Chapter 123 Jiujiang Offensive and Defensive Battle (Twelve)

Fan Town is a small town built along the mountain. After the 16th Japanese Regiment led by Colonel Xiu San occupied Fan Town, it established a stronghold on the commanding heights outside the town, controlling the radius of more than ten miles around the town. Guan Linzheng's army surrounded Fan Town according to the orders of the theater.

The Japanese fortifications on the periphery were built quite strongly and the firepower was properly configured. Although Guan Linzheng's army was an elite central army and the number of cannons was higher than that of other ** troops, they were repelled several attacks. Fortunately, the orders in the war zone were not to force him to attack the Japanese army, as long as they were held back. Therefore, Guan Linzheng's fight and stop attacking the Japanese army without slacking off, which made the Japanese army dare not relax.

Yue Hanping captured Ma'anshan, knocked on the defense line of the Japanese army in Ruichang, controlled the main road to reinforce Jiujiang, but did not reinforce Jiujiang, but went straight to Fanzhen. Yue Hanping understood that according to the defense strategy of the Military Commission, Jiujiang would be lost sooner or later. Instead of spending its main force in Jiujiang, it would be better to annihilate the Japanese army's vitality. After controlling Ma'anshan, you can reinforce Jiujiang at any time.

On the night of September 3, the second division of the reserve who was marching urgently arrived at Fan Town. Guan Linzheng was overjoyed. With Yue Hanping, the general who was fighting, it was just around the corner to annihilate Fan Town's enemy. General Guan welcomed the barracks and patted Yue Hanping's shoulder happily, "Brother, it's great that you are here! The Japanese are so arrogant. You dare to cut directly into my heavy army gathering place. You just regarded me as a must. I had wanted to teach them a lesson!" Yue Hanping also happily held Guan Linzheng's hand, "After farewell in Xuzhou, it is a great honor to be able to kill the enemy side by side with the general today."

The two generals walked directly to Guan Linzheng's command center, and Guan Linzheng couldn't wait to introduce the enemy situation to Yue Hanping. The red arrow representing ** on the map surrounded Fan Town, and the blue arrow representing the Japanese army formed a circular position based on the strongholds outside Fan Town, which withstanded the ** attack. Yue Hanping asked: "How many Japanese troops are there? I think there is at most one regiment." Guan Linzheng nodded, "Yes, there is only one regiment, I have two regiments, plus your strength, which is equivalent to three regiments. There should be no problem in packing a Japanese regiment."

Yue Hanping did not express his opinion directly, and asked again: "How is the Japanese garrison?" Guan Linzheng sighed, "To be honest, the Japanese garrison fortifications are indeed scientific and reasonable, and they try to be close to the original terrain and landform. The color is very good, and the bunker is almost impossible to see where the bunker is located. The firepower points are hidden and the shooting range is wide, which will cause great damage to us." Yue Hanping of course knows these. The construction level of Japanese fortifications has a status in the world. In the Pacific War, the US military was very troubled by the Japanese fortifications in the battle for islands.

There is another layer, which Yue Hanping is inconvenient to say clearly, that is, Guan Linzheng did not do his best, because his mission was just to delay the Japanese army. However, Guan Linzheng was also a general who was willing to compete with the Japanese army. If Guan Linzheng knew about his arrival, Guan Linzheng would not be so happy. If he had the chance, Guan Linzheng would still want to fight the Japanese army well.

The next morning, Yue Hanping and Guan Linzheng watched the terrain together to understand the Japanese army's defense situation. In the telescope, behind the town was the remnants of the continuous Lushan Mountains. The mountains were tall and the trees were lush. The green trees swayed with green branches. The mountain wind blew, and the forest waves were waves. The Japanese fortifications were as consistent as possible with the surrounding environment, and it was difficult to find them. Yue Hanping could feel that the Japanese firepower points were hidden everywhere on this quiet mountain. If the outer strongholds were not captured, it would be difficult to truly annihilate the Japanese defenders.

Yue Hanping thought quietly, calculating the comparison of firepower between the two sides. There were only a few commanding heights in front of the town. Guan Linzheng's subordinates had already captured half of the strongholds. Guan Linzheng was also troubled by the hills behind the town. The attack was too fierce. If the Japanese army retreated to the hills, it would be quite troublesome to clear them.

Xiang Wenbin suggested at this time, "Teacher Commander, Yupingling is the main road behind Fan Town to enter the mountain. If you occupy this place, you can cut off the retreat of Fan Town's Japanese army and block the Japanese army from the hills' return to the town. Our army is willing to serve as the main attacker and attack Yupingling at night." Yue Hanping looked at the map carefully, then raised his telescope to look in the direction of Yupingling. Yupingling is like a lying jade bottle, connecting the town and the hill behind. But Yupingling is a stone ridge. There are no tall trees on the ridge, only low shrubs, and it is not suitable to be a blocking position.

Yue Hanping shook his head, "This terrain is not suitable for blocking. The bare stone ridge, the Japanese army bombarded the stones and the splashed stones were all shrapnel." Xiang Wenbin nodded, "I know, the division commander, the soldiers are inconsistent. If we think it is inappropriate, the Japanese army will also think it is inappropriate, so the defense must be weak. Attacking Yuping Ridge, we are defense in the offensive, and the pressure is relatively small. As long as we block this entrance and exit, the Japanese army in the town will not be able to retreat. If the Japanese army in the town is annihilated, I guess the 9th Division will order the Japanese army to retreat in order to preserve its strength."

Weng Zhaoyuan also agreed with this plan. Yue Hanping's eyes swept over Pang Hanjian, and Brigade Commander Pang nodded and expressed his approval. Yue Hanping saw that the three brigade commanders agreed with this opinion, so he ordered to attack Yupingling from Wenbin's Luoqi Regiment, and the rest of the troops attacked on the south side of the town. Guan Linzheng's army was responsible for the attack on the east and west side.

Guan Linzheng was also a very arrogant person. In his attack area, the commanding heights of the Japanese army had not yet been taken down. All the commanding heights controlled were moved to Yue Hanping's army. Yue Hanping knew his character well and did not refuse. He took over the defense of those strongholds and prepared for the attack. That night, Weng Zhaoyuan's brigade dug a tunnel outside the town and slowly advanced to a distance of 50 meters from the town. He set up a killer weapon of the Second Division - a conscientious cannon, and prepared enough "cannon shells". Establish an artillery position on the 107th Highlands, and the muzzle of Wudongdong pointed at Fan Town. The artillery measured the ruler, prepared enough artillery shells, and prepared for attack.

At 8 o'clock that night, the fire of artillery outside Fanzhen was shocked, and the artillery of Guan Linzheng's army and the second preparation division fired at their targets. The flames at the muzzle reflected the red of the night sky, and the shells flew across the sky like meteors, flying towards the Japanese position of Fanzhen in beautiful arcs. Guan Linzheng took out the most elite momentum at this time. With the support of fierce artillery fire, the vanguard swept across the outer stronghold in one breath.

However, Yue Hanping's position in front of him was because the Japanese army had lost its peripheral strongholds, so the Japanese army learned the ** defensive war in this direction, cut the frontier positions into steep walls, and buried mines. Weng Zhaoyuan attacked several times, and was repelled by the Japanese army. Two hours later, Guan Linzheng called and said excitedly: "Secretary Yue, I have captured the Japanese army's peripheral fortifications. How are you?" Yue Hanping said truthfully, "General Guan, my Japanese army is very strict in defense. I have learned our defense experience and the position is not easy to attack. Be careful, don't suffer any losses!"

Guan Linzheng likes this young general very much. He does not hide his own personalities, does not greedy for merit. Whether he wins a battle or does not have a smooth attack, he always tells his experience to the truth. Such generals fight together, it is much easier. Guan Linzheng advises him: "Brother, don't be discouraged, work harder! I will be careful, thank you!"

Weng Zhaoyuan was repelled by the Japanese army several times, but his mind calmed down. If the strong attack was not enough, let's go around. He ordered the regiment commander Wang Shenyuan to select a group of suicide squads, detour from the flank of the steep wall, and feint the attack from the front to cooperate with their attack.

Soon, 70 suicide squadrons were selected, led by the eighth company commander Ye Zichao. They carried more than a dozen long bamboo poles, with submachine guns on their backs, grenades wrapped around their waists, and some with a few grenades. The frontal feint attack began, and the artillery troops of the Second Division were prepared to gather fire and shoot at a concentrated bombardment. The Japanese frontier positions were blown to pieces and dust. The light and heavy machine guns on the attacking positions of the Second Division were fired with a "tick" sound.
Chapter completed!