Restore history: In the first stage of the counterattack operation in North China, Gu Shoufu's Sixth Division narrowly escaped the first blow!

In early August 1937, the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government established the Baoding Xingying (later changed to the Shijiazhuang Xingying), with Xu Yongchang as the director and Lin Wei as the chief of staff to supervise the Hebei operation.

Jiang Mouren, commander of the First Theater (concurrently), Song Zheyuan was the commander-in-chief of the First Group Army, and Liu Zhi was the commander-in-chief of the Second Group Army, and he was responsible for the operational command of the northern section of the Jinpu and Pinghan Roads.

On the Gu'an side, the 53rd Army (commander Wan Fulin) and the 1st Regiment of Wang Qifeng's 4th Cavalry Division garrisoned the positions from Jin Gezhuang to East and West Pangzhuang on the right bank of the Yongding River;

Zhou Fucheng's 116th Division garrisoned the first-line position from Shuangying to Hejin near Yongqing, and Feng Zhanhai's 91st Division garrisoned the first-line position from Hejin to Dongxiyangcun;

The cavalry of the 26th Route Army garrisoned the first-line position from Dongxiyang Village to Matou Town from the new 10th Division, and formed a position of more than 100 kilometers long with the first-line positions of Feng Anbang's 27th Division, Zhang Jinzhao's 30th Division, and Zhang Huatang's 44th Independent Brigade in Liulihe, Fangshan, and Heilongguan.

At the same time as the frontal attack, the Japanese army (the 14th Division, author's note) began to detour back to the Gu'an side, preparing to penetrate into the rear of our army to launch an attack and completely annihilate the defenders in the area of Fangshan, Liulihe, and Zhuoxian.

On the night of September 13, 1937, the 2nd Brigade of the 59th Wing of the 14th Division of the Japanese Army sent 7 reconnaissance groups to wade across the Yongding River to reconnoiter the opposite position. Finding that there were few troops of our 53rd Army and hearing the sound of cars heading west, it was determined that the army (Wan Fulin) had withdrawn without authorization, and began to cross the river at 9 o'clock the next day (September 14, author's note).

After the Japanese army crossed the Yongding River, it immediately waved its division and rushed forward. As a result, it encountered Feng Zhanhai's 91st Division in retreat, and the two sides started a scuffle, and the 91st Division did not retreat.

The 6th Division of the Japanese Army Tani Shoo began to cross the river at 14 o'clock on the same day (September 14, author's note) and reached the opposite bank at 16 o'clock. Encountering Zhou Fucheng's 116th Division, which was busy retreating and had no defense, Gu Shoufu ordered his troops to defeat it in one go, and then marched towards Niutuo Town.

The book explains that at this time, the Hebei Plain was in the rainy season, and heavy rain caused water everywhere. The Japanese 6th Division was disoriented on the 16th and was trapped in a large area of stagnant water east of Niutuo Town.

After a busy day in the water network area without results, and finally did not figure out the location of the battlefield and did not determine the direction, Gu Shoufu ordered the troops to retreat to Niutuo Town on the 17th.

After that, the Japanese army went west to Xinqiao, fought fiercely with the 7th Division (division commander Li Shilong) of the local defender Third Army, captured Dingxing on the 19th, and reached Xushui on the 20th.

When the Japanese army crossed the Yongding River, the Japanese 20th Division of the Pinghan Line launched an attack from Changxindian to the positions of Zhang Jinzhao's 30th Division and Zhang Huatang's 44th Independent Brigade.

In order to consolidate its right flank, Sun Lianzhong ordered the 26th Route Army on the 14th: "Feng Anbang's 27th Division is still in its original position to resist the enemy's southward attack; The 10th Division of the Tan Zixin Cavalry quickly occupied the line of Hexiwu and Tongcun on the right bank of the North Juma River, and guarded the right bank of the Yongding River with one section; Pei Changhui's 47th Division occupied the line from Hancun to Hexiwu on the right bank of the Beijuma River, the 31st Division of Chifengcheng occupied the line from Tongcun to Matou Town with one part, and the rest assembled near Zhuoxian County to stand by. ”

At dawn on the 15th, the units arrived at their designated positions. At about 8 o'clock on the same day, the Japanese army, with the cooperation of armored vehicles and artillery, attempted to force the crossing of the Beijuma River near Wanghaizhuang, but was repulsed by the 47th Division of Pei Changhui. At about 17 o'clock, the Japanese army used smoke bombs to storm the position again, and the 47th Division fought hard and the position was occupied by the Japanese army.

On the morning of the 15th, under the cover of more than 10 Japanese planes, more than 1,000 Japanese mixed arms of the Japanese army opposite the position of Feng Anbang's 27th Division crossed the Dashihe River from Yangtougang and attacked the division's position with more than 20 armored fighting vehicles.

On the side of Zhang Jinzhao's 30th Division and Zhang Huatang's 44th Independent Brigade, the Japanese army also launched an attack that morning, but was repulsed by our defenders.

On the evening of 15 June 1937, Pei Changhui's 47th Division launched an attack on the Japanese army at night, and at 2 a.m. the next day, it entered the southern part of Beitong Village.

At about 6 o'clock, more than 2,000 enemy troops (the 14th Division, author's note), with the support of more than 20 chariots, forcibly crossed from Wanghaizhuang and Hexiwu, and divided the defender position of the road army along the North Juma River into several sections. At the same time, Japanese artillery and planes also bombarded fiercely, and the battle was unprecedentedly fierce, and our defenders suffered more than 2,000 casualties.

By 12 o'clock, the total number of troops of the Japanese army crossing the Beijuma River was about 5,000 people, and our defenders were outnumbered and forced to retreat to the Maojiaying area.

The Japanese army (6th Division, author's note) opposite the position of Feng Anbang's 27th Division launched a fierce attack at 8 o'clock on the 16th. After a fierce battle until 14 o'clock, our defenders withdrew to the Liulihe position due to heavy casualties. (Feng Anbang's 27th Division lost more than half of its losses and was forced to retreat, and the big thing was gone!) At this point, the defense lines of Fangshan, Zhuozhou, Gu'an, Gaobeidian, and Dingxing completely collapsed, and it was impossible for the Baoding front line to stop the Japanese army, and the fall of North China became a foregone conclusion, and the "first counterattack operation" in which Jiang was personally in command failed!

This stage has failed completely, and those who should be held accountable are not young and old!

The first culprit was Wan Fulin's 53rd Army's retreat without a fight, giving up the beachhead of the Yongding River to the 14th Division of the little devils, and giving way to the 6th Division's westward advance!

In the Great Wall War of Resistance in 1933, Wan Fulin retreated without a fight in Nanpiao, Beipiao, Fuxin, and Lingyuan, and the entire Great Wall defense line was shaken across the board, and Chengde missed!

Four years later, in the Pingjin counterattack, Wan Fulin retreated again without a fight, the flank of the 26th Route Army under the command of Sun Lianzhong lost protection, and the defense lines of Gu'an and Zhuozhou collapsed!

At this stage, the one who supported the crisis alone and forgot his life was Sun Lianzhong's 26th Route Army, although they were defeated, they were still honorable, and they deserved the title of "the dry city of the country"!

Sun Lianzhong's 26th Route Army's record at this stage was better than the bloody battle of the Great Wall and the battle of Nankou not long ago! Because of the failure of the entire campaign, Sun Lianzhong's department did not receive the praise it deserved, which was unfair.

The second culprit is the world's number one pig - Liu Zhi!

Liu Zhi, who was fully responsible for the command of the battle, adhered to Jiang's consistent practice of "excluding dissidents", and even the blue out of the blue was better than the blue, so he did it more thoroughly and explicitly!

The 26th Route Army, the old headquarters of the Northwest Army, was placed on the front line of Fangshan and Liulihe, and the Third Army of the Sichuan Army, which was not equipped with rifles, was placed on the front line of Laishui, Gaobeidian, and Xincheng, but the Central Army was placed on the front line of Mancheng, Baoding, and Caohe, which were more than 100 kilometers away from the front line.

In other words, no matter what state the front line is in, the Central Army will definitely be a spectator and will never participate.

Why? Because Jiang's Central Army is not a mechanized army, it needs to use a pair of feet to rush to the road. The current Central Army is more than a hundred kilometers from the front line, and once a dangerous situation arises on the defensive line, it is simply impossible to rescue.

Therefore, from the very beginning of the campaign, the Central Army was not ready to participate in the battle, let alone rescue the armies of all directions! Is this still some kind of bullshit North China counterattack? It's clearly a ghost trick to kill people with a knife!

The third culprit, Song Zheyuan!

On the eve of the fall of Pingjin, armies from all walks of life gathered in Baoding to prepare to go north, but Song Zheyuan, the supreme military and political person in charge of Pingjin, was afraid that other troops would seize his own territory, so he called Nanjing many times, asking "can you transfer the temporary order to prepare for the northward divisions and assemble in the original defense to stand by."

First of all, it was precisely because of Song Zheyuan's three telegrams to organize the armies from all walks of life to go south, that Liu Zhi and Jiang later had a prevarication and let the Central Army "justifiably be a spectator"!

Secondly, it was precisely because of Song Zheyuan's obstruction that the various armies that urgently reinforced North China could not be launched in advance, let alone have time to build decent fortifications.

As a result, when faced with the tanks, armored vehicles, planes, and artillery of the little devils, the defense lines of all sides were about to collapse at the first touch. has achieved the murderous reputation of the little devil "half a division swept North China"!

The fourth culprit, Jiang someone!

The Seventh Artillery Regiment and the two battalions of the Chariot Defense Artillery, equipped with advanced artillery, arrived in Hebei, but Jiang clearly instructed on August 3 that "the position of the Seventh Artillery Regiment should be near Baoding or Gaoyang, and it must not be placed in the forefront"; The chariot defense artillery unit "ordered it to temporarily concentrate in the vicinity of Shijiazhuang, but it was necessary to evacuate".

At this time, the battle was raging on the front line of Fangshan and Liulihe, and when the warriors used grenades strapped to their bodies to blow up tanks, what role could these advanced weapons play when they were placed in the rear more than 100 kilometers away from the front line?

Could it be that in the eyes of Jiang someone, is it really "human life is as cheap as a dog"?

The second stage: After the Japanese army captured Zhuoxian in the Baoding City Wall Defense, our defenders were undecided due to the rapid change of the battle situation, resulting in a chaotic situation, while the Japanese army took advantage of its rapid response characteristics to advance rapidly.

On September 19, 1937, Jiang issued an order to Liu Zhi that "our army should fight a decisive battle with the enemy near Baoding". On the same day, Yixian was captured by the 20th Division of the Japanese Army.

On September 20, the Japanese Sixth Division broke through the Xushui position, about 20 kilometers north of Baoding. On the same day, three divisions of the Japanese army (the sixth, 14th, and twentieth divisions) had arrived at the front line of the Caohe River.

At this time, our deployment was: with Guan Zhenglin's 52nd Army as the backbone, Zhang Yaoming's 25th Division to garrison the Caohe defense line in the north of Baoding, Feng Qinya's 14th Army Corps retreating from Pingsui Road to garrison Mancheng, and Zhao Shoushan's 17th Division to defend on the east side of the division.

The city wall of Baoding was garrisoned by the 2nd Division of Zheng Dongguo of the 52nd Army led by Guan Linzheng. Also in this area were Pei Changhui's 47th Division, Zeng Wanzhong's Third Army, and the troops retreating from the front, totaling more than 60,000 people.

On September 21, the Japanese 14th Division attacked Mancheng with the main force. According to the 149th Regiment of the 75th Brigade of the 25th Division of Zhang Yaoming, who guarded the 426 heights northwest of Mancheng, they fought bloody battles with the Japanese army and finally died. (Great!) The city fell on the 22nd.

At the same time, the 20th Division of the Japanese Army had made a detour to the area of the Baoding Southwest Railway and Fangshun Bridge, forming multiple encirclements of Baoding from far and near.

Before attacking Baoding, in order to destroy the will of our defenders to fight, the Japanese army continued to bomb the city of Baoding indiscriminately, causing many casualties among innocent citizens.

Four military trains parked at the southern end of the station were blown up, causing bullets to explode inside the train and killing more than 10 soldiers. Several people were killed by Japanese planes on Xiguan Street. The Japanese army dropped bombs on the 41st train, killing and wounding more than 40 passengers.

On 16 September, Japanese planes bombed a section of the north wall of the West Gate, and the platform and station building of the Baoding Railway Station were blown up, and as many as 60 station workers, military police, and refugees who entered the air-raid shelter at the station were suffocated by the bombing of the air-raid shelter.

At 6 o'clock in the morning of the 17th, 13 Japanese planes flew over Baoding again, and the most prosperous commercial area in the city, Xidajie, became the main bombing target. The citizens fled the city at odds. By 4 p.m., the streets of Baoding were empty.

On the night of the 22nd, Guan Linzheng decided to shorten the defensive line and move the command post into Baoding City. However, because all the residents of the inner city had fled and the city's telephone had been destroyed, it was decided to move the command post to Lianzhuang, 5 kilometers southeast of Baoding City.

On September 22, the Japanese 6th Division, which was mainly attacking Baoding, launched an attack on the left flank of the Baoding defense line under the cover of aircraft. The 149th Regiment of the 75th Brigade of Zhang Yaoming's 25th Division, which was guarding the Caohe Iron Bridge position, fought desperately with the enemy when the position was destroyed by enemy artillery fire. (The 149th Regiment is an outstanding son and daughter of the Chinese nation!) At noon, more than 300 Japanese troops forcibly crossed the Cao River and were wiped out by our defenders. After that, the Japanese army launched another strong attack, the defenders were killed and wounded, and the defense line of our left flank was broken through by the Japanese.

On the morning of the 23rd, three divisions of the Japanese army (the 6th Division, the 20th Division, and the 14th Division) were divided into east, north, and west, and with the cooperation of their air force, they launched an attack on the Baoding city wall.

The 2nd Division of our defenders, Zheng Dongguo, made a powerful counterattack. In close combat on the outskirts of the city, the division's units repeatedly fought with the Japanese and repelled the attacking enemy. (Zheng Dongguo is good!) On the morning of the 24th, the 2nd Field Heavy Artillery Brigade attached to the 6th Division of the Japanese Army entered the vicinity of Baoding and began to bombard the city wall with heavy artillery, and the city wall in the northwest corner was collapsed.

At 9:45, the 6th Division of the Japanese Army, led by the chariot troops, entered the city through the gap and engaged in street fighting with our defenders. (Jiang someone doesn't need a cannon, sad husband!) In the afternoon, after two days of resistance, Baoding City was captured by the enemy's 6th Division!

A Ta Kung Pao reporter wrote a commentary: "In terms of strategy, it is necessary to change. In the past, the orders received by the armies were only to defend them. But because of the length of the enemy, it is long in artillery fire; And my weakness lies in the artillery fire; Our army is defending to the death, and the enemy army is being able to give full play to its strengths, and as a result, our army's stubborn defense has become a stubborn defense. ”

After all, what happens next, let's see how it will be broken down next time.