readsfreenovel Chapter 111 Victory in the first battle
Chapter 111 Victory in the first battle
"boom."
"boom."
At 3:20 p.m., the First Division of the Nanshan Army launched an artillery attack on the Northern Army in Dashi Village.
The deputy commander of the 72nd Division shouted after being bombarded: "Order all units to find shelter from the shells and not to panic."
"Division Commander, how were we discovered? Is there a problem internally?" The commander of the 722nd Regiment said in panic in front of the deputy division commander.
The deputy division commander shouted, "Shut up, go and appease the troops first, and be sure to protect the heavy weapons. As long as we hold on until night, we can break through."
Because the two regiments were only temporarily stationed here, they did not build any defensive fortifications. Except for those in the village who were able to hide in the houses, the troops outside the village suffered heavy losses.
Of course, even the houses in the village were destroyed by artillery shells, and the collapse killed many Union soldiers.
Under the bombardment of twenty-three artillery pieces, the two regiments of the Union Army suffered heavy losses, with corpses and limbs flying all over the ground.
When the artillery fire stopped for two minutes, the deputy division commander walked out of the command post and shouted loudly: "Quick, organize the troops to defend against the enemy's attack."
Because there were no shelters outside the village, some of the Northern Army soldiers withdrew into the village and deployed two heavy machine guns at the north and south exits.
Some troops hid far away under the artillery fire and were unable to retreat into the village in time.
Because this expedition was a secret march, the Northern Army did not carry many heavy machine guns, and two of them were destroyed by the explosion.
北军还未布置完成，南山军102、103、104三个团，对北军发动了攻击。102团在北口进攻，103、104两个团进攻南口。
There were not many shelters on the periphery, and the Northern Army guarding the periphery was quickly wiped out. As for the Northern Army hiding a little further away, each of the three regiments sent out a battalion to encircle and suppress them.
The remaining Nanshan troops began to attack the north and south entrances of Dashi Village.
"Commander, the enemy has two heavy machine guns with very strong firepower." The messenger reported to Fang Weiguo, commander of the 102nd Regiment.
Fang Weiguo personally came to the front line to observe for a while, and then ordered: "Go to two companies, go around the village entrance from the blind spot of the enemy's heavy firepower, and use mortars to prepare to destroy the heavy firepower of the Northern Army."
"After the enemy's heavy firepower was knocked out, the two companies at the entrance of the village used grenades to clear the way and rushed into the village."
"Yes, Captain." After receiving the order, each unit took action immediately.
The mortar has adjusted all the parameters and is waiting for the troops to get around the village entrance before firing.
The Northern Army is different from Ma Jincen’s troops. They are not only equipped with heavy machine guns, but also light machine guns. I just don’t know if this unit carries artillery.
Twenty minutes later, seeing the troops moving to about 60 meters from the village entrance and hiding, Fang Weiguo ordered: "Release."
Four mortar shells exploded at the entrance of the village, the two heavy machine guns on the opposite side fell silent, and two companies rushed to the village entrance from both sides.
When approaching the village entrance, hundreds of grenades were thrown into the village. After a burst of explosions, taking advantage of the smoke and dust, the soldiers set up general-purpose machine guns at the entrance of the village, and submachine gunners also fired at the village.
After a round of attacks, when the smoke and dust cleared, hundreds of corpses were left at the north entrance of the village.
The remaining Northern Army continued to shoot at the village entrance and threw grenades at it. The general-purpose machine guns set up by the Nanshan Army at the north entrance also continued to fire.
The two sides fought very tenaciously, with soldiers constantly being killed and wounded, and many soldiers on both sides were killed by grenades.
Soon Fang Weiguo arrived with follow-up troops to reinforce. With the advantage in numbers, the Northern Army was beaten back and retreated towards the center of the village.
The deputy division commander and two regiment commanders were all inside the command center. A messenger came to report, "Division commander, the north entrance has been lost, and the Nanshan Army has entered the village."
"Division Commander, the South Pass has also been lost, and the enemy is attacking." Before the men could breathe a sigh of relief, another messenger came to report.
The deputy division commander asked grimly, "How many people are left in each unit now?"
"We still have more than a thousand people in the village, but they are scattered in houses, so it is not convenient for us to gather in large numbers in the village." The two regiment leaders looked at each other, and the leader of the 722nd Regiment said helplessly.
The deputy division commander said in a deep voice: "Then let's fight street battles. You each command your own troops."
The deputy division commander was a little annoyed. If he had known earlier, he would have built some defensive fortifications around the village so that there would be enough defensive depth and he would not be trapped in the village.
The street fighting was extremely fierce. Both sides had grenades, the Northern Army had light machine guns, and the Nanshan Army had submachine guns.
The battle lasted until six o'clock in the evening. The commanders of the 722nd and 723rd regiments were killed, and the deputy division commander was captured.
At the temporary command center, Fang Tianming came to report: "Division Commander, we have captured the deputy commander of the 72nd Division."
"Oh, bring it in quickly." Fang Guoxuan said happily.
This Northern Army was different from Ma Jincen's troops. Not only was their equipment better than Ma Jincen's, but their troops were also elite. The First Division also suffered heavy losses in destroying this unit.
After the deputy commander of the 72nd Division was brought in, Fang Guoxuan said, "I won't waste words. If you cooperate and give some useful information, you can live. If you don't cooperate, there is naturally no value in living."
"Cooperate, cooperate, sir, I will definitely cooperate." The deputy commander of the 72nd Division said repeatedly.
Fang Guoxuan asked: "Tell us your mission, the troops dispatched by the Northern Army this time, the locations of each unit, etc."
The deputy division commander did not dare to neglect and immediately said, "Yes, yes, sir."
"Our mission is to stay where we are. Depending on your troops' movements, we can march to Changhuan, Xinyuan, attack reinforcements, etc."
"This time, our Seventh Army dispatched two divisions, our 72nd Division and 71st Division."
"The 72nd Division has three regiments plus the division's direct troops, a total of more than 721 people. There are two regiments with people in Dashi Village. The remaining st Regiment and the division's direct troops are all in Lingshan County."
"The mission of the 71th Regiment of the 711st Division is to launch a surprise attack on Jingshui County. Because of the need to change guards, the remaining troops of the 71st Division will not be able to reach Jingshui until tomorrow."
"The main force attacking Nanshan Province is the Third Army, which should have assembled in Yanping County today."
After having the Northern Army's deputy division commander taken away, Fang Guoxuan fell into deep thought.
Fang Tianming asked: "Commander, according to the other side's explanation, Yanping County is in danger."
"The Northern Government has an army of 30,000 men, while Yanping County only has one battalion. Even with the support of the special forces battalion, there are only 1,600 men. If the enemy attacks the city with all their might, I'm afraid they won't be able to hold out for long."
"So far, we have not received any report from the 101nd Battalion of the 2st Regiment. Yanping should still be in our hands." Fang Guoxuan forced himself to calm down and comforted himself.
"Messenger, order Fang Weiguo of the 102nd Regiment to lead his troops to rush to Yanping County immediately."
The reason why Fang Tianming was not sent to rush to the aid of Yanping County was because the 102nd Regiment was located in the direction of Dashi Village leading to Yanping, and it was more convenient to mobilize the 102nd Regiment.
The messenger next to him immediately responded, "Yes, Commander."
Fang Tianming went down with the messenger. He needed to hurry and count the results of the battle and the casualties so that the troops could finish their work as soon as possible and rest. They had to rush to Yanping County early tomorrow morning.
After receiving the order, Fang Weiguo immediately organized his troops and marched quickly towards Yanping County.
Fang Guoxuan was secretly worried. Yanping had to face 30,000 people, and he didn't know whether the county was still in his hands.
Half an hour later, Fang Weiguo came to report: "Division Commander, in this battle, we killed 2454 enemies, captured 1367, seized 3754 Taisho XI-type guns, 15 box guns, 72 light machine guns, and 6 heavy machine guns."