Chapter 375: Gathering Forces, Attacking Jingzhou

William's Ghost Battalion's recent bombing missions have also decreased, due to ammunition constraints.

Fortunately, the Ghost Battalion has already moved to Dangyang, and Jiang Anguo has also replenished enough fuel, aerial bombs, machine‑gun ammo, and so on at Dangyang Airport.

The First Battalion, as the assault task force, continues to carry out this bombing of Jingmen.

Nick's Second Battalion patrols the Yangtze River in batches, and any Japanese Army vessels they spot are bombed and sunk outright.

The Yangtze River route is Jiang Anguo's greatest worry, because he is unsure whether the Japanese Army will land at some point along the river; if the Japanese Army uses the Yangtze to advance on Yichang, Jiang Anguo would have to send reinforcements. Thus the optimal plan is to use the air force to threaten the Japanese Army on the Yangtze.

The Huaxia Army's momentum is like a rainbow; there are aircraft in the sky and tanks on the ground.

First‑rate soldiers, a die‑hard confidence!

The Japanese Army at Jingmen numbers only three to five thousand; on the Zhang River, William's Ghost Battalion has already wiped out more than half of the Japanese Army.

With absolute superiority, even elite Japanese Army troops are no more than that!

Wuli Pu.

"Fellow villagers, our troops have returned; rest assured we won't leave this time, we will definitely drive the Little Devil (Japanese soldier) out of Huaxia," Jiang Anguo shouted loudly from a hilltop.

"Now we are to build a fortification at Wuli Pu; please, fellow villagers, lend a hand!"

Wuli Pu also harbored a group of Little Devils (Japanese soldiers), but under the Guard Company's snipers' first wave of attack, most were wiped out; the remaining Little Devils tried to resist, but were soon concentrated fire from the Guard Company.

One must know that the Japanese Army's resistance was still fierce, because they had never experienced despair.

The civilians, upon seeing the usually arrogant Japanese Army Little Devils killed by the Huaxia Army, celebrated like New Year—drumming and gongs—and the braver ones even kicked the Japanese corpses a few times.

Soon more and more people joined the ranks, and by the time the last few Japanese corpses were so mangled that one could not tell flesh from bone, everyone finally stopped.

Even Jiang Anguo, standing at a distance, saw several villagers tear the Little Devil's meat off and feed it to the dogs on the side.

"Commander, we just received a telegram from Xu Guozhang and Hu Lian; Jingmen has been taken," Jiang Xingxue said, walking over with a telegram.

Jiang Anguo had just swung his Iron Shovel when he looked up and said, "Taken? It's only been that long."

Jiang Anguo, Xu Guozhang, and Hu Lian each spent only a few hours; the Japanese Army had thousands of Little Devils at Jingmen, and they were taken just like that.

Jiang Xingxue nodded, "Yes, Commander, it has been taken. Under the fierce assault of the 150th Division, the Japanese Army has taken Jingmen. Moreover, Tank Regiment commander Zhang Bing has led the Tank Regiment southward, preparing to attack Jingzhou."

The speed was a bit faster than Jiang Anguo had expected.

What is called despair? The Japanese Army garrison defending Jingmen, upon seeing fifty tanks outside the city with 76 mm gun barrels aimed at Jingmen.

A round of bombardment—fifty 76 mm high‑explosive shells—ripped the air and slammed into Jingmen's city walls.

The entire Jingmen shook.

In this assault on Jingmen, the 150th Division and Hu Lian's 11th Division carried no heavy weapons; the only heavy arms were the unit's 60 mm and 81 mm mortars.

Before the tanks reached Jingmen, the city had already been bombed once by William's Ghost Battalion's First Battalion in the sky, leaving the walls on the verge of collapse.

One should know that the First Battalion possessed twenty‑four P‑38 Lightning aircraft; even the Little Devils on Huaxia soil rarely deploy an air squadron of that size.

Because the airfield is small, the Second Battalion and the Little Devils are also not affluent.

Crucially, most of the Little Devils' aircraft are now deployed over the Pacific Ocean.

Jiang Anguo felt he still possessed foresight; when he reached Chongqing, he experienced Japanese bomber raids on Chongqing, and after arriving at Changde, he immediately focused on the Japanese Army's air forces in Central and South China, delivering a devastating strike.

Jiang Xingxue, watching the soldiers still digging trenches and the villagers of Wuli Pu, asked in a low voice, "Commander, should we keep digging the trench?"

Jiang Anguo snapped back, shook his head, and said, "Why keep digging? Once an order is issued, we cannot instantly rescind it; let some soldiers and civilians continue digging the trench, then allocate rations—three jin of food for adults, one jin for children."

Jiang Anguo had no currency, no money, which was a huge problem; often he could only resolve matters with food.

Of course, Chongqing had also given him a large sum—five hundred thousand francs—but Jiang Anguo found the francs somewhat repugnant to use.

Therefore, Jiang Anguo had no thoughts at all about the francs still en route.

The war progressed too quickly; the rear‑area rewards were still on the way.

"Jiang Xingxue, inform the troops; keep the movement low, and prepare to attack Jingzhou," Jiang Anguo said.

"Yes, Commander," Jiang Xingxue replied, immediately preparing.

Jiang Anguo called out to Xiao Si beside him, "Xiao Si."

"Here."

Jiang Anguo said gravely, "Notify the entire Xiao Ting formation: the 150th Division's 448th Regiment, immediately regroup and attack Zhijiang; only need to contain the Japanese Army at Zhijiang, no offensive required."

"Second order: tell Old Xu—yes, Xu Guozhang—to station his 449th Regiment at Jingmen to prevent Japanese Army forces from Xiangyang in the north from advancing."

"Third order: notify Hu Lian's 11th Division to move south, assemble, and attack Jingzhou."

"Yes, Regiment commander!"

One by one, the radio messages reached every officer.

At this moment, no one would object to Jiang Anguo's orders, including Hu Lian; in fact, when Hu Lian saw the Tank Regiment heading south, he immediately ordered the 34th Regiment to follow the Tank Regiment south to Wuli Pu, preparing to attack Jingzhou.

Blitzkrieg demands coordination between air and ground.

After the air forces bombarded the enemy ground positions, the tank units delivered a killing blow, then infantry units swiftly broke through both flanks, establishing a defensive perimeter and expanding the gains.

If attacking enemy territory, such as the Japanese Army's Honshu Island, Jiang Anguo believes he could be even harsher, especially since air power would deal a devastating blow to the Japanese Army.

But here is the Chinese mainland; Jiang Anguo cannot drop bombs into cities, as that would cause massive civilian casualties.

Even so, Jiang Anguo's speed was so rapid that these territories had no troops to take over, and the number of attacking troops kept decreasing.

Fortunately, one thing is that before the assault on Jingmen, the forces in Jiang Anguo's hand were still a fist.

The Japanese Army's units were extremely scattered; for example, the Japanese 39th Division had a battalion stationed in almost every major city across the Jianghan region.

This caused his 18,000‑plus troops to be dispersed.

Jiang Anguo could seize these opportunities, destroying them one by one, and using William's air force to deter the Japanese Army from providing support.

When Hu Lian arrived at Wuli Pu with the 34th Regiment, the Tank Regiment had already arrived ahead of schedule, moving astonishingly fast.

To Jiang Anguo's surprise, Xu Guozhang also arrived; old Xu was unavoidable, but fortunately Xu Guozhang only brought a Platoon of soldiers, following the 34th Regiment, while his 449th Regiment stayed at Jingmen to finish up.