Chapter 1211: The Great Fog

On the night of 9 October, Chang Feng, chief of staff of the Independent Division, chief of staff of the Independent Division, and acting commander of the Corps directly under the independent division, was reporting to division commander Tang Qiuli at the Burma Campaign Headquarters in the small city of northern Burma.

Chang Feng took a few telegrams and said: "Division commander, according to the report of our reconnaissance troops lurking in Mogu, the Japanese army has been moving frequently in the past three days, and most of its main forces are assembled in the direction of Libao Grand Canyon, just three hours ago, the six divisions of the Japanese army were about 150,000 troops, and they went out in concealment and occupied Mogok, in addition, there are about two armored troops of the tank wing and a large number of artillery, and the reconnaissance troops have all withdrawn to Mengmi according to the order, without alarming the Japanese army. ”

After the report, Chang Feng shook his head again and said: "Division commander, in such a situation as the Burma war situation, Ito dared to attack first with the unfinished replenishment of the troops, I don't understand Ito's approach, it is obvious that the Japanese army is at a disadvantage in terms of strength and weapons and equipment, and as a result of this, the losses of the Japanese army will be very heavy, not to mention, my Eastern Front Group is approaching Mandalay step by step, Ito actually sees the flank threat as nothing, incredible, either idiocy or madness?" ”

Tang Qiuli said calmly: "It's very simple, Ito is under pressure from Japan, the Japanese base camp is eager to solve the Burma problem, knowing that he is reluctant to fight, he still forced Ito to fight, because he is afraid that the war in Burma will drag on for too long, and unexpected changes will occur in the Americans, Ito will either fight or retreat, there are only two choices, he chose to fight, there should be a fluke element in it, right?" Ahead of our Eastern Front group to capture Mandalay, to repel my main forces on the Mon-Mi front. ”

Chang Feng thought for a moment, and then said: "Division commander, the Japanese army should launch an attack on the whole front in the early morning of tomorrow, and I will return to the troops," After Chang Feng left, Tang Qiuli combed through all the deployments in his mind, found no loopholes, and said to the communication staff officer: "Connect the phone of the artillery commander Zheng Yong." ”

"Zheng Yong! How is your artillery prepared? Okay, remember, it must be when the Japanese offensive has just been launched, yes, I want the six divisions of the Japanese army, after the battle starts, the artillery fire must cut off the contact between the front and rear of the Japanese army, okay, waiting for your good news," Tang Qiuli said.

In the receiver of the phone, Zheng Yong's voice couldn't suppress his excitement, "Please rest assured, the division commander has more than 8,000 artillery pieces of various calibers and 28 rocket artillery battalions, which are enough to cover the front of Mogu 30 kilometers deep and more than 20 kilometers wide. ”

Tang Qiuli also smiled and said: "Zheng Yong, set up more artillery observation points, and stop shelling targets at any time, although the shells are enough for you to fight, and save me a little, otherwise, when the battle is over, Minister Zhang of the Logistics Department will trouble me, and I will hand you out!" Zheng Yong was anxious when he heard this, and said: "Division commander, don't, I can't afford to offend that old man, I have made full preparations, all artillery groups have three groups of observation posts, and they are guaranteed to smash every shell on the head of the little devil." ”

To tell the truth, for one of the veterans of the independent division, Major General Zhang Quan, director of the division's logistics department and commander of the Burma Theater Joint Service Command, and the generals of the independent division, starting from the division commander Tang Qiuli, there is no one who is not stunned.

The commanders and brigade commanders of the various corps gave Zhang Quan the nickname "Jiahu", if that extravagant wasted and regarded himself as a rich man, he would come to the door to theorize, and he would have to force you to give a reason, and his qualifications, age, and position were all there, and he would not give up if he did not train you to be red-faced and made a promise.

No, the day before yesterday, Le Yiqin, commander of the Southern Flight Group of the Independent Division's Air Force, had just finished his time in Burma, and as soon as he landed at the Kunming airport, his butt had not yet sat firmly on the chair, Zhang Quan came to the door, split his head and covered his brain, and scolded the air force for being a loser, and Le Yiqin even reviewed and apologized, and finally fooled the old man away.

Looking at Zhang Quan's back with a dry tobacco pouch and leaving with his hands behind his back, Le Yiqin touched his head and wondered, "You said, how can a bunch of people in the logistics department who are pulling abacus beads all day long be able to be proficient in this kind of process, and they can also calculate the saturation bombing volume of their own engine group and the use of ammunition, which is really evil?" What kind of people are they? ”

Le Yiqin knew that after two days of bombing, the pilots were patronizing, and there were many targets that needed to be bombed, and a lot of aerial bombs and napalm were indeed wasted, according to his estimates, more than 15 percent, and the war was tight at that time, and the logistics department added it again and again, without saying anything, so after the battle, Zhang Quan came to the door, and Le Yiqin could only review.

Therefore, Tang Qiuli's half-joking words were enough to make Major General Zheng Yong, the artillery commander of the Independent Division, sweat down his spine, put down the division commander's phone, and hurriedly added two groups of observation posts to each artillery group, so as to be foolproof.

At four o'clock in the morning of October 10th, the faint morning light showed a qiē on this land, showing a scene of early autumn in central Myanmar, the dense jungle was originally emerald green, the green was black, and the clusters of colorful autumn leaves were dotted in the boundless dark green, and the air was full of early autumn moisture, and the wide, fat leaves on the tall trees could not bear the huge dewdrops, and the little dewdrops fell, smashing the shorter shrubs into continuous swaying.

The swaying of the bushes intensified, and trembled, and then, groups of Japanese soldiers dressed in camouflage branches, cautiously out of the bushes, quietly advanced in the direction of Mengmi, behind the Japanese soldiers, one by one, a cannon, revealing a hideous muzzle, pointing in the direction of Mengmi, foggy, sudden fog, white fog, a cloud of rolling smoke, the qiē just revealed, and again hidden into nature, the fog covered the valley, jungle, plain, visibility is only a few meters away.

Sergeant Meng Xiaozhu, the leader of the artillery observer group of the Third Artillery Group of the Independent Division, was a young man who was only 20 years old, not to mention his young age, he was also a veteran, and in the summer of 38, he participated in the troops of the Independent Division in Nangong County, Hebei Province.

The young man was clever and studious, and his head was lively, and soon, he was sent to the Huangyadong base sergeant training brigade to study, in the Huangyadong base, Meng Xiaozhu was crazy about artillery, and after graduation, he entered the first artillery brigade, under Zheng Yong, as an artillery observer.

On the evening of the 8th, the observation group lurked into a mountain bag overgrown with shrubs, and the place chosen by Meng Xiaozhu was in an excellent location with a wide field of vision, and could overlook the large jungle and plains under the mountain package, and most importantly, on the mountain package, there was a cave that could accommodate five or six people to rest.

The work of an artillery observer is boring, two nights and one day, there is no movement in the jungle and on the plains under this mountain, even if it is a rabbit, it can add some lively air to this monotony, Meng Xiaozhu is wet all over, the unique chill of early autumn in northern Burma, with huge dewdrops, constantly invades his body temperature.

Every drop of dew falling on his body was a trembling that could not be controlled, and his two assistants were so tired that they couldn't open their eyes, speaking of which, they were both older than Meng Xiaozhu, if it was about military qualities, it was far behind, holding the gun, shrunk into a ball, only Meng Xiaozhu, who was still staring wide-eyed, observed the surrounding Qi Qi from the artillery mirror.

However, in sight, it was a cloud of cotton-wool-like fog, and the visibility was almost zero, unless someone stepped on it, "bang" Major General Zheng Yong, the artillery commander of the Independent Division, dropped the telescope angrily, slapped the shell box with a fierce palm, and cursed viciously, "Damn, the damn God is also coming to join in the fun, is this Burmese God related to the little devil?" ”

Looking at the black line on the commander's face, the staff officers wanted to laugh but didn't dare to laugh, Zheng Yong grabbed the phone on the table, "Division commander?" I'm Zheng Yong, this damn fog, all my observation posts are shaking and blind, it's 4:25, and there's still no movement, their meteorological department is eating dry food? Such a big fog, and it was not predicted in advance? They should all be shot! ”

Tang Qiuli's face sank, and said: "Zheng Yong, don't scold the street here, the Japanese army is not one hundred and eighty people, more than 100,000 people will move, there will always be traces, I have ordered the troops on the front line of Meng Mi to send a small reconnaissance force to search in the direction of Mogu, and there will be news soon." Your artillery observation posts, all wide-eyed, other Japanese soldiers have gone under their noses, and they haven't noticed yet, something is wrong, I'll ask you! ”

Zheng Yong shrank his neck and grabbed another phone on the table, "Attention to all artillery groups, enter the shelling preparation stage, the original shooting target remains unchanged, and wait for the order of the artillery commander," According to Zheng Yong's judgment, if the Japanese army really attacked, this fog would be their best cover, and he suddenly thought, if it is covered according to the predetermined area, can it be blown up by a blind shot?

Immediately, he gave up this tempting idea, in case the little devil did not attack, his hundreds of thousands of shells were all hit in the open space, but it became a big joke, not to mention the shame, not only the division commander could not spare himself, but the old man Zhang Quan, the minister of logistics, had to peel off his own skin? In the future, don't think about raising your head in the independent division.

This sudden fog disrupted Tang Qiuli's established deployment, and when he was not sure whether the Japanese army would attack, he could only wait, and such a wait was passive, after thinking about it, he picked up the phone.