Chapter 10: Anqing (57)

The Japanese army contracted in an all-round way, and the General Staff of the Fifth Theater believed that the large-scale retreat of the Japanese army in the Suizao War last year had reappeared, and seized the opportunity to launch a large-scale counteroffensive.

The Japanese army retreated purposefully, but the Fifth Theater did not know the purpose of the Japanese army, or the Chongqing Central Military Commission also mistakenly believed that the Japanese army was attacking for 10 days, and the logistics were not continued, and the ammunition and food were exhausted, so they had no choice but to retreat.

If you are cheap, you don't take advantage of the bastard, and if you don't beat the water dog at this time, you're sorry for yourself. From the central to the local, there is a kind of cry: counterattack, drive the invaders down the Yangtze River.

Tang Enbo, worthy of the contemporary Xiahou Yuan, his 31st Group Army's counteroffensive awareness and counteroffensive speed are beyond the reach of other troops, when other troops are still hesitating, the 31st Army Group Army Zhang Xuezhong's 13th Army has already ridden into the dust, crossed the Tang River, and killed Xinye.

Driven by the 31st Army, the 2nd Army was not far behind, and the 27th Division of Huang Qiaosong of the 33rd Army's Chifeng City Department actually returned to the old theater of Qinyang, and surrounded the 3rd Engineer Wing of the 3rd Division of the Japanese Army in one fell swoop, trying to completely annihilate it. The non-combat unit of the Engineer Wing, numbering more than 1,000 people, has always been protected by infantry, and if it were not for the Japanese command requesting the 3rd Division to quickly withdraw to Fancheng, it would not have left the Engineer Wing alone in the rear. Huang Qiaosong, like an excellent hunter, keenly found that this was the easiest piece of meat to eat, and eating it was just to avenge the fact that he had been beaten all over the ground by the 3rd Division in Qinyang, so he quickly surrounded the 3rd Engineer Wing with a tiger pounce. After the Battle of Qinyang a few days ago, the soldiers of the 27th Division had also run out of ammunition and food, with only one or two each*, and many of them were each with a signature broadsword of the Northwest Army. Rushed to a few tens of meters from the Japanese engineer wing, threw *, and then pulled out a broadsword and slashed. The Japanese sappers, who were originally just building bridges and paving roads, had never seen this scene of firearms in the new century and cold weapons in the Middle Ages, and they were so frightened that they hurriedly ran backwards. Some of the sappers were running slowly, and when they saw the broadsword soldiers rushing in front of them, they were so anxious that they danced with their iron pickaxes and parried indiscriminately.

As soon as they met, the engineer wing suffered half of the casualties.

The commander of the engineer wing hurriedly asked the division commander for help! When the 3rd Division learned that the Engineer Wing had been encircled, Yamawaki Masataka was very alarmed and immediately ordered the Chariot Regiment, the Ishimoto Detachment of the 40th Division, and the Ogawa Detachment of the 34th Division to go for reinforcements.

Before the reinforcements left, they were discovered by the reconnaissance troops of Tang Enbo's 31st Group Army, and immediately ordered Wang Zhonglian's 85th Army to reinforce Huang Qiaosong.

The Japanese reinforcements of 6,000 troops and 20 tanks attacked fiercely, and soon tore a hole in the encirclement of the 27th Division of the Second Army.

Just when the reinforced chariot regiment, the 40th Division's Shimoto Detachment, and the 34th Division's Xiaochuan Detachment rescued the 3rd Engineer Wing, completed the reinforcement mission and continued to go south, they plunged headlong into the net laid by Wang Zhonglian in Huyang Town.

The main force of the 3rd Division was divided into two routes, one was the 29th Brigade, under the leadership of Major General Dachenghu Sanji, along the Tang River and rushed to Fancheng as fast as possible, while the other division headquarters and the 5th Brigade went straight down to the Zaoyang area from the east bank of the Tang River to clear the eastern harassment for the 29th Brigade to quickly occupy Fancheng. When the division headquarters and the 5th Brigade entered the Zaoyang area, they were blocked head-on by Huang Weigang's 59th Army of Zhang Zizhong's 33rd Group. Just as the 3rd Division was preparing to attack the 59th Army with all its strength and open the way to the south, the commander of the Yamawaki Masataka Division sadly received a telegram from Major General Oshirodo Sanji, the main force of the division, that the 29th Brigade was surrounded in the area of Shuanggou and Dadian northeast of Fancheng. Surrounding them was Tang Enbo's 31st Group Army, Zhang Xuezhong's 13th Army, which was ordered to move south. For the speed of the Tang Army, the commander of the Yamawaki Masataka Division admired it so much that he threw himself to the ground. In order to escape the high-speed surprise attack of the Tang Army, the Third Division could not even take care of the engineer wing, and only wanted to rush to Fancheng quickly and defend the city.

In the previous offensive, the ammunition of the heavy weapons was almost exhausted, because it could not be replenished because it was not docked with the middle route army, and the heavy artillery was empty, completely losing its armament advantage. The 13th Army is the elite of the Central Army, with relatively advanced weapons and equipment, and some heavy weapons, including a mountain artillery regiment, an anti-tank anti-aircraft artillery battalion and some mortars. The most important thing is that the officers and men are veterans of war, and in this war, the 13th Army has not yet come into contact with the Japanese army, and it is completely a new force, although it has run wild for 100 miles and its combat capability has declined, but it is still much stronger than the 29th Brigade.

The 29th Brigade immediately built fortifications on the spot, intensively defended and waited for an opportunity to break through, but after 3 days and 3 nights of fierce fighting, it could not be effective, so it had no choice but to request reinforcements from the 3rd Division. The telegram sent by Major General Oshirodo Sanji was extremely pitiful and poignant, and the content of the telegram was simple, in one sentence: Just beg for reinforcements from an infantry brigade.

Yamawaki Masataka knew that there was a tiger in front of him, and one more person would have more strength, and he would open up the passage one minute earlier, but he had no choice but to start from the overall situation, so he could only dig up the flesh and mend the sores. The 5th Brigade was divided into two, the division headquarters led the 6th Wing to attack Huang Weigang's department, and the commander of the 5th Brigade, Major General Riichiro Katayama, led the 68th Wing to reinforce the 29th Brigade.

Yamawaki Masataka knew that with only his own division headquarters and a mere 6th Wing, he could not break through Huang Weigang's block, and if he wanted to win, he had to wait until the Chariot Regiment of the 3rd Engineer Wing, the Ishimoto Detachment of the 40th Division, and the Ogawa Detachment of the 34th Division returned south. Yamawaki Masataka didn't know that at this moment, the chariot regiment, the Ishimoto detachment and the Ogawa detachment had been entangled by Wang Zhonglian in Huyang Town, and it was difficult to get out.

In Huyang Town, it was Shi Jue's 4th Division that was intercepted head-on. At about 11 o'clock that night, the people of Wangzhuang, about 3 miles north of Huyang Town, fled to Huyang Town one after another, panicking that hundreds of Japanese soldiers had entered Wangzhuang and were cooking and eating, as well as artillery and Yanmar. Wan Zhairen, the commander of the 11th Regiment, ordered the scouts to find out the situation, and reported that the Zhaoshang Brigade of the 234th Wing of the Shimoto Detachment of the 40th Division, which had returned from the reinforcement of the engineer wing in Qinyang, had the enemy running back and forth in Qinyang, and had also fought a battle with the 33rd Army of Chifeng City.

The regiment commander Wan Zhairen felt that there was an opportunity to make a profit, and immediately reported to the division headquarters and proposed to attack at 3 o'clock in the morning.

At 3 o'clock in the morning of the 15th, the regiment commander Wan Zhairen ordered by telephone: the 1st Battalion should be used as a reserve and be on alert in the direction of Xinyang; Shen Jinsheng's 2nd battalion attacked from the north of Wangzhuang to the south, and Han Shengtao's 3rd battalion attacked from the south of Wangzhuang to the north, pincering the enemy; The military headquarters urgently transferred two mountain artillery pieces to support.

As soon as the troops moved, they were discovered by the enemy, the guns rang out, and the battle began. The Japanese troops quickly deployed positions along the outside of the village and returned fire, with heavy firepower. With the help of heaven, it began to rain at dawn, and enemy planes could not bomb it throughout the day. The army headquarters and division headquarters quickly supported mountain artillery, anti-aircraft artillery and mortars to participate in the battle. The regiment commander Wan Zhairen commanded the artillery bombardment of the enemy. The officers and men bravely rushed and killed repeatedly, and at about 2 p.m., the enemy was pushed back and cowered in the village.

At this moment, the gunfire in the northeast corner was loud, and the first battalion returned, and Ishii Sadamao led the remaining four infantry brigades and one artillery brigade of the Ishii detachment to support.

Wang Zhonglian breathed a sigh of relief, he let Wan Zhairen fight with the Zhaoshang Brigade, the purpose was to let the Shijing detachment come to help, otherwise, he would not be ambushed here in vain with more than 20,000 people of the 85th Army.

Li Chuying's 23rd Division and Wang Yuwen's 91st Division quickly surrounded the Shijing detachment.

The artillery brigade of the Ishii detachment was wiped out by the mountain artillery regiment of the 85th Army before it had time to support its artillery, and Ishii Zhenzhi hurriedly ordered the troops to retreat, and joined forces with the Xiaochuan detachment that caught up, and no longer went south to Zaoyang, but fled in a hurry in the direction of Xinyang. Wang Zhonglian knew very well the truth of the poor Kou Mo Chasing, and the purpose of this operation had been completely achieved, so Ming Jin withdrew his troops.

Seeing that the reinforcements were beaten, Shi Jue knew that the time for the general attack had come, and at dusk, the commandos of the 2nd and 3rd battalions of the Wanzhairen Regiment launched a final attack, rushing into the village from the northwest and southeast respectively, and soon the enemy's gunfire completely stopped. The battlefield was swept at dawn, and the corpses of the enemy were scattered, about 600 corpses. A piece of ground in the village was covered with new soil, and when it was dug up, it was a large sweet potato cellar, and there was a corpse wrapped in a white cloth inside.

In the battle, the enemy Zhaoshang Brigade was completely annihilated, and Shen Jinsheng, the commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 11th Regiment of the 4th Division of the 85th Army, was killed in battle.

Yamawaki Masataka's only reinforcement with hope was no longer hopeful, so he could only fight with Huang Weigang with all his spirits. Major General Sanzhi of Shuanggou received the support of a wing, and was thinking that he could get out of the encirclement, but sadly found that the 4th Division of Wang Zhonglian's 85th Army had appeared behind the 13th Army as reinforcements, and the battle was not over.

Mo Di and the others paid close attention to the progress of the battle, and the ghostly figure of the Tang Army and the speed of the shadowless movement all surprised Mo Di and the others, and Mo Di couldn't help but exclaim: "The Tang Army is worthy of its reputation, the first army dares to stand alone against the three divisions of the Japanese army, looking at China, there is no second army that can do it." ”

"General Tang Enbo is not trivial!" Li Baicheng said.

"Not necessarily." Tang Ruru shook his head and said, "When Chief Liao was alive, I heard him comment on the 31st Group Army. Yan Gong believes that the reason why the 31st Group Army has today's achievements is because Tang Enbo has a pair of discerning eyes, and after the Battle of Taierzhuang, he pulled in a person. This person is the former commander of the 13th Army, and the current deputy commander of the 31st Group Army and the commander-in-chief of the guerrillas in the Tongbai Mountains. Zhang Zhen's talent is truly extraordinary! ”

Everyone was attracted by Tang Ruru's words, and they all came over to listen to his story.

Zhang Zhen, a native of Luoshan County, Henan Province, doesn't look at anything else, first look at his graduation diplomas, you can imagine his extraordinary. In the first year of Xuantong (1909), Zhang Zhen was fifteen years old and was admitted to Kaifeng Army Primary School with the seventh place, and in the second year of the Republic of China (1913), he was admitted to Nanjing Army No. 3 Middle School. In the fourth year of the Republic of China (1915), he entered the First Preparatory School of the Qinghe Army in Beijing, and in the seventh year of the Republic of China (1918), he was promoted to the sixth phase of the Baoding Army Military School. In the eighth year of the Republic of China (1919), he graduated one year early because of his outstanding performance and was sent to the Japanese Army Non-commissioned Officer School to study. When the Whampoa Military Academy was established, Zhang Zhen served as the chief instructor of tactics in the school, and it can be said that most of the generals in the world did their best in their tactics. Invincible people can look at each other when they hear it, this is the real god.

During the Anti-Japanese War, Zhang Zhen, who served as the commander of the Northern Henan Division, held a guerrilla training class in northern Henan, formed five independent battalions in the form of training militias, expanded them into the 110th Division, and led his troops to participate in the Taierzhuang Campaign, which was commended by the Supreme Command. Tang Enbo and Zhang Zhen were colleagues at the Whampoa Military Academy, and they knew that his level was not bad, so they strongly recommended Zhang Zhen to be the commander of the 13th Army of the starting army.

After Zhang Zhen entered the 31st Group Army, the 31st Group Army underwent a qualitative change, and its reputation was amazing and slippery, and it became the main force in the main force of the anti-Japanese battlefield. This shot is even more powerful, whether it is speed or strike ability, it is worthy of the title of "elite nuclear corps".

The 29th Brigade and the 5th Brigade of the 3rd Division were entangled by Zhang Xuezhong's 13th Army of the 31st Group Army and could not enter Fancheng, the headquarters of the 3rd Division and the rest of the 5th Brigade were blocked by the 57th Army of Huang Weigang of the 33rd Group Army and could not advance an inch, Wang Zhonglian's 85th Army was divided into three, Shi Jue's 4th Division had already rushed to Shuanggou, Li Chuying's 23rd Division was guarding Huyang, and Wang Yuwen's 91st Division was reinforced with Huang Weigang's Department to encircle the 3rd Division and the 68th Wing. The destruction of the Third Division was in danger. Seeing the condition of Yamawaki Masataka, Kazuichiro Sonobe was anxious and immediately ordered the 223rd Wing of the 39th Division Yokoyama Takehiko to reinforce the 3rd Division and be sure to rescue the 3rd Division.

The news of the reinforcements of the 223rd Wing of Yokoyama Takehiko immediately spread throughout the battlefield, and Li Zongren knew that the Japanese army was reinforced, but he could not do anything, and the various group armies were far away and beyond the reach of the whip. Only the headquarters of Zhang Zizhong of the 31st Group Army on the west bank of Xiangshui was slightly closer, however, the 31st Group Army was already empty and had no troops to send. The 31st Group Army had three armies, the main force of Huang Weigang's 59th Army was fighting with the 5th Brigade of the 3rd Division, Feng Zhi'an's 77th Army was far away in Xiangyang and was responsible for the defense of Xiangyang City, and Cao Fulin of the 55th Army was taking Xu Wenyao's 29th Division in the vicinity of Zhongxiang. Only Ma Guanyi's 74th Division and one battalion of the special service battalion remained in the group army headquarters, with a total strength of only more than 5,000 people.

Zhang Zizhong is well aware of the severity of the situation, once the 223rd Wing of the 39th Division is in place, and the 5th Wing of the 3rd Division will form a flank attack, Huang Weigang's department will be defeated without a fight, and after the 223rd Wing of Yokoyama Takehiko and the 5th Wing converge, they will sweep towards Shuanggou, not only can they rescue the encircled 29th Brigade, but also the losses of the 31st Group Army will be great, therefore, let Ma Guanyi, the acting commander of the 74th Division, lead the 44O Regiment, and the chief of staff Li Wentian will be stationed at the group army headquarters, and he will personally lead the 443,444 Regiment and the special service battalion, Go to Hedong to snipe Yokoyama Takehiko 223 Wing. At the same time, he sent a letter to Feng Zhi'an, commander of the 77th Army: "Yang Zhi's brother is like a meeting: Because of the relationship between the all-out war in the theater and the responsibility of oneself, it is necessary to cross the river to fight the enemy, and it has been decided to march to the east bank of the Xiang River tonight, or to leave for the time being, or to leave forever. ”

For the sake of the overall victory, Zhang Zizhong knew that his team was not much, but he still resolutely crossed the Han River and entered the east bank of the Han River.