Chapter three hundred and sixty-five first look at the expression on the face
The devils instantly became a mess.
It turned out that at this critical moment, Sun Desheng, Li Zhendong and others rushed to the battlefield.
Cui Zhenyue's tank brigade, dozens of tanks and armored vehicles, led the way. This torrent of steel directly invaded the enemy's position, followed closely by a large number of cavalry from the Mawushan guerrillas, who were carrying machine guns and rifles.
The Japanese troops opened fire fiercely.
The Japanese officers and soldiers who were launching the charge were attacked from both sides and were in great confusion. The momentum of the attack on the bridge suddenly slowed down.
Seeing the critical situation, the Japanese commander ordered his officers and soldiers to lie down on the spot and resist.
Cui Zhenyue's tank brigade ran directly towards the Japanese soldiers. Many Japanese soldiers were unable to evade and were directly crushed into meat pies by tanks and armored vehicles.
The Japs really couldn't bear this horrific blow, so they got up from the ground one after another and fled in all directions. In the open area, the Japs soldiers had no cover, and their bodies were exposed to the firepower network composed of machine guns on tanks and armored vehicles.
Among them, pieces fell down.
The Japanese soldiers who were lucky enough to avoid being crushed by tanks and armored vehicles were chased and shot by guerrilla cavalry, and soon all were killed or injured.
After annihilating the Japanese troops on the north side of the bridge, the guerrilla tank troops and cavalry troops quickly crossed the bridge to attack the Japanese troops on the south side of the bridge.
The number of Japanese troops south of the bridge was not large, and the combat effectiveness of the garrison was far inferior to that of the Japanese field troops. When they saw the enemy's tanks, armored vehicles and cavalry rushing over, they turned around and ran away.
The guerrilla cavalry chased for a while, but when they saw that the Japanese soldiers were scattered and unable to annihilate them all, they gave up the pursuit and returned to the bridge.
Xu Dalong finally met Sun Desheng, Cui Zhenyue and others. He said somewhat thankfully: "Fortunately you arrived in time, otherwise, all of us would have been responsible here."
Sun Desheng said with some shame: "I'm sorry, captain, we didn't get to the bridge on time, and as a result we sacrificed so many brothers."
Xu Dalong said: "It's not your fault. You were able to get here because you fought bloody battles and defeated the Japanese troops who blocked you. No matter what, we finally captured the bridge safely. This is a great victory. Commander Li's troops
Where are you now?"
Sun Desheng said: "They are right behind and will be here soon."
As soon as he finished speaking, Xu Dalong saw a brigade of troops appearing in the distance, led by Li Zhendong.
Not long after, Li Zhendong led the troops over. After a few pleasantries, everyone rushed to repair the fortifications.
Cui Zhenyue's tank brigade also specially brought two trench excavators this time.
In order to seize the time to dig the trench, the excavator dug in front, and the guerrillas and officers and soldiers of the Fruit Army followed behind to make repairs.
Both ends of the bridge are open areas with no danger to defend. Only by relying on trenches can it be possible to block the enemy's counterattack.
Zhongtiao Mountain Headquarters.
Ever since Xu Dalong and others set out, General Fu has been waiting for news from them. Whether they can capture the Liangzhou River Bridge is the key to this offensive campaign. If Xu Dalong and others cannot capture the Liangzhou River Bridge and alert the enemy,
This also exposed the intention of this battle. If the Japanese were on guard, the battle would be even more difficult to fight.
Moreover, after the battle started, the Japanese 37th Division and the 33rd Garrison Division could reinforce each other through the Liangzhou River Bridge. Regardless of whether the Japanese army launched an attack from the direction of Zhongtiao Mountain or from the direction of Sangcheng, they would be directly facing each other.
Two major regiments of the Japanese army.
If this battle is passive from the beginning, the hope of victory will be slim. Not only that, if this battle fails, the Japanese army will judge that there are fruit troops in the Zhongtiao Mountain Command and the Sangcheng direction.
An attempt to establish contact.
The Japanese army will build fortifications in this area and even deploy additional troops. In the future, it will be even more difficult to establish communication between the Zhongtiao Mountain headquarters and the Ninth Theater Command.
The chief of staff said: "Commander, according to the time calculation, Xu Dalong and the others should have launched an attack on the Liangzhou River Bridge. Why is there no news yet? Could they have encountered any trouble?"
Xu Dalong's guerrillas and Li Zhendong's troops have thousands of people. It is really difficult for so many people to hide their combat intentions, especially since they also have chariot troops. I really don't know how they can do it.
Quietly capture the Liangzhou River Bridge.
To be honest, General Fu is also a little worried. Now the troops of the Guo Army have already made preparations and are waiting for news from Xu Dalong before launching an attack.
At this time, he was unsure. After all, the Liangzhou River Bridge was located deep inside the enemy's territory. It would be very difficult to cross enemy-occupied areas or capture the bridge. Although based on past experience, he believed that Xu Dalong was capable of doing it.
This point, after all, is the key to this battle. You must know that the Zhongtiao Mountain Command has been preparing for several months to launch this battle. Success or failure depends on this one move. It is unavoidable that he feels a little uneasy in his heart.
.
After listening to what the chief of staff said, he said: "I believe in Brother Dalong. He has never let us down before."
General Fu said this, ostensibly to comfort the chief of staff, but actually to comfort himself. He hoped that he could hear the good news he wanted.
Suddenly, the beautiful female confidential office director of the Zhongtiao Mountain Command almost ran into the war room at a trot and said in a smooth and clear voice: "Report to the commander, Chief Xu of the underground party has called."
When the director of the confidential office came in, everyone was looking at her face, trying to judge the quality of the news from her expression.
Seeing the excited look on her face, I knew it must be good news.
General Fu said directly: "Nian."
The Director of the Confidentiality Office read excitedly: "Commander Jun Jian of the Zhongtiao Mountain Command: At 9:40 am, our troops made a surprise attack on the Liangzhou River Bridge. After a fierce battle, we have taken control of the bridge.
The main force of the Mawushan guerrillas and the reinforcement regiment of the 137th Division have arrived at the Liangzhou River Bridge and are building fortifications. Commander, please rest assured that we will be able to hold the Liangzhou River Bridge until the battle is victorious.
Xu Dalong, captain of the Mawushan Guerrilla Brigade, and Li Zhendong, commander of the 137th Division.
Today."
After the director of the confidential office finished reading the telegram, a burst of cheers erupted in the war room.
With a "bang" sound, General Fu clenched his fist and knocked on the table, and said excitedly: "Brother Dalong, they are really good, they did a great job."
The chief of staff also said happily: "Commander, you are right. Brother Dalong never disappoints anyone. Now, we have captured the Liangzhou River Bridge and cut off two Japanese divisions."
The communication between the regiments will make this battle much easier to fight."
General Fu said: "Send my order and the entire army will attack the Japanese army immediately."
At the bridgehead of the Liangzhou River Bridge, Li Zhendong said: "Brother Dalong, my troops are good at positional warfare. Let us defend the north side of the bridge."
He knew that to the north of the bridge was the 37th Division of the Japanese Field Army. Their combat effectiveness far exceeded that of the 33rd Division of the Japanese Army to the south of the bridge. He was a competitive person and hoped to take the difficult task to himself.
in hands.
To be honest, this is what Xu Dalong hopes. The Mawushan guerrillas are indeed not good at positional warfare. The troops he brought are fast mobile troops who are good at guerrilla warfare. Let them hold their positions and block the Japanese 37th Division.
It is indeed difficult for the group to fully utilize their strengths.
To deal with the Japanese garrison of the 33rd Division, Xu Dalong only needed to leave a small number of troops to hold on, and then use mobile warfare to completely block the Japanese 33rd Division's attack. Therefore, Li Zhendong said so, and he did not refuse.
Xu Dalong said: "Thank you and your brothers for your hard work. I will leave half of the chariot troops behind to assist you in your defense."
Li Zhendong actually had this idea, hoping that the guerrilla tank brigade could leave some tanks and armored vehicles behind to assist them in their defense.
Seeing Xu Dalong so happy, Li Zhendong and Xu Dalong felt even more sympathetic to each other.
He said no more and went to inspect the emergency repair works of his subordinates.
Xu Dalong, Sun Desheng, Cui Zhenyue and others arrived at the south side of the bridge and saw that the Japanese troops in front were repairing fortifications to provide an offensive starting position for subsequent troops to arrive.
Xu Dalong stood on the bunker and looked into the distance, and found that there were not many Japanese troops rushing to the battlefield, at most there was only one infantry brigade.
He decided not to wait for the main force of the Japanese army to arrive, and took the initiative to attack and eat the enemy in front of him first. He made a simple arrangement and ordered the troops to launch a charge.
The chariot brigade commanded by Cui Zhenyue took the lead and rushed towards the Japanese position, followed closely by Sun Desheng's cavalry brigade.
The equipment of the Japanese garrison was relatively backward, and the number of artillery was also very small. Seeing so many tanks, the armored vehicles rushed over and hurriedly used firepower to intercept them. However, their pitiful artillery, machine guns, and rifles could not stop the tanks at all.
and armored vehicle clusters.
Seeing a group of steel monsters rushing over, no matter how brave the Japanese officers and soldiers were, they knew they could not stop them.
Seeing the enemy troops getting closer and closer, after the machine guns of tanks and armored vehicles knocked down a large number of Japanese officers and soldiers, they collapsed and fled in all directions.
The officers and soldiers of the cavalry brigade chased the enemy on fast horses and soon devoured the enemy force in front of them.
Xu Dalong decided to leave only 500 guerrillas to stand in the trenches at the head of the bridge. He led the main force of the chariot troops and cavalry brigade, left the bridge, marched about two kilometers along the road, and stopped in an open field.
They prepared to attack the Japanese troops who came to seize the bridge and defeat them one by one.
To the north of the bridge, Japanese reinforcements were arriving continuously. At this time, the troops of the 37th Division gathered near the bridge had exceeded an infantry regiment, and an artillery brigade was also reinforced for them.
Obviously, the Japanese army was determined to seize the Huiliangzhou River Bridge.
The Japanese army set up artillery and began an artillery battle with Li Zhendong's troops. Soon after, the Japanese army launched an attack.
At this time, the troops belonging to the Zhongtiao Mountain Command had already launched an attack on the Japanese army. The Japanese army knew the importance of the bridge and time was very precious to them, so the Japanese army directly launched an attack as a large group as soon as they came up.
Thanks to the trench excavators brought by the guerrillas, all the officers and soldiers of the reinforced regiment entered the trenches at this time. They blocked the flat road in front with fierce firepower. The Japanese army was completely exposed to the firepower network of the Guo army and could not rush forward at all.
Not coming up.
The officers and soldiers of the Guo army were hiding in the trenches and saw the Japanese officers and soldiers falling one by one at the front of the position. They were all excited and full of confidence in holding the position.
The Japanese commander was familiar with the situation of the bridge. He really could not imagine that the enemy could dig a large number of trenches in such a short period of time. Facing such bad terrain, he felt helpless.
Feel.
While he ordered the artillery to continuously bombard the enemy, he reported the situation here to his superiors.
The commander of the Japanese 37th Division felt overwhelmed at the moment. The battle plan of the Zhongtiao Mountain Command was well hidden, and the Japanese army was not aware of it. Therefore, when the large force of the Guo Army suddenly launched an attack,
The Japanese army felt caught off guard.
Thanks to the fact that the 37th Division had been stationed here for a long time and built a large number of defenses, it was able to barely slow down the Guo army's attack speed.
The commander of the 37th Division reported the situation here to Commander Yoshio Shinozuka and asked for tactical guidance. At the same time, he ordered the troops to resolutely block the attack of the Japanese troops.
Bad news kept coming. The Guo army had a large force, was well prepared, and the intensity of the attack was very fierce. News of positions being breached kept coming. The Japanese army retreated steadily, barely holding on.
Yoshio Shinozuka was shocked when he received the report. After looking at the map, he felt that the situation was very serious, and quickly ordered the Japanese 112th Division west of Mount Nakajo to go for reinforcements.
The Japanese Chief of Staff said worriedly: "The 112th Division is too far away from the battlefield. Even if there is no enemy interception, it will take at least two and a half days to reach the battlefield.
The terrain north of the Liangzhou River is flat and open, with no danger to defend. The enemy has a large number of troops, and the 37th Division is likely to be surrounded and annihilated by the enemy.
The terrain in the area south of the Liangzhou River is complicated and easy to defend. I suggest that the 37th Division immediately retreat to the area south of the Liangzhou River and join the 33rd garrison division. The two divisions should join together to avoid being separated by the enemy.
Break."
Yoshio Shinozuka also believed that this was the best way to solve the predicament at present, so he sent a telegram to the commander of the 37th Division, asking him to lead the troops across the Liangzhou River immediately. After crossing the river, guard the Liangzhou River Bridge.
, block the troops of the Guo Army in the area north of the Liangzhou River, and then join forces with the 33rd Division to attack the troops of the 72nd Army of the Guo Army and wait for reinforcements to arrive.
The commander of the 37th Division faced numerous enemy forces, and he knew that his own division alone could not withstand them.
He also believed that Shinozuka Yoshio's order was the best way to get rid of the 37th Dilemma. So he ordered the troops to shrink their positions and move closer to the Liangzhou River Bridge. At the same time, he ordered the troops who had already arrived at the Liangzhou River Bridge to capture the bridge as soon as possible.