After breaking through our first-line positions, the Japanese troops of all walks of life advanced at a speed of 30 or 40 kilometers a day, and their troops were directed at Zaoyang, in a vain attempt to encircle our troops under Zaoyang City. Our Zaoyang defenders took advantage of the fact that the enemy's encirclement had not yet closed, retreated while fighting, and jumped out of the encirclement of the Japanese invaders in time. On 8 May, the Japanese invaders occupied Zaoyang, and the headquarters of the 11th Army immediately announced that the operational objectives on the east bank of the Han River had been accomplished. That night, the military headquarters issued an order to all divisions and regiments to withdraw to their original garrisons.

At 11 p.m. on 8 May, the Chongqing Military Commission issued a general attack order to the 5th Theater. The six divisions of Tang Enbo's 31st Group Army, which had assembled near Nanyang, immediately moved south, and met the Japanese 3rd Division, which had fled for its life.

Lieutenant General Yamawaki Masataka chased Sun Lianzhong all the way, throwing away his armor and losing most of his chariots and trucks. The artillery and baggage of the troops were all pulled by mules and horses, and their morale was completely devoid and the morale of the army was unstable. In this case, how dare you fight hard with the Tang Enbo Group, which is strong and known for its good fighting? Fortunately, now that the clouds are open and the moon is clear, the hard-working Third Division is finally not far from Zaoyang!

Knowing that a hard encounter with Tang Enbo would be a death, the commander of the Yamawaki Division led all the officers and men of the 3rd Division, carried forward the fine tradition of the Japanese army that was not afraid of hardship and tiredness, and forcibly marched all the way.

Masataka Yamawaki, who came out of the tank, finally found the long-lost pride from the envious eyes of Lieutenant General Shizuichi Tanaka and Lieutenant General Keisaku Murakami. Although the battle a few days ago was not too glorious, we have tanks in our hands! Even if there are only forty percent left, it is nearly eighty! Spread it out, it's a big piece. Those who were lucky enough to get away with it were all elite, all medium tanks, the kind of bean chariots, all of which had been thrown halfway through.

With this kind of lineup, which division has it? Does he have the Thirteenth Division? Does the 39th Division have it? All the losses were made up for in the envious eyes of Lieutenant General Shizuichi Tanaka. At this moment, the commander of the Yamawaki Division was really a little grateful to Major General Ishimoto.

On the day Zaoyang was occupied, Japanese transport planes began to transport fuel to the city. The logistics units of the 13th Division and the 39th Division also carried fuel, and everyone could even out a lot of it casually. By the time General Ishimoto and his chariot brigade marched into Zaoyang, the oil depot in Zaoyang was already full of diesel and gasoline.

The military headquarters has already ordered all units to withdraw from Zaoyang and return to their garrisons to rest and recuperate. The Japanese troops also obeyed the orders of the commander of the garden department and prepared to withdraw their troops.

Sadashi Ishimoto organized manpower to repair tanks overnight and refuel the tanks. His chariot was a makeshift diesel truck pumped, some of which was even pumped into gasoline, the engine was filled with the wrong oil, and it ran all the way again, and it must have been cleaned and overhauled. Fortunately, there were not many maintenance technicians in the Shimoto detachment, and with a whole wing of engineers who were known for their hardships and hard work, the maintenance work went quite smoothly.

Although there are more tanks, there are more workers. The principle that there is great strength in numbers has been best embodied at this moment. After a whole night and half a day's overhaul, all seventy-nine tanks of the Ishimoto detachment have been overhauled, refueled, reloaded with ammunition, and ready to fight again at any time!

After receiving the order of the Central Military Commission for a general attack, Li Zongren quickly gave orders to all units, ordering all the main attacking units in the theater to immediately move towards the Zaoyang area and give the enemy a powerful counterattack!

Six divisions of the 30th Army and the 75th Army were in the west, five divisions of the 33rd Army were in the south, five divisions of the 45th Army and the 94th Army were in the southeast, and Tang Enbo's 31st Army was in the north. The units of our Fifth Theater have formed a large encirclement of the Japanese army in the Zaoyang area.

The retreating Japanese troops suddenly sensed the approach of our armies, however, the arrogant Japanese invaders not only did not panic, but waited for the Ishimoto detachment to finish refueling and overhauling the tanks, and then retreated out of Zaoyang to the south in a hurry.

General Zhang Zizhong, commander-in-chief of the Right Group of our Fifth Theater, commanded the 33 rd Group Army to take the lead in launching an attack on the 13 th Japanese Division in the area east of the Xiang River, and on 10 June cut the 13 th Division that had withdrawn south from Zaoyang into two sections.

The embarrassed Tanaka Shizuichi found out that Zhang Zizhong was not easy to deal with, and hurriedly moved closer to the 39th Division. The two divisions stood shoulder to shoulder, and together with the temporarily reinforced Ikeda detachment, a total of more than 50,000 devils were gathered and launched a fierce attack on the 33rd Army.

Although the 33rd Army had five divisions at that time, its strength was less than 30,000. With less than 30,000 troops with simple equipment, against more than 50,000 well-armed devils, no one will be able to command this battle.

Under the command of General Zhang, several divisions of the 33rd Group Army rushed back and forth among the Japanese troops, and although they suffered heavy casualties, they also inflicted heavy casualties on the devils.

It is said that Zhang Zizhong was the commander-in-chief of the Right Route Army, and in addition to the 33rd Group Army, there were also the 29th Group Army and the 55th Army under his command, and the east and west banks of the Xianghe River were their battlefields, so Commander-in-Chief Zhang did not have to personally cross the river to fight. However, as if to prove something, Zhang Zizhong ignored the bitter advice of his subordinates, insisted on personally leading his troops to fight in Hedong, and even before crossing the river, he left a desperate letter to Feng Zhi'an, the commander of the 77th Army and deputy commander-in-chief of the group army, ordering Feng Zhi'an to stay in Hexi.

The commander-in-chief of the Right Route Army crossed the river and went to the front line in person, and whether it was the chairman of the National People's Congress, the Central Military Commission, the theater, or Chief Li, they all had to keep an eye on it at all times. Zhang Zizhong could not but reply to the inquiries of commanders at all levels, and he often had to personally give orders for the transfer and command of various troops, and the busyness of his general headquarters of the group army can be imagined.

Military intelligence telegrams during the war were all top secret, however, the Chinese army at that time did a very poor job in encrypting telegrams, and the telegrams exchanged between the Fifth Theater and the Military Commission were often intercepted by the Japanese intelligence department. Zhang Zizhong's headquarters on the east bank of the river exchanged telegrams so frequently, of course, it also attracted the attention of the devils.

According to General Zhang's report to the Military Commission, the devils learned about the specific military deployment of our five divisions, restrained the five divisions one by one, and judged from the cracked telegram code that the headquarters of the 33rd Group Army was 10 kilometers northeast of Yicheng!

The 39th Division of the Japanese Army, with the cooperation of the aviation troops, immediately rushed towards the pumpkin shop! On the 14th, there was an encounter between the two sides. On the 15th, more than 1,500 people led by Zhang Zizhong were surrounded by more than 6,000 Japanese invaders in Yangouli Village, north of the pumpkin shop.

On the morning of the same day, the Japanese invaders launched an attack, and the battle was extremely fierce. The soldiers all fought desperately against the devils, however, the gap in strength was irreparable, and the brutal battle caused most of the casualties of the troops, and even General Zhang himself was injured in the right leg.

After fierce fighting until the early morning of the 16th, General Zhang led his troops to retreat into the Pumpkin Shop Ten Miles Long Mountain, and in one day and night, the Japanese invaders launched nine charges against our army. By noon, General Zhang had also been wounded in his left arm, but he still loudly encouraged his soldiers to fight. By the afternoon, the 1,500-odd men of the 74th Division and the Special Service Battalion had suffered all casualties, and even the guards around General Zhang had all been killed. General Zhang was seriously wounded in the chest again and died a heroic martyrdom!