mtl008 Chapter 758: Not That Easy to Fight
Chapter 758: Not That Easy to Fight
As the war became stalemate, Commander Han of the 73rd Army of the Chinese government ordered his troops to start to switch from defense to offense. The 77th Division of the 73rd Army began to launch a frontal assault on the troops of the 47th Division of the Japanese Army, while the 15th Division was responsible for attacking from the side of the 47th Division of the Japanese Army.
The officers and soldiers of the 15th Division of the 73rd Army of the Chinese government, under the cover of aircraft from the Chinese and American Air Forces, suddenly launched an attack on the flank of the 47th Division of the Japanese Army, and rushed into the main position of the 47th Division of the Japanese Army at Yangxi Bridge. The officers and soldiers of the 47th Division of the Japanese Army on the front line were simply unable to resist under the attack of the Chinese army, and they were quickly defeated and lost the Yangxi Bridge position.
In this way, after nearly a month of fierce fighting, the 47th Division of the Japanese Army was blocked by the 73rd Army of the Chinese government and only occupied a few unimportant areas such as Heihuipu, Yueguangshan and Yangxi. It can be said that there was no progress at all, but the 47th Division of the Japanese Army suffered heavy casualties and suffered a complete defeat.
While the fierce fighting was in full swing on the central battlefield, the attack force of the Japanese 20th Army in the south also launched a fierce attack on the Chinese government troops.
Starting from April 27, the 34th Division of the Japanese 20th Army, which was responsible for the southern attack, began to attack the Xinning area. Xinning was just a small county town in the Xiangxi area, and the Chinese government only deployed one battalion of troops in Xinning.
However, facing the fierce attack of the offensive force of the 34th Division of the Japanese Army, this battalion of Chinese troops in the Xinning area managed to delay the offensive force of the 34th Division of the Japanese Army for three days, which also made the commander of the 20th Army of the Japanese Army, Lieutenant General Kazuyoshi Sakanishi, furious.
Therefore, Lieutenant General Kazuyoshi Sakanishi, commander of the 20th Army of the Japanese Army, ordered the 58th Brigade under the 68th Division of the Japanese Army to support the offensive forces of the 34th Division of the Japanese Army.
Afterwards, the Chinese army and the attacking force of the Japanese 20th Army fought fiercely in the Xinning area for a whole day and night. The Chinese army finally retreated due to the disparity in strength and was forced to abandon the Xinning area. However, although more than half of the officers and soldiers of this battalion of the Chinese army were killed or wounded, they also successfully caused heavy casualties to the attacking force of the Japanese 20th Army.
After resting in the Xinning area, the attacking force of the Japanese 20th Army immediately prepared to force a crossing of the Wushui River. The troops of the 44th Division of the 94th Army of the Chinese government took advantage of the situation and attacked the attacking force of the Japanese 20th Army halfway when it was crossing the river.
The fierce firepower output of the 44th Division wiped out the attacking forces of the 20th Army of the Japanese Army that were crossing the river without any resistance. However, the attacking forces of the 20th Army of the Japanese Army, unwilling to give up, tried to cross the Wushui River several times but were still unable to break through the defense line of the 44th Division. The attacking forces of the 20th Army of the Japanese Army had no choice but to turn to attack the Wuyang area.
Wuyang is an extremely important transportation hub from Suining to Hongjiang area, but at that time there were only 180 officers and soldiers from the 9th Company of the 58th Division of the Chinese government stationed in Wuyang City. However, facing the attack of thousands of Japanese 20th Army offensive forces, the 180 officers and soldiers of the 9th Company were not afraid.
Relying on the city wall of Wuyang, the officers and soldiers of the 9th Company launched a fierce blocking attack on the attacking forces of the 20th Army of the Japanese Army. In the fierce fighting, the officers and soldiers of the 9th Company successively repelled eight charge attacks launched by the attacking forces of the 20th Army of the Japanese Army, causing heavy casualties to the attacking forces of the 20th Army of the Japanese Army, and firmly held the city of Wuyang for two days and two nights.
Finally, the 9th Company was outnumbered and all 180 officers and soldiers died heroically. Most of Wuyang was also occupied by the attacking forces of the 20th Army of the Japanese Army. However, the heroic resistance of the 9th Company brought a turning point to the subsequent fighting in Wuyang area.
After learning that Wuyang was attacked by the offensive force of the Japanese 20th Army, the 44th Division of the Chinese government near Wuyang immediately rushed to reinforce and launched an attack on the flank of the offensive force of the Japanese 20th Army.
Under the fierce attack of the officers and soldiers of the 44th Division of the Chinese government, the flank of the Japanese 20th Army's attacking force attacking Wuyang was quickly torn open by the attack of the 44th Division of the Chinese government. At the same time, the 94th Army of the Chinese government also quickly attacked Wuyang from the Huangping area to reinforce.
The attacking force of the Japanese 20th Army in Wuyang was immediately defeated under the fierce attack of the two Chinese government armies.
At this time, the planes of the joint air force of China and the United States also took advantage of the victory to pursue and continuously attacked the stronghold of the Japanese 20th Army's offensive force in Wuyang. After repeated attacks, the Japanese 20th Army's offensive force in Wuyang finally abandoned the city and fled. In this battle of Wuyang, the Chinese army killed more than 1,500 people of the Japanese 20th Army's offensive force and captured a large number of artillery equipment.
While the offensive forces of the Japanese 20th Army were attacking Wuyang, the forces of the Japanese 20th Army in the southern region launched an all-out attack on Wugang County.
Wugang was the core area in the early stage of the Battle of Xiangxi. It was not only a major military town in Xiangxi, but also the political and economic center of Xiangxi. The occupation of Wugang was of great significance to the 20th Army of the Japanese Army. The commander of the 20th Army of the Japanese Army, Lieutenant General Sakanishi Ichiyoshi, also issued a death order to the offensive forces of the 20th Army of the Japanese Army that they must succeed or they would die.
In order to capture Wugang, Lieutenant General Kazuyoshi Sakanishi, commander of the 20th Army of the Japanese Army, also equipped the offensive forces of the 20th Army of the Japanese Army with artillery and tank units.
The city wall of Wugang County is very strong, and there is a wide moat outside the city. The Chinese government army has also set up three lines of defense under the city wall of Wugang County. The most core line of defense is made of a mixture of glutinous rice and cement provided by local people.
You know, the life of the people in Xiangxi was very hard. Generally, people would only use glutinous rice during the New Year. However, in order to help the Chinese army defend Wugang County, the local people also resolutely took out their annual grain.
Although the Chinese army responsible for defending Wugang County had only one battalion of troops, this battalion belonged to the 74th Army, which ranked among the top in terms of combat power among the Chinese government's troops.
When the commander of the Japanese 20th Army's attack force learned that the Chinese government only had one battalion of troops in Wugang County, he arrogantly declared that his attack force could capture the county within a day.