Chapter 60: Raiding Greater Wuhan (Part 1)
Out of Wusheng, the south is a hilly terrain, but as you move further south, the hills become fewer and lower. After dozens of kilometers, it becomes the vast Jianghan Plain. On the plain, only occasionally will small hills appear, to be precise, they should be called large earth mounds. The height of these small hills are only tens of meters, basically not exceeding one hundred meters.
Having entered the plain, the cavalry brigade, who were the vanguard of the entire army, immediately became excited. From Hebei to Henan, they had been with Song Zhiwu's command center. The brigade commander, Han Guang, still remembered Wei Guanghui's instructions and had been restraining the troops all along, marching in a moderate and orderly manner. This was suffocating for the cavalrymen who were used to galloping on the grasslands, especially some Mongolian soldiers. At this moment, leaving Song Zhiwu's line of sight, Han Guang just smiled when he saw the cavalrymen running wildly. Seeing that the brigade commander did not intervene, several regimental commanders, who were all in their 20s, immediately commanded their troops to rush southward wildly.
Behind them, more than 300 trucks loaded with the special forces and the Ninth Corps' troops followed. To execute Song Zheyu's plan to raid Wuhan, the cavalry regiment and the First Division formed an advance group, led by Gao Zongbao himself, rushed to Xiaogan ahead of time to open up a path for the main force. The task of the special forces was to infiltrate Hankou and Hanyang on the 2nd at dawn, control key points such as the Hankou railway station, airport, and Hanyang Arsenal, and coordinate with the follow-up troops to occupy Wuhan.
The vanguard group advanced very quickly and arrived in Xiaogan by noon. The advance cavalry reported that the blocking position of Yang Tenghui's division in Xiaogan was just ahead, with a brigade of Guangxi troops. One regiment immediately disembarked and formed a combat formation to advance towards Xiaogan. The special battalion changed into Guangxi army uniforms and set off in the direction of Wuhan via a detour. These uniforms had been prepared in advance at Laiyuan. The more than 300 empty trucks returned immediately along the original route to pick up the follow-up troops.
Song Zhe-wu and Xiao Guo-dong rushed to the Second Division Command in Xiaogan with their headquarters, it was already after 3 pm, and the two subsequent regiments also arrived one after another. Song Zhe-wu and Xiao Guo-dong dismounted and rushed straight to the Second Division Headquarters.
In the Second Master's Department, Gao Zongbao was holding a battle meeting. Song Zhewu and Xiao Guodong entered, everyone stood up, and Gao Zongbao yielded his seat. Song Zhewu waved his hand to stop him, wanting him to continue organizing the meeting, he and Xiao Guodong sat down beside Gao Zongbao.
According to reconnaissance, the Seventh Army of Yang Tonghui's division of the Guangxi army is stationed in the Xiaogan area. One brigade is deployed around two small hills in front of us, constructing defensive positions; one brigade is stationed west of Xiaogan to prevent being attacked by the Northwestern Army from the direction of Nanyang; and the division headquarters, directly affiliated units, and one brigade are stationed within Xiaogan city. The brigade in front of us has built semi-circular defensive fortifications on two hills with heights below 60 meters, relying on a large and small hill. The northern hill was occupied by a regiment that we took down an hour ago. The attack on the southern hill was unsuccessful, mainly because the enemy had built many underground shelters, and during the artillery bombardment, the enemy hid in these shelters, so the artillery fire did not cause significant casualties among the enemy. Moreover, these enemies are very ferocious and dare to launch a counterattack with bayonets. Now that the second and third regiments have arrived, we plan to first use one regiment's artillery battalion and each battalion's artillery to conduct a bombardment together, and then separately launch an attack with Regiment One's First and Second Battalions in the east and Regiments Three and Four in the north. We will lure the enemy into our defensive positions, and when the attacking troops are 200 meters away from the enemy's position, they will stop their attack and concentrate all three regiments' artillery fire on the enemy's position for a saturation attack, annihilating the enemy who has entered our defensive positions. After that, the attacking troops will charge up to the enemy's position in one go. Regiment Three will serve as the reserve unit; Regiment Two will first deploy on both sides of the hills and wait until Regiment One occupies the hills before Regiments One and Two simultaneously launch a pincer attack from inside and outside against the enemy's semi-circular fortifications behind the hills, thoroughly annihilating this brigade.
Song Zhe-wu looked at Xiao Guo-dong, and Xiao Guo-dong nodded. Song Zhe-wu turned to Gao Zong-bao and said: "I basically agree with your plan, this tactic is also commonly used in our peacetime exercises, I believe the soldiers will be very familiar with it. Strong firepower is our advantage, we just need to maximize our advantages in combat. I want to add a supplement to your plan: the orientation of the enemy's trench fortifications must have been clearly marked by you during the last attack." Gao Zong-bao nodded, and Song Zhe-wu continued: "After all, our previous exercises were just exercises, but this is a real battlefield with live ammunition. To avoid mistakenly injuring our own people, the second and third battalions also need to conduct test firings. In order to paralyze the enemy, the artillery of the two battalions will conduct separate test firings, and the three battalions' test firings will serve as the pre-attack artillery preparation. When the enemy enters the position, we will concentrate all our firepower and annihilate the enemy who entered the position in one fell swoop."
Song Zhe-wu looked at his watch and said seriously: "It's now 15:50, you will launch the attack at 17:00. You still need to refine the specific deployment, but I want to emphasize that the special forces have already set out, tomorrow morning, they will simultaneously take action in Hanyang and Hankou, after all, they only have 2,000 people, they need support from the main force. So you must capture this high ground tonight at 20:00, open up a road for our truck team and surround Xiaogan."
At this time, the reconnaissance staff came in to report: "The enemy's brigade west of Xiaogan has returned to Xiaogan."
Xiao Guodong smiled and said: "It's great that you're back, this can let you all surround together. As long as Xiaoneng can surround and not let Yang Tenghui come out, it's okay, we don't require you to attack the city and annihilate the enemy. We have no experience in attacking cities, but we can try to attack and accumulate experience for the future. You must conscientiously implement the commander's intentions, that is, to play our advantages, use strong firepower to kill the enemy, and reduce our casualties."
Back at headquarters, Xiao Guodong was busy checking the troop deployment plans, logistics supplies and other matters in various departments of the general staff department. After all, this army was still too young and inexperienced in long-distance marching, so Xiao Guodong was worried. Song Zhiwu, on the other hand, took advantage of the time to eat, as he had not yet eaten lunch due to the urgent march.
An hour later, Song Zhe-wu was already standing in the forward observation post of the Second Division. Song Zhe-wu told Gao Zong-bao to continue commanding and not to ask for his instructions, then lay down on a special artillery observation mirror prepared for him and did not get up again.
The artillery test firing began at 17:00 sharp, with the second regiment firing first. Although it was a test firing, the power was still very shocking. Each security army had an artillery battalion, with two artillery companies equipped with 9 x 75mm mountain guns; Two artillery companies were equipped with 18 x 82mm mortars. Each infantry battalion had a machine gun company, with two platoons each equipped with 6 x 82mm mortars. Each infantry squad had a class equipped with 3 x 60mm mortars. A total of 75mm mountain guns, 66 x 82mm mortars and 172 x 60mm mortars were counted in an infantry regiment. These cannons added up to 256. The test firing power of the 256 cannons was absolutely stunning, and the enemy's position on the opposite side was immediately bombed with smoke and dust rising everywhere, and the original wood used for building positions flew around. Song Zhiwu saw a heavy machine gun position of the enemy, and it was unknown whether it was hit by a 75mm mountain gun or an 82mm mortar shell, and the people inside and the scattered parts of the heavy machine gun were blown into the air.
The second battalion's guns stopped after firing three rounds. After a brief pause, the third battalion's artillery continued to pour down a hail of shells on the enemy's position.
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