The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 511 Beach Battle 1
On a Japanese command ship off the coast of Qinzhou, Masao Nakamura, commander of the 5st Infantry Brigade of the 21th Division, looked out at the thick smoke and dense gunfire on the beach, and suddenly felt a sense of unease in his heart.

His 21st Brigade was still the vanguard of the landing. As the brigade commander, he was naturally also the direct commander of the landing. As a result, not long after the 21st Regiment landed, gunfire was heard on the beach, and it was very fierce gunfire.

Obviously, the fighting on the beach was very fierce. Thinking of the destruction of the 21st Battalion of the 1st Regiment last night, Masao Nakamura guessed that the 21st Regiment, which had already completed the landing, might have encountered trouble.

Nakamura Masao's guess soon became a reality. A staff officer came out of the command room and reported with a grim look on his face: "Brigade Commander, the 21st Regiment's Captain Miki reported that they have opened up a landing site, but were hit by fierce fire from the Chinese army. The enemy's bunkers are very strong and cannot be destroyed by the regiment guns and rapid-fire guns. The enemy's firepower is very fierce. Captain Miki requested naval fire support and reinforcements."

Masao Nakamura suddenly felt something was wrong. He thought that the 21st Regiment was indeed in big trouble. After thinking for a moment, he said to the staff officer, "Report the battle situation to the division commander and the army commander, and request naval fire support. Also, have the landing craft that transported the 21st Regiment returned?"

"All landing craft were driven back with no losses."

"Order the 42nd Infantry Regiment to prepare for landing and fighting, and then apply to the division commander for the division artillery regiment's support. Say that the Chinese army's fortifications are too strong and the infantry regiment's artillery cannot destroy them directly. Request the division artillery support! Request the division artillery regiment to send howitzers to the shore and use howitzers to attack the enemy's fortifications! Also, I hope the division commander will withdraw the flamethrower unit from the engineer regiment to support the landing troops!"

Masao Nakamura, who received the call for help from the 21st Regiment, knew very well that the current Chinese army was probably a very tough nut to crack. It was obviously not enough to defeat it with just one infantry regiment and its troops and weapons. The only way to break the situation was to increase the troops and special weapons as soon as possible.

While Masao Nakamura was allocating support, the brutal fighting continued on the beach.

Boom
bang bang

The sound of gunfire on the beach was very intense. After the anti-aircraft artillery company and mortar unit directly under the assault corps suddenly opened fire, the Japanese infantry who were charging head-on suffered heavy casualties and were unable to continue their charge forward. After the assault corps provided strong fire support, the officers and soldiers of the 56th Regiment of the Gui Army, who had just been almost stunned by the fierce offensive of the Japanese army, also gradually restored order on the battlefield.

The officers ordered the soldiers who had regained their composure to drag away the bodies of the officers and soldiers who had died in the light and heavy machine gun bunkers and restored the firepower of the light and heavy machine guns. Some soldiers who were in a panic and panic in the trenches also returned to their respective combat positions and continued shooting.

The firepower of the 56th Regiment was restored and it once again launched fierce fire at the Japanese army.

The Japanese infantry who received the order from the regiment commander Miki Yoshinosuke to retreat to the beach also retreated like a tide. These Japanese soldiers were all elite and their combat effectiveness was strong enough, but facing the fierce firepower centered on a large number of machine guns and mortars, no matter how elite they were, they could not withstand it and could only withdraw their troops first.

Seeing that the Japanese army began to retreat, the officers and soldiers of the Assault Corps and the 56th Regiment in the defensive positions would not give up the opportunity to strike hard at the downed dog, and they all fired at the retreating Japanese army.

Although the firing rate of the eight Surotong machine guns of the anti-aircraft artillery company directly under the assault corps decreased after the high-intensity fully automatic firing, the gunners did not stop firing. Instead, they chased the retreating Japanese troops and fired fiercely in semi-automatic and single-shot modes.

Needless to say, the mortar unit's gunners also fired a barrage of bullets along the Japanese army's retreat route at the highest speed, while the tank defense artillery company directly under the assault corps stared at the Japanese artillery position at the rear of the beach. One 45mm explosive shell after another seemed to have eyes and fired at the 21st Regiment's battalion artillery, the regiment artillery and the concentrated positions of rapid-fire artillery.

The explosive grenades of the small-caliber tank defense gun were not very powerful, but the scattered shrapnel made it impossible for the Japanese gunners to fire normally. All the artillery pieces of the 21st Regiment were silenced, and naturally there was no way to provide fire cover for the retreating Japanese infantry.

The commander of the 21st Regiment, Yoshinosuke Miki, who was crawling on the beach and commanding the retreat of his troops, had bloodshot eyes as he witnessed the tragic scene of his subordinates' retreat.

"Retreat! Retreat! Quickly!"

Miki Yoshinosuke kept screaming and shouting. The scene in front of him made him want to tear his eyes out. As soon as he finished speaking, a row of mortar shells whistled and exploded accurately in the retreating Japanese army. The 81mm mortar shells and 82mm mortar shells immediately exploded into columns of smoke.

Accompanied by torrential rain of shrapnel and red and yellow sand columns, the steel fragments of the 81mm mortar and the iron shotgun shells of the 82mm mortar swept everywhere, knocking down groups of retreating Japanese troops. Amid screams, smoke and fire immediately dominated the Japanese army's retreat route.

The machine gun shells and various light and heavy machine guns and rifle bullets were fired at them, cutting down and smashing many retreating Japanese soldiers like straw.

Boom
Boom
Miki Yoshinosuke had just turned his head and was about to call for artillery cover, but several explosions and the sound of steel twisting immediately pushed back the order he had not yet given.

Miki Yoshinosuke looked towards the artillery position and saw that several 45mm tank defense shells had exploded in the temporary position of a Type 92 infantry artillery crew.

Amid screams, four or five Japanese gunners fell in a pool of blood, either dead or wounded. A shell happened to hit the gun shield of the 92 infantry gun. The shattered shrapnel flew everywhere under the bulletproof effect of the gun shield, knocking down several more Japanese gunners.

The temporary artillery positions of the 21st Regiment were surrounded by tank defense gun shells almost every moment, making it difficult for them to protect themselves, let alone cover the retreat of the infantry.

Two or three minutes later, the main forces of the two infantry battalions of the 21st Regiment finally withdrew to the wading position at the front of the beach, finally away from the fire attack range of the Chinese army.

The soldiers of the Assault Corps and the 56th Regiment in the position also stopped shooting at the appropriate time. The bloody retreat of the Japanese army did not take long, but in the eyes of Miki Yoshinosuke, this horrific scene seemed like a year.

When the sound of gunfire on the beach gradually stopped, Miki Yoshinosuke looked around and saw that the route of the Japanese attack was littered with Japanese corpses and broken limbs. The golden beach had turned crimson, and the place was in a mess. The surviving Japanese soldiers were wailing in pain. The smell of gunpowder and blood in the air was blowing everywhere in the salty and humid sea breeze, and the mud on the beach was still hissing with white steam.

The Japanese officers and soldiers of the 21st Regiment, which had retreated almost to the end of the beach, also quickly crawled and hid after completing their retreat, and rested and stood guard on the landing site on the beach. Almost all the Japanese troops on the beach were looking at the hellish scene in front of them with horror.

These surviving elite Japanese soldiers finally understood why a large number of their comrades had died last night and why this elite force that was invincible on the Chinese battlefield had been defeated here.

Many Japanese soldiers were still frightened and felt as if their stomachs were churning when they saw the bodies of their comrades being smashed to pieces by 20mm machine guns on the battlefield. This was the first time they had encountered such a horrific method of using machine guns to fire horizontally. The psychological trauma it caused them can be imagined.

The retreat of the 21st Regiment also announced the failure of the Japanese army's first attack on the Chinese army's defensive positions on the Qisha coastline. The 21st Regiment paid a heavy price of more than 300 deaths and more than 50 injuries, but failed to capture even a single bunker.

The attackers and defenders on the beach entered a standoff after the fierce battle.

In the command post of the 56th Regiment in the rear, the commander of the 56th Regiment, Yang Tian, ​​breathed a sigh of relief. Although his troops had won the battle, the victory was too thrilling and too intimidating.

If it weren't for the machine guns and mortars of the friendly assault corps, the positions guarded by his own troops would have been breached by the Japanese army long ago. Just now, when the various artillery and light and heavy machine guns of the 21st Regiment of the Japanese Army fired at the light and heavy firepower bunkers in the positions of the 56th Regiment, Yang Tian's heart almost jumped into his throat.

There was chaos in the position at that time. The company commanders of each battalion in the position called the regiment command post for help. The troops were about to collapse. Fortunately, the machine guns and mortars of the assault corps turned the tide at the last moment, otherwise the consequences would have been disastrous.

Yang Tian walked towards He Wei, who was sitting there calmly analyzing the battle situation, and said, "Commander He, thanks to your people, otherwise this battle..."

He Wei waved his hand to interrupt Yang Tian and said, "Captain Yang, the most important thing you should do at this time is to talk to the frontline battalion company, understand the casualties and losses, and arrange for treatment of the wounded and replenishment of ammunition."

Yang Tian readily followed the advice and began to communicate with the frontline. The casualties were quickly counted. Although the 56th Regiment had won the battle that had just ended, it was a new unit after all, and the casualties were not small. The 56th Regiment suffered a total of more than casualties including a company commander. As for the people of the assault corps, only a few brothers were slightly injured.

With He Wei's assistance, the 56th Regiment immediately began to replenish ammunition and treat the wounded. The Qisha Beach, which had just been filled with heavy hail of bullets, suddenly became quiet.

However, compared to the National Army troops calmly reorganizing themselves in their positions, the 21st Regiment on the beach was in a much more miserable state. After suffering such a severe beating, the 21st Regiment had less than active combat forces on the beach. In order to avoid possible fire attacks from the Chinese army, the retreating Japanese troops waded in the water and crawled on the beach, fearing that they would be targeted and fired upon by the terrible Chinese machine guns.

Even more miserable were the wounded Japanese soldiers, many of whom had their limbs broken and were in very serious condition. The Japanese medical soldiers accompanying the team could not provide effective treatment except for simple bandaging, and could only let them lie on the beach and wail in pain waiting to die. The scene was really miserable. The battle on the beach came to an end, and the senior Japanese officers who commanded the landing operation soon learned the news that the first echelon of the landing attack had failed. Although the highest commander of the Japanese army, the commander of the 21st Army, Ando Rikichi, was furious, he still maintained the calmness that a senior commander should have and did not lose his temper.

Ando Rikichi knew that the bone in front of him was a tough bone to chew, and the enemy in front of him was most likely the assault corps of the Chinese army. He was mentally prepared for a tough battle. In addition, the 21st Regiment was not without results. After all, the troops had rushed to the beach and opened up a landing site on the beach.

With a landing site, they could continue to deploy troops and expand their victory. Therefore, Ando Rikichi did not get angry, but only asked the 5th Division to continue the attack and make a breakthrough as soon as possible.

After reporting the combat situation of the 5st Regiment to Ando Rikichi, the 21th Division immediately proposed the idea and brief battle plan of sending a second batch of landing attack forces to Qisha Beach. The 5th Division (commanded by Lieutenant General Imamura Hitoshi) was ready to continue to send all of its 21st Brigade (commanded by Major General Nakamura Masao) up.

21旅团下属21联队和42联队两个步兵联队，现在21联队已经在滩头上，这第二梯次的登陆部队，自然是以21旅团的旅团部和42联队为主。

The 5th Division was prepared to use the 42nd Infantry Regiment as its backbone, and to draw on the 5th Division's artillery regiment, namely the 5th Artillery Battalion of the 4th Field Artillery Regiment, and the 5th Division's engineer regiment, namely the flamethrower squadron of the 5th Engineer Regiment, to incorporate them into the 5th Division's second landing echelon, to be commanded personally by Major General Masao Nakamura, commander of the 21st Brigade.

In terms of specific tactics, the 5th Division hoped that the Navy would continue to provide high-intensity naval artillery firepower to cover the landing of the second-tier landing troops, and then seize the opportunity to launch an attack on the Chinese army's positions after the second-tier landing troops landed.

The artillery battalion in the second echelon was equipped with the Japanese Army's most advanced Type 91 105mm howitzer, which was powerful, large-caliber, and equipped with anti-tank armor-piercing shells. The 5th Division planned to use this type of howitzer to advance and fire, destroy the sturdy light and heavy machine gun bunkers and firepower points in the Chinese army's positions, and use flamethrower troops to cooperate with the infantry to launch an assault and break through the Chinese army's positions.

Toshiyoshi Ando immediately approved the 5th Division's combat plan and ordered it to be implemented as soon as possible.

The second landing echelon of the Japanese army had a strength of a brigade headquarters, an infantry regiment, an artillery battalion and a group of engineering units. The scale of the force was very large, and it took a lot of time to board and land the troops. Naturally, the Japanese army would not sit idly by and watch the 21st Regiment confront the Chinese troops occupies strong fortifications on the beach while organizing the landing. Instead, they once again used the fierce firepower of naval guns to fiercely bombard the defensive positions of the 56th Regiment.

Therefore, the beach, which had been silent for more than two hours after the bloody battle, was soon filled with thick smoke and bullet clouds again. More than a dozen Japanese naval warships in the open sea resumed their covering bombardment, once again bombarding the defensive positions of the 56th Regiment at the fastest rate of fire, as if to vent their anger for the 21st Regiment that had just been defeated. This time, the Japanese naval artillery firepower was particularly fierce, and the firepower projection speed was one or two points stronger than before.

In an instant, countless 203mm and 140mm large-caliber naval artillery shells whizzed in along the long-determined trajectory, and the defensive positions of the 56th Regiment flashed again and the earth shook.

In the command post of the 56th Regiment, facing the fierce naval artillery fire from the Japanese army, the regiment commander Yang Tian became nervous. He frowned and stared at the 56th Regiment position covered by thick flames in front of the observation port of the command post. On the other hand, He Wei sat firmly on the marching chair and calmly analyzed the battle situation with Wang Yuanling on the map.

The troops participating in the assault corps suffered little loss in the battle just now, and the well-organized headquarters and staff department of the assault corps also played their due role. Under the leadership of Wang Yuanling, the staff department quickly handled all matters, the injured officers and soldiers were properly treated, the losses of various ammunition and weapons were reported, and the ammunition that was lacking in the frontline companies was replenished.

The efficient staff office completed all post-war affairs of the assault corps' participating troops in a very short time. This is the benefit brought by efficient staff and headquarters operations, which can free the chief officers of the troops from complicated business affairs and focus their energy wholeheartedly on command decision-making.

The commander of the 56th Regiment, Yang Tian, ​​was anxiously preparing for the next possible attack by the Japanese army, while He Wei and Wang Yuanling were calmly discussing strategic topics under the fierce bombardment of the Japanese army.

"Captain, our telegram has been sent to Nanning. We don't know what the situation is in Guilin and Chongqing. The Japanese army in front of us has already suffered a blow from us. With the strength of our assault team, we can definitely deal a bigger blow to the Japanese army. I am very confident in stopping the Japanese army in front of us, but if the Japanese army's landing operations in Qisha are repeatedly frustrated, if the Japanese army fails to attack Qisha and changes to landing in other areas, the situation will be more passive for us."

"The coastline is so long, and there are too many places where the Japanese can land. If the Japanese take two-line landing, one continues to attack Qisha where we are stationed, and then chooses an opportunity to land at another place, the strength and combat effectiveness of the friendly forces along the coast will obviously not be able to stop the three-dimensional offensive of the Japanese. By then, the friendly forces will definitely ask us for help, and the strength of our assault corps will be dispersed, and we will not be able to take care of it at all."

Wang Yuanling said to He Wei worriedly.

He Wei nodded slightly. He had considered what Wang Yuanling was thinking. Judging from the current defensive strength of the friendly forces, if the Japanese chose another landing point besides Qisha, and then launched a landing attack at Qisha and the other landing point at the same time, the National Army would definitely not be able to stop them.

The Gui army was short of manpower and had weak combat effectiveness. Although the assault corps was powerful, once it was divided and busy running around to provide support, the combat effectiveness of the troops was dispersed. Without the assistance of the assault corps, it was a sure thing for the Japanese army to break through the coastal defense line of the Gui army.

Of course, there is a more dangerous possibility. That is, after the Japanese army launched two-line landings, they decided to eat up the national army troops along the coast and wanted to make themselves vulnerable. After the two-line detours, they organized a roundabout encirclement and annihilation campaign. Then the situation would be very bad.

"Brother Yuan Ling, now we still have to use the strategy of delaying. We will defend ourselves in the same way as the Japanese attack and try to delay the Japanese landing. We can delay for one day at a time. What we need to do now is, first, to stop the Japanese army as much as possible to buy more time for Chongqing and Guilin camps, and second, to ensure that Nanning, the main artery of the international transportation line, is not lost. If we do these two things well, the situation will not be too bad."

He Wei gave Wang Yuanling a reassurance, and he himself thought of the secret order from the Standing Committee Chairman and the instructions given to him by the person from the attendant's room when the assault corps was in Chongqing.

Thanks to their advance arrangements, Chongqing had already prepared to send the Central Army into Guangxi. As long as they could buy a little more time and ensure that the international transportation line of Nanning was not lost, the Japanese would be in trouble when the main force of the Central Army and other reinforcements arrived.

Overall, the current situation is still "okay."

According to the information previously revealed by the attendant's office to He Wei, the Central Army troops preparing to enter Guangxi include the Fifth Army, the 36th Army, and the 99th Army. If these troops can enter Guangxi in time, together with the Gui Army troops in Guangxi province, it should not be a problem to defend Nanning, defend international transportation lines, and even launch a counterattack against the Japanese army. If they are properly commanded, it is possible to severely wipe out a part of the Japanese army and launch a large-scale annihilation war.

Thinking of the "large-scale annihilation war", He Wei's eyes lit up and his mind started to move. He, He, was now a person who could have a say in Chongqing and even the chairman's attendant office. If he could make suggestions to the top leaders and get involved at the right time, then this "large-scale annihilation war" would be very promising.

While He Wei was calmly discussing the battle situation with Wang Yuanling in the command post, the Japanese naval guns continued to bombard the area. However, the transportation of their second batch of landing troops was not so smooth.

The second batch of Japanese troops preparing for landing included the brigade headquarters of the 21st Brigade, the 42nd Infantry Regiment, the 5th Battalion of the 4th Field Artillery Regiment and an engineer flamethrower squadron. The scale of their forces was extremely large, especially the 5th Battalion of the 4th Field Artillery Regiment.

This battalion was equipped with the Japanese Army's latest Type 91 105mm howitzers. The landing craft required for its artillery, ammunition, artillery and pack horses were quite large, and the loading procedure was extremely complicated.

The Japanese army mobilized almost all of its landing craft and all of the motorboats on its warships and transport ships to barely meet the needs of the second batch of landing troops.

The Japanese army struggled for several hours, and by the time the second batch of Japanese troops set off on their landing craft, it was already approaching evening and dark.

The organizational ability of the Japanese army was indeed quite outstanding. Under the conditions of poor weather and visibility at sea, its second-tier landing troops successfully completed the landing operation under the cover of naval gun fire. The landing organization of each of its troops, from equipment to ammunition to officers and soldiers, was in good order.

By the time the highest commander of the landing Japanese army, Masao Nakamura, commander of the 21st Brigade, led the last artillery battalion to land on the beach, it had already fallen dark.

By this point, the Japanese army had deployed almost a brigade of troops on the beach of Qisha, including two infantry regiments, an artillery battalion, an engineering company and part of a brigade scattered on the beach of Qisha, forming a guard posture against the 56th Regiment's defensive positions. It sounded ridiculous that so many troops landed and deployed in front of the National Army's solid defensive positions.

However, thanks to the fierce cover of the Japanese naval artillery fire, the defensive positions of the 56th Regiment were almost completely suppressed and covered by the Japanese naval artillery fire. In addition, it was already dark when the Japanese landed, and the officers and soldiers of the 56th Regiment, who were in the thick smoke, found it difficult to observe the enemy situation.

Even the roar of the Japanese landing craft's engines and the various "noises" of the second-wave landing troops during their landing were covered up by the naval gunfire. Moreover, there was already a 21st Regiment on the beach that had suffered heavy casualties.

Therefore, even if they noticed movement on the beach, the officers and soldiers in the 56th Regiment's position would subconsciously think that it was the Japanese 21st Regiment that had been repelled by their side.

The Japanese 21st Brigade troops completed the landing and reorganization in the cover of night, forming a confrontation with the Qisha defenders on the beach.

At this time, neither the officers and soldiers of the 56th Regiment on the front line nor He Wei in the rear command post knew that a large number of Japanese troops had completed the landing in the dark.

(End of this chapter)