vstars Chapter 497
Chapter 497
Just now, Yang Nengjun scolded the three regiment commanders harshly and mercilessly.
Political Commissar Lin Tie, who was standing nearby, kept comforting the regiment commanders, trying to ease the tense atmosphere.
The atmosphere in the room was still heavy and no one dared to speak easily.
After a moment, Yang Nengjun suddenly raised his head, staring fiercely at the Chief of Staff Sha Ke beside him, his voice low but unquestionable:
"Is there any other way?"
Shake frowned, his expression equally grim.
It's not that he didn't consider other tactics, but the Japanese troops in Wutai City not only had strong fortifications, but also had extremely high tactical skills despite their small number of troops.
The defensive positions carefully constructed by Kuribayashi Tadamichi almost made their offensive tactics meaningless.
It was also the first time that the troops engaged in direct combat with the Japanese army's heavily guarded and carefully defended fortifications.
If their troops were in the field, they would have captured these Japanese troops by now, but this was the first time they had engaged in such a large-scale street battle with the Japanese.
To be honest, the losses of troops on the front line were beyond Shake's expectations.
He had previously thought that more than half of the two regiments would suffer casualties in the city.
After pondering for a moment, Shake spoke slowly, his tone somewhat helpless: "If you want to destroy this kind of reinforced fortification, I really can't think of any effective way.
Our current firepower is insufficient to penetrate, and the enemy is holding on tightly. If we attack with all our might, we will suffer heavy losses and may even find ourselves in an even more difficult situation."
Yang Nengjun clenched his fists tightly, his knuckles turning slightly white, and then slammed his palm on the table. The pencil bounced up and fell on the map.
"We can't just keep on being stuck like this!"
Yang Nengjun's voice was suppressed and angry.
"Do you know how I felt when I sent the message to the front headquarters?"
Yang Nengjun glanced at the three regiment leaders, his tone revealing undisguised anger:
"Nearly 20,000 people can't take down Wutai City with only 7,000 Japanese soldiers!
If the equipment is not good enough, I admit it!
But our weapons and equipment are not bad, and are even better than the Japanese, but what is the result? "
Everyone in the room fell silent.
In this attack on Wutai City, they had more than 15,000 people in the First Column, and a regiment from the Third Column supporting on the side, totaling nearly 20,000 people involved in the battle.
It was originally thought that this would be a clean and neat battle of annihilation, and there was even a plan to capture Wutai in one fell swoop with lightning speed.
However, reality slapped everyone hard in the face.
Although they engaged in fierce street fighting with the Japanese army inside and outside the city and took the initiative for a time, Wutai's defense system was extremely tenacious this time.
After fighting from last night to the afternoon, they still failed to capture Wutai. Instead, they suffered certain losses in the battle and had to choose to withdraw from the city.
What made Yang Nengjun even more annoyed was that this battle was not just an action within the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region.
Several brother military regions are paying attention.
But now, not only did they fail to capture Wutai, they were even forced to withdraw, which was equivalent to losing face in front of the leaders of various military regions!
Seeing this, Political Commissar Lin Tie sighed softly and broke the silence:
"Old Yang, it's already happened. The most important thing now is not to blame yourself, but to find a solution.
Wutai is indeed a tough target this time. We were careless before, thinking that Kuribayashi Tadamichi was scared and hiding in the county town, but we didn't expect that he would actually transform Wutai into a military fortress."
Yang Nengjun took a deep breath, tried hard to suppress his anger, and his eyes fell back on the battle map.
“Shake, organize a meeting immediately to discuss what to do.
All the regimental and battalion-level cadres below will participate!
I still don’t believe it, I can’t take down Wutai alone!”
Yang Nengjun said in a deep voice,
"In any case, we cannot let this battle drag on for too long.
Wutai must be taken!"
Shake nodded and immediately called the communicator to convey the order.
At this time, the atmosphere in the Changzhi Command Center was somewhat solemn.
On the battle map, the battle of Wutai was complicatedly marked by red and blue by the staff.
Zeng Jiwen and others stood in front of the table, their hands resting on the map, their brows furrowed, their eyes wandering, and the whole room was filled with a depressing atmosphere.
They didn't expect that the battle in Wutai would be so difficult at the very beginning.
The First Column of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region fought for almost a whole day, but the Japanese troops in Wutai seemed to have already anticipated that they would take the initiative to attack in this battle and actually turned Wutai into a military fortress.
Relying on solid underground fortifications and staggered firepower points, the Japanese army blocked their offensive, turning the battle that was originally planned to quickly capture Wutai into a war of attrition.
This was really beyond their expectations.
Although the Japanese reinforcements were temporarily tied down, the situation in Wutai cast a shadow over the battle.
Zeng Jiwen frowned as he looked at Wutai marked on the map.
The Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region's intelligence was really negligent this time. Before the war, they did not even know that Wutai had been converted into a military stronghold.
And it seems that this will not be completed in ten days or half a month.
"It's my fault this time. I didn't expect the intelligence department to be so negligent!"
Political Commissar Rong took a deep breath and spoke to Zeng Jiwen apologetically.
At this moment, Commander Xu's face looked very unhappy:
“After the battle had already begun, we discovered that Wutai’s defenses had changed.
I think the intelligence chief of Division 1 has his eyes on the sky. He has had too many good days this year!
Yang Nengjun is the same, he is used to a comfortable life, he didn't even notice such a big thing happening in Wutai! "
Wang Zhuo, who was standing beside him, slowly exhaled and said with a serious expression:
“Now is not the time to hold people accountable, and we can’t drag this on any longer.
If Wutai is delayed, I'm afraid the deployment in the north will be in big trouble!"
"But according to the telegram sent by Yang Nengjun, the Japanese troops in Wutai are planning to fight a war of attrition with us." Chen Shukang frowned and said,
"The Japanese defenses are layered with walls, bunkers, and hidden bunkers. It's too difficult for us to break through them all at once."
"Is there no other way?" Zhou Xi looked at everyone.
Commander Xu took a deep breath and stared at the map in thought for a moment.
Suddenly, he thought of something and pointed to a location on the map:
"If we can't break through head-on, then we should do the opposite and let this group of Japanese troops break through."
"Let the Japanese army break out?" Everyone was slightly stunned.
Commander Xu nodded and spoke faster:
"We have now deployed heavy troops outside Wutai City, while the Japanese army is entrenched in their defenses, using their fortification advantages to maintain a stalemate with us.
But their supplies are ultimately limited, and once the Japanese army senses a crisis, they will definitely try to break out."
He looked at Zeng Jiwen and continued:
"We can deliberately relax the blockade in a certain direction, creating the illusion of a 'loose encirclement' and tricking the Japanese into breaking out from that direction.
Once they leave their fortifications and enter the open area, we can mobilize our troops to encircle them and completely annihilate them in the open air."
These words made everyone in the command center look thoughtful.
Zeng Jiwen looked at the map and asked thoughtfully, "You mean: lure the snake out of its hole?"