PFC Chapter 215: Rapid Attack on Imjin City
Chapter 215: Rapid Attack on Imjin City
Wang Desheng came behind the head of the guard and said, "Gather all the troops immediately and temporarily defend the surrounding area until we figure out the situation."
"Commander, the enemy entered the city so quickly, why don't you contact Linjin for help now?" The figure of the chief of staff appeared behind Wang Desheng.
Hearing this, Wang Desheng looked at the chief of staff with an unhappy face and said, "What's the point of asking for help from Imjin? Imjin only has one army."
Wang Desheng thought that the enemy troops attacking the city were not too many, and the most likely possibility was that they took advantage of the night to cause chaos. As soon as the day broke, it would be easy to wipe out the enemy troops in the city.
When the chief of staff saw that Wang Desheng had made the decision, he did not dare to disobey it and could only sigh helplessly.
The two sat down in the hall, waiting for information from the front.
It was four o'clock in the morning. The gunshots outside were getting louder and louder, slowly approaching Wang Desheng's residence.
Soon, the head of the guard regiment rushed into the hall and said to Wang Desheng, who was sitting at the head of the group, "Commander, it's bad. The enemy is attacking us."
"What?" Wang Desheng stood up and exclaimed.
"How is that possible? Our 15th Army has 30,000 soldiers. How can we not be able to stop the enemy's attack?"
Although there were houses in the city that served as shelters, there were no defensive fortifications built on the streets. Under the attack of grenades and submachine guns from the Nanshan Army, the three divisions of the 15th Army collapsed after only holding out for more than an hour.
The chief of staff said quickly: "Commander, the city is not safe. The top priority is to evacuate as soon as possible."
"Yes, yes, yes, retreat, retreat quickly." Wang Desheng was also panicked and echoed repeatedly.
"Gather the Guards, Military Police and other troops and quickly break out to the North City."
Wang Desheng and his men had just gathered their troops when they were surrounded by the Nanshan Army in the city. After trying left and right but failing to break through the encirclement, Wang Desheng had no choice but to lead his troops in surrender.
It was not until six in the morning that the 15th Army of the Northern Military Government in the city was completely wiped out.
Fang Guoxuan immediately ordered: "The 104th Regiment will stay behind to clean up the battlefield, and the rest of the troops will immediately set off for Imjin."
Time is running out and Fang Guoxuan doesn't want to waste time here.
Half an hour after the messenger delivered the order, all the troops had assembled and boarded the trucks.
After fighting all night, the soldiers of each division were very tired, and most of them fell asleep on the trucks with their comrades as pillows.
After a day's journey, the four divisions finally arrived outside Imjin City at four o'clock in the morning of the second day.
At this time, Imjin City was under martial law. Even in the early morning, there were still patrolling soldiers on the city walls. Defensive fortifications had been set up inside and outside the city, and there were still many soldiers defending the positions.
Arriving outside the South City, Fang Guoxuan got out of the car, took out a telescope, observed the situation in the front position through the dim light, and couldn't help but sigh softly.
Although the darkness can conceal traces, the scene of more than 4,000 trucks marching towards Linjin yesterday must have been reported to Linjin.
Even if Linjin was prepared, Fang Guoxuan would not give up attacking Linjin.
Several division commanders had already made clear divisions of labor. The First Division would attack the South Gate, the Third Division would be responsible for the West Gate, the Tenth Division would be responsible for the East Gate, and the Eleventh Division would be responsible for the North Gate.
The First Division set up simple positions outside the city, arranged artillery positions, and began waiting for the order to attack.
Fang Guoxuan was watching the time at the foot of the city. The planned attack time was originally five o'clock in the morning, but later Fang Guoxuan notified all divisions via telegram to change the attack time to six o'clock.
The South Gate was closest and was the first to be deployed. Because the Northern Army had set up fortifications outside the city, the First Division spent a lot of time.
Although Linjin City had made preparations, what surprised Fang Guoxuan was that there were only positions arranged outside the south city, and no such arrangements were made outside the other three city walls.
Fang Guoxuan looked strange and said, "The enemy didn't think we would attack from the south city, so they only made preparations outside the south city, right?"
"There are only 30,000 people in Linjin. With the deployment outside the South City, at least a division of troops must have been deployed. I think the other city walls don't have the spare capacity to make other arrangements." The chief of staff was speechless.
Fang Guoxuan also sighed: "Forget it, let's give the credit to the other three divisions. We just need to contain the Northern Army outside the city."
"Commander, among the current division commanders, you and the commanders of the second and third divisions have the highest official military rank. If you want to be promoted in a short time, this merit is not enough." The chief of staff said with a smile.
Fang Jian has already asked the Military and Political Department to prepare for the promotion of military ranks based on military merit after the new year. After the news spread, the commanders of each division tried their best to make merit.
After the Battle of Nanchuan, many division commanders accumulated a lot of merits, and their official military ranks were not high, so Fang Jian thought about promoting them.
As it was six in the morning and the sky was bright, Fang Guoxuan immediately gave the order: "Order the artillery to fire."
"boom."
"boom."
After the messenger delivered the order, artillery shells landed on the positions of the Northern Army outside the South City. After the artillery shells were fired at the South City, artillery shells were also launched from the west, north and east.
Inside the city's command center, the 12th Army's commander, Wan Congsheng, sat in the command center with a gloomy face: "Has the 15th Army not been contacted yet?"
"No, we haven't been able to contact them since yesterday afternoon." Facing Wan Congsheng's questioning, the chief of staff didn't dare to breathe.
Wan Congsheng couldn't help but curse in his heart, thinking that Wang Desheng was a bastard. Ever since the 15th Army came under the control of the 12th Army, he had often disobeyed his orders.
He had been asked to withdraw his troops to Imjin many times before, but Wang Desheng always refused on the grounds that he wanted to defend the Nanshan Army.
This army came from the south, and it was obvious that something must have happened to the 15th Army. A total of 30,000 people had something wrong, but no telegram was sent to the 12th Army. It must be Wang Desheng's fault.
Wan Congsheng couldn't believe it. A full 30,000 people were wiped out, and there was not even time to send a telegram.
Wan Congsheng, who was deep in thought, was awakened by the sound of cannons. He immediately ordered: "The Nanshan Army attacked the city so quickly. What a fast speed."
"Send a telegram to the military headquarters immediately, saying that Imjin was attacked by the Namsan Army and the whereabouts of the 15th Army are unknown."
"Yes." The chief of staff immediately went down and asked the communications office to send a telegram to the military headquarters.
"Captain, the West City has been breached."
"Captain, the enemy is coming in from the north city."
"Commander, East City has been lost."
Half an hour later, several officers entered the headquarters to report.
"What?" After hearing the bad news one after another, Wan Congsheng's face changed drastically and he looked very ugly.
I deployed my main force at the South Gate, but I didn't expect the Nanshan Army to attack all four gates at the same time. How many troops did the other side send out?
The chief of staff advised: "Commander, the Nanshan army has entered the city. I'm afraid the defenders in the city can't hold out for long. Let's withdraw quickly while the enemy has not yet taken control of Imjin City."
Wan Congsheng sneered, without even looking at the chief of staff, and gave instructions to the messenger beside him.
"Send an order to gather all the soldiers in the city, including the logistical and civilian personnel, and distribute weapons to them, so that they can fight to the death with the Nanshan Army in the city."
"At the same time, send a telegram to the military headquarters, saying that we are under attack from the main force of the Nanshan Army, and that Imjin City is about to fall. The 12th Army is determined to fight the enemy to the death in the city."
As the order was conveyed, the 12th Army's logistics, engineering, and civilian personnel were gathered together, weapons were distributed, and several lines of defense were built near the headquarters.