On the 28th, the Japanese attacked Shangqiu, and the Eighth Army of the Shangqiu defenders resisted and retreated. In order to further strengthen the attack force, the Japanese army mobilized the 16th and 10th divisions to join the attack and reinforce the besieged 14th division.

At the same time, the Japanese army built a pontoon bridge on the north bank of the Yellow River, mobilized troops, mixed the 4th Brigade to build pontoon bridges on the line of Guantai and Fengqiu, forcibly crossed the Yellow River, and directly reinforced the 14th Division on the south bank.

At this point, the situation on the battlefield had improved in favor of the Japanese army, and the Hendong Corps of the Nationalist Army, which was besieging the 14th Division, had Japanese troops attacking from the west behind it, and the 14th Division in front had been strengthened.

The Nationalist Army in eastern Henan can be said to be in a dilemma, suffering from the enemy on its back, and the Nationalist Army has also made adjustments, transferring the 64th Army and the 74th Army to defend against the Japanese army that may invade the west, and both sides are constantly adjusting and increasing their weight.

At this time, the top brass of the national army still had the idea of continuing to besiege the 14th Division, but then the Japanese 10th Division captured Bozhou, Wuyang and Qixian and other places The situation still made the national army change its mind.

Not to mention the fact that the Japanese army pressed the border, the Nationalist Army carried out several large-scale attacks on the 14th Division when the Japanese army was advancing on the ground, but the results were not major progress, and the 14th Division had already received reinforcements from a brigade, which was completely beyond the strength of the Nationalist Army.

The troops in eastern Henan besieged for days, and the casualties were already very heavy, and in the end, the top of the national army still issued a general retreat order.

The core of the retreat order was to avoid a decisive battle with the enemy attacking from the west and to maintain the momentum thereafter, that is, to move the main force to the area west of the Pinghan line.

The troops in eastern Henan were redivided and deployed, retreated in batches, and the various units of the Central Army and the miscellaneous army were divided into guerrilla and field garrison units, which had their own tasks in name, but in fact they were retreating separately, and the whereabouts of several main forces were very clear.

Song Xilian's 71st Army moved to Mixian, Hu Zongnan's 17th Army retreated to Bishui and Xinyang, Li Hanxun's 64th Army moved to Yuxian and Jiaxian, Gui Yongqing's 27th Army moved to Luoyang, abandoned Shangqiu's 8th Army to retreat in the direction of Xiangcheng and Yexian, and Yu Jishi's 74th Army moved to the direction of Miyang.

A large number of national army troops in the entire eastern Henan region have received orders to retreat, and they were still desperately besieging the day before, and they will retreat now.

The assault column also received an order to retreat, and the first to learn was the column commander Qiu Luozi, who received the order for the whole column to retreat along the direction of Yuncheng and Xinyang.

Early in the morning, as soon as the soldiers of the preparatory battalion had finished breakfast, Qiu Maniac sent an order and brought a handwritten warrant.

In the warrant, Zhang Wei's preparatory battalion was ordered to immediately prepare for retreat, and when the rest of the assault column, the chariot battalion, the battle defense artillery battalion and other units were assembled, they immediately retreated in the direction of Xinyang. Sure enough, the retreat order still came, but fortunately it wasn't yesterday, and the soldiers of the preparatory battalion recovered a lot after a night's rest.

Zhang Wei called the three company commanders and informed the three of them of the news of the imminent retreat, Zhang Wei had already reminded them yesterday, and the three of them did not react too much when they heard the news of the retreat, and the three company commanders were very strict-mouthed, and so far they had not revealed the news to their platoon commanders and soldiers.

"The retreat order has arrived, the whole battalion is ready for battle, after a while, all the soldiers will be reissued ammunition and dry rations, and preparations will be made before retreating, and the army will be folded and tied, and they will be carried on their backs, reduce the horsepower of the mules and horses, and prepare for a long march!"

"Yes!" The three of them replied in unison.

"Qiu Wei, do we still have enough ammunition?" Zhang Wei looked at Qiu Wei.

Qiu Wei nodded: "The soldiers have some in their hands, and the mules of the heavy machine gun company will immediately carry some, and the average person on the mule will get eighty or ninety rounds of ammunition." ”

"Okay, you take someone to distribute a batch, and do it as soon as possible."

"Yes!" It seems that the guns and ammunition are still relatively sufficient, eighty or ninety rounds are about one and a half base bullets, the preparatory battalion is in a state of retreat, these bullets are barely enough, but there is a small shortage of food, Zhang Wei plans to ask Qiu Maniac for some food supplies before the pull, if the situation allows, another batch of ammunition to replenish.

"Battalion commander, what should I do with these tent supplies in the camp?"

"Don't do it, I don't have the time to care about these now, someone will clean it up."

These tents were transferred to him by Qiu Maniac, and they were seconded by the 27th Army, and the military situation was urgent, and there was no effort to deal with these things.

After receiving the order, the three company commanders returned to their respective companies, ordered the company to be assembled, and organized the troops to prepare for battle to receive ammunition.

The command to assemble, as well as the sound of mules and horses and shouts, filled the camp, and the soldiers who were still resting heard the order to assemble, and they got out of their tents and lined up with their equipment.

Zhang Wei got out of the tent, put on his armed belt, and put on a German-style M35 steel helmet, and the soldiers carrying equipment in the camp came and went, and the mules and horses were saddled by the soldiers of the heavy machine gun company, and let out a burst of chirps.

"Tell Company Commander Qiu and let him help manage the troops, and I'll go meet Commander Qiu!" Zhang Wei said to the herald beside him.

Immediately, one person went out to find Qiu Wei, and the remaining two heralds followed Zhang Wei with the shell gun on the wooden toll.

Zhang Wei had already entered the village once before, and the people guarding the entrance of the village were also familiar, this time "the second entered the palace," Zhang Wei was not blocked, and the guards directly let Zhang Wei into the village.

When I entered the village, it was also very chaotic, there were soldiers everywhere, many people were carrying boxes, the anti-aircraft machine gun that Zhang Wei saw yesterday had long been withdrawn, the power lines of the generator were lost to the ground, and the soldiers carried all kinds of supplies and ammunition.

Apparently, the retreat of the 27th Army was about to begin.

Zhang Wei walked through the crowd and went along the same road to the small courtyard where the assault column headquarters was located.

In the courtyard, radio and field telephones were moved out, and Qiu Maniac's guards and soldiers guarding the column headquarters were on guard in the courtyard.

Compared with the military headquarters of the 27th Army, the column headquarters of the assault column is much more shabby, the people of the 27th Army are busy and happy, and the column headquarters of the assault column is idle.

In addition to a squad of newspaper soldiers and radio telephones, there was only a platoon of soldiers and a few staff officers and adjutants left in the small courtyard of the assault column.

The people in the courtyard were around the radio equipment, just where they stayed, a few veterans also smoked, after Zhang Wei entered, he saw that the second lieutenant who brought him over yesterday was in the courtyard, and the second lieutenant happened to see Zhang Wei and came over with a smile.

"Sir, are you here to find Chief Qiu?"

"Yes, Chief Qiu." Zhang Wei patted the second lieutenant on the shoulder and said.

The second lieutenant shook his head: "The column commander is not here, I went to the friendly 27th Army to contact and have a meeting, and it is estimated that I will have to wait for a while." ”

Qiu Maniac is not here, now that the retreat order has been issued, all troops must be withdrawn, and the current location of the assault column is with the 27th Army, and it is also common sense to communicate with each other. Zhang Wei had no choice but to wait in the courtyard for a while.