Perhaps Ouyang Yun himself did not realize it, but as a bystander, Li Hanhun saw this clearly. Indeed, Ouyang Yun was too concerned about battle losses. Ordinarily, the artillery of the Xuebing Army, especially as many as one brigade The self-propelled artillery is a powerful weapon that can be relied on. If used properly, it can definitely play a decisive role in the world. Unfortunately, Ouyang Yuntaibao is ahead of the artillery units of the same era, so in the battle of Zhenjiang that day, When the military fighter planes were raging, they did not dare to take them out immediately. In fact, if the artillery of the Xuebing Army carried out suppressive bombardment on the Tiangu detachment from the beginning, the outcome of the battle would definitely be rewritten.
What I have to admit is that Ouyang Yun has very fatal flaws in terms of some of the qualities of a qualified soldier. The so-called kindness cannot control the army. In this aspect, he is much worse than Li Hanhun.
Li Hanhun was better at seizing the opportunity than Ouyang Yun in battle, especially in coordinating the mobilization of large forces. He put away the remaining enemies of the Tiangu detachment. On the one hand, the Japanese fighter planes had complete control of the air. On the other hand, he We know that the biggest enemy the Fifth Division will face is not the Tiangu detachment. The real enemies of the Fifth Division are Kunizaki and the 18th Division.
The battle around Li Ling was not too intense before the 60th Division arrived. After the Tiangu detachment successfully broke through, it stopped running and began to rest behind the main force of the Kunozaki detachment.
After nearly ten hours of continuous fighting and marching, these Japanese soldiers were exhausted. Many of them immediately collapsed to the ground as soon as they were ordered to rest, like a puddle of mud.
The offensive and defensive sides have temporarily changed. Now the Japanese attack, while the defenders become the Fifth School Division.
Li Ling is the only highland around Li Ling. After the Fifth Division built strong fortifications with two regiments here, it has now become the primary target of attack by the Japanese army. Wave after wave of Japanese troops attack with shining bayonets. In order to attack, the two sides launched repeated tug-of-war on the slopes southeast of Liling. After the 60th Division arrived, the two and a half hours of fighting left about a thousand corpses on their positions. , and in other directions, the Fifth Division and the Kunisaki Detachment were also mobilizing their respective troops, gradually forming a contact area of about ten kilometers with Li Ling as the center.
When Ouyang Yun saw Li Hanhun, the latter was holding a book and reading it, as if he was not on the battlefield but in the back garden of his home. This made Ouyang Yun feel quite ashamed and said to himself: Take a look. , this is the demeanor of a general, how does it look like myself...
"Commander." When Li Hanhun saw him, he immediately dropped his book, stood up and performed a military salute.
"Commander Li, what is the current situation of the war? I have brought the 60th Division to support you."
"As for the enemy, the Tiangu detachment and the Kunizaki detachment have joined forces and are storming the Liling Highlands occupied by our army. The 18th Division is still about two hours away from us. According to the intelligence sent back by the Langya reconnaissance team, the 18th Division The division troops were divided into two groups, one heading directly here, and the other heading southwest along Huangzhen and Zhangjiawei. If I had predicted correctly, I thought Guodaigou would cut off our retreat. Three brigades of the Fifth Division , the 14th Brigade is guarding Li Ling, and there is still a regiment in reserve. The 13th and 15th brigades also have direct artillery regiments, tank regiments, and engineer battalions. Except for the two regiments holding on to the fortifications around Li Ling, the others The troops are all here. Commander, my original idea was to launch an all-out attack immediately after dark, trying to inflict heavy damage on the Japanese army at once, and then march towards Guodaigou, trying to ambush the 18th Division there. Now since 60 The division has also arrived. It seems a bit conservative to implement this combat plan with the strength of two divisions. Commander, please give the order now."
Ouyang Yun glanced at everyone and said: "I think it is still necessary to implement the combat plan you just mentioned, but the time can be advanced a little earlier. The second wave of Japanese fighter planes has just flown away. The current situation is not favorable to our army. Advantageously, the Japanese army must already know about the arrival of reinforcements from the 60th Division. Next, the Kunisaki and Amaya detachments will definitely shrink the defense line appropriately. Of course, they may also focus on a place and attack fiercely to firmly hold our army back. , the 18th Division should be speeding up its march at this time. They may arrive on the battlefield earlier. You have not used tank troops and artillery units before. Very good. Now it is their turn to perform. The Japanese army does not pay much attention to fortifications. Construction, this is an opportunity for us." While he was talking, Liu Zheliang had already taken out the battle map at the right time and handed him a two-color pen. Ouyang Yun ended up writing a pen next to Li Ling called Xiuzhen. The place pointed, and then said: "Have you noticed that the Xiushui River next to Xiuzhen? If this river is used, it is no less than a solid line of defense. Xiuzhen is about thirty kilometers away from here. If armored troops are dispatched, , it takes at most forty minutes to tear through the Japanese defense line and successfully arrive. Together with a regiment of infantry, we can establish a line of defense with the Xiushui River behind us to create the illusion that our army is going to encircle and annihilate the Japanese army. At this time, if nothing happens, , the Japanese army will definitely retreat towards the southeast in order to get support from the 18th Division in the lower reaches of Xiushui River. On the way here, I have sent a regiment to occupy the only Xiuxiu Bridge there. By then, our army can The two regiments were divided into two regiments for pursuit. The other troops, except for one brigade to go to Guodaigou to see if there was a chance to ambush the first part of the 18th Division, the remaining troops all moved closer to the armored forces, and then from Shangxiu Bridge Cross the river and engage in an encirclement and annihilation battle with another part of the 18th Division..."
Before Ouyang Yun finished explaining his war intentions, Li Hanhun looked up from the map and looked at him, a little surprised, and said, "Commander, what if the Guoqi detachment doesn't retreat?"
"Then let's really engage in an encirclement and annihilation battle. The key to this battle lies in the preparation of artillery fire before the start. We must hit accurately and hit hard to destroy the Japanese army's will to resist as much as possible."
Ye Zhao looked at Ouyang Yun, then at Li Hanhun, and said: "It sounds very tempting, but the risks to be taken are also very high. Our army only has two divisions. Simply based on the comparison of military strength. To be honest, it is not enough to encircle and annihilate any Japanese army. What I am worried about is that if the Japanese army desperately moves closer to the Xiuxiu Bridge, will the troops responsible for breaking the bridge be able to withstand it."
Ouyang Yun said: "It depends on whether our artillery can take the lead in defeating the Japanese artillery. At Xiuxiao Bridge, I not only sent a regiment, but also sent all the engineers there. They will be responsible for setting up a minefield. , In addition, I have equipped them with enough machine guns. If the Japanese army lacks enough artillery, it will be difficult for them to tear apart this line of defense. On the contrary, if the Japanese army has enough artillery, we will have to abandon this plan and all move towards Zhongdao. Withdraw troops.”
Li Hanhun asked the question he was most concerned about: "Commander, which regiment of the 60th Division is under Xiuxiao Bridge?"
"Wang Changyun's 604th Regiment."
Li Hanhun's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he said: "Wang Changyun, I know that if he leads the defense, our army's chances of winning will be greatly increased. I agree with this battle plan." After speaking, he looked at Ye Zhao and others. ,
When Ye Zhao and others saw that they all agreed with him, it was natural that they could not object, so they expressed their agreement one after another.
Ouyang Yun looked at the time, glanced at everyone again, and said: "Everyone, it is now 9:13, and we will start operations on time at 9:45. Mr. Lin, Mr. Ye, hurry up and assemble the team. Remember , your political director came to mobilize before the war. Our opponents are very ferocious, and the soldiers must be mentally prepared."
"yes."
As Ouyang Yun expected, after Naojiro Amaya and Noboru Kunizaki learned the news of the 60th Division's reinforcements for Li Ling from the headquarters' call, they immediately changed their previous arrogance and subconsciously moved their troops towards Li Ling. Ushijima Sadao generated electricity and asked him to speed up the march "to prevent the Chinese from leaving the battle and retreating to Zhenjiang." Naojiro Amaya and the Xuebing Army had fought several battles and had a certain understanding of their combat methods. After learning the news, they immediately Drive all the remaining soldiers who are still resting and have them dig fortifications quickly to cope with the possible counterattack.
This approach of Naojiro Amaya undoubtedly bought some time to delay the destruction of the Amaya detachment. However, at about 9:45, when he was having lunch in advance and suddenly heard the sound of intensive artillery fire, the little Japanese immediately realized Something was wrong. From the intensity of the gunfire, he could tell that the number of artillery on the opposite side was definitely over a hundred. With more than a hundred artillery firing at the same time, it was conceivable that there would definitely be a large-scale battle next. attack,
"Hurry up and answer the call from Major General Kunisaki." He dropped his lunch box and shouted to the adjutant, silently thinking to Amaterasu: God, please protect the artillery unit of the Kunisaki detachment from being wiped out in the first round of attacks. ,
Amidst the deafening explosion, the phone call was connected. However, Kunisaki Noboru's luck was obviously not as good as Amaya. The first round of artillery attack by the Xuebing Army actually hit the headquarters of the Kunisaki detachment. This old devil, Kunisaki Noboru, even There was no chance to scream, and he was immediately torn into pieces by the gunfire. Therefore, except for the violent explosion that he heard at the beginning, Tiangu's ears did not get any other useful information.
At the same time, on a towering tree about three kilometers away from the headquarters of the Guoqi detachment, Xiao Yi was holding a walkie-talkie and grinning at Ding Yi beside him: "Brother artilleryman did a good job, hit the target with one shot, hehe , I hope that the Japanese general Noboru Kunisaki happens to be inside, then we can achieve great success."
The penetration of the Langya Squadron is everywhere. They are not only responsible for reconnaissance of the enemy, but also one of their responsibilities to guide the artillery units. Among the ten squadrons of the Third Squadron of the Langya Special Forces Brigade Sword Regiment, the most exaggerated is the one led by Xiao Yi A small team of them appeared unnoticed near the Kunisaki detachment headquarters. As a result, Kunisaki's little devil's luck was naturally extremely bad. His lair was discovered, and he could still seek revenge. Well done,
Precisely because of the forecast of the enemy's position by the Wolf Fang Team, Naojiro Amaya's prayers had no effect. The artillery unit of the Kunizaki Detachment was completely wiped out in the first round of artillery strikes. Some artillery units stayed there because Next to the ammunition box, it was blown up to nothing, and passively became a missing person after the war.