Chapter 449: Republic of China: Starting from the First Class of Whampoa Chapter 459 Lv Muzhi: I'll Just Make Do

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Protagonist:

Lv Muzhi

Combat broke out precisely in the afternoon, the tranquility of the Taihang Mountains instantly torn apart.

In the direction of Niangzi Pass, the fighting was exceptionally fierce.

Niangzi Pass is a small town in the Mian River valley among the Taihang Mountains, the Zhengtai Railway like a long snake winding along the valley, passing through Niangzi Pass.

On this battlefield of mountain valleys, the width of the battlefield at its widest point was actually less than two hundred meters; the Japanese Army relied on the treacherous terrain to construct layered defensive lines.

The ancient city walls on Niangzi Pass also became important firepower points for the Japanese Army.

To win this battle, many lives would have to be spent.

The valley at Niangzi Pass twisted and turned, making it difficult for artillery to function.

After great difficulty finding a wide terrain to deploy artillery, following a round of bombardment, most of the shells were blocked by the mountains.

If tanks charged forward to provide the most direct fire support, relying on a single tank cannon to support infantry, the firepower was still somewhat weak.

Plus anti-tank trenches blocking them, the narrow valley terrain—if a breakthrough couldn't be achieved in a short time, they would also be attacked by Japanese anti-tank weapons and anti-tank infantry.

Direct and effective fire support was insufficient, infantry couldn't keep up, becoming the biggest problem on the Niangzi Pass battlefield.

And in the direction of Old Pass to the south, although not as treacherous as Niangzi Pass, the Japanese Army's firepower still blocked every inch of land.

In the temporary command headquarters at Yangquan, telephone bells rang incessantly.

Sun Liren reported: "Lu Commander, fire reconnaissance targeting Niangzi Pass has concluded; the Japanese Army's various firepower points have been marked, but they are difficult to destroy directly, and artillery positions cannot be fully deployed!"

Lv Muzhi looked at the position of Niangzi Pass on the sand table, holding a red and blue small flag in his hand, looking at the winding valley before him.

"No rush, arrange another round of fire reconnaissance; once all the firepower points are clear, we'll deploy new weapons to wipe them all out!"

Afterwards, Lv Muzhi looked toward Chen Geng: "How is Old Pass? Chen Geng, how many guns does your force have?"

Chen Geng said: "Thanks to Qiu Qingquan, we wiped out a Thirty-Sixth Division; we can still pull out quite a few seventy-five caliber mountain guns."

"Plus the Youth Third Division you allocated to me at Old Pass; their 105mm Howitzer Battalion, Rocket Artillery Battalion, Armored Battalion—that firepower, needless to say, is livelier than New Year!"

Lv Muzhi checked the latest report and replied: "Since artillery can't be deployed on the Niangzi Pass side, I'll allocate an additional 105mm Howitzer Battalion and a Rocket Artillery Battalion to the forces attacking Old Pass; open a breakthrough in the Old Pass direction as soon as possible!"

After speaking, Lv Muzhi inserted two small flags in the Old Pass direction on the sand table and said: "Set up the artillery positions here."

The Youth First Army had three divisions in total, each division equipped with a Howitzer Battalion and a Rocket Artillery Battalion.

This way, two of the three divisions' heavy firepower was concentrated on the Old Pass direction where the Eighth Route Army participated.

Chen Geng was stunned for a moment, then laughed with delight: "Satisfying! Muzi, you really are unconventional; old man here has never fought such a rich battle in his life!"

However, Chen Geng still felt a bit embarrassed, pointing at the main Niangzi Pass battlefield on the map.

"You've given me most of the heavy firepower; what will you use to chew through the Japanese Army's defensive line at Niangzi Pass?"

Lv Muzhi tossed down the small flag in his hand: "Me? I'll just make do!"

Just as he was speaking, engine roaring and track friction sounds came from outside.

Lv Muzhi stood up first, and Chen Geng followed him.

Looking toward the sound, they saw strange tanks driving past one after another.

These tanks looked like Panzer III Medium Tanks, but were sturdier than Panzer III Tanks.

Not only sturdier, but atop the turret, there were four rows of dense rocket artillery launch tubes—sixty rocket artillery launch tubes in total!

Image for reference only; in real history, there was no Panzer III model equipped with rocket artillery; here I'm substituting the American Calliope, roughly this type.

Under the winter sunlight, those rocket artillery launch tubes gleamed with cold metal light.

That's right, this was also rocket artillery.

However, different from ordinary rocket artillery.

In Lv Muzhi's forces, the lightest nine-tube 107mm Rocket Artillery could be pulled by two people.

The larger sixteen-tube 132mm Rocket Artillery used trucks as launch platforms.

And the sixty-tube 114mm Rocket Artillery before them used Panzer III Medium Tanks as launch platforms.

On the current Niangzi Pass battlefield, troops fought in the winding valley.

Artillery's curved fire was blocked by the mountains, making effective support difficult.

Truck-mounted rocket artillery faced the same problem, firepower blocked by the mountains.

The only effective solution was to pull the guns to the front of the Japanese positions for direct fire.

But trucks had almost no protection; rocket artillery vehicles approaching Japanese positions directly would easily be destroyed.

The modified Panzer III didn't have this problem.

The Panzer III model equipped with rocket artillery also had reinforced armor.

Like the Type 3 Assault Gun, the Panzer III model equipped with rocket artillery had frontal armor reaching 80mm, with skirt armor added to protect the tracks.

Relying on powerful armor and the mad sixty-tube 114mm Rocket Artillery, it could advance with infantry, fearless of Japanese firepower threats, giving infantry unprecedented fire support.

This kind of fire support couldn't be brought by a single tank cannon and vehicle-mounted machine gun; it could give infantry a full sense of security.

Chen Geng widened his eyes; in Lv Muzhi's army, he had already seen many new things, finding everything he looked at quite novel.

He originally thought those trucks carrying sixteen-tube rocket artillery were already invincible under heaven; unexpectedly, tank vehicles could carry even more than trucks, directly mounting sixty rocket launch tubes!

Chen Geng pointed at those strange tanks: "Muzi, this... this is what thing?"

"One two, three four... fifteen vehicles in total!"

Lv Muzhi put his arm on Chen Geng's shoulder: "Maybe some people will call it an organ, but I call them battlefield floor washers!"

"This is new equipment just transported from the Southwest five days ago; just these fifteen vehicles, like it? Want to follow me? I've got everything here."

Chen Geng took Lv Muzhi's hand off his shoulder, patted the armor of the tank in front of him, and said: "No need, there will be, there will be all of them. Do you want to go up the mountain with me?"

Lv Muzhi did not answer, but ordered: "Use the latest equipment, coordinate with the Xian Bing, knock out the devils' firepower points, and break through Niangzi Pass!"

On Niangzi Pass, Maeda Osamu, Lieutenant General and division commander of the Japanese 35th Division, was coordinating defensive forces, pointing at the sand table with a command baton.

"Transfer the Nomura Squadron to the second defensive line."

"Move the 37mm direct-fire artillery position five meters to the left."

"Spike Mine Squad advance to the first trench."

"Your Excellency Division Commander, the Youth Army's offensive has been repelled by us once again!" a staff officer stepped forward to report.

Lieutenant General Maeda Osamu was greatly encouraged; with just those two moves of his own, he could boast at the wine table with his peers.

"Very good! The Youth Army is not invincible!"

"Send a telegram to Commander Xiao Zhong, reporting to him the good news that we have repelled the Youth Army's two attacks."

"We will, at Niangzi Pass, completely end the myth of the Youth Army's invincibility!"

Another Communications Staff Officer walked in: "Report! The Youth Army has launched its third attack!"

Lieutenant General Maeda Osamu threw his command baton onto the sand table: "Go! I want to personally go observe the battle, and see how we beat Lv Muzhi's Youth Army down at Niangzi Pass!"

On a highland at Niangzi Pass, Lieutenant General Maeda Osamu had set up several artillery observation mirrors to observe the battlefield.

In the field of view, this river valley wound and twisted, and the engagement distance between the infantry of both sides was only between two and three hundred meters.

The Youth Army's artillery position began to bombard the Japanese positions with artillery fire.

But the density of the artillery fire was obviously insufficient, and most of it hit the mountainside, which made Lieutenant General Maeda Osamu smile faintly.

At the bend of the Mian River ahead, movement began.

A Youth Army tank drove out, heading toward the Japanese positions.

More tanks and infantry followed behind.

At first Maeda Osamu thought nothing of it; the Youth Army had tanks, but he had dense 37mm direct-fire artillery firepower points, as well as anti-tank trenches and a large number of machine gun firepower points, and he could definitely shatter the Youth Army's offensive.

But soon, Lieutenant General Maeda Osamu discovered something was wrong; the tanks in his field of view, he truly found strange!

Clang! A crisp sound.

A Japanese Type 94 37mm rapid-fire gun (i. e., anti-tank gun) fired a 37mm armor-piercing shell; the shell struck the 80mm-thick front armor of the Improved Panzer III with 60 Rocket Tubes, and the shell was violently bounced off by the tank's armor.

Subsequently, all Japanese firepower points opened fire, attempting to block this wave of the Youth Army's offensive.

Anti-tank guns bombarded in succession, and machine gun firepower points opened fire with full force at the Youth Army infantry behind the tanks.

Moreover, more than ten Japanese soldiers carrying spike mines crouched in the first trench; if the Youth Army's tanks crossed the trench, they would directly use the spike mines in their hands to stab the weakest bottom armor of the tanks.

Inside the Sanhao Tank, the Youth Army tank commander issued an order to the gunner.

"Enemy anti-tank gun spotted! Ten o'clock direction, distance, two hundred meters!"

"Use rocket artillery to wipe them all out!"

Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!

The sixty rocket artillery launch tubes atop the Sanhao Tank, bearing the devils' fire, directly fed the rocket artillery into the little devils' mouths.

Boom boom boom boom!

On the Japanese positions, explosions erupted everywhere; the devils encountered the strongest firepower strike since the start of the war.

Anti-tank guns, light and heavy machine guns, and the little devils' cover were all blown into the sky in succession.

Lieutenant General Maeda Osamu was stunned dumbfounded, his eyes leaving the artillery observation mirror: "What weapon is this?!"