kingnovel Chapter 494 Let's do something real
Chapter 494 Let's do something real
However, the pursuit troops of the new 210th Division and the newly formed nd Division were not frightened by the crazy resistance of the Japanese army. The officers and soldiers of the Chinese army's counterattack force also continued to advance towards Liutang, relying on the guns and bayonets in their hands to eliminate all the desperate Japanese troops.
Colonel Motoichi Sakata, acting commander of the 21st Brigade of the Japanese Army, gathered all his forces and launched a group charge against the Chinese army's blocking position in Liutang.
The commander of the brigade, Colonel Motoichi Sakata, knew very well that the 21st Brigade had no artillery support and insufficient ammunition. The only way to break through the Chinese army's blocking positions in Liutang was to rely on the bravery of the officers and soldiers, rush to the Chinese army's defensive positions, and use bayonets to open a breakthrough.
All the soldiers of the First Honor Division are veterans with rich combat experience and have been wounded in the war against Japan. Zheng Tingji's Third Regiment is famous for its bravery in combat and is known as the Death Regiment. The regiment commander Zheng Tingji is also a daredevil who dares to go into battle bare-chested and wield a sword.
Faced with the desperate attack of the Japanese army, the 3rd Regiment, under the command of its commander Zheng Tingji, responded calmly and resisted the desperate fight of the 21st Brigade of the Japanese Army.
The breakout force of the 21st Brigade of the Japanese Army, the Japanese soldiers holding rifles with fixed bayonets and grenades tied to their bodies rushed towards the blocking position of the Chinese army in Liutang. Relying on skilled tactical moves and mutual cover, they quickly approached the blocking position of the 3rd Regiment regardless of casualties.
When the Japanese attack force approached the position, the commander of the Third Regiment, Zheng Tingji, ordered all the light and heavy machine guns that had been ambushed to start firing. The sudden firepower from the light and heavy machine guns knocked down hundreds of the Japanese assault troops at once, and the remaining Japanese troops were suppressed about 100 meters in front of the position, unable to move.
After commanding his troops to charge twice, Colonel Motoichi Sakata, acting commander of the 21st Brigade of the Japanese Army, stopped this suicidal attack. Then, Colonel Motoichi Sakata sent a telegram to Lieutenant General Hitoshi Imamura, commander of the 5th Division.
In the telegram, the acting brigade commander, Colonel Motoichi Sakata, also directly stated that judging from the current actual situation of the 21st Brigade, there is no way for it to successfully break out of the blockade of the Chinese army and retreat on its own. It needs the division commander to send strong reinforcements to rescue them, otherwise, the 21st Brigade will be completely wiped out by the Chinese army when it runs out of ammunition and food.
When Lieutenant General Imamura Hitoshi, commander of the 5th Division, received a telegram from Colonel Motoichi Sakata, acting brigade commander, he found that the current battle situation was completely beyond his control, and that the current strength of his Yongqin Corps had reached its limit. He would not have any reinforcements until the 9th Brigade that withdrew from Longzhou and Zhennan Pass arrived in Nanning.
However, the crisis of the 21st Brigade had to be resolved immediately, so the commander of the 5th Division, Lieutenant General Imamura Hitoshi, sent a telegram for help to the commander of the 21st Army, Lieutenant General Ando Toshiyoshi. In the telegram, the division commander, Lieutenant General Imamura Hitoshi, said frankly that he had no troops to send now, and if the commander, Lieutenant General Ando Toshiyoshi, was unable to send reinforcements, then he would wait for the troops of the 9th Brigade to withdraw to Nanning, and then he would personally lead the 9th Brigade and all the troops to rescue the 21st Brigade.
After receiving the telegram, Lieutenant General Ando Toshiyoshi, commander of the 21st Army, quickly issued an order to the division commander, Lieutenant General Imamura Hitoshi, requiring him to take the remaining troops of the 5th Division to first ensure the safety of Nanning and nearby areas, and to hold back the main force of the Chinese army in southern Guangxi. He had already drawn part of the troops of the 18th Division and the Guards Mixed Brigade to form a reinforcement force, which would depart from Yangcheng by ship in the near future to reinforce the operations in southern Guangxi, and asked the division commander, Lieutenant General Imamura Hitoshi, to remain calm.
After receiving the order, Lieutenant General Imamura Hitoshi, commander of the 5th Division, could only send a telegram to Colonel Motoichi Sakata, acting commander of the 21st Brigade, telling him that reinforcements were gathering and asking him to hold on and wait for help, and to hold out until the reinforcements arrived.
Colonel Motoichi Sakata, acting commander of the 21st Infantry Brigade of the Japanese Army, looked at the telegram in his hand without showing any expression on his face, but he knew in his heart that this should be his last battle with the 21st Brigade.
Acting brigade commander Colonel Motoichi Sakata did not think that the 21st Brigade could hold out until reinforcements arrived from Yangcheng with the remaining troops and the ammunition and food being burned. It was easy to say that he had to lead the troops to hold out, but how could he hold out? After fighting for at most one more day, his 21st Brigade would not have a single bullet left. Would he be able to hold on with bayonets then?
However, complaining now would not solve any problems. The acting brigade commander, Colonel Motoichi Sakata, could only order the troops to quickly retreat for defense and organize the soldiers without bullets to form a vanguard team. After the Chinese army attacked the position, the vanguard team was responsible for blocking the gap with bayonets.
After doing all this, the acting brigade commander, Colonel Motoichi Sakata, felt that he had done everything he could. As for how long he could hold on, that depended on fate.
That night, the troops of the New 210th Division and the New nd Division, which attacked from the direction of Jiutang, successfully wiped out the troops of the Japanese st Brigade between Jiutang and Qintang. At around eight o'clock in the evening, they arrived at the defensive positions of the remnants of the st Brigade.
When the news came that the remnants of the 21st Brigade of the Japanese Army were blocked near Liutang, the top government officials were very excited. They instructed the Fourth War Zone to completely annihilate this Japanese unit and deal a heavy blow to the arrogance of the Japanese Army. At the same time, it also sent a message to the Japanese Army, which was to disrupt my international transportation supply lines, otherwise this would be the outcome.
The large-scale and effective offensive of the Chinese army also shocked the Japanese headquarters. In order to show the headquarters' importance of this battle, the headquarters' Deputy Chief of Staff, General Shigeru Sawada, rushed from Tokyo to Guangzhou to personally supervise the deployment and combat of the 21st Army.
At the same time, the Imperial Headquarters also appointed Lieutenant General Sato Kenryo, Deputy Chief of Staff of the South China Front Army, and Major General Fujiwara Go, Chief of Operations, to accompany Lieutenant General Arao Okikō, Chief of Operations of the Japanese General Staff, and Major General Suzuki Sosaku, Deputy Chief of Staff of the China Expeditionary Army, to risk flying to Nanning City to supervise the battle on the spot.
The commander of the 5th Division, Lieutenant General Imamura Hitoshi, was very unhappy with the supervision of the battle by these big guys. In his opinion, instead of your headquarters sending so many high-ranking officials to supervise the battle, it would be better for you to send two regiments of troops to yourself.