[Anti-Japanese Iron Blood King] Chapter 403: Ma Zheng's Chips (Ask for subscriptions, ask for monthly passes, ask for everything!) ）

At the same time, the Japanese base camp and the Central China Dispatch Army prepared for the next step of capturing Wuhan in order to ensure the safety of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. According to the regulations of the Japanese base camp, an attack was launched on several key points in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River that were still under the control of the Nationalist Government, and Nanchang bore the brunt of the attack.

Nanchang is the capital of Jiangxi Province, the intersection point of the Nanxun Railway and the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Railway, and the hub of the rear liaison and supply lines of the Ninth and Third Theaters of China, and has an important strategic position. In addition, the Chinese Air Force used Nanchang Airport as a base and often attacked Japanese naval ships sailing in the Yangtze River near Jiujiang, which posed a great threat to the rear supply lines of the Japanese army in Jiujiang and Wuhan. Subsequently, the Japanese army base camp decided to implement the Nanchang battle plan, codenamed "Ren Operation".

On 15 March, the Japanese "Central China Dispatch Army" ordered the 116th Division directly under it to send the Ishihara Detachment and the Murai Detachment, which was composed of five brigades of the 119th Brigade and Regiment, to set out by boat from Hubei Province with the support of the navy to search the eastern shore of Poyang Lake and ensure water and land transportation and the safety of the left side of the main force. On the same day, the Japanese army preemptively launched an attack.

On March 18, the Murai detachment departed from Xingzi by warship and landed near Wucheng, about 30 kilometers northeast of Yongxiu, to attack the Chinese defenders, but was stubbornly resisted by the Chinese 32nd Army and other units. On the same day, the main forces of the 101st and 106th Divisions of the Japanese Army, as well as their artillery and combat convoys, advanced to the north bank of Xiushui in turn, occupying the starting area of the attack. After that, the artillery began to conduct test firing and fire reconnaissance.

In order to win this battle by surprise, it can deter the Chinese government in one fell swoop. After pondering for many days, Okamura made the decision to concentrate on the use of tank units as a "China expert" who was well versed in the situation of the Chinese army.

Okamura Ninji concentrated most of the tanks directly under the 101st and 106th Divisions and the 11th Army to form a tank cluster with 135 tanks and a number of support vehicles, with Hiroyoshi Ishii, commander of the 5th Tank Brigade directly under the Army, as the commander. The tank group is organized into 2 tank groups and 1 reserve

Its mission was to break through the defenses of the Kuomintang defenders after crossing Xiushui from the Aicheng and Qiujin areas, open the offensive road for the 101st and 106th divisions, and clear the obstacles to the attack. At the same time, there were also combat missions such as detours, breaking through the Kuomintang army's defensive points and preventing its reinforcements, pursuing the retreating Kuomintang defenders, and participating in the attack on Nanchang, and the Battle of Nanchang began.

After the Battle of Nanchang began, the two main divisions of the Japanese 12th Army stationed in Shandong were ordered to go south to Anhui and form a joint attack with some units of the 11th Army against the main force of the Fifth Theater of the Nationalist Government and the New Fourth Army in the Dabie Mountains, forcing them not to dare to act rashly and cooperate with the Battle of Nanchang on the side.

After receiving the news, Ma Zheng on the Xinghe front line immediately convened an emergency military meeting in Xinghe to implement the third phase of the battle plan.

At the beginning of the meeting, Ma Zheng said loudly: "Comrades, I have just received news that the 11th Army, the main force of the Japanese Central China Dispatch Army, has launched an attack on Nanchang, and its troops have entered the Yongxiu line, and the Battle of Nanchang has started in an all-round way. At the same time, the two divisions of the 12th Army of the North China Front Army, in order to cooperate with the actions of the Central China Dispatch Army, had already moved south from Tai'an and Zaozhuang to the Tongcheng and Huaining lines. The 10th Division and the 110th Division, the main forces of the North China Front, were secretly assembled in eastern Hebei, and together with the Kwantung Army, they attacked the fourth column of the Eighth Route Army from the north to the south. ”

"At present, the strength of the North China Front Army in the defense area is very empty, and the Japanese army in Shanxi, Shandong, Henan, Hebei and northern Jiangsu has only eight divisions left, the 14th, 16th, 26th, 27th, 33rd, 35th, 36th, and 114th, plus 7 independent mixed brigades, especially in southern Hebei and central Hebei, where there is only one division and regiment. Comrades, the Japanese are already in the game, and it's time for us to reap the spoils. ”

"Now I order the guard brigade, independent brigade, artillery brigade, armored regiment, and special operations brigade directly under the military region to immediately act according to the original plan and launch a surprise attack on Zhangjiakou City."

According to Ma Zheng's plan, after the Japanese 10th Division and the 110th Division penetrated deep into the hinterland of eastern Hebei, the task of the Fourth Column changed from offensive to defensive, and successfully held back the two Japanese divisions.

During this period, he would personally lead more than 20,000 men of the guard brigade and independent brigade directly under the military region, which suffered the least damage, and with the cooperation of artillery, armored units, and special operations brigades, he would rush to Zhangjiakou, an important town in southern Chasan, with lightning speed. The 16th Division took Zhangjiakou unprepared, and completely annihilated the Beast Division, which had committed a lot of bloody crimes in Xinghe and Nanjing, near Zhangjiakou.

In the war against Japan, Ma Zheng always believed in the concept that it was better to cut off one of his fingers than to hurt his ten fingers, and every time he made up his mind, he would make sure that he would completely annihilate the enemy. This is true of the Hatian detachment, the same is true of the 1st and 4th Brigades of the Eagle Japanese Cavalry, and of course the same will be true of the 16th Division.

The reason why Ma Zheng dared to take the initiative to attack a first-class division of the Japanese army with the strength of two brigades, and also wanted to strive to completely annihilate the division, was not because he was full of confidence, let alone arrogant, but because he had his bargaining chips.

Ma Zheng's bargaining chip is that the balance of forces between the two sides has undergone major changes, first of all, the 16th Division, after continuous heavy losses, the elite of the 16th Division has almost lost everything, especially in this Xinghe Campaign, the 19th Wing, the 20th Wing and the 38th Wing, the main force of the 16th Division, have suffered more than half of the casualties, especially the 38th Wing, the position in Nanguan is almost completely lost, even the captain of the Wing has been killed, the losses are extremely heavy, and there is no news to confirm that the three wings have been replenished.

According to Ma Zheng's estimates, the Japanese 16th Division only had more than 16,000 troops left at this time, and these troops were still scattered throughout Zhangjiakou. Even with the puppet army that cooperated with them, the total strength would not exceed 23,000 people.

On the other hand, the total strength of the two infantry brigades directly under Ma Zheng's department, which was called as a shelf division, exceeded 26,000 people, and the soldiers were all elite selected from various units, and their combat effectiveness was amazing.

In addition, in addition to the artillery brigade and armored units that cooperated with the independent brigade and the guard brigade to fight, the troops attacking Zhangjiakou exceeded 30,000 people, and Ma Zheng's troops occupied an absolute advantage in terms of troops.

More importantly, with the recovery of Shangyi, Zhangbei and other places, the two gates in the northeast and northwest of Zhangjiakou all fell into the hands of Ma Zheng's department, so that Zhangjiakou was directly exposed to the guns of Ma Zheng's department, and there was not much buffer.

This was one of them, and the second was that the Japanese army obviously also discovered this situation, so after Fujijiang Huipu withdrew his troops from Xinghe, he deployed heavy troops in Jiashihe, Ximalin, Shanfangbao, Wanquan Town and other places outside Zhangjiakou to form a number of defense lines to prevent the attack of Ma Zheng's troops.

But the problem was that there were so many towns to let go, so the 16th Division's already stretched forces were even more scattered. Basically, more than half of the strength of the four infantry brigades that were not fully staffed was stationed in various places in the form of brigades or even squadrons. Fujie Keipu's idea was very simple, no matter what direction the Chinese attacked, they would encounter stubborn resistance from the Japanese army, and when the time came, when the guns rang out in one place, reinforcements would be quickly sent to other places, so as not to be caught off guard by Ma Zheng's subordinates.

However, Ma Zheng took a fancy to Fujijiang Huipu's defensive arrangement, which of course could plug all the loopholes, making it impossible for Ma Zheng's troops to launch an attack quietly.

But the problem is that such an arrangement makes the defense line of the 16th Division in any direction as thin as paper, and it can be broken at the first stab. Fujie Meguga's intention was to use multiple lines of defense to block Ma Zheng's department, and when a battle broke out in one direction, the nearby troops quickly moved closer to the area and organized into a strong defensive line. But Fujijiang Huipu would not have thought that as long as Ma Zheng's troops were fast enough and their attack power was strong enough, his troops would not have time to assemble at all, and Ma Zheng was now betting that his troops would be able to come to Zhangjiakou before the Japanese army assembled, and quickly take Zhangjiakou.

As long as Zhangjiakou City is broken, the remnants of the 16th Division will really become a pile of scattered sand, and when the time comes, Ma Zheng's troops will turn around and clean them up one by one, and they will definitely beat this beast division into a dead beast. (To be continued.) )