20_20434 scratched his head and really couldn't guess the sudden surge in the opponent's firepower, and how the opponent infiltrated his rear Fang Riying, the commander of the 40th Division, could only tear down the east wall and make up the west wall in the face of huge pressure. Trying to hold the strategic point of Xingtan before the arrival of the main force of the 52nd Division on the northern front.

Of course, with the experience of the inexplicable loss of all the artillery battalions, while adjusting the deployment, he did not forget to urgently transfer a battalion from the Xingtan defenders back to the Sanxi Division headquarters, and together with the division headquarters pistol battalion, they formed an iron wall around the division headquarters.

If the artillery is lost, the Military Commission will replenish it. Without artillery, the battle would have been more difficult at best. But if he, the division commander, had to repeat the mistakes of artillery, the losses of the entire 40th Division would have been great.

Listening to the battle reports that kept coming from the front, both the army commander and Yang Zhen breathed a sigh of relief. Especially Yang Zhen, he knew that as long as the main forces of the 52nd Division and the 108th Division on the northern front arrived to take Xingtan, the entire southern Anhui army could be said to be roughly out of danger.

Thinking of this, Yang Zhen breathed a sigh of relief, and at the same time, he couldn't help but sigh that the combat effectiveness of these old troops was from the old guerrillas of the Red Army, and they were still quite strong, especially the experience in mountain warfare. Although the military quality is not necessarily very good, and the experience of frontal combat is lacking, the firmness of the will is incomparable to that of ordinary troops. Otherwise, it wouldn't be able to play so well when almost all of them are back attacks.

In fact, Yang Zhen also knew that in addition to the strong will of the troops, another factor also affected the development of the entire battle situation. Although the troops in southern Anhui were not as good as those in the north that had experienced the Long March, in terms of military quality due to their own reasons, they were not as good as those in the north. However, in terms of armament alone, it is at least not inferior to the better miscellaneous troops.

Most of the activities of the New Fourth Army passed through the areas where several large-scale battles between China and Japan took place in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War. There is a considerable number of weapons scattered in this area. When the New Fourth Army first came out of the mountains, its weapons were indeed in a mess, and even a considerable number of people still used old-fashioned rifles from local militia groups and security regiments captured during guerrilla warfare.

Not to mention the mutilation, these weapons are also extremely inadequate. There are also a considerable number of people who are also armed with broadswords and pikes. The condition of the ammunition is also unusually shabby, with an average of five rounds per gun not being enough. The whole army had only three heavy machine guns that could not fire in bursts and more than a dozen old light machine guns. Commanders at all levels, basically without telescopes.

At the beginning, in order to change the situation of the shortage of equipment in the New Fourth Army, the army commander tried his best to fight for the third theater. He also used his personal connections to raise a batch of funds and purchased more than 3,000 pistols from Hong Kong to equip the troops. Only then did it alleviate the shortage of equipment in the New Fourth Army. However, after the eastward advance, due to the huge number of weapons lost in southern Jiangsu, the equipment of the New Fourth Army was greatly improved by relying on the collection of these equipment. Most of the troops in southern Anhui were transferred back from southern Jiangsu, and although there was a certain shortage of ammunition, the equipment was still quite good.

Compared with the 18th Group Army, which was in short supply of equipment in North China due to its rapid development, the equipment of the southern Anhui army was still quite good on the whole because it had obtained a large amount of equipment left over from the retreat in southern Jiangsu. At least there are no cases where there are more people than guns.

Yang Zhen has seen a lot of Chinese formal rifles, 1924 rifles from the original German factory, and Czech and Belgian rifles imported before the Anti-Japanese War. Hanyang-made rifles are basic equipment, and the number of them is quite sufficient. The main forces are basically able to do one gun per man. In addition, there are quite a few Type 38 rifles, but the number is not very large.

The number of light and heavy machine guns is also quite large, especially the number of light machine guns is quite sufficient. And most of them are new light machine guns such as Czech light machine guns and Belgian machine guns with excellent performance, and there are even a few Soviet-style turntable machine guns and more than a dozen crooked light machine guns captured in southern Jiangsu. The troops of the six regiments, together with the direct subordinate team and the teaching team, add up to nearly 100 units.

Although the number of heavy machine guns is not large, less than twenty, they are all in new condition. In particular, the three Hatch Chase heavy machine guns equipped with the new regiment provided quite reliable fire cover for this operation. In fact, when it comes to poor equipment, the main reason is that the amount of ammunition is insufficient, and the artillery is almost non-existent.

In the entire southern Anhui army, there were only two 82-mm French mortars. Moreover, the number of shells was insufficient, only a few dozen rounds were collected, and Yan Zòng lacked firepower to attack the fortifications. The number of grenades and grenades is also somewhat insufficient, but melee weapons such as Mauser pistols are relatively sufficient.

It turned out that there were indeed some ammunition shortages, but with the addition of millions of rounds of ammunition randomly brought by Yang Zhen, the originally extremely tense ammunition situation has been greatly improved. The armament of a large number of submachine guns gives the troops a great advantage in firepower in close combat and mountain warfare. The arrival of the equipment of the four mortar companies also greatly enhanced the troops' ability to attack fortified positions in mountain warfare.

The reason why the progress is so rapid is that the old troops have a strong work style and are resolute in carrying out orders. More thanks to the improvement of armament. Otherwise, it would have been almost all mountain warfare, and the 40th Division had built a certain number of pillboxes, and the speed of the breakthrough was definitely not so fast.

After forming a flanking attack on the 40th Division, almost all the people in the military headquarters thought that as long as they broke through the Xingtan line, victory was already in sight. Just when the new regiment had almost reached the edge of Xingtan, the three regiments left on the left flank on the front line of Bangshan had a problem.

After learning that the troops in southern Anhui had approached Xingtan, the 52nd Division located on the northern front significantly accelerated the pace of the march. In order to close the gap opened by the first column before Xingtan was lost, the 52nd Division adopted the tactic of adding fuel. That is, when a regiment is reached, it is thrown into a regiment.

Originally, the 3rd Regiment relied on the favorable terrain of Bangshan, coupled with sufficient ammunition and the tactical mistakes of the 52nd Division, it was completely possible to block the follow-up troops of the 52nd Division on the front line of Bangshan and take the advantageous fighters of Xingtan for the main force. In order to ensure the left flank of the entire army, the main force of the first column was assigned to the third regiment with four heavy machine guns of a heavy machine gun company reinforced by the general headquarters before moving south.

It's just that what almost everyone didn't expect was that at this critical moment, Zhao Lingbo, deputy commander of the 1st Column that commanded the 3rd Regiment to block the 52nd Division's southward movement on the front line of Bangshan, came to a battlefield with the entire battle plan and weapon configuration table and disappeared without knowing where to go. Moreover, before the disappearance, no combat orders were issued to the old third regiment.

The supreme commander of the field suddenly disappeared on the battlefield with all the battle plans, and he did not expect a regiment reinforced by the 52nd Division to come too quickly, as well as the disparity in strength. As a result, when the old 3rd Regiment came into contact with the vanguard of the 52nd Division, it fell into chaos on a certain distance, and the 52nd Division took advantage of the chaos to recapture Bangshan.

After a scuffle, the losses of the old third regiment were not light, especially the casualties of the cadres. The regiment commander was killed, and the commissar was wounded. The regiment commander died, the political commissar was wounded and lost his command ability, and the chief of staff was transferred to the teaching corps as deputy commander before departure. At this time, the old third regiment, which was supposed to be on the front line of Bangshan, had to fight and retreat under the command of the director of the regimental administration.

After receiving the report of the old third regiment, the entire military headquarters blew up the nest at that time. The first line of Bangshan is the commanding heights that control the entire east bank of the Hui River. The loss of the Bangshan front line meant that not only would the first column face the danger of being flanked from both sides at any time, but the entire frontal battlefield would also be exposed to the artillery fire of the 52nd Division. However, the terrain of Bangshan is dangerous, and if you want to retake it in the face of the enemy's superior forces, it means that you will have to pay a greater price.

The news of the loss of Bangshan, the heavy casualties of the old third regiment, and the casualties of all the military and political chiefs came, and Yang Zhen, who had always seemed extremely calm, did not show any panic. I just looked at the commander on the side very calmly, and still didn't make any comments. Yang Zhen's attitude is very clear, you are a military commander, and what to do should be done by you.

Looking at Yang Zhen, who was not wavering, the army commander on the side hesitated, gritted his teeth and said to the deputy chief of staff beside him: "Order the main force of the first column not to stay, and continue to make every effort to intersperse with the Xingtan line." The order was given to the main force of the teaching corps, the special service battalion directly under it, and the engineer battalion attached to the army, and immediately rushed to the front line of Bangshan at the speed of a forced march. Under the unified command of Comrade Xie Zhongliang, he recaptured Bangshan at any cost. ”

"Sue Xie Zhongliang, no matter what method he uses. It's just that I'm tired and vomiting blood, and before 20 o'clock tonight, I must arrive at the front line of Bangshan. The telegram ordered Zhao Xizhong, chief of staff of the First Column, to act as the head of the old third regiment and hold on to the spot and wait for reinforcements to arrive. If you take a step back, military law will punish you severely. ”

Regarding these two orders of the army commander, Yang Zhen, who had been silent, hesitated for a moment, but finally spoke: "Zhao Xizhong can't act as the head of the old third regiment, let Xu Zanhui, chief of staff of the new regiment, be the acting head of the regiment, and the political commissar will be replaced by Zhong Desheng, director of the political department of the old third regiment." Zhong Desheng was able to suffer all the casualties of the military and political chief of the army, and the chief of staff was not there. Being able to reorganize and gather the troops that were in chaos without letting them collapse on the spot shows that this comrade is still very capable of working, and the acting political commissar is completely capable. ”

Speaking of this, Yang Zhen walked to the map, pointed to the current location of the old third regiment and the main force of the teaching corps and the special service battalion directly under it, and said: "As for Bangshan, I don't think it is an appropriate choice to counterattack now. Judging from the current movements of the 52nd Division, its reaction speed is quite fast. ”

"And judging from the current position of the teaching corps and the direct special service battalion, even if they arrive at Bangshan on time at the speed of a forced march, I am afraid it will be too late. From the position of the pit mouth where we are currently located, not only to cross the Hui River to the line of Bangshan, but most of the area along the way is mountainous. ”

"Wangshan is a dead horse, from here to Bangshan, it is not as short a distance as we see on the map. By the time reinforcements arrive, I'm afraid the 52nd Division has already gained a firm foothold on the front line of Bangshan. There are only more than 200 people left behind in the teaching corps to guard the military headquarters, and even if they add the military direct special service battalion and the old third regiment, they do not have any advantage in terms of strength. ”

"At this time, it is difficult for us to achieve the desired effect even if we pay a heavy price. Although our army has always had a tradition of night battles and close combat. In night battles, the use of night cover can offset the advantage of some of the opponent's forces and equipment. But the forces at hand are still impossible to bear the price of counterattacking Bangshan. ”。