Xiquan Town, the defensive position of the 2nd Division.

Division commander Cao Er, accompanied by Lin Dashan, commander of the first regiment, and others followed the traffic trench to the forward position of the first regiment.

"Master's seat." When the platoon commanders of several companies responsible for staying at the front saw Cao Er, they all turned around and saluted.

Cao Er saluted slightly and asked, "How is it, is there anything abnormal about the devil?" ”

A company commander shook his head and said, "Not for the time being, but the devil team that arrived earlier turned out to be an armored unit." ”

"Huh? Armored forces? Cao Er was slightly shocked when he heard this, he didn't know the rank of each division of the army, and he naturally didn't know anything about the ninth division having armored troops.

"Yes, there are dozens of tanks and armored vehicles." The company commander nodded in reply.

Cao Er pondered for a while, and said: "Immediately transfer the anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft guns of the third battalion of the artillery regiment, and if the devil's armored vehicles attack us, we will use anti-aircraft machine guns and 88 anti-aircraft guns against them. ”

"Yes! Several company platoon commanders replied with a bang.

Cao Er thought for a while and said, "Also, the battle defense artillery equipped with each battalion is also concentrated, and the tanks and armored vehicles are ready to deal with the devils." With anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft guns, the tanks and armored vehicles of the devils will not be able to do anything. ”

"Yes!" Several subordinates answered loudly again, and then turned around one after another to take the order.

Soon, the two tank armored brigades belonging to the 9th Cavalry Wing of the 9th Division of the Japanese Army launched an attack on the positions of a regiment on the periphery of Xiquan Town, and at the same time, its cavalry brigade made a detour in an attempt to attack the flank and rear of the defenders of Xiquan Town.

Knowing that the squadron lacked anti-tank weapons and powerful heavy equipment, the devil's tank armored troops had been arrogant for a long time, and this attack was even more arrogant.

There was not even artillery cover, and dozens of tanks and armored vehicles rumbled towards a group of positions.

When the distance was less than 500 meters, the 37 mm caliber tank guns of some ** tanks began to fire at a group of positions, and the sound of rumbling explosions suddenly sounded one after another on a group of positions.

When the devil tank soldiers were extremely proud, driving the tank to speed up and the equipment broke through the [***] position in one fell swoop, a group of flattened anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft guns suddenly appeared on the position that had been quiet, dozens of anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft guns opened fire one after another, and a powerful and dense rain of bullets suddenly enveloped the devil tank armored group.

The unprepared devil tank was unprepared, and the extremely powerful anti-aircraft armor-piercing shells and anti-aircraft machine gun shells successively penetrated the weak armor of the ** tank, and many tanks were killed on the spot.

As for the weaker armored vehicles, they were only slaughtered, and in just a few minutes, more than a dozen tanks and armored vehicles that rushed to the front were all destroyed, looking at the tanks and armored vehicles that had turned into ruins, the commander of the Devil's Ninth Cavalry Wing, Mori Yago Dazuo, was shocked and hurriedly issued a retreat order.

…………………… When the 9th Division and the 114th Division were blocked by the rescue [***], the offensive battle of the main force of the rescue [***] against Fengyang City also reached a white-hot level.

Although the mountain artillery wing of the 13th Division was killed, the 13th Division, which was still fighting in a beast, was still desperately resisting with the full reinforcement of its aviation, and the main forces of the 1st and 3rd Divisions took turns to go into battle, and failed to enter Fengyang City after several hours of fierce attack.

Fengyang Gorge, save the [***] headquarters, Qiao Anbang was smoking depressedly, his five main regiments, plus an armored brigade and two artillery regiments attacked for several hours, and they couldn't even take all the devil's peripheral positions, and the progress of this battle completely exceeded his expectations.

In fact, this is also an inevitable result, although the rescue [***] occupies an absolute advantage in terms of strength and equipment, but most of the officers and men of these five regiments are recruits who have just been trained for a few months, and they are extremely lacking in combat experience, and the first battle is to fight such a tough battle, and the opponent is the main division of one of the 17 permanent divisions of the army, and the degree of difficulty can be imagined.

Qiao Anbang did not fully consider these factors before the war, perhaps because a series of victories made him subconsciously a little arrogant and contemptuous of the army.

It's no wonder that this is no wonder, after all, Qiao Anbang is also very young, although he has been a human being for two lives, and he is careful and cautious in everything he does when he comes to this world, but if he is not a sage, who can do everything?

He ignored the shortcomings of his own troops, not to mention anything else, taking the offensive as an example, to save the predecessor of [***], there were not many Tiger Brigades, and a series of battles in the defense of Nanjing, except for the battle of Suzhou, was considered a tough battle, and all the rest were sports warfare, plus a surprise sneak attack to succeed.

The most important thing is that the Tiger Brigade received more than 2,000 veterans who were defeated from the Battle of Songhu, Zhao Gengyuan and Kong Xiangjie, which one is not an iron-blooded veteran who has survived a hundred battles, such soldiers are equipped with advanced American-style equipment, and their combat effectiveness is naturally soaring.

What's more, in the rescue of the greatly expanded army now, all officers and soldiers lack battlefield experience in attacking tough battles, and the recruits are even more afraid to death under the stubborn firepower of the devils, and this series of problems is enough to lead to the failure of the offensive.

If it weren't for the powerful artillery fire and the cover of armored troops, it is estimated that the five regiments of Qiao Anbang would have been difficult to break through even the first-line positions of the devils.

Cigarettes were smoked one after another, and Qiao Anbang didn't have any good way to follow the example of the Battle of Shanghai again and transport small groups of troops with flying machines? It's broad daylight and it's clearly not appropriate.

After frowning and pondering for a long time, Qiao Anbang said to himself: It seems that we can only wait until it is dark to send a team into Fengyang City to meet with the outside.

Just then, there was a slight sound of footsteps outside.

When Qiao Anbang looked up, Yali had already walked in lightly, still holding a piece of paper in her hand.

Seeing Yali, Qiao Anbang got up immediately and said, "Yali, what's wrong?" What's the situation? ”

Meimu looked around and made sure that Liang Jiahan was not there, so Yali looked at Qiao Anbang with resentful eyes, handed over the telegram in her hand and said softly: "The Second Division and the First Regiment of the sealed situation have successively called to report that they have exchanged fire with the reinforcements of the Yue Army, and the current battle situation is worry-free for the time being. ”

"Oh!" Qiao Anbang took the telegram, glanced at it hurriedly, and then looked up and said to Yali: "Call them back immediately, and ask them to hold on until noon tomorrow." Also, Yali, you may need to use the aircraft again at night. ”

"Hmm!" Yari nodded obediently, then turned away thoughtfully.

……………………………… In Fengyang County, the headquarters of the 13th Division of the Army.

Although the previous attack was unsuccessful, it also gave a great shock to the 13th high-level, especially the unprecedented heavy artillery fire and powerful armored tank troops, which made the commander of the 13th Division frightened the state soldiers.

In particular, the armored combat vehicle that saved [***] made him even more impressed, and the 37mm anti-aircraft guns and anti-tank guns equipped by the imperial army could not pose any threat to the huge Chinese combat vehicles at all.

In the past, the powerful armor-piercing bullets hit it like tickling it, and they could not penetrate the heavy armor of Chinese tanks at all.

The worried state soldier kept drinking a small bottle of spirits, and he was already red-faced, and said with some annoyance: "Reinforcements, where are the reinforcements of the 9th Division and the 114th Division?" Why hasn't it arrived yet?! Immediately send a telegram to Commander Yanagawa urging reinforcements to arrive as soon as possible. ”

The chief of staff next to him, Tian Yongzaburo, didn't dare to disobey, and immediately bowed his head and responded: "Hai, go and do it immediately." ”

…………………… Nanjing, the headquarters of the Central China Front.

Chief of Staff Tanabe Moritake hurriedly walked into the headquarters with a telegram in his hand, and reported to the commander Yanagawa Heisuke, who was recuperating with his eyes closed: "General, the 13th Division has sent an urgent telegram from Fengyang again asking for help, and the telegram says that they have been violently attacked by the Shina Army, and after the bloody battles of the Imperial Army, although the attack of the Shina people has been temporarily blocked, the situation has become extremely urgent, and the commander of the state division has asked the reinforcements to arrive as soon as possible. ”

"What? The 9th Division and the 114th Division have not yet arrived in Fengyang? Yanagawa Heisuke was very surprised and said, "What the hell is going on, with the speed of their march, they should have already arrived at their destination?" ”

"I don't know about this humble position, I'll send a telegram to the 9th Division and the 114th Division to inquire now." Moribuchi Tanabe.

Yanagawa Heisuke nodded approvingly, and said, "Well, in addition, I have to order Ryosuke Yoshika and Shigeji Suematsu, no matter what kind of difficulties they encounter, they must meet with the 13th Division before dark, otherwise military law will deal with it!" ”

"Hay!" Tanabe Moritake bowed his head suddenly, and then turned around with his saber on his shoulder.

………………………… Erpu Town, said to be the position of the army.

At this moment, the main forces of the 128th and 127th brigades of the Chinese army, as well as the troops directly under the division, all rushed to Erpu Town, and the strength of the 114th Division gathered in Erpu Town has reached more than 20,000 people.

In the headquarters of the 114th Division, the division commander Shigeharu Suematsu was giving a lecture to two brigade commanders, four infantry wing commanders, and two cavalry and artillery wing commanders; "Ladies and gentlemen, the 13th Division is now surrounded by the humble Chinese in Fengyang County, and the situation is very urgent, but the 13th Division is still struggling to hold on, waiting for the main force of the Zhina in the Fengyang area to be annihilated with us. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, as long as the main force of the China Army south of the Huai River can be completely annihilated, then the Imperial Army will have no opponent south of the Huai River, so I ask you to give full play to the fine tradition of the Imperial Army's heroic and good fighting, overcome difficulties, break through the blocking position of the Erpu Zhenzhi Army in one fell swoop, join the 13th Division under Fengyang City, be loyal to His Majesty the Emperor, and work hard for the common prosperity of Greater East Asia! Shigeharu Suematsu stood at the top and said with a foaming and generous statement.

As soon as his words fell, a communications staff officer hurriedly walked in, and whispered to Shigeharu Suematsu: "General, the front army headquarters is in an emergency, the 13th Division is in danger, and Commander Yanagawa orders us to speed up our advance and be sure to join the 13th Division before dark." ”

"Got it." Shigeharu Suematsu's face suddenly sank, and then he waved his hand.

After seeing the communications staff officer leave, Shigeharu Suematsu suddenly turned his head to Major General Kozaburo Akiyama, the commander of the 127th Brigade and Regiment present, and said solemnly: "Akiyama-kun! ”

"Humble duty!" Kozaburo Akiyama stood up abruptly and stepped forward in response.

"The task of attacking Erpu Town has been handed over to your 127 Brigade Regiment, and the artillery wing will cooperate with your actions, and within three hours, you must defeat the Erpu defenders and advance to Fengyang City!" Shigeharu Suematsu said with a grim expression.

"Hay! Please rest assured that the division commander will complete the task on time! Kozaburo Akiyama suddenly bowed his head confidently and replied, his two infantry wings were the main wings of the entire 114th Division, and he still had full confidence in the combat effectiveness of these two wings.

(To be continued)