EBE Chapter 180 Attack (2)
Chapter 180 Attack (2)
If the Japanese army did not rescue the artillery position, Zhang Wenwu felt that that was no problem. He would then take down the Japanese artillery position, surround the Japanese army, and bombard these Japanese with artillery. After all the shells hit the Japanese position, his own troops would launch an attack. However, in this case, the troops would suffer greater losses, especially the artillery shells would be consumed more seriously.
Zhang Wenwu and Ouyang Heng continued to study for a while, improved and supplemented the attack plan, and then he and Ouyang Heng went to the division headquarters to report to Division Commander Huang and Chief of Staff Zhao Dong.
After listening to Zhang Wenwu and his men's battle plan, Division Commander Huang pondered for a while and said, "Wenwu, we will execute your battle plan. The defense of Taierzhuang will be the responsibility of the 210th and 211th Brigades. All of your brigades will be outside the village and be responsible for this offensive mission. In addition, Commander Chen has already obtained the number of your brigade. Your brigade is now the 102th Brigade of the 100nd Division, under which are the 811th and 812th Regiments."
Commander Huang also knew that it would be very difficult for Zhang Wenwu's brigade to eliminate the more than 1,000 Japanese troops outside the city. It could be said that the combat plan proposed by Zhang Wenwu was the best way. The only drawback was that it took more time. There was nothing that could be done about it. His own troops were so few in number, and it was already the best effort they could make to eliminate this force of Japanese troops. The 20th Corps still had tens of thousands of people. Although they were facing attacks from the Japanese on three sides, they could at least hold on for a few days.
After obtaining Commander Huang's consent to the battle plan, Zhang Wenwu and Ouyang Heng returned to the village to assemble the troops. The two also made some division of labor. At Zhang Wenwu's insistence, it was finally decided that Zhang Wenwu would lead the suicide squad and the 811th Regiment to bypass the Japanese defensive positions to attack the artillery positions behind the Japanese army, and be responsible for ambush in the middle to eliminate the Japanese reinforcements.
Ouyang Heng led the 812th Regiment to attack and contain the Japanese troops in the positions outside the city, putting a certain amount of pressure on the Japanese troops and preventing them from sending a large number of reinforcements to reinforce the artillery positions in the rear.
At three o'clock in the morning, Zhang Wenwu led his troops to carry out a roundabout operation, and Ouyang Heng handed over the defense line of Taierzhuang to the 210th and 211th Brigades, and then led his troops to lurk towards the Japanese positions outside the city.
At five o'clock in the morning, Zhang Wenwu led the flanking troops and successfully arrived at the artillery position behind the Japanese army. Zhang Wenwu let the troops rest for half an hour to restore the officers and soldiers' physical strength. At half past five, Zhang Wenwu ordered the death squad to sneak into the Japanese artillery defense position and try to eliminate the defensive officers and soldiers on the Japanese outer positions with bayonets and cold weapons.
The officers and soldiers of the suicide squad slowly crawled towards the Japanese position from all directions. After crawling slowly for thirty minutes, most of the officers and soldiers had crawled to a place less than ten meters away from the Japanese position. At this time, most of the officers and soldiers of the suicide squad stopped advancing. At this distance, a large number of people crawling together would make a slight noise, which would be a great loss if they were discovered by the Japanese soldiers in the trenches.
At six in the morning, the feint attack and diversionary force commanded by Ouyang Heng began to bombard the main position of the Japanese army. More than 30 captured Japanese mountain artillery and field artillery fired at the temporary field fortifications built by the Japanese army outside the city. Although the artillerymen's accuracy was not very good, the momentum of the bombardment still scared the Japanese army.
The officers and soldiers of the suicide squad took advantage of the sound of artillery fire in the front and the time when the soldiers defending the Japanese artillery positions were distracted by the sound of artillery fire and explosions in the front, and quickly crawled to the front of the Japanese positions, quietly climbed into the Japanese field trenches and foxholes, and wiped out all the Japanese soldiers inside with bayonets, daggers and machetes.
After silently eliminating all the Japanese troops in the trenches and foxholes, the officers and soldiers of the suicide squad continued to attack on both sides and in depth along the trenches. They took advantage of the darkness before dawn and quickly killed the scattered Japanese soldiers resting in the trenches with various cold weapons, and continuously expanded the distance of the breakthrough.
The attack of the suicide squad was not discovered until after dawn by a Japanese soldier who was using the toilet at a heavy machine gun position set up in a trench near the artillery position of the Japanese artillery garrison.
Masaichi Sakai was peeing outside the position at the time. He was suddenly horrified to find that there was no one on duty at the sentry post in the trench five meters away. This made him feel that something was very wrong.
As soon as Sakai Masaichi pulled up his pants, he discovered in the dim light that someone seemed to be moving in the trench. He alertly held the rifle behind him and shouted towards the trench: "Kobayashi, is that you? Why aren't you at your post?"
No one answered his question and silence returned to the trench. Just as he was about to move forward to check, a silver object suddenly flew towards him from the trench. Sakai Masakazu felt a pain in his forehead and everything in front of him became completely dark, because there was a dagger stuck in his forehead.
However, this scene was seen by another Japanese soldier at the machine gun position, who immediately shouted: "The Chinese are attacking, the Chinese are attacking."
But the Japanese army's heavy machine gun position was set up to guard the front, and he could not adjust the firing direction of the heavy machine gun to shoot at the trench on his side, so he picked up a grenade on the machine gun position and prepared to throw it. But when he was about to throw the grenade, a burst of gunfire rang out, and several bloody holes were directly made on his body. The Japanese soldier fell straight down on the machine gun position, and then five seconds later, the grenade exploded on the machine gun position, killing two Japanese soldiers who were just about to operate the heavy machine gun.
The sound of gunfire and explosions immediately made the artillery position lively. Zhang Wenwu led two companies of officers and soldiers and rushed into the Japanese trenches following the gap opened by the suicide squad, and attacked inward along the communication trench.
There was only one Japanese squadron guarding the artillery position. In the attack of the suicide squad just now, more than 30 people in this squadron were inexplicably killed. Facing the attack of the suicide squad and two companies of officers and soldiers, the commander of the Japanese garrison, Captain Jiro Aso, hurriedly called Colonel Shinpei Fukuei at the front position for help.
But after shaking the phone for a long time, he had to discover in despair that the telephone line between him and Colonel Fukuei Shinpei had been cut by the Chinese army. So he called two soldiers and asked them to go to the front position to find Colonel Fukuei Shinpei to ask for reinforcements.
After the Chinese army launched the artillery bombardment, Colonel Fukuei Shinpei had been paying close attention to the movements of the Chinese army. He found that although the Chinese army's chaotic artillery bombardment was loud and powerful, the actual effect was limited. Moreover, the Chinese army did not directly launch a large-scale infantry charge, which made him feel a little relieved.
Go ahead and bomb them! If your Chinese army can hold out for so long under the artillery fire of the Empire of Japan, our warriors of the Empire of Japan will certainly hold out longer, Colonel Fukuei Shinpei comforted himself.
Less than fifteen minutes after Colonel Fukuei Shinpei consoled himself, he saw a dusty soldier rushing into his semi-underground command post and reporting loudly, "Captain, the Chinese army is attacking the artillery position, and Captain Aso wants me to come over for tactical guidance."
"What? The Chinese army actually bypassed my position to attack the artillery position? How many people are there? What's the current situation of the artillery position?" Colonel Fukuei Shinpei stood up from the ammunition box he was sitting on. This made him anxious. The artillery position behind him was the core supporting firepower for him to defend the position in front. Without the support of the artillery, how could his more than a thousand infantrymen hold on under the attack of the Chinese army?
"Your Excellency the regiment commander, there are about 500 Chinese troops attacking the artillery position, but they are equipped with a large number of submachine guns. Now they have rushed into the trenches of the artillery defense position." The messenger breathlessly introduced the situation of the artillery position to the regiment commander.
After hearing that the Chinese army that attacked the artillery position had only about 500 people, Colonel Fukuei Shinpei calmed his nervous mood a little. As long as the Chinese army did not attack the artillery position with many people, he could still withdraw some troops to reinforce. He estimated that he only needed to send out 200 to 300 reinforcements, and with the cooperation of the original garrison troops, they would be able to quickly repel the Chinese army's sneak attack. After repelling the Chinese army's sneak attack, half of the reinforcements could stay to assist in defending the artillery position, and the rest could return to the main position in front, which would not cause too much loss of combat power.
Colonel Fukuei Shinpei then quickly sent a squadron leader with two hundred soldiers to reinforce the artillery positions in the rear. He believed that as long as his reinforcements arrived, the defense of the artillery positions would be no problem.
Now the soldiers of the 100th Brigade attacking the Japanese artillery position are actually only the soldiers of the two companies led by Zhang Wenwu. All the soldiers of the Suicide Squad have withdrawn as planned. According to the plan made by Zhang Wenwu and Ouyang Heng, the soldiers of the Suicide Squad should now reinforce the ambush troops in the middle. Zhang Wenwu needs to give full play to the advantage of the good marksmanship of the soldiers of the Suicide Squad, give the Japanese reinforcements the fastest and most effective blow, and eliminate the Japanese reinforcements in the shortest time possible.
Zhang Wenwu was commanding two companies of officers and soldiers to slowly advance in the trenches. He was not in a hurry. His task was to put pressure on the Japanese artillery positions to silence their artillery fire and let the Japanese artillery positions send more people to the Japanese troops in front to continuously ask for reinforcements and deliver them to the pockets set up by the officers and soldiers ambushing in the middle.
In the open area between the main Japanese position and the artillery position, the remaining 811 officers and soldiers of the th Regiment plus more than suicide squad soldiers who came to reinforce them all crawled on both sides of the road less than meters away, quietly waiting for the reinforcements sent by the Japanese army to the artillery position. Their mission was to eliminate the reinforcements on the way.
When the two hundred Japanese reinforcements sent by Colonel Shinpei Fukuei appeared in the eyes of the officers and soldiers of the 811th Regiment in ambush, everyone perked up and stared closely at the Japanese troops running forward.