The battle started in an unplanned way, but Gao Jianwu was not worried at all.
According to the pre-designated attack sequence, the main artillery regiment began to continuously bombard the enemy's positions. The defensive firepower points built by the little devils in advance were completely defenseless under the attack of large-caliber howitzers.
A sneak attack turns into a strong attack, and the final result is not much different. While the artillery was clearing the ground, Ding Wei's first attack group also began to force the crossing.
With the assault company seizing the bridgehead and using a temporary pontoon built by rubber boats, the first attack group was quickly sent over, followed closely by the third attack group, which served as the backup main attack behind Ding Wei.
Chu Yunfei looked at the lively fighting on the other side with some embarrassment, but he was a little exhausted. Except for the artillery battalion providing artillery support for them, Chu Yunfei could only watch.
A good main attack mission just flew away.
Following Ding Wei, he picked up a cheap third attack group. Xu Shida seemed to have picked up a treasure, grinning extremely brightly. They came up to attack and the battle seemed to be back on the planned track. Someone was playing the main attack. , someone went to outflank it, but in fact it was very different from the original.
Ding Wei's first attack group still went to outflank the retreat, Chu Yunfei's second attack group watched from the other side, and Xu Shida's third attack group in reserve took over the combat mission of Chu Yunfei's second attack group.
Zhang Dabiao, who was Chu Yunfei's substitute, was even more depressed. He followed Chu Yunfei and watched Xu Shida go up. Now he didn't even have the chance to pick up the slack. He could only move the artillery battalion up as planned, which would provide long-range artillery support to the third attack group on the other side and respond to their request for artillery fire.
This result confused Colonel Smith who was observing from the side. Gao's tactics seemed to have failed, but the result did not seem to have failed.
Such an operation was unheard of by Colonel Smith.
Of course Gao Jianwu would not explain to him what it meant to convince others with force!
And now he is very busy. He has moved the command post forward to the bank of the Chindwin River so that he can directly observe the main position of the 15th Infantry Division, which is being violently bombarded by artillery fire, and see if he can find out and fill in the gaps to revise the attack targets for the main artillery.
When a flare hit the Japs' position on the other side, it was as bright as day. Gao Jianwu quickly re-marked the firepower based on the Japs' positions that were in a hurry to counterattack, and formed new attack coordinate points in his mind.
Then the new bombardment order was passed to the main artillery position. As the artillery quickly revised the new bombardment target, Smith, who followed Gao Jianwu closely, quickly discovered from the telescope that heavy howitzers began to smash into the Little Japanese shore defense position. On each firepower point, and surprisingly, those 155mm howitzers were aimed at those large bunkers built with reinforced concrete!
He could distinguish targets for calibration in a short period of time, and he could also direct reasonable artillery fire to strike at fixed points. This on-the-spot command ability completely exceeded Colonel Smith's imagination.
Suddenly, he seemed to understand the question that confused him just now.
Gao's tactics failed, but Gao's ability was unbreakable. Frankly speaking, even if Gao Jianwu commanded the troops to force the crossing from here, he could still crush the little Japs.
It's just that if we sneak across from the upper reaches, it will be more trouble-free. Even if we fail, the enemies we face will be easily crushed as they are now. If the conspiracy fails, the situation can be forcibly reversed with strong force. Who are you going to talk to about this? ?
Colonel Smith is a typical supporter of firepower. To be honest, there are not many generals in the United States who pay attention to tactics in war. They prefer to use their strength to directly crush!
So if you encounter an opponent you can't crush, you're a bit of a muggle.
But Gao Jianwu is different.
No matter what kind of opponent he is, if he can save some energy, he will naturally save it.
No need to waste it.
...
"Gaopin-kun, can our reserve team be dispatched now?" Lieutenant General Masabumi Yamauchi walked around the headquarters anxiously as he listened to the bad news constantly coming from the front.
Gao Jianwu's violent beating had already caused Lieutenant General Masafumi Yamauchi to lose his inner balance.
He had known that there was a gap between his own strength and Gao Jianwu's expeditionary force group, but he never expected that the gap was so big. It had only been more than half an hour since the battle started. His division's direct artillery wing was almost completely destroyed, and almost three of its forward positions were lost. One part!
The most important of these was the enemy's deadly heavy artillery attack. Lieutenant General Masabumi Yamauchi was unable to use his position to counterattack.
What he has in his hands now that can pose a serious threat to Gao Jianwu's artillery is a six-gun 105mm howitzer battalion from an artillery regiment from the 22nd Division!
The Type 91 105mm howitzer has a range of up to 10.8 kilometers, which is only more than 300 meters shorter than the M2A1 105mm howitzer in Gao Jianwu's hands. Now Lieutenant General Masafumi Yamauchi is ordering several artillery observers to fully observe the position of the enemy's main artillery battalion on the other side.
They basically locked down the general area, so Lieutenant General Masafumi Yamauchi wanted to hear the opinion of the Chief of Staff.
"Maybe it's not the time yet," Chief of Staff Gaopin shook his head, "In an artillery duel, whoever is stronger will take advantage. Our artillery's range-finding ability at night is far inferior to that during the day. Once it fires, it will expose our only trump card."
"In my opinion, it is better to aim at the enemy's forward, and when approaching our position, suddenly use the artillery wing to carry out a covering strike to eliminate their forward charge team in one fell swoop."
The reason why the high-ranking chief of staff is not optimistic about the artillery duel against his side is because he has discovered that the opponent's heavy artillery strike position is frighteningly accurate!
This shows that the opponent has an incredibly strong artillery commander, and has done reconnaissance and tactical attack calculations in advance, so that he can fire artillery continuously according to the target and blast the 15th Division's position to pieces!
If the artillery regiment faced off with such artillery, the Chief of Staff believed that the victorious side would probably not be his side!
It's different for the frontline team that attacks the enemy. The terrain here is more familiar to them. It couldn't be easier to attack the designated area. Moreover, after quickly stimulating several rounds of attacks, it immediately moves its position. It's also difficult for the enemy to lock the target, thus turning this artillery unit into a target. Keep it relatively intact and join the defense!
The 15th Division, which has now lost an artillery regiment, cannot afford such a serious loss, which means that its combat effectiveness has been reduced by more than one-third!
"Then we may not be able to hold our position." Lieutenant General Masabumi Yamauchi sighed. "If we don't destroy the enemy's artillery, we will always be passively attacked. What should we do in this situation?"
"Sannai-kun, actually our best choice now is to retreat!" the high-ranking chief of staff said with a wry smile.
"In fact, even if we invest the last artillery regiment and guard brigade, it will only increase the opponent's losses a little, but it will hardly change the fate of our position."
"Frankly speaking, the enemy already has an absolute advantage. Their artillery fire is far beyond what we can shake. If we hold on to our position, all our people will die on the position."
Chief of Staff Gao Pin had already been psychologically affected by Gao Jianwu, and at this moment he actually persuaded Lieutenant General Masafumi Yamauchi to retreat.
But speaking of it, his opinion is the most correct right now.
It's a pity that General Yamauchi Masabumi will not accept the result of such a disastrous retreat, especially without clear orders from his superiors, he can only defend his position.
The high-ranking chief of staff also knew this. Even if he died, it would be best to die on the battlefield.
In fact, many people understand the principle of saving land and losing people, but losing both people and land, but too few can do it.
...
"Be careful of the Japs' counterattack." After Gao Jianwu completed the new round of target instructions, he felt something was abnormal. The artillery regiment reinforced by the Japs in his intelligence system did not seem to have appeared. He had previously shelled the Japs' artillery positions. , it’s not all done in one shot, the process is quite particular, just like lining up to shoot, you shoot and I shoot at each other!
It's just that the artillery of the Expeditionary Force cluster hit the Jaap position every time, and the Jaap artillerymen who relied on experience to fight back blindly often only landed a few hundred meters away from the Artillery position of the Expeditionary Force cluster!
This is also because the little Japanese artillerymen have rich experience and can estimate the approximate location of the enemy artillery through the angle, direction and direction of the artillery attack. Otherwise, it would be good to find the correct direction in the dark night.
Gao Jianwu was slightly uneasy. This kind of hidden opponent is the most difficult to guard against. He thought for a while, picked up the walkie-talkie and opened the public channel: "Attention, all ministries, there is something wrong with the enemy artillery fire we encountered. The 105mm reinforcements from the little devils Howitzers haven't appeared on the battlefield yet, which is a bit unusual.
The first attack group and the third attack group sent out reconnaissance teams to search within 5 kilometers of the enemy's position to find out the artillery hidden by the little devil. Before that, the troops crossing the river were deployed far away from the enemy's position and would not enter the little devil's position for the time being. Forward position to prevent being attacked by Japanese artillery.
The main artillery positions began to be transferred to the second candidate positions one by one.
The second attack group began to build a pontoon bridge, preparing to cross the river after annihilating the hidden artillery of the little devils! "
Following Gao Jianwu's order, all ministries immediately took action. Dozens of reconnaissance teams began to search on the other side with walkie-talkies. A dragnet search area was formed based on each person's reconnaissance area. Each scout quickly disappeared into the night. middle.
Chu Yunfei, who had been impatient for a long time, heard the order to set up a pontoon bridge and rushed directly to the river to direct the fire cover. Even though the enemy had no time to attack, Chu Yunfei had already attacked the 1st and 2nd Battalions. The artillery company mobilized and deployed artillery positions along the river. Once the enemy's firepower point attacking the pontoon was discovered, artillery units would immediately be available to fight back!
The engineers began to drag the rubber boat towards the Chindwin River. Although the river was vast, the terrain was gentle and the current was not fast. The first stage went very smoothly. The two pontoons were soon connected to the river center island. The leaf-like narrow river center island connected the Chindwin River. Divided into two and a half, the side close to Chu Yunfei's second attack group accounted for one-third. When they reached Jiangxinzhou, there were only seven or eight hundred meters left to the other side. After the piles were driven, a rubber boat carried a long rope. Start paddling to the other side!
