At the joint operations meeting, Jiang Baili had already roughly explained the entire battle plan, and Chen Jun and Chen Cheng, two army commanders surnamed Chen, took the lead in applauding, and I have to say that Jiang Baili was indeed beyond the reach of the generals present in formulating grand strategies and plans.

"This is the case with the entire battle plan, because the objectives of this operation are too large, in order to ensure that they are resolutely annihilated, the coordination of all units must be in place, whether it is the troops responsible for attacking and annihilating the Fifth Division, or the units responsible for containing and blocking the attack, they must exert ten percent of their strength. Otherwise, the army is likely to break through on its own or be rescued by its main forces. ”

Jiang Baili paused, signaled that he was finished, picked up the teacup on the table, and took a sip comfortably, "If you have any opinions, don't leave them for afterthought, if you have any ideas, put them forward." ”

Chen Jun and Chen Cheng didn't understand anything, and there was no objection, and the previous three-person meeting had already decided the tone of the meeting. In particular, Chen Cheng, after reporting to Chairman Chiang for approval, actually got a reply very quickly, saying that as long as there was a chance to eliminate more than one wing of the Yue army, he would win a big victory (eliminating one wing could be called a big victory), and he agreed to the coordinated operation of the two armies this time.

Ma Wenwu, commander of the Fourth Division of the Southwest Army, saw that no one spoke left and right, and as the most senior among the several division commanders in the Southwest Army, he stood up and said, "There is no problem with the Fourth Division, a regiment under me will definitely hold the Yue Army in Baoding, and Commander Dai under Commander Chen is also a battle-hardened battle, and two regiments are enough to drag a division of the Yue Army." On the offensive side, the two divisions of the Southwest Army will definitely be able to completely annihilate this division. ”

In fact, the battle plan is not complicated, to put it simply, it is to draw troops from the main battlefield and rush to Baoding in the starry night, and the two absolutely elite main station divisions of the main force in the southwest are responsible for encircling and annihilating the Fifth Division of the Yue Army, and the two regiments in Baoding will cooperate with the attacking two divisions after the encirclement and annihilation battle begins, and strive to resolve the battle as quickly as possible.

As a matter of fact, a main force division in the southwest has been pulled onto the battlefield, and without considering casualties, it has barely been able to confront a division of the Yue army; after all, the gap in equipment is very large, not to mention anything else, the main force division's standard equipment is a Chinese-style semi-automatic rifle, and the 38 major covers of the Yue army have been thrown thousands of miles away.

The main reason for this arrangement is that the Yue army still has four divisions and regiments on the Beijing-Tianjin battlefield nearly 200 kilometers away, and if the battle is not resolved as soon as possible, it is very likely that the main forces of the Yue army will rush to the rescue, and eventually turn from a battle of encirclement and annihilation into a decisive battle staged in advance.

At present, the strength of the two sides is basically equal, and on the premise that the Chinese army hysterically sends troops to China again, the main advantage of the Chinese side lies in the southwest.

With the expansion of the airport, Air Force fighters have been heading north, and fuel and ammunition are stored in place. Heavy artillery arrived slowly, and the balance of war began to tilt in favor of China.

Eat the Fifth Division and greatly weaken the army first, so that when the decisive battle is launched in the future, a more perfect victory can be achieved with smaller losses.

It was precisely when the army discovered this that Shirakawa Yoshinori applied for reinforcements from the country, and at the same time tried every means to secretly transfer a division from the main battlefield where the strength was already very tight to attack Baoding, intending to cut off the supply line and thus seize the initiative on the battlefield. It's just that he missed the air power in the southwest, or rather, he didn't have any precautions against this kind of forward-thinking tactics of boldly adopting large-scale air transportation to carry out medium and long-range troop projection. If the German army had been replaced, it might have attached great importance to the potential of Daxing Airport in terms of long-range troop projection, but Shirakawa had clearly missed this link.

"The two army commanders, Chief of Staff Chiang, can we launch some active counterattacks on the frontal battlefield in Beiping?" Major General Zhang Zizhong asked to speak.

This general who came out of the Northwest Army had a bumpy road, and he was used to seeing all kinds of life, he was young, but he was quite unwilling. Now on the Beijing-Tianjin battlefield, it is finally like a fish in water, and in several battles, the 38th Division, as a reserve, has performed well, and it can be regarded as the best performance of the [***] Second Division Division.

Jiang Baili waved his hand and said: "The situation on the battlefield is changing rapidly, and there is no immutable battle plan, but the overall focus is on prevention. We Chinese will surround Wei to save Zhao, and it is likely that we myself will adopt similar tactics. Although you do not participate in the war of annihilation and the war of blockade, you must garrison the main force on the defensive line and beware of the army encircling Wei to save Zhao. ”

"Yes!"

As soon as he heard that there was still a battle to fight, Zhang Zizhong sat down happily, and what the soldiers were most afraid of was to go to the battlefield to blow the autumn wind, and there would be no battle to fight.

Seeing that no one asked any more questions, Chen Jun knew that these division-level generals had chosen to obey orders, but for the sake of the entire annihilation war, he still had to add a few points, "Everyone, I want to add that this is the first joint annihilation war between the Southwest Political Axe and the Nanjing Political Axe, which is of great significance." In this operation, every link is very important, and it is no exaggeration to say that if any link goes wrong, not only will the war of annihilation fail, but we will also suffer unexpected losses. You are all the commanders of the first division, and now that the national crisis is at hand, I hope that everyone will put aside some differences in ordinary times, work together, and take the annihilation of the army as the fundamental goal. If someone retreats from the battlefield or is ineffective in combat, Commander Chen Cheng and I will strictly enforce battlefield discipline. ”

"Yes, this operation was jointly ordered by Mr. Zhang Shusheng in the southwest and Chairman Chiang in Nanjing, if anyone violates discipline and destroys the situation of the great unity of the Anti-Japanese War, I will deal with him by military law."

Chen Cheng is also very clear that the current situation is pressing, compared to the differences between the two political axes in internal affairs, the external enemy is the most urgent, and the affairs of his own family can sit down and talk, the devil will not be so easy to deal with, you don't see that the northeast is still under the iron hooves of the people, and the crying of 30 million compatriots resounded throughout the world.

"Yes!" The generals also responded in unison.

At about 1 o'clock in the morning, an emergency change of guard was underway in the night on the frontal position in charge of the Southwest Army.

"Move quickly, be quiet, and don't make a sound." Each squad leader cautiously gave orders to the soldiers of his squad, and one squad after another came out of the trenches, bunkers, and anti-artillery holes, and they were replaced by a first-class division of the Kuomintang.

Even some anti-aircraft guns mounted on vehicles are being transferred, while infantry guns and mortars are directly pulled into cars and ready to march with the main forces. However, in order to prevent [***] from being completely powerless in the face of the frenzied attack of the Yue Army, the Southwest Army still left some fire support units.

"It's going to be a long and rapid march, with two days of dry food and water, and five minutes later ready to go."

On the side of the road where the troops had withdrawn, the officers and men of the logistics department had already prepared dozens of tables, all of which contained a large box of steamed buns, a large basket of radish strips, and a large basket of braised pork strips.

It took two hours to gather all the cooking soldiers and find hundreds of soldiers to fight, and it was impossible to walk hungry on a rapid march.

The emergency assembly at night, with the rapid reaction of the well-trained Southwestern Army, was quickly assembled, and after leaving the vicinity of the line of fire, the troops of the 3rd and 4th Divisions of the main force, a total of four regiments, and two regiments of the 8th Division of the garrison, a total of 6 regiments, began to march overnight.

Trucks, which were badly scarce, could only be used to transport supplies and heavy equipment, and the infantry was left on two legs.

The equipment in the southwest is still very good, and compared with the two [***] central divisions that are also on the march not far away, the advantage is immediately apparent.

[***] side, the two central divisions, the 18th and 19th divisions, were responsible for the blocking operation. When the Southwestern Army had already set out in its entirety, the troops of these two divisions had not yet arrived. After the troops had finally finished forming their units, they began to slowly distribute dry rations, but fortunately they were able to receive one or two pieces of meat this time.

The flashlight issued by the Southwest Army played a great role in the night march in the squad, and this kind of military flashlight had a better illumination effect and lasted longer than that of civilian people.

On the other hand, the personnel of the logistics department were preparing torches at this time, and the soldiers who had finished receiving dry food lined up to receive torches.

When the two divisions were finally ready to leave, the six regiments of the Southwest Army had already gone out for more than six kilometers at night. It was a simple rapid march that exposed the huge gap between the two armies, and this was not an accident, but a difference in efficiency produced by long-term training.

The road ahead of the march is long, and there is still a straight line distance of 1560 kilometers from Baoding, which is at least about 200 kilometers when converted into a marching distance. In such a state of high-intensity rapid march, with the speed of the Southwestern Army, it will not be able to arrive at least the day after tomorrow.

"Hurry, hurry!!"

Hou Xiaoshan also carried the marching bag on his back, jumped on the stone next to him, and like the other company commanders, he whispered to his company: "Hurry up, don't hit the flashlight in the sky, raise the speed." ”

After the company had almost passed, he jumped off the stone and caught up with his cousin Wu Peiqiang, who was at the end of the company.

"Brother, why don't I help you carry some points?" Hou Xiaoshan couldn't help but swallow his saliva when he saw the mortar on his cousin's back, the burly man is so good, he has a lot of strength.

"No, it's light."

Wu Peiqiang moved the position of the 61mm mortar on his shoulder, the weight of more than ten kilograms is nothing for him, even if it is a long-distance march, this veteran of night marching, occasionally stepping on the air, can quickly adjust his body balance. With the marching bag, the whole person carried almost 2 or 30 kilograms.

Originally, he was carrying an extra bag of rockets, but he didn't expect that the two soldiers in charge of carrying the mortars injured their feet, so he replaced the mortars of the two and gave the rocket sacs on his body to another burly soldier. "Xiaoshan, brother's strength, as long as he fights devils, he can't use it up."

Hou Xiaoshan smiled helplessly, and also ran to the side of a soldier, took a light machine gun, and ran with his cousin.

For them, night marches were commonplace, and what made the blood of the soldiers boil was the sortie of the main forces of six regiments, which, in any case, meant a big battle.

"Commander Wang, Commander Dai, this is the telegram I just received from the Beiping Military Department."

In Baoding, at half past one o'clock in the morning, the joint regimental headquarters of the 1st Regiment of the 4th Division (corrected the previous chapter, misstated as the garrison division) and the 3rd Regiment of the 3rd Division, the communications staff officers put the telegram in front of Dai Anlan and Wang Jun, the commander of the 1st Regiment, who were studying countermeasures.

"Hope is good news." Wang Jun took the telegram and opened it, his eyes lit up, and he patted Dai Anlan's shoulder happily, "Anlan, you are really right." Before, when the Beiping Military Department asked us to swear to defend Baoding and hold back the enemy, you said that the military headquarters was going to eat the Fifth Division, and your words came true. ”

"Huh?" Dai Anlan's face was overjoyed, he didn't expect his guess to come true, he couldn't wait to take the telegram and look at it, and immediately stroked his palm and smiled, "Haha, this time I want to make this devil go around without eating." ”

"Yes, six regiments, plus our total of eight regiments, this is almost three divisions, against the little devil one division, in terms of strength, we have more combat troops, and the combat effectiveness is higher, this time, I see where the fifth division of the little devil runs." Being able to participate in such a war of annihilation, Wang Jun only felt boiling, this is different from positional defense, you never know how many enemies you can destroy, you can only passively wait for the enemy to attack, but the coolest thing about the war of annihilation is that you can always maintain a kind of determination to fight, firmly believe that you must destroy how many surrounded enemies, and the initiative is in your own hands.

The feeling of making the enemy desperate to hit a wall everywhere is like catching a turtle in an urn.

"Let's go, Lao Wang, let's go to the front and take a look, the devils of the near wing, I don't believe they will honestly wait until dawn." Dai Anlan and Yue Jun have been fighting for a long time, and they know that Yue himself is also very strange in using soldiers, and they have learned a lot from the Chinese, although they have learned four things differently, but they are enough to bring people a lot of trouble.

Each of them picked up two steamed buns, wrapped some radish strips in white paper, and a few very spicy pickled peppers, and went to the front position with the guards.

Sure enough, before the two of them left the city, there was a sound of gunfire like bursting beans from the position outside the city in front of them.

"The devil's 38 big cover and grenadier canister, they really did it."

For these two things, Dai Anlan was the most familiar, and even Han Li heard it at once, and the two of them ate the steamed buns in two bites, and ran towards the position quickly with the guards.

After the two came to the position, they saw that the attack of the Yue army was mainly to make a point breakthrough, and the Yue army chose a few points, and under the protection of Yese, they frantically rushed towards the improvised position of the southwest army.

"Hiss ......"

At several points of the army's attack, the frantic strafing Ripper-type machine guns hardly need to aim, as long as they strafe a distance of several tens of meters, they can always kill one or several devils, and this is not the time to save ammunition.

The power of the rifle in night combat is already very limited, especially the devil's several point breakthroughs taken by taking advantage of the night.

Dai Anlan slammed his fist on the wall of the bunker and quickly ordered: "Quick, order all companies to concentrate submachine guns to support several points of the army's key attack." ”

"Let the artillery battalion fire a few more flares." Wang Jun also added that the role of flares was too great at this time.

"Puff puff ......"

With a few soft sounds, several flares rose from the position, and the slowly falling flares finally exposed the Japanese troops who were breaking through several sections of the position, and the Ripper machine gun and light machine gun worked together, and immediately strafed the Japanese army at several attack points to the ground. A few points of the army were even about to rush to the trenches, but they were unlucky enough to be beaten into pieces of rotten flesh at close range by the Ripper. However, at this time, the troops of the 1st and 3rd regiments also suffered certain small losses.

"Commander Dai, Commander Wang, the No. 12 position was rushed up by the army."

"What? Damn, what did Han Li of the first battalion do, go, Lao Tzu personally took two companies to support. ”

Han Li was a person who was very good at defensive operations, and of course he was even more angry that the position was broken through, so he ignored Dai Anlan's dissuasion on the spot and took two companies to support the No. 12 position.

Although several points of the attack of the Yue army were repulsed, after all, the entire position outside the city was too long, and there were always one or two places that were broken through by the Yue army.

At this time, the real contest will be carried out at these two breakthrough points, whether the army will tear the position apart, the main force will swarm up, or be beaten down by one regiment or three regiments, it depends on who is more courageous.

"Damn, it turns out that Position 12 is the main attack point of the devils."

Bo Shaoming, the company commander of the third company of the first battalion, was in charge of the No. 13 position, and the No. 12 position was led by Han Li, the commander of the first battalion.

What's even more infuriating is that the Yue army actually took advantage of the night to bring up the grenadiers, and they were able to suppress the Ripper machine gun at close range. Taking advantage of the slight pause in firepower, groups of devils, completely ignoring the strafing of light machine guns in the distance, rushed up frantically.

"Machine gun group, turn the muzzle of the gun for Lao Tzu."

Bo Shaoming shouted loudly, and ordered the two rippers in the company to support the direction of the gap, and he took a platoon with him to support the battalion commander. In the firelight just now, he had already seen the two sides fighting bayonets in the firelight.

"Brothers, follow Lao Tzu, killing one is enough, killing two earns one."

Seeing that more and more devils rushed up in the night, he didn't expect the devils to invest so many troops at once, Han Li had no time to reflect, the defense just now was not wrong, just because the defense depth of the improvised position was not enough, just a mine array could not stop the devils who came up crazy. Unlike the Beiping battlefield, the trenches are staggered, and even in the night, it is difficult for the army to break through.

"Submachine guns pay attention to support."

He threw the pistol to a soldier next to him and grabbed the Chinese-style semi-automatic rifle, a modified version of the Type 21, now known as the Type 31 Chinese rifle.

With a pop of the bayonet, Han Li took the lead in rushing over with the bayonet while ordering a company of more than a dozen submachine guns to support at close range. There are so many devils, and at this time, only with a strong style that surpasses them can they be driven down.

In the brutal bayonet battle, with the support of submachine guns and large-capacity pistols on the Chinese side, the Yue army gradually fell below, and these devils were very painful to find that they thought that they could defeat the southwest army with bayonets, but did not expect that the Chinese's stabbing was not only weaker than them, but more fierce.

The bayonet battle did not last long, after Wang Jun personally arrived with two companies of troops, and the left and right positions of the ripper style suppressed the follow-up of the army behind, and this group of about 300 devils was finally harvested. On the contrary, not many were stabbed to death with bayonets, but nearly half were killed by a dozen submachine guns and pistols of the squad leader and deputy squad leader-level configuration. At close range, the devil rushed over with a bayonet screaming, but was knocked down by a shuttle from a submachine gun or a shot from a pistol.

The pistols equipped by the officers of the army are far inferior to the new shell guns of the Southwest Army, both in terms of number and surname. The braking effect is very good, and it is often said that after the army is shot, it loses the strength to continue to swing the knife and slash.

A night battle before dawn became the prelude to the encirclement and annihilation of the Fifth Division by the Chinese [***] team.

(To be continued)