After a heavy rain, the trenches were filled with turbid muddy water.
The soldiers of the 401st Regiment had to spend a lot of effort to drain away the muddy water. When the clouds cleared and the sun was revealed, the soldiers were wrapped in the heat steaming from the muddy ground. They immediately sweated profusely and felt very uncomfortable.
Daniel Davis mingled with his soldiers, looking like a mud monkey. His beard looked messy because it was not taken care of properly. If you take off the frayed military uniform, you can see his exposed
The chest, neck, arms and chest and abdomen have completely different skin colors.
Because of this, this young regiment leader is very popular among his subordinates.
However, it is really not a good time to fight in such a midsummer. The intense heat is the biggest factor causing the 401st Regiment's attrition.
Boom, boom, several gunshots.
The enemy's artillery on the opposite side started bombarding again. Apart from blowing up the bare tree trunks, it did not cause any damage to the 401st Regiment. Whenever the enemy's artillery spoke, most of the soldiers of the National Army
Hiding in the bunker behind the mountain, only a few people were left to observe on the forward position.
Once the enemy infantry took the initiative to attack, they had to start from the valley and attack upwards, and then retract without exception after suffering heavy casualties. After being taught a lesson by the National Army several times, the enemy had no choice but to try their luck with sneak attacks at night, and
I almost succeeded several times.
Therefore, the officers and soldiers of the National Army are most nervous at night, and they must keep their eyes open and be ready.
In the evening, Commander Davis read letters at his headquarters located at the back of the mountain.
As the sun went down, the hot air was carried away by the evening breeze, but Davis applied a lot of pungent potions on himself, otherwise the mosquitoes in the mountains would suck his blood dry.
Although conditions are limited, every National Army soldier is repeatedly warned that mosquitoes can bring diseases and they should take precautions as much as possible. Preventing mosquito bites is as strategic as preventing heatstroke.
Captain Davis was newly married and soon returned to the 401st Regiment and joined the army in the Northern Expedition. The letter from his beloved wife in his hand was signed half a month ago.
"Regiment commander, the commander is here." Jonathan, the operational staff officer, reminded. Davis quickly put away his wife's letter and saw General Dalhou, surrounded by a group of officers, coming to the headquarters of the 401st Regiment.
"Your Excellency, Commander!" Davis trotted forward to greet him.
"Daniel, how is the morale of your regiment?" Commander Dalhou returned the salute.
"The morale of the 401st Regiment is not bad, Your Excellency." Davis replied, "It's just that the soldiers are quite complaining about blindly defending."
Dalhao put his hand on his shoulder, patted him and said with a smile: "In my opinion, I am afraid that you, the leader, have some complaints in your heart."
"Don't dare!" Davis said slightly embarrassed.
"Haha, our tactics are all about tactics." Dalhao smiled heartily, seeming to say to all the officers present, "The enemy's plan to use Yam City to attract most of our national army has gone bankrupt. You guys
Those who are regiment commanders and battalion commanders must explain clearly to the soldiers that if we hold our position, we will win, because this will fundamentally change our offense and defense. If the enemy takes the initiative to attack us, he will have to pay a price ten times or a hundred times. Why should we?
What about taking the initiative to attack? Don’t make unnecessary sacrifices.”
Dalhou meant something. Some people thought of the casualties of the 3rd Army here. However, Dalhou's original intention was not to insinuate General Grant, although it seemed to others that there had always been some kind of competitive relationship between him and General Grant.
"Your Excellency, but several other legions have gone north. They are making extremely fast progress and have already recaptured three cities. In comparison, we seem..." an officer complained.
Dalhou immediately interrupted:
"Please note that this is the unified deployment of the headquarters. Our 4th Army is firmly guarding here, and it is also our honor. In my opinion, honor does not distinguish between high and low. When the commander-in-chief left here, he was
Pointed out to me that whether the 4th Army can hold back the enemy forces in Yam City is related to the rear security of the entire National Army, because there is no other large force behind us."
Dalhao looked around and continued: "I think this is the high degree of trust that the Commander-in-Chief has in me and our 4th Army. I promise the Commander-in-Chief that I will never let go of an enemy in Yam City. Now I need to
You make the same guarantee to me, can you do it?"
"Yes!" the officers replied in unison.
"Very good!" Dalhao nodded with satisfaction, "I think the enemy forces in Yam City will not sit still and wait for death. They will definitely choose to break out at some point. Once they are allowed to break out, they will disrupt our rear and the consequences will be disastrous.
The time to test us is coming soon. Loyalty, courage and team spirit are our most powerful weapons to defeat the enemy, and the honor of the 4th Army needs each of us to safeguard it!"
As if to confirm Dalhou's judgment, that night the enemy launched the most massive raid since the arrival of the 4th Army.
At midnight, the sound of cannons, gunshots, and shouts of death suddenly resounded throughout the valley.
The position defended by the 401st Regiment is mainly divided into three parts. On the left is the mountain ridge facing the north, and on the west is the highland on the east side. This highland is adjacent to the north-south canal. Between the mountains and the highland is a section of relatively flat terrain.
Valley - This is also one of the land routes from the city to the outside of the city under normal circumstances.
The 401st Regiment focused its defense on this section of the valley, which was less than 300 meters away. Two battalions were deployed here in sequence, and another battalion and a half were deployed later as a reserve force.
The 401st Regiment is a strengthened regiment. It originally had 5 battalions, 1 cavalry company and 1 artillery company. Since the regiment is at the forefront and the defensive zone is more important, the Army even added two artillery companies to the regiment. 14
Door cannon.
Commander Davis deployed the additional artillery on both sides of the valley, aiming at the valley passage to form a crossfire.
This enemy attack was unusual. Davis dared to say that the enemy deployed at least 50 artillery pieces to bombard the 401st Regiment's positions. The dense artillery shells forced most of the officers and soldiers of the 401st Regiment to hide in the rear.
In the tunnel.
As the enemy's artillery fire gradually subsided, sharp whistles sounded, and the officers ordered the soldiers to get out of the tunnel and move to the front.
The line of sight ahead was also blurred, which was extremely beneficial to the attacker. This forced the 401st Regiment to deploy manpower at the front and light torches to increase reaction time.
Then the enemy launched a charge almost within half a minute of the sound of artillery stopping.
Faintly, the officers and soldiers of the 401st Regiment only saw a black torrent moving forward quickly. When the torrent got closer, the artillerymen of the 401st Regiment opened fire first.
Explosive bullets and solid bullets poured down the narrow passage, hitting the enemy's heads and the crowd heavily.
In the flickering light, no man's land appeared among the dense crowd of enemy soldiers, but these empty spaces were quickly filled.
The artillery was still firing rapidly, and the gunners were like parts in a clock, operating in an orderly manner according to their responsibilities. Gradually, the frequency of artillery firing also dropped, and they had to stop to cool down the barrels.
The enemy troops kept falling and charging. When the National Army's artillery firing frequency dropped, they finally broke into the firing range of the 401st Infantry Regiment.
For this reason, they suffered hundreds of casualties.
The forward infantry weaved a large firepower net with the rifles in their hands. The new rifles had fundamentally changed the form of warfare. They could lie down in the trenches with only their upper bodies exposed.
The war also caused the enemy to change their combat form. After they rushed to the front, they would find bunkers in groups of three or five and cross-cover each other. However, for the enemy, their opponents were simply carrying a personal arsenal with them.
The bullets are pouring out as if they are free, and more than 90% of them are wasted. The visibility in night battles is extremely poor, and the soldiers are often very nervous and pour firepower forward desperately. And the new rifles can easily cause huge damage.
of waste.
Fortunately, the National Army has always attached great importance to logistics, otherwise it would not be able to support such a high-intensity battle.
Even so, the enemy's attack was fierce. They took advantage of the favorable situation at night that was not conducive to the defenders and relied entirely on human lives to fill the gap in firepower. If the 401st Regiment was a little careless, something unfortunate would happen.
Davis was accustomed to commanding from the front. He focused on every change on the battlefield and kept issuing orders, especially in night battles.
"Artillery, why did our artillery stop?" Davis roared.
"The artillery needs to cool down. Major Harris said he needs time." A staff officer replied.
"No, the artillery cannot stop firing. Once the enemy moves the artillery closer, our infantry will suffer heavy losses."
As expected, the enemy's artillery fired again and bombarded the 401st Regiment's position, immediately causing heavy losses to the 401st Regiment.
Davis made a prompt decision and took the risk to withdraw his most forward troops by 300 meters. The enemy thought they had an opportunity and quickly advanced forward, broke through the defense line, and suddenly entered the crescent-shaped encirclement of the 401st Regiment.
Davis's risk was worth it. The artillery once again showed its power, directly covering the enemy troops that broke into the defense line within the fire strike range. Fear made the remaining enemy soldiers either turn around and flee, or run around on the battlefield and were killed by the 401st Regiment.
The infantry was sieved.
However, before Davis had time to cheer, there was a burst of fierce gunfire behind him. The location was downstream of the canal, and the plain three kilometers behind him was not a battlefield.
He forced himself to calm down and asked his subordinates, thinking it was an illusion:
"Where did the gunfire come from?"
Jonathan replied incoherently: "Captain, I don't... know..."
Twenty minutes later, a messenger from the headquarters brought an order from General Dalhou:
"Unidentified water fleet armed forces, suspected to be the Northern Army's navy, are moving up the river and are landing at our rear with strong firepower. The situation is unknown. I have personally led two brigades of the 9th Division to organize defenses. Before new orders arrive at dawn,
The armies must stick to their current positions and not retreat even a step!"