[Anti-Japanese Iron Blood King] Chapter 1028: Attack and Defense of Tianjin (Ask for subscription!) , ask for a monthly pass, ask for everything! ）

The sudden capture of Jiaozuo by the Japanese army completely frightened the First War Zone, and you must know that the defense area of the First War Zone is now an arc-shaped narrow strip, and the node of this arc is Jiaozuo. www.biquge.info Now that the Japanese army has captured Jiaozuo, it has cut off the connection between the troops of Hebei and Henan in the First War Zone, and once the Japanese army of the two routes flanks the defenders of southern Hebei, the consequences will be unimaginable.

Originally, Wei Lihuang had noticed this a long time ago, so he placed the 15th Army, which had strong combat effectiveness in the First War Zone, in Jiaozuo, and in his mind, it should be more than enough for him to defend a small city with one army.

But he didn't expect that the Japanese army would first transfer him from the mountain, and then take Jiaozuo in one fell swoop, which caught him off guard.

In desperation, Wei Lihuang had no choice but to order Wu Tinglin's 15th Army to immediately return the same way and recapture Jiaozuo.

However, it is easy to lose, but it is extremely difficult to recapture, Wu Tinglin's troops fought to the death of Shinozuka Yoshio's first army on the outskirts of Jiaozuo for two days, and finally had to retreat because of heavy casualties. And Yoshio Shinozuka's subordinates were unforgiving, chasing the 15th Army all the way to Xinxiang.

At this time, the Japanese army's two armies totaled more than 100,000 people attacking southern Hebei from the southeast and southeast directions, while the two group armies of the Nationalist Government plus some miscellaneous troops were stubbornly defending southern Hebei, and the two sides were fighting inextricably.

However, in comparison, the Japanese army has an absolute advantage in terms of strength and weaponry. Coupled with the consistent sense of superiority in his heart, it was also beneficial to the Japanese army in terms of morale, so the war was relatively beneficial to the Japanese army.

On June 6, Shinozuka Yoshio's troops captured Xinxiang, and Wu Tinglin's troops were defeated and continued to retreat north.

In the following week, the Nationalist government's troops in northern Henan were almost wiped out, Weihui, Qixian, Hebi, and Anyang were successively broken by the Japanese army, and on June 15, Shinozuka Yoshio's troops attacked the town of Jiangwu and entered southern Hebei.

In just one month, the situation in North China was once again chaotic, and the strong counteroffensive momentum of the Japanese army forced the Nationalist Government to order the Second War Zone to immediately send troops to reinforce the First War Zone.

However, the main force of the Second War Zone is still in the Taiyuan area, and it is difficult to rush to southern Hebei in a short time even if he is quick after receiving the order, not to mention that Yan Laoxi is now recuperating from his injuries behind closed doors, and he really does not have much passion for reinforcing the First War Zone.

As soon as the Sixth Army in the Second World War Zone arrived in Xingtai, news of the loss of Handan came from the front line.

After the Japanese army captured Handan, the momentum was greatly boosted, and more than 100,000 troops met on the front line of Handan, and then General Okamura Ninji ordered the Japanese army on the front line to continue to attack northward, and the front of the troops was directed at Xingtai and the important town of Shimen.

Although Xingtai is also an important town in southern Hebei, it is nothing compared with Shimen, in view of the strong Japanese army, Yan Laoxi immediately ordered the troops to withdraw from Xingtai, and the main force held Shimen.

However, after capturing Shimen, the Japanese army did not continue to move north, but part of the troops attacked eastward, and soon took Julu, Qinghe and other counties, so that the Japanese army completely controlled southern Hebei and northern Henan.

For the military defeat, Lao Jiang was shocked but more angry, he did not expect that the Japanese who were beaten by the Eighth Route Army and lost their armor were so powerful against his troops, and in less than a month, the entire northern Henan and most of southern Hebei were captured, which was really a shame to be thrown to his grandmother's house.

What's more, now Tianjin has become an isolated city, and once the main force of the Japanese army attacks Tianjin, this important town in North China, which is easy to return from Yan'an, will definitely not be guaranteed. After the Japanese army captured Tianjin, it could use the port of Tianjin to land troops nearby, and then copy the 37-year battle plan and counterattack back to North China.

Just thinking about it makes you feel a chill in your back, and if you don't stop it, the consequences are unimaginable.

Lao Chiang did not dare to slack off, and immediately ordered the 14th Group Army to strengthen vigilance to strictly prevent the Japanese army from raiding Tianjin, especially to be careful of attacks from the sea, after all, Tianjin is close to the sea, once the Japanese army attacks Tianjin, the first to attack must be the navy.

However, before the 14th Army could prepare its defensive plans, the Japanese surprise attack began.

What is even more unexpected is that this time, in addition to the navy and the army, Okamura Ninji also dispatched aviation and paratroopers. When the 110th Division of the Army attacked Cangzhou on the outskirts of Tianjin from Dezhou, more than 30 ships of the Third Fleet of the Japanese Navy suddenly appeared on the outskirts of Tianjin and launched an artillery attack on the port of Tianjin.

At the same time, the Japanese army also dispatched a large number of air forces to bomb Tianjin indiscriminately, without any regard for the ordinary people in the city.

In the face of the three-dimensional attack of the Japanese army on land, sea and air, the officers and men of the 14th Group Army were not afraid and resisted desperately under the command of Liu Enmao, commander-in-chief of the group army. In particular, Pei Changhui's Ninth Army, which was stationed in Cangzhou, still held its position and did not retreat in the face of the flanking attack of a reinforced division and a chariot division of the Japanese army, and in just two days, the whole army suffered more than 13,000 casualties, 24 officers above the regiment commander level were killed, and countless battalion and company commanders were killed.

But even so, the defenders still did not retreat, buying time for the group army headquarters to arrange the Tianjin defensive line.

However, in the face of absolute strength, tenacity was only a futile increase in casualties, and Cangzhou eventually fell. When the Ninth Army withdrew from Cangzhou City, less than 6,000 of the more than 20,000 people remained, including more than 2,000 wounded, and it can be said that the Ninth Army was almost disabled after this battle.

But the casualties of the Ninth Army were still valuable, and when the Ninth Army fought a bloody battle with the Japanese army in Cangzhou, Liu Enmao led the 14th Group to build a defensive line in the city of Tianjin, preparing for a decisive battle with the Japanese army in Tianjin.

Liu Enmao had no choice but to do this, and Chongqing explicitly ordered his 14th Army not to evacuate Tianjin, so Lao Chiang was worried that the situation in North China, which was easy to stabilize, would be completely wiped out because of the loss of Tianjin, and he was even more worried that the Japanese army would counterattack back to North China.

Therefore, while he explicitly ordered Liu Enmao's troops to defend Tianjin, he asked for help from Yan'an, hoping that the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army stationed in Hebei and Beiping could reinforce Tianjin.

After receiving the request of the Nationalist Government, the princes of Yan'an, who were well aware of the cold truth of their lips and teeth, immediately ordered the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army to go south to reinforce Tianjin.

But just as the Eighth Route Army was reinforcing Tianjin, Okamura Ninji also sent additional reinforcements in the direction of Tianjin, and about two divisions of Japanese troops and a field heavy artillery brigade rushed to the outskirts of Tianjin to join the 110th Division and the reorganized Third Tank Division.

At this time, the Tianjin front line was already full of troops, and the Chinese side arranged the strength of a group army here, plus the Eighth Route Army reinforced by the south, the total strength reached more than 60,000 people.

The Japanese side is also strong and strong, with three field divisions plus one tank division and one field heavy artillery brigade, in addition to a complete naval fleet on the sea, and more than 300 planes of the aviation regiment fighting with it.

For the Japanese army, it was crucial to take Tianjin. Tianjin is different from any other city in North China because it has a natural harbor that ordinary cities do not have, and it is also a very well-built seaport. As long as it was occupied, the Imperial Japanese Navy's naval ships would be able to send a large number of land forces to the area, and thus launch an attack on the nearby Hokkaido area.

It can be said that Tianjin is like Shanghai in the south of the Yangtze River, and Beiping is like Nanjing. As long as Tianjin is captured, Beiping will not be too difficult.

In addition, the defeat in the war at the end of last year made Okamura Ninji feel embarrassed, although because His Royal Highness the Prince came forward to protect him, coupled with the fact that he showed enough toughness in the final stage of the war, he would rather break the jade than surrender and moved His Majesty the Emperor, so the base camp did not hold him accountable, but reprimanded him painlessly.

But for Okamura Ninji, who has always been proud of himself, this is still a big humiliation, and he wants to regain face and use the blood of the enemy to wash away the shame and stain on his body.

It was precisely because of this psychology that Okamura Ninji asked the troops on the front line to take Tianjin at all costs to buy time for the next major counteroffensive.