vrcanaries Chapter 474: Let the brothers beat me hard. We must take down the Huaishuzhuang stronghold within on
Chapter 474: Let the brothers beat me hard. We must take down the Huaishuzhuang stronghold within on
"Zhu Zi, immediately mark the target position and bombard the Huaishuzhuang stronghold. Use the heavy mortar company, heavy artillery company, and rocket launcher company to carry out strike operations and provide artillery support for the infantry battalion's attack."
"Sanwazi, have the first and second anti-aircraft artillery companies launch an offensive against the Huaishuzhuang stronghold and provide artillery support for the infantry that follows."
"Zhang Dabiao, you lead the first and second companies of armored vehicles to launch a surprise attack on Huaishu Zhang. The bridge-laying vehicles use three layers of steel plates to lay simple bridges to help the rabbit armored vehicles cross obstacles."
"Monk, you guys lead the assault team, charge in here, don't save bullets for me, hit the devils hard, we are going to use a hail of bullets to give the Huaishuzhuang stronghold a fire baptism today."
"I've never fought such a rich battle before, so there's no need to hide it. Let's show our strength and let the Japanese see how powerful our armored regiment is."
Li Yunlong was not petty this time. He directly mobilized half of his forces and launched an attack on the Huaishuzhuang stronghold.
Upon receiving the order, Wang Chengzhu immediately adjusted the shooting angle according to the distance and direction, and began to fire according to the artillery manual. More than 2 shells fell into the Huaishuzhuang area, and 3/ of the shells missed the target far away.
"Immediately adjust the firing position, adjust 20 degrees to the left, raise the elevation angle by 3.6 degrees, and fire half of the base ammunition. We must show the momentum of our artillery battalion in this battle! After all gun positions have completed the adjustment, open fire immediately!"
As the order to open fire was given, 6 105mm heavy howitzers and 18 heavy mortars began to fiercely bombard the Huaishuzhuang stronghold, and violent explosions rang out in the stronghold. The Japanese who were resting in the camp quickly left the artillery tower and entered the position outside.
With a loud bang, the five-meter-high turret was hit by a heavy artillery shell and collapsed directly, hitting more than 30 Japanese soldiers and crushing more than a dozen Japanese soldiers inside under the rubble. Violent smoke and dust began to spread throughout the stronghold, seriously affecting the Japanese soldiers' shooting line of sight.
Sanwazi led the first and second anti-aircraft gun companies, quickly passed through the trenches through the steel plates laid by the bridge-laying vehicles, and launched fierce fire at the Japanese strongholds. The twin-mounted 20mm and 40mm anti-aircraft guns made the Japanese unable to raise their heads. They had to lie down in the trenches, waiting for this round of firepower to pass before launching a counterattack.
With the fire suppression of two anti-aircraft artillery companies, the two mechanized infantry battalions quickly passed the simple steel bridge and launched a fierce attack on the stronghold. Zhang Dabiao also led two armored vehicle companies, slowly passed the superimposed simple steel bridge, arrived at the stronghold, and provided fire support and protection for the infantry's attack.
The Nomura Battalion stationed at the Huaishuzhuang stronghold had never encountered such a fierce fire attack, and was completely stunned from top to bottom. This was a force from the Japanese colony, with only more than 100 real Japanese soldiers in total, and the rest were second-hand Japanese soldiers from the colony, and their fighting will was not strong.
The troops began to flee before they received the order to retreat. The captain of the Nomura Battalion, Ichiro Nomura, immediately sent out a supervision team to stop the fleeing of the troops. He mobilized the forces of two squadrons to launch a counterattack and asked the telegraph operator to send an urgent telegram for help.
"Bagayalo! No one is allowed to retreat without my order. Anyone who dares to disobey will be killed! Let the cannon fodder launch a counterattack immediately. Anyone who dares to retreat will be executed. I have asked the division commander for help. As long as we hold on until dawn, the main force of a brigade will arrive."
As soon as Nomura Ichiro finished speaking, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse. Zhang Dabiao led two armored companies to replace the anti-aircraft artillery company and became the main force of the assault. Using the firepower and mobility advantages of the armored forces, they beat back the counterattack of Nomura's battalion. This was not the most important thing. The most important thing was that a tank company was also involved in the battle, which became the last straw that broke the camel's back.
"Colonel, we can no longer defend Huaishuzhuang. We must evacuate immediately, otherwise our Nomura Battalion will be in danger of being wiped out. The enemy's firepower is too fierce, and they are equipped with a large number of braking weapons and artillery. We are at a disadvantage in terms of manpower and weapons. The only thing we can do now is to preserve our own strength and escape from the current danger. After the main force arrives, we will avenge our previous defeat!" Kuroshima Taro persuaded anxiously.
Ichiro Nomura immediately followed suit and gave the order: "Kuroshima-kun, arrange for a squadron to cover the rear, and the rest of you follow me to retreat immediately. As long as we can retreat into the forest, we can escape the current crisis!"
Nomura Ichiro did not fight hard, but arranged a squadron to continue to hold on, and led the remaining one and a half squadrons to withdraw from Huaishuzhuang. Jun'ichi Aoki, who received Nomura Ichiro's telegram for help, responded quickly and immediately dispatched a regiment of reinforcements to support, and at the same time ordered the Xiaozhangzhuang stronghold to increase its vigilance and respond to any sudden attack from the enemy at any time.
"According to Nomura's report, we can determine that this should be Li Yunlong's doing, and his purpose is to break our blockade. But there is one thing I don't understand. Li Yunlong should stay in the base and take the initiative to attack at this time. This is completely unreasonable. I think Li Yunlong should be a man with his tail between his legs at this time, but now he has taken the initiative to provoke a war. There must be a huge conspiracy hidden in this. Immediately let the troops stationed on the front line be vigilant and report immediately if they find anything wrong."
"Order the Gaomu Brigade to move out immediately. They must arrive at the Xiaozhangzhuang stronghold before 3 pm tomorrow to block Li Yunlong's next attack route. Also, don't forget to send a copy of the battle report to the Taiyuan Command, requesting the aviation force to launch an air strike on the independent regiment's base."
Everything that Jun'ichi Aoki did was completely useless. Distant water cannot quench immediate thirst. The total strength of the Takagi Brigade was only 7000 people, which was even less than that of the armored regiment. Not to mention that the gap in weapons between the two sides was quite large. Even if they entered the Xiaozhangzhuang stronghold, they could not change the situation of the war at all.
There was a huge problem with the Japanese's previous troop deployment. They should have deployed heavy troops directly to the front line, but in order to allow the main force to avoid air strikes from the Independent Regiment Air Force Group, the Japanese placed most of their troops on the second line. This made the first blockade line relatively weak, and it would be very easy for Lin Zhenhua and his men to break through.
The armored regiment ended the battle in just 40 minutes and captured the entire Huaishuzhuang stronghold. In this battle, a total of 628 Japanese soldiers were killed and 36 were captured. Lin Zhenhua arranged a platoon of troops to escort these 36 prisoners back, and they would be arranged to undergo labor reform in the base.
"Zhang Dabiao, clean up the battlefield for me immediately. Take off the clothes of the little devils. They may be of great use to me. Bring me all the food, weapons and ammunition. We can't be so rich that we look down on the little rags of the devils. Even a mosquito leg is meat. Don't waste even a little bit of it."
"We will leave Huaishuzhuang in half an hour and march quickly towards Zhangzhuang. The Japanese must think that our next target is Xiaozhangzhuang. In fact, attacking Huaishuzhuang is just a feint to make the Japanese misjudge and mobilize their troops. Only then can we find more loopholes and achieve greater results!"
Li Yunlong adopted mobile warfare this time, looking for opportunities to annihilate the enemy during the movement, and adopting a combat method of using the strong to defeat the weak and the majority to defeat the minority, bit by bit consuming the enemy's manpower, making the airtight blockade of the enemy become like a sieve with air leaking everywhere.
"Lao Zhao, you take your people and leave first. I and the college student will arrive soon. Chu Yunfei just sent a telegram saying that he wants to discuss business with us. I have to discuss it with the college student before deciding whether to do this business or not."
Li Yunlong was planning to wait before leaving, but Lin Zhenhua rushed over and interrupted him in a serious tone, "Old Li, tell the troops to speed up the cleanup of the battlefield, and we'll leave together. We'll talk about business later, and there's no need to delay. We have to march quickly to the Zhangzhuang stronghold and must not delay the attack at 7 a.m. tomorrow."
"Lao Zhao, you must immediately arrange for someone to check the condition of the vehicles and repair any parts that need repair immediately. The troops must be ready to depart before 10:20."
Everyone immediately followed Lin Zhenhua's orders and got busy. Before 10:15, the troops were ready to set off. Lin Zhenhua did not wait any longer and immediately issued an order to leave. The armored regiment left Huaishuzhuang and marched quickly towards Zhangzhuang.
Inside the communications command vehicle, Li Yunlong handed the telegram to Lin Zhenhua. After reading it, Lin Zhenhua handed it to Zhao Gang. The content on the telegram was beyond the three's expectations. They didn't expect that the Japanese would be willing to exchange medicines for the supplies they urgently needed.
"College student, I think we can definitely do this business. The supplies we previously stored are still a little insufficient. The Japanese blockade of us will be normal in the future. If we can open up this secret transportation line, it will play a very important role in maintaining the production of our military factory."
"In addition to rare metals, we can also use medicines to exchange for copper ingots and food. There are some things that are inconvenient for us to do, but the Japanese devils can do it very well. By then, the Japanese blockade will be in vain, and our medicines will have an export destination. Since we lost the air transportation line, our sources of important materials such as rubber have been cut off. If this goes on, Chen Minggeng will really turn against us again. If we have this group of Japanese devils as cover, we can completely open up another air transportation line and reconnect the transaction with Chen Minggeng. This will be very beneficial to our future development!" Zhao Gang said with a smile after pondering for a moment.