Section 72 The Independent Regiment Enters the War

Just when the 51st Division near Ducheng was engaged in a fierce battle with the 20th Brigade of the Japanese Army, the 34th Division of the Japanese Army, which occupied Gao'an, continued to move south and fought fiercely with the 57th Division in the area of Sixi, while the main force of the 33rd Division of the Japanese Army occupying Fengxin went straight to the area of Wuqiao and broke through the defense line of the 70th Army. The Japanese army attacked on three fronts, and tens of thousands of troops came violently, sweeping Gao'an, Fengxin and other important towns within a few days, and the momentum was amazing.

At this time, the national army troops can no longer retreat, although only a few days, but the Japanese offensive is fierce, the battlefield is laid out, the combat situation has been very obvious, and with the rapid advance of the Japanese army, the national army troops with insufficient intelligence in the early stage do not dare to fight a decisive battle, can only continue to retreat, now can only stick to the second line of defense, has lost the strategic depth, once retreated, the general will face the enemy's attack, so that the situation is extremely difficult.

Wang Yaowu's general headquarters moved from Wanzai to Shanggao, and personally went to the front line to direct the battle. At this time, General Luo Zhuoying, deputy commander of the Ninth Theater and commander of the 19th Group Army, saw that the Japanese army was arrogant and had already decided to fight a decisive battle with the Japanese army, and he had already come up with a way to deal with the Japanese army's three-way attack in the shortest possible time.

On March 17, the independent regiment, which had been ready to participate in the war in Yifeng, finally received a secret order from the military headquarters, asking them to leave Yifeng and go to the area of Cunqian Street to participate in the battle, and cooperate with the 70th Army to defeat the troops attacking on the flank of the Japanese army in the shortest possible time, and prepare for the main force of the encirclement and annihilation of the Japanese army. Shi Shi, who received the order, did not hesitate and immediately made arrangements to bring all the troops of the independent regiment to the front, including the 2,000 coolies of the supernumerary civilian battalion, who also went with the army. As for Yifeng's defense and Yiying's affairs, it was handed over to the county magistrate Hu Linglong to command, and now Yifeng's affairs are on the right track, as long as they maintain their original order, it is enough to ensure the normal development of Yifeng.

The departure of Shi and the others made Hu Linglong and the people of Yifeng very worried, but this was also a matter of no way, after Shi comforted him a few words, he immediately stepped on the war horse and galloped away under the escort of the guards, leaving only the people who spontaneously greeted from a distance to watch this disciplined army slowly spread the news at the end of the road.

Yifeng and Fengxin are close to each other, the distance between the two places is only one hundred and forty or fifty miles, the Japanese army is going south all the way like a bamboo, if the road goes well, the morning and evening are coming, and Yifeng can be killed in one day. However, because of the interception of the 70th Army along the way, the Japanese army was stubbornly blocked on the front line of Wuqiao, and temporarily stopped the pace of advance, although Shi sent a reconnaissance company to reconnoiter the situation in the new direction a few days ago, and did a good job of vigilance along the way, but anything could happen on the battlefield, and in the absence of definite news, he did not dare to act rashly, for the sake of safety, he led his troops to travel 40 miles in a hurry, and stopped in Huaqiao Town.

Huaqiao is located in the northeast of Yifeng, at the junction of Yifeng and Fengxin counties, as early as the 28th year of the Republic of China, the stone conscripted the displaced people to build strong fortifications in this section to cope with the possible war, and even in the subsequent "Battle of Changsha", it was also lent to friendly troops and the place to go to. Fortunately, in that battle, the Japanese 106th Division turned around and moved westward after taking Gao'an, and did not invade Yifeng in the south, otherwise judging from the situation when the independent regiment was outside the critical time of reorganization, I am afraid it will bring a great blow to Yifeng, and it is really difficult to say whether there can be today's scene.

Now that the stone has arrived in the area of Huaqiao and inspected the bunkers and fortifications in various places, he is also very satisfied with the situation here, the firing range of the machine gun positions is spacious, and the various bunker trenches are wide and deep enough, and if they echo each other, they are enough to inflict enough damage on the enemy. The army is stationed here, and it is also safe enough. And the distance from the front-line battlefield and Yifeng County is suitable, and it is very convenient to transport grain and grass and participate in the battle in time, which makes Shi very satisfied. After arranging the troops, Wu Zihuai was also asked to immediately rush to the headquarters of the 70th Army to get in touch with the friendly forces and see how to fight the battle in front of him.

At this time, the headquarters of the 70th Army was located in Kuzhuao, 20 miles on the flank of the battlefield, and the main 19th and 107th divisions were all on the front line of Wuqiao to block the enemy, and there were also the 5th and 9th divisions as reserves. Among them, the 19th Division is a strong force that is not weaker than the 51st Division, and it also participated in the Battle of Songhu, the Battle of De'an and the Battle of Wuhan, and its performance is very outstanding. However, the then army commander Lieutenant General Li Jue was not very well received by the superiors, and most of the reasons for this originated during the Central Plains War, and Chen Cheng, known as the "little chairman", wanted to remove Li Jue several times, all because of his outstanding command ability and ability to fight tough battles, but in the end he did not succeed.

Chief of Staff Wu Zihuai may have broken free from the original state of a peacemaker because of his training under Shi in the past few years, or perhaps because of the change in the status of the independent regiment, even with him, the chief of staff, has risen to the top, and now he is becoming more and more capable and neat. After a trip to the headquarters of the 70th Army, he quickly rushed back and provided Stone with some updates on the front.

"Tuanza, Li Junzuo plans to encircle and annihilate the 33rd Division of the devil." Wu Zihuai's first words after returning to the Huaqiao headquarters were very amazing.

"What is the origin of this Li Junzuo? The tone is so big, I heard that the 33rd Division of the devil belongs to an ordinary security division, although it is not as good as those A divisions, but it should not be much worse than the 106th Division, these ad hoc divisions! He actually has so much confidence to encircle and annihilate devils? Lin Xiufeng on the side asked strangely.

Wu Zihuai's rich experience in the army is far from being comparable to them, and when he heard this, he immediately said: "Li Junzuo dares to say this, naturally he has such confidence, in the eighteenth year of the Republic of China, this Li Junzuo was already the commander of the Changsha garrison, and after so many years of fighting, the 19th Division under his command is a first-class strong soldier, and it is abnormal for him to dare not fight in the face of a guard division of the devil." ”

Shi Shi was silent for a long time before he said, "Brother Wu, did this Li Junzuo say how we need to cooperate?" ”

Wu Zihuai shook his head and said, "Li Junzuo said that let's stay where we are, and wait until the battle is at the most critical time to give the devil a fatal blow." ”

Wu Zihuai on the side couldn't help but "sneer" and laughed disdainfully: "Stand by now? It seems that this Li Junzuo is not only bold but also very confident, an army dares to encircle and annihilate a division of devils? If it really succeeds, it will really be the biggest victory since the Anti-Japanese War, and those devils who dare to say that a brigade can be compared to one of our divisions will also be ashamed! ”

The tall sledgehammer on the side also sneered and said: "It's not as simple as you think, the 70th Army dares to fight like this, it must be relied on, even if it is a confident person, it will not take an army to encircle and annihilate a division of devils, it is completely an act of sending to death, Chief of Staff, you should have something else to say!" ”

Wu Zihuai couldn't help but give a thumbs up to the tall sledgehammer and said: "Battalion Commander Gao is really powerful, I really can't hide anything from your eyes." Yes, although Li Junzuo didn't talk to me much about the encirclement and annihilation war, but I heard a few staff officers talk about the fact that the 72nd Army and the 78th Army will arrive soon, obviously they are preparing for the three armies to fight a siege and annihilation battle together, and let us as the general reserve, with Li Junzuo's person, will not do anything to rob the military merit alone, and the arrangement for us is just an insurance practice, after all, the devil doesn't know much about the situation here for us, if he can join the battlefield at a critical time, It must be able to deal a fatal blow to the devil. ”

The stone looked at the map and asked, "Where is the battlefield of the siege?" Will we be able to get to the battlefield in time if we stay here? ”

Wu Zihuai pointed to the map and said: "In Shangfu, forty miles away from us, you can rush to the battlefield in half a day, in terms of time, it should be in time, if it is too close, I am afraid that the devil will find out." ”

Li Wenguang interjected and asked: "Chief of Staff, Shangfu is in the west and deviates from the original direction of the devil's attack, will the devil be fooled and chase after him?" What happens if the devil attacks according to the set target? The encirclement and annihilation battle can't be fought at all! ”

Wu Zihuai thought for a while and said: "Battalion Commander Li is right, then there should be a second plan, if the devils continue to go south, then we will face the attack of the devils, and when the time comes, our regiment will face the attack of the devils and a division, and Huaqiao will not be defended here?" If the devil avoids the upstream lake and goes south directly to attack the Tangpu line, what will we do? I didn't think of this at the beginning, and it looks like I'll have to make another trip! ”

Shi waved his hand and said: "Brother Wu, there is no need to run anymore, since Li Junzuo told you that he wants to fight an encirclement and annihilation battle, then he is absolutely sure that he can attract the devil to the past." And in fact, no matter whether you ask or not, as long as the devils attack Yifeng, we will resolutely block them, once we lose here, Shanggao will be under the devil's soldiers. If the devil occupies Tangpu, he will be able to flank the 57th Division in the south, and even directly attack Shanggao, this battle will not be able to be fought again, and Shanggao will definitely not be able to hold it. In the same way, Yifeng can't hold on, and all our hard work in the past few years has been in vain. ”

Liu Wenfeng slammed his fist on the table and said: "Then fight with the devil, the brothers finally have a home and land here, are they just a little hopeful and a little improved, and they are about to be destroyed by the devil?" Then let's fight a fart battle and kill a fart devil? As long as the devils dare to come, they will kill them all, damn it, the little devils of the A Corps don't know how many they have fought, are they still afraid of being eaten by these little miscellaneous fish? ”

"The madman is right, as long as the devils dare to come, then kill them, the 70th Army can't encircle and annihilate this division, then we." Lin Xiufeng said loudly on the side.