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After the loss of Madang, Gao Fei, as the deputy commander of the Wuhan garrison, decided to launch a counterattack on Madang and other places!

In Goofy's telegram it was as follows:

"Xiangshan and Madang are the gateways of Anhui and Jiangxi, and their gains and losses will affect the victory or defeat of future battles, and it is very important to restore the positions of Xiangshan and Madang fortresses as soon as possible and ensure them. Those who conquer the fortress areas of Xiangshan and Madang will be rewarded with 50,000 yuan each. If there is a person who is ineffective in combat and does not flinch, he will be dealt with by military law. ”

Immediately, the 16th Division, the 49th Division and other divisions under the command of Gao launched a major counteroffensive against the Xiangshan army in accordance with this death order, and once regained Xiangshan again, and inflicted heavy losses on the enemy, but due to the arrival of enemy reinforcements, fierce battles for several days, after all, failed to recover Madang Fortress.

At this time, Gao Fei personally rushed to the front line to command the operation.

Gao Fei pointed to the black arrow representing the Yue army on the map and said: "It was the Botian Detachment of the Yue Army that captured Madang, and the strength was an infantry wing, while the defense of Xiangshan was the 11th Marine Brigade of the Third Fleet of the Yue Army Navy. Although our strength is superior to any of them, it is not very easy to fight because the army has naval guns and air force to help us, and we have a solid position to rely on! ”

Ma Debi said with an excuse: "Today, the 16th Division and the 49th Division have been storming Xiangshan, and our air force has also bombed the positions of the Yue Army. ”

Gao Fei nodded and said, "You're right, but Xiangshan is between Madang and the Yue army downstream, and even if it is captured, it will have to face the two sides of the Yue army, and it will be difficult to hold it with the naval artillery in the Yangtze River." In addition, the friendly forces have been attacking Xiangshan in the past few days, and the vigilance of the army here must be very high, and the only way to recapture the position is to fight hard, which is not cost-effective. ”

Then he pointed to a high ground next to Madang Fortress on the map and said: "I was inspired by the attack of the Yue army: first take the Changshan position, condescendingly bombard the Yue army fleet in the Yangtze River so that it cannot support the Madang defenders, and then capture Madang Fortress in one fell swoop!" ”

Ma Debi felt a little worried, and he said: "The naval guns of the Yue army far surpass us in terms of number and caliber, how can our two artillery regiments suppress them?" ”

Gao Fei said: "Our purpose is only to contain the Yue army, not really to suppress them. Besides, the firing range of the warship guns is about five kilometers, and it cannot cover all positions, so our artillery can wait for the attention of the Japanese army to be attracted and then retreat the artillery for a certain distance, and wait for the enemy to relax before counterattacking, constantly disturbing it. ”

Ma Debi thought for a while and said, "This should work!" However, we have been marching for more than ten days in a row, and the troops are very tired, and it is difficult to jump into battle immediately! ”

Gao Fei sneered: "Now I don't know how many pairs of eyes are staring at our Sichuan army, if we can't take Madang Fortress, some people will say that the Sichuan army has a false reputation, so this battle can only succeed and not fail, and the sooner you start, the better!" ”

Ma Debi said with a wry smile: "Who told our Sichuan army to perform so eye-catching in Xuzhou, Shanghai!" ”

Gao Fei said: "We can still buy a day for the soldiers to recover their strength: tomorrow, your division will feint to attack Xiangshan and attract all the enemy's attention, and before dark, I will launch an attack here, and at that time, the army will not have much time to support with naval artillery." ”

Ma Debi nodded and agreed: "Okay, just do as you say!" ”

At 8 o'clock in the morning of the next day, the 26th Division concentrated dozens of heavy artillery pieces and bombarded the positions of the Xiangshan army for more than 10 minutes. Subsequently, the 26th Division launched a feint attack with a battalion of troops, and quickly retreated after being blocked by the Japanese army. In one day, the 26th Division launched more than a dozen feints, successfully attracting the attention of the Yue army.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, the attacking troops of the 26th Division arrived at the assembly area and completed the preparations before the attack.

At 5:10 a.m., the artillery regiment of the 26th Division and the large-caliber artillery directly under the infantry regiment opened fire at the same time, quickly clearing a passage as wide as 100 meters in the front of the Japanese army's position. Immediately afterwards, the artillery began to shoot extendedly, attacking the deep targets of the army, and the infantry, under the cover of machine-gun fire, began to charge.

The attack of the [***] team was completely unexpected by the defenders, and by the time they reacted, the front of the position was already full of Chinese soldiers, and they were already clearly visible. The surviving Yue soldiers hurriedly entered the position, fired back, and the fire points hidden in the bunker also began to shoot fiercely, and the dense bullets kept jumping around the soldiers, however, what made the Yue army feel strange was that many Chinese soldiers were obviously hit by the vital point, but most of them quickly got up and continued to charge after falling to the ground, as if they were invulnerable!

Fear spread like a plague on the positions of the Yue army, and when the monster in their eyes rushed up, few people even jumped out of the trenches to fight hand-to-hand, just stared at each other blankly, hoping to find the answer to the question, and finally, the Chinese soldiers solved their doubts with a dense barrage of bullets and cold spears.

It took less than an hour for the 26th Division to cleanly deal with a large group of Japanese troops on the Changshan position, and re-aimed its guns at the Japanese warships in the Yangtze River.

Immediately afterwards, the 26th Division stopped the offensive on the Xiangshan position, and Gao Fei sent another regiment of troops to reinforce the 26th Division and began to attack Madang Fortress. At this time, it was getting late, and the warships could only rely on firing flares to guide the artillery fire, and the effect was greatly reduced.

Since the main force of the Botian detachment had already swept the middle [***] squadron along the river to the west with the Third Fleet of the Navy, there was only one infantry wing stationed in Madang at this time, and the huge gap in strength and weapons made them hold out for only three hours before the 26th Division was driven out of the position, and the Madang fortress returned to the hands of the [***] squadron!

Madang Fortress returned to the hands of the Central [***] team, and immediately changed the battlefield situation in the lower reaches of Wuhan, causing two completely different reactions on both sides of the enemy: Chiang Kai-shek came from Wuhan in the name of the national political axe base camp and issued a general order to commend the 26th Division for its bravery, and Chen Cheng, commander of the Ninth Theater of Operations, also called to commend him at the same time, and sent someone to send a bonus of 50,000 yuan.

After receiving the report, the commander of the Central China Front, Okamura Ninji, was furious and immediately ordered the 101st Division to be urgently dispatched by the Third Fleet of the Navy to Xiangshan Fortress in an effort to contain the Sichuan army's offensive and recapture Madang Fortress. At this time, the main force of the Hatian detachment, an advance force composed of a cruiser, three destroyers and a transport ship had advanced to the periphery of the Hukou fortress, and the rear road was suddenly blocked by the middle [***] team, turning into a situation of lone troops going deep. In order to avoid falling into an encirclement, Okamura Ninji ordered the advance team to return to the fortress of Xiangshan overnight to join the reinforcements.

Immediately after recovering Madang Fortress, Gao Fei ordered the First Infantry Regiment to send one battalion to garrison the Changshan position, and the other two battalions and the regimental headquarters to repair the fortifications overnight with the assistance of the engineer battalion.

Gao Fei knew the important surname of Madang Fortress, and said to Bao Changyi, the commander of the artillery regiment: "The fortress has been blown up by the naval guns of the Yue Army, the surface fortifications have all been destroyed, and only a dozen bunkers have been preserved, and the strength of the enemy's firepower can be seen!" Madang Fortress cannot be overemphasized for the important surname of the Battle of Wuhan, which is as clear as we are, so tomorrow is bound to be a vicious battle, and your artillery regiment is the protagonist of the battle, you must be mentally prepared! ”

Bao Changyi's neck stiffened, and he glared and said: "Commander, don't scare me, I know how many catties the little devil has, you just wait and see!" ”

Gao Fei said uneasily: "The naval guns of the Japanese army are stronger than us in terms of number and caliber, so it is better to be careful." ”

Bao Changyi said: "I have already inspected it just now, and the army has not had time to destroy the blocking dam in the river, so the ships will have no way to get close to the fortress, and can only shell from a distance." The river here is narrow, and no matter how many enemy warships there are, they can only take turns to fight, and the back is just an ornament, so there is nothing to be afraid of. In addition, all the warships are small-tonnage cruisers and destroyers, and there are not many cannons with a caliber of more than 200 mm, while our heavy artillery is 150 mm caliber, and our light howitzers are also 105 mm, which is not much worse than the enemy, so you should put your heart in your stomach! ”

Goofy said: "Since you are so confident, I won't say more, but you have to remember: you must also pay attention to your own safety while destroying the enemy!" More than 1 million troops have been invested in the base camp of this battle, and the battle will definitely be protracted, so it is necessary to ensure the long-lasting combat capability of the troops! ”

At two o'clock in the morning, under the cover of night, several ships of the advance team tried to quietly pass through the Madang fortress and join the troops downstream, but they were discovered by the defenders and immediately fired flares, turning the river into daylight.

The cruisers at the front were hit several times in the first round of attack by the fortress artillery, and the deck was blazing with smoke billowing from the sky, and the sailors panicked and scurried around the ship, looking for tools to extinguish the fire. The artillery of the fortress was greatly encouraged, and covered the past with even more intense artillery fire, and the cruiser was hit by more than a dozen large-caliber shells, the engine was seriously damaged and lost power. The destroyer behind fired back, while making evasive actions, but unexpectedly hit a floating mine under the Chinese Navy, with a violent explosion, the left side of the ship set off a huge wave tens of meters high, and then the hull tilted to the left, quickly sank to the bottom of the river, forming a huge whirlpool on the water surface, sucking all the more than a dozen soldiers who fell into the water into the water, and then restored calm.

Seeing that the opportunity was not good, the ships behind did not dare to fight, and hurriedly fired smoke grenades, and then quickly fled downstream under the cover of night, leaving the wounded cruiser under the guns of the defenders. The fortress artillery concentrated all its large-caliber artillery on the cruiser in three salvos, and hit dozens more shells on the hull, sending the scarred enemy ship to the bottom of the river.

At 8 o'clock in the morning, when the weather was clear and cloudless, dozens of ships of the Third Fleet of the Navy drove mightily toward the waters of Madang, and when they entered the range of naval guns, they immediately stopped in the middle of the river and lined up to bombard the artillery of the fortress. At the same time, more than a dozen bombers came along the river, swooped down on the Madang fortress, and dropped dozens of bombs.

Although the anti-aircraft artillery battalion of the 26th Division participated in the battle for the first time, it did not panic, aimed at the enemy planes and fired fiercely, weaving a huge protective net over the fortress. One of the enemy planes in front of him could not dodge, so he loaded in and dragged a long black smoke into the distance. The rest of the enemy planes hurriedly pulled up, dropped all their bombs from high in the air, and then swooped down and strafed the defenders' anti-aircraft artillery positions. At the same time, hundreds of cannons of different calibers of the Japanese fleet began to fire at the same time, and the fortified positions were bombarded by hundreds of shells every minute, and they were immediately drowned in a sea of gunpowder smoke and fire. After more than 10 minutes of shelling, all the bunkers and trenches built by the defenders during the night were razed to the ground, most of the bunkers ceased to exist, and three barbed wire fences were blown to pieces.

After the shelling, the commander of the fleet saw through the binoculars with satisfaction that the positions of the defenders were empty: under such a fierce shelling, no one was spared, and even if they were not directly killed by the raindrops of shells, they had already been shocked to death by the violent waves of air one after another!

At this time, more than a dozen motorboats loaded with hundreds of soldiers rushed towards Madang Fortress, and after landing on the riverside, they quickly formed a formation and rushed towards the fort.

However, what the army did not expect was that the squadron had already gotten into the bunker extending in the belly of the mountain and safely dodged the falling shells, while the artillery of the artillery regiment stayed quietly in the gun emplacement behind the hillside, waiting for the order to attack, and the soldiers in charge of reconnaissance and surveillance used periscopes to observe the movements of the army in the fortifications. It turned out that Bao Changyi deduced from the extent of the damage to the fortress that most of the ground fortifications could not withstand the continuous shelling of the Japanese army, so he asked the engineering troops to give priority to reinforcing and widening the dozen bunkers that could resist the artillery bombardment, and then built a solid bunker for the artillery.

As soon as the army landed, the defenders saw their movements from the periscope, and the soldiers immediately poured out of the underground fortifications, they carried their heavy heavy machine guns to the position, and then waved the shovel in their hands, quickly dug a bunker on the already scorched hillside, pointed the muzzle of the black hole hole at the open area in front of the position, and condescendingly prepared to shoot. Behind them, the artillerymen pushed one cannon after another out of the bunker, quickly adjusted the muzzle of the gun, and aimed at the ships in the river under the command of the school-firing detachment on the top of the hill.

The soldiers of the 26th Division, under the command of the officer, quietly waited for the arrival of the Yue army, and did not suddenly open fire until they were about 100 meters away, the dense bullets were like a huge sickle that harvested life, and no one was spared in the place where they passed, and the Yue army fell in groups like wheat that had been cut down, and the surviving Yue troops fled in all directions at the foot of the mountain, hoping to find a place to hide. The defenders' light and heavy machine guns clung to the ground, constantly chasing the Japanese soldiers with a dense barrage of bullets, leaving them on the hillside forever. In just a few dozen minutes, the two squadrons that the Japanese army had put into the attack were almost completely annihilated, and only a few dozen soldiers fled to the motorboat

At the same time, the fortress artillery group began to attack the Japanese fleet, dozens of heavy guns roared at the same time, and the earth trembled involuntarily. Bao Changyi set the target of the first salvo in the middle of the fleet in accordance with the method of striking snakes and hitting seven inches, and more than a dozen 150-millimeter howitzer shells landed on the deck of a destroyer almost at the same time, and after the violent explosion, a sky-high fire quickly ignited, and the billowing smoke immediately enveloped the surface of the river, making it impossible for the warships behind the fleet to aim. The artillery of the fortress immediately adjusted their targets and bombarded the warships in front of them one by one with continuous salvos, and from time to time the shells fell in the water near the ships, setting off huge waves on the river. The defending infantry who had cleared the front of the position set fire to a dozen piles of branches piled up at the foot of the hill, and the smoke rising into the sky swept towards the fleet under the southwest wind, completely obscuring the gunners' vision.

The inability to see greatly reduced the attack power of the ships, and the fleet changed from the original uniform attack to scattered fire, which not only could not effectively suppress the artillery fire of the fortress, but was constantly hit by the opponent. The fortress artillery and the artillery arranged on the position of Changsan were condescending, and the position of the target was determined by the ship's mast, and the attack continued without relenting

Half an hour later, another destroyer was hit by a bullet and caught fire, and then detonated the ammunition depot, and an even more violent explosion broke out, and the turrets weighing dozens of tons were blown into the air, and then the bow of the ship jerked up, straight to the bottom of the river, and then disappeared into the huge whirlpool.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the commander of the fleet hurriedly ordered a retreat, and dozens of ships drew a huge circle in the center of the river, and then covered several damaged warships and galloped downstream in a hurry, and were defeated.

The defenders cheered and rushed out of the fortress, took off their hats and threw them into the sky, celebrating the victory with ecstatic!

Gao Fei called from the command to express condolences and commendations, and at the same time reminded the two regiment commanders to immediately seize the time to consolidate their positions and bunkers and prepare for a more fierce attack by the enemy.

The flotilla was frustrated in its attack on Madang, so it immediately adjusted its new deployment, with the 101st Division and the supplemented Potian Detachment as the main force, landed in the Xiangkou area, cooperated with the Marine Brigade stationed in Xiangshan, and prepared to flank the 26th Division on both sides, and then detoured back to the flank of Madang Fortress from the land, hoping to complete the task that the navy could not complete!

(To be continued)