GBP Chapter 386 Landing (6)
Chapter 386 Landing (6)
"Nani?!"
Kenji Doihara stood up suddenly, and the porcelain cup in his hand fell to the ground with a "clatter". Hot tea splashed on the trouser legs of his military uniform, but he seemed unaware of it.
His face turned pale in an instant, and his expression vividly illustrated what it meant to have three shocks in one day.
"A high-ranking commander was killed right after the battle began. This is not a good sign..."
The atmosphere inside the 7th Front Command was frozen for a moment.
The staff, advisors, and intelligence officers, all dressed in neat military uniforms, looked at each other in bewilderment. The originally tense and orderly hall suddenly fell into a strange silence.
It was Kenji Doihara who first reacted: "What's going on? Who is commanding the 29th Army now?"
"According to reports..." the staff officer flipped through the telegram paper hurriedly, his voice trembling slightly, "the 29th Army's headquarters in the city was suddenly bombed by enemy aircraft with precision. In addition to heavy bombs, there were also large quantities of napalm. The 29th Army headquarters has suffered heavy casualties. From the commander, Lieutenant General Sadazō Ishiguro, down, most of the senior officers... were killed in action."
Since the amphibious landing operation in the rear of the Japanese army had been successful, Qi Quan on the front battlefield naturally no longer needed to hide and launched a fierce attack directly.
The frequent sending and receiving of radio signals by the 29th Army Headquarters had naturally been intercepted by the radio positioning devices modified on the electronic warfare aircraft of the Anmin Army, which had gained air superiority.
After several days of calculations, the Air Force's electronic warfare team roughly located the headquarters of the 29th Army - in the northwest corner of Pili City.
Considering that after the city was occupied by the Japanese, most of the Chinese in the city were driven to the countryside and their property was taken away, Zhang Chi directly approved this decapitation operation.
As for the problem of positioning not being accurate enough?
Just increase the equivalent.
So a total of 36 B-17 heavy bombers carried out this bombing mission together. Half of the bombs were 1000-pound heavy bombs and half were napalm bombs. The purpose was to burn these Japanese commanders to death if not kill them, and to destroy the Japanese command center as soon as possible.
Originally, this move was intended for the front commander Kenji Doihara, but this guy had been hiding in the Lion City Fortress. Considering that even if a 1000-pound bomb was equipped with a hard armor-piercing jacket, it would still have limited effect on heavy reinforced concrete fortifications like the Lion City Fortress, this combination of punches finally fell on the 29th Army Headquarters.
Due to the lack of radar, the B-17 fleet took off before dawn and arrived over Pili City. The Japanese were completely unprepared, and the unfortunate Sadazo Ishiguro was directly burned to charcoal by the fire that fell from the sky.
A dignified lieutenant general was offline in such a frustrated way.
"Ishiguro is dead? Ishiguro is dead!" Doihara repeated in a low voice, his voice as dry as if his throat was pinched.
He was originally planning to fly to the front line for inspection in a few days. Naturally, Ishiguro Sadanzo's headquarters was the first place he planned to go. He couldn't help but feel a little scared.
Is it a coincidence? Or is it a target of the Anmin Army?
Doihara's face turned pale. He paced a few steps and then turned around abruptly. "Who's in charge now? Has a detailed retreat plan been drawn up?"
"It's Lieutenant General Izuna Masaru, commander of the 94th Division," the staff officer whispered. "He's requesting tactical guidance in his telegram, noting that the enemy's offensive is currently fierce, with over 200 heavy artillery pieces of 100mm caliber or greater participating. The 29th Army's positions are under total suppression."
"200 guns? That's so exaggerated? Are you kidding me?! That's enough for two heavy artillery brigades!"
Kenji Doihara knew that the Anmin Army had strong firepower, but he could not imagine that according to the Anmin Army's organization, an infantry division had 36 105mm howitzers, and the ace 7th Armored Division even had a 36-gun 155mm self-propelled artillery regiment.
There is no way. The Japanese are used to being stingy and are real poor imperialists. The old guy Kenji Doihara will not be able to change the stereotype in a short period of time.
He snatched the telegram from the communications officer's hand and began to read it himself.
"...The enemy's artillery fire is intensive and pouring down like rain. Our positions are riddled with craters, and our morale has plummeted. Without our fighters to provide aerial protection, enemy bomber formations are moving freely, carrying out continuous sweeping bombing raids on our trenches. Most of our artillery positions have been destroyed, and our lines of communication have been severed... We implore the front to send reinforcements and air support immediately, otherwise the entire front will collapse."
Although the infantry division led by Qi Quan on the front battlefield was mostly equipped with 105mm White Eagle M2 howitzers instead of the more powerful 155mm artillery, don't underestimate the 105 howitzers.
In the final stage of the Liaoshen Campaign, 10 troops of the Liao Corps were preparing to escape by sea when they ran head-on into 7000 troops of the 2nd Independent Division of the Northeast Field Army.
7000VS10, the gap in military strength is huge!
However, when more than ten 105mm howitzers of the same type seized from the White Party by the East China Field Army's heavy artillery opened fire, the White Party's vanguard troops that were under fire fell into great panic and chaos. Afterwards, more than 7000 mainly new recruits of the Independent 2nd Division directly charged with bayonets, performing a "reverse pearl curtain" attack.
49军105师最先崩溃，然后溃兵被独立2师的刺刀赶着冲垮了后方的49军195师，接着混乱传递到后方的新3军、新6军，可以说混乱之下，整个精锐的廖第九兵团直接被105mm榴弹炮的炮击和刺刀冲锋吓得一头跑回了东野的包围圈。
This was a few years later, when the elite White Party troops, which had received strong support from the White Eagles and had undergone multiple trainings, were all scared to death by the 105mm howitzers.
The weak Japanese 29th Army was completely at its wit's end in the face of the heavy bombardment of the Anmin Army's divisional howitzers. First, its highest commander was beheaded, and then it was bombarded by heavy artillery. This third-rate unit composed of students and uncles collapsed directly.
The telegram for help sent by Lieutenant General Izuna Masaru used some polite language to save face. The actual situation was that all the front-line troops under the 29th Army had suffered heavy casualties within an hour of the start of the battle. Let alone leaving the trench fortifications and retreating, even if they stayed in the trenches and fought stubbornly, they would not have been able to hold out for long.
After all, it was just a trench dug by the Japanese in the wild, not a permanent fortification like the Maginot Line. Facing the combined assault of the Anmin Army's infantry, armor, artillery, and air force, it could only play a delaying role.
Kenji Doihara was extremely annoyed at this time. He could clearly feel the despair from the telegram sent by Izuna Tsunamasa. This army had been stuck by the Anmin Army, and it was almost impossible to retreat.
"Qiquan..." Doihara whispered the name, and the muscles on his face twitched slightly.
He was familiar with this name. He enjoyed a great reputation both in the Anmin Army and on the Japanese side. He was good at organizing high-intensity firepower offensives in wide terrain.
Now the frontline troops are stuck and the hinterland is being attacked by amphibious landings. What else can he do with only the Lion City Fortress left?