Chapter 46: The Great Battle of Mianhu (5)

  Heshun County (now Jinhe Town), Chen Jun's command center.

  Commander Wang Dinghua looked at the map with a smile on his face.

  The vanguard troops he led had already crossed the river ahead and reached the area of Mianhu Town, but his command post was at a certain distance from the front line. This is because warlords often set up their own command posts outside the range of the front line for their own safety.

  "Commander, our five regiments with over 3,000 men have surrounded the Wa Army's one regiment with over 600 men. The regiment has retreated into the village. Another group of the Wa Army has also retreated into the village and is now facing off against us. This group of the Wa Army has over 1,000 men and appears to be their main force." The deputy officer walked up to Wang Dinghua's side and reported on the situation at the front lines.

  "Alright, convey my orders. The troops will first encircle and annihilate the Wa Army, then launch an attack on the remaining forces of the Wa Army. In this first battle, we must emerge victorious and let Commander Lin see the combat effectiveness of our troops." Wang Dinghua said excitedly.

  "Yes." The deputy officer hastily saluted and walked out towards the outside.

  In an unknown village, the villagers had all run away, and even the things in their homes were not collected. Sun Xinghua's three battalions had retreated here, completely losing contact with the regiment headquarters.

  Flanking attacks are much easier than frontal assaults, but the risks undertaken are also great, as flanking troops often fall into the enemy's encirclement.

  Especially now, the enemy has more than 20,000 troops, while we have only over 2,000 people here.

  Sun Xinghua felt that he had made a fatal mistake as soon as he launched the attack, which was to bring his machine gun squad along. Although the machine gun squad could enhance the combat effectiveness of the troops, its speed was slow during retreats.

  "Regimental Commander, now we break out, there should still be hope." Party Representative Zheng Dongguo looked at Chen Jun's encirclement that had not yet been completed and put forward his own suggestion.

  Sun Xinghua shook his head, pointing to the outside of the village and said: "The machine gun company is equipped with heavy weapons. Unless we destroy the heavy weapons of the machine gun company, it will be impossible for them to break through. Once we lose the machine gun company, our troops will be equivalent to cutting off half of their combat effectiveness. Moreover, even if we break through, we will suffer heavy losses and have no impact on the overall situation."

  "What does 'Ying Zhang' mean?" Zheng Dongguo looked at Sun Xinghua and asked with a puzzled expression.

  "Hold the village, we break out, may not be able to hold back many enemies. But holding the current village is like a fish bone in the throat, it won't kill him, but it will make him suffer greatly. Our position is very important, if the enemy wants to attack Mianhu, they must take us down first, as long as we hold the village, there's still hope to hold on till the end." Sun Xinghua said seriously.

  The troops were surrounded, and breaking through the siege was not what Sun Xinghua wanted. What he wanted now was to make the most of his own military strength and play the greatest role.

  After careful consideration, Sun Xinghua decided to defend the village.

  Now Sun Xinghua's entire camp has sixteen heavy machine guns, forty-eight light machine guns (thirty-six Browning automatic rifles, twelve Madsen light machine guns), four 75MM field artillery, six 37MM infantry guns, eighty-five Thompson submachine guns. With such firepower to defend the village, there is no problem at all.

  Of course, the most important point is that Chen Jiongming's troops had very few artillery and heavy weapons, mostly relying on rifles.

  If it were the US military, or even the Japanese military, Sun Xinghua would not have made the decision to defend the village, because the artillery of the US and Japanese militaries could completely flatten the village. However, Chen's troops, even if they let their artillery bombard for three days, might not be able to destroy the village, let alone Sun Xinghua's ten cannons which were not just for show.

  Inside the village shrine, it has become the command post of Sun Xinghua's Third Regiment.

  Four battalion commanders brought party representatives and all rushed over.

  "The situation is now critical, I won't say more. We must defend the village and strike at Chen Jun's troops. Now I give you orders, remember them firmly." Sun Xinghua looked at the officers and said another sentence.

  The situation was critical, and Sun Xinghua couldn't care about military democracy anymore, so he directly issued an order.

  "1. The village is divided into three areas, the main streets are defended by machine gun companies and heavy machine guns, while light machine guns provide cover. The artillery company sets up an artillery position to cover the entire village's defensive forces."

  "2. Each company will hold its position in the village houses, with each platoon in contact with each other and under the unified command of the battalion. The distance between platoons shall not exceed 10 meters. Each company's machine gun platoon is responsible for covering the area within its own sector."

  "3. Each link controls a certain number of reserve teams, forming a strike group, used to counterattack the enemy or support frontline combat."

  "4. Draw one infantry squad from each company, and one light machine gun squad from the machine gun company, to form a battalion reserve in conjunction with the headquarters guard platoon."

  Sun Xinghua pointed at the map and quickly gave orders.

  "Battalion Commander. Are we no longer defending the outer perimeter?" The officers looked at Sun Xinghua in stunned silence, while Company Commander Shen Jian asked his own question.

  At this time, the troops were mainly stationed on the periphery or city walls for combat, and rarely engaged in street fighting. Even during World War II, Chinese troops rarely emphasized street fighting, but it was often the case that street fighting could bring out enormous defensive capabilities.

  Whether it was the Hengyang Defense War or the Changde Conference, the troops of the 10th Army and the 57th Division fully utilized street fighting to inflict heavy casualties on the Japanese army and complete the impossible defensive battle.

  "Abandon the outer positions and concentrate all forces within the village for defense." Sun Xinghua said solemnly.

  Each battalion commander looked at each other, but didn't say anything, because they believed in Sun Xinghua!

  Each company commander hastily saluted and returned to make preparations.

  On the two main streets in the village, ten heavy machine guns and twelve light machine guns of the company's machine gun platoon were all deployed on them. According to Sun Xinghua's opinion, they all formed a mother-child fortress to attack the attacking enemy army.

  The troops outside the village, led by Chen Jun, did not rush to launch an attack, but instead actively made preparations. Two old-fashioned cannons were also moved to the front line, preparing to use these two cannons to strike at the defending army inside the village.

  The officers of Chen Jun's troops on the front line were busy deploying troops and making preparations for an attack.

  At one o'clock in the afternoon, Chen Jun's troops began their first attack after lunch.

  Nearly two thousand troops slowly moved out of the village from all sides and launched an attack on the village.