Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Chapter 504 Songkhla Attack and Defense

At the same time, the 20nd Division of the 2th Army that attacked Natawi also launched a fierce attack on Natawi, a small town in northern Malaysia that afternoon, but the battle of Natawi was not easy because the main force of the Tenth Army The 5th and 6th Brigade stayed in Natawi. The situation here was not like that in Satun. There was only one brigade left behind, and Natawi’s resistance was extremely fierce.

"Brigade Commander, the enemy's offensive is quite strong, and I'm worried that our defense line will be breached." The Chief of Staff of the 5th Brigade said cautiously to Song Lian, the brigade commander.

Song Lian looked at the current situation. Indeed, the opponent's offensive trend is quite strong. He considered it again and again, so he lost face and asked the 5th Brigade for help. The answer he got was: I can't send troops here for a while. Support, Yala is also being attacked by a division of the Huwei Army, and Kota Bharu, where our division headquarters is located, is also being attacked by two divisions of the enemy. We have no troops to support you now!
Song Lian was not reconciled, so he sent a telegram directly to the Tenth Army Headquarters, "Master, there is a problem with the Natawei defense line. A division of the Huwei Army is attacking Natawei. I need reinforcements, I need reinforcements!" Lu Yongxiang Chong Chong was furious. These days, he received telegrams asking for help or falling from the front every day, which almost drove the surname Lu crazy. Now he feels a little regret in his heart. The imperial court is busy with water control, coupled with Yuan Shikai's careful preparations and the assistance of the Americans, the event will surely be accomplished. Unexpectedly, at a critical moment, the Americans withdrew the ladder, and the imperial court just freed up a hand to kill the rebels. Lu Yongxiang bet his family and life for the side of the Qing emperor, but now Lu Yongxiang feels that hope is getting more and more bleak, and the god of death is approaching him a little bit.

"Bastard, can a brigade fight against a division, plus those solid city defenses, can't stop it? What are they all for?" Lu Yongxiang said angrily.

"Commander, what we are facing now is the armored infantry division of the Huwei Army, which is armed to the teeth. It is not that it is far superior to us in terms of equipment and numbers. If we continue to defend as usual, we will definitely suffer a big loss. .”

Lu Yongxiang calmed down and thought for a while, and ordered: "Order the 4th Brigade to abandon Natawi and retreat to Songkhla. I want to fight Cai E's Huwei army here to the death!"

"Yes!"

Under the planning of Zhang Fengxiang, Chief of Staff of the Tenth Army, the troops participating in the Songkhla Battle will be composed of defeated troops entrenched in the northern part of the Malay Peninsula, and all troops will be concentrated in Songkhla County.The city defense of Songkhla was handed over to Li Chun, the commander of the 30th Division who was withdrawing to the south.

After Li Chun received the order, although he was a little unhappy, after all, everyone knows that his division was beaten to pieces in just two days after the first battle of Leigu, and this time he was facing his old opponent again. To be honest, Li Chun was both afraid and worried. With a division of troops staying in Songkhla and facing an opponent's army, there was almost no chance of winning. All that awaited them was failure. However, the military order is like a mountain. This order, then they have to carry out.

"What, the rebels voluntarily gave up Phatthalung and Dong Li? What do they want?" Liu Cunhou was a little puzzled when he heard the two places that the rebels voluntarily gave up.

"Commander, it looks like they want to defend Songkhla!" Hong Zhaolin analyzed.

"Defend Songkhla? Are they crazy? Just one division wants to defend Songkhla. How is this possible? You know, we can invest up to four divisions on the Songkhla battlefield. He only wants to defend Songkhla with one division. ? Isn't this a joke?" Liu Cunhou couldn't believe it.

"I don't think they are joking, but they are serious." Hong Zhaolin said with a smile.

"I'm worried that I won't be able to fight with their main force. This time it's okay. They actually gathered together for me to fight. I can't miss such a good thing. All the troops that can be mobilized are transferred to the northern line, Lao Tzu You must end the northern line as soon as possible, and then put all your energy into the southern line, Lu Yongxiang, you are looking for death, and you can't blame me." Liu Cunhou said coldly.

In this way, the four divisions of the 20th Army plus an independent regiment assembled towards the Songkhla area. Liu Cunhou ordered that Songkhla must be captured in a short time.

On the night of May 5th, the 27th Division of the 20th Army took the lead in attacking Radapont. The 6th Brigade guarding Radapont soon could not withstand the powerful attack of the entire mechanical infantry division. Fleeing in the city of Songkhla.Radapont was easily captured by the Huwei army in less than 265 hours.

Li Chun walked back and forth in the headquarters anxiously, and it was within his expectation that Radapont would not be able to hold on, but he never expected that Radapont would be lost so quickly. Said, it seems that the enemy's offensive is getting more and more fierce.

"Master, you don't have to be too angry about this. The troops that our Burmese front army is facing are recognized as the sharpest, most powerful, and most effective troops of the Huwei Army, and their coach Liu Cunhou is indeed a very capable person." Staff officer Chang Zhou Ziqi knows how to please his boss.

Li Chun said and waved his hands: "Okay, let's not talk, the enemy is about to approach the city, let's see if there are any mistakes."

Zhou Ziqi nodded, then walked to the city defense sand table, pointed to each area and said, "Teacher, look, at present, the distribution of the five brigades in our hands is like this: the 6th brigade guards the seaside. It can be said that once the 6th brigade If the line of communication is completely blocked by the enemy, we can ask the navy for help to pick us up from the sea, and the task of guarding the beachhead will be handed over to the 7th Brigade; along the eastern front, the 8th Brigade will be used as a reserve team. Once When the opponent invades the city, all the troops enter the pre-set defense area, engage in street fighting with the enemy, and destroy the enemy in the street fighting, our artillery brigade will also give side support, you see"

"Hey, what else can we do? Just fight like this. Do you know how many enemy troops are attacking Songkhla?"

"That, that..." Zhou Ziqi doesn't know what to say if he flatters again. The opponent's attacking force has a total of four divisions. Although three divisions are directly involved, even so, the pressure on him is still very high. of. "Reporting to the division commander, the enemy has invested four divisions in total on the front line of Songkhla. Among them, the 6th division directly attacked our southern line, which can be said to be menacing."

Liu Cunhou let out a long sigh: "Let's just wait for God's will."

At the same time, in the headquarters of the 20th Army, Liu Cunhou frowned, looked at the military deployment of both sides and the current offensive situation, and said: "The enemy has now concentrated all its troops in Songkhla City. The battle for fortification is very unfavorable. Although we now have an absolute advantage in military strength, look at the terrain of Songkhla. This is a seaside city, and its beachhead is very easy to defend. This is mainly because of the navy of our Nanyang Fleet. It is impossible to appear behind them, but their warships can give them great support from the sea, so we will have a very difficult battle, and everyone must be mentally prepared."

Everyone nodded. Indeed, Li Chun's back-and-forth style of play is the most troublesome style of play. To be honest, no one wants to get caught up in street fighting, because once street fighting starts, there will be many uncertainties and the loss of troops There may be more than positional warfare, so everyone still hopes to eliminate the main force of the enemy before entering the city.

"Now, I order." Liu Cunhou stood up and said solemnly. Everyone stood up and listened to the commander's order. "The 6th Division will mainly attack Songkhla; the 7th Division will serve as a supplementary reserve force; on the southern front, the 8th Division will serve as a supplementary reserve force. In addition, the cavalry division will stay at Radapont, ready to fight at any time.

"Yes!"

Boom boom boom, the sound of rumbling cannons announced that the offensive and defensive battle of Songkhla has officially started!
The rolling steel torrent cleared the way, and the rebels guarding Songkhla were struggling to support the situation. Although the scene looked very passive, and the rebels had no power to fight back, their defense was very tenacious.At this time, some soldiers were still ordered to adopt a suicidal defensive strategy, holding explosive barrels and rushing towards the tanks of the Huwei Army, hoping to blow them up. Therefore, this kind of body bomb attack by the rebels is often difficult to work.

One day of attack, one day of fighting, the entire Songkhla battlefield is filled with suffocating chills, and the heavy weapons of the siege troops are constantly beckoning the enemy, which makes the rebels only struggling, looking forward to this day's battle end early.

The sound of shouts and explosions resounded continuously on this battlefield full of gunpowder smoke, making the people in it feel as if they had passed away. For the army defending the city, this day is indeed very long.

At night, the fighting was sporadic, not as intense as during the day, and the two sides also entered a state of truce.

When the Huwei army attacked again the next day, it suddenly rained heavily. You must know that once the rainy season enters the rainy season in a place with a tropical rainforest climate, it will have a great impact on operations, especially when the air force conducts bombing. It will be very inconvenient, and it also means that aerial bombing will be limited.

"Hey, it's another rainy day. It seems that the air force can't bomb Songkhla in this weather. We can only rely on the actions of our ground forces. If it rains for half a month and a month , It’s not a good thing for us.” Hong Zhaolin looked a little restless looking at the heavy rain outside.

Liu Cunhou nodded, and said with some worry: "The most fearful thing now is that the rebel navy will dispatch warships to come to support, so for us, it will definitely not be a good thing. I hope the other party's navy will not have this leisure time to support Song Dynasty. Ka's rebels."

"I hope so, at least don't come until we take Songkhla, or at least don't come until the weather clears. At present, the only thing we can deal with warships is the air force. The Nanyang Fleet is mainly attacking Sihanoukville in Vietnam. Bay."

(End of this chapter)