The Supreme Commander gave the battle order, although the staff officers and high-ranking members of the Military Commission understood that this order to take the initiative to attack was a bit of a pitfall; But a telegram was sent anyway!

"Chief of Staff, Chief Xue; Military Council telegram! "An urgent telegram came from the telecommunications room,

Wu Yizhi took the telegram and looked at it, and handed it to Xue Yue with a wry smile; This order is not realistic at all, it would be good if the situation in the ninth theater could be held now, and an attack on the devils?

"Neurotic, this is just nonsense! Ignore it! Xue Yue was still so arrogant and arrogant, he directly threw the telegram aside;

"Chief Xue, let's call back to the Military Commission! From time to time it is said on telegram that we have a week to prepare? Let's just say that we are preparing, if the devils attack during this time; We don't have to carry out this order! Wu Yizhi suggested,

"That's your business, I won't give the order to attack anyway!" Xue Yue said indifferently,

On 8 March, Chiang Kai-shek sent a direct telegram to Xue Yue, commander of the Ninth Theater in his own name: "In order to secure the liaison line between Nanchang and its rear, the Ninth Theater is determined to strike first against the enemy and turn to an offensive in order to destroy the enemy's attempts. Preparations for the attack should be completed by March 10, and the attack should begin immediately! ”

"The assault units of the Ninth Theater have not completed their training, and their weapons and ammunition are insufficient; Persistent heavy rains washed away roads, making troop build-up and movement difficult; Request an attack postponement! Xue Yue in the Ninth War Zone! Of course, this telegram was sent by Wu Yizhi,

On March 9 and 10, the Ninth Theater of Operations and the Military Commission fought a telegraph war, urging the offensive while delaying it for various reasons!

On March 13, Chiang Kai-shek issued an ultimatum, emphasizing that "only because the purpose is to preemptively preempt the enemy and contain the diversion of the enemy's forces, the start date of the attack cannot be later than the day of this month (i.e., the 24th)......

However, the Japanese 11th Army in Wuhan could not wait, the troops had been assembled, and the logistics materials had been in place; Okamura Ninji was scheduled to attack on March 10, but heavy rains in northern Ganbei damaged the roads; As the main assault force of this battle, the tank could not continue to march on the muddy road, so it had to be delayed for 10 days, and on March 20, the spring rain that had been falling for more than a month finally stopped, and the 101st Division, the 106th Division, and the 6th Division launched a full-scale attack.

On March 20, the Japanese 101st Division, the 106th Division, and the 6th Division, together with the 116th Division and the Marine Corps, a total of 120,000 troops, began an offensive on the whole front with the cooperation of a puppet army.

Due to Chiang Kai-shek's order, Luo Zhuoying's 70th Army had moved forward to the front-line position of Xiushu to take over the defense, and had confronted the devils for so long and improved the fortifications;

At the forefront is the 70th Regiment of the 321st Brigade of the 107th Division of the 641st Army, the soldiers are staring at Xiushui in the trenches, it is already four o'clock in the afternoon, the devil still has no movement, and the occasional cold gun and cold artillery soldiers are used to it......

To the north of Xiushui, the 101st and 106th Divisions of the Devils, as well as the 116th Division, have completed the assembly; Waiting for the order to attack!

"Your Excellency, the artillery is ready;" On the artillery position north of Xiushui, more than 300 cannons stood with their swarthy muzzles pointing obliquely to the sky......

"The goal, the people of China to repair the water defense line; Kill give! Sukita ordered loudly,

"Bang, Bang"

The heavy artillery kept exiting the eggshell, and the devil's artillery had already taken off their military uniforms and carried the shells naked......

"Boom, boom, boom"

The overwhelming shells smashed densely towards the line of Xiushui, and the soldiers in the trenches were already stunned by the whistling sound coming from the sky......

"Stay in the trenches, don't run around! Go and report to the regiment commander that the devils launched a massive artillery bombardment; Company Commander Zou Jiyan ordered loudly,

The cannonball crossed Xiushui in a graceful arc and landed accurately on the Chinese defenders' positions on the south bank of Xiushui, the rumbling sound was like muffled thunder, the grass and trees were broken, and the explosion lifted up the earth and rocks in the sky, except for the sound of the explosion and the pungent smoke of gunpowder, even the screams of the soldiers who were dying could not be heard......

The ground has been cratted by the devil's shells, and the bottom of the crater has gathered muddy water, and the dirt around it has become extremely fluffy, mixed with sharp shrapnel.

The main position on the front line of Xiushui, the national army was directly attached to the river along the Xiuhe River, and built complete trenches and better field fortifications, fire points with light and heavy weapons, foxholes, communication trenches, plus solid covers, except for the sentries, the rest of the officers and men lived in the position shelter and could come out to meet the battle at any time. However, the devil's sudden large-scale artillery bombardment contained many 150mm heavy guns, and the shells of the heavy artillery fell on these fortifications, blowing up the fortifications that the defenders had worked so hard to build!

Such a large-scale artillery bombardment by the devils soon made the commanders of the 19th Army, the 27th Group Army, and the 30th Group Army know, and they all reported the news of the devil's attack to the theater command;

"Chief Xue, the devil has concentrated a large number of artillery on the front line of water repair and launched a large-scale artillery bombardment on my water repair defense line!" Wu Yizhi took the telegram and reported,

"The devil's attack was expected, is there any news from Wu Qiwei's Ninth Army?" Xue Yue asked,

"No, they are now east of Ganshui; The main defense is the Inoue detachment of devils; If the Inoue detachment lands from Panyang Lake, the defenders on the front line of our Nanchang will be surrounded by devils, and there is a danger that the whole army will be annihilated! Wu Yizhi reported,

"Opposite the 27th Army and the 30th Army is the Devil's Sixth Division, and there is no way to get out! telegraphed Luo Zhuoying to make every effort to defend the water repair defense line; At the same time, inform He Jianye of the war situation; Order the 74th Army to concentrate on the upper line and prepare to support Nanchang! Send electricity to the 3rd War Zone and request support! Xue Yue looked at the map and said,

On March 20, at the same time as the Eleventh Army attacked; In order to contain the Third Theater of Operations, the command post of the Japanese Central China Dispatch Army was directly ordered by Commander Yamada Otoyama to move forward to Hangzhou, which had just been formed. The 11th Brigade of the Independent Mixed Brigade also arrived in Hangzhou and made a gesture of launching a large-scale attack south of the Qiantang River, so as to deceive the troops of the 3rd Theater.

Gu Zhutong's 32nd Army, which had just hit Shangguan Yunxiang, was forced to move eastward, giving up support for the 9th Theater of Operations and coping with the Japanese offensive operations.

"Tom! Tom, tom, tom" In the Xiushui River, across the wide river, the devil's heavy artillery made a violent sound, and the violent anti-seismic force made the artillery position be covered with a puff of smoke and dust

"Chirp!" The sound of heavy artillery shells tearing through the air was constantly sounding;

"Boom!" The position of the 49th Army rose with a huge explosion, the shock wave brought by the explosion lifted the mud on the ground in mid-air, the earth trembled violently, nearly 100 150mm heavy guns shelled at the same time, the position of the 49th Army was like experiencing an earthquake, the soldiers hid in the fortifications and trenches, their hearts beat violently, and their teeth couldn't help chattering; At this time, they could only pray to the gods and Buddhas, hoping not to be hit by heavy artillery shells.