Quartermasters can also fight the devils

Chapter 752: The Fall of Guilin

On October 29, 1944, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, ordered the offensive forces of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, which had assembled at the designated location, to begin attacking Guilin City.

There are many mountains around Guilin, and most of these mountains rise from the ground at almost 90 degrees, making them very difficult to climb. They are easy to defend but difficult to attack. In addition, there are caves inside these mountains that can be used to hide soldiers and supplies.

However, these mountains are all rocky. After a round of artillery fire from the attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army, the Chinese army could no longer build shelters after the fortifications built on the surface were damaged by the artillery fire. Therefore, the Chinese army could only hide in the caves in the mountains. However, the artillery fire of the attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army was very powerful, and the final result can be imagined.

The attacking force of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army first attacked the north of Guilin City. As a result, under the tenacious resistance of the 131st Division of the 31st Army, the attacking force of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army failed to make the expected progress.

On November 4, the attacking force of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army released poison gas on the Qixingyan stronghold, killing more than 800 officers and soldiers of the Chinese Army guarding the position in the cave. On November 5, Qixingyan fell, and the attacking force of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army began to attack the defensive positions of the Chinese Army on the west bank of the Lijiang River.

Under the superior firepower attack of the Japanese 11th Army, the Chinese army was unable to stop the Japanese 11th Army's offensive forces from crossing the river. After successfully crossing the river, the Japanese 11th Army's offensive forces occupied several Chinese army strongholds along the river and began to attack Guilin city from all sides.

On November 8, the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army began to attack the core defensive positions of the Chinese Army in Guilin. The 40th Division of the Japanese Army concentrated all its heavy artillery and began to bombard the city of Guilin, preparing to cover the crossing of the river by the 236th Regiment of the Japanese Army.

However, under the fierce artillery attack of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, the city of Guilin was silent. The 11th Army of the Japanese Army thought that the Chinese army had abandoned the city and fled, so the 236th Regiment of the Japanese Army began the operation of crossing the river.

However, when the crossing troops of the 236th Regiment of the Japanese Army were in the center of the river, the machine guns and mortars of the Chinese Army on the other side of the river suddenly began to fire fiercely at the troops of the 236th Regiment of the Japanese Army that were crossing the river.

Under the fierce attack of the Chinese army, the 11th Squadron of the 236th Regiment of the Japanese Army suffered heavy losses in the crossing operation. Although the 12th Squadron successfully crossed the river, it was blocked by the Chinese army's blocking fire near Zhongzheng Bridge. The officers and soldiers of the 1st Machine Gun Squadron assigned to the crossing operation were all killed by the Chinese army, which forced the 236th Regiment of the Japanese Army to stop the crossing operation.

Finally, the attacking forces of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army managed to break into the city of Guilin, and the Chinese Army also engaged in a brutal street battle with the attacking forces of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army in the city of Guilin.

The fierce fighting lasted until November 10. The Chinese army defending Guilin suffered heavy casualties, and many of its defensive strongholds were captured by the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army. The city of Guilin was about to fall.

After being surrounded by the attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army, the commander of the 131st Division, Kan Weiyong, committed suicide with a gun as there was no hope of breaking out. Chen Jihuan, chief of staff of the Guilin City Defense Command, also committed suicide with a gun after being seriously wounded. Lü Zhanmeng, chief of staff of the 31st Army, also died heroically in the battle while leading his troops to break out.

On November 11, the attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army completely occupied Guilin. In total, the city of Guilin was defended for exactly three days.

In early October, when the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army occupied Quanzhou, the offensive forces assembled by the Japanese 23rd Army also began to attack from the direction of Yangcheng, attacking the Guiping area of ​​Guangxi Province, threatening the safety of Liuzhou.

When the offensive force of the Japanese 23rd Army from Guangdong Province attacked Guiping, the highest level of the Chinese government asked the 64th Army of the Seventh War Zone of the Chinese government to be responsible for the defense of Guiping.

In order to fight the battle in the Liuzhou direction of the China Expeditionary Army's "Operation No. 1" plan, Lieutenant General Tanaka Hisaichi, commander of the Japanese 23rd Army, also assembled the forces of the Japanese 22nd and 104th Divisions.

However, the 22nd and 104th Divisions of the Japanese Army were inferior to the two ace units of the 3rd and 13th Divisions of the Japanese 11th Army in terms of combat effectiveness and morale of officers and soldiers.

Among them, the 22nd Division of the 23rd Army of the Japanese Army was transferred to South China by sea from Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. The 22nd Division of the Japanese Army once encountered an air raid by the Joint Air Force of China and the United States on the sea of ​​​​Dongsha Island. Not only were many ships sunk, but more than a thousand Japanese officers and soldiers were drowned. At the same time, a considerable number of heavy weapons were lost. Therefore, the offensive forces of the 23rd Army of the Japanese Army were not very morale.

Commander Zhang, the commander of the Fourth War Zone of the Huaxia government stationed in Liuzhou, can theoretically mobilize three army groups, namely the 27th Army Group of the Sichuan Army, the th Army Group of the Guangxi Clique, and the th Army Group of the Guangdong Clique.

Among them, the 27th Army Group of the Sichuan Army was withdrawn from the battlefield in Hunan Province. Now there are only more than 20,000 officers and soldiers left in the entire 27th Army Group. It is difficult for such an amount of troops to play any substantial role. At this moment, the main force of the battle is naturally the 35th Army Group of the Guangdong Clique and the 16th Army Group of the Guangxi Clique.

According to the order of the Military Commission of the Chinese Government, the defense of Liuzhou was under the responsibility of the 62nd Army of the 35th Group Army of the Guangdong Army. However, Commander Zhang of the Fourth War Zone of the Chinese Government, as a Guangdong figure, in order to preserve this trusted force, he changed the responsibility to the 26th Army of the 27th Group Army of the Sichuan Army to defend Liuzhou City.

Commander Zhang of the Fourth War Zone of the Chinese government also ordered the 16th Army of the Guangxi clique to secure Yishan and the 35th Army of the Guangdong clique to defend the area west of Laibin.

The central idea of ​​the combat deployment of Commander Zhang, commander of the Fourth War Zone of the Chinese government, is actually to put the Sichuan Army in the front, the Guangxi Army in the back, and the Guangdong Army to maintain mobility on the flank.

Commander Ding Zhipan of the 26th Army of the 27th Group Army of the Sichuan Army is a veteran in the military. Commander Ding does not think that he can defend Liuzhou by relying on the strength of his 26th Army, which has been devastated.

At this time, because the attacking forces of the Japanese 23rd Army needed to cross the mountains, the troops' advancement was slow. Therefore, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the Japanese 11th Army, who always liked to take credit, withdrew the 3rd Division and the 13th Division from the Guilin front line to attack in the direction of Liuzhou first.