Chapter 1149: Stop the attack

It is impossible to estimate the losses of the Japanese army, more than 600,000 soldiers on both sides fought for half a day and one night on the Wubin line, which is no more than 20 kilometers wide on the front, and the troops that the two sides can put on the front line and directly confront each other do not exceed 60,000 or 70,000 people, and Tang Qiusheng's attack strategy with tanks as the lead was formulated precisely for the narrow space of the battlefield.

Tang Qiusheng threw himself into a counter-assault with the strength of seven infantry brigades and took advantage of the chaos, and in this case, the assault role of tanks was fully manifested, and by 10 July, the battle line was stable on the Libao line, more than 100 kilometers north of Mandalay.

If it weren't for strategic considerations, at the cost of certain casualties and losses, the troops of the Independent Division would have been able to break through the defense line of the Libao Grand Canyon hastily constructed by the Japanese army on the night of the 10th, and then capture Mandalay, and take the pivot connecting the Japanese army with Rangoon and northern Burma.

In this battle, the troops of the independent division suffered more than 10,000 casualties, lost more than 140 tanks and armored vehicles, and more than 300 artillery pieces of various types.

On the road from Uhama to Libo, you can see the corpses of Japanese soldiers, burning vehicles and tank wreckage everywhere, Ito's tank troops, in this battle, lost completely, just the troops cleaning the battlefield, the number reported is more than 370 vehicles, according to the establishment of the tank brigade of the Japanese Southern Dispatch Army, this should be the whole of the Japanese tank troops, at least the vast majority.

Tang Qiuli and Tang Qiusheng, in the Wubin headquarters, constantly received all kinds of news from the front-line troops, when the Japanese army retreated to the Baodwin mining area, Tang Qiusheng looked at Tang Qiuli and said: "Division commander, is it not striking while the iron is hot and pushing the front further south?" Tang Qiuli shook his head with a smile and said, "Brother Qiusheng, you are the commander-in-chief of the campaign, don't ask me, as long as you don't beat Ito to death." ”

Tang Qiusheng laughed, he could hear what Tang Qiuli meant, it was still useful to keep Ito, so when the troops advanced to the northern foot of the Libao Grand Canyon, Tang Qiusheng immediately ordered, and the troops stopped there, facing the direction of the Japanese army, and built a defensive position.

The troops of the Independent Division, which was on the offensive like a tide, came to an abrupt end in Libao, and the generals of the Independent Division, who were fighting heartily, with a strong fighting spirit and fighting spirit, were surprised and puzzled, and called the headquarters one after another, among them, Major General Chu Ziye, commander of the Sixth Brigade of the Corps directly under him, reacted most violently.

In the armored command vehicle, the communications staff officer turned his head and said: "Report to the brigade commander, the command command has called and ordered the troops to stop continuing to pursue the retreating troops of the Japanese army and build fortifications on the spot." ”

Chu Ziye stood up suddenly, Chu Ziye, nicknamed "Chu Big Man", was more than one meter eighty-five tall, and with a "bang", his head hit the steel roof solidly, making him grin in pain, and the anger in his heart was even greater, "Nonsense!" In this position, can you stop if you don't drive the little devil to the beach? If you give a false order, I'll shoot you!" The green tendons on Chu Ziye's neck jumped up violently, and he roared like a thunderbolt.

The communications staff officer was scared, and Chu Ziye also knew that even if he gave this captain staff officer great courage, he didn't dare to fake the command command's order, he just couldn't believe that there would be such an unreasonable order when the troops were fighting so easily?

The Sixth Brigade, among the seven brigades of the entire counterattack force, was originally lined up in the second echelon, followed by the first brigade, the acting brigade commander of the first brigade, Colonel Ren Zhaoquan, fought in a decent manner, and Chu Ziye, who was following behind, was impatient, and put the four regiments away, where there were many Japanese troops, so they fought there, and rushed to the front of the first brigade in a few moments.

Ren Zhaoquan was outside the armored command vehicle, observing the advance of the troops with a telescope, a group of people and horses, suddenly killed by his side, Ren Zhaoquan was stunned, the officers looked at their faces, not like their own troops, called a lieutenant colonel officer and asked: "You are from that brigade?" The lieutenant colonel saluted very strictly, "Report to the colonel, I am Fan Zhiming, deputy commander of the 1st Regiment of the 6th Brigade of the Corps directly under me. ”

Ren Zhaoquan understood at that time, this was Chu's big man's troops, how could he get in front of his own troops? According to the battle sequence, the sixth brigade should be behind its own troops, the second echelon of the first attack, Ren Zhaoquan made a phone call to Chu Ziye.

"Is it Brigade Commander Chu? I'm Ren Zhaoquan, Brigade Commander Chu, just ask, your troops have rushed to my front, and doing so will disrupt the combat deployment of the command headquarters! Although Ren Zhaoquan was not very satisfied, his words were still quite polite, there was no way, this Chu Ziye, in the directly subordinate corps, was also a very unreasonable character, and only the brigade commander Liu Hongzhang could suppress him.

Chu Ziye, who was holding the phone here, bared his teeth, "Brother Ren, you have to have momentum and be decent when you fight." I can't get meat to eat, see if you can't see it, the Fifth Brigade of the Sulu Mobile Corps on your left flank has already gone more than ten kilometers forward, and if my brother doesn't make a move, the face of our direct corps has been robbed by the guys from the Sulu Mobile Corps, just like that, after this battle, my brother invites you to drink! ”

After speaking, without waiting for Ren Zhaoquan to react, the "let's click" phone was dropped, and Ren Zhaoquan was left stunned, "Who is this?" What's the reason? "I have the heart to call the phone again, but I can't get a table, one mouth, Chu Ziye has a hundred words waiting for him, if the brigade commander is here, just one sentence, "Big man Chu, rob me of my task, give you face, right?" ”

Chu Ziye obediently followed behind the ass of the first brigade, not daring to take a step forward, thinking of this, Ren Zhaoquan missed the time when he was in the team with the brigade commander Liu Hongzhang, the first brigade at that time, the trump card among the trump cards, the main attack and the arduous task, it was difficult to fall on the heads of other brigades, and those brigade commanders could only stare dryly, stunned!

Chu Ziye leveled Ren Zhaoquan, and immediately ordered the brigade headquarters to follow the troops to advance, Chu Ziye's head was very flexible, he knew that just relying on the strength of his own brigade, to stick to hundreds of thousands of little devils, it was self-defeating, he contacted the third tank brigade, and with a lot of rhetoric, he transferred hundreds of tanks from a tank brigade to his own attack front.

In this way, the tanks sprayed tongues of fire, aimed directly at the shells of the tank guns, rained down on the retreating Japanese soldiers, and the infantry followed behind, and the Japanese soldiers with the spirit of bushido wrapped grenades around their bodies, trying to use human bombs to kill the tanks of the independent division that posed the greatest threat to them.

By about 4 o'clock in the morning of 10 July, the Chu Ziye Brigade and the Third Tank Brigade had become the two units that rushed to the front of the counterattack force, and they were more than ten kilometers away from the large forces behind.

Major General Xu Zhigao, commander of the Third Tank Brigade, followed by the glimmer of dawn, looked back and forth, except for the infantry of the Sixth Brigade who followed him, he could no longer see other troops, the sound of guns and artillery was far behind, and his heart was weak for a while, I was afraid that he was not chasing too fast and ran in front of the little devil, right? The little devil in front of you is blocked, and the back is rushed, don't be stuffed?

"I said Lao Chu, it doesn't look like the situation is right, did we run in front of the retreating little devil? There are two of our troops on the left and right, the two wings have not come up, but the front is the Libao Grand Canyon, that place, my tank can be restricted, if it is not good, it has become a live target for the little devil," Xu Zhigao called Chu Ziye.

"It's okay, Lao Xu, but a distance of more than ten kilometers, there are more than 100,000 troops behind, if you really run in front of the little devil, we will block the exit of the Libao Grand Canyon, and put Ito's old devil and the Japanese soldiers under him, a guy is round, besides, it's all this posture, the little devil still has the heart to fight our ambush in the canyon, simply, rush through the Libao Grand Canyon and go straight to Mandalay, that's not the first achievement!"

Chu Ziye said with confidence, a taste of taking a big advantage, Xu Zhigao was also moved, the two bold guys combined, simply, rushed forward along the road, Chu Ziye had a bottom in his heart, don't look at his troops and the third tank brigade, it seems to be too deep, but it is followed by hundreds of thousands of troops, four tank brigades and more than 1,000 tanks, just a distance of more than ten kilometers, and it will be there in the blink of an eye.

Chu Ziye rolled up his sleeves, and just about to do a big job, he received an order that made him angry, and from the lookout hole, the tank unit also stopped advancing, and should have received an order, Chu Ziye shouted at the communication staff officer: "Connect the command headquarters to me, I want to see, is it the one who has no heart to give such an order?" Isn't this a delay in military aircraft? ”

Chang Feng picked up the phone, Chu Ziye obviously had a big voice with anger, "I'm Chu Ziye, looking for Deputy Division Commander Tang," Chu Ziye's movement was too big, Chang Feng put the earpiece far away from his ear, Tang Qiuli and Tang Qiusheng both looked up at Chang Feng's strange movements, Chang Feng covered the microphone and said: "It's Chu Ziye, the commander of the Sixth Brigade of the directly subordinate corps, I want to find the deputy division commander, listen to the voice, the anger is quite big!" ”

Tang Qiuli and Tang Qiusheng looked at each other and smiled, they had long known that Chu Ziye rushed to the front of the counterattack force, and was fighting vigorously, stop at this time, don't make him mad, Tang Qiuli got up and took the phone in Chang Feng's hand.

"Is it the deputy division commander? Did you personally give the order to stop the attack? Tang Qiuli frowned slightly, Chu Ziye's movement was too big, and his ears rang, "I'm Tang Qiuli, Chu Ziye, I gave the order, do you have any questions?" Tang Qiuli said in a calm tone.

……