Chapter 68: The Defense of the Yangtze River (3)

In the past few days, lightning and thunder have been thundering in various parts of the south, and heavy rain has been falling continuously for a long time, and the logistics and supplies of the Wehrmacht have not been replenished for a long time, and food and ammunition are in short supply. Pen | fun | pavilion www. biquge。 Although the Wehrmacht has all been modernized, the shortcomings of modern equipment with powerful firepower have also been exposed, and the consumption of ammunition is very huge, and the Wehrmacht has just finished all the wars in the southern region, and the ammunition reserves are hugely depleted, and the logistics of the troops are difficult to supply due to the roads and weather, which has caused great difficulties for the Wehrmacht's operations.

Zhang Yuanzheng and Yang Huaifang's itinerary was also affected by the heavy rain in the past few days, and now they are staying in Fuzhou, receiving a telegram that has been forwarded many times, Zhang Yuanzheng took the telegram and frowned, "Huaifang, it seems that we have underestimated the difficulties we are encountering now, modern warfare is about logistics, pass on my order, the government and garrisons along the way must ensure the smooth and safe logistics and transportation, to prevent the enemy from destroying our logistics and transportation lines, and at the same time order the Ministry of Communications to immediately start repairing the communication lines of the provinces along the Yangtze River, In order to ensure the fast and smooth logistics transportation. “

"Oh, by the way, remember to send a telegram to Chief of Staff Nie, telling him to command the troops on the front line with peace of mind, I will give him full support for logistics, remember not to fight hard, the most important task now is to drag down the enemy, although we have fought for a long time, the troops have not had time to repair well, the Qing Dynasty has decayed, their finances are no longer able to support a long battle, as long as it drags on for a month, the situation will improve greatly, please be sure to hold on for a month." Zhang Yuanzheng continued.

In the front-line command post of the Yangtze River Defensive Battle, Nie Shicheng looked at the defensive situation map of the Yangtze River, and was very worried about the battle situation, "Report, the commander-in-chief is calling." After reading the telegram, Nie Shicheng immediately called the herald: "Immediately send the order to the front line to the troops, and fight a white-knuckle battle when the ammunition is gone, but we must resolutely hold the position for me, and we must not let an enemy pass through the position, I don't want casualties, I only need the position, and those who retreat without authorization will be dealt with by military law." ”

Looking at the Yangtze River from afar, it is a pity that time does not wait, there is no time to enjoy the scenery of the Yangtze River, this beautiful and magnificent Yangtze River has been stained red with blood at the moment, a certain regiment position, "Regiment commander, we are running out of ammunition, after the enemy's next round of charge, we have no ammunition, ask the general headquarters for help." The regimental staff officer said, "The general headquarters has no ammunition, our army has just gone through a big battle, the ammunition consumption is huge, and now the logistics can not get so much ammunition, so we can only rely on ourselves, the general headquarters has ordered, we must not take a step back, resolutely block the enemy, all of them, bayonets, brothers, the commander-in-chief said, the brave wins when they meet on a narrow road, kill..."

The two sides strangled each other, the bayonets were red, the blood was spilled on the battlefield, the soldiers of the Wehrmacht became more and more courageous, with their stubborn will, the Qing army was quickly pressed down, "stop the pursuit, each battalion and company immediately count the casualties, seize the time to rest, and meet their next charge." The regimental commander said

'Report to the regiment commander, we have suffered more than 300 casualties in the battle just now, and I have already asked people to send them to the field hospital if they are seriously wounded, and some of the lightly wounded are still on the position. ’

'Well, order everyone to hurry up and repair the fortifications, and at the same time take time to eat and rest, believing that the enemy will continue to attack after a short rest. ’

In the headquarters, Nie Shicheng said to the staff officer, "Is it that we ran out of ammunition, and the gunfire suddenly stopped just now." The staff officer immediately replied: "Yes, just now the troops reported that the ammunition has been exhausted, and just now we have started a white-knuckle battle with the enemy, and the losses of the various units are large. “

Immediately let the field hospital seize the time to rescue the wounded, and if there is any difficulty, report it immediately, and I will solve it for them. "Chief of Staff, not only are we running out of ammunition, but we are also running out of food, and the logistics have just come to report, and the food is only enough for two days."

Nie Shicheng was quite irritable at this time, shaking his head and sighing, helpless. 'Report, Chief of Staff, the logistical transport has arrived, the ammunition has been urgently delivered to the troops at the front, and the food has begun to be moved into the reserve warehouse. Nie Shicheng turned around and said: "They came in time enough, I was still worried about this matter just now, they came, since the ammunition has arrived, let the troops give me a hard beating, I guess the enemy may have concluded that we have no ammunition, their warships will definitely attack on the shore later, tell the heavy artillery troops to wait, give me the right to attack, and destroy all the enemy's warships on the shore." ”

On the other side of the Qing army's position, representatives of the allied forces of Britain, France, and other countries were holding an operational meeting, saying, 'The attack just now has proved that the Wehrmacht's ammunition is gone, and we will take advantage of the fact that their ammunition is exhausted, and we will capture their positions in one fell swoop, and our warships can get closer and bombard their positions with naval guns to cover the landing of the troops.' ’

At this time, the officer of the Qing army stood up and said: "But in the past few days, more than half of our soldiers have been lost, and the army is unstable, and it is simply unable to launch an effective attack on the Wehrmacht, and this battle cannot be fought at all, and not only the Wehrmacht's consumption is huge, but our losses are also huge, and our ammunition is almost gone." ”

The British officer stood up and said: "Oh, you coward, you have to believe that our British Empire will provide you with support, our weapons will always be the best in the world, how can there be advanced weapons in this backward and poor place." Coalition commander Moore despised the royal family, who had just been transferred from England, and had changed his views on the ancient eastern power after being attacked by Wehrmacht artillery in the previous battle, and the royal family member had apparently not yet realized the cruelty of the war.

In the first ten days of the war, the Qing army had already lost 100,000 people, and the entire loss had reached half of the total strength of the attack, and the ammunition carried by the coalition forces was about to run out.

This time, as if in a desperate gamble, the coalition forces and the Qing army used all the forces they could use to rush towards the Wehrmacht with great vigour. Wehrmacht Front Command: "Chief of Staff, the intelligence service has sent information that this time, our opponents have made a desperate bet and used all their forces to fight us to the death, but unfortunately, they do not know that our troops have been replenished with ammunition. ”

Xu Zhi, commander of the First Group Army, said: "Chief of Staff, since they want a decisive battle, then we will fulfill them and fight a decisive battle with them on the Yangtze River." Chief of Staff Nie said to everyone: "Since the Qing army wants to fight a decisive battle with us, then we can only accept their decisive battle, we can't afford to retreat, and there is no place to retreat." Once all the enemy troops are on the shore, all the artillery will shoot all the shells, and the troops will be ready to charge, destroy the Qing troops that have landed, and pay attention to the policy, the commander-in-chief has said that the way of war is to surrender without a fight, first destroy the enemy's warships, if the enemy's warships are destroyed, this will greatly damage the enemy's morale, and force them to surrender to us. “

The Wehrmacht units were arranged in an orderly manner, waiting for the enemy to burrow into the pocket formation. As soon as the day dawned, the sun slowly rose from the horizon, and the Qing army began to attack the Yangtze River defense line of the Wehrmacht. The warships approached the Wehrmacht's position step by step, but the Wehrmacht did not open fire, which further strengthened the reality that the Wehrmacht had no ammunition, and the commanders of the allied forces were very happy, and the Qing soldiers seemed to see the hope of meritorious service, and immediately rushed to the Wehrmacht's position after disembarking, and the enemy warship also leaned on the shore to fire at the Wehrmacht's position.

In the front-line headquarters, Nie Shicheng saw that the enemy had been hit, picked up the phone, and decisively ordered: "Open fire" Suddenly there was a burst of artillery fire, and the shells of three hundred heavy guns flew towards the enemy's warship, Moore saw the shells flying over, and immediately ordered the warship to get out of the range of heavy artillery, but unfortunately no matter how fast it was, the speed of the cannonballs was not as fast, and the three hundred shells fell on the place where the warship was parked, and many people had already gone to see their god before they could react. More went to God with his warship, and the warship that was not sunk was powerless to fight again.

The Qing soldiers who rushed ashore saw that the warship was sunk by the Wehrmacht, and their hearts immediately panicked, and at this time the Wehrmacht launched an attack, and the bullets of the Wehrmacht ruthlessly shot into the bodies of the Qing soldiers, and the Qing soldiers began to scatter and flee, and the Wehrmacht rushed out of the trenches to annihilate the remnants of the enemy, the sunset afterglow, the smoke of gunpowder had gone, and the blood of the soldiers of the two armies stained the Yangtze River red, and the soldiers were cleaning the battlefield, cleaning up the bodies of the fallen soldiers, and rescuing the wounded.

Nie Shicheng and the officers in the headquarters came to the position, and looking at the tragedy on the battlefield, the officers took off their hats unanimously and mourned the sacrificed soldiers.

'Immediately report to the commander-in-chief that our army has won, and by the way, send the battle losses along with it. "War is cruel, there will be revolution and sacrifice, today our sacrifice is worth it, for our nation, for a happy life in the future, we can only fight, maybe we will not see that day, but our children and grandchildren will take over our faith and continue to struggle."

Nie Shicheng said to the staff officer: "Tell all units to hurry up and rescue the wounded, and transfer the seriously wounded to the rear hospital, after all, the conditions of our field hospital are not good, quickly list the medicines needed, and transport them from Guangzhou Express, time is life, I remember that the commander-in-chief said at the beginning of the incident that talent is the most important, and you can give up some things when necessary, as long as people are still there, everything will be there." ”