Chapter 56 Fight again, the Fifth Division of the Steel Army
The conditions Commander-in-Chief Kuropatkin gave Song Biao must be very gorgeous. For Song Biao, this is simply the best choice. If he can hit Tonghua City and preserve the transportation capacity of the Tonghua Line, he will The journey of selling grain from Hunjiang to Shenyang can be shortened to about ten days.
In the few days after the meeting with Commander-in-Chief Kuropatkin, Song Biao stayed in Shenyang and discussed with Brigadier General Mardenidov all aspects of the conditions for the establishment of the Manchuria Infantry Division. As the saying goes, extreme joy brings sorrow. He thought everything was going well, but what happened? It is expected that there will always be unexpected events in this world.
Just as he initially expected, the Japanese army suddenly stepped up its attack on the Russian Third Army. Although both sides suffered heavy casualties, the commander of the Third Army, General Bill Dellinger, quickly exerted the power of Commander Stassel of Lushun. With their low level and cowardly IQ, they desperately retreated their troops, causing the Japanese army to successfully complete the counter-encirclement of the Russian Second Army that even they could not have imagined.
Commander-in-Chief Kuropatkin had been happy for just a few days, but he encountered another head-on blow. He had no choice but to give up the encirclement and annihilation campaign against the Japanese Third Division and let Korbas's Second Army subsequently withdraw to Shendanbao. area, abandoned the Suma Fort position, and Song Biao's Manchurian Infantry Regiment suddenly became a frontline force.
Fortunately, Song Biao was working in the Far East Army Staff Headquarters and was well-informed, so he returned to the Yujiayao position immediately.
On February 7, 1905, Song Biao returned to Yujiayao. As General Mishuchenko retreated all his troops to Heigoutai and Shendanbao, Yujiayao that Song Biao was holding was located between the two positions. , once it is broken through by the Japanese army, the Japanese Second Army may encircle and annihilate the Russian army in Heigoutai.
For this reason, Song Biao directly advanced his position to Jiangjiayao. Fortunately, he had foreseen it and sent Hu Dalin and Zhao Tingzhu to station at Jiangjiayao in advance, building strong and complex defenses in advance.
With the full pressure of the Japanese Army's Second Army, he was very fortunate to face the Japanese Army General Okubao Gun again directly after fighting against Tachimi Naofumi and Akiyama Yoshiko, facing the so-called "Steel Army" of the Second Army. Fifth Division.
This division has two main infantry brigades, each with two infantry regiments. The division headquarters directly administers one field artillery, cavalry, engineer, and baggage transport regiment. The equivalent of four brigades of troops is densely deployed throughout Sumai. The area surrounding the fort.
General Mishuchenko's troops did not have time to retreat completely, and the main force was trapped in Heigoutai. Once the Japanese army captured Jiangjiayao, these main Russian troops were basically waiting to be surrounded and annihilated.
In the evening, Song Biao arrived at the front line again in a hurry. At this time, he only had the last two days before being specially awarded the title of Colonel of the Manchurian Infantry. If the front line had not changed drastically, he should have stayed in Shenyang City. Commander-in-Chief Kuropatkin originally planned to personally hold a celebration banquet for him to commend him for his miraculous achievements in defeating more than 20,000 Japanese troops before and after the battlefield.
Standing on the sentry tower at Jiangjiayao's forward position, Song Biao used a telescope to observe the movements of the Japanese army from a distance. The Japanese army separated the two infantry brigades, with the 9th brigade occupying Sumabao and the 21st brigade. The forward position arranged on the northeast side of Suma Fort was less than 1,200 meters away from Song Biao's Jiangjiayao position, and was located just in front and behind the large ditch between Suma Fort and Jiangjiayao.
Two elite Japanese infantry regiments aimed their bayonets and guns at him, and Song Biao was in a panic.
The Japanese army's position was not peaceful either. The Fifth Engineer Regiment under the Fifth Division was frantically building fortifications, and they were climbing directly forward in steps, advancing layer by layer, setting up multiple
At the fortress point, the communication trenches are straight, wide and deep, running through multiple lines of defense.
This type of fortification feature was basically abandoned after World War II, but it was still very crazy at this stage and the advancement speed was extremely fast. The Japanese army used a large number of this extremely aggressive offensive fortification throughout the Russo-Japanese War.
to open up the defense line forward.
What Song Biao was more worried about was the rush-made mortars made by the Japanese army, and it seemed that one or two could be found vaguely on the battlefield. This kind of rush-made mortars were produced under the supervision of the Japanese engineer Lieutenant Colonel Imazawa Yoshio.
A wooden mortar, wrapped with circles of bamboo hoops and thick hemp rope, with a caliber of 12 mm.
Although it is a very failed mortar and is extremely dangerous for personal use, it can still be of troublesome value on the battlefield.
Song Biao also had six of these rags in his hands, but he was a little afraid to use them. Now he had no choice but to bite the bullet and use them.
Standing on the two-story earthen sentry tower, Song Biao silently thought about the solution to this battle. This time, he did not deliberately let his brothers wear Russian uniforms, nor did he deliberately wear them.
Brothers can wear the large sheepskin jackets worn by bandits very casually and messily, or even wear the dark blue uniforms of the Japanese army.
His messy layout actually makes his opponents take it lightly.
Facing the Japanese army's pressing situation, the tense atmosphere spread to the entire Manchurian Infantry Regiment. Let alone a regular infantry regiment that would feel nervous facing the strength of a brigade. After all, they are an infantry regiment made up of 708. Why?
Can it compete with the main force of the Japanese army?
Zhao Tingzhu hurriedly walked up to the earth building and reported to Song Biaohui, who was observing the movements of the Japanese troops: "The boss, Brigadier General Madnidorf, has arrived at the regiment headquarters."
"oh?"
Song Biao was a little surprised, so he turned back and went downstairs. As soon as he reached the door of the earth building, he saw Brigadier General Madnidorf riding directly there. There were dozens of people in his entourage. He saw Song Biao, Madnidorf
The brigadier general jumped off his horse and said to Song Biao: "Unexpectedly, you have already moved your position forward. I came here urgently this time under the order of the commander-in-chief, asking you to move your position forward to Jiangjiayao, and do so resolutely at all costs."
Hold this position, and for this reason, the Far Eastern Army Headquarters can meet all your requirements."
Song Biao nodded. He estimated that Commander-in-Chief Kuropatkin should be aware of the importance of the Jiangjiayao position by now. He invited Brigadier General Madnidoff into the earth building and immediately asked someone to pour tea and water.
When Brigadier General Madnidoff sat down, Song Biao spread out the battle map, drew a circle on the position with a pencil, and said: "I have made arrangements before to build a 1.5-kilometer line in Jiangjiayao.
A long defense line, with two layers of trenches at the front and rear, both equipped with bulletproof pits, and two communication trenches dug all the way to the willow mouth, which are connected with Shendan Fort. Together with the fortifications on the east side of Yujiayao and Heigoutai, there are three lines
If we are connected and help each other to defend ourselves, as long as our fighting will is strong enough, the Japanese army will need at least three times our troops and firepower to seize the position. Therefore, my request is very simple, that is, we must provide sufficient troops and artillery fire.
Support, if there are not enough troops, no matter how well our fortifications are built, it is absolutely unrealistic to expect me, a bandit armed force, to defend the frontal position. By then, when I am disabled, the Russian army in Heigoutai will
I can only sit back and wait for death."
Brigadier General Mardenidoff nodded silently and said to Song Biao: "Since you have been prepared, it is really much better. The defense line here is very important to our army. The commander-in-chief asked me to sit here personally and I must do everything possible.
We can hold this place until our army prepares reinforcements. Before coming to your headquarters, I have discussed with General Korbas and prepared to transfer the 2nd Infantry Regiment of Sksk and allocate part of the reserves of the Second Army.
The company will be merged into your third infantry battalion, and a regiment will be temporarily added. Two regiments will be stationed here. With your strength, we will definitely be superior to our opponents in terms of strength. If the Japanese army further increases its troops, we will still have a
The infantry division-sized reserve team is exclusively for this line of defense. On the other hand, if you can find a way to recruit some local people, that would also be very good."
Song Biao thought for a moment and said: "Now is the real war. It is too late to recruit temporary reinforcements, and it has no practical significance. Send as many artillery units as possible. Without the assistance and suppression of the artillery units, the fortifications will not be able to survive.
Even if it’s good, I can’t hold it any longer.”
Brigadier General Madnidorf continued to nod and asked: "What about the others?"
Song Biao said: "I have a lot of machine guns in my hand. Now I just need bullets. I need ammunition for the Hotchkiss heavy machine gun. I also need more Maxim machine gun belts and Nagant bullets. The more the better, at least.
Guaranteeing a reserve of six million rounds of machine gun ammunition, other than that, I have no other way to defend this place."
Brigadier General Madnidorf said: "There must be bullets. We are going to Fushun to mobilize the inventory of the left wing First Army, but this way requires a lot of transportation troops. You have to find a way to solve the transportation problem yourself. If you count on the headquarters
Let’s help you solve the problem with the Second Army. Based on my understanding and experience, it will take half a month anyway. When they send the ammunition, we may not be able to explain it to Commander-in-Chief Kuropatkin.”
Song Biao was very confident and said: "These are all small problems."
He couldn't guarantee anything else that the transportation team would definitely not be a problem. After saying this to Brigadier General Mardenidoff, he immediately called Xue Changqing over and followed Major Turgenier to Fushun to transport supplies. No matter how much horsepower he had,
Pull it over, as much as you can. If you can't use it yourself, you can still help the surrounding friendly forces solve the problem. If the friendly forces retreat in panic, they will die more tragically.
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