Chapter 10: Anqing (52)

Sure enough, as Wei Yongcheng said, this is a fake public and private gathering, and as Tang Ruru said, official affairs are important, but it is enough to have Jin Tongxuan on official affairs, and summarize the situation every day and hand it over to Tang Ruru, Tang Ruru will hand it over to the person in charge of the inspection team at the military and division levels, and they will send it back to their own department to pay an account. As for Mo Enemy and his gang, they drank until they got drunk naturally every night, slept until they woke up naturally every morning, and they didn't accept the heavens, and they really lived a good life for a few days.

With radio surveillance, the Japanese troops were well aware of their movements, and the first thing they understood was the specific units of the Japanese army, not only the 3rd, 13th, and 39th divisions, but also the units directly under the 11th Group Army, including the 7th and 13th tank wings of the 7th and 13th tank brigades with 200 combat vehicles, the 101st brigade of the temporary mixed 101st brigade composed of Major General Matsuyama Yuzo of the 27th Infantry Brigade transferred from Tianjin, and the 6th brigade of the field heavy artillery.

In order to strengthen its offensive strength, the Japanese army transferred some troops from the four master regiments in Jiangnan to form four detachments to provide northern support, one of which was the Ikeda detachment headed by Naozo Ikeda, commander of the 11th Infantry Brigade, with three infantry brigades and one mountain artillery brigade of the Sixth Division as the backbone. The second is the basic composition of the four infantry brigades of the 40th Division, and the detachment leader is the Ishimoto detachment headed by the commander of the 40th Infantry Brigade, Ishimoto Sadanao. The third is the Ogawa Detachment based on the two infantry brigades of the 34th Division, and the detachment leader is the 216th Wing Commander Ogawa Gonnosuke. The fourth is the Yoshida Detachment, which consisted of the Hirano Brigade, the Guto Brigade, and the Tanaka Brigade.

The 13th Group Army of the Japanese Army stationed in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River transferred seven brigades from the 15th and 22nd Divisions to form the Matsui Detachment, headed by the commander of the 22nd Infantry Brigade, Matsui Kanichi, and assigned it to the 11th Group Army. In addition, the 1st Dispatch China Fleet, the 2nd Combined Air Force and the 3rd Flying Regiment of the Navy's "Chinese Fleet" worked together

With heavy artillery, chariots, ships, aircraft, and more than 160,000 elite infantry, the opponent is far from being as simple as previously estimated.

Seeing the list in front of him, Mo Di involuntarily put down the wine glass in front of him, and said to Tang Ruru: "I'm afraid that this battle will be far more difficult than last year's Suizao battle, last year we won a small round in this region, and if we want to win again this year, we will pay a greater price." ”

Tang Ruru smiled faintly and said, "We just need to report the information, as for how to deal with the enemy, it is not up to us to consider." ”

Mo Di looked at Tang Ruru in amazement, Wei Yongcheng knew that Mo Di had fallen into the old mindset again, his strategic sense was relatively strong, and he was used to thinking holistically, giving people the feeling that he should not be, and he didn't pay enough attention to his specific work. So he smiled and said: "Tianzhong, Lao Tang is right, the Japanese army is in China, more than a million troops, to stop him from defeating him, it is not by relying on a certain person or a certain army, it requires the strength of the whole nation, we are just one of them, the overall layout is considered by Chairman Jiang, and the operation in the fifth theater is decided by Chief Li, as for us, there is no need to worry about the king of the rivers and lakes." ”

Mo Di smiled dumbly, Zhang Guangwei once said a few years ago that it would be good to make a screw, and if he wanted to be the operator of the machine, he was still almost weighted.

Jin Tongxuan didn't speak, but handed over another piece of paper, which was the layout map of the Chinese army in the region, the seven major group armies of the Fifth Theater, nearly 450,000 people, were already in full battle, although this battle was not as optimistic as he thought before, and there was no need to be too pessimistic. Mo Di glanced at Jin Tongxuan, and it seemed that he was not the only one who liked to think about the whole picture.

Mo Enemy sighed, with three strikes to one, there is not much advantage, even with five strikes and one, there are fewer precedents for failure! What's more, many of the Chinese army have an establishment but no soldiers, some have serious shortages, and some are not even in the defense zone, such as the 21st Group Army, only 100 or so people are in the battle circle, and as for the 171st Division, which is closest to the war circle, it still does not know what to do in Anhui.

Through radio listening, Mo Di basically figured out the general advance plan of Sonobe and Ichiro's 11th Army. Kazuichiro Sonobe is a very smart commander, and although he knows that his predecessor was transferred because he offended the base camp, he does not underestimate his predecessor, his old classmate Okamura Ninji. He believed that in last year's Battle of Suizao, Okamura Ninji's offensive plan and plan of action were impeccable, and the only problem was that he relied too much on cavalry troops. Unexpectedly, the cavalry brigade of the 11th Group Army was not the opponent of the infantry of Sun Lianzhong's Second Group Army, who was born in the Northwest Army of China, resulting in the encirclement not being formed and falling short. Tang Enbo's 31st Group Army calmly retreated, the encirclement failed, and the exhausted Japanese army encountered a fierce counterattack by the Chinese army, suffering heavy casualties.

In view of the area on both sides of the Xiangshui River with Zaoyang as the center, Kazuichiro Sonobe still adhered to the method of his old classmate Okamura Ninji, that is, to encircle and fight in a large area in the Suizao area, in an effort to inflict heavy damage on the main force of the Fifth Theater and eliminate the living forces of the Fifth Theater, especially the elite of the Central Army and Tang Enbo's 31st Group Army. Kazuichiro Sonobe and Okamura Ninji had the same starting point, and the central army of the Whampoa system was the focus of the attack.

On the Chinese battlefield, the Japanese army has tried to find him for a decisive battle more than once, but he has cleverly dodged it, and what makes the Japanese commander depressed is that every time the Japanese army is looking for the 31st Group Army in the process of decisive battle, it will be harassed and even intercepted by other Chinese troops, causing serious losses to the Japanese army. It can be said that in every battle, the Japanese army can win strategically, but they are not very satisfied with tactics, and sometimes they are even quite dissatisfied.

This time, be sure to fight a beautiful encirclement! Kazuichiro Sonobe secretly made up his mind.

The so-called encirclement battle, in other words, is to repeat the method of last year's Suizao Battle, to encircle in a large area in the Suizao area, to find the main force to try to eliminate the Fifth Theater, especially to annihilate the 31st Group Army of Tang Enbo.

In order to achieve this strategic goal, the Japanese army lined up a three-way formation, the 3rd Division of Yamawaki Masataka on the North Road, attached to the Ishii Detachment and the Ogawa Detachment, they were responsible for outflanking from north to south, starting from Xinyang, and finally occupying the Tang River and Miyang in the west of the Fifth Theater, preparing to turn with the 13th Division in Xinye and Fancheng, and cut off the retreat of the main force of the Fifth Theater to the north.

The 13th Division of Tanaka Shizuichi was assigned to the Matsui Detachment on the southern route, and they were responsible for outflanking the western part of the Fifth Theater from south to north, advancing north from the east bank of the Hanshui River west of Dahong Mountain, and finally occupying Xinye and Fancheng, and rounding out the Japanese troops on the North Road, cutting off the retreat route of the Fifth Theater to the south.

The 39th Division of the Murakami Kaisaku Division, which was attached to the Ikeda Detachment, was deployed in front of Suixian, and they began to attack, luring the Nationalist army into a decisive battle with them, so as to facilitate the outflanking of the detour troops. Once the north and south routes were successfully encircled, the Japanese troops in the middle route immediately advanced at high speed and completely annihilated the main force of the national army in the encirclement.

If the Japanese army's operational plan was established, the first to bear the brunt would be Huang Qixiang's 11th Group Army, which was stationed west of Suixian.

The two armies under the Eleventh Group Army, one is Mo Shujie's 84th Army, the other is Liu Heding's 39th Army, the 84th Army is Guangxi's subordinate soldiers, and the three division commanders are Zhong Yi, Zhang Guangwei and Ling Jixi. Although the 39th Army was not a soldier from Guangxi, it had a fairly close relationship with Guangxi. The 39th Army was developed on the basis of the 56th Division, the first commander of the 56th Division was Zhang Yichun, a native of Hefei, and Liu Heding, also a native of Hefei, was the chief of staff of the division. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Liu Heding marched north from Fujian and fought bloodily on the battlefield of Xuzhou in Shanghai. After the Battle of Wuhan, the 39th Army was first assigned to the 21st Group Army and then to the 11th Group Army, and Liu Heding not only served as the commander of the 39th Army, but also changed from the deputy commander of the 21st Group Army to the deputy commander of the 11th Group Army.

Last year, the 11th Group Army fought bloodily and suffered many casualties, and this year, it has become the center of the battle.

On Jin Tongxuan's map, Jin Tongxuan was seriously deducing, and Tang Ruru and Wei Yongcheng, who were not far away, were sitting on the recliners, talking cool words without a match.

"The so-called not in his position, not seeking his own government, is for people like Tianzong." Wei Yongcheng said.

"I asked Hai Gongzi, he said that these soldiers, they all have a kind of competitive spirit, like to predict first, once they cash, they have proved their ability, if the development of the battle situation is inconsistent with their own views, they will not think that it is their own inadequacy, anyway, they will entangle the special situation in the development process, and even blame the actual commanders and participants, in order to prove that they are better and wiser." Tang Ruru said.

"What does that mean?" Wei Yongcheng said: "Sometimes it's too smart, and the peak doesn't like it." ”

Tang Ruru nodded and said: "We have seen the crisis of the Eleventh Group Army of Commander Huang Yuxing (Huang Qixiang), but I estimate that even if we report the news, we will not be able to change their crisis, because the Fifth War Zone needs a force to lure the enemy, and the work of this decoy is often the most dangerous. ”

On 10 April, Chiang Kai-shek of the Central Military Commission sent a telegram to Li Zongren, commander of the Fifth Theater, pointing out: "In the event of an enemy attack on Sha and Yi, it is necessary to make immediate advance arrangements and strike first to preempt the enemy's attack. With the two main forces of Tang Enbo and Wang Zhangxu, they attacked the enemy on the Jing (Shan) Zhong (Xiang) and Han (Yang) Yi (Cheng) roads from the areas on both sides of the Dahong Mountain, and assisted by the Xiang (Yang) Hua (Yuan) Road, southern Henan and eastern Hubei to respond to the operation and break the enemy's attempt to attack from the west. The timing of the attack should be to be carried out resolutely by the theater of operations by closely observing the enemy's situation, but preparations for the attack must be completed by the end of mid-April. ”

In view of the Japanese army's intention to fight a decisive battle with the main force of the Fifth Theater, the Military Committee held that the Japanese army's westward advance was not aimed at occupying Yichang or Xiang and Fan, but was to retreat and restore the pre-war posture after seeking and destroying the main force of the Fifth Theater in the Zaoyang area east of the Xiang River. Proceeding from this basic point, a corresponding battle instruction was formulated, and a small number of troops, divided into units, made a feint to the enemy head-on on the Xianghua Road to reconnoiter the enemy's situation, and the other main forces immediately set out from the spot and quickly advanced to the gap area in the area of Pingjing Pass and Wusheng Pass, and then turned south from this area to Guangshui, Yingshan or Huayuan, and Anlu, to press and threaten Hankou, the enemy's rear base area, and cut off the line of communication behind it. And with the main force of Yube, that is, to find the direction of the enemy's main force, and tail attack its flank.

General Li Zongren was a very wise hunter, and he used Tang Enbo's 31st Army as a decoy very well, allowing the Japanese army to see the target from a distance and ignore other opponents, forming a typical dark light, and then calmly arranged.

In accordance with the instructions of the Military Commission, the General Staff of the Fifth Theater comprehended the spirit of Commander Li Zongren and worked out a set of operational plans that did not have too many new ideas, and hung Tang Enbo's troops far behind to attract the attention of the Japanese troops, and then intercepted them step by step. With one interception front, advance behind the enemy in multiple ways, and actively carry out harassment attacks, Tang Enbo's department controls the rear, and the camera strikes preemptively, and fights a decisive battle with the Japanese army east of Zaoyang or in the Jingmen and Dangyang areas. The specific deployment is as follows: Right Road: Zhang Zizhong, commander-in-chief of the Right Group, commanded the 29th Group Army and the 33rd Group Army, held the positions on both sides of the Xianghe River with one section, consolidated the passes on the south side of Dahongshan, and controlled the north of Changshoudian with the main force, waiting for an opportunity to break through the invading Japanese army. Guo Chen, commander of the Jiangfang Army, commanded the 26th, 75th, and 94th armies, the 128th division, and the 6th and 7th guerrilla columns, relying on the positions on the right bank of the Xiang River and the Dongjing River, and tried his best to prevent the Japanese army from crossing the river and consume the Japanese army. Cooperate with the right group and fight a decisive battle with the Japanese army in the Jing and Dang areas.

Middle Road: Huang Qixiang, commander-in-chief of the Central Group, commanded the 11th Army to block the Japanese army west of Gaocheng to Suixian. This unit is a frontal interception force, which can be transferred to Zaoyang when the interception is unfavorable, and coordinate with the reserve corps to encircle and break the Japanese army from both flanks.

Left Route: Sun Lianzhong, commander-in-chief of the Left Group Army, commanded the 2nd Army and the Eastern Hubei Guerrillas to contain the attack on Xinyang and prepare to fight on Xianghua Road with strong troops.

Tang Enbo, commander-in-chief of the mobile corps, commanded the 31st Group Army, which assembled in the northeast area of Zaoyang and waited for a heavy attack.

Sun Zhen, commander-in-chief of the reserve corps, commanded the 22nd Group Army, which was temporarily placed in Shuanggou.

As soon as the forces of the enemy and us were deployed on the map, a helpless sigh was heard: The 84th Army is estimated to be doomed this time!