Regardless of whether it is the era of cold weapons or the era of hot weapons, whether it is the Napoleonic Wars or World War I or World War II, it is often not the breakthrough on the frontal battlefield that determines the outcome of the war, but the breakthrough on the flank, and then the formation of a threat to the enemy's flank, and then the formation of a multi-faceted attack posture that makes the enemy unable to support.

Whether it is just a roundabout maneuver of hundreds of meters in the era of cold weapons, or a roundabout attack of several kilometers during World War I, or a roundabout maneuver of tens of kilometers or even hundreds of kilometers during World War II, although the times are different, the scale and distance are also different, but they all have the same term, that is, roundabout attack!

Looking at the recent Russo-Japanese War and the Tongzhou Battle last year, although the recent Tangshan Battle was full of heavy machine guns and trenches, it was still the four words of roundabout attack that made the two sides distinguish the victory and defeat.

During the Russo-Japanese War, the Yalu River Campaign, the Liaoyang Campaign, and the Mukden Campaign, in most cases, the Japanese army did not break through from the front, but attacked from the flank from a roundabout attack, and even ran behind the Russian army to attack.

Last year, the battle of Tongzhou between Zhao Dongyun and Wang Shizhen and Feng Guozhang was a more typical example of a roundabout offensive battle, when the third division was strong and strong, but there was no way to face the Tongzhou defense line of Wang Shizhen's sixth division, and finally Gu Lanyu boldly led the troops to bypass Tongzhou and return to the side of the sixth division, which forced Wang Shizhen to retreat on a large scale in one fell swoop, and then let the third division capture Tongzhou. This can be said to be quite difficult, otherwise Gu Lanyu would not have become famous in this battle.

The recent Battle of Tangshan was actually a typical example of a roundabout offensive, in which the Feng army made a large-scale breakthrough from Fengdengwu in an attempt to attack in the north and west of Huanxizhuang, and the whole roundabout distance was more than 30 kilometers. After the 10th Division made a breakthrough at Yinfeng, it also began a large-scale westward march, trying to detour back to the flanks of the 2nd Brigade, the 1st Mixed Brigade, and the 11th Division to encircle these two divisions, but the roundabout attack was not too successful, allowing Lu Yongxiang's 2nd Brigade and 11th Division to run away and only surround one 1st Mixed Brigade.

Looking at the many battles in the past, it will be found that the contemporary Feng army, like the Japanese army, which also studied under the German army, is more respected, and at the same time is more adept at this kind of 'roundabout attack'.

And Wang Zhanyuan served as the commander of the Fifth Brigade in the Fengjun system for many years, which was inevitably influenced by the Fengjun system, especially the tactical concept and even the command style are with strong traces of the Fengjun, which is from Wang Zhanyuan's reorganization of the Seventh Division, imitating not the tactics and other systems of the old Beiyang troops such as the First Division, but imitating the Third Division. In particular, the infantry tactically can be said to be a copy of the 3rd Division.

Wang Zhanyuan's own command style also has a strong style of a Soviet general, if it were replaced by Lu Yongxiang or even Wang Yingkai, who was in the current predicament of the Bazhou Campaign, there is a chance that the troops would have withdrawn.

But Wang Zhanyuan did not, instead of withdrawing his troops and fleeing, he used the 28th Regiment to contain the 5th Brigade of the Fengjun Kong Guanbei Division, and the 13th Brigade under his command had already made a big detour back to the flank of the 5th Brigade.

On the evening of July 5th, Kong Guanbei frowned and looked at the map in his hand, and said after a while: "This Wang Zhanyuan really can't be underestimated, and he actually wants to attack our flank in a roundabout way!" ”

"There are at least four or five thousand enemy troops coming from the northwest direction, and I think Wang Zhanyuan has thrown a whole brigade into it, and there are only two battalions on the right flank now, I'm afraid I can't stop it!"

Kong Wanbei said: "Then transfer the fourth battalion to the right flank, and block this wave first!" ”

"Send another message to the division headquarters and ask for reinforcements!" Kong Guanbei was not a reckless person, although he was confident that he could block the attack of Wang Zhanyuan's entire division with a brigade of troops, but he was unwilling to take risks. Any reluctance on the battlefield will be a complete failure, the Tangshan Battle of Zhu Panzao's 1st Brigade was defeated by the 10th Division The example is still ahead, although the contemporary battle is the defense side has a great advantage, but no one can say whether there will be an accident.

Although Kong Guanbei was already cautious enough, he did not expect that Wang Zhanyuan would be more resolute and decisive than he imagined, Wang Zhanyuan had served as the commander of the Fifth Brigade of the Third Division for a long time, and he had a very clear understanding of the commanders of the upper and lower divisions of the Third Division, and he also understood the combat effectiveness and tactics of the Third Division.

The 13th Brigade of the 7th Division, which launched an attack from the flank of the 5th Brigade to the north, showed the tactical literacy that amazed Kong Guanbei, which was not to say how strong the combat effectiveness of the 13th Brigade was, but that their tactics were almost exclusively aimed at the 3rd Division.

Whenever the troops of the Fifth Brigade used fire reconnaissance to find out the position of the heavy machine guns of the opposing direct army, and after the 60-millimeter mortars were dispatched to destroy this heavy machine gun fire point through guò rapid fire, and the heavy machine gun fire point on the opposite side did not open fire, when the soldiers of the Fifth Brigade launched a small-scale counterattack, they were often hit by the heavy machine gun fire of the direct army from the flank, and in the many heavy machine gun positions overcome, it was found that the heavy machine guns and the bodies of the machine gun shooters were not destroyed or even bloodstained.

There is no doubt that the heavy machine guns of the direct army used frequent maneuvers to evade the targeted killings of the mortars of the Feng army, which of course reduced the firepower of the heavy machine guns of the direct army, but also greatly reduced the combat efficiency of the anti-heavy machine guns that had always been extremely efficient in the Feng army.

Moreover, the 13th Brigade on the opposite side did not want to stay in the trenches and defend passively, as the soldiers of the 3rd Division had encountered before, but only stayed in the trenches and defended passively, and this 13th Brigade not only made a roundabout maneuver to the northern flank and rear position of the 5th Brigade in a roundabout way, but also did not launch even one large-scale attack above the company level in the specific small-scale attack, but took a large number of frequent tactical roundabouts on the front line, often launching attacks from the unexpected flank or even from behind.

Ordinary soldiers couldn't figure out what was going on, but those middle- and high-ranking officers who had some insight could see at a glance that the many offensive tactics adopted by the Seventh Division, especially the company-platoon level tactics, were almost the most commonly used and best tactics of the Third Division.

"This Seventh Division, people who don't know still think it will be our Fengjun troops!" To be honest, encountering this situation made Kong Weibei quite depressed, after all, it was quite depressing to let the enemy attack him with the tactics he was best at, and he couldn't think of any good way to resist.

The encounter of the Fifth Brigade today is similar to that of Wang Zhanyuan's Sixth Division in the Tongzhou Campaign and the First Brigade of the First Division in the Tangshan Campaign.

Although this trench defense tactic is still extremely effective, and it is very simple to resist the attack of the same number of enemies, it can be said that it is quite difficult for the Fifth Brigade to resist the attack of Wang Zhanyuan's entire brigade with three battalions.

Unexpectedly, the Fifth Brigade was in an embarrassing situation in just two days, leaving the group of senior generals behind almost unbelieving their eyes.

"The Fifth Brigade was flanked from both sides? The northern flank has already broken through and forced to retreat to the main position? Zhao Dongyun looked at this emergency battle report, and his first reaction was not to believe it.

He knows very well the combat effectiveness of the Fifth Brigade, it is a force that can fight and fight, and if you want to defeat and retreat the Fifth Brigade, you need at least three times more old Beiyang troops!

If the Fifth Brigade was in a predicament because it was attacked by the entire Seventh Division, where were the other units of the Third Division? Where is the 6th Brigade? Why did the 6th Brigade not reinforce the front line after two days had passed!

Zhao Dongyun put down the battle report: "What about the Sixth Brigade, where is it now?" ”

Yang Deming said: "At present, the Sixth Brigade is on its way to Bazhou for reinforcements!" ”

Zhao Dongyun's eyebrows were still frowning: "Where was the Sixth Brigade before?" Why is it still on the way? ”

Yang Deming, as the head of the operations department, is actually responsible for the operation of the entire Feng army, in other words, Chen Guangyuan's third division commanded by his operations department will not directly issue direct combat orders to Gu Lanyu's sixth brigade on weekdays, but he still knows the situation of each department well, and immediately said: "Three days ago, the third division was ordered to urgently go south to Bazhou to contain the seventh division of Zhanyuan, the king of Bazhou. After the 3rd Division was ordered, the 5th Brigade of its forward force marched south from Yongqing to Bazhou, and engaged the enemy who arrived on the outskirts of Bazhou a day later and Bazhou. At the same time, the 6th Brigade was heading from Beguzhuang to Yongqing, especially since the division had been marching for many days, so the 3rd Division ordered the division to temporarily rest and recuperate in Yongqing, and yesterday approached the 3rd Division to order to start reinforcements to Bazhou. ”

Zhao Dongyun said as soon as he heard this: "Why did the Sixth Brigade stay in Yongqing for two days? ”

The rest of the Sixth Brigade in Yongqing is not the kind of rest after suffering heavy losses, but just ordinary rest and replenishment of ammunition and food, and now the war is so frequent and tense, basically this kind of rest time can be a day is already a very luxury, and it is very unusual for the Sixth Brigade to rest for two days.

Yang Deming really didn't know about this matter, so he immediately urgently flipped through the various battle reports in his hand, and then said: "The Second Artillery Battalion of the Third Artillery Regiment that is attached to the brigade has lost many artillery pieces in the previous battle, and the Ordnance Department has replenished four artillery pieces to the battalion, and at the same time, the Quartermaster Department has replenished a batch of artillery shells for the artillery battalion and the mortar unit of the Sixth Brigade. ”

Zhao Dongyun already understood the situation before and after, the reason why the Fifth Brigade was in this predicament was also related to his previous order, in order to keep the Seventh Division in Bazhou, he ordered the Third Division to go south quickly, Chen Guangyuan naturally did not dare to disobey his order, so he let the Fifth Brigade go south alone.