Chapter 391: The Journey to Hell of the Seventh Division Begins
At this time, Yi Jianping finally understood why Wang Guangyu didn't tell him about this matter. If he knew about it, it would be strange if he didn't resolutely oppose it to the end. As a political commissar of the Anti-Japanese Alliance, although he did not have the final say in military command, , but as the party committee secretary of the roundabout force and the top political worker, he still has the right to object.
And in order to see such unreliable things, once the commanders of the troops below know about it, I am afraid that ideological confusion is inevitable. But now that the battle has started, the development of the situation is really in that person's hands. In Hao's judgment, Yi Jianping could say nothing but shaking his head and smiling bitterly.
Yi Jianping is now increasingly unable to understand his former love rival, who is now the highest military commander in the army. Although his wife has given up since the birth of the child, Yi Jianping can see that his wife is not happy. Although she rarely mentioned it, she would occasionally talk about Yang Zhen in her eyes.
It's just that Yi Jianping can't connect the current No. 1 in the military region with the person in his wife's mouth. Are these two people with different personalities? Even his former lover and his current wife I can no longer understand No. 1 now.
Seeing the wry smile on Yi Jianping's face, Wang Guangyu touched his nose and turned his main attention back to the battlefield. This battle is crucial right now. As for the rest, we will explain it later. If you win, there is no need to explain. If you lose, there is no need to explain.
Compared with Wang Guangyu, who is still relatively relaxed at the moment, Lieutenant General Noboru Kunisaki, the commander of the 7th Division who launched the attack from the Aruhorqin Banner and was responsible for detouring the entire Linxi battlefield flank, is not at all relaxed. According to intelligence, the entire There are only two new enemy regiments in Aruhorqin Banner, and their equipment and combat effectiveness cannot be compared with the old troops in the Anti-Japanese Alliance.
The attached heavy equipment is also the weakest on the entire battlefield. Except for a few mountain cannons and infantry cannons, there is no heavy artillery at all. His seventh division only needs to concentrate its forces and attack towards the designated position to seize Baori Hongshao. It is enough to reach the Sharitala line on the same day, and use no less than one regiment of troops to recapture Lindong, and control Yangjiayingzi to the Yangchang line.
But since the counterattack started in full swing, Lieutenant General Noboru Kunisaki discovered that the so-called intelligence was nothing but bullshit. The two newly formed regiments were true, but they did not fight with you in real terms, but just used Aru. With favorable terrain and existing fortifications in Horqin Banner, we continued to fight back step by step.
They didn't even fight to the death with the 7th Division. They even gave up on the natural danger of the Siramulun River. They only dealt a certain amount of damage to the vanguard troops who forced the crossing and the engineers who built the pontoon bridges, and then turned around without any entanglement. Withdrawing westward, the 7th Division, which was originally preparing for a tough battle, was left hanging on the banks of the Siramulun River.
The Seventh Division used all its energy to launch a strong attack, but its fist hit the air. Under the cover of the division's artillery regiment behind it and the heavy artillery attached to the Kwantung Army at all costs, the three regiments attacked in three directions. The forced crossing, which went hand in hand, eventually turned into an armed march.
What was even more unacceptable to Lieutenant General Noboru Kunisaki was that the 7th Division, which did not receive a single artillery shell during the forced crossing, encountered intensive ground-to-air firepower after crossing the river. The three regiments of the regiment arrived at the Balaqirude, Shangqinghezi, and Zhagasnuor lines respectively. When they originally thought that the progress was going smoothly, the division artillery regiment and the attached heavy artillery that were crossing the river behind them were encountered by resistance. Allied air fire and ground heavy artillery fire strikes.
Not only were all seventeen crossing bridges built by the engineering regiment at great cost of casualties, but the artillery that was crossing the river also suffered heavy losses. A strengthened heavy artillery brigade with twelve Taisho four-year-old 150mm howitzers, Two Type 92 cannons were bombed and sunk at the bottom of the Siramulun River or destroyed at the assembly area after landing on the west bank.
The 7th Division's own artillery regiment consists of only two 75mm mountain artillery squadrons that followed the three infantry regiments across the river, most of the field artillery brigade, a Type 99 heavy mountain artillery squadron, and a 150mm heavy artillery squadron. A squadron, a whole artillery regiment of thirty-six mountain field guns, only less than twenty can safely cross the river.
As for the rest of the artillery, they were either reduced to ashes by incendiary bombs along with the traction horses and artillery, or they were blown up by the smoking shells at the assembly point after crossing the river. In other words, in just half an hour, Within a few days, the 7th Division lost more than half of its artillery fire support.
The artillerymen who were crossing the river, because the infantry did not encounter any heavy artillery or air fire strikes when crossing the river before, and some carelessly crossed the river, not only did they not make air defense preparations, but even the assembly point after crossing the river was chosen on a flat place. But they did not expect such a result. The Japanese artillery paid a heavy price for their carelessness.
And not only the artillery was lost, but also almost all the trucks of the baggage regiment. These trucks transported the 7th Division and almost all the artillery shell reserves. The baggage regiment was bombed, which means that the 7th Division was in Before being supplemented by the Kwantung Army, it could only rely on the artillery shells it carried for a long period of time, and of course the grain loaded on the 300 carts of the baggage regiment, as well as all medicines and other supplies.
What Lieutenant General Noboru Kunisaki didn't expect was that the end of the artillery was just the beginning of a nightmare. Since the main force of the division crossed the Big Tiger Head Gazi, although the resistance on the ground was still negligible, it fell on him and the 7th Division. The caliber of artillery shells is getting larger and larger, and the density is also getting larger and larger.
As for the anti-alliance aviation force in the air, it is your side who sings and I appear. Although the number of aircraft cannot be said to be overwhelming, the density of bomber dispatches is also seen by these Japanese troops. Although the Japanese army also attaches great importance to air fire cover, every time the ground attack There are usually only a dozen or so cover aircraft deployed in combat operations, but there have been dozens of aircraft like today.
The bombs dropped each time were the same. This batch was explosive bombs, and the next batch was incendiary bombs. We finally got through this wave of air attacks. Before the 7th Division on the ground could breathe a sigh of relief, the second wave came. The next air attack came again, with such density and intensity that everyone in the 7th Division thought that the Anti-Japanese Alliance was throwing all its aviation power at them.
After finally waiting until the sun set, the sky gradually darkened. Looking at the gradually darkening sky, the entire 7th Division finally breathed a sigh of relief. It was getting dark. At least the anti-Japanese planes would not come again. Although the ground artillery It won't be too affected by the darkness of night, but it finally reduces the pressure.
However, it was Lieutenant General Noboru Kunisaki and his subordinates who breathed a sigh of relief. The officers transferred from the 23rd Division and who had experienced that hellish journey did not dare to be careless at all. They know that the aviation force of the Anti-Japanese Alliance is not like the aviation force of the Kwantung Army, which rarely dispatches at night. Their bombers can bomb when they need to be bombed, no matter day or night.
Especially the special incendiary bombs they used. When one fell, the entire night sky was almost as bright as daytime. Within a few kilometers, there was almost no way to escape. At night, it could not be the protective umbrella of the 7th Division. Although the night was dark at the moment. It’s already strong, but it’s better to be more prepared.
However, when a senior staff officer who was transferred from the 23rd Division to the 7th Division before the war persuaded him, Lieutenant General Kunizaki Noboru did not pay attention. In his opinion, although the enemy's firepower was strong, at night, their However, the firepower could not be used because he did not believe that artillery and aviation could achieve the same accuracy during the day at night.
However, Noboru Kunizaki, who ignored the persuasion, took a breath of cold air when he received the first reports from the following regiments since crossing the river. At three o'clock in the afternoon, the entire division began to forcefully cross the Siramulun River. , by 19:00 it was completely dark, and all the anti-alliance aircraft retreated.
In just six hours, the Seventh Division only advanced less than ten kilometers. In other words, the entire Seventh Division had not yet embarked on one-fifth of the planned attack route, and in this short period of time Within a distance of 20 kilometers, not counting the casualties and losses of the artillery when crossing the river, the Seventh Division actually suffered casualties of more than a thousand troops in the air strikes and artillery bombardments. Not to mention almost all the baggage vehicles were also lost in the afternoon. Lost in air raid.
This price made Lieutenant General Noboru Kunizaki feel a deep fear. According to this casualty rate, how many people will be left in the 7th Division when the strategic requirements of the Kwantung Army Headquarters are met? This casualty ratio almost exceeds The casualties of the 7th Division in any battle on the Guan Civil War.
This number of casualties made Lieutenant General Kunizaki Noboru fearful, but he also knew that if he still wanted to fulfill the orders of Commander Umezu Yoshijiro and Commander Hisao Tani, he could only change his tactics. If he still marched according to today's marching method, he would If this number of casualties continues, I'm afraid that if we can't reach Lin Dong, there will be no one left in the 7th Division.
A powerful incendiary bomb thrown by the Anti-Japanese Alliance was enough to collectively cremate a squadron. Their artillery smoking behind the butt, a salvo was enough to cover the march of a regiment. After crossing the river, Kunizaki Den saw with his own eyes that an entire infantry brigade of the 28th Infantry Regiment, which was following the division headquarters, was bombed by more than a dozen new-type incendiary bombs from the enemy and lost its combat effectiveness.
An incendiary bomb landed in the marching column and directly cremated an infantry squadron of the 28th Regiment. Although these well-trained soldiers quickly fell down when they saw the enemy plane approaching, this routine to avoid air attacks Tactics are of no use when dealing with this new type of incendiary bomb.
As long as it gets a little spark, it becomes a nightmare that a person cannot get rid of. This kind of incendiary bomb is different from the white phosphorus or magnesium incendiary bombs used by the Japanese army. If a little spark is splashed on the body, it cannot be extinguished unless the fire is extinguished naturally. A few soldiers could only be burned to death, and there was no way to save them.
Under the intense attack of ground and air firepower, the current 7th Division can only disperse its troops as much as possible. Otherwise, if there are too many casualties on the march, even if it reaches the combat area designated by the army commander, the 7th Division will lose In terms of combat effectiveness, not only will it be unable to complete the tasks assigned by the Kwantung Army, but it will also be difficult to protect itself.
But in such mountainous and hilly areas, excessive dispersion of troops is tantamount to seeking death. Once the enemy makes a sneak attack at night, dispersing troops will cause huge casualties to the division, but when the troops are gathered together, a bomb can Or the number of casualties from falling shells is shocking.
After hesitating for a long time, Lieutenant General Kunizaki Noboru decided that the division would be organized into groups and operate separately. However, each group should move forward hand in hand. The distance between infantry groups in the same regiment should not exceed five kilometers to facilitate mutual coordination. Otherwise, according to the If this number of casualties continues to develop, it won't take long before his 7th Division will become nothing more than a skeleton.