freenovelworld Chapter 667 Fortunately
Chapter 667 Fortunately
Commander Han of the 77th Division and other personnel of the division headquarters were all suppressed in the house where the division headquarters was located by the fierce firepower of the infiltration troops of the Japanese 13th Division. The dense bullets fired by the Japanese 13th Division troops entered through the windows of the house and quickly knocked down several staff officers and adjutants of the division headquarters. The situation was extremely dangerous.
At the critical moment, Zhao Xulun, the company commander of the special forces company who had originally led his troops to reinforce the front-line combat, discovered fierce gunfire and explosions coming from the direction of the division headquarters. He guessed that the division headquarters must have been attacked by the Japanese army, so Captain Zhao immediately led all the officers and soldiers of the company to turn around and rescue the division headquarters, and launched an attack from behind the Japanese 13th Division's sneak attack troops. Captain Zhao led all the officers and soldiers of the special forces company into the charge formation of the Japanese 13th Division's attack troops, and engaged in fierce hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese army.
Seeing the officers and soldiers of the special forces company engaging in hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese army, the 77th Division Commander Han knew that this was a rare opportunity, so he quickly asked the division's staff to smash open the back window of the house, and then led all the personnel of the division to break out quickly. This saved the lives of all the people in the division and they barely broke through successfully.
However, after a brief panic, the Japanese 13th Division's sneak attack force concentrated several times its strength and began to focus on besieging the 77th Division's headquarters special forces company. Captain Zhao and all the officers and soldiers of the special forces company were outnumbered and unable to break out of the Japanese encirclement, and eventually all died.
Seeing that they could no longer hold their ground in Xin'an, the 77th Division Commander Han had no choice but to order his troops to abandon Xin'an and continue to retreat. Within a few hours, Xin'an was occupied by the attacking forces of the Japanese 13th Division.
The troops of the 77th Division were in great chaos when they were retreating across the Lishui River. Originally, there were enough ferries controlled by the 77th Division on the riverside, but the new recruits of the 77th Division were now very frightened, fearing that the Japanese attacking forces behind them would pursue them. So, in extreme panic, the new recruits did not even wait for the ferry to arrive, and jumped into the Lishui River on their own to swim across the river.
You know, it's November now. Although it's not the coldest winter weather, the temperature is already quite low. These recruits of the 77th Division would rather jump into the freezing water than wait for the ferry to arrive. This shows that the recruits are completely out of control. It is almost impossible to get them to stop and fight against the Japanese attacking forces.
The attacking force of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army did not encounter any fierce resistance when occupying Xin'an, and it took only a few hours to completely occupy Xin'an. This made the experienced commander of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army, Lieutenant General Akashi Osamu, judge that the 77th Division and the 15th Division of the 73rd Army of the Chinese government should be close to collapse.
Therefore, Lieutenant General Akashi Osamu, commander of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army, ordered the attacking units of the 13th Division not to take any rest and immediately pursue the defeated Chinese army, taking advantage of the defeat and chaos of the Chinese army to cross the Lishui River in one fell swoop.
The fact was just as the commander of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army, Lieutenant General Akashi Osamu, had expected. Since the troops of the 73rd Army had already retreated across the board, the Lishui defense line of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese Government was almost useless in the face of the offensive forces of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army. The troops of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army crossed the Lishui River smoothly.
In fact, even if the 73rd Army of the Chinese government had not been defeated, the Lishui River was only a few hundred meters wide during the dry season, and the highest water depth did not exceed a person's shoulder. The attacking forces of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army could even wade across the Lishui River. Therefore, the Lishui River could hardly stop the advance of the attacking forces of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army.
However, the collapse of the 73rd Army meant that the Lishui defense line, which had been planned to be held for at least four to five days by the acting commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government, Commander Sun, and Chief of Staff Guo of the War Zone, was breached after only two days under the fierce attack of the offensive forces of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army. This was far beyond the expectations of the acting commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government, Commander Sun, and Chief of Staff Guo of the War Zone.
What's more troublesome is that at this time, the two main divisions of the 73rd Army of the Chinese government suffered very heavy casualties, and because there were too many new recruits, the troops began to disintegrate, and some of the new recruits ran away and disappeared. It can be said that the 73rd Army was directly scrapped, and it could not be relied upon in subsequent operations.
Lieutenant General Akashi Osamu, commander of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army, saw that his judgment was very accurate and that his 13th Division had crossed the Lishui River so smoothly. He was overjoyed and ordered the offensive forces of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army to continue advancing southward and pursue the troops of the 73rd Army of the Chinese government, which had been defeated and was retreating southward.
When the Japanese 13th Division began its attack, the Japanese 3rd Division responsible for attacking Shimen also launched an attack according to the original combat plan.
In order to deal with the 73rd Army of the Chinese government and quickly break through the defense line of the 73rd Army, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, also concentrated two Type A divisions of the Japanese Army, which was also a great importance.
However, although the Japanese 11th Army concentrated heavy forces to launch an attack, no one expected that the two main divisions of the 73rd Army would completely collapse after only a few hours of attack under the attack of a Japanese division.
At that time, the 77th Division and the 15th Division of the 73rd Army could hardly gain a foothold under the attack of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army, and were chased like ducks by the 13th Division of the Japanese Army. If this situation continued, the 13th Division of the Japanese Army might have pursued the two divisions of the 73rd Army to the Changde line.
Fortunately, the attacking force of the Japanese 3rd Division encountered tenacious resistance from the 73rd Army's most powerful Provisional 5th Division near Shimen.
The Provisional Fifth Division of the 73rd Army is different from the 77th Division and the 15th Division. The Provisional Fifth Division and the Provisional Sixth Division of the Tenth Army of the Huaxia Government are actually troops reorganized from the original Xiangxi local armed forces. Like the Provisional Sixth Division, there are also many Miao people in the Provisional Fifth Division. Moreover, the Provisional Fifth Division and the 77th Division and the 15th Division of the 73rd Army do not belong to the same system.
Since they are not part of the same system, the Provisional Fifth Division is relatively more valued. The Military Commission of the Chinese government can even appoint the commander of the Provisional Fifth Division.
In 1941, Commander Chen appointed his own direct general Guo Rugui to be the commander of the Provisional Fifth Division, hoping to improve the combat effectiveness of the Provisional Fifth Division and make it the government's direct combat force.