Chapter 324: The Final Showdown: “operation Monkey Extermination”
Chen Jun’s tactics, painstakingly devised, were complex yet full of ingenuity.
In plain terms…
Take the five ideas everyone discussed, refine them to extract the essence, then incorporate Chen Jun’s personal abilities for an upgrade.
It sounds complicated, and it really is quite complex.
Execution is divided into three parts.
First, the armored company and armored infantry company deploy together, all of them without exception thrown into the frontline, putting on a show of simultaneously attacking Position 5 and Position
This method attracts the Blue Army main force, drawing all ground forces to the frontline.
At this point, the Blue Army troops are insufficient; as long as the Red Army deploys all troops to the frontline, adopting the posture of a major decisive battle with the opponent.
To maximize defense of the frontline, the Blue Army will inevitably commit all ground forces.
Whatever can be pulled from the main position will be pulled.
After all, if Position 5 and Position 6 cannot be held, and the Blue Army units guarding those two positions are eliminated, even leaving one company to defend the main position won’t affect the final outcome.
In contrast, committing that company early to defensive combat can significantly enhance the defense of Position 5 and Position 6, maximizing resistance to the Red Army attack.
Once the vast majority of Blue Army ground troops are attracted, Chen Jun reveals his second move.
Dispatch all attack helicopters into the offensive, continuously thrusting through the middle to pressure toward the main position.
Put on a show of penetrating the Blue Army position to launch an air strike on the Blue Army main position, drawing over the Blue Army anti-aircraft units and Army Aviation Brigade.
Step one attracts Blue Army ground forces, step two attracts Blue Army air forces and anti-aircraft units.
At this moment, both sides’ major forces are committed to the battlefield, nearly going all out; the Red Army has little reserve strength left, and the Blue Army is the same.
Then Chen Jun launches the third step—
Transport helicopters take the field!
Dispatch the Red Army special operations platoon, the strongest in individual combat effectiveness and most skilled in enemy rear decapitation operations, to board helicopters and circle around to the Blue Army rear area.
Then launch an air drop from the rear area, executing the most modern “airborne lightning decapitation.”
As long as the Red Army helicopters fly ultra-low to evade Blue Army electronic warfare units’ radar detection, plus the Blue Army main position anti-aircraft units have already been drawn away.
Chen Jun has sufficient reason to believe.
As long as the Red Army helicopters reach the main position, the special operations platoon can become a pack of wolves entering the sheepfold, wreaking devastating havoc on the Blue Army command post.
Even if they can’t take out the entire Blue Army main position, there are still large numbers of logistics units there.
Take out the battalion commander, destroy the Blue Army command post.
Absolutely no problem.
After a day of intense combat, the Blue Army electronic warfare company, relying on equipment superiority, had been suppressing the Red Army information company.
But the Red Army wasn’t a soft persimmon to be pinched at will, nor without any gains.
Through analysis of a large number of intercepted signals, they precisely located the Blue Army command post position—that was one of the biggest gains for the information company in this battle.
It was precisely this key intelligence that gave Chen Jun the confidence to plan this lightning decapitation.
After devising the complete offensive plan, Chen Jun named the entire combat plan “Monkey Extermination Operation” and gave a detailed briefing to everyone present.
The group, originally divided into radicals and conservatives arguing endlessly.
After hearing Chen Jun’s “Monkey Extermination Operation,” they all abandoned their previously held tactics and became Chen Jun’s staunch supporters.
“Old Chen, you’re sly; this Monkey King is probably going to get beaten to tears, haha.” Gao Cheng was extremely excited.
He also understood the implication behind Chen Jun’s words.
“This tactic is brilliant—truly ingenious. Ground forces launch a frontal assault, small units sneak attack from the enemy rear; grasp both actions together. Whichever succeeds, we take this confrontation exercise.” Man Guangzhi praised endlessly.
“We were all single-threaded thinkers, bouncing on one string; Old Chen’s brain is flexible enough to come up with such a perfect tactic—simply unbeatable.”
Just from hearing Chen Jun’s tactics, Political Instructor Ma Tianxiang seemed to already see victory.
The other staff officers also heaped praise, showering Chen Jun with endless complimentary words.
Chen Jun’s status and strength level in Steel Seventh Battalion was thereby elevated by one grade.
“Since everyone agrees with my plan, ‘Monkey Extermination Operation’ is confirmed. Now, each unit go make arrangements; at exactly 5 a.m., launch the final general assault and strive to take it in one go.”
Chen Jun always acted swiftly and decisively; once decided, he immediately arranged execution.
The staff officers and Gao Cheng, upon receiving the order, immediately began arrangements per Chen Jun’s plan, notifying the subordinate units to prepare.
With the Red Army having the perfect “Monkey Extermination Operation,” the Blue Army was also preparing their final push.
And the Blue Army deployment was extremely peculiar.
The remaining one-and-a-half tank companies were all moved by Sun Dongping to below the rear of Position 6, showing no sign of deploying to the position for defense.
The half armored infantry company did go up to the position, and Sun Dongping split it in two.
Half to Position 5 and half to Position
The Blue Army logistics company was also sizable; at this critical life-or-death moment, Sun Dongping put the logistics troops to use.
Even though the logistics troops’ combat effectiveness was poor, they were still assigned to Position 5 and Position
Medics and cooking personnel all went up.
Over 200 personnel from the logistics company on the position—regardless of their combat ability, at least holding guns and standing there looked the part.
As for the entire logistics chain being cut off with all logistics personnel on the battlefield.
It was already a break the cauldrons and sink the boats battle, success or failure in this one move.
A one-shot deal.
No need for logistics support anymore.
Sun Dongping committed all logistics to the frontline, coordinating with the remaining half armored infantry company; combat effectiveness was so-so but amounted to two companies.
With fortifications and highland terrain advantage, they could definitely hold for some time.
If he could also put the one-and-a-half tank companies on the position to join defensive combat, and think of ways to boost the battalion’s morale.
Under high morale and fighting spirit, they might actually hold the hilltop for another day.
The Red Army had only two days for the offensive; now nearly a day had passed. If the Blue Army could hold another day, they could truly turn defeat into victory.
At worst, force a draw!
Of course.
The premise is that the Red Army commander is just an ordinary figure, and the opposing troops aren’t elites like Steel Seventh Battalion.
Sun Dongping probably knew full well in his heart that the Steel Seventh Battalion commanded by Chen Jun wasn’t the ordinary stuff that got trounced by the Blue Army in previous exercises.
That’s why Sun Dongping used a different approach, not putting the one-and-a-half tank companies on the position.
Instead, keeping this massive force hidden secretly behind the position with extremely concealed camouflage, undetectable unless approaching within fifty meters.
What it was for, only Sun Dongping knew.
Besides the peculiar tank unit deployment, the Blue Army’s other units showed no major anomalies.
The Army Aviation Company still had two attack helicopters and two utility transport helicopters, all parked on the heliport without assigned tasks.
The artillery company’s heavy artillery and anti-aircraft guns had moved forward somewhat.
They were prepared to support the two positions with firepower at any time, and had also done camouflage work.
Relying on special forces advantage, Red Army ground reconnaissance was suppressing the Blue Army.
At this point, the Blue Army rear had been fully infiltrated; the Blue Army couldn’t figure out how many Red Army scouts had infiltrated nearby and were lying in ambush.
To avoid exposing concealed units and drawing Red Army long-range artillery strikes.
The Blue Army could only passively maximize camouflage, pulling out all camouflage nets and camouflage cloth to max out visual camouflage.
It was also due to Sun Dongping’s cautious arrangements, plus scout attention focused on the positions.
The one-and-a-half tank companies hiding under the position actually evaded the eyes of infiltrating Red Army scouts, who failed to detect this in time.
Sun Dongping, who originally thought assigning a special operations platoon to a combined arms battalion was overkill.
In this battle, he witnessed the special operations platoon’s ferocity, beating his scouts breathless and thoroughly failing in ground counter-reconnaissance.
Even if Sun Dongping talked tough, he was genuinely “envious” inside.
He only regretted not having a special operations platoon and secretly resolved that if he won this battle and secured his position at Zhu Rihe.
He, Sun Dongping, would definitely get a special operations platoon, no matter the pressure.
Special operations platoons were just too appealing!
…
Red and Blue sides, per their respective tactics, busily conducted troop and supply movements, as the atmosphere of decisive battle permeated the entire battlefield.
Time unknowingly reached exactly 5 a.m., with the sky already turning fish-belly white.
At this time when the pitch-black night had passed and heaven and earth turned grayish-white, the Red Army troops who had stayed up all night without sleep should have been extremely fatigued, yet each was spirited and vigorous.
Every warrior’s eyes burned with surging morale, the intense will to win spitting like fire snakes.
“Monkey Extermination Operation, begin!!”
With Chen Jun at the Southern Army battalion headquarters, formally issuing the order for the final decisive battle.
The command post staff officers responsible for coordination immediately grabbed radio microphones, issuing combat commands to their assigned units.
First to move out was the Red Army armored company; over a dozen Type 96 tanks belching black smoke charged toward the battlefield.
Behind them followed the armored infantry company, plus a platoon from the special reconnaissance company infantry fighting vehicle section; Red Army warriors inside the vehicles were ready for action, vehicle firing ports all opened, ready to fire outward at any time.
With infantry fighting vehicles protecting the rear, once on the position, tanks could charge forward without worry of infantry sneaking up.
This was the unique infantry-tank coordination characteristic of mechanized troops.
The armored company and infantry company set out together, gradually splitting into left and right groups en route, heading respectively to Blue Army Position 5 and Position
And as they neared the two positions, the distances between vehicles grew farther.
In this open terrain combat, tanks—even in cluster assault—must never be too dense; over a dozen tanks clustered together looked imposing but were all disadvantages.
Advancing while maintaining the optimal combat radius for single tanks was the best grassland combat mode.
A simple example.
Suppose the Blue Army massed heavy artillery for saturation strikes midway through the Red Army advance—it still wouldn’t threaten the Red Army much.
With Red Army attacking tanks dispersed, Blue Army artillery fire couldn’t cover them.
The Red Army advanced to below Red Army Hill 5 and Position 6 in infantry-tank coordination assault formation, without rushing immediately to assault upward.
Standard procedure must be followed.
The Red Army heavy artillery company, long poised and ready, unleashed full force in an artillery strike on the Blue Army positions, shells raining down.
Anyway, it was the final decisive battle; shells were spent without sparing, fire away.
To attack enemy high-ground positions: first wash the ground with shells, then tank charge, finally infantry clears up.
This was both the traditional heavy troops combat mode and the combined arms battalion offensive mode.
No matter how eras change or combat modes evolve, some foundational war patterns remain eternal.
Cannonade first, then charge.
The classic of classics.
Large-scale army group combat was always like this, no matter the era—even in the interstellar age, frontal battlefield would be the same.
Red Army shells fell like they were free, achieving very good effects.
The defenders on Blue Army positions were logistics personnel; their basic tactical proficiency was inferior to regular troops, and their ability to cope with shelling was much worse.
After a near ten-minute artillery strike, the directing staff announced nearly fifty Blue Army killed in action.
If it were regular combat units, this bare shelling would kill at most a dozen or twenty—impossible to have so many.
Sun Dongping had anticipated this and quickly countered.
Artillery counter-battery fire!
Red Army heavy artillery hits Blue Army frontline highlands, Blue Army heavy artillery hits Red Army artillery positions, forcing Red Army artillery to keep displacing.
During Red Army heavy artillery displacement, they can’t attack, buying space for Blue Army positions.
While Red Army heavy artillery paused, the already positioned Red Army tanks and infantry fighting vehicle groups would assault the Blue Army positions.
Blue Army positions had individual anti-tank firepower, so Red Army couldn’t just charge straight up.
Basically, exploit the Blue Army positions under shelling with weakened defense for a wave of attrition; once Blue Army reacted and organized defense, Red Army units would immediately withdraw.
Then let Blue Army heavy artillery take the stage again, continuing to hammer the Blue Army position defenders.
Blue Army infantry, to evade shelling, could only abandon defense and hunker in air-raid shelters; Red Army tanks would then charge again.
Wave after wave of this back-and-forth, continuously grinding down Blue Army position strength.
Until the moment arrives to launch the second stage!
