The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 525: The Disabled 21st Brigade
On the morning of November 11, the Japanese Army's 21st Brigade 21nd Regiment forward command post
There was silence in the command post. The brigade commander, Masao Nakamura, sat dejectedly with a pale face. The commander of the 42nd Regiment, Motoichi Sakata, and the generals around him all had expressions of grief and anger or gloom.

The command post was filled with a horrible atmosphere of depression, hostility, silence, fear, etc.

The officers in the command post have not yet recovered from the shocking battlefield situation obtained from yesterday's reconnaissance.

Yesterday, Masao Nakamura risked his life by sending out a small reconnaissance team to scout the battlefield situation. What this reconnaissance team brought back was the 42st Infantry Battalion of the 1nd Regiment trapped in the enemy's line. Except for a few dozen officers and soldiers of the 2nd Infantry Battalion who escaped, the rest were all killed.

Of course, their reconnaissance process was also full of absurdities. This reconnaissance team was composed of the remnants of the 42rd Infantry Battalion of the 3nd Regiment, which was almost wiped out by the joint attack of the tank battalion and the st Infantry Battalion of the Assault Corps. They were extremely vigilant during the reconnaissance and search.

Especially when they went forward to search, the battlefield was covered with smoke screens formed by the smoke bombs fired by the Kuomintang mortar groups. Therefore, these search soldiers were extremely careful in their advance.

While searching forward, the search soldiers suddenly heard hurried footsteps coming from the thick fog. Their extremely tense nerves made them immediately conclude that it was the Chinese army that was approaching under the cover of the smoke, and they immediately opened fire. The enemy troops on the opposite side also cooperated very well and immediately fought back.

This search team engaged in a melee with the so-called enemy forces in the thick fog. The battle was very fierce. The two sides could not see each other, but they fired at each other with various firearms. After fighting for more than ten minutes, they realized something was wrong, because the so-called "enemy forces" were also using Type 38 rifles, Taisho Type 11 light machine guns and Type 89 grenade launchers.

It was not until this time that the Japanese search team, realizing that something was wrong, ceased firing.

After they got a clear picture of the situation, they found out that the troops firing at them in the smoke were not Chinese troops, but the remnants of the 42st Infantry Battalion and the 1nd Infantry Battalion of the 2nd Regiment.

Dozens of Japanese soldiers managed to escape the crossfire of the 42st Infantry Battalion of the Assault Corps, and had an oolong firefight with the reconnaissance and search team sent by Masao Nakamura. After a melee, both sides suffered dozens of casualties in this accidental injury. The humiliated Japanese search team also learned from these defeated soldiers about the misfortune of the 1st Infantry Battalion and the 2nd Infantry Battalion of the nd Regiment, and then reported this bad news to Masao Nakamura.

This was undoubtedly a huge blow to Masao Nakamura, the 21st Brigade, and even the entire Japanese landing force. In this attack, after only one day of fighting, the three infantry battalions of the 42nd Infantry Regiment, the artillery company directly under the regiment, and the rapid-fire artillery company were almost wiped out. Only more than people from the three infantry battalions, the artillery company directly under the regiment, and the rapid-fire artillery company that participated in the attack escaped back to the starting position of the attack, which together was less than the strength of four infantry companies.

武器装备上的损失更是极为惨重，3个步兵大队的24挺92式重机枪，6门92式步兵炮，联队炮中队的4门41式山炮，速射炮中队的4门94式37毫米速射炮全部损失。

The loss of ammunition was incalculable.

The 42nd Infantry Regiment, which was fully equipped before the attack, was reduced to a mere shell after just one day of fighting, and the 21st Brigade was almost crippled.

Needless to say, the 42nd Regiment also suffered heavy losses in the previous hard battle. The entire regiment had only more than 21 combatants, and the entire brigade had only a little over 21 combatants. In total, the st Brigade was crippled within a few days of landing.

Moreover, after paying such a heavy price in casualties, the 21st Brigade only managed to take down the first line of defense in Qisha, which was voluntarily abandoned by the Chinese army, and did not make any progress.

The morale of the entire brigade, even the 5th Division and all the landing Japanese troops was greatly affected. If the previous failure in capturing the first line of defense in Qisha had dampened the morale of the Japanese army, then the failure of the 42nd Regiment this time had completely destroyed the Japanese army's temper.

Faced with such a tragic fact, the officers of the 21st Brigade, starting from Masao Nakamura, could only lick their wounds in silence in the command post with resentment and helplessness for the time being.

As for revenge, or continued attack? There was no way to mention it. With the resilience and combat effectiveness of the 21st Brigade, although it could continue to launch attacks, after such a setback, how could Masao Nakamura dare to launch an attack rashly?

Of course, it would be nonsense to say that the 21st Brigade had no results at all. In such a brutal melee, although the 21st Brigade did not capture the second line of defense guarded by the New 19th Division, it did kill a lot of Kuomintang troops in the fighting. In addition, the 21st Brigade finally determined the number of the Chinese army wearing German helmets and extremely powerful combat effectiveness based on the reports from the survivors who fled back to the starting position of the attack. It was the so-called Army Assault Corps of the Chinese Army.

However, compared with the heavy price paid, this result is really not enough.

Moreover, after learning of the disastrous defeat of the 21st Brigade, the highest commander of the landing Japanese troops, Commander of the 21st Army, Toshiyoshi Ando, ​​immediately issued a combat order to stop all operations on the entire line.

The series of disastrous defeats completely defeated Ando Toshiyoshi. The disastrous defeat that almost wiped out half of the brigade within just a few days of landing made him completely calm down.

As for the offensive deployment of the landing troops, Ando Toshiyoshi's series of commands were not hasty and could even be said to be very steady. The reason why the battle turned out like this was purely because they encountered the tough opponent, the Assault Corps, coupled with He Wei's correct response and command, as well as the powerful weapon, a tank battalion, in his hands. Even if Ando Toshiyoshi's command and deployment were cautious and careful, it would be difficult to ensure victory.

However, the heavy losses suffered by the Japanese army at the first line of defense in Qisha did not make Ando Toshiyoshi realize the seriousness of the matter. It only made him realize that the enemy in front of him was the elite troops of the Chinese army, and that the Chinese army was equipped with tanks and other enemy forces.

He had no idea that the enemy in front of him was the Chinese Army Assault Corps, which he had always been wary of. He could not have imagined that the so-called Chinese army tanks were not just a dozen or twenty tanks, but a tank battalion of more than fifty tanks, which was enough to easily defeat the tank battalion of an infantry battalion in a single assault.

(End of this chapter)