Tang Hongming, who received Wang Haitao's order, immediately asked the officers above the regimental level of the 210th Division to hold a meeting at the division headquarters. After everyone arrived, Tang Hongming announced the order issued by the military seat to everyone, and then said: "The guard brigade and the armored brigade have to resist the two-day onslaught of tens of thousands of Japanese troops in Yueyang City, and everyone understands the pressure they are under. I am determined to lead you to the city of Yueyang within forty-eight hours, do you have any confidence?"

"Have confidence!" The neat answer sounded in the conference room of the division headquarters. Tang Hongming said loudly: "Okay! Everyone has confidence, and now I will assign the task." Commander Fan Weiren, your reconnaissance group has explored the way for the operation of the whole division, guided the direction, and dealt with the Japanese outposts on the road. Fan Weiren, the commander of the reconnaissance regiment, stood up and replied loudly: "Yes, division!"

Tang Hongming motioned for Fan Weiren to sit down, and then said: "Brigadier Commander Wei Bin, your 460th Brigade and the 871st Regiment are the pioneers of the whole division, and you should pay attention to the road conditions, and repair the road at any time to ensure that the follow-up troops can pass smoothly. Commander Lu Renqing, your armored regiment and the 460th Brigade will act together to support the attack of the 460th Brigade when encountering the troops blocked by the Japanese army. The division headquarters, the guard regiment, and the heavy artillery regiment all moved with the 461st Brigade, and the 461st Brigade left one regiment behind for the whole division. Did you get it?"

"Understood!" replied neatly in the conference room. Tang Hongming nodded with satisfaction, and said: "I won't say much about the importance of this operation, and everyone understands it in their hearts. My request for you is speed, and the military seat has given me forty-eight hours, and my demand for you is forty hours, or even thirty-six hours! Think of the brothers of the guard brigade, we must be fast, fast! Okay, everyone go back and prepare, and in an hour, I will see the vanguard depart. ”

Everyone in the conference room hurriedly walked out, and after a while, the entire camp of the 210th Division was boiling. The reconnaissance group's reconnaissance light armored vehicles drove out of the camp first, and in the pre-dawn darkness, they hurried in the direction of Yueyang City. After a while, the 871st Regiment of the 460th Brigade was the pioneer, and the regiment commander Wei Shaofeng led the officers and men of the regiment and drove out of the camp in nearly 100 trucks.

By this time, the Japanese army had completely withdrawn across the Xinqiang River, and before reaching the south bank of the Xinqiang River, the 210th Division had not encountered Japanese troops, so it advanced quickly. After overtaking several Nationalist units pursuing the Japanese army, the whole division reached the south bank of the Xinqiang River at 10 o'clock on the morning of the 18th. This is the speed that only the 210th Division, a mechanized division, has driven out a distance of 70 kilometers in only five hours.

Under the conditions at that time, it was very difficult for a fully manned division to march 70 kilometers in five hours, and even the 90th Division under Wang Haitao could only barely do it, so the speed of the 210th Division also satisfied Wang Haitao. After Tang Hongming arrived at the south bank of the Xinqiang River, Fan Weiren, the head of the reconnaissance regiment, rushed over. Fan Weiren came to report to Tang Hongming on the situation on the north bank of the Xinqiang River.

The reconnaissance regiment on the Xinqiang River found two places where they could wade in vain, but both were garrisoned by Japanese troops on the north bank of both places, both of which were the strength of an infantry brigade. At this time, the two brigade commanders also went to Tang Hongming's place and asked for instructions on what to do? Tang Hongming was a little angry, and rebuked without hesitation: "Saving soldiers is like fighting fire, what is there to consider? Isn't it just an infantry brigade? The armored regiment and the heavy artillery regiment are all eating dry food? Go and give the order to all the people to attack, I will see you take the Japanese position on the north bank within an hour!"

Ten minutes later, the 30 105-caliber self-propelled howitzers of the heavy artillery brigade that had been prepared opened fire, and the shells exploded on the Japanese positions on the north bank of the Xinqiang River, blowing up the defensive positions that the Japanese troops had hastily built in all directions, and the smoke of gunpowder filled the sky. The shelling lasted only ten minutes, and the tanks of the armored regiment, under the cover of the 871st regiment, began to intensify the new wall river.

Most of the Japanese bunkers and fortifications have been destroyed by artillery fire, and now seeing that the Chinese army has dispatched dozens of combat vehicles to cover the infantry attack, they immediately panicked, and the Japanese officers in charge of the command worked hard to organize a counterattack, but in front of the steel chariots, the Japanese counterattack was very weak. After the vehicle-mounted artillery on tank vehicles and vehicle-mounted heavy machine guns on armored vehicles also fired, the Japanese army began to rout.

At a very slight cost, the Panzer Regiment and the 871st Regiment defeated a Japanese infantry brigade on the north bank of the Xinqiang River in 40 minutes and occupied the Japanese position. Then the main force of the 210th Division began to cross the river. At 12 o'clock in the morning, after the whole division successfully crossed the Xinqiang River, Tang Hongming asked the reconnaissance group to continue to reconnoitre, while the main force of the division rested for an hour before setting off.

Crossing the Xinqiang River, it is only less than 50 kilometers away from Yueyang City, but on the road of more than 40 kilometers, the Japanese army will definitely deploy layers of defenses, and the road below will not be too easy to walk, which Tang Hongming knows in his heart. But no matter how difficult it is, the 210th Division must advance forward. Military orders are like mountains, and once the order of the military seat is issued, the 210th Division will carry it out to the letter.

When the 210th Division reached the south bank of the Xinqiang River, the Japanese attack on Yueyang City had already begun. On the morning of the 18th, the 18th Brigade of the Japanese Army, which was the fastest to walk, arrived outside the east gate of Yueyang City. The Japanese army was also enraged by the Chinese army's surprise attack on Yueyang City, and when General Anan was seriously ill and unconscious, the Chinese Dispatch Army Headquarters temporarily appointed Lieutenant General Kanda Masazhong, commander of the 6th Division, to temporarily act as the commander of the 11th Army, and asked him to command the withdrawn 11th Army troops to attack Yueyang City and recapture Yueyang City.

Lieutenant General Kanda Masasang's Sixth Division was heavily damaged during the attack on Changsha City, so Lieutenant General Kanda Masasan let the 18th Brigade, which had little damage, be the vanguard of the whole army, and rushed to Yueyang City first, and then launched an attack on Yueyang City with the assistance of the 15th Field Heavy Artillery Wing. Major General Di Bujiagui, the brigade commander of the 18th Brigade Regiment, who was independently mixed, led his troops all the way to Yueyang City, and finally arrived at Yueyang City in the early morning of the 18th.

Sure enough, Major General Di Bujiagui also chose the East Gate as the target of the attack, and the whole brigade took an offensive posture outside the East Gate. However, the 15th Heavy Artillery Wing, which assisted in the siege, had not yet reached the attack position because of its slow movement. Major General Tsukibukagui reported to Lieutenant General Kanda Masazhong that his troops had arrived at Yueyang City and were ready to attack. On the one hand, he asked Lieutenant General Kanda Masashi to urge the 15th Heavy Artillery Wing to speed up.

At the urging of Lieutenant General Kanda Masasa, the 15th Heavy Artillery Wing did not arrive at the attack position until after 9 a.m. and was ready for artillery bombardment. At ten o'clock in the morning, thirty-six 150 heavy howitzers of the heavy artillery wing began the shelling of Yueyang City. For a while, heavy artillery shells fell one after another near the head of the east gate of Yueyang City and the city wall, and the explosion of the earth shaking made the east gate city wall shake, and it seemed that it could collapse at any time.

The first regiment of guards defending the city has also experienced countless artillery bombardments and is quite experienced. Before the heavy artillery bombardment of the city, only one platoon of soldiers could hold the fortifications, and this platoon was equipped with two heavy machine guns, four light machine guns, and four 60 mortars. Their task was to temporarily block the attack of the Japanese infantry when the main force of the regiment defended the city in the future after the Japanese artillery bombardment.

The heavy artillery of the Japanese army damaged most of the fortifications at the head of the city, and more than half of the officers and men of this platoon were killed or wounded. Platoon commander Liu Shun had one of his arms cut off by a piece of shrapnel, and before he fainted, he endured the pain and entrusted the task of defense to the first squad leader. The Japanese heavy artillery was also left with no shells, and after twenty minutes of bombardment, the heavy artillery had to stop shelling.

As soon as the heavy artillery bombardment stopped, a Japanese infantry brigade, under the cover of twenty-four 75-caliber mountain guns, rushed towards the city wall, and in one infantry brigade was also mixed with sappers carrying long ladders. The officers and men of the platoon defending the city that could still participate in the battle, under the command of the squad leader, operated light and heavy machine guns and mortars to fire desperately at the Japanese troops who rushed up. The soldiers took advantage of the various terrain on the top of the city, braved the Japanese artillery fire, and used various weapons to attack the attacking Japanese troops, while waiting for the main force in the city to rush up.

The casualties of a platoon of officers and soldiers left at the head of the city under the bombardment of the Japanese heavy artillery will definitely not be small, which Sun Linhai, the commander of the Third Guard Regiment, knows very well in his heart. Therefore, before the Japanese artillery bombardment was over, the officers and men of the first battalion had already waited under the stairs of the city wall, and as soon as the Japanese artillery fire stopped, the commander of the first battalion, Zhou Sheng, shouted: "The first battalion follows me!" and took the lead in rushing towards the city. The battalion rushed to the head of the city with several medics.

Zhou Sheng, who rushed to the head of the city, couldn't help but be stunned for a moment when he saw the tragic situation on the city, only to see that the city head was full of rocks and broken bricks, and the sacrificed soldiers were lying in the remains of the fortifications. Blood flowed all over the city, and the limbs of some warriors were scattered all over the city. Under the female wall at the head of the city, the living officers and soldiers are desperately firing at the outside of the city, and dozens of mountain guns of the Japanese army are still bombarding the city, and the exploding shells will also make the defending soldiers fall from time to time.

Zhou Sheng came to his senses after a short period of distraction and immediately gave a series of orders. First of all, the heavy fire company set up 12 82 guns and 18 60 mortars in the battalion and opened fire on the Japanese artillery positions, so as to suppress the Japanese artillery fire as much as possible. The other soldiers rushed directly to the women's wall, erecting light and heavy weapons to block the Japanese troops besieging the city. The Japanese mountain artillery was suppressed by the mortars at the head of the city, and the shells hitting the city were sparse. Without the threat of artillery fire, the city was much better, and the soldiers could calmly shoot outside.

Because there was suddenly several times more firepower on the head of the city, the attacking Japanese army suffered heavy losses even if they could get close to the city wall, and Major General Di Bujiagui, who was watching the battle, saw that the casualties of the attacking infantry were too great, and it seemed that it was not possible to attack hard, so he could only let the attacking infantry brigade withdraw first, and then think of other ways. After losing a third of its men, the attacking infantry brigade withdrew, and Major General Di Bujiagui called several of his captains together to discuss how to attack.