Chapter 187: Battle of Anqing (1)

The Japanese army was a division of about 20,000 people, and it was impossible to concentrate in the city. Lieutenant General Masaharu Honma is very clear about his mission, the goal of the 27th Division is the Snow Fox Corps, and now the Snow Fox is growing, so he can't be careless.

One army, two troops were defeated at the hands of Snow Fox, there is nothing surprising, after all, it can be said that the level of the commander is not the same. But all the troops, as long as they fight against the snow fox, are basically defeated. And it was not a slight offensive failure, it can be described as a complete defeat.

Masaharu Honma is a person with a romantic color, who usually writes poems and paints, and seems to be very educated and literate. But he is an extremely selfish person at heart and at heart.

In Japan, a country where height is generally short, the height of 1.8 meters makes him look personable, so he also has the title of playboy. In Japan, a country that advocates force and believes in the power of the military, people like him are despised.

He is also pretentious and has an ambiguous relationship with many famous people, and at the same time, it is rumored in the army that Honma Masaharu likes men. Although the Japanese treat promiscuity and * and * as the same thing, as a soldier, many people still look down on him.

But he has a good father-in-law and a brother-in-law who is a general, so he still rose all the way to become a lieutenant general. In fact, it is fair to say that Masaharu Honma still has a military level, but he has served in the General Staff Headquarters for a long time and does not have much experience in actually commanding troops in combat, and most of it is theoretical on paper.

The Japanese army did not expect to be trapped in the Chinese battlefield, and the troops continued to invest, but it was still insufficient, and had to expand the number of troops in the country. As a result, there was a shortage of senior command officers, and Honma Masaharu was awarded the rank of lieutenant general of the 27th Division, which had just been reorganized from the Chinese garrison. Landing from Shanghai and incorporated into the 11th Army, participating in the Battle of Wuhan.

Originally, he was the second echelon, and according to the calculations of General Shun Hata, he did not need to invest in the 27th Division. In the Wuhan War, the Japanese army had already committed eight divisions and two detachments, that is, brigades. The total number of troops has exceeded 200,000. Although the number of Chinese troops concentrated in Wuhan exceeded that of Shanghai and Xuzhou, the analysis of the base camp showed that the resistance and combat effectiveness of the Chinese army could no longer be compared with that of Shanghai and Nanjing.

The Chinese's will to resist and their determination to resist the war are fading, the casualties of the troops are too large, the majority of recruits are recruited, the combat effectiveness is plummeting, and the 200,000 troops can already solve Wuhan. Therefore, the 2nd Army of the North China Front was transferred to the Central China Dispatch Army and concentrated its troops to attack along both sides of the Yangtze River.

But the closer you get to Wuhan, the stronger the resistance becomes. Seeing that the Wuhan battlefield had become a second Shanghai, Japan decided to increase its forces again. We must win Wuhan.

Senior General Yamasugimoto, who is the chief of staff of the army, knows very well that Japan's strategic reserves are being rapidly depleted, there are already signs of lack of materials in the country, and the post-war strength is drying up, so it is necessary to end the war as soon as possible. If we wanted to reduce the government of Chiang Kai-shek in China to a local government and install a pro-Japanese capitulation government in China, we had to win the victory in Wuhan.

Therefore, the army was expanded to 34 divisions, including the 27th Division, which was also sent to the Chinese battlefield along with several other divisions. Just when the Japanese army was increasing its strength, in the Lingxun area of Wanjia Lingnan, Xue Yue almost wiped out a division. Junrokuro Matsuura's 106th Division was almost destroyed, and General Shunroku Hata had to airdrop more than 200 junior officers to participate in the battle by plane to save some of the Japanese escape.

Just when the Japanese army replenished the 106th Division, and at the same time ordered the 101st Division to increase the intensity of the offensive, and ordered the 2nd Army in Jiangbei to speed up the offensive, the bad news came, the Chinese army was west of Hefei, Yejiaji eliminated a division, and the 13th Division had 28,000 people, but it was only 7,000 people who broke through and escaped.

This shocked Shunroku Hata, and after research, he came to the conclusion that the key was this new Snow Fox Corps, they did not have many troops, but they were strong in combat and had strange tactics. Commander Xue Ru is known as the snow fox, nicknamed the fox spirit, and the battle of Ye Jiaji was planned and commanded by her.

The Central China Front immediately launched an investigation and immediately approved the operation reported by King Tsukihiko of Tokunomiya, and the key was to eliminate the Snow Fox Corps. In this way, King Tokumiya ordered the 27th Division to cross the river and land in Anqing, and the main target was the Snow Fox Corps in Yuexi, Tongcheng, Qianshan, and Taihu Lake.

Just before Honma Masaharu attacked, the Japanese army found that the Chinese government had begun to pay attention to the Snow Fox Corps, and even expanded them to the size of an army. It turned out that a few thousand people caused heavy losses to the imperial army, but now Xue Ru already has more than 20,000 troops in an army, and it is obviously not possible to rely on a 27th division alone, and there is a possibility of being wiped out.

King Kugashi of Dongkumiya saw that Xue Ru had reorganized his troops during the war and was not in a hurry to attack, which was to give the imperial army time to prepare. The 27th Division was immediately ordered to threaten the 45th Brigade attacking Huangmei, which was the 2nd Brigade of the reorganized Independent Division.

Sure enough, as soon as the Japanese 27th Division landed, Xue Ru immediately ordered to stop the offensive and began to reorganize the troops. King Tokumiya ordered the 6th Division to intensify its attack on Tianjia Town, wanting to use the time of Xue Ru's reorganization to capture Tianjia Town and open the gate to Wuhan. At the same time, the 3rd Division and the 10th Division were ordered to launch a fierce attack on the Fujin Mountain position, Huangchuan and Xinyang. Before Xue Ru finished his preparations, he achieved the goal of encircling Wuhan.

Shunroku Hahata also ordered Okamura Ninji to intensify his attack on Wuhan. Strive not to give the Chinese army time to adjust and end the battle of Wuhan. Even if Xue Ru came to command, there was no way to change the fate of Wuhan.

In fact, whether it is King Tsukihiko of Higashikunomiya or Ninji Okamura, they don't know that Xue Ru doesn't care about the question of whether Wuhan is lost at all, and her goal is the living force of the Japanese army. So the focus is on where the Japanese army can be destroyed.

As Xue Ru's power grew, she no longer set her sights on the Japanese army at the wing level, if not at the division level, but also at the brigade level. The 6th Division was in Guangji, and the 16th Division was in Hefei. The 27th Division is in Anqing, and if Snow Fox moves, it will be attacked by at least three divisions.

So Xue Ru is waiting, preparing, and if he is not ready, he will not start. Once it starts, it is annihilation, and it is definitely not a continuous battle. Then the Snow Fox will not work, after all, there is no air supremacy, there is no tank troops.

There are still Japanese warships along the banks of the river, how can they avoid the Japanese air force planes, it is only a night battle, but a division is not a small number, and it cannot be wiped out in one night.

"Report" Li Wenxiu came in: "Miss, Wei Ming reports that the 3rd Division of the Japanese Army captured the position of Fujin Mountain, and the 34th Group Army retreated to Shawo and resisted steadily. The 59th Army and the 2nd Army were locked in bitter fighting with the 10th Division in Xinyang, and the situation was critical. The Japanese army could cut off the Pinghan railway at any time. ”

Xue Ru asked expressionlessly, "What is the situation on the north bank of the Yangtze River?" ”

Li Wenxiu said: "Tianjiazhen will definitely not be able to hold on for two days, and there is no report yet. Commander Song called and asked when the attack would be launched, and his troops were almost overwhelmed. Every day, hundreds of Japanese planes bombed indiscriminately, and the ground was attacked by chariot groups, and the troops suffered huge casualties. ”

Xue Ru nodded: "Order the independent division to attack on both sides and withdraw from the battle at dawn." ”

"Yes" Li Wenxiu stood up and gave the order to attack the independent division.

Lai Changwen, the 1st Brigade, who had been waiting for a long time, immediately ordered an attack, and Wu Yuzhao, who was on the other side, also ordered the 2nd Brigade to attack the Japanese army. From darkness to night, the Snow Fox Independent Division still had the same tactics, and there was no change because the number of troops increased, and the four regiments of the 1st Brigade were divided into four groups and advanced to the Japanese positions on the outskirts of Anqing.

Honma Masaharu, a guy who talked about war on paper, did not concentrate his troops in the city, but ordered the 1st Wing to defend in the east, the 2nd Wing to the north, and the 3rd Wing to the west. Gong Wei Anqing, this arrangement is an offensive formation, not a defense. The engineer wing, the baggage wing and the artillery company were stationed in the city. The coordinates of the artillery wing have been marked, so that such a distance can support operations on three sides, and there is no need to defend the south, which is the Yangtze River, which is covered by the navy. Besides, does the Chinese army still have a navy? The only * boat brigade was also engaged in the Wuhan Yangtze River operation, blocking the attack of the imperial fleet.

The place where the 1st Wing is stationed is called Pingjiagang, which is a small town on the outskirts of Anqing. It was less than three kilometers away from Anqing Castle, which was considered a peripheral position of the Japanese army, and Honma Masaharu's biggest mistake was that he did not put his troops in the city. With the weapons of the snow fox, it is difficult to directly attack such a tall city wall as Anqing.

He didn't have any experience in fighting with Snow Fox, and he didn't understand that although this kind of defense outside the city could increase the power of artillery, he was facing Snow Fox Xue Ru, not other Chinese troops, so how could he fight a regular offensive and defensive battle with him. Beside Lai Changwen, the advancing First Brigade, Ouyang Sari looked at the carriages advancing with the troops.

Lai Changwen asked: "What the hell is Sari, I think you are so mysterious." ”

Sari smiled proudly: "I won't tell you, I'll kill you." But you'll find out right away. ”

Lai Changwen glared at him viciously: "You kid should be proud, after this battle, see how I clean you up, don't think that it is great to be a direct regiment." ”

Ouyang Sari glanced at Lai Changwen with disdain and said: "Scare me, don't think that being a chief of staff is great, and if you are not convinced, you will make a regiment go head-to-head." The two of them couldn't see that the big war was about to be fought at all, and they were still unconvinced.

Dai Zong said: "Don't say it, you have entered the predetermined distance and are ready to fight." ”

The two men immediately shut their mouths. In the frontal attack was the Fifth Regiment, Qiao Han, the regiment commander, personally led the team, a regiment of 1,500 people, scattered a large area, slowly lurking forward, the Japanese army was about to attack, and the strength was relatively concentrated. This is also the reason why Xue Ru was forced to change his tactics, At first, he planned to attack Anqing, but Honma Masaharu, a stupid pig, was actually deployed outside the city, which deserved his bad luck. Xue Ru's preparation is the preparation for storming Anqing City, and now there is no need to attack the city, it is much easier.

Dozens of carriages of the first battalion led by Ouyang Sari finally unloaded their horses and began to move forward with people. When these vehicles covered with black cloth were disguished, the entire soldiers of the Fifth Regiment who accompanied the advance almost wanted to laugh, I really don't know what Miss thought, even this can be used, the devil can't think that the snow fox has an earthen cannon, right?

Indeed, Xue Ru and Zhang Jiu also have the secret weapon prepared by Sari, and these people all know each other. The bed crossbow, a weapon that has been obsolete for more than 100 years, has appeared on the modern battlefield. Since the advent of the cannon, such a weapon has not been noticed and will never be used again, because its power is too limited.

Unexpectedly, Xue Ru and a few people secretly studied this kind of thing. However, as long as you see the above changes, you know that the power is definitely not ordinary. The Japanese army was a position centered on Pingjiagang, and a company of more than 3,000 people established a defensive position at Pingjiagang. Because the order of the 27th Division was to contain the snow fox and cover the attack of the 6th Division, Honma Masaharu made a posture of attacking the direction of the buried mountain, and at the same time did a good job of defense, arranging defensive positions around the village.

The longer Xue Ru fought with the Japanese army, the clearer it became that the most difficult thing in offensive warfare was to attack the distance in front of the enemy's position. The casualties were all caused by this distance. The national army defended and the Japanese attacked, and what took advantage was that they had planes and heavy artillery.

But when it was the turn of the Chinese army to attack, it could only attack forcibly with flesh and blood. In the face of machine guns, grenadiers, mortars and infantry guns, it is basically a matter of death. In order to avoid a positional battle, Xue Ru had to attack first, but the attack lacked artillery support.

The idea of setting up a military factory to build artillery is unrealistic, there is no technology, no equipment, no money, and even less time. Not even a single gun could be built, let alone a cannon. After studying for a long time, I remembered the movies I watched in later generations, and the maximum distance of a bed crossbow can also fly out of six or seven hundred meters, and a heavy bed crossbow can reach thousands of meters. Immediately find a few old carpenters, not to mention that there are really people who can do it.

It's simple, the bed crossbow is wooden, there is no shortage of materials, the technology is also there, and it is very cheap. It's also not a hassle. In this way, since Chaoxian County, we have been constantly researching and producing, and now more than 100 have been prepared. Today is the first time to experiment with its actual combat effect.

There was a creaking sound, and several soldiers used the roulette wheel to pull the crossbow string apart, and the huge crossbow arrows were placed on the firing cao. A crossbow bolt approaching two meters is not an arrow in front of it, but a *, and a * bag on the shaft. Ouyang Sari's side was fifty, and Zhang Jiu led another battalion to assist the 2nd Brigade on the other side. At this time, the troops were still thousands of meters away from the Japanese defensive positions, and the Japanese perimeter guard posts could not see how far, and it was night. Several experienced soldiers began to visually measure distances and aim.

By this time the 1st Regiment had stopped advancing, and the Ballista Battalion continued to advance until it reached a distance of 500 meters. Ouyang Sari raised his hand and signaled backwards. Qiao Han ordered, and the soldiers opened fire, shouting.

The Japanese army is resting, and not many people are sleeping yet. Suddenly, there was a shout of killing in the distance, accompanied by gunshots, and even a fool knew what was going on in such a situation, and the commander of the 1st Wing of the garrison army, Hasegawa Kinakasa, got up and gave the order to enter the position.

But after the devil entered the position, he found that it was quiet in the distance, and there was no figure. What's going on? Hurriedly reported to the wing commander, could it be the night harassment of the Chinese army? Just when Hasegawa Kinakasa hadn't figured it out yet. The Japanese troops on the position heard strange noises, and they tried to keep their eyes open, but they couldn't see clearly what was flying.

By the time the Japanese saw what it was, more than fifty crossbow arrows had already flown into the position and pierced to the ground with a buzzing sound. Then there was the explosion, which was huge.

Shelling, this is the first reaction of the Japanese army, but what kind of artillery is this? They haven't seen it.