readx; After Wu Peifu received Cao Kun's order a few days ago, he integrated a regiment of the Fifth Brigade and a brigade of the First Division of the Anhui Provincial Army, and immediately moved towards the Chaohu area without delay. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoThere were no big accidents on the march along the way, but the situation on the Chaohu side was not very good, and Wang Chengbin of the ** brigade had asked Wu Peifu for help many times, saying that Chaohu had reached the most critical moment.

Wu Peifu asked in detail, and after learning that the Chaohu front line had only been fighting for three days, the defenders had lost more than 1,000 troops, but his face remained unchanged, but his heart was slightly panicked. He knows something about the National Army, and knows that the combat effectiveness of the National Army is not bad, but there are fifteen or six thousand people on the Chaohu side, even if the enemy army really has two divisions to attack, with the fortifications built in advance by Chaohu, it should not be too much of a disadvantage in a short time.

But he didn't expect that after only three days of fighting, he had lost thousands of troops, and he also lost Changlin Town, an important town of the first line of defense.

The loss of troops is easy to understand, if the opponent's offensive is fierce, it is normal to lose 1,000 troops, but the loss of Changlin Town is not to be underestimated, Changlin Town has been operated in Beiyang for several months, and the fortifications in all aspects are complete, otherwise Wang Chengbin would not have taken the initiative to abandon the peripheral Dongguan and retreat to the forest. And when Wu Peifu learned that there were six or seven thousand troops guarding Lintou at that time, occupying nearly half of the strength of the Chaohu defenders, he was even more surprised and speechless.

"Six or seven thousand people can't even hold a single forest, so can't the national army attack with tens of thousands of troops at the same time?" Wu Peifu thought so: "It seems that Wang Chengbin is not very good, if it is replaced by himself, in the face of the enemy's two divisions, although he will not be able to hold the forest in the end, but he should be able to hold it in five days!" ”

Although he looked down on Wang Chengbin, Wu Peifu still asked the advance battalion of nearly 1,000 people to speed up to Chaohu, and had already arrived at Chaohu Lake today to assist Wang Chengbin's troops in deploying the second line of defense. At this time, Ma Cheng wanted to completely annihilate the defenders in Chaohu Lake to prevent them from escaping, and he had already ordered the Eighth and Ninth Divisions to suspend the attack, rest for a day, and then resume the large-scale offensive tomorrow. However, it can't be delayed for too long, if it is delayed for a long time, it will not encircle and annihilate Chaohu, but make Chaohu Lake a hard bone and break the teeth of the Second Army.

So there is not much time left for the 5th Mixed Brigade!

Guo Chengdong had just climbed a mountain, and he didn't have time to catch his breath, looking at the endless mountains in the distance, his thick eyebrows were furrowed. At this time, although he was a major general, he had to climb the mountain like those ordinary soldiers, and even fell during the march, and his ankles were still swollen at that time, and the military uniform on his body was already wrinkled, and the treasury pipe was also stained with a lot of mud and dust, which looked dirty.

After climbing the mountain, he took out his binoculars after a little rest, looked into the distance, and then compared the map in his hand, but he didn't figure out where he was for a long time, and he couldn't even determine the approximate direction. The map in his hand was not very detailed, but a map of the Chaohu area drawn by the Drawing Section of the Communications Department of the General Staff of the National Army based on all the public maps. In many places, it is not very accurate and not detailed enough, but this is already the best military map that the Nationalist Army can get, after all, at that time, the Nationalist Army's Drawing Section did not have satellite pictures as a reference, and it was impossible to draw a detailed map by itself without a long period of accumulation. However, the rise of airplanes has also allowed the Drawing Section to find a new way to entrust the Air Force's reconnaissance planes to carry out terrain mapping, but this idea has just appeared, and the reconnaissance planes on the Air Force's side have very heavy tasks, and only a small number of planes can be freed up for this kind of mission, and most of the current mapping areas are also concentrated in the Jiangbei region, and other places have not yet been popularized.

After failing to determine the direction for a long time, Guo Chengdong didn't plan to figure it out by himself, and immediately asked the adjutant next to him: "Where are we now?" ”

The adjutant was a major, and he immediately said, "The local who led the way just now said that we have just passed the Nanshan Ridge!" ”

Guo Chengdong searched for a while on the map, but did not find the name of Nanshanling for a long time, so he immediately threw the map in his hand, and then asked: "How long will it take for us to get out of this mountainous area and reach the plain in the northwest?" ”

The adjutant said: "The locals who led the way said that it would take about a day according to the ordinary footsteps, but our army has a lot of baggage and the marching speed is not fast, so it will take more time, but it will definitely be able to reach it in two days!" ”

Guo Chengdong's face was not very good after hearing this, he led the Fifth Mixed Brigade from Dongshan to the west for more than a day, although this mountainous area is not a deep mountain and old forest, nor is it a dangerous mountain and dangerous place, but it can be walked, those sheep intestine trails are always not allowed to pass through quickly, so the speed of the march is a little slow, plus the road is twisted, the straight line distance of ten kilometers will have to walk a distance of fifteen kilometers or even more.

When he heard that it would take more than a day or even more to cross this mountainous area, Guo Chengdong felt a little depressed!

This kind of depression naturally can't be easily expressed on his face, so that his subordinates lose confidence, and they immediately reluctantly puff up a smile: "Everyone continue to work hard and strive to cross this mountainous area as soon as possible!" ”

When Guo Chengdong's Fifth Mixed Brigade crossed the mountains and mountains, the Fifth Division in the eastern part of the Fifth Mixed Brigade was also no better, because it was delayed by the Hanshan area for nearly a day, and when the forward troops of the Fifth Division quickly rushed to Xianji, they found that there were already six or seven hundred Beiyang Army garrisons in Xianji.

Although it was unable to get artillery support due to the light advance, the 51st Regiment, as the forward regiment, did not pause for a moment, and immediately launched an attack on the Fairy Trail.

Although the 51st Infantry Regiment did not have the cover of artillery fire, it was able to reduce the amount of bullets and shells in order to reduce the weight of the 51st Infantry Regiment. The weight of the soldiers and cattle was reduced, and the speed of the march increased, but the fighting endurance of the troops was also seriously insufficient. However, even so, the 51st Infantry Regiment did not hesitate to launch an attack on the Immortal Trace area, this is not the time to save the Immortal Trace, if the 51st Infantry Regiment is not able to seize the Immortal Trace, then it will be meaningless for them to come lightly.

Obviously, the Beiyang defenders in the garrison of the Immortal Trail obviously also knew the important surnames in this area, and did not defend easily, trying to wait for the support of Tang Tianxi's main force in the east.

However, now the disparity between the two forces is too great, even if the Beiyang Army troops on the opposite side know that this place cannot be abandoned, but when faced with serious losses, they still have to retreat to the east.

After capturing the Immortal Trace, the 51st Infantry Regiment immediately prepared to build fortifications, ready to resist the attack of the Beiyang Army from the east, and supported until the arrival of the main force of the Fifth Division, but Tang Tianxi's Tenth Division did not give the 51st Infantry Regiment too much time, only three hours later, a force of more than 3,000 Beiyang Army had arrived, and then soon launched an attack, and there was still some artillery support in the attack, lack of artillery support, and at the same time the fortifications were not fully prepared and lacked ammunition. The 51st Infantry Regiment held out for only four hours before the defense failed, and most of the improvised defensive line was broken through by the Beiyang Army.

The 51st Infantry Regiment had to gather its forces and retreat south as night fell, joining up with the main force of the 5th Division.

After receiving the 51st Infantry Regiment, he gathered a regiment and a mountain artillery battalion to counterattack Xian at about five o'clock in the morning, but he did not conquer it. Moreover, he also found that there were more and more Beiyang troops on the opposite side, and the reconnaissance plane that flew over from Nanjing at noon the next day reported that the Beiyang Army in the Xianji area had reached at least more than 5,000 people, and through yesterday's engagement, the number had been determined, and it was indeed the 19th Brigade under the jurisdiction of Tang Tianxi's 10th Division.

At the same time, the air force also announced an even worse news, Tang Tianxi's main force in Chuzhou has begun to move westward, and it will not be able to reach the Xianji area in a few days.

"It seems that Feng Guozhang has discovered the main direction of our army's attack and has begun to use reserves!" Ma Cheng in Anqing said so, and Situ Jun on the side said: "The battle situation has reached this point, and the westward advance of the 10th Division of the Beiyang Army is already certain, do we also have to change the corresponding plan?" ”

Ma Cheng was puzzled: "How to change?" ”

Situ Jun said: "Since he, Feng Guozhang, sent the 10th Division to the west, Chuzhou must be empty of troops now. And now that the two divisions of our First Army have crossed the river, and the Fourth Division is marching eastward according to the plan, if we let the Fourth Division's march direction be more northerly and go straight to Chuzhou, what do you think Feng Guozhang will think? ”

"This still needs to be asked, Feng Guozhang will definitely jump up like a tail, but it is not easy to attack Chuzhou directly, if you want to attack Chuzhou from the Wuhu area, the distance along the way is far away, and there are Feng Guozhang's heavy troops deployed in the nearby Jiangbei region, and if you don't do a good job, the fourth division will fall into it and not come back!" Ma Cheng shook his head as he spoke.

"If we really want to capture Chuzhou now, it will definitely be dangerous, but if we just make a gesture, we don't have to worry about the safety of the Fourth Division, but Feng Guozhang still has to worry about the safety of Chuzhou. At that time, how could the main force of Tang Tianxi's 10th Division in Chuzhou smoothly advance westward? Situ Jun said with a smile.

After careful consideration, Ma Cheng also felt that this plan was very feasible, and if it was not really to attack Chuzhou, but only to contain the 10th Division on the Chuzhou side, it should still be possible. Moreover, if it does not go deep into Jiangbei to Chuzhou, there is no problem for the Fourth Division to protect itself.

Ma Chengdao: "Since this is the case, I will report this plan to the General Staff and see what the General Staff has to say!" ”

Although Ma Cheng was in charge of the war in southern Anhui, he was only the commander of the Second Army, and the first and fourth divisions involved in the plan belonged to the First Army, so he could not directly command the Fourth Division to change the direction of the operation.

At this time, the Chaohu War was no longer a simple tactical battle, but had mobilized many troops on both sides, and the troops on both sides who directly and indirectly participated in the war added up to more than 100,000, and this station was not only related to the gains and losses of Chaohu, but related to the ownership of the strategic initiative of both sides in southern Anhui. If the Nationalist Army can successfully take Chaohu Lake and encircle and annihilate the more than 20,000 defenders in it, then the war in southern Anhui will be much smoother. If the Beiyang Army can hold Chaohu, it will be able to drag the main force of the Nationalist Army to this area, and then calmly mobilize troops to open up other battlefields, and even directly capture Wuhu to cut off the rear roads of many Nationalist troops that have crossed the river.

Intentionally or unintentionally on both sides, the Battle of Chaohu has become the first large-scale battle between the two sides since the war in southern Jiangsu, rather than the Battle of Hefei as many people in the Nationalist Army thought at the beginning.

And there are many key points in this extremely important battle, such as the Immortal Trace area, such as the containment of the Fourth Division, and the frontal attack of the Ninth and Eighth Divisions, but these are secondary, and the most important point in the whole battle is whether the Fifth Mixed Brigade of the National Army can arrive on the side of Chaohu on time and successfully cut off the retreat of the Chaohu defenders.