In mid-May, dozens of war horses appeared on the road to Shangrao. The rice fields on the side of the road are growing happily, and the heavy ears of rice herald the arrival of the sickle time. Soon after the end of the military meeting, He Long, the newly appointed commander of the 2nd Corps, Teng Daiyuan, political commissar, and Zuo Quan, chief of staff, quickly returned to the headquarters of the Shangrao Corps and formulated an operational plan for the troops to leave Hangzhou in accordance with the deployment of the Central Military Commission.

At the beginning of the year, according to the new deployment of the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, the headquarters of the 2nd Corps was relocated from Jingdezhen to Shangrao, with the purpose of sending troops out of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The first-line defense of Jingdezhen was taken over by the 5th Army of the 3rd Corps, and after He Long was appointed commander of the 3rd Corps, Xiao Ke was appointed chief of staff of the 3rd Corps and concurrently served as the commander of the 5th Corps. This time, in order to cooperate with the Battle of Hangzhou, the 3rd Corps wanted to shell the Japanese defense line in Jiujiang and make a feint attack on Anhui from the direction of Jingdezhen to attract the attention of the Japanese army.

Dozens of war horses approached Shangrao, and at this time at the south gate of Shangrao, Xiao Feng, the commander of the 3rd Army, and Song Renqiang, the commander of the 4th Army, greeted and waited. The atmosphere of the meeting between the two sides was warm, and the political commissar Teng Daiyuan introduced He Long to everyone, and He Long shook hands and greeted everyone one by one. Due to the fatigue of the journey that day, and He Long wanted to understand the familiar situation, he did not immediately convene a military meeting. At present, the generals and officers of the 2nd Corps at and above the division level have gathered in Shangrao, and the pre-war preparations have begun ahead of schedule.

The next day, a military meeting was held at the Corps Headquarters. The generals attending the military meeting as observers include all generals and officers above the 4th Army and the 5th Army Division of the Corps. In addition, including generals and officers of the 1st Artillery Division and above. This unit joined the 2nd Corps to fight, and naturally it was among them. At present, the artillery units of the Eighth Route Army have formed an independent combat unit, which is directly under the direct command of the General Headquarters. After the reorganization of the artillery units of each corps, all of them were separated from the corps sequence, and four artillery divisions were formed, namely the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th artillery divisions.

Facing the generals, He Long said with a solemn expression: "Comrades, in order to cooperate with the national anti-Japanese battlefield, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army has formulated a large-scale campaign on the north and south fronts. The task of our corps is to go out of Jiangsu and Zhejiang to take Hangzhou, and to connect with the base areas in southern Zhejiang, so as to pose a threat to the Songhu area and create conditions for a counteroffensive in the Songhu area in the future. ”

"According to the judgment of the headquarters on various battlefields across the country, the Japanese army will not defend in Hangzhou, which is a chicken rib for the Japanese army, and it is a pity to abandon it and lose its taste. At present, the Japanese army has limited strength, and the defensive forces on the front line of Hangzhou are gradually shrinking. The headquarters believed that the time was ripe and had the conditions to take Hangzhou. Next, I would like to ask the chief of staff of Zuo Quan to make a comprehensive analysis and report on the enemy's situation, and explain the deployment of our troops. Chief of Staff Zuo Quan picked up the baton and walked to the front of the military map.

"At present, we know that the Japanese army formed the 13th Army for the safety of the Nanjing and Songhu areas. The 13th Army has six divisions and five mixed brigades, with its headquarters in Shanghai, and is mainly responsible for the defense of Nanjing and Songhu. Up to now, the Wang puppet government has received 7 divisions and 1 brigade of the puppet appeasement army in the early days. At the beginning of this year, seven brigades and one regiment of the Imperial Allied Army, which was formed by the Japanese army's advisory group, were handed over to Wang's puppet government. The puppet army units are untidy in personnel, extremely poorly equipped, have low morale, lack discipline, and negligible combat effectiveness. ”

"According to the information we have, the 13th Army of the Japanese Army is under the jurisdiction of: the 15th, 17th, 22nd, 116th, 60th, and 61st Divisions of the Japanese Army, of which the 60th and 61st Divisions are Class B divisions. The number of the independent mixed brigade of the Japanese army is: the 11th, 12th, 13th, 17th, and 20th brigades, including 4 air wings at Shanghai and Nanjing airports, with a total strength of 300,000 Japanese troops and 60,000 puppet troops. According to the adjustment of the Japanese army's strategy, it was learned that the center of the Japanese army began to move northward, and the Japanese army in the Songhu area entered the stage of comprehensive defense. ”

"On the surface, the Japanese army is strong, but in fact, we know that the 60th Division of the Japanese Army, including the 11th and 12th mixed brigades, is stationed in Shanghai. The Japanese 15th Division, including the 13th Mixed Brigade, was stationed in Nanjing. The 17th Division of the Japanese Army held the banks of the Jiujiang River, and the 22nd and 61st Divisions of the Japanese Army were stationed in southern Anhui. The strength of the first line of Hangzhou is only the 116th Division, including the 17th and 20th mixed brigades, and the total strength of the Japanese army on this line is 35,000 people. There are also three divisions of the puppet army on this line, with a total strength of 20,000 troops. ”

Chief of Staff Zuo Quan continued: "At present, the situation of our corps is like this, although the 3rd Army and the 4th Army still retain the establishment of three divisions in each corps, each division has been expanded into four brigades, each division has a strength of 20,000 people, and the field strength of the corps has reached 120,000. This time, the headquarters requisitioned the 1st Artillery Division, and the Air Defense Regiment of the 3rd Corps participated in the battle, and together with the cavalry brigade and directly subordinate units of the Corps, the total strength of the Corps reached 140,000. The 5th Army of the Third Corps pinned down the Japanese army in the direction of Anhui and cooperated with the operation to prevent the Japanese army from increasing troops to the front line of Hangzhou. ”

"At present, the Japanese army is deployed on the front line in Hangzhou: the 116th Division is located in Hangzhou City, the 17th Brigade of the Japanese Army is located on the Lin'an and Fuyang lines, and the 20th Mixed Brigade of the Japanese Army is located on the Shaoxing line. The 4th Division of Wang's puppet 2nd Army was stationed in Jiande, the 5th Division was stationed in Jinhua, and the 6th Division was stationed in Ningbo. In this Hangzhou campaign, the 4th and 5th divisions of Wang Puppet were first eaten, and the headquarters demanded the total annihilation of these two puppet army divisions, the purpose of which was to combat the arrogance of traitors and traitors. ”

Zuo Quan continued: "Our troop deployment is as follows: The artillery division heavy artillery brigade, the 2nd Mountain Artillery Regiment, and the air defense regiment are attached to the 3rd Army to fight. It belongs to the 3rd Mountain Artillery Regiment of the Artillery Division, and the cavalry brigade of the Corps is assigned to the 4th Army to fight. The 3rd Army advanced to Hangzhou in the direction of Jiande, and the 4th Army attacked Jinhua, Dongyang, and Xinchang to the east, and then waved its troops north to Shaoxing. Our campaign was divided into three phases: in the first stage, the 3rd Army must eat Jiande's puppet 4th Division, capture Jiande and take Tonglu at the same time. ”

"The 4th Army ate Jinhua's puppet 5th Division, and while occupying Jinhua, it captured Dongyang and Xinchang respectively. Phase 2: The 3rd Army conquered Lin'an and Fuyang, and outflanked Hangzhou from the west and northwest. The 4th Army conquered Shaoxing and Xiaoshan. In the third stage, after clearing the outer defense line of the Japanese army, the 3rd and 4th armies will attack Hangzhou. As for the puppet 6th Division in Ningbo, we will not consider it for the time being, as long as we achieve the operational objective of the first phase, the puppet 6th Division in Ningbo will be exposed to the enemy on its back and will have to flee from the sea. ”

After Chief of Staff Zuo Quan finished explaining, Commander He Long stood up and said: "This time, the 3rd Corps launched a feint attack to cooperate with us in the battle, with the purpose of confusing the Japanese army. At that time, the 2nd Artillery Division shelled the Japanese army in Jiujiang and put on a posture of attacking Jiujiang to contain the Japanese army in Nanjing. The 3rd Corps and the 5th Corps went out of Anhui to take Huangshan in one go, so that the Japanese army would think that we were attacking north in Anhui and threatening Nanjing. The concealment of this Hangzhou campaign is very important, and the key to how to achieve the goal of the first phase of the campaign is whether it can eat the two divisions of the puppet army cleanly and thoroughly. ”

"How to ensure that the two divisions of the puppet army are eaten, first of all, we must not let the enemy know our intentions and take the enemy by surprise." Political Commissar Teng Daiyuan stood up and said: "Comrades, this is the first counterattack operation of our Eighth Route Army, and the Military Commission has given us great hopes. Xiao Feng and Song Renqiang, do you have confidence? "Please tell the headquarters and resolutely complete the task!" After the military meeting, the battle plan is reported to the headquarters.

On the evening after the military meeting, Xiao Feng and Song Renqiao had a drink together. Tomorrow they will return to their respective units to make pre-battle preparations and draw up their battle plans. The war is about to start, and Xiao Feng and Song Renqiao are very excited. "Brother Xiao, since the end of the Battle of Jiangxi, we have been fighting a little bit, and finally it is our turn to do a good job. When the officers and men of the unit heard that a big battle was going to be fought, their morale was unprecedentedly high! Song Ren's face was red and elated.

Xiao Feng still looked very calm and said: "I don't worry about eating the puppet army this time, the key is to face the Japanese army in the second stage." I don't know what the Japanese army's ability to attack is in my heart, and in fact, the headquarters is not sure. Don't rejoice too soon, a bad battle is inevitable. "Brother Xiao, from defense to offense, we must be tested, in fact, the headquarters is for this purpose. We have offensive capabilities against the Japanese army, and I am ready to fight a vicious war! ”

"Brother Song, after the completion of the first-order combat mission, we must maintain close contact and often ventilate and transfer experience." "What is the relationship between our brothers, you can rest assured!" Early the next morning, Xiao Feng said goodbye to Song Ren and went to their respective troops. When the two of them were standing on the road ** talking, there was a neighing of horses on the west side of the avenue, and a troop appeared on the road in the distance. "Brother Xiao, it's the artillery division that has come up! Look at the three-horse horse is a 105-mm gun! ”

Xiao Feng didn't say a word, silently watching the artillery team in the distance. The artillery team drove majestically, and the mighty cannons passed in front of them, and the artillerymen on the artillery carriages were somewhat arrogant, and their faces showed proud expressions. "Brother Xiao, the heavy artillery brigade is equipped with 24 heavy guns, it's too shocking!" "The past is really unbearable, we now have 4 artillery divisions." Xiao Feng sighed. "Look, the mountain artillery regiment is coming up!" Song Renqiao couldn't help but make noise.

Looking at the smoke and dust raised by the artillery team in the distance, Xiao Feng still said unsatisfactorily: "Brother Song, when I was in Jiujiang, I captured a 60 artillery piece for the first time, and I couldn't sleep for several days when I was excited. At that time, Chief of Staff Ouyang said that we must build a powerful artillery force, and now that I think about it, it seems to be a dream! "Look, another troop has come up. If I'm not mistaken, it must be the arrival of the Air Defense Regiment of the 3rd Corps! Song Renqiao became excited again. It was the first time you and I saw the air defense regiment, it was really an eye-opener, and our brothers were lucky・・・・・ ”