The Japanese counterattack started around seven o'clock in the morning. The first one to attack was the Nishimura detachment. The Nishimura detachment suddenly moved southward. After the commander Nishimura Lianchan left a reinforced brigade to monitor the Xuebingjun at the mouth of the river, all other troops moved toward The Guangxi Police Third Division attacked from the left. After the Nishimura detachment, the Ishikawa detachment also took action. They did not strengthen their offensive against Tanjiashan. Instead, like the Nishimura detachment, they left a certain number of troops to continue to oppress Tanjiashan, and then attacked Tanjiashan from the east. Bypassing Tanjiashan and attacking Fudaishi, eight kilometers east of Meilin Bridge, the Ishikawa detachment took action, and Miyamoto's headquarters finally launched their attack. The Japanese artillery, which had been silent since the beginning of the war, actually made a sound. Suddenly, the dull sound of artillery fire came from the far east of Xiangtan County near the Xiang River. He Zhengsheng heard it in his forearm, and the expression on his face changed slightly, and then he said to Li Qianyong: "The little devil can't keep his temper. "
"Wang Mazi has been looking for them for a long time. He thought that the Japanese army had no artillery on the south bank and was disappointed. Now I guess he must be giggling."
Wang Mazi's real name is Colonel Wang Zheng, and he is the brigade commander of the artillery brigade of the Third Division of the Guangxi Police. As Li Qianyong expected, when the sound of artillery fire came from behind the Japanese army's position, he first listened in confusion for a while, and then jumped three feet high. Gu Zuo shouted: "Hurry up, what are you waiting for? Seize the opportunity and kill the son of a bitch."
Although the self-propelled artillery technology of Xuebing Army started later than that of the West, it took a shortcut and used the chassis of the Jiguang tank. Now it is actually at the forefront of the world. Although the Japanese army has also begun to develop related technologies, But so far, no mature products have been launched. Therefore, in their competition with the Xuebing Army, the advantage of artillery not only ceased to exist, but also became their biggest weakness. In the artillery confrontation, the Japanese army suffered too much from the Xuebing Army. So much so that once the Japanese army learns that its opponent is a cadet army, it will hide its artillery in the snow, fearing that it will be exposed too early and be annihilated too early, resulting in no artillery support for the entire war.
The Sixth Division originally had an artillery regiment, and together with the artillery of other units, the total artillery in Kanda's hands actually had the size of five brigades. However, because he knew that both the range and mobility were far away, It is far inferior to the Xueying Army's self-propelled artillery. Kanda did not expect these artillery to play a role from the beginning. For the same reason, although Miyamoto was assigned an artillery brigade, Miyamoto did not expect the artillery to play any role. , and if it were not for the purpose of improving morale and the fact that the role of artillery was actually limited, Miyamoto would not have used it in this counterattack.
Even though he was ready to use it, Miyamoto still hoped to preserve this artillery force, so when he gave an order to the artillery brigade commander, Major Taniguchi, he ordered them to fire rapidly for three minutes, and then immediately move, twelve 75 mm caliber field guns, Rapid fire can fire about a hundred rounds of artillery shells in three minutes. When the army has strong defenses, its positive effect on the war is more than nothing. However, Miyamoto's original intention was to improve morale. , it seemed to be enough to attack the troops. However, what he did not expect was that the artillery troops of the Xuebing Army were ready, so even just three minutes was enough for the Xuebing Army. The artillery lookouts observed and found their artillery positions,
The artillery retaliation of the Xuebing Army came so quickly. When the first test-fired artillery shell exploded near the artillery position of the Taniguchi Brigade, the Japanese artillerymen had not had time to seal the shell boxes. The colleagues were enemies, and in the On the battlefield, this means that they are mortal enemies. What artillerymen fear most is the enemy's cannons. Major Taniguchi was originally expressionless and calm, but now he felt that the hairs all over his body stood on end. He was running around. Go, waving his hands and shouting: "Quick, quick, the Chinese have found us." He was anxious, and his Japanese soldiers were not anxious. Many of them even had their feet dangling, their eyes flickered, and they began to take random glances in private. Find a place to hide,
There was a sound of cannon firing from the south. Although there was only one sound, Miyamoto's expression still changed. He wailed in his heart: Eight grids, only three minutes. Is three minutes enough to fix the cannon? Then a question suddenly rang out in his face. It becomes difficult to see. Yes, our side has a strength advantage, but in the face of artillery and heavy artillery, this strength advantage is nothing. How did the 45th Regiment collapse in Hetang? Wasn't it because of the Xuebing Army? Is the artillery fire sharp? If you are on defense, there are air raid shelters and fortifications, so although casualties are inevitable, they will be much less after all. If you are charging, a heavy bomb will fall in the crowd, and the old Japanese dare not think about it anymore.
When the Nishimura detachment attacked the left wing of the 3rd Guizhou Police Division, He Zhengsheng made no special arrangements. However, when the Ishikawa detachment attacked in the direction of Fudaishi, he became nervous. Looking down from the air, Meilin Qiao, Tanjiashan and Fudaishi are connected to form a triangle. The military deployment of the Xuebing Army in these three places is that there is one regiment in Tanjiashan, two regiments in Fudaishi, and in Meilin Between the bridge and Tanjiashan is the artillery brigade of the Third Guangxi Police Division. The reason why He Zhengjiang felt nervous was not because he was worried about the safety of the artillery brigade. If the Ishikawa detachment's attack on Fudaishi was fake and instead attacked the artillery position by surprise, The artillery brigade can completely withdraw to Meilin Bridge with a high degree of mobility. The problem is that in that case, Tan Jiashan's regiment will be in danger. This is not the most important thing. After all, he was ready to abandon Tan Jiashan's regiment before the war. What he was worried about was that Miyamoto would find the opportunity and focus on attacking Fudaishi. If the Japanese army captured Fudaishi, they would actually have the opportunity to outflank the Xuebing Army on the east bank of the Xiangjiang River from the rear. He Zhengsheng considered attacking Liling , Shangli and Pingxiang are still in the hands of the Japanese army, and if the Japanese army in these three places mobilizes to support Xiangtan, then Liu Zheliang and the others will be in too much danger.
"It seems that the battle must be fought quickly, otherwise not only will the cooked duck of the Sixth Division fly away, but it may also steal the chicken but lose the rice." He Zhengjiang thought in his heart, and his eyes turned to the sand table. sharpen up,
"Order Ma Qiang's Department to abandon Tanjiashan and instead escort the artillery brigade; order the Eighth Guangxi Police Brigade to dispatch the 22nd and 23rd Regiments. Their mission is to cooperate with the Second and First Guard Regiments of Fu Dashi to annihilate the Ishikawa Detachment. "Order..." He Zhengsheng passed on a series of orders, and the originally lazy student army on the Meilin Bridge battlefield immediately told them to start moving. The 22nd Regiment of the Guangxi Police 8th Brigade was a pure mandrill heavy tank regiment. The 23rd Regiment The regiment is a motorized infantry regiment. They detoured to the location of the artillery brigade and drove towards Fudaishi from there. When the two regiments of the Eighth Brigade of Guangxi Police began to reinforce Fudaishi, at Meilin Bridge, the Japanese counterattack began. The Japanese army and the North Koreans Each brigade of the Communist Army launched an attack on the forward positions of the Xuebing Army under the cover of a squadron of medium tanks.