binnovel Chapter 359 Beyond Expectations
Chapter 359 Beyond Expectations
The offensive forces of the New 22nd Army also carried out a series of actions against the surrounded Japanese troops. Based on the principle of eating the meat that is in your mouth first, the New 22nd Army also mobilized a large number of troops to carry out annihilation operations against the surrounded Japanese troops.
As for the frontal attack, the New 22nd Army slowed down a lot. If they didn't completely eliminate the Japanese troops behind them, it would be unsound to attack forward.
The 1st Battalion of the 33rd Regiment suffered heavy casualties. After being surrounded, the battalion commander, Major Atsuto Takenao, immediately led the troops in a breakout operation to the rear.
But in the charge of the first breakout operation, the battalion commander, Major Atsuto Takenao, was taken special care of by the sharpshooters of the 210th Division, the heart of the new nd Army. As a result, the battalion commander, Major Atsuto Takenao, fell on the way to the charge.
The officers and soldiers of the First Battalion also hastily ended the breakout operation after losing the command of their battalion commander, Major Atsuto Takenao. This breakout operation not only caused the First Battalion to lose its captain, but also more than 200 officers and soldiers, which made the situation even worse for the First Battalion, which already had few troops.
Later, under the attack of the new 210th Division, the remaining Japanese defense lines were breached in many places, resulting in the situation that the First Battalion was divided and surrounded in several positions, which made it even more difficult for the Japanese defense to persist.
Before the sun set, the 1st Battalion of the 33rd Regiment completely disappeared from the combat sequence of the 16th Division, and all the officers and soldiers of the 1st Battalion were killed.
This boosted the morale of the New 22nd Army's attacking forces. Everyone felt that this offensive operation was not so difficult, and that even if the Japanese army was on the defensive, they would be able to defeat them.
In the Fifth War Zone Headquarters, Chief of Staff Xu sorted out the battle situation of all troops today, came to Chief Li, and reported to him:
"Commander Li, the combat progress of each unit today is still good, and it has basically achieved the expectations of the pre-war plan. The Second Army Group defeated the Japanese rear guard and has now exchanged fire with the 104th Regiment of the th Division of the Japanese Army. The new nd Army, which attacked the Japanese army's western wing defense line, pushed the Japanese army back to the last line of defense and successfully eliminated the st Battalion of the rd Regiment of the th Division of the Japanese Army, and severely damaged its nd and rd Battalions. At present, the Japanese army has sent reinforcements to the west wing. Huang Jinxian said that the new nd Army is confident that it will defeat the Japanese army's defense line and strive to cut off the Japanese army in half as soon as possible."
"In addition, the defense position of the new 100th Division on the north side of the Xiangzao Highway reported that the Japanese troops on the south side of the highway only organized a tentative attack today, and this attack by the Japanese army was not supported by artillery fire. The new 100th Division analyzed that the Japanese reinforcements and artillery units should not have arrived yet."
After listening to Chief of Staff Xu's report, Commander Li motioned for him to sit down on the sofa, and then said: "The Japanese were caught off guard this time. It seems that our early preparations were very successful and not in vain. At present, it seems that our combat concept is basically successful. However, after today, the Japanese adjustments should be completed, especially the defense of Xiangzao Highway, which will be subject to large-scale attacks by the Japanese. The 16th Division of the Japanese Army in the encirclement will also be relatively concentrated as the defense circle is reduced, and the subsequent attack progress will be very slow."
"Yes, Commander Li, so the new 22nd Army's fighting style today was still very good. During the attack, they divided and surrounded the Japanese army's manpower and tried their best to eliminate the Japanese army on the position." Chief of Staff Xu also followed Commander Li's ideas and gave a summary of the combat of each unit today.
"Yes, the new 22nd Army is worthy of having won battles all the way. Its combat experience and on-the-spot adaptability are indeed strong. Their high morale is accumulated through their victories one after another, which other troops cannot learn." Commander Li also sighed helplessly.
For Commander Li, he certainly hopes that more troops can be as powerful as the New 22nd Army and can flexibly respond to various emergencies on the battlefield, but he also knows that this requires the troops to be like the New 22nd Army, which has never lost a battle along the way, in order to cultivate the spirit of the troops.
With so many troops in the whole of China, there is only one new 22nd Army. It can be seen how difficult this is.
However, for Commander Li, it was already a very good thing that he could ask the New 22nd Army to participate in this battle. This would be of great help in achieving his ultimate goal of this battle.
This is also the reason why I assigned those difficult offensive and defensive tasks to the New 22nd Army, because other troops could not complete these tasks as satisfactorily as the New 22nd Army.
"Commander Li, the Japanese army is expected to launch a fierce attack on the defensive positions of the New 100th Division tomorrow. It depends on how long the New 100th Division can hold on. According to pre-war simulations, it will take at least seven days for us to completely eliminate the Japanese troops in the encirclement. Moreover, the scale of the Japanese troops in the encirclement this time is larger than our pre-war estimate, so it may take even longer." Chief of Staff Xu also tactfully expressed his concern about the New 100th Division.
Indeed, before the war, when the Fifth War Zone Command was conducting a war situation simulation, it estimated that the Japanese army would send a division to attack the 31st Army in the Zaoyang area.
But unexpectedly, at this point in the battle, among the Japanese combat unit numbers sent back from the front troops, the Fifth War Zone Command actually discovered that among them, there was also the number of the unit belonging to the 13th Division, which shocked everyone.
This is equivalent to having a complete 16th Division of the Japanese Army in the encirclement, as well as at least an infantry regiment of the 13th Division. It should be noted that when the simulation and pre-setting of troop strength were done before, the attack force was prepared according to the strength of a Japanese division.
The sudden addition of a Japanese regiment meant that the originally prepared offensive force was not sufficient, and that the offensive force would have to pay a higher price to achieve the final combat objectives set by the Fifth War Zone.
But there is no better solution now. The battle has come to this point. It is not easy to withdraw troops. We can only fight on. After all, we cannot leave the 31st Army in the Zaoyang area.