Chapter 552: The End of Ryosuke Isoya (1)

Ryosuke Isoya heard the sound of gunfire from the direction of Xiao County, but his heart was relieved, and he nodded with satisfaction, this is the normal situation, the cunning commander of the branch played a trick, pretending to retreat, and wanted to stab me in the back when I attacked Xuzhou, or let himself have a sense of fear, and he was stagnant in Xiao County, and also achieved the goal of delaying himself, in order to increase the mobilization of Xuzhou's defensive forces, and gain time, which also shows that the troops who blocked their own branches in Xiao County are not very strong, and the troops in the direction of Xuzhou, There has not been a large build-up, otherwise, the tactics of suspicious soldiers will not be used.

He ordered that the troops sent to the two flanks to search should immediately return to their formations and prepare to participate in the battle to attack Xuzhou, and that the troops that had stayed in Lizhuang and Huangkou should immediately speed up their march and move closer in the direction of Xiao County, especially the artillery units, immediately rush to Xiao County and prepare to shell the defenders of Xiao County.

Liao Lei, who was at the forward command of Jiahezhai, was in his throat, seeing the Japanese search troops approaching his position step by step, Xiao County was worried about the sound of gunfire, which made him startled, and then, the Japanese search troops suddenly retreated back and gave up the search mission, which made him happy, and this surprise made the dignified lieutenant general commander in a cold sweat.

Tang Qiusheng, who was on standby in the area of Sanbao in the southeast of Xuzhou and was preparing to participate in the attack on the Japanese army, received a report from the troops monitoring the movements of the Japanese army in Xiao County, and immediately realized that the complete fortifications in Xiao County and the evacuation without resistance aroused the suspicion of Isoya Ryosuke, who was afraid that it was a trap, this was really a trap, but it was different from what Isoya Ryosuke imagined.

Tang Qiusheng did not have time to ask for instructions from the division, so he immediately ordered the troops in Xiao County to immediately enter the defensive position, and if the Japanese army carried out a tentative attack and returned fire with the most fierce firepower, it must show the momentum and scale of a large force, and then he sent two more regiments of troops to deploy in the second line of defense.

Tang Qiusheng knew very well that the troops who created the illusion of blocking in Xiao County would be under unprecedented pressure and danger, and if Isoya Ryosuke attacked Xiao County with all his might, it would mean that he had been fooled, and it would be impossible for the troops to withdraw from the battle, so that Isoya Ryosuke would have to take a reassurance.

In the end, the blocking force had to make the illusion of being defeated, with less than three regiments, in the face of more than 100,000 Japanese troops, just resisting the first attack, they had to pay a heavy price, but Tang Qiusheng had no choice, in order not to expose the intention of the battle, he could only do so, he sent two regiments to Xiao County, carrying a large number of mortars, this is the only thing he can do, with fierce artillery fire, to create the illusion of a large force to block, but also for the troops to win a little firepower advantage.

The Japanese troops who went up to a wing were beaten back by the strength of less than a regiment of the independent division, which was worthy of being the main force, and they also carried out a small-scale counter-assault to expel the Japanese troops from Xiao County.

After the troops of the two regiments came up, a fierce artillery fire blew up the temporary position of the Japanese army, which was glittering, dusty, and filled with gunsmoke, and the Japanese army could not withstand the artillery attack, so they were defeated, grabbed the heels of the Japanese soldiers, and directly beat them out of the suburbs of Xiao County.

The two Japanese captains, covered in dust, one of them was still wounded, standing in front of Isoya Ryosuke with a face of shame, through the battle just now, Isoya Ryosuke's last trace of doubt was dispelled, he was sure of his judgment, this was the last line of defense of the Chinese army, therefore, not only did he not blame the two captains of the defeated wing, but comforted him with kind words.

Subsequently, he ordered that the artillery immediately shell the positions of the defenders of Xiao County, and the chariot wing and infantry were ready to attack Xiao County with all their might, and to break through the last barrier of Xuzhou in one go.

The overwhelming artillery fire enveloped the outlying positions of Xiao County in an instant, and the test of the independent division's feint to block the troops really arrived, and the soldiers hid in the anti-artillery holes, like sitting on a small boat rocking in a storm, undulating and bumping, and if they wanted to speak, they had to lie on each other's ears and shout loudly to barely hear clearly.

After the shelling, groups of Japanese troops, under the cover of light and heavy machine guns, launched a tidal attack on the position, everywhere there were wild beast-like shouts, less than three regiments of troops, scattered to a defensive front six or seven kilometers wide, the troops were pitifully sparse, fortunately there were a large number of mortars, it was able to withstand the fierce attack of the Japanese army, and the thin defense line was crumbling.

The fierce battle lasted for about two hours, and there were several positions, because all the soldiers guarding the garrison were killed and broken by the Japanese army, but the troops who did not receive the order to retreat were still fighting to the death, Tang Qiusheng, who had been paying close attention to the situation in Xiao County, immediately issued an order to retreat, which was enough, and it would be too much if the play continued to be performed.

In the eyes of the Japanese soldiers, the soldiers of China were all routed and fled, and the resentment and anger accumulated in Kaifeng and Shangqiu broke out in an instant, staring at the blood-red eyes, chasing the backs of the soldiers, small cannons, machine guns, and 38 guns greeted fiercely, and from time to time there were wounded and straggled, pulling the grenades on their bodies, and the Japanese soldiers who intended to capture them alive died together.

If it weren't for the Japanese commander's order to stop the pursuit, these red-eyed Japanese soldiers could keep chasing and also show the evil spirit in their hearts, and Ryosuke Isoya, who had been observing the battlefield situation, was very satisfied with the brave spirit of the soldiers, and the morale that was beaten to a low level in Kaifeng and Shangqiu was finally restored after this battle.

This is the state that a soldier of the Great Japanese Empire should be, with this kind of morale, he will definitely be able to capture Xuzhou in one go, and Xuzhou, which is close at hand and haunts his dreams, will become his own bag, Isoya Ryosuke was inexplicably excited.

The Japanese troops, along the opened passage, rolled towards Xuzhou, Tang Qiusheng stood outside Sanbao Town, looking intently into the distance, the cold wind blew his military coat, flying like eagle wings, surrounded by a group of staff officers, the same solemn expression.

A group of figures appeared in the field of vision, the soldiers who had returned from the bloody battle, covered with dust, almost all of them were wounded, the two regiment commanders who led the team quickly ordered the troops to line up, Tang Qiusheng looked at the soldiers, and an unspeakable feeling surged into his heart, the two regiments that were full of people, those who could come back alive were more than one regiment, there were more than two thousand brave soldiers, and they fell in just over two hours of battle, and the fierceness of the battle could be seen, which was almost a suicidal mission.

He looked at every soldier, and the soldiers replied with unyielding anger in their eyes, Tang Qiusheng ordered that these two regiments immediately withdraw to the rear to rest, and temporarily not participate in the combat operations of the first army of the encirclement and annihilation of the Japanese army, they fought hard enough, how could Tang Qiusheng bear it, let them, who had already suffered great losses, devote themselves to the fight to the death again.

The soldiers stood still, the two regiment commanders exchanged glances, and resolutely asked to participate in the battle, which is also the common wish of all the soldiers, Tang Qiusheng took a deep look at these soldiers, Ruhong's battle spirit, which is like a tired division who has just returned from a bloody battle, he only said: "Return to the original structure, prepare to participate in the battle," he couldn't bear to refuse and couldn't refuse the soldiers' request for battle.

The Battle of Xuzhou began at about 4 p.m. on December 21, and the Japanese soldiers who had just broken through the defensive position of Xiao County swept away the declining momentum of the past few days, and arrived at the city of Xuzhou, almost without a pause, and then launched a fierce attack on Xuzhou, first bombarding the defensive positions of Xuzhou with fierce artillery fire, and then, at the same time, the strength of four wings was deployed, and the mountains and fields were pouring towards Xuzhou City.

Li Zongren, who had been prepared for a long time, took out the troops of two divisions of the Sichuan Army and two divisions of the Gui Army, and fought a fierce battle with the Japanese army in Xuzhou.

The Japanese troops who were lucky enough to rush to the city were attacked fiercely by the Chinese defenders who relied on the strong city fortifications and blocked the attack route with crossfire, and the bullets as dense as flying locusts were woven into a web of death.

This is Li Zongren's established strategy, putting on a posture of defending Xuzhou, attracting all the Japanese troops under the city of Xuzhou, and creating favorable conditions for Liao Lei's 21st Group Army and the Sichuan Army of six divisions to outflank the Japanese First Army from the flanks and flanks.

At this time, Isoya Ryosuke did not realize that he had fallen into a huge trap, he was only surprised by the defensive strength of the Chinese army in Xuzhou, which exceeded his imagination, judging from the fierceness of the battle and the casualties of the imperial army, the Chinese army guarding Xuzhou would not be less than 50,000 troops, and it should be the elite of the Chinese army.

It was getting late, the troops' attack was not going well, and the soldiers were already showing a state of exhaustion after continuous rapid marching, so Isoya Ryosuke ordered to suspend the attack and readjust the deployment, from the Chinese army's fighting style and the soldiers' combat methods, he instinctively felt that this army was not an independent division unit that continuously blocked his own along the way.

Where did this force come from and what is its number? The name of the commander, Isoya Ryosuke didn't know anything, but he didn't care, as long as it wasn't the troops of the devil Tang Qiuli, it really didn't take it in his eyes, in his heart, except for the troops of the North China Independent Division, the other Chinese troops, Isoya Ryosuke didn't think he was worthy of being his opponent.

And his so-called adjustment of deployment is to change the direction of the main attack, and the current direction of the main attack is changed to assist, the role is to attract the attention of the defenders of China, and then, the main attack force suddenly kills, even if the commander of the China army wakes up, it is too late in time.

(To be continued)