Chapter 368: Laying mines in front of the position!
Meng Fanle naturally understood what Cun Yunsheng said. He was no longer the same Meng Fan as before.

Both my vision and everything else have been greatly improved.

"Sir, I understand what you said, but I still suggest you proceed step by step." Meng Fanle advised again.

"Well, the enemy won't give us too much time. We must speed up. To be honest, I can't wait for the aircraft carrier to be launched immediately. The Japanese navy is putting too much pressure on us." Cun Yunsheng said with a wry smile.

Hearing this, Meng Fan didn't know what to say.

"Even though they have suffered heavy losses now, they are still a huge monster to us. It is still very difficult for us to deal with them." Cun Yunsheng said as he lit a cigarette, feeling depressed.

"But fortunately, if we hold on for a while longer, we can get into the water."

Fortunately, the carrier-based aircraft at that time were all propeller fighters. If they were replaced with jet fighters, it would be difficult to go to sea in a month or two.

"What's the situation in the Ninth War Zone?" Cun Yunsheng realized that he had lost his composure and immediately changed the subject.

"The combat effectiveness of the Kwantung Army is indeed very strong. At the moment, the situation is not very good. If it weren't for our fighter planes, I'm afraid we would have no advantage at all." Meng Fan shook his head. It was obvious that he was not optimistic about this battle.

"Then we need to increase our support and ensure absolute air superiority. As long as we take down these elite divisions, we can then enter the strategic counterattack phase." Cun Yunsheng said.

After consuming these five elite divisions, the Japanese army might not be able to draw more elite troops.

At that time, we can indeed consider a strategic counterattack.

Unless the Japanese army is willing to give up other areas.

Otherwise, the Japanese army would have been in decline.

So what we need to do now is to persevere. As long as we hold on, there is still hope.

"I understand." Meng Fan nodded.

.........

Jiangcheng, after the five Japanese divisions arrived, they took a short rest and then began to attack.

The 9th Division was the first to move south, capturing Yueyang and other places as quickly as possible, and opening up a passage to Changsha.

At the same time, troops were deployed in Yueyang, Leiluo and Pingjiang.

In addition, the 14th Division attacked Yiyang westwards.

Attempting to encircle Changsha from two directions.

I have to say that this move by the Japanese army was indeed ruthless.

Once Yiyang is lost.

This means that Changsha City’s northern defense will be in a very passive position.

Therefore, there was no other choice but Xue Yue to urgently dispatch the First Army to provide reinforcements.

The First Army was mainly composed of the Yunnan Army's 58th Army and the New Third Army.

The unit's original assembly area was in northern Jiangxi, but during the previous Battle of Changsha, it participated in the flank attack on the Japanese troops in the main battlefield.

The Yunnan Army had a tenacious fighting style and performed outstandingly in the early days of the War of Resistance against Japan because it was equipped with French weapons (the Yuwangshan blocking battle in the Battle of Xuzhou).

However, due to the loss of advanced equipment, combat effectiveness began to decline.

At this time, the Ninth War Zone was mainly responsible for the auxiliary tasks of harassing and flanking the Japanese army.

Originally they would not be transferred to the main battlefield, but there was no way, as Xue Yue now had few available troops.

So you have to go.

Sun Du, commander of the 58th Yunnan Army, was answering a call from Xue Yue at this moment.

"According to relevant intelligence, the 14th Division of the Japanese Army is rushing towards Yiyang, so what you have to do is to stop the Japanese army outside Yiyang City and not allow a single Japanese soldier to enter Yiyang City." Xue Yue said.

"Please rest assured, sir. I will not let a single Japanese soldier pass unless they step over my body," Sun Du assured.

"Okay, I believe you. You must hold on for seven days. Don't be afraid of casualties. I will replenish you with as much as you lose after the war." Xue Yue reminded again.

"Also, you can always ask me for air support."

"Please rest assured, sir. As long as we are on the battlefield, the battlefield will be destroyed." Sun Du said again.

"Pass the order down and prepare for battle." Sun Du fearlessly ordered the troops to prepare to meet the enemy.

"Tell the brothers to carry forward the glorious tradition of our Yunnan Army, not to fear sacrifice, and to fight the Japanese army to the bitter end."

"Yes, General." Liu Zhengfu, commander of the newly formed 58th Division of the 10th Army, responded immediately.

"Damn it, the Japanese are finally here. It's just right to use them as a sacrifice. My hands are itching to do so." When Lu Daoyuan, the commander of the newly formed 11th Division, received the order, he immediately burst into laughter.

Sun Du was still very confident in stopping the Japanese. Although the 58th Army had suffered heavy losses in the previous battle, Xue Yue had replenished it with a group of soldiers and a regiment of American equipment, so the combat effectiveness of the troops recovered quickly.

More importantly, they can also call for air support, which was something they never dared to imagine before.

Therefore, it would not be easy for the Japanese army to cross his defense line.

"Report to the commander-in-chief, a group of Japanese soldiers are coming from the north of Yiyang City and are marching rapidly towards our position." At this time, the communications staff came in and reported loudly.

"I'm finally here. My hands are cold. Order the troops to prepare for battle." Sun Du rubbed his hands and said with a breath.

It's winter now, so the weather is very cold.

The Japanese soldiers that attacked were from the 14th Division, which was one of the permanent divisions of the Japanese Army, a Type A division with very strong combat effectiveness.

The division commander was Lieutenant General Mitsuki Kawabane and the chief of staff was Colonel Shuo Nakagawa.

It originally had four infantry regiments, namely the 4nd, 2th, 15th and 50th Regiments. At the end of 59, the 1939th Infantry Regiment was incorporated into the 50th Division, the brigade headquarters was abolished, and it became a three-unit division.

Although it is only a division headquarters of three units, its combat effectiveness is definitely not weak because most of them are veterans.

But he was always kept in the Kwantung Army's territory and had no chance to play.

At this moment, the position of the newly formed 10th Division was met by the 15th Regiment of the Japanese Army, which immediately launched a fierce attack, using grenade launchers, mortars, and Type infantry guns to bombard the positions of the nd Brigade.

For a while, the entire newly formed 10th Division was a little confused. Normally, it was impossible for the Japanese to expose all their firepower. They would release it slowly. This was the first time that they exposed their firepower all at once.

As soon as the division commander Liu Zhengfu saw this situation, he knew something was wrong.

In particular, the Japanese attack was extremely fierce, causing some chaos in the frontline positions.

The main reason is that most of his troops are new recruits. After all, they have been fighting at a high intensity, and the veterans are consumed too quickly.

Otherwise, the 58th Army would not have been assigned to assist in the attack.

It is because the veterans have consumed too much energy, their combat effectiveness has declined, and they are unable to serve as assault troops.

What's more, many recruits are encountering such a fierce battle for the first time, and if it is a command mistake,

I'm afraid it will collapse soon.

Thinking of this, Liu Zhengfu immediately ordered his troops to increase their firepower output.

At the same time, they requested artillery reinforcements. Unfortunately, the Japanese artillery fire was obviously stronger than theirs.

Moreover, the Japanese army received a death order to capture Yiyang as soon as possible.

Complete the siege of Changsha city.

Therefore, the Japanese artillery attacked the frontline positions of the newly formed 10th Division very fiercely, and at the same time, the infantry slowly advanced and began to swarm and attack quickly with the help of the barrage.

The Japanese 14th Division is indeed an elite force. Its attack speed is very fast and its formation is not at all disordered. It is obviously an elite division.

Working in groups of three, mortars, grenade launchers, light and heavy machine guns fired simultaneously, and they quickly moved their positions in a minute at most, preventing the firepower advantage of the defenders' positions from causing much damage.

"As expected of the Japanese Army's Type A division, their tactical coordination is sophisticated and their attacks are well-organized. They are totally incomparable to those second-line divisions." Liu Zhengfu was very surprised to see the Japanese Army's attack was so sharp.

He had fought with the Japanese army several times, so he naturally knew their combat effectiveness.

Especially during the Battle of Wuhan, the elite Japanese troops opened his eyes to how powerful they were.

In particular, the veteran Type A divisions have strong combat effectiveness and high individual soldier quality.

Completely crushing them by several levels.

More importantly, the Japanese army’s shooting skills were very accurate.

Except for those veterans who were killed by artillery bombs, the rest were shot by Japanese rifles.

Of course, he knew the information about the 14th Division.

The attacks are sharp, fierce and experienced, and both tactical and shooting movements are accurate and fast.

The Type 38 rifle was used to its fullest extent in their hands.

At one point, his front-line troops were almost on the verge of collapse.

Especially the casualties, which are quite significant.

Many recruits were shot in the head by the Japanese army.

"Go and call the regiment commander." Liu Zhengfu shouted to the soldiers beside him.

After a while, a regiment commander came running over breathlessly: "Master, what do you want from me?"

"Let me ask you, have you buried mines in front of your position?" Liu Zhengfu said to the regiment commander with sharp eyes.

"Yes, they are buried. They are all landmines. There are a total of 300 of them buried." The regiment commander felt a little guilty after being stared at by Liu Zhengfu, and said slowly.

"It would be better if there were more. Then we can surround the position."

"Yes, then you can be a coward, how great that is, the Japanese army won't dare to come." Liu Zhengfu said sarcastically.

If it were in the past, this would definitely be a compliment.

But looking at Liu Fugui's expression, he knew without hesitation that he was definitely dissatisfied with his performance just now.

So the regiment commander could only lower his head and dare not say a word. He knew that he did not fight well just now. Although he had powerful firepower, he was suppressed by the Japanese. Instead, his side lost a lot of manpower. It was no wonder that the division commander did not look at him well. If it were him, he would have wanted to shoot him.

Fortunately, Liu Fugui understood that there were many new recruits in the army and did not say much, otherwise it would definitely not be a few harmless words, but would have scolded him to the point of shame.

"I assigned most of the division's light and heavy machine guns to you, and you beat me like this?"

"The order we received was to hold the position for seven days. How long has it been now?" Liu Zhengfu picked up the telescope and cursed.

He said again in a serious tone: "Go, order the troops to reduce the firepower, create an illusion that the Japanese army's firepower has been reduced, put the Japanese in front of them, and then detonate the mines to give these damn Japanese a good beating."

"Yes!" The regiment leader went down obediently to carry out the order.

The frontline troops quickly executed Liu Zhengfu's orders, and the firepower on the position gradually weakened. The attacking Japanese reacted quickly. Judging from the gunshots, the defenders should be running out of ammunition.

He immediately took the opportunity to press forward and soon arrived near the barbed wire.

"Look carefully, these Japanese devils are well-trained and have strong combat effectiveness. Fortunately, you were allowed to lay the mines in advance, otherwise we might not be able to hold out for a day this time, and by then you and I would definitely lose our heads." Liu Zhengfu broke out in a cold sweat when he saw this scene. When he was arranging the defense line, he had thought about placing some mines on the front line to delay the actions of the Japanese army.

He didn't expect that it would actually be used now. This was really beyond his expectations.

If it weren't for that unintentional action at the beginning, I would probably be in trouble now.

"Commander, the Kwantung Army is indeed extraordinary. It is well-trained and has a very accurate grasp of combat opportunities." A regiment commander said with emotion.

Liu Zhengfu rolled his eyes, said nothing, and continued to observe the front.

Only now do I realize that there is a huge gap between the Japanese devils before and them.

I don’t know what this guy is thinking.

This is the Kwantung Army.

They are absolutely elite. The morale of the troops is very good and their combat effectiveness is very strong. In addition, some of them are veterans and with a little training, their combat effectiveness will not be greatly affected.

"Captain!" Liu Zhengfu shouted loudly as he watched the Japanese slowly approaching the front line.

"Yes!" The regiment commander who had been waiting on the side took the detonator himself and pressed it hard.

Suddenly, a series of explosions sounded in front of the position, and the violent explosions directly sent the charging Japanese troops into the sky.

Smoke and dust engulfed the entire position. When the smoke cleared, the original figures of the Japanese soldiers completely disappeared in front of the position.

There were broken limbs everywhere, countless bloodstains dyed the gravel red, and some disgusting internal organs were hanging on the barbed wire.

Many recruits couldn't help but vomit when they saw this scene.

Liu Zhengfu frowned slightly. He was indeed a new recruit and his ability to learn things was still a little lacking.

On the other hand, the Japanese army did not expect that someone would lay mines in front of their position, which clearly showed that they wanted to defend to the end.

And more importantly, the other party deliberately reduced its firepower.

Let them think that the firepower is insufficient, so they increase the intensity of the attack.

Who knew that the moment the two squadrons stepped onto the battlefield, it meant that they were about to meet Amaterasu.

"Damn, these are a bunch of cunning Chinese soldiers." The division commander, Lieutenant General Kawabami Michi, looked at the explosion in the distance, unable to hide the anger on his face.

He didn't expect that they would place mines in front of the position. This was really insidious.

When did these Chinese troops learn such cunning tactics?
"Mr. Division Commander, should we suspend the attack?" Chief of Staff Colonel Shuo Nakagawa asked with some concern.

Losing two squadrons at once was a huge blow.

"No, continue the attack. We must take Yiyang as soon as possible and surround Changsha city." Lieutenant General Kawanami Mi shook his head. They didn't have much time left. They had to speed up the attack and must not stop.

"However, the loss of two squadrons at one time will have a great impact on morale." Chief of Staff Colonel Shuo Nakagawa hesitated.

They are no longer a four-unit division, but only a three-unit division. The loss of two squadrons is already a huge loss.

(End of this chapter)