78 test attack

Heavy snow was flying. After a round of dense mortar fire, the machine gun fire was suppressed. The grenade was smashed out like hail, and all kinds of light and heavy firepower swept in a sudden wind. Where the bullet screen passed, there was a bloody wind. The first battle to attack Lanzhou City was in an inexplicable situation of Li Xiang. It started.

The total attack time, Li Xiang was originally scheduled to give the Anxi army four days to prepare for the dusk three days later. However, on this day, a team of people in Lanzhou had crossed the Yellow River, and the citizens of Lanzhou also began to flee in panic. Zhang Fengyi, Zhang Yunshan, Jing Bumu and other new generals who defected to the Ezhou group decided to advance the general attack to now. At dawn, we tried to break through the city defense before the remnants of the Lanzhou Qing army fled.

Due to the smooth development of the pursuit of Longdong, they inevitably have the idea of underesing the enemy's paralying and arrogance. In addition, they also think that the enemy may give up Lanzhou for fear of losing a favorable fighter to annihilate the remnants of the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, they relied on the sufficient logistical supplies in Ezhou, exchanged guns for cannons, more cannons, enough ammunition, and extremely expanded their confidence. They proposed today's attack, saying that even if the middle and western lines did not break through, the eastern line could still defeat the remnants of the Qing army and Lanzhou City.

Li Xiang, who has just returned to the headquarters, according to this "disveal", he knew that he came to Lanzhou yesterday and hurriedly "test attack" today. In fact, it was the arrogant arrival of the Shaanxi generals. It was Zhang Fengyi who commanded Li Xiang.

On the day after arriving on the periphery of Lanzhou, these Shaanxi troops launched an attack on several outlying positions in Lanzhou, such as Guchengling, Yingpanling and Gouwa Mountain. Although the siege adopts the "transformation of terrain" civil engineering work, it is a trick of artificial blasting. However, the tunnel to meet the enemy has not been fully opened. The enemy's outer bunker is huge and strong, and the strong wall has not yet opened a gap. The siege commando is crowded on the edge of the trench, and the cover firepower is not enough to suppress the dense bullets of the defenders. In particular, the heavy machine gun positions of the defenders under the wall have not been detected in advance, resulting in the casualties of the assault troops. The Shaanxi troops responsible for the main attack were frustrated one after another.

Jing Bumu led the knife ranger group at the intersection of Bujia Road in the south of Majia Mountain, and took the lead in launching an attack on the ancient city ridge, the enemy's main position. The fighters quickly rushed to the enemy's position through the fire blockade area. When the leading team entered the minefield, it stepped on the mine, causing a chain explosion of aviation bombs and surrounding mines. The follow-up team did not stop and continued to move forward, crossing the barbed wire to the first outer trench.

The Ma soldiers who also killed the red-eyed Ma army bombarded the attacking revolutionary soldiers with projectiles one after another. Blow up the blood mist. The touch of scarlet splashed all over the sky.

The well do not trample on the scarlet blood mud all over the ground, like a flood tide. The swordsman Ranger group showed their heroic nature again. Hundreds of officers and soldiers took the lead in charging along the road opened by mortar fire. The morale was like a rainbow, and the sound of killing was shocking. The officers and soldiers with bayonets relied on the fierce white-edged battle to charge and fell into the enemy's position. Tear open a bloody gap.

Taking advantage of the unstable foothold of the leading force of the revolutionary army, nearly a hundred enemies suddenly swarmed out of the flanks. They were naked, waving their sabers and howling at the soldiers. The soldiers threw out a row of grenades and crushed the enemy.

Stop for a moment, these outlaws shouted "The Heavenly Gate Opens" and "Dead to the Sky" again, and continue to rush up. The soldiers of the third battalion bravely met with bayonets and fought fiercely with the enemy. Just hit the enemy's first counterattack, and another group came from the two wings... At the time of such a fierce battle to three, it had not yet broken through the enemy's front.

Zhang Fengyi ordered to suspend the attack and reorganize the battle.

Li wanted to watch the soldiers retreat with blood all over his body. The attack was unsuccessful, and the casualties were large. The army was very suffocated, and Li Xiang was also very suffocated. Originally, Zhang Fengyi and others, who wanted to show their faces in front of Li Xiang, were more suffocated. They returned without success and were so angry that they would continue the second attack.

Whether the first attack was frustrated by underestimate the enemy, or insufficient preparation, or the two are simply the same thing. Anyway, Li wants to feel that his scalp is tight for a while, and the first attack can't move. Will the second attack be successful? However, Li wanted to think about it. If the second attack failed, the whole army would learn a useful lesson from the bloody reconnaissance battle and determine the victory of the second battle. Li thought that he actually agreed to their impulsive request. After all, he felt too angry because he had not eaten in the northwest!

However, Li Xiang finally had a trace of sobriety. Before the second attack, he put forward detailed arrangements after the failure of the second attack, that is, the withdrawal of the troops, the supplement, the deployment of the partial division, and the Qing army on the north coast that came to reinforce first, etc.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, a second attack was launched, and artillery of various calibers began to bombard, covering the black charge and advancing the revolutionary army.

The revolutionary army of Sanliang slowly squirmed, relying on the craters all over the battlefield to approach one by one. A revolutionary officer with a saber on his body kept making gestures, urging the troops to move forward. When the troops rushed to the first outer trench with dense fire, some soldiers were killed by lightning, and some soldiers who jumped into the outer trench were injured by wooden stakes.

"Fight!" With an angry cry from an officer in the enemy's position, dozens of grenades hit the middle of the revolutionary army. Boom! Boom! ...The grenades exploded one after another. The shrapnel flew around, and about a dozen revolutionary soldiers were blown to the ground. At the same time, the enemy began to fight back with one platoon to one company.

Immediately after a sudden wind and rain-like machine gun shooting, seven or eight revolutionary soldiers fell down. The trenching bullets rushed randomly in the white snow, and the death sickle knocked down the revolutionary soldiers one by one like grass. More than a dozen revolutionary soldiers full of bullet holes lay down...

Due to the condescending enemy, the fortifications are hidden, the firepower is suddenly dense, and the front of the revolutionary army's attack is narrow, the terrain is exposed, it is inconvenient to move, and it is not convenient to exert firepower, so the progress is slow.

Shenjialing and Gouwa Mountain are two mountain beams, located about ten miles southwest of Lanzhou, and the two mountains are connected. On the west side of the mountain beam is Linlan Official Road, which leads directly to Xiguan, Lanzhou. To the east of Shenjialing is Alan Guandao, and to the east is the higher Gaolan Mountain. The winding official road is sandwiched between the two mountains. Along the north exit of the official road, it is the West Pass of Lanzhou. Guarding Shenjialing and Gouwa Mountain, condescending, you can cut off two highways. If the People's Liberation Army takes these two highlands, it can go straight to the West Pass along the highway, cut off the Yellow River Iron Bridge, trap the enemy from all sides in Lanzhou City, and close the door to beat the dog.

Li wants to stand on the position of the Anxi army and look from south to north. Shen Jialing's shape is like a gourd handle, extending to the direction of the attack of the Anxi army. The narrow area that is easy to defend and difficult to attack is equipped with cross-trench obstacles that are difficult to cross, and there are dense minefields in front of the ditch. It is conceivable that it is difficult to break through such terrain and obstacles to attack the enemy's position.

It is difficult to choose a breakthrough to attack Shenjialing. The mountains on both sides are high and the valleys are deep, and the slopes are steep. Not only is there no way to go, but it is also attacked by fire from the east and west sides and cannot be broken through. The only way is to attack head-on. But this gourd-shaped position is like a shrinking thorn, and it is very tricky to take it down.

The strategic position of Shenjialing is very important to coexist with the enemies defending Lanzhou. Ma Anliang once proudly called this position the "Lanzhou Golden Lock". He led a main force to defend Shenjialing and Gouwa Mountain with his elite son Ma Tingxian, and used Ma Qingfeng to defend the narrow governor's road along the Yellow River to Xiguan with Ma Qingfeng's strength, and sent Cui Zhong's part to guard Hualin Mountain to control the only passage to Lanzhou Xiguan as the second line of defense.

The Jingbu curtain army, which attacked Shenjialing and Gouwa Mountain, launched another attack on Shenjialing and Gouwa Mountain after another after the powerful artillery bombardment. It was very tenacious, but the charge was blocked again and suffered a lot of casualties.

The enemy is fierce and stubborn, and he fights back desperately. Although the revolutionary army suffered great casualties, its morale was high. The soldiers fought repeatedly, and finally seized the enemy's first trench at the cost of blood. Another bulge broke through the enemy's second trench. When approaching the third trench, he finally retreated to the first trench because the enemy's fierce counterattack and could not stand.

The fierce battle lasted for a day, and the attacking troops were firmly nailed to the first outer trench position like nails.

The fierce battle was fierce, and the two sides became a confrontation.

Yingpanling, the main peak of Gaolan Mountain, is a barrier in the south of Lanzhou, with an open official road leading to the peak from the inner city of Lanzhou. All kinds of artillery, ammunition and other combat materials can be sent directly to the position by carriages and ox carts. The fortifications on the mountain, as early as the years of the Hui rebellion, were turbulent in the northwest. The Qing army defended Lanzhou and recruited 30,000 people, which was built for more than half a year. Later, after the period of Zuozhongtang's western expedition and the period of Changgeng and Shengyun's New Deal, Ma Anliang sent another engineering camp and thousands of migrant workers to repair it. The main position is a reinforced concrete fort and a dark fort, forming the core cluster fortifications. Around the main position, the mountain beam of Sanyingzi, there are three circular cliffs from top to bottom, each of which is about two to three feet high. Outside the cliff, there are more than two feet wide outer trenches. There are barbed wire on both sides of the outer and the outer trench, and are full of strange thunderbolts. The bombs are connected with different types of mines into plum blossom series of thunder, one, one in a row. String. In the whole position, the firepower of the Mingtan Dark Fort forms a cross-fire net and colludes with each other with tunnels that can accommodate two battalions. This kind of fortification of the enemy can both fight and hide.

There are Gouwa Mountain and Shenjialing on the left of Yingpanling, and the fire support of Majia Mountain defending the enemy on the right, forming a complete firepower system. If the People's Liberation Army captures Yingpanling, it can be condescending, and light and heavy firearms can directly control the whole urban area of Lanzhou and the enemy's only retreat Yellow River iron bridge.

Ma Anliang sent his son Ma Tingxian to lead the main force of the elite army to guard Panling. He boasted fearlessly, "Yingpanling is an unbreakable iron array, the south gate of Lanzhou. If the Communist Party can break through it, I will automatically withdraw from Lanzhou."

However, the enemy never dreamed that on the eve of the beginning of the attack, the Anxi army used the night to "transform the terrain" and approached the enemy's position calmly and alertly. Under the cliff dozens of meters in front of their position, there were hundreds of Anxi soldiers lurking.

However, the "transform the terrain" operation has not been completed, and the attack that began at dawn was too hasty. After a burst of fierce artillery fire, the troops went straight to Panling in two directions. After a fierce battle, the casualties were great and the attack was blocked. The artillery fire of the main attack force only destroyed the enemy's fortifications exposed to the front, and failed to completely destroy the dark fort. When the gunfire was transferred, the enemy hiding in the dog hole came out again and tried his best to stop it with firepower, making it difficult for the Anxi Army's explosive detachment to approach the cliff, unable to carry out blasting, and the army suffered heavy casualties. The troops who served as assists were blocked by the enemy in the front, and the terrain was unfavorable. In the movement, they were also shot by the firepower of the three battalions and Maga Mountain, and the casualties were also large.

After a whole day of fierce fighting, the reconnaissance attacks on all fronts did not work. The troops suffered heavy casualties and suffered a setback in the first battle. This shows that the enemy in front of us is not a bunch of straw bags, a pile of tofu dregs.

At dusk, Li Xiang decisively ordered to stop the attack.