"Report! The 6th Division was stubbornly blocked on the outer defensive line of Tianzhu Mountain and Qianshan, and the attack of the forward troops was blocked! "A Japanese combat staff officer reports." Commander, there is no danger to defend in the area on the east side of Tianzhu Mountain and Qianshan Mountain, and the Chinese army should retreat to the defensive line to hold on, this move is a bit abnormal, what is the intention of the Chinese army to implement blocking on the periphery of the defensive line? "The chief of staff is confused. Okamura Ninji was keenly aware of the danger of the 6th Division, because the 6th Division was advancing too fast, and the north and south flanks were already disjointed, and the enemy's purpose of resisting was to lure the enemy deeper.

"Order the 6th Division to stop attacking and defend on the spot, and order the 106th Division to go out of Qing'an and respond to the 6th Division!" Although Okamura Ninji was keenly aware of the other side's intentions, he made a common-sense mistake that caused the Japanese 6th Division to be surrounded. If the 6th Division is ordered to retreat to the front line of Yueshan and Huaining, and steadily organize an attack from the new one, it will be able to completely break Xue Yue's encirclement plan. However, this is impossible, at this time the Japanese offensive is in full swing and invincible, if the 6th Division is allowed to retreat, I am afraid that the front-line generals will not agree.

On the same day, Okamura Ninji received a report that he was shocked to hear that a large number of Shina troops had been found on the north and south flanks of Gassan and Huaining, and it was too late. The 106th Division is assembling towards Anqing, and it will take time to respond, and it is difficult to quench the thirst of the near by far water. Okamura Ninji ordered the 114th Division and the 18th Division on the northern and southern flanks to quickly support the 6th Division. Since the 18th and 114th Divisions were attacking on all fronts, it was impossible to draw large reinforcements. Reinforcements were again intercepted. The outflanking troops of the Central Army moved quickly, Huaining and Yueshan were recaptured, and the Japanese 6th Division was surrounded.

Okamura Ninji ordered the 6th Division to break through to the east, withdraw to the line of Gyeongan, and join the 106th Division, and at the same time ordered the air force to fully support the 6th Division to break through, and the tragic battle began to be staged. The strength of the 4 divisions stood in the way, and the 6th division became a turtle in the urn.

In the headquarters of the 3rd Corps of the Eighth Route Army in Jiujiang, the generals paid close attention to the battle situation. Ouyang Jian said: "Although the 6th Division is surrounded, it is not so easy to eat it. The key to the operation of the large corps is the ability of various units to coordinate operations and attack, which is the weak point of the Central Army. The air superiority of the Japanese army would play a decisive role, and the losses of the daytime attack were too great, and the night attack could only be used. ”

"Chief of the General Staff, I think Xue Yue should devote himself to the reserve of the 69th Army without hesitation, and form a left and right assault force with the 70th Army to storm eastward, so as to ensure that the 6th Division can be eaten. It is not wise to let the Sichuan army continue to take up the offensive, and the Sichuan army has no ability to counterattack in continuous combat. Ouyang Jian said: "Xue Yue is not a fool, he does not dare to use the reserve 69th Army, because he is worried that once the encirclement fails, the defense line will collapse, so he must keep a strong corps in his hands." He himself was very aware of the combat capability of his subordinates, so he had to let the Sichuan army fight for attrition. ”

Ouyang Jian said decisively: "We must plan for the battle on the northern front, and order the 18th Division of the 6th Army of the De'an Defense Line to immediately launch a feint attack on Jiujiang, and the Japanese army in Jiujiang is not allowed to mobilize a single soldier to fight on the northern front!" That night, the 8th Division, under the cover of intensive artillery fire, launched a fierce attack on the outer defense line of the Japanese army in Jiujiang. After a night of fighting, the Japanese perimeter defense line was breached. The Jiujiang defense line was suddenly attacked, and the Japanese army was somewhat caught off guard.

In the headquarters of the Shanghai Dispatch Army, Okamura Ningji's face was calm and seemed to be unfazed. The subordinate said: "After a night of attacking, the Jiujiang Eighth Route Army broke through the outer defense line of Jiujiang and stopped attacking after dawn. "Commander, what is the intention of the Eighth Route Army, it is so difficult to recapture Jiujiang?" The chief of staff asked apprehensively. "The Eighth Route Army is not capable of recapturing Jiujiang, they are cooperating with Jiangbei to fight, and they are intended to attract our attention. The 33rd and 34th divisions were ordered to abandon their peripheral positions and shrink their forces to the core positions. ”

The 35th Division, which had participated in the offensive in Jiujiang, was now integrated into the 11th Army. Due to the heavy losses of the 35th Division, it is currently resting as a reserve corps and cannot be put into combat for the time being.

"According to the report of the 6th Division, the Chinese army invested 4 divisions on the front line of Huaining and Yueshan, stubbornly resisted, and the 6th Division was blocked from breaking through." "Order the 6th Division to stop breaking through and defend on the spot." Okamura Ninji undoubtedly gave the right order, and the final result verified his prediction.

On a certain position in Yueshan, the soldiers condescended to block the Japanese attack, "Brothers, the 6th Division is a beast, they have committed heinous crimes in Nanjing, and they will beat me hard, leaving no one alive." "A major battalion commander shouted to boost morale." Report to the battalion commander, the Japanese army entered 200 meters! "Haha, let the little devil taste the taste of the flying thunder cannon! Fire now! With a dull roar, more than a dozen thunder "shells" flew towards the Japanese attacking troops. The explosion was violent and deafening, and the front was covered and obscured by smoke and dust.

The Japanese soldiers were familiar with the power of the flying thunder cannon, and they quickly retreated in panic. "Haha, the Japanese army has been beaten away! The flying thunder cannon of the Eighth Route Army is powerful. The brothers hurried to hide, and the Japanese were about to open fire. "The soldiers quickly hidden, and Japanese shells fell on the positions. A Japanese squadron leader was standing next to a 92 infantry gun to direct the battle, when suddenly a rocket flew in, accompanied by the sound of explosions, the Japanese commander and the synchronized artillery flew into the sky together. The weapons and equipment supported by the Eighth Route Army raised the combat effectiveness of the defending troops to a higher level.

After large and small battles such as Songhu and Taierzhuang, the Central Army's combat experience has been markedly improved, and it will not panic in the face of Japanese artillery strikes and aerial bombardment. Despite the heavy casualties, the tenacity of the soldiers continued unabated. Everyone was determined to die and fought bravely in defense and counter-attacks. The Japanese 6th Division broke through the siege at Huaining and Yueshan for two consecutive days without success, so it had to stop attacking and defending on the spot. Okamura Ninji ordered the 6th Division to stop the breakout, mainly considering the supply of stamina.

Due to the rapid advance of the 6th Division, logistics and supplies naturally could not keep up. If it is not surrounded, there will be no problem with logistics and supply. However, after being encircled, the logistics supply of the 6th Division was cut off, and the military supplies it carried could only meet the needs of 3 days of fighting, which was also the reason why Okamura Ninji ordered the 6th Division to stop breaking through. The news that the 6th Division of the Japanese Army was surrounded in the area west of Tianzhu Mountain and Qianshan was like growing wings and flying to the Wuhan headquarters, and all the generals and officers were smiling and celebrating when they heard it.

"Tell Xue Yue that he is determined to eat the 6th Division and set an example for all the officers and men in the theater." Lao Jiang swept away the gloom at the beginning of the war and was in a good mood. "President, Ouyang Jian has given strong support to Xue Yue and enhanced his combat effectiveness, and I commend Ouyang Jian in your name. In particular, the Eighth Route Army took the opportunity to launch a counterattack on the Texas defense line and effectively cooperated with the 4th Theater. "Minister of Military Affairs He Yingqin reported." Ouyang Jian performed very well, and if he could effectively contain the Japanese army in Jiujiang, he could ensure that Xue Yue's corps could successfully eat the 6th division of the Japanese army. ”

The encirclement of a strong Japanese integrated division was groundbreaking for the Central Army. If the 6th Division of the Japanese Army can be eaten, it is self-evident what kind of shock it will have.

On this morning, the gate of the Tongluozhai Cave Airport opened again. Six bomber motors roared out. The captain of the aviation group personally piloted the captured Japanese Type 97 bomber and took the lead into the runway. He received an order from Ouyang Jian to attack Anqing. Ouyang Jian learned the news that the Japanese 106th Division was assembled in Qing'an, and decisively ordered all 6 bombers to dispatch to attack the Japanese 106th Division. He also took advantage of the time difference in the morning to take advantage of the fact that the Japanese fighters were not dispatched, and took the Japanese army by surprise.

The battlefield is so close that it can be said that the fighter planes almost arrived at the battlefield when they flew into the sky, and such a close distance could ensure that the bombers flew back safely. The fighters roared away behind the formation in the sky, and in a few minutes they reached the sky over Qing'an. At this time, a large number of Japanese transport ships gathered at Qing'an Wharf, and Japanese soldiers were disembarking. Planes appeared in the sky, and the Japanese soldiers found two monoplane fighters in front of them, with bright red sun flags on their fuselages, so they were not on guard at all. When Zhang Yourong drove the plane to dive down, many Japanese soldiers still waved.

But when a bomb fell from the sky, the Japanese soldiers realized that something was wrong, but it was too late to hide. The first bomb exploded on the right side of a transport ship, and the shock wave caused the transport line to rise and fall, and the Japanese soldiers standing on the left deck watched in fright, and jumped into the river one after another. It is not very difficult to manufacture aerial bombs, and at present, the Jiujiang Arsenal is completely capable of producing aerial bombs. One of them, a Hawker III bomber, was fully loaded with incendiary bombs. Looking down from the air, it can be clearly seen that the Japanese army has piled up a large number of military supplies on the dock, and the bomber's target is aimed at the dock.

With a dull explosion, the dock burst into flames. There was chaos on the docks and in the river. The Japanese transports fled one after another, and two transports actually collided together. Due to the air superiority of the Japanese army, the Japanese soldiers had never been attacked by such an air raid for a long time, and to be precise, the Japanese soldiers had no mental preparation and had to let the bombing be carried out wildly. Ten minutes later, six bombers dropped all their bombs and swaggered away. At this time, thick smoke billowed on the wharf, and the river was in a mess, and the bodies of many Japanese soldiers were floating in the water, and more Japanese soldiers were struggling in the water.

The 10-minute bombardment was very hasty and did not sink a single Japanese battleship, but the operational purpose was achieved. There was a loud bang on the pier, and a Japanese ammunition was detonated. It can be said that the fire on the dock could not be extinguished at all, and we could only watch a large number of military supplies turn to ashes, especially the bullets crackling like firecrackers in the flames. The Japanese soldiers fled the dock to take refuge, and the transport ships also fled the dock to cruise on the river, and the Japanese soldiers were stunned. About 20 minutes later, 10 Japanese fighters arrived at the battlefield and then flew in reverse to the southwest.

At the headquarters of the Shanghai Dispatch Army, Okamura Ninji was taken aback when he received the report, but his demeanor was still calm and asked: "Didn't the Ministry of Intelligence say that the runway of Tongluozhai Dongku Airport was blown up?" A combat staff officer took out an aerial photo and handed it to Okamura Ninji. The photo is not too clear because it was taken at high altitude, but you can still see the mess of the runway. But Okamura Ninji quickly found the problem and said: "Your intelligence department has been deceived, although this runway was blown up, but the lawns on both sides of the runway are very wide, they must have camouflaged." ”

Okamura Ningji judged very accurately, and Tongluo Village does have a backup runway. "Continue to bomb the Tongluozhai airport, order fighter planes to patrol all day, and never allow the fighters of the Eighth Route Army to go out again." Okamura Ninji continued: "Notify the 106th Division and report the losses quickly!" "In the short air raid on Qing'an, the Japanese soldiers suffered little losses, but the military supplies were burned. This delayed the reinforcement of the 6th Division by the Japanese army, and indirectly supported the encirclement and attack of the 6th Division.