Chapter 143

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Protagonist:

Lv Muzhi

The aerial combat was also developing in the direction of escalation; the devils' Type 96 carrier fighters suffered heavy losses and hurriedly called for reinforcements.

Even though the Type 96 carrier fighters' performance couldn't match the BF109, in terms of numbers, the devils' fighters kept taking off from aircraft carriers, and additionally flew in from the home islands, the peninsula, and Liugiu; some were used to replenish the carriers' depleted fighters, while others flew directly to the battlefield.

Seeing the enemy planes increasing the more they fought, the Southwest Air Force immediately shook people, requesting the Chinese Air Force to urgently scramble for support.

Inside Jinling City, the President received the Luodian battle report.

The battle reports on the desk were too many to finish reading, already stacked into a small mountain.

The President's bald head gleamed with oil under the lights: "Damn it, the Wang Jingwei Regime bullies me for having no naval guns? A few days ago they forced my troops inland, and now they dare use naval guns to chase and hit me?!"

"Darling~ calm down, let Wei Yue handle this kind of thing~"

The President nodded: "Send a telegram to Lv Weiyue, tell the Youth Army to look after the Fifteenth Group Army's defense sector, I'll have my air force scramble for support immediately!"

Above Luodian, the aviation troops and the army are now each fighting their own battles; planes are busy dogfighting, the army is busy holding the line.

Fortunately, the devils have no usable airfields near Songhu; the only Gongda Textile Mill Airport has already been destroyed by Lv Muzhi. Apart from those flying from aircraft carriers, planes coming from other places can't fight for long before they have to fly back to the carriers to refuel.

Because of this restriction, the devils won't be able to commit very many planes to combat simultaneously, because once the carriers can't keep up with refueling, the devils' planes, if not shot down by the Chinese, will likely run out of fuel and fall straight into the sea.

The Southwest Air Force also cooperated with the Principal's air force, engaging the devils in batch after batch of entanglement, but not going all out; as long as they kept the devils' fighters from diverting to attack Huang Wei's 67th Division on the ground, that was enough.

Most of the time, the Southwest Air Force's fighters chose to preserve strength, using their speed to lead the devils' fighters around in circles, luring the devils' fighters away from the battlefield.

When night fell, both sides' fighters would naturally tacitly each return to their own bases.

On the ground, Colonel Ying Sen Xiao's 18th Regiment was completely unable to break through the battle line formed by the entire 67th Division; the naval gun strikes yielded no great effect, and their own aviation troops overhead couldn't spare a hand to help them either.

Even more fatal, a large number of shells actually flew overhead and exploded among the devils' attacking formations; this wasn't the Youth Army's artillery fire, so whose could it be?!

Nanxiang, Lv Muzhi brought out his heavy artillery regiment again.

One 155mm howitzer after another was towed out of the underground warehouses by automobiles and positioned at gun positions.

From this position at Nanxiang, two companies of Lv Muzhi's artillery regiment — 24 155mm howitzers — with a range of 17.5 kilometers, can hit Luodian 13 kilometers away.

Additionally, the other two companies' 24 105mm field guns, though lacking the range, Lv Muzhi directly pulled to the rear of Luodian; since the devils' planes overhead were too busy to cope, Lv Muzhi's artillery regiment would open fire across the board.

"Commander Lv! Deputy Commander Zhang reports, a new batch of shells transported from the Southwest Military Factory has been loaded onto a whole train car in Jinling, arriving tomorrow!"

"Commander Lv, the President has cabled, ordering you to assist in striking the Wang Jingwei Regime on the Luodian front with all your might!"

"Commander Lv, Commander Chen Cheng has cabled, two regiments are deploying on the Luodian front, he hopes you can agree to deploy the Liao Yaoxiang Brigade forward for combat!"

Hearing this news, Lv Muzhi didn't expect Chen Cheng to be quite by the book; although the Liao Yaoxiang Brigade was loaned to him, if it was truly to be mobilized, he still gave advance notice.

"Tell Liao Yaoxiang to watch the Luodian defense line's movements, be ready to move forward and support at any time!"

"Maintain clear contact with the forward artillery observation posts; the artillery regiment opens fire immediately on the front of Luodian once deployed, fire off every shell you've stockpiled, I'm not holding back!"

"Reply to the Principal, tell the Principal to rest assured, Wei Yue will absolutely not fail this heavy trust!"

Boom boom boom!!!

In front of Luodian, the devils' attacking formation.

The Navy idiots' naval guns finished their song, and Lv Muzhi's howitzers and field guns took the stage.

Although their power can't compare to naval guns, as long as they're useful, that's fine!

The devils exposed themselves charging on the ground, and first suffered a major loss.

Howitzer and field gun shells exploded non-stop among the devils' attacking formations, plus Huang Wei's 67th Division main force was intact, the division commander personally supervising the battle and strictly holding the positions; the 18th Regiment only got beaten and suffered losses going up.

However, the devils are attacking with two regiments; currently only Colonel Ying Sen Xiao's 18th Regiment, over 3,000 men, using companies as attack units, is continuously probing and attacking on the Luodian front battlefield, while the other regiment — Cangyong Chengzhi's 6th Regiment — is outflanking on the left wing.

Luodian left wing, Regiment Commander Cangyong Chengzhi is full of confidence; for this operation, Cangyong Chengzhi not only commands two battalions of infantry, but also successfully secured the support of 13 Type 89 medium tanks.

Attempting a sudden strike from the flank to shatter the Luodian defense line.

However~ the devils' strike isn't sudden at all.

Several thousand men plus over a dozen tanks running on flat ground were discovered long ago by the Southwest Air Force overhead, and relayed via radio to Lv Muzhi's theater command post.

The enemy on the left wing has strong combat power, infantry-tank coordinated attack, very likely to shake the Luodian defense line; this enemy force is naturally for Liao Yaoxiang, waiting in the rear, to go intercept.

"Whole brigade move out, bring all anti-tank weapons you can, 37mm anti-tank guns, Oerlikon 20mm machine guns, 75mm infantry guns move out with the troops, 75mm mountain guns build positions in the rear!"

At Liao Yaoxiang's order, a brigade of two regiments of soldiers, long ready and waiting, split into multiple routes and set out toward the Luodian left wing.

By estimate, this one brigade is sufficient to counter the devils' dozen-plus tanks; for instance, the 37mm anti-tank gun, one per company; the Oerlikon 20mm machine gun, one 6-gun machine gun company per regiment; the 75mm infantry gun, currently two per battalion; the 75mm mountain gun, Lv Muzhi allocated one 6-gun company per regiment.

Combined, Liao Yaoxiang's one brigade of two regiments has 18+ 37mm anti-tank guns, 12 20mm machine guns, 12 75mm infantry guns, 12 75-caliber mountain guns.

Not to mention the numerous anti-tank squads equipped with anti-tank rifles.

No tanks, relying solely on anti-tank firepower, can still repel the enemy's armored forces!

On the battleship Mutsu, Shanghai Expeditionary Army Commander-in-Chief General Matsui Iwane naturally also paid close attention to the Luodian offensive.

"Report to the Commander-in-Chief, the 18th Regiment is frustrated on the Luodian front, enemy artillery fire is fierce, the enemy facing us, the 67th Division's defense line is extremely tenacious!"

"Report to the Commander-in-Chief, the 6th Regiment, along with 13 Type 89 medium tanks, encountered the Liao Yaoxiang Brigade's interception on the left wing! According to reports, the enemy is equipped with a large amount of anti-tank firepower!"

"Report to the Commander-in-Chief, the aviation troops are entangled by the Chinese Air Force, unable to conduct ground attacks!"

Navy Commander Gu Qingchuan exclaimed: "Lv Muzhi truly blocks soldiers with generals, blocks water with earth — Matsui, do we still have any cards left?"

Matsui Iwane exhaled: "Hah~ Order the 5th Tank Battalion to directly dispatch a tank squadron of 22 tanks of various models into battle, accompanied by an infantry regiment of the 11th Division, to launch an attack on the Luodian right wing; three-sided attack, I don't believe we can't take Luodian!"

"Hmph hmph! Lv Muzhi, let's see if you can keep up?!"

This time Matsui Iwane played all his playable cards; navy, land, and air, every trick was used.

Luodian right wing, the little devils organized another powerful offensive, making Huang Wei's scalp tingle: "Good, good, good, all targeting me, huh? My 67th Division will just nail itself to the positions!"

Facing this situation, Chen Cheng directly dispatched the 18th Army's 11th Division, sending his Civil Engineering Clique ace forward, Luo Zhuoying leading the charge, to counter a reinforced tank squadron plus an infantry regiment on the left wing.

Luo Zhuoying led his troops to deploy defenses, and he also felt somewhat uncertain inside, requesting the divisional mountain artillery to deploy in the rear to counter the twenty-two tanks plus one regiment of infantry on the Luozhan Left Wing.

"Report to Commander Luo! Youth Army Armored Tank Regiment Commander Zhou Weiguo requests to speak!"

Luo Zhuoying was overjoyed: "Finally they've come! Connect it quickly!"

"Commander Luo, I've already arrived five kilometers southeast of Luodian; with my Armored Tank Regiment holding the bottom, you can let loose and fight to the death!"