freenovelworld Chapter 747: Super Long Attack Time
Chapter 747: Super Long Attack Time
The 190th Division and the 7th Regiment of the 3rd Division, which were originally responsible for defending the south of Hengyang City, expanded the width of their defense and took over the front-line positions in the southwest of Hengyang City. The main forces of the 3rd Division were deployed in the depths of Tianma Mountain, Yueping Mountain, Jielong Mountain, and Wuguiling Highlands.
When the two divisions of the Japanese 11th Army's central route and the Chinese government's 10th Army were fighting outside the city of Hengyang, the Chinese government's 30th Army Group launched a counterattack against the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army and once recaptured Liling and Pingxiang. However, the offensive forces of the Japanese 3rd Division and the Japanese 13th Division subsequently successively captured Leiyang and Youxian, and retook Liling, which made Hengyang more isolated.
On July 11, 1944, after receiving reinforcements from artillery and ammunition supplies, the attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army launched the second round of general offensive. The new commander of the Japanese 68th Division, Lieutenant General Mikio Tsutsumi, also came to the army to take office.
The focus of the attack by the 68th Division of the Japanese 11th Army, which was responsible for the attack on Hengyang City, and the 116th Division of the Japanese Army was still on the southwestern suburbs of Hengyang City. The commander of the 116th Division, Lieutenant General Wang Iwanaga, launched a fierce attack on the Huxingshan position garrisoned by the 10th Reserve Division with an infantry regiment, two field artillery regiments and the 44th Air Force Squadron.
The fierce battle lasted until nine o'clock the next morning. The 10th Reserve Division suffered heavy casualties under the attack of the 116th Division of the Japanese Army, and its defensive positions were also broken through by the offensive forces of the 116th Division of the Japanese Army.
Therefore, in order to recapture the defensive position of Huxing Mountain, the 3rd Division organized a battalion of troops to launch a counterattack against the offensive forces of the 116th Division of the Japanese Army. Afterwards, the two sides engaged in hand-to-hand combat on the position of Huxing Mountain. After a fierce battle, the battalion commander of the counterattack force organized by the 3rd Division was killed, and three-quarters of the officers and soldiers of the battalion were killed or wounded. However, the counterattack organized by the 3rd Division still failed to recapture the defensive position of Huxing Mountain, and the remnants of the 10th Reserve Division could only retreat to Xichan Temple.
By July 15, the first-line positions defended by the 10th Reserve Division and the 190th Division had been breached in many places by the attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army. During this period, the 3rd Division on the second line also organized several counterattacks and successfully recaptured some key points.
At this point in the battle of Hengyang, the positions of the Japanese attacking forces and the 10th Army of the Chinese government were already intertwined. The officers and soldiers of the 10th Army of the Chinese government and the attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army were fighting extremely fiercely in this close-range combat.
In order to increase the defensive depth of the troops, Commander Fang of the 10th Army of the Huaxia government ordered the 190th Division to build a third line of defense in the southwest of Hengyang City.
On July 16, the 190th Division abandoned the remaining defensive positions on the first line and withdrew to the newly built second line of defense, allowing the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army to advance to the vicinity of the west gate of Hengyang City.
On July 17, the offensive force of the Japanese 11th Army was still progressing slowly in the southwest direction of Hengyang City, and the offensive power of the Japanese 11th Army was exhausted again.
At the same time, the 10th Army of the Chinese government was able to maintain its previous defense density while reducing the width of its defense surface, so the sniping firepower on each defense position was not weakened much.
During this period, the commander of the 120th Regiment of the 116th Division of the Japanese Army and Colonel Erjilong were killed, and the three battalion commanders of the 133rd Regiment of the Japanese Army were also killed one after another by the troops of the 10th Army of the Chinese government. What's worse, the remaining strength of each battalion of the 133rd Regiment of the Japanese Army was less than 100 people on average.
On July 19, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, once again ordered the 68th Division of the Japanese Army and the 116th Division of the Japanese Army, which were responsible for the central attack on Hengyang, to temporarily stop the attack.
However, when the two divisions of the Japanese 11th Army's central route attacked Hengyang fiercely, the troops of the Chinese government's 9th War Zone in Hengyang's outer troops still made no progress in counterattack.
On July 22, the 62nd Army, which was dispatched from the Seventh War Zone of the Chinese Government by the Military Commission of the Chinese Government, arrived at the battlefield as reinforcement. The Military Commission of the Chinese Government ordered Li Yutang, deputy commander-in-chief of the 27th Army Group, to enter the headquarters of the 62nd Army and urge the 62nd Army to launch an attack on the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army that were attacking the southwest of Hengyang in order to lift the siege of Hengyang.
At the same time, the Military Commission of the Chinese Government also strictly ordered the remaining troops of the Ninth War Zone of the Chinese Government to take advantage of the emptiness of the offensive forces of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army in the rear and defeat the offensive forces of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army in front of them. However, the armies of the Ninth War Zone of the Chinese Government can hardly maintain their own defense lines now, so how can they have the ability to actively launch a counterattack against the offensive forces of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army?
At the same time, the intelligence department of the Japanese 11th Army was well aware of the deployment of the Chinese government's 9th War Zone troops, and even the actions of the Chinese government's 62nd Army that had just arrived at the battlefield were very clear.
When the commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, received information that the 62nd Army of the Chinese government, which had just arrived at the battlefield, was going to launch a counterattack against the attacking force of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army that was attacking Hengyang, he immediately ordered the 40th Division of the Japanese Army to advance to the southwest of Hengyang to block the attacking 62nd Army of the Chinese government. At the same time, the commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, ordered the 57th Brigade of the 68th Division of the Japanese Army to return to the base quickly, and then follow the 68th Division of the Japanese Army to participate in the offensive against Hengyang.
On July 23, the 62nd Army of the Chinese government began to attack towards the southwest of Hengyang, and at one point attacked the railway station west of Hengyang City.
However, the 62nd Army of the Chinese government also suffered heavy casualties in the attack, and even the ammunition was exhausted. After the 62nd Army of the Chinese government stopped the attack, the 40th Division of the Japanese Army immediately organized a counterattack and repelled the 62nd Army of the Chinese government.
The main forces of the 24th Army Group behind the 62nd Army of the Chinese government, the 74th Army, the 79th Army and the 100th Army, were also blocked outside the blockade line of the 40th Division of the Japanese Army.
On August 4, the offensive units of the Japanese 11th Army completed their second reorganization. After obtaining supplies and troop replenishment, the offensive units immediately launched the third round of general attack on Hengyang.
In addition to the 68th Division and the 116th Division of the Japanese Army, the commander of the 11th Army, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, also transferred the 58th Division of the Japanese Army to Hengyang, launching an attack on the defensive positions of the 10th Army of the Chinese government from the northwest of Hengyang City.