537 Fierce soldiers in Liaoxi, a pocket formation? Ask for tickets

The heavy snow on both sides of the Daling River was so heavy that it almost completely covered the positions held by the Chinese and Japanese armies on both sides of the river for nearly two months. Standing in the advance headquarters at the top of Bauhinia Mountain, looking down, all that came into view was white, and there was no movement at all in the Japanese army position opposite, as if the war had ended. But Luo Yaoguo, who was standing here today, clearly felt the burst of murderous aura coming from the other side, which was quiet before the big war was coming.

"Brother Han Qing, Commander-in-Chief Zhu, have all your troops been withdrawn?" It seems that he hasn't found a ghost for a long time, so Luo Yaoguo had to reluctantly put down the binoculars and ask about the two "partners" around him. The Central G and the Northeast Army seemed very happy to be able to leave the front line that had been facing the Japanese army for two months as soon as possible. At the same time, he expressed his willingness to accept the unified command and dispatch of the "Joint Command." So Luo Yaoguo simply moved this headquarters from Jinan to Huludao. And he dared to have the courage to inspect Zhang Xueliang's position.

"Almost." Zhu D replied first: "Our main force has withdrawn from the area of Yixian to the more peripheral Chaoyang and Beipiao lines, and we will take advantage of the complex terrain in the mountainous areas of western Liaoning to infiltrate behind enemy lines, destroy the rear communication lines of the Japanese army, and favorably support the frontal battlefield on the front line of Huludao." ”

Zhang Xueliang also had a rare smile: "The main force of our Northeast Army has also been withdrawn, and only a small part of the rear troops in front of the palace will be withdrawn by tomorrow at the latest." When the time comes...... We will stick to the back road of Huludao, Brother Fuwen can rest assured. ”

Luo Yaoguo smiled lightly, the GCD and the Northeast Army retreated faster than expected, and it seemed that they had been preparing for a long time. Fortunately, this time the battlefield was moved to Huludao to fight, otherwise these three comrades-in-arms with their own thoughts would not have a problem guarding the same trench and would not even believe in ghosts

"Good. It's good to withdraw from the war, and we must also keep the fire for the long-term war of resistance in the future. Luo Yaoguo looked at the two "partners" in front of him with a solemn face: "General Hanqing, Commander-in-Chief Zhu, the success or failure of this battle in Liaoxi depends on our cooperation in three aspects. Although we have differences in many aspects, we are all Chinese, and we all have an obligation to do our part to defend this country, right? I hope that in the future, we can unite and be consistent in this aspect of external affairs. As for internal differences, I am confident that a peaceful solution will always be found in the future. ”

Luo Yaoguo's words seemed to have a deep meaning, Zhu D's thick eyebrows frowned slightly, but he nodded noncommittally. Zhang Xueliang showed a sincere smile on his face, and nodded yes again and again.

……

At the same time as the Jinzhou front squadron adjusted its deployment and retreated back. The Japanese troops on the other side of the Daling River were also ready for the attack. At present, Japan has learned the lesson of the failure of the Shandong operation, and the speed of its troop increase is very fast. Only three months after the start of the war, the 17 permanent divisions of the Japanese Army, except for the Guards Division and the Tokyo 1st Division, had all been dispatched to the northeast, and the 7th Brigade and Regiment, which had been completely wiped out in the early operations, were also rebuilt and incorporated into the 4th Division. In addition, two flying wings, a tank wing, two cavalry brigades, and a heavy artillery brigade were also attached to the Kwantung Army. In addition, there was also a Navy First Foreign Fleet stationed in Lushun to cooperate in the operation. At this point, the total strength of the Japanese army in the northeast has reached as high as 400,000

At this moment, the troops under Luo Yaoguo, the joint commander of China's tripartite forces, are also unprecedentedly large in number, including the three corps of the Anti-Japanese Alliance, the First Army of the Kuomintang, the Eighth and Seventeenth Route Armies of the Central G, the two military regions of Western Liaoning and Changbai, and the First, Fifth and Sixth Route Armies of the Northeast Army; There are also the First Division of the Youth Army that came all the way by train from Gansu and the Second Division of the Jin Army that was transferred from Shanxi. In addition, there was a mixed aviation regiment and two heavy artillery brigades, an engineer brigade, several artillery regiments, auxiliary units such as the Northeast Army Navy and the Bohai Detachment of the Kuomintang Navy. The total number of troops under its jurisdiction is as high as 700,000, and the troops on the front line in western Liaoning alone are nearly 400,000.

According to the deployment of the joint command, the 100,000-strong army of the First Army of the Kuomintang, the First Division of the Youth Army, the Second Division of the Jin Army, the Second Brigade of Heavy Artillery (equipped with 48 210-mm heavy howitzers), and the First Brigade of Engineers were organized into the First Group Army, which was commanded by An Sihua to hold the fortress of Huludao.

The First Route Army of the Northeast Army was attached to the Heavy Artillery Brigade of the Northeast Army, commanded by Guo Songling to defend Xingcheng County, which was close to Huludao, to ensure the rear road of Huludao, and to act as a reserve for the defenders of Huludao when necessary. The Fifth Route Army of the Northeast Army was attached to two artillery regiments, under the personal command of Zhang Xueliang, who held the coast and railway from Suizhong County to Shanhaiguan, and at the same time served as the general reserve for the entire campaign. The Sixth Route Army of the Northeast Army was also attached to two artillery regiments, which were deployed in the vicinity of Jianchang County under the command of Rong Zhen, threatening the security of the Japanese flank.

The elite Eighth Route Army of the Central G, accompanied by a heavy artillery regiment and two artillery regiments of the Northeast Army, commanded by Peng Dhuai, was deployed in Chaoyang County, about 80 kilometers from Jinzhou, and was also responsible for threatening the flank of the Japanese army. The 17th Route Army of the Central G was commanded by General Yang Huchen and deployed in Beipiao County. In addition, the troops of the Liaoning West Military Region of China and G actively harassed and sabotaged communications behind enemy lines in the form of guerrilla warfare to support the frontal battlefield in western Liaoning.

In addition to these army units, the Bohai Detachment of the Kuomintang Navy was also mixed with the Northeast Army and Navy, and hung up the brand of the famous Beiyang Fleet, with Long Tenghui, director of the Kuomintang Navy General Staff, and Shen Honglie, commander-in-chief of the Northeast Army Navy, respectively serving as chief and deputy commanders, responsible for blockading and controlling the Bohai Bay. This "Beiyang Fleet" did not have many large warships, and the largest ship was the cruiser Haiqi, the flagship of the former Northeast Navy. However, it was equipped with ten submarines and fifteen torpedo boats, as well as more than 120 aircraft of a naval aviation regiment.

……

Liaoning, Lushun.

In the headquarters of the Kwantung Army, there was a heavy and oppressive atmosphere. The people seated were all pale, shaking their heads and sighing. Even the staff officers who went in and out to report and transmit intelligence orders held their breath and did not even dare to come out. A pair of military maps were spread out on the map table in the war room, which was densely marked with the numbers and specific locations of the Chinese and Japanese armies. These are the credits of the agents lurking in the Northeast Army.

Although they had already seen the opponent's hole cards, the commander of the Kwantung Army, Takashi Hishigari, and the staff officers of the Kwantung Army were not optimistic at all, because the opponent that the Japanese army did not want to encounter had already appeared on the battlefield in western Liaoning.

"Your Excellency, it seems that the people of China have set up a pocket formation on the battlefield in Liaoxi, just waiting for us to drill in, right? "Less words" studied the latest deployment of the squadron, and Miyake Mitsuji's eyebrows became tighter and tighter.

Ryokari nodded solemnly, judging from the deployment of the squadron on the map, it was clearly a posture to lure the enemy deep and retreat for a decisive battle. The 100,000 most elite Kuomintang troops of the Southern Branch built a solid defensive position on Huludao, the choke point of the western Liaoning corridor, and waited for the Japanese army to hit their heads upward. To the north, the two route armies of the GCD and one route army of the Northeast Army were entrenched in the mountainous areas of western Liaoning, where the terrain was complicated. Their purpose was obviously to wait for the Japanese army's attack on Huludao Fortress to be thwarted, and then attack the Japanese army's belly and back, or outflank or flank, in short, they could make the attacking Japanese army suffer a big loss.

"Well, it's indeed a trap, this time our opponent is Marshal Luo Fuwen, the god of the Chinese army......" Ryokari took a deep breath and stretched out his finger to Huludao: "There are 100,000 troops of the Southern Kuomintang there, and there are also a large number of heavy artillery and aircraft, holding a circular defensive zone, and behind it is the Bohai Bay...... This bay is actually controlled by the Chinese navy, and such a defense is simply invulnerable. ”

“…… The Kuomintang army in the south can increase its troops at any time through the port of Huludao, so if we can't pull out this dangerous nail, we will have to keep heavy troops in western Liaoning to monitor it. In this way, there were not enough troops to launch an offensive against the North Manchurian Resistance League. So Huludao must be occupied."

"But Your Excellency General, it is obvious that you can't rely on the army alone to capture Huludao." Ishihara interjected at this time: "If you can't control the Bohai Bay, the people of China will continue to send troops to Huludao, and their navy can also use naval guns to cooperate with the army." In this way, even if the empire sacrifices a million people, it will not be able to defeat Huludao."

Hishikari turned around slowly, and glanced coldly at Rear Admiral Shiozawa Koichi, the commander of the Japanese First Foreign Fleet, with a slight contempt in his expression: "Shiozawa-kun, when will our invincible navy of the Great Japanese Empire be able to defeat the mines and submarines of the Shina people and sail into the Bohai Bay here?" ”

Dressed in a crisp blue uniform and wearing white gloves, Shiozawa, like most of Japan's naval officers, was an impeccable gentleman with a faint diplomat-like smile on his face. Even when he heard Ryokara's mocking question, he still remained silent, and just smiled slightly: "Your Excellency, the First Foreign Fleet will not have the ability to permanently control the Bohai Bay, and can only control it for a short time, so now is not the time to sail the fleet into the Bohai Bay." After a slight pause, he explained, "Naval operations are different from our army, and we can't dig trenches and repair fortifications on the sea...... All we can do is fight the enemy fleet or attack the enemy's naval base. ”

Ryokari glanced coldly at the mild-mannered-looking rear admiral, and there was a burst of contempt in his heart. This naval elite who graduated from the 32nd Naval Corps with the second seat must be a nerd who can only talk on paper, and has a powerful fleet of heavy cruisers and first-class coastal defense ships in his hands, but he is only doing some minesweeping and escort business. And it didn't do very well, and in three days, there were two transport ships that hit mines and sank...... Many army officers and soldiers drowned before they could go to the battlefield, so at the moment there was not a single army officer in the Kwantung Army headquarters who gave this Shiozawa a good face, and there was a cold ridicule inside. This guy doesn't even take it seriously...... His skin must have been thicker than the armor of the Nagato

Probably seeing the contempt in the eyes of Ryoshikari Takashi and the army staff officers, Shiozawa Koichi smiled mildly and explained: "Your Excellency, the Imperial Council of the Five Ministers has made a decision, and the goal of this operation is only to conquer Manchuria, and the combat area can only be Manchuria and its surrounding waters. Therefore, our navy cannot attack the naval bases on the territory of the Kuomintang in the south branch at will, nor can it block the foreign trade of the south branch, so our navy's hands and feet are firmly tied, and we can only do some miscellaneous work such as mine clearance, anti-submarine, and escort operations, and at most control the Bohai Bay for a short time. He sighed softly: "And we can't put the expensive heavy cruisers and first-class coastal defense ships under the threat of mines, submarines, and aircraft of the Chinese people for a long time, and we can only take risks for a short time." ”

"Then when will the navy enter the Bohai Bay and destroy the Beiyang Fleet of China?" Hishikari didn't understand the combat methods of the navy, and he didn't want to understand it, all he wanted was a positive answer.

Shiozawa Koichi's expression was a little bitter, he only briefly controlled the Bohai Bay, and did not want to destroy the "Beiyang Fleet", and he could not destroy it, although the old gunboats that were outdated were not vulnerable at all, but the submarines active in the Bohai Bay and the nearby waters, as well as the planes deployed on the Shandong Peninsula, were very handy, and the slightest carelessness would lose the precious heavy cruisers...... Even if all the old gunboats of the Beiyang Fleet are added together, not a single Furuhawk-class heavy cruiser is valuable

"Your Excellency, the navy will enter the Bohai Bay when the army launches a general attack on the Huludao fortress." Shiozawa gritted his teeth and staked his naval career and made this promise.

"Oh, can you bombard the Huludao fortress from the sea with naval artillery?". Ryokari then asked.

Shiozawa's eyes flashed with a hint of anger, and he gritted his teeth and smiled: "Your Excellency, according to intelligence, the Shina Army has deployed forty-eight 210 mm caliber heavy guns in Huludao Fortress, while the Furutaka heavy cruiser has only six 200 mm guns, and the Izumo has only four 203 mm guns......"

"Qi Ghost" Ryoshikari Long muttered softly, turned his head and ignored Shiozawa, but turned his gaze to the mountains of western Liaoning.

"Since the navy can't count on it, it can only first defeat the Chinese GC Army and the Northeast Army entrenched there from the mountainous areas of western Liaoning, and then surround the Huludao fortress from the east, north, and west, and then destroy it with the heroic spirit of the imperial army like attacking Lushun" Ryokari slammed his fist into the table.

……

On November 24, 1930, the Japanese Second Division repelled the slight resistance of the Northeast Army and captured Jinzhou, and on the same day, the Japanese Sixth Division also captured the county seat of Yixian County, a key point in the mountainous area of western Liaoning.

The long-silent battlefield in western Liaoning finally ignited the smoke again

537 Fierce soldiers in Liaoxi, a pocket formation? Ask for tickets

537 Fierce soldiers in Liaoxi, a pocket formation? Ask for a ticket, arrive at the address