PFC Chapter 698 Three-Party Alliance
Chapter 698 Three-Party Alliance
The liberation of the three cities widened the Penicillin Corridor by 20 kilometers. Not all of the three regiments stayed in the cities. Only one battalion was left in each city. The team continued to move westward, trying to kill the Japanese while they were weak. The next step was to capture the Zhoukou to Kaifeng line and drive all the Japanese troops in the heart of the Central Plains to Zhengzhou.
When the Yimeng guerrillas began their action, the Fifth War Zone of the National Army launched a siege on Xuchang. Two corps with a total of 160,000 troops were facing two Type B divisions of the Japanese Army. The last attack was unsuccessful, so the 122nd Division was activated again and served as the vanguard once again.
At eight o'clock in the evening, when the three regiments of the Yimeng guerrillas ended their battle and moved westward, the 122nd Division had already entered the city gates of Xuchang.
The Japanese city defense was extremely abnormal. If they attacked by force, they might not be able to capture Xuchang City even if they defeated the 122nd Division.
Master Wang decisively chose geotechnical excavation. Six excavation teams worked simultaneously in one direction to dig a tunnel of nearly 200 meters.
Other sequences also came up, including the 122nd Division. Four divisions chose to encircle the enemy. The Japanese army divided its forces and was unsure of the main attack direction of the National Army, so they could only choose to defend evenly.
In one night, the 122nd Division dug five passages. One of the passages in the middle encountered a stone line and could not be bypassed either left or right.
At eight o'clock in the morning, the National Army gathered the artillery of two corps and started bombardment. The whole city of Xuchang was filled with artillery fire. The Japanese army ignored it and was preparing to wait for the National Army to rush up and give them a head-on blow when the explosives buried under five city walls exploded.
There were hundreds of kilometers of explosives at each location, and the Japanese army was dancing on the 500-meter city wall.
With a loud rumbling sound, more than 500 meters of city wall collapsed.
The 122nd Division rushed forward, and the Japanese defenders nearby suffered heavy casualties. When the reinforcements arrived, the officers and soldiers of the 122nd Division had already rushed into the ruins. With submachine guns versus Type 38 rifles, the 122nd Division had an overwhelming advantage.
At nine o'clock in the morning, the 122nd Division opened the South Gate, and the National Army in the other three directions took advantage of the chaos to launch attacks. The Japanese army was unable to take care of both the front and the rear. When the National Army in three directions broke into the city, the Japanese army was powerless to turn the tide.
Street fighting is brutal, but compared to facing machine gun fire and endless artillery fire, having the chance to fight in a street is considered a success.
At 11 o'clock in the morning, the four divisions paid a heavy price to wipe out the remaining enemies, with casualties exceeding one-third. However, more than 70% of the casualties were lightly or seriously injured. With penicillin as a backup, there was always a chance of survival if they were not on the verge of death.
After taking Xuchang, the Japanese army only controlled Zhengzhou and Kaifeng in the Central Plains on the south bank of the Yellow River.
The Yimeng guerrillas marched westward, and the National Army sent a corps eastward. In three days, they wiped out the defenders of some counties and towns in the central region. At this point, the vast area west of Penicillin was completely liberated.
The main force of the National Army marched northward and had just threatened Zhengzhou and Kaifeng when the Eighth Army of the Second War Zone took action. The Eighth Army had previously occupied Wulong Cave and Yunmeng Mountain west of Hebi, and Yang Qingfeng's Lunan Detachment also secretly crossed the Yellow River.
On March 3, just as the National Army was clearing out the outer defenses of Zhengzhou and Kaifeng, the Eighth Army suddenly launched an attack on Hebi and Puyang. It was so sudden that the Japanese army was completely unprepared. At three o'clock in the morning, the defenders of the two cities were cleared out, and the main force of the Eighth Army entered Hebi and Puyang.
The Lunan Detachment carried a large amount of arms, which had been accumulated for almost three years! Finally, it was connected. No one expected that the Eighth Army would do such a thing, but the Fifth War Zone was far more surprised than surprised. The situation became clear. The route to the north was blocked. The 120,000 Japanese troops in Zhengzhou, Kaifeng, Xinxiang and Jiaozuo in the Central Plains were completely isolated.
The Japanese army did not expect that the three parties would be so tacit. It seemed that the Yimeng guerrillas completely opened up the situation with one move. The three armies were not in a hurry to attack. The Yimeng guerrillas retreated to Shangqiu, Bozhou and Fuyang to stabilize the penicillin corridor. The Eighth Army was also continuously sending reinforcements to Hebi and Puyang. In a few days, 80,000 troops were stationed in the two ordinary cities. The follow-up troops came empty-handed, as there were countless Japanese equipment here.
The Japanese army knew how powerful the defenders of the Penicillin Corridor were and did not dare to go deep into the territory to provide support easily. The depth was too far and even if they sent two divisions, they might not be able to successfully reach their destination. Hebi and Puyang became the only gaps that could be opened.
The Japanese army urgently mobilized troops from the south of Shimen. A Type A division plus a mixed brigade set out from Handan and rushed to Hebi City in an emergency, intending to open a northward route for the Japanese army in the heart of the Central Plains.
On March 3, the Japanese army attacked the city. They did not take the garrisoned Eighth Army seriously at all. They thought that the Eighth Army was a soft persimmon that could be easily provoked by rifles and grenades. After a day of fierce fighting, the Japanese army found that they could not afford to offend them. They lost more than five days' worth of troops and did not even reach the edge of Hebi City. The commander of the North China Expeditionary Army immediately called off the attack, and the troops could only return to where they came from.
With no threat from the north, the Japanese army was completely surrounded. The main force of the National Army quickly moved northward and began to strategically erode the outskirts of the three key cities, intending to turn the three cities into isolated islands in one fell swoop.
On March 3, Zhang Liang set out with the reinforced regiment heading south. Shi Wei called Chen Feng many times, preparing to launch a counterattack in the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Towers before May. Chen Feng had only one request, which was complete autonomy. Shi Wei certainly would not object. Even if only one regiment of the Yimeng guerrillas went, the success rate of the counterattack could be increased by 15 to percent.
On the night of the 15th, Zhang Liang's New Third Regiment successfully smuggled across the Yangtze River. Wang Hanqiang and Lu Feihu's Pegu First and Second Regiments changed their names, removing the word Pegu and becoming the New First and New Second Regiments. After Zhang Liang's New Third Regiment arrives, they will immediately merge together, and the two regiments will become unknown history.
In order to support the New Third Regiment in crossing the river, the Ninth War Zone launched an attack on the small city of Ruichang at night. The Japanese troops in Ruichang were facing a formidable enemy. They were coming, finally coming. The northern line had been almost defeated, and now it was the southern line's turn!
The Taishan Army of the 10th Army of the 9th War Zone was responsible for the siege. The commander-in-chief of the 9th War Zone allocated one-third of the artillery to the 10th Army.
At eight o'clock in the evening, the Japanese army had arrived at the city of Ruichang. The artillery fire of the National Army was fierce, and the artillery fire of the Japanese army was no less. In addition to the artillery, the Japanese warships on the Yangtze River were also rushing to support. The commander-in-chief of the Ninth War Zone only gave the commander of the Taishan Army three hours to shrink the entire line and avoid the bombardment from the ship's guns.
At 8:30 in the evening, the 10th Army suffered heavy casualties. If the other side did not take action, Commander Li had no choice but to stop the attack.
boom! Boom boom boom!
Suddenly, there was a violent explosion in the city. Commander Li, who was standing on the hill south of Ruichang City, saw it clearly. Countless lines of fire appeared in the north of the city and were moving rapidly towards the south.
"Send the signal and attack with all your strength"!
"Order the logistics troops to follow up quickly, bring all their equipment, and prepare to go into the water."