Chapter 10: Anqing (23)

In Nanning Ertang, when Li Xingshu saw Shao Yi, the commander of the 600th Regiment of the 200th Division, to be honest, he felt a little guilty in his heart, Nanning's attack and defense changed hands, it was up to him, if he held on for half a day, he could wait for the arrival of the 600th Regiment, with the addition of these all-German armed forces, the purpose of stabilizing the river defense would definitely be achieved, however, it was too late. The 200th Division is the national treasure of the national army, the only rapid reaction force, in order to reinforce Nanning, day and night, from Quanzhou in northern Guizhou to southern Guizhou, people stop non-stop, after entering Liuzhou, the whole division assigned the fastest vehicles to Shao Yifu, so that the 600 regiment reinforces Nanning at the fastest speed, division commander Dai Anlan personally led the large army to follow up behind, when Shao Yifu entered the suburbs of Nanning Ertang, the 200th Division has also arrived in Binyang, when Dai Anlan heard the news from Shao Yifu, met the commander of the 170th Division Li Xingshu who withdrew from Nanning in Ertang, Nanning City had been lost, Dai Anlan sat on the ground and lamented: All the hard work along the way has been in vain!

At the same time, Bai Chongxi in Guilin was disappointed, Guangxi used the fastest means of transportation, mobilized all the forces that could be mobilized to transport 200 divisions, and in the end it was still a step slow and fell short. Compared with Bai Chongxi's depressed face, Liu Shiyi, who was standing beside Bai Chongxi, looked unfazed, he seemed to have expected this kind of outcome. Just last night, he proposed to the Guilin camp that Su Zuxin's 135th Division should form two death regiments of soldiers who could still fight, join the Nanning River Defense and assist the 170th Division in combat, and at the same time asked the 170th Division to do its best, never give up the river defense position, and must wait for the arrival of reinforcements. However, this opinion was not adopted, Liu Shiyi knew that General Bai was still unwilling to break his altars and jars, and the city of Nanning was not more important to Bai Chongxi than the vitality of a division. Liu Shiyi also knew that Guangxi was a poor province, and the main military, political, educational, economic, and cultural aspects were in northern Guangxi, and the Japanese occupation of Nanning did not cause much damage to Guangxi. From a strategic point of view, the Japanese occupation of Nanning was not really threatened by Guangxi, but Yunnan, the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway and the Yunnan-Burma Highway, and the Chongqing Central Nationalist Government, which relied on these two lines for blood transfusion. Bai Chongxi is a shrewd person, he is unwilling to let the people of Guangxi contribute to carry wood for the central government, the central government will benefit, fight the Guangxi army, and Chongqing's old Jiang will only be secretly happy. As for the result of losing Nanning, how to clean up this mess, if the central government feels it is necessary, the central government has sent troops to clean it up, and the central government has sent three armies, Du Yuming, Yao Chun, and Fu Zhongfang.

Liu Shiyi silently looked at the remnants of the lotus root outside the octagonal pond, a small bird flew over, wanted to land on the remnant lotus branch, but did not expect that the residual lotus root branch could not bear the weight of the bird, and actually sank, so frightened that the bird hurriedly flapped its wings and flew away.

It's a pity that not all subordinates can understand Bai Chongxi's hard work, Li Xingshu is one of them, when he saw Shao Yi, who was tired and crumbling, he regretted, guilty, and even had a sense of guilt, compared with this guest army from afar, he did far from enough. Others ran thousands of miles for the survival of Nanning, but they did not hold out until the last moment in the face of the enemy's artillery fire.

Nanning Ertang, a small village ten kilometers from the city center. The pond of Nanning, is a place name, but also a distance measurement unit, ten miles for a pond, a hundred miles for a big pond, from Nanning to the east to Binyang highway, in turn for a pond and two ponds until nine ponds, in Jiutang, it is to the junction of Nanning and Binyang, the east gate of Nanning City, there is a Kunlun Pass that has the tendency of ten thousand people to open.

Perhaps seeing the discomfort on Li Xingshu's face, Shao Yizhi smiled and said: "General Li is guarding the Yongjiang River, which is obvious to all, but the Japanese army is strong, there are planes on it and tanks on it, and it is reasonable that it can't do all the work, so don't worry too much." The current plan is that we will join forces in one place and find a suitable terrain to block the road of the Japanese army's eastward advance. General Lai is a local, so does he know where the most suitable vantage ground is? ”

Li Xingshu pointed to the surroundings and said: "This highway is the only road leading from Nanning to Binyang, and this Foziling is also the first barrier from Nanning. ”

Shao Yizhi nodded and said, "Thank you, General Li, I decided to be here and block it first." ”

"Here?" Li Xingshu looked around and said: "This is not a very good terrain, although there are mountains, it is not high, although there is a slope, it is not steep, although the Japanese artillery and tanks cannot be driven in front of it, the power of long-distance attacks is still there, Commander Shao, please think twice." ”

"If I don't drag the Japanese army here, the main force of the 200th Division will not be able to arrive in time, and at that time, even this advantageous position will be lost." Shao Yizhi said clearly: "In order to win the entire battle, even if I have a regiment, I will not hesitate to do anything." ”

Hearing Shao Yizhi's words, Li Xingshu was also arrogant, and said excitedly: "Okay, Commander Shao, I will organize all the brothers in the 170th Division who can still fight, and hand them over to you, how to use them, how to fight, you have the final say, although the brothers of the 170th Division are not as strong as the brothers of the 600th Regiment, they can still dig trenches, transport shells, and press the magazine." ”

When Shao Yiyi heard this, he stood up excitedly, gave a standard salute, and said to Li Xingshu: "Thank you, General Li, with your assistance, I will definitely defend Ertang." ”

Shao Yifu immediately called the telegraph operator to report the decision of the 170th Division to the 200th Division, and after a while, he received a reply from Dai Anlan, asking Shao Yizhi to send Li Xingshu to Wutang, and early tomorrow morning, the 200th Division set up a former enemy headquarters in Wutang, and asked General Li Xingshu to serve as the deputy commander-in-chief, and at the same time take Guo Qi's supplementary regiment as the second-line troops in the Ertang battlefield and leave for Ertang early tomorrow morning.

The 200th Division of the National Revolutionary Army is a unique combat unit, established in a very short time, less than two years, is China's first mechanized division, when it was established, the division commander Du Yuming, the deputy division commander Qiu Qingquan, and the chief of staff Liao Yaoxiang. There are more than 20,000 people in five regiments, namely the 1149th Regiment, the regiment commander Hu Xianqun (chariot corps), the 1150th regiment, the regiment commander Han Zengdong (chariot corps), the 1151st regiment, the regiment commander Hong Shishou (automobile corps), the 1152nd regiment, the regiment commander Gao Jiren (mechanized infantry regiment) and the 52nd artillery regiment, the regiment commander Feng Erjun (war defense artillery regiment). In the process of development, Xu Tingyao, who is known as China's "father of armored troops," believed that only by cooperating with the infantry could the greatest combat power of the armored forces be brought into play, therefore, on the basis of the 200 division, the Fifth Army was established, with three infantry divisions under its jurisdiction, namely Dai Anlan's 200 Division, Zheng Dongguo's Honor 1st Division, and Qiu Qingquan's newly formed 22 Division, and directly under the various tank regiments, artillery regiments, baggage cavalry regiments, engineering regiments, automobile regiments, and anti-aircraft artillery repair factories and other departments, becoming a giant existence in the National Revolutionary Army.

Dai Anlan's 200th Division is a four-regiment structure division dominated by infantry, with deputy division commander Peng Bisheng, chief of staff Zhang Zhige, and infantry commander Zheng Tingji. It has four regiments, the 598th regiment, the head of the regiment Gao Jiren, the 599th regiment, the head of the regiment Liu Shuren, the 600th regiment, the head of the regiment Shao Yizhi, the supplementary regiment, and the head of the regiment Guo Qi.

After sending the telegram to Shao Yizhi, Dai Anlan ignored his fatigue and ordered Guo Qi of the supplementary regiment to rush with him overnight, and he must arrive at Wutangwei early tomorrow morning to do a good job in the reserve work of the 600th regiment, and the deputy division commander Peng Bisheng took the other two regiments to rest in Binyang for one night and rush to Wutang early tomorrow morning.

The 5th Division of the Japanese Army, which occupied Nanning, demanded that the 21st Army be supplied quickly, and at the same time, under the auspices of the commander of Jun Imamura's division, made arrangements for tomorrow's work.

At the brightly lit headquarters of the Fifth Division, a huge map was hung on the wall, and the chief of staff of the Fifth Division held a long whip and pointed to the map to introduce the geography and terrain to the attendees. Nanning, in addition to a Yongjiang River through the city, there are four highways to communicate with the outside world, one is the Yongqin Highway, that is, the Japanese army's coming road, the participants have a deep memory of this road dyed red with blood, Qinzhou, Xiaodong, Baekje, Datang, every small village Wei has fought fiercely with the Chinese army, although the Japanese army won the battle, but the tenacity and courage of the Guangxi army left an indelible impression on the Fifth Division. According to the telegram, the 41st Brigade has arrived in Longzhou, if nothing else, it will launch an attack on the county seat of Longzhou tomorrow, and Longzhou, which is not garrisoned by troops, is not too difficult for the 41st Wing and can be taken at any time. The third is the north of Nanning City, this is the first highway in Guangxi, after crossing the peak pass into Wuming, it is the highway built by Lu Rongting in that year, over the years, the highway has been extended from Wuming to Baise City, it has become the main traffic line connecting the right river, there is a post road from Baise to Yunnan through the pass of the stripping pass, it is the main passage for Guangxi to enter Yunnan. The last one is the east side of the avenue, out of the five ponds and nine ponds into Binyang, in the Binyang fork road, east to Yulin, north to Liuzhou.

After introducing the topography and geography, Imamura Jun stepped onto the podium, propped his hands on, and said very seriously: "Gentlemen, the purpose of our entry into Nanning is not Nanning, where is it, the base camp did not say, I did not ask, the soldiers take obedience to orders as their duty, I believe that the base camp requires us to occupy Nanning must have a deep meaning." ”

Everyone's attention was attracted by Imamura, who knew that the purpose of his trip was to occupy Nanning, but now he knew that the purpose of occupying Nanning was something else, and everyone listened to Imamura with curiosity.

"The order of the base camp is to let us firmly occupy Nanning for half a year, and during this half year, we must not allow the Chinese army to enter Nanning, in order to achieve this goal, our Fifth Division can fight to the last man, and the Taiwan mixed brigade can also fight to the last man, and if we cannot complete the task, we can even sacrifice Guangdong's current superiority and transfer the 18th Division and the 104th Division to Guangxi." Imamura's words are full of affirmation, non-negotiable, and must be followed.

After a short discussion, I quickly unified my thoughts and set my sights on Jun Imamura.

Imamura paused for a while and let everyone discuss it for themselves for a while before continuing: "After the deduction of Lord Toshiyoshi Ando of the South China Front Army and Lieutenant General Seiichi Kuna Seiichi of the 22nd Army, it is believed that if you want to hold Nanning, you must hold two locations, one is the peak pass in the north and the other is the Kunlun Pass in the east. ”

The Chief of Staff pasted two red dots on the map for these two locations, and all eyes were on them.

"The problem at the moment is that these two locations are still in the hands of the other side, and we need to take these two places down before the other side's reinforcements arrive, build complete fortifications, and meet the opponent's attack." Imamura Jun waved his hand: "Gentlemen, remember one thing, we must not only use the minimum strength and minimum sacrifice to wipe out all the Chinese troops within the peak pass and Kunlun Pass, but also have enough strength to firmly hold the peak pass and Kunlun Pass, and perfectly complete the task assigned to us by the base camp." Do you understand? ”

"Hello!" All stood up and answered in unison.

It is really necessary to take a defensive position instead of an offensive, the Japanese army's attempt was guessed by Ou Shou Nian who was far away in Anhui, but Ou Shou Nian also guessed wrong, he thought that the Japanese army would attack north again after repairing, Nanning was not their goal, their strategic purpose was Liuzhou, at present, the purpose of the Japanese army was not Liuzhou, where it was, even the Fifth Division itself did not know.