boyutpedia Chapter 513: The Second Phase of Operation Begins
Chapter 513: The Second Phase of Operation Begins
What is even more incredible is that the Military Commission and the Fifth War Zone Command were too confident in their own judgment of the Japanese army and did not study any plans for fighting in Hexi. Not only did they not set up defenses in Nanzhang and other counties, but the defensive forces in Yichang were also very small.
The transport brigade formed by Lieutenant General Kazuichiro Sonobe, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, delivered more than a thousand tons of supplies and ammunition at one time to the three divisions that were resting in the Zaoyang area under heavy protection, and all the new recruits who had recently arrived from the mainland were added to the three divisions.
This series of actions by Lieutenant General Kazuichiro Sonobe, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, enabled the three divisions that had suffered heavy losses in the first phase in the Zaoyang area to recover a lot of combat capabilities in a very short period of time.
So, on the evening of the last day of May, the 39th Division of the Japanese Army suddenly launched an artillery bombardment on the defensive positions of the Fifth War Zone on the west bank of the Han River for one and a half hours. This bombardment blew the defensive positions of the Fifth War Zone on the west bank of the Han River into pieces, and the Chinese troops defending the positions also suffered certain losses.
When the shelling of the Japanese 39th Division was about to end, the attack force of the 39th Division, which had been prepared long ago, took advantage of the cover of night and began to force a crossing of the Han River in rubber boats.
When the 39th Division of the Japanese Army began to force a crossing of the Han River, the 3rd Division of the Japanese Army also launched an attack operation to force a crossing of the Han River in the southeast direction of Xiangyang after fierce artillery preparation.
There were not many defensive forces in the Fifth War Zone of the Chinese government on the west bank of the Han River. In addition, the long and fierce artillery preparation by the Japanese army before the forced crossing destroyed most of the original fortifications. This made it impossible for the Chinese defense forces on the west bank of the Han River to stop the Japanese army's comprehensive river crossing attack.
The 39th and 3rd Divisions of the Japanese Army basically did not encounter strong resistance from the defensive forces of the Fifth War Zone on the west bank, and successfully completed the combat goal of crossing the Han River. As the Japanese vanguard attack forces crossed the Han River, the engineering troops of the 39th and 3rd Divisions of the Japanese Army built a pontoon bridge on the Han River.
After a busy night, the 39th and 3rd Divisions of the Japanese Army completely crossed the Han River in the early morning of the next day. The speed of advancement was astonishing. The 13th Division of the Japanese Army also followed behind and crossed the Han River.
Lieutenant General Kazuichiro Sonobe, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, also learned from the experience and lessons of the harassment of the attacking troops' rear by the troops of the Fifth War Zone of the Chinese government during the first phase of the operation. He specially dispatched the 40th Division to carry out a "mopping-up" mission in the Dahongshan area where the Chinese army was hiding, to ensure the safety of the rear.
At the same time, Lieutenant General Kazuichiro Sonobe, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, retained the Ogawa Detachment and the Kurahashi Detachment from the combat sequence of the previous attacking forces to take on the task of guarding the mobile military stations and prevent the Chinese army from harassing the logistics supply lines.
It can be said that the commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, Lieutenant General Sonobe Kazuichiro, has taken into account all possible considerations and made all the preparations he can. The rest depends on the performance of the three divisions themselves.
After the 39th and 3rd Divisions of the Japanese Army began large-scale shelling of the defensive positions of the Fifth War Zone troops on the west bank of the Han River, the Chinese Military Commission and the Fifth War Zone Command realized that their previous judgment had been wrong. The Japanese Army was determined to force the start of the second phase of the operation regardless of the consequences.
However, now is not the time to lament the Japanese army's stubbornness. The important thing now is to find a way to stop the Japanese army from crossing the Han River. Therefore, the Military Commission urgently ordered the troops of the Fifth War Zone to be redivided into left and right corps.
The commander of the left wing corps was Li Jun, commander-in-chief of the Fifth War Zone, and it was under the command of the Second Army, the 22nd Army, the 31st Army and the 68th Army.
The right wing corps was under the unified command of Commander Chen, Minister of the Political Department of the Military Commission of the Huaxia Government, and was composed of the 33rd Army Group, the 29th Army Group, and the Jiang Defense Army.
The Military Commission ordered Commander Li to command the left wing corps to attack the rear of the Japanese troops on Xianghua Road, Jingzhong Road and Hanyi Road, cut off their supply and communication lines, and send troops to attack the Japanese troops crossing the river between Xiangyang and Yicheng to support the operations of the right corps.
He ordered Commander Chen to command the troops of the right wing corps, whose main task was to defend Yichang. At the same time, he decided to reincorporate the 75th Army and the 94th Army into the organization of the Jiang Defense Army. Then, in view of the fact that there were too few troops west of the Han River, Commander Chen requested that his own troops, the 18th Army, which was currently undergoing training in Sichuan Province, be urgently shipped to Yichang by ship to take on the task of defending Yichang. He also requested that the new 22nd Army be transferred from the 9th War Zone as the reserve of his right wing corps to assist the 18th Army in guarding Yichang.
After the end of the Battle of Southern Guangxi, the New 22nd Army was retaken by Commander Xue of the Ninth War Zone and joined the combat sequence of the Ninth War Zone. When the transfer order of the Military Commission and Commander Chen's telegram arrived at the headquarters of the New 22nd Army, Commander Huang immediately ordered the entire army to concentrate and rush to Yichang to participate in the battle.
The New 22nd Army is now resting and replenishing in Shaoyang area of Hunan Province. After receiving the combat order, the various units of the New 22nd Army quickly gathered together. However, it will take some time for the New 22nd Army to reach Yichang designated by Commander Chen.
However, the Japanese troops that had crossed the Han River took advantage of the fact that the Chinese government's Fifth War Zone had a lack of troops west of the Han River and advanced very quickly. The night the Japanese attack troops crossed the river, they broke through the defense line of the 41st Army of the right wing corps of the Chinese Fifth War Zone. Then the 39th Division and the 3rd Division of the Japanese Army immediately attacked southward in parallel.
The rapid attack to the south by the 39th and 3rd Divisions of the Japanese Army entered the rear of the 33rd Army. The original front of the 33rd Army was to the east, so it had to change its defensive front from east to north to resist the Japanese attack. However, the hasty change of the 33rd Army threw the troops into chaos. The two Japanese divisions took advantage of the chaos of the 33rd Army to launch a fierce attack, defeating the various units of the 33rd Army one by one, and quickly captured Nanzhang and Yicheng, forming a pincer attack on Jingmen and Dangyang from the north and south.
Faced with the aggressive Japanese army, Commander Chen, the commander of the right wing corps, also rushed to Yichang to stabilize the morale of the army. Seeing that the Japanese army had captured Nanzhang and Yicheng, he immediately ordered the 33rd Army, which had suffered heavy casualties in the first phase of the battle with the Japanese army, to resist step by step and delay the Japanese army attacking from Nanzhang and Yicheng to the south.