In May of the 29th year of the Republic of China (1940), the Japanese army launched the Battle of Zaoyi, and at the same time launched the Liangkou Operation in Guangdong, in an attempt to strengthen military pressure on the Chinese government.

During the Zaoyi War, in view of the strength of the army and the supply of the battle line, the Japanese army was originally preparing to fight a sweeping war, that is, a surprise attack, and then retreat to Wuhan after a while, with no intention of occupying Yichang for a long time.

But on June 14, the German army occupied Paris, the capital of France, which caused *** to reach its peak, and the Japanese army in the same *** country felt inspired.

Therefore, the Japanese army changed its original intention and decided to occupy Yichang, using Yichang as a base, and bombing Chongqing with air force planes, shaking the will of the Nationalist Government to resist the war.

In order to resolve the China incident at an early date, Japan comprehensively strengthened its economic blockade, military offensive, and political inducement to surrender to China, which added greater difficulties to the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and some people in the Chinese Government and the Kuomintang became even more shaken, and the crisis of compromise and surrender was unprecedentedly serious.

In order to avoid these serious crises, the 18th Army (commonly known as the Eighth Route Army) of the Red Army in the north set out to launch a battle of 100 regiments to deal a powerful blow to the enemy's North China Front.

While striking at the Japanese army, it also enhanced the confidence of the Chinese nation to unite in the war of resistance and smashed Japan's attempt, so as to facilitate the improvement of the situation in the whole country.

In late August 1940, as soon as the Eighth Route Army began, it swept through the Japanese army in North China with dozens of regiments, destroying and occupying a large number of strongholds and communication lines.

The brilliant achievements of the Battle of the Hundred Regiments brought a huge confidence to the people of the whole country in time, but the rapid development of the Eighth Route Army showed strong combat strength, which made the Kuomintang even more worried, and even more wanted to restrict the development of the red troops.

Therefore, in the following October, the Military Commission forcibly ordered the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army to drive north of the Yellow River and fight the Japanese army head-on, in an attempt to borrow the Japanese army's sword to get rid of the Red Army, which was in serious trouble.

However, this order was rejected by the Red Army, and in order to take into account the overall situation, they could only agree to the New Fourth Army in southern Anhui to go to the area north of the Yangtze River to fight the Japanese army.

Therefore, in January 1941, the military headquarters and directly subordinate units of the New Fourth Army were ambushed by the Kuomintang army in the Maolin area of southern Anhui, and almost all the troops were wiped out, which was the very famous "Southern Anhui Incident" at that time.

The Japanese army is still ravaging China, but the Kuomintang is still so disunited and separatist, completely ignoring the aspirations of the whole nation to resist the war, this incident has made the government lose face.

Not only was public opinion at home indignant, but even several allies were very dissatisfied, and the US government issued a notice: "While the danger of civil war in China has not been eliminated and domestic unity has not been restored, aid to China will be suspended." ”

In order to get rid of this bad image and substantial losses, the government sought to win a victory against the Japanese army and change the bad image.

On the side of the Japanese army, after the Battle of the Hundred Regiments, the Japanese army in North China also felt the pressure from the Chinese Red Army, and at this time, the 33rd Division of the Japanese Army, which was originally stationed in northern Jiangxi, was ordered to be transferred to North China to support its "sweep".

Originally, at the time of the Battle of Zaoyi, the troops in northern Jiangxi had been being transferred, and now another 33rd division will be withdrawn, and only the 34th division will be left in the Nanchang area.

In this regard, the commander of the 34th Division of the Japanese Army, Agashige, was worried that he would not be able to hold Nanchang, so he had an unbelievable idea.

It was to suggest to the commander of the 11th Army, Kazuichiro Enbe, that he take advantage of the fact that the 33rd Division had not been transferred north to launch an attack on the Chinese army around Nanchang, so as to dispel the idea of the Chinese army waiting for an opportunity to attack Nanchang, so as to reduce the pressure on his own defense.

At this time, the Japanese army transferred the 20th Brigade of Major General Naozo Ikeda from Shanghai to make up for the emptiness of the 33rd Division.

In this way, the Japanese army in the Nanchang area temporarily reached the strength of two and a half divisions, and the encircle, believing that it could be fought in a single battle, approved Ogashige's crazy idea.

It is estimated that the Yuanbu did not take much advantage in the Battle of Zaoyi, mobilized more than 100,000 people from more than four divisions, fought for more than a month, and although it barely occupied Yichang, it did not defeat the main force of the Fifth Theater of the Chinese Army.

At the same time, the Japanese army itself was also heavily damaged, with more than 10,000 casualties, which was a crushing victory for the Japanese army, which had few troops, so the new officer's Yuanbu did not burn very successfully.

It is estimated that it is in view of this that the Yuanbu will agree to Oga Shigeru's battle plan in northern Jiangxi, anyway, he did not get enough benefits in the Zaoyi area, so he tried his luck in northern Jiangxi.

Since the end of the Battle of Nanchang, although the Chinese and Japanese armies have fought back and forth between the Ganjiang River and the Fuhe River for a year, they have won and lost each other, and the Japanese army has not taken any advantage, and has been disgraced by the Chinese army from time to time.

In the end, the two sides were tired of fighting, and they could only stalemate in the confrontation, the Japanese army could not open the situation in northern Jiangxi, and suffered setbacks again and again in Hubei, and after more than a year of confrontation, the Japanese army also wanted to change the situation.

Therefore, when both sides have great willingness to fight, this must be actively prepared, Sangou originally wanted to take a leave of absence and go back to his hometown with his wife Yang Muhua to see his son, but he could not grant leave.

Shanggao is relatively close to Shangrao, and his son has just passed his age since he was born, so he should start babbling or toddler, how cute it should be.

But because of the tension of the war, Sangou and Yang Muhua could only learn about some of the situation of their hometown and son in the letters, and they couldn't see each other, which was a great pity.

……

In order to actively prepare for war, change the image that had been damaged before, enhance the strength of the army, and use good steel on the cutting edge, the Central Military Commission decided to set up two attack armies in the northwest and southwest regions as strategic mobile forces on both sides of the river.

The biggest difference between the attack force of this strategic mobile force and the ordinary army is the expansion of the establishment of the corps headquarters and the units directly under it.

The units directly under the army include one regiment each of artillery, engineers, and baggage troops, a search battalion (semi-mechanized), an anti-aircraft artillery battalion, a tank defense battalion, a communications battalion, and a special service (guard) battalion.

In this way, there are more troops directly under an army than a division, and the firepower is almost mainly based on US aid, which can be said to be the largest in the whole army, and there are also exclusive divisional areas to solve the problem of conscription and replenishment of soldiers.

The 1st and 2nd armies in the northwest and the 5th army in the southwest won without any suspense, and the 1st and 2nd armies were the founding troops of the chairman, so it is needless to say that the degree of attention is not to be said.

The Fifth Army was originally a mechanized unit built with the strength of the whole country, and if it had air supremacy, its combat effectiveness could be described as the highest in the country.

At present, the 5th Army dared to compete head-on with a division of the Japanese army, and the previous victory at Kunlun Pass disabled a brigade of the 5th Division, an elite unit of the Japanese army, and even the brigade commander was killed.

The last place of the strategic assault army is only the 74th Army and the 18th Army in competition, the 18th Army is the trump card army since the founding of the Chinese Army, and it belongs to the starting force of the civil engineering department, and its combat power and influence need not be said.

However, the final result was unexpected, and the Military Commission still chose the 74th Army as the fourth strategic attack force based on the results of the Japanese army.

When the news came, the whole army of the 74th Army was jubilant.