RPAGF Chapter 188: Tightening the Encirclement
Chapter 188: Tightening the Encirclement
"Captain, where are we going now?" asked another battalion commander.
Now he didn't know the situation of the main force, and they were unfamiliar with the place after entering Nanchuan, so he thought it would be better to follow the arrangements of the regiment commander.
The head of the regiment’s family was named Gu Weiyuan. He was born into a large family, had attended military school, and was quite capable.
After thinking for a moment, Gu Weiyuan said coldly: "Let's go to Nanxi County."
"Go to Nanxi County?" The battalion commander was puzzled.
Didn't they say that the main force was under fire and the situation was unclear, so they temporarily left the battlefield and investigated the situation later? Why did they have to follow the order and attack Nanxi County again?
Gu Weiyuan explained: "The troops just now should be the Nanxi garrison."
"Since they are going to support the battlefield, there should be few defenders left in Nanxi City. Now is the time to capture Nanxi County."
After listening to Gu Weiyuan's explanation, several battalion commanders couldn't help but nod in agreement.
After the plan was ready, they did not hesitate and quickly headed towards Nanxi County.
At this time, on the north bank, in a cannon pit, the division commander of the Yunshan Army on the north bank was hiding in it.
The bombardment had lasted for nearly an hour. Although the Yunshan troops who had crossed the river were far away, they still suffered heavy losses. Facing the bombardment, human power was not enough to resist.
The division commander spat out a few mouthfuls of mud, carefully hid in the crater, and instructed the officer beside him: "When the enemy stops shelling, you quickly go out and gather the brothers on the north bank."
"Once the shelling stops, the enemy will surely launch an attack on us."
"Yes, Commander." Several officers beside him also agreed with the Commander's analysis. For the sake of their lives, they were naturally very active.
On the south bank, the 801st, 802nd and 803rd Regiments had repelled the Yunshan Army's several attacks on the front line.
The Yunshan army suffered much greater losses on the south bank than on the north bank due to their dense formation.
In order to avoid the artillery fire, they naturally retreated to the rear. Behind them were the defense lines of the 801st, 802nd and 803rd Regiments. In order to survive, the Yunshan Army naturally behaved very crazy.
Under this desperate attack, the three regiments also felt tremendous pressure, especially the 803rd Regiment.
Because the 803rd Regiment was far away from this position, when they arrived here, some people were retreating in this direction.
The commander of the 803rd Regiment immediately led his men in a charge, repelled these people, hastily arranged a line of defense, and set up machine gun positions.
The machine gun position had just been set up when it was attacked fiercely by the enemy, who were quite brave. If it had not been for their excellent equipment and elite soldiers, the enemy would have broken through their defense line.
Commander Liu, who led his men to attack the position, had a gloomy face and looked quite helpless.
He evacuated with the guard regiment, but encountered enemy resistance and had to change direction, but encountered enemy again. He had no choice but to continue changing direction, during which time Division Commander Liu gathered a lot of troops.
They chose to retreat in the third direction, which went smoothly at first and they did not encounter any enemy positions. However, an enemy force rushed out and attacked them.
Because a lot of troops were gathered, Division Commander Liu was in the rear of the troops, and the Guard Regiment was in the front to open the way.
As a result, the guard regiment rushed out, but Commander Liu was still trapped in the encirclement.
Commander Liu couldn't help but feel sad. Why was his life so miserable? The Guards Regiment and another unit rushed out, but he was the only one left behind.
At this time, an officer came up to persuade him: "Liu, we can't do this. The enemy's firepower is too strong. The brothers have suffered heavy losses. We can't fight anymore."
Liu was quite helpless, as the regiment commander was not originally his subordinate, but was recruited on the road. He obeyed Liu's orders because Liu's rank was higher than his.
Although they obey Commander Liu, these people are definitely not as obedient as Commander Liu's direct subordinates when executing orders.
Commander Liu sighed and said to the regiment commander and other officers around him.
"After the enemy's shelling ends, we will retreat and gather the remaining troops. The more brothers we gather, the greater our hope of survival."
"Although the enemy has set up a defense line in this area, if we gather all our brothers together, we can still break out."
"Besides, there are still many brothers on the north bank. At worst, we can cross the river to the north bank and deal with the enemy."
Now that they were surrounded by the enemy and the situation was serious, several regimental commanders and other officers had no objection to Commander Liu's arrangement and nodded, indicating that it was feasible.
The shelling of the Yunshan Army on both sides of the strait lasted for an hour. When the shelling ended, the commanders of the 7th and 8th divisions issued orders to all units to narrow the encirclement.
Because there was the Nanguan River on one side, there was no need to worry about the enemy escaping, and shortening the encirclement was also carried out in a step-by-step manner.
Push forward one defense circle, then withdraw from the next defense circle, and repeat this process.
As the troops of the 7th and 8th Divisions advanced step by step, the two division commanders on the north and south banks entered the inner plains and began to integrate their troops.
Although the pontoon bridge was damaged, it was still usable, and the two division commanders quickly got in touch.
On the south bank, Division Commander Liu called several regiment commanders and said, "Everyone, Division Commander Zhang on the north bank is also organizing troops for defense."
"Besides, the floating bridge on the Nanguang River is still usable. Even if we are surrounded by the enemy, we are still capable of fighting."
Encouraged by Commander Liu, many officers looked much better and were no longer as panicked as before.
An officer said: "Don't worry, Commander Liu, we all trust you and will obey your orders and break out of the enemy's encirclement."
"Yes, yes, Commander Liu, rest assured, we will definitely follow your orders."
As these officers expressed their opinions, Division Commander Liu also breathed a sigh of relief. Most of these people were not his subordinates, and if they did not obey his orders, he could do nothing about it.
"Now, all units go to the entire army and count the troops. We must act quickly. The enemy's shelling has stopped, and I think they will attack us soon."
"Yes, Commander Liu." The officers responded and went to gather the troops and count the number of people.
Commander Zhang on the north bank was doing the same thing.
It took more than half an hour for the troops on both sides to be integrated. There were still 23,000 people left on the south bank and more than 10,000 people on the north bank.
Commander Liu was thinking about how to lead his troops out of the encirclement when a regimental commander came to report.
"Commander, the enemy is surrounding us, and they are only about 500 meters away from us."
Commander Liu decisively ordered: "Divide the troops into three parts, deploy 6,000 men on each of the left and right wings, and 8,000 men on the main position in the middle."
"The remaining 3,000 people will serve as a reserve force to support various battlefields."
"The left wing battlefield is under the command of Regiment Commander Wang Linhai, the right wing battlefield is under the command of Gou Yunquan, and the center is under the command of Chief of Staff Ren Yanbin."
"Let them quickly set up fortifications and dig trenches to resist the enemy's attack."
"Yes, commander." The officer immediately went to convey the order.
After receiving the order, all the troops immediately started to move and began to set up the defense line. However, while they were digging trenches, the Eighth Division launched an attack on the Yunshan Army on the south bank.
The effective range of a general-purpose machine gun is 800 meters, and the two sides are 500 meters apart. The Yunshan Army is a complete sitting duck for the Eighth Division.
The Yunshan troops who were digging trenches fell down in large numbers and had no choice but to continue retreating.