Chapter 982, Dialogue with "poison gas bomb"

After several discussions, it was still impossible to determine the most suitable landing location. It was temporarily set up in Cangdong, about 200 miles south of Barcelona. Cangdong is very close to Pingcheng, and Pingcheng is a county in Pyongyang. If the Marines can successfully seize the Pingcheng stronghold and then the airdrop troops infiltrate Pyongyang for damage, it will be of great help to the entire front-line battle situation. The only thing that makes people worry is that the Marines and airdrop troops will go deep into the Queen's Response with the front-line troops is insufficient, and they are really going deep into the army alone.

Assuming that Cangdong is the landing site of the Marine Corps, the landing site of the airdrop troops is temporarily set at Akutagawa, 250 miles northeast of Cangdong. Akutagawa is one of the western strongholds of the second defense line. From the east is a rolling mountainous area, and to the west is a rare hilly plain terrain with open farmland, grassland and woods, providing the airdrop troops with very good landing locations and emergency hidden places.

Cai E looked at the map and pondered for a long time, sighed quietly, and said, "The strategic distance between Cangdong and Akutagawa is too deep, which is almost at the center of North Korea. If we take action near Shinyiju, our airship and naval forces can provide more or less cover and logistics supplies. If we really design the enemy's stronghold in this area, the situation will definitely be very complicated. This requires the Marine Corps and Air Cavalry Units to have very tenacious combat power, and also requires combat commanders at all levels to have excellent sense of battlefield smell."

Afterwards, Cai E asked the intelligence officers to report the deployment of the Japanese army near Pingcheng in Cangdong. After months of reconnaissance, the intelligence department has collected a very detailed distribution of the Japanese army. Since the pre-war preparations were insufficient, and the Chinese offensive troops and firepower were significantly stronger than those of the Japanese army, the main divisions in North Korea are currently all pressing on the Yalu River line. There is also a 10th Division assembly point in Pyongyang City and a vanguard barracks of the newly formed 18th Division.

After two months of emergency transportation from Taiwan, the 10th Division finally completed all the assembly, but most of the troops were still gathered at the project site of the second line of defense, responsible for supervising and directly participating in the construction of the second line of defense. The reserved troops in Pyongyang City were only one brigade and several brigades, with a total force of no more than 6,000.

As for the 18th Division, the reorganized troops, although the *** government redeemed 20,000 prisoners after the Qingdao War, and after this period of time, these prisoners were re-demolished and joined the 18th Division, the demobilization process of the 18th Division was sent by the Army Province after the 20th Division, so most of the soldiers remained in the *** land. There were only two regiments in Pyongyang. About 3,000 people were about 3,000.

In addition, the 19th Division and the 20th Division have never been complete. Due to the increasing casualties on the front line, new recruits have become supplementary soldiers and sent to the front line. According to the customs of the Army Province and the General Staff Headquarters, the number of non-national soldiers in the first twenty divisions does not allow non-national soldiers, so supplementary soldiers and new recruits can only be recruited from the *** local area and sent to North Korea for training. This has undoubtedly become the biggest restriction on expanding military strength. Time is constantly wasted in recruitment, transportation, and training. Therefore, from April to the end of August, the organization of these two divisions cannot be completed.

Based on these situations, there are military stations on the main traffic roads from the front line, and some major counties also have logistics headquarters and communication stations. Pyongyang is the most threatening around Heping City in Cangdong. There are more than 10,000 soldiers gathered here, although some of them include new recruits.

The 10th Division's troops are basically in the city, while other recruit battalions and corps stations are distributed in some small counties and towns under Pyongyang. This can be used. If the airdrop troops and the Marine Corps can exert their efficient combat effectiveness, they can defeat the forces of these strongholds one by one.

"Weifang Military Base and Shanghai, Fujian have organized four brigades of Marine Corps so far, but the Shanghai Navy Command has made a maximization estimate. In addition to the merchant ships we hired, including the landing craft that are being built recently, if four Marine Corps Brigades are to be deployed to North Korea, it will take seven days and nights to transport them back and forth. This is obviously too risky. We can divide them into four batches at most, each batch lasting about one day, so as to avoid being attacked and intercepted by the Navy." The representative officer of the Weifang Military Base introduced.

"This is a problem. Although our navy can provide escorts, if we dispatch the First Fleet to cooperate with the Nanqing Fleet to carry out maritime blocking, our losses will be very serious. At present, our most combative naval fleet is only the Liaohai Detachment. To be honest, the Liaohai Detachment is not as good as the German Far East Fleet. In addition, the entire transportation has unarmed merchant ships involved, and our firepower is not enough to completely cover all transport ships." The officers of the Navy Command Headquarters stationed in the three eastern provinces said.

"If the troops of five brigades can gather behind enemy lines, it is not impossible to capture Pyongyang." Xu Yongchang, the staff officer of the 37th Division, said thoughtfully. Even though the Marine Corps and Air Cavalry units lack large-scale equipment, if China's current military organization is used, one brigade is equivalent to the troops of two corpses, and the five brigades have at least 20,000 people. It is not easy to successfully put these 20,000 people into the battlefield behind enemy lines.

"Anyway..." After pondering for a while, Cai E spoke, "The Navy and the Air Marine Corps must come up with a feasible solution for me. There is another thing that should not be taken lightly, that is, the equipment issue, whether it is transportation vehicles or combat equipment, don't let go of any details. You must know that even the Marine Corps is the first time to invest in large-scale practical applications, which is not much better than the Air Marine Corps. At that time, the combat effectiveness of these soldiers is directly linked to survival rates. Don't make any mistakes for me. Do you understand?"

"clear!"

"Yes, please don't worry, Commander-in-Chief!"

After the military meeting, Cai E went to the head of state office to meet Wu Shaoting and asked Wu Shaoting to order two national defense divisions to join the battle. He gave a detailed introduction to the situation of the 38th Division and believed that the transportation line opened by the 38th Division was of great significance. Although this transportation line will take a long time to improve, the pressure on the Huishan front line is urgent. Otherwise, once the Japanese army finds that the 38th Division is actually divided into multiple troops, they will definitely take the opportunity to launch a counterattack.

After listening to Cai E's report, Wu Shaoting thought for a while and immediately agreed to Cai E's request. He and Cai E both knew very well that the two divisions of the National Defense Forces were not to assemble the storefront or to be reserve forces. If it weren't for the shortage of military expenditure and military resources, they would have sent these two divisions to the front line long ago. Since Cai E made this request, it was obvious that the situation of the war should be at the point of increasing troops. No matter how difficult the military expenditure was, he would have to grit his teeth to fight this battle.

He signed a military order to temporarily allocate the Fourth Division of the National Defense Forces to the command of the three eastern provinces, but it is not under the jurisdiction of the First Army Command of the Northern First Army. The Fourth Division enjoys certain operational command rights in combat decisions.

"Brother Songpo, when are you planning to mobilize the Fourth Division to the court?"

"If possible, I will issue an order tonight, requiring the main force of the 4th Division to complete the assembly in Sanchiyuan and Bai Yan within half a month. In terms of transportation, we can transport supplies to North Korea through airships to let the Japanese army know that we have begun to increase troops and suppress their offensive intentions in a short period of time." Cai E said.

"It's very good. But it may not be easy to mobilize a division's troops in half a month. You have to consider this carefully." Wu Shaoting said slowly.

"Please rest assured that this matter is related to military affairs. With the refinement of the National Defense Forces, it will definitely not disappoint people." Cai E said confidently.

Wu Shaoting nodded slightly. He knew that the Fourth Division was the youngest unit in the entire national defense force system. Compared to the first three divisions that were famous on the Qingdao battlefield, the Fourth Division must have some impatient mentality. It has been three months since the war between China and Japan started, and the Fourth Division has been holding its troops and regaining its strength, waiting for a stunning opportunity.

"Oh, by the way, there is one more thing!" At this time, Wu Shaoting suddenly changed the topic and asked Cai E, "Brother Songpo, do you have any opinions on the poison gas bombs that the Germans funded us?" He had been looking for an opportunity to talk to Cai E about this issue, not because he could not make a decision, but because Cai E always represented the orthodox faction in the army. The views learned from Cai E will inevitably conform to the psychological attitudes of a group of people.

Cai E's eyebrows changed slightly, as if he was frowning, and as if he was thinking. Regarding Germany's support for a batch of toxic gas bomb strategic materials to China, he has only recently received a confidential file report from the Ministry of National Defense. However, he has been busy with the frontline war during this period and has almost no spare time to deal with this matter. Now Wu Shaoting suddenly asked about his opinion on this matter, it is not difficult to imagine that the other party has some concerns about using toxic gas bombs.

"I know that the head of state has always advocated the theory of unethical morality on the battlefield. To a certain extent, there is indeed no moral concept on the battlefield. There are many examples to be presented from ancient times to the present. Although I have been busy with military affairs during this period, I occasionally care about some old international newspapers and the international evaluation of Germany's use of poison gas bombs in France is very sharp. Although from a tactical point of view, poison gas bombs are indeed very effective weapons for positional warfare, but considering that China's current international situation is not optimistic, rash use of poison gas bombs may expose our identity as joining the Allies camp, and the other is that the pressure on international public opinion will increase day by day. From a short-term perspective, I am afraid this is indeed not a rational thing." Cai E said in a pertinent tone.

"Brother Songpo, let's put aside these things and just talk about whether to use poison gas bombs. Do you agree or disagree?" Wu Shaoting knew that Cai E wanted to convince himself to give up using poison gas bombs based on actual interests, but he did not want to hear such dialectical reasons, but simply asked from a moral concept.

"In general, I think our army has obvious advantages in combat effectiveness at present, and there is no need to use such controversial weapons at this time. I believe that the head of state is also considering how to win over more international relations, and the use of poison gas bombs will undoubtedly put our China in a dilemma." Cai E said solemnly.
Chapter completed!