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In comparison, the losses of the new 38th Division were the smallest, even if the proportion of casualties was slightly higher, only more than 600 people were sacrificed, but Sun Liren's brigade that stayed in Canal Town to prevent the Japanese army from crossing east to rescue Lianyungang paid a greater price

Upon learning that Lianyungang had been bombarded by the Chinese navy and that even the two battleships that had been said to have been sold to the Soviet Union had appeared, the Japanese Central China Dispatch Command was greatly alarmed, and on the one hand, it immediately sent almost all the air forces that could be deployed to support it, and on the other hand, it immediately sent more troops from Xuzhou to the east in order to open the Longhai Railway, which had been cut off by the enemy, because Canal Town had fallen into enemy hands, as soon as possible.

Although there are no motorized troops to send at the Central China Dispatch Command for the time being, the speed of arrival is not too slow because a section of railway is available (although because there is no other platform between Xuzhou and Canal Town, it can only be used as a one-way railway track for the time being until the devil builds a new railway station). But Sun Liren had already expected this, and before leaving Canal Town, he specially left more than 150 battalion 120 mortars, although this artillery, which was nicknamed "Big Red Star" by the soldiers, although it was a mortar, the maximum range was more than seven thousand meters, almost the same as the devil's mountain artillery, and the power was not inferior to the 105 caliber howitzer, which could effectively block the canal river, and the Japanese troops who tried to force the crossing often did not board the other side of the canal, because the boat was sunk by 120 mortars and fed the fish and turtles, The course of the canal may not be as deep as the Yangtze River and other natural rivers, but it is enough to easily have no top, but although the width of the river around 100 meters is a little smaller, in the early winter when the water temperature is already very low, it is not easy for the devil who has fallen into the water to overcome the stiffness of his body and successfully swim to the opposite bank, not to mention that the sharp artillery fire on the opposite bank is also not vegetarian. Besides, if the devil doesn't throw away his guns, he will definitely sink to the bottom, but even if they lose their guns, even if they go ashore, what can they do?

In this case. Fire suppression is undoubtedly crucial for the devils, but the unique super mobility of mortars saved the more than 150 "big red stars". It is difficult for the devil's artillery fire to threaten the mortars of the new 38th Division, but they never thought that the mortars could hit so far The Japanese artillery often moved too slowly after revealing the position, and was counterattacked by the enemy mortars many times, if it were not for the mortars, the accuracy of long-distance artillery bombardment was poor. It is not impossible that most of the devil's artillery will lose money. Rao is so. The Japanese artillery fire still did not take advantage of the slightest advantage, but the 357th Brigade of the New 38th Division, which only had mortars, gradually suppressed the opponent

The artillery fire was suppressed by the enemy, and the planes had no time to come to their aid for the time being, and the devils had only one way left. That is to use the cover of night to smuggle. However, the new 38th Division came prepared this time, and even brought the flares that had been captured in Qingdao before, and as a result, several night attacks by the devils ended in failure. The helpless devils, under the strict orders of the Central China Dispatch Army Headquarters, had to organize a death squad to rush the collected Zuihou boats. As a result, the small boats running on the canal were not only unable to withstand the attack of the 120 mortars at all, but also generally slowed down, which was undoubtedly the best target in the eyes of the artillery of the new 38th Division. At this point, the devil's attempt to cross to the east was completely bankrupt, and it only needlessly cost the lives of countless soldiers

Speaking of which, the generals of the Central China Dispatch Army Headquarters of the Japanese Army were also in a daze, and under the premise that the enemy forces on the other side were determined to defend to the death, rushing to cross the river has always been a very headache and a difficult military operation. You must know that in history, the Eighth Route Army in northern Shaanxi was only a few left-behind troops, but it still used the Yellow River to repel many attacks by the Japanese army, including many elite devils at the brigade level. It is true that the devils who tried to cross the canal east this time had far more than one brigade, but even if the new 38th Division was a brigade under its banner, its firepower was far from being comparable to the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo Left-behind Corps in history

The devils fought fiercely for two days and still failed to break through the river defense. After taking Lianyungang, Sun Liren immediately sent all the vehicle-mounted artillery back, dealing a major blow to the Japanese army, which temporarily lost air supremacy, and the Japanese army finally calmed down after suffering huge casualties, and Lianyungang had been lost. Even if it is successful at this time, it will not make much sense. Therefore, the original Jihua was quickly suspended, but in order to avoid a direct threat to Xuzhou by the 15th Group Army, the Japanese Central China Dispatch Army Headquarters still asked the Japanese troops on the Eastern Front to build fortifications on the spot to maintain pressure on the enemy. On the other hand, the new 38th Division also used up more than seventy percent of the shells in this series of battles, and the 122 and larger caliber shells were even more exhausted, so Sun Liren also made the same decision, so the two armies that were still fighting desperately just now began a long confrontation across the river

It must be admitted that Sun Liren's decision was wise, although the new 38th Division in the first battle of Canal Town took a great advantage, killing and wounding more than 30,000 Japanese soldiers in such a short period of time, while he only suffered less than 5,000 casualties (in fact, compared to a brigade of more than 10,000 men and horses, this loss is not small, but there is no way, the enemy's strength advantage is too great. However, the Japanese troops on the Eastern Front were still more than the new 38th Division, and at the same time, unlike the New 38th Division, which was relatively far away from the main force, even if they only transported troops at night, they could get at least a few thousand reinforcements from the direction of Xuzhou every day (Note 1), and the advantage of the new 38th Division's artillery was also rapidly weakened with the large consumption of shells, no matter how proud Sun Liren is, he will not be crazy to such a point, even if there are enough shells, he doesn't dare to do this, let alone now

The two battles on the Eastern Front were skillful battles, while the Northern Front was the "Flesh Mill" that set a new record for casualties in the history of the 15th Group Army

Note 1: The distance is less than 100 kilometers, it is too close, if it is not for the loss of Canal Town, the loss of the railway station in the middle will have a great impact, and the speed of the devil's troop transportation can be accelerated several times, so it is really a stroke of genius to let Sun Liren's troops run long distances to capture Canal Town, but the risk taken is also unusually large. In fact, this jihua was inspired by Hu Weidong's surprise attack on Shijiazhuang during the Liberation War in history after seeing Fu Zuoyi, and was further refined by Su Yu

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