The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 262: The Raid of the Decisive Battle of Xiaguan

Dark night, Shimonoseki, Japanese Army Sasaki Detachment Headquarters.

In the brightly lit tent, Major General Sasaki Yuichi, the leader of the Sasaki detachment, and Major General Noboru Kunisaki, the leader of the Kunisaki detachment, gathered around the command table, carefully reading the battle reports piled on the command table. These battle reports, all From the exploratory attack force sent by Toichi Sasaki today.

These battle reports not only contain the battle process presented in written form, but also have a large number of drawings and appendices, all of which record in detail the firepower equipment and position deployment of the Chinese army positions attacked by each unit during the battle. , as well as the casualties and ammunition losses of various units during the attack.

Sasaki Toichi and Kunizaki Noboru almost personally read these battle reports word for word. After the two of them finished reading the battle reports, their eyes involuntarily shifted from the battle reports to hanging high in the tent. on the tactical map.

The two people's eyes were focused on the same location on the map.

In front of the tactical map, seven or eight adjutants and staff officers from the Sasaki detachment and Kunisaki detachment were comparing the battle reports that the two detachment leaders had read, using red and blue pencils to perform tactical drawing operations on the large-scale tactical map. Following the markings of the staff officers and adjutants, the outline of a huge semicircular defense circle appeared on the tactical map.

The firepower identifiers composed of color blocks painted with red pencils almost cover the entire defense circle. These red color blocks represent the intensity of the resistance firepower of various positions of the Chinese army today. From the continuous red color on this tactical map, It can be seen that the resistance firepower of the Chinese army in various positions in the Xiaguan defense circle is indeed not weak.

But in the corner of the tactical map, at the end of this circular defense circle near the river, there was a blank.

And where the eyes of Sasaki Toichi and Kunisaki Noboru met, they fell on this blank space.

After a while, Sasaki licked his dry lips, stood up, raised his baton and stabbed it heavily into the blank space, murmuring: "This is it, this is it."

If He Wei were here, he would definitely be able to recognize that the blank space that Sasaki pointed at was the position of the 48th Division of the Second Army that he had fought today.

"Sir, the resistance of the Chinese army here does not seem to be very strong, but we have suffered the greatest losses here. One team was almost completely destroyed here, and only a few noncommissioned officers and soldiers escaped."

A staff officer said to Sasaki Toichi.

"Of course it is. Indeed, we suffered the most losses here, but the battle process showed that this seems to be the weakest point of the Chinese army. After all, this is the only position we captured, and according to reports from the surviving officers and soldiers, the The Chinese army's combat effectiveness was very low at first. The attacking team captured the enemy's position with just one charge. Thousands of enemies almost collapsed without a fight. They were chased by a small group of my imperial warriors. The combat effectiveness was simply inferior. to describe it.”

Sasaki Toichi said.

At this time, Noboru Kunisaki stood up and walked over, saying, "That's true. However, this can also be explained by the fact that the enemy was surprised by our army and collapsed unexpectedly. However, in the subsequent battle, the enemy organized quite a lot. The swift and violent counterattack even almost killed one of our infantry squad warriors, which shows that their combat effectiveness cannot be underestimated."

Sasaki showed a contemptuous smile, snorted, and said: "Kunizaki-kun, according to the surviving officers and soldiers, they used at least two thousand troops in the counterattack, and they still launched a group charge with little tactical content, using More than 2,000 troops used human sea tactics and group charges to seize back their own position from the hands of our army's small team guarding a large position. In my opinion, this is very important to those Chinese troops. , rather it is a reflection of poor combat effectiveness.”

Noboru Kunisaki asked tentatively: "So Sasaki-kun, you mean that we open the situation here?"

Sasaki nodded firmly, tapped the tactical map hard, and said: "This is the only breakthrough we can possibly open. The situation reported by various troops today has made it obvious that the enemy has already built a strong defense around here. The fortifications have made this place a tough nut to crack. Now most of the main forces of our army attacking Jinling City are sweeping the city and occupying the inner city. Therefore, the troops that can be mobilized to reinforce us are very limited. We must use the limited troops to At the enemy's weak point."

"It's right here, it's right here."

Kunizaki Noboru had suffered a huge defeat in Shimonoseki before. Although he was also a major general, he had handed over the leadership of the battle to Sasaki Yuichi, so he also said happily: "Then please Sasaki-kun come up with a battle plan as soon as possible. Well, our Kunisaki detachment will definitely cooperate with us."

Sasaki nodded at one o'clock, stared at the position of the 48th Division's position on the map, and said with a fierce look on his face: "We should move through the night, concentrate all our forces, and reach the enemy's weak point overnight, and wait until dawn tomorrow. , launch an attack immediately!"

"Sasaki-kun, it's okay to say that my detachment only has infantry and artillery. The artillery unit is still equipped with relatively light mountain artillery. The artillery of your detachment is a field artillery that must be pulled by war horses. Not to mention it is also equipped with armored vehicles. I'm afraid there will be a lot of trouble in operations. There is an inconvenience.”

"Kunizaki-kun, we must act like this and try to close the distance with the enemy's positions. Don't forget that the Chinese positions are equipped with large-caliber naval guns. The large-caliber and powerful naval guns with eight Even if only one shot of the inch artillery hits our attacking troops, it will be a huge disaster. Only by moving quickly, closing the distance, and breaking through as soon as possible can we minimize the damage caused to us by the enemy's naval gun fire."

Noboru Kunisaki nodded thoughtfully, and then said: "Then follow Sasaki-kun's plan and start taking action immediately. Come here and give orders to all the troops in this detachment to assemble. Start taking action immediately tonight."

Kunizaki Noboru said to the staff officer beside him.

Soon, the staff officers and adjutants of the two detachments all took action and organized the deployments repeated by Sasaki into battle orders. Then, the battle orders organized in military order documents were sent to the subordinates of the two detachments. in each unit.

So, in the middle of the night, the Japanese Kunisaki Detachment and Sasaki Detachment deployed near Shimonoseki all took action, joining forces to form a huge marching column.

And the military strength of this behemoth is also amazing.

Among them, the Sasaki detachment includes the entire 38th Infantry Regiment of the 16th Japanese Division, a brigade of the 16th Field Artillery Regiment and the 8th Independent Light Armored Vehicle Squadron, while the Kunisaki Detachment is composed of the missing infantry brigade. It consists of two brigades of the 41st Infantry Regiment and the 3rd Independence Mountain Artillery Regiment and a group of directly affiliated troops, with a total strength of more than 7,000 people.

In the pitch-black night, this behemoth pounced quietly towards the position of the 48th Division. After a day of fighting, chessing and suspicion, the top commanders of the Japanese and Chinese troops near Xiaguan all set their sights on the 48th Division position located at the innermost side of the Xiaguan defense circle, near the river.

And a brutal large-scale duel is about to unfold around the most inconspicuous position of the Xiaguan garrison.

The next day, early in the morning.

In the position of the 48th Division, there were mist, cold wind, and smoke. The position that was filled with corpses yesterday had returned to normal after a day of chaos.

In the position, the officers and soldiers of the 4th Regiment of the 48th Division were on guard, resting, or queuing up to receive breakfast. Although the defensive equipment and security level of their positions were far from excellent, and even qualified, they could only be said to be mediocre. Call it.

However, if compared with yesterday, today's position security configuration is worthy of praise. After all, yesterday the commander of the 48th Division was a strange person who could leave his troops on the battlefield to play mahjong, and yesterday in Xiao Under an order from the general, this strange man had been removed from the position of division commander and was instead commanded by the chief of staff of the division on an acting basis.

The chief of staff of the 48th Division was obviously much more reliable than the original Mahjong division commander. It took him one night to reorganize the position and restore the defense state.

Although there are still many gaps in the defense deployment of the position, for an infantry division filled with new recruits and which suffered a large-scale rout yesterday, this is already the limit of what they can do.

The old foundation of this unit is the warlord unit of the Zhilu Allied Army, and it has produced division commanders who played mahjong on the battlefield. It is self-evident what the current tactical literacy and combat readiness of this division are.

In the position, the officers and soldiers of the 48th Division ushered in a brand new morning in silence.

The position was filled with the aroma of rice and meat. Many officers and soldiers of the company were holding enamel bowls and lunch boxes with smiles on their faces, waiting to eat. The aroma of food wafting everywhere also aroused the greedy officers and soldiers at the front of the position.

The quality of the sentries of the 48th Division was far inferior to that of the teaching corps. In the seemingly peaceful morning, seduced by the mist and the aroma of the food, their vigilance had already been lowered to the lowest point.

This is true even for sentries and combat soldiers. The cooks who are cooking have no tactical literacy or combat readiness awareness.

For the convenience of cooking, the cooking squads of each company of the 48th Division did not carry out cooking operations in accordance with the basic tactical requirements of spreading out the groups and digging out smokeless stoves as much as possible in the principles of field operations. Instead, for the sake of convenience, they gathered openly in the open space. Carry out cooking tasks.

Wisps of smoke and thick smoke from burning firewood gathered one after another over the 48th Division's position, forming plumes of life-like smoke.

As everyone knows, in this seemingly peaceful and peaceful place, murderous intent has quietly arrived.

A few kilometers away, Sasaki and Kunizaki Noboru stood side by side, staring at the end of the horizon. Behind them, the headquarters staff and adjutants of the Sasaki detachment and Kunisaki detachment, which had merged into one, were working nervously. Various command tasks.

On the flanks of the command post is a large field artillery position. In the position, there are 24 Type 94 Type 75 rifles belonging to the two mountain artillery brigades of the third independent mountain artillery regiment of the Kunisaki Detachment. mm mountain artillery and the twelve modified 38-type 75 mm field artillery assigned to the First Battalion of the 16th Field Artillery Regiment of the Sasaki Detachment have all been placed in the simple artillery shooting positions built by the Japanese artillery overnight. The muzzle of the gun was pointed directly at the defensive position of the 48th Division.

Suddenly, a captain officer ran up to Sasaki Toichi and Kunisaki Noboru. After saluting, he said: "I am reporting to the two commanders that the artillery unit has been prepared. There is a call from the artillery position. Do you want to start the bombardment?"

Sasaki nodded to Kunizaki Noboru, and Kunizaki Noboru ordered the captain officer: "Start!"

Boom
Boom
Boom boom boom

Half a minute later, bursts of loud noises were heard from the artillery position. Twenty-four Type 94 75mm mountain guns and twelve modified Type 38 75mm field guns spewed out black smoke and yellow. With the light of fire, the artillery group composed of thirty-six artillery pieces started firing in a salvo based on the firing parameters obtained by the infantry in the exploratory attack yesterday, accurately hitting the position of the 48th Division with dense artillery shells.

Dozens of artillery shells pierced the sky with explosive roars, breaking the tranquility of the morning. In the flash of light after the explosion of the shells, the dense artillery shells fired by the Japanese army accurately landed on the 48th Division. In the position.

And the first one to bear the brunt was the bright cooking area of ​​the 48th Division.

The dense 75mm blasting grenades instantly covered the cooking squads of more than a dozen companies of the 48th Division. More than a dozen large iron pots of the cooking squad were torn into pieces by the dense shells.

All kinds of prepared meals were blown up to the sky by the shock wave after the shell explosion. What was even more miserable were the cooks and soldiers who were smiling and waiting in line for meals. A second ago, they were smiling and waiting to sacrifice themselves. In the next second, the Temple of the Five Internal Organs was covered by the overwhelming rain of bullets, torn to pieces, torn into pieces of flesh and blood by the shrapnel and violent shock waves generated by the explosion of the artillery shells.

The sudden, uncalled-for artillery bombardment and the dense formation of soldiers lining up around them further maximized the power of the Japanese artillery shells. Almost every 75mm shell that landed and exploded could take away dozens of Chinese soldiers. In front of the dense artillery shells that swept in, the human body and life became the least worth mentioning.

Boom
Boom
Round after round of shelling accurately hit the cooking area of ​​the 48th Division. The Japanese artillery fire was almost perfect, because the smoke and smoke columns above the cooking area were the best shooting and observation targets. .

After several rounds of shelling, the lively and bustling cooking area suddenly turned into a Shura hell filled with broken limbs, broken cooking utensils, and food stained with blood and human body parts.

(End of this chapter)