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Chapter 1828 The Japanese Counterattack

After the outbreak of the Pacific War, *** frequently transferred troops from China's Shandong, North China and the mainland to participate in the war, on the one hand, he expressed his intention to expand the war in China and show goodwill to the Nanjing government, and on the other hand, he took advantage of the absolute upper hand of the navy to take control of the Philippine Islands, the Hawaiian Islands, the islands of New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand in one fell swoop. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

Now, the strategy formulated by Ishihara has been extremely successful, the Philippines, Hawaii and New Guinea have all been occupied, and Australia has also controlled most of them, but the result of this is that the entire Chinese dispatch army, only 14 divisions, 13 independent mixed brigades and 20 puppet army divisions remain, and they are already in an extremely dangerous situation under the watchful eyes of millions of squadrons.

Before the Pacific War, the Chinese Dispatch Army was reorganized, and the commander was the six major generals of Dianjun, the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Harem Jun, and the headquarters was located in Beijing, under the jurisdiction of the North China Front, the 11th Army, the Mongolian Army, the 1st Flying Regiment and the 3rd Tank Division.

Ishihara's good friend Okamura Ninji was promoted to the rank of general in the second half of last year, and was appointed commander of the North China Front, chief of staff Lieutenant General Tsukada Tsukashi, with headquarters in Shijiazhuang, under the jurisdiction of the 1st and 12th armies, as well as the 60th, 104th, and 118th divisions directly under the central government, and independently mixed into the 1st, 8th, 9th, and 15th brigades.

Lieutenant General Yoshio Iwamatsu, commander of the First Army, and Major General Hanaya Masa, chief of staff, with headquarters in Datong, Shanxi, under the jurisdiction of the 34th, 40th, and 69th divisions, independently mixed into the 3rd and 4th brigades, the main combat direction is northern Shanxi.

The commander of the 12th Army, Lieutenant General Tsuchihashi Ichi, and the chief of staff, Major General Etsujiro Shuno, had their headquarters in Xinxiang, Henan, and had their headquarters under the jurisdiction of the 47th, 58th, and 59th Divisions, which were independently mixed into the 5th, 6th, and 7th brigades, and the 4th Cavalry Brigade was also commanded, and the main combat directions were southern Jinnan and northern Henan.

Shandong officially abolished the formation of the front army, and the 3rd, 13th, 68th, and 129th divisions of the Japanese army stationed here, as well as the 12th, 13th, and 17th brigades and regiments of independent mixed forces, were organized into the 11th Army, with the commander Lieutenant General Anami and the chief of staff, Major General Isamu Kinoshita, and the headquarters in Jinan.

Lieutenant General Nanata Ichiro, commander of the Mongolian Army, and Major General Toyojiro Inamura, chief of staff, have their headquarters in Zhangjiakou and the 27th Division under their jurisdiction, which is independently mixed into the 2nd Brigade and Cavalry Group, and the main operational directions are Suiyuan and Chahar.

July 12, Beiping, the headquarters of the Chinese Dispatch Army. Tenant Junliu summoned the generals and gathered in Zhongnanhai to discuss the war in the Central Plains.

Tsukuda Junroku, who was dressed in a kimono, looked grim:

In order to ensure the smooth progress of the war in the Pacific Ocean, the base camp strictly forbade us to provoke incidents, so in the past six months, we have also kept our eyes on the cold, deliberately restrained our edge, and never took the initiative to cross the border to fight! Now it's good, the government dares to break the tacit understanding and take the initiative to challenge, at present, Lincheng, Zaozhuang, Cangshan have all been lost, Jining, Linyi, Crossroads, Andongwei and other cities have been besieged, and the monarchs will discuss it! ”

Dianjunliu's words made the conference room immediately boil.

Major General Hanayamasa, Chief of Staff of the First Army, stood up and said loudly: "The *** people who do evil must be punished!" I propose that I immediately suggest to the base camp that the Kwantung Army transfer troops into the customs and fight with the *** army!

"At present, the Kwantung Army already has 58 main divisions, even if only 20 divisions are transferred to fight in the pass, such a force is enough to sweep across the Central Plains, coerce Bengbu and Nanjing, and force the Nationalist Government to move the capital, so as to respond to Australia's other fronts! Ladies and gentlemen, the empire rises and falls, and we cannot hesitate any longer in this move! ”

The commander of the Twelfth Army, Lieutenant General Ichi Tsuchihashi, frowned and said:

"Of course I'm in favor of more troops! However, I want to remind you that in fact, our North China is also very dangerous now, although the main focus of the offensive of the *** army is Shandong, but there is no guarantee that the *** army in Shanxi and Henan will not take the opportunity to attack us!

"Gentlemen, don't forget, there is still the main force of the Anjia Army, Lu Yixuan's department, in southern Jin and northwest Henan, which is a super group army with extremely strong combat effectiveness, and our 12th Army should have a hard time attacking it! Therefore, in this war, the strength of our army not only cannot be moved, but must also be appropriately strengthened, otherwise once it is allowed to occupy Yuanyang, Fengqiu and other places, repair the Zhengzhou Iron Bridge, and the million-strong army rushes across the north bank of the Yellow River, the situation will quickly erod! ”

Major General Toyojiro Inamura, Chief of Staff of the Mongolian Army, said:

"It's better to send more troops appropriately and push the front to where it was before the crisis! It's not that I'm scared, it's a lot of pressure right now. According to the investigation of the intelligence department, the conservative strength of the Anjia Army is more than 60 divisions, and with the opening of the cross-railway, the armies of Asia, West Asia and India can respond to its offensive at any time! With our meager troops, we really can't draw troops, and once the Anjia army presses from the north to the south, Pingjin will be in danger! ”

Dian Junliu waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, I won't mobilize your army to support Shandong!" Ladies and gentlemen, I just want to ask now, should we only focus on defense in the war of ***, or should we launch an all-out counterattack? Once the strategy is decided, I will consult with Commander Umezu Yoshijiro!

"Gentlemen, here I will tell you a secret, in fact, in the sequence of the Kwantung Army, there are thirteen divisions and regiments that originally belonged to my *** dispatch army system, and the reason why the Kwantung Army was temporarily assigned to the command was to avoid overstimulating the *** government! Now that it has taken the initiative to tear its face, we don't need to tolerate it anymore, the key now is to see which step we need to do? Is it a simple defense, or a long drive straight into the Yangtze River, drinking horses and horses, and expanding the *** war, so as to strengthen the influence of our dispatched army! ”

The generals looked at each other, and except for a few, the rest of them saw a hint of ecstasy in each other's eyes.

Now that the base camp of the Japanese army is devoted to the war in the Pacific, the specifications of the Chinese dispatch army have been downgraded from the previous major theater alongside the Kwantung Army to the second-class theater second to the Kwantung Army and the Southern Army.

However, once the war in the Central Plains expands, a steady stream of materials and troops will inevitably pour in like a spring, rapidly increasing the strength of the dispatched army and restoring its former glory.

Okamura Ninji hesitated for a moment and said:

"Commander, gentlemen, my opinion is that the specific strategy is uncertain for the time being, and everything depends on the current progress of the war! If the enemy shows extraordinary tenacity, we should not consume too much strength, if the weak wind is not strong, and it will collapse at the first touch, then we will take Xuzhou and Bengbu, coerce Nanjing, and coerce the government to move the capital.

"Once the strategic goal is achieved, it is better for us to support a puppet government, hand over the military and political power to this government, and then retreat to the existing areas, it is really not appropriate to expand the war! Now the Pacific War has occupied a lot of imperial resources and troops, and the South Chinese army is eyeing the East Indies, Burma, Malaya, the Far East and Manchuria may launch an attack at any time.

"Moreover, the area under our control is not very peaceful, in our rear, there are a large number of *** troops and base areas, all along, the control of rural and remote areas has always been our weakness, the larger the land we occupy, the faster the ****** and army will develop!

"To sum up, I am in favor of a moderate punishment of the *** government, but not in favor of an unprincipled expansion of the war, which would be a terrible disaster for the Empire!"

A hint of joy appeared on Dianjun Liu's face: "So, Commander Gangcun is also in favor of transferring troops into the customs?" ”

Okamura Ninji nodded: "Yes, the current situation, we must react. The Eleventh Army has only four divisions, which is simply not enough to resist the attack of more than two million troops, and the increase in troops is inevitable, and the speed must be fast! Otherwise, once the *** people occupy Jinan and the Yellow River Bridge of the Jinpu Railway, Shandong and the rest of the dispatch army will be separated, and they can only fight separately, and the war will become complicated!

"Shandong has a special significance for the empire, once it is allowed to occupy, the entire Liaodong Peninsula, Manchuria and Korea are under the threat of *** fighters, the empire's ships in and out of the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Sea, very vulnerable to the attack of *** fighters, the empire's strategy in the northern branch region, will also be in a dangerous situation!"

Tsukuda Shunroku knew that Okamura Ninji and Ishihara Waner had a good relationship, and with his opinion, the base camp had to carefully consider the opinions of the dispatching troops, and immediately stood up:

"Okay, now that the meeting is adjourned, I'll call the base camp immediately and ask for reinforcements! Gentlemen, let's go to the Purple Light Pavilion for lunch, and after the meal, the reply from the base camp will come, and then we will discuss the next strategy! Once the *** army loses the battle in the Xubang area, the army in Shanxi and Henan will be ready to move, take the initiative to provoke the war, and when the time comes, we will wait for the opportunity to win a few more battles, and sweep away the haze that shrouds our heads! ”

"Hey—"

The generals stood up, saluted respectfully, and watched Tsukumi Junliu walk out of the conference room and slowly disperse.

Okamura Ninji walked to the large map of China hanging on the side of the wall, his eyes were darkly worried, and then at the urging of the chief of staff, Tsukada Tsuki, he strode away.

......

Lincheng, known as Linguo in ancient times, was founded by Linwang Linwengong, has a long history, splendid culture, a written history can be traced back to 4,000 years ago, it is located at the intersection of Jinpu Railway and Lintai Railway (Lincheng to Taierzhuang), and adjacent to the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, water transport is very developed, the geographical location is extremely important, and it is the north-south transportation hub.

After the Japanese army took Lincheng a year ago, they stopped and confronted the Katsura Xia Wei Division, which had built a strong defensive line in the south of Lincheng and the giant mountains and high mountains in the east of the city, and maintained a posture of peaceful coexistence with each other.

This tacit understanding was not broken until the 11th of this month when it was broken by the all-front attack launched by ***.

At the same time, the Japanese troops in Lincheng were seriously insufficient, and they were violently charged by three divisions of the 84th Army of the 41st Group Army of Xia Wei in the Fifth Theater, and after a day and a night of fighting, they successfully recovered Lincheng on the morning of 13 July.

At a time when the "Central Daily" was hyping up the great victory in Lincheng, Lieutenant General Nakayama Ton, commander of the 68th Division of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, quickly adjusted his troops, and unexpectedly did not adopt a defensive posture in Teng County, north of Lincheng, but decisively sent troops forward and put on an aggressive offensive posture.

The 131st Division of the Gui Army quickly advanced out of the Xue River and built defensive positions at Longtou Mountain and Xiaonan Mountain in the Changyu Mountains south of the Xue River.

In the evening, a large group of Japanese troops quickly moved south along the Tianjin-Pudong Railway, heading towards the north bank of the Xinxue River, and unconsciously stepped into a hilly area.

The captain of the 4th Brigade of the 57th Infantry Brigade, Ito Ze Shin Shaosa, was listless on his horse, as one of the few troops that retreated safely from Lincheng, after the 4th Brigade returned to Fuji County, it was ruthlessly humiliated by his colleagues, and the brigade commander Nagagawa Kunosuke Osa even reprimanded Ito Zeanew for why he didn't apologize to the emperor for his guilt?

Itosawa Xinshaozo was transferred to China to participate in the war just after getting married, and he didn't enjoy a day of good life after his marriage, how could he be willing to go to see the Eight Miscellaneous Snakes? Therefore, he could only bow his head and remain silent, and then when the division and regiment issued the task of counterattacking on the whole front, he took the initiative to ask Yingzheng to be the vanguard in order to wash away the shame of deserters.

In order to vent his anger, on the way south, Ito Zexin ordered his soldiers to surround a village by the canal, rob, ***, massacre, and once again staged on the land of China.

"Ito-kun, what are you thinking?" Deputy Captain Captain Kitazono Shoji didn't raise his head when he saw it, his eyes rolled, and he said with a smile: "Ito-kun, how did the photos you took in the morning look like?" ”

Sure enough, Itosawa came to his senses and proudly patted the camera on his chest:

"Yo Xi, the effect of more than 300 *** people's heads piled together must be very exciting! I can finally vent the evil breath I suffered in Lincheng! I really don't know what the base camp thinks, and even wants us to treat *** people well, but what is the result? If the occupying army does not have any welfare, who wants to come to this strange land to pioneer! ”

"Haha-"

Both let out a rampant laugh.

"Ito-kun, do you think there is any danger ahead?" Captain Kitazono asked without words.

"Probably not! Longtou Mountain, Xiaonan Mountain line is the best defensive terrain, the army can only build a defense line there, we strive to get to the north bank of the Xue River before dark, wait for the convergence of the large forces, tomorrow morning to launch a river crossing operation, by noon should be able to contact with the army! ”

When Ito Zexin said this, he subconsciously looked around: "Actually, this is also a good ambush location, but the outpost just sent someone to report that there are no *** troops within ten miles around, and it seems that it can be safely camped today." ”

"Ito-kun is still cautious!"

Beiyuan Changji exclaimed: "If it were me, I wouldn't have thought that I would send scouts, after all, the impression that the *** people gave me in the past was too bad, the attack and defense were messy, and it didn't look like a qualified army at all!" However, no one expected that those cowards would dare to attack the emperor's *** team, and I believe that this time will definitely teach them a painful lesson! ”

"Dead, dead!"

Ito Zexin was once again aroused: "*** people actually disregarded the kindness of the imperial army and took the initiative to break the peaceful life!" This time, the above was also ruthless, and I heard that troops from the Kwantung Army would be drawn into the customs to participate in the war! The war will definitely not be limited to Shandong! Herald, order the warriors to speed up and go to the north bank of the Xue River to find the flower girl's work! ”

The more than 1,000 devil soldiers who received the order quickly accelerated their pace of advance as if they had taken a stimulant.

......

"Squad leader, it's a devil!"

About a squad of soldiers on guard at Xigong Mountain, 10 kilometers ahead of the Xue River, was lying in the woods more than 50 meters away from a road sandwiched between two hills to observe the situation.

"Panic what! This is the outpost of the devils, and the large army of the devils is still behind! ”

The squad leader saw this group of devils marching with swagger, all the guns on his shoulders, and he had no vigilance at all, so he couldn't help but scold and say: "Fuck, the little *** of the dog day is too arrogant!" Brothers, how did we do them? ”

"This-the company commander told us to go back and report as soon as we found the devil!" A soldier stopped the other officers and soldiers who were about to act.

"Go, this devil is defenseless, and the devil behind is far away! Even if we eat these devils, we can evacuate safely! Besides, as soon as the gunshot rang out, the brothers behind also knew that the devil was coming, and they would not delay the military situation. ”

The soldier who also wanted to fight this group of devils nodded when he heard that the squad leader made sense.

"Brothers, come on!"

The twelve soldiers slowly dispersed, and ten medium rifles, a submachine gun, and a Czech light machine gun opened the safety one after another, and the muzzles of the black holes were aimed at the ghost soldiers who were getting closer and closer.

The twelve devil soldiers, who had long forgotten their duties, were still discussing with great interest the massacre of Chinese villages at noon, when one of them casually glanced at the woods by the roadside and was stunned for a moment. It's a pity that before he could react, in the sound of the submachine gun, the devil who was about to shout a warning had a burst of blood mist on his chest, and he didn't even scream miserably, and fell to the ground.

The other devil soldiers were startled by this sudden scene, and before they could react, ten crisp gunshots and a burst of machine gun fire rang out, and the remaining eleven devils all fell in a pool of blood screaming, convulsed a few times, and swallowed their last breath.

This Gui army is an elite scout trained in accordance with the training manual of the An Jia Army, and it has shown extraordinary quality in this hand-to-hand encounter, and the first round of salvo fire completely wiped out a squad of devils, of course, this is mainly the result of mental calculation and unintentionality.

"Withdraw—"

The squad leader stopped the soldiers who wanted to clean up the battlefield, and quickly ran back to the rear position, he knew that he couldn't waste a second now, and if he was entangled by the large army of devils who reacted, I was afraid that there would be no chance of survival.

The sudden sound of gunfire hit Ito Shin in the face hard, and he ordered the troops to speed up.

"Yaga!"

Ito Zexin looked at the twelve soldiers of the outpost squad who fell in blood, shouted angrily, and summoned the herald: "Yours, quickly go and report to the commander of the Nagagawa Kunosuke Brigade, just say that our department and the *** army encountered, our department will definitely defeat the *** people, and ensure that the main force goes south smoothly!" ”

"Hey!"

"Kill, give!"

Itosawa pulled out the command knife and pointed forward, annoyed and angry, he had already decided to use the blood of the Chinese in ambush to summon the soul of the deceased Great *** Imperial Warrior!

Xigong Mountain at sunset, there was silence, and Ito Zexin stared at the trench hundreds of meters away, using his brain. After many years of fighting against the An Jiajun, the Japanese army also improved their tactics and became more difficult to deal with.

Two Type 92 infantry guns kicked off the prelude to the devil's attack.

Two dark red bullet marks, swept through the air and roared towards the defenders' trenches.

"Whoosh-"

In the roar, two 70mm shells smashed to the ground, and the earth suddenly shook violently like a strong earthquake.

The two infantry guns, under the control of the skilled devil gunners, bombarded the first trench of the defenders at maximum speed, and balls of fireballs rose from the ground, and the air was suddenly filled with the choking smell of gunsmoke.

Fortunately, the vast majority of officers and men hid themselves in the anti-artillery holes, and apart from being blinded by the dust that shook down from time to time and the auditory nerves were impacted, they were not damaged at all.

Of course, if such an anti-artillery hole is bombarded by large-caliber artillery, it will definitely become a soldier's grave.

The devils have now also learned to coordinate with the infantry and artillery, and about 500 devils, while shelling, approached 200 meters in front of the position, and when the artillery fire stopped, they quickly accelerated the pace of the assault.

Type 92 heavy machine guns and grenadiers were all deployed at a distance of 100 meters, ready to cover the heavy fire points that might appear in the first trench at any time.

Suddenly, the originally dead trench burst out with countless steel balls, which formed a barrage of barrages, covering the approaching devils, and the fierce fire nets made the devils' entire charging line stagnate.

The Gui army riflemen in the trenches were shooting desperately, although the Zhongzheng I rifle was a single shot, but due to the large number of people involved in the ambush, the devils in the charge, in each round of crisp gunfire, there were always dozens of people falling to the ground.

The submachine guns and Czech machine guns firing at full speed formed a dense network of fire, setting off a rain of blood in the group of devils, and patches of devils fell to the ground like freshly harvested wheat.

The three Mark heavy machine guns arranged on the left, center, and right of the defensive line, roaring tongues of fire like the scythe of death, enveloped the entire battlefield, and where the fire sickles passed, the devils were all cracked into lumps of flesh without exception.

"Whew-"

Eight 60mm grenades, screaming straight at the messy devils, in the continuous explosion, scarlet fireballs, one after another, the devil's mutilated limbs, gun parts flying in the air.

"Yaga-"

Seeing that his troops were suddenly hit by heavy fire, Itosawa was so angry that he couldn't smoke anything.

"Fight back! Beat all those damn *** people to death! ”

The devils who had been in chaos for a while lay down and fired back, and with accurate bullets, they shot down the Gui officers and soldiers who were shooting one by one in the trenches.

The devil's crooked handle machine gun, Type 92 heavy machine gun, and grenadier canisters also began to suppress the firing point found! Countless bullets rained down, roaring towards the trenches.

Soon, all the Czech machine guns on the position were silent, and almost all the main and secondary shooters fell in a pool of blood.

The officers and men of the defenders, who had lost fire support, were immediately crushed in the trenches by the devils and could not move. Seeing that all the firepower of the trenches disappeared at once, the devils stood up one after another and accelerated towards the trenches.

Seeing that the number of people in the team was almost a quarter less, Ito Zexin was extremely distressed, and he suddenly felt in his heart that this counterattack might not be as smooth as he imagined. Such a simple fortification has already caused its own troops to be defeated, and it is hard to imagine how strong the mountains south of the Xue River will be built by the enemy.

If the squadron is so brave and good at fighting, then with the only four divisions and three independent brigades of the current corps, can they really complete the counterattack mission?

Just after the devils approached the defenders' positions at high speed, about a squad of soldiers rushed to the machine-gun position, gently pushed away the remains of the brothers, and then prepared to shoot.

The devil's various machine guns are still strafing, and the locust-like bullets are grazing over the top of the trenches, and everyone knows the result of shooting in such a situation, but no one dodges the eyes, the squad leader smiled with relief, shouted "up", and then led the soldiers, desperately and forcibly set up the machine guns.

"Da-da-"

The silent roar of the machine gun suddenly sounded, and tongues of fire shot the devils who were attacking at full speed into blood gourds. Unfortunately, nearly half of the soldiers fell headlong before they could hook the trigger, and their entire heads were shattered by large-caliber bullets. Without a trace of hesitation, the soldiers behind immediately took over the machine guns, and another chain of fire joined in the interception and strafing of the devils.

In just an instant, all the firepower of the devil was attracted, and thousands of rounds of 6.5 mm 38 rifle rounds, 6.5 mm crooked handle machine gun bullets, 7.7 mm Type 92 heavy machine gun bullets, and 50 mm grenades were concentrated on one point.

The effect of this round of shooting is to directly dissolve everything, including people and guns.

However, these soldiers who operated machine guns, at the cost of their own lives, bought time for other officers and soldiers!

The devil in the charge suddenly found that countless soldiers appeared in the trench opposite, and their hands waved rapidly, and black clouds flew towards them.

These grenades fell into the crowd of devils and exploded, and a series of explosions rang out, and shrapnel shot into the devil's fragile body! The unprepared devil screamed and fell down a large piece! The living devils also fell to the ground in a daze.

"Brothers, withdraw!"

Not having time to admire their masterpiece, a company of still alive soldiers, carrying the remains of their brothers, took advantage of the brief opportunity to withdraw from the communication ditch to the second trench.

A bloody battle ensued in the mountains, and it was not until two hours later that the defenders retreated, but by this time it was already completely dark.

When cleaning up the battlefield, Ito Zexin didn't even get a single corpse, but he lost more than 500 people under his command, and such a terrible mortality rate cast a shadow on Ito Zexin's heart.