coobybook Chapter 617 Send me two more battalions. We must take Ping'an County before dark at all costs.
Chapter 617 Send me two more battalions. We must take Ping'an County before dark at all costs.
Chu Yunfei also felt it deeply. Under such powerful firepower, there was really no grass left, but there were still thousands of soldiers killed and wounded. This was completely beyond his expectations. It also made him realize that without complete air superiority on the battlefield, the armored forces would be sitting ducks for the enemy's air force.
He didn't feel it deeply before, but now he feels it very deeply. He even secretly feels lucky in his heart. When defending Niujia Village, if the Japanese had not used fighter planes, he, Chu Yunfei, might not have been able to defend Niujia Village.
As for the armored forces that he had high hopes for, once they were discovered by the Japanese fighter planes, they would be destroyed. Li Yunlong had a battalion of anti-aircraft troops equipped with a large number of anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns, but they still failed to stop the Japanese's desperate attack. This shows that the anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft defense are not just talk.
At 9:50 in the morning, the army arrived outside Ping'an County. The artillery battalion took the lead in launching an artillery attack on Ping'an County and began to destroy the exposed firepower points of the Japanese. Fighters and bombers in the air also launched a fierce attack on the Japanese guards on the city wall, making the Japanese guards miserable. Half an hour later, the attack stopped. A total of three city walls were blown down. The Japanese on the city wall suffered heavy losses. Of the three squadrons of Japanese, only one squadron survived.
"Order the anti-aircraft battalion to attack immediately and suppress the Japanese on the city wall with firepower. The engineering battalion will be dispatched immediately to fill in a section of the moat dug by the Japanese and build a bridge that can accommodate armored vehicles. We must break into Ping'an County before 12 noon at all costs." Lin Zhenhua gave the order with a gloomy face.
The commander-in-chief of the front line in charge of commanding the attack changed from Zhang Dabiao to Li Yunlong. After receiving Lin Zhenhua's order, Li Yunlong immediately contacted Wang Chengzhu and asked him to mobilize a heavy artillery company to continue shelling the city wall to suppress the Japanese firepower.
It was not that he was not confident in the firepower of the anti-aircraft battalion, but that he was afraid that the Japanese air force would come again. For this reason, he modified the combat order of the anti-aircraft battalion. After obtaining Lin Zhenhua's consent, he ordered two air defense companies to suppress the firepower of the north gate, and the remaining air defense companies were responsible for air alert and protecting the safety of the attacking troops.
Under the fierce suppression of artillery fire, the engineering battalion immediately mobilized bulldozers to flatten the trenches, and also transported logs from the rear to lay the foundation for the simple bridge. It took nearly an hour to complete the construction of the simple steel bridge. Immediately, a fully loaded armored vehicle drove over, shooting at the gate of the Japanese city while slowly climbing onto the steel bridge and moving steadily on it. The soldiers of the engineering battalion couldn't help but cheer.
The 30mm machine gun mounted on the armored vehicle riddled the city gate with holes. The Japanese soldiers hiding behind the city gate still wanted to resist stubbornly, but were pushed back by the artillery and covered with a wave of mortar fire. The shrapnel from the four panels caused considerable casualties to the Japanese soldiers behind the city gate.
However, due to the insufficient power of the armored vehicles, they were unable to push away the sandbags that the Japanese had blocked in front of them. Li Yunlong had to send out a suicide squad to fight with the Japanese at the city gate. After suffering more than 60 casualties, they successfully captured the north gate.
"Order the armored forces to rush into the city immediately. Move quickly. If you find any Japanese, bombard them with machine guns. Open fire immediately if you find anything suspicious. Don't question anything."
"Shen Quan, lead the soldiers of your two battalions to charge forward immediately and make sure to protect the safety of the armored forces."
"Zhu Zi, your artillery battalion should not be idle either. Prepare to split up into smaller units and get ready for street fighting."
"College student, I'm Li Yunlong. Immediately give orders to the fighter planes in the air and have them cover the troops in launching an attack on Ping'an County!"
With the coordination of air and ground forces, one Cheetah armored vehicle after another successfully attacked Ping'an County, but they did not dare to move forward in large strides. Instead, they waited for the infantry in the rear to catch up and prepared to engage in street fighting with the Japanese.
Previously on the training ground, the soldiers knew that street fighting was difficult, so they strictly followed the tactics they had learned during training, divided themselves into small units based on platoons, and began to encircle and suppress the Japanese in Ping'an County.
"Tell the brothers to be careful. If you find any movement, don't run up to check foolishly. Fire a shell and a magazine of bullets first, and then go and check after you are done!" Li Yunlong instructed worriedly.
Junichi Aoki also dispersed his troops, forming a combat team of 20 people, and fought street battles with Li Yunlong in Ping'an County. Gunshots and explosions continued to ring out in Ping'an County. The devils always jumped out from unexpected places, with explosive packs tied to their bodies, and they were completely determined to die together, which caused great trouble to the attacking troops.
Fortunately, Li Yunlong and Lin Zhenhua had made advance arrangements, and the soldiers were on high alert. If there was any disturbance, they would fire a few shells and a round of bullets, regardless of whether there were enemies or not. Although this led to a sharp increase in the consumption of ammunition, Lin Zhenhua would rather lose more ammunition than sacrifice the lives of the soldiers, otherwise there would be no point in producing so many weapons and ammunition.
"General, the enemy is very vigilant and must have been specially trained in street fighting. So far, we have only destroyed nine armored vehicles and caused one or two hundred casualties to the enemy, but the enemy has already occupied 1/5 of the entire county. If the battle continues like this, even if all of our Aoki Division is destroyed here, we can only kill two battalions of the enemy at most."
"I think we should take a risky move at this time, arrest those Chinese civilians and force the enemy to withdraw from the city! Although I know that this approach goes against the honor of a soldier, it is the only way I can think of at the moment. If we don't do this, we may lose the entire Ping'an County tonight." Yoshihara Majiro suggested with a bitter face.
Jun'ichi Aoki has now been forced into a desperate situation and has already thought of retreating. He knows very well that even if he can kill two or three thousand of Li Yunlong's men, it will not change the current battle situation. He is very likely to become Li Yunlong's prisoner because of this decision. When he thinks of such a scene, he can't help but tremble.
"Yoshiwara, like I said before, we have no way to retreat now. Even if we hold on, we have to hold out until two o'clock this afternoon. I can't give the order to retreat without even defending the place. As for making a fuss about those Chinese civilians, I have no objection, but doing so will only arouse more hatred among the Chinese soldiers. But we have no choice now, so let's just give it a try boldly. I will take responsibility for any problems that arise!" Jun'ichi Aoki took the initiative to take responsibility.
In order to dispel his men's concerns, Aoki Jun immediately issued a military order, asking his soldiers to fight in all the ways they could and stop the enemy's attack at all costs. In his heart, he even hoped that he could hold out until night so that he could retreat with dignity.
Lin Zhenhua was anxiously waiting for news from the front line at the command center. He had no idea about the street fighting. Even after nearly a hundred years, the army had no good solution.
The only good news is that the troops have conducted special training in street fighting, and the terrain of Ping'an County has also appeared in the simulation field. He believes that as long as the soldiers are careful, they will be able to minimize casualties.
"College student, we have just received information reported by Zhang Dabiao that the Japanese have gathered the people in Ping'an County together, hoping to resist to the end. The regiment commander has already rushed over with the monks, and is ready to lead a battalion of soldiers to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese. The regiment commander did not inform you at this time because he did not want to make things difficult for you!" telegraph operator Zhao Dongping reported cautiously.
Lin Zhenhua sat down on the stool with a feeling of loss. He had expected the devils to be very crazy, but he had never expected them to be so beastly. Now this was an unsolvable dilemma. If they wanted to rescue the people, they could only fight hand-to-hand with the devils.
"Dispatch another infantry battalion and two armored vehicle battalions into Ping'an County. Have the 358th Regiment send two battalions to reinforce us. Speed up the encirclement and suppression of the Japanese in the city. No matter the cost, we must completely wipe out the Aoki Division before dark!"
In order to win the street fighting, Li Yunlong went directly to the front line to command. However, the Japanese had also carried out some transformations in Ping'an County, which caused them considerable trouble during the attack.
"Monk, you lead 300 people to attack from the left, and I will lead 500 people to attack from the front. No matter what the cost, you must rescue the people safely!"
"Zhang Dabiao, you are responsible for providing fire support. If the Japanese dare to attack the civilians, I will kill them directly!"
Under the leadership of Li Yunlong, the enemy and our side started a close hand-to-hand combat. Someone fell down every second. The hand-to-hand combat lasted for nearly 20 minutes before it ended.
"Zhang Dabiao, immediately arrange for a company of soldiers to protect the civilians and evacuate the city. The rest of you, follow me and continue to attack. No matter what the cost, we must capture Ping'an County before nightfall."
Lin Zhenhua also received Li Yunlong's reminder. He immediately sent a battalion of soldiers to pick up the people. After two hours of hard work, more than 1200 people were picked up. These people will be temporarily sent to the Zhaojiayu base and wait until the war is over before returning. All this is for their safety!