"Yaga Yalu!" Terauchi Shouichi was furious when he heard this, kicked a wooden table next to him to the ground with a thunderous kick, and roared in anger: "Damn! How so? Tell me, Okabe-kun, why is this happening? Isn't the 108th Division already rushing to reinforcements? Why was it completely wiped out by the Chinese people? ”

Okabe Naosaburo looked stunned, shook his head helplessly, and said: "General, the specific battle situation is not clear, but from the farewell message sent by the 20th Division, it should be seen that the battle situation at that time was tragic. With that, Naosaburo Okabe handed a telegram in his hand to Shouichi Terauchi.

Terachi Shouyi took the telegram with a solemn expression, read it in a hurry, and suddenly became angry, tore the telegram in his hand to pieces, and roared angrily: "Baga, it's the Tiger Benjun again, and Qiao Anbang again!" ”

After Terauchi Shouichi howled wildly for a long time, Naosaburo Okabe stepped forward and persuaded in a low voice: "General, it's too late to say anything now, we should think about what to do next?!" With that, Naosaburo Okabe walked straight towards the battle map hanging on the wall.

Terauchi Shouichi seemed to be drained of strength, and sat on the chair behind him with a dejected expression, without looking at the map at all, he could also imagine that after the 108th Division and the 20th Division were wiped out, the North China Front would fall into an embarrassing dilemma.

Sure enough, Okabe Naosaburo walked to the front and back of the map, pointed to the map and said to Terauchi Shouyi: "General, the annihilation of the 108th Division and the 20th Division has directly led to the rapid shrinkage of the Imperial Army's strength in the direction of the Jinpu Line.

Xuzhou is the rear base of the main force of our front army on the front line, and if it is lost, then our contact with the divisions and regiments on the front line will be cut off, and the logistical supply lines and retreat routes of the divisions and regiments on the front line will also be cut off by the Zhina. ”

Okabe Naosaburo said a few words, but he didn't expect Terauchi Shouichi to have no reaction, as Terauchi Shouichi's chief of staff, Okabe Naosaburo has been with him for a long time, and he still knows Terauchi Shouichi very well, he knows that Terauchi Shouichi is already disheartened at this time.

The failure of the 20th Division, the 108th Division, and the last Battle of Xuzhou will eventually have to bear the consequences, and Terauchi Shouichi, as the current commander of the North China Front, naturally has an unshirkable responsibility.

If nothing else, Terauchi Shouichi should soon be transferred from the base camp to the post of commander of the North China Front, thinking of this, Okabe Naosaburo was also relieved, immediately sighed, strode towards the outside of the headquarters, the 20th Division and the 108th Division were all wiped out, it must be reported to the base camp, and Terauchi Shouichi was already in chaos at this time, he was really not suitable to serve as the commander of the front army, for the 100,000 soldiers of the front army on the front line, he must immediately ask the base camp for urgent tactical guidance.

………………………………………………

Xiangcheng, the fierce battle along the Xinbian River continues, after the whereabouts of the Yue army were exposed last night, a large-scale heavy artillery was used to suppress the defense line of the Tiger Ben Army on the south bank, because the air force of the Tiger Ben Army could not take off in the dark night, so the artillery fire of the devils could be unscrupulous and crazy shelling.

In the end, the forward troops of the 7th and 6th Divisions were forced to withdraw from the first-line positions due to excessive casualties and retreated to the second-line field defensive positions outside the city.

At the same time, Liu Ruming also ordered the two 105mm howitzer regiments directly under the 6th and 7th Divisions to carry out intensive fire coverage on the north and south banks of the Xinbian River beyond the range of the heavy artillery brigades of the Yue Army.

In the end, the first wave of the devil's attack force entered the first-line trenches of the Tiger Army, and the follow-up troops were still braving the fierce artillery fire to move to the south bank, in order to prevent the Tiger Army from counterattacking, the Devil's heavy artillery brigade also did its best to shell the area of the second line of defense of the Tiger Army, and the two sides fell into a stalemate.

To the west of Xiangcheng, the night attack of the 109th Division was also attacked by the 2nd Armored Regiment of the Tiger Army.

From midnight to more than five o'clock in the morning, the 3rd Armored Regiment of the Tiger Ben Army was chasing and killing the devil infantry who were defeated by them. In the area along the river for more than ten kilometers west of the entire county seat, the corpses of devils are everywhere, and the blood is flowing like a river.

As the sky gradually brightens, the confrontation situation in the north of Xiangcheng is about to end.

On the north bank, in a forward command post of the 5th Division of the Japanese Army.

Chief of Staff Sakurada Takeshi bitterly persuaded: "General, it's almost dawn, let's quickly withdraw the troops on the south bank, right?!" Otherwise, when the sky is dark, the plane of the Shina people will be able to take off, and then it will be too late. ”

Itahima Seishiro was angry at this time, what they didn't expect was that the roundabout attack of the 109th Division failed, and it was a complete rout, and the entire thousands of imperial troops were defeated by an armored unit of the Shina Army, and almost the whole army was annihilated, which made Itayo Seishiro's carefully prepared night attack plan a complete failure.

In fact, Itahima Seishiro's tactical thinking is still at the level of the First World War, although he has had several confrontations with the armored forces of the Tiger Army, but he has not yet fully recognized the combat effectiveness of the assault group composed of tanks and armored vehicles in modern mechanized warfare.

This is also a reasonable thing, after all, no matter how smart and prescient Itasun Seishiro is, of course, he may know that in the Second World War that broke out soon after, the German armored forces created a miracle and won one great victory after another, and Qiao Anbang knows history well and knows the power of mechanized armored forces.

Before Ban Heng Seishiro could make a decision, a communications adjutant suddenly ran in in a hurry, still holding a telegram in his hand, and suddenly retracted his feet and saluted and reported to Ita Heng Seisishiro: "Your Excellency, Division Commander, the front army headquarters is in an emergency. ”

"Huh?" Ban Heng Seishiro was stunned when he heard this, and then waved his hand and signaled: "Read! ”

The communications adjutant hurriedly responded, bowed his head and read: "The headquarters has an urgent telegram, the 20th Division and the 108th Division have been completely annihilated by the Chinese army last night, and the headquarters orders you to immediately stop the attack, shrink your forces, and retreat to Xuzhou." ”

"What? The 20th Division and the 108th Division were all wiped out? Itahima Seishiro and Sakurada Takeshi were shocked, looked at each other in shock, and said, "Is this news true?" ”

"Your Excellency General, this news is absolutely true, this is a telegram personally sent by Chief of Staff Naosaburo Okabe of the Front Army Headquarters." The Devil's Communications Staff Officer respectfully handed the telegram in his hand to Ita Heng Seishiro.

Itatsuro Seishiro took the message, glanced at it quickly, and then handed the message to Takeshi Sakurada next to him.

Sakurada Takeshi took the telegram and hurriedly read it, pondered for a moment, and immediately said to Ita Heng Seisishiro: "Your Excellency General, without further ado, let's hurry up, right?" ”

"Hmm!" Ban Heng Seishiro has also made up his mind at this time, as an excellent commander of the army, he knows that the imperial army has failed in this campaign to attack northern Anhui, and he must lead his troops to withdraw to Xuzhou as soon as possible, otherwise the consequences will be unimaginable, the current situation, a fool can think of it, once the tiger army goes north to attack Xuzhou, what does it mean to the 5th, 109th, 10th, 14th and other divisions.

Thinking of the terrifying marching speed of the Tiger Ben Army, Itayo Seishiro had a headache, and immediately said to Sakurada Takeshi: "Sakurada-kun, immediately send an order to our troops on the south bank, immediately abandon the occupied positions, and quickly withdraw to the north bank!" The whole division is ready to withdraw to Xuzhou! ”

"General, do you want to inform the other divisions?" Takeshi Sakurada asked subconsciously.

"No need, I believe that the front army command has notified them, hurry up and carry out the order." Itachi Seishiro fidgeted and waved his hand to urge.

"Hay!" Takeshi Sakurada and the devil's communication adjutant bowed their heads at the same time, and immediately turned to leave.

………………………………………………………………………………

On the dirt roads on both sides of the Suxian-Xuzhou-Jinpu railway, huge convoys are rushing north along the railway line.

Since last night after the 20th Division and the 108th Division were resolved, Qiao Anbang did not make any pause, leaving the first regiment of the Fifth Division with heavy casualties to stay in Suxian, and personally led all the first division, all the reading garrison brigades, the special operations battalion, and the first and third regiments of the armored brigade, plus the 31st Division of Chifeng City, a total of more than 30,000 people, and more than 200 military trucks along the railway line to Xuzhou.

With the 1st Armored Regiment as the vanguard and the 3rd Armored Regiment as the rearguard, Qiao Anbang led his troops to march at full speed all the way, and along the way also routed the remnants of the 108th Division that had been defeated from Suxian, and by about 5 o'clock in the morning, it had advanced nearly 100 miles.

At this point, Qiao Anbang's assault force was less than 80 kilometers away from Xuzhou, and it would take at most an hour and a half to reach the city of Xuzhou.

In an armored car, Qiao Anbang and Liang Jiahan sat side by side, through the radio, Qiao Anbang learned about the situation of Xiangcheng and the Central China army attacking Yingzhou, after a moment of silence, Qiao Anbang picked up the radio walkie-talkie and ordered the confidential officer: "Send a telegram to the 6th and 7th divisions of Xiangcheng and the 5th divisions of Boxian and Yongcheng, and order them to immediately take the initiative to attack the army in front of them, so as to contain the speed of their retreat and win time for our army's counterattack on Xuzhou!" At the same time, they sent a telegram to the 2nd and 4th Divisions of Yingzhou, ordering them to hold the Yingzhou defense line with all their might, and there must be no mistakes! ”

"Yes!" The confidential officer responded over the intercom, and then calmed down.

(To be continued)