[Anti-Japanese Iron Blood King] Chapter 211: Zhang Gufeng Incident (1st Update)

The Mongolian army finally retreated, and on the fifth day of the battle, the whole county retreated, and the battle lasted only five days from the beginning to the end, and finally ended with the Japanese army being quickly annihilated all the way, crippled all the way, and losing a provincial city.

During the campaign, more than 15,000 enemies were annihilated in the Suicha anti-Japanese base area, of which about half were Japanese troops, and one Japanese lieutenant general was killed, achieving another great victory.

Although the Japanese army suffered heavy casualties this time, the vitality of the troops stationed in Mongolia was not injured, and the 16th Division and the 26th Division almost remained in their heyday.

Although the Japanese army withdrew its troops from the front line, it quickly mobilized heavy troops to Suixi with Baotou as the center to prevent Ma Zheng's troops from seizing the entire Suixi region, which made Ma Zheng's desire to take the opportunity to recover Suiyuan in one fell swoop.

But it doesn't matter, now once Guisui falls into the hands of the base area, the main passage in and out of Baotou is blocked, and if the Japanese army wants to enter Baotou, it can only make a detour to Tuoketuo County and Dalat Banner, the distance is more than twice as far, not to mention, the road is still extremely difficult to walk, and during the period, it has to pass through the defense area of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army and the 35th Army of the Jinsui Army. In peacetime, it is good that there is no major war, but in the event of a major war, if all units cooperate, they can instantly cut off the connection between the various units of the Japanese army and the enemy in Suixi.

In Ma Zheng's view, as long as the Japanese army does not withdraw from Suixi, then they are a dish on his table, which can be eaten at any time.

But now that Ma Zhengren is on the front line in Wuhan, he has not had the time and energy to organize a battle of Suixi, and Guisui has just been recovered, and as the "capital" of the puppet Mongolian and Xinjiang United Autonomous Government, the forces are intertwined, and it is really not easy for the Eighth Route Army to gain a firm foothold in the local area. Therefore, before that, don't pay attention to Suixi, you can't chew it if you are greedy!

On August 1, in view of the fact that the Mongolian Corps had been damaged many times in previous battles and humiliated the Imperial Army, the base camp decided to reduce the Mongolian Corps to the Mongolian Army. It was placed under the direct jurisdiction of the North China Front Army. Its former commander, Lieutenant General Jun Hougong, will be transferred back to China with immediate effect, and the commander of the newly formed army stationed in Mongolia will be General Terauchi Shouichi, commander of the North China Front.

The transfer of the Mongolian army to the North China Front Army can be said to be a great challenge to Ma Zheng's department, the previous army stationed in Mongolia was weak, and it was overstretched to deal with Ma Zheng's department in terms of strength or other aspects, so Ma Zheng's department was repeatedly hit hard. However, the North China Front Army is different, this is a large military group with a strength of about 200,000 troops, and once it decides to defeat Ma Zheng's troops, it will inevitably come out of the nest, and the pressure on the Suicha base area will be great at that time.

In fact, after receiving the order from the base camp. The North China Front was ready to mobilize a large army to continue the siege of the Suicha anti-Japanese base area, but when they were discussing the battle plan, they received an order from the base camp not to conduct large-scale military operations in the Mongolian Xinjiang area for the time being.

The reason why the Japanese base camp suddenly issued such a strange order at this time was not that the base camp was afraid of Ma Zheng's department, but that something had happened in the north.

The north referred to here will naturally not be North China, but the Northeast.

Zhang Gufeng is located on the Sino-Soviet border. This small plateau, which is only 155.1 meters above sea level, is flanked to the east and north by the Long Pond and the Pochette Plain, connected to the Shacao Peak to the northwest, and the 141.2 Highland to the southwest. To the south is the Fangchuan Village Station, and about 2.5 kilometers to the southeast is the junction of China, Russia, and North Korea.

This Gufeng has always been Chinese territory. However, when Tsarist Russia signed the Treaty of Yihui with the Qing government in 1858, it deliberately used different texts of the treaty to secretly steal this area. The Chinese version of the treaty shows that Zhang Gufeng is Chinese territory according to the national boundaries demarcated in the treaty, while the Russian version of the treaty assigns Zhang Gufeng to Tsarist Russia.

In fact, according to the Hunchun boundary agreement in 1886. The border line passes through the foothills on the east side of Zhanggu Peak. In addition, in 1909, the Hunchun Frontier Affairs Officer and the Chinese army stationed in Yangguanping jointly drew up a map, and the border line also passed through the area east of Changchi on the east side of Zhanggu Peak, and the direction was from south to north. The 1:84000 map, surveyed and drawn up by the Russian General Staff in 1911, also shows the same border as the 1909 map. From 1915 to 1920, the army surveying and mapping bureau of the three eastern provinces issued a map. The border line is a place slightly easterly than the Hunchun boundary line.

It is precisely because of these grounds that the puppet state of Manchukuo considered Zhanggufeng and Shacaofeng to be its own territory and included it in the border of Hunchun County. However, due to the unstable foundation of the puppet state of Manchukuo and the frequent attacks of the anti-coalition forces in the territory, it did not pay attention to the boundary line in this area, let alone garrison troops, and only a few border police patrolled and were in a semi-open state

In May 1938, the Japanese army mobilized the Hoyyeong troops under the Korean Army to build a pillbox at Jang Ki-bong, the sister peak of Jang Gu-bee, and withdrew more than 20 days later. But less than a month later, the Soviets suddenly occupied Zhanggu Peak, built fortifications on the mountain, and laid out barbed wire. The Japanese believed that the Soviets' occupation of Zhanggufeng was equivalent to a strategic point where they could control Korea and northeastern China.

At this time, the Japanese army was on the eve of the Battle of Wuhan, that is, it was about to seize the two strategic places of Huangmei and Jiujiang. In order to avoid a conflict with the Soviet Union, the commander of the North Korean Army, Kuniaki Koiso, adopted a policy of not resorting to force.

As a result, the Soviet Union and Japan began negotiations on this matter, and the policy of diplomatic negotiations in the base camp was to demand that the Soviet Union withdraw its troops. As a precaution, the 19th Division of the Korean Army, which was close to Otaka Kamizang, was ordered to be dispatched. The division was stationed in the north of Korea, and its mission was to prepare for war against the Soviet Union, not against China.

However, the base camp suddenly changed its course in an attempt to test the attitude of the Soviet Union, that is, it intended to play a dangerous trick. The Japanese base camp believed that in a narrow area like Zhanggufeng, it would not be possible to dispatch a large number of troops, and therefore would not lead to a large-scale war. It didn't matter even if the entire division was destroyed, and it was a great time to show the Soviet Union Japan's strength.

In July, Japan proposed to the Soviet Union that the area of Lake Hassan near Zhanggubee belonged to "Manchuria" and should be assigned to "Manchuria," but the Soviet Union refused.

A few days later, a group of three Japanese soldiers, including Commander Matsushima and Guncao Ito, disguised themselves as Korean peasants, went to the vicinity of Zhanggufeng to reconnoiter Soviet military installations. After entering the Soviet Union, Jin and Gao Yunba, residents of Zhufangchuan, led the way, Jin and Gao were sent to guard posts, and Matsushima, Ito, and others drew a map of military facilities on the Soviet border. After being discovered by the Soviet border guards, Songdao was killed, and the remaining two people fled, which was the fuse of the Zhang Gufeng incident.

Subsequently, Japan sent a note to the Soviet Union, citing the death of Matsushima, demanding that the Soviet troops withdraw from Zhang Gufeng, otherwise measures should be taken. The Soviets declared that the Japanese had violated the territory of the Soviet Union, so they shot and killed Matsushima.

On the same day, the War Department of the Japanese base camp ordered Lieutenant General Kotaro Nakamura, commander of the Japanese forces stationed in Korea, to concentrate his troops on standby. The commander of the Korean Army ordered the commander of the 19th Division, Otaka Kamizo, stationed in Ronan, to prepare troops to control the national border, and to deploy 4 infantry squadrons, 2 mountain artillery brigades, and 1 field heavy artillery brigade.

On 20 July, Japanese Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Shigemitsu Aoi, strongly demanded to the Soviet Government that it withdraw from Zhang Gufeng, otherwise the Soviet side would be responsible for all the consequences arising therefrom. The People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs of the USSR replied: "No threat can frighten Moscow".

At the same time, in order to deal with the possible attack of the Japanese army, the Soviet army also strengthened its combat readiness and built a defensive position on the western slope of Zhanggu Peak.

On July 29, 10 Soviet soldiers went to build fortifications two kilometers north of Zhanggubee, and Odaka ordered an attack, and Soviet tanks were immediately dispatched. Odaka did not report to the base camp and took the initiative to order the Sato Wing to attack and capture the mountain area. Subsequently, the Japanese army smuggled across the Tumen River, assembled in Fangchuantun, evacuated the local women, children and children, and left men between the ages of 18 and 45 to carry water and ammunition, and the war was about to break out

At 12 o'clock on the night of the 31st, the Japanese army opened fire on Zhanggufeng in Hongyi-ri in Korea, and the first shot landed on the Soviet territory on the northern slope of Zhanggufeng, the second on the top of Zhanggufeng, and the third on the western slope of Zhanggufeng. A Japanese brigade captured Zhanggufeng at 4:40 a.m. Another brigade, under the cover of artillery fire, captured Shacao Peak at 6 a.m. The Japanese army attacked the Hassan Lake area again, and the Zhang Gufeng incident finally turned into a bloody clash in reality.

Since Outer Mongolia was already under the control of the Soviet Union at this time, and the Suicha base area where the Duqi Division was located was only a few hundred kilometers away from Outer Mongolia in a straight line, in order to avoid irritating the Soviet army along the northern border, the Japanese base camp would order the North China Front to immediately stop the offensive of the anti-Japanese forces in this area. (To be continued.) )