Xue Boling never dreamed that the first line of defense that he had painstakingly deployed in the Xinqiang River would be broken through by the Japanese army so quickly.

In order to be able to hold the defensive line on both sides of the Xinqiang River, he even pulled the elite 52nd Army to the front line.

"This 52nd Army is an elite unit in the theater of operations, why is it defeated in such a daze?" Xue Boling wandered around the headquarters, never figuring out why the defense line he had painstakingly built was so vulnerable.

Originally, he put the 52nd Army on the front line of the Xinqiang River, just to use elite troops to thwart and thwart the arrogance of the Japanese army's offensive.

It's just that Xue Boling still underestimated the strength of the Japanese army.

After more than ten minutes, the adjutant sent another urgent telegram from the 52nd Army.

After reading the telegram, Chief of Staff Wu Yuejin said to Xue Boling: "Old Xue, now that the Japanese army has broken through the defense line on the south bank of the 52nd Army, the headquarters of the 52nd Army has sent a telegram requesting to retreat!" ”

"If the 52nd Army withdraws, we will be tantamount to ceding the defense line of the Xinqiang River to the Japanese army, and according to the speed of the Japanese attack, the enemy will be able to drive straight to the front of the Miluo River defense line tomorrow morning.

After Xue Boling finished speaking, he looked at Chief of Staff Wu Yuejin, and then asked, "Old Wu, what do you mean?" Do we withdraw the 52nd Army now, or do we let the 52nd Army continue to hold its ground? ”

Faced with this problem, Chief of Staff Wu Yuejin also had a bit of a difficult choice.

After thinking for a while, Wu Yuejin said cautiously: "Old Xue, the Nara detachment of the Japanese army has occupied most of the positions of the 52nd Army, if you order the 52nd Army to defend it, I am afraid that the whole army will be annihilated." ”

"The 52nd Army is the elite unit of the Central Army, and it is also the elite of the theater, if the 52nd Army is defeated in this battle, it will be difficult for you to explain there, besides, it is meaningless for the 52nd Army to stay in the Xinqiang River to fight, it is nothing more than to delay the Japanese army's offensive speed ......for a few days."

The thoughts in Xue Boling's heart can be said to coincide with Wu Yuejin.

"Lao Wu, your suggestion is not unreasonable, there are only a few elite troops in our theater, and let the 52nd Army and the little devil Nara detachment fight head-on, such tactics are obviously not advisable."

Xue Boling agreed with the chief of staff's suggestion, and he immediately ordered the signal corps to give the 52nd Army an order to retreat.

……

After the 52nd Army on the front line received the order from the theater command, the whole army quickly retreated to the Miluo River position in the rear.

The Devil's Nara detachment saw that the 52nd Army took the initiative to abandon its position and evacuate, and the little devils chased after it like a pack of wild dogs.

The Nara detachment had just been established, and as the leader of the detachment, Nara Yamatomi urgently needed to make a contribution.

His aim was not only to occupy all the positions on the north and south banks of the New Wall River, but the enemy also wanted to inflict heavy damage or annihilate the elite 52nd Army.

Although the 52nd Army has more than 20,000 people and a German armor division, if it is a head-on confrontation with the devil's Nara detachment, the 52nd Army will definitely not be the opponent of the little devil.

The Japanese army had the support of aviation units, and the air firepower was enough to suppress the 52 Army.

Therefore, the 52nd Army, an elite unit of the national army, could only be chased and beaten by the Nara detachment.

52 officers and men fought and retreated, while blocking the pursuit of Japanese troops.

The 52nd Army retreated all the way, and the Japanese troops pursued for more than ten kilometers, and soldiers on both sides exchanged fire in all directions in the dark night.

Although the commander of the Japanese army, Nara Yamatomi, wanted to annihilate the 52nd Army, he was also afraid that the lone army would be ambushed by the Chinese army.

After all, the 106th Division of the Wanjialing Annihilation Team is a lesson from the past, and he does not dare to be greedy for merit.

Narayama Tomimi's troops in front were in pursuit, and the forces were too scattered, so he hurriedly ordered the troops in front to stop the pursuit.

After the Battle of Shinwall, the 52nd Army suffered nearly 4,000 casualties, while the Japanese Nara detachment suffered about 1,500 casualties.

Although the position of the 52nd Army was lost, the 52nd Army withdrew in time to preserve the strength of the troops.

After the 52nd Army shook off the pursuit of the Japanese army, it withdrew to the line of the Miluo River for rest.

The Japanese had conquered the Xinqiang River, and their attacking forces would soon advance to the Miluo River front.

Therefore, after discussion, the commanders of the defenders of the Miluo River decided to demolish all the bridges and buildings on the Miluo River, as well as various pontoon bridges across the river, in order to delay the Japanese attack.

Guarding the defense line on the Miluo River was the 15th Group Army, and the commander-in-chief of the 15th Army was Guan Linzheng.

The 15th Group Army has three armies, namely the 52nd Army, the 37th Army, and the 79th Army, with a total strength of nearly 70,000 troops.

After the loss of the Xinqianghe position, in order to prevent the Japanese onslaught, the commanders of the group army carried out operational deployment overnight and adjusted the previous defensive positions.

At present, the 37th Army is guarding the position on the right bank of the Miluo River north of Xiangyin, the 79th Army is guarding the position between Nanjiang Bridge and Maishi, and the 52nd Army, which has been withdrawn to rest, is responsible for consolidating the defense line of the Miluo River.

The 15th Army concentrated the forces of the three armies to jointly defend the Miluo River area and built dozens of kilometers of defensive positions against the Japanese troops.

The Japanese detachment of Nara, having captured most of the positions in the Shinkami River, did not rush to attack.

The commander of the Japanese army, Nara Yamatomi, was not a fool, although he wanted to make a contribution, but he was not stupid enough to use a detachment to fight the 70,000 men of the 15th Army.

The Nara detachment set up defensive positions in the terrain around the Shinkami River and waited for the arrival of a large force of the Japanese 6th Division.

Two days later, the Japanese 6th Division marched to the Xinqiang River, and all the divisions were assembled.

As soon as all the main forces of the 6th Division arrived, the strength of the Japanese army was nearly 35,000 men.

The strength of the 15th Army was 70,000, and the strength of the Japanese army was only half of the number of the defenders of the Nationalist Army, but the Japanese army's weapons and equipment were advanced, and even if the number of people was not as large as that of the 15th Army, it could fight with the 15th Army.

In the early morning of the third day, the Japanese 6th Division and the Nara Detachment concentrated all kinds of artillery to fiercely shell the defenders of the Miluo River.

The Japanese firepower was very fierce, and there were more than 100 guns of various calibers combined.

The troops of the 15th Army, which are the main forces of the 9th theater, will naturally not be too bad in terms of weaponry.

The Japanese attacked with heavy artillery bombardment, and the defenders of the Miluo River also launched artillery counterattacks on the side of the little devils.

An artillery battle was fought between the two sides, and countless shells flew back and forth on the positions of both sides.

In terms of the number of artillery, the 15th Army is also a bit of a family, and they will obviously not suffer too much in an artillery battle with the little devils.

The Japanese attacking forces were bombarded by the artillery units of the Nationalist army, and the enemy was unable to effectively organize his forces to cross the river.

Subsequently, the Japanese flying units were immediately dispatched and threw themselves into the battlefield as fast as possible to support the attacking Japanese troops.

The defense line of the Miluo River is very important, and the national army troops will of course not give up an inch of land.

The 9th Theater dispatched flight units to support the battlefield, and the flight group of the Security Regiment was also engaged in battlefield operations.

"Buzz ......"

The pilots of the two sides engaged in a struggle at high altitude, and dozens of planes were indistinguishable from each other, and from time to time planes fell......

(End of chapter)