Chapter 110: The Siege of the Eighteenth Division (3)
The dense long-range artillery fire of the Independence Army was terrifying, and when the indigenous servants who were fighting with the 114th Wing retreated like a tidal wave, the soldiers of the 114th Wing in the position were still waving their weapons and shouting, and a few seconds later, the overwhelming rockets fell from the sky, completely submerging the entire section of the position belonging to the 114th Wing. Extended artillery bombardment means that after the artillery has bombed the intended target, it begins to carry out artillery bombardment in depth, because the extended shelling is gradual, so experienced artillery will not shoot the shells indiscriminately.
The span of ordinary extended artillery bombardment is not very large, but when the rocket artillery of the independent army implements the fire extension coverage, it can often cover an area of several thousand square meters with a single salvo, and with the extension of the bombardment area, the span is also very large. The new Wing Commander of the 114th Wing, Sasaki Osa, was about to collapse, and when the 114th Wing was bombarded by rocket artillery on the 01 Heights, Sasaki was still serving as an operational staff officer beside Mutaguchi Ryoya, and this was the first time he had seen such a powerful long-range weapon.
What else can I do? Sasaki only ordered the 114th Wing to continue to retreat, and it was difficult to stay here and wait to be completely swallowed up by the opponent's long-range firepower. The 114th Wing began to retreat, and the indigenous servant army that had previously distanced itself from being affected by the rocket artillery reappeared, and the servant army that gave full play to the six-character policy of not being able to defeat and shake off the six-character policy was like a dog's skin plaster, firmly entangled the 114th Wing, making Sasaki Osa thunderous but helpless.
For the dogskin plaster-like indigenous servant army troops, the 114th Wing had no time to mess with each other, and Sasaki, who was eager to get out, and the division commander Mutaguchi Lian also just ordered to speed up the march. Fortunately, the combat effectiveness of the indigenous servant army is not very good, it is like having a few lice on his body all the time, but now he has no time to pay attention to these lice, these nasty lice are at most a few bites on themselves from time to time, although it hurts a little, but just ignore it.
Sasaki's ostrich-like approach did work, and after ignoring the attacks of the native servants, the 114th Wing marched much faster. Seeing that the harassment tactics did not work, the indigenous servants along the road had no choice but to choose a favorable terrain and plan to intercept the 114th Wing. The previous performance of the 114th Wing had led the Servant Army to think that this was a rotten persimmon to handle, but this was exactly what Sasaki wanted to see, and a supposedly Servant Army-led interception battle changed after a few minutes of exchange of fire, and the 114th Wing, which had re-shown its fangs, routed the Servant Army from the front, killing hundreds of native soldiers, and then marched away.
Zhuo Fei, who received the battle report from the front, was expressionless, and most of the guards who followed him around him were also the same, from the moment the 18th Division suddenly turned south and crossed the Pahang River, Zhuo Fei knew that the hollow array he had set up for the 18th Division in Kuala Lumpur had failed, and then left Kuala Lumpur with a group of guards and went all the way to the southeast to enter Jinmas. When the Japanese army marched south from Thailand to attack the Malay Peninsula, the Australian 8th Division under the command of Henry 61 Gordon 61 Bennett established a strong defense around the city of Kinmas, causing the Japanese to pay the price of 600 dead and wounded here, but the Kinmasi Bridge was destroyed in the battle, and it took the Japanese 6 hours to regain the bridge.
Now that the 18th Division, which was heading south at full speed, was about to repeat the scene of the offensive and defensive battle of Jinma that day, Zhuo Fei certainly could not let the 18th Division get what he wanted, not only rushed to the front line of Jinma to watch the battle, but also sent a regiment from the Independence Army troops encircling Singapore to rush to the front line of Jinma to build a defensive line. "Tell the command of the servant army, don't be afraid of casualties, after the 18th Division is completely annihilated, I will continue to replenish their troops." Regarding the battle report sent by the servant army, Zhuo Fei's attitude was very simple, and the supplementary strength was that there were still many indigenous recruits in the rear who were undergoing training.
The native servants had no pay to pay, but they benefited far more on the battlefield than the regular Independence Army, because Zhuo Fei promised them a share of the spoils as long as they captured them. As a result, in the minds of the officers at all levels of the servant army, the amount of booty obtained has been linked to the actual strength they have mastered, and without enough troops, even if the booty in front of them is piled up, they will not be able to get it.
It was precisely because of this that Zhuo Fei's attitude of directly agreeing to replenish the troops was exactly what those servant army officers valued the most, because as long as they had enough troops, they could continue to snatch more of their property and interests from the Malay Peninsula. "The servant army will never be with us, no matter how strict the order is, it will be a waste to them, and only profit can make them follow us with all their hearts. Anyway, what they robbed was not Chinese, and if we needed to, we could have snatched it back from them. ”
Zhuo Fei has always instilled such thoughts in the guards around him, and in the entire independent army, the only ones who can really make Zhuo Fei believe are these guards belonging to the umbrella company, even those Jewish soldiers who are fiercely fighting with the Japanese army, can not gain Zhuo Fei's true trust. "You have to remember that we are part of the umbrella, and that the Jews will have to leave here sooner or later, and that the future of the umbrella will depend on us to grow and develop."
Two hours later, the 114th Wing, which had not been able to escape the attack of the servants, was spotted by the forward troops of the Independence Army who had crossed the Pahang River, and an exchange of fire ensued, after which the 114th Wing was surrounded by other Independence Army units who had rushed to hear the news. The commando team composed of more than 500 elite servants even attacked less than 600 meters away from the command post of the 114th Wing, and the new Wing Commander of the 114th Wing, Sasaki Daisa, was even injured in the left arm by a mortar fired by the Servant Army Commando.
The defeat of the 114th Wing was a foregone conclusion, and after sending a farewell message to the division headquarters, Sasaki Osa led the remaining soldiers of the 114th Wing to launch a counterattack against the opponent, but soon, the counterattack momentum of the 114th Wing was curbed, and the 114th Wing immediately collapsed in the face of the strong firepower output of the independent army troops. No one expected that a pursuit battle that would affect the main force of the 18th Division began, and the indigenous soldiers shouted and chased the defeated Japanese officers and soldiers in all directions, and after receiving the promise of the independent army to participate in the war, the indigenous servant army followed the scattered Japanese soldiers to the front line of Jinmas.
It was not the 18th Division, which was completely mechanized on the march, that it could reach the Jinmashi line in such a short period of time, and it had actually exhausted the strength of the 18th Division. Zhuo Fei's troops transferred from the outskirts of Singapore were only a regiment, but an infantry regiment of the Independent Army had as many troops as an infantry wing of the Japanese army, and with the sophisticated weapons and equipment in his hands, the 18th Division could not defeat Jinmasi for a while.
As time passed, the battle became more and more intense, and Mutaguchi became more and more anxious, and the 18th Division began to carry out decisive attacks regardless of casualties. However, the weapons equipped by the Independence Army were too strong, and the terrain was more favorable to the Independence Army's side, and with the retirement of time, the battle became more and more unfavorable to the 18th Division. Such a high-intensity and brutal battle made the soldiers of the 18th Division already depressed to the point of going crazy, and many wounded Japanese soldiers who could no longer stand the suppression of the battle even began to choose to solve their own lives to escape this torment.
Mutaguchi Ryoya was in a very heavy mood at the moment, the fierceness of the battle was far from what he could imagine, and in less than two hours, there were already more than 3,000 casualties in his 18th Division. In the face of the overwhelming artillery bombardment of the enemy, the warriors of the empire could only bear it silently, and the artillery positions belonging to the 18th Division had not had time to deploy before they had time to be blown to pieces by the bombs dropped by the enemy flying team.
In order to intercept the 18th Division in Jinmas, Zhuo Fei not only transferred an infantry regiment from the periphery of Singapore to withdraw Jinmas, but also ordered the flight teams in the three temporary airfields outside Kuala Lumpur to take turns to provide air support for the defenders on the front line of Jinmas. In addition to the mechanized battalion of the Independent Army, there are also three rocket artillery battalions that followed Zhuo Fei from Kuala Lumpur to Jinmas, and once these three rocket artillery battalions arrive at Jinmas, the end of the 18th Division will come.
The rout of the 114th Wing appeared in succession on the back road, and Mutaguchi knew that the 114th Wing was completely finished, and at the same time, he also knew that the pursuers who were following the rout were about to appear. As soon as he thought of this, Mutaguchi Ryoya's heart suddenly became half cold, and the feeling of uneasiness in his heart became stronger and stronger. The uneasiness in Mutaguchi Ryoya's heart was definitely not untargeted, and when the Eighteenth Division attacked on the fourth front, Zhuo Fei finally arrived at Jinmashi with reinforcements.
The movement of the divisional and regimental Japanese army to launch an attack on the whole front can be described as a mountain shaking the ground, but the independent army troops in the defense line are like a rock and are not moved at all, and the incendiary bombs falling from the sky successfully divided the attacking Japanese army into two parts, and the flames continue to attack regardless of life and death, and the Japanese army will not only face the more than 100 light and heavy light guns in the independent army, but also the dense barrage of fighters that swoop down one after another and strafe with machine guns.
The Independence Army did not care about the rapid depletion of ammunition, and their only mission was to block the way of the 18th Division here, so as to gain time and opportunity for the follow-up Independence Army troops to encircle the 18th Division. The sound of gunfire, explosions, and screams mixed together, making this area full of bullets a hellish killing ground for fierce battles between the two armies, and the situation here, with Zhuo Fei's arrival, was more and more inclined to the side of the Independence Army.