Devil's Army

Chapter 2024 Attack on Suzhou 1

Intelligence from the Golden Eagle drones revealed that fighting had broken out in Suzhou. Knowing that the New Fourth Army was holding back the Japanese forces in Suzhou, the army immediately launched an attack on the city.

The vanguard of the 12th Brigade advanced towards Suzhou from the Taoyuan-Wuzhen area of ​​Wujiang.

The Taoyuan-Wuzhen area of ​​Wujiang is characterized by a dense network of waterways and crisscrossing rivers, with only a few bridges/ferry crossings providing access.

The Japanese army deployed machine gunners to guard Yanghe Bridge, Yanmu Town (now Tongluo Community), and Shuijiagang Village, and set up underwater obstacles and bridgeheads.

The various units of the 1st Regiment, which served as the vanguard, encountered fierce resistance from the Japanese army.

Due to a lack of means to cross the river, a regiment of soldiers was blocked on the riverbank, on the west side of the waterway.

An air force unit came to provide support, bombing the Japanese machine gun positions and bridgeheads on the east bank of the river. However, the soldiers of the regiment were still met with fierce strafing fire from the Japanese when they attacked.

Under the cover of a group of machine gunners and rocket soldiers, a regiment of soldiers still managed to get close to the small bridge.

Before a regiment of soldiers could even cross the bridge, the Japanese army blew it up.

The soldiers were forced to fight the Japanese across a small river and waterway. The battle came to a standstill for a time.

When the 12th Brigade Commander learned that the 1st Regiment was in trouble, he had no choice but to ask the Navy for help.

In the evening, the Second Squadron of the First Naval Battalion of the First Army arrived in Wujiang.

The next day, just as dawn broke, the Second Company of the First Battalion of the First Navy launched a fierce attack on the Japanese troops.

Under the cover of the navy, a regiment built a simple wooden bridge, crossed the river, and launched an attack on the Japanese army.

Under the intense bombardment of the Japanese navy gunboats, the fortifications and strongholds built by the Japanese army in various waterways and fortresses became virtually useless.

A regiment of soldiers followed closely behind the navy and captured the Japanese army's water fortresses, ferry crossings, and other strongholds.

The soldiers of the Second Regiment followed closely behind the First Regiment, consolidating their positions to prevent a Japanese counterattack.

Meanwhile, the 1st Regiment of the 15th Brigade also advanced towards Suzhou along the Pingwang-Nanxun Canal line (eastern route).

This area contains the main channel of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, with high embankments and narrow roads on both sides, numerous tributaries, and dense bridges, controlling the vital waterway between Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

The Japanese 60th Division in Suzhou was forced to fight on two fronts.

Due to the narrow paths along the embankment, the 1st Regiment of the 15th Brigade could not spread out its forces and could only launch continuous attacks on the Japanese army in columns. However, they were met with crossfire from Japanese strongpoints.

The battalion commander of the first regiment took advantage of the blind spots in the canal bends to quickly approach the Japanese positions and launch a surprise attack.

The rocket troops of the 1st Regiment also continuously attacked Japanese machine gun positions in the blind spots of various canal bends, covering the infantry's advance.

The First Army Air Force also provided strong air support to the regiment, suppressing Japanese artillery fire and attacking Japanese fortifications...

Meanwhile, the New Fourth Army in central Jiangsu also launched an attack on the Japanese army along the Taihu Lake Bay-Daqiankou (northern line).

The southeastern bays of Taihu Lake (such as Hulou and Daqiankou) have winding shorelines covered with dense reeds, and low hills on the west side overlook the water.

The New Fourth Army's waterborne guerrilla force in central Jiangsu, equipped with light weapons and homemade mines, relied on lake islands and reed marshes to continuously attack the army's transport teams and small units reinforcing the front lines.

They continued to attack Japanese strongholds in towns and villages north of Suzhou, cutting off roads and setting up obstacles.

This made Commander Kobayashi feel uneasy about the security situation north of Suzhou, and he dared not transfer the Japanese troops stationed north of Suzhou to the west and east of Suzhou.

With the 1st and 2nd Regiments of the 12th Brigade breaking through the Japanese defense line of Taoyuan-Wuzhen, the Japanese three-tiered defensive line was declared a failure. (First, the lake bay blocked the waterway for the 1st Army's navy; then, the canal cut off the land route; and finally, the water network of Taoyuan delayed and depleted the 1st Army's soldiers).