The artillery fire on the Zhousheng (Zhouwan and Shengzhou) front lines and the Xiaogushan front line rang out at the same time. At 11:30, the Japanese army launched the artillery bombardment on time. The 11th and 112th Divisions and the heavy artillery unit directly under the 2nd Army The artillery of nearly five regiments (the 11th Division is a standing A division, and the artillery is organized into a brigade) fired at the same time. For a moment, the sound of hundreds of artillery shells piercing the air tore people's eardrums, and then , it was the deafening explosions that came one after another on the military fortifications of Zhou Sheng and the Xiaogushan frontline.
In the general headquarters near the fort on the south bank of the Madang Fortress, the phone rang incessantly. Communications staff officers shuttled back and forth, while combat staff members listened to the phone with their ears pricked up. At the same time, they inserted small red flags that were as detailed as representing the strength of each Japanese army brigade. When they arrived at the corresponding positions on the sand table, frontline commanders on all fronts called almost simultaneously. Braving the deafening sound of explosions, they reported first-hand frontline battle reports to the general headquarters for Ouyang Yun to make overall arrangements.
"It's finally begun." Madang Fortress is so big, and the farthest Xiaogushan is only about 20 kilometers away. At this distance, the explosion of heavy artillery can still be clearly heard, from the first explosion. When Ouyang Yun heard the explosions one after another in the back, he felt relieved. No one knew that after Ouyang Yun made the decision to raid Anqing, what he was most worried about during this period was not the concentration of Japanese troops to attack Madang. Instead, they were worried about the safety of the troops in the north of the Yangtze River. After going up to the Madang Fortress, the Japanese Yangtze River Fleet completely controlled the waterway. In this case, if the troops who raided Anqing wanted to return to the south bank, they would not be able to do it as cheaply as sending troops to the north of the Yangtze River, and they would have to pay a huge price. At a considerable cost, in this case, if Okamura Neiji gives up attacking Madang and instead concentrates his forces to besiege Jiangbei's army, it will not only destroy Ouyang Yun's established strategy and make his subsequent arrangements impossible to implement, but also, if Jiangbei's army The losses were too great, and they were even forced to retreat to Fujian and Guangdong. Then, the 3rd Xuexi Division stationed at Madang and the 12th Xuexue Division stationed at Hukou would become isolated forces. At that time, the Japanese army would concentrate its forces to attack Madang, which would achieve twice the result with half the effort. As a result, the Japanese army has strengthened its anti-reconnaissance and anti-infiltration work in the area where it is stationed during this period, which makes it difficult for the scouts of the Xuebing Army to penetrate and obtain first-hand detailed information. In this case, the Second Army has been standing still. On the contrary, Ouyang Yun felt uncertain and could not help but harbor hidden worries.
Ouyang Yun's background limited his command level. After all, he was just a vanguard on the front line. Although he had been growing, he still seemed immature compared with those tactical masters. Therefore, he was able to achieve such a brilliant record against Japan. In the final analysis, it was advanced equipment and some weird playing methods that contributed to his success. This made him always make some mistakes in details and back roads after making big strategic deployments. Fortunately, , Chen Shichang and his group of young staff officers have grown up. With their help, these mistakes can always be solved one by one before they occur.
It was Chen Shichang and the group of young staff officers he led who discovered the dilemma of the Jiangbei Army. While they were doing deductions, Chen Shichang changed his perspective and combined the main force of the 2nd Army (the Tiangu Detachment and the Black Rock Detachment of the 11th Division). The 112th Division and Botian Detachment) moved from Wangjiang, Huangmei and other places to the Anqing area. The staff immediately discovered to their horror that if this is true, then the situation of the troops in Jiangbei is worrying.
There are now more than three divisions of troops in Jiangbei. Among them, the tank troops equipped with amphibious tanks have reached the size of more than one and a half brigades. Although the trucks cannot drive through, this troop is not fully mechanized, but it is relatively For ordinary soldiers, who are only equipped with 38 large caps, their equipment situation has far exceeded that. Under the command of Deng Changyou, the commander of the Sixth Learning Division, the Jiangbei Army first surrounded and annihilated the two Dawangmiao brigades with thunderous force. The Japanese then concentrated on Anqing Airport after annihilating the troops stationed along the river in Anqing. Two days later, they formed an encirclement of the four Japanese brigades there.
The defenders of Anqing Airport could have escaped, but because Okamura Neiji still wanted to use them to hold back the main force of the cadet army, and at the same time, because there were still many aviation troops in the Second Aviation Corps who could not evacuate, these people were the elites of the empire. , far more valuable than infantry. In order to protect these operations, they can only choose to stay,
Okamura Neiji could just sit back and watch a brigade of Japanese troops being destroyed for the sake of his plan, but Shunroku Hata did not dare to do that. So far, the Japanese army's regular troops nationwide only have 37 divisions. The strength of one brigade is not much. , but it had already accounted for nearly one-seventieth of the force. Therefore, after learning that the Japanese army was surrounded, he issued an order asking the 2nd Army and the 11th Army to send troops to rescue, and the Anqing defenders must be rescued.
The Japanese army began to mobilize nearby troops to reinforce Anqing. Two days later, a division's troops moved closer to Anqing from the northeast. In this case, the situation of the Jiangbei troops changed. Although they still surrounded the Japanese troops in Anqing, However, there is also the possibility of being surrounded by counterattacks, and the Anqing war situation has since entered a stalemate stage. At this time, if the Japanese army temporarily gives up the Hankou strategy, counterattacks will
Chen Shichang didn't know whether the commander-in-chief was aware of this. When he reported this discovery to Ouyang Yun, he used very euphemistic words: "Commander-in-chief, is it enough to stop in Anqing? The Japanese army still has seven divisions and six divisions in Jiangbei. Puppet army, if the enemy concentrates its troops in Anqing, then Commander Deng and others will be in danger. The 2nd Army will not move and will only fight in Jiujiang and Hukou. There is no chance that Okamura Ning will try to build a plank road to cross Chencang secretly. , Commander-in-Chief, should we send some reconnaissance planes over? After the destruction of Anqing Airport, the Japanese air defense force has been greatly weakened. There should be no problem with the old reconnaissance planes coming over."
The advanced fighter planes of the Xuebing Army should give priority to meeting the needs of the Taiwan Army. The range of the old reconnaissance planes can also be covered, but because their air limit and speed lag behind the general Japanese fighter planes, before that, in addition to flying in Fujian, Guangdong and Qiong, He is on reconnaissance mission in the surrounding areas and has not yet left the jurisdiction.
The 2nd Army did not immediately launch an attack on Madang as expected, which attracted Ouyang Yun's attention. He thought about it seriously and immediately realized that Chen Shichang's worry was not unnecessary. He couldn't help but regret that the bait was too big, but , do you want to interrupt the original plan? In this way, although the Jiangbei team can get out of possible danger, the Madang side will be in a deadlock. This is contrary to Ouyang Yun's original intention of speeding up the battle. Look carefully. Looking at the map, he said: "Let's wait and see. After Xiao Yi and the others completed the mission of sneak attack on the airport, they have now begun infiltration operations. Recently, they have not sent back any inappropriate information."
"Well, this is a safe approach."
After Xiao Yi and the others retreated to the Dawang Temple, they immediately broke into pieces and began to work as small teams to radiate around with the Dawang Temple as the center. Ouyang Yun's new order to them was to find out as much as possible the Japanese army's layout in all directions, with the key points
Search for Japanese artillery positions,
After the collapse of the Japanese Second Air Corps, the most serious threat to the Xuebing Army's tanks is now heavy artillery over 120 mm. As long as the Japanese heavy artillery unit is eliminated, Ouyang Yun is confident that the tank unit alone will completely change the situation.
Madang is aware of the upcoming battle situation,
In Ouyang Yun's ardent hope, Okamura Neiji finally launched the Madang strategy. The Madang war officially began, and the Japanese army's intentions became completely clear. Ouyang Yun's heart finally fell into his stomach.
After the Japanese bombardment began, the Japanese Yangtze River Fleet, which had been wandering along the Anqing River, finally appeared upstream of the Madang Fortress. Half an hour later, just as the Japanese shore artillery unit began the third round of bombardment, nearly thirty ships with a displacement of
Gunboats of different sizes were lined up on the water surface of Sankou Kiln, about 20 kilometers upstream of the fortress. Under the personal command of Fleet Commander Sukeji Jun Kamakura, they began to bombard the Madang Fort.
The Xuebing Army deployed a large number of reconnaissance forces on the south bank upstream of the fortress. The minesweepers of the Japanese fleet appeared on the water surface of Shankou Kiln, and the general headquarters received relevant intelligence reports.
Before receiving this information, Ouyang Yun was still thinking about the scale of the Japanese attack this time, whether it would be a desperate battle or a trial attack of a certain scale. After seeing this information, he understood that Gangcun seemed to be preparing
Down in one fell swoop,
The Japanese Yangtze River Fleet has a total of about 110 gunboats of various types. Among them, there are 17 main battleships equipped with 240 mm caliber cannons. These 17 main battleships are the targets that Ouyang Yun wants to solve most.
Before these seventeen battleships showed up, Ouyang Yun did not want to fully deploy the fortress's artillery power.
He said to Yang Jianfeng, the communications consultant who was standing by: "Answer Zhang Tianquan's call for me."
The leader of the communications staff group is Huang Hua. This is his busiest time. In order not to delay the commander-in-chief's orders, he specially selected Yang Jianfeng, who has strong business capabilities, to serve Ouyang Yun specifically. As soon as the war started, everything within the general headquarters
It was boiling. Yang Jianfeng was tense at this moment. Hearing this, he immediately picked up an idle phone, dialed it and handed it to him.
Zhang Tianquan was originally the commander of the heavy artillery brigade directly under the Northward Army Corps, but now he is the commander of the Madang Fort.
The construction of the Madang Fort began during the Opium War. According to the terrain characteristics of Madang Mountain, a total of three forts were built from the top of the mountain to the cliff at the bottom of the mountain. Later, they were reinforced by governments at all levels. Before the Xuebing Army took over, there were a total of ten forts with equipment.
A number of various shore defense guns with a caliber from 240 mm to 150 mm. After the Xuebing Army took over, Ouyang Yun used the army's direct
The heavy artillery brigade's 150mm heavy artillery has set up three artillery positions in the east, north and west directions of Madang Mountain. Now, the entire Madang Fortress has more than 130 cannons used as fortress artillery.
, and if you add in the artillery regiments of the Third, Sixth, Eighth, and Thirteenth Divisions, Ouyang Yun now has more than 500 artillery pieces in his hands.
The preparations of the Japanese army were quite in place. The advance troops of the Yangtze River Fleet opened fire without correcting the ballistics. Judging from the impact point of the artillery shells, the measurement of the shooting was still very accurate. Many artillery shells directly hit the protection of the fort.
, bricks, stones and cement were flying randomly for a while. After the first round of shelling, steel bars were exposed in many places.
There was thundering gunfire outside, and inside the various bunkers, bunkers, and tunnels of the fort, the artillerymen were sitting upright without any sign of panic.
Zhang Tianquan held the phone in his hand, keeping his posture upright and listening to Ouyang Yun's teachings.
Ouyang Yun's order was very concise: "Commander Zhang, implement Plan No. 2."