Devil's Army

Chapter 1910 Battle of Yeluzhou 1

Just as the brigade commander was preparing to attack the Japanese army in Hubei Province, Commander Yokoyama Isamu, in order to prevent the devilish troops in Jiangxi from joining forces with the Fifth Division of the New Fourth Army in Hubei to launch an attack on them, mobilized troops from Huangzhou, Xishui, and Huangmei to launch a surprise attack on Huanggang County, which was occupied by the Fifth Division of the New Fourth Army.

After taking over Huanggang from the First Army, Commander Li knew that the Japanese army would not give up easily, so he immediately ordered his troops to deploy defenses along the perimeter of Huanggang.

He ordered the 14th Brigade to deploy along Yeluzhou in Huangzhou.

The 13th Brigade deployed along the Baizhang River to the Lion Mountain area in Xishui County.

The 15th Brigade deployed along the Qilin Temple Valley in Huangmei County.

However, for some time, the Japanese troops in Hubei were busy reinforcing the Japanese troops in Jiangxi and had no time to attend to Huanggang County.

Now that Jiangxi has been occupied by the devilish troops, Commander Yokoyama Isamu's attention has turned to Huanggang County, which borders Jiangxi.

The Japanese troops in Huangzhou were the first to engage in battle with the 40th Regiment of the 14th Brigade of Ye Luzhou.

Yeluzhou (formerly Yadanzhou), an island in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, is a key blocking point in the direction from Huanggang to Huangzhou. Its core advantage lies in "waterway restriction + channel control".

Yeluzhou is surrounded by tributaries of the Yangtze River on three sides (facing Huangzhou and Ducheng across the river), with only a narrow dike on the east side connecting it to the Huanggang mainland, and a ferry connecting it to Huangzhou on the west side.

Japanese tanks, artillery, and other heavy equipment could not ford water and could only travel along dikes or ferry crossings, which completely restricted their mobility.

Moreover, the passage connecting Huangzhou and Huanggang is narrow, with the main passage being a river embankment only 3-5 meters wide (there were no bridges at the time). The sides of the embankment are mostly wetlands and rice paddies, so the Japanese troops could only move in columns and could not deploy into formations.

The 40th Regiment of the 14th Brigade of the 5th Division of the New Fourth Army set up defenses along the ferry crossings and river embankments.

The Japanese army assembled a number of assault boats, preparing to cross a tributary of the Yangtze River and attack Huanggang.

The 12th Battalion of the 40th Regiment of the New Fourth Army fiercely resisted the Japanese troops crossing the river.

The 12th Battalion's only three mortars fiercely bombarded the Japanese assault boats attempting to cross a tributary of the Yangtze River. However, they were quickly met with a counterattack from the Japanese artillery.

Although the soldiers of the 12th Battalion had no artillery support, they still fought tenaciously against the Japanese army.

The first wave of Japanese troops attempting to cross a tributary of the Yangtze River were met with a fierce barrage of grenades from the 12th Battalion as they approached their beachhead.

However, the Japanese reinforcements continued to launch attacks on Huanggang County with assault boats.

Japanese artillery relentlessly bombarded the 12th Battalion's positions, inflicting heavy casualties on the soldiers.

However, Huanggang County is an important gateway from Hubei Province into Jiangxi Province. For the safety of Jiangxi, the Fifth Division of the New Fourth Army would never abandon Huanggang County.

Commander Li knew that his troops lacked artillery. Seeing that the 40th Regiment had suffered heavy casualties under the fierce shelling of the Japanese army, he had no choice but to try to send a telegram to the commander of the Third Brigade of the Southern Independent Division to see if air support could be sent.

Upon receiving the telegram, the brigade commander immediately reported to Division Commander Zhang.

Commander Zhang immediately ordered the Nanchang Air Force to fly to Huanggang County as reinforcements. At the same time, he ordered the First Brigade stationed in Jiujiang and the surrounding area to cross the river immediately to support the Fifth Division of the New Fourth Army.

Upon hearing the intelligence from Division Commander Zhang, the brigade commander of the Southern Expeditionary Army immediately ordered his troops to march north into Hubei.

The battle in Hubei was thus brought forward by two days.

The Nanchang Air Force of the First Army arrived in Huanggang County before the First Brigade and launched a fierce bombing and strafing attack on the Japanese troops who were crossing a tributary of the Yangtze River at Yeluzhou Ferry.

Japanese assault boats on a tributary of the Yangtze River were sunk by the air force of the First Army.

The Japanese troops, who had already landed on the beachhead and were being held back by the New Fourth Army, also suffered heavy casualties from the fierce bombing and strafing by the First Army's air force.