readx; "Whether it is the Jiangbei area occupied by the Beiyang Army or the Jiangnan area controlled by our army, after a long period of fortifications, it has gradually formed a fortress, whether our army takes the initiative to attack Jiangbei or the Beiyang Army goes south to attack our Jiangnan region, it will face the obstruction of many fortifications, without absolute superiority of troops and firepower, it is difficult to conquer in a short time, even if it can be taken, then it will make the attacker suffer huge casualties. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info Such casualties are unbearable for either the Beiyang Army or our army! Shen Gang did not say his plan, but told the situation of the enemy and me in the southern Jiangsu theater.

And what Shen Gang said is also true, whether the Beiyang Army goes south or the Nationalist Army goes north, it will have to face the fortifications that the other side has built for a long time, and the firepower and troop superiority required to overcome these fortifications may even need to be several times that of the enemy. And even after gaining superiority in forces and firepower, the attacker will suffer huge losses.

The Operations Division has previously investigated the fortifications of the National Army on the front line from Nanjing to Zhenjiang, and believes that even if it does not increase reinforcements, only relying on the original first division and seventh division of the First Army to defend, then it can resist the attack of the three divisions of the Beiyang Army, if the Beiyang Army wants to take it, it will not be possible to do it without paying one or two thousand casualties, not to mention that the National Army has gathered many troops in southern Jiangsu, in addition to the four divisions of the First Army, there are also guard divisions, fifth divisions, and eighth divisions, Three local garrison regiments in southern Jiangsu, including the Nanjing Garrison Regiment, the 1st Reading Artillery Regiment, the 1st Reading Cavalry Regiment, and many naval ships.

With such a large number of troops gathered in southern Jiangsu, it was absolutely impossible for the Beiyang Army to successfully cross the river and capture Nanjing and Zhenjiang.

Similarly, the Beiyang Army's military fortress in Jiangbei, after the deployment of the Fifth Division, the Seventh Division, and the Second Mixed Brigade, if the Nationalist Army wants to take it, it is impossible to conquer it in a short time without more than twice the strength, so although the existence of the navy makes it no problem to cross the river, it is by no means an easy thing to take Jiangbei after crossing the river.

In the plan for crossing the river drawn up by the General Staff, it was already expected that the casualties of the Chinese People's Army in this battle would reach more than 20,000, which was much more than the last battle in southern Jiangsu.

Shen Gang's words cast a shadow on the hearts of everyone present, and he continued: "Therefore, although the army has strong troops in the southern Jiangsu region, the frontal defense of Beiyang in the Jiangbei region is also strong. But ......"

The word 'but' aroused everyone's appetite, and everyone's eyes were once again focused on Shen Gang.

Shen Gang continued: "However, the strength of the Beiyang Army in Anhui is much weaker, although there are many units of the Beiyang Army in Anhui, but the real main force is Cao Kun's third division, after the expansion of Cao Kun's third division, in addition to the regular establishment of the Beiyang Army, also organized a reading brigade, the total strength is expected to reach more than 15,000. In addition to Cao Kun's third division, which was the opponent, there were also the first and second divisions of the Anhui Army in southern Anhui. And the Anhui Army, which was the former Anhui Army, had very limited combat effectiveness, and they would not be stronger than the Soviet Army under Huang Xing at the beginning, at most they would fight Cao Kun's Third Division, which was not a threat.

If our army puts the main direction of the battle of crossing the river in Anhui, marches into Anhui from Wuhu and Anqing at the same time, and mainly invests more than four divisions in our army at a time, then it will not be a problem to defeat the troops of the Beiyang Army in the direction of Anhui, and after capturing Hefei, send a division to continue to march northward, attack Huainan, and then threaten Bengbu. The main force of our army crossed the Yangtze River and Anhui moved eastward, concentrating superior forces and marching eastward into Chuzhou. At that time, Chuzhou and Bengbu, the two important towns of the Jinpu Line of the Beiyang Army, will be directly threatened by our troops. In addition to these two main eastward directions, a reinforced regiment could also be sent eastward into the Dingyuan County area to cut off the Jinpu line.

Under such circumstances, Tang Tianxi of the Beiyang Army in the Chuzhou area was bound to be exhausted, and if he defended Chuzhou, he would not be able to defend Bengbu, and if he defended Bengbu, he would lose Chuzhou.

Whether it is Chuzhou or Bengbu, as long as our army can take any of these two military towns on the Jinpu line, it will be able to completely cut off the Jinpu line, and after cutting off the Jinpu line, Feng Guozhang's department in Jiangbei will be the end of the strong crossbow, even if it is hoarding ammunition, but it can't support it for too long, as short as one month, as long as three months, Feng Guozhang's department in Jiangbei will inevitably have a shortage of ammunition and food, and then it will fight against it without much effort! ”

As soon as Shen Gang finished speaking, Chen Yi on the side spoke: "In this case, when our army gathers the main force to attack Hefei, Tang Tianxi's troops can also advance westward for reinforcements, and how will our army face the Beiyang Army with a total of nearly 30,000 divisions of Tang Tianxi and Cao Kun, and the Anhui Army with two other divisions will also join it, even if our army invests four divisions, it will not be able to achieve too much advantage in strength!" In addition, with such a large-scale entry into Anhui territory, without the support of rivers and railways, how to ensure such a large-scale logistical supply of troops, the journey from Wuhu to Hefei, which is nearly 150 kilometers, will take at least seven or eight days on foot, and if the time for crossing the river is counted, then it will take at least ten days. How can we guarantee that Cao Kun's 3rd Division will not react in other ways for such a long time, and how can we ensure that Tang Tianxi's 10th Division will not advance westward to reinforce Hefei?

If Tang Tianxi reinforces Hefei in advance, or our army cannot conquer Hefei in a short time, how can we protect ourselves in the face of Tang Tianxi and Cao Kun's third division? ”

Chen Yi is also a veteran general, and now he is the director of the Operations Department of the General Staff, and he is also extremely sharp in looking at problems, and he has picked out a lot of problems in Shen Gang's initial plan at once.

Shen Gang was not annoyed, and continued to explain calmly: "It's better if Tang Tianxi wants to come to reinforce Hefei, if he wants to reinforce Hefei, our army will directly send a division to bypass and capture Chuzhou, and then Chuzhou will defend according to the fortified city, and the overall situation in southern Jiangsu can be determined!"

As for the logistical problem, there are indeed many problems, but when our army marched into Jiangxi and southern Anhui before, the logistical support work of the logistics department was already very in place. And you should pay attention to the fact that it is inconvenient for our army to march into Anhui and then supply it in the future, but the Beiyang Army in Anhui that is separated from the support of the Jinpu line is also inconvenient for logistics supply, and compared with the Jiangbei region, the gap between our army and the Beiyang Army will become smaller! ”

"Then if Beiyang continues to transfer troops from the north to reinforce and station in Bengbu and Chuzhou, how should our army respond?" Chen Yi continued to ask.

Shen Gang glanced at Chen Yi at this time, obviously quite dissatisfied with Chen Yi's picking, but Chen Yi's pickiness was within his expectations, he Shen Gang had criticized the combat department as the entire staff department for the river-crossing operation plan proposed by the entire staff department for being worthless, it would be strange if Chen Yi and Yuan Fang and other people in the staff department had a good face to show him, although he also came out of the combat department, but he didn't take care of the thoughts of these subordinates and colleagues at all, and immediately snorted coldly: "No matter where the main direction of our army's river-crossing campaign is, The Beiyang Army will send reinforcements south, and the only ones who can come are the 1st Division, the 16th Division, and the 9th Division. He Yuan Shikai couldn't let go of a single division in the Gyeonggi area, and then he couldn't have no troops along the Shandong line, so the troops who came to reinforce him could only have one division at most in a short period of time. As for the 20th and 23rd Divisions in the northeast region, and even other troops, it will be at least a month later, or even longer, for reinforcements to come to the Jinpu line. A month later, if our army is unable to take Chuzhou or Bengbu even for the time being, it can send a small force to cut off the Jinpu line from the field. In the case of delayed operations, the enemy's reinforcements can only march on foot, and the speed of reinforcements can be controlled. If it is not possible to take Chuzhou or Bengbu for such a long time, then how can our army talk about unifying China? ”

The core of Shen Gang's plan is actually the same as the battle of crossing the river in the last war in southern Jiangsu, that is, to copy the back road of the Beiyang Army, the back road of the Beiyang Army last time was Jiangbei, and now the back road of the Beiyang Army has become Chuzhou and Bengbu area.

As long as one of these two is taken, then the Beiyang Army will be able to lose the logistical supply of the Jinpu line. Although the Beiyang Army has part of the inventory in the Jiangbei region, it can also be replenished through the land in eastern Jiangsu, but the inventory is always limited, and it cannot be supported for too long without logistics replenishment after the consumption of the war, and even if there is a part of the land supply in eastern Jiangsu, it is far from being comparable with the railway. At that time, even if it cannot completely cut off the logistical supply of the Beiyang Army in the Jiangbei region, it will be able to greatly weaken the combat effectiveness of the Beiyang Army in the Jiangbei region. At that time, the Nationalist Army will be able to form an encirclement of the Jiangbei region from all directions, and concentrate superior forces to take Jiangbei in a battle, and then this will be a large-scale encirclement and annihilation battle, and there will be four divisions of the First Army, the Guard Division, the Fifth Division, the Eighth Division, the Ninth Division, the First Reading Artillery Regiment, the First Reading Cavalry Regiment, and the naval fleet participating in the encirclement and annihilation battle.

If it can be carried out smoothly and successfully, the Nationalist Army will be able to completely annihilate the Fifth Division, the Seventh Division, and the Second Mixed Brigade of the Beiyang Army and achieve a great victory. Of course, the goal of this plan is a bit too vain, and it is obviously impossible to achieve complete encirclement with a three-to-one superiority in troops, and even if the Beiyang Army cannot hold Jiangbei, it can break through to the north with the remnants. Even if the Beiyang Army breaks through to the north, then it will inflict heavy damage on Feng Guozhang's Second Army, and then the strength of the Beiyang Army on the Jinpu Line will not be dominant, but the Nationalist Army will have an advantage, and the Nationalist Army will be able to take the strategic initiative, and it will be easier to continue to go north along the Jinpu Line.

However, Shen Gang's initial plan is the same as the plan proposed by the General Staff, and it is still full of many problems, and any person can see many problems from it. However, these two plans are only preliminary plans, and Shen Gang's plan only says that the first batch of troops to cross the river should have four divisions, but the transfer of those four divisions is still unknown.