Major General Liu Changhao, the commander of the 11th Division of the Zhili Allied Forces, is an orthodox soldier who is not known for his reputation. He came from a poor family since he was a child, but he has always strived for self-improvement. He joined the army at the age of fifteen and participated in a desperate struggle among warlords. At the age of eighteen, he was awarded the title of "Join the Army" due to his military exploits.
Baoding Military Academy’s exceptional examination, graduated with honors
In the second phase of the infantry course, he served as the lieutenant commander of the Zhili Army for three years. He was admitted to the Japanese Army Non-commissioned Officer School, which was funded by the government. In the third year, he entered the Japanese Army University for further study. After returning to China, he served as the colonel commander of the Zhili Army at the age of 28.
He repeatedly performed extraordinary feats in a series of battles that split the Zhili army.
Due to Liu Changhao's upright nature, his courage to confront his superiors, his incompatibility with his corrupt colleagues and his unwillingness to join in the same trend, he had been suppressed in the position of colonel leader for six years. Zhang Zongchang was shocked by the powerful threat of the Northern Expeditionary Army and resigned at the end of last year.
Together with Fengjun and Wanjun, they quickly expanded their troops. Only then did they remember this unknown but talented general under his command. After the troop adjustment, a ten-year-old who had been drained of most of the veterans was recalled.
The First Division was handed over to Liu Changhao. Liu Changhao was finally promoted to the rank of general at the age of thirty-three. He took over the mess of the Eleventh Division without any complaints and led the abandoned Eleventh Division in just three months.
He formed a well-disciplined force, but the current situation gave him too little time. He had just left Jinan for Suqian for half a month. Without good training, he was ordered to go south to fight against the independent division of the Revolutionary Army who dared to go deep into the hinterland of the Zhili Allied Forces alone.
The distance from Suqian to Shuanggou Town is only 86 kilometers. Although the road is not wide, it is flat and very easy to walk. After the 11th Division traveled 65 kilometers on the first day, it immediately slowed down and took a full fourteen days.
They advanced in stages for an hour, and finally entered the position on the north bank of the Huaihe River north of Liuxiang before four o'clock in the morning.
What made Liu Changhao extremely regretful was that the eight field guns of the division's artillery battalion were unable to pass through the five-kilometer muddy area between Shuanggou Town and the north bank of the Huaihe River. Facing rivers that were only a few meters wide across the front, the artillerymen
At a loss, after many efforts
, barely pushed forward 1.3 kilometers and could no longer advance half a step, so these eight old artillery tried their best to launch artillery bombardment at Liuxiang Town, which was 5.8 kilometers away on the other side at the beginning of the battle, and eight mortars
Let's launch a ten-minute bombardment together.
The sound of artillery stopped, and apart from a few rows of wooden barracks and several residential buildings in the town that were burning with raging fires, there was not a single soldier or civilian visible in the smoke-filled Liuxiang Town.
Liu Changhao, who was standing on a hillock by the river, put down his telescope and looked anxiously to the southeast. He ignored the deputies and staff officers who were talking about him and said calmly when asked by Chief of Staff Chen Yanda:
"The enemy has withdrawn from Liuxiang. It seems that they have noticed our army's intention... ordered the third and fourth regiments that crossed the river from the upper reaches to advance directly south, occupy Liuxiang Town as quickly as possible and immediately set up defensive positions.
The rest of the troops, except the artillery battalion, immediately crossed the river and headed for Liuxiang."
"As you command!"
After the chief of staff finished answering, he ran down the hillside.
An hour later, all 9,000 troops of the 11th Division crossed the Huaihe River and entered the Liuxiang line. Reconnaissance teams reported one after another and discovered the main force of the enemy. The revolutionary army centered on Panjia Town and built a 67-kilometer long road based on mountains and ridges.
Judging from the opponent's position layout and flags, the number of enemy troops is about 8,000 in three regiments.
Liu Changhao thought for a moment and did not launch an attack rashly. Instead, he telegraphed the situation to the Wuhe County headquarters. The order he received was only four words: attack with all strength!
At nine o'clock in the morning, Liu Changhao finally issued the order to attack with all strength. Under the cover of twenty-four mortars, the three regiments of the division opened a front line and advanced at full speed, advancing to a distance of about 200 meters in front of the revolutionary army position.
They stopped advancing to build positions, and a fierce back-and-forth battle between the two sides began.
Amidst the deafening explosions, on a hillock of more than 30 people called "Filial Son Peak" located 400 meters behind the position, the deputy commander of the independent division, Hu Zi, stood at the observation port of the command post dug five meters deep, looking at the thick smoke and the sound of gunfire in the distance.
In this position, the humid air caused by the continuous drizzle kept the smoke lingering for a long time, making observation very difficult, so the officers and soldiers of the communications platoon had to take on the important task of transmitting intelligence.
"Report, an enemy regiment has begun to charge towards our left-wing position!"
"clear!"
Gu Changfeng asked worriedly: "Brother Hu, the engineer battalion on the left wing lacks heavy machine guns, can it cope with it?"
Huzi put down the telescope and replied calmly: "Don't worry, you don't know that the combat effectiveness of our division's engineer battalion is only stronger than that of the general army, not to mention that the opponent is a tired division that has been marching for two consecutive days? I dare to say
The enemy cannot rush within 50 meters of the engineer battalion's position within three hours. The hundreds of traps and camouflaged stone pits dug by the engineer battalion in a hurry are enough for the enemy to drink. It is your second and third battalion positions that are under pressure.
Large, the right-wing position is close to
Facing the river bank, there is no advantage of high ground. All depends on trenches and sandbags. If the light rain keeps falling, it will soon turn into a quagmire, so you have to pay more attention. The reserve team also mainly supports this direction. The division's mortar company and
Your cannons are not even moving. You just let the enemy make misjudgments after charging twice, and then put them all into use when they charge as a whole. This way we can take advantage of our firepower and destroy the enemy to the greatest extent."
"I will go to the right wing myself."
"Be careful!"
Gu Changfeng, who was carrying a broadsword, led the guard squad to rush to the right-wing position. As soon as he lay down to avoid a series of machine gun bullets, he heard loud shouts of killing coming from the enemy position. The enemy saw that the left and right positions were in danger.
They found the weak point of the defense and began to launch a fierce charge with the support of machine gun fire.
Gu Changfeng rushed to the third battalion commander in two steps with a flower machine gun, and shouted loudly in the rain of bullets: "Give me the order, put it at 80 meters before shooting! Then greet with a grenade!"
"clear!"
The commander of the third battalion bent down and ran across the fifteen-meter trench, loudly conveying the order to the commander of the second company. The communications soldiers of the second battalion quickly conveyed the order and began to prepare nervously in the face of thousands of enemy troops getting closer and closer.
One hundred and twenty meters, one hundred meters, ninety meters, eighty meters... The twenty-four light and heavy machine guns of the second and third battalions finally spit out bursts of flames. More than 1,100 officers and soldiers attacked the enemy in front of them.
Fierce firing began. The shooters from each squad and platoon stared closely at the officers wielding machetes and short guns in the dense enemy group and pulled the triggers. The shooting continued for more than a minute, killing the enemy.
The momentum of the people's charge could not be blocked, and hundreds of grenades immediately flew towards the hundreds of enemies who rushed into the front of the position. The violent explosions brought up large areas of soil and gravel, and scores of enemies were killed in the bursts of explosions.
The first regimental-scale charge was completely shattered, leaving behind more than 200 corpses and more than 300 wounded soldiers and retreated like a tide.
The officers and soldiers on the position had no time to cheer. Under the stern orders of their superiors, they carried their dead and injured companions to the rear. More officers and soldiers loaded ammunition to cool the barrels, and then quickly climbed out of the trench and rushed to the rear to bring bundles of ammunition.
Weeds and branches prepared in advance were laid on the bottom of the mud trench.
With mud all over his body and smoke in his face, Gu Changfeng finished changing the magazine of his portable machine gun. He held the hot gun body and patrolled happily. He praised this and cursed at that. The hurried and nervous brothers suddenly relaxed a lot. Not only did they
He kept silent about the fierce battle just now, but instead worried about whether the engineer brothers on the left flank could repel the enemy's attack.
However, as Hu Jialin said, the worries of the brothers of the third regiment are really unnecessary. The enemy's fierce attack can not bring any benefits in the bumpy area. In less than 20 minutes, one enemy regiment lost more than 400 casualties.
The soldiers all retreated to their original positions, and the engineer battalion was higher
There were cheers in the position nearly four meters above the ground. Acting battalion commander Huang Hanhun was making a bet with the young superior soldier next to him that the superior soldier did not kill the enemy company commander who crawled out of the deep pit 70 meters away from the front of the position with one shot.
Amidst the boos, he sheepishly handed the rifle to Huang Hanhun.
Huang Hanhun, a stocky man with thick arms, took the rifle and pulled the bolt. With almost no aim, he shot the struggling enemy company commander until his head was blown. Then he fired three shots in a row, knocking the three struggling enemies back.
He accurately killed the fleeing enemy and won bursts of applause from the trenches.
Huang Hanhun, whose square face was covered with gunpowder smoke like an old cat, laughed coaxingly: "How is it? Awesome, right? The guy Deng Bin, the sharpshooter, personally taught him, haha... Get ready! The enemy's second wave
The attack has begun, all the light machine guns have been added to me!"
The continuous drizzle that lasted for thirty hours gradually stopped, and a southeasterly wind blew under the gray sky, blowing the thick smoke towards the enemy's position. Before the officers on the position could take out their binoculars to carefully observe the enemy's situation, fierce
The battle started again. After the first tentative charge, the enemy did not give the revolutionary army any chance to breathe, and invested most of its troops in a fierce charge across the entire front.
What is difficult for the enemy to understand is that the firepower on the Revolutionary Army's position seems to be getting stronger and stronger, and the guns are becoming more and more accurate. One company and platoon commanders were killed during the charge, and the enemy troops who lost their command after more than ten minutes of hard fighting
The charge was repulsed again, and the soldiers of the Third Regiment and the Engineer Battalion also paid a heavy price with more than 260 people killed and more than 300 wounded. The long defense line became precarious due to the reduction in personnel.
Until this time, Hu Jialin still had not mobilized the twenty-four hidden mortars, nor had he mobilized the machine gun company equipped with twelve heavy machine guns to the battlefield.
On Jiguan Mountain opposite the position, Liu Changhao, the commander of the 11th Division who had just moved his headquarters to the mountainside when he saw that his opponent did not have artillery and heavy fire support, put down his telescope and yelled at the intelligence staff with a livid face:
"We have been fighting for so long, but we have no idea about the enemy's firepower. The enemy does not have mortars and enough heavy machine guns at all. Why are the enemy's positions about to be torn apart twice, but the charges of the regiments are so fast?
Did the last step fail?"
"Reporting back to the division, my subordinates really didn't know that the enemy's firepower was so powerful. According to the intelligence summary, almost every enemy squad has a light machine gun, and a heavy machine gun firepower point is set up every forty meters or so. This firepower configuration greatly
It goes against the norm! Moreover, the enemy's marksmanship is generally very accurate. They attacked the two regiments on the enemy's center and right flank, and more than half of the company platoon leader was killed or injured in two charges. This battle is really fucking weird, Master! "Information!
The staff officer argued aggrievedly.
"Reporter: After three hours of fierce fighting, the 37th Division and the 9th Army Regiment of our army finally successfully carried out the forced crossing and defeated the two enemy positions on the south bank of the Huaihe River at the mouth of Tonghe River. The enemy troops threw down their tents.
The baggage and hundreds of boxes of ammunition fled frantically towards Guojiawan in the south. The cavalry regiment directly under the former enemy command headquarters has moved to the mouth of Tonghe River and is about to cross the south bank and enter the battlefield.
The deputy commander ordered our division to step up the attack and prevent the enemy forces from converging with the remaining enemies in Guojiawan!" Chief of Staff Chen Yanda came to report excitedly.
Liu Changhao turned his anger into joy: "Okay, General Zhang Chengzhu's cavalry regiment has finally made its appearance! It must have followed the deputy commander's order to divide and annihilate the two enemy troops. The cavalry will arrive in a blink of an eye at a distance of just ten kilometers. As long as they successfully penetrate the enemy
In the rear, thousands of stubborn enemies on the opposite side are unable to escape... Give me an order: the reserve team enters the battle, and all the soldiers of the division work together to advance to the forward position, and go all out to launch the final fierce attack!"
"As you command!"
The generals and colonels of each regiment responded in unison and rushed to their headquarters to command the battle with full confidence.