lcionline Chapter 199: Great Victory on the Northern Front
Chapter 199: Great Victory on the Northern Front
Wang Zhixian asked each division to send out its direct troops and prepared to use all his strength to annihilate Feng Zhangshan's Yongxi Army.
"Yes, commander." The chief of staff immediately made arrangements to send telegrams to each division to inform them of Wang Zhixian's order.
After receiving Wang Zhixian's telegram, the division commanders had no objections. In the past three years, the Nanshan Army had undergone a lot of night combat training and was quite familiar with night combat.
At 7 o'clock in the evening, the five divisions of the Nanshan Army launched an attack on the Yongxi Army from four directions.
Feng Zhangshan was in the command center. After hearing the report from his subordinates, he was as anxious as an ant on hot pan and didn't know what to do.
"Li De, the Nanshan Army is so crazy, can we stop them?"
Soon after the battle began, emergency news came from the front lines in the west, south and east. Commanders in several places reported that the enemy's offensive was too fierce and requested reinforcements.
During this night attack, encouraged by commanders at all levels of the Nanshan Army, the soldiers behaved more bravely and fearlessly and burst out with strong will.
On the northern battlefield, before the battle began, Li Weiling found Du Feiyun and readjusted the tactics.
He placed the troops directly under the 7th and 8th Divisions on the front line, and used the remaining four regiments to advance from the left and right flanks, and then encircled and annihilated the Yongxi Army on the northern line.
The strategy was executed very successfully, and the attacks of the two divisions' direct troops were so fierce that the Yongxi Army on the northern front did not notice anything unusual.
When the 701st, 702nd, 801st and 802nd Regiments rushed to the position from the left and right wings, the Yongxi Army on the position had not yet reacted.
The commanders of the 503rd and 502nd divisions on the northern front were both terrified and looked panicked when faced with the surrounding Nanshan troops.
The commander of the 502nd Division said with a complicated expression: "Brother Guo, the enemy has surrounded us. Are you going to defend here to the death, or retreat with me?"
"Without permission, what about the Marshal?" The commander of the 503rd Division looked conflicted.
The commander of the 502nd Division sneered and said, "If we stay in the position, we will die. If we retreat, we can live. Now the Marshal is also surrounded by the Nanshan Army. How can he control us?"
After discussing it, the two agreed to retreat. Of course, they did not retreat to the headquarters, but chose a direction to break through.
They each gathered a guard battalion and more than 2,000 troops, and rushed in a direction.
After the two men broke out of the encirclement, only a few hundred of the more than 2,000 people who followed them were left. The two looked at each other, said nothing else, and headed north.
The commanders of the two divisions broke through, and the troops of the two divisions on the position were soon divided and surrounded by the Seventh and Eighth Divisions. It was only a matter of time before they were wiped out.
At around eight o'clock, at Feng Zhangshan's headquarters, a communications officer ran into the command room with a look of joy on his face.
"Marshal, the 550th and 551st divisions have arrived and are engaging the Nanshan Army on the periphery."
"What? That's great?" Feng Zhangshan excitedly stepped forward and took the telegram from the officer.
Han Lide was also very excited when he heard the news. When the reinforcements arrived, they could plan a counterattack, open up the retreat route, and then attack the Nanshan Army in turn.
However, before they could be happy for too long, another officer hurried into the command room.
"Marshal, it's bad. The northern front has collapsed and the Nanshan Army is coming in."
Hearing this news, Feng Zhangshan's face suddenly turned red. He just said that reinforcements had arrived on the northern front, but the northern defenders collapsed. Was this a joke to him?
"Puff..." Feng Zhangshan was so angry that he spat out blood.
"Marshal, Marshal, are you okay?"
Seeing this, some officers in the command center hurried forward to support Feng Zhangshan who was about to fall to the ground.
Han Lide, who was standing by, was also shocked by the news. His mind was shaken and he couldn't help but slumped in his chair.
"Just a little bit, just a little bit. If the northern front can hold out for another hour, even half an hour, the situation will be reversed."
Of course, this was just Han Lide's wishful thinking. Although the 550th and 551st divisions had reached the periphery at this time, they were stubbornly blocked by the 703rd and 803rd regiments.
Behind the 703rd and 803rd Regiments were the 704th and 804th Regiments defending towards the south.
The 550th and 551st divisions were exhausted after a day's journey, and the 703rd and 704th regiments had set up a complete defense line. Under the attack of general-purpose machine guns, the attacking troops of the two divisions fell in front of the positions in large numbers.
Seeing this, the two commanders' eyes turned red and their faces looked extremely ugly.
The commander of the 550th Division screamed, "Go ahead, keep going, organize the troops, and keep charging."
"Old Wu, don't be impulsive. Rushing forward like this will only increase casualties and do nothing." The commander of the 551st Division immediately stopped the commander of the 550th Division who was about to go berserk.
The commander of the 550th Division broke free from the commander of the 551st Division and said, "You are such a jerk, Liu Yidao. It was the Marshal who saved you and gave you wealth and glory, but now you are afraid of death."
Hearing this, the commander of the 551st Division was speechless. Does not being reckless and impulsive mean being afraid of death?
Well, although I am a little afraid of death, you can't say it directly like this, it would be so embarrassing.
"Old Wu, I understand your feelings. I also want to rescue the Marshal, but blindly sending people to attack the enemy positions will not have any effect except for losing manpower in vain."
"Then what do you think we should do?"
After thinking for a moment, the commander of the 551st Division said, "Send a telegram to the Marshal and tell him that our army encountered stubborn resistance from the Nanshan Army on the periphery. Please decide on the arrangements."
To put it bluntly, the commander of the 551st Division did not want to fight, not only because he did not want to sacrifice his men in vain, but also because he himself did not want to fight with the Nanshan Army.
Nearly 100,000 Yongxi troops were surrounded in the front. What role could the 16,000 people they led play?
The commander of the 550th Division calmed down, agreed to the proposal of the commander of the 551st Division, ordered the troops to withdraw, and sent a telegram to Feng Zhangshan.
In the Yongxi Army Headquarters, Feng Zhangshan had recovered his breath.
Faced with this terrible situation, he knew that he could not think of any way to deal with it, so he turned his gaze to Han Lide.
Seeing Han Lide's decadent look, Feng Zhangshan's face darkened, but he still asked:
"Li De, the situation is extremely critical now. I wonder if you have any solution?"
Han Lide sighed: "Marshal, now the northern line is forced, the enemy will soon come in, and the other places will also be very dangerous."
"The current plan is for the commander to gather the troops, choose a direction to break out, and then make plans."
Feng Zhangshan frowned: "Is there no other way?"
Although the troops suffered a lot of losses in the enemy's attack, there are still tens of thousands of people. He is unwilling to give up like this.
Han Lide shook his head gently: "Marshal, hurry up, if it's too late, there will be no chance."
Feng Zhangshan also knew the current situation and made a quick decision: "All personnel in the headquarters, together with the guard regiment, will quickly move eastward to the 50th Army."
In Feng Zhangshan's opinion, the main force of the Nanshan Army should be on the north or south line, and there should be fewer troops deployed on the east or west line.
The reason why he did not retreat to the western front was because Tianyue Mountain was more dangerous than Shilong Mountain. After joining forces with the 50th Army, the chances of breaking out from Shilong Mountain would be greater.
After Feng Zhangshan led his troops to retreat, the Seventh and Eighth Divisions had already wiped out all the Yongxi troops on the northern line. All those who resisted were killed, and the rest were captured.