Episode 33 The second stage of the blitzkrieg

On the 23rd, the Ming army began simultaneous air raids on Jinan, .

The Jinan Yellow River Bridge, probably because of the long range, coupled with the proximity to the Beijing-Tianjin defense circle, the loss is large, so the Ming army aircraft group only went to bomb once that day, and after encountering the siege of Qing fighters, the entire fleet returned.

The Zhengzhou Yellow River Bridge is unfortunately within the combat range of the Ming army's land-based aircraft, and it is too close to the area controlled by the Ming army, and the Ming army has absolute air supremacy. Therefore, the bombing of the Yellow River Bridge in Zhengzhou has not stopped, and it has been bombed one after another. Zhengzhou also had a regiment-level airfield, but it suffered heavy losses in the bombing in the early morning of the D day, and the remaining planes were evacuated by Guangwu after the Ming army invaded Henan. But now that the Ming planes are aiming at the Yellow River Bridge, attacking it and saving it, Guangwu has no choice but to grit his teeth and transfer the evacuated fighters to the air battle.

Relying on the dual advantages of quality and quantity, the Ming army planes continued to consume the Qing army planes while dropping bombs on the bridge.

Like the railway, the bridge is thin and long, and it is quite difficult to shoot in the air. In addition, the Ming army's dive bombers had to constantly dodge, dodge the Qing fighters, and evade anti-aircraft fire, so most of the bombs were dropped far from the bridge, and there were very few bombs even close to it.

The Ming army came with only one squadron of dive bombers at a time, and the bombs were quickly dropped, and then they returned home, and another squadron came after a while. This lasted all morning.

The Zhengzhou Corps, the 13th Group Army of the Qing Army, is now commanded by Deputy Commander Chen Wangwu. The former commander of the group army was a Manchurian, who died of alcohol poisoning and stomach bleeding at a banquet on the night before D-Day. Just the next morning, the Ming army attacked, and the deputy commander Chen Wangwu reported him a "martyrdom", saying that he was assassinated by Nanming agents and died. Because the Nanming underground organization really carried out large-scale assassinations on the night of D day ago, and the garrison officers in many places were assassinated, so this lie was really concealed from the above.

But in the military, everyone knows what's going on. Generally, whoever dies, whether it is sick or drunk, or dies on a woman's belly, as long as the relationship is in place, can generally report an "assassination martyrdom" and settle the account on the head of the Nanming agent. In addition to a good reputation, you can also posthumously recognize a title, reward a wife and children, and so on.

Therefore, since the beginning of the war, Deputy Commander Chen Wangwu has been in charge of the affairs of the whole army. Beijing has never sent a successor commander, but it has not promoted him to commander, and his position is still called "acting commander."

Chen Wangwu was very slippery, when the Ming army just took the city and entered the Henan Plain, he knew that it was not good, and first asked someone to install ** under the Yellow River Bridge and lay out the wires. He thought that no matter what the situation of the battle was, no matter whether he could fight or not, he must first prepare to blow up the bridge. At that time, if the battle is lost and forced to retreat, you can quickly withdraw across the Yellow River, and then blow up the bridge to block the Ming army on the south bank of the Yellow River.

He is different from the gang of uncles in Beijing, he guards the Yellow River Bridge, and knows that such a big thing can not be blown up, it takes time, and it is no less troublesome than digging a trench. In advance, a truck was driven to pull ** on the bridge, and then the sappers were first lowered from the bridge with ropes, a small pit was dug in each cement pier, and then a small amount of ** was stuffed. Then pull the person up to the bridge deck and detonate it.

In this way, a hole was blown out in each pier to be loaded in large quantities. At this time, the sapper can be put down again, and then the ** box can be put in the appropriate position of the bridge pier, and the whole box ** can be stuffed into the hole that was blown out. Then set up the detonators, pull the sappers up with the wires, and connect the detonating wires of each pier together, so that everyone can evacuate the bridge. After the last member of the Zhengzhou Corps withdrew to the north of the Yellow River, the engineers on the bridge could retreat while releasing the detonation line, and finally leave the bridge, withdraw to a safe distance, and detonate.

In this way, the whole process of blowing up the bridge was completed. At least this way can be blown up more thoroughly and the whole bridge can be blown up. The man-made bridge in Germany is sturdy. Otherwise, only a short section of the middle will be blown up, and the Ming army will be able to repair it in a while.

……

But after such a long time, the Ming army did not attack in the direction of Zhengzhou, but mobilized forces to annihilate the Qing army on the north side of Dabie Mountain and the south side of the Huai River.

So, he quietly asked people to dismantle all the ** under the bridge, and the knot was sturdy and transported back by truck.

Later, the Ming army launched a limited offensive on the left side, defeated Xuchang, and forced the Zhengzhou defensive circle, Chen Wangwu was scared again, and hurriedly ordered the sappers to quietly go to the bridge, and then put the ** on it, connect the wires, and be ready to withdraw to the north bank at any time, and then blow up the bridge.

But unfortunately, someone in Beijing came out with the news that the emperor had another military meeting, Long Yan was furious and angrily reprimanded a staff officer who advocated blowing up the bridge. Chen Wangwu was so frightened that he took the sappers to the bridge overnight, and watched the sappers take down all the ** and put away all the wires, so he was relieved.

Chen Wangwu piled up all the ** in the fortifications of the bridgehead and did not take it back to the city. Although it is said that the emperor "angrily reprimanded" someone who was going to blow up the bridge at the military meeting, it is estimated that it was mostly to maintain morale. It's only been a few days since the war started, and the Ming army was forced to put the "bombing of the bridge" on the agenda, and on the south bank of the Yellow River, no one wants to fight well, and they will think about retreating to the north bank as soon as possible, and then blow up the bridge. Next is war or peace, and that is Beijing's business.

Having said that, if there is a big victory like the Jianghuai Battle and the Ming army comes again, then the Qing army really has to consider withdrawing to the north bank to blow up the bridge. At that time, even if the emperor was reluctant, he would have ordered the bridge to be blown up.

Chen Wangwu especially felt that he was in danger here. The troops on their side are weak, they have no air supremacy at all, and they are far inferior to the Ming army in terms of numbers, firepower, and mobility. Once the Ming army planned to take Zhengzhou, it would definitely be the kind of lightning-fast early morning attack. He didn't dare to guarantee that his army would not appear like Jianghuai. Maybe the Ming army attacked in the early morning, and the tanks drove into Zhengzhou at noon. At that time, it was too late to brave the bombing and shelling and transport the ** to the bridge.

But today, on the 23rd, something terrible happened. The Ming army did not attack on land, but sent planes to bomb it. The target is actually the Yellow River Bridge!

In other words, the Ming army itself did not plan to cross the Yellow River, and it did not plan to let its own corps cross the Yellow River! They plan to block the only passage for their retreat to the north and annihilate more than 200,000 people of their own corps on the south bank of the Yellow River!

It seems that the Ming army is really preparing to attack on the Xuzhou side, and before the attack, they plan to completely clear the west first......

Chen Wangwu was frightened, and hurriedly ordered someone to go to the bridge, take the ** out of the bridgehead, and transport it back to the city. This is no joke. This kind of double-decker bridge over railways and highways is very strong, and it may not be able to be blown up by a bomb. But ** is piled up in the basement of the bridgehead, and the foundation of the bridgehead is built on the Yellow River embankment, and the basement is sunk into the embankment.

Such a truck** is piled up in the basement, in case a bomb hits the bridgehead and detonates the entirety, even the embankment may burst, causing the Yellow River to burst...... In that case, whether you withdraw to Beijing or surrender Nanjing, this head will not be enough to be cut a hundred times.

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The 23rd of the Ming army bombed the bridge for a day, and even did not throw a bomb on the bridge, but the entire Qing Army 13th Group Army was frightened, from the acting commander Chen Wangwu to the small soldiers below, everyone was worried in their hearts, and they did not know what their future would be. In particular, the soldiers below and what kind of junior officers are thinking: can they withdraw to the north bank before the bridge is blown up? Or was he ordered to hold his ground and die in the end? Or is it more fortunate that the acting commander Lord Chen can order the whole army to surrender like Lord Hui of the Fangcheng Army? In that case, there is no need to shed blood, not to mention, you can still defect to Nanming......

In the early morning of the 24th, without warning, the second phase of the blitzkrieg began.

The Ming army concentrated 210 dive bombers, 108 horizontal bombers, 3,000 large-caliber artillery, 500 light tanks, 700 armored vehicles, and 100,000 motorized infantry in cars. The two forearms formed a pincer offensive, sandwiching the largest part of the 13th Group Army, the main force of Zhengzhou, in the middle. The intensity of the offensive was unprecedented.