Chapter 349 The Counterattack of the Fourth Division
20 miles north of Chuzhou, Duan Qirui's face is black!
"This Gu Lanyu is really cruel. The distance of more than ten kilometers can be caught up by him!" Duan Qirui is now a little depressed. He didn't expect that he would escape desperately. Gu Lanyu could even catch up. You know, at Dingyuan, the distance between the third division and the fourth division was still more than ten kilometers.
Although this area is more than ten kilometers, the marching time is not needed for a day, but the key is that the third division behind you is chasing it. Duan Qirui's fourth division is also running in front of you. It is actually not easy to shorten this seemingly short distance.
Now that Gu Lanyu's third division can catch up, then there is only one explanation, that is, Gu Lanyu forcibly marched day and night regardless of the soldiers' physical strength.
After all, the 3rd Division and the 4th Division were actually marching lightly. The 3rd Division also threw down a large number of heavy troops. Although it also carried artillery, the road was smooth, and the horses dragging the artillery did not stop at all. At least hundreds of horses were killed, and in the end, the Fourth Division even had to concentrate those other logistical horses in the artillery regiment to drag the artillery.
So when the Fourth Division retreated from Fengyang, the marching speed was not slow, and the speed of the march was more than 30 kilometers a day. This speed has reached its limit for a mule-horse infantry force.
Even if the rear Gu Lanyu's third division throws away the heavy and artillery troops, the marching speed in a day is more than 30 kilometers at most. However, as long as he can catch up with this speed is bound to fail, the only solution is to increase the march time and take a day and night march.
Only in this way, after the soldiers in the army are seriously short of rest every day, the soldiers' physical strength will be seriously reduced, resulting in a serious decline in combat effectiveness.
Gu Lanyu did this and caught up with him, but it was a great injury to the army, so Duan Qirui said that Gu Lanyu was cruel enough, which means that he was cruel enough for his troops!
"Well, even if they catch up, it is just the end of the crossbow. Not only is the soldiers' physical consumption serious, but they must also be unable to carry too much ammunition, food and other supplies. If they dare to take the initiative to come up, we can completely fight back against them, so that we can also fight for Chuzhou. That side delays more preparation time!" Zhang Yongcheng also used his telescopes to look at the Feng soldiers in blue-gray military uniforms in the distance.
Although they drove several kilometers apart, their long queues could be faintly seen in the telescope!
Duan Qirui also nodded slightly after hearing this. Now it is less than ten miles away from Chuzhou, and the first brigade of the Liangjiang Army in Chuzhou has arrived ahead of schedule and began to build fortifications to meet the Fourth Division. In this case, the crisis of the Fourth Division has actually been half relieved.
After slightly estimating the situation of the two sides, Duan Qirui felt that it was possible to fight back against Gu Lanyu, who came at risk!
Immediately he said, "Let the artillery regiment continue to hurry and try to get to Chuzhou tonight and get ready to launch the position. The supplementary brigade also walked with the artillery regiment. The remaining 7th Brigade and 8th Brigade will stay, but I'd like to see if this Gu Lanyu is really as good at fighting as those people said!"
After the Tongzhou Campaign started last year, Gu Lanyu began to be famous in the Feng army. Among the many division commanders and brigade commanders in the Feng army, he is the most popular person.
As the ancestor of Fengjun, the Anhui army will naturally focus on spying on the intelligence of the senior generals of Fengjun, so Duan Qirui is not unfamiliar with Gu Lanyu. Naturally, he knows that Gu Lanyu is a fierce general under Zhao Dongyun.
But then, the fourth division led by Duan Qirui actually fought with the third division several times, and also fought on a small scale in Bengbu. However, due to the small scale and Gu Lanyu's small number of troops at that time, Duan Qirui actually did not launch a large-scale attack. I have never learned Gu Lanyu's famous roundabout attack tactics.
Now, he wants to see if this Gu Lanyu is as good at circuitous offensive warfare as rumored!
Duan Qirui tried to fight a counterattack against the third division. On the one hand, he wanted to kill the spirit of the Feng army and see if he could pick it up. On the other hand, it was also because the fortifications in Chuzhou were not perfect. The first mixed brigade of the two rivers just arrived one day earlier than the fourth division, and there was not enough time at all. To build a complete fortification, the artillery force also needs time to deploy. Although it won't take long, it will take at least a day.
Moreover, because behind it is Chuzhou, even if you fight back, you can retreat directly to Chuzhou and make plans!
Duan Qirui, who was not in danger behind him, made a decision, and successively ordered the troops to launch a front line to prepare a head-on attack on the Third Division.
However, Duan Qirui's move made Gu Lanyu not surprised and happy. He chased him all the way to death. Seeing that the enemy on the opposite side was about to enter Chuzhou City, he still had a headache. If the fourth division was allowed to escape into Chuzhou, and there would be reinforcements from the first mixed brigade of the two rivers, he would not be the one who lacked artillery troops. It can be conquered.
Now the Fourth Division has not entered Chuzhou, but intends to have a field battle with him outside the city, which is his intention!
Well, Gu Lanyu has never been afraid of anyone in the field. Even without the artillery support of the artillery regiment, Gu Lanyu is still confident to defeat any enemy in the field.
With the orders of the generals of the two sides, ten miles away from Chuzhou, the Third Division and the Fourth Division fought against each other again, and unlike the original opposition in Bengbu, both sides were relatively restrained at that time, but this time, whether it was the Third Division or the Fourth Division, they acted quickly.
When Gu Lanyu ordered the Fifth Brigade to attack the front line of the Fourth Division, Duan Qirui also ordered Tang Tianxi's Seventh Brigade to attack the left wing of the Third Division.
Unfortunately, the left wing of the Third Division is the Sixth Brigade!
The sixth brigade is Gu Lanyu's starting unit. Gu Lanyu has served in the sixth brigade for many years and led or ordered the division to launch circuitous offensives many times in the Battle of Tongzhou and the Battle of Bazhou last year.
If Gu Lanyu is good at roundabout attack, but this sixth brigade is the roundabout attack force under his command!
However, when the Sixth Brigade launched a circuitous attack on the flank of the Fourth Division, it met Tang Tianxi's seventh brigade, which also wanted to make a roundabout attack.
So, the two troops, which were supposed to be detouring, directly met!
In an instant, the front battlefield of the 3rd and 4th Divisions still played armed reconnaissance directly. When the firepower was tested, an extremely tragic offensive battle broke out between the 6th and 7th Brigades!
That's right, it's an attack!
These two troops originally carried out a circuitous movement. Although they launched a local defense after encountering the enemy in the movement, both sides have great confidence in themselves. In addition, any of them breaks through the enemy's flanks and then circuitously encircles the enemy's frontal troops. In this way, Tang Tianxi and Pei Lian Yingdu focused on breaking through the opposite defense line, not on defense.
For a while, these two pure infantry troops charged at each other like those cold-weapon cavalry!
Pei Lianying looked at the Wan army who took the initiative to charge his own troops on the small slope opposite, and couldn't believe his eyes.
Over the years, the Sixth Brigade has experienced a lot of battles, but only their Sixth Brigade has attacked the enemy and has never encountered the enemy's initiative to charge against itself.
Because the previous war experience of the sixth brigade is often a circuitous attack and then a circuitous attack, and the enemy they face is whether it is Wang Shizhen's sixth division in the battle of Tongzhou last year, or the first division of the direct army, the first mixed brigade in the battle of entry, or Wang Zhanyuan's seventh division, Zhang Huai in the battle of Jinan, Shandong The 5th Division and the Lu army, and even the 4th Division, the 1st Division of the Liangjiang Army, the 2nd Division and other units personally met by Duan Qirui when they fought with the Anhui Army, have always hid in defensive battles in the face of the strong attack of the Feng army.
So so far, although the 5th Brigade of the 3rd Division has fought a defensive battle when facing Wang Zhanyuan's 7th Division in Bazhou, the 6th Brigade has never defended from beginning to end. They have been attacking!
Seeing this, Pei Lianying had to admire Duan Qirui and Tang Tianxi, the commander of the 7th Brigade on the opposite side. If they hide well behind the fortifications for defense, Pei Lianying will have to spend more effort to take it, but since he took the initiative to fight in the field with this, he is still an attack. In Pei Lianying's view I'm so tired of living.
"Well, I'd like to see what confidence this Tang Tianxi has to dare to attack our Sixth Brigade!" Pei Lianying suppressed the excitement in her heart, and then picked up the telescope to observe the occupation, and then made minor adjustments on the battlefield.
"They didn't have artillery in their hands, so they let the 11th Regiment's mortars get close to the deployment. Humph, let them suffer from the mortars!" Pei Lianying looked at the Anhui army rushing through the mountains and fields. Although he was confident and a little arrogant, he did not directly order the troops to launch a direct counterattack like those reckless men.
Since the 7th Brigade opposite took the initiative to rush up, let them taste the 'mortar' of the Feng army's big killer.
Although the third division is a light and rapid march, there is no way to bring artillery regiments and heavy regiments, but the 80 and 60mm mortars and light and heavy machine guns of each infantry regiment are all brought, not to say that they only have rifles.
Although the mortars and heavy machine guns of each infantry regiment are not light, the 80mm mortars weigh no more than 100 kilograms, and they are still divided into three pieces that are carried by war horses, and can even be carried directly by the infantry in an emergency.
Although the heavy machine gun is not light, it is only dozens of kilograms. Whether it is carried by horses or carried by direct soldiers, it is not a big problem. Moreover, the heavy machine guns equipped by the Third Division of the Feng Army were imported from Germany in the early days. Some of the machine gun racks are Russian-style heavy machine gun shields, which are Russian-style heavy machine gun shields. But there are two small wheels, which can be dragged directly by horses.
As for 60mm mortars and light machine guns, they are lighter. Basically, they are all mortar gunners and machine gunners with them.
Of course, under the light and emergency march, although these light support weapons can also be carried, there is much less ammunition carried with the army, especially mortar shells, which are not light. An ordinary mortar group can't carry much at all. Usually, the Feng army has special heavy troops to carry Bring more shells and distribute the war to the troops, but now, naturally there is no such reserve ammunition to supplement, and there will be no more after the shooting.
As the Feng army's mortars fired one after another, the Anhui army instantly set off a lot of explosive smoke and dust on the way to charge, and then the Feng army's light and heavy machine guns also fired together.
Although the Sixth Brigade has not played a large-scale defensive battle, compared with their excellent roundabout attack tactics, the defense battle is indeed ordinary, but in the Feng army and even the domestic warlord troops, the level is also relatively high-class, at least it will not be worse than other troops of the Feng army.
In this first defensive battle, although it was a little flinched at the beginning and lost several hills, it finally blocked the first large-scale attack of Tang Tianxi's 7th Brigade.
As the saying goes, it is impolite to come and go. When Tang Tianxi's 7th Brigade launched an attack, a battalion of the 6th Brigade had already begun to make a roundabout attack to the 7th Brigade.
For a while, the explosions and gunfire on the battlefields of the 3rd and 4th Divisions, especially the 6th and 7th Brigades, were uneven. Although neither side invested any artillery, the intensity of the battle was far higher than any previous battle between the two armies.