Chapter 1354 Tragic

Lieutenant General Masaharu Honma, Commander of the 14th Front Army Command of the Japanese Army, is listening to a report by Lieutenant General Masami Maeda, Chief of Staff of the Front Army.

"Your Excellency, Commander, the 35th Army has launched an attack on the German army. Their attack is very fierce, and the officers and soldiers are also very brave in combat. However, the firepower of the German army is very powerful. They have assembled hundreds of artillery pieces, many of which are of caliber Heavy artillery of more than 200 millimeters. Therefore, the 35th Army suffered a very large loss." Lieutenant General Maeda Masami reported.

Lieutenant General Masahiro Honma nodded. The German army would deploy powerful firepower on the defense line, which did not surprise him. Although this is the first time that the 14th Front has fought against the Germans. But by reading the information about the battle between the Lanyin front army and the German army, we can see how powerful the German army is.

However, even so, Lieutenant General Masahiro Honma has great confidence in his troops. After all, the 14th Front Army he led had a total strength of more than 300,000 troops. Not to mention the assistance of the 7th Front Army and the 18th Front Army. Therefore, Lieutenant General Masahiro Honma believes that they will be able to defeat the German army in this battle.

"Send a telegram to Suzuki-kun, asking him to continue to attack, and not let the Germans relax in the slightest. Even at night, they must continue to attack. Even if the entire 35th Army is lost, the attack cannot be stopped. In addition, send a telegram to Yokoyama-kun to make the 41st Army ready. Once the 35th Army loses its combat effectiveness, they will go up!" Lieutenant General Masahiro Honma ordered.

Lieutenant General Masahiro Honma's tactics are very simple, that is, to use their superiority in strength to continuously attack the German army, making the German army exhausted. In this case, no matter how powerful the German defense line is, there will inevitably be loopholes. Once the island country army grasps this loophole, it can break through the German defense line. Lieutenant General Masahiro Honma believes that under their fierce attack regardless of losses, the German defense line will eventually be broken by them. Of course, such tactics will cause very large casualties of the troops. However, Lieutenant General Masahiro Honma didn't care. As long as he can win in the end, he doesn't care no matter how big the loss is.

"Hi, Your Excellency, Commander!" Lieutenant General Maeda Masami replied.

At this time, an officer reported the arrival of Lieutenant General Shizuo Tanaka, commander of the 7th Front Army, and Major Tachibana Ayabe, chief of staff.

Lieutenant General Masaharu Homma and Lieutenant General Maeda Masami greeted them immediately.

"Tanaka-kun, hello!" Admiral Masahiro Honma had a smile on his face. Although the 7th Front Army is now under his control. However, he didn't have a stern expression at all. He hopes to cooperate closely with the 7th Front Army in the next battle and defeat the German army in one fell swoop.

"Honma-kun, let's take a look, how is the situation on the front line?" Lieutenant General Tanaka Shizuki said.

"Tanaka-kun, our attack has already begun. Now, the 35th Army is attacking the German defense line. However, the German firepower is very strong, so that our losses are very large." Lieutenant General Masahiro Honma said.

"Honma-san, it doesn't matter if the loss is a little bigger. As long as we can defeat the Germans in the final battle, everything will be worth it." Lieutenant General Tanaka Shizuki said.

Lieutenant General Masahiro Honma nodded: "I think so too. We have much more troops than the Germans. Therefore, we can withstand greater losses. On the other hand, the Germans, in a short period of time, have no If there is a way to send reinforcements to Nanyang, one loss will be one less. Therefore, even if it continues like this, we will definitely be able to consume them to death in the end. In order to win as soon as possible, I have ordered the front line to launch an attack regardless of losses. "

"Well, Honma-kun, this arrangement is very correct. If there is a need for the 7th Army to take action, Honma-kun just order it!" Lieutenant General Tanaka Shizuki said.

"Tanaka-kun, don't worry, the 14th Front Army is fully capable of breaking through the Germans' peace of mind!" Lieutenant General Masahiro Honma said. He seemed very confident in the troops under his command.

In fact, the battle on the front line is already very tragic. At the request of Lieutenant General Sosaku Suzuki, the 30th Division of the Japanese Army and the 54th Independent Mixed Brigade launched a fierce attack on the German defense line. This caused the two troops to suffer very large losses under the powerful firepower of the German army.

When night fell, Lieutenant General Sosaku Suzuki gave the order to stop the attack. It's just that at this time, the 30th Division and the independent and mixed 54th Brigade have almost been lost.

However, Lieutenant General Suzuki Sosaku didn't care about this. In his view, the high-intensity fighting in an afternoon certainly caused a lot of losses to the island army. But at the same time, it also made the German army very tired. In this case, as long as new troops are deployed to launch an attack in the night battle, the possibility of them breaking through the German defense line is undoubtedly very high.

"Harada-kun, Fukui-kun, let the 100th and 102nd divisions launch an attack tonight! Do your best to launch an attack. I believe that victory must belong to us!" Lieutenant General Sosaku Suzuki ordered.

In the battle tonight, Lieutenant General Suzuki Sosaku intends to invest in two divisions at once. Even though the combat effectiveness of the 100th and 102nd Divisions is weaker than that of ordinary divisions. But when the two divisions add up, there are a total of sixteen independent infantry brigades. This is already a very strong force. Under the cover of night, the German army's firepower advantage could not be fully utilized. Therefore, the possibility of the island army winning this battle is undoubtedly very high.

"Hi, Your Excellency, Commander!" Lieutenant General Jiro Harada and Lieutenant General Fukuei Shinpei both replied.

They have also expected that their troops will soon participate in the attack. However, being able to launch an attack at night, they also have great confidence in defeating the Germans.

That night, the 100th and 102nd Divisions of the Japanese Army launched an offensive. The artillery units of these two divisions, together with the 22nd Field Artillery Regiment of the 16th Division, launched a heavy shelling of the German lines.

However, the German artillery then launched a counterattack. Even under the influence of night, the accuracy of shelling is not high. However, relying on the large number of artillery and the larger caliber of the artillery, the German army still easily suppressed the artillery of the island country army. Not only did the army of the island country fail to complete the task of fire support, but it suffered heavy losses.

As a last resort, the 100th Division and 102nd Division of the Japanese Army had to launch an attack without sufficient fire support. However, the mine arrays and barbed wire fences deployed by the German army had a great impact on them. When blocked, the German army on the ground used powerful firepower to harvest the lives of the Japanese army.