The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 538 A crushing defeat

In the pre-war defense deployment, the 46th Army deployed the new 19th Division in Qisha and the 175th Division in Beihai. Although the troops of the 175th Division were defeated and the command system collapsed, the scattered troops were well aware that they had to run to the military headquarters, so as soon as the troops were scattered, they fled in the direction of Qinzhou where the military headquarters was located, and the Japanese pursuit troops also followed all the way here.

bang bang
"Onboard!"

The Japanese cavalry were shouting and yelling, their tall war horses were galloping wildly, their lances were banging, their sabers were swinging and slashing wantonly, and more than 30 Type 94 ultra-light tanks were accelerating continuously, giving full horsepower to chase relentlessly, and the vehicle-mounted machine guns on the turrets kept firing and strafing.

Both the Japanese cavalry and the light armored vehicle soldiers were already blood-thirsty at this time. The defeated soldiers had fled all night, and they had been chasing them all night. The cavalry and horses were all tired, not to mention the two squadrons of Type 94 light armored vehicles, which had been fighting and stopping in the pursuit all night. The fuel and ammunition were repeatedly used up and replenished several times, but these pursuing Japanese troops had no intention of stopping at all, and everyone was blood-thirsty.

The three infantry regiments of the 175th Division did not suffer heavy casualties in the battle when they were defeated and lost their positions, with only a few hundred casualties. However, the casualties from fleeing all night were several times that of a positional battle. The pursuing Japanese cavalry and armored vehicles caused more than a thousand casualties to the defeated 175th Division with almost negligible losses. Although the Gui Army was capable of fighting, it was a pity that all of its elite troops were currently fighting in other provinces. The 175th Division was a newly formed unit of the Gui clique, with many recruits and insufficient combat effectiveness. Under the violent pursuit of the Japanese Army, it was completely defeated.

The Japanese 18th Cavalry Regiment and two light armored vehicle squadrons that were responsible for the pursuit mission made rapid progress in this desperate battle. The extremely smooth battle progress and rich results made the pursuing Japanese troops completely forget their fatigue, and even directly affected the tactical goals of the Japanese pursuit forces.

The original order given by General Hisanazu Hisana to the Japanese pursuit force was to pursue them all the way, kill and wound the defeated Chinese troops, and conduct enemy reconnaissance and other preparations for the main force to attack Qinzhou. However, judging from the current situation, the commander of the Japanese pursuit force even felt that a pursuit force consisting of only a cavalry regiment and two light armored vehicle squadrons was enough to capture the city of Qinzhou.

More than 175 Japanese cavalrymen pursued and attacked frantically, more than Type armored vehicles chased relentlessly and fired fiercely, infantry and machine gun bullets wreaked havoc among the crowd of fleeing soldiers, the fierce rain of bullets continued to reap lives, and the road of defeat of the th Division's fleeing soldiers towards Qinzhou had turned into a road of corpses and blood.

On the eastern outskirts of Qinzhou, on a road 1 kilometers away, a mixed column of tanks and cars was moving forward at full speed. It was the forward search force sent by He Wei. The tanks, trucks, and motorcycles of the search company directly under the assault corps and the st tank company under the tank battalion were accelerating forward, carrying a platoon of three-wheeled motorcycles from the search company and spreading out on both sides of the road.

In the middle of the road was the main force of the search company carrying trucks, while the tank company's dozen large and small tanks were also deployed in battle formation in the fields on both sides of the road.

"Sir, this is all we know. Last night, the enemy charged and our position was breached. The command system at all levels was in chaos. The troops were scattered at night. There were large and small groups of defeated soldiers. The people in my platoon were also dispersed. There were only a few people following me. The main force should have fled to Qinzhou."

In the back compartment of a speeding Mercedes-Benz military truck, a second lieutenant platoon leader from the 175th Division was munching on a steamed bun while reporting. Beside him were several soldiers covered in blood, all of whom were also munching on steamed buns and drinking water in big mouthfuls.

Zhao Zhanhai, the commander of the search company directly under the assault corps, nodded to the second lieutenant platoon leader, and then asked a 175th Division warrant officer who was smoking: "Where are your troops?"

The warrant officer shook his head and said, "Our entire battalion was dispersed. The battalion commander and company commander were both killed. I don't know exactly where the troops fled to, but I guess it was Qinzhou, where our military headquarters is."

After that, the warrant officer continued fiercely: "Damn it, the Japanese are a bunch of beasts, like crazy, they kept chasing us, their cavalry didn't even let our seriously injured soldiers go, many seriously injured brothers were trampled to death by the enemy's horses."

Zhao Zhanhai immediately grasped the important information in the warrant officer's words and said, "The Japanese are pursuing you with a large cavalry unit?" The warrant officer answered without hesitation, "I don't know the specific situation, but there must be cavalry and iron chariots."

These Guangxi army officers and soldiers who appeared on the search company's trucks were all small groups of defeated soldiers from the 175th Division that the search company encountered during the search along the way. Although most of the defeated troops of the 175th Division fled in the direction of Qinzhou, there were also many who fled everywhere. In order to understand the battle situation as much as possible, Zhao Zhanhai gathered all the defeated soldiers he encountered and asked them one by one about the battle situation of their troops.

After repeated inquiries, Zhao Zhanhai finally understood the current situation. Obviously, the 175th Division had completely collapsed, and the Japanese army was pursuing it on a large scale with cavalry and tanks.

Of course, Zhao Zhanhai still knew nothing about the more specific situation and the further movements of the main forces of the Japanese army. The information these defeated soldiers could provide was extremely limited.

If they wanted to find out the truth, they could only fight a battle with the Japanese army and catch a few suspects.

Zhao Zhanhai nodded, thought for a moment, and said to the messenger beside him: "Pass my order, advance to the outskirts of Qinzhou at full speed, notify the friendly forces in the tank company to speed up, tell them that the Japanese army is now chasing the defeated soldiers with cavalry and tank troops, and ask them to be prepared and quickly send a telegram to the headquarters to report the current situation."

Zhao Zhanhai's orders were passed down one after another, and this mixed marching column consisting of a search company and a tank company suddenly accelerated and rushed towards Qinzhou.

Tanks, cars, and motorcycles all drove at their maximum speed, and the mobile marching advantages of motorized troops and mechanized tanks were quickly demonstrated. After the direction of advance was clear, the speed of advance was extremely fast. In just over ten minutes, the officers and soldiers of the search company heard dense and intense gunfire, and even saw scattered fleeing soldiers near the highway.

Upon seeing this, Zhao Zhanhai immediately ordered the troops to stop advancing. The main force of the search company and more than a dozen tanks of the friendly tank company stopped one after another. The infantry of the search company jumped off the trucks and crawled on the spot under the cover of the tank company to prepare for battle. Only the motorcycle row of the search company ran at full speed and advanced in the direction where the dense gunfire came from.

A few minutes later, the leader of the motorcycle platoon of the search company drove back and reported to Zhao Zhanhai in a hurry: "Company commander, a large number of friendly troops have been found ahead, and a large number of Japanese cavalry and tanks are chasing behind the friendly troops. Their troops and the Japanese pursuit troops are parallel to our direction of advance. Once the large number of troops pass by, we will collide with the Japanese army."

"Everyone in the company, leave one squad from the motorcycle platoon to watch the vehicles, and the others are ready to coordinate the infantry attack. Notify the friendly tank company, let's attack!"

When encountering the Japanese pursuit troops, Zhao Zhanhai immediately issued an attack order without thinking too much.

That's right, it was an attack order. Although the search company was the first to discover the Japanese pursuit force, it was not clear how many Japanese troops there were. Only by taking the initiative to attack could they give full play to the advantages of the tanks and gain the upper hand. Following Zhao Zhanhai's combat order, the officers and soldiers of the search company stood up one after another, and the tank company also started again. Under the guidance of the officers and soldiers of the motorcycle platoon, they deployed an infantry coordinated attack formation and drove towards the direction of the Japanese pursuits.

(End of this chapter)