Chapter 15: Should we hold on or attack?
The whistling shells blew the exposed rocks into pieces, and the scattered shrapnel and gravel rained down on the deformed trenches, finally falling powerlessly on the defenders whose half bodies were buried in the dirt and rocks...
The more than ten minutes of shelling seemed as long as half a century. The soldiers who had finally pulled their bodies out of the mud could not celebrate their luck. In front of them, the enemy, like worker was already very close.
"Grenade!"
The soldiers, whose bodies were blackened by the smoke, either cursed loudly or silently followed the orders of their superiors, mechanically throwing the Northwest-made defensive grenades that were also buried in the loose soil at the Japanese in front of them one by one.
Along with the explosion of grenades, the firm but sparse sound of rifles rang out, and soon the remaining machine guns joined the ensemble.
Just as the defenders were fighting against the enemy's relentless advance without fear of sacrifice, an enemy plane covered with plaster pills broke through the air and flew over the fearless and helpless defenders in a swaggering manner. Then, the bomb under the belly of the plane fell from the sky, immediately creating a tragic bloody scene among the resistance.
However, the arrogant Japanese plane soon suffered its retribution. The large-caliber anti-aircraft machine gun bullets fired from the hills on both sides finally caught it. Soon, this arrogant Mitsubishi Ki-30 Type 97 light bomber had to flee in panic towards its home nest, dragging a long line of black smoke.
“Well done!”
The ragged Sichuan Army soldiers cheered loudly. Stimulated by the anti-aircraft force's success, these soldiers, who were nicknamed "weaklings" by foreign troops, burst out with 120% of their combat power and suppressed the advancing Japanese in front of their own positions.
"It seems that the Sichuan Army can still achieve something by utilizing the existing fortifications."
At an observation post behind Huangxian Pass (Jiuli Pass), Lieutenant General Zhao Xuetan, Chief of Staff of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui Theater, said this with a look of relief to Lieutenant General Sun Zhen, Deputy Commander-in-Chief and Acting Commander-in-Chief of the Ninth Army, Lieutenant General Diao Shicai, Deputy Commander-in-Chief, Lieutenant General Niu Xiguang, Chief of Staff, and others around him.
But before he could finish his words, balls of flames appeared in the telescope. This was another retaliatory bombardment by the Japanese army. The defenders were caught off guard and inevitably suffered huge losses.
"Assassination and fighting are still weak points."
Before Zhao Xueqin put down the telescope, the Japanese army had already rushed up to the position, but the reserve troops of the New Sixth Army also provided support. After a fierce battle between the two sides, before all the casualties were exhausted, the Sichuan Army finally drove the Japs off the front line.
"Brother Decao, I don't want to say too much, but sometimes you still have to play to your strengths and avoid your weaknesses."
Play to one's strengths and avoid one's weaknesses? The people present had different expressions, but Zhao Xuetan was both a representative sent by Yang Hucheng to supervise the battle and an old man from the northwest who could directly hear the emperor's words. Therefore, even if there were some things he wanted to refute, it would not be easy to contradict the imperial envoy in person and embarrass him, so for a while, the observation post was completely silent.
Others could remain silent, but Sun Zhen, as the chief officer, could not escape, so he could only respond according to his own understanding: "Brother Xue Tan, you also know that the Sichuan Army has a weak foundation, and the Ninth Army has not recovered its vitality. It is already difficult to use the terrain to hold the position. If we want to take the initiative to attack at night, we are powerless."
"I'm not asking you to attack at night."
Zhao Xuetan shook his head and pointed.
"In fact, the Japanese army facing the New Sixth Army is only a little more than a regiment of troops. You may want to leave a gap and leave a fortification. When the Japanese enter, you can fire at them with the calibrated artillery. Isn't this better than fighting the Japanese head-on?"
Zhao Xueqin's idea was good, but the Sichuan Army officers who had already made up their minds had a different opinion. Diao Shicai couldn't help but jump out and said, "Chief of Staff Zhao's idea is very good, but our Ninth Army's artillery is weak and the number of artillery shells is still insufficient. I wonder if the theater can solve part of it?"
It is true that the artillery force of the Ninth Army is weak. Although the Ninth Army, which was formed by the joint efforts of Deng Xihou and Tian Songyao, has a huge structure of 3 armies and 9 divisions, it is second only to Wang Yizhe's Second Army in the Northeast Army system among all the armies and corps in the Northwest. However, compared with Wang Yizhe's relatively complete equipment, the Ninth Army is not only much inferior in terms of troop quality and other indicators, but its artillery force can even be described as dismal.
You should know that the Ninth Army does not have an independent artillery regiment at the army level.
Only two of the three army-level units have their own 75mm mountain artillery battalions, and the remaining one can only make up for it with a mixed artillery battalion consisting of a 20mm Surotong small artillery company and a 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine gun company.
The nine divisions were generally only equipped with six-gun 120mm heavy mortar companies, and only a few of them had additional four-gun 150mm mortar companies.
As for the regiment level, not all of them can have an 82 mortar company.
The battalion and company levels can only use a small number of grenade launchers as long-range weapons.
As for anti-tank guns and the like, there were none at all.
This is not to say that the Northwest treated the Sichuan Army harshly.
However, when Deng and Sun's troops left Sichuan, their military equipment was very poor. Even if the Northwest made great efforts to replenish them, it could not fundamentally change the situation of their weak artillery force.
Secondly, Deng and Sun's troops suffered heavy losses in the previous battle in eastern Henan and several subsequent battles. The heavy weapons they were equipped with were either damaged or lost, so that the speed of replenishment could not keep up with the speed of loss and consumption. Therefore, such an embarrassing situation arose.
"I will convey Brother Shicai's opinion to Commander Yang."
Zhao Xueqin pondered for a moment and decided to give the other party a sweet date.
"It's impossible to replenish artillery on a large scale, but there is a way to allocate a batch of mortars and mortar shells to the New Sixth Army."
Seeing Sun Zhen and the others showing some signs of joy, Zhao Xueqin decided to give them another stimulus.
"In addition, Lanzhou has just allocated 20 Type 37 anti-tank guns to the war zone. If the Ninth Army can hold Jiuli Pass and Wusheng Pass, there is hope that we can get one of the companies..."
"You all know the instructions from the war zone, right?"
Unlike the Ninth Army that was determined to defend the two passes, Zhang Zizhong's Twelfth Army, which was ordered to guard Pingjing Pass, had only six divisions, but they planned to go out of the pass to counterattack and eliminate the enemy in one fell swoop.
"The Seventh Army has been ordered to move north to participate in the Lanfeng Campaign. The Second Army will also be deployed north at any time as the northern reserve. In addition, the 98th Army will take over the central Anhui region. The southern part will rely on us and the Sichuan Army."
Zhang Zizhong and Sun Lianzhong were both Feng Yuxiang's old subordinates, but they had many old grudges against each other. Therefore, he would not expect the 19th Army, which was still being reorganized on the front line in Nanyang, to come to his aid.
"But the Sichuan Army's strength was limited. The nine divisions not only had to guard the two key points of Guanxian Pass (i.e. Huangxian Pass) and Wusheng Pass, but also had to prepare for the possibility that the Japanese army might break through the defense of the Fifth War Zone and encircle the Ma, Huang, and Dabie Mountains. Therefore, they could not move at all.
Although Yang Zihuan's troops of the Xinyang Garrison Command are under our command, they have to hold the second-line position in Xinyang to ensure the retreat, and they cannot be withdrawn. Therefore, the only ones who can go out to fight are our old troops. "
Zhang Zizhong's voice echoed in the small conference room.
"So I decided to draw out the 158th Division from the 59th Army and the 2nd Reserve Division from the New 2nd Army to form an attack detachment. I will lead the team myself. Deputy Commander-in-Chief Li will be responsible for staying behind at Pingjing Pass. Chief of Staff Zhang will be responsible for organizing the support troops. The support troops will tentatively draw out one regiment of the 159th Division and two regiments of the 4th Reserve Division from the 68th Army..."
"Commander-in-chief, although there are not many Japanese troops in front of the pass, there is a division of Japanese troops in Anlu attacking Sui-Zao. If we lure them here, it will certainly reduce the pressure on Hunan, Hubei, Bashu and Sichuan, but we may not be able to please them."
Although Zhang Zizhong had the final say in the 12th Army, Chen Xinqi, deputy commander of the 68th Army and Liu Ruming's deputy, still expressed different opinions. Even though Zhang Zizhong had fought his way out of the pass and indirectly rescued Liu Wenhui who was facing the Japanese army, once the Japanese 101st Division turned around and attacked, Liu Wenhui might not be able to or would not want to rescue the 12th Army.
"So we must first see where Liu Wenhui has led the Japanese to, and then decide when our army will attack."
Li Wentian, deputy commander-in-chief of the army group, explained for Zhang Zizhong.
"If we don't attack, then forget it. Once we do, we must destroy the people in front of us as quickly as possible. Of course, the war is not just our wishful thinking. If the Japanese army resists stubbornly, we must withdraw the 101st Division as soon as possible after mobilizing it to avoid heavy casualties."
"Commander-in-Chief, could you please ask the theater to immediately allocate some air defense forces to cooperate with our operations?"
Since Anlu and Suixian are separated from the Pingjingguan line by mountains and rivers, once the 12th Army takes action, the first to react will inevitably be the Japanese air force. At this time, the Xinyang Independent Air Force of the Northwest Air Force has moved north to the Lanfeng battlefield. Therefore, in order to reduce unnecessary losses in the face of the Japanese air threat, air defense forces are indispensable.
"Chief of Staff Zhang's suggestion is good, but distant water cannot quench immediate thirst. Commander-in-Chief, should we first withdraw the anti-aircraft artillery and anti-aircraft machine gun companies from the Xinyang Garrison Command?"
Huang Weigang, commander of the newly formed Second Army, looked at Zhang Kexia with approval and made further suggestions to fill in the gaps.
"The anti-aircraft artillery company of the Xinyang Garrison Command is not equipped with the Suloton dual-purpose anti-aircraft gun we are equipped with. It is a Swiss Oerlikon anti-aircraft gun imitated from the Northwest. It has a fast firing rate and a long range. It is also equipped with two companies of anti-aircraft machine guns. If the Japanese still think they are right, they will definitely suffer a great loss."
"Then give Yang Zihuan an order."
Zhang Zizhong readily followed suit and gave orders immediately.
"Everyone, go back and prepare now. Get the troops ready within two days and wait for my order at any time..."
After everyone dispersed, Zhang Kexia walked straight to Zhang Zizhong, who was standing in front of a large map with his hands behind his back, and asked, "Commander-in-Chief, when will our attack plan be reported to the war zone?"
"Not urgent."
Zhang Zizhong shook his head.
"It won't be too late to report it after we take action."
Just as Zhang Zizhong and Sun Lianzhong were somewhat dirty, his relationship with his old comrade Yang Hucheng was not much better.
"You need to keep a close eye on Liu Wenhui's news, if that doesn't work."
Zhang Zizhong hesitated for a moment.
"You have to win over the people from the Telecommunications Office sent by the Northwest. If there is any movement, you must report it in time..."
