readx; After Long Muhan received Gui Yongqing's order to "lead his troops to advance to Luowang Station", he came to hold his troops still, but his actions were a little slower. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 By the time he received the order to reinforce the 46th Division, the troops had reached the vicinity of Baiyun Mountain, southwest of Sanyi Village.

When Long Muhan received the order to return to the division to reinforce Li Liangrong, he immediately led his troops to turn south, defeated the enemy near Cao Xinzhuang, and then turned to the southeast and rushed forward.

When the 88th Division reached the vicinity of Changzhuang and Fanlou in the southwest of Lanfeng, the army was attacking the position on the right flank of the 46th Division. Dozens of tanks divided into two lines and launched a pincer attack on Li Liangrong's troops from the south and the embankment of the Yellow River, and the enemy's artillery fire had extended to the Lanfeng station, threatening the rear of Li Liangrong's troops.

The officers and men of the 46th Division are fighting bloody and bitter battles.

Long Muhan immediately ordered his troops to occupy the position, and then attacked the enemy's flank and back with light and heavy machine guns and mortars.

Major General Toyoshima Fangtaro, who commanded the attack of the Japanese army, was eager to seize the city, and desperately threw his troops into the front line, swooping down on the position of Li Liangrong's troops.

Seeing that the enemy formation was in chaos, Long Muhan immediately waved his army to the east to cover and kill. Li Liangrong saw that the reinforcements had arrived, and the enemy was about to retreat, so he launched a counter-charge.

Toyoshima couldn't figure out where the reinforcements were coming from and how many troops there were, so he panicked and ordered the troops to retreat.

The commanders of the two divisions, Long and Li, did not dare to trade in and ordered the troops to withdraw to their positions.

After the two sides confronted each other for a period of time, the army again resorted to its usual tricks, concentrating more than 20 heavy and field artillery pieces and bombarding the position of the Dragon Division. The dragon division had no heavy weapons to fight back, and the position was open on all sides, the terrain was flat, and there were only those who stood up and were beaten, and there were heavy casualties for a while.

Subsequently, Toyoshima blocked the Li Division to the north with one division, and swooped down on the Dragon Division's position with the main force. When he was about to succeed in the attack, he was suddenly attacked by the dragon division, and he was very annoyed, and vented all his anger on the other side's reinforcements.

Long Muhan commanded the troops to respond calmly, waited for the enemy to advance, fired heavy and light machine guns, and then ordered a part of the sturdy soldiers to roll over the tanks that were forcing into the front of the position with cluster grenades in their arms, and carried out explosions, destroying four enemy tanks in one go.

When the dragon division was attacked by the enemy, Li Liangrong moved the main force of the division to the left flank and launched a fierce attack on the enemy on the embankment of the Yellow River. After removing the threat of the enemy at the embankment, Li Liangrong ordered his troops to turn southwest and cross the railway and attack the enemy's right flank to relieve the danger of Long Muhan.

Seeing that the gunfire in the east was fierce, Long Muhan expected Li Shi to launch an attack on the enemy's right flank, so he commanded his troops to launch a counterattack at the right time and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy in front of the formation.

Although the tanks and artillery of the Toyoshima Botaro Division had an absolute advantage, they were thin compared to the Dragon and Li Divisions in terms of troops. Under the attack of the two parts of Long and Li, it was gradually difficult to support. Toyoshima was also worried that if the Li and Song armies, which were fighting against Takabe Sakai in the southeast, sent one to attack from behind, he would be in a desperate situation surrounded on all sides. So he ordered his troops to retreat eastward, trying to cross the railway, occupy a stronghold east of Lanfeng, and then wait for an opportunity to attack the city.

At this time, the sky was already dark, and Long Mu Hanbu first went west and then east, rushing back and forth; Li Liangrong's troops also fought bloody battles with the enemy for several hours, and both divisions were exhausted and did not pursue the defeated enemy.

At about eight o'clock, Li Liangrong led his troops to retreat south in accordance with Gui Yongqing's order.

Long Muhan was very surprised by the actions of the 46th Division, and the 88th Division had suffered heavy casualties in the fierce battle to reinforce the Li Division, and at this moment, if the army learned that the main force of the defenders had been transferred and turned around to counterattack, how could he resist it with less than a brigade. Li Liangrong's division has 3 brigades and nearly 10,000 troops, Gui Yongqing does not ask Li to defend the city, but asks him to lead the remnants of Long Muhan to fight to the death with the Yue army here, isn't it equivalent to putting him to death?

Long Mu Han Zema came to the vicinity of the Lanqi Highway and wanted to discuss with Li Liangrong about defending the city, but most of the 46th Division had passed, and Li Liangrong was already a few miles away.

The night was getting darker, and in the darkness, the cars were driving with their lights off, and the retreating procession was like a river flowing south in the flood season. Long Muhan immediately fell into the wheat field, accompanied by only a few guards, his sweaty uniform, dusty cheeks, and a tired face after the fierce battle, looking at the retreating team that was about to pass, he couldn't help but feel a sense of being alone and in danger. And Gui Yongqing's behavior of only caring about protecting his own strength and pushing the subordinate troops to the front line in order to fill the valley of death also made him deeply angry.

When the 46th Division was all withdrawn, he ordered the 88th Division to bypass the city of Lanfeng and retreat to the Red Temple in the northeast of Lanfeng. He knew that Shang Zhen's 32nd Army was stationed near the Red Temple, and if the army attacked, he could ask Shang Zhen for help.

This order, which was derived from cowardice and anger, made Gui Yongqing seize a reason to pass the buck when he was later accused by Xue Yue for the loss of Lan Feng, and it was also Long Muhan's first step towards being sentenced to death by a military court.

Long Muhan did not enter Lanfeng, but led his troops to retreat in the direction of the Red Temple, and Gui Yongqing did not learn about it until about 5 o'clock in the morning on the 23rd. At this moment, the military headquarters of the 27th Army has been transferred to the old store. Moreover, he had given the 1st Brigade of the 106th, 46th, and 78th Divisions the task of attacking the enemy west of Lanfeng. This news took the "German general" by surprise again - once Lan Feng was lost, he would be removed from his post and investigated at the worst, and sentenced to death at worst. And now whether Lan Feng has fallen into the hands of the enemy, it is still impossible to figure out. In a panic, he urgently ordered the 1st 06th Division:

"We should immediately occupy the first line of Yangshanzhai and Jiufulou, and immediately send a department to occupy Lanfeng City."

But for some reason, this order could not be delivered to Shen Ke, the commander of the 10th and 6th Divisions, in time, so that the strange incident of turning the important land of Lanfeng into a "vacuum zone" for a while.

In the early morning of the 23rd, Song Xilian received a report from friendly troops that the enemy had rushed to the vicinity of Lanfeng, and led his troops from the south side of the railway to Lanfeng, preparing to encircle and annihilate the enemy with the 46th Division.

However, when Song Xilian led his troops to reach more than 10 miles away from Lanfeng, he received a report from the people that a large number of "central troops" had gone from north to south last night. Subsequently, some soldiers picked up the armbands and official documents of the 46th Division in the wheat field, and Song Xilian judged that the 46th Division had moved its position, and it was difficult to judge who Lan Feng belonged to at the moment.

Song Xilian didn't dare to move forward rashly, and went to Lanfeng City to search and reconnoitre. At this time, there was a sudden burst of gunfire in the east of Lanfeng, and Song Xilian was shocked when he heard it, and he didn't know which part of the friendly army the army was fighting with, so he sent people to the east to contact him. It was not until the afternoon that a report was received that the first part of the army was taking Donggangtou as a base and attacking Maogu and Yangzhuang. Our defenders suffered great sacrifices.

Song Xilian immediately sent a regiment to occupy Xigangtou and swept behind enemy lines to support the defenders of Maogu and Yangzhuang.

At this time, the scouts sent to Lanfeng also rushed back to report: After the retreat of the 27th Army last night, Lanfeng City has been garrisoned by no troops. Near noon, an adjutant of the 106th Division did not know the situation, and led several guards of the division headquarters into the city to fetch rice, and when he saw that there was no one in the city, he was extremely surprised, so he hurried back to the division headquarters and reported to the division commander Shen Ke. Now Division Commander Shen has sent a battalion to garrison Lanfeng City.

Song Xilian felt that Lanfeng City was already garrisoned by troops, and the whereabouts of Gui Yongqing's army and the main force of the Yue army were unknown, so he decided to deal with the enemy in Donggangtou first to ensure that Lanfeng was safe. A unit of the 87th Division was immediately ordered to launch a fierce attack on Donggangtou.

However, due to the stubborn resistance of the Japanese army, the attack did not make much progress.

On the evening of the 23rd, Song Xilian received a call from Chiang Kai-shek, ordering the 71st Army to advance quickly to Luowang Station, and instructed the commanders of Li and Yu to arrive before dawn on the 24th. Flank the enemy with Hu Zongnan's 17th Army.

In the early morning of the 24th, Song Xilian led the troops directly under the army and the 87th Army to advance to Lanfeng, at about 6 o'clock in the morning, when the vanguard was about to arrive at Lanfeng Station, it was suddenly strafed by the machine gun of the Chengtou Army, and the vanguard of the Song Army was caught off guard and suffered heavy casualties for a while.

At this time, Song Xilian learned that Lan Fengcheng had fallen into the hands of the enemy.

As for how the army was able to enter the city, it is impossible to know whether the garrison of the 10th and 6th Divisions resisted or not.

In the "Summary of the First Theater Luxi and Henan East Operations" signed by Commander Cheng Qian, there is only a simple note: "A small unit of the enemy took advantage of the gap to enter Lanfeng when our army changed defenses. ”

In fact, the enemy was not only a small unit, but the actual strength of this unit led by Major General Botaro Toyoshima was one infantry wing, one attached cavalry squadron, one field artillery squadron, and one ten-cannon heavy artillery squadron.

Since then, a bloody battle for 3 consecutive days has been launched under the city of Lanfeng.

Lanfeng is bordered by the Yellow River in the north, the ancient city of Kaifeng in the west, the Longhai Railway traverses the county border, known as the gate of southwest Lu, and has always been a place where soldiers must fight, and its strategic position is quite important.

In this campaign, both armies regarded Lanfeng as an important place. For Tufei, it turned out that conquering Lanfeng would completely cut off the traffic of the Longhai Railway, and could be used as the main base, and then take Kaifeng, the political and economic center of Henan, and then take Zhengzhou directly. For Chiang Kai-shek, holding the north and south lines of Lanfeng could block the enemy from attacking from the west and gather and annihilate them west of Lanfeng, so as to ensure the safety of Kaifeng and Zhengzhou.

As soon as Lanfeng was lost, not only Kaifeng was threatened, but the plan to annihilate the Tufeiyuan Division between Guide and Lanfeng was also aborted.

Chiang Kai-shek was shocked and furious by the news of the loss of Lanfeng, and scolded Gui Yongqing in the basement of Longhai Garden in Zhengzhou: "What German students are simply rice buckets, extremely incompetent!"

Xue Yue, who was in Guide, was also greatly annoyed that Lanfeng had fallen into the hands of the enemy, and angrily sent a telegram to the Wuhan Military Commission as the commander-in-chief of the First Corps, accusing Gui Yongqing of being greedy for life and fearing death, and delaying the opportunity, and requesting that it be dealt with strictly.

However, when the military committee investigated the loss of Lanfeng after the Battle of Lanfeng, Gui Yongqing shifted the responsibility for Lanfeng's loss to Long Muhan, causing Long Muhan to be sentenced to death by the military court and executed in Wuhan. However, because Gui Yongqing was a close general of Chiang Kai-shek and deeply appreciated by He Yingqin, under the protection of Chiang Kai-shek and He, he only removed himself from the post of commander of the 27th Army. Soon, Gui Yongqing still resumed his old post as a "war cadre regiment". Li Liangrong, commander of the 46th Division, was also dismissed from his post and retained in his post. The 27th Army was incorporated into Hu Zongnan's 17th Group Army. That's for later.

On the day of the loss of Lanfeng, Xue Yue immediately ordered the 71st Army to conquer Lanfeng, and the 88th Division returned to the 71st Army. He rushed from Guide to Yang Qiji south of Lanfeng in the starry night, commanded the siege battle, and adjusted his deployment to attack the enemy west of Lanfeng.

On the 25th, Chiang Kai-shek ordered Song Xilian by telephone: "Launch a general offensive at 6:10 in this day, and restore Lan Feng before dawn tomorrow, otherwise only the army commander will ask."

In fact, the siege began on the morning of the 24th.

After the vanguard of the 71st Army was fired upon by the Yue army in the city, it quickly retreated and reported to the army commander Song Xilian that the city of Lanfeng had been occupied by the enemy.

Song Xilian heard the sudden gunfire in the direction of Lanfeng, and at first felt strange, but after hearing the report, he couldn't help but be shocked, and sighed: "This 'German general' not only did not defeat the enemy, but was beaten to the ground by the enemy. Alas, he took so many troops for nothing. Shen Fazao, commander of the 88th Division, said on the side: "Commander Gui talked about military affairs and was full of wealth, but now it seems that it is just talking on paper. ”

Song Xilian shook his head, smiled bitterly, and said, "Lao Gui lost the Lan Seal City, and he can still be free from it, and he is proud of his army. I, Song Xilian, don't dare to knowingly fall into the hands of the enemy and bypass by. ”

"Commander, what do you think we should do now?" Shen Fazao asked.

"Take back Lan Feng."

Song Xilian finished these four words loudly, and then ordered: The 527th Regiment attacked Lanfeng Station, and then advanced westward, occupying the line of Zhaozhuang, Yangzhuang, and Hanzhuang, the 518th Regiment occupied Lilou, and the mountain artillery battalion was located in Dengzhai, and coordinated the two regiments to attack.

There are more than 1,000 people in the first-line strongholds on the periphery of Lanfeng City, most of whom are cavalry except for artillery troops. The Song army's attacking troops were subjected to heavy artillery fire from the Yue army before they could attack the enemy stronghold, and then the Yue cavalry rushed out of the stronghold and slashed at the Song army's attacking troops. Fierce fighting continued until near noon, and the attack made no progress.

At this time, Long Muhan led the 262nd Brigade to the vicinity of Dengzhai. Song Xilian immediately ordered Long Muhan to put himself on the front line and continue to attack. However, the enemy in the city actively cooperated with the outer defense line and stubbornly held on, and Long Muhan's troops were weak, and the attack was ineffective.

The fierce gunfire outside Lanfeng City alarmed the nearby friendly forces, and the 106th Division, which was located west of Lanfeng, sent a part to attack from the west of Lanfeng City. Another unit, a unit of the 138th Brigade of the 46th Division, also joined the ranks of the siege troops.

After the 46th Division withdrew south to Yang Qiji on the evening of the 22nd, reorganized its ranks, and found that the wounded and sick soldiers had lost a lot of weapons, division commander Li Liangrong immediately sent Ma Weilong, commander of the 138th Brigade, and Xiao Jin, commander of the regiment, to lead several companies of infantry back to the southeast of Lanfeng to collect the lost weapons.

Ma Weilong, whose name is Yunfei, a native of Longzhou, Guangxi, was born in 1908, during the "128" incident, Ma Weilong served as the lieutenant colonel and battalion commander of the Central Military Academy Teaching Team, and participated in the Songhu War of Resistance with the Fifth Army. After the outbreak of the "August 13" Anti-Japanese War, Ma Weilong participated in the Battle of the Bazi Bridge on the south bank of the Suzhou River in Shanghai, and was promoted to the commander of the Third Brigade with his military exploits. Subsequently, Ma Weilong participated in the defense of Nanjing. After the fall of Nanjing, Ma Weilong led his troops to break through. When the 27th Army was established, Ma Weilong was ordered to be transferred to the commander of the 138th Brigade of the division.

Ma Weilong is known in the army for his bravery and good fighting, and is one of the many generals with a strong sense of justice and patriotism. Participating in the Battle of Lanfeng this time, talking with the officers and soldiers about the War of Resistance, Ma Weilong's words were impassioned: "Since the '77' incident, I have been rampage on the soil of our country, and I have really deceived my China too much. Before I went to Shanghai to participate in the 'August 13' Anti-Japanese War, I had already confessed to my parents, wife and children, and vowed to repay the country with my death. This time we came to eastern Henan, we must work hard to kill the thief and inflict heavy losses on the enemy. ”

When Ma Weilong led his troops to the vicinity of Lanfeng, he heard the deafening sound of gunfire on the outskirts of the city, and after sending people to find out the situation, he decided to enter the siege battle without waiting for instructions from the division headquarters.

Ma Weilong and Xiao Jin discussed, planning to conquer Xu Lou in the south of Lanfeng City first, and then capture Lanfeng Station. Subsequently, Ma Weilong and Xiao Jin took the lead and led hundreds of officers and soldiers to charge the enemy stronghold Xu Lou.

The army in the outlying strongholds of Lanfeng City focused on resisting the attack of Song Xilian's troops in the southeast, and the sudden appearance of Ma Weilong's troops threatened Xu Lou's army's flank. Taking advantage of the enemy's panic, Ma Weilong waved his troops and rushed into the village and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. Due to the limited strength of the army, the army resisted the rush of the horse department on the one hand, and retreated towards Lanfeng Station on the other.

By noon, the besieging forces of the [***] squadron had not made much progress except for a few outlying strongholds, but suffered heavy casualties. Song Xilian saw that Lan Feng City could be captured in a hurry, so he ordered the troops to stop the attack, and then drove to Yang Qiji with several guards to discuss the siege with Gui Yongqing.

At this time, the army in the city began to hold a counteroffensive, first bombarding Xu Lou with artillery. This small village of just over 20 households was almost engulfed in smoke and the walls and fortifications were completely destroyed. Then, the infantry cavalry in the city came out and killed Xu Lou. According to the army guarding Lanfeng Station, they also dispatched at the right time to attack the south of Xulou. Ma Weilong's troops were surrounded by enemies in the blink of an eye.

Due to the temporary participation of Ma Weilong's troops in the battle, they were unprepared in advance, and the soldiers only carried rifles and grenades, and many people died in enemy artillery fire, which could not withstand the onslaught of the army.

When the army forced into the position, Ma Weilong, armed with a short gun, jumped out of the trench, and the commander fought the enemy with grenade bayonets. Inside and outside the Xu Building, the sound of killing was deafening, and the sound of grenade explosions continued one after another.

In the melee, Ma Weilong killed several enemies in a row, and after running out of bullets, he threw away his short gun and went to pick up the rifle next to the soldier's corpse, preparing to continue to kill the enemy with a bayonet. Unexpectedly, just as he was bending down to pick up his rifle, a soldier attacked him from behind and stabbed him to death in the back with a bayonet.

Seeing that the brigade commander had been martyred, and there were only seventy or eighty officers and soldiers left, Regiment Commander Xiao and several soldiers fought into the enemy's bush, captured Ma Weilong's body, and then led the remnants to break through to the southeast.

After desperate killing, only six or seven officers and soldiers survived, including regiment commander Xiao Jin and regiment deputy Yin Xingwen.

After the army conquered Xulou, it then moved to attack other strongholds, and the officers and men of the 1st Battalion of the 71st Army defending Hanzhuang were all killed under the onslaught of the enemy's infantry and cavalry.

Later, fortunately, the commander of the 87th Division, Shen Fazao, led his troops to arrive and launched a counteroffensive against the enemy, and the army fled back to Lanfeng City.

Song Xilian and Yang Qiji did not gain anything.

Gui Yongqing is a person with a deep understanding of the city, although he knows that he is to blame for the loss of Lan Feng, but when he received Song Xilian in the military headquarters, he still maintained his previous arrogance and pretended to be free and easy.

Before Song Xilian arrived at Yang Qiji, Gui Yongqing received a report from Li Liangrong, Shen Ke and others, and learned that Ma Weilong's Brigade, a part of the 106th Division and the 88th Division were participating in the siege battle, so when Song Xilian proposed that the 27th Army cooperate with the 71st Army to attack the city, he said with a heartfelt voice:

"Our army has been instructed by the commission to move troops to attack the enemy west of Lanfeng, how dare we delay for a moment? Besides, I have sent the Ma Weilong Brigade and other troops to besiege Lanfeng, and all the units of our army have come to fight the enemy, and the casualties are very heavy, and it is really impossible to send troops to assist your army in attacking the city! ”

(To be continued)