readx; Goofy's wedding was in full swing, but after the wedding, the situation on the battlefield took a turn for the worse. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

Located on the south bank of the Yellow River, Dongkou on the border of western Shandong is a small and inconspicuous village. Since hundreds of thousands of Chinese [***] troops gathered in the Xuzhou area to prepare for a decisive battle with the Yue army, the Yellow River has become a natural defense line to prevent the Yue army from moving south; And Dongkou has also become an important stronghold on this line of defense. The 123rd Regiment of the 23rd Division of the 20th Group Army of Shangzhen was stationed here and served as the first-line river defense of Dongkou in the east and west.

On the embankment of the Yellow River on the first line of Dongkou, the [***] team built a bunker with sand or concrete. On the river beach under the embankment, there are bunkers and single bunkers. Between the bunker and the single bunker, there is a trench connecting to it. Not far in front of this first line of defense, there is the surface of the river where the turbidity waves roll. Of course, on the long and vast line of the river, such fortifications were only built on the embankments near the village strongholds, and in many more places there were only makeshift sandbag bunkers or hastily dug trenches.

The squadron that served as the river defense was powerless to turn the Yellow River embankment into a great wall against foreign humiliation.

On the night of May 11th, the sky was bright and the stars were sparse, the clouds were four rolls, the vast night shrouded the four fields, the south bank of the Yellow River was silent, and occasionally a few dogs barked in Dongkou Village. However, on the opposite bank from the old city to Dongkou, there was a lot of restlessness and hustle and bustle. The armored personnel carriers of the 14 th Division of the Tufeiyuan Regiment of the army shuttled back and forth, tanks, armored vehicles, and tractors towing artillery were moving toward the riverbank, more than 100 folding boats, motorboats, and sailboats were already on display on the shore in separate ways, and thousands of officers and men of the advance unit crossing the river were waiting to go.

On 9 May, the First Army of the North China Front, a Chinese dispatch army, issued the following order to the 14th Division:

With the completion of preparations for crossing the river, the 14th Division can cross the Yellow River at any time, and while cutting off the Longhai Railway between Lanfeng and Guide, it should also secure the important place near Lanfeng depending on the situation.

The 14th Division is one of the most elite mechanized units of the Chinese army, and its subordinate units are: the 27th and 28th Infantry Brigades, the 18th Cavalry Wing, the 20th Field Artillery Wing, the 14th Engineer Wing, the 14th Baggage Regiment, the 14th Division Signal Team, the Health Team, the 1st and 4th Field Hospitals, the Ordnance Service Team, and the Military Horse Farm.

The subordinate units are: the 5th Reading Machine Gun Brigade, the 1st Reading Light Armored Vehicle Squadron, the 2nd Field Heavy Artillery Brigade, the 8th Reading Field Heavy Artillery Wing, the 5th Mortar Brigade, the 1st Reading Balloon Squadron, the 2nd Anti-aircraft Artillery Team, the 1st Squadron of the 1st Reading Engineer Wing, the 2nd Reading Engineer Wing, the 1st Bridge Material Squadron of the 2nd Division, the 14th Division Bridge Building Material Squadron, the 16th Division 2nd River Crossing Material Squadron, the Bridge Building Material Sub-Squadron, and 150 folding boats.

The total strength is more than 20,000 people.

As early as mid-April, the First Army of the North China Front, the Chinese Dispatch Army, had ordered the 14th Division to prepare for a forced crossing of the Yellow River. On 19 April, with the approval of the front army, the First Army ordered a part of the division to be led by Major General Takashi Sakai, commander of the 28th Infantry Brigade, to transport it by train to the vicinity of Jining, and then enter the vicinity of Puji from Jingning-Jiaxiang-Yuncheng on the south bank of the Yellow River to cover the crossing of the river by the main force of the division.

However, when the 14th Division was about to cross the river, the Front Army ordered the Sakai Brigade to be attached to the 16th Division of the Second Army on May 0 to capture Yuncheng, east of Puji and west of Juye. He also demanded that the commander of the First Army not wait for the cover of the Sakai Brigade and that he should directly cross the river with the main force of the 14th Division and carry out the original task.

In this way, Kenji Dohihara had to lead the main force to cross the Yellow River without any cover and countermeasures, defeat the squadron [***] that was entrenched on the south bank, and complete the task of entering the Lanfeng area to fight.

The headquarters of the 14th Division was located in a village less than 5 kilometers from the embankment on the north bank. It is a courtyard house with brick walls and tiled roof, and after midnight, the upper room is still brightly lit. Dressed in military uniforms and with his hands cut back, Tohihara stood at the table of the Eight Immortals and listened to the report of the Chief of Staff Sano Tadayoshi Daisa on the preparations for crossing the river. The 55-year-old has broad shoulders and a strong physique, a large and slightly chubby face that is ruddy and shiny, and a pinch of thick short mustache that is quite characteristic of his own body under the wide wings of his nose. From time to time, his cheeks twitched slightly nervously as he listened to others. When Chief of Staff Sano finished his report, he looked at his watch and said in a deep and deep tone:

"Good, everything is going according to plan."

"Yes." Sano replied.

"Remember, we must cross the Yellow River with the minimum cost."

"Understood."

When Sano withdrew, Dohihara paced slowly back and forth in the house. The fierce battle was imminent, but he remained as calm as he was at leisure. At around 0:30, he walked out of the courtyard gate of the temporary headquarters and, accompanied by the guards, walked to the south of the village.

Kenji Dohihara was born on August 8, 183 in a samurai family in Okayama Prefecture, his father Yoshinaga Dohihara was a major general in the army, and his brother Tohihara Ken was a major general in the army.

In 1904, at the age of 21, he graduated from the Army Non-commissioned Officer School, and in November of the same year, he was appointed second lieutenant of infantry and served in the 15th Wing of the Takasaki Infantry, taking his first steps on the road to becoming a general. He had excellent grades due to soil and fertilizer, and was soon selected for further study at the Army University. In November 1912, after graduating from Lu University, he served in the Army General Staff Headquarters, and soon he was sent to China to carry out spy activities in the Beiyang warlord Zhengaxe. At the time of the "918" incident, Tu Feiyuan was the head of the secret service in Shenyang, and he was an active instigator of the incident. After that, he lured Pu Yi from Tianjin to Changchun and established "Manchukuo". He also participated in the formulation of the basic political program of Manchukuo. In 1935, Tu Feiyuan instigated Song Zheyuan, Yan Xishan, Han Fuyu, and Shang Zhen, who held military power in North China, to establish a new regime in North China, but without success. In short, if we take Tufeiyuan as a clue, we can wear a lot of major events in Chinese history.

Tu Feiyuan is a well-known Chinese expert in the army, his Chinese language is both standard and fluent, and he does not need a translator to talk to Chinese, and he has a deep knowledge of Chinese customs, thoughts, history, etc., and is very familiar with the daily life of Chinese, and even the gags when talking. When dealing with the Chinese, he talked and joked, quoted scriptures, and spoke casually, leaving many civil and military officials who had been active in China for a long time out of reach.

Tu Fei originally arrived at the head of the village, climbed the earthen fortress wall that was more than a few feet high and several feet wide, raised his eyes and looked up, only to see the moon hidden in the floating clouds, the four fields were pitch black, and the ears only heard the sound of the night wind sweeping through the crops. He chuckled under his breath and said to himself, "In Chinese, this is called 'God help me'!" ”

"Division commander, it seems that you are very sure that we will cross the Yellow River." The guard said.

"Of course. The river crossing will be successful. I know the Chinese army very well. ”

At one o'clock in the morning, under the north embankment of the Yellow River, a signal flare suddenly rose, and immediately afterward, the artillery bombardment of the Japanese army began. The roaring sound of cannon came like thunder, and Tu Feiyuan felt the wall under his feet tremble slightly.

Almost simultaneously, dozens of planes flew over the village in the direction of the Yellow River.

"This is our plane." Tu Hihara said, his voice a little excited.

In order to minimize casualties, Doihara ordered all field artillery and heavy artillery units to carry out continuous bombardment of the positions of the [***] squadron on the south bank in advance, and notified the Provisional Aviation Regiment to send aircraft to cooperate in the operation, and asked the artillery and air force to destroy the enemy's artillery positions and river fortifications before crossing the river. Then, the advance troops forcibly crossed the Yellow River by separate routes, occupied the embankment on the south bank, and covered the crossing of the Yellow River by the main force.

On the south bank of the Yellow River, the Dongkou-Wuji-Jiucheng front-line river defense positions were simultaneously subjected to heavy artillery bombardment by the Chinese army, and immediately afterward, the planes of the Chinese army also flew over the embankment on the south bank to drop bombardments.

After the artillery bombardment began, the artillery of the Chinese defenders returned fire on the enemy artillery positions on the north bank. But a few minutes later, the artillery positions of the Chinese defenders were destroyed by artillery fire and bombers.

The artillery bombardment of the northern bank continued, and enemy planes dropped flares from time to time, illuminating the river embankment as if it were daylight. From time to time, bunkers or bunkers were hit by bombs dropped by enemy artillery or aircraft, and shards of concrete and soldiers' corpses flew into the sky and scattered on embankments and rivers. On the surface of the river near the embankment, from time to time shells fired from the north bank stirred up columns of water.

After a long artillery bombardment of the positions of the Chinese defenders on the south bank, the crossing of the river began.

The night provided excellent cover for the Yue army to cross the river, and when the ferry carrying the soldiers of the Yue army was faintly visible on the river like a piece of black reef, the distance between the two armies was only more than 200 meters.

At this time, the North Shore Army stopped shelling and the planes flew away. After a brief silence on the river, the light and heavy machine guns of the Chinese defenders began to fire, and the gunfire swept across the south bank like a torrential wind, and the floating "reefs" were "fixed" in the turbid waves for a moment, and then beams of sparks flashed, and for a while, the intertwined and dense fire nets reflected the river red.

The Wuji-Dongkou-Old City line of river defense is more than 100 miles long, and only the 123rd Regiment is stationed there, and the troops are very thin. When the defenders of Dongkou fought fiercely with the enemy in front, the army had broken through the defense line of the defenders of Wuji, crossed the Yellow River, and approached Dongkou along the embankment. Then, the old city positions were also lost. The commander of the 123rd Regiment contacted the battalions and companies by telephone at the headquarters of the Dongkou Regiment, but the telephone line had been blown up by enemy artillery fire, and the positions of all sides should not be called, and the situation was unclear. In order to avoid being completely annihilated by the enemy, he had to order his troops to abandon their positions and retreat to Juancheng.

Unexpectedly, when the remnants of the 123rd Regiment withdrew to the vicinity of Juancheng, the fleeing people suddenly reported that Juancheng had been occupied by the Japanese army.

It turned out that the Sakai Takashi Brigade, which had already conquered Yuncheng, sent a surprise attack on Juancheng at midnight in order to respond to the main force of the Tufeiyuan Division crossing the river, so as to cut off the road for the [***] team in the Heze area to reinforce the Yellow River defenders. The defenders of Juancheng were outnumbered and abandoned the city at about 2 a.m. and retreated to the southwest.

The remnants of the 123rd Regiment had no choice but to retreat to Heze.

The 14th Division of Tufeiyuan began to cross the river at 2 a.m. and occupied all the positions on the east and west lines of Dongkou at 3:40 a.m. The losses of the river crossing operation were 8 killed and 32 wounded.

After crossing the river and reorganizing the army for a while, it advanced to Linpuji with one section to cover its right flank, and the main force drove directly to Heze.

On the morning of May 12, Li Bifan, commander of the 23rd Division, who had been ordered to defend Heze, telegraphed the news that the army had crossed the Yellow River to Shang Zhen, commander-in-chief of the 20th Group Army. Shang Zhen immediately told Cheng Qian by phone and asked for advice on how to deal with it. At about 5 o'clock in the afternoon, Shang Zhen received Cheng Qiandian's order:

1. Li Bifan and Wang Jinzai immediately led their troops to carry out activities in the areas around Yuncheng and Juancheng to obstruct the enemy's crossing of the river and attack the enemy's rear, and they were absolutely not allowed to retreat south of the line of Jiaxiang-Juye-Heze-Linpuji, otherwise they would be punished by military law.

2. Li Bifan led his troops to defend Heze City, and if there was any negligence, he would be engaged in military law.

3. The 87th Division of Kailanfeng was ordered to assemble to support your army's side in the battle, and immediately held Heze with the situation of Li Bifan's division, and it was impossible to do so, so it was decided that the 4th Brigade of the 141st Division would be responsible for defending the city, and the Wang and Li divisions would be the defense troops outside the city.

Shang Zhen immediately forwarded Cheng Qian's telegram order to Li and Wang's division commanders to follow it. He also sent Fu Liping, chief of staff of the group army, to Heze to command the operation.

Heze is an important town in the southwest of Shandong, the Yellow River in the north, the Longhai in the south, if this city is lost, the army can drive south, and force Lanfeng. Therefore, Cheng Latent ordered Li Bifan to defend Heze.

In February, Li Bifan's 23rd Division was ordered to sail from Tangyin, Henan Province to southwest Lu, garrison Yuncheng and Heze, and serve as a river defense for 120 miles. Li Bifan guarded Yuncheng with the 68th Brigade, Heze with the 67th Brigade, and the division headquarters was located at the Huanggu Nunnery between Heze and Yuncheng.

On May 10, the Sakai Takashi Brigade launched an attack on Yuncheng, and the 68th Brigade put up a slight resistance, and the brigade commander Li Yuelin ordered the regiment commander Liu Guanxiong to lead some officers and soldiers to hold on, and he himself led his troops to retreat to Heze. Liu Guanxiong led his subordinates to fight with the Yue army for a day and night, and finally withdrew from the city because he was outnumbered.

Yuncheng was then occupied by the Yue army.

As soon as Yuncheng was lost, Heze's flank was seriously threatened. Li Bifan ordered Li Yuelin to lead the 68th Brigade to recapture the lost territory. However, due to the huge disparity in the strength of the enemy and us, the 68th Brigade was again the first defeated division, and its morale was low, and the counterattack failed to succeed. Li Bifan then re-armed, and divided the left and right flanks of Heze with two brigades, determined to hold Heze. However, the two brigades were not well prepared, and the main force of the Tufeiyuan Division had crossed the Yellow River and looked south to Heze.

Li Bifan convened an emergency meeting of officers at and above the battalion level to adjust the defensive arrangements. After the meeting, Li Bifan ordered the first department to immediately go to the moat outside the city and the line from Heze to Dongming Avenue to occupy the position, and ordered the troops defending the city to block the city gates with sandbags, dig defensive chariot trenches in the city, and set up obstacles. and put a battalion of mountain artillery and anti-aircraft artillery in the city, ready to defend to the death.

In the early morning of the 13th, Fu Liping, chief of staff of the group army, and Lin Zuozhen, commander of the Fourth Brigade, led their troops to Heze. Li Bifan immediately ordered a part of his division to defend the city with the Fourth Brigade, and he personally went to the front line outside the city to command the battle.

At noon on the 13th, the vanguard of the Yue army advanced to the small Liuji and Guanyin set north of Heze. At about 7:20 p.m., more than 2,000 enemy troops combined with infantry, cavalry, and artillery advanced to the outside of Heze City and launched an attack on the moat position of the 23rd Division. Li Bifan commanded his troops and fought fiercely with the enemy for several hours, and at nearly midnight, the battle situation on the outskirts of Heze began to fall silent.

At dawn on the 14th, the main force of the 14th Division of the Yue Army arrived, that is, it surrounded Heze City on three sides. At about 5 o'clock in the morning, the army concentrated artillery fire on the outer positions of the moat, and then scattered into the city. At that time, the night was not over, the stars and the moon were still bright, and in Heze City, the houses that were hit by enemy artillery were on fire, and the light was blazing. Fu Liping, chief of staff of the group army, immediately ordered the artillery in the city to return fire at the artillery positions of the Japanese army. For a time, the shells fired by the artillery of the two armies flew sharply in the night sky, and the snowy ballistic arcs were intertwined like a net. In the positions of the enemy and us, the sound of explosions was as dense as beads, and the fire shone through the four fields. Many officers and men of the Chinese Communist Party died without a fight in the artillery fire.

Subsequently, the infantry, under the cover of tanks, launched an attack on the moat. The Chinese defenders first attacked the enemy tanks with mortars, and when the enemy infantry approached, they fired at the enemy with light and heavy machine guns. Three tanks were destroyed by mortar artillery, and the infantry suffered heavy casualties. The ferocious first charge was quickly routed by the [***] team.

After daybreak, the army organized several more charges, all of which were blocked by the Chinese defenders outside the moat. However, a small number of Japanese troops rushed into the moat during the scuffle between the two armies, waiting for an opportunity in the villages to attack the moat from behind.

The two armies fought fiercely until noon, when the sound of gunfire on the outskirts of Heze gradually became quieter.

At this time, the casualties of the brigade led by Li Bifan were nearly half. However, when the battle was fierce, Li Yanwu, commander of the 67th Brigade, actually led his troops to retreat, so that the left flank of Li Bifan's division completely lost its cover, and the troops in the frontal position became even weaker. Li Bifan angrily telegraphed to Shang Zhen about Li Yanwu's retreat of his troops, and Shang Zhen immediately sent a telegram to Fu Liping, chief of staff: Li's division was scattered by the enemy, and the situation should be inquired as soon as possible. and should order the Warlord to swiftly punish the law enforcement team. Those who have not been dispersed should continue to fight. And quickly urge Wang Jinzai's division to attack the besieging enemy.

However, Wang Jinzai, who was ordered by Shang Zhen to rush to the aid of Heze, did not appear until Heze was lost.

It was not until the 15th that Shang Zhen received information: Wang Jinzai's division reached the vicinity of Suodong, more than 20 miles northeast of Heze, and was blocked by the enemy and could not advance.

At about 2 p.m., two trumpets suddenly sounded in the enemy's ranks, and then the infantry of the Japanese army rushed towards the embankment under the cover of tanks. At the same time, the artillery of the army also advanced, and directly bombarded the city walls and city gates on the west and north sides with heavy artillery. At the same time, several enemy planes also flew in from the north and bombed the city. He then dived back and forth along the city wall, repeatedly strafing the defenders of the city with machine guns, and the bullets rained down, almost sparing every foot of land at the head of the city.

Due to the previous earthquake, the city wall collapsed in several places, and although it was repaired, the wall was not strong. Under the bombardment of enemy artillery, gaps have appeared in many places on the west and north walls.

At about 5 o'clock in the afternoon, the moat position was finally broken through by the Japanese army, and Li Bifan and hundreds of officers and men fell into the enemy's encirclement, and the situation was very critical.

The infantry of the Yue army, which broke through the outer defense line of Heze, attacked the city in one fell swoop under the cover of artillery fire and tanks, and swarmed the city from the west and north. After the enemy planes flew away, the Chinese defenders in the city quickly climbed the city wall and fired at the enemy with infantry and machine guns. Most of the enemy troops who climbed the city from the north were killed by dense bullets, and the few Japanese troops who climbed the city walls were also wiped out by the Chinese defenders with bayonet grenades. Later, the army was forced to attack to the east and west.

After that, the tanks rushed into the city from the west gate, which had been blown down by artillery fire, and blocked the street with machine guns to cover the infantry entering the city. Subsequently, the southwest city wall and city gate were also occupied by the Japanese army.

As a result, a fierce street battle unfolded in the city.

At this time, the heavy twilight enveloped Heze, and the city was bombed by enemy artillery and planes for a day, houses collapsed, large areas of houses were in ruins, some streets and alleys were blocked by rubble, and buildings destroyed by enemy artillery were still burning. Above and below the city, the corpses of Chinese officers and soldiers and civilians can be seen everywhere.

After the army rushed into the city from the west gate, Fu Liping, chief of staff of the group army, ordered all the reserves to be put into battle. and asked Shang Zhen for help, but the telephone lines were all broken, the radio was blown up by shells, and Heze City had lost contact with the outside world!

(To be continued)