Chapter 247: Regiment Commander’s Special Invitation To Discuss Tactics!
The Military Region’s order has been officially issued, and the Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment must execute it at the fastest speed.
Whether the opponent is strong or not is not within the scope of consideration.
The only thing to do is to put in 120% effort, absolutely not showing the slightest carelessness, and seize the opponent with the momentum of a fierce tiger pouncing on a rabbit.
The day the Military Region issued the order was the 28th, with five days until May 3rd.
Mobilizing an entire regiment is no small matter; it requires preparing sufficient various supplies, not like an individual who can just leave on a whim.
Five days is neither long nor short.
Under the concerted efforts of the Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment, all preparations were finally completed by the afternoon of May 2nd.
After a full night’s rest and adjustment, the Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment, ready for battle, assembled at 9 a.m. on May 3rd and started the mobilization on time.
The entire regiment advanced toward the designated direction.
200 kilometers is not really a long-distance raid for armored forces.
But for logistics supplies, for a mechanized infantry regiment entirely composed of armored vehicles, it is absolutely a considerable challenge.
It can be said that the fuel trucks are either refueling or on the way to refuel.
Strictly speaking.
From the moment the Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment left the base, this confrontation exercise had already begun.
Because the 200-kilometer full-regiment march was already testing the mechanized long-distance mobilization combat capability of a mechanized infantry regiment.
Hundreds of armored vehicles and other supporting vehicles rumbled across the Loess Plateau.
What a spectacular sight!
The bare loess land without vegetation, under the crushing of tank tracks and car tires, raised dust swirling into the mid-air.
That length stretching over 2 kilometers had turned into a giant loess dragon.
Due to the rugged and undulating terrain of the Loess Plateau, the convoy’s speed was not very fast, averaging only twenty or thirty kilometers overall.
To ensure the mobilization order of the entire regiment, the regiment was divided into camps by battalion.
And in combat formation.
Treating this road mobilization as wartime, training the entire regiment’s mobilization combat capability.
The First Battalion took the lead in front, with the combined arms battalion closely following for maneuver, while also protecting the regiment command post, the team’s core, following behind.
The Second Battalion and Third Battalion followed in sequence as the entire regiment’s reserve forces and rearguard.
It had been a long time since the Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment had such a long-distance mobilization; the last exercise with the full regiment was by train, with personnel and vehicles separated.
This time, everyone drove to the “battlefield,” experiencing this long-missed personnel-vehicle long-distance raid.
Even as the warriors’ buttocks were jolted numb, their noses and mouths full of loess, spitting with every word, their mood was not affected.
On the contrary, everyone was full of passion, extremely anticipating the upcoming confrontation.
A regiment-level confrontation exercise, though very arduous during combat, also represented another opportunity to earn merit amid the hardship.
Soldiers take obeying orders as their duty and honor as their life.
Having the opportunity to earn merit and awards, to showcase their own talent and strength, everyone would naturally be very happy and actively strive for it.
Moreover, in the last confrontation exercise, many warriors earned third-class merits and collective second-class merits.
Under the massive demilitarization trend of informatization reform, these warriors who should have been demobilized home completely changed their destinies.
Old Ma was a typical representative among them!
He was originally forced to transfer to civilian work, but ended up smoothly promoted to fourth-level non-commissioned officer.
Under this unique situation and demand, it elevated the value of this confrontation exercise even further.
Warriors with relatively weaker personal ability and no outstanding performance on their resumes wanted to use this opportunity to change their military careers.
Warriors with sufficiently excellent personal strength even more so wanted to take a few more steps forward with this opportunity.
This situation was not only among the lower-level warriors; most of the officer cadres, not just at company and battalion level, but even regiment headquarters cadres, were the same.
They all wanted to showcase their value and achieve breakthroughs in this confrontation exercise.
The most, most, most important point…
This exercise had a more powerful combined arms battalion and the “prodigy genius” Chen Jun, who had never tasted defeat so far, filling the entire Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment with confidence.
With absolute confidence in victory, everyone naturally began considering their own needs.
And now, with everyone having needs, urgent needs at that, the overall morale was naturally vibrant, full of combat passion.
Compared to the lower-level warriors and grassroots cadres, who were extremely optimistic about this exercise.
They firmly believed that even when the Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment only had a combined arms company, it could force a draw with the old A Blue Army in the exercise, while the 384th Regiment lost to the old A Blue Army.
Now that the Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment had an upgraded combined arms battalion, how could it possibly not beat the 384th Regiment.
But Regiment Commander Wang Qing Rui was not so optimistic.
As regiment commander, he knew very well the strengths and weaknesses of his own troops, the armored infantry regiment, and knew even better that the previous win over old A was basically due to Chen Jun’s stratagems succeeding.
Regiment Commander Wang understood the 384th Armored Infantry Regiment well, and the opposing 384th Regiment would similarly understand the Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment well.
In a situation where both sides knew each other.
Playing tricks to lure the opponent into a trap would be extremely difficult.
This meant that the confrontation with the 384th Regiment would inevitably be more difficult than the previous one with old A; one misstep could lead to total defeat.
They must rely on hard power to take down the opponent.
After all, old A had no steel torrent charge, no ability to end the battle in one strike; the 384th Regiment, as a heavy infantry regiment, possessed that explosive capability.
Moreover, the exercise area, Area 74, was the 384th Regiment’s turf.
They trained in that area regularly, with a natural advantage in familiarity with the terrain, already pressuring the Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment before the exercise even started.
And even knowing this was unfair, Regiment Commander Wang had no way to complain; he could only pinch his nose and accept this passive situation.
Because.
The Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment had an advanced combined arms battalion, which was equally unfair to the 384th Regiment; their terrain familiarity advantage could only be said to balance both sides.
While the 384th Regiment’s advantage was inherent, with no variables no matter what.
But the combined arms battalion’s advantage still needed to be operated by themselves; subsequent operations would determine the size of that advantage, with significant variables involved.
This made Regiment Commander Wang even more cautious, to prevent capsizing in the gutter due to carelessness.
With the 384th Regiment holding the terrain familiarity advantage, if they seized an opportunity, they absolutely had a chance to flatten the Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment in one wave.
To prevent being decisively killed by the opponent’s surprise wave, Regiment Commander Wang specially called Chen Jun over to ride in the same vehicle.
During this half-day march en route to the assembly in Area 74, he specifically discussed this acceptance confrontation with Chen Jun.
After the two discussed both sides’ strengths and weaknesses, Regiment Commander Wang directly asked Chen Jun’s core view.
“Xiao Chen, for this confrontation exercise, what playing style do you think is better? Or rather, have you designed a suitable combat plan in advance?”
The previous confrontation with old A had relied entirely on Chen Jun’s combat plan.
This gave Regiment Commander Wang a very high level of trust in Chen Jun’s tactics.
The address changed from Chen Jun to Xiao Chen, this seemingly more intimate address also showed that Regiment Commander Wang regarded Chen Jun as family.
The two were sitting in the vehicle, not a formal occasion, but private chat.
A more intimate address would make the chat atmosphere better.
“Regiment Commander, the opponent is also an armored infantry regiment; both sides know each other well. In this almost open-card situation, whichever side’s tactical play is more exquisite will determine the final victory or defeat.”
Chen Jun first outlined the key situation, then answered Regiment Commander Wang: “Based on both sides’ situations, I’ve thought of two playing styles.
One is the gambit tactics for steady victory, the other is aggressive tactics for snatching chestnuts from the fire.
Each has its own advantages and disadvantages, completely different styles. I don’t know which tactics the Regiment Commander prefers.”
Chen Jun had confidence in both playing styles, but the regiment commander would decide which to use.
“Haha, it’s still you, Xiao Chen. The Staff Department is clueless now, with nothing to offer, and you’ve come up with two playing styles. This regiment chief of staff position, I think you’d be more suitable.”
Regiment Commander Wang first praised Chen Jun, making him hurriedly wave his hands modestly: “No, no, this is just cunning on my part.”
Between company commander and regiment chief of staff, there were eighteen streets apart.
He dared not accept such praise.
“You’re too modest, haha.”
Regiment Commander Wang pointed at Chen Jun with a smile, liking his lack of arrogance, and returned to the topic: “Your two playing styles, are they both something-or-other ploys? Tell me first, and I’ll decide.”
“Then I’ll start with the gambit tactics…”
The tactical play plan was already in Chen Jun’s mind, so he explained it fluently.
The two sets of tactics Chen Jun mentioned were actually flexible applications of the three basic offensive tactics he taught the combined arms battalion in the third phase.
The combined arms battalion only knew those few combined arms tactics; for such an important acceptance opponent, they definitely had to use what they knew.
The tactics could only be applied from there.
As the actual commander of the combined arms battalion, and with this acceptance targeted at the combined arms battalion, Chen Jun had to embody the core value of the combined arms battalion.
Thus, the tactics employed by the combined arms battalion would inevitably guide the entire regiment’s tactics.
In other words…
The Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment’s four battalions and over a thousand people must and could only fight around the combined arms battalion, using it as the core to achieve victory in the confrontation.
The steady gambit tactics Chen Jun mentioned involved having the combined arms battalion use breakthrough tactics to attack.
Breakthrough tactics were inherently biased toward traditional combat, with the core advantage of being steadier: breaking through the enemy frontally, opening a breach in the enemy frontline, then dismantling the enemy step by step.
This frontal suppression advance play had very obvious advantages and disadvantages.
The disadvantage was needing to outwit the enemy in various large and small tactical gambits, steadily advancing step by step to finally achieve victory.
The process would definitely be very time-consuming, and even if victorious, the data wouldn’t look good.
Strong attacks would inevitably not have a good combat loss ratio!
The advantage was advancing step by step; as long as the strength was truly superior, there would basically be no accidents.
It could ensure victory to the maximum extent.
The aggressive tactics were the opposite of breakthrough tactics, mainly aiming for achieve victory through surprise; the combined arms battalion would use insertion tactics.
That is, sending the combined arms battalion to charge into the enemy rear, turning the enemy rear upside down.
Once the enemy rear was completely disrupted, the frontline definitely couldn’t hold, with defense capability dropping sharply.
As long as they found a suitable opportunity, the Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment’s frontal troops would launch a full-line attack.
They could easily take down the opponent!
The advantage of this set of tactics was that if the plan succeeded, they could take the enemy at relatively small cost.
The post-battle data would look good, an absolute classic battle.
The disadvantage was walking on the knife’s edge, every step thrilling; one slip could plunge into the abyss, extremely testing the enemy rear commander.
The two playing styles were distinctly different, with clear pros and cons.
After hearing it, Regiment Commander Wang was truly amazed, once again marveling at Chen Jun’s command talent, while being very interested in both playing styles.
Especially the aggressive tactical play; Regiment Commander Wang was genuinely tempted.
This guerrilla warfare-like play was naturally not unfamiliar to him, but his impression was always small-unit operations.
Throwing an entire battalion into the enemy rear—he had truly never heard of it.
This idea was really too bold.
One must know this wasn’t a parachute battalion, but a fully armored vehicle mechanized combined arms battalion, ground insertion dozens of times harder than airborne.
Regiment Commander Wang fully believed only Chen Jun could think of it.
Only he dared to think it.
Even if some had thought of it, they lacked the strength to execute.
After all, tactics and playing styles of this era were still limited to traditional tactics passed down from World War II; Chen Jun’s set, worn out in later generations, was a king bomb in this era, the first to eat the crab.
It was like Bitcoin released in 2008, when dozens couldn’t buy a burger.
No one could imagine that in less than a decade, Bitcoin’s price would multiply tens of thousands of times, becoming a terrifying existence at tens of thousands of dollars each.
This was the huge disparity brought by time!
However, though tempted by the aggressive tactics, Regiment Commander Wang was also concerned about its drawbacks, worrying it would become like a meat bun thrown to a dog.
One battalion inserting into an enemy regiment’s interior; once mistaken, it would be swallowed by the enemy in one bite.
A regiment encircling and eating a battalion.
Truly not too simple.
Moreover, Chen Jun had no actual combat cases; the combined arms battalion’s debut being so aggressive carried too high a failure risk.
So after deep consideration, Regiment Commander Wang ultimately gave up the tempting tactics.
As a veteran general, Regiment Commander Wang knew very well.
Temptation comes at a cost!
“The core of this exercise is acceptance; our primary task is to ensure the combined arms battalion passes acceptance. I think we should prioritize steadiness; I appreciate the aggressive tactics, but it’s more suitable as backup.”
Regiment Commander Wang made the decision with a serious face and directly concluded: “Once we reach the assembly point in Area 74, I’ll convene the regiment headquarters pre-war meeting.
At that time, Xiao Chen, you’ll be the main speaker, explain the gambit tactics in detail to everyone; for this confrontation exercise, we’ll use it as the offensive plan.”
“Got it, Regiment Commander.”
Though Chen Jun felt a slight regret, he also knew they must prioritize the big picture now; steady victory was indeed more conducive to passing acceptance, so he agreed readily.
