The reason why Xiao Siming's telegram was later called a "life-saving telegram" was because it was too timely and served as an early warning. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

In such a major enemy situation, the division headquarters and the headquarters will be transferred as soon as they arrive, and they will not be delayed for a moment.

After receiving the report on the enemy situation from the 18th Group Army, the Military Commission in Wuhan and the Headquarters of the Commander of the Fifth Theater in Xuzhou were all stunned, knowing that the Japanese army had mobilized more troops than expected, and almost simultaneously sent a report to the 18th Group Army, the First Theater, and the Second Theater, demanding that the number and movements of the enemy in front of them be quickly ascertained. In particular, it is necessary to ascertain the location of the 14th and 16th Divisions of the Japanese North China Front Army, and whether there is any phenomenon of gathering troops and transferring them to the Xuzhou battlefield.

Whether it was the Eighth Route Army, the First Theater, or the Second Theater, including all units in the Fifth Theater, they all strictly carried out their orders, activated their own intelligence systems, and dispatched small units of reconnaissance units to quickly reconnoiter the enemy's situation.

At this time, the 101st Division of the Japanese Army on the southern front of the Battle of Xuzhou had captured Funing in northern Jiangsu on May 7, and the 6th Division of the Japanese Army crossed the Yangtze River from Wuhu in Anhui Province and attacked in the direction of Chaoxian and Hefei, forming the east and west flanks to outflank to the north; At the same time, the 9th Division and the 13th Division, the main forces of the Japanese army dispatched troops from Central China to attack Xuzhou, were also launched on all fronts, and on the day that Xiao Siming sent the report, they repelled the Chinese defenders on the front line of the Huai River and crossed the Huai River; The 3rd Division advanced sharply north along the Jinpu Road, and the attack arrows were also directed at Xuzhou.

In this way, the Japanese army on the southern front formed a strategic pattern of containing and covering the two flanks of the 101st Division and the 6th Division, and breaking through in the center of the 3rd, 9th, and 13th Divisions.

The North China Front of the Japanese Army on the Northern Front, at this time, was still dominated by the Fifth Division and the Tenth Division, and launched offensive operations on the front line of Taierzhuang.

In this case, most people will judge that the Japanese army's attempt is to advance from north to south and flank Xuzhou. If this is the case, the main force of the Fifth Theater will rely on the Longhai Line to maintain contact with the First Theater, retreat and defend, advance and attack, and still retain the initiative strategically.

As soon as Xiao Siming's telegram on 9 May was issued, the bigwigs of the Military Commission and the Fifth Theater were immediately shocked, and they immediately thought of a question: Why has the Japanese army on the northern front not been launched on such a large front? Could it be that the Japanese army has a bigger plan?

Originally, if the Japanese army on the northern front had only attacked the 5th and 10th divisions in Taierzhuang, with the scale of the 5th theater at this time, it would have been possible to quickly mobilize heavy troops after blocking the offensive of these two divisions and regiments, repel the Japanese attack on the southern front all the way, and stabilize the battle situation. But now the situation is different, the Japanese army on the northern front is unimaginably large, in addition to the 114th Division pressing to the Taierzhuang line, it has also added the independent mixed 5th Brigade, and the inexplicable Kwantung Army mixed into the 3rd Brigade and the 13th Brigade, moreover, these troops have not yet appeared on the battlefield. It's terrifying!

Only then did the Central Military Commission and the Fifth Theater simultaneously request that the First Theater, the Second Theater, and the Eighteenth Army quickly find out the enemy's movements in front of them.

The first to report that there was no change in the enemy in front of him was Yan Xishan, the commander of the Second Theater of Operations in Shanxi.

Yan Laoxi'er reported the truth, the Japanese army in Shanxi has indeed not changed, and it is still the 20th Division, the 108th Division, and the 109th Division of the Japanese Army.

Next, the units reported on the reconnaissance later.

After the end of the Han Xinling blockade battle, Wei Lihuang led the headquarters to encounter the Japanese army on the way to transfer, but fortunately the Eighth Route Army rescued him out of danger, and then he passed by the Yellow River and secretly went to Yan'an to visit, and he had just returned to Luoyang at this time.

After receiving the telegram from the Military Commission and the Fifth Theater, Wei Lihuang did not dare to slack off, and ordered all units in Zhongtiao Mountain and southeast of Jinxi to quickly find out the movements of the 14th and 16th divisions of the Japanese army, and at the same time ordered all units to actively attack and contain the troops of the First Army of the Japanese Army so that they could not reinforce the Xuzhou station.

At this time, no one could have imagined that the Japanese army would be so bold and dare to march alone with a mere 14th division, leap thousands of miles, smuggle across the Yellow River, and cut off the Longhai Road!

Therefore, it was impossible for Wei Lihuang's troops, who had just finished the war and were scattered in Zhongtiao Mountain and southeast of Jin Province to repair and replenish, to provide accurate information in a timely manner.

After reconnaissance, the troops of the First Theater in northern Henan reported that there had been no change in the enemy situation in the face.

It was the departments of the Eighth Route Army that really provided effective intelligence to the Military Commission.

After receiving a telegram from the Central Military Commission and the Fifth Theater of Operations from the General Headquarters requesting ascertainment of the enemy situation, all sub-divisions of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region quickly mobilized intelligence forces and sent reconnaissance detachments to reconnoiter the Tongpu Railway, Zhengtai Railway, and Pinghan Railway. However, a new situation appeared on the Pinghan Railway, and the Japanese army withdrew from Shanxi and was still stationed in Baoding, and the independent mixed Fourth Brigade disappeared, and they were replaced by the newly established Baoding Garrison Command of the Japanese Army.

This telegram was promptly forwarded by the General Headquarters to the Military Commission and the Fifth Theater of Operations.

Immediately afterwards, Song Renqiang and Chen Zaidao of southern Hebei also reported to the headquarters that the Japanese army's independent mixed third brigade and regiment that had been withdrawn from the Shanxi battlefield and stationed in Dexian County were transferred, and the newly established Dexian garrison headquarters and an independent railway brigade of the Japanese army were taken over.

Next, the guerrilla units of the Eighth Route Army operating in northern Henan reported that there were signs of puppet troops posing as the 14th Division of the Japanese Army, and the main force of the 14th Division had been transferred elsewhere.

According to the reports of various departments, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, after analyzing and judging the situation that the attacking troops of the 16th Division only made a sortie and then quickly retracted during the Japanese army's siege of the Ninth Route Road in the southeast of Shanxi, sent an urgent telegram to the Military Commission and the Fifth Theater, reporting that according to the existing enemy situation, it can be judged that the Japanese army was independently mixed into the 3rd Brigade and the 4th Brigade and the 14th and 16th Divisions of the Japanese Army, and that they had already secretly assembled and been transferred to other places. Judging that it should be to join the Xuzhou battlefield!

This telegram was sent at 3 a.m. on the 12th!

It became clear to the bigwigs of the Central Military Commission and the Fifth Theater that in addition to the five divisions of the Central China Dispatch Army and the five divisions that could be transferred from the North China Front Army, the Japanese army had added three independent mixed brigades and two mixed brigades of the Kwantung Army, which was equivalent to two and a half more divisions and regiments in the Xuzhou battlefield.

The Kwantung Army has dispatched two mixed brigades to participate in the war, and there must also be special forces to participate in the war, such as heavy artillery brigades.

The situation of the enemy suddenly became extremely serious!

Li Zongren, commander of the Fifth Theater of Operations, immediately sent an urgent telegram to the Military Commission, requesting that the plan for the battle of Xuzhou be reconsidered, and that the main forces gathered around Xuzhou be evacuated to avoid being surrounded by the Japanese army.

Before the Military Commission could reply to the call, the Japanese army was launched!

The 16th Division of the Japanese Army, which had already secretly moved to Luxi, launched on the 12th under the cover of aircraft, forcibly crossed the canal near Jining, and broke through the defense line of Sun Tongxuan's division of the Third Army.

This was an uppercut that was unexpected by the Military Commission and the Fifth War Zone, and it hit the soft underbelly of the Fifth War Zone at once. Because no one expected that the Japanese army, whether it was Chairman Chiang, Li Zongren, or Bai Chongxi, would give up the convenience of transporting troops along the Jinpu Road and the highway from Jinan to Xuzhou, and even let the troops go out of Luxi and maneuver in the Luxi area, where there were no railways or highways, and they did not know when they had quietly crossed the Yellow River. Therefore, the troops deployed to guard Luxi were not very sufficient, and it was simply impossible to block the attack of the fierce 16th Division.

The 16th Division, which crossed the canal, quickly divided its troops and killed Yuncheng, Shanxian, Jintai, Fengxian and other places, and attacked the northwest of Xuzhou and Longhai Road.

At the same time as the 16th Division of the Japanese Army was launched, the 5th and 10th Divisions of the Japanese Army, which had been confronting the troops of the 5th Theater in the north of Taierzhuang, were also launched. Among them, the Fifth Division attacked south from Linyi and attacked south from the east of Xuzhou; The 10th Division handed over the defensive line to the 114th Division, and the whole division crossed Weishan Lake to the west to capture Peixian, and approached Xuzhou from the north.

Under the command of the division commander, Lieutenant General Kenji Dohihara, the 14th Division of the Japanese Army, which had been mobilized one after another, crossed the Yellow River near Puxian County and attacked Heze, Caoxian, and Kaocheng.

Xiao Siming very much wanted to report to the Military Commission the crossing points and time of the 16th and 14th Divisions of the Japanese Army, and let the Military Commission send planes to bomb the Japanese troops crossing the river. However, he was a young general who had just 18 years old and had no experience in intelligence work in his life, so he could not send such a telegram. Sending such a telegram will arouse suspicion, and maybe he will have to be censored!

However, although the conspiracy of the Japanese army could not be directly exposed, Xiao Siming's telegram of the enemy situation report had already played a role. The Military Commission and the Fifth Theater Commander's Headquarters, who had learned about the strength of the Japanese army, already had a bottom in their hearts, and Chairman Chiang would no longer be stubborn and delay the retreat of the main forces of the Fifth Theater.

No, as soon as the 16th Division of the Japanese Army broke through the defense line of Sun Tongxuan's Third Army, the headquarters of the commander of the Fifth Theater sent an urgent telegram to the Military Commission again, requesting permission for the main force of the Fifth Theater to withdraw from Xuzhou.

On the 13th, that is, after receiving the report that the 14th Division of the Japanese Army had crossed the Yellow River from Puxian, Chairman Chiang presided over a national defense and military conference to study and judge the situation in the Xuzhou area, decided to preserve its strength and protracted the War of Resistance, and ordered all units in the Xuzhou area to withdraw from Xuzhou and jump out of the encirclement of the Japanese army under the unified command of the Fifth Theater.

This decision was made exactly two days earlier than in history!

Two days is enough time for the troops of the Fifth Theater to become more active and reduce losses a lot!

At the same time, the Military Commission ordered the 1st Theater to mobilize the main force to encircle and annihilate the 14th Division, which was advancing alone.

The prelude to the Battle of Lanfeng has also begun!

In order to cover the retreat of the main forces of the Fifth Theater, the Military Commission once again sent an urgent telegram to the headquarters of the Second Theater and the 18th Group Army, ordering all units behind the enemy to quickly attack the Japanese army's communication line, forcing the Japanese army besieging Xuzhou to send troops back for reinforcements, and reducing the operational pressure on the Longhai Line! (To be continued.) )