History is a mirror and a profound textbook. - Liao Mosha (middle)
In order to prevent the Chinese army from doing something clever, the Japanese army was clever in a battle that was mistaken by cleverness, and the result was that it helped our army a lot and harmed itself. What the Japanese did was cut down the trees on Laifeng Mountain.
Where is Laifengshan, where did the Japanese army cut down the trees? In Tengchong, Yunnan. At the end of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Chinese Expeditionary Force counterattacked western Yunnan, and one of the important goals was to take Tengchong, which was occupied by the Japanese army. There are a total of four mountains around Tengchong, of which Laifeng Mountain is located about 2 kilometers south of Tengchong, the position is the most critical, occupy Laifeng Mountain can overlook Tengchong, cannons can cover the whole city of Tengchong on the mountain, and it is easy to take Tengchong.
In view of the importance of coming to Fengshan, the Japanese army daisakuzo Shigeyasumi, who had led several thousand soldiers to Tengchong, sent heavy troops to defend Fengshan. In order to stop the Chinese army, the Japanese army built a large number of fortifications in Laifengshan in advance and waited for the Chinese expeditionary force from a commanding height.
In order to ensure that Laifengshan was not lost, the Japanese army also cleverly cut down the trees on Laifengshan, in order to make the bunker on the mountain have a wide view, unobstructed, and can shoot at the expeditionary force without dead ends, and the Japanese commander also ordered: do not go to the front, do not shoot. It can be said that the Japanese army racked their brains to find a way to defend Laifengshan, they thought they were smart and did it seamlessly, but in fact, the development of the war situation proved that they were completely clever in doing so, but they were mistaken by cleverness, harming themselves, and helping our army a lot.
Responsible for attacking Laifengshan were the Pre-2nd Division of the Expeditionary Force, as well as the 36th Division, with a total strength of more than 10,000 troops, the Pre-2nd Division was the main attack, and the 36th Division was used as a reserve. Although there were less than 1,000 Japanese troops defending Fengshan, there were not many 10,000 men to attack as a battle. At the beginning of the battle, the soldiers of the Pre-2nd Division were forced to use the most primitive charge due to the backwardness of their weapons, and as a result, because the Japanese army cut down the trees, the officers and men were completely exposed to the Bullets of the Japanese Army without any cover, and the casualties were relatively large.
However, the situation of the war soon changed, and the Japanese army not only failed to block the attack of the expeditionary force, but also harmed itself and dug its own grave. At that time, Laifengshan could not be attacked for a long time, and Huo Yuzhang, commander of the 20th Group Army of the Expeditionary Force, was anxious to turn around, and he observed in Fengshan for several days and found that because the trees in Laifengshan had been cut down, the Japanese bunkers were completely exposed to the mountains and shot at the expeditionary force wantonly.
But where did the heavy artillery come from? It is difficult for a woman to cook without rice! Just at this time, three pieces of good news came: the first news, the heavy artillery aided by the US army arrived; the second news, the Air Force airdropped 6 of the latest weapons, the flamethrower, which was used for the first time in the Chinese battlefield; and the third news, chennault's heavy bombers of the 14th Wing of the Air Force would depart from Baoshan Airport to help. The only problem was that the U.S.-aided heavy artillery and flamethrower expeditionary force would not be used, and soldiers would have to learn and use them.
It just so happened that the Japanese army cut down the trees on Laifeng Mountain, so that the bunker was completely exposed, and the expeditionary force trained its hands with the Japanese bunker. After a short training, the Expeditionary Force first launched an onslaught on Japanese pillboxes with heavy bombers of the 14th Wing with heavy artillery. The Japanese bunkers were unobstructed and almost all were hit, and most of the Japanese troops died inside the bunkers before they could understand what was going on. After a burst of shelling, the soldiers with flamethrowers in their hands immediately rushed up, as long as it was the Japanese bunker, no matter whether there was anyone inside, the long flame was sprayed into it, the temperature of the flame reached thousands of degrees, and even melted the steel plate, and some Japanese troops were burned alive before they could run.
After the battle, the expeditionary force successfully took Fengshan, and then surrounded Tengchong in preparation for the final annihilation battle. If it were not for the Japanese army's own cleverness in cutting down the trees in Fengshan, I am afraid that the aircraft and heavy artillery would not be able to accurately find the location of the bunker, and the expeditionary force would need to pay more sacrifices and take more time to take Fengshan. The Japanese army's clever approach of blocking the Chinese army is really clever, but it has been mistaken by cleverness, which has helped our army a lot, and can be regarded as a typical god assist.