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At two o'clock in the afternoon of February 29, Guandi Temple outside Chaoyang City, Liaoning Province. Pen ~ Fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info...

After Kobayashi Kakutaro, chief of staff of the Eighth Division of the Japanese Kwantung Army, read Koichi Ishikawa's urgent telegram, the full hall of General Sajun fell into silence and nervous thinking.

Xi Yiyi stood up with difficulty, dragged his injured leg, slowly took two sharp steps, gently pushed away the adjutant who stepped forward to support, turned back to the front of the map, stared for a moment, and asked in a hoarse voice:

"How long has it been since the Cavalry Wing and the Third Brigade of the Manchurian Cavalry set off?.

Forty-five minutes later, the 14th Brigade of the Manchurian Army also rushed to the Butterfly Ditch battlefield at full speed before half an hour, striving to flank the north and south with the 7th Independent Mixed Brigade of Shi "Jun" before dark, and destroy the enemy's main brigade in Butterfly Valley. Completely remove the obstacles to the southward movement of our right-wing troops

Hayashi Kakutaro finished answering loudly, his mouth moved, and finally he didn't continue.

Nishi Yoshiichi, who had his back to Kakutaro Hayashi, seemed to see the look on his chief of staff's face, still looking at the map. He asked calmly, "Why didn't Kobayashi-kun finish his words?" Are you worried that the situation will be just as Ishikawa-kun estimated, falling into an ambush circle surrounded by the enemy to send reinforcements? ”

"Hey! This is what subordinates are most worried about. Kobayashi Kakutaro answered truthfully, and more than a dozen generals around him also looked nervously at Nishiyichi.

Nishiyichi turned around slowly: "Trouble Kobayashi-kun to send an urgent telegram to the captain of the Miyake Wing of the cavalry wing, telling him not to be in a hurry, just advance slowly, wait for the main force of the 14th Manchurian Brigade to catch up, and then let the 3rd Manchurian Cavalry Brigade take the lead in the charge, and order the 14th Manchurian Brigade to follow up quickly, and Miyake-kun's cavalry wing to protect the two wings of the Manchurian army and strictly prevent possible attacks by the enemy, so as to ensure that the main force can smoothly echo the north and south of the Ishikawa Brigade to carry out the attack." At the same time, Sato-kun's 17th Wing, the Nomura Brigade of the Artillery Wing, and Watanabe-kun's transport brigade were quickly assembled and ready to set off at any time. ”

Hayashi Kakutaro agreed to come down and immediately go to the order, he knew what this order of Nishi Yoshiichi meant, the primary purpose was to let the puppet army bear it first in case of distress, and his main force would make further reactions according to the battle situation, and this was the reason why the cavalry wing was broken and the seventeenth wing and an artillery team were ready to go.

Hayashi Kakutaro very much agrees with Nishi's decision, he, like all Kwantung officers and soldiers, has always believed that the lives of the officers and soldiers of the lowly Manchurian army, and the safety of the Japanese emperor is not important at any time Kobayashi Kakutaro also judged that Nishi Yoshiichi has not yet fully agreed with Ishikawa Koichi's prediction, at least judging from Ishikawa Koichi's urgent telegram, he is also not sure whether the squadron will definitely surround the point and send reinforcements, even if it is reinforcement or suddenly assembles forces to attack any of the main forces, In a hurry, it is impossible to determine which direction to focus the attack.

On the morning of that day, the Kwantung Army Command sent one. The aviation squadron conducted seven batches of aerial reconnaissance in the Chaoyang area for four hours, and did not find any trace of the main force of the squadron and any abnormal situation. The eight bombers of another squadron circled countless bombers in the air, flew until they ran out of fuel, and could only throw the bombs they carried into four remote villages and towns, and then returned in disgrace, and they could not play the role of helping the eighth division at all, but the left and right brigades kept reporting frequent attacks and harassment by the enemy of different scales, and the cunning squadrons often suddenly approached a burst of onslaught, and quickly retreated before the troops hurriedly organized a counterattack. Trapped by the heavy snow and the difficulty of judging the enemy's situation, the attacked units did not dare to pursue them in any way.

This strange tactics that have never been encountered, so that Kobayashi Kakutaro is very headache, but also very vigilant, thinking of the operational characteristics of the An Jia Army mentioned in Ishikawa Koichi's report, Kobayashi faintly felt that something unexpected danger was about to happen, but where the danger existed, and what the hidden danger was Kobayashi was as unpredictable as Shi, after all, the opponent they encountered was not the volunteer army composed of stragglers and green forests and grasses, nor was it the Northeast Army that had laid a deep Japanese brand from beginning to end and even military thought, Rather, it was the elite Anjia Army of the Central Army, which rose rapidly in China's six-year-long civil war and was famous for its outstanding military exploits, especially the fierceness and iron blood displayed by the army in the 129th Battle of Shanghai, which left a deep impression and hidden on the Japanese Army.

In the face of such a well-equipped, unique military training method and military thinking of a tough opponent, Kobayashi Kakutaro felt that the pressure on his shoulders was getting heavier and heavier, if the western front with the Eighth Division as the main force could not smoothly move south according to the original plan, and the Chengde first-line squadron was coerced on three sides, Hayashi Kakutaro understood what kind of severe punishment would be given to the division commander Nishi Yoshiichi and himself.

Objectively speaking. The commander of the Eighth Division, Lieutenant General and Division Commander Nishi Yoshiichi is a person who is extremely loyal to the Japanese emperor and the army, he has a loyal personality and never participates in the disputes of gangs and factions in the army, but from another point of view, it is precisely because of this that there is a disadvantage of hesitation, just like he dealt with the current battle situation, it seems that he decisively issued orders, made plans and plans to deal with it, but he still can't get rid of the defects of passive response, he immediately made a decision that he thought was very safe after the departure of the chief of staff Kobayashi Kakutaro, that is, ShoshiThe original text of Koichi's emergency report is along with his own response decision. It was quickly sent to his immediate boss, the commander of the Kan Army, Muto Nobuyoshi, who seemed to be in order, but in fact contained the purpose of skillfully shirking responsibility, but it was precisely because of his proper act that he was of great help in the subsequent battle summary.

The battle of the "Shi" brigade to attack the Butterfly Ditch Wang Xulun Brigade has begun. The sinister and cunning Shi "Koichi took three successive local feints, and in just over half an hour, he basically looked at the general strength of the defenders, the distribution of the two mortar firing positions and the machine-gun fire points, and said that it was better to read and go outside

After figuring out the opponent's hole cards, Ishikawa Koichi did not invest his troops to attack, but ordered the commanders of the two companies under his command to mobilize their surviving artillery to form a temporary artillery brigade and use it in a centralized manner.

Shi "Koichi did not say another important reason to the two wing commanders and the officers under his command, that is, once the reinforcements coming at high speed were ambushed or blocked by the squadron ** on the way, his 7th Mixed Brigade could still be invincible, and the ** squadron, which was only about one brigade in front of him, did not dare to leave the dominant terrain it currently occupied, and could not attack the 7th Independent Mixed Brigade that far surpassed them in number and combat effectiveness.

Taking a step back, in the event of a drastic change in the situation and the situation is urgently attacked by the sudden arrival of the enemy, Koichi Ishikawa can also give early warning through a brigade that stays behind the guard, command his troops to retreat two kilometers to shrink the defense, and nail it tightly like a nail to this main road of great strategic significance, while minimizing losses, waiting for reinforcements from the Eighth Division to arrive, and then seizing the opportunity to launch a sudden counterattack against the attacking squadron.

Wang Xulun, who was on the northwest high school of Butterfly Valley, was confused by the abnormal actions of the Japanese army, and after consulting with the chief of staff Dong Qizi and the two old regiment commanders around him, it was determined that the reason why the Japanese troops blocked in the south launched three exploratory attacks and then took advantage of the artillery fire that did not take advantage of it was that they were delaying time, waiting for reinforcements to arrive, and then doing their best to launch a fierce attack under the favorable situation of the north-south attack.

In less than three minutes, Gu Changfeng telegraphed back to agree, and at the same time telegraphed Wang Xulun that the enemy's reinforcements had entered the ambush circle of our army, he once again ordered Wang Xulun to follow the plan and hold the butterfly ditch to the death, wait for the main force to finish cleaning up the Japanese reinforcements, and then turn around and pack up the seventh mixed brigade.

Seeing clearly the Japanese army's intentions, Wang Xulun was not in a hurry, and ordered the four regiments under his command to stop shooting, pay attention to concealment, save ammunition and observe closely, and let little Japan toss it by itself.

The cautious chief of staff, Guan Shan, made an important decision in time, ordering the concentrated use of seventy-two mortars, which were divided into two parts, and the cessation of the use of the original firing positions. Take advantage of this rare time to move as quickly as possible and quickly establish new launch positions in response to the coming big battle.

The action of Wang Xulun's brigade to stop firing back also made Ishikawa Koichi startled, and pondered Katagen, and he decisively ordered all his subordinates to stop shelling and machine gun fire testing. The area of engagement within a five-kilometer radius slowly calmed down. The sound of intense explosions and firefights coming from the north became clearer and clearer.

The officers and assistants of the Kasuji Seven Independent Mixed Brigade were finally anxious, and more than a dozen adjutants and lieutenants almost all ran to Ishikawa Koichi to ask for advice.

Shi "Koichi knew that the situation he was most worried about had become a reality, and he held back the eagerness in his heart, and calmly informed the officials of his judgment:

The main force of the squadron finally appeared, through the ambush of the brigade, mobilized the reinforcements of various departments to come to the top, and launched a strategic strike, but according to the analysis of the overall situation on the battlefield and the current battle situation, the enemy's main force to attack our reinforcements will not exceed two brigades of 8,000 people, and it is impossible to eliminate the Eighth Cavalry Company and the two main brigades of the Manchurian Army totaling more than 12,000 people who are going south at full speed.

However, at this time, Ishikawa Koichi didn't know that he, like the Kwantung Army Headquarters and the Eighth Division Headquarters, had a fatal mistake, Gu Changfeng's 44th Division and Yang Jiuxiao's Independent Second Division had far more troops than they estimated at 18,000 people, but more than 27,500 people, and among the more than 27,000 soldiers, there were less than 500 non-combatants, especially Gu Changfeng's 44th Division's two, two brigade regiments, and two main regiments drawn from the Independent Division and the 17th Division, all of which were in the middle With a handful of elite troops, sophisticated equipment, and rich combat experience, how can ordinary armies be compared? Therefore, the blows being suffered by the puppet army of two brigades and the more than 1,000 cavalry of one wing are far from being measured according to common sense, and most of the Japanese puppet troops who entered the ambush circle suffered heavy losses once they were engaged, like a thunderbolt from the sky:

The 3rd Brigade of the Manchurian Cavalry, which rushed to the forefront, stepped on a series of shallowly buried mines, and the huge series of explosions continued. The sky-high flames and billowing smoke have not yet reached their highest point. More than 150 mortars of large and small calibers roared in unison, earth-shattering, and under the cover of 10 minutes of artillery fire and the frenzied blows of more than 400 light and heavy machine guns, the 3,800 officers and men of the 3rd Manchurian Cavalry Brigade were almost completely wiped out, and the 6,000 officers and men of the 14th Manchurian Infantry Brigade who followed them fell in pieces, and the 1,100-odd cavalry of the Japanese cavalry wing that had left behind the flanks under the pretext of covering the two flanks were no better, and they were greeted with twice as much enthusiasm as the puppet army that had completely stepped into the ambush circle.

What's even worse is that. The ten-minute artillery and machine-gun bombardment had not yet ended, and Gu Changfeng, a tiger general who was not inferior to pride and had never been confined to conventions, had already given the order for all to charge, and for a while, the sound of military trumpets shook the sky, and 11,000 soldiers who took off their white camouflage cloaks rushed down from all directions. slopes, rushing out of ravines and dense forests. Crash headlong into a smoky wailing enemy army, and use superior equipment such as submachine guns, light machine guns, and automatic pistols to unleash any enemy that comes your way