In addition, in the arrangement of air support, Okamura designated the 3rd Sentai of the 45th Flying Regiment to provide close support for the combat convoy, and prepared a reconnaissance squadron to continuously reconnoiter the movements of the Chinese army.

It is equivalent to equipping this armored division with complete ground-air cooperative combat conditions, fighter planes attacking and advancing, tank groups attacking in groups, and advancing rapidly.

This three-dimensional and rapid modern combat method made the Chinese army, which was still a large number of turtles, almost no ability to fight back, and could only passively retreat and retreat.

In order to defend Nanchang, the Chinese army deployed heavy troops on the front line of water repair, and built a large number of defensive fortifications across the river.

At least it was separated by a deep Xiushui River, and at that time there were no advanced amphibious tanks, and a deep and wide river was a moat between the two armies, which could not be passed.

In order to cross the Xiushui, in order to allow the tank group to cross the Xiushui smoothly, either a temporary bridge was built, or it was carried by ships, and the Japanese ships here could not enter, so they could only repair the bridge.

However, it is impossible for the Chinese army to repair the bridge and deploy heavy troops on the other side of the river, so it is necessary to defeat the defense of the Chinese army on the other side first.

At this time, Okamura Ninji thought of using the "God of War", that is, artillery, and the Japanese army had a large number of large-caliber cannons, which was a huge advantage.

Okamura Ninji used the artillery of each division and regiment in a centralized manner, as well as using tank groups, to form an artillery group, which was under the unified command of the commander of the 6th Field Heavy Artillery Brigade, Tsukita Ryoshiro.

Five 150 field heavy artillery wings (10th, 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th wings), two independent mountain artillery wings (2nd and 3rd wings), the 2nd independent siege heavy artillery brigade, and three independent mortar brigades were transferred from each division.

The integration of these cannons and artillery into the 6th Artillery Brigade brought the artillery brigade to more than 200 artillery pieces, including 96 150-mm howitzers, 24 105-mm and 150-mm cannons, and 96 90.5-mm mortars.

Such a terrifying artillery capacity is larger than the scale of a Soviet artillery division, and more than the total number of heavy artillery of all Chinese armies in China, similar to an artillery group in concentrated operations.

The number of artillery was close to the number of infantry, and it was a battle with the highest proportion of Japanese artillery in the Chinese War of Resistance.

The Japanese army also invested a terrible chemical unit, the 2nd Field Gas Brigade, which had more than 1,000 people in 3 squadrons. That is, the gas troops.

As a matter of fact, after the military intelligence on the Nanxun Line was uploaded, the Military Commission also wanted to strike first and strike at the Japanese army, which had a stable foothold and insufficient troops.

Although the Japanese 11th Army was large in number, it occupied a large area of central China, needed to be defended everywhere, and its strength was also diluted, and there were not many field troops that could be concentrated and used.

However, the Chinese army, especially the troops of the Ninth Theater, had just been withdrawn and repaired during the siege and annihilation of Wanjialing, and the casualties of all units were huge, and they urgently needed to be replenished and trained.

On paper, the Ninth Theater has 52 infantry divisions, and its strength is the largest in the country, but most of them are in vain, many of them are shell divisions, only four or five thousand people, and they still have no combat effectiveness.

It is impossible for such a unit to continue fighting, let alone launching an attack on the formidable Japanese army, which is simply beyond the strength of an egg hitting a stone.

In addition, after the New Year, the Nanxun Line and northern Jiangxi Province were covered with heavy rain for several days, the roads were muddy, the Japanese army's mechanization was exhausted, and the Chinese army, which had not yet formed its combat effectiveness with backward equipment, was even more difficult to assemble.

Therefore, the commanders at all levels of the troops responded to their superiors for various reasons, and in the end, the Ninth Theater had to continuously postpone the date of the offensive.

In this way, the troops lost the first opportunity, and even if they seized the opportunity, there was no way to deal with the powerful Japanese army, and at most it would cost the people and money to attack and harass the Japanese army.

According to records, in late February, the Military Commission, based on information from all sides, determined that the Japanese army was attempting to capture Nanchang and put forward corresponding opinions. On March 8, the chairman of the committee sent a telegram to the Ninth Theater Command:

"In order to secure the line of contact between Nanchang and its rear, the Ninth Theater decided to strike first against the enemy and turn to the offensive in order to destroy the enemy's attempts. Preparations for the attack should be completed by 10 March, and the scheduled start date for the attack is 15 March. ”

The Ninth Theater sent a telegram back, saying that the troops' training had not yet been completed, that it was difficult to resupply, and that preparations were not in place, and that the implementation of the program be postponed to 24 March.

It dragged on until March 17, the 28th year of the Republic of China (1939), and the Japanese army launched an attack first.

With the 101st, 106th, and 6th divisions and the first part of the air force, the Japanese army set out from Qixi, Xingzi and other places in northern Jiangxi, and launched an assault in the direction of Nanchang along Xiushui, Wuning, and Wucheng on both sides of the Nanxun Road.

Among them, the 106th Division was almost surrounded and annihilated by the whole army at Wanjialing, becoming a division despised by all Japan, and Okamura Ninji also wanted to replace the commander of the 106th Division, Junrokuro Matsuura.

However, due to the face of the emperor and General Shunroku Hata, he even wanted to continue to important Matsuura, bringing in a large number of recruits to complete the personnel of the 106th Division.

This time, the 106th Division was also placed in the main position of this strong attack on Nanchang, hoping that the 106th Division could take Nanchang and the shame of Wanjialing in the snow, and also use it to boost the morale of the army.

After the battle began, although the defending units of the 9th Theater fought stubbornly and hard, they were able to resist for a while, but this was only a tentative attack by the Japanese army, and on March 20, the Japanese army began to launch its most powerful general attack.

At 17 o'clock in the afternoon of March 20, under the fire of 198 cluster artillery pieces of the Japanese army, the banks of the Xiushui River suddenly entered hell mode like a landslide.

Thousands of shells of various calibers slammed into the positions of the Chinese army with a terrible roar, and in an instant the earth trembled and trembled, and smoke and dust billowed and enveloped the earth.

At about 7 p.m. in the evening, the Japanese artillery began to fire poison gas shells, sending thousands of rounds of poison gas shells into the positions that had just been shelled.

The Japanese first shelled with ordinary shells, causing smoke and dust, covering and covering up the use of poison gas shells, and second, the concealment of the gas bombs, which made the defenders defenseless under the previous ordinary shelling.

Third, the number of poison gas bombs this time was huge, so it was chosen to be launched in the evening to avoid too much impact. After all, poison gas is not allowed to be used in war.

After the poison gas bomb was released, at 20 o'clock in the evening, the Japanese sappers began to cross the river in towing folding boats, and a few minutes later they reached the other side of the river, and the Chinese defenders did not fire a single shot.

Almost all the officers and men were in a state of poisoning and coma, and a large number of Japanese soldiers who crossed the river assassinated a battalion of more than 500 Chinese soldiers one by one.

The Japanese army generally assassinated the poisoned, firstly to avoid the burden of the prisoners, and more importantly, in order to kill people, a poor battalion of the Chinese army was stabbed to death without being able to resist.

After taking the bridgehead position of the water defense line, a large number of Japanese engineers immediately built a temporary bridge, and more than 100 tanks and armored vehicles were organized into an armored group.

Commanded by Hiroyoshi Ishii, commander of the 5th Tank Brigade, with the cooperation of the air force, the Chinese army's defense line made a rapid breakthrough to open the way for the infantry.

This armored division, similar to the blitzkrieg, is an evil dragon, once it gets rid of the shackles of repairing water, it will drive all the way to Nanchang at full speed.