Yang Zhen here made up his mind to fight the 72nd Division first, and Chen Hanzhang, who had already held back his strength before, had nothing to hesitate. Originally, Chen Hanzhang's original plan was to fight this 72nd Division first. Most of the mobile forces in his hands are deployed in Zaonan to hide and wait.

Not only the artillery that Yang Zhen strengthened him before the war, but all of them were secretly deployed by him in the area north of Zaonan County. In accordance with Yang Zhen's order, he also transferred four artillery pieces from each division's artillery regiment to the Zaonan ambush area. At the same time, he transferred one 82 mortar from each infantry regiment, and two four-pack 14-mm anti-aircraft machine guns from each division's antiaircraft artillery battalion.

It also transferred one or two companies from several artillery regiments directly under its own command. The antiaircraft artillery unit directly under it was also drawn out two mixed battalions of 23 antiaircraft artillery and 14 mm machine guns. In other words, the ambush circle deployed by Chen Hanzhang for the 72nd Division concentrated almost all the firepower that could be mobilized in his hands. Even most of the 122 rocket artillery groups directly under him were transferred to the ambush site.

At the beginning, in order to solve the 72nd Division as soon as possible, Chen Hanzhang could be said to have put a lot of effort into it. All troop movements were made at night, avoiding all the villages along the way as much as possible. During the mobilization period, a variety of mobilization methods were adopted, such as multi-way marching, striking from east to west, etc. After arriving at the designated combat area, no open flames are allowed.

Artillery tractors do not have their lights turned on. Upon arrival at the designated area of deployment, all artillery positions were camouflaged. He also ordered each artillery regiment, regiment, battalion, and company to send a cadre to each of the artillery regiments participating in the battle, and with the cooperation of the best artillery staff officers they had dispatched, all the predetermined combat areas north of the Qingliang River and in Zaobei were carefully marked, and each artillery group was also divided into firing boundaries in detail.

It can be said that Chen Hanzhang used all the troops that could be mobilized in his hands and spent countless efforts to create a plain ambush circle for the Japanese army in Zaonan. It was only because the 72nd Division did not bite the hook for a long time that Chen Hanzhang wanted to take advantage of the change in the battle situation in northwest Shandong and mobilize the firepower and strength originally prepared for the 72nd Division to attack the 118th Division first.

However, before his latest battle plan was approved by Yang Zhen. Chen Hanzhang, who was very clear about being in charge of the overall situation, did not necessarily agree to the change of his battle plan, but he did not move the troops in advance very steadily. Before Yang Zhen made up his mind, he was originally scheduled to be transferred to the front line of Guantao, and the troops that launched an attack on the flank of the 118th Division were still waiting in Zaonan.

At present, Yang Zhen decided to solve the 72nd Division first, and Chen Hanzhang hardly needed to adjust any big adjustments in the deployment of troops. The only change is that after getting reinforcements from two divisions, he has more confidence and can stretch his hands longer, and he needs to make certain changes in the battle plan.

In the face of changes in the situation, Chen Hanzhang changed the original shallow and deep detour to a large depth detour. The outflanking points on the two wings were changed from the canal in the territory of Wucheng to a large depth and detour. Xia Jin, who went straight behind the 72nd Division, strived to complete the encirclement of the 72nd Division in one go.

And strive to completely eliminate this 72nd Division in the shortest possible time. Under the circumstance that the number of troops scheduled to be invested has been strengthened and the battle plan needs to be changed to a certain extent, Chen Hanzhang has focused on adjusting the deployment of armored troops. Especially on the Western Front, when the 118th Division has already begun to turn around, the spearhead of the troops interspersed on the Western Front needs to be strengthened to a certain extent.

In order to cut off the connection between the 72nd Division and the 118th Division as quickly as possible. Only by reaching the sharpest possible spearhead can it penetrate the formation of the Japanese army in front of it in the shortest possible time. After taking over the two divisions transferred by Yang Zhen, Chen Hanzhang, who was full of confidence, naturally had a bigger hand.

After receiving Yang Zhen's order to attack the 72nd Division first, in view of the overall enemy situation in front of him, Chen Hanzhang decided to use the 29th Division under Yang Zhen to strengthen an armored brigade to attack from Nangong on the spot, and forcibly interspersed in the direction of Daying and Duanlutou. After severing the connection between the 72nd Division and the 118th Division, it immediately turned eastward with the strength of no less than one regiment and went straight to the county seat of Wucheng.

At the same time, with the troops deployed between Zaonan and Zaobei, the 72nd Division launched a counterattack on the whole line from the front. With two independent tank regiments, in cooperation with the 33rd Division, they forcibly interspersed in the direction of Zhengjiakou and Jiucheng to cut off the road from Dezhou to Xiajin. In order to divide the connection between the 22nd Division and the 72nd Division in Texas, the 72nd Division was completely isolated.

The troops originally planned to outflank the two flanks were all concentrated on the frontal counterattack against the Japanese army. The Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region is equipped with a brigade and another regiment, and a reinforced regiment, an independent tank regiment, and a self-propelled artillery battalion belonging to the Anti-Japanese Federation are the general reserves.

Considering that the 33rd Division was formed later, its combat effectiveness was relatively weak. This battle was also the first large-scale battle in which the division participated as an organization. In order to enhance the combat effectiveness of the division, Chen Hanzhang transferred the division's 99th Regiment and the 1st Battalion of the 97th Regiment with the 50th Regiment of the 17th Division and the 2nd Battalion of the 51st Regiment as the reserve. At the same time, 10 company commanders and 4 companies were transferred from the 25th Division to the commander of the 98th Regiment of the division.

The troops of the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region, which had retreated to the front line of Guangzong, launched a counterattack against the 118th Division on the front line of Weixian County in the form of movement warfare and harassment warfare, so as to contain at least part of the division's strength and prevent it from reinforcing to the east. At the same time, he coordinated with Yang Zhen and hoped that the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region would increase the strength of no less than three regiments to the front line of Guangzong and Weixian.

At the same time, in order to ensure the smooth progress of the encirclement and annihilation of the 72nd Division, at least on the right flank, Chen Hanzhang was determined to launch a tactical counterattack on the Dezhou battlefield while encircling and annihilating the 72nd Division, and to entangle the 22nd Division in front of him. And in the northern Lubei battlefield, it also constantly launched local tactical counterattacks.

In order to contain the Japanese army in depth, especially a division deployed by the Japanese army on the line from Yantai to Shouguang. Chen Hanzhang took advantage of his own mobility advantage and took advantage of the tidal flats of the Yellow River east of Wudi to make a detour back to the rear of the Japanese army in northern Lubei and go deep into the line of Laizhou Bay. On the front line of Zhou Rao and Shouguang, a large-scale sabotage battle was launched.

Chen Hanzhang's order to the ministry was to fight as much as he wanted in northeastern Shandong. As long as the depth of the Japanese army in northern Lubei is not in peace, and the Japanese army that pins down the line from Yantai to Shouguang cannot reinforce to the north, even if they complete the task. If it is possible to spread eastward, we will try our best to directly open up the connection with the Qinghe Military Region.

Once the Japanese army dispatched heavy troops to encircle and suppress, the situation was not conducive to the operation of the unit. He retreated eastward, crossed the Jiaoji railway line, joined the main force of the Shandong Military Region, and stayed on the Jiaodong Peninsula to cooperate with the Shandong Military Region. If the Shandong Military Region could not afford to supply horses, it would dispose of all the horses and the whole brigade would be converted to infantry combat.

In order to complete Yang Zhen's deployment in the shortest possible time, the 72nd Division was cleanly resolved. Chen Hanzhang, who knew that this battle could only be resolved quickly, could be said to have invested a lot of money. He even transferred 60 percent of the rocket artillery and 100 percent of the air force on the Eastern Front to the Zaonan battlefield.

At the same time, in order to make the most of the daytime operations, the advantages of good visual vision. As much as possible, we should give full play to the favorable conditions of the terrain of Zaonan and Pingchuan to avoid falling into a chaotic battle with the Japanese army at night. Chen Hanzhang was also quite considerate, and set the time for the whole line to counterattack in the early morning.

Moreover, he demanded that before the counterattack began, not only should the objectives and tasks of each type of artillery be specially formulated, but also the benchmark guns of each department should not be allowed to conduct any test firing during the preparation of artillery fire. Instead, a single artillery group was used as the base artillery group to ensure that the first wave of shells would fall on the Japanese army.

All artillery observers should enter the front-line positions. At the same time, some artillery observers should be transferred to follow the counterattacking infantry forward. It is necessary to organize part of the light artillery to follow the infantry, and wherever the infantry hits, the artillery must follow. Wherever there is resistance, artillery fire will be supported.

When preparing and covering artillery fire, the artillery had to play a double barrage. Artillery should not only shoulder the task of artillery support, but also the task of artillery blockade and interception. To ensure that the infantry hits there, its artillery support must follow. Wherever the Japanese army tried to assemble, its artillery fire covered it.

The biggest task of each artillery cluster is to absolutely not allow the Japanese troops to assemble and move closer, and to kill and wound the Japanese troops as much as possible to reduce the pressure on the infantry. All artillery positions and between artillery positions and infantry positions should be connected by wired telephones at the same time as wireless communication and two-way communication should be adopted.

The infantry offensive should be fierce, and strive to break the connection between the various units of the Japanese army and disrupt the structure of the various units of the Japanese army in the first round of attacks. To dare to act with artillery support, the line of charge of the infantry and the target covered by the artillery group must not exceed 150 meters.

In order to solve the 72nd Division in the shortest possible time, Chen Hanzhang's preparation was not meticulous. And the various preparations he made did have the effect he hoped to have on the battlefield. His first round of counterattack artillery fire blindfolded the Japanese troops in front of him.

Chen Hanzhang was on the frontal battlefield, concentrating a large number of artillery fire to counterattack on all fronts. On the flank, with tanks as the lead, under the cover of the attack aircraft group, the tactic of quickly outflanking the two flanks of the 72nd Division. and the fierceness of the artillery fire that was put into the counterattack, so that it was the first time to see and appreciate such a fierce artillery fire, and the commander of the 72nd Division, Lieutenant General Chiba Kumaji, was taken aback.

He did not expect that at the moment, the 118th Division had completed the turn and was advancing with him. On the Texas battlefield, which was close to him, the two armies were still in the stage of stalemate. The Anti-Japanese Federation dared to take advantage of the fire and hit all the counterattacks on their heads. And the momentum of its counterattack is so fierce that it is clear that it wants its own life.

And according to the original plan of the front army, the enemy's counterattack should be its own line of attack to reach the Hengshui line. After opening a gap with the Dezhou battlefield and the southern Hebei battlefield, the enemy's counterattack will be launched. Or as early as the 118th Division, when it shook a shot in the direction of Guantao, and its flank was completely exposed, it should have been deployed.

But before that, when the 118th Division was bluffing in the direction of Guantao, the enemy was in front of him, just blindly resisting and delaying his actions. However, it chose to start only after the 118th Division had completed its turn and had already launched towards the front line of Weixian and Guangzong.

The most important thing that Chiba Kumaji did not communicate with was the first round of counterattack of the Anti-Japanese Alliance, but it did not hit the head of the 118th Division, which was prominent on the front line of Wei County, how could it fall on his head when he was still very close to the Texas battlefield? How could this be completely different from the front army's original judgment of the enemy's situation?

In particular, what makes Chiba Kumaji very puzzled is when did the enemy concentrate so many artillery fire and counterattack forces in front of him? The troops at the front did not even notice it. The intelligence department of the front army and aerial reconnaissance did not find anything. How did the enemy manage to mobilize so many troops and artillery under his nose without letting himself find out?