The 29th Army is the old foundation of the Northwest Army, with a strong sense of combat and good combat effectiveness.

The 4th Division and the 7th Division fought fiercely for three days and nights in Chengde and Yueben, and although there were heavy casualties, the position remained unmoving.

However, in the end, because the 106th Brigade, which was responsible for the defense of the left flank, was defeated by the 8th Division of the Yue Army that rushed from Chifeng, the 29th Army suffered from the enemy and had no choice but to retreat.

On the night of April 17, Chengde fell to the enemy and was occupied by the Japanese army.

After occupying Chengde, the Yue army took advantage of the situation to pursue non-stop, and soon expelled the 29th Army and the remnants of Tangbe from Rehe, and captured the entire territory of Rehe in less than a week.

However, when the main force of the army was in the southern area of Rehe, it was not yet time to be transferred back.

Zhang Xinghan, who had been waiting for a long time, assembled a tank regiment, a motorized infantry division and a cavalry regiment to form a powerful mobile force, and set out from Tongliao and took the lead in launching an attack on Chifeng.

At this time, the headquarters of the 8th Division was located in Chifeng, and the new Kotaro Nakamura was in Chifeng.

At this moment, the strength of the 8th Division left in Chifeng was less than a wing.

Zhang Xinghan commanded the 1st Mobu Division, easily surrounded the city of Chifeng County, and began a fierce attack.

During this period, Kotaro Nakamura tried to lead his troops to break through the siege, but was attacked head-on by the tank regiment, suffered heavy losses, and fled back to the city in disarray.

Unable to break through, Kotaro Nakamura had to report to the Kwantung Army Headquarters, and at the same time send a telegram to the 4th and 7th Divisions and the main force of the headquarters division, requesting assistance.

.................. "Bagaya Road, Zhang Xinghan is very cunning!" In the headquarters of the Kwantung Army of the Jinzhou Army, Commander Muto Nobuyoshi learned that the headquarters of the 8th Division was besieged in Chifeng, and he was furious: "Order the 2nd, 6th, and 10th Divisions to immediately storm Tongliao, and the aviation will take off immediately and rush to Chifeng for reinforcements, and the 4th and 7th Divisions also need to go north to Chifeng immediately, and in any case, they must arrive before the fall of Chifeng County." ”

"Hay!" The chief of staff of the Kwantung Army, Toranosuke Hashimoto, suddenly put his legs together, bowed his head in response, and quickly led the order to leave.

…………………… In fact, even if Muto Nobuyoshi did not give the order, after learning that the commander of the 8th Division was besieged in Chifeng, the 4th and 7th Divisions had already begun to march to Chifeng for reinforcements.

South of Chifeng County, Yuanbao Mountain.

Zhang Xinghan's temporary headquarters was located here, and in the headquarters, Zhang Xinghan was playing chess with Jiang Baili with great interest.

Zhang Xinghan held a cigarette in one hand, and said while playing chess: "Chief of Staff, my trick is called encirclement and reinforcement, hehe, I'm sorry." ”

As he spoke, he ate one of Jiang Baili's turnaround cars.

Jiang Baili sat upright, staring at the chess game, and said: "For Chifeng's fierce attack, without entering the city, it not only causes a greater psychological deterrence to the enemy, but also avoids our army from falling into a bitter battle in the street after entering the city. The commander's use of tactics and the grasp of the enemy's psychology are perfect, and I admire them for a hundred miles! ”

"Hehe, the chief of staff praised it." Zhang Xinghan smiled and said, "Play chess, continue to play chess." ”

Suddenly, a rush of footsteps sounded, Zhang Xinghan and Jiang Baili turned their heads to look, only to see the commander of the cavalry regiment, Sabuli, hurriedly walking over.

"Report to the commander, chief of staff, the reconnaissance unit of our cavalry regiment reports that the army has passed Chengde and is heading towards Chifeng at night." Sabuli saluted and reported to the two.

"Well, continue to scout and monitor, report at any time." Zhang Xinghan waved his hand.

"Yes!" Sabuli stepped forward and immediately turned and took the order.

………………………… The Rehe battlefield is changing, and the 19th Route Army in the Songhu area finally ushered in the harshest battle.

The army has increased its strength by two divisions, namely the 5th and 11th Divisions, and together with the previous 9th Division, the Marine Corps, and the armed bridge, the total strength of the army in Shanghai has exceeded 80,000.

It also has nearly 200 sea-based combat aircraft and dozens of various naval vessels.

With the help of naval vessels, the 5th Division of the Yue Army, which had newly reinforced troops, landed in separate routes, penetrated directly into the mouth of the Yangtze River with the assistance of the navy and air force, and suddenly landed at the mouth of the Liuhe River, Yanglinkou, and Qiyakou, and quickly outflanked the defenders.

When the 19th Route Army was attacked by the enemy, General Zhang Zhizhong led the Central Teaching Corps and the 87th and 88th [***] elite divisions to the battlefield in time.

Repelled the roundabout outflanking troops of the 5th Division of the Japanese Army, temporarily stabilizing the defensive line.

The two sides began to wage a fierce offensive and defensive battle in Shanghai, and the Chinese defenders, because they had no air supremacy and lacked anti-aircraft weapons, were even more helpless against the large-caliber naval guns of the warships.

Therefore, under the continuous bombing and air raids of the navy and air force, the casualties were extremely heavy.

The two sides fought fiercely until 20 April, and the 19th Route Army and Zhang Zhizhong's Fifth Army finally turned to the defensive due to heavy casualties, and began to shrink the defensive line to the Jiading area.

The defeat of the battle in Shanghai was inevitable.

…………………… In the early morning of the 20th, Zhang Xinghan had just woken up when he was woken up by Jiang Baili: "Commander, the scouts report that the main force of the 8th Division of the Chinese Army has arrived in Ningcheng, which is less than 50 kilometers away from us. ”

"Really? It's finally here. Zhang Xinghan was completely sleepy, picked up his steel helmet and put it on, stood up and said to Jiang Baili: "Chief of Staff, I will leave you a tank company and a motorized infantry regiment, you continue to surround Chifeng, or that sentence, surround but not fight, if the little devil wants to break through, I will beat him hard." I personally led the main force to eat the main force of the 8th Division first. ”

"Okay, be careful yourself." Jiang Baili nodded in agreement.

"I will." Zhang Xinghan nodded and shouted towards the outside of the headquarters: "Herald, order the tank regiment, the first infantry regiment, the second regiment, and the cavalry regiment to assemble ......!" ”

…………………… Chifeng County, in the headquarters of the 8th Division.

Chief of Staff Takayoshi Muraki reported to Nakamura Kotaro: "General, the 32nd and 31st Infantry Wings have arrived in Ningcheng and can arrive in a day at most, the 4th Division and the 7th Division are also coming as soon as possible, and the 17th Wing of our division has also stopped attacking Sun Dianying's department and is returning east at full speed, so reinforcements can be rushed in at a moment's notice." ”

Nakamura Kotaro's face could not show the slightest joy, he only had the 5th Infantry Wing in his hands, and what puzzled him was that the Naka[***] team outside the city had hardly launched an attack until now.

Most of the attacks were carried out by artillery fire composed of tank guns and infantry guns, but after the shelling, few infantry launched siege charges.

This made Kotaro Nakamura very confused, what did the [***] team outside the city want to do?

Nakamura Kotaro said his confusion, and the chief of staff, Koyoshi Muraki, was also confused after hearing it, but this guy quickly said very excitedly: "Your Excellency General, no matter what the hell the people want to do, as long as we hold on for a day, the main force of our division and the friendly troops of the 4th and 7th divisions will be able to arrive, and then the siege of Chifeng will be lifted, and our three divisions will be able to completely defeat Zhang Xinghan!" Avenge the warriors of the imperial army who died in the Battle of Tongliao! ”

Under the influence of the optimism of the chief of staff, Kotaro Nakamura nodded, "Order the officers and men of the 5th Wing, strengthen the garrison, and hold out until reinforcements arrive no matter what." ”

"Hay." Xiaoyi Muramu happily bowed his head in response, turned around and walked away quickly.

…………………… The Laoha River originates in Liuxi Manchu Township, northwest mountainous area of Pingquan County, enters the territory of Chifeng from Dianzi Township, Ningcheng County, flows through the southeast of Chifeng, and meets with Naiman Banner in the east of Daxing Township, Wengniute Banner, and merges with Xilamulun River to become the southern source of the West Liao River.

The Laoha River reaches the vicinity of Xizi Town, which is about 30 kilometers north of Ningcheng, and meets the Kundulun River to the west.

If the army wants to reinforce Chifeng from Ningcheng, it must cross the Laoha River and the Kundulun River, but fortunately, due to the low temperature, these two rivers have all frozen, and the ice surface is more than 30 to 50 centimeters thick.

The two wings of the 8th Division of the Chinese Army did not need to build a bridge at all, and basically all of them crossed the Laoha River and the Kundulun River smoothly.

However, just as they had just finished crossing the river and were still assembling, the spearhead reconnaissance unit that had taken the lead ran back in a hurry on their horses.

Before the commander could ask about the situation, they felt the rumbling of huge motors and the sound of dense horses galloping in front of them.

The devils of the two wings were all shocked, and through the binoculars, they found that on the plain ahead, a large group of huge Chinese tanks and fighting vehicles were rumbling towards their side at full speed.

There were also hordes of cavalry on both flanks behind the tank, as well as a large number of infantry that followed.

The supreme commanders of the two wings were frightened and hurriedly ordered the troops to retreat to the south bank to resist again, but the thousands of men said that they would go back.

Before the devil could escape back to the south shore, there was a roar of an engine in the distant sky.

A group of Stuka dive bombers, escorted by a dozen fighters, flew quickly towards this side.

The plane was extremely fast, and in the blink of an eye, more than a dozen BF109 fighters rushed towards the crowd of devils who were desperately fleeing back.

Nearly 15 Stuka dive bombers dived towards the Kundulun and Laoha rivers.

Flying at an ultra-low altitude, he threw heavy bombs on the surface of the river, and the violent explosion suddenly exploded the frozen river surface, and countless ice blocks and river water were thrown high by the shock wave, and the broken ice cubes were like sharp shrapnel, causing a lot of casualties to the devils who were crossing the river.

As the bombing progressed, the ice on a section of the river that was about several kilometers long was almost completely destroyed, and a large number of devils who crossed the river died under the bombing and strafing, and some people fell into the icy water and drowned alive.

But more devils were blocked on the north bank, and it was too late to detour across the river at this time.

Because the steel torrent composed of Zhang Xinghan's 90 tanks had been crushed like a tide, a large number of cavalry also outflanked from both flanks, completely blocking the escape path of the 8th Division.

(To be continued)