Sun Weiguo's suggestion Xue Yue fully accepted, and he immediately began to give orders to the troops of the 19th Group Army. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

As Xue Yue began to give orders, the troops of the 119th Army began to withdraw from the Xiushui River position as planned.

The 32nd Army and the 70th Army began to retreat to the second line of defensive positions in Yongxiu County, where they would block the Japanese infantry, if the Japanese army directly broke through Yongxiu County, then Nanchang would be directly exposed to the Japanese guns, while the 49th Army and the 78th Army troops were assembled in the area west of Yongxiu County, once the Japanese army adopted a roundabout tactic, the 49th Army and the 78th Army troops would immediately start to intercept.

Luo Zhuoying, commander-in-chief of the 19th Group Army, still has a good command ability, the combat effectiveness of the 32nd Army and the 70th Army is acceptable, they are barely able to fight a tough battle, Luo Zhuoying arranged the two armies to garrison Yongxiu County together, and there is no big problem in dealing with the Japanese troops, while the 49th Army is the weakest in combat effectiveness, but the 78th Army is a descendant of the Central Army, and the combat effectiveness is very strong.

When the troops of the 19th Group Army began to withdraw from the front-line positions on all fronts, a large area of the first-line positions began to be covered and evacuated by the troops of the 3rd Artillery Brigade of the New 1st Division.

The troops of the four armies of the 19th Group Army withdrew from the front-line positions, and it was obviously impossible for tens of thousands of troops of these four armies to hide the little devils.

The little devil soon discovered that the Chinese troops began to abandon the position on the south bank of the Xiushui River, and the commander of the Japanese 106th Division, Junrokuro Matsuura, immediately ordered the assault brigade that had already been prepared to cross the Xiushui River by motorboat.

The assault brigade of the 106th Division, all equipped with gas masks, took a motorboat and began to forcibly cross the river in the area of Yongxiu County.

At this time, the Fourth Regiment of the Artillery of the Third Brigade of Artillery and the Fifth Regiment of Artillery had already dispersed and established artillery positions, and the newly formed Fourth Regiment was dispersed and garrisoned various positions under the leadership of Fu Tao, deputy brigade commander and regiment commander, but it was obviously impossible for two artillery regiments and one infantry regiment to hold a group army position.

The Third Artillery Brigade was in accordance with Sun Weiguo's order, and the main force of the newly formed Fourth Regiment was assembled to resist where the Japanese troops crossed the Xiushui River by force.

The troops of the 106th Division of the little devil were the first to assault across the river, and Wang Tieniu of the newly formed Fourth Regiment led the 13th Infantry Battalion, the 14th Infantry Battalion, the field artillery company directly under the regimental headquarters, and the mortar company quickly entered the position of the 70th Army.

At present, the defensive position on the south bank of the Xiushui River is completely in ruins, and there are no fortifications here at all, but the officers and men of the New Fourth Regiment still use the craters and destroyed fortifications as covers, set up their own weapons, and wait for the arrival of the little devils.

At eight o'clock in the evening of March 20, as the units of the 19th Army began to withdraw according to plan, the Japanese troops began to cross the river.

The little devils thought that there would be no Chinese troops on the south bank of the Xiushui River, and dozens of motorboats carrying the devil soldiers of the 106th Division Assault Brigade began to appear on the surface of the Xiushui River.

Because of the rain in Jiangxi in February, the water of the Xiushui River has skyrocketed, and now the Xiushui River is 30 meters wide and flows at a rate of 2 meters per second, so it is difficult for the little devil to cross the river.

However, because of the surge in the Xiushui River, the fortifications set up in advance by the Chinese troops were also flooded, and the situation was also very bad for the Chinese troops.

Especially after withstanding the Japanese shelling, there is no complete fortification on the south bank of the Xiushui River, which is full of shells, shrapnel and blown up wood and bricks.

"Your Excellency, Division Commander, the positions of the troops on the opposite side of China have been completely blown up, and the troops of China have begun to withdraw, and our troops will easily set up bridgeheads on the opposite bank, and when the sappers have erected pontoon bridges, our troops will be able to quickly pass through the Xiushui River. Your Excellency, Division Commander, judging from the current situation, perhaps there is no need for tank troops at all, and our 106th Division troops will be able to fight to Nanchang in one go. ”

On the north bank of the Xiushui River, on the starting position of the 106th Division of the Japanese Army, Yoshitaka Akiyama, chief of staff of the 106th Division, came to Junrokuro Matsuura, and he said with a smug face.

Junrokuro Matsuura put down the binoculars in his hand, he nodded and said, "Let the engineer troops prepare to erect a pontoon bridge, and there will not be too fierce battles on the south bank." ”

Junrokuro Matsuura and Yoshitaka Akiyama shared the same opinion, they believed that there were no Chinese troops on the south bank of the Shushui River, and they felt that the 106th Division Assault Brigade would easily cross the Shushui River.

However, just as Yoshitaka Waiakiyama was about to deliver the order, the south bank of the Shusui River began to sound cannons.

Thirty-three German-made 105mm howitzers of the Fifth Artillery Regiment began to fire, and one grenade after another quickly fired at the Japanese artillery units on the opposite bank.

In the previous operation, the Fifth Artillery Regiment was destroyed six howitzers, but when the troops of the 19th Army were withdrawn, Luo Zhuoying strengthened the last three howitzers of the artillery battalion directly under the 19th Army to the Fifth Artillery Regiment, which gave the Fifth Artillery Regiment 33 German-made 105mm howitzers.

As the little devil crossing the river had appeared in the center of the Xiushui River, Liang Zerui, commander of the Third Artillery Brigade, began to personally command the Fifth Artillery Regiment to fight.

To say that the little devil is also arrogant to the extreme, the 101st Division Field Artillery Wing, the 106th Division Field Artillery Wing, the 66 75mm field artillery of these two field artillery wings are directly deployed on the north bank of the Xiushui River, these two artillery wings do not even have a complete artillery position, they are directly placed in the open place for shooting.

During the day, the Chinese troops on the south bank of the Xiushui River could clearly see the sixty-six artillery pieces of the devil soldiers with the naked eye.

However, during the daytime, the Japanese artillery fought fiercely, and the artillery units of the Chinese troops could only watch the devil soldiers and these guns firing in the open.

But now the situation is different, the troops of the 3rd Artillery Brigade have the task of covering the troops of the 19th Army, even if they are at a disadvantage, they have to engage in artillery battles with the little devils.

"Boom, boom!"

Grenades flew through the air like fireballs, and the shells landed near the Japanese field artillery, explosions rang out, and shrapnel flew everywhere.

More than a dozen field artillery pieces of the Japanese army were blown up on the spot, and hundreds of devil soldiers and artillerymen paid the price with their lives.

After the artillerymen of the 5th Artillery Regiment conducted the first test firing, the angle of the missing artillery was immediately adjusted, and the brigade commander, regiment commander, battalion commander and other artillery officers were all at the side of the artillery to personally supervise the firing.

The second round of firing of thirty-three 105mm howitzers began, and one shell after another was quickly fired, and the second round of firing was three bursts of rapid fire.

Ninety-nine grenades quickly hit the devil artillery artillery, and in an instant, the north bank of the Xiushui River began to be shrouded in flames.

The Japanese artillery unit also reacted very quickly, and hundreds of heavy artillery pieces of the 6th Heavy Artillery Brigade immediately began to suppress fire.