Canteen System Assistance Notes

"Concentrate your forces, concentrate your forces, concentrate your forces."

In short, whether the Sixth Theater Command, with its reduced size and reduced organization, or the Five Theater Commands, maintaining their traditional organization, the Nationalist Army could not effectively launch an offensive unless it significantly outnumbered the Japanese Army. Therefore, the only way to achieve the campaign's objectives was to cram as many troops as possible into the limited width of the battlefield and concentrate the offensive.

Because the available artillery force consisted mainly of three "American Corps", Li Delin planned a very small offensive surface for the troops to "reduce the dispersion of forces and avoid attacking in all directions":

失却了陈老板〈被派去缅甸了）的六战区将以孙连仲为司令官，将抽调第二集团军(辖55、68、69三个军)，加强18军、42军、52军，配合江防军第8军、第91军猛攻宜昌;而李宗仁亲自指挥的五战区，则率领33集团军冯治安部、22集团军孙震部、第1集团军何柱国部、29集团军王缵绪部对荆门、当阳地区发动进攻。

At the same time, Song Xilian, deputy commander-in-chief of the Fifth War Zone, sent troops from Nanyang to attack the Suizhou area controlled by the Japanese army, eliminating the Japanese army's flank threat to the Fifth War Zone. The Ninth War Zone commanded by Xue Boling withdrew troops to feint an attack on Hongcheng and Baling, and together with the Third War Zone commanded by Gu Mosan, launched an attack on Wuzhou, Ningshaotai and other places, and raided the southern Jiangsu area to tie down the Japanese army's reinforcements.

"Crown Prince" Chiang Kai-shek will "supervise the battle from afar" throughout the campaign, flying back and forth between Enshi, Laohekou and Nanyang, playing the role of "Chairman Chiang is with you."

Although some troops would serve as reserves and the second echelon and would not appear on the front line at the first time, when these more than ten army-level units attacked in a dense formation, the Japanese 39th Division guarding Yichang, Dangyang and Jingmen still felt unprecedented pressure.

Due to the advice of a senior staff officer named Guo, the National Army used wired telegraphs, paper documents and messengers to transmit the combat plan. In addition, the plan was discussed in the Laohekou area of ​​the Fifth War Zone, which led to the Japanese army, which received intelligence late, misjudging the main attack direction of the National Army. Even though the Japanese 39th Division in front of Yichang had entered a state of war in advance, it was still caught off guard.

Nonsense, this is a huge force of 20 people, and the so-called 40 people, the ratio of the actual force is almost 1:10!

"FIRE!"

Under artillery observation and command by US military advisors, 105mm shells previously stored behind the positions were loaded into the barrels of the M2A1s and fired toward the Japanese positions nearly 10 kilometers away. Subsequently, as the Japanese field artillery counterattacked, the M1897A5 guns of the two 36th Artillery Regiments began firing new, imported American shells, leveraging their 12.7-kilometer range to suppress the Japanese Type 95 field artillery fire.

In front of Yichang, the eight armies of the National Army were divided into three echelons, with the 52nd Army of the Central Army as the reserve, and the rest of the troops pressed forward in groups, launching round-the-clock attacks on the Japanese army's outer troops.

Later, even the US Air Force stationed in China came to help, dropping aerial bombs on the Japanese positions and repeatedly strafing their lines.

At the same time, several group armies from the Fifth War Zone launched a fierce attack on the 39th Division, which was guarding Yichang as well as Dangyang and Jingmen areas. This made it difficult for the Japanese divisions that were originally scattered in a kidney-shaped defense zone to gather together for defense.

On this front, the original Soviet-made 76mm field guns and British-made 114.3mm guns that were abandoned by the Central Army and its direct lineages that received US aid were dragged to the front line.

, and carried out simple and easy direct shooting, which effectively suppressed a wave of 92 Japanese troops rampaging

Infantry gun and machine gun positions.

The well-fed Nationalist soldiers, led by a death squad armed with double the grenades and submachine guns, bravely charged the Japanese outer positions. Under unprecedented firepower, they were finally able to break through the Japanese defensive firepower and rush to within close range of the Japanese.

However, unlike the northern front, here, the Japanese army's hand-to-hand combat still had an advantage over them!

"Brothers! Go! Kill the devils!"

Unleashing a seemingly lost courage and valor, the Nationalist soldiers drew their swords from their backs. Wielding their weapons, perhaps donated by civilians, they engaged the Japanese in unrestrained hand-to-hand combat. Initially, the Japanese, who managed to assassinate a few soldiers, still shouted and jeered, but then their laughter faded: if one-on-one wasn't enough, then three-on-one, five-on-one...

After losing their firepower suppression capability, the Japanese army could inflict heavy casualties on the Nationalist army with fewer troops, but they ultimately became unable to hold their positions and were driven out and annihilated by the onrushing Nationalist soldiers!

For a time, the 39th Division's front lines were in crisis at many locations, so much so that its division commander, Raishiro Sumita, and chief of staff, Masao Yamazaki, were quite surprised.

The increased strength of the Nationalist army was something they were not used to, and the vastly improved use of artillery fire was a shock to Sumita Raishiro, a veteran of the artillery. Previous intelligence from the Special High Section had indeed indicated that the Nationalist army was about to launch a large-scale attack on the mountain city, but it had not predicted anything of this scale or intensity.

"This must be the general attack of the Shancheng Army!"

He immediately reported the situation to the 11th Army Headquarters in the Hankou area, preparing to ask the headquarters to contact the troops in Yichang for assistance, and to send reinforcements from the friendly neighboring 13th Division "Mirror" Corps stationed in the Jingzhou area. Although this unit only had a mountain artillery regiment as fire support, it had 4 infantry regiments under its command, and was a very strong presence.

"1 Fuji Corps Division Commander Sumita bows his head: Over the past five days, our troops have confirmed that the Yamashiro Army's 2nd, 33rd, and 22nd Armies, totaling over 100,000 troops, have launched a fierce and tidal assault on our positions. The Yamashiro Army's artillery fire this time is fierce, unlike any other in the past. Although our soldiers bravely fought back, inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy, some wounded soldiers even returned to the battlefield and died heroically."

"Today, the Yamashiro army launched another artillery attack, charging like a wave on the sea. Although our army has driven the enemy back with the spirit of a warrior today, what fear have we for the mountains of corpses and rivers of blood?"

However, considering that our division was personally sent by the Emperor, although we wanted to die together, we were afraid of hurting the Emperor.

Yan, I would like to ask the commander for tactical guidance at this time."

But not long after, a telegram from the 11th Army Headquarters was sent back.

The telegram was very short, but the information it contained was truly shocking: It turned out that, in addition to the 39th Division, part of the 13th Division in Jingzhou had also been attacked by the Shancheng Army, preventing the troops from moving quickly despite having assembled in advance for battle. The 33rd Division in Suizhou had been suddenly attacked by the Shancheng Army from Nanyang, and was being squeezed hard by the Nationalist Army, which outnumbered it several times, and was now fighting and retreating. Even the Japanese troops in Hongcheng, Wuzhou, and Lin'an had reported being harassed and attacked by the surrounding Nationalist Army!

In the telegram, Commander Tsukada Ko, who had just taken office, spoke in an equally urgent tone: "…Order the Fuji Corps to gather their forces as quickly as possible and, within seven days, conduct a tactical shift to Jingzhou to reunite with the Jing Corps and await orders for a counterattack…"

"May your military fortune flourish during this period!"

Chapter 703: The Great Counter-Offensive in the Autumn of 1941 (3) Hidden Concerns about Victory

The long-awaited victory came to the National Army: After 10 days of continuous attacks, the National Army finally drove the Japanese army out of Yichang City and recaptured this gateway to the Three Gorges and the throat of Sichuan and Hubei.

For a time, the whole country was jubilant. All newspapers in the Kuomintang-controlled areas and the liberated areas published this event on the front page. Even newspapers in the Allied countries such as the Soviet Union, Britain, and the United States published this event, regarding it as one of the most exciting things in the "gloomy August".

There was no way around it. The Eighth Route Army was providing disaster relief, the Russians were getting beaten, the British were sending troops, and the Americans were grinding meat. Guo Jian's recapture of Yichang was indeed a rare victory for the Allies. However, everyone, intentionally or unintentionally, ignored the tragic price it cost.

The Japanese 39th Division, responsible for defending this area, comprised approximately one and a half regiments. They established a defensive line on the hilltops surrounding Yichang and constructed numerous core fortifications. After the outlying positions were suppressed by Nationalist artillery fire directed by the US Army, the Japanese deployed smoke screens and retreated to the core positions using trenches to avoid the bombardment. They then waited for the artillery fire to subside and returned to their positions to counterattack after the Nationalist charge began.

However, the National Army did not have the same flexible and fierce tactics as the Eighth Route Army, which did not have the skillful tactics of stacking ultra-high-density firepower on the front line. Instead, they repeatedly used entire companies and battalions to launch group attacks, using their flesh and blood to attack the Japanese army's rain of bullets and fire.

In another time and space, in a battle known as the Battle of a Mountain Fortress, the Japanese, with a mere garrison of just over a thousand men, inflicted a 5.8 to 1 loss ratio on the Nationalist army on the first day of the attack, despite the destruction of their artillery, ammunition depots, and water reservoirs by the US. This resulted in a loss ratio of just over a thousand casualties for the Nationalist army of nearly 8,000. In this time and space, by the time the Nationalist soldiers hoisted their flag atop the walls of Yichang, their losses had soared to nearly 200 men. Numerous companies, battalions, and regiments had been wiped out, leaving the hills outside Yichang littered with the bodies of fallen Nationalist soldiers, leaving the ground awash with blood.

The Japanese 39th Division lost only 320 people, and because the Nationalist Army lacked the ability to quickly penetrate and pursue the remaining enemies, they were able to leave only a part of the rearguard troops responsible for the death after receiving the "turnaround" order, while the rest of the troops gathered their forces and withdrew from the position, completing a "retreat in front of the enemy."

With the retreat of the 39th Division, the first phase of the battle began to slip away from Li Delin's control.

As the "Li Menghan," a "strong man" who paired up with "Little Zhuge Liang," Li Delin favored concentrating his forces, but this wasn't his only tactic. According to his plan, the Nationalist army would concentrate eight armies to attack Yichang, and three to attack Dangyang and Jingmen. Because they greatly outnumbered the Japanese, even with heavy losses, they would likely be surrounded and annihilated, making it difficult for them to escape in an organized force. And even if such an unexpected event occurred, he had a backup plan in place.

While ordering Feng Zhitai's Northwest Army of the 33rd Group Army to attack Jingmen as the main force, Wang Zhiyi's Sichuan Army of the 29th Group Army to attack Dangyang as the main force, and Sun Decao's 22nd Group Army to stay behind as a reserve, Li Delin also asked He Zhuyi's 1st Group Army to pass through the Japanese defense junction between Jingmen and Dangyang and infiltrate towards Jingzhou.

This general, a descendant of the Northeastern Army and now a non-official member of the Central Army, commanded a sizeable cavalry unit: the 2nd Cavalry Corps, capable of rapid action and capable of striking thousands of miles. Meanwhile, in the Jingmen to Jingzhou area, Wang Buli, a Northwestern Army unit vying for control over the Communist Party and the Japanese, was also present. Li Delin hoped that these two units would put aside their differences and work together to contain and block a portion of the Japanese 13th Division, preventing it from providing support, while also hindering and pursuing the 39th Division as it retreated.

As a result, the 1st Army did break through the Japanese defensive junction and went around to the rear of the Japanese army. However, it only held out for two days under the attack of the 13th Division before retreating hastily, leaving Wang Buli's 128th Division behind to be hammered by the Japanese army. Not only did it fail to pursue the remaining enemy, it also failed to complete the task of delaying the enemy.

Soon, the Japanese 13th Division successfully gathered its forces and advanced towards Yichang, successfully supporting the retreating 39th Division. The two divisions, organized into battalions, alternated to provide cover, retreating one after another until they finally retreated to Jingzhou, Hankou's western gateway, forming a highly defensive force.

The battlefield began to boil like a pot of preserved egg and lean meat porridge.

Because the National Army's attack speed was slow and it took a full ten days to capture Yichang, the Japanese army had more than enough time to mobilize its forces, and the troops in the surrounding war zones also had time to repeatedly support and contain the enemy.

After breaking through Yichang, Dangyang, and Jingmen at great cost, the Nationalist army began to split into two groups. One group, with a large force, began to encircle the heavily guarded Jingzhou by the Japanese, while the other group began to move south along the Han River, intending to break through the 13th Division's defenses at Shayang and Qianjiang, and then circle around Jingzhou to close off its retreat. The Japanese army, in turn, began to mobilize reinforcements from Yueyang, Hankou, Xianning, Jiujiang, Chizhou-Tongling, and other places, intending to reinforce the Japanese troops in Jingzhou who were about to be surrounded.

In this regard, Chiang Ching-kuo, who was responsible for saying "The Chairman is with you," finally played a role.

Under his co-signature, the orders issued by Li Delin of the Guangxi clique finally gained sufficient force in other theaters of war. Commanding the Sixth Theater Army, Xue Yangyue not only launched a siege attack on Hongcheng, pinning down the Japanese 34th Division, but also led his troops across the Xinqiang River north of Xingcheng. He then aggressively attacked the Yueyang area in the mountains north of the Xinqiang River, pretending to attack, and thus holding back the Japanese 40th Division. Far away in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Gu Mosan was forced to dispatch troops originally intended for friction to launch a feint attack on the Japanese troops in Wuzhou and Lin'an, hoping to relieve pressure on the front lines.

However, on the territory of the 11th Army, no matter how hard the National Army tried to contain it, it could not block the important role of the Yangtze River, a large waterway running across the east and west, in shipping.

The Japanese 67th Division (formerly the 18th Independent Mixed Division) located around Weining, the 3rd Division located around Hankou, and the 63rd Division (14th Independent Mixed Division) located around Jiujiang all received orders from the Central China Front Army and the 11th Army Headquarters. They began to draw out large Japanese troops that could be used for mobile operations, and brought heavy field artillery and mountain artillery units to board ships in cities along the Yangtze River, and then go upstream along the river to Jingzhou and Jiangling, and head to the front line.

Among them, the 3rd Division even had enough strength to send troops to support Suizhou, which was under attack by the troops of Song Xilian, deputy commander of the Fifth War Zone, and to assist the 33rd Division, which was fighting fiercely with the 2nd, 14th and 71st Armies of the National Army.

With the gradual arrival of Japanese reinforcements, the size of the Japanese army in Jingzhou gradually increased from the remnants of the 13th Division and the 39th Division to a heavy force of nearly 4 people with excess artillery, becoming a super iron turtle that even the Eighth Route Army would have a headache with.

At this time, the national army, which had spent a huge price to capture Shayang County and continued to advance towards Qianjiang, as well as the national army that was slowly pressing towards the vicinity of Jingzhou, were still unclear about what kind of enemy they were about to face.

Chapter 704: The Great Counter-Offensive in the Autumn of 1941 (4) The Japanese Invaders Strikes Back

(Slight blood pressure reminder)

The national army's weak battlefield reconnaissance capabilities and slow intelligence system transmission speed led to disastrous consequences at this moment.

Although the Nationalist Army had learned through the Military Intelligence Bureau's intelligence network within the puppet army that the Japanese army had made a large-scale mobilization a few days ago, these puppet army officers were unable to confirm the specific scale, number and organization of the Japanese mobilization, and could only give ambiguous answers such as "many devils" and "some with artillery."

If the commander of this battle, Li Delin, knew that the Japanese army had already used the Yangtze River waterway to mobilize 6-7 battalions towards Jingzhou, and brought with them a lot of field artillery and mountain artillery units, he would probably never have chosen to continue the attack.

From his perspective, Jingzhou currently held only the remnants of the Japanese 39th Division and the bulk of the 13th Division, originally stationed there. Meanwhile, despite having lost approximately 2 men in the initial battles, the Nationalist Army's crucial American command artillery regiment remained operational, and morale among the various units remained remarkably high. Even with the addition of the "unarmed regiment," their total strength still stood at 18 to 19, nearly 20 men.

At this point, if we can capture Qianjiang, block the Japanese army's retreat in Jingzhou, and then advance to Jingzhou city and use artillery to block the Yangtze River... then even within the isolated city, the Japanese army will be unable to withstand our offensive!

The national army began to move forward slowly.

Anyway, the troops' marching speed could not be increased, so it was better to be more cautious. Based on a cautious attitude, Li Delin ordered the forward troops to protect the artillery and build bunkers in towns along the way as support for subsequent reinforcements. At the same time, he repaired the roads and prepared for the mobilization of the US artillery regiment.

However, something strange happened suddenly.

Sun Fanglu, who was in charge of commanding the Sixth War Zone, suddenly sent a telegram to Li Delin, complaining about the narrow and muddy roads around Yichang.

The artillery vehicles were damaged, the load was insufficient, and after the bloody battle, the shells were also insufficient.

Finally, he suggested that more ships and vehicles be sent to the rear to wait for the roads to be repaired and the Yangtze River channel to be dredged before transporting artillery and ammunition downstream.

In short, these artillery pieces are now unable to move.

But Li Delin had been in the Nationalist army for so long, how could he not know what this rhetoric meant? The three artillery regiments commanded by the US military had performed extremely well in the previous Yichang offensive, and arguably played a decisive role. Any warlord would want to get their hands on such a valuable asset, right?

Li Delin immediately sent a telegram to the 6th War Zone, urging the transport and engineering corps to overcome all difficulties, serve the country with all their might, and quickly repair the roads to transport artillery ammunition and coordinate with the artillery's forward deployment. He also contacted Nicholas Chiang, who was overseeing the battle at Laohekou, and requested that this prince come to the rescue. How could Sun Fanglu have the courage and ability to leave three artillery regiments behind? He couldn't possibly represent the entire Central Army of the 6th War Zone like Chen Cixiu did. This incident was likely the result of the "collective will" of this Central Army!

Chiang Kai-shek, at this critical juncture, did not hesitate. He immediately boarded a plane and flew to Enshi to confer with Sun Fanglu. He then flew to the front line in Yichang to assess the situation. To be honest, the artillery on the front line was indeed short on ammunition and the roads were muddy, but the situation was not so dire that three artillery regiments were completely immobilized. He led the newly established Sixth War Zone Political Work Department Action Team to arrest and bring to justice a transport company commander who had illegally used trucks to transport goods for business purposes.

After quickly executing the officer, Nicholas Chiang personally oversaw the deployment and transfer of the artillery battalion. By combining the transport vehicles and remaining ammunition of two artillery regiments, he was able to dispatch an artillery regiment equipped with the M1897A5 to the front lines.

But the back-and-forth communication, wrangling and coordination has already wasted three full days.

But what do 3 days, 72 hours, mean in a rapidly changing battlefield?

Three days were enough for the Eighth Route Army to advance a hundred kilometers on foot in a normal marching posture, and quickly engage in battle after arriving at the destination; three days were also enough for the motorized Eighth Route Army's mobile corps to advance nearly 300 kilometers, and attack and destroy the enemy troops they encountered, making a mess of the enemy's rear.

Of course, it was also enough for the assembled Japanese army to make all preparations for offensive operations and launch a fatal counterattack against the national army!

During these three days, several regiments on the Jingzhou front were wiped out, leaving less than a hundred men. And during the Qianjiang offensive, short of artillery, entire Chinese companies and battalions were met with fierce counterattacks from Japanese artillery, machine guns, and bayonets. At one point, they were driven back over ten miles, discoloring the entire Han River.

The Nationalist soldiers, laying siege on the front lines, relied on a limited number of American B-25 bombers, supported by Soviet-made 76mm and British 114.3mm field guns, which were already short of ammunition, to hold their ground against the Japanese. Their sheer courage, unwavering resolve, and unyielding spirit inflicted approximately 1,000 casualties on the Japanese, striking fear into the hearts of even the most vulnerable Japanese commanders.

However, this materialistic world will not always pity the bravery and fearlessness of those who sacrifice their lives.

Lacking the abundant firepower cover they had during the attack on Yichang, and limited by the relatively closed terrain, the Nationalist army not only failed to fully encircle Jingzhou, but instead found themselves trapped within the fortified city, unable to attack or retreat.

About two weeks into the battle, the Japanese, now too numerous for the Nationalist army to challenge, launched their first counterattack. With sufficient numbers, the Japanese employed a strategy they were not sure whether they were adept at it or not, but were very fond of, such as the divided and combined attack, launching simultaneous attacks from multiple directions around Jingzhou.

Facing Jingzhou, the basically intact 13th Division, with its search regiment as the vanguard, used a mixed composition of armored vehicles and cavalry, and infantry to attack from multiple directions. The National Army, lacking anti-tank firepower, could no longer use mountains and positions to block Japanese tanks, and could not effectively complete the offensive and defensive transition. It was actually penetrated by things such as the Type 95 light tank and the Type 94 ultra-light tank.

前来增援的日军67师团（原独混18)、第3师团、63师团（独混14)则以大队为单位，在轰隆作响的90、95式野炮轰击下，在潜江一线对国军展开了多路反击。原本还在围攻潜江地区的国军第33集团军和22集团军猝不及防，被日军4个大队的兵锋直接劈开，出现了严重的溃乱。

Even in Suizhou, on the edge of the battlefield, three corps-level units under the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Fifth War Zone, which had been advancing smoothly just a few days earlier, were suddenly hit by a powerful counterattack from the suppressing Japanese forces, causing chaos. Fortunately, some German-made 105mm artillery pieces abandoned by the Nationalist Central Army in the rear were able to effectively hinder the Japanese attack and prevent them from breaking through the Nationalist defenses.

However, these artillery pieces are old and the ammunition is insufficient. If the Japanese army launches another attack, I am afraid that the national army here will also collapse!

In just less than a week, the battle that seemed to be in a good situation turned into a disaster of victory followed by defeat. The people in the rear who were originally celebrating the victory suddenly felt as if they had been poured with a bucket of ice water in the middle of winter, and were frozen to the bone.

Chapter 705: The Great Counterattack in the Autumn of the 31st Year (5) The Indestructible Man

The situation on the battlefield is changing rapidly.

At this point, the Japanese and Nationalist troops were like two boxers standing in a boxing ring. The Nationalist army, risking muscle strain, threw punches continuously, leaving their opponent's face covered in bruises, but they were unable to knock him down for more than 10 seconds to win. The Japanese, who had been in a defensive state of holding their heads, accumulated physical strength and then delivered three heavy punches, hitting the Nationalist army in the face and making him dizzy.

However, the Nationalist army still had more "heavyweights," meaning more men than the Japanese. As long as they could hold their ground and organize a defense, they could certainly force the match into a point-based decision, if not a comeback.

but...

However, this time, there seemed to be no "buts." Regardless of regret, lament, or sadness, the realities of war offered no pause button, allowing both sides to pause and carefully consider their next move. With the tide turning and the edifice about to collapse, there was no time to waste. The Nationalist army needed to react immediately, at least to ensure an orderly retreat and avoid a fatal rout.

At such times, there are always strange and outrageous behaviors that make people wonder whether the interpretation of reality does not require any logic; but at the same time, even in a terrible entity like the National Army, there is always the light of tenacious warriors, blooming tenaciously in that dirty environment like a soy sauce jar.

Of course, the price is often life.

On the Jingzhou front, the Japanese combined cavalry, light tanks, and armored vehicles launched an assault like a hot knife through butter, easily penetrating the Nationalist defenses and advancing deep into the enemy lines. The Nationalist troops on the front lines were overwhelmed and immediately collapsed, unable to even pass on the news of the breach in time.

This directly caused the 52nd Army of the Central Army, located on the second line of the battlefield, to go from being able to defend the enemy to being able to engage the enemy on the move. First, they were attacked by the fleeing soldiers, and then they were violently attacked by the Japanese. This unit, the only unit that had successfully escaped in the Liaoshen Campaign of the Liberation War in another time and space, was suddenly hit, its command chain was completely broken, and it also abandoned a large amount of baggage and fell into a state of retreat.

Fortunately, the Japanese army did not have the habit of deep penetration. Feeling that the breakthrough depth was too great, the 13th Division's search regiment and mechanized regiment stopped and waited for their own infantry after breaking through two lines of defense before continuing to attack.

At this time, Li Delin's previous repeated instructions of "building a strong camp, fighting a stupid battle" and building bunkers to advance unexpectedly played a role: Feng Jingshu's troops under the 42nd Army of the 2nd Group Army happened to be here. As a "miscellaneous" force of the Northwest Army that had fought at Weize Pass in Shanxi Province and Taierzhuang, they were withdrawn because of heavy losses on the front line and built bunkers here.

半残状态的42军60暂编师〈44旅扩编而来）和状态尚且完好的42军27师很快跑进了还带着木头和泥土气息的土木堑壕工事内，依托工事开始进行防御战，杀伤攻过来的日军。

This national army of the Northwest Army lineage also lacked anti-tank weapons, but perhaps because the Japanese tanks and armored vehicles also lacked direct-fire guns of sufficient power, they actually relied solely on a very small number of anti-tank guns, mines and cluster grenades, and with an unswerving determination to stop the first round of Japanese offensives, buying time for the reorganization and gathering of subsequent troops.

In the original timeframe, Commander Feng Jingshu, who had died in Xiangyang in November 1938, was struck by shrapnel while leading the defensive operations, falling to the Japanese offensive. Seizing this precious moment, the 52nd Army, a relatively strong unit within the Central Army, quickly regrouped behind this makeshift defense and retreated to the mountainous defenses surrounding Yichang.

The defenses here were even stronger, and with three artillery regiments (under US command) still underway to reinforce the front, their firepower was formidable. As expected, as the Japanese gathered their forces and brought in their field artillery to crush the resistance of the 60th and 27th Divisions of the 42nd Army, breaking through to the vicinity of Yichang, they were met with a barrage of artillery shells that pounded the Japanese vanguards. Any counterattacks by the Japanese field artillery were completely suppressed due to their limited visibility and the disadvantage of being able to fire from above.

In the end, under the joint resistance of the 18th Army of the 2nd Army Group, the reserve force on the front line, the 52nd Army that reorganized the defense line, and the 2nd Division of the Youth Army that was squatting in the mountains and hills around Yiling to enjoy the scenery, the Japanese army had to abandon the offensive and stationed its troops around Yichang, resulting in a confrontation and stalemate.

On the Chinese battlefield at this time, possessing an artillery cluster above standard level could turn the tide of a battle. However, without such artillery, soldiers who wanted to survive would probably have to pay a higher price.

While the 42nd Army in the direction of Yichang was fighting to the death to buy time, the fighting along the Han River became even bloodier - the Japanese and Nationalist troops fighting here were mainly infantry, and after the Japanese army launched a counterattack, the two sides engaged in hand-to-hand combat many times.

Even though the grassroots officers and soldiers of the National Army fought bravely, the Japanese army, which was more proficient in infantry and artillery coordination and small-team attacks, was clearly able to gain a greater advantage.

For a time, the Kuomintang's front line was torn open by the Japanese army, and the entire Kuomintang army was shaken and almost collapsed.

At the critical moment, the 77th Army of the 33rd Group Army stepped forward and took action.

Because the 77th Army lacked even the civil engineering fortifications of the Nationalist forces on the Jingzhou front, it could only rely on the recently recaptured town of Shayang as a defensive fulcrum to defend against the powerful offensive of the Japanese army, which consisted of six battalions, with four of them spearheading the attack. Their only real support came from the motorboats floating down the Han River. These little water trains could deliver ammunition and food to the troops, ensuring they would not be cut off from food and supplies—assuming the Japanese did not advance to the city and block the river with artillery fire.

This was destined to be a battle of attrition, a head-on confrontation. T7 Army Commander He Jifeng had no intention of winning. To stall for more time, he had already incorporated street fighting into his battle plan and was determined to have his troops fight to the bitter end even after being surrounded.

The members of his death squad threw away the silver coins they had just received, left their names, and handed them to a messenger with three horses to take them out of the city. Afterwards, no one had even the chance to drink a farewell drink before they hurried into the battle.

This old Northwest Army unit, which had fought on the Jinpu Road, Pinghang Road, and prepared for the battle in eastern Henan, and had fought many times in Xuzhou, Hankou, and Sui-Zao areas, and had fought from north to south, once again picked up their swords, carried double the number of grenades, and rushed to their death.

"Are the Japs coming? Are there any Japs tanks?" someone shouted on the battlefield.