These are no longer things that Chu Xiong has to worry about. He has done his best, and the rest is up to fate!
In a battle involving hundreds of thousands of people, a few hundred special forces could not do much, so after blowing up the Japanese field airport, Chu Xiong decisively evacuated the fighting area.
The purpose of this training has been achieved. First, the troops have been tempered by actual combat, a Japanese field airport was destroyed, more than 30 aircraft of various types were blown up, more than 50 pilots and more than 300 other Japanese were killed, and the materials destroyed were uncountable;
Second, he rescued the 33rd Army Headquarters, especially General Zhang, which to some extent changed the ongoing Zaoyi battle and annihilated a Japanese field artillery brigade;
The third is to form a good relationship. No one can say whether there are any benefits. This cannot be quantified.
The Tigers themselves also paid the price of sacrificing 5 people and injuring 11 people. It is difficult to achieve zero casualties in actual combat training, but the effect is very obvious, especially the more than 120 new team members sent by Commander Liu for training. After being trained in actual combat, I grew up very quickly!
In the war years, it was difficult to train the troops step by step. The only way to improve the combat effectiveness of the troops was by leaps and bounds. This would inevitably bring about certain casualties. As long as it was within the tolerance range, Chu Xiong would not give up this training method. .
It will even be expanded to other fields in the future. This is determined by the situation. This war is a decisive battle worldwide, a life-and-death battle between China and the Japanese. It is a national war, and sacrifices are inevitable. If Chu Xiong needs him, he will do the same. Will die generously;
I die, Guocun!
On the northern battlefield, the Third Division was already unable to hold on. Due to someone's cunning maneuvers, it won a rare chance to breathe and temporarily stabilized its position.
On the afternoon of the 19th, dozens of planes flew over from Jiangcheng Airport and dropped a large amount of ammunition and supplies to the Third Division. After being supplemented, the combat effectiveness of the Third Division was greatly restored.
Commander Tang was completely dumbfounded. Such a supply method was beyond his understanding. It was already too late to regret it!
Fortunately, at noon on the 20th at the latest, the new force, the Eighteenth Army, is about to arrive. Even if the Japs are replenished, we are still confident that hundreds of thousands of Japs will be able to annihilate 20,000 Japs, but the losses will just be greater.
Unfortunately, the Japanese did not give them a chance to wait for the arrival of the 18th Army. At around 9 a.m. on the 20th, another thirty planes flew in from the direction of Jiangcheng;
Just when everyone thought that the Japanese planes were going to airdrop supplies to the Third Division again, those planes flew directly over the head of the 33rd Army...
"It's the bombers that are fooling around! Air defense!"
Someone finally discovered the Japs' conspiracy, but it was a little late!
More than thirty aircraft swooped down from high altitude and dropped hundreds of aerial bombs on the 44th Army's positions. In an instant, the 44th Army's positions were exploded into a sea of flames, and the defense fortifications were blown to pieces, causing casualties and injuries. heavy……
"Boom boom boom..."
"Boom boom boom..."
After receiving a large amount of artillery shells, dozens of artillery pieces from the artillery wing of the Third Division launched a fierce bombardment against the already chaotic 44th Army. The Third Division began to break out with the assistance of aircraft and artillery.
The divisions of the 44th Army, which hastily responded to the battle, could not organize effective forces to intercept them. They were quickly defeated by the Japanese and suffered a devastating defeat.
The Third Division took just over an hour to break out from the front of the 31st Group and inflicted heavy losses on the 44th Army.
After the Japanese protruded out, they did not want to fight, but attacked and advanced in the direction of the 13th Division, directly threatening the security of the three divisions to the north of the 33rd Group Army.
The unexpected situation on the northern front was quickly reported to General Zhang's headquarters on the southern front. In order to avoid the disadvantageous situation of being attacked from both sides, General Zhang decisively ordered the three divisions to the north to get off the road and retreat toward Baihe. The Thirteenth Division They pursued him all the way to the bank of the White River.
Although the main force of the three divisions of the Thirty-third Group Army crossed the Baihe River before the Japanese, all heavy equipment was lost and the troops suffered more than 5,000 casualties.
On the 22nd, the 13th Division and the 3rd Division joined forces and immediately attacked in the direction of Caiyang;
The various units of the Thirty-Third Group took turns to cover and retreat into the mountainous area. On the 24th, the Japanese units stopped their pursuit, and the battle in the Caiyang area east of Xianghe River ended.
The Japanese 11th Army suffered serious losses in the battle east of Xianghe River. The battle lasted more than 20 days, more than twice the expected time, and the officers and soldiers were very exhausted.
Although someone's cunning operation prevented the Third Division from being completely annihilated, the Third Division suffered heavy losses under the siege of 17 divisions on the northern front, with a loss of more than 7,000 men, plus the 13th Division The losses of the regiment, Ikeda detachment and other units on the southern front, the Japanese casualties have exceeded 12,000!
In particular, the Ikeda Brigade, which was mainly composed of three brigades of the Sixth Division, suffered heavy losses under the attack of Chuxiong rocket launchers;
The field artillery brigade was completely wiped out, and the three infantry brigades suffered more than half of their casualties under the attack of Chu Xiong and General Zhang. In addition, the field artillery brigade suffered at least 2,300 casualties and lost its combat effectiveness.
This does not include the loss of the field airport!
Of course, the Nationalist Army suffered greater losses. The Thirty-third Army suffered more than 10,000 casualties, and the Thirty-first Army suffered more than 8,000 casualties. Adding in the losses of other armies, the Nationalist Army lost nearly 30,000 people in the first stage. This exchange ratio is still Because it helped a lot, otherwise even General Zhang would have died.
After the Japanese stopped their pursuit, they quickly retracted their troops and rested near Caiyang. However, they did not immediately withdraw to their original defenses. Instead, they discussed whether to carry out the Yiling combat mission west of the Han River as originally planned.
At the Eleventh Army Headquarters, Enbe and Lieutenant General Enbu convened division commanders and detachment commanders for a battle summary meeting. Most of the commanders were unwilling to give up the next stage of the battle and insisted on capturing Yiling as planned.
"Aoki-kun, tell me what you think!"
After rescuing the third division, Enbe and Lieutenant General Enbei began to have the idea of continuing the battle, because giving up the second phase of the battle meant admitting that the first phase of the battle had suffered setbacks and failures, which would make him lose the authority of the commander. and the trust of the Emperor;
However, after more than 20 days of fighting in the first phase, all the ministries were exhausted and their supplies were severely consumed, so he needed someone to help him speak out, so he ordered Aoki's general.
Aoki was not willing to fail. He roughly guessed what Enbe Kazu was thinking, so he stood up and said:
"Your Excellency, Commander, although the first phase of the Imperial Army's battle did not achieve the campaign goal of annihilating the 33rd Group Army, it also severely damaged the main force of the Chinese Fifth Theater, killing no less than 50,000 Chinese troops, and captured Caiyang;
The 33rd Group Army and the 31st Group Army, the main forces of the Chinese Army, are no longer able to fight. The imperial army is in difficulty, and the Chinese people are in even more difficulty!
The imperial army is supported by the spirit of Bushido. This fatigue is nothing at all. The gentlemen sitting here are full of fighting spirit. As long as sufficient combat materials are mobilized in the later period, there will be no problem in fighting for another month. I suggest continuing the battle according to the previous battle plan. In the second stage of the battle, Yiling, an important town in central China, was captured, strategically threatening central Shu! "
As soon as Major General Aoki finished speaking, others stood up and expressed their stance that they could continue fighting until the main force of the fifth theater was annihilated.
Enbe and Lieutenant General saw that the heat was almost done, so they stood up and said:
"Gentlemen, I have decided to use 6 car squadrons to urgently transport more than 1,000 tons of supplies from Jiangcheng to the front line to ensure the combat needs of each department for a month and continue to implement the second phase of the combat mission!
I order..."
