20_20434 Yang Zhen, who was checking the map in the headquarters, naturally didn't know about the conversation outside. The reason why Yang Zhen insisted on staying behind was indeed not simply to gather the troops of the southern front and a battalion of the rear guard that had not yet been contacted.

Although he was also very anxious about the troops on the southern front who had now lost contact, Yang Zhen still understood the reason why the strong man broke his wrist at a critical moment and gave up a piece to save the main force. The reason why he stayed was to attract the attention of the surrounding enemy forces and respond to the actions of the military headquarters and the main force.

In fact, if you want to attract the attention of the surrounding enemy forces, you don't necessarily have to stay with Yang Zhen himself. The deputy chief of staff, the chief of staff, and even a regimental commander of the military department can. The reason why he stayed by himself was that once the breakthrough was closed before the follow-up troops arrived, he could stabilize the military morale of the follow-up troops.

Another key issue is how to use the limited troops in hand to put on the momentum of the main force, so that the surrounding enemy forces think that the military headquarters is still in Xingtan, but it is difficult for others to do it. Attracting the attention of the enemy with the limited number of troops at hand is a rather difficult technical task.

Despite the development of the battle situation, it has always been under Yang Zhen's grasp so far. But in the second half of the night, the situation deteriorated so quickly that he was somewhat unexpected. The enemy forces around Xingtan actually went against the norm and changed the routine of slow movement at night. did not hesitate to advance overnight, and the speed was quite fast, which made Yang Zhen feel a little surprised.

At present, Xingtan is the focus of contention between the entire two sides. For the troops in southern Anhui, under the situation of the surrounding enemy troops, Xingtan is almost the only way to survive. As far as the three war zones are concerned, the loss of Xingtan means that the entire blockade line will be opened up a gap. Once the troops in southern Anhui enter the Tianmu Mountains of Jingde, for the three war zones, it is tantamount to returning to the mountains.

Tianmu Mountain covers a vast area, more than 200 kilometers long from east to west, and more than 60 kilometers wide from north to south. The mountain is high and the average altitude is more than 1,000 meters. To the east, you can enter the mountains of western Zhejiang, the south can enter the Huangshan and Jiuhua Mountains in Jixi, and the north can enter the Taihu Lake basin in southern Jiangsu, with a vast room for maneuver.

If the troops of the New Fourth Army in southern Anhui enter the Tianmu Mountains. If the Third Theater wants to seize this force again, even if all the troops at hand are used, I am afraid it will be tantamount to a fool's dream. In order to block the southern Anhui troops from moving south to the Tianmu Mountains, the three theaters of war can be said to have done their best. Almost all the elites were mobilized around Yunling.

Therefore, after the breakthrough of Xingtan was opened, it was normal for the three theaters to mobilize troops to make up for it at any cost. As long as the Xingtan line is re-closed before all the troops in southern Anhui pass through the Xingtan line, it means that the initiative of the entire battlefield is still in their own hands.

At this time, Yang Zhen did not know that as early as when the army commander concentrated his forces to storm the front line of Xingtan, in order to complete the encirclement of the southern Anhui team as much as possible, Xu Zhimiao, chief of staff of the 32nd Group Army, was ordered by Shangguan Yunxiang, commander-in-chief of the 32nd Group Army, to personally rush to the 52nd Division to take command. The 52nd Division was urged to speed up its actions.

At the urging of Xu Zhixuan, Liu Bingzhe, the commander of the 52nd Division, changed his previous tactics of steady and steady fighting after nightfall. The 154th Regiment of the main force was temporarily reorganized into two reinforced battalions, and the search company directly under the division was incorporated into the division, and Zhao Lingbo used the information provided by Zhao Lingbo on the deployment of troops in southern Anhui on the Piling front line to infiltrate the Piling battlefield and seize various commanding heights. At the same time, the 155th and 156th regiments were all thrown into the attack. Zhu Huirong, deputy division officer, and Shao Jianzhong, chief of staff of the division, were all assigned to the command of the two regiments.

After learning that the Xingtan line had been broken through, in order to close the breakthrough as quickly as possible, Liu Bingzhe, who did not know how many people had broken through from the Xingtan line in southern Anhui, transferred one of the five or six regiments with the most complete formation, one company each of mortars and heavy machine guns, to bypass the blocking position of the old third regiment. From the first line of Bangshan, it forcibly interspersed in the southwest direction, trying to go straight to Xingtan.

After the Xingtan line was broken through, Fang Riying, the commander of the 40th Division, was severely reprimanded by the headquarters of the 32nd Group Army. He was ordered to muster all the forces at hand, and within two hours he had to re-seal the breach.

In desperation, the main force was deployed on the line from Sanxi to Xingtan, and after the loss of the first line of Bangshan, part of the troops were transferred back to the headquarters of the Sanxi Protection Division, and only one battalion was deployed in the direction of Langqiao. At this time, Fang Riying, who did not know that the headquarters and main force of the southern Anhui army had crossed the Hui River, could not even care about his own division headquarters.

In addition to leaving a battalion of the 448th Regiment of the 148th Division, which had just arrived under his command, to hold the first line of defense from the south of Xingtan to Sanxi. The main force of the 448th Regiment was ordered to devote all two battalions to the Xingtan line without waiting for rest. Fang Riying's hand brought considerable pressure to the Xingtan defenders, who only had one battalion at this time.

The 52nd Division advanced faster than expected, and its tactical adjustments exceeded expectations. After the 40th Division was broken through at Xingtan, it counterattacked despite the mobilization of troops, allowing the situation to quickly develop in the direction of deterioration.

If it weren't for Yang Zhen's quick decision, not waiting for Xingtan to be completely taken, taking advantage of the time difference between the reinforcements of the 40th Division, and letting the army commander take the military headquarters and the main force to break through the Huihe, I am afraid that he would want to leave until 3 o'clock in the morning, and I am afraid that he would not be able to go in the face of the north-south attack of the two divisions.

At that time, the entire Xingtan will only have five regiments of troops on the surrounding battlefields, and in the face of two divisions and six regiments of enemy troops pouring out, under the situation of great disparity in strength and equipment, it can be said that they want to fight and cannot go nowhere. If you continue to fight, you can only end up in a dead end. If you want to go, in front of an opponent with superior forces, it takes time and cost to break through.

When the 144th Division, a brigade of the New 7th Division, the 108th Division, and the 79th Division, which had also significantly accelerated its movements on the southern front, arrived at the station, the southern Anhui troops, which had no more than 9,000 troops, including the non-combatants of the military headquarters, would be encircled in a narrow area west of the Hui River, south of Tanlikou, north of Niulanling, and east of Piling.

At this time, although Xingtan was facing an extremely difficult situation, Yang Zhen successfully attracted the main forces of the 52nd and 40th Divisions to Xingtan with the strength of a battalion. As a result, when the military headquarters and the main force moved to the northeast of Jing County, the two divisions did not draw any troops to pursue.

Although the military headquarters and the main force had broken through, in the face of the counterattack of the 40th Division, Xingtan, who stayed to attract the attention of the surrounding enemy forces and had insufficient troops, immediately fell into a dangerous situation. The last fully formed battalion of the old regiment that was left behind, and it was also the most combat-ready battalion, although it was repeatedly charged. However, the gap in the comparison of forces quickly fell into passivity. By 4 o'clock in the morning, the defending force had been compressed to the northeast corner of Xingtan.

By four o'clock in the morning, the strength of the entire Xingtan defense, including the guard company, was less than one and a half companies. The vanguard of the 448th Regiment had already reached a distance of less than 200 meters from Yang Zhen's command post. Faced with an increasingly dangerous situation, Ye Chao and Yin Yang couldn't hold their breath no matter how calm they were.

Ye Chao, who had just commanded the guard company to counterattack one company of the Forty Division that rushed in, walked up to Yang Zhen covered in blood and said, "Political commissar, the defending troops in front have already suffered casualties and embers, and we really won't be able to leave if we don't withdraw." Political commissar, I beg you, and withdraw as soon as the northeast is not completely closed. ”

Facing the anxious Ye Chao, Yang Zhen calmly looked at his watch, and after estimating the marching speed of the main force, he said: "If the one qiē is normal, the military headquarters has now opened the highway from Guòlang Bridge to Sanxi and entered the high mountain to block the line." It should be said that the military headquarters and the main forces are already out of danger. ”

After that, Yang Zhen turned his head to his side, and Yuan Dejun, the head of the communications section of the military department, who was specially left by the army commander to cooperate with Yang Zhen's work because of his extremely high level of business, said: "Why is there no contact with the troops of the southern front and the rear guard?" ”

Hearing Yang Zhen's question, Yuan Dejun shook his head and said, "The rearguard troops have just been contacted, they have already gotten rid of the enemy's entanglement, and they can reach Xingtan in ten minutes at most." As for the troops on the southern front, they have not yet been contacted. We called for an average of 10 minutes, but the troops on the southern front still did not respond. ”

"I sent several groups of manpower correspondents, with the cooperation of local cadres who are familiar with the local situation, to the front line of Changkeng Mountain to search, but they were not able to find it. Political commissar, is there an accident that the troops on the southern front have not heard from them for such a long time? Otherwise, even if there is a problem with the radio station, the manpower correspondent we sent for such a long time should be found. ”

Yang Zhen didn't answer his words, but turned his head and asked Yin Yangdao, deputy chief of the reconnaissance section: "Where are the troops of the 79th Division on the front line of Niulanling now, can you find out?" Don't tell me, I don't know which unit is coming from the southwest of the shells that are now falling on our heads. ”

Hearing Yang Zhen's inquiry, Yin Yang hurriedly said: "Political commissar, now the 79th Division has crossed the line of Niulanling and is developing to the north of Niulanling. However, compared to several other directions, the movement of the 79th Division was relatively slow. After occupying Niulanling, the 235th Regiment did not continue to move north, but was stationed on the spot on the front line of Niulanling. ”

Although the 236th Regiment on its left flank seized the line of Guanling and Dashan, it was extremely cautious in its eastward development. However, it can reach the west of Cheung Keng Mountain by early this morning at the latest. Only the 237th Regiment on the right flank moved relatively quickly, and now it has seized Zeng's house east of Niulanling, and the forward has already advanced to the line of Changkeng Mountain. He was sent to find a communications squad of the Southern Front troops and encountered him on the front line of Changkeng Mountain. ”

"During the battle, our troops suffered many casualties. Six people were killed and three were missing. A communication squad, only one squad leader came back to report the news. Political commissar, it can now be determined that the troops on the southern front are no longer on the front line of Changkengshan, and as for where they are going, we do not know now. ”

Facing the troops of the Southern Front, who had never been able to be contacted, Yang Zhen frowned. The troops on the southern front carried two radio stations, but they were never able to get in touch. If we wait, the troops that have been compressed by the 40th Division in a corner of Xingtan will be completely surrounded and annihilated here.

Looking at the map, Yang Zhen said to Ye Chao beside him without the slightest hesitation: "Ride my horse to the guard battalion, and immediately run to Xingtan." All on bayonets, ready to break through. And set up all the light and heavy machine guns and mortars for me, and hit me at a point southeast of Xingtan. ”

Hearing that Yang Zhen was going to concentrate his forces to break through to the southeast, Ye Chao couldn't help but hesitate a little and said: "Political commissar, now there is no gunfire in the northeast direction around the entire Xingtan, which means that the reinforcements of the 40th Division have not yet arrived there." It should be the best place for us to break out, how do you choose the southeast direction. It was the rear of the enemy army, and in the previous battle, the enemy attack in that direction was the fiercest. "From,! r405。