Chapter 26: Breaking the Siege (3)

  The Central Army was indeed well-trained, and under the command of their superiors, the artillery positions were quickly constructed, waiting for further orders. Colonel Sun couldn't help but feel a sense of emotion as he looked on.

  "Hmm..." With a whistling sound, 12 shells accurately landed on the first line of defense. Looking at the position covered by artillery fire, Old Sun sighed and said: "The division commander is indeed formidable. He made me set up several lines of defense to conduct echelon defense. If I had concentrated all my forces on one line, my troops would have been finished."

  "Order the artillery to counterattack immediately and destroy the enemy's artillery position." Old Sun did not forget his duty, seeing that the enemy had concentrated their firepower on his first line of defense, he gave a decisive order.

  "Boom, boom, boom, boom!" With the continuous bombardment of 4 rounds of mortar shells falling on their own artillery position, those National Army artillerymen saw the bodies of their comrades being blown to pieces by the cannon fire and could no longer bear it. They abandoned their big guns and ran away with all their might, ignoring their superiors' orders to advance.

  Like this, after several rounds of artillery fire, the enemy's artillery position was in a mess. Looking at his only artillery company being destroyed, the head of the vanguard regiment was stunned. When did the Communist army have such strong firepower? Without the support of artillery, how could they continue to fight? However, no matter what, they had to launch an attack. Otherwise, when the division commander came over and saw that he hadn't attacked yet and had lost his artillery company, he would be shot dead for sure. Thinking of this, he quickly ordered his first regiment's first battalion to attack, with all heavy machine guns providing cover.

  A company of soldiers slowly approached the Communist army's position, but there was no movement on the position. Had the Communist army all run away? Absolutely impossible, their own artillery had just been destroyed, how could the cunning Communist army give up such a good opportunity? The brigade commander couldn't help but laugh at his own foolish thoughts.

  The first battalion has already made contact with the enemy's front line, how come there is still no reaction? Is it possible that the Communist army really retreated. Looking at his own troops pouring into the Communist army's position, his originally suspicious heart finally put down.

  "Rat-a-tat-a-tat-a-tat-a-tat-a-tat..." The familiar sound of a Maxim heavy machine gun reached his ears. "We're done for, we've been had," the regimental commander yelled loudly, "First battalion, immediately order second battalion to go up and support first battalion, quickly!" However, what greeted him was a salvo of 4 mortar shells, under such intense bombardment, his own troops could not even concentrate, let alone rescue their own first battalion.

  A lone traveler sat on the ground under the protection of his own guards, staring blankly at where the shots were fired. His artillery company was gone, and he couldn't provide long-range support to the first battalion, so he could only listen to the sound of gunfire decreasing until there was no more, knowing that his first battalion was gone, just like that, without a word.

  "Order the troops to stop attacking and wait for the division commander to bring artillery before launching an attack." The brigade commander, thinking of his own regiment, gritted his teeth and gave the order, suppressing the idea of fighting to the death with the Communist army.

  Originally, after seeing the enemy artillery company being destroyed by himself, and the attacking troops only had one battalion, plus he still had a second line of defense, the 2nd and 3rd battalions were guarding there. Colonel Sun immediately thought of his division commander leading the original Red Tenth Regiment to annihilate an enemy battalion, thinking whether to give the Central Army a surprise, and also having artillery support, which could attack the enemy's rear troops, making it impossible for them to reinforce. Thinking of this, Old Sun told the idea to the 1st Battalion Commander, who was also a veteran of the original Red Tenth Regiment, and he immediately agreed. In this way, under the secret plan of the two, a battalion of the Central Army was gone. Watching the soldiers enthusiastically cleaning up the battlefield, Colonel Sun couldn't help but sigh "This battle is really exciting".

  "Squad leader, the enemy has contracted their defense line and seems to be retreating." After hearing the communication officer's words, Old Sun hurriedly ran to the front line and picked up his binoculars. Seeing that the enemy seemed to be reorganizing their formation before withdrawing, "What's going on?" Old Sun asked with a puzzled expression to the political commissar beside him.

  "Commissar, telegram from the division commander."

  "Haha, I know, Battalion Commander Zhang, immediately lead the battalion to advance at a run and must get ahead of the 1st Regiment. Block him for me, definitely block him. Order the artillery company to open fire immediately, disrupt their formation, and slow down their retreat speed. Order the 2nd and 3rd battalions to assemble immediately and support the 1st battalion in blocking the enemy's retreat route." Commander Sun ordered after glancing at the telegram.

  As the order was passed down, the 4 mortars of the artillery company began to roar, and as the cannon fire rang out, the Central Army's formation was instantly disrupted. However, not long after, the enemy's First Brigade retreated beyond the range of the mortars after losing some troops, and began normal marching. It turned out that the commander of the Enemy 1st Division had immediately determined that the Communist army had an ambush when he heard that his rear guard brigade was under attack and contact was lost, and as a cautious division commander, he became even more certain that this was a trap set by the Communist army after seeing the telegram sent by the vanguard brigade. Therefore, he immediately ordered the vanguard brigade to retreat. After all, preserving strength is now the top priority.

  In this way, the two armies began to compete. The Central Army jogged along the main road, while the soldiers of the First Regiment tightly pursued them on the mountain slope beside the road. After about half an hour, they finally caught up with the vanguard troops of the Central Army's Forward Division. The soldiers of the First Regiment were like fierce tigers descending a mountain, unstoppable, and suddenly cut off the Central Army's path.

  The regimental commander of the vanguard brigade finally understood that the Communist Army wanted to leave one of its regiments here, which was underestimating them. He immediately ordered his second battalion to launch a group charge and must break through. At the same time, he sent a distress report to his division commander.

  "Company commander, the enemy is coming."

  The battalion commander who was building a simple trench heard the report from the communication personnel and did not hesitate at all. "Order the troops to prepare for battle, if the enemy approaches within 200 meters, open fire. We must resolutely prevent the enemy from breaking through our position."

  At this time, Zhang Yingchang was full of confidence. The enemy's vanguard brigade no longer had artillery support, and he himself had twenty light machine guns in his hands. This would be unthinkable even for the Central Red Army, and besides, he had ample ammunition. The regimental commander's reinforcements would arrive soon, so what did he have to fear? He must resolutely hold his ground.

  As the enemy army of about a battalion slowly approached, "fire" all the guns immediately spewed out flames, and the first row of enemy soldiers immediately fell into a pool of blood. The enemy soldiers behind immediately lay down and started exchanging fire with the battalion. If this continues, perhaps it is possible to slowly increase the casualties of the battalion and finally break through. After all, the battalion did not have complete trenches, only simple shelters, and dozens of casualties appeared under the sweeping fire of the enemy's heavy machine guns, making the battalion commander grit his teeth in hatred.

  But this didn't last long, an enemy officer raised his gun and let the soldiers who were lying on the ground start charging. As a result, the automatic firepower of the whole battalion began to take effect, with machine guns firing indiscriminately, causing the enemy to fall down in batches, and not being able to get up again, making the machine gunners feel extremely excited. It turned out that when the commander of the vanguard brigade saw his troops exchanging fire with the Communist army, he became worried, fearing that if the battle lasted too long, his own troops would be surrounded by the Communist army, and also because the timid chief of staff kept urging him on, the commander finally gave the order to charge forward regardless of casualties, determined to capture the Communist army's position and break through.

  Looking at the enemy troops recklessly charging forward, Captain Zhang was delighted. He had sufficient ammunition now, and if this continued, not even an entire division would be enough to fill the gap. Looking at the corpses scattered all over the ground below, Captain Zhang shook his head, thinking that according to his estimate, nearly two battalions of enemy troops had already fallen under his battalion's gunfire in just half an hour. Yet the enemy still charged forward recklessly - was their commander crazy?

  "Zhang Yingchang, how's the situation now?" The regimental commander who was chasing after the first battalion finally arrived with the second and third battalions and the directly affiliated troops. Following Zhang Yingchang's pointing direction, Lao Sun was also stunned. This is simply a massacre! Upon hearing that Zhang Yingchang had already annihilated two enemy battalions, Sun Xingbang's mind quickly cleared up.

  "Damn it, if that's the case, we only have one enemy troop in front of us." Political Commissar Zhao Dahai also relaxed after hearing Battalion Commander Zhang's introduction, and both of them broke into a smile.

  "Comrade, how is it? Let's get started."

  "Haha, you're not afraid of anything, what's there for me to be afraid of? Let's do it."

  "Alright, let's do this. Order the 1st battalion to continue holding their ground, the 2nd battalion to flank around the enemy's right wing, and the 3rd battalion to take position on the left wing, preparing for a charge. All automatic firepower will be concentrated in the first row. The artillery team will immediately construct a firing position and open fire upon my command, targeting areas with high enemy concentrations. Half of the heavy machine guns will be assigned to the 1st battalion, while the other half will flank around the enemy's rear, making sure to block their escape routes from both sides. Battalion Commander Zhang, dispatch one company to follow the heavy machine guns and block the enemy's retreat."

  Another half hour passed, and perhaps the vanguard brigade commander saw that one of his regiments was lost on the charging road, finally stopped attacking, began to rest and prepare for the next attack. But he didn't know, he had already entered the countdown phase. After half an hour of preparation, all personnel in a regiment were deployed, and with the team leader's order, 4 rounds of mortar shells fell into the enemy army that was resting, continuously killing and injuring the enemy. Seeing the enemy's formation was chaotic, Old Sun ordered to blow the charge horn, immediately, countless machine guns and submachine guns spewed out from both sides of the highway, soldiers shouted slogans and rushed towards the highway. Looking at the swarming Communist Army, the brigade commander could no longer muster the spirit to resist, and sat stupidly on the ground.

  The battle went very smoothly and fiercely, although the central building was in disarray, but under the organization of the company commander, it still caused a relatively large number of casualties to the enemy. After the war statistics, this battle killed more than 4,100 enemies, captured more than 600 people, and lost more than 300 people, with more than 40 seriously injured and more than 200 lightly wounded. Suddenly, an entire regiment was lost, fortunately, the lightly wounded did not affect the combat, and their own troops had sufficient medical supplies, many of the seriously wounded could be treated, which made Captain Sun feel a little relieved.

  "It seems that the Central Army is indeed well-trained. We should be careful in the future." Post-war, Director Sun couldn't help but sigh to the political commissar.