eurekapd Chapter 246: Battle of Pingdingshan (8)
Chapter 246: Battle of Pingdingshan (8)
Pingdingshan was occupied by the Japanese army in a night raid, although the news did not spread.
However, the explosion, flames and gunshots on the top of the mountain still attracted Yin Xinjun's attention!
He lurked at the foot of the mountain and heard the crazy cheers of the Japanese army, only then did he confirm the situation!
They quickly pulled out their mortars and launched a fierce covering bombardment on the mountain.
The first shell accidentally saved Liu Ziming's life!
After 100 mortar shells were fired!
The Japanese troops on the mountain fled desperately towards the valley camp on the north side!
Yin Xinjun followed quietly.
He had already detected that there were still more than 500 fleeing Japanese soldiers!
About 500 meters away from the Japanese army,
He took out the grenade launcher and launched another fierce attack!
Although, there are no more mortar shells!
But Yin Xinjun had plenty of grenades from the grenade launcher, and he couldn’t use them all!
There were 34 grenade launchers in his warehouse!
There was another battalion of Japanese troops in the valley camp, this was the 1st Battalion of the Kwantung Army's th Independent Garrison!
This brigade was rushed by the fleeing soldiers, and with the grenades falling overhead, the entire camp became chaotic. Without even time to clean up the mess, they fled for their lives towards the large Japanese force in the direction of Guanyingou in the north!
Seeing that the sky in the distance had already turned pale, Yin Xinjun stopped chasing and went back to the forest to hide!
4th Division Headquarters,
Its daybreak,
The darkness of Sawada Shigeru began.
The good news in the first half of the night made him so excited that he could hardly fall asleep, but the bad news in the second half of the night made him unable to sleep or eat!
My brain feels groggy and I have no energy at all!
This morning,
The 8th Regiment has been completely wiped out! The 4th Garrison lost more than 1900 people!
In the hands of Sawada Shigeru,
There is still left.
The entire 7th Regiment of the 37th Brigade, part of the 32st Regiment of the 61nd Brigade, and the remnants of the division's cavalry, baggage, engineering, and artillery regiments totaled about 9000 people!
The 4th Garrison still has more than 3500 people!
The 11th Independent Heavy Artillery Regiment has more than 1200 people!
That's all the troops he has!
An orderly came in with a tray in his hand.
There were two freshly made rice balls and two cans of food on the tray!
The orderly just opened his mouth and said,
"Your Excellency, it's time for breakfast!"
Shigeru Sawada turned around, kicked the tray hard to the ground!
"Get out!"
Chief of Staff Okada waved his hand.
He looked at Sawada Shigeru with some disdain.
What's the point of getting angry at this time?
Either fight or retreat! There are only two options!
A staff officer suddenly came in.
"Army Air Force telegram!"
Okada received the message and said angrily,
"Sir, those bastards from the Army Aviation refused to send out planes again, saying that they couldn't see any valuable targets at all!"
"Damn, these bastards! The last bombing was just a perfunctory operation!"
Okada Sugi comforted him again,
"Sir, the air battle between the Army Air Force and the Soviet Union was too intense and they couldn't spare any extra planes!
However, the enemy's main artillery force has been destroyed. Today we will continue to concentrate our forces to attack Pingdingshan. As long as we take this target, the northern gate of the Jingpo Lake area will be opened!"
At the door, Lieutenant General Shimizu Yoshishige, who had just arrived, said disdainfully,
"Nonsense! The enemy's main artillery force is still there. Last night, my Second Infantry Battalion encountered a crazy artillery attack from the enemy!"
Shigeru Sawada looked at the old man with disgust, although nominally, the Kwantung Army Headquarters ordered Shimizu Yoshishige to obey Shigeru Sawada's command!
But in fact, Shimizu Yoshishige simply likes to act on his own. Yesterday's night attack on Pingdingshan was just like that. It was a typical case of acting first and reporting later!
Sawada Shigeru said somewhat unhappily,
"Qi Shui-kun, the enemy's strength is night fighting. Why do you have to use your own weakness to attack the enemy's strength?"
Qingshui Yoshishige's face turned red, and he said unconvincedly,
"Sawada-kun, we had already captured Pingdingshan, but unfortunately the enemy's main artillery force is still there, otherwise this would not have happened!"
Facing a powerful enemy, Sawada Shigeru did not want to cause any more trouble. He pointed at the map and said,
"Today, we will split our forces into two groups. Shimizu-kun will still be in charge of attacking Pingdingshan, and our 4th Division will be responsible for attacking along the Tokyo town! Outflank the enemy's flanks. We must break through the Pingdingshan defense line today no matter what!"
Pingdingshan,
Before dawn,
Wang Hao from the first team rushed to the mountain with more than 80 reinforcements.
The soldiers carried 10 boxes of 70mm Type 20 infantry gun shells and 50 boxes of mm grenade launcher grenades!
In the pit,
Sun Wei looked at Wang Hao eagerly.
Who knew that Wang Hao just patted him on the shoulder and said,
"Thanks for your hard work!"
There are no other words!
Sun Wei couldn't help but ask,
"Can we retreat now?"
Wang Hao shook his head.
"Captain Ding is at the foot of the mountain. He didn't tell us to come up and help you defend!"
Sun Wei lost his temper when he heard this. He thought he could withdraw! He clearly remembered that the boss asked him to stay until night!
But when he thought about it carefully, he suddenly realized that when the boss asked him to hold on until night, it seemed that he did not say that they could withdraw at night!
Sun Wei let out a long sigh towards the sky, his eyes suddenly became determined. In this case, he might as well do it in a big way!
Wang Hao seemed to understand something and said comfortingly, "Old Sun, don't worry. When I came here, Deputy Captain Ding told me that the boss had sent a message to him, asking us to be ready to close the net tonight!"
Sun Wei's eyes lit up!
Yin Xinjun was lurking on the east side of Pingdingshan.
About 3 km away,
On a mountain called Xiaoweizigou!
This mountain is more than 700 meters high, more than meters higher than Pingdingshan! The observation angle is very superior!
There are few people here, and there are no roads at all.
So it is also very safe!
Yin Xinjun was almost at the top of the mountain.
We found a relatively flat area and spent more than two hours with a shovel. Then we took out a 75mm field gun and installed it.
Unfortunately, the 105mm howitzer is too heavy and occupies a large area. After it was installed once, the effect was not good because it was not fixed properly!
then,
He set up the artillery telescope, pointed the lens at the flat-topped mountain, and mapped the shooting parameters!
Yin Xinjun had been thinking about how to annihilate the enemy forces to the greatest extent possible. Last night, he had eliminated two major hidden dangers and completely wiped out the 8th Regiment and the enemies on the eastern front!
Looking at the entire battlefield situation, Yin Xinjun is becoming more and more confident. As long as Pingdingshan can continue to hold on today, he will consider how to counterattack!
Once Pingdingshan was occupied by the Japanese army, it would face the danger of a total collapse, so Yin Xinjun personally went down to occupy a favorable terrain! Fire support can be provided to the battlefield at any time!
Kang Huaifu's artillery company pushed the artillery position forward 500 meters, which was very close to Pingdingshan.
Company commander Yu Changan hoped that this would help him avoid detection by Japanese balloons! After all, the artillery losses on Yan Wang's side were too great!
Yu Changan had four mountain cannons in his hands, and the King of Hell gave him another 400 shells last night, which made him more confident!
At around 8 o'clock in the morning, the Japanese 150-mm heavy howitzers opened fire!
As the Japanese artillery shells once again covered Pingdingshan,
A large group of cavalry suddenly launched an attack on the town of Tokyo!
This is already an empty city! All the people have been evacuated long ago!