HCB Chapter 208 Expeditionary Force
Chapter 208 Expeditionary Force
Shanxi Province has completely entered the cold winter season in January. It has snowed four times this year and the weather has become extremely cold.
I don’t know if there was some problem with Commander Yan’s deployment, but the logistical supply of the Fifth Army and the Sixth Army was insufficient, so that some of the soldiers preparing for battle on the front line had no cotton coats.
Xu Le was furious when he learned about this. Although these troops were not his own, they were all heroes who fought passionately for their country and the people.
He was not in the mood to question Commander Yan about what went wrong, and he immediately ordered the clothing factory to take out all the stock, and the Logistics and Quartermaster Department sent people to deliver the cotton-padded clothes to the soldiers on the front lines.
In this way, the soldiers of the two armies would not be attacked by the cold. Although they could not eat fresh meat like the 88th Army, they could still eat hot steamed buns.
Invisibly, Commander Yan might have thought that Xu Le had helped him solve the logistics problems on the front line. In fact, two different discourses had already emerged within the two armies.
As for what their tendencies are, we will not discuss them for now. In short, Xu Le's influence has gradually penetrated beyond the 88th Army.
Even Xu Le himself did not expect that his unintentional action would bring him unexpected gains in the future.
"This day is really torturous. Has the Military Commission made it clear?"
Xu Le asked, looking at the dark sky with a hint of melancholy.
Jiang Feng seemed to feel the cold wind blowing into his body, and wrapped his cotton coat tighter and said, "I have already explained the matters concerning the expeditionary force to Commander Jiang, and proposed that our army not participate. Marshal, the equipment of the rest of the army is too poor. It will be extremely difficult to send them abroad to Burma to fight against the elite of the devils!"
Xu Le shook his head slightly and said, "There is nothing we can do about it. Although the combat effectiveness of our 88th Army is strong, the manpower is limited. The devils have hundreds of thousands of troops to hold us back. If we transfer our troops to the expeditionary force, this Jin Province will be in trouble. I am afraid it will fall into the devil's sphere of influence again.
Moreover, Shanxi Province is too far away from Myanmar. Even if our army can allocate troops to go there, by the time we arrive in Myanmar, the best opportunity for battle will have been missed, and it will be a wasted trip.
By the way, did they say which troops would form the expeditionary force? "
"It has been confirmed that Commander Du is leading the 5th, 6th and 66th Armies to form an expeditionary force. The first part of the 6th Army, its vanguard, has arrived at the Yunnan-Myanmar border. However, for some unknown reason, the troops have not yet crossed the border."
Xu Le sighed inwardly. Just like in his world, this first expeditionary force would probably retreat back to the country due to poor performance.
Just like he said, there was nothing he could do.
The 88th Army tied down nearly 50 Japanese troops, which provided the greatest help to the Tang Dynasty and its allied forces.
Xu Le also discovered a problem. It seemed that due to his and the 88th Army's appearance, the speed at which the Japanese established new divisions had accelerated.
According to the records of the previous life, as of January 42, Japan should have more than 50 divisions at this time.
However, according to intelligence from the Military Commission, Japan currently has 70 divisions, not counting independent mixed brigades and independent infantry regiments.
Some divisions that were supposed to appear a year or even two years later, such as the 30th Division, the 31st Division and the 61st Division, have already appeared ahead of time.
Even the tank division that was supposed to be formed in June had been formed in advance and deployed in the Kwantung Army.
Although we don’t know the organization of these divisions or their combat effectiveness, one thing is certain: Japan’s main divisions are basically divided into three parts.
Part of it was in the Kwantung Army, used to defend against the Soviet Union, such as the permanent divisions such as the 1st, 8th and 9th Divisions.
Part of it was in Shanxi Province, used to defend against the 88th Army, such as the two permanent divisions, the 15th Division and the 17th Division, the 116th Special Division, and the 21st, 22nd, and 27th Divisions, which were also very powerful.
The last part was in Southeast Asia, used for attacks on the Malay Islands and Burma, such as the 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 6th permanent divisions.
"Forget it. It's useless to think about things that are too far ahead. Let's just fight the battle at hand. Tomorrow is the time to launch the general offensive. By the way, how is the selection of pilots going?"
"The situation is not optimistic, but not too bad. After a week of preliminary testing, everyone underwent a test flight under the guidance of the instructor, and only 150 people passed the first round of testing and met our pilot standards.
There will be a second round of testing next, and another 100 people should be able to pass.
However, Xu Tian said that these pilots actually have a good foundation, and as long as they are given more time to adapt, only 50 of them can be eliminated.
There is no need to send these 50 people back, it is still okay to let them serve as co-pilots of bombers."
Xu Tian is actually guard member No. 201. Now he is the chief instructor of the Air Force. He must have a formal name, otherwise it would be embarrassing.
The rest of the guards who were transferred down basically all had their own names. Except for a few special ones with the surname Xu, there were those with the surname Wang, Li, Chen, and even a few show-offs who took names like Dongfang Bubai, Ye Gucheng, Dugu Qiubai, and Ximen Chuxue.
In this regard, Xu Le could only pretend to be helpless.
But in fact, these names were given by him, they are just a name, it doesn't matter what you call them...
Xu Le had also thought about giving Xu Da a proper name, such as Xu Tianchuan or Xu Ning, but Xu Da rejected it outright.
It was not until Xu Da rejected the name Xu Fu with a strange look that Xu Le gave up the idea of changing Xu Da's name, claiming that the other party did not know the value of his name.
Hearing the answer, Xu Le nodded with satisfaction. It would be best if they were not sent back. It was not easy to gather these people in the Tang Dynasty. One less would be one less.
"Are there any who can go into combat right away? They have already received various basic trainings, and the fastest way to learn subsequent operational training is actual combat. I plan to let the best people practice the method of fighting to support fighting, and quickly form an air force that can go into combat at any time."
In fact, Xu Le could have sent the guards, but although the scale of this operation was large, the battlefield was on the ground, so air support was not necessary.
With the formation of the Air Force, Xu Le felt more and more the importance of the Guard. He did not want the troops to become dependent on the Guard, so unless it was absolutely necessary, he did not want to let the Guard go to the front battlefield to participate in any battle.
Jiang Feng hesitated for a moment and said, "Xu Tian didn't say that, but he did praise a few people. One of them is Wang Yuji!"
"Okay, tell Xu Tian to let the instructors take the lead in forming two temporary flight squadrons.
Let the bomber squadron cooperate with the Lingshi ground forces to bomb the enemy's defense zone tomorrow, and let the fighter planes stay on standby. Although we know that the enemy is unlikely to deploy fighter planes, just in case, let them prepare for air combat. "