Traveling through the sword to engage in military industry

#345 - Planning

"Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!" After crushing John Bull's 27th Brigade, the 178th Division didn't even have time to clean up the battlefield. Under the shouts of company and battalion commanders at all levels, they began a forced march towards the south of Bochuan.

Ding Wei left an M3 light tank company as the main force for mopping up.

The remaining five tank companies from the two tank battalions, after replenishing fuel and ammunition, were all taken by the 178th Division.

In terms of artillery, all of the flexible and mobile 107 rocket artillery battalions assigned to the two divisions were handed over to the 178th Division, followed by most of the 75mm mountain gun battalion and the 105mm howitzer battalion. This strengthened 178th Division had a full 100 tanks and more than 200 artillery pieces.

The motor transport regiment, which had been waiting on the side, loaded the entire 178th Division onto the trucks. More than 300 large trucks, packed to the brim, headed towards the Qingchuan River Bridge at a low speed of more than 20 kilometers per hour, guided by a guide car in the lead.

A fierce battle had just taken place near the bridge. Here, the Middlesex Battalion of John Bull's 27th Brigade, surrounded by Ding Wei's three battalions, was basically wiped out after a bloody battle. Only a very few small fry took advantage of the darkness to escape to who knows where.

Yao Fuhai's 1st Battalion suffered heavy casualties. The 2nd and 3rd companies, which were responsible for the blocking mission, suffered losses of more than half, including casualties and sacrifices. At this moment, they were silently cleaning up the mess, preparing to transport the wounded back.

"Battalion Commander Yao, why don't you pull your 1st Battalion back to rest? We'll request instructions from higher authorities and have our battalion take over the defense of this bridge," Li Changan of the 3rd Battalion, 468th Regiment, 179th Division, who had come to reinforce, advised, seeing the heavy casualties of the 1st Battalion.

Beside him was Hao Kangming, the 2nd Battalion Commander of the 416th Regiment, 178th Division.

At this moment, Battalion Commander Hao's face was still stained with blood, whether he was grazed by a bullet or it was the enemy's, but now there would basically be no hand-to-hand combat, so it should have been grazed by a bullet.

"No, our division needs to do everything possible to block the possible reinforcements from the Rogue Eagle. Although our battalion has suffered heavy casualties, we don't have the opportunity to stop and rest at this critical juncture. After fighting to this point, the Rogue Eagle's coalition forces should go all out. I estimate that the enemy coming to reinforce this time will be very strong. We must hold the Qingchuan River Bridge, so that our logistics will not be cut off," Yao Fuhai shook his head and said.

The Rogue Eagle information edited by Ren Zhong was only distributed to the regimental level, not yet to the battalion and company levels, so these battalion and company commanders' understanding of the Rogue Eagle was based on the content of the pre-battle deployment and publicity by the regimental commander.

Yao Fuhai didn't know whether others had listened to it, but Yao Fuhai himself had definitely listened to it, and he didn't have the slightest sense of contempt for the Rogue Eagle's main force.

Not far in front of them, there was still the Rogue Eagle's 1st Cavalry Division, an absolute main force.

The battle they had just experienced, the Middlesex Battalion of John Bull, was not considered a strong army in the coalition forces, but its combat effectiveness was also quite good. Without the support of tanks and artillery, infantry against infantry, Yao Fuhai's 1st Battalion had the upper hand, but it was not easy to deal with.

"Alright, Division Commander Zhang of the 178th Division will be here soon with the main force. After we welcome Division Commander Zhang across the river, we'll ask for instructions to see who stays behind to guard the bridge," Li Changan nodded and said.

These things were not something that their few small battalion commanders could decide.

East of Bochuan.

The battle to encircle and annihilate the 19th Regiment of the 24th Division was in full swing.

"Commander, we've broken into the 19th Regiment's position. News has come from Commander Ding Wei that they've already crushed the 27th Brigade. Now the 178th Division has concentrated the tanks and artillery of the 179th Division and is heading south, preparing to find suitable terrain north of Anzhou to block possible Rogue Eagle reinforcements. More than an hour has passed since we launched the attack. Reconnaissance personnel lurking near Pingcheng have sent back a telegram saying that a large number of mechanized units have been discovered heading north, estimated to be the Rogue Eagle's 1st Cavalry Division."

Shen Quan reported after briefly summarizing the received intelligence.

"Old Ding is good, he moves pretty fast, he cleaned up the damned 27th Brigade. There's not a single good person in this British gang. Since the Opium War, they've committed so many evils in our place. Old Ding is considered to have recovered a little bit of the interest for us," Li Yunlong said with a happy face.

Although these were all planned things, Old Ding's clean and neat actions can be considered as patching up the hole he made in the south.

The strength of a Rogue Eagle division is not like our division, especially the 1st Cavalry Division. According to Xiang Qian's intelligence, in terms of heavy firepower, it is not much worse than our army.

If there was only Li Yunlong's 16th Army, and he had to face the Rogue Eagle's 24th Division and the 1st Cavalry Division at the same time, then the strength would definitely not be enough. Li Yunlong would have to shrink the blocking force in the south and return to the northeast direction to fight a one-sided offensive and crushing battle, rather than an annihilation battle.

Because if Zhang Dabiao's 100th Division was trapped between the Rogue Eagle's 24th Division and the 1st Cavalry Division, that would not be tactics, but sending food!

With Zhang Dabiao's small body, he couldn't withstand the two-sided impact of the Rogue Eagle's two main divisions.

With this strong aid, Li Yunlong felt that the conditions for annihilating the 24th Division were met.

"Old Shen, Dabiao's side has built a strong fence, the rest depends on your and Wang Huaibao's ability to drive pigs. Now the 19th Regiment's position is about to be broken. Next, the 21st Regiment and the 34th Regiment have the assistance of the 24th Division's tank battalion and artillery battalion. You have to work harder. I'll give you another 24 hours, day and night. Can you take them down?" Li Yunlong said.

"Report to the commander, guarantee to complete the mission!" Shen Quan said with unusual determination.

"Good, it's good to have confidence, but you also have to act according to your ability." Li Yunlong walked over and patted Shen Quan on the shoulder, "According to Lao Ren's saying, we are no longer barefoot now. We should try to avoid rash battles and bayonet fighting. The Rogue Eagle can win with firepower, and so can we. I will personally return to the Ningbian Command to solve the supply of weapons and ammunition and the problem of air support for you non-stop for 24 hours!"

After observing the actual combat power of the Rogue Eagle on the front line, Li Yunlong finally had a direct understanding, and he had to return to the army headquarters in Ningbian. There, it was the old nest directly connected to the ZhiSi hotline.

Many things still need to trouble the old brigade commander to coordinate.

Annihilating the 24th Division is not something that can be completed in a short time. The enemy's land reinforcements are already on the road, and the air reinforcements and sea reinforcements are not far away. As soon as it dawns, the enemy's air force will be dispatched.

Although the Rogue Eagle Navy's ship guns can't reach, the carrier-based aircraft on the aircraft carrier fleet, whether taking off from the east or west side of the peninsula, will almost quickly reach the sky over the battlefield. By the time it dawns, the Rogue Eagle Air Force, which has been driven crazy, will probably dispatch on a scale beyond imagination.

Whether the Dragon Kingdom Air Force can withstand it this time is really a huge unknown.

Second update!