EBE Chapter 493: Can’t Be Surrounded Anymore
Chapter 493: Can’t Be Surrounded Anymore
Major Tomotsu Ito, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 41st Regiment, 9th Brigade, did not waste any time. After receiving the retreat telegram from Lieutenant General Imamura Hitoshi, commander of the 5th Division, he organized his troops and formulated a battle plan. He also asked Lieutenant General Imamura Hitoshi to send all the available aircraft to help the 3rd Battalion with a breakout operation the next morning.
At midnight that evening, the battalion commander, Major Ito Chitsuyoshi, personally commanded all the officers and soldiers of the Third Battalion. According to the formulated combat plan, they quietly lurked in the chosen breakout direction in advance and slowly approached the encirclement of the 131st Division of the 31st Army of the Guangxi Clique.
The officers and soldiers of the 131st Division of the 31st Army of the Guangxi Clique had no idea that the Japanese army was already prepared to break out. Over the past two days, the Japanese troops in the encirclement had organized several small-scale attacks, but they were all repelled by the officers and soldiers of the 131st Division.
This small-scale attack and breakout operation by the Japanese army gave the officers and soldiers of the 131st Division the illusion that the Japanese army would not break out and would instead hold their ground and wait for reinforcements. In addition, the superior commander did not arrange for personnel to closely monitor and scout the Japanese army. This led to the situation where the Japanese Third Battalion had already moved covertly in the direction of the breakout, while the officers and soldiers of the 131st Division were completely unaware of it.
At 7:30 in the morning, the Japanese Air Force, which had set out ahead of time, suddenly appeared above the encirclement of the 131st Division. Then, the Japanese army's fierce aerial bombardment shattered the 131st Division's defense line in the direction of the breakout chosen by the Japanese Third Battalion.
Without waiting for the planes in the sky to drop their bombs, the battalion commander, Major Ito Chitsuyoshi, drew his command knife and led the officers and soldiers of the Third Battalion to launch a charge. The battalion commander, Major Ito Chitsuyoshi, knew very well that this was the best chance for his Third Battalion to break out. Judging from the situation of the Chinese army, the other side had not expected that his troops would break out.
The officers and soldiers of the Third Battalion quickly rushed to the defensive position of the 131st Division here. The original defensive troops on this position had suffered heavy casualties in the bombing of Japanese aircraft. Facing the charge attack of the Japanese Third Battalion, there was no way to effectively block it. In one encounter, the defensive troops of the 131st Division were defeated by the Third Battalion.
The battalion commander, Major Ito Chitsuyoshi, led the officers and soldiers of the Third Battalion without any stop. After opening the breakthrough, they quickly rushed out from the breakthrough to the west. The battalion commander, Major Ito Chitsuyoshi, did not even look back at the breached position in the rear.
When the news that the 3rd Battalion of the 41st Regiment of the 9th Brigade of the Japanese Army, which was surrounded by the 131st Division of the 31st Army of the Guangxi Clique of the West Route Army in Xichangwei, successfully broke out reached the Fourth War Zone Command, Commander Bai's face became long and his eyes made people shudder.
Commander Bai did not expect that the telegram he sent to the 16th Army was not strictly implemented. This gave the Japanese army an opportunity to successfully break out of the encirclement of the Guangxi troops. Now the entire Guangxi army has become a laughing stock, which makes Commander Bai have the idea of killing people in his heart.
After Lieutenant General Hitoshi Imamura, commander of the Fifth Division, ordered the 3rd Battalion of the 41st Regiment of the surrounded Ninth Brigade to retreat, he turned his attention to the 21st Brigade that had been defeated in Jiutang.
The commander of the 5th Division, Lieutenant General Imamura Hitoshi, first ordered the commander of the 42nd Regiment, Colonel Motoichi Sakata, to serve as the acting commander of the 21st Infantry Brigade. He then ordered the acting brigade commander, Colonel Motoichi Sakata, to gather his troops and break out from any direction to prevent the 21st Brigade from being surrounded by the Chinese army again.
However, when the acting brigade commander Colonel Motoichi Sakata led his troops to retreat to the vicinity of Qitang and gathered the troops there for a day, he found after an inventory that the entire 21st Brigade had less than 2,000 soldiers left after days of attacks and counterattacks by the Chinese army.
Moreover, due to the sudden counterattack by the Chinese army, all the baggage and ammunition of the 21st Brigade were left in Jiutang by the Chinese army. In other words, the 21st Brigade is not only short of manpower, but also facing the situation of running out of ammunition and food.
After the acting brigade commander Colonel Motoichi Sakata discovered how bad the situation was, he ordered the remaining officers and soldiers to fight with bayonets when they ran out of bullets, and required all officers and soldiers to fight for the Empire of Japan until the last moment.
The task now faced by the acting brigade commander, Colonel Motoichi Sakata, was to retreat quickly to avoid being surrounded by the Chinese army in Liutang or Qitang. However, when the acting brigade commander, Colonel Motoichi Sakata, arrived at Liutang with the remaining officers and soldiers, their retreat was blocked by the 3rd Regiment of the 1st Honor Division, which had been guarding behind Liutang.
When he saw the Chinese army appear in Liutang, the acting brigade commander, Colonel Motoichi Sakata, realized that the Chinese army had already set a trap long ago and was waiting for the 21st Brigade to fall into it.
Acting brigade commander Colonel Motoichi Sakata also organized his troops and began to attack the blocking position of the 3rd Regiment of the 1st Honor Division in Liutang. However, this was too difficult for the remnants of the 21st Brigade of the Japanese Army, which lacked firepower.
However, once the Chinese army's counterattack force behind them wiped out the 21st Brigade's troops in Jiutang, they would be attacked from both sides by the Chinese army. In this case, the 21st Brigade would have nowhere to escape.
Therefore, the acting brigade commander, Colonel Motoichi Sakata, deployed a part of the troops without ammunition behind him, asking them to resist or delay the Chinese army attacking from the direction of Jiutang, while he personally commanded the remaining troops and desperately launched an attack on the Chinese army's blocking positions on the side of Liutang.
The Japanese troops who were sent by the acting brigade commander Colonel Motoichi Sakata to resist the counterattack of the new 210nd Division and the new th Division, due to lack of ammunition, formed a volunteer team under the leadership of their respective officers or sergeants, holding rifles with bayonets.
These Japanese troops were lying in ambush in the bushes around the road. When the pursuing troops of the New 210th Division and the New nd Division approached, they suddenly jumped out of the bushes and launched hand-to-hand combat at close range.
The Japanese soldiers who still had bullets formed sniper teams, specializing in sniping at Chinese officers and soldiers. Some Japanese soldiers fell to the ground and pretended to be dead, holding grenades or bayonets and waiting for the Chinese officers and soldiers to come up, and then suddenly jumped up and fought desperately with them.
This meant that the battles in the rear were no longer large-scale gun battles or artillery battles, but were instead filled with sporadic hand-to-hand combat or suicide bombings launched by groups of Japanese soldiers. The tenacity of the Japanese soldiers in their desperate fight was truly astonishing. At the same time, it also caused some casualties to the New 210th Division and the New nd Division that attacked from Jiutang.
(Thanks to Wuwangcyy, The Sun Never Sets on Greater China, The Duke of Wei who Eats Dumplings Without Vinegar, The Duke of Wei who Loves Beef Jerky, The Peng Family with Criss-crossing Crosses, for their gift support! Thank you all for your support and encouragement!)