Age of Conquest Reborn

Chapter 954: The Great Battle

The first battle in Nanning ended with the 314th Regiment of the Guangxi Army wiping out a Japanese regiment. This battle undoubtedly played a huge role in boosting the morale of the Guangxi Army and strengthening the confidence to defend Nanning. It also achieved what Bai Chongxi valued most.

With the goal of winning the first battle, Bai Chongxi, the commander-in-chief of Nanning City Defense, admired the superb command art displayed by regiment leader Wu Xiaoxian during the battle.{}

Such generals cannot be fixed in passively defensive trenches. They should be given greater command and arbitrary power. Therefore, as a colonel commander, Wu Xiaoxian commanded nearly a division of troops and moved freely around Nanning.

, Bai Chongxi gave him the greatest freedom and authority, and expected this young leader who has created miracles to give him more surprises.

The flames of war in Nanning that had been burning for several hours were extinguished. All the Gui Army troops were talking about this complete victory. There were also many mid-level commanders like Wu Xiaoxian who looked forward to creating such a miracle in future battles.

, became famous in Guijun, but the pressure in Bai Chongxi's heart has not eased at all. At the beginning, it was just a bargain, and the more cruel things are yet to come.

Tang Qiuli, who had already arrived in Guangzhou, was even more aware of this. The Japanese troops from six divisions were pressing forward across the entire line, clearly setting up a decisive battle posture in an attempt to eliminate the main force of the Gui army on the Nanning front line and open the road to Chongqing.

Such a situation at the gate made Tang Qiuli even more worried about the situation of the Gui army.

As for the Fifteenth Army of Yamashita Fengwen, the Japanese army that invaded Guangzhou in the north, it was worn down by Chutian's special operations detachment. It changed from the previous vigorous advancement to the current cautious and steady attack. Yamashita Fengwen was quite annoyed.

, Tang Qiuli believes that,

The only ones that can confront the Japanese army head-on are their own troops. Not the Gui Army, nor the Central Army. Regardless of the firepower configuration, the training level of the soldiers, and the command art, but in terms of the experience of fighting the Japanese army, the *** Division

No one in the army can surpass him.

Tang Qiuli planned to prepare a big bag for Yamashita Fengwen in the Guangzhou area, put it into the 15th Army, and beat the Japanese Southern Expeditionary Army, the craziest dog, to death with a stick. Ma Chaoyang's Southeast Mobile Corps and Feng Jiwu Corps

The six brigades formed the main body of the Guangzhou campaign. At present, the troops are basically in place and are waiting for the Japanese army to arrive.

Everything went according to his plan. Only Yu Hanmou really annoyed Tang Qiuli. He retreated nearly a thousand miles and scattered half of his troops. The Cantonese army assembled in Guangzhou only numbered about 70,000 people. Many of them even had heavy weapons.

If you get lost and can drag back a rifle, you are considered a good soldier.

Yu Hanmou cried many times and came to Tang Qiuli to complain. He kept asking for guns, money, and equipment for the same reason. The Guangdong army was now under Vice Chairman Tang, and he could not go to war with the Japanese empty-handed.

Try your best? Tang Qiuli saw through Yu Han

Carefully planning, he instructed Logistics Minister Zhang Quan to immediately transport the Japanese weapons in stock to Guangzhou according to the standards of the three divisions. These weapons were not used by the ** division troops anyway, and they were idle.

Yu Hanmou's troops can be considered useful.

Zhang Quan's efficiency was good. Within a few days, all the Japanese equipment of the three divisions were transported to Guangzhou. Yu Hanmou was so grateful that he almost burst into tears. He regarded Tang Qiuli as a living Bodhisattva. At Tang Qiuli's suggestion,

The Cantonese army was reorganized into four armies and marched to Zhaoqing and Yunfu in the northwest of Guangzhou. It served as the left wing of Guangzhou and cooperated with the progress of the Guangzhou Campaign.

Tang Qiuli only asked Yu Hanmou to stick to the above-mentioned area and not retreat under any circumstances. After receiving his order, he attacked decisively and surrounded the Japanese troops attacking Guangzhou near Guangzhou. Yu Hanmou said that he would resolutely implement the order of the Vice Chairman.

Even if the Cantonese army fights to the last man, it will never give up its position.

Yu Hanmou was satisfied with his troops and rushed to the northwest of Guangzhou to set up defenses. This guy's resolute attitude made Tang Qiuli uneasy. If the Guangdong army fled as soon as the Japanese army arrived, Guangzhou's left wing would completely collapse and the Japanese army would outflank Guangzhou.

The rear of the front-line ** division troops

Although the road would not be encircled, the plan to annihilate the enemy in the Guangzhou Campaign would come to naught. It would also be very difficult to contain the main force of the Japanese army from pressing towards Nanning indiscriminately. Therefore, Tang Qiuli issued an order to direct the remaining troops of the ** division to

Immediately go out to Wuzhou, Guangxi and wait for orders.

This was a precautionary measure. Tang Qiuli instinctively felt that Yu Hanmou's Cantonese army was unreliable. The staff office had suggested that the Cantonese army should not be used in the Guangzhou battle and be borne by the entire ** division. Taking into account the division commander's concerns,

However, Tang Qiuli himself could not explain why he sent the Guangdong army to the left wing. This decision later almost put the troops on the front line of Guangzhou in an extremely dangerous situation.

The troops of the ** Division were deployed on the front line in Guangzhou. Naturally, they could not hide it from the Japanese. The Japanese army base camp urgently discussed countermeasures. If Tang Qiu left the troops and did not join the war in the south, the Japanese would not be nervous. Since it was unavoidable, with the strength of the southern dispatched troops,

Unable to gain any advantage, the Japanese base camp finally decided to form the Guangxi Front Army based on the Japanese troops stationed in Taiwan and two divisions from China.

This front army has five divisions and 120,000 troops. The combat area is Guangdong and is not affiliated with the Southern Expeditionary Army. This troop deployment is obviously directed towards Tang Qiu. Temple Shouichi also regards it as a strategic

The Seventh Army of the reserve force was deployed in the direction of Guangdong. In this way, the Japanese troops concentrated in the direction of Guangdong amounted to three armies, plus one front army, with a strength of 460,000.

An unexpected change occurred in the battle situation in Guangdong. Behind Yamashita Fengfumi's Fifteenth Army, there were more than 300,000 Japanese troops, while in the direction of Guangxi, there were only the Japanese Third and Fourth Army, with more than 200,000 troops. The scale of the Nanning defense battle was

Compared to the Battle of Guangzhou, which was much smaller, Tang Qiuli once again changed the direction of the development of the southern war situation.

At this point, Tang Qiuli completed the task of containing the Japanese army. The Japanese army could not and did not dare to divide their troops in the direction of Nanning, Guangxi. Bai Chongxi could safely carry out the defense of Nanning. Tang Qiuli informed Bai Chongxi of this situation, and Bai Chongxi breathed a sigh of relief.

, what he is most worried about is attacking Guangdong

The Japanese troops in the east were no longer able to divide their forces and press on the right wing of Nanning. Bai Chongxi was relaxed, but Tang Qiuli's pressure increased sharply. For this reason, he ordered Tang Qiusheng's regiment in Wuhan to immediately go south to the front line of Changsha, Hunan, as a

The strategic reserve of the * division can join the Guangzhou battlefield at any time.

The southern battlefield has gradually formed two main battlefields, one is Nanning, Guangxi, and the second is Guangzhou, Guangdong. The Central Army deployed in Guizhou is still in a detached position of sitting on the mountain and watching the fight between tigers. The first one to start was the defense battle of Nanning.

.

On May 8th, the Nakagawa Division of the Japanese Third Army was the first to arrive at the outskirts of Nanning. Outside Nanning City, the Takashima Regiment that was killed by Take Xiaoxian's regiment was exactly the sequence of this division. The division commander, Lieutenant General Nakagawa Takeo,

I still can't figure out how this guy Takashima could be wiped out by China's local army, and the entire army was wiped out, with no one escaping. Nakagawa's wish to understand the battle was in vain.

However, although Nakagawa Takeo is more arrogant than Takashima, he is not as mindless and stupid as Takashima. Using an incomplete division to attack Nanning, which is heavily defended, is asking for trouble. Just look at the defenses outside Nanning.

The positions were not filled with enough troops from the two regiments of our own. The only thing we could do was to wait for the main force of the army to arrive.

From May 10th to 12th, the main forces of the Japanese Third Army and the Fourth Army gradually arrived at the outskirts of Nanning. As more than 200,000 Japanese troops gathered under the Nanning City, the 180,000 Gui Army soldiers guarding the city felt unprecedented pressure.

Under pressure, a war is about to break out.

At 5:30 in the morning on May 13th, the Japanese army launched a fierce attack from Shajing in the western suburbs of Nanning and Wuxu in the southern suburbs. At the same time, they sent a division of troops to the north of Nanning via Luancheng.

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The plan surrounded Nanning City on all sides. Bai Chongxi was already on guard. The Gui army guests guarding Luan City mixed into the first brigade and the Chongzuo Guard First Division, and started a fierce battle with the Japanese army. On May 13th, the front-line battle in Nanning began.

On this day, the Gui Army troops on the outer positions of Nanning really saw the ferocious firepower of the Japanese army. Lieutenant General Masaharu Honma, commander of the Japanese Third Army and commander of the Nanning Campaign, had no psychological burden on fighting the China-Guangxi Army.

In order to achieve the effect of the campaign, he concentrated two heavy artillery brigades and more than a thousand artillery pieces of various calibers from five artillery regiments, divided into two artillery groups, and carried out an overwhelming attack on the Guangxi Army's Nanning peripheral defense positions.

of shelling.

Countless artillery shells, with screams that tore the air, fell on the Gui army's position, and clouds of gunpowder smoke rose up. First, we saw earth flowers blooming, and then, rows of earth waves continued to rise, and the ground

As if being lifted up, there was a huge roar, with

The shock wave made people panic. The bunkers and bunkers made of sandbags, soil, and logs could not withstand such intensive artillery fire. The gravel and soil flew into the air, mixed with the broken limbs of the Gui army soldiers, and the smoke filled the air.

, covering the rising sun.

Nanning trembled in the smoke and fire. With violent explosions, the steel fragments, with a metallic trembling sound, whirled and cut into the bodies of the Gui soldiers. A shell fell, and the bodies of several Gui soldiers were high up.

Throwing up, the fortifications and trenches collapsed and filled up under the intensive artillery fire, the barbed wire was torn into sections of wire, the earth was shaking, and the artificial buildings were helplessly destroyed amidst the raging steel.

The bombardment lasted for a full hour and a half, and tens of thousands of tons of steel were poured onto the Guangxi Army's positions. Masaharu Honma led a large number of senior generals to observe the effects of the bombardment on a high ground outside Nanning City. Your Excellency, Commander

Today’s outfit,

The extra cool look, the army-green general's cloak, the snow-white gloves, the motionless stance, and the expression that seemed to have everything under control all explained his mood at the moment. As the bombardment lasted longer, Honma Masaharu's expression

, becoming more and more proud.

(To be continued)