[Anti-Japanese Iron Blood King] Chapter 683: The Erosive Battle Situation (Ask for Subscription!) , ask for a monthly pass, ask for everything! ）

The swiftness of the Japanese army's advance and the sharpness of its attack far exceeded the expectations of both the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, especially the expectations of the top leaders of the First Theater. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

At this time, Lao Jiang, who was passive, on the one hand, mobilized troops to reinforce Zhongtiao Mountain, and on the other hand, he called Yan'an to ask the Eighth Route Army to cooperate in the operation to solve the danger of Zhongtiao Mountain.

After receiving the telegram from Chongqing, the princes of Yan'an suddenly fell into a dilemma. It is nothing to cooperate with the first operation, but now the area of operation is in the southwest of Shanxi, and this was originally the core ruling area of the Second World War Zone, and the Eighth Route Army did not have troops here, not even guerrilla troops, so rashly going south to fight may not only give the Japanese army at the rear of the battlefield a chance, but also put the troops in a dangerous situation.

Therefore, this telegram from the Nationalist Government made Yan'an very passive, agreeing that it might cause irreparable losses, and even the main force would be consumed. However, if it refuses to send troops, it will be tantamount to giving the Nationalist government an excuse and a handle to attack, which will cause political passivity, so Yan'an has a lot of doubts.

In the past few days, the princes of Yan'an have been holding meetings to discuss, but they have not been able to give a clear answer to the national government, which has also changed the direction of public opinion in the outside world.

However, at this time, an urgent battle report came again from the direction of Zhongtiao Mountain, and this time it was the northern front position that was in danger, which was the junction of Zeng Wanzhong's 5th Army and Liu Maoen's 14th Group Army, and the Japanese army's strategic intention was to quickly capture Heng (Hengling Pass) Yuan (Yuanqu) Avenue, take Yuanqu County, and divide and encircle the two group armies of the defenders, and annihilate each of them.

Therefore, at the beginning of the battle, the Japanese army attacked both sides of Hengyuan Avenue with heavy troops, and Zhao Shiling's 43rd Army stationed on the northeast side of Hengling Pass and Gao Guizi's 17th Army on the southwest side suffered heavy Japanese attacks at the same time.

Fierce fighting until dawn on the 8th, the 43rd Army's eighteen-ping position was broken through, and the blockade was ineffective. Army commander Zhao Shiling ordered to abandon the position and withdraw to the front line of Wangxianzhuang. Although the 17th Army relied on fortifications and favorable terrain to put up a relatively effective resistance, it was finally forced to withdraw from the defensive line because the left and right flanks were broken through by the enemy.

After breaking through the defenders' defense line in one fell swoop, the Japanese army immediately divided into two routes, all the way along the Sangchi, Jiajiashan, and Ducun rivers. All the way along the Boqing River to the south, through Gaoluo, Changzhi, Wangmao, straight to take Yuanqu County. Most importantly, the Japanese army, with the cooperation of paratrooper units, occupied the county town of Yuanqu on the bank of the Yellow River, cutting off the connection with the south bank of the Yellow River. The Japanese army achieved the plan for a breakthrough in the middle, and the Chinese army was divided into two halves.

Soon, the inner encirclement of the Japanese army was completely formed, and the supply lines and retreat routes along the Yellow River of the defenders of Zhongtiao Mountain were all cut off.

In view of the fact that the main ferries between Jiyuan and Yuanqu were gradually blockaded by the enemy and the entire supply line of the 14th Group was interrupted, the 1st Theater Command ordered the main force of the 14th Group Army west of Yangcheng to quickly move to the north of the Qinyi Highway and strike at the enemy's flank by means of a gyratory drilling tactic.

At the same time, in view of the fact that the 10th Division and the 98th Army were also broken through by about 2,000 enemies. At this time, the 14th Army was worried about being attacked on three sides, so the First Theater Command ordered all units of the 14th Army to retreat north in the guerrilla breakout.

It is said that Liu Maoen's 14th Group Army was originally the main force of the Second Theater, and after being transferred to the command of the First Theater, it was also the main force of the theater.

At the beginning of the operation, the 14th Army mainly dealt with the enemy's 35th and 21st divisions in the south. The main task of these two divisions was to capture Mengxian and Jiyuan counties, as well as Wangwu Town and Shaoyuan Town to the west, in order to achieve the purpose of blockade, but did not attack the center, so the 14th Group Army began to use the 15th Army and the 98th Army in the Xiachuan area south of Qinshui County to besiege the enemy's 33rd Division in the area northwest of Henghe Town.

When the 33rd Division attacked the center and the situation of Zeng Wanzhong's 5th Army in the west was unclear, Wei Lihuang instructed the main force of the 14th Army to move north of the Qinshui and Yicheng roads, replenish supplies on the spot, and reorganize the situation. According to this, the 14th Group Army ordered the 43rd Army to deploy at Tongshan east of Yuanqu to the east and west line of Lingguan Temple. The 15th Army deployed at Tongshan to the north to Shunwangping to stop the enemy's 16th Brigade and 21st Division on the south road and the enemy's 42nd Division on the west road. He also ordered the 93rd Army in Wangbi Town, northeast of Qinshui, to attack the enemy in Qinshui in order to meet the northward retreat of the main force of the group army.

The enemy's 35th and 21st Divisions, which were now stationed on the Jiyuan-Shaoyuan Highway in the south, began to make a lateral attack along the highway to the north, flanking the 14th Army with the enemy's 33rd Division in Yangcheng.

The rapid deterioration of the battle situation in Zhongtiao Mountain not only aroused the great attention of both the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, but also attracted the attention of Ma Zheng, who was in the Yimeng Mountains. Regarding the Japanese attack on Zhongtiao Mountain, Ma Zheng originally did not pay attention to it, because in history, the Japanese army launched 11 large-scale offensive operations in the three years from 38 to 41, but the results were the same, all of them were defeated by the defenders.

Only in May 1941 was the offensive that made a major breakthrough, not only taking the strategic point of Zhongtiao Mountain in one fell swoop, but also annihilating a large number of Chinese defenders, with a brilliant record.

Now the time is only at the end of 39 years, so Ma Zheng did not expect that the Japanese army would make such a big breakthrough in this attack, so he was careless at the beginning.

Now, according to various information from the front, Ma Zheng quickly realized that the Japanese army's attack was exactly the same as the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain in 1941 in history, and even the deployment of troops was the same, the same 100,000 troops commanded by Tada Jun against He Yingqin and Wei Lihuang's first theater, Tang Huaiyuan and General Wu Shimin were also killed on the battlefield.

Moreover, Ma Zheng also knew that if reinforcements were not carried out in the first theater at this time, the consequences would be even more serious. After the Japanese army completed the breakthrough of all the defensive positions in the Zhongtiao Mountain area, especially after occupying Yuanqu, Jiyuan, Mengxian, Pinglu and other county towns and related pass strongholds, blocking the ferries on the north bank of the Yellow River, and completing the double encirclement of the inner and outer sides of the ****, they immediately moved to the positions of the Chinese defenders on several routes for repeated sweeps.

On the Western Front, for example, the Japanese corps turned north side by side after breaking through their positions, and then turned to the Yellow River line again, and so on again and again until the end of the campaign. During such repeated sweeps, a large number of Chinese defenders were annihilated.

More importantly, Zhongtiao Mountain, the geographical location of Zhongtiao Mountain is too important, here from Jinnan Yongji and Shaanxi in the west, east to Jiyuan in northern Henan, Meng County and Taihang Mountain are connected, north of Yuncheng Basin, known as the granary of Shanxi, south of the rolling Yellow River. The territory is vertical and horizontal, the mountains are undulating, the passes are overlapping, and the mineral deposits are abundant. Zhongtiao Mountain, and Taihang, Luliang, Taiyue three mountains are each other's horns, the strategic position is very important.

After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, with the successive loss of the main passes in Shanxi, the strategic position of Zhongtiao Mountain became more and more important. As far as the Chinese side is concerned, occupying it can be used as a base to overlook northern Henan and southern Jin, and shield Luoyang and Tongguan. It can disrupt behind enemy lines and contain Japanese troops; Retreat can be defended by danger, actively defend, and cooperate with the entire anti-Japanese battlefield.

As far as the Japanese side is concerned, it will occupy an important "bridgehead" for the southward invasion and northward invasion, and it will be able to cross the river to the south, ask for the Longhai Sea, and invade the Central Plains. It can also go north to connect with its main occupation areas in Shanxi, relieve the trouble of henchmen, and improve the law and order situation in the occupied areas of North China. Therefore, the Zhongtiao Mountain area is regarded as an important place related to the safety of the country during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

Now this "important place related to the security of the country" is about to be occupied by the Japanese army, which is not a good thing for either the Nationalist Government or the Eighth Route Army. In particular, Ma Zheng knows very well that now the main force of the Japanese army is dealing with the *** troops in Zhongtiao Mountain, once they come back, the first thing to deal with is the Eighth Route Army in southern Hebei and Luxi, so at this time it is necessary to reinforce Zhongtiao Mountain, otherwise the consequences will be very serious. (To be continued.) )