Chapter 514: The Battle of the Eastern Front

Tang Qiuli's risky move put the Japanese army in the direction of Dezhou at a disadvantage, and there was a tendency to be encircled, and it also made the limited mobile strength of the Japanese army waste in the continuous Taihang Mountains.

The critical situation in Dezhou on the eastern front, so that Zairen and Xiangyue Qingji are anxious, that is a main direction of attack, accounting for one-third of the attack force, can not be lost and can not afford to lose, must be rescued, if the Dezhou battlefield incurs a fiasco, the independent division of the eastern front corps, can directly take Cangzhou, and then threaten Tianjin, Pingjin area, will be exposed to the independent division of the front, if so, the imperial army in North China, only trapped in a few lonely cities or defeated Manchuria.

Now, the troops in the direction of Datong and Niangziguan can't be withdrawn, this guy in Yamaguchi commanded more than 100,000 troops, sweeping Tang Qiuli's old nest in the Taihang Mountains, but he also found nothing, it was simply an armed parade, Tang Qiuli was determined not to fight head-on with Yamaguchi, the war was over, and there was no time coming.

Xiangyue Qingji couldn't sit still on the front line of Niangzi Pass, Dezhou was a needle inserted in his heart, he rushed back to Beiping, and Zairen discussed countermeasures to solve the current crisis, the two heads of the Japanese army invading China, looked at the map for a long time, the situation in Dezhou is the most dangerous, reinforcements must be sent, but there are redundant troops to adjust, several battlefields, are more than a thousand miles apart, far water can not quench the thirst.

In desperation, the troops garrisoning Beiping and Tianjin, except for the necessary left-behind troops, collected all the others, a total of 150,000 troops, and pieced together to reinforce the Dezhou Battlefield Corps, and went south in the starry night to join the direction of Dezhou.

At the same time, he ordered the mountain pass to end the sweeping mission in the Taihang Mountains within seven days, pass through the Taihang Mountains, and approach Taiyuan directly, in order to open the deadlock in the direction of Niangzi Pass and Datong, and force Yan Xishan in Datong and Feng Jiwu in Niangzi Pass to return to the rescue, this is the Japanese version of the siege of Wei to save Zhao, after the increase in troops in Dezhou, Tang Qiuli's main force, want to eat nearly 400,000 imperial troops in one bite, he does not have such a big appetite.

Even if Dezhou is critical, Zairen and Xiangyue Qingji did not use the strength of Shijiazhuang's two divisions and a brigade of nearly 90,000 people, this is the reserve force they left for another insidious plan, and now, the entire North China battlefield, powerless Tang Qiuli or Zairen and Xiangyue Qingji, the strength has been used to the limit, and no one has any extra troops in their hands, which can increase the bargaining chips for their own victory.

After the deployment of troops was completed, Xiangyue Qingji returned to the front line of Niangziguan, and Zairen couldn't sit still in Beiping, so he rushed to the Dezhou battlefield and commanded nearly 400,000 troops in a unified manner, so that between Dezhou in Shandong and Cangzhou in Hebei, China and Japan gathered nearly 800,000 troops, and a bloody battle was inevitable.

Upon learning of the news that the Japanese army was about to increase its troops, the Dezhou Campaign Headquarters reviewed the situation, and if the Japanese reinforcements arrived, with the same strength, it would be impossible to completely annihilate the Japanese troops in the Dezhou direction in any case.

Tang Qiu was unwilling, he had another 100,000 troops in his hands, he could take advantage of the situation to capture any city in Pingjin, and it would also completely disrupt the layout of the Japanese army's campaign, he originally expected that after the victory in the direction of Dezhou, the Sulu Mobile Corps and the reinforcements of the independent division would immediately return to the Taihang Mountains and encircle the hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops in the mountain pass, and catch turtles in an urn.

Solve the Japanese army in Dezhou, free up more than 300,000 troops, can attack the Japanese army in the direction of Datong or Niangzi Pass, if this is the case, the troops of the independent division can drink Ma Pingjin, trap the Japanese army in North China in a few big cities, simmer slowly, when the time is ripe, swallow it in one bite, North China can be all its own, then the situation in the north will be settled

People are not as good as heaven, Zairen and Xiangyue Qingji red-eyed, and took all the troops of the housekeeper to the direction of Dezhou, and completely annihilated the Japanese army, it was no longer possible, Tang Qiuli sighed, and had to agree to the mention of the Dezhou Campaign Command, and after signing the telegram, he was still hateful, and he was extremely annoyed for losing this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Mei Ting's injuries have improved greatly, with the support of the nurse, she can already sit on the bed, and see her husband walking in sullenly, not high-looking, good-looking eyebrows raised, and a pair of big eyes looking at her husband, this guy, is he with him all day long, a little stuffy and panicked, the fight is in full swing outside, but he is depressed here, and his heart is anxious?

Tang Qiuli saw Mei Ting's appearance, knew that his wife had misunderstood, and hurriedly told the situation, Mei Ting smiled embarrassedly, that kind of shy appearance, Tang Qiuli was shocked, after a while, Mei Ting jokingly said: "Why run so far, there are Japanese soldiers outside Huangya Cave, go out to fight during the day, you can still accompany me at night."

Tang Qiuli's eyes lit up, Mei Ting's joke reminded him that there were hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops in the Taihang Mountains and mountain passes, and they couldn't be allowed to run rampant in the base area, as if they were in a no-man's land, passing through Tang Shao's territory, they had to leave some money to buy the road, and he saluted seriously: "Thank you Director Mei for reminding me, my subordinates will go to arrange it immediately, may I ask, does the chief have any instructions?" ”

Mei Ting was overjoyed, she accidentally touched the wound, and frowned in pain, Tang Qiuli immediately pounced, with a nervous face, Mei Ting glared at her husband with disgust, and said softly: "Go, I'm fine, you be careful," Tang Qiuli reluctantly walked out of the ward, and before leaving the door, he looked back at Mei Ting deeply.

On 24 November, the Li Honggang clique on the left flank and the Liu Tiehan clique on the right flank launched attacks at the same time, targeting Botou and Nanpi south of Cangzhou respectively, gradually withdrawing the Japanese troops in Cangzhou, and under the pressure of the superior forces of the independent division, they accelerated the speed of retreat, and the Japanese 15th Division, the 18th Division, and the Xiaoshan Brigade, totaling more than 70,000 troops, were separated from the main force of the Japanese army by the sudden and rapid movements of the independent division's troops, and encircled the area of Damanzhuang south of Cangzhou.

The third phase of the Dezhou Campaign, which was launched in advance, grabbed the tail of the Japanese army, and the Japanese army that had withdrawn into Cangzhou was shocked and turned south, intending to rescue the besieged Japanese army, and the 390,000 troops of the independent division pressed on the whole line, with most of the main force of the returning Japanese army, and the rest besieged the encircled Japanese army.

On the land of nearly 1,000 square kilometers between the South Canal in the west and the Xinhui River in the east, the Chinese and Japanese armies of 6,700,000 troops fought each other, the battlefield artillery roared to the sky, and the smoke of gunpowder was filled.

In the middle of this move, Liu Tiehan, Tang Qiusheng and others, who had been prepared for a long time, concentrated two-thirds of the artillery, and used intensive artillery fire to blow up a wall of fire on the Japanese attack route, endless steel, crushing the will of the Japanese army.

In the two independent battlefields, the sound of guns and cannons can be heard, but it is difficult to see each other close to the compatriots, although there is a heart, but the strength is insufficient, the mood of the Japanese commander at this time must be sad and helpless.

Fierce fighting for a day and night, the besieged Japanese army, except for more than 10,000 people desperately to break out of the encirclement, the rest were all annihilated, the third stage of the Dezhou Campaign, with the formation of two divisions of the Japanese army was wiped out, the loss of more than 70,000 soldiers, the Japanese army retreated to Cangzhou, and came to an end, this battle, the independent division suffered more than 30,000 casualties, two main brigades were disabled, and returned to the Huangyadong base area to rest and replenish.

When Prince Zairen, chief of the general staff of the Japanese army's base camp, personally led 150,000 reinforcements to arrive, the battle had already ended, and the independent division troops Chen Bing used the front line of Linsheng, Fengjiakou, Jiedi, and Dongguan on the periphery of Cangzhou to close the southward passage of the Japanese army, so that it did not dare to go out of southern Hebei for half a step, and the Japanese army's strategic plan of leaving Cangzhou and going down to Jinan with 300,000 heavy troops ended in failure.

Zairen was furious, successively removed several senior generals, and launched an offensive for three consecutive days with new troops, intending to open the southward passage and strive for a favorable situation, but they were all severely damaged, and had to stop in shock, and instead stuck to Cangzhou, the gateway to Tianjin, and the southern Hebei battlefield, the independent division had the upper hand steadily, but a large number of troops were also contained here.

In the report of Xiangyue Qingji to the base camp, he said: "On the Dezhou battlefield, our army originally had an absolute advantage, and Liu Tiehan's troops of Tang Qiu's division of the North China Independent Division were in a state of hard support, and in time, our army will definitely be able to break through the Dezhou defense line and take Jinan, the capital of Shandong. ”

"As a result, the shape of the army was reversed, our army's strength was at a disadvantage, coupled with the hard fighting for days, the soldiers were exhausted, and they were suddenly attacked by the enemy's cutting-edge troops, and all units of the North China Dispatch Army were fighting fiercely with the enemy in various battlefields, and they could not divide their troops to rescue, so they were forced to retreat on all fronts, and the root cause of this was that the troops on the southern front were unfavorable in combat, so that Tang Qiuli was able to transfer troops to the north, which was beyond the control of the North China Dispatch Army."

"On the battlefield of Texas, the ability to take a defensive position with minimal losses is due to His Royal Highness Prince Zairen, Chief of the General Staff, who dispatches in the center, pours the strength of the defenders of Pingjin and personally goes to reinforcements, and our army in Texas can retreat smoothly, and His Royal Highness the Prince's foresight is really admired and impressed by us.

Xiangyue Qingji's report, the excuse of shirking responsibility is obvious, and he also concealed an important situation, that is, most of the troops in the Taihang Mountains of the Independent Division also joined the Dezhou battlefield, and he did not mention anything about it, indeed, Tang Qiusheng's troops joined the Dezhou battlefield, which was the main reason for the Japanese army's fiasco, and Xiangyue Qingji was not responsible?

Xiangyue Qingji also understood this, mobilized 900,000 troops, attacked from Datong in the west, east to Dezhou three key points, one did not succeed, Datong's troops, but also by Yan Xishan's Jin army driven back to Hebei, Dezhou lost troops and generals, the fight was even worse, as the supreme commander of the North China Dispatch Army, he has an unshirkable responsibility, therefore, at the end of the report, a big pat on the back of Zairen's ass, the purpose is also to drag His Excellency the Chief of General Staff into the water, this work, not I did it alone.

(To be continued)