In modern thermal weapon warfare, the defensive role of city walls is minimal, and even the strongest city walls can easily be destroyed by concentrated heavy artillery fire.
But this does not mean that it is necessarily beneficial to the siege party. Modern siege warfare is still so bloody and cruel. Moreover, the city wall is not useless. Sometimes it can still be helpful for defense and can cause a series of troubles for the attacker.
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Bac Giang County has been a transportation hub and military town in northern Vietnam since ancient times. Its city walls are different from the low rammed earth walls like Hon Ki County, but are brick-clad city walls that are seven meters thick and five meters thick. This type of city wall is not a light weapon.
And some small-caliber artillery can destroy it.
Even if the Hainan Army had heavy artillery, it would still be impossible to completely flatten the four-kilometer-long city wall and only blast a gap in the city wall so that soldiers could better break into the city wall.
The walls of Beijiang City also caused some trouble for the Hainan Army in the early stage. Without the use of air force bombing and heavy artillery fire, the Hainan Army could not attack Beijiang City at all.
However, after the Hainan Army's heavy artillery brigade arrived, the situation was reversed. The walls of Beijiang City could no longer provide protection for the French troops in the city.
In order to deal with the Hainan Army's heavy artillery brigade, the French army mobilized dozens of fighter planes from southern Vietnam. However, after being pursued and intercepted by a large number of Hainan Army Air Force fighter planes, they suffered heavy losses and had to retreat to the southern region.
In this way, the air supremacy in northern Vietnam fell into the hands of the Hainan Army, but it was still difficult for the Hainan Army to conquer Beijiang County.
There are still more than 20,000 remaining French troops in the city. They cannot sit still and wait for the Hainan Army to encircle and suppress them. Therefore, if the Hainan Army attacks the city, the first thing they will face is brutal street fighting.
Street fighting is the most brutal form of fighting since ancient times, requiring soldiers from both sides to repeatedly fight for houses and streets. In the previous Moscow Defense War, street fighting was used to defeat the well-equipped German army.
The last thing Li Weidong wants now is for the Hainan Army to participate in street fighting. The main purpose of sending troops to Vietnam has almost been achieved. People are not satisfied with the situation, and now is not the time to completely annex Vietnam.
The Vietnamese market has been opened, the Nanyang Trading Company is on the right track, and the army has occupied the mineral-rich areas in northern Vietnam. There is no need to sacrifice the good and the weak and waste strength with the French army.
But if Beijiang City is not captured, the French army will march northward to Huanglong at any time to regain the lost territory. Li Weidong will not be able to sleep peacefully in this way.
Li Weidong is currently struggling with this matter, which makes Li Weidong deeply aware of the shortcomings of the lack of senior advisers around him.
Li Weidong's hesitation also led to a strange scene for the Hainan Army under Jiangbei City. Jiang Tao also did not agree with the French army fighting in the street with the trapped beasts, so he simply transferred the heavy artillery brigade to the forward position and bombarded Beijiang City day and night.
Under the Beijiang County, the war was still raging. The artillery shells smashed the Beijiang County wall into a sieve, leaving gaps everywhere. At the beginning, the situation was critical, and the French army also organized troops to repair the city wall.
But in the end, there were more and more gaps in the city wall, and the French army immediately abandoned the city wall and withdrew into the city, intending to hold on, as if they were ready to fight to the death with the Hainan Army in the streets.
In Beijiang City, in the trench of a French infantry squad, several French soldiers covered their ears and endured the sound of artillery fire. One of the more irritable soldiers complained: "Fuck! I've had enough! If this continues, even if the enemy doesn't attack me,
Die, I’ll go crazy first!”
The bloodshot eyeballs and clear dark circles showed that they had not had a peaceful sleep for several days.
Although the irritable French soldier kept complaining, he still had no intention of going out to cause trouble with the Hainan Army. If he went out now, he would definitely be blown to ashes by artillery shells.
The shelling continued day and night for two consecutive days and was devastated by the Hainan Army's artillery for two days and two nights. The Hainan Army outside the city did not attack, and the shelling prevented people from sleeping peacefully. The spirits of the French soldiers hiding in the trenches were about to collapse.
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Hainan Army Headquarters.
Li Weidong is discussing the army's next battle plan with Chief of Staff Ge Changming. The trouble in Beijiang City has always been a thorn in the Hainan Army's throat. It must be completely removed before Li Weidong can truly feel at ease.
However, there were changes in the Japanese army in the northern war situation, which forced Li Weidong to end the North Vietnam War in advance. If the fight continued, the Hainan Army was likely to fall into the quagmire of war and be unable to escape and go north to fight against Japan.
Therefore, the Hainan Army Headquarters needs to revise the combat plan and shift its attention to the north.
Ge Changming pointed to the Beijiang County area on the map and said: "General! Beijiang County is located on the transportation thoroughfare in northern Vietnam, and its geographical location is very important to us.
Once we occupy this place, we can form a defensive line starting from Taiyuan County in the west, passing through Beijiang County, Maoxi County, and ending at Hongji County in the east.
In this way, the purpose of drawing a river and governing it can be achieved without spending huge manpower and material resources to occupy and rule southern Vietnam.
Moreover, Beijiang County, as a bridgehead, can advance, attack, retreat or defend, which will play an important role in our future march south to Vietnam."
Looking at the line drawn by Ge Changming's finger on the map, Li Weidong's eyes immediately lit up. This was a very good idea, and it effectively solved the shortcoming of the Hainan Army's insufficient strength.
In the past, Li Weidong took things for granted and ignored the true military strength of the Hainan Army. As the saying goes, it is easy to conquer a country but difficult to defend it. He can definitely defeat the Vietnamese and French troops, but to fully occupy the entire Vietnam, the Hainan Army is still powerful.
Don't be lazy.
"Beijiang City!!" Li Weidong tapped his fingers rhythmically on the table. This was a habitual action when he was deep in thought.
The most important part of this defense plan is Beijiang County. If the Hainan Army does not occupy Beijiang County, this plan will be just empty talk, like the moon in the mirror.
However, if he ordered a strong attack on Beijiang County, the Hainan Army would have to suffer huge casualties, which Li Weidong did not want to see. Since the establishment of the Hainan Army, he has always cherished every Hainan Army soldier and could not bear the casualties of his soldiers.
While Li Weidong was thinking, Ge Changming stood quietly. He knew that Beijiang County was an important place that the Hainan Army must occupy, and ordering a strong attack on Beijiang County required the approval of the Hainan Army's top leader, Li Weidong.
Seeing that Li Weidong was reluctant to give the order, Ge Changming had to bite the bullet and said: "General! If Ci is not in charge of the army, without Beijiang County, we will pay greater casualties in the future!"
Li Weidong put away his kindness and returned to the iron-blooded and ruthless general commander before, saying: "I ordered Jiang Tao to attack Beijiang City immediately and must capture Beijiang within three days. I also sent an order to "Zero" to pay more attention to the movements in the north and monitor closely.
Inside Hainan Island, anyone found to have surrendered to the enemy and treason will be killed without mercy!"
[End of this chapter]
Taiyuan County. Note: It is not Taiyuan in Shanxi Province. There is also a region called Taiyuan in Vietnam."
————This is an anti-Japanese novel. It’s not a problem for pig’s feet to keep fighting in Vietnam. Xiao Yi plans to end the North Vietnam War as soon as possible, and then lead the troops in the Northern Expedition to fight against the Japanese! Please stay tuned! ————