Chapter 330 What if someone attacks Jiangcheng? The moment the pontoon bridge was set up, the armored regiment, led by Zhao He, headed towards the Xijiang River in three columns. Behind them, the troops of the 59th Division also followed closely. Even though the previous battles had made them very tired. But he still gritted his teeth and moved forward with high morale. This is the closest they have come to regaining Yangcheng. If it fails this time, there may not be a next time. So no matter how exhausted they were, they gritted their teeth and persisted. "Brothers, whether the glory of the Iron Army can be restored depends on today. Charge with me and kill the Japanese." Tang Lian personally held a Thompson submachine gun and shouted to the brothers behind him. "Kill the devils."
"Kill the devils." "Kill the devil." If there were no tanks as bunkers, just crossing the river would cause the 59th Division to suffer heavy casualties. Because the Japs on the shore were very accurate with their marksmanship, they started shooting at each other. Needless to say, it was definitely the soldiers of the 59th Division who suffered. But now it's different. With tanks as bunkers, the casualty rate is greatly reduced. When the tank reached the pontoon halfway, Major Yamashita was already panicking. He knew that the tank must not be allowed to cross the river, otherwise they would face massacre, so he could only bite the bullet and shout loudly. "Baga, machine gunner, hurry up, shoot immediately, suppress the firepower of the Chinese army." Captain Onomura next to him was speechless for a while, and even fired a machine gun? Do you think it's our tank? Can heavy machine guns penetrate armor? Although he thought so, the machine gunners still carried out the orders faithfully. Unfortunately, due to the previous artillery attack, they no longer had many machine gunners. Originally there were more than a dozen heavy machine guns, but now there are only a few left. Let alone suppressing them, they can't even shoot at each other's machine gunners. Not to mention facing the machine guns and artillery on the tanks, they were blown up in just two hits. Seeing this, Major Yamashita could only ask someone to organize a stand-up team. All they could do now was run up to the first tank and blow up the pontoon bridge. But it didn't work at all.
Not to mention whether they could escape the baptism of heavy artillery, the machine gun fire from the tanks had already blocked them to death, making them unable to move forward at all. Seeing the members of the team falling to the ground one after another, Major Yamashita's eyelids twitched wildly. It is impossible to hold the Xijiang defense line. "Your Majesty, Major, I suggest you retreat immediately. We can't hold it." Onomura couldn't help but advise as he looked at his subordinates who kept falling. The sparse firepower on his own position made him understand that if he continued, he would be destined to die, so it was better to retreat early. "Baga, we must stick to the Xijiang position and wait for the arrival of reinforcements." Although Major Yamashita felt sorry for his subordinates, he had no choice. Yangcheng is not like other cities. Because the maritime trade here is developed, there are no city walls here. When the Japanese army captured Yangcheng, it was because there was no city wall that they were able to capture Yangcheng quickly. Why Yu Hanmou's Twelfth Army gave up Yangcheng so easily was not because there was no city wall. They did not retreat decisively until they could no longer hold Yangcheng. The Japanese army is facing the same situation now. Once Xijiang cannot be defended, it means that the next line of defense will also be unable to defend. "Major, there are two rivers behind us, and we can build fortifications there." Captain Onomura said anxiously as the tanks passed the pontoon bridge and headed towards the position. These words made Major Yamashita a little moved. He also knew that if he persisted like this, the whole army would be annihilated. "Baga, the tactics are changing." Looking at the tanks getting closer and closer, Major Yamashita finally couldn't help the fear in his heart and ordered a retreat. After the vanguard of the 129th Division missed Xijiang, they also turned in because they knew that it was absolutely impossible to block the tanks with their flesh and blood. Not to mention they don't have decent anti-tank weapons. Therefore, facing the charge of the tank regiment, we can only keep retreating and looking for new bunkers. At the Yangcheng Headquarters, Lieutenant General Nakata Moritaka looked at the tense and busy scene. From the original panic, he is still sitting firmly at the head of the circular conference table. Yes! He wasn't panicked at all. All you have to do now is hold on. Waiting for reinforcements. Because he knew there was no point in panicking. It's better to calm down and see what the fourth theater wants to do. Are we really going to take over Yangcheng completely, or are we just trying to encircle the area and call for reinforcements? "Report, the Xijiang defense line has failed, the two infantry brigades stationed there have been completely lost, and the China Army's armored regiment is attacking." The combat staff walked in and said quickly. "Where is the 129th Division?" Lieutenant General Nakata Moritaka asked casually. "Prepare to deploy a defense line west of the Pearl River." The combat staff immediately replied.
"A last-ditch battle?" Lieutenant General Nakata Moritaka naturally understood Sun Tzu's Art of War and immediately understood the intention of the 129th Division. "Yes, the commander of the Uzawa Naonobu Division believes that only by defending the Pearl River can it be possible to defend Yangcheng, so he suggested setting up a defense line along the Pearl River to block the attack of the enemy tank regiment." the combat staff explained. "Youxi, tell Uzawa-kun that whether you can hold Yangcheng depends on whether the 129th Division can hold on until the reinforcements arrive." Lieutenant General Nakata Moritaka nodded. "Where is the 104th Division? When will it arrive in Yangcheng?" "We have arrived at Zengcheng and are expected to arrive at Yangcheng in two days. However, I suggest that the division should be stationed in Zengcheng." The combat staff said with some concern. "Do you suspect that the 104th Division will rebel?" Lieutenant General Nakata Moritaka guessed what he was thinking and asked directly. "Hai, after all, they were formed by the left-behind personnel of the Fourth Division. Now that the Sichuan Army has joined the battle, there is no guarantee whether anyone in the 104th Division will collude with the Sichuan Army." The combat staff felt that the danger should be nipped in the bud. among. Now the 104th Division is an unstable factor. Or rather. The sudden addition of the Sichuan Army made him wonder if there was any other conspiracy. Mainly because the impact the Fourth Division had on the Japanese army was so bad. It even had a bad feeling about the 104th Division. "Yo Xi, what you said makes sense. The sudden addition of the Sichuan Army has indeed aroused my suspicion. In this case, let the 104th Division temporarily garrison Zengcheng and wait for new orders." Lieutenant General Nakata Moritaka pondered for a while. Yes, he felt that for the sake of safety, he would let the 104th Division garrison Zengcheng first, and he wanted to take a look at the situation. In other words, he wanted to see if the Eleventh Army could quickly capture Changsha. If the Eleventh Army cannot take Changsha and cannot provide support. When Yangcheng is not secured, he may abandon Yangcheng directly, withdraw to Zengcheng, report to the 104th Division, go north to join the 11th Army, and attack Changsha from the north to the south. They may also retreat to Chaozhou or even Fujian Province to wait for the arrival of reinforcements. He did not believe that the base camp would give up such a large territory as Yangcheng. After figuring everything out, Lieutenant General Nakaso Moritaka no longer had the previous anxiety. Instead, he was very calm and ordered the forward positions to be defended. At the same time, he let the only fighter planes in his hands search for the China Army's transportation routes and cut off their logistical supplies. The purpose of all this is to delay the actions of the China Army. After adjusting the strategy, the 59th Division's attack was indeed not as fast as before. Especially since the heavy artillery regiment has to cross the Xijiang River to provide fire support, it can only rely on tanks to carry out the attack. But if the armored regiment wants to continue its output, it needs the supply of artillery shells and fuel. When the fuel consumption is almost the same, we can only stop and wait for logistical supplies. "The logistics supply is really too slow, which slows down our marching speed." Zhao He said with some dissatisfaction. The armored regiment's supplies all need to be transported from Hanoi, so the transportation distance is very long. Even if Kang Huoyan sent hundreds of vehicles, it would not be able to meet the consumption of the armored regiment. After all, it is not only necessary to ensure the consumption of the armored regiment and artillery regiment, but also to transport arms to the fourth theater, which naturally seems to be beyond its capabilities. More importantly, the roads here are really bad.
"This advance is already very fast. One day can match our advance for half a month." Tang Lian was very satisfied. They were almost reaching the Pearl River. As long as you cross the Pearl River, the rest is downtown Yangcheng. Unless the little devil is willing to fight with them in a street fight, the outcome will be decided. The balance of victory is now tilted towards the fourth theater, but it has been temporarily stopped due to logistical supply problems. When all supplies arrive, it's time for a general attack. "I thought I could cross the Pearl River today." Zhao He still felt a little regretful. "Captain Zhao, let's rest first. The brothers are all very tired." Tang Lian glanced at the exhausted brothers behind him and said. "Okay, let the brothers rest first." He said without saying anything. After saying this, Zhao He also felt very tired. … The intensity of the fighting here began to cool down, and the battle of the Japanese Eleventh Army had just begun. As soon as it came up, the Japanese Third Division fiercely attacked Changsha's outer defense line. In addition to using heavy artillery, it also used a large number of fighter planes for bombing. . It is bound to blow the entire city of Changsha into rubble. This combination of punches knocked Xue Yue into confusion. According to the experience of the previous three battles, the intensity of the Japanese army was gradually increasing. To put it bluntly, test it first and then slowly increase the intensity. How can it be like this, where you magnify your moves as soon as you come up? Heavy artillery, aircraft, and tanks bombed continuously, and the outer defense lines of Changsha City were in emergency one after another. "This little devil is crazy." After Deng Weiren collected the battle reports from the front line, he continued to mark the enemy's situation on the map. "Sir, this kid is probably eager to open up the railway and go south to support the Japanese troops in Yangcheng. We must not let them pass." "I know all what you said." Xue Yue also frowned and looked at the map. The supplies promised by Shancheng were still short of a lot. The Japanese army was so fierce and fierce, which really gave him a headache. "Should we let go of the defense line? Let the Japanese troops pass?" Deng Weiren said hesitantly. "No..." Xue Yue immediately rejected the proposal. He supported Zhang Fakui's plan to regain Yangcheng. Now that we have reached a critical moment, we must not let anything slip. According to the Heavenly Furnace strategy summarized before, he still followed the method of the third battle. Three lines of defense were still set up in northern Hunan: the first line was the Xinqiang River, and the guards were the 20th Army and the 58th Army; the second line of defense was the Miluo River, and the guards were the 37th Army and the 90th Army. Ninth Army; the third line of defense is the Laodao River and Liuyang River, and the Tenth Army is responsible for guarding Changsha and its peripheral positions. At present, the Japanese army has broken through the first line of defense, and the stationed 20th Army and 58th Army have withdrawn to the second line of defense. This is much faster than expected. The main reason was that the Japanese army mobilized a large number of main troops, which put great pressure on the frontline defenders. "Order the 37th Army and the 99th Army to hold the second line of defense. At the same time, order the 20th Army and the 58th Army to withdraw to the third line of defense. After resting, they will assist the 10th Army in defending the outer positions of Changsha. ." Xue Yue thought for a while, fighting the Japanese army head-on was not the way to go. It is obvious that the Japanese army will capture Changsha at all costs this time, so he must leave enough troops to garrison Changsha.
As long as Changsha is not lost, the Japanese army's hope of going south will be dashed. All he can do now is buy enough time for the fourth theater. "Sir, do you think the Japanese army sent so many main troops south to attack Changsha, has Jiangcheng's defense been weakened?" Deng Weiren suddenly asked hesitantly while looking at the map. "This is not certain. The Japanese Eleventh Army has a large area to defend, but it is extremely short of troops. Many places are garrisoned by the Imperial Army." As he said this, Xue Yue felt something was wrong. yes! Now that the Japanese army is short of troops, it has mobilized so many elite troops to attack Changsha. You must know that to the north of Changsha is Yueyang, and beyond Yueyang is Jiangcheng. "What do you mean? What if troops attack Jiangcheng?" Xue Yue looked at Deng Weiren and said with some disbelief. "Yes." Deng Weiren nodded quickly. "No, I don't have elite troops in hand now. Li Yutang's Tenth Army is still resting. In the last war, more than half of the losses were veterans. Now the replacements are all new soldiers, and many weapons and equipment are not in place yet. Let's It is not appropriate for the Tenth Army to attack Jiangcheng." Xue Yue immediately shook his head and refused. If it was the Tenth Army that had been fully staffed before, he might have asked the Tenth Army to try a surprise attack. Even though Jiangcheng's defenses are empty, it doesn't mean there are no soldiers stationed there. The Japanese soldiers are not fools. "Sir, I know that the Tenth Army is still in the rest stage, but although we are unable to raid Jiangcheng, the Gui Army stationed at the junction of Hubei, Henan and Anhui is still very strong, and the losses are not large. We can definitely send troops to raid Jiangcheng." Deng Weiren Advised again. Hearing this, Xue Yue was stunned and looked at him in surprise, but then looked at the map. "The fifth war zone? Brother De Lin? It's a good choice." The Gui army is now nesting in the mountains at the junction of the three provinces. If they attack Jiangcheng, the crisis in Changsha will be resolved immediately. I just don’t know if Li Delin will agree to his request. "Sir, you can try calling. Maybe the Fifth War Zone will agree. After all, Jiangcheng has been lost for so long. If it can be recovered, it will be a great achievement for Commander Li." Deng Weiren persuaded from a different angle. "Recapture Jiangcheng? Are you kidding? That is a fortified city." Xue Yue suddenly felt that this was a joke. (End of chapter)