The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 372: Retreat and Attack
On the west bank of the Fuchi River, in the temporary command post of the landing Japanese troops behind a small hill, a Japanese Marine Corps captain with his arms draped, lowered his head and said tremblingly to the gloomy-faced supreme commander of the landing Japanese troops, Lieutenant Colonel Kitaro Tsuchi, "Sir, my squadron and the artillery squadron of the 4th Special Marine Corps have tried their best to bombard the enemy positions at the last moment when the attacking troops were shattered, but the enemy's artillery fire was too accurate and the artillery had a long range. Even though we fired with all our might, we still failed to cover the retreat of the brave warriors of the 4th Special Marine Corps. Please punish us, sir!"

Kitaro Tsuchiji shifted his gaze away from the captain and looked at another captain, whose neck was also wrapped in bloody gauze, and he was obviously injured as well.

After a moment of silence, Tsuchi Kitaro spoke up, "What are the losses of your two squadrons?"

The captain with his arms slung over his shoulders immediately said, "Reporting to the commander, our squadron has six dead, eleven wounded, and one mountain gun destroyed."

Another captain with a wound on his neck said, "Sir, my squadron suffered 24 casualties. The mountain artillery was not damaged, but the squadron's ammunition storage was hit by the Chinese army's artillery fire and exploded, resulting in the loss of 80 75mm mountain artillery shells."

These two captains were the squadron leaders of the artillery squadrons under the 4th Special Marine Corps of the Wu Naval Garrison and the 5th Special Marine Corps of the Wu Naval Garrison. The main force of the Japanese Marine Corps commanded by Kitaro Tsuchi was these two special marine corps (each special marine corps had three infantry squadrons, one heavy machine gun squadron and one artillery squadron).

Not long ago, Kitaro Tsuchi ordered Major Moku Masaki, commander of the 4th Special Marine Battalion of the Wu Naval Base, to command the three infantry companies and the heavy machine gun company of the 4th Marine Corps to carry out a river crossing and landing attack on the east bank of the Fuchi River. The two artillery companies also drove to the river bank to take on the task of fire cover.

During the entire landing operation, these two artillery squadrons had been providing fire support to the attacking troops crossing the river as much as possible. In other words, they also witnessed the entire process of the river crossing landing troops from the attack to their complete annihilation.

Tsuchi Kitaro nodded in a daze, and it was obvious that he didn't care much about the two people's answers.

Compared with the failure of the river crossing and landing troops being completely wiped out by the Chinese army, the casualties of the artillery unit were negligible.

Tsuchi Kitaro then said, "Really, really not a single person from the troops that crossed the river to attack withdrew?"

The captain of the artillery squadron, with his arms hanging, bowed to Kitaro Tsuchi with a sad face and said, "Sir, all the brave warriors who crossed the river have died. I saw it clearly in the gunnery mirror. Every one of them fought to the last moment and defended the dignity of our Imperial Navy and Imperial men!"

Tsuchi Kitaro took a deep breath, the shock in his heart was simply beyond words.

This river crossing and landing operation plan was carefully drawn up by him personally. From the investigation of the hydrological conditions in various parts of the Fuchi River to the selection of the river crossing attack forces and crossing points, all were the personal masterpieces of Tsuchi Kitaro. However, such a combat plan that cost him a lot of energy and incorporated his many painstaking efforts and tactical ideas ended with such an extremely tragic ending.

Three entire infantry squadrons and one heavy machine gun squadron of Marines, including a major and four captains, totaling nearly 700 officers and soldiers, were all killed in such a short period of time!

According to the confessions of the prisoners, the defenders on the east bank of the Fuchi River were the 18th Division of the Chinese Army, just like the Chinese troops that were easily defeated by them last night. But how could the defenders on the east bank of the Fuchi River, who should have been vulnerable, suddenly possess such fierce firepower and combat effectiveness overnight?
Kitaro Tsuchiji steadied his breathing, looked in the direction of the Fuchi River and moved a few steps. Suddenly, Kitaro Tsuchiji felt a little dizzy, stumbled and fell to the ground.

An officer hurried forward to help Kitaro Tsuchiguchi up, but was slapped by Kitaro Tsuchiguchi and fell to the ground. The Japanese officers and non-commissioned officers around Kitaro Tsuchiguchi were all afraid to breathe, and the atmosphere was gloomy.

After a moment, an officer leaned over and whispered, "Sir, please give us your orders on how we should deploy our troops now."

Kitaro Tsuchi did not sit there in a daze for a moment. He struggled to stand up, stabilized his body, and after taking a long breath, he slowly said, "How long will it take for the army to get here?"

The officer thought for a moment and replied, "The Hata Detachment is expected to arrive in two days."

Tsuchi Kitaro nodded and said, "Order all units to begin to gather towards the Chinese army positions captured last night. Except for the special tank squadron, all other units will enter the positions left by the enemy, repair the enemy's positions and prepare to hold the position. The independent tank squadron is assigned an infantry squad from the first squadron of the fifth special marine corps. Immediately, the enemy positions used by this unit will be used as the central base point to conduct a security search around! From now on, our goal is to hold the positions on the west bank of the Fuchi River until the main army arrives!"

As an elite officer in the Japanese Navy who is proficient in both naval gunnery and marine command, Kitaro Tsuchi possesses absolute emotional control and the ability to respond to emergencies. Although the failure of the river crossing and landing operation and the almost complete annihilation of the 4th Special Marine Corps dealt him a great blow, Kitaro Tsuchi also knew that grief and anger had no effect other than harming future command, and controlling the current rapidly deteriorating war situation was the only way forward.

Faced with the sudden change in the war situation, Tsuchi Kitaro remained rational enough. After the failure of the river crossing operation, he guessed that the Chinese army on the east bank of the Fuchi River might have strengthened its defense or added elite troops, which led to the recent disastrous defeat.

The troops he had were limited to begin with, with the main force being just two special marines at the reinforced battalion level. The failure of the river crossing attack operation almost wiped out the combat power of an entire battalion, and almost half of the core combat power was torn away.

Under such circumstances, his original tactical attempt to cross the Fuchi River and attack the east bank could naturally no longer be carried out, and it was absolutely impossible for his Marines to capture half of the mountain.

Therefore, Tsuchi Kitaro wisely chose a conservative tactic and no longer sought a breakthrough. He planned to adopt a defensive tactic and use the fortifications left by the Chinese army on the west bank of the Fuchi River to carry out a defensive operation.

The Hata Detachment of the army that is now marching along the land route will arrive in two days. As long as they can firmly control the west bank of the Fuchi River, all problems can be solved after the main army forces arrive.

As for the open and covert struggles between the army and navy and the various conflicts within the military, it was impossible for Kitaro Tsuchiji to care about these. In the face of the success or failure of a battle, or even life and death, what could the emotional struggles between the services count for?
As an elite of the Imperial Japanese Navy, of course he would understand this simple truth!

Of course, He Wei certainly had no idea about the shrinking and defensive tactics of Tsuchi Kitaro who quickly gave in. When the Japanese troops landing on the west bank of the Fuchi River began to gather, shrink, and retreat, He Wei and his officers still regarded the Japanese troops on the west bank of the Fuchi River as a strong opponent with a strong force and a covetous eye, who could attack the east bank of the Fuchi River again at any time. There was no way. Compared with the modern war full of electronic information equipment that He Wei experienced before his time travel, the perception and reconnaissance capabilities of the battlefield situation in the war of this era are really far behind!

Nearing evening, after making preparations, He Wei's plan to cross the river and land was implemented on time.

This temporary combat group of nearly 2,000 people, consisting of the 1st Infantry Battalion of the Assault Corps, the Special Service Company directly under the Assault Corps, the Engineer Company, the 1st Mountain Artillery Company of the Artillery Battalion, and the Artillery Tank Defense Artillery Company, started the river crossing and landing operation with the cover of fierce artillery bombardment.

In order to ensure that the landing troops had sufficient cover, before the river crossing operation began, the First Mountain Artillery Company of the Artillery Battalion of the Assault Corps concentrated all of the company's six Type 6 mountain guns and launched a rapid and fierce bombardment on the center and west bank of the Fuchi River. While shooting, they used smoke bombs to release smoke to provide a concealed area, forming a wide and dense smoke-covered belt on the river surface where they were crossing.

On the other hand, a certain number of explosive grenades were used to bombard the possible positions of Japanese artillery and possible ambushes of the Japanese army.

After half an hour of shelling, the landing operation of the crossing troops officially began.

First, under the command of the engineer company commander Zhao Jiansan, the engineer company directly under the assault corps, carrying the assault corps' special forces company, boarded 24 rubber boats and steel boats seized from the Japanese army and took the lead in successfully crossing the west bank of the Fuchi River.

After successfully crossing the river, the special forces company immediately began to search and advance, quickly moving forward in front of the crossing point and establishing a forward guard position. While the special forces company was establishing the forward guard position, the engineering company, with the cover of smoke bombs fired by mountain artillery, used rubber boats, steel boats left behind by the Japanese army, and wooden boats and other iron and wooden materials collected and prepared before the war to quickly complete the pontoon bridge construction operation.

Immediately afterwards, the main forces including infantry, artillery, mules and horses, baggage, artillery carts, ammunition carts, etc. from the 1st Infantry Battalion of the Assault Corps, the tank defense artillery company of the Artillery Battalion of the Assault Corps and the 1st Mountain Artillery Company of the Artillery Battalion of the Assault Corps all used this pontoon bridge to successfully cross the river in less than an hour.

During the entire crossing process, the crossing troops commanded by He Wei were not attacked by any bullets from the Japanese army. The "bloody battle of crossing the river" anticipated by He Wei and his officers ended smoothly in a very short time. The crossing troops, including nearly 2,000 officers and soldiers and a large number of ammunition, supplies, mules and horses, suffered no losses.

The various response plans and tactical plans discussed and formulated by He Wei and a group of officers in case of Japanese attacks during the river crossing were naturally of no use.

In short, this river crossing and landing did not seem like a river crossing and landing in front of the enemy, but rather like a river crossing exercise in peacetime.

"Reporting to the commander-in-chief, we have searched everywhere and found many Japanese fortifications, foxholes, prone firing fortifications and artillery positions. However, we only found fortifications and did not encounter any Japanese troops during the search."

On the west bank of the Fuchi River, in He Wei's temporary command post, Yang Biao, the commander of the special forces company directly under the assault corps, who had just completed the search mission, reported to the surprised He Wei standing at attention.

Although they were not attacked by the Japanese army during the river crossing, in line with the principle of being cautious, He Wei immediately ordered Yang Biao's special forces company to conduct a close and detailed search of the area near the river crossing and landing site based on the guard position after all the troops had crossed the river and landed.

The results of the search, just like the performance of the Japanese troops during the river crossing and landing, surprised the officers under He Wei.

Before He Wei could speak, the commander of the first mountain artillery company of the assault corps artillery battalion spoke first, looking depressed, "Captain Yang, are you sure you didn't find any Japanese soldiers?"

Yang Biao shook his head and said, "No."

The mountain artillery company commander seemed unconvinced and continued to ask: "Captain Yang, are you sure? Have you searched the target area of ​​my company's artillery attack? Are there any Japanese corpses?"

Yang Biao nodded confidently and said, "We have searched all over. The area near your company's target is full of craters caused by mountain artillery shells, but there is not a single Japanese corpse. Anyway, after searching the surrounding area for several rounds, the soldiers of my special forces company didn't see a single Japanese hair."

After Yang Biao finished speaking, the mountain artillery company commander sighed somewhat depressed. In the previous artillery attack, the mountain artillery company's 6 mountain artillery fired for a full half an hour, and fired a lot of smoke bombs and grenades. Now that he knew that his company's artillery attack might not have caused any casualties to the Japanese army, the mountain artillery company commander couldn't help feeling a little disappointed, and he also felt distressed for those mountain artillery shells that had been fired but most likely did not cause any casualties to the Japanese army.

The other officers in the temporary command post also had strange expressions on their faces. They were not afraid of the Japanese troops on the west bank of the Fuchi River. It was just that the Japanese troops had just crossed the river and launched a fierce attack on the east bank of the Fuchi River, but now they were disappearing again. Not only did they allow the assault corps' troops to cross the river and land easily without firing a shot, but now they couldn't even see their shadow. This contrast made the officers feel very strange.

However, He Wei was open-minded. Although he asked officers to pay attention to the enemy tactically before the war, it did not mean that they should be suspicious when encountering a situation.

With the combat power he now has, he has enough confidence to deal with it no matter what tricks the Japanese play. He has artillery and infantry, the firepower of the troops is very strong, and they have enough ammunition. It is absolutely impossible for him to be timid because of this unusual movement of the Japanese army.

He Wei said cheerfully: "Okay, no matter how the Japanese fight, our tactics remain unchanged. It seems that the Japanese want to avoid us. Since they are avoiding us, we will take the initiative to search out and find them. From now on, all troops will immediately deploy battle formations and search forward according to the predetermined plan!"

(End of this chapter)