Chapter 444 Battle of Jiujiang 1

Although the overall quality of Fengjun is better than that of other warlord forces in China, it is limited and does not form any insurmountable difference.

In terms of quality alone, if the German army in the great powers is ten, then the Japanese army will have six points, and the Feng army is only four points at most. Even if it is exactly the same weapon, twice the number of Feng army will certainly not be capable of the German army.

This is the overall gap in the quality of officers and soldiers, and it is not so easy to change.

If the Feng army has only four points, then the Anhui army is at most about three points.

Four points seem to be a little higher than three points, but in fact, it is only half a catty and eight taels. In specific battles, this quality does not form an absolute tactical and strategic advantage. When fighting, it depends on the use of weapons, equipment and tactics on both sides, and often kill the enemy and lose 800.

In many large-scale battles between the two armies, the Anhui army suffered great losses, but the Feng army itself could not go there. The battle of Jiangbei was okay. However, in the first battle of Jiangnan, the 17th Brigade of the 9th Division can be said to have been disabled, the 14th Division lost more than a quarter, and the fourth mixed brigade was almost completely annihilated. Jiangnan 1 In the war, the total number of soldiers killed and injured by the Feng army was more than 20,000, which was not better than the Anhui army.

The reason why the Feng army seemed to lose little after the war was that since the outbreak of the battle, the Ministry of Education in the command department has been supplementing the troops on the front line, and a large number of prisoners of war were brought in after the war. Therefore, after the Jiangnan Campaign, the Feng army's strength on the front line of Jiangnan not only did not decrease, but also increased. Many.

The reason for this situation is not the small loss of the Feng army, but because of the large replenishment ability of the Feng army.

In many battles, the Feng army's decisive victory was largely due to the advantages of weapons and logistics, not to mention weapons.

At present, the reason why the Feng army is proud of the heroes is that he has enough artillery and guns. Other warlords, even the Anhui army before the Jiangnan Campaign, has only more than 100 barrel guns. However, how many barrel guns did the Feng army have before the Jiangnan Campaign? At least 400, nearly 250 artillery pieces were invested in the Jiangnan Campaign, and this is not included in the naval artillery support provided by the Navy.

In addition to the barrel artillery, the more artillery advantage of the Feng army lies in the mortars. In the Jiangnan Campaign, the Feng army invested nearly 1,000 mortars of various calibers, which is very advanced for this era.

In addition, many heavy machine guns and light machine guns can also form great tactical advantages. Although major warlords have heavy machine guns, even Duan Qirui, who was rich before, can only match the two main forces of his subordinates with heavy machine guns and light machine guns. Other troops depend on the ability of the main officers of each unit. The ability is strong, and the people who can compete for more funds from Duan Qirui's army's various weapons and equipment are better. Some of them are not very capable, or they are not Duan Qirui's direct generals, and their troop equipment level is much worse.

In addition to the 4th Division and the 2nd Mixed Brigade, there are only two of the other Liangjiang Provincial Army units that are better equipped, that is, the 6th Division of Liangjiang and the 7th Division of Liangjiang. The Sixth Division of Liangjiang is well equipped because this army has been fighting in Jiangxi and Guangdong since its establishment. It is the first meritorious force in Guangdong. It has rich combat experience and has won many battles. Such a force is naturally seen by Duan Qirui, so its equipment level is not bad.

The Seventh Division of Liangjiang was built by Duan Qirui in order to build a new main division, which cost a lot of manpower and material resources. At the equipment level was very good at the beginning of its establishment. Among other things, at least the artillery and heavy machine guns were full. Unfortunately, this seventh division of Liangjiang was lucky. It's really not good. In the first battle, he met the three ace ninth divisions of the Feng army, and finally was destroyed by the whole army in the battle of Dangtu. Even Lei Zhenchun, the division commander, was defeated and committed suicide.

As the sixth division of Liangjiang, which was highly valued in the Anhui army, he did not live up to Duan Qirui's high expectations during the battle with the Feng army. During the Anqing Campaign, he blocked the first division of the Feng army for several months. If it weren't for the final strategic failure of the Anhui army in the whole Jiangnan area, which led to Anqing Gu Hanging on the north bank of the Yangtze River, forcing the Sixth Division of Liangjiang to take the initiative to give up Anqing to avoid being besieged and annihilated. Maybe the Feng army has not been able to take Anqing yet.

After retreating from Anqing to the southwest, the sixth division of Liangjiang received a new order, that is, to stick to Jiujiang. Together, the third division of Liangjiang and two independent infantry regiments, two infantry regiments were formed by the Anhui army in Jiangxi last year. Originally, Duan Qirui wanted to imitate Zhao Dongyun. The patrol infantry regiment, but later Jiangxi's forces were tight, so it simply strengthened the two infantry regiments of the nature of the garrison force, and finally reorganized them into the first independent regiment and the second independent regiment of Liangjiang, each with a strength of more than 3,000.

Two infantry divisions, two independent regiments, and then some local garrison troops in Jiujiang, Madang fortress garrison troops, and military police and other paramilitary forces. The Anhui army has invested about 50,000 defensive troops on the front line of Jiujiang and has about 60 artillery.

Zhang Guotai, another general of the Anhui army, is responsible for commanding these troops in the Jiujiang Campaign.

Zhang Guotai, Yuan Shikai was stabbed to death in 1906. Before the four warlords rose up, he was the fourth horse standard of the fourth town of the Beiyang Standing Army. After the four major warlords in the North Ocean rose up, he led the fourth cavalry standard successively. After Duan Qirui led the fourth division and the second mixed brigade south to the two rivers, he was quickly promoted to the first in the two rivers. When Duan Qirui was reorganulated into the 6th Division of Liangjiang, he was transferred to serve as the commander of the 12th Brigade of the 6th Division of Liangjiang Army, and was soon promoted to the commander of the 6th Division of Liangjiang Army and led the 6th Liangjiang Division to take Guangdong.

Subsequently, Zhang Guotai led the Sixth Division of Liangjiang to garrison Anqing. Although Anqing was still lost in the end, his performance was still remarkable, especially in the strategic defeat of the Anhui army in the south of the Yangtze River. All units, including the Fourth Division, were unfavorable in combat, and the performance of the Sixth Division of Liangjiang was also excellent.

Therefore, when Zhang Guotai led the 6th Division of Liangjiang to leave Anqing and move to defend Jiujiang, Duan Qirui promoted him to the rank of general of the army in order to further attract Zhang Guotai. Although the rank of general of the army could not be recognized by the Beijing Division, he was still a veritable general within the Anhui system.

At the same time, Duan Qirui also appointed him as the 'Jiujiang Campaign Envoy', who is fully responsible for the affairs of the Jiujiang Campaign.

From Zhang Guotai's appointment, in fact, it can be seen that Zhao Dongyun and Duan Qirui's attitude towards senior generals. In the process of fighting south of the Feng army, Zhao Dongyun has never appointed senior generals as 'warning commander' and 'camping envoy'. At most, he will be established before large-scale battles. The enemy headquarters appoints senior generals on the front line as commanders, deputy commanders, chiefs of staff and other positions, but this kind of affairs are purely military command affairs and temporary. However, Zhang Guotai's appointment is equivalent to a reduced version of a provincial governor and guard, and it is also long-term.

After Zhang Guotai presided over the defense of the Jiujiang River, he could see at a glance that the reason for guarding the Jiujiang River was to guard the north of Jiangxi. As long as the Anhui army defended the Jiujiang River, it could firmly nail the north of Jiangxi, forcing the Feng army to dare to go straight into the hinterland of Nanchang, Jiangxi Province.

If you want to defend the Jiujiang River, you have to guard Peng Ze first, because the Jiujiang River is surrounded by mountains and rivers on all sides, and it is very difficult for the Feng army to attack, but the Feng army is not a fool. As long as they land from Panyang Lake to the south of the Jiujiang River, they can completely block the Jiujiang River from the south. In addition, the warships and cannons carry out from the Yangtze River and Panyang Lake. Blockade, then this Jiujiang is equivalent to being completely surrounded. Jiujiang, who is surrounded and can't get any foreign aid, will never last long.

If you want to guard the Jiujiang River, you can't just guard the Jiujiang River itself, but Peng Ze first.

If you want to defend Peng Ze, you have to hold the most critical tactical points as a fort.

Based on this situation, Zhang Guotai put his only main force, the Sixth Division of Liangjiang, on the Madang Fort in order to block the offensive troops of the Feng army at the Madang Fort.

But what he didn't expect was that Lu Yongxiang's offensive determination was stronger than he thought, and although Lu Yongxiang could not deploy many troops, he was supported by a heavy artillery battalion.

When the artillery regiment of the 1st Division and the 1st Heavy Artillery Battalion cooperated with each other to launch a large-scale shelling of the Madang Fort, the 6th Division of Liangjiang was also unsistful.

And this is not enough. What really worried Zhang Guotai was that when the first division of the Feng army was attacking the Madang Fort, the eighth division of another unit of Lu Yongxiang's first army had begun to make a detour. They had to bypass Madang and then go straight to the mouth of the lake.

Lu Yongxiang's tactics are very simple, that is, to drag the sixth division of the two rivers in front of Madang, and then use the eighth division to make a wide range of detours and go straight into the lake.

As long as the mouth of the lake is taken, it is equivalent to cutting off the retreat of Peng Ze's enemy. He wants to see that Zhang Guotai's Sixth Division of Liangjiang will be returned or not.

If he doesn't retreat, he will rudely give him a complete annihilation. If he retreats, it is much better to fight a chase than a tough battle.

There have been countless great victories in history, and the casualties of the defeated party are not due to their failure in the frontal battle, but often collapsed in the retreat stage and then completely collapsed.

Lu Yongxiang wants the retreat of the sixth division of the two rivers. As long as he retreats, he can find an opportunity to turn the retreat of the sixth division of the two rivers into a retreat. As long as the retreat of the sixth division of the two rivers becomes a retreat, even if too many people can't be left in the sixth division of the two rivers at that time, it is enough to make a good start for the Jiujiang Campaign. If we want to beat the morale of the Sixth Division of Liangjiang, the subsequent battle will be much easier.

At this time, the military intelligence collection ability of both sides is not very good, but the large mobilization of Lu Yongxiang's first army will always be noticed by the detectives on the opposite side. On July 13, Zhang Guotai received a report from the frontline reconnaissance, saying that he found a large number of Feng troops in Yangzi in the south of Pengze, and captured them according to the flag. In fact, this unit is the 8th Division of the Central Army, which rarely appears in front of outsiders in the Feng army.