kingnovel Chapter 503 Brutal Jungle War
Chapter 503 Brutal Jungle War
503 Brutal Jungle Warfare
"Come on, follow me to the front line."
Ye Qingshan didn't want to stay in the command center, so he took Zhou Pingkou and other officers to the front line.
When they arrived at the front line, the medical team of the 209th Division was treating the wounded.
On the side of the road, there were many bodies of Kuomintang soldiers lying, and the surviving soldiers were collecting the bodies of their comrades.
Ye Qingshan walked forward and looked at the bodies of the fallen soldiers.
“Most of the bullets hit the chest.
The Japs' shooting skills are quite accurate."
Zhou Pingkou, who was standing nearby, also watched for a while and said in a deep voice.
"So, the Japanese 56th Division has something special."
Ye Qingshan also discovered this.
This made them even more determined. They must seize the opportunity this time to annihilate the 56th Division of the Japanese.
Boom boom boom!
Not far away, in the jungle on the west side of the road, the fighting was still going on.
Ye Qingshan and Zhou Pingkou soon arrived at the edge of the jungle.
"Commander, Commander, why are you here?"
After Zheng Quezi received the news that Ye Qingshan was coming, he immediately brought people over.
"How's the battle going?"
Ye Qingshan asked with a cold face.
"Commander, I failed in my duty.
I underestimated the resilience of these Japanese devils. They have not lost their will to fight until now.
Especially after escaping into the jungle, they felt like fish in water.
The Japanese often hid in the trees in the jungle, sniped our soldiers, and organized guerrilla squads to fight and then run away. They were very difficult to deal with.
It was the first time we fought this kind of jungle warfare with the Japanese, and we were not used to it at first.
However, I have asked the company and platoon officers below to hold a meeting to summarize the matter in a timely manner.
Found a way to deal with it.
Commander, give our division another half day, and we will definitely wipe out the last of these devils."
Zheng Quezi also said this with gritted teeth.
Late last night, their division suffered a disastrous defeat in its attack in the jungle, losing four to five hundred soldiers.
This was more soldiers than were lost during most of the day’s fighting.
"Tell me your summary."
"Yes.
Our soldiers found that fighting in the jungle made it impossible to see the enemy's position.
When they met, the two sides were already very close to each other.
Therefore, the best way to wipe out the Japanese is to make use of our firepower advantage.
Use artillery bombardment first, and then organize an elite assault team to attack. The number of people does not need to be too large. If too many people go in, it will be a burden.
But the firepower must be strong.
The assault team should be equipped with more submachine guns, machine guns, rocket launchers and 60mm mortars.
The large outer forces continued to tighten the encirclement.
Half a day is enough to wipe out the devils in this jungle."
Zheng Quezi told Ye Qingshan the new fighting style they had summarized.
"Well, let's do it."
"Yes!"
Ye Qingshan still believes in Zheng Quezi and the others.
These were the veterans who had followed Ye Qingshan through the Battle of Songhu and the Battle of Nanjing.
They may not be as good as other senior generals of the National Army in terms of strategic vision.
But in this regard, Ye Qingshan will do it for them.
But they have extremely rich combat experience.
We can quickly summarize experience from unfavorable situations on the battlefield and adjust tactics in a timely manner.
Soon, more intense gunfire sounded in the jungle.
It was not until around 11 o'clock in the morning on the 14th that the gunfire in the jungle gradually subsided.
The last thousand or so Japanese soldiers who hid in this jungle were completely wiped out.
“Fortunately, this jungle is not very large.
These devils are still surrounded by our army.
If the two regiments of the 209th Division had not been ambushed by us, they would have fought with the th Division in the jungle from the beginning.
Even though the 209th Division has three times as many troops as them.
It would be extremely difficult to annihilate them."
Zhou Pingkou also expressed his relief.
“It’s okay, as long as we win.
The 209th Division's jungle warfare experience was distributed to all units.
So that they know how to deal with the Japanese when they encounter them in the jungle."
Seeing that the battle was over, Ye Qingshan turned and left.
After the 209 Japanese soldiers of the th Division were completely wiped out, the main force of the th Division came after an hour.
We also quickly headed south along the Burma Road to Lashio.
At this time, the Japanese headquarters had already learned the news of the fall of Lashio.
This made the Japanese commander Shojiro Iida very angry, and he sent a telegram directly to the escaped Watanabe Masao.
Order him to retake Lashio at all costs.
At this time, Masao Watanabe, who had escaped from Lashio overnight, was on his way to Mandalay.
We happened to encounter the two reorganized regiments of the Japanese 55th Division coming from Mandalay.
The Japanese 55th Division was there one month before Ye Qingshan led his troops into Burma.
Due to continuous fighting with the expeditionary force, the losses were heavy.
Therefore, after entering April, this Japanese division almost no longer served as the main force of attack.
Now, in order to support Lashio, the Japanese commander Shojiro Iida had to reorganize the four regiments of the Japanese 55th Division into two full-strength regiments and send them to Watanabe Masao.
Unfortunately, they were still late.
Lashio has changed hands.
On the 14th, Watanabe Masao took over the command of the two regiments and looked at the new orders sent to him by the Japanese headquarters.
He immediately led the two Japanese regiments and attacked towards Lashio.
Although, Watanabe Masao knew that the military supplies they had stockpiled in Lashio would definitely not be able to be preserved.
However, the location of Lashio is important.
They still need to take it back.
Just as Watanabe Masao led his troops towards Lashio, the 602nd Brigade led by Long Wendong was also heading over.
The vanguard troops of both sides met in the Jiaojiaomei area.
Fighting broke out immediately.
Da da da!
In the jungle, the expeditionary force's reconnaissance company was engaging in a fierce firefight with the Japanese vanguard squad.
The battle was short and both sides retreated after a while.
They need to report the reconnaissance results to the headquarters.
Long Wendong's brigade headquarters, located in Jiaomei, soon received the report from the reconnaissance troops.
"The Japs' reinforcements arrived very quickly.
Fortunately, we occupied Jiaomei first."
"The order given to us by the brigade and division commanders is to stop the Japanese reinforcements coming from Mandalay.
Now, we can only deploy defenses in the Jiaomei area.
We must not allow this Japanese reinforcement to pass and threaten Lashio.
Later, Lashio will also become the logistics center of our army."
"Well, let's fight the devils here.
According to the intelligence from the reconnaissance company, the Japanese reinforcements arriving this time consisted of at least two regiments of six to seven thousand people.
The strength of our brigade is about the same.
I plan to deploy it this way..."
Soon, Watanabe Masao also received intelligence that Jiaomei had fallen into the hands of the expeditionary force and their passage to Lashio was blocked.
Therefore, Watanabe Masao immediately ordered an attack on Long Wendong's 602 Brigade.
The battle between the two sides quickly broke out in the jungles and mountains around Jiaomei.
The fighting was fierce.
The backbone of Long Wendong's 602 Brigade was the Yunnan Army Corps he brought from Yunnan Province.
Compared with Ye Qingshan's other troops, the Yunnan Army soldiers under Long Wendong are more familiar with the climate and environment in Myanmar.
More experience in mountain jungle warfare.