During the war years, no intelligence was equal to a blind man!

In fact, after the Japanese 16th Division captured Shangqiu, it was already stagnant and prepared to withdraw to North China in accordance with the orders of the North China Front Army to participate in the operation of encircling and annihilating the eastward advance detachment of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 Continuing to attack westward, it was a brigade-regimental detachment of the Japanese Army's Mixed 3rd Brigade, Mixed 13th Brigade, and 10th Division, reinforced to the 16th Division.

It's a pity that this vital information, the Military Commission, the First War Zone, and Xiao Siming in Luokou are all ignorant of it.

Historically, after the 16th Division captured Shangqiu, it continued to attack westward along the Longhai Road, and the 10th Division of the Japanese Army and the 3rd Brigade of the mixed army attacked from Zhoukou in the direction of Zhengzhou. By May 31, the First Theater ordered the end of the Battle of Lanfeng, and the Eastern Henan Corps and the 17th Army Corps were transferred one after another. The Japanese army took advantage of the situation to capture Kaifeng, the capital of Henan Province, and continued to advance westward. When the First War Zone could not resist it, it reported to Chairman Chiang for approval to blow up the Yellow River embankment at the mouth of the Yellow River at Huayuankou and let the surging yellow water flow southward, forming the Yellow Flood Area, creating a natural line of defense, and also forming a great tragedy in the history of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

Now, because Xiao Siming led his troops to capture Dezhou and swept through northern Lu, the invading Japanese army had to stop the pace of westward expansion on the Longhai Road and return to North China to fight for Dezhou. The question is which unit the Japanese army will draw to North China, and the Chinese side does not know.

The most fatal thing is that the return of the 16th Division to North China is a top-secret military operation, and the Japanese army must have taken all measures to disguise it. Among them, allowing the troops of the 3rd Brigade, the 13th Brigade, and the 10th Division to continue to advance westward is a deceptive tactic.

As for the Nationalist Army, due to the unclear situation of the enemy, they only saw the severity of the loss of Shangqiu, and they did not know anything about the 16th Division's stop in Shangqiu and secretly returned eastward.

Seriously, the Japanese army had 300,000 troops around Xuzhou at this time, and the troops were sufficient. Even if the 16th Division retreated secretly, if necessary, the main force of the 114th Division in Xuzhou and the independent mixed brigade from Xuzhou to Lianyungang on the Longhai Road could be urgently transferred to the battlefield in eastern Henan. Even when the 14th Division is at stake, as long as Terauchi Shou has a mouth, the 3rd Division, the 13th Division, and the 101st Division of the Central China Dispatch Army, which are still in the Huaihe region, may be transferred to eastern Henan for reinforcements. After all, in the history of the Japanese army, so far, there has never been a case of a division being completely annihilated!

The 16th Division used a trick to cover their true intentions on the battlefield in eastern Henan, not to mention others, Xiao Siming was a little anxious, sighing one sigh after another, full of worries!

Waiting is exhausting, not to mention that Xiao Siming has been here for a day and two nights?

At 5 a.m., the cavalry battalion sent to reconnoiter the enemy around Jinan on the east bank of the Yellow River returned.

Xiao Siming originally thought that the Japanese army would send troops to seize the Luokou Bridge on the morning of the 28th, but when he couldn't see it, he ordered the cavalry battalion to cross the river again and go to the periphery of Qin'an to reconnoiter the enemy's situation, in order to get the most direct information.

As soon as the cavalry battalion commander Liu Zhaoming saw Xiao Siming, his face was full of excitement, and he suppressed his excitement, and reported in a low voice: "Commander, the Japanese army has been transferred back from the south to the Fifth Division. ”

This situation was much more than Xiao Siming expected. Because Xiao Siming knew that at this time, the Fifth Division and the Third Brigade of the Independent Wedding Car were all in the Bengbu area. Moreover, the Fifth Division was temporarily under the command of the Central China Dispatch Army at this time, and was not subject to the control of the North China Front. Historically, until July, when the Japanese army launched the Battle of Wuhan, in order to release the winner and loser at a critical time, the Fifth Division was sent from Central China to the North China Front Army and transferred back to the Jiaoji Railway Line. In the end, the Fifth Division, the 18th Division in Shanghai, and the 10th and 4th Divisions under the Kwantung Army in Dalian were organized into the 21st Army, and the Fifth Division was to conduct landing combat training in Qingdao until mid-October, when the ship was transported to the sea near Guangzhou to carry out the operation of capturing Guangzhou.

This is a bit strange, why did the North China Front Army not transfer the 16th Division to fight in eastern Henan back to defend North China, but transferred the 5th Division back?

Xiao Siming, who was a little puzzled, asked Liu Zhaoming: "Have you seen clearly?" Confirmed to be the 5th Division? ”

Liu Zhaoming replied: "What I saw with my own eyes is undoubtedly the Fifth Division!" We have dealt with them during the Pingxingguan ambush, and we know it clearly, and we will never be wrong! Commander, there were a lot of tanks, a lot of armored vehicles, a lot of artillery, and the soldiers were all marching in cars. ”

Xiao Siming nodded, no longer verbose, and ordered Liu Zhaoming to withdraw the cavalry battalion, rest the war horses on the spot, pay attention to camouflage, and strictly prevent bombing by Japanese aircraft; The troops entered the preset positions and prepared for battle.

Since it was the most elite Fifth Division of the Japanese army, Xiao Siming knew in his heart that it would not be long before the Japanese army would come desperately to seize the Luokou Bridge after a little rest!

The Fifth Division is not only the most elite division of the Japanese army, but also the strategic mobile unit of the Japanese army's base camp. This unit, starting from the original division commander Seishiro Itagaki, was a force that advocated attack. Although the Fifth Division has suffered considerable losses and replenished many new recruits since it entered the battlefield of aggression against China, its overall combat effectiveness is still first-class in the Japanese army, and even in the world.

Such a force must be extremely arrogant, and there is no Chinese army in their eyes. Coupled with the special significance of the Luokou Bridge, after a short rest and recuperation, once the Fifth Division is launched, the first goal must be to use the method of rapid attack to seize the Luokou Bridge!

The Fifth Division had a tank brigade with a large number of armored vehicles and anti-tank guns, that is, 37mm rapid-fire guns.

When such a force came to seize the Luokou Bridge, it must have been tanks, armored vehicles, and automobiles, and they all moved very quickly!

The spearhead must be composed of Japanese motorcycles, tanks, armored vehicles, and automobiles.

The Fifth Division claims to be one of the three mechanized divisions of the Japanese army, but the Japanese still use pack horses to pull cannons and rubber-tyred carts with pack horses, resulting in their mechanized divisions not being real mechanized divisions.

The Fifth Division has really become a mechanized division, and it will not change its outfit again until it is re-stationed on Jiaoji Road and conducting landing training in Qingdao, and it will completely become a mechanized division.

Xiao Siming, who had a certain mentality, immediately adjusted his deployment and placed the positions of the armored battalion and rapid-fire artillery company at the west end of the Luokou Bridge directly opposite the bridge, and carried out strict camouflage in preparation to attack the tanks and armored vehicles of the Japanese search troops.

Taking into account the combat habits of the Japanese army, under normal circumstances, the search detachment crossed the bridge to search and found that there was no abnormality, and the follow-up troops could follow up. Xiao Siming adjusted the ambush position at the bridgehead after the deployment, and it was a little farther away from the bridgehead, leaving room for the Japanese search detachment to stop after crossing the river and want to play the flag behind.

Under the Luokou Bridge, high explosives have been laid, and the electric detonation device has been repeatedly checked and is foolproof.

Xiao Siming's plan was to inflict heavy losses on the vanguard of the Japanese army who came to attack and seize the Luokou Bridge, and he was extremely thoughtful, not only to blow up the bridge, but also to bring some devils to the bridge for burial.

Below the Luokou Bridge is the rolling water of the Yellow River, whether he is driving tanks, armored vehicles, cars, or marching on foot, once the explosives are ignited, they all have to fall off the bridge and drown in the rolling torrent of the Yellow River, becoming a delicacy of fish and turtles.

Now, everything is ready, just wait for the little devil to come and serve the food soon!

Time was lost in Xiao Siming's anxious waiting.

The sun jumped out of the East China Sea, and the morning sun sprinkled on the vast fields and the rolling Yellow River, reflecting the water of the Yellow River like bright yellow silk fluttering in the wind.

Xiao Siming wore a camouflage straw hat made of mugwort, branches, and grass leaves on his head, and Zheng Xiuchuan, deputy chief of staff and chief of staff, climbed on a position 500 meters from the western end of the Luokou Bridge. To his right, crawling was a company commander sent by the engineer battalion, with a detonator in his hand; On the left crawled a communications soldier with a flare gun in his hand. There were also two communications soldiers, holding telephones in their hands, which were used to communicate with the troops.

At 7 o'clock, there was a faint rumbling motor sound on the east bank of the Yellow River, drowned in the roar of the Yellow River.

Xiao Siming's eyes lit up when they looked at each other, and he ordered: "Call all troops, calm down, don't fire if you don't see a signal flare!" ”

The signal soldier answered the phone, and Zheng Xiuchuan accurately conveyed Xiao Siming's order to the troops.

Not long after, Japanese motorcycles, tanks, dealers' cars, and automobiles appeared at the east end of the bridge.

Xiao Siming saw clearly through the binoculars, a total of three motorcycles, two medium tanks, two light tanks, three armored vehicles, followed by eight cars, all of which were devil soldiers, and it seemed to be an infantry squadron.

There is no doubt that this is a search party of the Japanese army!

After the Japanese search team reached the east end of the Luokou Bridge, it stopped, and the machine guns on motorcycles, tanks, armored vehicles, and cars opened fire like crazy, and came to the left and right sides of the east end of the bridge to reconnoiter with firepower.

After the fire reconnaissance, seeing that there was no movement, the two devil flag soldiers jumped out of the car, ran to a bulging hill at the head of the bridge, opened the flag, and told the large troops behind that the Eighth Route Army had not been found.

When the two bannermen returned to the car, the devil search team began to carefully climb the bridge.

The east end of the bridge is safe, and the bridge deck is unobstructed, and it is very safe!

One, two, three, motorcycles, tanks, armored vehicles, cars, roared onto the bridge, widened the distance, and slowly crossed the bridge.

Before they reached the west end of the bridge, the devil machine guns on the three motorcycles that had hit the ground opened fire again, gurgling, gurgling, and bullets flying and firing head-on.

The Japanese tanks and armored vehicles that were following closely and the on-board machine guns also opened fire with a clamour.

After all, the Fifth Division is the Fifth Division, it is well equipped, the ammunition is absolutely sufficient, and it will not be stingy with that little bullet! (To be continued.) )