to parachute a batch of supplies from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. three days later, and there were only three suitable airborne sites, and he had to report the exact airborne landing points, which were also the areas where he could arrive and control, by the morning of the day after tomorrow.

Tan Zhengfu's task was to receive supplies, occupy and defend the airborne area in advance, and before that, he had to cooperate with the 1st Regiment to occupy Jinquan.

Every battle is like this, all grassroots commanders have different tasks, and working closely with each other is a campaign, and one point of error means more mistakes and mistakes, and the entire Second Army has 755 battalion commanders, so there are 755 divisional battle plans, and all people's plans are interrelated, and one link corresponds to another.

Although everything has been arranged and calculated in advance, it is very difficult for any plan to be successfully accomplished in an actual war, and there are always various situations, and the Joint Operations Staff of the Military Department, the General Staff of the Northeast Defense Force, and the General Staff of the Second Group Army will make mistakes, and even the basic intelligence will be wrong.

The 22nd and 23rd Light Armored Divisions were responsible for attacking Sangju, and they would not attack the whole battalion until the evening, as the vanguard of the attack on several forward positions of the Yue Army on the high ground, opening the way for the 2nd Regiment to infiltrate the operation in Jinquan.

Although there was no need to take part in the frontal assault on the first day, the entire battalion headquarters had to hide in the fortifications as much as possible, because the artillery fire of the Japanese army could also hit their garrison.

Tan Zhengfu sat in the trenches, there is usually no so-called command post at his level, all commands are carried out at the front line at the same time, his deputy battalion commander is Lu Renqi, a native of Fujian, who is also the chief of teaching, and the staff officer is Wu Chen, a native of Jiangsu.

The three of them are the three "commanders-in-chief" of the battalion headquarters, because they are not graduates of the most popular Central Military Academy and the Far Eastern Military Academy, and they sometimes laugh at themselves together as the commander of a small battalion of the ace division from the second-rate military academy.

Wu Zhen inquired about the latest information from the General Staff Bureau and could not return until noon, while Tan Zhengfu and Lu Renqi were in the trenches together, sitting in the mud and smoking, muttering about the various situations they might encounter later.

Accidents are always fucking inevitable.

This is Fu Zuoyi's mantra, and it is now known to the Second Army.

The following company commanders were not very satisfied with the tactical arrangements for the sneak attack on the high ground of the army at night, and the non-commissioned officers knew very well that this kind of thing was simply the most risky, but everyone could only accept this arrangement, and what Tan Zhengfu could do was to send two reconnaissance teams over to find out the situation, and the air force also sent aerial reconnaissance planes to provide them with the clearest and most comprehensive aerial photos as far as possible for their reference.

Although the Air Force has seized the entire air supremacy and completely suppressed the Army Air Force, the number of high-altitude reconnaissance planes is limited after all, and it is impossible to reconnoiter and take pictures 24 hours a day; normally, the front-line intelligence of various units can only be updated once a week, and under special circumstances like the present one, aerial photographic intelligence will be updated every three days, and this is very important data for the command of grass-roots units.

Before the latest aerial photography information came out, Tan Zhengfu's side could not send troops without authorization, he could only wait silently.

Waited until noon, before Wu Zhen returned, Tan Zhengfu had already noticed that the frequency of the army's artillery counterattack had been greatly reduced, and the speed of the Northeast Army's advance seemed to be very fast, much faster than he expected.

The 22nd Division is a light armored infantry division, mainly equipped with light tanks and armored infantry fighting vehicles, and dozens of helicopters have been allocated in small quantities since the beginning of the year.

It's a pity that their mountain division does not have such equipment yet.

It didn't take long for staff officer Wu Zhen to return to the position in an off-road vehicle and bring back the latest military intelligence, which made Tan Zhengfu feel a little incomprehensible, not only did the army's fortifications on many heights on the front line not be significantly strengthened, but the number of artillery in many artillery positions in the rear positions was greatly reduced.

Staff Officer Wu Zhen was also surprised by this situation, and he asked Tan Zhengfu and Lu Renqi: "What do you think of this situation?" ”

Tan Zhengfu pondered for a moment and said: "No matter what the situation is, we still attack in the early morning of tomorrow and tomorrow according to the order, since the army has not strengthened the fortifications, let the brothers take turns to rest in the afternoon, be fully prepared, and start to set off in the evening." ”

Lu Renqi said: "The evening is similar to the afternoon, the army has no air superiority, there is no way to detect our movements, we can attack in advance in the afternoon and launch an attack after dark, instead of waiting until the early morning, I will lead the team." ”

Tan Zhengfu thought for a while and said, "It's okay, but I'll lead the team, let the brothers get ready quickly, and officially set off at 2:30 in the afternoon." ”

As a staff officer, Wu Zhen had no objections, he just felt that the measures of the Yue Army were very abnormal, and similarly, Tan Zhengfu also knew that this situation seemed to be related to the extremely fast advance of the main force of the Second Army, but it was difficult for him to explain the motives of the Yue Army.

Perhaps it is to abandon the defense of the first line of defense and greatly reduce the number of troops, or it may be to shrink the strength to ambush, depending on what is the highest policy of the army.

Tan Zhengfu doesn't need to think too much, his task is to carry out the orders of the Second Army Headquarters of the Northeast Defense Army, but he has always had such doubts in his mind.

Obviously problematic.

The whole battalion is very well prepared, as the most elite ace mountain division of the empire, the 203rd battalion is very well equipped, with 12 mountain light tracked reconnaissance vehicles, and when the situation is more complicated, they will abandon these reconnaissance vehicles.

If the whole battalion is attacked, these reconnaissance vehicles will also carry a large amount of supplies and act as transport vehicles.

They don't have a logistics team, everyone is a logistics soldier, and they need to carry an average of about 10 pounds more than the soldiers of other units, there is no way to do anything, because they are mountain troops, they don't even have towed artillery, there are only mortars and rocket launchers in the battalion.

The mountain division is different from other troops, they are the first troops of the Central Army to adopt camouflage uniforms, all wearing the newly issued Type 40 military uniforms, this time the whole army began to be equipped with camouflage uniforms, but in terms of color, the mountain troops are still brown and green camouflage.

12 mountain light tracked reconnaissance vehicles are the treasure of the whole battalion, not only camouflage paint, but also fresh green branches and leaves for camouflage, the battalion 5 companies, plus the battalion headquarters command team a total of 773 people, the artillery company directly under the battalion headquarters is equipped with six 105mm mortars, the company artillery team is equipped with two 80mm mortars, the mortar squad under the platoon level is equipped with a 60mm mortar, and the mortar squad of the conventional infantry division is equipped with 80mm mortars.

The Chinese Army has always been relatively alternative in terms of overall military establishment compared to the world, and the infantry squad members of Britain, France, Germany, and the United States are usually 10-12 people, and the Soviet Union usually has about 12 people, while each infantry squad of the Imperial Central Army is generally between 13 and 15 people, such as Chen Wu's special situation, an infantry squad can be arranged to about 20 people at the grassroots level.

Each infantry squad of the Imperial Army usually has 1 light machine gun, 12 M35 assault rifles, 2 M1930 sniper rifles, and 1 60mm rocket launcher, of which two assault rifles are equipped with 30mm grenade launchers, while in the mountain division, an infantry squad usually has 3-4 assault rifles equipped with grenade hangers.

Chen Wu made a reorganization in the Fourth Army, merging each mortar squad and regular infantry squad into one large squad, each infantry squad had a 60mm caliber mortar, and the number of full personnel was also increased to about 20 people, in addition, Chen Wu persuaded Jiang Fangzhen through his connections in the Central Military Department to replace most of his Fourth Army's light machine guns with M38 general-purpose machine guns.

After the rearmament, Tan Zhengfu took his 203 battalion from the battalion headquarters at about 3 p.m., along the mountain road all the way to the west side of the army's position, the mountain division and the reconnaissance battalions of the regular infantry divisions were replaced with a batch of new equipment before the war, the most important of which was the low-light night vision device, this equipment was distributed on a large scale by the troops, which greatly enhanced the troops' field and night combat capabilities.

Before the indiscriminate arrow operation, because the Northeast National Defense Army's low-light night vision equipment has been popularized to the squad level, and each infantry squad is equipped with one set on average, the entire battle plan is greatly arranged to be carried out at night, emphasizing that all units take advantage of the advantages of night vision and assault rifles to actively search for fighters at night, and the 1st and 2nd divisions of special operations directly under the Central Military Department have been deployed to the Korean battlefield, referred to as the special 1st division and the special 2nd division, these two divisions and the airborne 1st division, the 2nd airborne division, and the 3rd airborne division combined. The five divisions were directly under the military headquarters of the Northeast National Defense Force, and were personally deployed by Commander-in-Chief Cai Yi, and half of them were also engaged in the indiscriminate arrow operation this time.

If the operation goes well, Tan Zhengfu's 203rd Battalion will have to make a lone in-depth assault to the south of Xingzhou in advance to prepare for the large-scale airborne landing of the 3rd Airborne Division, and if the operation is extremely unsmooth, the 203rd Battalion will also go to the Guankili area on the north side of Juchang County according to another set of plans, and cooperate with the 3rd Airborne Division to assist in the defense and protect Wei Lihuang's troops from being flanked - Of course, Tan Zhengfu is still unclear about the specific arrangements of Plan B, and only when necessary, Liu Gengyun directly ordered his battalion to go south in advance, Occupy the pavilion at all costs, even if all the people are lost.

War is like this, there are always some troops who are destined to be cannon fodder, and if you fight, you are a hero battalion, and if you lose, this is your fate.

There are no human rights in the army, only results.

Tan Zhengfu knew this very well, and he also left the battalion headquarters with apprehension and took his 203rd battalion to the dark journey.

The vast night fell, dozens of kilometers away from the main battlefield, Tan Zhengfu and Wu Zhen could still hear the continuous artillery sound of the Imperial Army, this was the first time in many years that the Imperial Army relied on artillery to determine the outcome of the battle, the complex terrain conditions forced the armored forces to retreat to the second line, only a small number of light tanks as the main force of the front line galloping between the mountains.

Tan Zhengfu sat on a tracked armored car, staggering through the mountains.

He had actually violated a conventional military rule, and at such a moment, his battalion headquarters was likely to be ambushed by the Yue army, and he and Wu Zhen were well aware of this, so they did not advance very fast, and sent two armored reconnaissance vehicles to explore the way ahead.

As night wore on, he could finally breathe a sigh of relief, as the lack of night vision made it unlikely that Ben would ambush them at night.

His troops continued to move forward like this, moving forward on rugged mountain roads, where the roads were so complicated that wheeled vehicles were not even passable, which was why their mountain troops should be equipped with tracked armored vehicles, if this MBV4 tracked armored reconnaissance vehicle improved on the basis of T15 was given to the conventional army, it would be called a real chicken rib, but for the 203rd battalion, MBV4 is an unprecedented good baby.

Tan Zhengfu also envied the main armored battalion equipped with MBT33 tanks, but that thing couldn't be used in their mountain troops at all.

Most of the soldiers in the battalion could only rely on foot, and the physical fitness they had trained in the Yanshan Mountains for many years was enough for them to endure this level of march for half a month, even though the average weight of each person reached 40 kilograms.

How so?

Persistence is victory.

After arriving at the first stage of the camp area 4 hours in advance, the whole camp stopped to rest and replenish physical energy.

Everyone silently scattered in the grass, and a few soldiers were lucky enough to catch a snake, because they could not make a fire, so they could only peel off the flesh and carefully wrap it in tin foil, waiting for it to be burned and eaten later.

This is the joy of suffering, in short, it is a very happy thing.

In the sky, the fighter planes flew past and made a sharp whistling sound, and the sound of anti-aircraft machine guns on the distant positions of the Yue army never stopped, and the empire almost completely occupied the sky, and a small number of fighters of the army air force failed to block the first wave of the imperial air force's strong attack.

In this dark night, the most terrible thing had just begun, and the Imperial Army had arranged for a large number of elite units such as the 203rd Battalion to launch a single small and large-scale raid at night, destroying the rear positions of the Japanese army, and two airborne divisions would also land at night.

Soldiers fight to the death on the front line.

The commander-in-chief who made the great decision went down in history.

The soldiers and the non-commissioned officers at the grassroots level hid in the grass and smoked, everyone could not speak, just greeted each other with eye contact, maybe in two hours, someone would die between them, at least no one cares about this now, if someone dies, then avenge them.

This is a fucking thing that would only happen if you joined the army.

That's how fate goes.

There were all kinds of people in the barracks, and patriotic enthusiasm led many more peculiar people to join the army, including peasants in the countryside, workers, law school students, young doctors, and rich sons whose parents were always estranged and could not feel the warmth of the family.

After a short break of 20 minutes, the 203rd Battalion disguised all the armored reconnaissance vehicles more carefully, and sent a company as an advance force to attack the enemy barracks.

With only one battalion of troops, it was impossible for them to attack large positions, and their task was to constantly cut off small defensive points that would hinder the advance of the army before the arrival of large forces, so that the army could not determine which side was the real main force.

Although a low-light night vision device is issued, the cost of this kind of thing is a bit outrageous after all, each infantry platoon can only have one, and the platoon commander is responsible for commanding at night, and the others are still a bit like blind eyes, but it is always better than the army.

The 203rd Battalion's operation was still very smooth on the whole, and at 10 o'clock in the night it launched a surprise attack on the 1143 fortress, cutting off the connection between the two highland fronts around the army, and then stationed here for a day, until the arrival of the follow-up large force, they continued to move forward.

The whole battalion marched on foot thoroughly, and while the main force was attacking Jinquan County, it quietly took advantage of the chaos to insert itself behind enemy lines, and marched day and night, arriving at Shanghujian on the south side of Xingzhou in the early morning of May 20.

According to the battle plan, at about 9 o'clock in the evening of this day, the 3rd Airborne Division will land here, and they will be responsible for receiving the 3rd Airborne Division to ensure that the 3rd Airborne Division will not land in the enemy's trap.

After scouting the surrounding situation, Tan Zhengfu sent a telegram to the Second Staff Bureau of the Northeast National Defense Force to confirm local safety, but did not get a call back.

Tan Zhengfu said that he didn't know what was going on, but he just felt bad, so he called Wu Zhen and Lu Renqi together to discuss, according to reason, even if the main force of the Second Army was unfavorable in battle, they should send a message to let them continue to go south, or perform other tasks.

Wu Zhen believed that the situation must have changed, and that they should withdraw from this area immediately, because they were the strength of a battalion, and it was impossible for them to hide in the mountains and fields near the base camp of the Yue army for a long time, and perhaps they could be discovered in the afternoon.

Tan Zhengfu and Lu Renqi hoped to hold out until 9 p.m., and if it was confirmed that the 3rd Airborne Division had not arrived in the local area, they would immediately implement the second plan and go directly south to capture the town of Guankiri, which was also a battleground for soldiers.

The topography of southeastern Korea is similar to that of the northeast, and it is the remains of the ancient continent left by large-scale glacial activity, and there are many ravines and undulating mountains.

The whole battalion was forced to disperse in the mountains and forests to wait, until 10:30 p.m., the 3rd Airborne Division still did not arrive, Tan Zhengfu was forced to leave the 3rd Company to continue to guard their temporary fortifications, while the other three companies and the battalion headquarters made a detour back to the Tingliu point, with the 12 MBV4 armored vehicles in the battalion to Juchang County, if it did not wait for the 3rd Airborne Division by 6 o'clock tomorrow morning, the 3rd Company also went south to Guanjili to join the battalion headquarters.

It was with this dazed heart that Tan Zhengfu led his 203rd battalion to continue south to Guanjili, the two places are only 40 kilometers apart, but all are rugged mountain roads, until 10 o'clock in the morning of the next day, the whole battalion arrived at Guanjili, fortunately the defense of the army in this place has not been strengthened, so that he easily captured the fortress of the army at night, and then continued to build new fortifications on the basis of the fortifications of the army, strengthen the defense.

It was only at this time that Tan Zhengfu received a direct telegram from the General Staff of the Northeast Defense Army through the radio, which surprised him that the two ace elite divisions of the 22nd and 23rd Divisions of their First Army were encircled and annihilated by the Sixth Division of the Army in Sangju because they were alone.

The army divided the main force into two, a small part of the troops were responsible for intercepting Zhang Zizhong's troops, concentrating six divisions in Shangzhou, and then using two newly formed divisions to lure Fu Zuoyi's lone army into the depths, and finally concentrated six divisions in Shangzhou to besiege the 22nd Division, although the lone 22nd Division was rescued by the 23rd Division, it was still suffering heavy losses.

The two sides were still fighting fiercely in Shangzhou at this time, because Zhang Zizhong's troops were unable to break through the defense line of the Yue Army, Fu Zuoyi also transferred the 3rd Infantry Division to Shangzhou for rescue, and through the deployment of the Northeast National Defense Army General Staff, the 3rd Airborne Division was also recruited, which barely kept the 22nd Division, but the core of the entire chaotic arrow battle plan has been disrupted.

The First Army, which had suffered heavy losses, was in urgent need of repair, and it was already difficult to continue the assault on Shangzhou, which meant that the Second Army of Wei Lihuang could then be flanked by Wei Lihuang from the north and south.

The military headquarters ordered the 203rd Battalion to make every effort to hold out until 7 p.m. tomorrow night, and at 6:20 p.m., the two battalions of the 2nd Airborne Division would descend directly to the area around the Khangkiri, and before that there would be 60 more sorties of supplies.

Tan Zhengfu was surprised, he couldn't believe that a nationally renowned general and superior like Fu Zuoyi would be defeated by the army, and it was when the situation was fully superior, but he didn't panic, because he felt that he could still complete the task of the military department.

It was already 4 o'clock in the afternoon when Tan Zhengfu received the urgent telegram from the General Staff, and it was only two and a half hours before he seized the defense line of the Jili of the Yuejun Pavilion.

At this time, Tan Zhengfu and all the officers and soldiers of the 203rd Battalion did not know that the most famous new battle in the history of war was about to start here.

(To be continued)