Chapter 362 Chinese Expeditionary Force Laos Campaign (1)
The Chinese Expeditionary Force¡¯s Thai campaign ended. The Expeditionary Force was renovating in eastern Thailand. The US military built an airport in northern Thailand. The Chinese Expeditionary Force¡¯s repair shop in Myanmar and other logistics agencies also moved to Wulong in northern Thailand.
According to Yue Hanping¡¯s plan, when supplies are sufficient, the Laos campaign will be launched to drive away the Japanese troops occupying Laos. A springboard for the subsequent march into Vietnam.
Situ Fei's special forces also withdrew all to Thailand. Yang Jingxian brought a regiment of his own Shan State Self-Defense Forces to Thailand. The shrewd Yang Jingxian understood that in the mountainous areas of Shan State in northern Myanmar, if you have a gun, you are a grass-head king, and there is nothing the Myanmar government can do. them. Therefore, Yang Jingxian took this opportunity to lead a regiment out to the battlefield to learn the tactics and combat command experience of the expeditionary force. When the war ends in the future, her regiment will be the backbone of his Yang Family Self-Defense Force.
Wulong is an important town in northern Thailand, very close to the capital of Laos. A large number of troops have been stationed, a large number of warehouses, and a large number of aircraft, which have aroused the vigilance of the Japanese army. From time to time, small-scale Japanese search teams cross the border to conduct reconnaissance of the Chinese Expeditionary Force.
Yue Hanping convened some patriotic overseas Chinese in Thailand, selected some people from the overseas Chinese, and Situ Fei taught them the techniques and methods of gathering intelligence. Special forces also continued to send personnel to Vientiane to collect intelligence on the Japanese army.
At the end of January 1944, the Japanese army prepared to launch a campaign to open up the mainland's communication lines on the Chinese battlefield. The purpose was to connect the mainland's communication lines from Northeast China to Vietnam and relieve its increasing logistical supply pressure on the Chinese battlefield. Chiang Kai-shek specially transferred Zheng Dongguo and the New Sixth Army back to the country to strengthen the domestic battlefield.
Sun Liren took over as commander of the First Army, and Pan Yukun took over as commander of the New First Army. With the efforts of General Stilwell, all infantry corps of the Chinese Expeditionary Force have realized vehicle transportation. At this point, the history of soldiers of the Chinese Expeditionary Force ending with marching on legs. The U.S. Fourteenth Air Force was transferred to China, and the Tenth Air Force was assigned to the Chinese Expeditionary Force.
The British were not very interested in conquering Laos, Vietnam and other places. General Mountbatten, commander of the Southeast Asian Theater, focused mainly on the campaigns in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. General Stilwell had no choice but to ask for two brigades of infantry from MacArthur to form an allied force with the Chinese Expeditionary Force to implement the strategic vision of the U.S. General Staff Headquarters.
The British army refused to participate in the Laos campaign, which made General Stilwell, who was full of war enthusiasm, very angry. On the contrary, the American general felt that the Chinese Expeditionary Force was the most reliable ally of the United States. The stubborn old American man gradually changed himself and no longer blindly ordered the Chinese expeditionary force to do what they should do. The Battle of Myanmar and the Battle of Thailand greatly changed the American general's impression of Yue Hanping, Sun Liren, Chen Mingren and others. Their abilities have proven that they are on par with generals from professional American military schools.
Wulong, Allied headquarters, General Stilwell and his chief of staff, Major General Madsen, were chatting. Three Chinese generals, Yue Hanping, Sun Liren and Chen Mingren, visited.
Stilwell happily gave the three of them a bear hug. The enthusiasm of the old American man made the three of them feel warm. General Stilwell smiled and said: "Yue, we have just shipped a batch of Sherman tanks to supplement the losses of your armored corps in the early battles. There are also some armored personnel carriers, which are also ready to be distributed to you. "
Yue Hanping and others said some words of thanks, and then asked anxiously when they would start attacking Laos. General Stilwell shrugged his shoulders and waved his pipe exaggeratedly, "Oh, God, you are so impatient! My two American brigades haven't arrived yet!"
Chief of Staff Madson laughed and asked quickly: "Generals, what do you want to drink?"
Sun Liren ordered a cup of coffee for each of them in fluent English. He turned back to Yue Hanping and Chen Mingren and said, "I ordered a cup of coffee for each of us."
Yue Hanping nodded and thanked him with a smile. Chen Mingren muttered slightly: "What's so good about coffee is that it's not as good as Luzhou Laojiao." This sentence made everyone laugh.
General Stilwell slowly lit his pipe and blew out a large smoke ring. ¡°The Battle of Thailand is over, and the Japanese monkeys are very anxious. I heard that they are planning to expand the army divisions to 160 at the end of the year. In order to ensure Japan¡¯s supply routes on the Chinese battlefield, Vietnam is the focus of Japanese defense.
After aerial reconnaissance, the Japanese army also increased its troops to Laos, estimated to include two divisions. All are stationed in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. In the Laos campaign, we will fight the Japanese army to attack the fortress. "
Yue Hanping nodded slightly and said slowly: "According to my information, the Japanese army has produced advanced Type IV tanks, which are powerful enough to compete with Sherman tanks. The arsenal in Saigon, Vietnam, is said to have produced 200 tanks. The arsenal is refurbishing the old Type 97 tanks and vigorously producing Type 4 tanks. I don¡¯t know if there are such Japanese tanks in the Laos battlefield."
General Stilwell nodded solemnly,"We have also received information in this regard, but it is unlikely that Japanese troops will be deployed in Laos."
"What we have to face will be harsh urban battles and street battles. Tanks have a limited role in urban street battles. We will prepare a large number of flamethrowers, rifle grenades, and even sniper rifles." Major General Madsen added.
Yue Hanping pondered for a moment, "Then let me see it this way. My armored corps will first use two divisions to sweep across northern Laos, seize the Laotian territory, and compress the Japanese army's maneuvering space. Then it will return to the division to cooperate with the infantry to attack Vientiane."
General Stilwell nodded, "The two brigades of the U.S. Army will cooperate with your armored force. After occupying the northern Laotian territory, they will return to participate in the Vientiane offensive."
General Madsen suggested: ¡°Fellow generals, I suggest that the Chinese Expeditionary Force carry out targeted training in urban offensive and street fighting during this period.¡±
In Vientiane, Lieutenant General Matsuyama Yuzo, who escaped from Myanmar, was appointed by the Japanese base camp as the commander of the Lao garrison, with jurisdiction over the 72nd Division and the 85th Division. These divisions are all newly formed divisions, three-unit divisions formed by drawing veterans from the Chinese battlefield as the backbone. Each division has a strength of 16,000 troops.
After Lieutenant General Songshan accepted the order from the base camp, he immediately launched a large-scale military training activity in Vientiane. His first task was to improve the combat effectiveness of the Japanese army as soon as possible. While training troops, the city defense construction of Vientiane was strengthened. He wants to turn Vientiane into the Moscow of the East and fight an urban war with the Chinese Expeditionary Force.
The cunning Lieutenant General Songshan slightly loosened the grip of the Laotian government, appropriately provided the Laotian people with some policies that benefit the people's livelihood, tried his best to publicize how China had oppressed Laos in history, and called on the Laotian people to protect their homeland. In Laos, a pro-democracy movement was actively carried out to expel the Chinese.
Under the instigation of Lieutenant General Songshan, anti-Japanese sentiment in Laos was high. The Lao government and army also actively cooperated with the Japanese army to build fortifications in various fortresses in preparation for resisting the Chinese Expeditionary Force.
Lieutenant General Songshan built the first layer of defense circle 30 miles outside Vientiane. All positions here are based on hills and mountains. Each firepower point has been carefully calculated, and the firepower layout is extremely scientific. Considering that the Chinese Expeditionary Force has tanks, anti-tank trenches were dug all along the front lines of the positions. The front edge of the position is cut into a steep wall as much as possible, which is smooth and cannot be climbed. Excavate anti-gun holes, troop suspension pits, ammunition storage holes and other facilities on the position.
The second layer of defense circle is 10 miles outside Vientiane, the urban fringe area. There are dense fortifications, bunkers, bunkers and other solid fortifications here, with trenches connecting them.
The third layer of defense circle is the outer area of ??Vientiane City. The Japanese army built tall bunkers in important areas to control the commanding heights. The buildings facing the outside of the city are all made of solid reinforced concrete or boulders, and the buildings and plants at the front are all bulldozed and razed to the ground.
The fourth floor is the city block, that is, the street fighting area. Once the entire perimeter is breached, the Japanese army prepares to fight street battles on familiar streets. All streets are equipped with barricades and fortifications made of sandbags. Important blocks are equipped with corridors and walls to connect the houses on both sides. Almost all the houses on every street were transformed into fortifications, especially in the core urban area. The Japanese army specially built a number of reinforced concrete bungalow-style fortresses, and the entire 100 meters in front of the bungalows was wiped out.
Lieutenant General Songshan worked hard in Vientiane for four months. The combat effectiveness of the Japanese army was improved to a certain extent, and the Vientiane city defenses were also fully constructed. At this point, Lieutenant General Matsuyama breathed a sigh of relief.
In order to deal with the Chinese tank swarm, Lieutenant General Songshan asked the base camp for a batch of 45-meter cannons, a large number of blasting tubes and anti-tank grenades. The ammunition and food reserves were sufficient to support the needs of the Japanese defenders for six months. In order to strengthen material reserves, Vientiane City began to implement a military rationing system. Almost all supplies only need to be brought into the city and are not allowed to leave the city.
The Japanese army gave up the territory in northern Laos, and two divisions defended Vientiane to protect Vietnam's flanks.
In Wulong, the Chinese Expeditionary Force carried out a vigorous military training. Focusing on fortified battles and street fighting outside the city, they brainstormed and called on the soldiers to use their brains more and come up with various methods to attack the difficulties.
The sharpshooters from each unit were individually drawn out to form sniper teams and trained using American sniper rifles. Situ Fei personally led the special forces to strengthen urban special operations training. Their main goal was to destroy Japanese military officers, military camps, headquarters, warehouses and other important people, units and facilities.
Fortunately, the Americans did not skimp on ammunition. All soldiers trained with live ammunition, and their shooting performance improved significantly. The new recruits of the expeditionary force didn't think anything of it, but some veterans couldn't help but said, "My dear, such training is completely fed by bullets."
Yue Hanping is very supportive of live ammunition training. There are no conditions in the country, and the expeditionary force has this convenience, but he is slightly worried. If this continues, the soldiers' dependence on logistics will increase invisibly. Once there is a problem with the ammunition supply, the soldiers are likely to There will be no more war.
EachThe captain officers all suggested to Yue Hanping that the training could be done this way, but the soldiers must try to save ammunition as much as possible on the battlefield. They really got used to it. The soldiers were extravagant. Once the ammunition supply was not available, the soldiers' will to fight would be very low. Disperse soon.