Chapter 45: Attacking Yujiaping
"Commander, commissar, come take a look, haha, the spoils of war are rich!" Li Qing said with a smile as he saw the two walk into the command center. The commissar picked up the list of battle results statistics.
"Annihilated over 11,000 enemy troops, captured over 5,000 enemy military personnel below the rank of regimental commander. Seized 36 mortars, 3,600 mortar shells, 18 mountain guns, and 1,800 mountain gun shells. According to the confession of a captured enemy artillery company commander, there were still 5,000 reserve mortar shells and 6 backup mortars stored in Taoyuan County, as well as 3,000 mountain gun shells. Seized 30 heavy machine guns, over 36,000 rounds of ammunition, nearly 200 light machine guns, 6,000 rifles, pistols, and assault guns. Other equipment was damaged by artillery fire. Collected a total of around 1 million rounds of ammunition, and 40,000 hand grenades. Our army suffered 421 deaths and over 1,100 injuries, mostly minor."
After listening to the statistics of the war results, Liu Hua suddenly felt that he had not lost out, and immediately ordered the troops to quickly clean up the battlefield. He also dispatched all reconnaissance units to try to sneak into Taoyuan County tonight. After the attack on the city begins, be sure to protect the enemy's ammunition depot and supplies, and find a way to destroy the enemy's command center. At the same time, he sent out a telegram, requiring the first division to launch a general offensive and take down Yujia Ping.
Sun Xingbang and his political commissar Zhao Dahai were discussing how to take down Yujiaping at this time, when the division commander's telegram arrived. "Haha, Old Zhao, the division commander's order has come, what do you think about starting the attack at 1 o'clock in the afternoon?" Sun Xingbang said with a smile, holding the telegram.
"Alright, here's the plan: you lead the first battalion in a frontal assault, I'll take the second battalion from behind, and the third battalion will make a feint attack from both flanks. The artillery company will provide firepower support at all times." Commissar Zhao Dahai said.
Thus, the division began to move in an orderly manner, and soon all troops had moved into position. With Sun Xingbang's order, 12 mortars began a dense bombardment, and immediately the enemy's second line of defense was thrown into chaos. Under the mortar fire, the enemy immediately opened up their positions, ignoring their officers' shouts and screams, and began to flee desperately towards the rear. At this time, the fleeing enemy troops became targets for the heavy machine gun companies of each regiment, and as the machine guns continued to fire, those enemy troops were mowed down in batches.
The charge sounded, and all the automatic weapons on the second regiment's position sprayed fire tongues at the enemy's position. Under the strong firepower, the enemy's firepower was instantly suppressed, and everything went silent. At this time, the second regiment's assault team, led by the battalion commander, rushed towards the enemy's position. After a burst of hand grenades, there was no movement on the enemy's position. In this way, after paying the price of several wounded soldiers, the second regiment occupied the enemy's second line of defense.
The same thing happened on the position of the First Battalion, and under the intense artillery fire and dense firepower of the division, the remaining enemy forces of about two battalions were trapped in several courtyards of the brigade headquarters. The enemy brigade commander was constantly rallying his subordinates: "Brothers, the division commander is leading the reinforcement troops to arrive soon, we must hold on, if we surrender to the Communist army, when the division commander's reinforcement troops come over, we will be killed by a barrage of artillery fire."
"Brothers, in any case we'll all die, let's fight on, sworn to never surrender."
Under the encouragement of the enemy army's brigade commander, the remaining enemy troops suddenly boosted their morale, and the firepower of the blocking force suddenly became fierce. Sun Xingbang's continuous organization of several charges were repelled, and more than a dozen soldiers' bodies were lost.
"Commander, this won't do, our casualties are too heavy if we keep fighting like this." The political commissar Zhao Dahai reminded him.
"Damn it, these enemy troops are really asking for death! Commissar, notify the mortar company to come over. Damn it, let's blast this place flat!" The division commander said with a red face.
Soon, the 12 mortars were all aimed at the enemy-occupied courtyard. "Fire, I want you to blast these courtyards flat." The division commander, with red eyes, ordered the artillery company commander.
"Boom, boom, boom, boom............" With the continuous sound of artillery fire, a wave of wailing rose up in the courtyard. After 5 rounds of cannon fire, the courtyard returned to calmness, leaving only the task of clearing the battlefield. Soldiers carrying guns walked into the courtyard, and what came into view was a sentence of broken enemy corpses and severed limbs scattered all over the ground. Soon, the remaining few courtyards were cleared out, and the enemy army commander and two regiment commanders were all killed in the artillery bombardment.
"Commander, here are the battle results." Political Commissar Zhao Dahai excitedly handed a completed tally sheet to his partner.
"Annihilated two enemy regiments, totaling 3,800 people, captured a total of 800 people, the rest were all killed, our army died 56 people, seriously injured 21 people, lightly wounded around 300 people, the mortar shells brought almost exhausted, seized as follows:"
12 heavy machine guns, more than 30,000 rounds of ammunition for heavy machine guns, 50 light machine guns, and all the rest were destroyed by shells. There are over 2,000 rifles, pistols, and submachine guns, and the ammunition is still being counted.
In addition, one small enemy ammunition depot was captured, containing 1 million rounds of heavy machine gun bullets, 5 million rifle and light machine gun bullets, and 200,000 hand grenades.
Captured an enemy military warehouse, with a total of 1 million catties of grain and some other materials.
"Well, not bad. I didn't expect the enemy's two regiments to have so many supplies stored up. Indeed, they are the ace troops of the Hubei Army! Hehe, send a report to the division commander and say that our regiment has successfully completed its mission, annihilating all the defenders at Yujiaping and capturing countless spoils." Sun Xingbang smiled and ordered the communications officer beside him.
"Colonel, Sun Shilong has sent a telegram. They have annihilated the remaining garrison at Yujiaping and captured countless numbers." Upon hearing the commissar's telegram, Liu Hua smiled slightly. Of course, if his division couldn't even wipe out two regiments, what would be the point?
"Alright, order Commander Sun to have his troops rest at Yujiaping tonight. The specific task will be notified tomorrow. Tell him that he must do a good job with the captives and make sure the troops are full-strength so as not to affect the upcoming battle." Having said this, Liu Hua looked over at the Political Commissar.
"Also, let's separate the officers from the enemy prisoners and lock them up separately to prevent any trouble." Commissar Gao replied after some thought.
"All right, send out the telegram according to Commissar's intention." Liu Hua concluded with a commanding tone.
"Alright, comrades, now the First Division has taken down Yujiaping, hehe, now it's our turn to take down Taoyuan! Order the troops to hurry up and rest, start marching towards Taoyuan County at 12 midnight."
"Also, Chen Guangrong, select a few more honest ones from the captured enemy artillery battalion, to learn how to operate mountain guns. Get some of our soldiers to learn quickly, it must be done before 12 o'clock. Can you do that?" Liu Hua looked at Chen Guangrong beside him.
"Yes, Legion Commander, mission will be accomplished."
