Chapter 387 Battle of Crossing the River 1

On March 8, the moment when the sun rose and lit up the Yangtze River, hundreds of small wooden boats and bamboo rows shone like waves.

At this time, on a low hill on the south bank, a Wan army soldier in a dark blue military uniform looked at the river with wide eyes, but the next moment he didn't seem to believe what he saw, so he muttered to himself, "What is that?"

However, at the same time, the Anhui soldiers next to him became extremely frightened and shouted in a very sharp voice: "It's Fengjun. They crossed the river!"

His cry quickly attracted the attention of the other Wan army behind him. Soon a Lieutenant of Anhui army in an officer's regular uniform came up quickly, and then picked up his telescope and looked at the river in the north.

From the telescope, he could see a large number of boats rowing towards the south bank on the river thousands of meters away!

Then he blew the copper whistle hanging on his chest, and the next moment, the sharp copper whistle sounded all over the mountain!

Soon, a messenger rushed over his horse, and then waved his whip fiercely. The painful horse stepped away in an instant, and then galloped towards Dangtu County.

At the same time, on the north bank of the Yangtze River, Lin Yongquan is standing with a number of middle and senior generals of the 9th Division. Behind them, countless Feng soldiers are rushing to the Yangtze River one after another. These Feng soldiers either carry or drag expropriated, self-made wooden boats and bamboo rafts to push into the river, and then sit on it. After that, it was the struggling to slide the oars in his hand.

"The first battalion of the 33rd Regiment has all crossed the river, and the second and third battalions have also been launched one after another!" The adjutant next to him reported on the current situation of crossing the river in time.

Lin Yongquan did not look back, but continued to observe the Yangtze River with binoculars. At this moment, there is no thick fog on the river. The sunlight of dawn shines the whole river. In the telescope, he can already see a figure running on the other side. According to the information he has learned before, it should be the Anhui army stationed at this moment. An infantry battalion.

The Wan army had long predicted that the Feng army might cross the river from the line of Wuhu, Dangtu and Jinling. Although they could not judge the exact location of the Feng army to cross the river before, the cautious Duan Qirui still sent a division to Dangtu, which is the 7th Division of the Liangjiang Army.

This department is a new force that began to be trained in the second half of last year. Unlike the Southern Federal Army, which was joined by many provincial forces in the Anhui Army, this seventh division of the Liangjiang Army is a newly formed force, which is also Duan Qirui's first new unit trained in accordance with the requirements of the old Beiyang Standing Army after 1906. It is recruited by the son of a good family, and a full amount of money is paid to maintain a large amount of training. The weapons and equipment are all Japanese weapons, equipped with a 38-year-old rifle, a 35-mm field gun made in Japan, a 31-year-year-old mountain gun, and a 38-year heavy machine gun.

Although the unit's combat experience is almost zero, its equipment level is quite good. During the battle of northern Jiangsu last year, the department has been stationed in Shanghai, Jiangyin and other places because it was in the new period. After the Jiangbei campaign, it was first transferred to Jinling, and then continued to be stationed westward.

For this army, the information Feng Jun knows is quite limited!

In fact, in addition to knowing more about the two elite main forces of the Anhui Army, the Fourth Division and the Second Mixed Brigade, the Feng Army has a quite limited understanding of other units of the Anhui Army. Now the Feng Army knows that Duan Qirui has vigorously reformed the existing troops of the Anhui Army after the Jiangbei Campaign. It is said that the numbers of a large number of local provincial army have been abolished. It was integrated into the Liangjiang Army and integrated many of the original troops into new troops, but the specifics are unknown.

At present, the Fengjun Intelligence Office can understand that the Anhui Army has reorganised the 1st Division, 2nd Division and 5th Division, but it does not know the number of the Liangjiang Army. For example, the Intelligence Office found the number of the Anhui Army of the 12th Division of the Liangjiang Army in Guangdong, but at the same time it learned that this The army also has the number of the Guangdong Mixed Brigade.

Contemporary information channels are effective, and the establishment of troops is something that everyone wants to keep secret, so it is very difficult to thoroughly understand the number of the Anhui army. It can only be a general estimate of the total number of the Anhui army.

What Zhao Dongyun did not know is that after the failure of the Jiangbei Campaign last year, Duan Qirui calmly began to vigorously reform the existing establishment and command structure of the Anhui army, and took a large number of local provincial troops, that is, the first mixed brigade of the Zhejiang Army, the first mixed brigade of the Jiangxi Army, the Jiangbei mixed brigade, the Guangdong mixed brigade, and the Jiangxi The messy troop numbers such as the state garrison and Jiangxi Garrison Division are unified into the number of the 'Two River Army'.

This includes the reorganization of the mixed brigade in Jiangbei and the first mixed brigade in Jiangxi into the first division of the Liangjiang Army; the reorganization of the two mixed brigades in Zhejiang into the second division of the Liangjiang army.

Through more than two months of efforts, Duan Qirui has successfully integrated 13 Liangjiang Army divisions of various provincial military numbers under the Anhui army, while the mixed brigade in the provincial army only has one first mixed brigade of Liangjiang Army, and other mixed brigades and garrisons of various purposes have been integrated into 13 Among the Liangjiang Army Division.

So far, the Anhui army under Duan Qirui's command includes the 4th Division, the 2nd Mixed Brigade and the 6th Mixed Brigade of the Central Army; and the 1st to 13th Division and the 1st Mixed Brigade of the Liangjiang Army, with a total strength of about 200,000.

However, although the number has changed, the troops are still those units, which are also the two river army units, but the combat effectiveness is very different. For example, the sixth division of the two rivers army has better combat effectiveness in the Anhui army, and its soldiers' quality, weapons and equipment and combat experience are second only to the fourth division. The second mixed brigade can be said to be comparable to Jiang Guiti's sixth mixed brigade.

However, the 12th Division of the Liangjiang Army, the predecessor of this unit was only the surrender of the Southern Federation after the defeat in Guangdong. After it was incorporated, it began to be organized into a Guangdong mixed brigade, and then was awarded the number of the 12th Division of the Liangjiang Army. Its strength was only 8,000, and there were no ten artillery pieces, and even the guns were disorderly. It is estimated that the 12th Division will not be able to defeat a regiment under the command of the 4th Division led by Duan Qirui.

The original number of the Anhui army is relatively chaotic, and Duan Qirui has recently carried out military reform, unified numbers and other things, which makes the unknown Feng army intelligence department even more scratch their heads. Up to now, the intelligence forces of the Feng army can't actually know which troops the Anhui army has deployed along the Yangtze River. These troops What's the number?

can only guess a general force.

This situation also makes the generals of the Fourth Army of the Feng Army on the front line know very little about the 7th Division of the Liangjiang Army in Dangtu. They only know that the Anhui Army has deployed nearly 10,000 troops in Dangtu and know that it is the 7th Division of the Liangjiang Army. However, there is less understanding of the origin, combat effectiveness and details of the equipment of this unit.

However, this is not a big problem for Meng Enyuan and Lin Yongquan. They just need to know that the opposite side is not the main fourth division or the second mixed brigade of the Anhui army. As for the other units of the Anhui army, it is not much different for them.

There is a gap in combat effectiveness between the 6th and 12th Divisions of the Liangjiang Army, but for the arrogant generals in the Feng army, the difference between the two is nothing more than the difference between the three scum and the five scum.

But they soon found that although the three scum and the five scum are not good, the combat effectiveness of the five scum is still much stronger than that of the three scum.

At least after the infantry battalion of the 7th Division of the Anhui army opposite found the large-scale crossing of the river by the Feng army on the opposite side, they were not as scared to turn around and run away like those three war scum. Although this force had not experienced the test of large-scale war, it still launched defensive operations under the supervision of front-line officers.

These Anhui soldiers who participated in the war for the first time quickly entered the excavated beach defense position, then loaded their rifles and set up the only two heavy machine guns. Even after the subsequent Feng army launched a continuous artillery attack, they trembled in the sound of explosion, but they Run away without turning around.

When the Feng army's river-crossing ship came from the upstream and was only kilometers away from the south bank, the heavy machine guns in the Anhui army opposite also rattled.

The Feng army, which was crossing the river, was naturally unwilling to show weakness. The machine guns mounted on the bows of several large wooden boats also began to happen. The huge recoil of the machine guns made the small wooden boats almost fall off.

As the distance got closer, many light machine guns on smaller wooden boats also fired one after another, splashing countless bullets at the Anhui military positions on the south bank.

At this time, although the distance between the two sides is far away, and the bullet hit rate of the machine gun is very low, causing many bullets to fall on the open space and a few water columns in the river, but the machine gun has never paid attention to the hit rate. They rely on the dense rate of fire and then forms a bullet screen to form a surface to suppress.

The continuous heavy machine gun strafing, even if it is unlucky, can still achieve a considerable hit.

Soon, a wooden ship carrying more than a dozen Feng soldiers was swept by a series of machine gun bullets, which hit the ship, tore up boards, hit the human body, and harvested life.

Soon the blood will mix with the river!

As time went by, the crossing troops were getting closer and closer to the south bank, and the casualties were also increasing. The original muddy yellow river was soon dyed red, and it looked bright and enchanting in the dawn sun!

However, all this made Lin Yongquan indifferent. As if he had not seen the casualties of the troops crossing the river, he put down his binoculars and said, "The 33rd Regiment is almost over. Let the 34th Regiment prepare and cross the river as soon as the ship comes back!"

"Also, let the artillery troops accelerate in front, and there is no way to support our river crossing troops behind!" The Yangtze River is a big river, and the river is only a few kilometers wide. If you want to support the crossing of the river on the south bank on the north bank, you must deploy the position of the existing artillery directly to the river, otherwise you can't hit the south bank of the Yangtze River.

While Lin Yongquan made further tactical deployment, on the south bank of the Yangtze River, Colonel Fang Qingkun, the commander of the 32nd Regiment, stepped on the river. Wearing a blue-gray officer's combat uniform and wearing a tweed officer's coat, he frowned slightly and looked at a mortar shell that fell more than ten meters away.

"When these mortars are not hit, write to the north shore and let their mortars stop firing. I don't want to be killed by my own shells!"

Although the bullets were flying at this time, Fang Qingkun didn't seem to see it. He looked left and right, and then said to a lieutenant beside him, "What are you waiting for? Let them quickly remove the heavy machine guns and mortars from the ship and build a beach fire point."