Chapter 1060: The war is deadlocked

At the same time that the attack of the third division on the Weifang side was frustrated and the battle fell into a stalemate, in the direction of Linyi, Ma Biao's 2nd Division was advancing all the way, and soon captured several important towns and strongholds of the Japanese army north of Linyi, and the troops were directed at Linyi City.

At this time, the Japanese army deployed more than 30,000 Japanese puppet troops inside and outside Linyi City, and the main defense line was established by relying on the Shuhe River and Yishui River in Linyi and the surrounding mountains.

It has to be said that the complex landscape and geographical environment of Linyi have brought great inconvenience to the mechanized corps of the 2nd Division, especially the tanks and armored vehicles and the trucks transported by the baggage troops, which often move slowly because the roads are not smooth, so that the marching speed is even inferior to the heavily armed infantry.

However, this also invisibly increased the difficulty of Ishihara Waner's ambush of the 2nd Division's tank regiment and tank armored brigade, because of the lag of the tank armored corps, Ishihara Waner had to repeatedly order the Japanese army on the front line to let go of the periphery and take the initiative to retreat, so that the Japanese army's middle defense line was lost one after another, and the 2nd Division took the opportunity to attack Linyi City, and the situation seemed to be more and more unfavorable for the Japanese army.

However, what neither the 2nd Division nor the Tank Armored Brigade knew was that the 50,000 Japanese Army had quietly arrived at the Linyi battlefield last night, and began to deploy ambush positions in an area called Wild Wolf Valley south of Linyi.

Wild Wolf Valley is the only way from Linyi to Xuzhou and other places, so Ishihara Waner chose the ambush location here, but for Ishihara Waner was thinking hard about how to lure the armored corps of the Dragon's Tooth Column with some senior staff officers at this time.

Ishihara was set up in the temporary headquarters of the Wild Wolf Valley.

"Your Excellency General, now the infantry of the Chinese Army has entered the northern suburbs of Linyi, and before evening, the Imperial Army launched a tentative attack on the defensive position in the north of Linyi, maybe there will be a night attack tonight." A Japanese staff officer with the rank of Nakasa on his shoulders briefed Ishihara and the other devil officers present in front of the map.

"What about the tank armored corps of the Chinese army? Where are we now? Ishihara asked.

"It's still behind, at least a hundred miles away from Linyi, and if it goes well, it won't be until tomorrow." The devil counseled.

Ishihara Wan'er muttered: "In other words, we can't abandon Linyi now, otherwise we won't be able to achieve the strategic goal of ambushing the armored corps of the China Army?" ”

"Yes." The devil's staff officer bowed his head slightly, and suggested: "It is suggested that the defenders of Linyi should continue to hold on for at least three days, wait for the armored corps of the Chinese army to arrive, and enter the battle, and then feign defeat and be forced to abandon Linyi, and then the Chinese army will inevitably send its armored corps to pursue, at that time, the imperial army can combine with the sea-based aviation to ambush the tanks and armored vehicles of the Chinese people, and strive to annihilate them in the Wild Wolf Valley.

Then, the imperial army invested 50,000 newly formed troops to carry out a large-scale counteroffensive, recapturing Linyi in one fell swoop, and even recapturing the towns and strongholds captured by the Chinese army in the past few days. ”

Ishihara Wan'er nodded, and said in deep agreement: "Yo Xi, it is exactly what I want, order the Linyi garrison troops, strictly defend to the death, and must hold on for three days, and wait for my order to retreat!" ”

…………

In the north of Linyi City, in a small forest growing at the foot of the mountain, a military tent stands prominently, and around it, within a radius of several miles, there are burly guards with loaded guns and live ammunition patrolling with guns.

That's right, this is the former enemy headquarters that Ma Biao and the others have just established.

Because the mechanized corps such as the tank armored brigade and the tank regiment of the division headquarters had not yet arrived, and Ma Biao and Zhou Dasheng also arrived on horseback, they were now hesitating whether to launch a formal attack with infantry without waiting for the arrival of the artillery regiment and the armored corps.

In line with the principle of the speed of the soldiers, Ma Biao understood that they should launch an attack immediately, otherwise the longer they delayed, the more unfavorable it would be for their own side. However, at present, the heavy weapons and tank armored corps of the troops have not been able to arrive because of the rugged roads and the destruction of the Japanese troops along the way, and it may be difficult for the infantry alone to break through the Japanese defense line, and even if there is a breakthrough, the casualties will be not small.

Moreover, Ma Biao, as a traverser, was also worried about one point, that is, the complex terrain environment of Linyi was not conducive to the mobility of the armored corps, and if the devil's air force came to attack, it was very likely to cause great losses to the attacking troops.

It is always impossible for every attacking force to have an air defense unit to provide air defense fire support for it, and ground air defense is only a passive defense with the existing technical means and equipment, and the best way to really protect one's own ground offensive forces is to use the air to control the air, and even if it cannot completely seize air supremacy, it can still make the enemy's air force have no time to attack its own ground forces.

Just when Ma Biao and the others were hesitating, a battle report on the direction of Weixian was sent from Jinan, which was the chief of staff Zuo Quan, after learning that the attack of the Third Division had been frustrated, and took the initiative to inform the 2nd and 4th Divisions of the two counteroffensive armies.

The reason is very simple, as the commander-in-chief of the Shandong battlefield this time, Zuo Quan understands that it is very important to let the command system of the counteroffensive troops on the front line share intelligence, because this will help them make the right decision, and try to avoid unnecessary losses due to insufficient intelligence.

After listening to the staff officer read the battle report sent by Jinan, Ma Biao and Zhou Dasheng were a little surprised, and after glancing at each other, Ma Biao said: "Wu Ming and they actually encountered hard stubble, and they failed to attack three times in a row, which is really incredible." ”

Zhou Dasheng frowned and said: "The key, the third attack will be successful, the devil has actually received air force support, this is worthy of our vigilance, the suspicion of the third division commander is not unreasonable, the Japanese army is likely to increase its troops." ”

"Well, that's right, I also agree with Wu Ming's guess." Ma Biao nodded thoughtfully, looked at Zhou Dasheng and said: "Old Zhou, do you think we should postpone the attack, now that the attack of the third division has been frustrated, and the war has fallen into a stalemate, if the Japanese army really increases its troops, especially the strength of the aviation force, it will be very unfavorable to us." ”

Zhou Dasheng groaned: "It makes sense, I also agree, I think it is better to wait for Long Yingwei and the intelligence officers of our Eighth Route Army underground party to find out whether the Japanese army has increased its troops, how many troops, and it is not too late to attack. ”

"Then the order will be sent down, and the troops will build fortifications on the spot, postpone the attack, and wait for the arrival of the armored corps and artillery units before making plans." Ma Biao thought about it and made a cautious decision.