Chapter 45: The Battle of Crossing the River Begins
The four brigades of Japanese troops were fighting on their own. Xiao Yi was naturally happy to see this situation. The fighter planes in the airport, on the tarmac and in the hangar, as well as the aviation kerosene, had almost all been used up. Their mission was considered to have been completed well, and they could continue. It would be unwise to continue the fight. He gave the order, and immediately, the Wolf Fang special forces broke into pieces and quickly merged into the night. Behind them were the Japanese troops who were clamoring to look for sneak attack troops for a decisive battle. Then there were The airport continues to explode,
Xiao Yi was the last one to withdraw from the fighting area. In his right hand, he held a smoke grenade with the safety cover unscrewed. In front of him, a dozen trainees disappeared into the night like loaches. He turned back towards the burning and exploding airport. He took a look and said in his heart: "Goodbye, little devil." He pulled the ring with his left hand and threw the smoke bomb with his right hand.
It was five minutes before four o'clock, and just as dawn began to break in the east, the Wolf Fangs withdrew from the airport area and began to assemble in the agreed direction, Dawang Temple.
The fire was still raging. When Tokugawa Yoshitoshi arrived at the airport, he saw one fighter plane after another burning in the fire, and the fighter planes in the hangar continued to explode. He only felt a cramp in his heart, and his face Big beads of sweat the size of soybeans instantly broke out on his body, and he immediately sat down on the ground, "It's over." There was only one thought in his mind at this time, this "Yamato Samurai" who once flew Japan's first fighter plane into the sky "At this time, he was like a soft-legged crab, with no strength to even stand.
Any Japanese who is lucky enough to see the explosion at Anqing Airport will never forget it in this life. Commander Tokugawa fell to the ground. His adjutant and some officers had to stand up and quickly organized soldiers to put out the fire, trying to save one or two people. However, even though Anqing Airport has complete fire-fighting facilities, in the face of the aviation kerosene barrels that exploded from time to time and the monstrous fire, even if they were prepared to sacrifice their lives, they could only look back and sigh, and then they became extremely frustrated. Frustrated, without the coordination and command of Tomikawa Yuzhi, several captains worked on their own and began to search the surrounding areas, hoping to find enemies and fight them to make them feel better. However, the enemies who made a sneak attack seemed to disappear out of thin air. Even though they continued to expand the search area, they still couldn't find any trace, which undoubtedly deepened their fear. What kind of enemy is this? It's really terrifying that the dragon can't see its head or tail.
The Second Air Corps has two wings of more than 200 fighters. It is under the direct command of Okamura Neiji. It was once the sharpest weapon in Okamura Neiji's hands. But now, this sharp weapon has been turned into ashes in the raging fire. A pile of scrap metal, seeing that the fire was irreversible, and there were very few of the two hundred and sixteen fighter planes left. After waking up, Tokugawa Yoshitoshi was heartbroken and hurriedly called Okamura Neji.
Today is destined to be a sleepless night for Okamura Neji. If it were normal, he should still be sleeping soundly at this time, but today, this is the fourth time he has received a call with bad news. When the old devil listens He said that Anqing Airport was attacked and all the fighter planes were burned to the ground. He didn't say anything for a long time, as if he was stupid.
Anqing belongs to the 2nd Army because of the existence of the Second Aviation Corps. Okamura Neiji attaches great importance to the security work of the Aviation Corps. Therefore, although the total strength of the Anqing garrison is only about six brigades, he released four of them. At the airport, there are only two brigades deployed along the river. These two brigades are commanded by Wing Commander Qingci Yuen Long. The main positions and headquarters are located in Taiwang Temple.
In the battle plan that Ouyang Yun participated in formulating, the airport raid and the river-crossing landing battle were carried out almost simultaneously. Therefore, almost at the same time that gunfire broke out at Anqing Airport, Wubao Chiang Kai-shek and the Xue Bing Army were stationed in both places. Nearly three divisions of infantry first began to cross the river. Twenty minutes later, when the first batch of landing troops successfully seized the beach and had a fierce battle with the Japanese army, at Yupeng, the tank troops and the 16th Brigade also began to cross. River,
The defense along the Anqing River was personally arranged by Qingci Yuenlang. Qingci Yuenlang never expected that the Chinese army would dare to attack. In addition, its troops were limited, so he stationed Changfeng opposite Wubao Jiang and Shijia on the opposite side. Jidu only deployed a squadron of troops. In order to prepare for this cross-river battle, Ouyang Yun specially asked Xue Yue to greet the local government and recruited a lot of fishing boats. Although these fishing boats had limited carrying capacity, due to the Xue Bingjun's crossing the river, The launch was sudden, so the Japanese Yangtze River Fleet and the garrison had not yet reacted. The advance troops of the Xuebing Army had successfully landed. Once they successfully landed and established a beachhead, the Japanese would no longer be able to contain the Xuebing Army's landing operations. ,
"Commander-in-Chief, the Sixth and Eighth Learning Divisions just sent a telegram that their advance troops have successfully landed in Changfeng."
"Commander-in-Chief, the 13th Division sent a telegram that they successfully landed on the Shiji River Beach."
One telegram after another sent Ouyang Yun the latest battle situation on the front line. Ouyang Yun, who was already a little sleepy after not sleeping all night, immediately became energetic. He put on his coat and walked out of the headquarters. He stood at the door and looked toward the east. Chen Shichang said: "Give them electricity and tell them not to be busy annihilating the Japanese army, but to speed up the crossing of the river. Once daybreak, if the Japanese Yangtze River Fleet is dispatched, the crossing operation will be much more difficult."
"yes."
"Have Xiao Yi and others sent a telegram back?"
"Not yet." As soon as Chen Shichang finished saying this, Huang Hua suddenly ran out of the communications room excitedly. When he saw Ouyang Yun, he shouted: "Commander-in-Chief, good news. Deputy Brigadier Xiao just sent a telegram. Operation 'Night Hunting' was a success, Anqing Airport has turned into a sea of flames."
The success of this cross-river operation depends on the performance of the tank troops. Whether the tank troops can become the protagonist of this cross-river battle depends on whether Xiao Yi and the others can successfully attack Anqing Airport. Ouyang Yun heard this. He smiled and said sincerely: "Okay, tell Xiao Yi that you did a good job and let them gather at the Dawang Temple and wait for the order."
"yes."
The "Night Hunting" operation is the key to the success of this cross-river battle. After learning the news of the success of the operation, Chen Shichang also showed a smile on his face. He said with a smile: "Commander-in-Chief, next, we should step up our efforts to return to Madang." With the Hukou position under construction, I believe the Japanese army will launch a large-scale offensive soon."
Ouyang Yun arrogantly crossed his shoulders and said confidently: "I wish you all the best. I hope Okamura Neji won't disappoint me."
Enemy sightings appeared in Changfeng and Shiji one after another, and they were all large units of the Xuebing Army. When Qingci Yuanlang got the report, he was immediately stunned. A large number of enemy troops appeared along the Anqing River, so there was only one result, and that was the Chinese. A counterattack was launched. This was a huge event, something that a small company commander like him could not undertake. He did not dare to be careless and immediately reported directly to the 2nd Army Headquarters and requested support and instructions.
Okamura Neiji was woken up from his sleep by the staff officer on duty. When he heard the news, he was shocked at first and hurriedly climbed to the map. When he personally used two-color pencils to paint the green color representing the Xuebing Army on the point of Anqing, he It was only then that the Japanese executives in the 2nd Army Headquarters had already woken up. They walked into the headquarters one after another and watched the Commander doing homework on the map. Their faces were surprisingly cold.
Putting down his pencil, Okamura Neiji glanced at everyone and said, "Intelligence from the front shows that Ouyang Yun dispatched a total of three divisions in order to capture Anqing. Do you think it is possible?"
The strength of the Xuebing Army's northward legion has long been reconnoitred by the Japanese army. There are five and a half divisions in total, pure infantry. However, in the Pengze area, the Japanese army currently has three and a half divisions plus the Yangtze River Fleet and two aviation wings. With an absolute advantage in both quantity and quality, the Madang Fortress is strong and difficult to attack. However, with huge cannons on the Yangtze River and fighter planes in the sky, Okamura Neiji is still confident that he can take it down.
He did not lose his cool because of the loss of Anqing. The first thing that came to his mind was whether he could take the opportunity to capture Madang. If the Xuebing Army had the power to defend Madang, and worried about its combat power, Okamura Neji was not yet determined to make a decisive move, but now , since there are only two and a half divisions left, so I can launch a sea, land and air offensive with three times the strength. I believe I can defeat it in one fell swoop.
After thinking calmly for a few minutes, Okamura Neiji resolutely made a decision: "Ouyang Yun took the initiative to attack Anqing at this time. He obviously wanted to destroy the current layout of our army and use offense as defense. But he forgot that compared to Ma Of course, Anqing is actually dispensable. If the Second Air Corps is not in Anqing, we can even abandon Anqing and pass my order to Qingci Yuenlang to abandon the Yangtze River and retreat to Chaling, and fully cooperate. The airport defense force is guarding the airport. In addition, we have sent a telegram to the headquarters of the dispatched army, asking General Hata Junroku to provide support and send troops to support Anqing. If we want to capture Madang in one fell swoop, we cannot disperse our troops to Anqing."
"Hai." After receiving the order, the Japanese staff officers forwarded the orders one after another. Okamura Neji stood in front of the map and continued his previous thoughts, with a smile on his face.
Defeating the Xuebing Army, killing Ouyang Yun or even capturing him alive, this is such a brilliant martial arts. Originally, I had to wait for the opportunity, but now, Ouyang Yun has taken the initiative to give me the opportunity, Okamura Neiji thought like this, It seems that he has seen the scene of himself being recalled to the country and being commended by His Majesty the Emperor himself,
Okamura Neiji was daydreaming when a communications staff officer suddenly ran in in a hurry. His face was pale and lost, and he even forgot the most basic etiquette. As soon as he saw Okamura Neiji, he shouted loudly: " Your Excellency, something bad has happened, Commander Tokugawa called, Anqing, Anqing Airport was attacked by the Chinese."
"What." Okamura Neji asked sharply,
The staff officer was frightened by the commander's expression. He said in confusion: "Anqing, Anqing Airport, was, was, sneak attacked by the Chinese."
"Ah." Neji Okamura yelled and sat down. Suddenly he stood up nervously and shouted loudly: "What is the battle damage situation? How many planes were damaged? Did Tokugawa report?"
"All, His Excellency Commander Tokugawa said all fighter planes..." The staff officer's voice became smaller and smaller, because he found that the commander's face was getting whiter and whiter, and then redder and redder. He was so frightened that he could not speak. ,