"I feel that there are too few artillery and machine guns in the battalion. If there are more machine guns to accompany the attack, it will be much easier for us to deal with the enemies hiding in the houses. "Captain Shi Qian's voice was loud and clear. In the summary meeting the day after the battle, Captain Shi Qian was full of energy and confidence.
This was the summary of the battle. The company led by Captain Shi Qian suffered many casualties, but the results were also great. The other companies could only take down around 20 houses before the battle ended, but Captain Shi Qian's company swept through more than 60 houses on a street. Even if they consumed five times more rifle grenades than the other units, no one would mention the problem of ammunition consumption in front of such an impressive result.
Qi Rui took out his notebook and recorded the interesting questions. Captain Shi Qian's questions were very interesting. Qi Rui also felt that the current formation was unsatisfactory. The formation of the troops clearly couldn't fulfill the requirements of maximizing efficiency.
The chief of staff was silent, but the division commander Ma Xiaoming couldn't stay silent either. He asked, "Company Commander Shi, what do you think we should do?"
"Expand the platoon directly under each battalion into a company, and add a firepower company. This way, the three infantry companies can receive firepower and reinforcements at any time. "Captain Shi Qian spoke frankly with assurance. This made many regiment commanders and battalion commanders raise their eyebrows. A company commander talked about his opinion on the reorganization of the battalion-sized combat units. Not to mention whether what he said was reasonable, just his courage was' praiseworthy '.
After listening to Captain Shi Qian's opinion, Qi Rui's eyes couldn't help but light up. It had to be said that this basic soldier gave a suggestion that made Qi Rui care a lot.
After Qi Rui finished attending the meeting of the three divisions, the various regiment commanders and battalion commanders could go rest. Meanwhile, the division commander and officers had to continue the meeting. Qi Rui already had his own ideas in his heart. The staff of the 24th division summarized the suggestions according to Qi Rui's instructions.
"There are two opinions in the troops. One is that we don't have enough fighting strength, so we need to increase our firepower by increasing our troops and equipment. The other is that they feel that the combat intensity is too high, so they want to restore the motorized infantry to the speed and combat intensity of traditional infantry, "Qi Rui explained his opinion to the officers attending the meeting.
Ma Xiaoming looked at the summary given by the headquarters. According to Qi Rui's classification criteria, most of the suggestions were in the category of "hoping that the motorized infantry would return to being ordinary infantry." In other words, they wanted the motorized infantry to become a group of ordinary infantry who drove cars. Since Qi Rui had made such a clear distinction, it seemed that there was no need to question his own position.
As usual, Commander Zheng Minglun did not speak. Qi Rui had indeed improved greatly. As a military officer, he had to be able to clearly express his opinion. If one did not have a clear stance on such a crucial issue, then one would only be unable to persist due to the chaotic opinions of the majority. Zheng Minglun wasn't necessarily used to the motorized infantry's speed and combat strength, but this was a new type of army that the Military Governor Of Vaize approved. Zheng Minglun had a thorough understanding of this fundamental issue.
The acting chief of staff drew a line, and the meeting immediately had a direction. Even if there were only a few people who agreed to strengthen their combat strength, the minority undoubtedly overwhelmed the majority. However, this created a problem. If they wanted to strengthen their combat strength, how were they going to solve the problem of not having enough soldiers?
"Commander, let's request for reinforcements from the frontline headquarters," Qi Rui said to Zheng Minglun.
The other people in the military didn't dare to make a sound. The boldness of this suggestion made everyone speechless. The 24th Division was an experimental unit, so it wasn't strange for there to be many adjustments and changes. However, to change the formation of the unit in the middle of a battle at the frontline, this request was borderline crazy. Everyone's gaze fell on Commander Zheng Minglun. Zheng Minglun thought for a moment and said to everyone, "I'll send a telegram to the frontline headquarters now."
A portion of the officers in the military widened their eyes, and there were also some officers who looked at Qi Rui. However, Qi Rui's expression was calm, as though such a big decision didn't affect him at all.
Similar to what the officers of the 24th Division thought, this suggestion caused quite a commotion in the frontline headquarters. The frontline headquarters immediately sent a reply to the 24th Division. "The sea route of Lake Superior is basically open, and your reinforcements will arrive soon. However, we'll talk about the expansion later. "
The frontline headquarters didn't expect the 24th Division to send a reply so quickly. "Even if the heavy equipment can't satisfy our needs, please provide the normal infantry according to our request."
Seeing that the guys from the motorized infantry division were determined, the frontline headquarters decided to let the war zone headquarters handle the case. The 24th Division was a unit that the war zone headquarters valued, so all problems were decided by the war zone headquarters. On the day the telegram was sent, the war zone headquarters replied, "Increase the number of infantry to the requested level first. Increase the number of infantry for logistics first."
Since the war zone headquarters gave the order, and the 24th Division was willing to train while fighting, the frontline headquarters naturally didn't say anything. The next night, those reinforcements arrived at Duluth City.
On the day that these reinforcements arrived at Duluth City, the reinforcements from the south finally arrived at Duluth after spending five days. In the blink of an eye, Duluth was filled with 70,000 troops. The next day, which was the 29th, the 1st Division quickly replenished their troops and headed west from Duluth City.
On the 30th, American troops appeared on the road 60 kilometers away from Duluth City. They were the Union Army from South Carolina. Not long ago, they participated in the defense of the northern frontline. When they heard that Duluth was surrounded by the Chinese troops, the commanders immediately chose to retreat. Opposite the northern defense line was a large number of Chinese troops. If Duluth, the transportation hub at the back, was lost, these people would be surrounded in the barren mountains and rivers of Minnesota.
The scouting troops at the front suddenly stopped. In their sight, there was a position that relied on the mountains. The position beside the main road sent a message to the US Army. Perhaps their path of retreat to the east had been cut off.
The South Carolina troops didn't attack immediately. They immediately sent scouts to other routes. In the evening, all the scouts returned, and all the news was the same. There were defensive positions set up by the Chinese on all the roads. Minnesota was known as the State of a Thousand Lakes. There were many mountains and rivers. There were flat areas with mountains and rivers everywhere. However, all the roads within a 20-kilometer radius were blocked. The Union Army in South Carolina could only stop and wait for daybreak.
The next day, before the Union Army in South Carolina could come up with a solution, a friendly force came from behind. Upon contact, it was the Union Army from New York State. They had also withdrawn from the northern frontline. As soon as the two sides discussed the situation, everyone understood that they only had two choices. They could either go around to see if there was a road dozens of kilometers away, or they could break through the Chinese defense line and head to Duluth. The other option was to return the way they came. This option was so stupid that the commanders on both sides didn't discuss it.
The two troops added up had about 10,000 soldiers. The two commanders felt that it would be unreasonable for such a large force to not try to attack the Chinese defense line. The two commanders humbly declined. Based on the principle of first come, first served, the South Carolina troops sent a team of 300 soldiers to launch a tentative attack.
The first obstacle to the attack was the barbed wire. The barbed wire of the Chinese was not the kind that was completely connected. The soldiers of the Union Army who advanced with their rifles saw three barbed wire fences, each of which was fixed by a wooden stake. They didn't know if the Chinese had the ability to make barbed wire that was too long, but there were gaps in the middle of the fences. However, these gaps were not straight ahead, but intersected with each other. When the Union Army wanted to pass through these obstacles, they had to make a detour.
When they passed through this place, the soldiers of the Union Army were extremely nervous. To their surprise, this group of people was not attacked. After passing through the three barbed wire fences, they discovered that there were two other barbed wire fences that were tightly pressed together behind the three barbed wire fences, and there was no gap for them to pass through.
A federal soldier tried to cut the barbed wire with the bayonet on his rifle. Just as he started to try, gunshots rang out from the opposite side. The federal soldier was quite lucky. The bullet only flew past his head and lifted his military cap. Other than breaking a dozen hairs, it did not cause any more damage.
However, the shock did not lessen because of this. The federal soldier was so scared that he turned around and ran. He forgot that he had walked through the gap in the barbed wire fences to get here. As he ran wildly, he went straight for the barbed wire fences. Before he could stabilize his footing, the unlucky man threw himself on the barbed wire fences and let out a tragic cry.
At this time, more than a hundred people had passed through the barbed wire fences, and dozens of people were still passing through. The other dozens of people were watching as backup. Captain Shi Qian, who had just been promoted to deputy battalion commander, saw it clearly through the binoculars. He put down the binoculars and ordered the troops, "Kill those Yanks inside the barbed wire fences first! Hit those inside the barbed wire fences first! "
"Hit those inside the barbed wire fences first." The Liberation Army soldiers in the defensive position passed the orders of the deputy battalion commander one by one. The snipers and sharpshooters aimed at the targets and fired according to the orders.
Without the binoculars, Captain Shi Qian could see the enemies being shot one by one with his naked eyes. Being inside the barbed wire fences, even if they were not killed by a shot, they would fall on the barbed wire after being injured. Not to mention their suffering, just their screams could put great psychological pressure on the Yanks who were attacking later.
At the front of this defensive position was a blocking position formed by four barbed wire fences, and behind the blocking position was a second line of defense. In front of each line of defense was at least three barbed wire fences, and in the middle of the two lines of defense was a minefield. The troops used the terrain to build simple fortifications that could defend against artillery.
Captain Shi Qian watched the troops kill and injure the Yanks' pathfinders like rabbits and felt very refreshed in his heart. While feeling refreshed, Captain Shi Qian couldn't help but give his division commander a evaluation. "Cunning enough!"
When he first received the order to expand, Captain Shi Qian felt that the troops would be engaged in an offensive battle. He didn't expect that the order the troops received was to set up a defensive position. Defensive battles were much easier to fight than offensive battles. After more than a day of working together, Shi Qian was able to connect the names and faces of the company commanders and platoon commanders of the two new companies.
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