With the forces of the northwest, several large-scale battles were organized one after another, and the number of troops directly killed in the 29th Army and the 41st Army was as high as more than 100,000, and the number of light and serious wounded was as high as nearly 300,000. It was almost more than half of the Central Plains Field Corps at this time. And that's not counting the casualties on the Shanxi side. Retreating all the way from Pingjin, the Northwest Army was mainly defensive. This time in Anyang is not good.

In contrast, although the south side continued to fight with the Japanese army, in fact, except for a relatively large battle in Songhu, it is not an exaggeration to say that the defense of Nanjing was a rout, after all, the main layer of Nanjing at that time no longer had the confidence to fight the Japanese army in Nanjing. At this time, the forces controlled by the Central Army were quite abundant. The top brass of the Japanese army also intended to first defeat the Central Army of the Republic of China, which was relatively weak in combat strength, first open up the communication arteries of Jinpu Road, encircle and annihilate the main force of the Central Army, and then turn back to clean up the Northwest Army in Henan.

The 26th Brigade of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army attacked north along the Jinpu Road from Chuxian. The Central Army retreated to the west bank of the Chi River with a movement defense. The commander of the 26th Brigade, Numata Tokushige, led 4 infantry brigades and 2 mountain artillery brigades to cross the pond river from Meiguang. The commander of the 13th Division, Ogizhou Libing, led the main force to eat the point, and the other 65th Wing Commander Liang Jiaoye led 3 infantry brigades, accompanied by 1 mountain artillery brigade for Xiluo, starting from Quanjiao. Crossing the Chi River near Daqiao Town, passing through Dingyuan, West Thirty Lidian, Nianjiagang, and detouring to the vacant area above the northern end of Gaotang Lake, covering and preparing to respond, Numata Tokushige and the division commander were the two road leaders.

When the Japanese army forcibly crossed the Chihe River, Li Zongren urgently transferred Liu Shiyi's 31st Army from Dangshan to the south for reinforcements in order to strengthen the defense of the southern front. After the Japanese 26th Brigade captured Linhuai Pass, while the main force attacked Bengbu, it sent a brigade to force the Huai River from the Huai River to the southward protrusion under the cover of aircraft and artillery fire.

Under the fire of the artillery, the river burst into some large and small waves, lapping the riverbank. The bullets knocked some of the weeds on both sides of the river even more into a mess. First rushed to the 1st Brigade of the 138th Division of Mo Dehong, under the absolutely inferior firepower, with a bloody bravery, and the Japanese aircraft and artillery engaged in a fierce battle.

Several Japanese Type 88 light bombardments patrolled overhead, and when they seized the right opportunity, they lowered their altitude and dropped a few deadly bombs.

rumble

A mortar of the defenders, as well as a dozen shells, also exploded in the explosion of the aerial bombs. The soldiers at the center of the explosion directly turned into some minced meat, and the soldiers of the national * army around them also screamed.

"What the damn plane!" The officers below gritted their teeth and cursed, but there was nothing they could do about this behavior of the Japanese planes, although the central government, which had withdrawn to Wuhan, had purchased a lot of planes from the Soviet Union, but at this time there were too many areas that were fighting with the Japanese army, even if it was the Northwest Air Force, it could not take care of the theater, let alone the weaker Central Air Force.

"Leave these big birds alone, the devils are coming, machine guns, prepare cluster grenades! The tanks of the Japanese army are coming up, damn, these Iron Kings are so beaten by the Northwest Army in the north that they can't raise their heads, but they can show off their might in the south! ”

The officer's judgment was correct, not long after the Japanese planes flew over, the Japanese tanks drove all the way over the Huai River Bridge.

rumble

Tank guns hit sandbags, kicking up a cloud of sand. Immediately after that, the Japanese machine guns that had already stormed the bridge were strafing, and with the assistance of grenadiers, the defending positions at the front were quickly cleared. The living environment at the site is extremely harsh. The defenders on the forward positions could hardly find a single one to breathe.

Sakazai! The Japanese troops in the brigade roared and rushed up.

Da-da-da

The sound of imitation Czech machine guns was familiar to the Japanese army, but there was a tank blocking the front in front, and bullets were scattered on the armor of the tank, ding ding, Historically, the thin-skinned tanks of the Japanese army were brittle and bloodless in tank battles, and could not withstand the shelling of enemy tanks, but they were incomparable in their sharpness against the soldiers of the national * army who lacked anti-tank firepower.

In essence, this light tank, which did not encounter the firepower that threatened them, was even better than the heavy tank, which was small, light enough, fast and consumed less fuel. At the same time, fighting in the south, the requirements for roads and bridges are also lower. If you change to a battle axe tank and fight in the south, the role is not as great as that of the Avengers.

The corpses of the defenders were strewn across the position, and the Japanese tanks and artillery blasted a hole in the sandbag line.

The defending soldiers on the positions behind the assault desperately interfered with the Japanese infantry with machine rifles. The firepower of the Japanese army was even more fierce, but on the battlefield where these bullets ****, even the Japanese soldiers were extremely desperate, and after a few people were killed, a large number of others shrank behind the tank.

It was also at this time that among the corpses strewn across the ruined position, two soldiers dragging their wounded bodies suddenly got up from the ground and swooped down on the opposing tanks with cluster grenades next to them.

"Baga, hurry, hurry, kill these two Zhina troops!" The Japanese, who had a better eye, had already seen the actions of the two soldiers. Immediately screamed.

Da Da crooked the bullets from the machine gun, knocking the soldiers on one side into a sieve.

"Little devil, grandpa fought with you!" The soldier on the other side was also shot twice, and his strength quickly drained, but before he could lose consciousness, the soldier used what little strength he had left to detonate the cluster grenade.

Rumble! A huge explosion tore apart the corpses of soldiers.

"Anamesuya is above!" The Japanese drivers in the tank were praying with their eyes closed. After all, with the defense of a tank like theirs, if there is enough explosion, it can be destroyed. All they could do was pray. But what they didn't know was that fortunately this was the southern battlefield, and if it was in the north, especially in that terrible tank battle, even prayer would not work.

In fact, the Japanese army was lucky, this explosion did not directly destroy the Japanese tank, but only damaged the tank's tracks. This guy weighing six or seven tons is naturally difficult to maintain at this time, so he can only stop in place and act as a fixed fire output.

If the defenders have enough anti-aircraft guns, they can be destroyed smoothly, but unfortunately, the number of anti-aircraft guns in the Central Army is insufficient. At this time, from behind this tank, several Japanese tanks were killed again. On the bridge over the Huai River, the corpses of the defenders were strewn all over the place. And the corpses of the Japanese army were pitiful.

This is the real Sino-Japanese battlefield, under the absolute firepower inferiority, can only rely on the flesh and blood of soldiers to resist the Japanese aircraft and tanks. A brigade, defending against the bridge, was extremely difficult under the attack of a large Japanese brigade. (To be continued.) )