At dawn on 24 February 1932, the army first concentrated nearly 150 planes from the Kwantung Army Flying Group and two newly reinforced army air brigades, and then dispatched a task force consisting of two aircraft carriers, three battleships, and other large ships into the Bohai Sea, with a total of 80 planes on the two aircraft carriers, including more than 50 combat planes, to launch an air attack on Jinzhou from the sea.

At this time, he focused on the development of battleships and heavy cruisers, and did not pay much attention to the development of aircraft carriers, and there were only three aircraft carriers in the entire book, the Fengxiang, Kaga, and Akagi, and a relatively new aircraft carrier was under construction. The transfer of two of the only three aircraft carriers to participate in the Battle of Jinzhou shows that the military department attaches great importance to this campaign.

The artillery of the three divisions of the Kwantung Army of the Chinese Army accompanied the attack, and all the guns with a caliber of 75mm or more fired a salvo regardless of attrition. In fact, the number of heavy artillery in the divisions and regiments of the army is not much, only equipped with a small number of 120mm guns, and the rest are 75mm and 105mm field guns. The real threat actually came from the sea, and warships led by battleships and heavy cruisers also used super-large caliber naval guns, including more than 400 mm, to carry out long-range artillery bombardments.

Interestingly, the Yue army believed too much in the information sent back by the Han Dynasty from Jinzhou, which led to a lot of shelling hitting some incredible abandoned buildings and field camouflage fortifications.

For a time, the entire Jinzhou land shook, and everywhere was covered by the sound of explosions, both inside and outside the city. In the sky, there were old fighters of the Chinese army that were constantly dropping bombs, and in the distance there were shells of various calibers flying in the distance. The original Zhang Xueliang garrison camp in Jinzhou City, the suspected Northeast Army barracks in the city, the Jinzhou Railway Station, and the troop assembly belt were all bombed by the Japanese army.

Naturally, the fortifications outside Jinzhou received the most important attention.

From the beginning of the 917 Incident, Zhang Xueliang was stationed in Jinzhou in November, and now at the end of February, more than three months, dense fortifications have been built outside Jinzhou.

Under the guidance and assistance of professional engineers and military personnel supported by the southwest, the Northeast Army carried forward its superiority in the sea of people and dug up heavy fortifications in the winter. Although Jinzhou was frozen in winter, under the guidance of the southwestern engineering personnel who had been prepared for a long time, the method of combining moderate excavation and watering to build fortifications, coupled with cement, the whole line of defense was not as good as the permanent port fortifications of the Russians in the Far East, but it was definitely a nightmare for the infantry.

As early as half a month ago, Zhang Xueliang ordered the people of Jinzhou to retreat to Guannei, and there were only a very few traders or rickshaw drivers in the city except for the Northeast Army. When the bombing began, the reconnaissance planes of the Northeast Army that took off from the Jinzhou airfield gave early warning. The Jinzhou defense forces, including Zhang Xueliang, quickly entered the air defense and anti-artillery fortifications.

In Jinzhou City, a specially reinforced underground command bunker.

It has to be said that Zhang Xueliang was really not good at fighting, but after learning from the pain, he chose to accept the assistance of the southwest, and let a small number of elites of the 'volunteer army' in the southwest participate in the battle plan, fortification construction, strategic analysis and formulation.

"The bombing and shelling were as fierce as Adviser Huo said. It seems that we have underestimated my determination to fight. ”

Being several meters underground, Zhang Xueliang could also feel bursts of violent shaking, and the dust on the roof shook from time to time to tell the people in the command center how violent the explosion on the ground was.

Huo Dingguo was the highest-ranking officer in the southwest to support Zhang Xueliang in the operation in terms of command and staff officers; in the southwest, he was already the commander of the main division, and he rushed to the northeast just after commanding the campaign to liberate Qiongzhou, and became Zhang Xueliang's most important 'volunteer adviser'. Of course, as soon as the battle in Jinzhou is over, no matter whether he succeeds or fails, he will return to the main force of the Southwest People's Army.

"He said that he had occupied almost the entire northeast, and he wanted to draw a successful end to the first phase of the invasion of China with his last great victory. As long as we can stop him, we should be able to buy a few years of preparation. After returning to the southwest, he entered the Huaxia Military Academy again, and quickly became the commander of the main force after graduation, as the commander of the fifth division of the main force, he is definitely one of the best senior officers of the Southwest Army's Shaozhuang faction, and one of the fastest promoted.

Of course, not only is he promoted quickly, as far as he knows, there are also his old classmates in the opposite division, serving as squadron or group leader.

Based on his understanding of the Yue Army, his study of the domestic policy of the Yue Army, and the strategic prediction made by the General Staff of the Southwest People's Army on the actions of the Yue Army in combination with various intelligences, he finally came to the conclusion that Yu himself, like China, was not ready for an all-out war, and that the two sides were gambling at this time, and if Yu himself lost, then at least the Pingjin area would be safe, and the country would win more time to prepare for the coming national war. If China loses, then the Pingjin area will fall into the hands of the Yue army, further threatening the entire North China region.

Zhang Xueliang heard a huge explosion above his head, and scolded angrily: "I said that I bullied our air force not as good as them, hmph, there will always be a day when they will be careless in Jingzhou." Advisor Huo, the sound of artillery is a little sparse, and he said that he may be about to attack, let's go up and take a look. ”

Huo Dingguo knew that Zhang Xueliang had lost a lot of planes in the northeast, and there were only about 100 planes that could be gathered near Jinzhou, and although according to the previous plan, the air force did not dispatch to meet the enemy, he originally did not have much confidence in the relatively weak air force of the Northeast Army. In addition to those lost in various parts of the northeast and burned in Shenyang, Zhang Xueliang still has about 100 planes under his command, and excluding the trainer planes, there are only about 30 fighters that can be dispatched. Moreover, these 30-odd fighters do not have airborne radios, have a small bomb load, are relatively backward, and lack long-distance combat capabilities.

By the time the group reached the ground, the whole bombardment had already passed. The small city of Jinzhou was subjected to heavy bombardment, burning fires everywhere, houses collapsed, streets were blown to shreds, but fortunately, almost no one was killed in the entire street, the residents withdrew, and the soldiers took refuge in the fortifications. With the number of people in the Northeast Army, three months was enough to dig out some strong anti-artillery and anti-aircraft fortifications.

"According to the report, the army launched a fierce attack on the No. 1, No. 2, and No. 4 positions of our first line of defense." The communications staff officer quickly informed the front of the line of fire. At this time, even in the city, heavy gunfire could be heard from the northeast, and the division launched a large-scale attack.

"The No. 1, No. 2 and No. 4 positions are all relatively open, and by choosing these breakthrough points, the army may want to break through the position with armored combat vehicles, and then the large army will follow." Huo Dingguo quickly analyzed, according to intelligence, for this attack, he deliberately transferred the only batch of tanks imported from Britain to the Jinzhou defense line, although it is still so ugly, but the power is much stronger than the previous armored car. The military information that came back later confirmed his analysis, and it was said that the army was indeed concentrating more than a dozen tanks to attack the No. 2 position.

Everyone came to the bunker outside the city, picked up the binoculars and looked into the distance, and saw that a tank of the Japanese army was about to approach the forefront position. At that moment, a shell flew out of a fortification in the position, and the tank was instantly blown into a pile of scrap metal.

"Brothers, I said I came up. Think about the massacre and ravages in Shenyang and the Northeast, and think about how they ravaged our Chinese compatriots. ”

On the forward position, a company commander of the Northeast Army was waving his arms, and his hoarse voice made him look imposing, and in the previous shelling, this company commander's arm was unfortunately hit by shell fragments.

"Well fought, the weapons in the southwest are really weapons for the war of resistance." Seeing that a tank of the Yue Army was blown into scrap metal on the spot, Zhang Xueliang couldn't help but lift his spirits, and this was the first and most effective counterattack result since the Jinzhou Campaign began.

Huo Dingguo nodded, the existence of anti-tank flat-firing guns did greatly offset the charging power of the tanks. "General, the battle has just begun. IMHO, just in case anything happens, the Warlords must be desperately blocked. ”

"Don't worry, I'll order it myself. Although I didn't want to attack my brother, I also knew that sacrifice was inevitable for the sake of winning the battle. ”

Zhang Xueliang nodded, this kind of thing is best only if he comes forward to do it in person, otherwise, in the face of the crazy attack of the Yue Army, the Northeast Army, which cannot resist and is defeated, and then faces the Inspector team, there may be a sudden change.

While the two were talking, they saw that the troops outside the defensive line in the distance had already advanced some of the offensive positions, and the light and heavy machine guns and grenadier groups were already preparing to pull out the firepower points of the Northeast Army.

"Hit!!"

At the sound of the order, the Yue Army did not rush to launch a charge, but tried to suppress the Northeast Army with heavy weapons in the forward position, and as soon as the attack began, the artillery of the Yue Army Division, which was originally busy destroying the fortifications, also launched a fire covering the forefront of the Northeast Army. There are not many large-caliber artillery pieces in the army, but when they are concentrated, the power is highlighted.

As soon as the light and heavy machine guns of the Northeast Army were fired for a while, the shooters had to retreat into the anti-artillery holes, and the power of these shells was that in addition to hiding in the anti-artillery holes, it was difficult for the soldiers to avoid a large number of casualties even if they hid in the trenches.

The artillery bombardment was too fierce. At this moment, in the distance, the plane that had returned from the first wave of bombing missions flew over again. The unscrupulous military planes actually prepared to strafe the positions of the Northeast Army at a low altitude at a dive angle.

At this moment, the antiaircraft fortifications on the position suddenly opened fire, and the antiaircraft guns brought in from the southwest, under the auspices of the southwestern 'volunteers,' almost instantaneously hit the two planes that were diving at low altitude and low speed, and the arrogance of the Japanese army was severely reduced.

"Good, good, great!!" Although he knew that the Yue army would launch a large-scale attack soon, and he didn't know if the first line of defense could be defended, Zhang Xueliang was already very happy, although these small victories seemed inconspicuous, but they had a great impact on him who was apprehensive, and strengthened his determination to resist Yue.

After seeing that the Northeast Army actually had not weak anti-aircraft firepower, the old-fashioned planes of the army no longer dared to dive and strafe at low altitudes, and dropped bombs indiscriminately, and more than a dozen planes fled. Although it was known that more planes would fly to the line of fire to bomb the army, the small number of anti-aircraft guns were hiding in the fortifications, and it was difficult for them to move freely, so they could only fight back.

From time to time, the army finally launched an attack of about a wing, and the No. 2 position became the main battleground, which was the core of the entire fortification belt outside Jinzhou, and once it quickly broke through here, the fortifications on both flanks would be useless. The division commander of the Yue Army was too anxious to seek merit, and in addition to containing the attack on the No. 1 and No. 4 positions, he launched a fierce attack on the No. 2 position with a wing as the main attacking force.

The entire frontier position of the defense line outside Jinzhou was defended by about a brigade of troops, and when the Yue army launched an attack, under the loud reprimand of the instructors and the grassroots officers of the Northeast Army, a regiment of the Northeast Army had already entered the No. 2 position from the bunker, ready to block the enemy.

"Bang, bang, bang......"

"Da Da Da ......"

"Whew...... Rumble!! ”

At this time, the heavy artillery of the Yue Army did not continue to cover the forward positions of the Northeast Army, but was accurately suppressed by the small caliber artillery such as grenadiers, mountain artillery, and mortars. The tactical literacy of the army is indeed very high, and the main divisions and regiments have completely devoid of the stupidity of charging collectively with a roar as before, but are advancing in batches and attacking in a rolling straggler line.

"General Zhang, you can order the small-caliber artillery to return fire. However, large-caliber artillery still needs to continue to be concealed and wait for fighters. Huo Dingguo saw that the time had come, and hurriedly said.

Zhang Xueliang exchanged two sentences with Rong Zhen, chief of staff of the Northeast Army beside him, and immediately ordered small-caliber artillery, including mortars and mountain artillery, to return fire.

Although the high-powered artillery of the Northeast Army was still hidden in the fortifications and deep in the woods outside the city, the Army also suffered ground losses for the first time since the start of the war.

Looking at the bombed army, Zhang Xueliang and his senior officials of the Northeast Army breathed a bad breath, if the artillery was used intensively, the army would suffer a greater loss, and maybe a wing would have to break its muscles and bones.

The army retreated like a tide, but the subsequent attack was launched again, and the attack of the three divisions and regiments would not be affected by the failure of the offensive of one wing.

It was rumored that the artillery of the Northeast Army, which had been quite strengthened, did not launch a counterattack as expected, but only some small-caliber artillery, which was not enough to threaten the overall attack of the large army.

Perhaps the artillery of the Northeast Army was lost under the bombardment of the fleet's heavy artillery or aircraft, because some carrier-based pilots reported that they had blown up several artillery pieces of the Northeast Army in the open air by themselves.

Huo Dingguo took a deep breath and knew that the next attack of the Yue army would be even more fierce. But he's done pretty much everything he can. For example, artillery was piled up with large trees and wooden wheels, and a considerable part of the antiaircraft artillery units were concentrated around the hidden artillery positions, waiting to catch fish for the Japanese army's air force, and the system of rotational warfare was implemented to ensure that the morale of the soldiers of the Northeast Army would not be frightened by the army.

And he also saw that compared with the Northeast Army, in addition to the superiority of aircraft and artillery, the tactical literacy of the soldiers was much higher, and the coordinated operations between the squads, squadrons, and even brigades were not comparable to the Northeast Army.

The only thing the Northeast Army had was only a Jinzhou fortification belt, and because of the existence of anti-aircraft guns, the tanks of the Yue Army suffered huge losses, and at the end of the day, the troops of the Northeast Army, which had already rotated three divisions, went to the first line of defense, and although the casualties were very large, they had not yet reached the point of crippling one division.

Several attacks by the Japanese army even rushed to the first line of forward positions, and if it had not been fought by the Northeast Army, which had come to support through the communication trenches and support trenches that had been set up in place, this offensive and defensive battle would have continued from the second line of defense.

On the first day of the offensive, the Northeast Army invested nearly 40,000 troops in three divisions.

The result of Zhang Xueliang's fire line supervision was that he personally ordered the supervision team to shoot two companies of deserters, shocking the spot, and at the same time taking the lead again and encouraging the soldiers to resist the army, and the whole situation gradually stabilized.

On this day, the Yue army invested a whole division, although from the point of view of the battle damage, the Northeast Army suffered more losses, but finally relied on this fortification, which took three or four months to build, to block the first day of the attack.

"Sacrifice is inevitable, and blocking the southward movement of the Yue army will buy time for the whole of China." When Huo Dingguo saw Zhang Xueliang fascinated by the preliminary casualty statistics, he shook his head slightly and sighed.

He is also very aware of his responsibilities, whether it is to persuade Zhang Xueliang with his command and combat ability, or to use arms and RMB to make Zhang Shaoshuai soft, so that Zhang Xueliang can unswervingly resist himself and achieve the best possible victory, which is his most important task.

In order to counter the raging planes of the Chinese army, the antiaircraft guns specially approved by General Zhang will bring surprises to the careless Japanese army in future operations. In order to counter the artillery of the Yue army, nearly 300 artillery pieces of 75mm caliber or above hidden in the fortifications or woods outside the city will establish a miracle after the Yue army launches a larger-scale attack.

He will make full use of the advantages of the large number of soldiers and strong fortifications in the Northeast, and here, assist Zhang Xueliang to block the army.

Jinzhou, no matter what, must block himself, not only for the sake of the Chinese, but also for Zhang Xueliang himself, and for the future of the entire nation——

(To be continued)