readx; The army went straight to Xiangfan, and the first to bear the brunt was the headquarters of the commander of the Fifth Theater of Li Zongren. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

After discovering the rapid advance of the Yue army, the headquarters of the commander of the Fifth Theater immediately sent a guard regiment to gallop to the area of Zhulin Bridge, about forty or fifty miles east of the mouth of the old river, to set up defenses and block them. On August 11, the enemy rode more than 2,000 men and horses across the Tangbai River and rushed straight to the mouth of the old river, in an attempt to attack the headquarters of the commander of the Fifth Theater.

At this time, the main force of the 84th Army successively arrived at Guanghua, about six or seven miles away from the headquarters of the commander of the Laohekou Theater. The Commander's Headquarters and the 84th Army immediately sent two regiments of powerful troops to help cover the security of the Theater Commander's Headquarters and make preparations for retreat.

Mo Shujie ordered the 189th Division to lead two regiments to reinforce him. When Ling Zhuxi led the team to arrive, the enemy cavalry had been repelled by the guard regiment, and there were only a dozen devil war horses on the ground that had been killed. The cavalry of the Yue army was thwarted in their attack on the mouth of the old river and retreated to the east bank of the Tangbai River. Then, they gathered their forces and turned to Shuanggou and Zhangwan, forcibly crossed the Tangbai River, and attacked Fancheng. Li Zongren also sent the 189th Division to rush to the rescue, and the 11th Group Army Commander-in-Chief Huang Qixiang directly commanded the operation.

Ling Zhuxi was ordered to rush overnight, and when he arrived at Fancheng, it was already dawn. Huang Qixiang immediately ordered the 189th Division to go directly to the front line of the Tangbai River to assist the friendly 39th Army in preventing the enemy from crossing the Tangbai River and consolidating Xiangfan. When Ling Zhuxi continued to lead his troops to the battlefield, it was already the rumbling of artillery, and the 39th Army was fighting across the river with the devils, and the battle was quite fierce. Liu Heding, commander of the 39th Army, saw that Ling Zhu's Western Division was coming from afar, and said: "You are working very hard, please rest for the time being, and then join the battle if necessary." ”

At 2 o'clock in the afternoon, Ling Lixi received a notice from the 39th Army: "The enemy has forcibly crossed the Tangbai River, occupied a position under the riverbank, and attacked our army with the cover of its artillery on the east bank. ”

As soon as the 189th Division entered the battle, the army saw that the strength of the [***] team had increased, and lay down under the river bank, not daring to advance for a while. Who knew that the 39th Army said that it wanted the 189th Division to "thicken the strength of our two wings", and as soon as Ling Zhuxi arrived, they immediately secretly retreated to the two wings one after another, and as a result, the two wings not only did not "thicken", but their strength became thinner, and the 189th Division was trapped in the situation of fighting alone.

Ling Zhuxi didn't notice the actions of the friendly forces, but the devil found out, and suddenly broke through to the left and right flanks of the 189th Division, and soon formed an encirclement posture for the 189th Division. Ling Jinxi hurriedly sent reserves to increase the two wings, but the enemy was outnumbered, and after holding out for two hours, he could no longer hold on, and at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the whole division followed the butt of the 39th Army and withdrew to the outskirts of Fancheng.

When the 189th Division arrived at Fancheng, it was nearly dusk.

At this time, the commander-in-chief of the 11th Group Army, Huang Qixiang, sent a staff officer to convey the order: "The 189th Division will occupy a position in the forest about four or five kilometers north of Fancheng, quickly build fortifications, resist the enemy, and defend Fancheng." The right flank of the 189th Division was defended by the friendly 39th Army. ”

As soon as he heard that he joined forces with the 39th Army to fight, Ling Zhuxi beat a drum in his heart. Immediately sent several officers to the 39th Army in the name of liaison officers, called Liaison, but in fact to keep an eye on them, and told them: "As soon as there is any situation, come back and report." ”

As soon as the 189th Division entered the position, it found that the devils were in front, and the enemy horses were galloping left and right, reconnoitring back and forth. As soon as the sun went down, the devils began to fire at the positions of the 189th Division with small mortars, infantry and machine guns. But they didn't attack, and the devils didn't advance.

At this time, the gunfire outside the east gate became more dense, and it got closer and closer. At about 10 o'clock in the evening, the liaison officer sent by Ling Qiuxi to the 39th Army ran back and said: "On the friendly side, the enemy is attacking at night, and the battle is very fierce, and the friendly front has been shaken, and it is gradually retreating to the east gate, and now it is still seven or eight miles away from the city gate. ”

Ling Zhuxi secretly screamed again.

After a while, the chief of staff of the group army called Ling Qianxi: "Convey the dictated order of Commander-in-Chief Huang: The task of the 189th Division is to ensure Fancheng, Gongwei General Headquarters, no matter what, it is not allowed to retreat, and the commander-in-chief sits in Fancheng." He will personally inspect your position. ”

After listening to the call, Ling Jinxi said to the chief of staff of the division and the chiefs of various divisions: "The commander-in-chief is very calm and resolute to hold on to Fancheng. The situation was so tense and the battle front was so close that not only did the headquarters not move, but the commander-in-chief said that he would come to our position to inspect it. That's good! We must resolutely hold our positions and not let Fancheng fall. ”

The chief of staff of the division said: "The combat troops in the city only have a special service battalion at the headquarters, and there are no other troops, and they have not repaired the fortifications in peacetime, and they are only close to the temporary positions on the outskirts, and the 39th Army on the right flank is weaker than our troops that were defeated twice in Suizao. ”

Fortunately, Ling Qianxi is also a general, and said: "The commander-in-chief is so calm and resolute to hold on, we should no longer have any worries, even if we sacrifice, we can't abandon the headquarters and leave." ”

Suddenly, everyone came up arrogantly and said, "The commander-in-chief wants to fight, and we will also let it go!" If you don't succeed, you will succeed. ”

At about 1 o'clock in the evening, the adjutant sent by Ling Qianxi to contact the 39th Army reported: "The situation outside the east gate is very tense, and the friendly forces cannot prevent the enemy from attacking, and they have now retreated to the vicinity of the east gate." The East Gate Tower was originally defended by the headquarters special service battalion, and when I passed through the East Gate, the tower was empty. ”

Ling Zhuan Xidang immediately reported the situation to Commander-in-Chief Huang, but the phone couldn't get through, and said: "The line is out of order, send a signal corps to check with the headquarters along the line." ”

Soon after, he received a call from the line inspector from the city and said: "The line is not broken, but the headquarters switchboard has been dismantled, and the headquarters is not in the same place, so I don't know where it has been moved." ”

Ling Zhuxi frowned and said, "It's strange, the headquarters is the organization that directly commands us, why didn't you notify us of the location?" ”

At this time, another liaison officer ran back, and Ling Zhuxi learned that the 39th Army had crossed the Xianghe River from outside the south gate of Fancheng and retreated to Xiangyang.

"The enemy is chasing you?"

"Nope. The devils did not pursue the friendly forces, nor did they enter the city, but were advancing from outside the city towards the west gate. ”

Ling Qianxi immediately shouted: "Oh no! ”

"What's wrong?" The chief of staff asked.

"Our 189th Division is in a pretty dangerous position. After a night of fighting, the devils did not seriously attack our position, and now they have bypassed the rear of our army and have not attacked us, so they must have tried to keep our army in the position in order to achieve the goal of encircling and annihilating us. ”

"If the devils first occupy the Laohekou Highway in Fancheng and rush straight to Taipingdian, our whole division will have no way to retreat, and the commander's department will also be directly threatened." The chief of staff is not good.

Ling Qianxi immediately sent a battalion of the divisional reserve to quickly occupy the vicinity of the Zhutiaopu Road to prevent the enemy from advancing to the flank and rear of the 189th Division.

At the critical juncture, the 189th Division could not communicate with the radio of the General Headquarters of the Group Army, so Ling Jinxi decided to transfer to Taipingdian first.

When Ling Qianxi led the leading troops to Taipingdian, the commander's department suddenly sent someone to inform: "The 189th Division can no longer retreat to Laohekou, and after assembling troops in Taipingdian, it still advances towards Fancheng and resolutely blocks the pursuing Yue army. ”

What's going on? It turned out that after Li Zongren and the prefect's department jumped out of the encirclement, they immediately decided to take counter-encirclement against the devils from the outside line.

Ling Zhuxi took the 189th Division to toss, and after receiving the order, he immediately turned around and rushed towards Fancheng.

The officers and soldiers ran back and forth, and they were exhausted by the tossing of the commander, and their feet cramped when they walked.

At this time, the main force of the 84th Army received an order from the Commander's Department: the 174th Division (lacking the 522nd Regiment) and the 173rd Division advanced to Fancheng. At the same time, the 1st Tang Enbo Corps in the north of Tongbai Mountain was also ordered to advance to the Suizao line, and the army intercepted the main forces of the 517th and 518th regiments of the 173rd Division, the 522nd Regiment of the 174th Division, and the Bai Mianchu Regiment of the 189th Division that remained behind the enemy. The various armies on both sides of the Xiang River were ordered to carry out a counteroffensive against the enemy at the same time.

After a bitter battle, the 33rd Army could not stand on the east of the Xiang River and had to retreat to the west of the Xiang River one by one.

During this period, the movement of the army gradually became obvious, and the 39th Division and the 11th Brigade of the 6th Division passed through the Xianghua Highway, returned to Suixian, and moved south along the east bank of the Han River one by one, and stopped a large number of troops near Dongjin Bay, Shangxiawangjiaji, and Fangjiaji on the east bank of the Han River between Xiangyang and Yicheng, and prepared equipment for crossing the river, and there was a great possibility of crossing the river near Xiangyang. In order to contain the Yue army from crossing the river and restore Zaoyang, Li Zongren ordered Tang Enbo to lead the 31st Army and the 92nd Army to advance rapidly from southern Henan to Zaoyang, counterattack Zaoyang City, and order the troops behind the enemy to attack the communications behind the enemy, and the central and left wing corps departments to advance.

When Tang Enbo's troops attacked Zaoyang, the army suddenly crossed the Han River between Yicheng and Xiangyang, and the situation in the theater changed dramatically. On May 19, more than 10,000 troops stranded in the upper and lower Wangjiaji and Fangjiaji areas suddenly forcibly crossed the Han River near Xiaohe and Oujiamiao.

The defenders of the Fifth Theater there, the four garrison brigades of the 22nd Army on the right and the 41st Army on the left, are all poorly equipped, under-manned, and fragile in combat effectiveness. When the army crossed the river, the troops at the front actually used the rafts and rubber boats pulled by the devils to cross the river with motors as amphibious tanks, panicked, and urgently reported to the commander's department.

The Fifth Theater Commander's Department did not take a closer look, but drew a scoop according to the gourd, and accordingly sent an urgent telegram to Yucheng and requested that the air force be dispatched to assist in the war. Early the next morning, the Aviation Committee sent nine mosquito bombers to fly over Xiaohe and Oujiamiao to carry out a bombing campaign.

At this time, the four garrison brigades had fled long before the army crossed the river, and there was no defender resistance to the 41st Army's position. The vanguard of the army marched north along the road from Xiangyang to Shashi, and the follow-up army was still in the process of crossing the river. The bombing of the planes could not stop the rapid advance of the Japanese army.

By the end of the month, in the area east of the Xianghe River and the Tangbai River, there was almost no trace of the [***] team, except for Tang Enbo and other large armies who were forced to flee into the Dahong Mountains to fight guerrillas. Therefore, the army rushed directly to the east bank of the Xiang River between the other side of Yicheng and the old camp, preparing to cross the river and march west.

The 22nd Army was responsible for the garrison of Xiangyang, Fancheng and Xianghe. But the commander-in-chief Sun Zhen took leave to return to his hometown in Sichuan before the battle of Zaoyi. When a new battle was about to take place, Li Zongren assigned Huang Qixiang, commander-in-chief of the 11th Army, to temporarily replace Sun Zhen in command of the 22nd Army.

Huang Qixiang took his own group of staff, guards, and communications directly under the command to set up a command post in Xiangyang City, but did not go to the headquarters of the 22nd Group Army. The General Headquarters of the 22nd Group Army was led by Chief of Staff Chen Zongjin and was stationed in Nizui Town, 30 miles west of Xiangyang. The 22nd Army was under the jurisdiction of the 41st and 45th armies. The commander of the 41st Army is concurrently served by Sun Zhen, with jurisdiction over the 122nd, 123rd, and 124th divisions and a reading regiment directly under the army; The commander of the 45th Army was Chen Dingxun, with jurisdiction over the 125th and 127th Divisions. However, the entire army of the 45th Army and the 123rd Division of the 41st Army had been separated by the devils east of the Xiang River and could not return, and were forced to fight guerrillas in Dahong Mountain; The main force of the 22nd Army that retreated to the vicinity of Xiangfan consisted only the two divisions of the 41st Army and the 124th Division and the Reading Regiment directly under the army. These two broken divisions, and they are still half recruited, where is there any combat effectiveness?

When the army rushed to the left bank of the Xianghe River and was about to cross the river, Huang Qixiang hurriedly ordered the 41st Army to take up the task of connecting the troops of Wang Zhangxu's 29th Group Army from Xiaohe on the right to the right and defending the river 60 miles along the right bank of the Xianghe River from Xiangyang City on the left, and garrisoning Xiangfan.

At this time, the situation of the 41st Army, in addition to the soldiers below, there were also problems with the generals above. The whole army didn't even have a family member. Originally, the army commander was concurrently served by Sun Zhen, commander-in-chief of the group army, but in the past, all affairs of the military headquarters were handled concurrently by the general headquarters of the group army, and there was neither a military headquarters nor a deputy commander, and before Commander-in-Chief Sun returned to Sichuan, Zeng Yuan, commander of the 124th Division, was temporarily appointed as the temporary acting commander of the army.

When Zeng Yuan received Huang Qixiang's defense order, he immediately ordered the 122nd Division to serve as the river defense of Xiaohe Liuji, Oujiamiao to the right bank of the Xianghe River at the south gate of Xiangyang City, and the 124th Division to serve as the city defense of Xiangfan.

Wang Zhiyuan, commander of the 122nd Division, immediately ordered Hu Jianmen, deputy division commander and commander of the 365th Regiment, to command the 365th and 366th regiments to serve as river defense; Because the 364th Regiment was a two-battalion recruit, it was placed in Xiangyang Nanguan as the division reserve; The division command post is located in the Zhou Gong Temple outside the south gate of Xiangyang. The 124th Division, which was defending the city, placed a battalion in each of the two cities of Xiang and Fan, which was to be defended, and the 372nd Regiment, the main force, was placed behind the river defense troops of the 122nd Division to support the river defense.

After the army directly controlled the east bank of the Xiang River, it carried out three days of preparations for crossing the river. As soon as it was dark on September 2, taking advantage of the darkness of the night, the artillery on the opposite bank of Liu Ji began to concentrate their artillery fire and roared, firing shells at the defenders of the 366th Regiment of the 122nd Division of the River Defense Force and its friendly 29th Army on the right flank, and setting off smoke screens and tear gas, and then the infantry began to force the crossing under the cover of artillery fire. The officers and men of the river defense unit relied on the simple fortifications built temporarily to do their best to stop the enemy who forced the crossing. Although it was very heroic, the artillery fire of the army was extremely fierce, the braver the officers and soldiers, the greater the casualties, and finally because the fortifications were destroyed by artillery fire, and at the same time there was no gas mask, and the devil's tear gas smoked so that he could not open his eyes, where could he resist? With a slight negligence, the army successfully crossed from Xiaohe and Liuji near the junction of the new 4th Brigade of the 29th Group Army and the 366th Regiment of the 122nd Division, and broke through the defense line on the west bank of the Xianghe River in one fell swoop.

The river defense troops are all recruits who have just been recruited from the countryside, and they have never seen power boats in the past, and the moon is dark and the wind is high, and the shadows can see them crawling heavily on the river, and they can hear the loud rumbling noise. Chen Zeshan, commander of the 366th Regiment, reported to the division headquarters in a panic: "The devils used a large number of amphibious tanks to force our crossing. ”

He didn't even know about a ship with an engine, so how did he know about an "amphibious tank"! The division headquarters didn't think about it carefully, and reported it to Commander-in-Chief Huang Qixiang, who was in Xiangcheng. Commander-in-Chief Huang learned in advance that the devils had poisoned the gas, and that the devils had used "a large number of amphibious tanks", not thinking about how to defeat it, but fearing that it would knock him out, so he hurriedly rushed out of the west gate of Xiangyang with the command post and the guard battalion and fled straight to Gucheng.

In the middle of the night, passing through Nizui Town, where the headquarters of the 22nd Group Army is located, Chief of Staff Chen Zongjin received the news in advance, and Zhang Yuchu, a senior staff member of the department, greeted Commander-in-Chief Huang at the intersection early in the morning to rest at the headquarters. At this time, Chief of Staff Chen knew that the front line had successfully crossed the army and occupied the west bank of the Xiang River, and that Xiaohe and Liu Ji had fallen into the hands of the enemy, so he brought the supper that had been prepared a long time ago, and accompanied Commander-in-Chief Huang to use the "supper" to report on the battle situation ahead and ask for instructions on how to save it.

When Commander-in-Chief Huang heard this, he didn't think about it, and shouted: "Bring a brush!" ”

Immediately put down the chopsticks, picked up the brush, and wrote a note warrant, to the effect that the 41st Army immediately retreated to the line from Nizui Town to Nanzhang and strangle the enemy's westward advance. After eating supper, he hurried on the road again and continued to hurry in the direction of Gucheng.

Chief of Staff Chen took the warrant from Commander-in-Chief Huang and immediately informed Zeng Yuan and his 124th Division by phone to retreat to Nanzhang. However, Zeng Yuan, who acted as the commander of the 41st Army, actually forgot his acting duties, and did not even give notice to the "subordinate" 122nd Division and the Reading Regiment directly under the army, let alone give any "instructions", so he ran away with the 124th Division.

The 122nd and 366th regiments of the 366th Division were not remembered by the acting commander, and there was no major hindrance. As early as when the army broke through the river defense position, they had already retreated to the location of the 124th Regiment that the 372nd Division had previously sent to support the river defense. When they learned the news from the regiment that they had retreated to the line from Nizui Town to Nanzhang, they followed behind the butt of the 372nd Regiment and automatically retreated to Nizui Town. As a result, the commander of the 122nd Division, Wang Zhiyuan, the division headquarters and the 364th Regiment were abandoned on the positions around the Nanguan Pass of Xiangyang City.

In the middle of the night, division commander Wang Zhiyuan was still in the dark, "knowing the other" but not "knowing himself", only knowing that the devil had occupied the west bank of the Xianghe River, but he did not know the movements of the group army and even the whole army; although he learned that the 124th Division and the Reading Regiment directly under the army had withdrawn to Hexi, he did not know that his two regiments had been transferred with the 124th Division, and he did not dare to do his work freely because he had not received an evacuation order. Therefore, with the division headquarters and the 364th regiment, he continued to stay outside the city of Xiangyang.

Because Commander-in-Chief Huang's command post and a battalion of the 124th Division in the city were withdrawn one after another, there was no soldier in Xiangyang City, and it became an empty city without soldiers. Division Commander Wang then ordered the 364th Regiment in Nanguan to enter the city to deploy defenses, and the division headquarters immediately moved into the city!

(To be continued)