Sword: Heart of Iron

Chapter 59 Strategic Counterattack [Please order first! ]

night.

South Huaihua.

What was originally a quiet village at the foot of the mountain was now abnormally brightly lit.

After entering Nanhuaihua Village, the Japanese army immediately carried out a large-scale retaliatory massacre against the civilians there.

The brutal Japanese invaders killed anyone they saw, and even spared the livestock, which were all looted.

The entire Nanhuaihua Village turned into a purgatory on earth, and countless wronged souls were once again unable to be liberated.

Various cruel killing methods reappeared in the world, such as nailing people alive on stakes, and picking out a person's intestines to entangle the whole family together.
The headquarters of the 9th Brigade of the Japanese Army was located in an ordinary civilian house.

Brigade Commander Kunisaki Noboru's face turned grim. He stood in front of the battle map for a long time, staring at the Jinshan Mountains.

The current war situation is confusing. It seems that the Japanese army is conquering cities and territories along the way, and their momentum is unstoppable. They are about to reach the city of Taiyuan and occupy the whole of Shanxi.

But as the brigade commander, Kunisaki Noboru knew many inside stories that his junior officers were unaware of.

After the Battle of Pingxingguan, Itagaki Seishirō's morale was dampened and he was timid when commanding offensive operations.

Even one-third of the entire force was used to maintain the logistics supply lines.

The originally aggressive offensive rhythm was forced to slow down.

This move caused dissatisfaction among many officers below.

The reason why everyone joins the army and fights is to gain military merit and bring honor to their family.

The Chinese army was so weak that a battalion could chase after an ordinary division, which was a perfect opportunity to create merit.

Itagaki Seishirō's action is even more painful than cutting off someone's source of income.

"Has the Noguchi Battalion been contacted?"

"what's going on!"

Guo Qideng turned around and roared, venting his dissatisfaction.

After the fierce battle last night, there were only two remnant divisions on the 1300 high ground, with a total strength of no more than . They were seriously short of weapons and equipment, and did not even have heavy firepower support.

In theory, sending out an infantry battalion would be enough to occupy the high ground.

But nearly ten hours had passed and the command center still had not received any news that the high ground had been occupied.

On the contrary, five hours ago, we received a message for help from the Noguchi Battalion.

There was no further news after that.

Chief of Staff Kitagawa Yuta stood aside, hunched over, and said anxiously, "Sir, according to the news, the Noguchi Battalion is likely to have been wiped out."

Guo Qideng's eyes widened: "Nani!"

An entire infantry battalion was surrounded and annihilated in just one day. No one would believe such a battle report.

"idiot!"

"what is going on!"

Kitagawa Yuta looked embarrassed: "Sir, a unit of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army suddenly marched to Hill 1300, and with the cooperation of the retreating troops, launched an encirclement and annihilation of the Noguchi Battalion."

"The number of this Jinsui Army unit is exactly the Provisional First Brigade during the Pingxingguan Battle."

Guo Qideng gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

The importance of Hill 1300 is self-evident.

The Jinsui Army ranks relatively high in strength among the many warlord faction armies in China.

Possesses the ability to produce large-caliber heavy artillery.

not to mention.

When the main force of the 21st Brigade was annihilated some time ago, the four most important Type howitzers of the th Division's heavy artillery regiment were lost.

It is very likely that it was captured by the 1st Temporary Brigade of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army.

Once the heavy artillery positions are set up on the high ground, the entire Nanhuaihua Village will be within the firing range.

Thinking of this, Guo Qideng's face became a little panicked: "Notify the fighter squadron to start searching around Hill 1300 after daybreak."

"Once you discover the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army's artillery units, bomb them immediately!"

Kitagawa Yuta: “Hai!”

It takes a certain amount of time to lay out the heavy artillery positions. According to battlefield experience, tomorrow morning will be the last chance.

If the air fighters cannot find the artillery units of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army.

Nanhuaihua Village will be subjected to heavy bombardment from large-caliber howitzers tomorrow afternoon.

Guo Qideng kept muttering: "Cunning Chinese soldiers"

As the main force in the Pingxingguan Campaign, the 1st Temporary Brigade was a thorn in the side of the entire 5th Division.

If given the chance, Itagaki Seishirō would have wanted to eat Wang Feng alive.

After calming down, Guo Qideng turned around and made new adjustments to the troop deployment by referring to the battle map.

The disastrous defeat of Noguchi's brigade was unexpected.

At present, there is only one infantry battalion stationed in the entire Nanhuaihua Village, serving as a reserve force.

After careful consideration, Guo Qideng gave up the idea of sending reserves to retake Hill 1300.

Xiawangzhuang Village on the north bank of the Yunzhong River was occupied by the 35th Brigade of the 218th Army of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army, posing a constant threat to the rear of the 9th Brigade.

Surrounded by enemies on all sides, it was impossible for Guo Qideng to go all out with all the troops he had.

Besides, there is more than one high ground at '1300' in the entire Jinshan Mountain.

The 11th Infantry Regiment, a total of two infantry battalions, was stationed on the southern highlands.

The 41st Infantry Regiment, with a total of two infantry battalions, was stationed on the eastern heights and engaged in a fierce battle with the Chinese army.

None of these four infantry battalions can move.

Once the high ground on both sides is lost, the entire Xinkou front will be affected.

Looking around, the only hope was the fighter squadron located at Yangmingbao Airport.

16 a.m. on the 2th.

The counterattack officially began.

Hao Mengling personally went to the front line to supervise the battle and ordered the newly formed 4th Brigade to attack the southern highlands of Nanhuaihua.

The newly-entered Independent 5th Brigade attacked the eastern heights of Nanhuaihua.

The 2nd and 3rd Independent Brigades coordinated with other units to launch a counterattack.

The 218th Brigade located in Xiawangzhuang moved toward the north of Yunzhong River in an attempt to cut off the Japanese army's retreat.

At the same time, Wang Feng's troops also received orders to dive down from the 1300 high ground and attack Nanhuaihua Village directly. If this battle is successful, the entire 9th Brigade of the Japanese Army will be wiped out.

front.

Wang Feng’s consciousness is focused on a bird’s-eye view.

As the number of troops increased, the width of the battlefield of the 1st Brigade more than doubled, and the real-time bird's-eye view distance of two kilometers could no longer cover the entire army.

Wang Feng muttered to himself: "The system panel will be upgraded, but I don't know when the bird's-eye view map will be upgraded as well."

After Zhao Fangyuan led his troops away, Sergei served as temporary chief of staff, performing his duties conscientiously and studying the battle maps constantly.

"Sir, front line"

Sergei raised his head and looked at Wang Feng who was staring out the window in a daze, and stopped talking halfway through.

I still remember that when I first arrived at the First Brigade Staff Headquarters, Zhao Fangyuan once told him during a casual chat:

"When the commander is directing a battle, he always looks at one place for a long time."

"To outsiders, it's what they call distraction!"

“But I don’t think so.”

"I'm telling you this, but don't let the boss know!"

"According to my observation, the more this happens, the more focused you become. In this state, your overall insight into the battlefield is incredibly sharp!"

Wang Feng came back to his senses: "Send a message to the mountain artillery battalion, the bombardment begins!"

"Also, the infantry artillery battalion will move forward 500 meters and cooperate with the infantry to destroy the front-line firepower points!"

After the Battle of Pingxingguan, the 1st Temporary Brigade seized seven infantry guns, in addition to the two they had previously.

There are nine infantry guns.

Just raise it to a higher level and form an infantry artillery battalion.

The number of artillery pieces may be insufficient, but the artillerymen must be trained in advance.

An artillery training class was organized before the war, with a total of 200 students.

After half a month of training, most people can become qualified artillerymen.

Seeing Wang Feng coming out of his trance and calmly commanding the battle, Sergei was stunned: "It seems that what the Chief of General Staff said is right!"

The fighting at night was extremely fierce.

Five armies besieged the Japanese army.

Vow to drive them out of Nanhuaihua.

But Guoqideng is not just a group of people who sit there and do nothing. Two infantry battalions are stationed on the southern and eastern highlands respectively.

Relying on the terrain, they held out until dawn.

South and East lines attack and rub.

Wei Lihuang, who was stationed in Xinkou, could only focus his attention on the area around 1300 Highland.

Although this place is not the main attack direction, it is the place with the most surplus troops.

Liu Jialin's 54th Division, Li Xianzhou's 21st Division, and Wang Fengzhan's st Brigade.

A total of three troops were deployed here.

Although the two divisions were remnants, they had little combat power left.

However, as an elite reinforced brigade, the Temporary 1st Brigade was so powerful that even Wei Lihuang, who had just arrived in Shanxi, had heard of it.

"Order the logistics troops to allocate 300,000 rounds of ammunition and 50,000 grenades to the First Temporary Brigade and send them to the front line immediately!"

Wei Lihuang waved his hand and spoke directly to the chief of staff.

For an army that can and is good at fighting the Japanese.

No matter which faction they belong to, as long as they fight under him, they are always treated very well.

If you want guns, give me guns. If you want cannons, give me cannons!
The telegram of reinforcement from the 14th Army reached Wang Feng's command headquarters.

"Sir, this Wei Lihuang is so generous, much better than Commander Yan!"

After glancing at the telegram, Sergei said with a smile.

When I arrived at the Temporary 1st Brigade, the first person I met was Wang Feng.

The second one is Yan Laoxi.

The third person is Zhao Fangyuan.

It seems that the entire army has long been resentful of Yan Laoxi's style of deceiving the enemy, and even the Soviets who are unfamiliar with the area have heard about it.

Wang Feng ignored him and stood silently in front of the map, his brows furrowed and his expression solemn.

The 1300 high ground leads directly to the Nanhuaihua Village below.

The 21st Division and the 54th Division provided support in the mountains on the flanks, and the st Brigade served as the main force, quickly rushing down the mountain through the main road.

Normally, the only resistance force that would be encountered along the way would be an infantry battalion.

But this is not the case.

The level of resistance from the Japanese invaders far exceeded Wang Feng's imagination.

Under the brainwashing of Bushido, Japanese soldiers were like mad dogs, tying white cloth strips with the rising sun or cherry blossoms painted on them on their heads.

"Onboard!"

The mountain roads were narrow and the area available for contact with the enemy was very small. Even though Wang Feng commanded thousands of people, only a few hundred of them could be used.

The rest of the troops could only watch helplessly from behind.

Only after the front-line troops withdraw can the troops in the rear go into the offensive.

The Japanese army's will to resist was tenacious and the morale of the Temporary Brigade was also not bad.

After several hours of fighting, Zhang Hu led the troops as the vanguard.

The Japanese army fought desperately, and the soldiers of the regiment were also holding back their anger. Both sides were bloodthirsty.

By dawn, the battle line was pushed to Nanhuaihua.

At this moment, there are only about 400 soldiers left in the village.

After leaving the mountain pass, the width of the battlefield suddenly expanded.

A temporary brigade of more than 6,000 soldiers surrounded the entire Nanhuaihua Village.

Wang Feng led the brigade command to the front line to supervise the battle.

As the dawn gunfire rang out.

The general offensive has officially begun!
　There will be another chapter later, if nothing unexpected happens
　　
　
(End of this chapter)