readx; Yi Zhang

Wen Jizhong led a group of senior generals of the First Mixed Brigade up a small hill, and then took out a telescope to look at Yizhang County in the distance. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

From the telescope, you can vaguely see the figure of Yizhang walking in the distance, the low city wall is full of soldiers, the small city gate has also been closed, and there are large areas of various fortifications outside the city gate, which are obviously arranged with heavy machine guns. Since the heavy machine guns were equipped in large quantities in the Nationalist Army and the Beiyang Army and played a huge role, other warlords have also rapidly advanced, but due to the small number of their own financial resources and equipment, there are only seven or eight heavy machine guns in a division of the Hunan Provincial Army in front, and the Sixth Brigade of the Hunan Provincial Army under it is only divided into three or four, and the regiment under the Sixth Brigade deployed in Yizhang can only be assigned two for combat support.

After putting down the binoculars, Wen Jizhong turned his head to the people beside him: "What do you think?" ”

Immediately, a lieutenant colonel staff officer said: "Brigade seat, according to what I have seen, the enemy army in Yizhang is less than 2,000, and the firepower is not strong, it is not difficult to take Yizhang with the strength of our army, but the enemy is now relying on Yizhang City to hold on, and if our army rashly launches a large-scale artillery bombardment, I am afraid that many people will be injured by mistake!" ”

As soon as the lieutenant colonel finished speaking, he was glared at by Wen Jizhong: "The kindness of a woman!" If all the officers and men of our army are like you, when will the great cause of the reunification of our socialist party be accomplished? The rejuvenation of China requires sacrifice and bloodshed, not only many soldiers of our national army, but also the people! It is their duty and honor to die for the sake of their country! ”

"Give the order to the artillery battalion and get ready for a fire strike!" Wen Jizhong gave the order without hesitation!

Wen Jizhong said that he was a standard soldier, and he was also a soldier who had joined the National Socialist Party, and although the vast majority of the high-ranking officers of the Kuomintang had joined the National Socialist Party, very few of these high-ranking generals were loyal followers of the National Socialist Party, and they knew as well as Chen Jingyun about the goals of the role of the National Socialist Party, and there were very few loyal members of the National Socialist Party like Wen Jizhong. In Wen Jizhong's eyes, now that the great cause of the reunification of the Kuomintang has begun to be launched, then he will faithfully carry it out, and anyone who stands in his way will be eliminated without hesitation.

Although the Nationalist Army will not disturb the people, nor will it force the people to go to mines to block bullets, it will not suffer huge casualties because of the lives of the people. In the several wars experienced by the Nationalist Army, hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties were inflicted, and whether they were fighting in Guangzhou or Nanjing, the front-line commanders never cared about whether the bullets and shells fired would accidentally injure the people.

Obviously, Wen Jizhong himself did not want to start this way, if he did not launch an artillery bombardment because he was concerned about the lives of the people, and then let the 1st Mixed Brigade suffer avoidable heavy losses, then it can be judged that Chen Jingyun would not hesitate to remove him from his post and even send him to a military court.

As cruel as it sounds, war is inherently cruel, and most of those who have a woman's kindness are losers, and without exception have been swept into the dustbin of history.

After ordering the artillery regiment to be ready, Wen Jizhong immediately ordered the 110th Regiment of the front line to attack, and Lin Zhaomin of Guangzhou had given him many orders, ordering him to take Yizhang as soon as possible and open up this communication artery from Shaoguan to Hunan.

At the same time, in addition to some units of the Third Army and the Fourth Army of the Nationalist Army, there was also the Gui Army, that is, Lu Rongting's Fifth Army, which had already advanced from the Quanzhou area to the hinterland of Hunan, and was about to reach the city of Yongzhou. A division of the Dian Army, also known as Tang Jiyao's Seventh Army, also set out from northeastern Guizhou to prepare to attack Huaihua, Hunan. With so many troops attacking Hunan, even if Yang Shande in Hunan can fight again, it is impossible for him to resist stubbornly under the superior strength of the Southern Coalition Army. Victory is a must, and now, the three families of the Southern Coalition Army all want their troops to get off to a good start, although Chen Jingyun did not give Lin Zhaomin any similar orders, but Lin Zhaomin still gave Wen Jizhong an order to accelerate the offensive and take Yizhang as soon as possible, so as to make a good start for the entire Southern Coalition Army, and at the same time show the huge military strength of the Nationalist Army to the Dian Army and the Gui Army.

When the 1st Mixed Brigade was ready, it quickly launched the attack!

The 1st Brigade has a total strength of more than 5,000 people, under the jurisdiction of the 110th Infantry Regiment, the 120th Infantry Regiment, an artillery battalion and other affiliated units, belonging to the full establishment of mixed brigade troops, the mixed brigade infantry regiment in order not to be confused with the infantry regiments of other divisions of the National Army, adopt the brigade number plus the regimental number and then add zero, that is, the 110th and 120th infantry regiments under the first mixed brigade, so as to distinguish it from the 11th, 12th, and 13th infantry regiments of the first division, that is, the regimental number is numbered with '1, 2, 3, The 4' level is a divisional infantry regiment, and the mantissa '0' is unified as a mixed brigade infantry regiment. When the First Mixed Brigade was established, the soldiers and even the artillery battalion were drawn from the Third and Tenth Divisions in a structured manner, and this was a unit composed of veterans, and its combat effectiveness was not less than that of other old units of the Nationalist Army.

Although the Hunan Army defending Yizhang on the opposite side had a regiment, its strength was not full, its strength was only 2,000, and it lacked heavy weapons, the only supporting weapons were only two heavy machine guns, and the artillery only had three old annealed guns. Both in terms of strength and weaponry, it is far inferior to the 1st Mixed Brigade.

Although there are sometimes miracles in wars, and there are examples of the weak defeating the strong, it is obvious that such an example will not appear in today's Yizhang, and from the moment the 1st Mixed Brigade launched an attack, the 1st Mixed Brigade has already occupied a clear advantage.

Twelve 75-mm mountain guns opened fire in turn, plus the mortar companies attached to the two infantry regiments, a total of 12 80-mm mortars, and the infantry had not yet begun to raise their guns to shoot, and explosions were already heard at the head of Yizhang and on the positions outside the city.

After some artillery preparations, the 110th Infantry Regiment of the front line launched a tentative attack, although it was a little dizzy to be bombed, but the regiment under the Hunan Sixth Brigade did not rush, but soon began to counterattack, the bullets fired by the heavy machine guns caused the 110 Infantry Regiment to suffer a certain loss, and then the two heavy machine guns did not continue to fire for too long, and were soon destroyed by several 60mm mortars under the 110th Infantry Regiment for precise targeted bombardment.

Heavy machine guns are heavily equipped in the National Army and the Beiyang Army, and the role of heavy machine guns is quickly valued by both sides, accompanied by the problem of how to knock out the opponent's heavy machine gun fire point, the best way to use the heavy machine gun fire point is naturally artillery bombardment, but a large number of field artillery and mountain artillery of the Beiyang Army are somewhat difficult to accurately strike at the heavy machine gun fire point, and then at this time the mortars equipped by the National Army with a large number of them highlight his unique advantages. It can be said that the 60-millimeter mortars equipped with a large number of the Nationalist Army played a great role in the war in southern Jiangsu, and half of the heavy machine guns of the Beiyang Army destroyed by the Nationalist Army were destroyed by 60-millimeter artillery guns, and the remaining 30 percent were also destroyed by 80-millimeter mortars.

For this reason, the Nationalist Army even specially compiled an operational manual on how to use mortars to accurately attack the enemy's heavy machine gun positions, and the First Mixed Brigade was a well-trained unit composed of veterans, and the artillery shells of the mortars were extremely accurate, and only three mortar shells were used to fire rapidly, which was to successfully destroy one of the heavy machine guns.

This unique combat surname of the mortar has also attracted the attention of some foreign people, and an American adviser in the Nationalist Army even wrote a paper for this purpose and published it in a military journal in the United States, detailing the surname and unique surname of the simple small artillery of the Nationalist Army, as well as the threat to the machine gun, and suggesting that the US Army should also be equipped with similar artillery. Although the European powers such as Germany and Britain have further increased the amount of heavy machine gun equipment, they have not yet reached the level of hundreds of light and heavy machine guns in a division at the outbreak of World War I, and the powers that have not entered the trench era have not yet realized the great threat of heavy machine guns, and the important surnames of the same mortar have not yet been valued by the great powers. A plan for light infantry curved artillery was proposed, but it was still some distance from mass equipment.

The strength and firepower of the 1st Mixed Brigade far exceeded the Hunan garrison in Yizhang, and in one afternoon, the defenders of Yizhang had already connected most of the positions outside the city, but there was no collapse, so the war continued.

At dawn, an infantry battalion under the 110th Regiment successfully broke through to the southeast corner of Yizhang, and then engaged in a fierce battle with the defenders of Yizhang.

At noon, the defenders of Yizhang had already begun to retreat!

Seeing that it was almost over, Wen Jizhong decisively invested the 120th regiment, preparing to launch a general attack and take Yizhang in one fell swoop!

At the same time, Chen Jingyun, who was in Nanjing, was listening to the reports of Yuan Fang, Shen Gang and others!

"The Operations Department believes that this river-crossing operation can completely follow the example of the last river-crossing campaign, make a breakthrough from Yangzhou, and then advance west along the river with the support of the navy, cooperate with the troops in Nanjing to launch a general attack on Jiangbei, take Jiangbei in one fell swoop, and establish our army's dominant position in southern Jiangsu." Chen Yi said.

"Will this be too difficult, now that Jiangbei has gathered two divisions under Feng Guozhang's department, and the follow-up troops are also being reinforced, can my troops crossing the river break through the heavy interceptions and reach Jiangbei?" Shen Gang asked loudly

At this time, Yuan Fangdao: "The plan of the General Staff is to launch the battle of crossing the river in southern Jiangsu and southern Anhui at the same time, and at the same time, the Sixth Division of Anqing will also send troops to contain Cao Kun's Third Division. The 1st and 4th Divisions of the 1st Army of our army crossed the river from the Jiangyin area, and after taking Yangzhou, they would join the 7th Division of Zhenjiang to cross the river. Even if this kind of force can't take Jiangbei, it is enough to be invincible

At the same time, our army's 9th Division in Wuhu and the 5th Division in reinforcements will cross the river from the Wuhu area, the 9th Division will go out of the Chaohu area in front of the 6th Division in Anqing, and form a containment of Cao Kun's 3rd Division in Hefei, and the 8th Division will advance eastward to threaten the western part of Jiangbei. ”

However, Shen Gang continued to object: "Now Feng Guozhang's division in Jiangbei already has the Beiyang Fifth Division, the Seventh Division, and the Second Mixed Brigade, and according to the intelligence department's intelligence, the Beiyang Tenth Division has also arrived in Chuzhou, and Feng Guozhang's division can be reinforced at any time. Without the support of superior forces and firepower, how can our army quickly conquer these two important military towns? ”

Shen Gang further struck down everyone's confidence: "How can we avoid resisting the reinforcements of the 10th Division from Chuzhou when attacking Taishan Town and Reconciliation Jiazhuang?" Tang Tianxi of the 10th Division is not the original Wang Ruxian, everyone present should be no stranger to him, he was able to defeat the first division of our army with a small number of troops, and now he has a whole division in his hands, who of you can have the confidence to block his attack with the strength of the first division? ”

Although Shen Gang's words were exaggerated and self-deprecating, Chen Weihua, who was sitting on the side, turned even red, and he didn't dare to raise his head to face everyone's sight, but what Shen Gang said was the truth, the original Tang Tianxi left too much shadow on the national army, resulting in the current national army valuing Tang Tianxi much more than Feng Guozhang, don't look at the Chinese people boasting Feng Guozhang as the god of the two wars of the Beiyang Army, but it is a fact that Feng Guozhang failed in southern Jiangsu, and the national army has no special feelings for him. Shen Gang directly regarded him as a defeated general, but Tang Tianxi, who was only a brigade commander at the beginning, left a big shadow on the national army.

Shen Gang naturally wouldn't say these words for no reason to undermine the confidence of his own people, after saying those words just now, he coughed lightly, and then said loudly: "I think that our army's plan to cross the river should make some adjustments!" ”

As soon as these words came out, everyone present, including Chen Jingyun, turned their eyes to him, hoping to hear a feasible battle plan from his mouth and break the current deadlock.