Chapter 1137 The Eighth Brigade with Heavy Losses

Major General Wang Zhanqun, commander of the Eighth Brigade of the Corps, looked at the mining area under the cover of night, his eyes were blood-red, and in less than ten hours, one of his fully equipped main field brigades was reduced by nearly one-half, and more than 3,000 young soldiers were lying on a foreign land forever.

Among them, the officers of the Eighth Brigade at the school level, more than a dozen people were killed in battle, and more than 4,000 wounded, because of the fierce offensive of the Japanese army, until an hour ago, they were transferred to the field hospital of the Myitkyina Corps, because of the delay in time, more than 100 soldiers were sacrificed, and the Eighth Brigade was already disabled, but Wang Zhanqun was not depressed.

His troops, defending the front and most important salient of the Baldwin mining area, were like a gate, tightly blocking the road of the Japanese army north to Degang, and withstood the most fierce attacks of the Japanese army, in the course of the fierce battle, a regiment commander reported, "Brigade commander, the defensive position of one of my companies, in less than thirty minutes, more than 1,000 shells fell, little devil is desperate, what about our artillery?" I asked for artillery support, not to mention, brigade commander, the little devil is up again! ”

In order to open the passage north to Degang, the Japanese army used all the artillery fire, and the bombed positions were filled with rocks and gunsmoke, and if it were not for some abandoned mines, the casualties of the Eighth Brigade would have increased a lot.

Chang Feng ordered the artillery to do their best to support the forward positions, three brigades of heavy artillery regiments, three rocket artillery battalions, the first wave of Japanese tanks and infantry, shrouded in a rain of dead bullets, but, that's all, after the artillery began to shell, immediately attracted a large-scale retaliation from the Japanese artillery.

Ito ordered the artillery commander of the dispatched army, at any cost, to suppress the artillery of the Shina troops, the fierce artillery battle was no less than the infantry battle, the number of artillery was far less than that of the Japanese army, the artillery of the direct corps and the Sulu mobile corps, on the one hand, to support the forward positions with artillery fire, but also to engage in a brutal artillery battle with the Japanese artillery, most of the day was fought, artillery losses and casualties, more than any other battle.

Now, Chang Feng is in the command headquarters, answering the call of the artillery commander, "Chief of Staff, the artillery fire of the little devil is too fierce, I estimated, this time, the little devil used at least six or more heavy artillery brigades, this is not counting the field artillery wing, if it continues to fight like this tomorrow, the artillery will run out, this is nothing, but the task cannot be completed, I am not reconciled, the artillery of our corps has never suffered a loss to the Soviets, is it planted in the hands of the little devil this time?" ”

The combat department, has already counted the losses and casualties of the artillery, Chang Feng took a look, and couldn't help but gasp, needless to say about the losses of the three heavy artillery regiments, an invincible Thunder rocket artillery, this time, also suffered heavy losses, and 23 rocket launchers were blown up by Japanese shells.

Chang Feng put down the artillery loss statistics table, and in his hand, there was also a statistical table of infantry casualties, and the two added up to the fact that after today's fierce battle, the losses of the troops were shocking and unprecedented, and they were the heaviest losses since the formation of the independent division, among which the Eighth Brigade of the directly subordinate corps suffered the greatest losses.

Chang Feng put two brigades of troops on the defense line of the Baldwin mining area, he would definitely not put the Ninth Brigade of the Sulu Mobile Corps in the most important place, this is an indescribable psychology, "Maybe, if the division commander commanded this battle, he wouldn't think so much," Chang Feng smiled self-deprecatingly and rubbed his swollen head.

Half leaning on the shell box, he picked up a telegram, this is the telegram sent to himself by Yu Guanghan, chief of staff of the Sulu Mobile Corps, two hours ago, Yu Guanghan personally believes that instead of transferring the four brigades of the flank to the second line of defense in Wubin, it is better to maintain the current situation, there will be no battle in Wubin for the time being, so many troops, outside the battlefield, he Yu Guanghan can not do it anyway.

At the end of the telegram, Yu Guanghan said: "Chief of Staff, I have a plan, and our troops will continue to maintain the action of flanking attacks, so that the pressure on the frontal blocking troops can be reduced, and the Japanese troops will not dare to let go of their hands and feet and go all out to attack the blocking positions of our army in the Baodwin mining area, or, please ask the chief of staff to transfer our troops to the Baodwin mining area to strengthen the troops in the first direction. ”

Chang Feng does need troops, but the front-line blocking position, because of the terrain restrictions, can not put so many troops at one time, not to mention, Yu Guanghan's troops play a better role in the flank of the Japanese army than as a frontal blocker, therefore, he approved Yu Guanghan's request, which has his own considerations.

Tomorrow, it will be an even more brutal battle, he Chang Feng has no reason to put the troops of the Sulu Mobile Corps in the Baldwin mining area, Chang Feng simply ate a little food, he has no appetite, even in the eyes of the soldiers of the Central Army, it is the supreme delicious independent division system field rations, it can't arouse his appetite.

Then, Chang Feng put on a steel helmet, grabbed a submachine gun by the way, and said to the captain of the guard: "Take a few guards and go to the position of the Eighth Brigade with me," just walked out a few steps, and a person who crashed in one by one, almost bumped into each other, Chang Feng stood still, looked at the comer, and was slightly stunned.

Then he asked a little strangely: "Brigade Commander Wang, why are you here," the person who came in was Major General Wang Zhanqun, the commander of the Eighth Brigade of the Corps directly under him, and at this moment, he couldn't see the majesty of the general, and in less than a day's effort, Wang Zhanqun's stubble grew densely, his eyes were bloodshot, and his body was covered with muddy water, like a squad leader who had just crawled out of the trenches.

Chang Feng hurriedly pulled him to sit down, and opened a single ration with his own hands, Wang Zhanqun devoured it, Chang Feng looked at him quietly like this, Wang Zhanqun swallowed the last bite of food, wiped his mouth, and said: "Chief of Staff, I passed through the artillery blockade area of the little devil and ran to the command headquarters, it is one thing, please ask the Chief of Staff to increase the strength of the Eighth Brigade." ”

Chang Feng's cheeks twitched unconsciously, Wang Zhanqun was a little anxious, and then said: "Chief of Staff, it's not me Wang Zhanqun who complains, you also know what kind of person I am, if it weren't for the hurdles that I couldn't pass, I wouldn't care if you asked for soldiers, just half a day's effort, on the blocking position of our brigade, at least seventy or eighty thousand shells fell, just in the forward position, one of my platoons, had to defend the position of a company, not much, just give me a regiment, I promise, tomorrow the little devil will still not be able to advance half a step!" ”

Chang Feng knew that Wang Zhanqun was telling the truth, even the Ninth Brigade of the Sulu Mobile Corps in the flank direction had suffered more than 3,000 casualties for most of the day, and the Eighth Brigade, which was the main target of the Japanese army's frontal attack, suffered huge casualties, which can be imagined.

However, Chang Feng had no soldiers in his hands, there were only three brigades in total, Wubin put one, he didn't even have reserves in his hands, he was silent for a moment, looking at Wang Zhanqun's eager gaze, Chang Feng said in a low tone: "Brigade Commander Wang, I know that the eighth brigade is casualty, and in my hands, only when I came to Wubin, the division commander specially sent a guard battalion to protect me, so I will transfer the guard battalion to you." ”

Wang Zhanqun was stunned for a moment, then stood up, saluted Chang Feng, turned around and walked out, Chang Feng hurriedly called out to him, Wang Zhanqun turned around and said: "Chief of Staff, as I didn't say just now, there are still six or seven thousand people left in the Eighth Brigade, enough for the little devil to gnaw on for two days, Chief of Staff, please rest assured, if the little devil really breaks through my blocking line, it will be stepping on my corpse." ”

After a pause, Wang Zhanqun's tone calmed down a lot, and then said: "Chief of Staff, I only have one request, to replenish our brigade with a large amount of ammunition, especially grenades, the more the better," Looking at Wang Zhanqun's back, disappearing into the night, the fire of the explosion of the Japanese artillery shells at night reflected Wang Zhanqun's back from time to time, I don't know why, Chang Feng has a feeling of farewell.

When he returned to the command headquarters, he called over the battalion commander of the guard and ordered him to lead the soldiers of the whole battalion to the position of the Eighth Brigade overnight, and placed it under the command of Brigade Commander Wang Zhanqun.

When necessary, Chang Feng would personally take this company composed of organ officers into a desperate struggle with the Japanese army, and he was ready to sacrifice, and after doing this, Chang Feng sat down and personally prepared a telegram to the division commander Tang Qiuli.

The battlefield that had just written a few words and had quieted down, suddenly, the sound of gunfire was loud, and Chang Feng raised his head in surprise, could it be that the Japanese army was unconventional and launched an attack at night? It seems that Ito Yanzaburo doesn't want to delay for a minute, so let's let this last scene come early!

Chang Feng just stood up, ready to go outside the cave to observe the situation, on the table made of shell boxes, the telephone rang urgently, a staff officer hurriedly grabbed the phone, listened to it for a while, put down the phone, and reported to Chang Feng: "Chief of Staff, the forward troops of the Ninth Brigade of the Sulu Mobile Corps called, the flank and rear flank of the Japanese army, suddenly broke out fierce battles, looking at the scale of the battle, at least above the regimental level, they judged that it should be our troops, taking advantage of the night, launched an attack on the Japanese army!" ”

Chang Feng understood as soon as he heard it, it must be Yu Guanghan's troops, taking advantage of the night, to attack the Japanese army, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but have a smile, "Yu Guanghan, this guy, has been fighting with the troops for more than a day, and he doesn't know how to be tired, taking advantage of the night to make trouble for the Japanese army, he should be reminded to stop in moderation and maintain the physical and combat effectiveness of the troops." Chang Feng thought to himself.

Chang Feng then asked, "What else did the front troops report?" The staff officer replied: "The Ninth Brigade is building yì, taking advantage of the Japanese army's night attack, can it take the initiative to attack once with the strength of two regiments?" Ask the Chief of Staff for approval. ”

(To be continued)

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