Chapter 304: Southern Han Beacon Fire (1)

The first to attack on the Chinese side were the 21st Division of the 21st Army, the 2nd Independent Mixed Brigade, and the 56th Division under the command of Lieutenant General Kuichi Tanaka.

According to the plan, the 56th Division attacked in the direction of Yunnan, captured Baise and then attacked in the direction of Funing, occupied the Hekou area, cut off the railway from Lao Cai to Kunming, and then attacked from Lao Cai to Hanoi.

The 21st Division and the 2nd Mixed Brigade were divided into two routes, the 21st Division launched an attack on Zhennanguan with all its strength with the heavy artillery wing, and the 2nd Mixed Brigade attacked from the city defense to Pingdeng, so that a three-sided attack would be formed.

On the Southern Han side, there was only one unit of two divisions of the First Army of the Southern Han Dynasty, with a strength of only about 30,000 people, and what did they use to block the attack of the Imperial Japanese Army. In order to prevent the Southern Han army from breaking through individually, Lieutenant General Tanaka Kuichi made a plan, and the 56th Division was the first to attack, ordering the 65th Aircraft Brigade in Nanning to support the 56th Division, as long as Daxin was taken and approached Gaoping, which was already the territory of the Southern Han, and could attack Yiguang along this road, thus cutting off the railway connection between the Southern Han Snow City and Lao Cai.

Before the war, Tanaka Kuichi studied the tactical characteristics of the Southern Han Snow Fox Army in detail, and he had nothing to do with this kind of elusive tactics. He ordered the commander of the infantry brigade of the 21st Division, Major General Yoshimoto Shuzo, not to scatter his troops, and to be careful when fighting against the Snow Fox army, their army was very irregular, and the soldiers were not like soldiers at all, but more like bandits, and the scattered forces were easy to be defeated and eliminated.

At the same time, he ordered the commander of the 56th Division, Lieutenant General Takahashi Toshizo, to attack Daxin, and he must be fierce, and the 71st Army of Song Xilian was stationed in Kunming, which had jurisdiction over the 88th and 36th divisions, and its combat effectiveness was also the strongest among the Chinese government army. In particular, Chen Ruihe, the 36th Division, used to be the division commander of the Snow Fox Army, and his tactics should be the same as Snow Fox.

There was also the 74th Division in the direction of Zeyang, which was commanded by Wang Yaowu, a famous general in the anti-Japanese battlefield, and these troops had fought against the Japanese Imperial Army in Nanjing, and they were also under the command of Xue Ru.

Xue Ru and the two people with the best relationship in the national army, one is Xue Yue in the Ninth War Zone, and the other is Song Xilian in the Fourth War Zone, at this time Song Xilian is the commander of the defense of Kunming, Xue Yue transferred his ace powerhouse 74th Army, it can be thought that Xue Yue is helping the Southern Han.

At this time, the Southern Han Dynasty of China was an Allied army and jointly declared war on Japan. The Lend-Lease Act of the United States, which was also bombed by Pearl Harbor, began to be as effective for China as it was for the Southern Han Dynasty. If the offensive is slow, it is possible that through the Southern Han Dynasty, a large number of military strategic materials will enter China.

The 2nd Fleet has entered the Gulf of Tonkin to blockade and attack the ports of Halong and Haiphong, so the 56th Division's attack must be swift and fierce, completely crushing the Chinese army, and completing the strategy of a three-way offensive.

Zhennanguan is more than 100 kilometers away from the east of Liangshan Highway, and the command center of Qiao Han, the headquarters of the First Army, is here, the two division commanders and the chief of staff are staring at the map, Qiao Han asked: "What is the situation on the side of Commander Song?" ”

Chief of Staff Zhang Zhong said: "Commander Song sent a telegram back, let us rest assured that the brothers of the 71st Army must ensure the safety of the western road of the Southern Han Dynasty, and if they want to attack the Southern Han Dynasty, they must step on the corpse of the 71st Army, and they will not give up a single inch of land, and at the same time they also said that the 74th Army is on the way over." ”

Qiao Han shook his head: "This Commander Song, if Miss goes, you have to teach him a lesson, why can't you change the problem, you go to Kunming in person to see Commander Song, ask him to withdraw the troops back, arrange three lines of defense from Daxin to Gaoping, and withdraw into Gaoping if necessary, the border guards will give them support, don't resist." ”

Yang Guangyu, the commander of the first division, said: "Army commander, Chen Dong in the south has already started fighting, what should we do?" The devil doesn't seem to be moving, what tricks does Kuichi Tanaka play? ”

Qiao Han said: "This is the first time that the four armies of the Southern Han Dynasty have participated in the war at the same time, the first army and the second army are both veteran troops, Chen Dong, this kid must want to compare with us, I heard that Miss prepared the Southern Han Han Medal, which is the highest honor medal of the Southern Han Dynasty, and whoever can get it is the Southern Han God of War." I heard that he and Ding Fenglun are bound to win. Hmph, Lao Tzu still wants it, Du Heng didn't participate in the war this time, became a reserve team, and almost turned his face with Ouyang Sari. How's your preparation? Don't embarrass me. ”

Yang Guangyu of the First Division and Yang Guangyu, the commander of the Second Division, are known as the Second Yang of the First Army. Yang Guangyu said: "Don't worry, Commander, this time it's enough for the devil to play, I think the army will not be able to deal with him when it fights." Don't worry, don't think about going back when the devil comes, there will be nothing left. ”

Qiao Han nodded and said to Zhang Zhong: "Tell Commander Song that the devil wants to attack in three ways, if the 56th Division does not reach Gaoping, the other two roads will not attack, so let him not resolutely block the attack, just delay the advance of the Japanese army, and let them enter Gaoping City." Let Commander Wang's troops go directly from Zeyang to Xilin, go Guangnan to Hejiang, and from there cross the Dehe River into Gaoping, concentrate the forces of the two armies to surround the devils in Gaoping and destroy them. ”

Zhang Zhongli said: "It's me who understands, I will coordinate with Commander Song." ”

Qiao Han said with a wicked smile: "Don't be stupid, rubbish, Commander Song is a person who is favored by the young lady, do you want to go back when the 71st Army enters the Southern Han Dynasty?" You don't need me to teach you how to do it, right? ”

Zhang Zhong hurriedly smiled evilly: "Understood, understood, I think it's Wei Ming's kid's idea again, right?" ”

Qiao Han said: "What do you care about him? Just do it. ”

Zhang Zhongpao raised his hand and saluted, and left for Kunming to see Song Xilian.

In fact, he really wronged Wei Ming, it was not his idea, it was Zhang Donglin's idea. He knew that the young lady was very grateful to Song Xilian and spoke very well of him, Chen Ruihe was the original division commander of Snow Fox, and the 36th Division was only transferred by him, and all the troops remained, but that was also the commander of the 36th Division. The snow fox is short of people, of course, Zhang Donglin has his eyes on those national army troops. It's not bad to get the 71st Army over, this time against the Japanese army, a division and regiment have a heavy machine gun brigade and heavy artillery wing, and the 71st Army blocks the devil's attack, and the casualties will not be small. That's not good, don't talk about Snow Fox, even if you don't care, it's a real brother army.

In this war, Snow Fox delegated the command to the commanders of the army, and asked for only one, all those who set foot on the territory of the Southern Han Dynasty would be wiped out, so that the Japanese would remember for a long time, the territory of the Southern Han Dynasty was not something that the Japanese could come up with their feet, and if they wanted to attack the Southern Han Dynasty, they had to be prepared to die.

When the troops proposed combat materials to the logistics department, even Zhao Wufu was stunned, is this a division-level war? How it's like guerrilla warfare. Zhang Donglin found a few army commanders to ensure that the Japanese army could not go deep, otherwise the Southern Han could not afford to lose. Of course, the three army commanders said that there was no problem, and let him rest assured that the young lady said that if there was any loss today, Japan would compensate ten times as much.

The first to start the battle was the defensive line in China centered on the county town of Daxin, and at this time it was the troops of Chen Ruihe of the 36th Division stationed here. For resisting the Japanese attack, he is still confident, the first battle of Fujin Mountain, the 36th Division was commanded by Zhong Bin, and the 3rd Division suffered heavy losses with Xue Ru's tactics, and later Chen Ruihe took over as the division commander, and he was with Snow Fox for a period of time, the tactical thinking was completely different, and the combat effectiveness was also very strong.

The 56th Division of the Japanese Army is a triple division with a total strength of 18,000 troops, and the 36th Division has more than 12,000 troops. The 88th Division was the left side of the support force, and part of it was in reserve. Three days in advance, hundreds of sorties of Japanese planes carried out a frenzied bombing of the Daxin defensive line, and most of the permanent fortifications were destroyed, which were being repaired at this time. The only thing he hoped for was that the 74th Army would arrive as soon as possible, and only with the combined strength of the two armies could it be possible to win, otherwise the passive defense would fail sooner or later.

Chen Ruihe has accepted Snow Fox's thoughts, and does not want to simply defend, he wants to destroy the Japanese army. Killing and injuring the living forces of the Japanese army was Xue Ru's operational guiding ideology, but with the number of one army and two divisions, it was not certain that Chen Ruihe, a division of the Japanese army, could be eliminated.

Don't say that he is not sure, Song Xilian, who is in Kunming at this time, is not sure. He transferred Yunnan to be the commander of the defense, and brought in Guo Jingchu, who was promoted to lieutenant general, to become the deputy commander of the defense and chief of staff, and the two became partners again.

Song Xilian looked at the telegram in his hand and said, "What does this little fox want to do?" It is difficult to block it with the strength of Yunnan alone, why let the First Army be heard. ”

Guo Jingchu said: "Commander, she is already the queen of a country, I think you should not be called that?" It can get into trouble, and Snow Fox is no longer an army. ”

Song Xilian was stunned for a moment and said: "I really forgot this, it seems that I have to be careful when I speak in the future, that is the head of a country, and he is at the same level as the chairman." This little girl can really get it, and you think she went all the way south just for weapons and ammunition? It turned out that he had such big ambitions, and he looked away. ”

Guo Jingchu asked, "How do we fight?" ”

Song Xilian said: "How else can you fight, blocking one day is one day, it just depends on when Wang Yaowu arrives, if we are fast, we will not lose much, we can also counterattack, if we are slow, we can only look at Qiao Han." ”

Guo Jingchu nodded, and it was true. In fact, it cannot but be said that in the past few years of the Anti-Japanese War, there have been countless battles with the Japanese army, and the generals of the national army have lost confidence, but in fact, an army of more than 30,000 people has no certainty of victory in the face of a division of the Japanese army.

The two of them were studying, and the guard at the door reported: "Zhang Zhong, chief of staff of the First Army of the Southern Han Dynasty, has arrived." "Zhang Zhong came by car, he didn't take the train because it was too slow. Japanese planes began to bomb the Nankun Railway, and although Wang Hai's air defense units were maneuvering to protect them, the battle line was too long, and some sections were still blown up. The railway workers and the surrounding migrant workers continued to repair, but it was difficult to ensure the normal opening of traffic, so Zhang Zhong arrived in Kunming by car.

At this time, the front-line battle had begun for three or four days, and the 36th Division lured the enemy deep and then immediately followed the Japanese army to fight back, carrying out a counter-assault to regain the position, and Dai Ying's troops of the 88th Division also continued to attack from the flank, enduring casualties and blocking the Japanese advance.

The commander of the 56th Division, Lieutenant General Takahashi Toshizo, was already angry, and for four days, relying on strong troops and weapons, he failed to break through a line of defense, so that he was reprimanded several times by Tanaka Kuichi, and his tone was very bad, which made him very annoyed. Both of them were lieutenant generals, but it was Tanaka Kuichi who became the commander of the 21st Army.

Takahashi Toshizo was very dissatisfied, and took his anger on the Chinese defenders, and intensified his offensive to break through the defensive line, capture the main street, and from there enter the Southern Han Dynasty and advance to Syracuse, cooperating with the attack of the 21st Division.

Zhang Zhong saluted Song Xilian and said a few polite words, and said Qiao Han's request, Song Xilian glared: "Why didn't Commander Qiao telegraph to tell me, does he know how many people I lost?" ”

Zhang Zhong really wanted to say who made you so stupid, you just know how to defend. But he knew that Song Xilian and Miss had an unusual relationship, so he didn't dare to say it, and said with a smile: "Commander Qiao thinks that is a bit impolite, it will make Commander Song feel uncomfortable, if he complains to Her Majesty the Queen, he can't stand it, so he specially sent me to inform him personally, and there are other tactics to study." ”

Song Xilian said proudly: "Count him wise, your queen, that little ...... Yes? Of course we don't have a different relationship, let's talk about what else does Commander Qiao have? ”

Zhang Zhong said: "No, Commander Wang has already informed him that as long as Commander Song's side implements it in place, the 56th Division will have no return." ”

"Okay, Chief of Staff Guo issued an order to the 88th and 36th Divisions to resist gradually and retreat to Gaoping." Guo Jingchu served as the commander of the New Ninth Army, and he had confidence in Qiao Han and Liu Yuanshan, and immediately issued orders to Chen Ruihe and Dai Ying, and the Japanese army finally broke through the defense line and attacked forward at dusk.

After receiving the report, Tanaka Kuichi happily ordered the commander of the infantry brigade of the 21st Division to launch an attack on Zhennan Pass, and the 2nd Brigade on the side of Liangshan also crossed the 100,000 mountains and launched an attack from the flank like Zhennan Pass, preparing to implement the old tactics of the Japanese army and flank detour.

The Japanese army finally began an all-out offensive. The Japanese troops attacking Zhennanguan prepared planes, artillery and a part of the tanks. Brigade commander Major General Hidezo Yoshimoto believes that Zhennan Pass is an important pass, and it is known as a difficult pass. The Chinese army had given up, and it had been guarded by the Southern Han border guards. In terms of territory, Zhennanguan is still Chinese territory, and such a dangerous place is defended by the Southern Han army, which must be difficult to capture. To this end, Tanaka Kuichi ordered the planes to bomb Zhennan Pass for three days, and the artillery of the heavy artillery wing also opened fire. This important city pass, which was built in the Ming Dynasty, was mutilated in the artillery fire and was almost destroyed, and the Japanese army launched a charge against the Zhennanguan position in a large group.

The 62nd Wing was attacking in front, and they were already approaching the bottom of the city pass, and there was no gunfire from above, and there was no human figure to be seen. The captain of the wing, Akita Osa was a little afraid to attack, the snow fox was known for his cunning, how could such an important place be undefended, saying that it was destroyed by aircraft artillery, even he didn't believe it.

The hesitant Japanese army took a long time to climb the Zhennan Pass, and found that there was no one at such an important pass, and there were straw men and rags on the city wall and in the position, and there was no one to guard it at all. What's going on? Kuichi Tanaka, who received the report, was also confused for a while, and the Snow Fox Southern Han army fled? Kill him and don't believe it. After studying it with the chief of staff, he thought that it must be that the Southern Han side was afraid of planes and artillery and took the initiative to retreat, and it was their old tactic again, setting up an ambush in front to prepare to ambush the imperial army.

Although Kuichi Tanaka knew that there was an ambush, he couldn't help but attack, so did he stop here? Helpless, he ordered the three wings to form an infantry brigade not to divide the troops, to concentrate as much as possible together, to advance during the day and rest at night, not to rush forward every day, for fear of being calculated.

At the same time, the 2nd Independent Mixed Brigade was ordered to speed up the attack on the flanks and cover the breakthrough of the 21st Central Division to capture Taiyuan County. As long as Taiyuan County is captured, there is no danger to defend when you go to Hanoi, and you are not afraid of any tricks made by the Southern Han.

Besides, with a division and a brigade, the Japanese army has more than 30,000 people, and the Southern Han has only one army, and it is necessary to draw troops to defend the left and right sides and Lao Cai. The Chinese army in the Great New Direction is retreating one after another, what are you worried about, even if it is ambushed, what can such a large number do, can it be wiped out in a few hours or a few days?

Kuichi Tanaka was not worried about the news that the 16th and 15th armies in the south had begun to attack, and the 33rd Division in the Thai direction was also attacking the southern Han. The Marines of Sosebo, who sent the 2nd Naval Fleet to attack Halong Port, and the Nagasaki Marine Corps, which launched an attack on Haiphong, were already besieged from all sides, and it was impossible for the only army to hold it. If they were surrounded, it would be a decisive battle, so he ordered the two troops to speed up the attack, and not to disperse the forces into a group attack.

Major General Yoshimoto Shuzo was also very cautious, advancing less than 50 kilometers a day, and three wings to protect the division headquarters and artillery wings and other arms of the army, attacking Taiyuan, and being careful all the way would inevitably slow down the speed.

The Japanese troops in the north were suspicious by Qiao Han and attacked very slowly, but the Japanese 2nd Division and the 33rd Division attacking from the south were very fast, because there was no dangerous terrain on this side. Two divisions attacked at the same time, starting from two directions, the 2nd Division attacked from South Vietnam along the coast towards Vinh, and the 33rd Division attacked from Thai territory from Phayao to Sand City.

The only danger on this side was the Mekong River, but the 2nd Division, which attacked Vinh, was not in any danger at all, and concentrated its forces to attack north as fast as possible.

At the headquarters of the 2nd Army in Langcheng, Chen Dong looked confident: "Order Zhang Hu of the 3rd Division to bury the devil in Heliang." ”