binnovel Chapter 473: One More Advantage
Chapter 473: One More Advantage
Colonel Yoshinosuke Miki, commander of the 21st Regiment of the Japanese Army, led his troops to retreat into the mountains. Behind them, the newly formed 22nd Army's armored tank troops were chasing them. Just when Colonel Yoshinosuke Miki didn't know which direction to run, the remnants of the Japanese army defending Kunlun Pass also sent people to rush down to support the 21st Regiment that came to reinforce.
With the support of the Japanese troops at Kunlun Pass, the regiment commander, Colonel Yoshinosuke Miki, also led his troops to join the remaining Japanese troops at Kunlun Pass. It was not until this time that the regiment commander, Colonel Yoshinosuke Miki, gradually recovered from the armored tank raid of the newly formed 22nd Division.
As soon as he came to his senses, the first thing the regiment commander, Colonel Yoshinosuke Miki, did was to take inventory of the 21st Regiment that he had brought as reinforcements. The result of the inventory made Colonel Yoshinosuke Miki feel mixed emotions.
The vehicles and artillery assigned to the 21st Regiment were all abandoned on the road after the sudden attack by the Chinese army's armored vehicles and tanks. The combat ammunition they carried was also given to the Chinese army along with the trucks. The only good news is that the losses of the infantry were not too great, and now 65% of the troops can still participate in the subsequent battles.
After thinking for a while, the commander of the wing, Colonel Yoshinosuke Miki, also sent a telegram for help to the commander of the 5th Division, Lieutenant General Imamura Hitoshi, who was waiting for his victory report in Qinzhou City. Colonel Yoshinosuke Miki described his tragic experience in detail in the telegram, and then, Colonel Yoshinosuke Miki asked the division commander, Lieutenant General Imamura Hitoshi, to send a large number of aircraft to provide fire support tomorrow.
The commander of the regiment, Colonel Yoshinosuke Miki, understood it very clearly. Even if none of his own artillery pieces were lost, it would be difficult for his artillery units to fully exert their artillery advantage. This could be seen from the fact that the Chinese army that raided the 21st Regiment actually dispatched so many armored vehicles and tanks. The artillery equipment of the Chinese army attacking Kunlun Pass must be very sophisticated, and the number of artillery pieces must exceed that of his side.
Since there are no artillery, if they want to complete the task assigned by the division commander, Lieutenant General Imamura Hitoshi, to recapture the main position of Kunlun Pass and hold it, they must find another way. The commander of the regiment, Colonel Miki Yoshinosuke, pondered for a long time and only found the only advantage left by the Japanese army in southern Guangxi, that is, the air force.
After receiving the telegram from Colonel Miki Yoshinosuke, commander of the 21st Regiment, Lieutenant General Imamura Hitoshi, commander of the 5th Division and supreme commander of the Japanese Yongqin Corps, was shocked by the content of the telegram. The Chinese army actually deployed a large number of armored vehicles and tanks in the direction of Kunlun Pass. There should not be many such mechanized troops in the Chinese government's army.
The commander of the 5th Division, Lieutenant General Imamura Hitoshi, also reported this shocking news to the commander of the 21st Army, Lieutenant General Ando Toshiyoshi, and requested the commander of the 21st Army, Lieutenant General Ando Toshiyoshi, to send all the aircraft to support the subsequent operations of the 21st Regiment.
After receiving the request from Lieutenant General Imamura Hitoshi, commander of the 5th Division, Lieutenant General Ando Toshiyoshi, commander of the 21st Army, immediately agreed to his request and stated that starting tomorrow all combat aircraft would be on standby for the battle in the direction of Kunlun Pass, and that aircraft could be dispatched at any time to provide support over Kunlun Pass if necessary.
After obtaining aircraft support, the commander of the 5th Division, Lieutenant General Imamura Hitoshi, was considering sending more reinforcements in the direction of Kunlun Pass. According to the information fed back by Colonel Miki Yoshinosuke, commander of the 21st Regiment, the Chinese army had deployed a large number of elite troops in the direction of Kunlun Pass. It seemed unlikely that the 21st Regiment, which had lost almost half of its troops, would be able to complete the previously determined combat mission. It was necessary to continue to send powerful combat troops in the direction of Kunlun Pass.
Therefore, Lieutenant General Imamura Hitoshi, commander of the 5th Division, ordered Colonel Lin Yixiong, commander of the 1st Regiment of the Taiwan Mixed Brigade, to lead his troops from Nanning to reinforce the battle in the direction of Kunlun Pass.
At the same time, in order to deal with the armored vehicles and tanks of the Chinese army, the commander of the 5th Division, Lieutenant General Imamura Hitoshi, assigned all the rapid-fire artillery in the unit to the 1st Regiment of the Taiwan Mixed Brigade, and asked the commander of the 1st Regiment of the Taiwan Mixed Brigade, Colonel Lin Yixiong, to organize a volunteer team to deal with the tanks and armored vehicles of the Chinese army when necessary.
The next morning, the Japanese Air Force dispatched more than 80 aircraft of various types to the sky above Kunlun Pass and launched a fierce bombing on the main position of Kunlun Pass occupied by the Fifth Army yesterday. This frightened Commander Du who was in the Fifth Army headquarters far away.
Fortunately, the fortifications built by the Japanese army on Kunlun Pass were relatively solid, which allowed the officers and soldiers of a regiment of the Fifth Army on the main position to suffer limited losses under the heavy bombing of Japanese aircraft, and also preserved a lot of the troops' combat effectiveness.
In order to quickly approach the main position of Kunlun Pass, Colonel Yoshinosuke Miki, commander of the 21st Regiment, ordered his troops to launch a frantic attack, regardless of the fact that the main position was being bombarded by his own planes. He engaged in a fierce battle with the officers and soldiers of the Fifth Army's regiment on the main position.
After the battle at Kunlun Pass began, the troops of the New 22nd Division were also preparing to retake Wutang and use Wutang as a defense line to block the Japanese reinforcements sent to Kunlun Pass. But when the troops of the New 22nd Division at Wutang were preparing to launch an attack, they received an order from the division commander Qiu Fengzi, ordering all the troops at Wutang to retreat to Liutang. The entire division would use Liutang as the basic defense line to block the Japanese reinforcements.
The reason why Crazy Qiu suddenly gave the order to retreat and change the defense line address was because the reconnaissance officers and soldiers of the newly formed 22nd Division discovered that the 1st Regiment of the Taiwan Brigade coming from the direction of Nanning was very close to Wutang. If an attack on Wutang was launched at this time, it would be very likely that they would encounter this Japanese reinforcement force.
Crazy Qiu felt that instead of fighting the Japanese army at Wutang, it would be better to withdraw the troops a little. Anyway, the order given to him by Commander Du was to stop the Japanese reinforcements and not let any Japanese reinforcements reach the Kunlun Pass battlefield. As for whether to stop the Japanese reinforcements at Wutang or Liutang, it didn't matter at all.
The First Regiment of the Taiwan Mixed Brigade, which came to reinforce, was blocked by the troops of the newly formed 22nd Division here in Liutang. From the first encounter between the two sides, the intensity of the entire battlefield became fierce.
After being blocked by the New 22nd Division, Colonel Lin Yixiong of the 1st Regiment of the Taiwan Mixed Brigade of the Japanese Army immediately contacted the Air Force planes over Kunlun Pass, preparing to break through the Chinese army's defensive positions in Liutang under the cover of the Air Force.