readytorunbook Chapter 497 Youth and Breakthrough
Chapter 497 Youth and Breakthrough
Inside the headquarters of the new 100th Division, Ouyang Heng looked at Zhang Wenwu, who had a proud look on his face, and admired him from the bottom of his heart. Although Zhang Wenwu was not older than himself, he really had too many clever ideas in his head. This seemingly impossible thing was actually accomplished by him.
"Brother Ouyang, now we have the order in our hands, let the troops chase them quickly. Haha, I want to see where the Japanese will escape." Zhang Wenwu reminded Ouyang Heng with a smile.
This order was absolutely impeccable. Just as Zhang Wenwu had thought before, there was no specific combat objective in the order. As for the so-called recovery of national territory, there was no specification of how much territory had to be recovered to be considered a success or victory. It was completely up to the new 100th Division to perform on its own.
The top government officials were also very clear. They were happy no matter how the pursuit went. Did they care about how much territory they recovered or how many Japanese troops they eliminated? Of course not. They cared about how to weaken the power and political influence of the Guangxi clique in the post-war liquidation. This was also a reward for the New 100th Division for handing them such a knife at such an appropriate time.
But Zhang Wenwu was thinking about wiping out the Second Regiment of the Taiwan Mixed Brigade of the Japanese Army in one fell swoop. He and his troops had to run so hard to get to Luwu, so how could he let the Japanese army get away so easily?
So, following Zhang Wenwu's order, all the troops of the new 100th Division began to chase along the retreat route of the nd Regiment of the Japanese Taiwan Mixed Brigade.
The remnants of the Japanese 21st Brigade between Liutang and Qitang, under the leadership of the acting brigade commander Colonel Motoichi Sakata, used the night time to build a circle of simple defensive positions. Now the remaining officers and soldiers of the 21st Brigade could not even gather the materials to build the positions, so building such a simple defensive position was already their greatest effort.
The acting brigade commander, Colonel Motoichi Sakata, also knew that it was simply a pipe dream to want to hold out in such a defensive position until reinforcements arrived. So, the acting brigade commander, Colonel Motoichi Sakata, kept patrolling the defensive positions, encouraging and comforting the exhausted and hungry officers and soldiers. Now they could only rely on the samurai spirit of the officers and soldiers to hold on.
At eight o'clock the next morning, the battle to encircle and annihilate the remnants of the 21st Brigade began with the bombardment of the Fifth County Artillery Unit.
The troops of the Fifth Army and the new 210th Division of the New nd Army launched fierce attacks on the defensive positions of the st Brigade from four directions at the same time. However, the acting commander of the st Brigade of the Japanese Army, Colonel Motoichi Sakata, also saw that the attack of the Chinese army was very fierce, so he quickly called for planes from all over the country to come to support.
The Japanese planes in the sky posed a huge threat to China's offensive forces. The attacking forces charging in all directions were bombed and strafed by Japanese planes. Many of the attacking forces had suffered more than half of their troops killed or wounded when they were halfway through their charge.
Relying on its huge air advantage, the 21st Brigade of the Japanese Army managed to withstand several attacks by the Chinese troops in the morning. This made Colonel Motoichi Sakata, the acting commander of the 21st Brigade of the Japanese Army, feel a little relieved.
Acting brigade commander Colonel Motoichi Sakata wanted to expand the position. Only by expanding the position to a large enough size could the Air Force airdrop supplies and ammunition to him. In that way, he could hold on longer.
However, for the current 21st Brigade, it is an impossible idea to expand the coverage of the position. Although the Chinese army did not attack the defensive position, it would not allow the Japanese army, which was short of food and ammunition, to expand the defensive position smoothly.
Acting brigade commander Colonel Motoichi Sakata personally watched several waves of soldiers of the 21st Brigade who had rushed out of their positions being beaten back by the Chinese army. The failure of the attack restored some of his consciousness and made him issue an order not to attack, in order to conserve strength and ammunition as much as possible.
At 1:30 p.m., the Chinese army's encirclement and annihilation offensive continued. The various units learned from the threats posed by the bombing and strafing by Japanese aircraft in the morning. In the afternoon attack, the various units reduced the size of the offensive forces. At the same time, they sent a telegram to the war zone requesting air support.
Sure enough, during the afternoon attack, the arrogant Japanese planes were unable to cause any serious casualties to the Chinese attack forces on the ground, because Chinese fighter planes appeared in the air, they tightly entangled the Japanese planes and bought more time for the ground forces to attack.
Yes, the pilots of the Chinese Air Force could only try their best to entangle the Japanese planes, because they were all young pilots who had just completed the study of basic theoretical knowledge for pilots, and the time they flew the planes was not even a fraction of the flight time of a Japanese pilot in daily training.
When facing planes flown by experienced Japanese pilots, the pilots of the Chinese Air Force were often the ones being chased and attacked. From time to time, Chinese planes were shot down by Japanese fighter planes in the sky, and then a small white flower would float in the sky.
What makes the young Chinese pilots feel a little relieved is that most of the places below are under the control of their own Chinese army. As long as they land safely, they can still fly new fighter planes into the sky and fight against Japanese planes.
The Chinese troops attacking on the ground also took advantage of the time bought for them by the air force pilots with their blood and lives to launch the most fierce attack. Under the successive attacks of the officers and soldiers of various Chinese troops, the simple defensive position of the 21st Brigade of the Japanese Army was finally rushed into by the attacking officers and soldiers of the Chinese troops.
Colonel Motoichi Sakata, acting commander of the 21st Brigade of the Japanese Army, knew very well that if the Chinese army's attack force was allowed to rush into the defensive position, the 21st Brigade would definitely be destroyed. Therefore, Colonel Motoichi Sakata, acting brigade commander, also sent out the assault team that had been prepared long ago to counterattack the Chinese army that had rushed into the defensive position.
The Japanese counterattack forces repeatedly launched counterattacks. Fierce hand-to-hand combat broke out between the two sides at various gaps in the defensive positions. The soldiers of the Japanese volunteer team also tied grenades or explosives to their bodies and rushed towards the Chinese attack forces with rifles without bullets, wanting to die together with the Chinese attack forces.
However, this frenzied counterattack by the 21st Brigade of the Japanese Army still could not stop the fierce attack of the Chinese attacking forces. By five o'clock in the afternoon, the Japanese Army's defensive positions were completely broken through and occupied by the Chinese attacking forces.