Since the Japanese counterattack on all fronts began, the two divisions invested by the Japanese army in the battlefield in northwest Shandong have performed diametrically opposite as a whole. Compared with the 118th Division, which was storming in the direction of Guantao, this 72nd Division was quite cunning. During the attack, its three wings were always in a group, and in the frontal attack, they put on a zigzag formation.

The 134th and 155th wings and two wings, one each of the engineer and the search wing, marched side by side, and the distance between the two wings was always maintained at a distance of no more than 10 kilometers. The 152nd Wing has always been behind the two wings, and no matter how many troops are there to block them and how strong the resistance is, this 152nd Wing will never participate in the battle.

It's not that most of them don't participate in the war, but the entire wing doesn't participate in the battle, but just follows behind the two wings in front. The daily attack distance of the whole division is definitely not more than twenty kilometers. Even if the blocking troops in front of you are gone, they will always maintain this attack speed when they hit away. Moreover, during the offensive operation, the forces are always gathered together, and there is absolutely no detour in the division of troops.

Along the way, he fought so steadily, not in a hurry or slowly, taking care of the front and back, left and right, and steadily advancing towards the front line of Wucheng and Zaobei. Although Chen Hanzhang let go of the front of Wucheng, leaving only a small line of troops to block the attack, the division still moved unusually slowly. It's not so much an attack as a crawling slow.

On 11 March, the Japanese army launched an attack on the whole line from northwest Lu to Bohai Bay, and the division did not arrive at the Wucheng line until 15 March. With a brigade of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region in the direction of Wucheng, which was deployed along the canal, the 57th Regiment of the 19th Division of the Zhengjiakou Frontal Resistance Union was launched.

Although the Jin-Cha-Ji troops along the canal line had only one brigade, the anti-union forces had only one regiment. However, the division concentrated the 134th Wing in front of Wucheng and the 155th Wing in front of Zhengjiakou, and under the cover of all the artillery of the 72nd Artillery Wing, they launched a series of assaults in turn.

As for the front of the turbidity fang and the arrow mouth where only one battalion of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region was deployed, Chen Hanzhang consciously let go of the opening, and the 72nd Division was as if he had not seen it from top to bottom. It's just a vigorous frontal towards Zhengjiakou and Wucheng, launching a round of onslaught.

Wucheng is only more than 20 kilometers away from Zhengjiakou, and Zhengjiakou is even closer to Dezhou. In other words, the 72nd Division paid great attention to maintaining its own contact and the contact between it and the 22nd Division in front of Texas. On the front as much as possible, keep it consistent.

In the two directions of Wucheng and Zhengjiakou, the fight was earth-shattering. Chen Hanzhang, who had just received the report, was very startled by the fierce attack. The two wings were fully dispatched to find a breakthrough at multiple points, and they did not flank and outflank. It was just a frontal assault on a point, which had never appeared in the previous operations of the Japanese army.

But after a day of fierce fighting, Chen Hanzhang was quite keenly aware that although his attack looked fierce, the actual attack was not very strong. Indeed, on the surface, whether it is in the direction of Wucheng or Zhengjiakou, it is a brigade that takes turns to assault, and the artillery behind it does not hesitate to bomb Wucheng and Zhengjiakou.

But in fact, in terms of attack strength, there is no full effort at all, and it even makes people feel like they are together. Moreover, the strength of the attacks in the two directions of Wucheng and Zhengjiakou is also very different. The 155th Wing of the Japanese Army on the front line of Zhengjiakou was significantly stronger in attack than the 134th Wing on the front of Wucheng.

At least on the Zhengjiakou front, not only did they take a frontal attack, but they also constantly tried to break through from the flanks. The concentrated forces successively broke through the defensive positions of the 57th Regiment on the first line of Luquantun and Xingzhuang, and broke through the defense of a battalion of the Jin-Cha-Ji troops with one force, and crossed the canal line at the Houyuhuang Temple southwest of Luquantun.

When the defenders in front of Zhengjiakou quickly retreated in the direction of Qingliangjiang, they also adopted the tactics of outflanking on both flanks. It's just that the forces that outflank it on both flanks are only two squadrons each. It gives the impression that the two wings of its implementation are more like a bluff.

But if it is said that the 155th Wing of Zhengjiakou is at least on the bright side, the performance is quite decent. Then in the direction of Wucheng, when the 134th Wing attacked, it always maintained an unusually frugal use of troops. Facing a brigade in Jinchaji, it was actually a blocking force of two regiments, and the scale of its investment has always remained in an infantry brigade.

Although the cover firepower was unusually fierce, the attack was always limited to the line of Xinzhuang, Shazhuang, and Weiguantun in front of Wucheng. Even if the first line of the Jade Emperor Temple was broken through, the 155th Wing had already crossed the canal. The 57th Regiment on the front line of Zhengjiakou had already retreated. The frontal defensive front of Wucheng has been attacked by the enemy, and the defenders have gradually retreated to the west bank of the Qingliang River.

However, the wing did not make a quick pursuit, nor did it break through to the flanks, but always followed behind the shrinking troops and maintained a certain distance of attack. After the defenders withdrew across the Qingliang River, in addition to sending a squadron to force the Qingliang River and control Wang Cuihu on the west bank of the Qingliang River as a bridgehead, the main force of the wing stopped advancing, but slowly erected a pontoon bridge.

And after the 134th Wing arrived at the Qingliangjiang line and paused temporarily. The 155th Wing on its right flank also crossed the Qingliang River with only one force, and the main force was also building pontoon bridges in a hurry. Behind him, the 152nd Wing had not even crossed the canal, and was busy erecting pontoon bridges over the South Canal.

With the bursting of the embankment at the mouth of the garden, the water of the old channel of the Yellow River is insufficient, and although the South Canal, which has lost its water source, still has some water, it is actually like a gossamer. It is also necessary to erect several pontoon bridges, but it is a little strange to say that a single wing remained on both sides of the canal.

The 72nd Division put on such a formation, but it was quite unexpected by Chen Hanzhang. The 118th Division to the west of the division has already entered the Jianyuan and Qingshui lines east of Guantao. Even with a force, he bypassed the troops of the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region in front of Guantao and entered the direction of Xiasi south of Wei County.

However, the division was only attacking on both sides of the Qingliang River. Between the two divisions, a considerable gap was gradually pulled. In this gap, the Japanese army did not use any troops to replenish it. That is to say, on the battlefield in the northwest of Shandong at present, in fact, the 118th Division has formed a situation of breaking through alone in the direction of Guantao.

And this is a considerable temptation for Chen Hanzhang. The 72nd Division did not come out of the turtle, and his plan to fight the 72nd Division first could not be implemented for a long time. However, according to the current situation, the situation around the 118th Division gave him this opportunity in disguise.

He could completely transfer the stick that hit the first bird to the 118th Division, which made Chen Hanzhang very excited. If the 118th Division is dealt with first, although the subsequent impact on the battle situation is not as beneficial as that of the 72nd Division first, it will also reduce the pressure on the front line. At least there is no danger to the security of the flanks of the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region.

After receiving Chen Hanzhang's plan to fight the 118th Division first, Yang Zhen looked at the location of the Japanese divisions on the map, but did not reply to Chen Hanzhang at the first time. For Yang Zhen, if according to Chen Hanzhang's requirements, either the troops originally scheduled to be transferred to Chen Hanzhang on the Western Front will be transferred, or Chen Hanzhang needs to transfer reserves.

The whereabouts of the 72nd Division are uncertain now, and the troops that Chen Hanzhang originally deployed in front of the 72nd Division cannot be mobilized at all. If you want to fight the 72nd Division first, then you can only use reserves in advance. It is not a good thing to use reserves at the beginning of the battle.

That said, neither option is very advantageous for yourself. Under the circumstance that the troops of the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region on the front are in a fierce battle with the enemy in southern Hebei and northern Henan, no matter how they mobilize troops in that direction to participate in the battle, they will instead disperse their own forces in depth. If the situation changes in either direction, then you will lose your ability to adapt.

In particular, the 72nd Division's unusually slow attack on the line from Wucheng to Zhengjiakou made Yang Zhen feel that there was definitely a big problem in the deployment of the Japanese army. The current position of the 118th Division, although it looks prominent. But on the whole, it's not alone.

The main force of the Guantao line, and the Japanese army in the southern Hebei battlefield are almost close at hand. In the middle, except for some troops of the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region, there are hardly too many troops that can block the attack. If the 118th Division is attacked first, a division of the Japanese army in southern Hebei that is currently fighting fiercely with the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region in front of Quzhou will go all out to rescue.

At that time, it is still unknown whether the strength of the troops of the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region between Guantao and Quzhou, as well as the Japanese troops in front of Quzhou, can hold back the reinforcements from southern Hebei to the east. Once the Quzhou Japanese army reinforces the Guantao line, the troops of the 118th Division will be surrounded by the Japanese army.

Similarly, the offensive of the 72nd Division looked fierce, but in fact controlled the tempo all the time. The defensive forces that have been withdrawn to both sides of the Qingliang River by Chen Hanzhang have always maintained a distance from them and are in a very advantageous position where they can attack and retreat.

Once the 118th Division is first attacked, the troops originally deployed in the depth of the 72nd Division will be transferred. Then the division can take advantage of the relatively favorable fighters created for itself to suddenly increase its efforts to attack in the direction of Jixian County by taking advantage of the relatively favorable fighters created by the troops in front of them and without sufficient follow-up troops.

At that time, Chen Hanzhang no longer had mobile troops in his hands, and the 72nd Division could successfully achieve its strategic goals. And once it broke into Zaobei and Hengshui, Chen Hanzhang himself was completely passive and was in a position where he could not advance or retreat. At the same time, its location can also complete the turn at the first time and outflank the rear road of the troops of the 118th Division.

Moreover, the location of the 118th Division was also close to the Japanese army in Jinan. Hit the 118th Division first, and the Japanese army in Jinan could also be dispatched quickly. In this way, not only will it fail to disrupt the deployment of the Japanese army, but on the contrary, its own battle plan and the entire deployment will be completely destroyed.

It created conditions for the Japanese army to open its own deployment to find fighters, and even encircle and annihilate the Eastern Front cluster. When the time came, Chen Hanzhang failed to fight the tiger, but was injured by the tiger. And once the war situation on the Eastern Front is corrupted, what kind of chain reaction will occur is not something that he Chen Hanzhang can control.

Of course, these unfavorable conditions, in Chen Hanzhang's vision, are not unseen. Judging from the entire plan and firepower allocation he reported, he planned to concentrate all the troops and firepower that could be concentrated to make a quick decision and deal with the 118th Division in the shortest possible time.

This can be clearly judged from the amount of firepower it has mobilized. Chen Hanzhang put all his hopes on a quick word throughout the plan. But this point is what Yang Zhen disagrees with the most. This is a complete two-brigade division of the Japanese army, with artillery, engineers, and baggage wings. Not a wing, not an infantry brigade.