Since Rommel was not sending Taipei's air force to participate in the war, Zhang Jun even more unscrupulously ordered the air force and army to take turns to go into battle and train troops in actual combat, and when Rommel arrived in Shanghai with reinforcements on the sixth day, all the 15,000 Japanese troops stationed in Shanghai were killed, except for more than 2,000 people in the core fortifications. When the casualties were still equal to the Japanese, Zhang Jun commanded the troops to retreat to the three fortifications in an orderly manner when Rommel arrived with reinforcements.

If Zhang Jun does not retreat at this time, then the squadron will be completely exposed to the guns of the Japanese warships, and the 460 mm giant cannon will not be able to withstand any fortifications. said that Zhang Jun's purpose was not to fight the Japanese army in the street battle in Shanghai, which was doomed to failure.

At this point, the campaign moves to the second phase:

After the start of the war, Zhang Jun secretly sent rotating troops to take over the defense line, and at the same time strengthened the fortifications, the first line of defense was located in the Shanghai-Hangzhou area: the first position was located in Zhapu to Jiashan (Zhajia line), and the second position was located in Suzhou to Jiaxing (Sujia line). Flanking positions were also constructed in the coastal area between the two positions, which were far from the range of Japanese naval guns.

The two sides launched a brutal positional battle on the edge of the defense line in the Shanghai-Hangzhou area, Rommel continued to increase troops, the number of thin-skinned tanks of the Japanese army was scarce, and it could not form a concentrated armored assault force, and at the same time, the Japanese tanks were paper-tied in front of the 37-mm anti-tank guns, and there were also a lot of battles in the air, Zhang Jun's BF109 and JU87 raided the Japanese aircraft carrier, and achieved the result of sinking one and seriously wounding the other, but because the Japanese occupied the Shanghai airport, the air superiority was still on the Japanese side. However, the Japanese fighters still suffered heavy losses under the BF109, and the Chinese miscellaneous aircraft also suffered the same fate.

The Chinese side fought fiercely with the Japanese army in the Shanghai-Hangzhou area for a month, and the Chinese side gave heavy casualties to the Japanese army commanded by Rommel with the help of national defense fortifications, and the ace in Zhang Jun's hands was still in the rear to recuperate (including the original several German armor divisions of the Chinese side), and was not used, when Rommel increased the strength of the troops in Shanghai to about 150,000, Zhang Jun cheerfully let the first and second positions in the Shanghai-Hangzhou area retreat to the positions in the Beijing-Shanghai area: the first position is located in Wujiang County to Fushan Town, The second position zone is located on the Xicheng line from Wuxi to Jiangyin. An intermediate position is set up on the line from Guishan to Meicun between the two positions. The rear position was on the line from Shizhuang to Changzhou, and at this time it was more than a month before the start of the war.

The campaign moves into three phases:

Continue to lure the enemy deeper, using fortifications to continue to consume the Japanese army is Zhang Jun's main strategy, in the second to the defense line, Rommel brought an armored wing, wanting to use armored troops to break this positional warfare, Zhang Jun also immediately changed the strategy, let the three German armor divisions transfer their anti-tank guns to participate in the battle, Zhang Jun can take out the anti-tank guns in the defensive stage, mainly because the utilization rate of anti-tank guns in the offensive war is not very high, and now the defense is more useful, so he is willing to take it out at this time.

Rommel continued to suffer heavy losses on the second defense line, even if Rommel wanted to attack in a roundabout way, the second defense line was on the right of the Yangtze River, and on the left was Taihu Lake, so he could only push it flat. Continuing to fight for January, the Japanese army increased to 300,000, and the air force was completely at a disadvantage, at this time, the number of casualties was about 100,000, and the number of Japanese casualties was also about 80,000.

Zhang Jun asked the troops to continue to retreat to the positions in the Nanjing area: the main positions were arranged on the lines of Longtan, Qixiashan, Qinglongshan, Cangbomen, Dashengguan, Shangxinhe, Xiaguan, and Yanziji, forming a closed circular position. At the same time, a large number of troops were allowed to enter the two cities of Wuxi and Jiangyin.

Wuxi and Jiangyin are like two pincers pinching on the offensive line of the Japanese army, the distance from Wuxi to Jiangyin is more than 100 kilometers, if the Japanese army continues to attack, it is very likely to be cut off by the ** of these two places, and the public opinion in Japan does not allow it, the capital of the Chinese is in front of us, how can Japan give up.

Rommel was embarrassed, Rommel knew that Zhang Jun still had ace troops in his hands, especially the German armored division, and Rommel knew that power, but the more than 300 kilometers from Wuxi to Nanjing was a plain, and there were no lakes and rivers, which was very conducive to the attack of the armored group.

According to Rommel's wishes, it is absolutely necessary to attack Wuxi and Jiangyin first, and the city street battles will always be the nightmare of the attacking side.

Rommel took the approach of besieging these two cities with 100,000 Japanese troops, and approached Nanjing with 200,000 Japanese troops, and when the Japanese army approached Nanjing, Zhang Jun ordered all the remaining planes to protect the bombers and attack the Japanese airfield at night. The Japanese airfield was completely paralyzed, unable to take off and land fighters, and the Japanese army lost air superiority, and the Chinese Air Force would bomb the airfield every day to prevent the Japanese army from repairing it, so as to win air supremacy for the counterattack troops, and the Japanese army suffered a loss at an airfield in Shanghai.

Zhang Jun's counterattack officially began, five German infantry divisions and one armored division, crushed the Japanese army that rushed to the city of Nanjing, 200,000 Japanese troops did not even have a chance to escape, they were completely annihilated, besieged Wuxi, Jiangyin Japanese troops hurriedly retreated to Shanghai, back to the distance of naval artillery support.

At this point, the battle flag deduction ended, the dining room resounded with thunderous applause, Zhang Jun achieved a perfect victory, Rommel was a complete failure, this deduction, so that Rommel's tactical thinking has been greatly improved, this will be his lifelong wealth, the later French campaign is and Zhang Jun formulated a strategy to bypass the solid defense and go straight behind the enemy.

Zhang Jun and the others arrived at the Xiaguan Wharf in Nanjing on 15 February 1937, and as for the transportation and storage of equipment and materials, of course, there were special personnel sent by Chiang Kai-shek to be in charge, and of course Zhang Jun still dispatched hundreds of German instructors to be responsible for statistical supervision to prevent anyone from reselling their own arms and materials, and Zhang Jun even had the power to shoot those who stole and embezzled these materials.

Zhang Jun met Chiang Kai-shek at the presidential palace, and on the way to the palace, Zhang Jun contacted Chiang Kai-shek by telegram, and both sides thought that they could reorganize a German armored corps, the unit number 74 Army, under the jurisdiction of two German armored infantry divisions, an armored division and a flying regiment, and the troops numbered 51st Division, 57th Division and 58th Division, which was equivalent to a composite army with more than 50,000 people.

"Hello Chairman."

"Head Zhang, you seat, you seat, we are still Zhejiang fellow villagers! Your parents and I also have a lot of friendship, and our ** equipment is also provided by your parents, your Zhang family has merit in the country, and it has merit in the country! ”

"Thank you for the chairman's praise, this is what our family should do, and it is the responsibility of the country to prosper."

"Okay, heroes come out of youth, I have already mobilized the 74th Army you need to the colonel, where are you to reorganize the troops, you need a year's command of the problem, I still trust you, a fellow, so I now appoint you as the commander of the 74th Army of German Armament for a term of one year, and you have the right to designate the battle plan alone."

"Thank you Chairman for your trust, Zhang Jun swears here that he will not disappoint the elders in his hometown."

……

Chiang Kai-shek and Zhang Jun's parents have a lot of management, they are fellow villagers in Zhejiang, and Chiang Kai-shek's trust in Jiangsu and Zhejiang people is very deep, which means that Chiang Kai-shek's hometown complex is very heavy. Therefore, Zhang Jun easily got the command of the 74th Army for one year. Historically, Chiang Kai-shek was also very kind to the generals of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Now the time is pressing, Zhang Jun must seize every minute, the most gratifying thing is that the 74th Army was originally the elite of the Central Army, and the training in peacetime is also very strict, the basic queue, internal affairs and other inconsequential training do not need to be retrained, Zhang Jun's main goal of training now is to make every soldier proficient in mastering the weapons in his hands, the official rifle is an imitation of the Mauser gun, this is not a problem, the difficulty is the training of the armored division.

All the original ** commanders have been transferred to the first deputy commanders, and they will continue to serve in their original positions after one year, and the same is true for those who have been promoted due to merit. At this time, Zhang Lingpu was serving as a colonel in the 51st Division, and all the uniforms of the 74th Army were completely the uniforms of the German SS, which was indeed very beautiful and mighty, but the skull logo was replaced with the blue sky and white sun emblem, this time Zhang Jun issued two sets per person, and the military rank was also the rank of the SS, but there was no first-level assault squadron leader, and the title within the third-level assault group leader was directly called second lieutenant and colonel.

Now the entire 74th Army is a little strange that a group of low-ranking Germans command Chinese at the level of generals, but no Chinese is not convinced, and the quality of German instructors makes every Chinese soldier admire in his heart. Every Chinese soldier is full of German goods, except for underwear, from weapons to clothes, to shoes and socks, all of them are German SS equipment.

Establishment of the 74th Army:

Commander: Colonel Zhang Jun, Deputy Commander: Yu Jishi, Shi Zhongzhong

Chief of Staff: Qiu Qingquan, Staff Corps: Dozens of German professional staff officers.

51st Division Commander: Paul Hausser, Deputy Division Commander: Feng Shengfa (Infantry Division)

Commander of the 57th Division: Theodore Ike Deputy Commander: Zhang Lingpu (Infantry Division)

Commander of the 58th Division: Rommel Deputy Division Commander: Wang Yaowu (Armored Division)

Flight Regiment Leader: Erich Hartmann, Deputy Regimental Commander: Gao Zhihang

Zhang Jun presided over the personnel appointments, supervised the distribution of all equipment to each soldier, and at the same time formed a battalion of military police. Schellenberg is the captain of the gendarmerie, and he specializes in enforcing discipline, and whoever commits a crime in the hands of Slenberg should ask for more blessings.

After arranging everything, Zhang Jun left the training of the troops to the division commanders, all of whom were world-famous in the history of later generations, and Zhang Jun believed that they could train themselves an invincible army, an iron-blooded army. Zhang Jun did not lead the troops to train, but took people to inspect the national defense fortifications.

When the Songhu battlefield collapsed, the first comprehensive rout, the casualties reached 50 percent of the troops, how can they have the confidence to continue to hold on, the rout is inevitable, in order to find an excuse, made up the most funny and crappy lie in the world, "There is no key to fortifications." "We have to remember what the quality of the lock was at that time, not even a bullet lock, a crowbar solves the problem, a grenade is a big deal, it is really impossible to hold, the battle of Songhu Chiang Kai-shek mobilized 750,000 people, 330,000 casualties, plus the fugitive, all the troops were reduced to 60 percent, it is already a mountain of defeat, and it is not surprising that the defense line is abandoned.