Age of Rebirth

Hundreds of thousands of troops directly under the corps marched westward, marching in the sparsely populated desert edge, and with Chutian's special warfare detachment opening the way in front, Liu Cuigang's Australian battlefield air force has the air supremacy, whether in the sky or on the ground, it can do its best The whereabouts of the troops can be concealed to a certain extent, but it is almost impossible to conceal the traces of the troops outside the edge of the Great Sand Desert and the Mabubar area.

Information about hundreds of thousands of elite mechanized troops from the Independent Division appearing in Western Australia will reach the ears of the commander of the Japanese Australian Front, Yanzaburo Ito, in less than a day. Tang Qiuli is well aware of this. The troops, the first and second brigades attacking Mandola, and the third and fourth brigades attacking Sanggu, when to attack the target are the issues he is most concerned about right now.

"Teacher, does the teacher send a telegram to urge the above-mentioned four brigades?" Chief of Staff Zhao Yuhe knew what the teacher was worried about, so he made a suggestion.

"You don't need a heavy hammer to beat the drum!" Tang Qiuli shook his head and said, "Liu Hongzhang and the others are veterans in the battlefield, so it's better not to interfere!"

In fact, the first and second brigades that had been running in front of the main force of the directly subordinate corps and were responsible for taking down Mandola were faster than the estimated marching speed of the division chief of staff Zhao Yuhe, not less than a day's journey , but less than half a day's journey. At this moment, Liu Hongzhang's first brigade and Ouyang Yishan's second brigade have reached the Dutari area, which is less than [-] kilometers away from Mandola.

Major General Liu Hongzhang, commander of the first brigade, was the commander of the attack on Mandola, and Major General Ouyang Yishan, commander of the second brigade, was the deputy commander.Ouyang Yishan didn't have any complaints about the teacher's arrangement.In the combat sequence of the troops directly under the corps, they have always been sorted by number.Automatic determination of joint combat force commander position.

What's more, Liu Hongzhang is famous for his strength and bravery even in the regiment directly under his command, while Ouyang Yishan himself is not inferior to Liu Hongzhang when it comes to fighting. In many cases, he is even better than Liu Hongzhang in the strategy of using troops.But he has a gentle personality and is rarely competitive. No matter how you look at it, he is a suitable candidate for the political commissar of the Communist Army. Liu Hongzhang and Ouyang Yishan can complement each other as a partner.

Now, Ouyang Yishan is sitting in Liu Hongzhang's armored command vehicle, and on the road beside him are two brigades with more than 3 horses rolling forward side by side.Looking at Liu Hongzhang, who kept rolling his eyes, he asked, "Brigade Commander Liu, in less than two hours, the troops will arrive at Mandola. How are you going to fight?"

Liu Hongzhang took out a cigarette, handed it to Ouyang Yishan, and lit a cigarette himself.He took a deep breath and exhaled light blue smoke.He grinned and said, "Second. Our two brigades have a combined strength of more than 5000 troops, plus tanks and cannons. The firepower is several times higher than that of the little devil!"

"According to the intelligence of the Special Warfare Detachment, Mandola's little devils are a brigade, with a maximum of about 1 people. They are still second-line defense brigades, and their combat effectiveness is not strong. Facing such an opponent, how do you fight? , give full play to the advantages of firepower, and crush it head-on!"

Hearing Liu Hongzhang call himself "Second Brother!" Ouyang Yishan smiled wryly. Because of this nickname, he and Liu Hongzhang got angry several times, but it was useless. Except in front of the teacher, he still called him correctly. As for the entire Corps directly under it, the nickname "Second" became synonymous with the Second Brigade and himself.

Liu Chenglin, chief of staff of the first brigade, and Jia Lianhai, chief of staff of the second brigade, couldn't help laughing when they saw the two brigade commanders bickering. This happened almost every day after the Brigade and the [-]nd Brigade formed an attack group.

"Crushing head-on, the idea is correct, but how to fight, we need to formulate a detailed battle plan? Can't two brigades rush up and fight randomly?" Ouyang Yishan said slowly.

"How can it be so complicated!" Liu Hongzhang said indifferently: "Look at the terrain of Mandola, the west is close to the sea, and the remaining three sides are flat open land. Let's fight casually. The first brigade will attack the north and the second brigade will attack the east. It will take five hours to end the battle!"

"After the troops approached the target, they immediately went on the offensive without resting! Try to catch everyone by surprise!" Ouyang Yishan looked at Liu Hongzhang and concluded.

""Hey hey hey! "Liu Hongzhang was overjoyed and said: "Second brother, it is a pleasure to cooperate with you. The heroes see the same thing. It is necessary to advance steadily and not give the little devils a chance to fight in the streets. Isn't it just more than 1 little devils? "

What Liu Hongzhang said was wild and arrogant, but Ouyang Yishan knew that this was the most suitable way of attack, "Success! Let's fight like this!" The Mandola battle was decided when the two were bickering.

In Western Australia, Mandola is not considered an important military town. The commander of the Japanese army on the west route, Major General Yoshitake Tohachiro, the deputy chief of staff of the Australian Front Army, left a second-line brigade stationed because Mandola was a western town. An important logistical supply base for the attacking troops on the road, the No.20 Ninth Supply Brigade is the defending unit. It is more appropriate to transport ammunition and supplies for the frontline troops than to take on the task of guarding Mandola.

Sanggu, which is more than 130 kilometers away from Mandola, also has a similar role. The No.20 Seventh Supplies Brigade of the Australian Front Army is stationed and defended. Like Mandola, it is an important material and ammunition transfer point. Sanggu, return The third and fourth brigades directly under the Corps attacked.

Commander of the No.20 Ninth Supply Brigade of the Japanese and Australian Front Army stationed in Mandola, Mizuhara Dasao, just staring at the venomous sun, inspected the military supplies ready to be shipped to the front line of Mount Vernon, and returned to the brigade headquarters. He didn't dare to slack off on the batch of military supplies that arrived. It was a large amount of Italian equipment that the logistics department of the front army had replenished to the front line, all of which were large-caliber heavy artillery and attached shells.

The shirt on his body was soaked with sweat, and he was very uncomfortable. The head of the Suwon Brigade walked into the office, first poured a large glass of cold water, then sighed heavily, and yelled at the orderly, "Naito, Baga! Where are you going to die? Go? Bring me a basin of water!"

The head of the brigade, Mizuhara, did not go well. According to the practice of the Imperial Army Army, the brigade heads are all major generals, because the No.20 Ninth Brigade under his command is a supply unit, so, with the Imperial General Missed, the whole day price is just a porter role.

Originally, I had a chance to be promoted to a major general, but unfortunately, when the original imperial army was stationed in Australia, I was the captain of the field troops, and I was sent to a team because of consecutive defeats in the central Australian battlefield. The second-rate brigade, as the head of the brigade, Mizuhara was full of resentment.

The wet and sticky shirt made it uncomfortable to stick to his body, but that bastard Naito, the orderly soldier, hadn't fetched water yet, the fire in Suwon brigade commander's heart was ablaze, he got up with a straight eyebrow, and was about to go again Calling Naito, the orderly, and getting ready to speak loudly, at this moment, a figure broke in.

The head of the Suwon brigade saw that it was the chief of staff, Nakamura Kitamura. It was a hot day, but his face was pale, so he asked strangely, "Mr. Kitamura, what serious matter happened?"

Chief of Staff Kitamura gasped and said: "Brigade Commander, just received an urgent telegram from the headquarters of the Front Army, so there is an independent division of China, with a strength of about [-] people, heading towards Mandola from the east. Approaching from the direction of Sanggu, the Front Army Command requested our brigade to stick to Mandola and ensure the safety of the rear of the attacking troops on the western front. This is a telegram!"

"Nani?" The head of the Suwon brigade didn't believe it. Isn't it bullshit? The north of Mandola is the rear of the imperial army, and the south is the front line of more than 10,000 imperial troops fighting fiercely with the Chinese troops. The west is a vast ocean, the east, and the east is a large sandy desert where people die when they enter it. Where did the China Independent Division come from, and there are still two [-]+ people flying over?

The people at the headquarters are probably out of their minds?The head of the Suwon Brigade shook his head, with a sneer at the corner of his mouth, and reached out to take the telegram. He was about to read it, when suddenly, "Boom! Boom!—Boom!" A loud noise like landslides and earth cracks echoed in the afternoon land of Western Australia. , and accompanied by the slight tremor of the earth, it was the loud explosion of countless shells covering a wide area, which came from the east and north of Mandola at the same time.

"Nani?" The head of the Suwon Brigade screamed this time. There were indeed troops from the China Independent Division calling from the east, and the telegram fell to the ground. "Chief of Staff Kitamura, order the troops to enter the position immediately and prepare to fight back!" He said. Shouted loudly, the movement seemed very faint amidst the overwhelming sound of explosions.

The first brigade and the second brigade directly under the corps launched an attack from the east and north of Mandola at the same time, and the shot was a thunderous blow. The outer positions of the No. 20 Ninth Supply Brigade of the Japanese Army were not even standard field fortifications. In fact, they were not a field force in the first place.

The first brigade and the second brigade belonged to the heavy artillery regiment, plus the attached heavy artillery regiment and self-propelled artillery regiment, more than 600 large-caliber artillery pieces, and the Japanese army's position was immediately filled with gunpowder smoke and flames. During the attack, the attack was so sudden, the artillery fire was as violent as a volcanic eruption, and it took almost no effort to tear up the fragile and paper-thin Japanese defense positions around Mandola.

After four or ten minutes of shelling, thousands of Japanese soldiers' fragmented corpses were left on the ground, with bomb craters everywhere, and the original fortifications could not be seen. Break into the city of Mandola.

Standing in the armored finger car, Liu Hongzhang followed the troops into the urban area, looked at the surrounding battlefields, and said to Liu Chenglin, the brigade chief of staff, "I can't help but fight!"

(to be continued) (to be continued...)