On October 21, an autumn rain fell in the area of ​​the Korean River Corridor, and the air was both humid and cold.

The dark clouds landed in mid-air, making the originally hazy vision even more unclear. Sometimes it was impossible to tell whether it was a dark cloud or a gunpowder smoke.

Just outside Jiangjie City, thirty miles west of Jiangjie City, the First Armored Regiment silently assembled behind a sparse farming and forestry. On the two flanks of the Armored Regiment are two infantry regiments of the 33rd Division, and behind are the artillery positions of the 33rd Division and the 35th Division.

Not only that, the two small counties in Manpu and Pingcheng that have been conquered, the 33rd Division and the other two routes of infantry teams were also assembled. If you look down at the entire river boundary from the air, you can clearly distinguish the formation of the Zhong** team. The Jiang boundary in this matter is like a lonely boat in the vast ocean. The Zhong** team deployed strategic encirclements in the north, south and west, leaving only a gap in the east.

Deep in the agricultural, forestry and forest land, the field command post of the Armored Routes has just added a few layers of thatch to prevent the invasion of rain.

Zhang Zizhong, who had just been promoted to commander of the armored regiment, was calculating the offensive distance next to the map table. He was the second batch of officers dispatched after the establishment of the Northern First Army. He had been the battalion commander of the Tianjin shore defense garrison. Later, after converging, he jumped to two levels in a row to serve as the regiment commander.

Zhang Zizhong was born in the artillery department at the Whampoa Military Academy. The "Boncat"-style combat vehicles are as heavy combat weapons as cannons. Moreover, when new types of troops are put into actual combat, it is natural that some people who dare to test the waters are needed to take the lead. The Army Command decisively made up its mind to cultivate a group of armored soldiers talents.

The communication team on the side received a telegram. He Jifeng, an adjutant of the regiment headquarters, came to Zhang Zizhong with the telegram and said, "The regiment headquarters, the 33rd Division's headquarters came to order. In response to the order of the head of state to conquer the Jiangjie before the end of the month, the 33rd Division decided to send another regiment of troops to participate in our frontal outbreak operations."

Zhang Zizhong raised his head and took the telegram and looked at it, then smiled and said, "Is that so? The head of state personally ordered? Haha, according to me, the Jiangjie will not last the end of the month at all. If everything goes well, there should be a result today and tomorrow."

He Jifeng nodded slightly and said, "We have caused the 16th Division of the Japanese to suffer all the hardships in the past half month. Maybe there are more wounded soldiers in Jiangjie City now than soldiers."

In the past half a month, the 33rd and 35th Divisions have almost crushed the artillery of the Japanese 16th Division with their powerful artillery suppression and air support. Without the cover of artillery, the armored regiment cooperated with the continuous advancement of the infantry, even in the face of a tough battle, it was as easy as cutting tofu.

The Japanese army was completely unprepared to deal with armored troops, and even lacked effective obstacles to positional fortifications.

Under such a strong height of suppression, the Japanese army seemed to have been pulled out of their clothes and slaughtered at will. Even on the defensive side, the daily casualties were far higher than those of the Zhong** team.

Zhang Zizhong raised his hand and looked at his watch. This watch was the latest watch launched by Zhang Shengting Watch Industry Company, which has completely replaced the previous pocket watch in the army. At this time, it was 9:10, and there were still twenty minutes left before the official start of the general attack. He said to He Jifeng: "The time is almost over, you should go and take a look and get the battalions ready."

He Jifeng nodded and said, "Yes, let's go now."

Ten minutes later, the artillery units of the 33rd and 35th Divisions concentrated their fire and began to bombard Jiangjie City. The continuous artillery fire was overwhelming and deafening. The fire broke through the drizzle of rain, and the thick smoke also covered the dark clouds in the sky.

In the first battalion of the Armored Regiment, which was ready in front of the agriculture and forestry, the combatants entered fifteen armored vehicles, and the infantry formation behind them also began to surge forward. Chen Wuma, the battalion commander of the First Battalion of the Armored Regiment, was standing in a hillside, holding a telescope and looking eastward. He saw Japanese soldiers running away in the suburbs of Jiangjie more than ten miles away, and shells exploded one after another on the position.

Chen Wuma spat on the ground, put down the telescope and touched the rain on his face, turned his head and issued a loud battle order: "Brothers, attack."

Fifteen armored vehicles began to advance, just in time to integrate with the arrived infantry formation.

Chen Wuma trotted two steps, rushed a battalion command vehicle, and then climbed into the cabin with ease.

The open area in the western part of the river border was full of dense Chinese troops. As the attack began to attack in the west, the combat units in the north and south also began to attack, but the efficiency and speed were obviously a beat slower than the west. At this time, the troops in the north and south were only supporting the momentum, and the main attack was led by the armored regiment in the west.

With a strategic offensive depth of more than ten miles, the Chinese soldiers were full of fighting spirit. It can be said that this is the first time that China has tried such a long and specific raid since the war against Japan. However, under the careful care of artillery fire in the past few days, a layer of land has been flattened. The Japanese soldiers who were holding their positions were too busy to take care of themselves and lacked enough heavy weapons to suppress them. It would be fine for Chinese soldiers even if they were farther away.

At about ten o'clock, China and Japan officially exchanged short fire in the western suburbs of Jiangjie. This was the first round of general attack launched by the Chinese team several days after the end of the Manpu encirclement and annihilation war. In the past few days, all artillery soldiers showed their skills and suppressed Jiangjie City without reservation. The morale that had accumulated for several days completely erupted at this moment. The shouts of Chinese soldiers were like a torrent of breaking the dike, whistling towards the fragile positions of the Japanese army.

The First Battalion of the Armored Regiment rushed in the front, and the fifteen armored vehicles' machine guns shot fire tongues to cover the infantry behind to advance. When the chariot of the First Battalion passed the first section of the Japanese trenches, Chinese soldiers jumped into the trenches, shotguns, bayonets, and automatic rifles fought frantically.

Facing the Chinese team with a strong morale, the Japanese defenders had no power to fight back.

The battalion commander Chen Wuma of the first battalion watched the battle situation on the front line in the command vehicle and quickly issued a new order: "Our chariots set up a fire support point in the northwest to block the two heavy machine guns there. Don't rush to arch forward. You must first gain a foothold and wait until the infantry completely cleaned the peripheral trenches before attacking."

The messengers conveyed orders to the various chariots under the cover of infantry. The first battalion quickly implemented new tactics. Fifteen vehicles occupied a favorable position behind the Japanese trenches, providing strong firepower with machine guns to suppress the Japanese military line in the rear positions. Not only that, after the chariots were stationed, they were like a solid bunker, providing cover for subsequent troops.

Just as the first battalion of the Armored Regiment advanced to its current position, the second battalion further away, and the third battalion also came.

More and more infantry behind the armored vehicles poured into the Japanese positions. The whole process took almost half an hour, and the Japanese positions were useless under the powerful offensive.

When it was almost eleven o'clock, the Chinese team basically completed the segmented cutting of the Japanese positions in the western suburbs.

At the same time, even the north and south attacking troops, which were responsible for the support mission, began to launch a strong attack when they saw the main attacking troops in the west progress smoothly.

The 16th Japanese Division in the Jiangjie area is now less than half of its combat effectiveness. Facing the three sides of the siege and artillery are constantly bombarding, all brigades, corps and brigade headquarters are at a loss.

The commander-in-chief of the division, Toshio Matsugawa, has been constantly requesting reinforcements since mid-August. Apart from receiving some reinforcements from the replenishment troops and a corps of the 18th Division, no more troops arrived at the Jiangjie. Now two months have passed, and after the ** team cut off the rear traffic line, even the replenishment troops cannot even go to the front line.

Faced with the Chinese team that became more and more braver, the 16th Division was getting weaker and weaker. This situation of rising and falling one was quickly putting Jiangjie in a deep dilemma.

When the division headquarters received the news of the emergency of many suburban positions in the Jiangjie area at noon, Toshio Matsugawa had to make a decision and decided to give up the Jiangjie area and take preserving the 16th Division's new force as its primary task. It ordered the entire army to break through from the eastern part of the Jiangjie area and retreat to the south of the Wotho Peak first. At the same time, a temporary defense line was set up in the Wotho Peak mountain area to contact and cover the subsequent evacuation troops.

However, the problem that worries him the most at this time was that from the start of the war in June to today, the 16th Division suffered a large number of casualties on the front line. Currently, there are about 10,000 wounded people, of which more than 4,000 are unable to take care of themselves. The Chinese team is already approaching the suburbs, and the 16th Division is unable to form a strong defense at all and delay time to transfer the wounded. On the contrary, it is very likely that more casualties will be caused by the drag of the wounded.

After half an hour of thinking, Toshio Matsukawa finally decided to give up the wounded. He asked the field hospital to issue a final notice, providing two ways to deal with the wounded who could not take care of themselves. He gave all wounded soldiers who could still use weapons a gun, either choosing to commit suicide or choosing to resist to the death.

In the following afternoon, Jiangjie City was in a panic, and a tragic scene was performed in the battlefield hospital. Some wounded soldiers who could not move asked their superiors to end their lives. After a simple ceremony, the superiors made a hole in the heads of the wounded soldiers with a pistol.

Other wounded soldiers with certain mobility were assigned to ambush in various dead corners in the city. Some were holding a grenade, some were holding rifles, and some were putting ** bags under themselves.

Even among the Japanese army that advocates the spirit of Bushido, there are also people who are afraid of death.

There were not only gunfires in the battlefield hospital, but also cries and begging, but these were eventually replaced by gunfire.

In the evening, the 16th Division began to implement the retreat plan. The Engineering Brigade and the Transportation Brigade arranged temporary defense lines in the city, while transferring important equipment, materials and command establishments, etc. In the outer suburbs, the troops gradually contracted to the city, preparing to delay time with street fighting.

Toshio Matsugawa also ordered a blasting team to be sent to blow up all important institutions in Jiangjie City, such as post and telecommunications facilities, train stations, railroad car wagons or some large factories. The entire Jiangjie not only suffered artillery attacks from the Chinese team from outside, but also suffered the Japanese army's destruction operations in the city.

Late at night that day, taking advantage of the night to protect Matsukawa Toshio led the division headquarters to evacuate first with the first batch of retreating troops, leaving only two rear guards in Jiangjie City.

In the next two days, the Chinese team finally broke through the Jiangjie city defense and bit a close gang.

The Japanese gang was ultimately desperate and had no choice but to fight to the death in the city and resist to the end.
Chapter completed!