readx; In mid-January 1938, the "Central China Front" was distributed in the following places:

The headquarters of the Front Army is located in Nanjing, the headquarters of the 10th Army and the 18th Division are in the Hangzhou area, the 14th Division is in the Huzhou area, and the 6th Division is in the Wuhu area; The headquarters of the "Shanghai Dispatch Army" and the 16th Division are in the Nanjing area, the 3rd Division is in Zhenjiang, Changzhou, and Wuxi, the 9th Division is in Suzhou, Kunshan, and Taicang, the 101st Division is in the Shanghai area, the 13th Division is in Chuxian, Lai'an, and Quanjiao, and the 11th Brigade of the 11th Division is in the Yangzhou area. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Since December 20, 1937, the 13th Division of the Chinese Army occupied Chu County and its vicinity without a fight, and continued to advance northward. The main force of the 31st Army of the 11th Group Army defending the area south of the Huai River in the Fifth Theater was controlled near Mingguang, and took advantage of the favorable terrain in the hilly areas of Bantaji, Zilaiqiao, Zhangbaling, and Lotang to prevent the army from advancing northward, and from time to time carried out counterattacks with small forces.

On January 15, the 26th Brigade of the 13th Division of the Yue Army attacked north along the Jinpu Road from Chu County, and the Chinese defenders retreated to the west bank of the Chi River with a movement defense, and the Yue Army occupied Mingguang on the 18th.

On January 26, the "Central China Front" ordered the 13th Division to "annihilate the enemy near Fengyang and Bengbu", and the 13th Division then deployed 3 routes to attack north; The commander of the 26th Brigade, Numata Tokushige, led 4 infantry brigades and 2 mountain artillery brigades to attack Bengbu along the Jinpu Road for the east road, crossing the Chi River from Mingguang and along the Jinpu Road; The commander of the 13th Division, Dizhou Libing, led the main force to the middle road, starting from Chuxian, crossing the Chihe River in Chihe Town, and attacking Bengbu from Zongpu and Fengyang; The 65th Wing Commander Liang Jiaoye led 3 infantry brigades and 1 mountain artillery brigade to the west road, starting from Quanjiao, crossing the Chi River near Daqiao Town, passing through Dingyuan, Xishilidian and Nianjiagang, and detouring to the Shangyao area at the northern end of Gaotang Lake, covering and preparing for the operation of the East Route Army and the Middle Route Army. After fierce fighting, the three armies broke through the Chihe defense line and advanced to the west bank.

In accordance with Li Zongren's order, the 31st Army of our defending army withdrew the main force westward to the area of the West Huainan Railway in Bengbu, and stood by to flank the enemy advancing northward, and used a part of the army to resist one by one between the Huai River and the Chi River. The East Road said that the army crossed the Chihe River on the 28th, captured Linhuai Pass on February 1, and occupied Bengbu on the 2nd; The middle route said that the army crossed the Chihe River on the 29th, and occupied Fengyang on the 2nd; The West Road said that the army crossed the Chihe River on the 28th, and occupied Dingyuan on the 2nd.

When the Yue army forcibly crossed the Chihe River, Li Zongren urgently transferred the 51st Army from Dangshan to the south to reinforce in order to strengthen the defensive force on the southern front.

The 114th Division arrived first and immediately deployed defenses on the north bank of the Huai River between Bengbu and Wuhe, and rushed to repair the fortifications. The 26th Brigade of the Chinese Army captured Linhuai Pass on the 1st, and the next morning, while the main force was attacking Bengbu, it sent a brigade to force the Huai River from the southward protrusion of the Huai River under the cover of aircraft and artillery fire. After 4 hours of fierce fighting, he was repulsed by the 340th Brigade of the defenders.

The defenders of Bengbu retreated to the north bank of the Huai River on February 2 and blew up the Huai River Bridge, but the hundreds of civilian ships that had been anchored on the south bank did not have time to withdraw. On 3 February, the 26th Brigade of the Yue Army, which had captured Bengbu, took about two brigades and carried out a forced crossing east of Bengbu by civilian boat. The 342nd Brigade, which defended the section, fought valiantly, but still had a detachment on the north bank. On the morning of February 4, the 113th Division of the 51st Army arrived by car, coordinated with the 114th Division to counterattack, and repelled the enemy who had landed on the north bank. However, when another unit of the 26th Brigade crossed the Huai River west of Bengbu, captured Huaiyuan, and reached the south bank of the Vortex River; The 65th Wing also advanced to Shangyao. The 51st Army adjusted its deployment: ordered the 113th Division and the 2nd Security Regiment of Anhui Province to defend the riverbank positions from Xiaobengbu to Huaiyuan and the north bank of the Vortex River; The 114th Division was on its left flank, defending the position on the north bank of Linhuai Pass to the bank of the Ximen River. The military headquarters is located in Guzhen.

On 8 February, more than 20 planes bombarded Xiaobengbu, and immediately prepared artillery fire to destroy all the fortifications on the riverbank. Under the cover of artillery fire, more than 1,000 troops took civilian boats and motorboats to carry out forced crossings. The defenders resisted stubbornly and twice repelled the army that crossed the river. At 23 o'clock that night, the army carried out a night forced crossing, once landed on the north bank, and captured Xiaobengbu. Zhou Xianlie, commander of the 113th Division, ordered the 337th Brigade to counterattack, and the fierce battle lasted until 1 o'clock on September and resumed its position. At dawn on the 10th, the army launched a large-scale forcible attack again, and captured Xiaobengbu around 10 o'clock. The 113th Division counterattacked with all its might. The two sides fought repeatedly many times, and Xiaobengbu was finally occupied by the Yue army.

On February 10, at the same time as the invasion of Bengbu, the army that invaded and occupied Linhuai Pass also launched a forcible attack, first breaking through the coastal positions of Yangongmiao around 6 o'clock, and soon occupied Meiyuanzi, Qianbanzi, Xinzhuang and other places. The commander of the 114th Division, Mu Zhongheng, ordered the 340th Brigade to organize a counterattack, and recaptured some positions such as Xinzhuang and Meiyuanzi.

However, on the 11th, the follow-up troops of the Yue army crossed the Huai River, and the 114th Division suffered more than 2,000 casualties. As a result of numerous breaches of coastal positions, many of the defending units lost command due to the death of officers. In order to concentrate forces and reorganize the troops, Yu Xuezhong, commander of the 51st Army, ordered the whole army to move to the line of Heji and Xinmaqiao near the Xianghe River on the night of the 11th.

On 13 February, Li Zongren transferred Zhang Zizhong's 59th Army, which had just been transferred to the Fifth War Zone, to the vicinity of Guzhen and took over the defense of the 51st Army. The 51st Army withdrew to the area around Xisipo Station for rest. The 59th Army deployed the 38th Division to defend the line from Watuanji to Yangdianzi west of Guzhen, and the 180th Division to defend the line from Yangdianzi to Xiaolou southeast of Guzhen, with the military headquarters located at Renqiao.

At this time, most of the main force of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army advanced to the north of the Huai River. Li Zongren ordered the 31st Army to carry out flank attacks from Hefei to Mingguang and Dingyuan from Hefei to Shangyao and Fengyang, and ordered the 7th Army of the 21st Group Army of the Xinli Fifth Theater to carry out flank attacks from Hefei to Mingguang and Dingyuan; At the same time, the air force was asked to support the bombardment of the enemy at Bengbu and Linhuai Pass, and to force the army to withdraw the main force that had crossed the northern part of Huainan to Huainan, so as to strengthen the defense of Bengbu and the Jinpu railway. Zhang Zizhong took the opportunity to order the 180th Division and the 38th Division to form a reinforced regiment on the 15th to counterattack the enemy in Xiaobengbu. After fighting, Xiaobengbu was recovered, and all the troops north of the Huai River withdrew to the south of the Huai River.

After February 17, the situation in the northern section of the Jinpu Road became tighter, and the army began to attack the 3rd Army west of the canal from Jining. On the 20th, according to Chiang Kai-shek's instructions, Li Zongren ordered that "Zhang Zizhong will be transferred to Lincheng to stand by." The southern section of Jinpu Road was still defended by Xuezhong's 51st Army, and it temporarily confronted the Yue Army across the Huai River.

In early February, when the two armies were engaged in a fierce battle to cross the river on the south bank of the Huai River in the Bengbu area, the Fifth Theater ordered the 3rd Group Army to launch an offensive against Jining, the 22nd Group Army to Zouxian, and the 3rd Army to Mengyin on 6 February, in order to prevent the Northern Front Army from taking the opportunity to move southward and in accordance with the intention of the Military Committee. The ministries separately carried out preparations for a counterattack.

At that time, the 3rd Army was still defending in the southwestern region of Shandong, with the general headquarters located in Cao County, the 12th Army stationed in the Dingtao and Chengwu areas, and the 55th Army stationed in Jinxiang. The task accepted by the acting commander-in-chief Sun Tongxuan was mainly to capture Jining with the main force, capture Wenshang with one part, and then carry out a flank attack between Jining and Yanzhou to respond to the main battle; The purpose was to ensure the safety of the Longhai Railway and threaten the right flank of the army moving south along the Jinpu Road, cutting off the traffic of the Jinpu Railway.

On January 4, the army occupied Yanzhou and Qufu, on the 6th occupied Zou County, and on the 11th occupied Jining. At this time, the Jining Army was the main force of the 39th Brigade of the 10th Division of the 2nd Army, with about 1,500 people, most of whom were controlled in Nanguan, and there were about 400 people guarding the city; The Wenshang Army is the 3rd Brigade of the 39th Wing, with about 500 people. The main force of the 8th Brigade and the headquarters of the 10th Division are located in Yanzhou. Sun Tongxuan ordered the 55th Army to attack the enemy at Nanguan in Jining from Jinxiang on February 10; ordered the 22nd Division of the 12th Army to detour from Dingtao through Juye and Jiaxiang to the vicinity of Twenty Lipu north of Jining, and then attack the north gate of Jining, and cooperate with the 55th Army to recover Jining City; The 81st Army was ordered to attack and harass the enemy in Wenshang. It was stipulated that the offensive should be reached before dawn on February 12, and the offensive would begin on the 12th.

Cao Fulin's 55th Army sent a force to advance to the west bank of the canal near Anju Town in the southwest of Jining, and at the beginning of the attack, only the 171st Regiment and the 439th Regiment crossed the river to attack Jining Railway Station and Xiguan and other places.

After Gu Liangmin's 22nd Division arrived at the west bank of the canal east of Jiaxiang, it deployed the 64th Brigade as the main offensive force and the 66th Brigade as the reserve, and controlled the west bank of the canal with the division headquarters. The 64th Brigade crossed the canal wooden bridge from Dachang and reached the starting point of the attack before dawn on the 12th; The 127th Regiment controlled Twenty Lipu, covering the main attack, and alerting the Wenshang Army; The 128th Regiment and the 129th Regiment were secretly deployed on both sides of Jining Beiguan, and the brigade headquarters advanced to Xingwen Town.

According to the information detected in advance, it was originally planned to infiltrate the city in small detachments disguised as residents after dawn, and then launch an attack. However, the army was aware of it, and did not open the eastern, western, and northern gates that day. The commander of the 64th Brigade urgently ordered the two regiments in Beiguan to change to Pancheng and attack.

At about 22 o'clock in the 12th, he began to use long ladders and multiple roads to climb the city at the same time, and suffered many casualties. Later, a section of the city wall was broken at the northwest corner of the city, and about 9 companies broke through the gap. Numata Takazo, the captain of the 39th Wing of the Japanese Army, transferred the main force into the city for reinforcements, first controlling the gap in the northwest corner of the city with a counterattack, cutting off the connection between the [***] team inside and outside the city, and then launching a siege on the troops who broke into the city. The two sides launched fierce hand-to-hand street battles in the area of North Street and Guandi Temple in the northwest corner of the city, fighting house by house. The troops who broke through fought alone, with no ammunition or men, and after a bloody night of fighting, by dawn on the 14th, all nine companies of warriors died heroically.

The remnants of the 64th Brigade in the north of the city received an order from Sun Tongxuan to retreat to the west bank of the canal at 23 o'clock on the 13th, and with the assistance of the local people, they moved from the Beiguan Outer Trail to the east bank of the canal through the swamp, and the 66th Brigade responded and crossed the canal by civilian boats to the west bank. The rearguard battalion covering the retreat suffered heavy losses, and the battalion commander was killed; Xue Mingming, commander of the 66th Brigade, who was in charge of the reception, was also shot and wounded. The 3rd Army actually participated in the attack on Jining with the strength of only one brigade. In carrying out a battle to attack fortified positions without having a real superiority in personnel and at an absolute disadvantage in weaponry and equipment, it is still impossible to realize the strategic intentions of the Military Commission and the Fifth Theater despite the desperate struggle of the vast number of patriotic officers and men.

The 81st Division of Zhanshutang began to attack Wenshang City on the night of the 12th, and once entered Beiguan, where it was attacked by heavy fire from the Japanese army and suffered many casualties. Since the 64th Brigade of Jining had withdrawn to the west bank of the canal, the 81st Division also took the initiative to withdraw to the vicinity of Kaihe Town and defended along the line of the canal.

On 17 February, Major General Suzuki, chief of staff of the 2nd Army, instructed Ryosuke Isoya, commander of the 10th Division, to order Major General Takehei Nagase, commander of the 8th Brigade, to command the "Nagase Detachment" with about four and a half infantry brigades and one squadron of mountain artillery as the backbone, and to start an attack on the squadron of the canal defense line on the 20th. After 5 battles, the 25th army broke through the canal defense line, and the 26th captured Jiaxiang. After the army occupied Jiaxiang, a force was left to defend, and the main force was assembled in Jining. After resisting one by one, the 3rd Army withdrew to the line of Juye, Dushan Town, Dayiji, Mengjiatun, and Xiangliji to defend.

At the same time as the 3rd Army attacked Jining and Wenshang, the 22nd Army also began to attack the enemy in Zouxian.

In early January 1938, the 22nd Group Army moved from the Shangqiu and Dangshan areas on the Longhai Road to the Tengxian and Lincheng areas to prevent the Yue Army, which had been able to easily and quickly advance to the Zou County area due to Han Fuyu's unauthorized retreat.

The 125th Division of the 45th Army occupied positions on the east-west line of the Jiehe River, the 127th Division was controlled in the Tengxian area with the military headquarters, the 372nd Brigade of the 41st Army and the 124th Division served as the defense of Tengxian County, and the 370th Brigade was deployed in the deep well in the northwest of Tengxian County to cover the left back of the 125th Division's position, and the division headquarters was located in Liguoyi; The 41st Division of the 122nd Army is the general reserve, and the general headquarters is located in the Lincheng area. At that time, the Zou County Army was the 63rd Brigade of the 10th Division of the 2nd Army, and one brigade occupied the outpost position in Liangxiadian.

In early February, the 22nd Army received an order to attack the enemy in Zou County, and Sun Zhen immediately began to prepare.

At this time, the 22nd Group Army was borrowed as the Sichuan Army, and the commander-in-chief Deng Xihou was borne. In January 1938, Liu Xiang, director of the Sichuan Kang appeasement, died, and Deng Xihou was ordered to return to Sichuan to succeed him. Sun Zhen, deputy commander-in-chief of the 22nd Group Army, acted commander-in-chief. There are 2 subordinate armies, both of which are type B armies. There are 16 infantry regiments in the whole group army, without special forces, with a total of about 40,000 people. The equipment is outdated, and the main weapons are Sichuan-made 7.9mm rifles and grenades, and only a small number of Sichuan-made light machine guns and mortars. Originally, there was a shortage of soldiers, and from October to December 1937, they suffered heavy losses in the battle of Jinnan, losing more than half of their troops, and the formation of the two armies was incomplete. Before the transfer to the Fifth Theater, in December, a reorganization was carried out in the Lishi and Zhaocheng areas of Shanxi, and two regiments of each brigade were combined into one combat regiment. When the Fifth Theater was transferred, each army still had 2 divisions, 4 brigades, and 8 regiments on the number, but in fact only 4 regiments had the strength of the troops, and the total strength of the entire group army did not exceed 20,000.

Because the unit was too much attrition and inferior equipment, it was unable to organize a large-scale attack, so the 737th Brigade of the 125th Division was ordered to attack Liangxiadian from the Jiehe River, and the 575th Regiment of the 127th Brigade was ordered to advance to Zouxian and Qufu to carry out guerrilla attacks and harass in the enemy's rear.

On February 14, the 737th Brigade took the 746th Regiment and hundreds of people from the local Anti-Japanese Red Gun Society as the main attack, and the 745th Regiment occupied the railway and Guoshan for cover. The 746th Regiment ordered the 3rd Battalion to carry out a night attack on Liangxiadian. Both attacks were repulsed. On the afternoon of the 16th, the 1st and 2nd battalions carried out a strong attack, with the 3rd battalion as the reserve. After fierce fighting, they stormed into the village in the evening and occupied two buildings. However, under the heavy fire attack of the Yue army, more than half of them were killed and wounded, and they were forced to break through before dawn and retreat to Guoshan. At 14 o'clock on the 17th, the Liangxiadian army began to counterattack. After repeated battles, the 737th Brigade retreated to the line of Xiangcheng and Puyang Mountain on the 18th and confronted the Yue Army.

The 575th Regiment, which was ordered to infiltrate the enemy's rear, advanced to the area of Jiulong Mountain south of Qufu on February 11 with the active cooperation and support of the local anti-Japanese forces and the people. On the 14th, in the vicinity of Xiaoxue Village and Jiaocun on both sides of the highway from Zou County to Qufu, two groups of Japanese troops were eliminated in ambush warfare, four cars were destroyed, and one major general officer and more than 30 soldiers of the 10th Division of the Japanese Army were killed. On the 15th, the army attacked from Qufu and Zou County. The 575th Regiment withdrew eastward to Tianhuang Town, which was about 16 kilometers away from Zou County, and then returned to Tengxian County to return to the formation!

Pang Bingxun's 3rd Army Corps was transferred from Haizhou to Linyi in early February 1938, and was assembled and deployed in the middle of the year. The 5th Division of the Army captured Mengyin and Yishui on January 4 and Weixian on the 10th. At the same time, it was said that the navy landed and occupied Qingdao. At this time, Zhucheng was also occupied by the army, and the 3rd Army Corps failed to carry out offensive operations, so it built fortifications and guarded in the direction of Mengyin, Yishui, and Zhucheng.

On 21 February, in accordance with the instructions of the chief of staff of the army on the 17th to cooperate with the operations of the 10th Division with one detachment and advance to Yizhou, the 21st Wing of the 21st Brigade sent the 21st Wing of the 21st Brigade from Weixian to attack Juxian by car. At that time, there were only Liu Zhendong's first guerrillas and Shen Honglie's marines in the Juxian area, and their strength was insufficient. The Fifth Theater then telegraphed and ordered the 40th Army to send troops to support. Pang Bingxun ordered the 115th Brigade to be equipped with 2 mountain artillery pieces to help. The brigade arrived near Ju County on 26 February, but Ju County had already been lost on the 23rd, Liu Zhendong had died, and the Marines had moved to the vicinity of Gaoli. At this time, the Sakamoto detachment, which was composed of the 21st Infantry Brigade of Major General Shun Sakamoto, was advancing westward, preparing to attack Linyi.

The Sakamoto detachment was organized into: the 11th Infantry Wing, the 21st Infantry Wing, the 42nd Infantry Wing, the 1st Infantry Wing, the 5th Field Artillery Wing, and the 1st Mountain Artillery Squadron.

On the 27th, the Sakamoto detachment of the Yue Army launched an attack on the 115th Brigade. After two battles, although the 115th Brigade resisted stubbornly, it was inferior in manpower and firepower, and suffered heavy casualties, so it had to take the initiative to blow up two mountain guns and then retreat on the afternoon of 29 March, and retreat to Xianggongzhuang on 2 March for rectification. The army followed the 115th Brigade in pursuit and advanced and captured Tangtou on March 5. When it continued to attack the main position of the White Tower, it was resolutely resisted by the defenders of the 39th Division. Pang Bingxun organized a counterattack, detouring from the left and right flanks to the enemy's flank. The army was forced to retreat to Tangtou, and a temporary confrontation formed.

Although the "Central China Dispatch Army" and the "North China Front Army" were resolutely blocked and counterattacked by the Central [***] forces on the Huai River and Jining on the northern and southern fronts, and suffered certain setbacks, they were proud of the victory in Shanghai and the easy occupation of Nanjing and Shandong, and incorrectly judged the development trend of the war, holding that in the international arena "because of Germany's recognition of Manchukuo," Britain had "revised its foreign policy, approached Germany and Italy in Europe and sought stability on its own, eased and supported the Chinese regime in the Far East, and adopted the doctrine of putting its own rights and interests first." "The overall situation of the international situation is developing in a direction favorable to me"; In particular, he mistakenly underestimated the determination of the Chinese nation to resist the war, arguing:

"The general political situation in China is that it is gradually losing self-confidence in the long-term war of resistance, and externally it has lost the support of various countries, and internally it has various internal problems (referring to the contradictions between the local and central governments, [***] and the Kuomintang, and the internal factions of the Kuomintang), and is now on the road to collapse."

The view of the Chinese [***] team has a great one-sided surname and blind surname, believing that "in this incident, the losses suffered by the Chinese [***] team are more than 400,000 in Central China alone, and about 800,000 in total together with North China; Moreover, Chiang Kai-shek's painstaking training for many years, accounting for the majority of the Central Army's six or seven divisions, had been dealt a thorough blow in Central China, and most of them had lost their combat capability." Therefore, they did not agree with the judgment of the base camp of the army and the "policy of not expanding" for the time being. In particular, "General Terauchi Toshiichi, commander of the North China Front, was dissatisfied with the intentions of the central authorities" and insisted on his idea of "linking North China and Central China to carry out the Xuzhou operation." In late February, he repeatedly stressed his views to the chief of the Second Section (i.e., the Operations Section) of the General Staff Headquarters, who had gone to Peiping to convey the "principle of not expanding the battlefield." He actively supported the Second Army's attempt to continue its invasion to the south, and in early March he forwarded the Second Army's operational plan and report on its request for additional troops to the base camp, saying: "Pursuing and suppressing the enemy in front of us is by no means a deep southward operation. In order to guard the rear, it is hoped that the number of troops will be increased. ”

At this time, the forces in the base camp that advocated the immediate expansion of the war of aggression began to gain the upper hand. Toroshiro Kawabe, who had always advocated prudence at the General Staff Headquarters, was dismissed from his post as chief of the Operations Division in charge of operational guidance, and was succeeded by Masasumi Inada, a senior member of the Military Division of the Ministry of the Army, who advocated rapid advancement, and quickly approved the Second Army's operational plan and request for additional troops.

The commander of the 2nd Army, Nishio Toshizo, and the staff officer of the Dispatch Army, Uzawa Nakasa, conveyed the commander's hope to the commander of the 10th Division: "We should occupy the vicinity of Teng County and secure Daeyeong-eup."

Later, a formal order was issued, ordering "the 10th Division to destroy the enemy north of the Grand Canal, and the 5th Division to occupy Yizhou with one part of the army, enter the vicinity of Yixian and cooperate with the 10th Division", and "after achieving the above objectives, make preparations for future operations on the front line of Tengxian and Yizhou."

The offensive action of the 2nd Army directly led to the battles of Tengxian and Linyi, thus opening the prelude to the Great War!

(To be continued)