Chapter 144: Take Down The Deputy Battalion Commander First To Test The Blade!
After the First Company Commander led his men away with a roar, the Battalion Commander pondered for a moment before starting to issue orders.
“Deputy Battalion Commander, take one squad with you, go along this road to the location where Third Company lost contact, use whatever method necessary to find out the reason, and if you can contact Third Company, that would be even better.”
“Got it, I’m heading out now.”
The Deputy Battalion Commander received the Battalion Commander’s order and assembled one squad to head down the road to the starting point.
That was the same road the anti-tank squad had taken when leaving.
Perhaps the large number of vehicles maneuvering at the intersection caused the tire tracks to become extremely chaotic, making it impossible to discern the direction of travel.
Or maybe no one expected Steel Seventh Company to be so unconventional, actually sending two squads in the opposite direction from the mission.
Including the Battalion Commander who issued the order and the Deputy Battalion Commander leading the team, none of them thought this road back might have danger lurking.
And it was the most dangerous road among all the routes.
This also made the Deputy Battalion Commander the first unlucky one.
After arranging for people to search for the missing Third Company, the Battalion Commander then assigned tasks to each of the remaining four main squads.
Three of them were responsible for the other three roads.
Analysis of the scene determined that only one vehicle had left on each of these three roads, so the three squads pursuing would have no problem at all.
Even without support from other units, they could complete the pursuit and annihilation mission on their own.
The three reconnaissance main squads dispatched, each squad leader was extremely confident, believing that with their strength, taking down the Red Army squad wouldn’t be difficult.
The last remaining combat squad stayed behind to protect battalion headquarters.
After arranging the troops to pursue the Red Army, the Battalion Commander, whose combat style leaned toward calm, worried that the Red Army might have fish that slipped through the net, possibly evading their pursuit by luck, bypassing them, and completing reconnaissance of the objective point.
He decided to issue a new mission to Reconnaissance Second Company, ordering them to immediately turn around and cut across to the northwest direction.
On the roads where the Red Army might infiltrate, they were to deploy troops to blockade every key pass, completely sealing off the routes and giving the Red Army no opportunity.
They had to eliminate Red Army Seventh Company on this southern side of the training ground, ending this confrontation.
Not even giving the Red Army a chance to approach the objective point!
From this series of deployments, it was clear that the Reconnaissance Battalion Commander had risen through real strength, with plenty of solid knowledge in his arsenal.
If Reconnaissance Third Company hadn’t been annihilated, they could have looped around from the other side.
One company pursuing, one company blocking, one company encircling.
With the three companies coordinating seamlessly, no grassroots company could escape this trap, not even Steel Seventh Company would find it easy.
Fortunately, Chen Jun was brave, resourceful, and bold, plus he had exceptionally keen observation ability.
Through Reconnaissance Third Company’s taunting in the supply area, he judged that they were arrogant and overconfident, sure to underestimate the enemy, so he started with an unconventional approach, using an ambush to take out Reconnaissance Third Company.
Leveraging advantages in experience and psychology, he broke the Reconnaissance Battalion’s absolute suppressive strength.
Even without Reconnaissance Third Company, the Reconnaissance Battalion Commander’s targeted deployments against the enemy troop configurations on each route still earned praise from the leaders in the confrontation command center.
They all believed that under such tight deployments, relying on the Reconnaissance Battalion’s advantages in the reconnaissance tactical system, Steel Seventh Company’s break up and disperse tactic was doomed to fail.
It might even backfire on them!
Because dispersed squads and platoons couldn’t communicate effectively, and their overall combat effectiveness wasn’t as strong as the Reconnaissance Battalion’s, they would ultimately be defeated individually by the Reconnaissance Battalion.
Everyone in the audience except Regiment Commander Wang held this view, only the Division Commander saw it differently.
His brows furrowed even tighter!
The Division Commander’s years of combat experience and war instincts made him feel things weren’t that simple.
Steel Seventh Company, which didn’t play by the rules right from the start, was now using such a conventional, predictable break up and disperse tactic.
It was a serious contradiction with their overall style.
But no matter how much the Division Commander racked his brain, he couldn’t figure out what trick Steel Seventh Company was playing.
Especially the two squads that left in the opposite direction, racing toward the starting point, which made the Division Commander feel the most uneasy.
When he saw the Blue Army dispatch one squad following that same road.
His premonition grew even stronger!
“Could it be… that Chen Jun anticipated in advance that the Reconnaissance Battalion would send one squad back to check? So he sent two squads back to set up an ambush?”
The Division Commander pondered silently in his mind, but the next moment he felt it wasn’t quite right.
“Steel Seventh Company was already seriously short on troops, and sending two squads back to wait in ambush—if they didn’t catch anything, wouldn’t that seriously disconnect them from company headquarters? It could lead to extremely dire consequences.”
The Division Commander guessed for a long time without figuring it out, but fortunately, the answer appeared soon, no longer requiring him to guess.
The Red Army anti-tank squad and vanguard squad traveled together, heading back eight kilometers according to Chen Jun’s arrangement, then found a concealed spot to hide and wait.
Less than half an hour later.
“Squad Leader, come quick, there’s a situation.”
Before Chen Jun’s next order arrived, Cheng Cai from the vanguard squad, responsible for lookout and vigilance, pointed toward the approaching direction.
Shi Jin climbed the hillside and looked through binoculars, indeed spotting two vehicles coming from that direction.
One of them was an off-road vehicle!
Only company headquarters and battalion headquarters were equipped with off-road vehicles. Seeing this convoy, Shi Jin got excited right away and immediately reported to company headquarters.
Gao Cheng heard there was an unexpected gain, with enemies coming to deliver themselves.
He shouted excitedly: “If they’re delivering themselves to the door, don’t turn it down. Fifth Squad Leader, I order you to concentrate all firepower and take them out.”
“Received.”
The anti-tank squad leader received the order and quickly led his four rocket launcher teams to select a concealed spot by the roadside, preparing for combat and waiting for the prey to arrive.
Two or three minutes later.
The Deputy Battalion Commander, who never imagined Steel Seventh Company people were here and only thought about finding the missing Third Company, drove straight over with one main squad.
No surprise.
When four dark rocket tubes appeared together, plus ten guns from the vanguard reconnaissance squad, it sealed the fate of the Deputy Battalion Commander’s convoy.
The armored vehicle was hit by three armor-piercing rockets, the off-road vehicle by one rocket, plus concentrated fire from the reconnaissance squad’s 10 guns.
The referee’s ruling was total annihilation.
Faced with the directing staff referee’s result, the still-on-board Deputy Battalion Commander and the disembarked Blue Army reconnaissance soldiers could only accept it, no matter how unconvinced they were.
“Leader, sorry about that, please get out. We’re collecting the spoils of war.”
Wu Liu Yi slung his gun and walked over. Even seeing two chevrons and one bar on the other’s shoulder, he showed no fear, only the smile of a victor.
“You Steel Seventh Company play way too dirty.”
The Deputy Battalion Commander angrily took off his hat and smashed it on the ground—it was his only way to vent, and also his helpless acceptance of the result.
“Leader, we didn’t do anything; you delivered yourselves to the door.”
Gan Xiao Ning suddenly chimed in, nearly passing out the Deputy Battalion Commander from anger.
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（PS: Many readers say I keep mistyping, turning combined arms into contract, but it’s not wrong.
Combined arms company is an establishment, combined arms tactics is a type of modernized tactics, there’s no such thing as combined arms tactics by that name; combined arms companies use combined arms tactics. Combined arms and contract are different; it’s not a typo.
For example, the renowned “Zhu Rihe Base” has our army’s most cutting-edge combined arms brigade in technology.
Its full name is “People’s Liberation Army Zhu Rihe Combined Arms Tactics Training Base”.）
