Chapter 57: The Battle of Changde (4)

  "Director, I just received reconnaissance that Xue Yue is preparing to retreat and reinforce Changde." Gao Yuan ran over.

  "Commander Gao, order the troops to set up a pocket at the city gate. After the enemy comes out with one regiment, annihilate that regiment for me. Remember, don't fight to the death, if you can't win, retreat. I'll be 5 kilometers behind you with four regiments setting up a defensive line. After you've lured them in, continue to look for advantageous terrain behind me and we'll conduct a series of blocking actions to buy enough time for the military commander," said Political Commissar Gao after thinking for a moment.

  "Yes, Commissar, mission will be accomplished."

  Gao Yuan quickly utilized the terrain to construct a pocket array with the remaining five and six groups and artillery companies, waiting for Xue Yue's arrival. "Commander, the enemy has come out," reminded Political Commissar Chen Dazhong.

  The vanguard brigade of the enemy army, after receiving the order to rush back and reinforce Changde County, tidied up their formation with empty stomachs, mounted their horses, eating the snacks they had just looted, and swaggered out of Changde County.

  "Bang......" With a gunshot, the brigade commander was frightened and rolled to the ground. At this time, the artillery and machine gun fire sounded simultaneously. Raising his head, he saw that his vanguard regiment had been disrupted by the enemy. "Withdraw, quickly, withdraw into the city." The brigade commander shouted loudly.

  Upon hearing the order to retreat, the vanguard regiment immediately fell into disarray. One by one, they desperately ran towards the city, disregarding formation and even abandoning their guns. Seeing that the enemy was so easy to defeat, Gao Yuan launched a charge, with his troops closely following the retreating enemy forces. When he saw that the defeated army had approached the city walls, Gao Yuan immediately ordered his troops to retreat while bringing along the captured supplies.

  Guan Xiang saw the victorious return of the highlands, asked about the situation, and immediately burst out laughing. It turned out that all this was caused by Xue Yue's excessive caution. Before the attack, Xue Yue had given orders to his troops that when encountering an ambush by the Communist army, they must withdraw their forces and gather with the main force to prevent being defeated one by one. As a result, the highlands were able to capture a large amount of ammunition for nothing.

  The commander of the enemy vanguard brigade that retreated into the city did not receive punishment from Xue Yue, as due to the timely retreat, only a portion of their weapons were lost and there were no major casualties. He was ordered to continue leading the replenished vanguard brigade at the front.

  After the previous battle, Lü was particularly cautious and sent out many scouts. He walked for ten miles without finding any Communist troops. Just as he was about to let his guard down, a fierce burst of gunfire suddenly erupted. "Go take a look at what's happening up ahead," Lü ordered his chief of staff.

  "The journey is long, and ahead of us the Communist Army has set up a blockade. We have lost an entire regiment." The chief of staff rode over on horseback, panting heavily.

  "Send a telegram to the commander-in-chief, ordering the troops to prepare for an attack. The artillery battalion will build an artillery position and wait for the commander-in-chief's order." The brigade commander ordered after thinking for a moment.

  "Commander-in-Chief, vanguard brigade sent a telegram, encountered Communist army's blocking."

  "Ah, it seems that He Long is really going to attack Changde this time. I wonder if he has the ability to do so. Order the 11th Division to reinforce the Vanguard Brigade and make sure to wipe out the Communist Army." Xue Yue commanded sternly.

  The commissar lay on the hillside, and the enemy's first wave of attack had been repelled by himself, annihilating a company. However, 20 minutes had passed, but the enemy was only building artillery positions, why didn't they attack? "Commissar, our flanks have discovered enemy troops." Upon hearing this, Commissar Guan's tightly furrowed brow relaxed. Ah, Xue Yue, you think you can swallow me up? No way.

  "Order the artillery company to destroy the enemy's artillery positions, then retreat to the second blocking position. The 4th Regiment will follow me to find the next blocking position." Guan Xiang thought for a moment before giving the order.

  "Boom, boom, boom..." Suddenly a burst of explosions reached the ears of the vanguard brigade commander. "Commander, it's not good! Our Peng regiment has been destroyed by the Communist army," said the chief of staff who ran over.

  "What's going on? It's been half an hour already." This is a terrible fight, they've stopped for half an hour and still haven't launched an attack. We've lost two companies of men. The brigade commander cursed under his breath.

  "The commander ordered an attack." The orderly ran over.

  "Order one regiment to launch a frontal assault, and have two brigades of the 11th Division outflank them from both sides." Finally, it's here.

  "Rat-a-tat-a-tat-a-tat-a-tat..." With the sound of heavy machine guns, the troops from three sides began to charge towards the position constructed by the political commissar. 500 meters, no movement. 300 meters, still no movement. 200 meters, still no movement. The regimental commander leading the team looked at the quiet position and felt a chill in his heart.

  "You, take a squad up there and have a look." The battalion commander ordered, pulling out a squad leader from beside him.

  Looking at the long queue of people approaching the position step by step, still without any movement, the regimental commander became even more puzzled. Had they retreated? The regimental commander thought to himself in disbelief.

  "Squad leader, he's run away." The squad leader ran over and reported in a manner that seemed like boasting.

  "Order the troops to charge forward." The regimental commander ordered.

  "Brothers, charge! *ran away........." The enemy troops on the ground swarmed up.

  "Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!" The sound of explosions rang out.

  "What's going on?" The team leader asked in confusion as he rushed up. Looking at the team leader with a face full of gunpowder smoke.

  "Report to the company commander, *ran away, they set up many hand grenades on the position, and many of our brothers were deceived." A battalion commander said with tears.

  "How many casualties?" the captain asked in a low voice.

  "Over 100 killed and more than 200 injured." The battalion commander said in a low voice.

  "Send a telegram to the commander-in-chief and say that the vanguard brigade has captured the Communist army's position. We lost one battalion of troops and another artillery company." The brigade commander said quietly.

  The Chief of Staff glanced at his brigade commander and knew why he had written it that way. He walked towards the telegraph operator.

  The rest was for the troops to regroup, replenish and it took almost half an hour before they set out again on their way to rescue Changde.

  At this time, the political commissar Guan was walking in the team, listening to the report of the scout who came in a hurry with a smile. "This battle is really enjoyable, not a single casualty on our side, and we have eliminated an enemy artillery company and nearly a battalion of troops. It seems that in the future, we should use this tactic more often. Political commissar Liu Hua's brain is really useful, he actually came up with such a great idea." The political commissar was secretly delighted.

  It turned out that Liu Hua was afraid that the political commissar would bring a division of troops, and he couldn't give himself enough time to fight for Changde and transport supplies, so he told the political commissar about the method of setting up ambush mines, hoping to delay the enemy's march. Unexpectedly, the political commissar actually used it in the retreat trenches.

  "Commissar, we've reached the defensive position of the high school's long-range blocking troops."

  "Alright, leave the howitzer battalion behind, we continue to retreat and find a suitable terrain to build a defensive position." Guan Xiang gave a calm order. After the battle just now, the political commissar was more confident in blocking Xue Yue's advance.

  "Commander-in-Chief, this is the loss report of the vanguard division at present." The chief of staff came to Xue Yue's side.

  "Order the troops to continue on their way and speed up their march." Xue Yue saw the loss report, looked at the hour of delay, frowned and ordered.

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