Ma Jinan, a Japanese soldier Shaozuo trotted all the way over, stood up and saluted, and said: "Your Excellency the division commander, there is Ma Ji in front, may I ask if you want to attack!" ”

Tu Feiyuan's cunning little eyes flickered, and said, "Has the garrison of China changed?" ”

This guy is a spy and attaches great importance to intelligence work, which also leads to the fact that the Japanese army knows the deployment of the national army well, while the national army's understanding of the Japanese army basically stays in the mind of the staff officer. To put it nicely, it's called research and judgment, but in fact, it is relying on Meng, and it is rare to get accurate information.

The only harvest was when the cavalry unit of Shang Zhen, chairman of Henan Province and commander of the 20th Group Army, ambushed a Japanese car behind enemy lines in Henan, and captured an attack order from the Japanese North China Front from a Shao Zuo on the car. This order included the number of the Japanese attacking force, the strength of the force, the name of the commander, and the specific plan for the Japanese attack on Shangqiu.

Unfortunately, due to the struggle between the Japanese First Army and the Second Army, Tufeiyuan did not attack Shangqiu, but directly pounced on Lanfeng to the west, taking the Nationalist army by surprise. I knew that Lu Dao was such a result, it was better not to fight that ambush, history really made me laugh and cry.

Shao Zuo said: "Your Excellency, according to our reconnaissance, of course the enemy is still the 46th Division of the Central Army of China, and the division commander Li Liangrong is a student of the head of China. ”

Tu Feiyuan sneered, and his eyes flashed a terrifying fierce light. He squinted his eyes in the direction of Ma Ji for a while, then suddenly waved his hand and said, "Attack according to the plan!" ”

Shao Zuo lowered his head and said, "Haiyi! ”

The intelligence of the Japanese army was accurate. Defending Maji was the 27th Division of the 46th Army of the National Revolutionary Army, with division commander Li Liangrong and Huangpu Phase I. The predecessor of this unit was the Teaching Corps of the Central Military Academy, which was the most well-equipped unit of the national army. It is a pity that in the battle of Nanjing, due to the blind command of Tang Shengzhi and Gui Yongqing, the troops were greatly injured and no longer had the style of the past.

The 27th Army had just arrived in eastern Henan, and the 46th Division was stationed in Maji for a short time. After the companies entered the position, they began to repair the fortifications, but this area was all saline-alkali land, and it was very difficult to dig. In addition to the original Lanfeng defense fortifications. They built only simple horizontal bunkers.

If it's eight ways. Not to mention digging trenches, at least a foxhole will be dug first, as evidenced by many historical photographs. If it were the Japanese army, most of them would have dug foxholes first. Rebuild traffic trenches. The traffic trenches were then converted into improvised bunkers. If you have time, you will dig one or two spare holes. And in the national army, except for the cunning fox. It seems that no one attaches importance to earthwork.

The Japanese outpost did not immediately attack after advancing south of Maji, but first built an outpost position, and then the artillery began to test fire. This round of bombardment was only to adjust the target Zhuyuan and test the firepower of the national army. So the damage caused is not much.

At the same time as the shelling, several tethered balloons suddenly rose over the Japanese positions. If most of the other national troops would get up from the ground to watch the excitement, but the 46th Division would not, many of them were students of the Central Military Academy. If the Japanese sounding balloon had completed its bearing, the Japanese heavy artillery fire would have flattened the place!

The company commander in charge of the alert hurriedly ran to report to his superiors, and the regiment commander hurriedly ordered all units to organize anti-air shooting. It is a pity that the Japanese army had already taken precautions, and they arranged the anti-air balloon outside the range of the heavy machine guns of the national army, and the shooting did not work at all, but exposed the target.

Boom, boom, boom, boom...... A burst of shells suddenly slammed down on the heavy aircraft positions of the national army. This is the 5th Mortar Brigade attached to the 14th Division, with 36 Type 94 90mm mortars. Of course, the Japanese army also had to deal with the Nationalist forces in other directions, and there was a squadron here in Maji with 12 mortars.

They used the method of precise aiming to suddenly strike at the machine gun positions of the national army, and it really worked in one fell swoop. The national army suffered a big loss and no longer dared to attack easily.

After hearing the news, Division Commander Li Liangrong also hurried to the forward position with the chief of staff.

The chief of staff said anxiously: "Division, if we wait for the Japanese sounding balloon to complete the azimuth determination, it will be even more difficult to defend here." ”

The commander of the anti-aircraft artillery company took the initiative to ask for battle and said: "Division, why don't you let us go!" ”

The teaching corps had a 37mm anti-aircraft artillery company and a 20mm small artillery company (that is, a 20-mm Suluotong Gaoping dual-purpose machine gun), and the small artillery company was all folded in Nanjing, and the antiaircraft artillery company was lucky to escape the battle of Nanjing. In addition, when it was combined with the 46th Division, it was supplemented by rear warehouses, and a new small artillery company was formed. As far as anti-aircraft fire is concerned, it is still very good in the national army.

Master Li Liangrong thought about it as much as he could, so he nodded in agreement and said, "Okay! Be careful, take out the Japanese balloons and pull them back. ”

Due to the problem of the firing perimeter (blocked by its own fortifications), the anti-aircraft artillery company could only move to the front of the position, otherwise it would not be able to hit the balloon at all. The soldiers finally pushed the anti-aircraft artillery to the forward position, and the rapid-fire guns arranged by the Japanese army in front of the position suddenly opened fire, blowing up the front bunker of the national army to pieces.

The commander of the antiaircraft artillery company saw that he was also killed when he rushed up, so he had to lead his troops to retreat. At this time, the Japanese balloon unit had completed its mission, and the azimuth data of the Maji position was quickly transmitted to the Japanese heavy artillery unit.

Boom Boom Boom ...... The first to fire was a 75-mm field artillery brigade of the 20th Field Artillery Wing, with a total of 12 Type 95 field guns, which was very powerful, but it was only an appetizer.

Before the Nationalist Army came to its senses, the 2nd Brigade of the Japanese Field Heavy Artillery (owed to the 5th Wing) and the 8th Wing of the Independent Field Heavy Artillery also opened fire one after another. The field heavy artillery wing is equipped with 16 100mm cannons (in fact, 105 mm caliber, the national army generally removes the mantissa number, called a ten-millimeter cannon), which is mainly used to support operations at the division and regiment level. The separate field heavy artillery wing had a heavier task, so it was armed with 24 150mm heavy howitzers.

The outlying positions of the national army only have simple horizontal bunkers, and they can't even carry 75 mm field artillery, so how can they cope with the bombardment of field heavy artillery? As a result, the positions on the front line quickly retreated, and all those who could move fled into the core position of Maji. It is part of the Lanfeng fortifications. It has been under construction since 1936, so it has a certain protective capacity.

Under the guidance of the sounding balloon, the Japanese began to extend the shelling again. The artillery fire fiercely smashed on the fortifications of the national army, and from time to time the timber and sacks were blown into the sky. Although this fortification was built earlier, it lacked steel and cement, and could only be regarded as a semi-permanent fortification, and it was still a little difficult to cope with the Japanese army's 150-mm heavy artillery.

The 46th Division suddenly fell into a panic, and Division Commander Li Liangrong hurriedly picked up the phone to ask for help from Commander Gui Yongqing in Lanfeng City. Due to the heavy artillery fire, it was not clear to hear the phone at all.

Gui Yongqing picked up the phone and shouted, "Hey." Feed! What did you say. Be louder, I can't hear clearly......" There was a beep on the phone, and before I could say a word, the phone line was blown up.

Qiu Qingquan hurriedly said: "Senior (Gui Yongqing Phase I.) He II). What's wrong? ”

Gui Yongqing said with a gloomy face: "Something happened to Liangrong. The Japanese attack is fierce, you immediately take the chariot battalion to meet it. ”

Qiu Qingquan said: "Okay, I'll go now!" ”

In other words, Qiu Maniac still has a crazy energy at this time. With a chariot company on the road. Why don't you bring all the chariot battalions? Because there is also a chariot company that has been sealed with the 88th Division.

It should be noted here that although Qiu has a tank battalion and an armored search battalion in name. But there are only about 20 tanks, which are equivalent to two companies, and they are divided into three models, such as Russian T26, British Vickers, and Italian CV-33.

The armored search battalion has only a dozen German-style SDF221,222 mixed companies, which belong to wheeled armored vehicles, and the rest are auxiliary units, such as machine gun platoons, engineer platoons, reconnaissance platoons, maintenance companies, and only some trucks and motorcycles.

Due to the low survivability of armored vehicles, in the absence of infantry cover, Qiu Maniac did not dare to take it. This move turned out to be very correct.

They galloped all the way from Lanfeng, and as soon as they reached the north of Maji, they were besieged by a large force of Japanese troops. It turned out that all the outer positions of the 46th Division had been lost, and the Japanese army had already made a detour to the area north of Maji.

The little devil is equipped with a large number of Type 94 rapid-fire guns, and it is accurate to hit thin-skinned tanks. The poor tank company was driven out of four tanks before he could figure out what was going on.

"Withdraw! Remove! Remove! Seeing that this kind of fight would definitely end up in the annihilation of the whole army, Qiu Maniac turned around and ran. As soon as they ran, the 46th Division was also panicked, and Division Commander Li Liangrong had to order a retreat. Originally, it was said that it was alternately covering and retreating, but it didn't take a few steps before it was messed up.

These routs could not be collected for several days, and Gui Yongqing once said that the 46th Division had lost more than 5,000 people and had done its best. In fact, among these 5,000 people, not many were killed or wounded in battle, and most of them were lost by themselves.

All the way to death, and by the time the troops finally fled to Lanfeng County, most of the soldiers had already dispersed. Commander Gui Yongqing had no choice but to send troops along the way to contain the rout, but the effect was not good, and the history was not until the fall of Lanfeng, and the 46th Division was not fully concentrated.

Qiu Qingquan said with palpitations: "Fortunately, the Japanese army did not catch up, otherwise the loss would have been great." ”

Gui Yongqing also felt that his face was gloomy, and he thought that he was ashamed to say that he wanted to annihilate Tufeiyuan, and he was beaten to the ground at the beginning.

After Tufeiyuan took and occupied Maji, he did not stop, nor did he take advantage of the situation to attack Lanfeng, but continued to attack fiercely to the west. Obviously, the purpose of Kenji Dohihara was to bypass Lanfeng and occupy Chenliukou, the crossing of the Yellow River west of Lanfeng. However, Gui Yongqing's troops did not take corresponding measures, but the whole army shrank, and all the defense fortifications on the periphery of Lanfeng were surrendered to the 14th Division.

Qiu Qingquan hesitated for a moment and said, "Senior, as soon as the national defense fortifications are abandoned, what if the Japanese army continues to advance westward?" ”

Gui Yongqing said nonchalantly: "Isn't there still Zhong Song's 61st Division in the west?" It's important for us to keep Lanfeng! ”

Madman Qiu didn't dare to stab at this time, he had just been eliminated, and the tank company attached to the 88th Division had only one tank left. At the beginning of the encirclement, the Japanese army lost nearly half of its tanks, and this battle will be a fart in the future!

Even Cheng Qian and Xue Yue failed to truly grasp the movements of the Japanese army, and they were still dreaming of annihilating a division of the Japanese army.

They didn't know that the various units of the Ludao National Army conquered Neihuangji, Yejigang, Renheji, Yifeng, and Hongmiao, and they were simply abandoned by the Japanese army on their own initiative, and the 59th Wing of Sugong Yuosa, which was responsible for defense, did not suffer heavy losses as claimed in the national army's war report. In fact, this force will make the national army suffer a lot in the coming days.

The chairman was in a good mood, and even joked: "Song Gong, if you knew that Lu Dao would have known that you wouldn't have to transfer the 97th Army to the south!" At the beginning, the chairman promised that as long as the 97th Army went south, he would allocate a large number of supplies to them, but now that the situation has improved, he is a little reluctant.

Cheng Qian smiled awkwardly and said, "Thanks to the wise and proper command of the commission!" ”

The chairman of the committee pretended to be humble and said: "You can't say that, the battle is still up to you!" ”

Xue Yue suddenly asked: "Song Gong, where is the 97th Army now?" Although it's a little late, it's good to be transferred to our first war zone as a reserve! ”

Cheng Qian smiled bitterly: "The day before yesterday, that Zheng beard suddenly made some radio silence, and I don't know where they went now." ”

Xue Yue was about to speak, when the communications staff officer of the theater suddenly hurried over and said, "Report!" Commission, Chief Cheng, Chief Xue, and Zheng Weiguo, commander of the 97th Army, sent an urgent telegram......"

Cheng Qian hurriedly said: "Quick, take it!" ”

The three heads squeezed together and looked at each other for a while, then suddenly separated, and exclaimed in unison: "Xinxiang! How did you get there? (To be continued......)