vstars Chapter 511 Still Not Achieving the Goal
Chapter 511 Still Not Achieving the Goal
When the troops of the Fifth War Zone of China pursued to the south of Zaoyang, the 13th and 39th Divisions of the Japanese Army, which had turned north from the southern line, launched a surprise attack on the pursuing troops of the Fifth War Zone in the northeast of Yicheng. After defeating the troops of the Fifth War Zone in front of them, they continued to advance and joined the Third Division assembled in the south of Zaoyang.
The 13th and 39th Divisions of the Japanese Army turned around and headed north, shocking Captain Li, commander of the Fifth War Zone. The northward movement of the two divisions on the southern front of the Japanese Army brought the three reinforced divisions of the Japanese Army together. Now the troops of the Fifth War Zone were completely at a disadvantage.
Therefore, Commander Li quickly ordered the pursuing troops to stop the pursuit and prepared to withdraw the troops to the west of Baihe River to organize the defense.
However, Lieutenant General Kazuhiro Sonobe, commander of the 11th Japanese Army, did not give the Fifth War Zone troops much time to react. After the three Japanese divisions joined together, Lieutenant General Kazuhiro Sonobe ordered all troops to launch a full-scale attack on the pursuing Chinese army, forcing the Fifth War Zone to fight a decisive battle with its back to the Tang River.
The pursuit troops of the Fifth War Zone, with no defensive fortifications, faced the all-out attack of three reinforced Japanese divisions and could not hold out for half a day. Commander Li of the Fifth War Zone realized that the Japanese wanted to force the troops of the Fifth War Zone to fight a decisive battle here, but the terrain here did not bring any advantages to the troops of the Fifth War Zone.
Moreover, due to the rush of time, the troops of the Fifth War Zone did not even have time to build defensive fortifications. Under such circumstances, it was impossible to win a decisive battle with the Japanese army. Therefore, Commander Li immediately ordered the troops that were originally pursuing the Japanese army to retreat quickly, and all troops retreated to the west bank of the Baihe River to organize a defense line.
Lieutenant General Kazuichiro Sonobe, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, was shocked to see that the troops of the Fifth War Zone of the Chinese government were about to run away again. He thought this was unacceptable. He had spent half a day preparing for a decisive battle with the troops of the Fifth War Zone of the Chinese government, but now you are running away after just fighting for half a day. Didn't he still fail to achieve his combat goal this time?
Therefore, Commander Lieutenant General Sonobe Kazuichiro ordered his troops to quickly pursue the fleeing Chinese army and make sure to destroy the main force of the Fifth War Zone of the Chinese government. However, the Fifth War Zone troops retreated very quickly, and the Japanese army chased them for almost two days but failed to catch up.
After almost two days of advancing, the Japanese 3rd Division had arrived in Deng County, the 13th Division had arrived to the east of Laohekou, and the 39th Division had arrived in Fancheng. It can be said that the attacking advance of the three Japanese divisions had reached its limit here, because there were no supplies.
However, the Japanese 11th Army Headquarters had not yet issued an order to stop the pursuit, so the 39th Division sent out the 233rd Infantry Regiment in the early morning of the next day to prepare to sneak across the Baihe River.
Colonel Tetsujiro Kanzaki, commander of the 233rd Regiment, personally led his troops in rubber boats and quietly paddled to the west bank of the Shirakawa River, but the Japanese army's actions were discovered by the Chinese troops defending the west bank.
Therefore, when the rubber boats carrying the officers and soldiers of the 233rd Regiment of the Japanese Army arrived in the middle of the river, the commander of the Chinese guard force on the west bank concentrated all his heavy firepower and launched a "half-crossing attack" on the Japanese troops in the middle of the river. For a while, mortar shells continued to splash in the river, and the light and heavy machine guns on the shore positions and the rifles in the hands of the officers and soldiers fired fiercely.
The unfortunate 233rd Regiment of the Japanese Army was unable to react to the sudden attack. Many of the rubber boats were hit and deflated by the shooting of the Chinese army on the west bank. The river was littered with Japanese officers and soldiers struggling in the water.
What made the officers and soldiers of the 233rd Regiment of the Japanese Army even more miserable was that in the first wave of surprise attack by the Chinese army on the west bank, the rubber boat carrying their commander, Colonel Tetsujiro Kanzaki, was fortunately hit directly by a Chinese army's artillery shell. All the officers and soldiers on the rubber boat, including the commander, Colonel Tetsujiro Kanzaki, went to see Amaterasu on the spot, which made the 233rd Regiment lose its command all of a sudden.
With the death of Colonel Tetsujiro Kanzaki, the commander of the 233rd Regiment of the Japanese Army, under the attack of the Chinese troops on the west bank, the remnants were forced to retreat to the east bank of the Shirakawa River in a panic. When they went ashore and took an inventory, they found that in just this one smuggling operation, 372 soldiers of the 233rd Regiment were killed before they even landed on the west bank of the Shirakawa River. Even the commander of the 233rd Regiment, Colonel Tetsujiro Kanzaki, was gone. It was a heavy loss.
Seeing that the Fifth War Zone of the Chinese government had already set up a defense line on the west bank of the Shirakawa River, and that the attacking troops were now facing serious supply problems, Lieutenant General Kazuichiro Sonobe, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, issued an order to stop the pursuit.
Such a result also made the commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, Lieutenant General Sonobe Kazuichiro, feel very regretful. After all, this time his troops still failed to destroy the main force of the Fifth War Zone of the Chinese Government, which also increased the difficulty of the second phase of operations.
Moreover, what worried Lieutenant General Kazuichiro Sonobe, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, was that his three reinforced divisions had suffered heavy losses in the battles east of the Han River.
And according to the combat plan formulated by the Japanese 11th Army Command before the war, the first phase of the combat was to last ten days. However, due to the repeated tug-of-war and stubborn resistance of the Fifth War Zone of the Chinese government, the first phase of the combat lasted for more than twenty days, which was more than twice the time of the combat plan formulated before the war. This also made all the officers and soldiers of the attacking forces very tired.
After the Japanese 11th Army Commander Lieutenant General Sonobe Kazuichiro issued an order to stop the pursuit, he also ordered all the attacking troops to withdraw to the vicinity of Zaoyang for rest and replenishment. Commander Lieutenant General Sonobe Kazuichiro needed to discuss with the commanders of the three divisions responsible for the attack whether to carry out the second phase of the operation according to the original combat plan and attack Yichang west of the Han River.
This was because the military supplies and ammunition prepared before the war were based on ten days of consumption. As a result, the first phase of the battle lasted more than twenty days, and the supplies and ammunition prepared for the entire battle had been almost consumed. If the second phase of the battle was to be carried out, the 11th Army’s last reserves would have to be taken out. In this case, if the 11th Army suffered a large-scale attack from the Chinese army in other directions, they would not have enough supplies and ammunition to deal with it. This would be a very dangerous thing.
(Thanks to Keisuke Tachibana who loves beef jerky, Duke Wei who loves lamb and zucchini, and Mi Zong for their gifts! Thank you all for your support and encouragement!)