gnovel Chapter 33 Motorized Infantry Regiment, Surprise Attack on Japanese Artillery Regiment Position
Chapter 33 Motorized Infantry Regiment, Surprise Attack on Japanese Artillery Regiment Position
The infantry division composed of five remnants stationed in Hangzhou Bay was simply unable to withstand the fierce attacks of Japanese naval artillery and three elite divisions.
That same evening, the Japanese 18th Division had already entered Tinglin Town and Songyin Town.
Meanwhile, after landing, the Japanese 6th Division launched a fierce attack on the Shanghai-Hangzhou Railway, attempting to cut off Shanghai's connection with the south.
Inside the Chairman's office, the phone rang urgently. After answering it, Chief He turned to look at the Chairman.
"Chairman, it was Cixiu who called."
When he answered the phone, he heard Chen Cheng's urgent voice coming from the other end.
"Chairman, retreat immediately to the Wu-Fu line and the Xi-Cheng line, and reorganize the defense there."
He was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, because Chen Cheng knew very well that once the encirclement was complete, countless people would die.
But the Chairman still harbored illusions about the Nine-Power Treaty, and said firmly:
"Hold on for three more days and wait for international mediation! This is not only a military consideration, but also a political one."
The Japanese troops have just landed in Hangzhou Bay and are bound to be unstable. You should find a way to launch another counterattack.
Chen Cheng's vision went black; he felt his blood pressure soar to its limit, but all he could say in the end was:
"Three days, just three days. After three days, we must retreat immediately!"
After saying that, he slammed the phone down.
Over the next three days, the Nationalist army, with only remnants remaining and severely lacking in weapons and ammunition, launched a counterattack that naturally ended in failure.
On November 7, the Japanese General Headquarters reorganized the Japanese troops in the Shanghai area into the Central China Expeditionary Army, and made it clear that after annihilating the Nationalist troops in Shanghai, it would attack Nanjing.
It was only at this point that the Chairman realized that a retreat was necessary.
However, at that time, the National Revolutionary Army was riddled with factions, its command system was quite chaotic, and its communication methods were extremely backward.
By the time the retreat order reached the front-line troops, it was already November 9th.
The intelligence provided by Li Jianghe only delayed the Japanese army's advance by 12 hours.
These are the 12 hours that the three Nationalist Army divisions that were subsequently transferred over risked their lives to achieve.
Li Jianghe knew it was his turn to take the stage.
In recent days, the main force of the Japanese army has been attacking the Suzhou River area from both sides, trying to wipe out the main force of the National Army, which is currently in a panicked retreat.
It wasn't until the afternoon of the 18th, when even the Japanese troops from the direction of Luodian had set off in pursuit, that Li Jianghe finally decided to break out.
The reason for breaking out at this time was that Li Jianghe wanted to use his superior mobility to attack the Japanese from behind.
Late that night, Li Jianghe gathered everyone together and gave the order to retreat.
Li Jianghe's initial plan was to use the summoned vehicles to enable the troops to achieve initial motorization.
At the same time, they gathered defeated soldiers along the way to expand the size of their forces and build up strength for the subsequent defense of Nanjing.
Li Jianghe opened the system page and began purchasing more vehicles for the troops.
It mainly consists of trucks, and also sidecar motorcycles.
[The host has purchased 30 Opel Lightning trucks, consuming 3000 merit points.]
This truck was a core transport vehicle for the German army during World War II, and was produced in huge quantities.
It has a load capacity of 3 tons, is equipped with a 3.6L inline-six gasoline engine with 75 horsepower, and has a top speed of 80 kilometers per hour. It is also highly reliable.
[The host purchased 40 BMW R75 motorcycles, consuming 1200 merit points.]
This motorcycle was also one of the motorcycles favored by the German army during World War II.
The sidecar can be fitted with a machine gun, or even a mortar, or a rocket launcher, or even a gun can be towed at the rear for infantrymen to travel on.
It is equipped with a 745cc twin-cylinder air-cooled engine and has a top speed of 95 kilometers per hour.
Li Jianghe allowed infantry and wounded soldiers to move around in Opel Lightning trucks.
The assault squads, on the other hand, rode sidecar motorcycles and mounted their MG42 machine guns directly on them, using them as mobile machine gun firing positions.
The troops would hide during the day and move at night, taking small paths whenever possible to avoid the main roads.
At this time, the main force of the Japanese army was advancing frantically, and apart from the transport teams, there were basically no other troops in the rear.
Riding in Opel Lightning trucks and a large number of motorcycles, they traveled along the somewhat muddy road.
It must be said that having trucks really made a difference; their marching speed was greatly improved, and by 3 a.m., they had traveled a hundred miles in the northwest direction.
As they marched towards Shajiabang, they heard the booming sound of cannons ahead.
Looking at the map again, Li Jianghe realized that they were approaching the Xinzhuang bunker complex, which was one of the many bunker complexes on the Wufu defense line.
If I remember correctly, the Ninth Division was the one pursuing the Nationalist army in this direction; they were old acquaintances.
Li Jianghe decided to send Long Wenzhang with men to scout ahead, especially to see if they could find the Japanese artillery positions and the location of their command post.
Generally speaking, Japanese artillery units and command posts were located behind the main force.
The infantry units were all deployed at the front.
Unfortunately, Li Jianghe's troops were positioned right behind the Japanese army, making it an ideal location to attack them from behind.
At 4:30 a.m., Long Wenzhang returned with his men, and their reconnaissance had indeed yielded results.
"Commander, we have discovered a Japanese artillery position. It is quite large, probably an artillery regiment, with at least three thousand men."
"To fight or not to fight?"
Wang Dayong leaned over and said.
This is a question that a reckless man like him would ask. After all, Li Jianghe only has a little over three hundred men at most. Going to fight a position with three thousand men is not much different from sending them to their deaths.
Yang Ruifu was about to say that they couldn't fight, but Li Jianghe said instead:
"Attack! The Japanese artillery positions are in the rear. We'll attack and then retreat, not giving the main Japanese force any time to react."
The core idea was to use thermite and cluster grenades to destroy Japanese artillery, thus rendering the artillery ineffective.
Yang Ruifu hesitated, thinking that launching a blitzkrieg and taking advantage of the motorcycle's mobility might actually be possible.
In addition, Li Jianghe also used his merit points to summon a field artillery squad.
A field artillery squad requires 500 merit points.
In order to ensure sufficient firepower in the early stages and to detonate the shells on the Japanese positions as much as possible, causing greater casualties to the Japanese positions through secondary explosions, he summoned 10 field artillery squads at once.
The field gun crew is equipped with one Krupp 75mm le.FK16 nA field gun.
With a maximum range of 12300 meters and a rate of fire of 9 rounds per minute, it was produced by Rheinmetall in 1930 and subsequently purchased in large quantities by China and Japan.
Even the 75mm field guns currently used by the Japanese artillery regiments are basically imitations and improvements of the Krupp series field guns.
The commander of the 9th Mountain Artillery Regiment of the Japanese Army was Hideaki Serikawa, who was also one of the direct participants in the subsequent massacre.
At this moment, he was observing the Xinzhuang bunker complex, which was shrouded in artillery fire, with a roaring barrage of artillery behind him.
The 9th Division was a pack animal division, equipped mainly with light artillery, which was convenient for mountain warfare.
The 9th Mountain Artillery Regiment was equipped with 36 75mm mountain guns, 12 75mm field guns, and more than 3,000 mules and horses for transporting supplies and towing artillery.
The enemy's resistance in the Xinzhuang direction has reached its final moment. Serikawa Hide has a premonition that these enemies will not see the sun rise today.
But just then, a low humming sound suddenly came from behind.
However, the sound was interspersed between the artillery firing and the shells exploding, so it wasn't very noticeable.
What is that sound?
Hideki Serikawa found it strange, wondering if it was the sound of motorcycles from other units moving around.
But at that moment, shells suddenly began to rain down.
"Boom!!!!!"
That was the 75mm field gun squad summoned by Li Jianghe, with 10 guns, roaring at the Japanese artillery regiment's position.
The sudden artillery bombardment from the rear caught the Japanese army off guard.
The moment the shell exploded, several boxes of shells stacked together were immediately detonated, and the secondary explosion began!
"Boom!!!!!"
The exploding shell then detonated other shells.
At the same time, there was another round of bombardment from Li Jianghe's artillery battalion.
More shells exploded in succession, one after another, spreading across the position almost instantly.