Quartermasters can also fight the devils

Chapter 760: The Japanese 109th Regiment is surrounded

In the battle of Wugang, a battalion of soldiers from the 74th Army of the Chinese government equipped with American weapons fought fiercely for a week with the 58th Brigade of the 68th Division of the Japanese Army and its attached tanks and heavy artillery units, and finally cooperated with the reinforcements to launch a counterattack against the 58th Brigade of the Japanese Army. It has to be said that it was a miracle.

While fierce fighting was in full swing on the northern and southern fronts, the Japanese 20th Army, responsible for the central attack, also began to attack and advance towards the Xuefeng Mountain area.

The battle plan of Lieutenant General Kazuyoshi Sakanishi, commander of the 20th Army of the Japanese Army, was to attack in three directions, and then adopt the tactics of divide and conquer to encircle and surround the Chinese government's army in the central battlefield and annihilate them. Therefore, Lieutenant General Kazuyoshi Sakanishi, commander of the 20th Army of the Japanese Army, assigned the task of attacking in the middle to the 116th Division of the Japanese Army.

Because, as the Japanese military headquarters continuously transferred the Class A divisions previously stationed in China to other battlefields in order to make up for the losses in the Pacific battlefield, the 116th Division of the Japanese Army became one of the few Class A divisions in the Japanese China Expeditionary Force.

The 116th Division of the Japanese Army was composed of the 109th Infantry Regiment, the 120th Infantry Regiment, the 133rd Infantry Regiment, the 120th Cavalry Battalion, the 166th Field Artillery Regiment and the 116th Logistics Regiment.

The commander of the 116th Division of the Japanese Army was Lieutenant General Motoshiro Hishida. He divided the three infantry regiments of the 116th Division of the Japanese Army into three directions and attacked the defensive positions of the Chinese government army at the same time.

The Chinese government was also well aware of the importance of the central line of defense. Before the war, it established the Fourth Front Army of the Chinese government and appointed Wang Yaowu as the commander-in-chief of the Fourth Front Army. It was composed of the 74th Army, the 73rd Army, the 18th Army and the 100th Army, which were the four absolute main forces of the Chinese government.

The first to attack the defensive positions of the Chinese government troops were the 109th Regiment of the 116th Division of the Japanese Army. When the attack of the 109th Regiment was blocked by the Chinese government troops in Furong Mountain, it adopted a roundabout strategy and went directly back to the Longtan area deep in the defense of the Chinese army.

The Longtan area is only 50 kilometers away from the headquarters of the Fourth Front Army of the Chinese government, and the strategic location of the Longtan area is very important. If the offensive forces of the 20th Army of the Japanese Army occupy the Longtan area, the Xinluo River area will be behind it. Once the offensive forces of the 20th Army of the Japanese Army cross the Xinluo River, they will be only one step away from Zhijiang.

Commander Wang of the Fourth Front Army of the Chinese Government was also well aware of the importance of the Longtan area. Long before the offensive forces of the 20th Army of the Japanese Army launched the attack, Commander Wang of the Fourth Front Army of the Chinese Government had ordered the 51st Division of the 74th Army of the Chinese Government to be responsible for the defense of Longtan.

But later, Commander Wang of the Fourth Front Army of the Chinese government learned that the offensive force of the 20th Army of the Japanese Army was about to attack the nearby Qiaojiang Airport, so he urgently transferred the 51st Division of the Chinese government to the direction of Qiaojiang Airport for defense.

Therefore, when the 109th Regiment of the Japanese Army launched a roundabout attack on Longtan, the Chinese government's army only had one guard company in Longtan. At this time, more than 2,000 Japanese officers and soldiers of the advance force of the 109th Regiment of the Japanese Army had already arrived at the city of Longtan.

However, facing the almost deserted Longtan County, Colonel Yasusaburo Takidera of the 109th Regiment of the Japanese Army did not immediately order his troops to launch an attack on Longtan County.

Because, in the intelligence sent by Lieutenant General Sakanishi Kazuyoshi, commander of the 20th Army of the Japanese Army, to Lieutenant General Motoshiro Hishida, commander of the 116th Division of the Japanese Army, the intelligence department of the 20th Army of the Japanese Army stated that the Chinese government had arranged a division of troops to be stationed in Longtan County.

Therefore, based on the intelligence given to him by Lieutenant General Motoshiro Hishida, the commander of the 116th Division of the Japanese Army before the war, Colonel Yasusaburo Takidera of the 109th Regiment of the Japanese Army decided to order his troops to seize several high ground near Longtan first in order to reduce casualties, while waiting for the arrival of the main force, so that the offensive forces of the 116th Division of the Japanese Army could launch an attack on the Chinese government army from a high position.

The decision of Colonel Yasusaburo Takidera of the 109th Regiment of the Japanese Army ultimately caused the 109th Regiment of the Japanese Army to lose the best opportunity to occupy Longtan, because before the attacking force of the 116th Division of the Japanese Army arrived, Commander Wang of the Fourth Front Army of the Chinese Government had ordered the 51st Division of the Chinese Government to rush back to defend the city.

Although Commander Wang of the Fourth Front Army of the Chinese Government had ordered the 51st Division to return to defend urgently, the battle situation in Longtan was still unfavorable for the Chinese army.

Because Longtan is a river valley area between mountains, and the 109th Regiment of the Japanese Army has occupied the commanding heights of Eagle Mountain in Longtan. If the 51st Division of the Chinese government that is returning to defend is unable to repel the 109th Regiment of the Japanese Army, the Chinese army will fall into a passive state.

After receiving the order from Commander Wang of the Fourth Front Army of the Chinese Government, the officers and soldiers of the 51st Division of the Chinese Government finally arrived at the Longtan area after a hurried march. Facing the 109th Regiment of the Japanese Army that had occupied the Longtan Yingxing Mountain Heights, the officers and soldiers of the 153rd Regiment of the 51st Division of the Chinese Government launched an attack from the bottom to the top on the positions of the 109th Regiment of the Japanese Army occupying the heights.

Because they were in a state of attacking from above, the Chinese government's offensive forces were passive everywhere. Under the fire coverage of light and heavy machine guns on the defensive positions of the 109th Regiment of the Japanese Army, the attacking Chinese government army suffered heavy casualties. However, the officers and soldiers of the 51st Division of the Chinese government remained fearless and continued to launch attacks under the fierce fire coverage of the 109th Regiment of the Japanese Army.

Finally, after a fierce attack, a battalion of the 153rd Regiment of the 51st Division of the Chinese government successfully occupied the frontier area of ​​the Japanese 109th Regiment's defensive position on Eagle Mountain.

Faced with the Chinese army that had occupied the front line of the Eagle Mountain defensive position, Colonel Yasusaburo Takidera of the 109th Regiment of the Japanese Army immediately organized light and heavy machine guns to suppress the firepower of the front line positions occupied by the Chinese army, and at the same time organized troops to launch a counterattack against the front line positions occupied by the Chinese army.

Hundreds of officers and soldiers of the 153rd Regiment suffered heavy casualties under the fierce fire attack of the 109th Regiment of the Japanese Army, but these officers and soldiers of the 153rd Regiment still held the frontier position tightly. When the reinforcements sent by the 51st Division of the Chinese government arrived, there were only seven officers and soldiers left in the 153rd Regiment on the entire frontier position.