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Chapter 1328: Blood and Fire (4)

As soon as they were shelled, the 8th and 70th Wings of the 7th Brigade and the 37th and 61st Wings of the 32nd Brigade and Regiment, which were deployed on the 10-kilometer defensive line, exploded at once, and the infantry, machine gunners, and artillerymen, as well as the officers and staff officers at all levels of the squads, squadrons, brigades, wings, and even brigades and regiments, were all stunned by the sudden shelling. Pulling his legs, he ran to the line of defense of the friendly army, carefully constructed the battle line for the afternoon afternoon, and collapsed in an instant. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

The divisions of the Anjia Army did not wait for the artillery to stop, then stepped on the landing point of the shells, launched a full-scale attack on the Japanese defense line, and when the first brigade of the *** division and the 49th brigade of the 17th division rushed to the front of the Japanese position, they found that the trench in front of them was empty except for the scattered corpses of the Japanese soldiers, and the guns and ammunition abandoned by the Japanese officers and soldiers could be seen everywhere on the ground. Launched a tail-of-the-tail pursuit against the Japanese troops. The division and the other brigades of the 17th Division followed one after another, driving the Japanese troops like ducks to the garrison of the 6th Division.

Lieutenant General Matsui, commander of the Fourth Division, was on the front line of the Longwang Temple, where the division headquarters was located, and he also felt the shelling of the earth shaking the mountains, his face was pale, and he panicked in his heart, and secretly shouted "It's over."

Since becoming the commander of the Fourth Division, Matsui has not slept well, and he has been anxious about the affairs of the division all day. For example, this time, the division was urgently transferred from Osaka to North China to participate in the war, and after the division disembarked at Qinhuangdao, it originally had to rush to the temporary station of Hancheng west of Tangshan without resting, but the strange thing was that the number of sick patients in the division and regiment had surged, and as far as the eye could see, the battalion was full of officers and soldiers who asked to stay in Qinhuangdao for various reasons to see a doctor.

Agitated Lieutenant General Matsui, in a fit of rage, personally sat in the infirmary of the division and regiment, and gathered all the wounded and sick together for a physical examination, and the results were self-evident, and the division and regiment saw that they could not dodge, so they reorganized the troops and marched to the station, and the joke that "the division commander changed his career to become a doctor" quietly circulated among the Japanese troops on the front line in eastern Hebei. However, the matter did not end, and the soldiers of the 4th Division played a new trick - passive sabotage. From Qinhuangdao to the temporary stations of the divisions, the other divisions arrived in two days, while the Fourth Division, which was closer than the other divisions, walked for six days, and a large number of personnel were left behind. Finally, the personnel were completed in the Hancheng barracks, and the division headquarters received an order from the front army headquarters to quickly rush to Baodi County to attack the squadron, and this time it was chaotic, and nearly half of the officers and soldiers asked for sick leave, and they went to the North China Hospital of the Japanese Army in Tangshan to apply for hospitalization, if it were not for Lieutenant General Matsui to personally go to the overcrowded hospital to assure the officers and soldiers that they only needed to follow the other divisions and regiments to help and help the prestige of the service, and the trip would definitely not run into the main force of the Chinese army. If it weren't for this reassurance, it is estimated that most of the Fourth Division would still be "waiting" in Hancheng at this time.

After arriving at Baodi County, the battle started as expected, and as the division commander Lieutenant General Matsui said, in the attack on the third army of Zeng Wanzhong of the squadron, Lieutenant General Gu Shoufu's sixth division was easily defeated almost in one shot, and when the team arranged the encirclement from Bangjun Town, the front army also placed the sixth division facing the east of the second army of the squadron, and I heard that under the frequent reconnaissance of the army aviation reconnaissance plane, no trace of reinforcements was found on the road from Beiping to the east. It was expected that the squadron that was stunned by the imperial *** team would not be able to send troops for the time being, and there was absolutely no possibility of a war on the Western Front, so these officers and soldiers from Osaka felt a little relieved.

In the afternoon, when the scorching sun was in the sky and the battle between the Sixth Division and the squadron was at its most intense, many officers and men of the Fourth Division began to go deep into the front line with small commodities such as sunglasses, folding fans, lighters, chewing gum, and water bottles filled with water, and peddled them to the officers and men of the Sixth Division, making a lot of money. In this regard, Lieutenant General Matsui only smiled faintly after receiving the *** from Lieutenant General Gu Toshio, the commander of the Sixth Division, and said in his heart that as long as there is no chaos, let it go. You must know that even the new commander of the North China Front, General Terauchi Shouichi, was the commander of the Fourth Division, and he had nothing to do with the officers and soldiers of the Fourth Division, although Matsui was very confident in himself, but he was not arrogant enough to think that he was better than General Terauchi Shouichi, he just wanted to be safe and sound during his term of office, and then find a position where he could give full play to his abilities like General Terauchi Shouichi.

However, no one expected that this trip, which was originally thought to be a relaxed "cheering and cheering" work, suddenly encountered a fierce attack by the squadron, and listening to the density of artillery bombardment, it was definitely the main force of the squadron that participated in the attack, and it was no wonder that Matsui, who was unprepared, was not worried about the collapse of the Fourth Division.

At this moment, on the battlefield, the commanders of the *** Division and the 17th Division of the Anjia Army drove straight in, driving the rout of the Japanese army to the station of the 6th Division, and the officers and men of the 40th Division followed behind, while paying attention to protecting the flanks of the two divisions, while seizing the time to collect the weapons and ammunition thrown by the Japanese army.

What made Yang Jiuxiao, commander of the 40th Division, overjoyed, was that the Japanese army actually threw all their machine guns and cannons to the An Jiajun - at the beginning, Yang Jiuxiao heard the urgent report of Chief of Staff Tong Zhiqiang, and he couldn't believe his ears, so he hurriedly ran to the Japanese heavy artillery position arranged by the Japanese army on the front line of Xipanzhuang Village, and found that 36 field guns and 12 120 mm howitzers were intact, and boxes of shells filled several ammunition warehouses behind the artillery position, and he couldn't help laughing.

More than that, Ni Xianrong, commander of the 118th Brigade, soon received the good news that the search team found artillery units of two brigades and regiments of the Japanese army and their subordinate wings and brigades in Xicaochang Village and Luoguzhuang Village, respectively, and obtained more than 80 mountain guns and infantry guns, in addition to more than 200 crooked machine guns and 92 style heavy machine guns, which can be described as a bumper harvest.

Now let's look at the fate of the 6th Division. Half an hour before the Fifth Army Corps of the Anjia Army launched an attack on the Japanese Fourth Division, Lieutenant General Toshio Tani, commander of the Sixth Division, had just summoned a meeting of Chief of Staff Shimono Ichiho Daisa, Commander of the 36th Brigade, Major General Ushijima Mitsuru, and the staff officers of the 1st Division.

The Sixth Division was transferred to North China as early as the beginning of the Sino-Japanese war, but it has been stationed in Tangshan, an important town in eastern Hebei. Like all the best generals, at the beginning, Gu Shoufu also disdained the squadron, believing that according to the strong combat effectiveness of the Japanese army, a brigade was enough to annihilate a division of the squadron, and the Pingjin war could be easily solved by investing only two to three divisions and several brigades, but the progress of the war greatly exceeded his expectations, and the defeats suffered by the 20th Division, the 109th Division, the Riverside Brigade and the various brigades successively made Gu Shoufu gradually pay attention to the squadron. Especially for the An Jiajun who created this series of records, Gu Shoufu is full of vigilance.

The reconnaissance plane of the army aviation found no trace of reinforcements on the road to the east, which made Gu Shoufu a little unbelievable, but then the reconnaissance plane reported that a large number of troops building fortifications were found on the west bank of the Chaobai River, and the number was estimated to be about 100,000.

"The Shina army did not go so far, Sakai-kun only sent the Okamoto United, and he blocked the attack of the legendary extremely elite 52nd Army of the Shina army, and Okamoto-kun even had the spare strength to launch counterattacks several times, causing great casualties to the Shina army. If it weren't for the order issued by the front army headquarters to hold on to the spot, Sakai-kun would have launched an attack on all fronts and drove the current enemy into the county seat of Jixian in one fell swoop. ”

Major General Ushijima, who had just spoken on the phone with Major General Tokutaro Sakai, the commander of the 11th Brigade, said with a smile, his tone full of disdain for the squadron.

The commander of the 6th Cavalry Wing Inoki who attended the meeting had a different opinion:

"The Chinese army may not be as unbearable as we see, we must realize that the front army command is unique in the selection of fighters, the continuous forced march of the Chinese army is now exhausted, I estimate that now they are not even half of their real strength. In addition, according to the urgent telegram from the front army headquarters, the 16th Division encountered stubborn resistance from the Chinese army in Yutian County, and from noon to the present, it still did not occupy Yutian County, and it was also attacked by a large number of explosives planted by the Chinese army in advance, resulting in the destruction of most of the 19th Brigade and 27 tanks of the 1st *** Brigade of armored vehicles that went to help the battle. Isn't it possible for us to pay enough attention to such a huge loss? ”

"How can the Sixteenth Division compare to our Sixth Division?" Ushijima said with some dissatisfaction: "Inoki-kun, I think you were scared out of your courage by the Shina army......

"Enough!"

Gu Shoufu raised his hand: "Between colleagues, there is no need to be so aggressive. The purpose of this meeting is to promptly review and discover the loopholes in the divisions, regiments, and front armies, and to satisfactorily realize the strategic concept before the war, and at the same time to avoid suffering unnecessary losses. Gentlemen, I have a question here, where is the Fifth Army of the Anjia Army stationed in Tongxian County? Will it sneak up on our backs and launch a surprise attack on us? ”

"It's unlikely, isn't it?"

Chief of Staff Shimono Ichihuo Dazuo said in surprise: "Today, our reconnaissance planes and fighter planes are frequently circling in the airspace from Tangshan to Tongxian. ”

The division's communications staff officer hurriedly stood up and reported the telegram he had just received: "General, General Heiyan of the 24th Division has sent a telegram that a regiment of the Manchurian Army sent to Tiejialing to build fortifications in the afternoon has lost contact for six hours, and then there has been no news of more than 10 search detachments sent by the 24th Division. ”

"Baga!"

Gu Shoufu was furious, stood up and scolded loudly: "Why didn't you tell me about such an important news earlier?" Now that it is dark, it is too late to ask the Air Force Command to send reconnaissance planes to reconnoiter at low altitudes...... Immediately inform General Matsui of the headquarters of the 6th Division......"

Before Gu Shoufu could finish speaking, the earth trembled and the deafening sound of continuous artillery bombardment came, followed by the shouts of landslides and tsunamis filled the heavens and the earth.

Gu Shoufu's face was pale, and like Lieutenant General Matsui, he secretly shouted "It's over" in his heart, and immediately issued an order to the generals who were attending the meeting to urgently mobilize all divisions and regiments and be ready to fight at any time, but will An Jiajun give the Sixth Division a chance to prepare?