Chapter 39 Prisoner of War Camp
"What? The Eighth Route Army also has special forces, this is impossible!"
"This isn't Yamamoto-kun's excuse for failure!"
Major General Pinglu Yongfu was in charge of the 4th Independent Mixed Brigade, and he always scoffed at Yamamoto's boasting about his fancy special operations.
He believed that a small unit was just a small unit. No matter what tactics you had or how good your people were, as long as the planes and artillery bombed and all the artillery fire washed the ground, and the large unit pressed forward, he didn't believe there would be any resistance.
Isn't this how the Japanese army fought their way from north to south?
Therefore , he looked down on Colonel Yamamoto Ikki who returned in defeat from the bottom of his heart.
It was a waste of the Army Department to select the best personnel for him, give him the best equipment, and provide him with the most sufficient funding, but he handed in such a failed answer sheet. It is simply a shame for the Army Department!
Yamamoto Ikki’s face had turned purple with shame and anger: “General, I still have the courage to admit my failure, but I only admit that I lost to the enemy’s special forces.
We encountered the enemy's main force in Yangcun. We inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy and escaped unscathed. It was only on the way back that we were ambushed by the enemy's special forces.
Only special forces can fight special forces!
I don't think you would believe that an ordinary small unit of the Eighth Route Army could defeat our special forces composed of outstanding talents selected from the entire army!
We always have search scouts when we march, and we will search within 500m of the route before we move forward. However, the place where the enemy launched the attack was about 200m away from our route.
These people must have moved to the ambush site after our search. If it was a large force, it would be impossible for them to carry out such a large-scale sneak operation under our noses.
It can only be a small force, and the firepower equipment they are equipped with is extremely fierce, including light and heavy machine guns, mortars, and grenade launchers.
They attacked fiercely and changed their position within a minute, as if they expected that our special forces would counterattack them in a minute.
They know us well and our special forces well.
Moreover, the fighting started when we arrived at Yangcun, and countless Eighth Route Army soldiers who were well prepared rushed out of the house.
It was as if they had known we were coming and had been on high alert all night, waiting for our arrival.
Then, on our way back, we were ambushed again.
And I suspect that they were sure that we would pass through there, and they had already marked the firing range and the firing parameters of the artillery.
That’s why our two combat teams were killed or crippled by the enemy within a minute.
Based on the above reasons, I believe that there are spies from the other side within our army."
After saying this, Yamamoto Ikki stood at attention, lowered his head, and waited for the judgment of Generals Yoshio Shinozuka and Isamu Hiraru.
Pinglu Yongfu didn't say anything. Even though he looked down on Yamamoto, he knew that as an excellent soldier, Yamamoto would not lie to his superiors.
Then, one really needs to clean up one's own army, especially those members of the Imperial Army.
Yoshio Shinozuka didn't care about the so-called spies in the army. Just like a general, he wouldn't care whether there were thieves in a county town. He only cared about the overall strategic policy.
As for spies, that is the business of the gendarmerie or the Special High Technology Bureau.
"Special forces can only be dealt with by special forces?"
These were the words he was pondering. Although he was a lieutenant general who graduated from a traditional army school, he was not rigid. He had also learned about Yamamoto Ikki's special tactics and admired them very much.
Only after he formally learned about the methods and techniques of this special warfare operation did he feel his scalp tingling.
A person who could easily defeat Yamamoto's special forces team composed of the best soldiers and kill 2/3 of them, this kind of fighting power is simply chilling.
If this small force, like Yamamoto and his men, targets his headquarters, or General Ningji Okamura's headquarters, how should he respond?
Only special forces can fight special forces?
Shinozuka Yoshio pondered for a long time, and Yamamoto stood there meticulously. Suddenly he heard a sentence: "If I choose someone new for you, how long will it take for you to have fighting capacity?
This time, the number of people should not be too small, at least 200 people, the previous experience is not far away, Yamamoto-kun! "
Yamamoto was greatly encouraged. He was not excited because he was not blamed, but because Yoshio Shinozuka confirmed that only special forces could deal with this.
The enemy's nameless unit that wiped out his special forces also made the general feel threatened.
"From the perspective of their attack methods, their grasp of our retreat route, and their ability to seize opportunities, they are the elite among the elites.
But the opponent has a shortcoming, that is weapons.
Throughout the battle, I heard attacks from a Type 97 indirect-fire infantry gun and several grenade launchers.
Apart from this, they had no other heavy weapons, including automatic firearms, and judging by the sound of their attack, there were definitely no more than 20 machine guns.
The rest were bolt-action rifles, and even the rifles were mixed, some were Type 38 rifles captured from our army, and some were Type 38 rifles produced by the other side.
From this we can see that the sources of the enemy’s weapons are very diverse, which has a great impact on the combat effectiveness of a unit.
In other words, the source of weapons for their troops is not stable, and in this respect, our army has an absolute advantage.
As long as we are not ambushed, our army may be able to gain the upper hand in another battle.
I will learn from this lesson and increase my training in preventing ambushes and counterattacking after being ambushed.
So, I have three requirements.
1. It is required to select 500 of the best soldiers from the Kwantung Army and the front-line divisions for training, and eliminate those who are unqualified until only 200 people are left.
2. The Type 97 sniper rifle should account for 1/3 of the equipment, because in this battle I found that the submachine gun has strong close combat ability, but it is completely useless beyond the range.
My previous combat strategy was to sneak in stealthily, suddenly appear in front of the enemy leader, launch an attack, and then retreat quickly.
So I didn't think much of long-range shooting weapons, but now I see the shortcomings of submachine guns.
There is an old Chinese saying that goes "Every failure makes you wiser." A good soldier will not let his shortcomings remain shortcomings forever.
3. I need prisoners of war, a large number of them, whether it is swordsmanship or boxing, all need real people to train.
So I would like to request that some of the prisoners in the POW camp be allocated to us for training. Killing someone with a bullet is one feeling, and killing someone with bare hands is another feeling.
I need a special soldier who dares to kill with his teeth."
…
Wei Dayong, a sergeant squad leader of the 27th Division of the Central Army, was injured and captured and remained in a prisoner-of-war camp.
There were several hundred people in the entire prisoner-of-war camp. The Japanese did not dare to be careless with them. They did not give them much food. They only had some thin and clear porridge once a day, as long as they did not starve to death.
"Have you heard? The weak ones were all taken to dig trenches. The strong ones like us seem to have other uses."
One person whispered to another.
Another person replied: "It won't be a good thing anyway, be careful and run away as soon as you get the chance!
Anyone who can escape can escape, and come back to avenge us!"
Their voices were low, but they did not hide it from Wei Dayong who was standing next to them.
Wei Dayong listened and pondered in his heart.
