The distance between Yugan and Nanchang is about 70 kilometers. The Xuejiu Brigade ran at a speed of about 35 yards. It only took two hours to appear in Maciu Town, which is only five or six kilometers away from Nanchang. At this time, the surrounding areas of Nanchang Almost all the towns and villages were destroyed by the war, and heavy snow covered many landmarks. Therefore, when the scouts who were leading the way appeared in front of the ruins of Macu Town, they had no idea where they were.
Maciu Town originally had more than 300 families and nearly 500 houses, but now it has become a ruin. There are only a dozen intact houses. The two scouts are lucky, because in these only ten remaining houses Among the remaining buildings, one of the bungalows actually still had lights on.
The light was turned on by a family named Xu. The men in this family were killed by a Japanese bomb during the day. Now only the orphans and widows are left.
At this time, the mother was about to go out to find something to eat in the dark. Suddenly, there was a rumble of engines from the east. She was startled, and just as she was about to run back, a light shone over her, and then a voice shouted: "Sister-in-law, don't be afraid, we are a student army."
The woman stopped when she heard the words. A two-wheeled motorcycle drove over and stopped beside her. In the dazzling light, two trainees got off one after another. One of them walked towards her and said to her: "Sister-in-law, we are trainees." The army is here to fight the Japanese. May I ask where you are and how far it is from Nanchang."
The woman knew about Xuebingjun, so she plucked up the courage to say: "This is Maciu Town, and Nanchang City is three kilometers away. Sir, can you give me some food? There is no food at home, baby." Crying from hunger."
The two trainees were shocked at first when they heard the words. After hearing the second half of the sentence, without saying anything, they each took out a piece of dry food and handed it over. One of them said: "Sister-in-law, you take this first, and wait until you finish this." Fight, our people will deliver food to you, sister-in-law, Nanchang County should go this way."
After taking the food, the woman burst into tears: "Thank you very much, yes, are you going to attack the Japanese there?"
"You've seen them."
"There are many cars going to the city. I have seen them from a distance."
"Sister-in-law, thank you. This information is very important to us."
The two scouts did not stop at all, and immediately returned the same way they came, and blocked the large force about two kilometers away from Maciu Town. Qian Guangming's eyes lit up when he received the report. Since it was a surprise attack, the sooner they discovered it. The better the enemy's troops are, originally, in order to ensure the effect of the surprise attack, a large number of reconnaissance troops would be sent out to determine the enemy's position, but now, they can be pushed over directly.
"Chen Shaobing."
"arrive."
"You will leave a regiment to garrison Macuo later, so that the brothers will be on alert and keep in touch at any time."
"yes."
"Others directly recommend Zhang Cheng to me."
"have."
"You are the first to go. Tell your brothers, don't be stingy with flares, they are very powerful. Remember, give priority to attacking enemy tanks."
"yes."
Qian Guangming gave the order, and the Ninth Learning Division immediately took two tank regiments as the vanguard and charged into Nanchang City with lightning speed.
At that time, the 11th Division and the 112th Division had just completed their rendezvous in the southern suburbs of Nanchang County. Yamamuro Sotake and Yamada Joji gathered together, first exchanged information, and then discussed the combat mission assigned by Okamura Neji. It was decided to divide the troops into four groups, with the section from Nanchang City to Dongxin being the main attack, and the other group going around Fushan to launch a sneak attack from there.
Yamamuro Munetake: "We use the three frontal routes to attract the attention of the Chinese and create opportunities for sneak attacks on the Toyama route. No matter how big the frontal casualties are, as long as the Toyama route can successfully penetrate and destroy the Chinese headquarters, then this The battle will be won, and if we can kill Ouyang Yun or capture him alive, then it will be worth all our efforts."
Yamada Joji agreed: "If we really want to kill Ouyang Yun, it would be cost-effective to fill in all of our East Route Army, even the West Route Army, but there is one thing. What to do with the Chinese artillery, Commander? Your Majesty asked us to be particularly vigilant about the Chinese artillery. We lack a sufficient number of heavy artillery, which is a problem."
"Then we can only rely on the cavalry. Mr. Yamashiro, how about we combine the cavalry and let them take a detour to Nanxinxiang to cross the river from there, and then wait for the Chinese artillery to be exposed before launching a surprise attack."
"This is a good idea, so let's do it."
"Xinxi, let's start."
Yamamuro Sotake and Yamada Joji merged the headquarters of the two divisions, and then issued orders in the name of the joint headquarters. They quickly assigned combat tasks. In just five minutes, the first was the cavalry unit of the two divisions. Gathered together, under the unified command of Captain Tanabe Isamu of the 11th Cavalry Regiment, they rode their horses towards Nanchang City. Then, Yamada Joji personally led the 113th Regiment towards Toyama Township. Yamada Joji led his troops just now. After leaving, Yamamuro Somu raised his command sword and said to the dozen or so junior officers surrounding him: "Gentlemen, let's set off too."
"Hai." All the officers were shouting in response. Suddenly, a flare went up from the northwest, and then there was a loud sound of gunfire. Everyone was stunned, and Yamamuro Munetake cursed: "Yamamuro, what are you doing, Sato?"
Sato was the captain of the 11th Tank Regiment of the 11th Division. Yamamuro thought that he had launched an attack without receiving orders, but he did not know that they were attacked by a cadet army.
The offensive of the Ninth Learning Division was sudden and violent. As the scout in front fired a flare to signal the attack, the 317th Heavy Tank Regiment, under the command of the regiment leader Yang Jianfeng, rushed forward with lightning speed. Satobe Behind them were about twenty Type 97 cavalry armored vehicles and a brigade of infantry. The Type 97 cavalry armored vehicle is currently one of the best armored vehicles of the Japanese army. The armor thickness of this type of armored vehicle has reached 12 mm, far exceeding that of its predecessors. 6 mm, and is equipped with a 37 mm combat anti-tank gun, which has considerable anti-tank capabilities and can be said to be both offensive and defensive. Sato arranged this type of tank behind the array, originally wanting to take advantage of its superior maneuverability in critical situations. The assault was completed at that time, but he did not expect that the Xuebing Army would come from behind. His arrangement only fulfilled the prestige of the "Mandrill" tank.
There is no suspense in the battle. The caliber of the "Mandrill" tank's tank gun has reached 108 mm. Once the gun is fired, let alone hitting the target, as long as it is close to it, the Japanese Type 97 cavalry armored vehicle will be blown over or the cover will be lifted. The battle lasted less than ten minutes, and eleven armored vehicles were defeated. Seeing that there was no way he could resist, the commander of the tank battalion had to issue a retreat order.
The rear column collapsed at the first touch, and the chariot troops and infantry in the middle column were no match for them. They could only follow and flee westward.
The troops behind were in chaos and collapsed. Even though Sato knew he was outmatched, he could only bite the bullet and command the tank troops to attack. The result was as expected. The latest model of the Type 99, which was repeatedly improved by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the most famous military industrial company in the empire, When faced with the "Mandrill" heavy tanks of the Xuebing Army, they were still as helpless as a baby facing an adult. With just one encounter, four Type 99s turned into a pile of scrap metal and two were paralyzed. There, while Sato shook his head frequently, he knew that if he continued to fight, the entire army would be destroyed, so he had no choice but to lead his troops to flee south along the east bank of the Gan River, giving up the entire city of Nanchang in one fell swoop.