The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 347: First arrogant then respectful, planning the Japanese warship
Under the attack of Japanese ships, the Fuchikou Fort has become a sea of ​​fire. The officers and soldiers on the fort have tried their best to resist, but facing the absolute firepower advantage of the Japanese ships on the river, although the officers and soldiers on the Fuchikou Fort fought bravely, they still could not make up for the huge gap brought about by the absolute equipment disadvantage.

After launching the attack, the Japanese ships completely eliminated the counterattack fire of the Chinese fortress artillery on the fort, and then continued to launch fierce destructive bombardment on the Fuchikou Fort with explosive shells, armor-piercing shells and incendiary bombs.

The fort's artillery on the battery was completely destroyed, and the gun positions, ammunition depots and the fort's infrastructure began to be damaged and destroyed under the bombardment of a large number of armor-piercing shells.

Under the dense rain of falling bombs that covered the sky and the sun, almost all the Chinese officers and soldiers on the fort died heroically. The entire fort was covered by the dense rain of bullets fired by the Japanese ships. The thick smoke and fireballs produced by the explosion of a large number of falling bombs almost illuminated both sides of the Yangtze River and reached the sky.

Behind the Fuchikou Fortress, in a hidden field command post, an officer with the rank of Army Lieutenant General listened to the loud explosions coming from the direction of the Fuchikou Fortress. He paced back and forth in the command post with a nervous look on his face like an ant on hot pot, and from time to time he looked towards the direction of the thick flames of the Fuchikou Fortress.

This lieutenant general officer was none other than Li Fangbin, the lieutenant general commander of the 18th Division of the 54th Army of the National Army, who was in charge of the garrison at Fuchikou.

After the Battle of Shanghai, the National Army expanded across the board. Chen Cheng, a big shot in the Civil Engineering Clique, took the opportunity to expand the strength of his troops. He expanded his basic unit, the 18th Army, into three armies at once. Among them, the 54th Army was an expansion of the 14th Division of the 18th Army.

In addition to the 1928th Division, the 9th Army also has the 5th Division and the th Division. The th Division, which is now responsible for the garrison of Fuchikou, was originally the Hunan Army sent by Tan Yankai. In September , the Second Army of the National Revolutionary Army and the Independent th Division were merged and reduced to the th Division of the Fourth Army in Changsha, Hunan, and later changed its number to the th Division.

During the Battle of Shanghai, the division was ordered to reinforce the Songhu front line, with a part of it taking over the defense of the Sichuan Army, and the main force was responsible for guarding the positions from Dacang Town to Xiaoshiqiao. However, the defense area taken over by the 3th Division was soon penetrated by the 26rd Division of the Japanese Army. The defense line was on the verge of collapse on both sides of the Shanghai-Taihe Highway, causing the left and right wings to retreat. The battle lasted until the fall of Dacang Town on the th. The division commander Zhu Yaohua committed suicide in grief and the entire division also suffered heavy casualties.

The 18th Division, which was severely damaged in the Battle of Shanghai, was soon targeted by Chen Cheng, who was eager to expand his troops after the war. It was annexed by Chen Cheng after the establishment of the 54th Army of the Tu Mu Clique, and transformed from a Hunan Army into a direct unit of the Central Army of the Tu Mu Clique.

The commander of the 18th Division and the main officers and cadres in the division were all replaced by Chen Cheng's direct men. After being incorporated into the combat sequence of the 54th Army, they had been training and replenishing near Hankou. When the Military Commission decided to strengthen the defense of the Fuchikou Fortress, the 18th Division was selected as the main garrison force of the Fuchikou Fortress and was incorporated into the combat sequence of the 11th Corps.

The 18th Division immediately set out from Hankou and was shipped to Fuchikou to take charge of the defense of the Fuchikou front line. The current commander of the 18th Division, Li Fangbin, was also appointed as the supreme commander to unify the command of the 18th Division and the artillery units of the Fuchikou Fortress.

Li Fangbin, 35 years old, is a graduate of the second engineering corps of the Whampoa Military Academy and the third higher education class of the Central Army Officers School. Before the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan and in the early days of the War of Resistance Against Japan, he had been working in the system of Chen Cheng's civil engineering troops. He served as the major general brigade commander of the 199th Brigade of the 67th Division of the Civil Engineering Department and the deputy commander of the 14th Division.

After the 18th Division was successfully annexed by Chen Cheng, Xiao Wenduo, the former Hunan Army general who served as acting commander of the 18th Division, was soon kicked out. Li Fangbin was therefore transferred to the position of Lieutenant General commander of the 18th Division. As a result, Li Fangbin was very proud and proud for a while.

Prior to this, in order to coordinate with friendly forces and strengthen the connection between the Banbishan garrison and the Fuchikou garrison, He Wei had actively communicated with Li Fangbin many times. He not only invited Li Fangbin to dinner many times, but also personally wrote letters as a junior of Huangpu Military Academy to discuss matters of coordinated operations with Li Fangbin. He hoped that the Banbishan garrison and the Fuchikou fortress garrison could establish a comprehensive coordinated combat relationship and form a complete wired telephone and radio communication network.

However, He Wei's enthusiastic attempts to make friends were all met with coldness. Li Fangbin, who had just taken office and was feeling proud of himself, thought that he had seniority and a high military rank, and had no interest in the invitation from He Wei, a lieutenant colonel from the 11th class of the Whampoa Military Academy, to cooperate in combat.

Despite He Wei's repeated invitations and proactive proposals, Li Fangbin only allowed the 18th Division to establish a radio communication relationship with He Wei's Assault Corps. As for other coordinated combat matters, there were none at all. He even never met He Wei once.

Li Fangbin was very confident in the defense of Fuchikou, which he was responsible for. He believed that Fuchikou was located in a dangerous location and there were dozens of artillery pieces of various calibers on the artillery platform. Together with the 18th Division under his command, with so many combat forces to defend Fuchikou, there was no need for too much coordination with other troops.

Therefore, Li Fangbin turned a blind eye to He Wei's repeated requests for contact.

Of course, as a lieutenant general and division commander of the Civil Engineering Department, Li Fangbin also had a certain understanding of He Wei and He Wei's Assault Corps. He knew that He Wei was a man of Minister He of the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs, and that the Assault Corps was also under the protection of Minister He. However, Chen Cheng, the head of the Civil Engineering Department, had always been at odds with Minister He. With such a layer of factional struggle, Li Fangbin naturally would not buy into He Wei.

Li Fangbin has Chen Cheng, a big Buddha, behind him. Not to mention that He Wei would run into trouble when contacting him, Li Fangbin would not even buy into the account of Li Yannian, the commander of the 11th Corps.

He Wei was very angry after trying to contact Li Fangbin many times without success. He felt that Li Fangbin was simply hopeless. However, He Wei had no way to deal with this guy. Although he was the supreme commander of the Banbishan defense force and had more than 10,000 troops under his command, he was only a lieutenant colonel after all. Even Li Yannian could not do anything about Li Fangbin, let alone He Wei, a lieutenant colonel of the 11th class of Whampoa Military Academy.

However, at this moment, Li Fangbin no longer had the arrogance he had when he refused to cooperate with friendly forces.

After witnessing the destruction of the Fuchikou Fortress in the 18th Division's command post and seeing the fierce firepower of the Japanese naval guns on the river, the 18th Division commander Li Fangbin, who had never attached much importance to combat readiness tasks and coordination and liaison with friendly forces, became completely panicked and completely lost his previous complacency and arrogance.

Faced with the fierce firepower of the Japanese ships on the river and the destruction of the Fuchikou Fortress artillery, Li Fangbin felt that a disaster was imminent and was at a loss what to do.

Li Fangbin originally thought that the Fuchikou Fortress had fortress fortifications as cover, and there were more than 20 mountain guns, field guns and naval guns with a caliber of more than 75 mm on the turret. With such firepower as a shield, defending Fuchikou should not be a problem. However, he never expected that the artillery firepower of the Japanese warships was so strong. By the time he truly witnessed the power of the modern naval fleet artillery of the Japanese warships, it was too late.

The Fuchikou Fortress was located on the flank of Fuchikou, controlling the entrance to the Fushui River and the Yangtze River. The two brigades of the 18th Division were deployed on the flanks of the Fuchikou Fortress, along the two banks of the Fushui River, with one brigade on the left bank of the Fushui River and the other on the right bank of the Fushui River. The Fuchikou Fortress was located on the left bank of Fuchikou in front of the two brigades, controlling the entire Fuchikou.

Now that the Fuchikou Fortress had been lost, the 18th Division deployed on both sides of the Fushui River suddenly lost its firepower support, and even lost its counter-fire power against the Japanese naval ships on the river.

Although the 18th Division's defensive positions were beyond the range of the Japanese naval guns and would not be affected by the fierce artillery fire of the Japanese naval guns, on the other hand, having lost the firepower of the Fuchikou Fortress's artillery, the 18th Division had no means of attacking the Japanese ships. No matter what actions or intentions the Japanese ships on the river made, the 18th Division hiding in the fortifications could only sigh at the river and could not come up with any means of blocking them.

What's even more terrible is that the destruction of the Fuchikou Fortress is equivalent to the complete opening of Fuchikou. If the Japanese ships on the river dispatched some small ships to enter Fushui through Fuchikou and launched a fire attack on the 18th Division's positions on both sides of Fushui, the consequences would be truly unimaginable.

Facing a critical situation, Li Fangbin paced back and forth in the command post amid the rumbling of artillery fire, muttering, "What should I do? What should I do?"

At this time, an officer with the rank of major general rushed into the command post and said to Li Fangbin anxiously: "Commander, the artillery units on the fort have all been lost."

Li Fangbin stopped abruptly upon hearing this, his face pale with shock, "What? All the artillery units on the fort were lost, did anyone escape?"

The major general officer said: "Commander, the artillery on the fortress battery was indeed completely lost. The lieutenant colonel who commanded the operation was killed. I sent people to the fortress battery to provide support. Currently, only more than 100 people are accommodated, and all of them are injured. The soldiers who escaped from the battery said that the power of the Japanese warships' artillery fire was too strong, and many ammunition depots and ammunition storage sites on the battery were blown up."

"Guangwen, where are the artillery on the fort? Has anyone brought them out?" The major general officer, whom Li Fangbin called Guangwen, shook his head helplessly and said, "Not a single artillery on the fort was dragged out. They were all destroyed."

Li Fangbin opened his mouth wide, his eyes dull and he could not utter a word for a moment. However, the major general officer beside Li Fangbin had the bearing of a general who remained calm in the face of an enemy.

In comparison, the division commander Li Fangbin really pales in comparison. Comparing the two men's words and deeds, it is Luo Guangwen who is more qualified to be the head of a division.

This major general officer is Luo Guangwen, the current major general deputy commander of the 18th Division. He is from Zhong County, Chongqing, and graduated from the 20th artillery department of the Chinese Team of the Japanese Army Academy.

After returning to China, he served as a major weapons instructor at the Whampoa Military Academy and captain of the seventh artillery class of the Whampoa Military Academy. He then served in Chen Cheng's civil engineering troops for a long time and was also a capable member of the civil engineering troops.

In the original history, Luo Guangwen had a very good career in Chen Cheng's civil engineering troops, and he was promoted to the commander of the 18th Army, a basic unit of the civil engineering troops and one of the five main forces of the National Army. Later, he served as the corps commander.

Although he was not a graduate of the Whampoa Military Academy, he was very good at combat command and was known as a brave general. He made many contributions in the Battle of Changde and the Battle of Shipai.

As a graduate of the Japanese Army Academy, he served as the commander of the 18th Army, the top elite civil engineering department, which used Whampoa Military Academy as the first principle for hiring people. This shows his ability and quality.

As for the commander of the 18th Division, Li Fangbin, in the original history, his performance in the battle of defending Fuchikou was just as timid and panicky as he is now, and even a bit more ridiculous.

At the most critical moment of the Fuchikou battle in history, Li Fangbin gathered his officers and proposed a breakout, but his proposal was rejected. Fearing death, he simply abandoned his troops and fled with a few cronies, abandoning his post and fleeing, leaving an entire division of troops at Fuchikou. In the end, he was dismissed and investigated.

After thinking for a while, Li Fangbin panicked as usual, pacing anxiously and saying, "What should we do? If the artillery is lost, it means that our support firepower will be completely lost. The firepower of the Japanese warships is so strong. If the Japanese drive their warships directly to Fuchikou or even into the inland river, the distance between the two sides will be shortened, and most of our division's positions will be within the firepower range of the Japanese warships. Then our division will be in danger, and Fuchikou will also be in danger!"

Seeing Li Fangbin's panic, Luo Guangwen, deputy commander of the 18th Division, sighed and said, "Commander, the situation has deteriorated to this point. I think we should report the military situation to Commander Li of the 11th Corps. In addition, our defense zone is close to Banbi Mountain, so we might as well ask He Wei, the highest commander of the Banbi Mountain garrison, for help to stabilize the situation."

"Now the Fuchikou Fortress is almost destroyed. The battle is no longer something my division can handle on its own. I heard that the Banbishan garrison is strong and has sufficient firepower. The Army Assault Corps is an elite unit directly under the Military Commission. Far water cannot quench near thirst. Even if Li Yannian, the corps commander of Tianjia Town on the other side, wants to support us, he is too far away to do so. Now only the Banbishan garrison can provide us with support as soon as possible."

When Li Fangbin heard Luo Guangwen's proposal, he hesitated.

Luo Guangwen was of course clear about what his teacher was thinking. He had simply ignored He Wei and Li Yannian before. Now that something had gone wrong at Fuchikou, it would be embarrassing for Li Fangbin to lose face and beg He Wei and Li Yannian for help.

Luo Guangwen was speechless at Li Fangbin's concern for his face at this time. He shook his head and said, "Commander, now that things have come to this, we must ask for help. Otherwise, if the war situation worsens and we are held accountable, we may not be able to afford it. Why don't you draft a telegram to be sent to He Wei and Li Yannian, and then send it in my name, so that we can be more considerate."

As soon as Luo Guangwen finished speaking, Li Fangbin's eyes lit up, and then he nodded repeatedly and said, "Guangwen, you are right, let's do it this way, I will draft a telegram immediately."

Luo Guangwen nodded and immediately ran to the confidential room in the command post.

Ten minutes later, He Wei, who was urgently analyzing the current battle situation in the command post on Banbi Mountain, looked at the telegram in his hand and sneered.

This telegram from the 18th Division at Fuchikou, in addition to briefly describing the general process of the fierce battle between the Fuchikou Fort and the Japanese warships, was a plea for help throughout.

The gist of it was that the Fuchikou Fortress had been destroyed, the 18th Division's defense zone was in danger and it had lost the ability to attack and block Japanese warships on the river. It was hoped that He Wei could withdraw troops and heavy artillery to try to support the 18th Division.

What's even more ridiculous is that the telegram was signed by Luo Guangwen, the deputy commander of the 18th Division. He Wei was at a loss whether to laugh or cry after seeing it.

Generally speaking, the person who signs the telegrams for communication between division-level units is either the division commander or the chief of staff. Moreover, the telegram sent by the 18th Division to He Wei was a request for combat assistance. In such a telegram, how could it be possible for the deputy division commander to bypass the division commander and contact the chief officer of the friendly forces?

When a deputy division commander suddenly appeared, He Wei immediately realized that the telegram was sent only in the name of deputy division commander Luo Guangwen, but the content was mostly written by the commander of the 18th Division, Li Fangbin, who only signed the telegram in the name of deputy division commander Luo Guangwen for the sake of face.

Thinking of Li Fangbin's previous arrogance and indifference to him, this strange teacher's behavior can really be described as "arguing at first and then being respectful, which makes people laugh when thinking about it."

Although Li Fangbin really disgusted He Wei, the overall situation was more important. He Wei still had to find a way to support the 18th Division and clean up the mess for Li Fangbin.

The combat power of the Japanese navy going up the river also shocked He Wei. Although He Wei knew the strength of the Japanese navy, he did not expect the Japanese navy's attack to be so fierce. It took only a few dozen minutes to completely destroy the artillery of the Fuchikou Fortress.

Wang Yuanling, the chief of staff of the assault corps, said to He Wei: "Captain, the Japanese are moving too fast. The Fuchikou Fortress no longer exists. I'm afraid the next target of the Japanese is us. What do we do with the 18th Division's request for help?"

He Wei threw the telegram aside, thinking about how to deal with the sudden attack of the Japanese fleet. After walking to the observation port of the command post and looking out for a long time, He Wei said: "Call the 18th Division back and tell them not to resist, not to open fire, hide in the position and do nothing, and not to act rashly. Get out of the fire range of the Japanese warships and deploy defenses on the spot. It's best to act as if nothing happened."

"We still have a naval mine team. Let's have them rush to the 18th Division's defense zone and urgently lay mines in the Fushui River. Use mines to build a blockade in Fushui to prevent the Japanese from advancing along the Fushui River into our deep defense zone."

Hearing what He Wei said, Wang Yuanling said in surprise: "Captain, please think twice. The 18th Division has already lost the Fuchikou Fortress. If they do nothing, the Japanese warships on the river will probably take advantage of the victory and continue to advance to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. At that time, they will immediately attack our Banbishan defense line along the river. We should at least suggest that the 18th Division make a symbolic recovery and support action to the Fuchikou Fort, at least to make the Japanese warships have some concerns."

He Wei smiled and snorted, looking at Wang Yuanling and said, "Brother Yuanling, the Japanese warships came so suddenly this time, and their arrogance was so arrogant that they destroyed the artillery position at Fuchikou in just a few dozen minutes. Our Banbishan defense line has been prepared for so long, so we naturally have to fight with the Japanese warships. What I want is for their warships to attack our Banbishan! In the past, we fought against the Japanese army, but this time, I'm going to take a good look at the Japanese navy's warships!"

(End of this chapter)