The devils gathered heavy troops and launched a large-scale attack on Wuhan, hoping to force China to surrender by force, but millions of Chinese soldiers and civilians relied on the favorable terrain such as Dabie Mountain and Poyang Lake on the periphery of Wuhan to resist stubbornly.

The stubborn resistance of the Chinese military and civilians put the Devils' attacking troops in a quagmire of bitter fighting, although the soldiers were sharp, but in the complex terrain environment, the speed of advance was extremely slow.

The battlefield on the northern front was dark, and the blood flowed like a river, and the battlefield in the area south of the Yangtze River also made the devils fall into a bitter battle.

Several elite divisions under the command of the commander of the 11th Army, Okamura Ninji, fought hard for a summer under the continuous resistance of the troops of the Ninth Theater.

In addition to facing the guns and artillery of Chinese officers and soldiers who would rather die than surrender, the devil's divisions and regiments fighting on the southern front also endured the test of extreme heat.

Most of the Devil soldiers are not adapted to the scorching summer heat of southern China, and the number of non-combat attrition per day is a big headache for the Devil commanders.

In the harsh combat environment, the combat effectiveness of the devils was greatly reduced, and even so, the devils' attacks were still fierce.

The ferocious attack of the 27th Division of the Devils on Ruiwu Road put the defenders' defensive line in jeopardy, so that Commander Xue of the First Corps on the Chinese side had to transfer troops from the battlefield on the front line of Mahuiling to Ruiwu Road to deploy defenses to strengthen the thickness of the defense.

The troops of several divisions were transferred from the Mahuiling area to the front line of Ruiwu Road, which made the defensive pressure on the front line of Mahuiling increase sharply, and Yang Ling was the first to bear the brunt.

However, fortunately, the corps commander's headquarters also took into account that the front-line troops and the devils had been fighting hard for several months, and all the troops had reached the point of exhaustion.

With the weakening of the defensive line, if the position is breached, there will not be enough troops to plug the gap, and if one position is breached, then there will be a chain reaction, and it is very likely that it will eventually lead to a major rout, as was the case in the Shanghai area.

In the end, the senior staff officers of the First Corps unanimously suggested that they hoped that the troops would take the initiative to retreat from the Mahuiling line to the Wushimen and Yongfengqiao lines and implement a contraction defense.

The battle plan submitted by the staff officers was quickly approved by Commander Xue, and the order was immediately issued to the divisions at the front, asking for cover to retreat.

When the battalion commander Liu Yidao heard that Chief Xue had taken several divisions from the front to reinforce the direction of Ruiwu Road, he immediately felt a heavy pressure.

Although the recruits in their troops have been tempered by the war and have grown up rapidly, they have not yet reached the strength to resist the devils.

Liu Yidao is not afraid of death, anyway, he has already walked through the ghost gate several times, but if the defense line is broken through by the devil, it will be a big sin.

Just as Liu Yidao was about to ask Yang Ling with a solemn face if he could end the round battle and pull the troops up to strengthen the defensive thickness of the defensive line, Yang Ling spoke again.

"In view of the fact that the defense line of Mahuiling is too wide, Chief Xue has ordered the troops to retreat to Wushimen, and the front line of Yongfeng Bridge will shrink the defense."

"Retreat?" Liu Yidao's face turned from worry to joy.

It's not that Liu Yidao is greedy for life and afraid of death, but with the current state of their troops, they really don't have the ability to resist the devils, and he doesn't want to watch the recruits who have just been added to the army not grow up and fight out.

Yang Ling nodded and said, "The military department has ordered that the forward troops will launch a large-scale counterattack against the devils on the whole line to disrupt the deployment of the devils and cover the retreat." ”

Although the commander's department decided to retreat the troops to Wushimen, and the Yongfeng Bridge line contracted the defense, their troops and devils were strangled together, and it was not so easy to get out.

The little devils are not fools, and the large-scale retreat of the Chinese army will definitely be detected by them, once they bite it fiercely.

I am afraid that the active retreat at that time will turn into a major rout, and it will repeat the mistakes of the past, causing the same tragic consequences as the Battle of Songhu.

The Chinese armed forces, whether they are in high positions or ordinary officers and men at the grassroots level, have grown rapidly under the repeated fierce battles and are actively drawing lessons from the experience and lessons of the disastrous defeats.

Therefore, this time their retreat did not leave the blocking troops and devils behind the palace as before, but prepared to take the initiative to attack, and then quickly break away after defeating the devils.

After all, it is much easier to get out of contact with the devil when you are actively attacking than to evacuate when you are passively defending, and the loss will be much smaller, after all, the initiative is in your own hands.

When Liu Yidao heard that the troops were going to counterattack on all fronts, he immediately asked excitedly: "When will the counterattack start?" ”

Yang Ling replied: "At ten o'clock in the evening, there are still three hours." ”

"The whole regiment, except for the miscellaneous personnel, will all be engaged in the counterattack operation at night, and strive to eliminate more devils before retreating."

"Then I'll go and get ready." Liu Yidao stood up from the ammunition box as he spoke, and prepared to go out excitedly.

After all, compared to being beaten passively in the trenches, all the officers and soldiers want to take the initiative to attack, but the difference in strength between the two sides and the offensive and defensive posture make them have to defend passively most of the time.

Now that the whole front has taken the initiative to attack such a large-scale combat operation, Liu Yidao is excited, and he can't wait to tell the brothers such good news.

"Just inform the company officer of the retreat, and don't tell the brothers yet, so as not to affect the counterattack." Yang Ling reminded Liu Yidao behind his back.

Liu Yidao's figure paused, nodded, and agreed: "Yes." ”

It was not that Yang Ling wanted to deliberately keep the brothers in the dark, but that the brigade headquarters had already ordered to wait until the end of the counterattack operation to announce it, so as to avoid the effectiveness of the counterattack operation being greatly reduced.

Yang Ling also understood the intention of the brigade headquarters, after all, when he knew that he could retreat, no one would stupidly brave the rain of bullets to launch a fierce attack on the devil, after all, people know how to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages.

Yang Ling's implementation of the brigade headquarters' order was not for personal safety, after all, he, the regiment commander, also needed to lead the team to counterattack on the front line, but for the sake of the overall situation.

If the order to retreat, which the brothers knew in advance, did not attack hard enough to disrupt the devil's combat subordinates when counterattacking, then it would affect the next retreat, and it would be fatal.

The battlefield situation is ever-changing, and in the dark battlefield, if any troops retreat in advance, it will also affect the entire battle plan, so a confidential temporary notice is the best choice.

It was completely dark, and the sound of gunfire was still ringing intermittently in the distance, out of sight.

The devils have stopped their large-scale assault, and the situation at night is complicated, which limits the vision of the devils, and their superior artillery fire cannot exert enough power, so most of the time they are reluctant to attack at night.

At night, the devils would turn to a defensive state to recharge their energy to prepare for the next day's attack, and because of the cover of night, the Chinese army was more active at night.

It is precisely because of this that most of the time the Chinese army will choose to move at night, after all, with the cover of night, whether it is attacking or retreating, it can be calm.