Chapter 397 The Dilemm of the 33rd Regiment

"The 17th Brigade has lost the first peripheral defense line and is currently retreating to the second defense line!" Shi Yanglin also looked a little tired. As the director of the combat department, his workload actually exceeded that of any officer serving in the command department.

The position of chief of the Operations Department is a typical low-weight position, but the rank of major general is in charge of the entire Feng army's combat plan. If it is placed in other countries and armies, the director of the combat department must be at least the rank of lieutenant general or even the rank of general.

However, Zhao Dongyun set the level of the director of the Operations Department at the level of major general, which naturally has his consideration, that is, for the balance and limitation of power.

The combat office is already very powerful. If its chief officer is a military general like Meng Enyuan or a core general like Gu Lanyu, then the power and influence of the combat office will be greater, and even form a power conflict with the staff.

The balance of power is thought to be a matter that the supreme ruler must prioritize, which led to the special institution of the War Office.

Shi Yanglin leads this organization with the rank of major general, which is a typical low position. He can directly give combat orders to military bosses like Meng Enyuan.

In this process, Shi Yanglin is also under extremely heavy pressure, and he must be more cautious in any combat orders issued.

Especially after the crossing of the river combat plan, Zhao Dongyun stayed in the military information conference room to check the front report at any time, which made Shi Yanglin feel more pressure.

"Can the Fourth Army guarantee the logistical supplies of the 17th Brigade?" Zhao Dongyun put down the report in his hand, then sat down and asked while looking at the sand table.

Shi Yanglin said: "The ships of the Fourth Army are still very tense at present. Some larger ships have been used to build pontoon bridges, and can only be transported with small and medium-sized ships. At present, it is quite difficult!"

"However, the Fourth Army has urgently renovated some bamboo rafts and new wooden boats, and it is expected that the amount of transportation supplies for the 17th Brigade can be increased by about 20% today!"

Zhao Dongyun did not continue to ask, because he also knew the situation on the front line very well. He knew that the Fourth Army had prepared many ships in advance to prepare for crossing the river, but due to the short time and the need for confidentiality, the number of ships available was relatively limited, and this situation could not be changed in a short time. Changed.

The most important thing is whether the Fourth Army can successfully cross the river and whether the whole Jiangnan strategy can be successfully completed depends on the performance of the 17th Brigade.

At this time, Zhao Dongyun said, "In my name, send a telegram to Pan Luanqing, saying that I was waiting to personally award him in Beijing!"

"After this war, all meritorious generals and soldiers of the 17th Brigade will be promoted first!"

Zhao Dongyun knows very well what the frontline troops need at this critical moment, which is encouragement!

If you want others to fight for themselves, you have to pay the corresponding price. If some people like power, then give them more officials and titles. If some people want fame and fortune, then give them a chance to live forever. Some people are dedicated to the country, so they will see the hope of the rise of the country and the nation.

People will always have some expectations when they live, and as rulers, all they have to do is to give them these expectations and give different things to each different person.

After Pan Luanqing, who was in Hezhou, received this telegram from Zhao Dongyun, he had already seen himself go further in the near future and climbed to the position of a division commander.

However, behind this hope, there is also heavy pressure.

This battle is like a victory. If he ensures that the Fourth Army crosses the river smoothly, then the future career will be smooth, but if it is defeated, it will cause the Fourth Army to be unable to cross the river, which will lead to the failure of the whole Jiangnan strategy. At that time, even if he is not beaten to the end, it is estimated that he will be put into the cold palace. There is no possibility of turning over.

"What's the situation of the 33rd Regiment now? And in the east, haven't you found any trace of the enemy's Fourth Division? Pan Luanqing put down his distracting thoughts and put his mind back on the current war situation.

"At present, the situation of the 33rd Regiment is not very good. Last night, there were great losses in the First World War, with more than 300 casualties. In addition, the ammunition consumption is also extremely serious. In the east direction, we have not found any trace of the enemy's fourth division, but we have found an unknown regiment of the enemy. According to the news of the reconnaissance horse's return, it may be a provincial legion of the Anhui army. However, in the information reported by the Military Information Office, at least one brigade of the enemy's fourth division has left Nanjing. At present, the movement of the department is unknown, but it is very likely to come towards us!"

Xiong Zhiqing, the chief of staff of the 17th Brigade next to

, said, "At present, the situation of our brigade is still relatively bad. The 33rd Regiment ahead has reported that the enemy has been reorganized not far away. It is expected that the enemy will launch a new round of attack soon!"

Pan Luanqing took his sight back from the map and said, "Let's write to Fang Qingkun again, just say that there are no reinforcements, but I will try my best to draw ammunition to him, but the 33rd Regiment must stay on the second defense line for at least 36 hours. Before tomorrow evening, I need the 33rd Regiment to firmly nail the second lane. On the defensive line!"

Meng Enyuan and even Zhao Dongyun put pressure on him, and naturally Pan Luanqing had to put pressure on Fang Qingkun.

Although Zhao Dongyun, Meng Enyuan and even Pan Luanqing and others above also know that the current situation is very difficult and the 17th Brigade is very difficult, they have not experienced the front line and do not know how dangerous the situation faced by the 33rd Regiment is.

Fang Qingkun's bloody eyes looked at Pan Luanqing's combat order, although his face showed a resolute look: "Please return to the brigade, just say that my 33rd Regiment will resolutely carry out the order and will never take a step back before tomorrow night!"

However, he said so, but his heart was full of worries.

As the commander of the 33rd Regiment and the actual commander of the front line, Fang Qingkun knows how difficult the current situation is than his officers and soldiers than Pan Luanqing, Meng Enyuan and others.

Since crossing the river yesterday, the 33rd Regiment has suffered a lot of casualties. At present, there have been more than 300 casualties, and the casualty rate is close to 15%. This casualty rate has reached the limit even for the three main divisions of the 9th Division.

Fortunately, this is a defensive war, which can barely continue to support. If it is an offensive war, according to the current situation of the 33rd Regiment, it is impossible to launch a large-scale offensive at all.

Just after he was worried and thinking about how to continue to hold on for the next 36 hours, suddenly there were several explosions outside.

Hearing the explosion, Fang Qingkun knew that it was the Anhui artillery in the west that fired!

As the explosion became more and more dense, Fang Qingkun also knew that a new round of enemy attacks had begun today.

He strode out of the temporary headquarters, then directly climbed onto a wooden temporary high platform, picked up the telescope and looked into the distance. There were already many Anhui soldiers in blue military uniforms in the telescope. They scattered, bent down and trotted over.

The direction they went is the position of the second battalion.

The starting position of the Anhui army was only about 800 meters away from the defense line of the second battalion, and when the Anhui army rushed more than 500 meters, the Anhui soldiers began to run and charge at the urging of the officers.

At the same time, the mortars in the Feng army also began to fire intermittently, which was limited by the serious shortage of shells. The commander of the mortar group could only fire a few shells, but at this time, there were also waves of roars in the rear sky.

Fang Qingkun looked happy when he heard this sound: Our artillery finally opened fire!

Since the night before yesterday, the artillery units of the Feng army began to deploy artillery positions by the river, but due to the limitations of terrain and other factors, a small number of artillery were initially in place until yesterday night, and after a sleepless night, the artillery units of the Feng army were finally all in place this morning.

Although the distance is very far across a Yangtze River, the 75mm field artillery equipped by the Feng army has a range of about eight kilometers. At the maximum range, it can barely support the 33rd Regiment on the front line.

So when the Anhui army launched an attack, the artillery observation officers sent by the artillery force to the 33rd Regiment had already passed the shooting Zhuyuan to the artillery force on the north coast, so the artillery force of the Feng army was able to launch artillery support in time.

Difference from the serious lack of shells by the mortar forces of the 17th Brigade on the south coast, there is no shortage of shells by the Feng artillery units on the north coast.

In order to prepare for the river crossing, the quartermaster's department transported a large number of shells and bullets on the front line of Hezhou.

Strictly speaking, the Fourth Army is adequately replenished with various shells, which is enough to support the Fourth Army to carry out several high-intensity operations and maintain the department's continuous operations for more than two months.

The problem is that after the Yangtze River, the Fourth Army hoarded countless large-scale transportation of ammunition from the north bank across the river, which led to the extreme lack of ammunition in the 17th Brigade.

For the artillery forces on the north coast, there is no shortage of shells. Since last night, the artillery units have begun to fire a small amount of artillery fire to harass the evening attack of the 7th Division of the two rivers. Up to now, the shells are often thrown on the positions of Anhui.

The dense and continuous artillery covering shooting made the Anhui soldiers on the way to fall continuously!

However, this did not stop the Anhui army from attacking.

Lei Zhenchun looked at the continuous casualties of his subordinates. Although his heart was also painful, he continued to give the order to attack: "Let the 27th Regiment also go up. Today, we must take down the opposite enemy position!"

Lei Zhenchun is very clear that now the two sides are fighting for a time. He will drive the Feng army off the Yangtze River within three days, while the Feng army opposite will hold the beachhead position for three days to cover the successful erection of the pontoon bridge.

These three days are the critical moment to determine the life and death of both sides!

However, three days have passed. Since yesterday, he led the army to launch a counterattack. Although he has captured a position of the Feng army, the Feng army opposite is still firmly guarding the beach head position. This task is very difficult to capture the beach head position of the Feng army in the next two days.

Because he also knows that the first troops that can be sent by the Feng army to cross the river must be the elite troops in the Feng army. Although his seventh division is also formed according to the old Beiyang standards, and the equipment and personnel quality are quite good, but they still lack war experience. The middle and high-level officers are fine, basically The officers of the 7th Division are all drawn from various units of the Feng army, but most of the soldiers and grassroots officers have not participated in actual combat.

This also leads to the fact that although the personnel quality and equipment level of the 7th Division are not inferior to those of the 4th Division and the 2nd Mixed Brigade, the overall combat effectiveness is still inferior to that of the 4th Division or the 2nd Mixed Brigade.

This also makes it difficult for the 7th Division to carry out difficult tactical actions, but since it can't carry out such difficult tactics as roundabout attack, Lei Zhenchun simply uses the simplest, direct, and the biggest way to grasp, which is to use his military advantage to directly launch a frontal attack.

He doesn't believe it. At present, he can't take down a regiment of Fengjun.