At the beginning of 1940, in order to open up the Tianjin-Pudong Railway and connect the battlefields of North China and Central China, the Japanese army expanded its aggression and adopted the policy of advancing from north to south and attacked Xuzhou. After the fall of Nanjing, about 80,000 Japanese troops crossed the river from Zhenjiang, Nanjing, and Wuhu to the north, and went straight to Bengbu along the Jinpu Road. When you reach the Mingguang area, you are blocked by the Kuomintang defenders. The two sides fought fiercely for more than a month, and to the surprise of Yan Junliu, the commander of the enemy in Central China, he mobilized reinforcements from Nanjing and attacked him. The 51st Army of the Kuomintang was deployed on the north bank of the Huai River and resisted the enemy's northward advance across the river at all odds. The two sides engaged in a tug-of-war on the Huai River line, forming a situation of confrontation across the Huai River. On the northern line of Jinpu, Han Fuyu, who had 80,000 troops, retreated without a fight in the face of the Japanese attack, abandoning Jinan, Tai'an, Qufu and other places. On 13 January, the 5th Division of the enemy's North China Front and the Japanese marines who had landed in advance jointly invaded and occupied Qingdao. The enemy's 10th Division moved south along the Jinpu Railway, and the 5th Division attacked Linyi along Zhucheng and Juxian, marching in unison in an attempt to join Taierzhuang and open the door to Xuzhou.

After the Japanese army invaded East China and occupied Nanjing, the 13th Division crossed the Yangtze River north and advanced

to the east bank of the Chihe River in Anhui Province, the first line of Lotus Pond and Mingguang; The 10th Division of the Japanese Army, which invaded North China, crossed the Yellow River from Qingcheng and Jiyang in Shandong Province, and after occupying Jinan, it advanced to the line of Jining, Mengyin, and Qingdao. In order to open up the Tianjin-Pukou Railway (Tianjin-Pukou) and connect the northern and southern battlefields, the Japanese base camp successively mobilized 8 divisions, 3 brigades, and 2 detachments (equivalent to brigades) of about 240,000 people, which were respectively commanded by the commander of the Central China Dispatch Army (reorganized by the Central China Front Army on February 18, 1938) and the commander of the North China Front Army, Terauchi Shouichi, to carry out the north-south advance, first capture Xuzhou, a strategic place in East China, and then take Zhengzhou west along the Longhai Railway (Lanzhou-Lianyungang). Then along the Pinghan Railway (Beijing-Hankou) south to capture Wuhan. The Chinese army, commanded by Li Zongren, commander of the Fifth Theater of Operations, successively mobilized 64 divisions and three brigades of about 600,000 people, with the main force concentrated in the area north of Xuzhou to resist the southern attack of the Japanese army on the northern front, and a part of the troops was deployed on the southern section of the Tianjin-Pudong Railway to prevent the Japanese army from advancing north on the southern line to secure Xuzhou.

The 13th Division of the Japanese Army attacked Fengyang and Bengbu in Anhui. Defenders Episode 11

After resisting one by one in the area on the west bank of the Chi River, the 31st Army of the regiment retreated to the west of Dingyuan and Fengyang. By February 3, 1940, the Japanese army had captured Linhuai Pass and Bengbu. On the 9th~10th, the main force of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army crossed the Huai River at Bengbu and Linhuai Pass respectively and launched an attack on the north bank. The 51st Army engaged in a fierce battle with the Japanese army, suffered heavy casualties, and retreated in the direction of the Lu River and the Huhe River on the 12th. The Fifth Theater of Operations led by Zhang Zizhong, commander of the 59th Army, rushed to the Guzhen area, and cooperated with the 51st Army to stubbornly resist the Japanese army in the area on the north bank of the Huai River. At the same time, on the south bank of the Huai River, the 48th Army of the 21st Group Army held the Luqiao area, and the 7th Army cooperated with the 31st Army to attack the Japanese flank of Dingyuan in a roundabout way, forcing the main force of the Japanese 13th Division to return from the north bank of the Huai River. The 59th and 51st armies took advantage of the situation to counterattack and restored all positions north of the Huai River by early March. The 21st Army and the 31st Army were concentrated from the south bank of the Huai River to the north bank. The two sides confronted each other across the river.

In late February, the Japanese 2nd Army began to split its way to the south. The 5th Division of the East Road was from Weixian, Shandong (now Weifang

Went south, trapped in Yishui, Juxian, and Rizhao, and went straight to Linyi. The 3rd Army Corps, the 40th Army and other units resisted step by step. The 59th Army was ordered to rush to the rescue, and on March 12, it arrived on the west bank of the Yi River in the northern suburbs of Linyi, and cooperated with the 40th Army to carry out a counterattack, fighting fiercely for 5 days and nights, inflicting heavy losses on the Japanese army, and forcing it to retreat to Juxian. The Nagase Detachment (equivalent to a brigade) of the 10th Division of the Japanese Army on the West Road crossed the canal from the west of the Jining area and attacked Jiaxiang, but was stubbornly resisted by the 3rd Army and the attack was frustrated; The Seya detachment (equivalent to a brigade) marched south along the Jinpu Railway, and on March 14 attacked Tengxian (present-day Tengzhou) from Liangxiadian, south of Zou County (present-day Zoucheng). The 41st Army of the 22nd Group Army of the defending army resisted bravely, suffered heavy casualties, and fought hard until the 17th, Wang Mingzhang, the commander of the 122nd Division of the army defending the city, was martyred, and Tengxian County was lost. In the battle of Tengxian, the Chinese army used 7,000 troops to deal with tens of thousands of well-equipped Japanese troops, and did not hesitate to make heavy sacrifices to prevent the Japanese army from moving south, delaying the pace of the Japanese army's southward invasion, and winning time for the strategic deployment of mobilizing troops to defend Taierzhuang.

Japanese Army. In 1939, the 74th Army was formed by the 51st Division of Wang Yaowu. The Japanese army switched to a part of its forces to contain the opponent in the front, and the main force made a detour to the west, in an attempt to encircle Xuzhou from the flank and annihilate the main force of the Fifth Theater. The 10th and 5th Divisions of the Japanese Army advanced south from Yicheng (now Zaozhuang) in Shandong Province and the Yitang area northwest of Linyi respectively, and carried out a diversionary attack on the defending 2nd Army, the 20th and 3rd Army Corps, and the 59th Army of the 27th Army Corps. The defenders resisted stubbornly, and by the end of the month, the Japanese army was stopped on the front line of Hanzhuang, Pixian (present-day Pizhou) and Tancheng. The Japanese army began to encircle the west side of Xuzhou from both the north and the south. In the south, the 9th and 13th Divisions marched north along the west bank of the Beiqi River and the Whirlpool River from the Bengbu area, and on the 13th, after capturing Mengcheng and Yongcheng (belonging to Henan), they attacked Xiaoxian and Dangshan (now Anhui) in Jiangsu; The 3rd Division entered the Dayingji area from Bengbu and attacked Suxian (present-day Suzhou). In the north, the 16th Division crossed the canal from Jining, Shandong, and on the 14th, after capturing Yuncheng, Shanxian, Jinxiang, and Yutai, it advanced to Fengxian and Dangshan in Jiangsu; The 14th Division crossed the Yellow River from Puyang, Henan, and after trapping Heze and Cao counties in Shandong, it went straight to Lanfeng, Henan (now Lankao); At the same time, after the 10th Division handed over the operations in the Hanzhuang and Taierzhuang areas to the 114th Division, it crossed Weishan Lake near Xiazhen and attacked Peixian (belonging to Jiangsu). In mid-May, when the increasingly tragic war reports from the front continued to reach the case of Chiang Kai-shek of the Wuchang Kuomintang Military Committee, Xuzhou was suddenly faced with a serious crisis, which calmed down his brain, which was a little dazed by the victory in Taierzhuang. Chiang Kai-shek suddenly realized that the intention of the Japanese army was to encircle and annihilate the main force of the Chinese army in Xuzhou. Chiang Kai-shek immediately called He Yingqin, Bai Chongxi, Chen Cheng, Feng Yizhong and others to study and plan together. The Japanese army's attempt had been exposed, and it was no longer realistic to defend Xuzhou, and He Yingqin and others also advocated a quick breakthrough and decided to abandon Xuzhou. Chiang Kai-shek's dictated telegram to Li Zongren ordered his troops to avoid a decisive battle, evacuate Xuzhou, and quickly break through the siege.

On the 16th, the Fifth Theater ordered all units to break through to the mountainous areas on the border of Henan and Anhui. middle

The national army fought and retreated, and the formation was not chaotic, and it retreated to the west and south in an orderly manner. The Japanese army blocked one place, the Chinese army rushed to one place, and everything was broken, and the army gathered in the south of Henan and the north of Hubei, and all roads rushed out of the encirclement one after another. In order to avoid a war of attrition with the superior enemy, when the enemy forces from all walks of life were encircling Xuzhou step by step, Li Zongren ordered the defenders of all walks of life under his command to retreat to the mountainous areas and lakes and marshes after a little resistance, and carried out guerrilla warfare of "breaking the whole into pieces" and entangled with the enemy for more than a month. Li Zongren and more than 700 officers and men of the commander's department passed through Suxian and Mengcheng at night, and moved beyond the enemy's encirclement to Huangchuan. Liu Ruming's troops, who remained in Xuzhou City, ambushed the Japanese 9th Division in the vicinity of Xiao County, causing heavy casualties to the Japanese army. Seeing that most of the Chinese army had left, the Japanese army attempted to besiege and annihilate Liu Ruming's troops in Xuzhou City. Liu Ruming's troops pretended to defend to the death, and seeing that the armies from all walks of life were withdrawn, according to Chiang Kai-shek's order, they abandoned Xuzhou City, skillfully jumped out of the encirclement of hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops, and moved safely. Not only did the enemy not defeat Liu Ruming's troops, but they did not even capture a single captain. The 13th Division of the Central China Dispatch Army of the Japanese army fought all the way, and found that Li Zongren sang an empty city plan, which greatly frustrated the North China Front Army, which was bent on fighting for merit, and the Japanese army suffered more than 10,000 casualties and got an empty city, and Li Ming did not agree to retreat.

On the 17th, Li Ming, then commander-in-chief of the three armies of the National Revolutionary Army, mobilized the First Group Army, the Second Group Army, the Third Group Army, and the Central Tank Division (composed of the former Tank Regiment of the Northern Revolutionary Army Volunteers and the Tank Brigade of the Fifth Army of the National Revolutionary Army) The Central Flying Eagle Bomber Brigade received the order and the plane took off from Shanghai Longhua Airport and Nanjing Airport to bomb the forward positions of the Japanese army in Xuzhou. Xue Yue's Tenth Army launched an attack on the Devil's position on the left side of Xuzhou, and the Thirty-first Army under the command of Tang Enbo attacked on the right position.

After the Japanese army invaded East China and occupied Nanjing. The 13th Division crossed the Yangtze River to the north. Enter the lotus pond on the east bank of the Chihe River in Anhui. On the Mingguang line, the Japanese 2nd Army invading North China started from Qingcheng, Shandong. Jiyang crosses the Yellow River in the south. After the occupation of Jinan. Advance to Jining. Shade. Qingdao first-line. The Japanese base camp opened up the Tianjin-Pudong Railway (Tianjin-Pukou) and connected the northern and southern battlefields. It has mobilized 8 divisions, 3 brigades, and 2 detachments (equivalent to brigades) of about 240,000 people. They were commanded by Shunroku Hata (reorganized from the Central China Front on February 18, 1938) commander of the Central China Dispatch Army and Toshiichi Terauchi Terauchi commander of the North China Front. Implement the north-south approach. First of all, it captured Xuzhou, a strategic point in East China. Then along the Longhai Railway (Lanzhou-Lianyungang) west to Zhengzhou. Then along the Pinghan Railway (Beijing-Hankou) south to Wuhan. The Chinese army was commanded by the commander of the 5th Theater of Operations, Li Zongren. 64 divisions and 3 brigades of about 600,000 men were mobilized. The main force is concentrated in the area north of Xuzhou. Resist the Japanese invasion of the south on the northern front. A force was deployed in the southern section of the Tianjin-Pudong Railway. Stop the Japanese army from advancing north on the southern front. In order to ensure the safety of Xuzhou.

The 13th Division of the Japanese Army marched to Fengyang, Anhui. Bengbu attack. After the defending 11th Army and the 31st Army resisted one after another in the area on the west bank of the Chi River. XIANG Dingyuan. Retreat west of Fengyang. Until February 3rd. The Japanese army successively captured Linhuai Pass. Bengbu.9-10 The main force of the 13th Japanese Division crossed the Huai River at Bengbu and Linhuai Pass, and launched an attack on the north bank. The 51st Army fought a fierce battle with the Japanese army, and suffered heavy casualties. On the 12th, it retreated to the direction of the Lu River and the Huhe River. The 5th Theater of Operations led by Zhang Zizhong, commander of the 59th Army, rushed to the Guzhen area, and cooperated with the 51st Army to stubbornly resist the Japanese army in the area north of the Huai River. At the same time, on the south bank of the Huai River, the 48th Army of the 21st Group Army held the Luqiao area. The 7th Army coordinated with the 31st Army to attack the flank of the Japanese army in Dingyuan, and forced the main force of the Japanese 13th Division to return from the north bank of the Huai RiverThe 21st Army and the 31st Army were concentrated from the south bank of the Huai River to the north bank. The two sides confronted each other across the river.

On March 18, under the command of Li Ming, the Central Flying Eagle Brigade bombed the Japanese position, and then had a fierce battle with the second group of the Japanese Air Force that came to reinforce the two pilots competed with each other, the pilots of the Japanese Imperial Aviation were first-class in the world, shooting technology, bomb throwing technology was also first-class in the industry, facing the Central Flying Eagle Brigade, the flying skills of the cadets were taught in Germany, the planes were made in Italy, there were their own research and development, and a number of German bombers, the German pilots were famous in Europe and the whole world. The Japanese flying group attacked the machine gunners of the Central Flying Eagle Brigade left and right, one would become a cross, one would become a word, and one would lie down, and soon the Japanese planes were fooled, and the pursuing Japanese Imperial Air Brigade was attacked from the side, more than 30 planes of the Japanese Imperial Air Brigade were injured and smoked, and a large number of planes were shot down, and the combat effectiveness of the planes on both sides quickly determined the outcome of this air battle, 5 planes of the Central Flying Eagle Bomber Group were shot down by the Japanese army, and the pilots then parachuted down, and the Japanese Imperial Air Brigade still had 50 planes left at this time, After an hour of fierce fighting, the Japanese Imperial Aviation plane escaped and the rest were shot down by the Central Flying Eagle Brigade, the Central Flying Eagle Brigade completely controlled the air supremacy, the Japanese Fifth Division, the 13th Division, the National Qi Garrison, the 50 brigades of the Imperial Allied Army plus more than 80,000 traitor police units, the 101 Imperial Heavy Artillery Brigade, 10 mortar wings, 2 Imperial Death Squad divisions, and a tank brigade The total strength has reached about 400,000, and now the Chinese army is 600,000, and the Chinese side has opened fire of various calibers under the command of Li Ming. The devil's position was bombed, the little devil flew into the sky, Wang Yaowu's 74th Army launched an attack on the Japanese frontal battlefield, the devil's 92 heavy machine gun crackled, and the national soldiers continued to fall, the central tank division dispatched a battalion of tanks to begin to suppress the enemy's firepower, at this time, a large number of devil tanks in the north also went out one after another, Xue Yue's tenth army also attacked the devil, where is Tang Enbo's 30th Army not moving, we can't stand the military seat like this, send a telegram to the commander-in-chief and say that Tang Enbo's department will not send troops, The three companies below me were almost gone, Wang Yaowu quickly sent a battalion to support the position, the smoke was rising around the headquarters, the gunfire continued, Li Ming, who received the telegram, was very angry, and sent a telegram to Tang Enbo's department to attack, Tang Enbo, who received the telegram, smiled and said Let Lao Tzu attack, who are you? A miscellaneous army leader, if you don't come to this commander-in-chief, it will be mine, Li Zongren has no way to take me, what Commander Tang said is that this time the chairman sent me to supervise Li Ming, this kid, the committee suspects that he will take refuge in ** after a long time, will the commander send troops? What a fart, the chairman said that he would retreat, and he himself had to drag the elite of our party-state to death, and we still have wives and children at home.