Quartermasters can also fight the devils

Chapter 672: Slowing down the Japanese Army's attack speed

However, these battalions of the vanguard of the 51st and 58th Divisions of the 74th Army could not stop the attacking forces of the two divisions of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army. They could only delay the advance of the Japanese attacking forces.

When the attacking force of the Japanese 11th Army approached the important town of Cili, the 73rd Army that was supposed to defend Cili had been almost dispersed. Under the attack of the Japanese 11th Army's attacking force, the 73rd Army quickly abandoned the city.

The vanguard of the 58th Division of the 74th Army had to rush into the vicinity of Cili for defense. On that day, nearly 10,000 offensive troops of the 10th Division of the Japanese Army began to attack the defensive positions of the vanguard of the 58th Division in Cili.

The 58th Division of the 74th Army had only one battalion of more than 500 officers and soldiers to defend this line. Facing such a large number of attacking forces of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army, it was impossible to resist. However, the officers and soldiers of this battalion of the 58th Division still defended Akamatsu Mountain to the death, and finally most of the officers and soldiers of the battalion were killed in the battle.

On that day, Cili was successfully occupied by the 104th Regiment of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army. At that time, the main force of the 58th Division of the 74th Army was only one day's journey away from Cili, and the 100th Army was only three days away. If the 73rd Army could defend for a few more days, the situation on the battlefield would be completely different.

Fortunately, at this time, the 19th Division, the vanguard of the 74th Army and the 100th Army, had arrived at the third line of defense one after another, and engaged in fierce battles with the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army on the Qijia River and Wufeng Mountain line, temporarily blocking the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army from advancing from the flank.

The 100th Army and the 74th Army are not comparable to the weak 73rd Army. The 100th Army and the 74th Army have strong defensive combat capabilities. From this moment on, the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army finally felt the different defensive strength, and the casualties of the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army also began to increase sharply.

Starting from November 18, the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army began to continuously attack the defensive positions of the 58th and 51st Divisions of the 74th Army. However, the Japanese army not only suffered heavy casualties but also made no progress in front of the defensive positions of these two divisions.

Under the leadership of Division Commander Zhang, the officers and soldiers of the 58th Division frequently launched small-scale counterattacks against the Japanese offensive forces, tightly entangled the 68th Regiment of the 3rd Division of the Japanese Army. Seeing that his troops would find it difficult to break through the defensive positions of the 58th Division in a short period of time, Lieutenant General Yamamoto San'ao, commander of the 3rd Division of the Japanese Army, sent a telegram to Lieutenant General Akashika Osamu, commander of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army beside him, hoping that the 13th Division could assist in the attack.

After knowing that his troops were attacking the 74th Army, which was directly under the Chinese government, Lieutenant General Akashika Osamu, commander of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army, also sent out the 65th Regiment at the request of Lieutenant General Yamamoto San'ao, commander of the 3rd Division of the Japanese Army, to prepare to encircle and severely damage the 58th Division from the flank.

However, what the commander of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army, Lieutenant General Akashi Osamu, did not expect was that the 65th Regiment sent to encircle the 58th Division of the Chinese government would run headlong into the defensive position of the 51st Division of the Chinese government.

Under the leadership of the division commander Zhou Zhidao, the officers and soldiers of the 51st Division of the Chinese government trapped the 65th Regiment of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army in front of their own defensive positions. The commander of the 65th Regiment of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army, Colonel Yoshihiko Ito, was eager to break through the defensive positions of the 51st Division, so he put all the troops of the 65th Regiment into the front line of the attack to fight with the 51st Division. This left the flank of the 60th Regiment very empty.

Commander Zhang of the 58th Division of the Chinese government immediately discovered a large loophole on the flank of the 65th Regiment of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army, so he immediately dispatched troops of the 58th Division to flank the 65th Regiment of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army, and successfully annihilated most of the vanguard battalion of the 65th Regiment. The commander of the 65th Regiment of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army, Colonel Yoshihiko Ito, could only lead his troops to retreat in an embarrassing manner.

Although the Chinese army performed well in the initial stage of the third line of defense, it was impossible for the 74th Army alone to block the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army for a long time. The reason was very simple: the combat effectiveness of the two sides was too different.

Originally, the western defense force in the original combat plan of the Chinese government's Sixth War Zone Acting Commander Sun and the War Zone Chief of Staff Guo was to be completed by the 73rd Army, the 100th Army and part of the 74th Army. The estimated strength was about 50,000 people. With the 40,000 troops of Li Yutang's Corps who arrived later, they were fully confident of resisting the attack of the 40,000-strong two divisions of the Japanese 11th Army.

Moreover, the defense plan on the western front did not include any encounters or field battles. It was all based on the existing solid third-line positions in Shimen, Cili, Qijiahe Taoyuan and other places to carry out positional defense battles.

However, with the 73rd Army's rapid defeat under the attack of the Japanese 11th Army's offensive forces, only the two divisions of the 74th Army, with about 15,000 people, participated in the battle. As for the planned 100th Army, it was still unknown where it was, and Li Yutang's Corps was even further away.

Commander Sun, acting commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government, and Chief of Staff Guo of the War Zone knew very well that it would be impossible to stop the 40,000-strong army of the two divisions of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army relying on the small number of people in the 74th Army.

Besides, even if there were 15,000 American or Soviet troops, they would definitely not be able to stop the attack of 40,000 Japanese troops, not to mention the Chinese army whose weapons and equipment were inferior to theirs.

In addition, due to the rapid defeat of the 73rd Army in Shimen and Cili, the two divisions of the 74th Army were forced to move north urgently. Moreover, the officers and soldiers of these two divisions had no way to rely on the solid positions built before to carry out defensive operations, but could only use temporary simple fortifications built in the wild for defense. This naturally could not withstand the fierce artillery fire of the Japanese attack.

Commander Sun, acting commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government, and Chief of Staff Guo of the War Zone saw that it was inevitable that the western front would be broken through by the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army. At present, the defense of the 74th Army could only delay the advance speed of the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army.

At the same time, Commander Sun, Acting Commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese Government, and Chief of Staff Guo of the War Zone should also pay special attention to prevent the 74th Army from being surrounded and destroyed by the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army. After all, the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army have a three-fold advantage in terms of troop strength.