HCB Chapter 234: Fierce Fighting on the Second Front
Chapter 234: Fierce Fighting on the Second Front
Even if the Northern Government temporarily maintains the alliance in order to eliminate the Nanshan Army, the two Nanshan Armies in the rear are not pushovers.
Although they were prepared for defense, they were ultimately fighting deep in the enemy's territory and had limited supplies.
Once their supplies are cut off, they will be trapped.
Although the ammunition consumption is high now, it is still within an acceptable range. After all, the 400,000 troops carry enough ammunition, and the participating troops are only six divisions.
The food consumption of 400,000 people is not a small number. In order to avoid being defeated one by one in the attack on Nanshan, most of the forces of the North and South armies were concentrated together, and not many troops were left behind.
Once the food is almost consumed, it will be a huge disaster if the Nanshan Army cuts off their supplies.
Chang Yunxian sighed: "We are in a difficult situation now."
It has taken more than four days to capture the first of Xinyuan's four lines of defense, and it is unknown when the last line will be captured.
Even if we break through the four fronts, we still need to capture Xinyuan City.
"I wonder if Commander Chang has any good ideas?" Wu Peisheng also sighed.
Wu Peisheng thought more. Chang Yunxian could ignore the casualties of the soldiers, but Wu Peisheng could not.
In the last battle, plus the subsequent raid by the Nanshan Army on Sanjiang Province, the Northern Government had lost more than 200,000 troops.
Although the Northern Government has been expanding its army and recruiting more soldiers, it will take time to get elite soldiers, and it will take a long time to train them.
Now that two divisions of the Northern Government have suffered heavy losses, if the fighting continues, it is unclear how many of the 200,000 troops can be saved.
Chang Yunxian's eyes flickered slightly, and a fierce look appeared on his face: "Nanshan's army has few soldiers, although they are well-equipped. We can fully use our numerical advantage to forcibly break through the three lines behind."
"No, Commander Chang, even if we forcibly seize the three positions, our army will suffer heavy losses." Wu Peisheng's face changed and he quickly refused.
"How many troops will our army lose if we attack Nanshan City? If too many are lost, how will we deal with the Nanshan Army behind us?"
Wu Peisheng's concerns include not only the Nanshan Army, but also the Southern Army. The two sides are only temporarily united. No one knows what will happen once the Nanshan Army is defeated.
Moreover, Wu Peisheng's concern was correct. If the first position was captured, four divisions would be unable to participate in the battle.
If we forcibly capture the three rear fronts, who knows if it will lead to the destruction of more than a dozen divisions.
If the Nanshan Army counterattacks at that time, the Northern and Southern armies will not only be in a very passive position, but also in great danger.
Seeing that Wu Peisheng disagreed, Chang Yunxian could only shake his head helplessly.
The other party was not his subordinate, and the two armies were only in an alliance, so naturally they would not completely obey him. This made Chang Yunxian very dissatisfied, but he could do nothing about it.
After a long silence, Jiang Changkun said, "If that's the case, then let's continue to move forward step by step."
"The Nanshan Army is well-equipped, which puts us at a great disadvantage. Why not transfer more light and heavy machine guns to the front-line troops?"
"Okay." Wu Peisheng had no objection to this.
Immediately, the two men drew a large number of light and heavy machine guns from other troops and equipped the two divisions on the front line.
In the afternoon, the 312th Division and the 73rd Division again deployed four battalions and entered the trench positions.
All the heavy machine guns sent from the headquarters were set up on the first line of defense, while light machine guns were equipped to the troops entering the trenches.
In the next battle, the 203rd Regiment could feel that the firepower of the North-South Allied Forces had increased a lot, far exceeding the previous one. Under the attack of the light and heavy machine guns of the North-South Allied Forces, the firepower suppression of the Nanshan Army became less obvious.
Upon seeing this, Xue He immediately ordered: "Gather all the snipers in the regiment and eliminate the heavy machine gunners on the opposite side."
"Yes." The chief of staff immediately arranged to assemble snipers.
The biggest danger to them is the heavy machine gun. Without the threat of heavy machine guns, it would be much easier to suppress the light machine guns.
As snipers concentrated their fire and targeted the heavy machine gunners on the opposite position, the heavy machine gunners of the North-South Allied Forces suffered heavy losses.
Upon seeing this, the commander of the 312th Division immediately ordered, "Quick, send someone to fill in."
As long as the heavy machine gun is not damaged, it can continue to operate. If a heavy machine gunner dies, the commander of the 312th Division will let ordinary soldiers take his place and continue to operate the heavy machine gun.
Although ordinary soldiers are not skilled in operating heavy machine guns, they can still use them with ease.
The only thing you need to worry about is the ammunition carrier. Loading ammunition requires some knowledge of heavy machine guns.
The Northern and Southern armies increased the number of light and heavy machine guns on the front line, making the fighting between the two sides extremely fierce and causing considerable casualties to the 203rd Regiment of the Nanshan Army.
"Since you are concentrating the use of heavy machine guns, I will destroy them all at once." Li Zhongwu sneered when he saw the situation on the battlefield.
"Send an order to the artillery to bombard the positions of the Northern and Southern Allied Forces."
The Nanshan Army had already measured the coordinates of the four positions. Shortly after the order was conveyed, the artillery regiment of the Second Division launched an artillery attack on the positions of the northern and southern armies.
The artillery shells landed on the battlefield, catching the Northern and Southern armies off guard, and the many heavy machine guns on the battlefield were also in bad shape.
In addition to the soldiers of the 312th and 73rd Divisions being blown away, many heavy machine guns were also blown away and destroyed.
Under the escort of the guards, the commanders of the 312th and 73rd divisions and others hid in the anti-artillery cave, which was dug by the Nanshan Army to prevent artillery attacks from the northern and southern armies.
"Damn it, why is the artillery firepower of the Nanshan Army so strong?" The commander of the 312th Division said unwillingly.
We had achieved good results, but after the Nanshan Army's artillery bombardment, it was unknown how many heavy machine guns on the position were still intact.
At the same time, the commander of the 312th Division was also filled with resentment as to why the artillery equipped by the Southern Army was so backward in performance. Not to mention surpassing the Nanshan Army, it was at least on par with it or slightly worse.
The commander of the 73rd Division couldn't help but smile bitterly: "We were careless. We knew that the Nanshan Army's artillery was powerful, but we didn't take precautions."
In the back, Chang Yunxian and Wu Peisheng put down their telescopes, and no one knew what they were thinking.
They thought that adding light and heavy machine guns would bring good news, but the Nanshan Army's unethical use of cannons instantly extinguished their fantasies.
Chang Yunxian ordered expressionlessly: "Let our artillerymen calculate the location of the enemy's artillery positions."
"Yes."
Knowing that Chang Yunxian was in a bad mood, the attendant replied in a low voice and went down to communicate the current situation with the artillery commander.
Wu Peisheng saw that Chang Yunxian was in a bad mood, but he didn't want to offend him. He just stood there quietly without saying anything.
In fact, his heart was bleeding. Nearly two armies' worth of heavy machine guns were destroyed like this. How could he not be heartbroken?
Soon, the aide-de-camp came to Chang Yunxian and reported: "Commander, the artillery position of the Nanshan Army is beyond our artillery range."
After saying this, the attendant lowered his head to reduce his presence, fearing that Chang Yun would lose his temper first and implicate him.
In fact, there was something he dared not say. The last time the artillery was attacked by the Nanshan Army's artillery, it suffered huge losses. Not only did it lose a lot of gunners, but many artillery pieces were also destroyed.
"Commander Chang, after the Nanshan Army's shelling ends, let's set up cover for the general-purpose machine guns." Wu Peisheng said after thinking for a long time.