Lieutenant General Kawa Namimi was well aware that with the destruction of the Bayantara defenders, the enemy's follow-up troops arrived. Under the cover of tanks, a force has broken through the central banner of the left wing of Horqin and the fortified area on the north bank of the West Liao River in Tongliao, and broke through the defense on the south bank of the West Liao River in the area east of Tongliao.

A force has taken advantage of the direction of the West Liao River to penetrate between Kailu and Tongliao, and has launched a pincer encirclement of Kailu, and is in the situation of dividing the connection between Tongliao and Kailu. If you still want to divide your troops according to the previous division and take layers of blocking, in the case that the follow-up forces are already insufficient, you can only be quickly broken through by the opponent and divide the remaining forces.

Indeed, on the entire battlefield of Tongliao, a large number of permanent and semi-permanent fortifications, as well as countless field fortifications, are almost all over the battlefield. However, these fortifications need to be defended by deploying troops. If you continue to adopt the defensive tactics of Bayantara's front, you can only let the enemy eat all your troops in one bite.

Moreover, the entire Tongliao area was fortified, except for Bayantala and Kailu in the north and west directions, where permanent fortifications were concentrated. In the vast and deep area from the south bank of the West Liao River to the east of Kailu County, most of the area is dominated by field fortifications, except for the permanent fortifications in some key areas.

That is to say, after the Anti-Japanese Federation broke through the Bayantala fortification area and the permanent fortification group on both sides of the Xiliao River, in addition to the west of Kailu County to the confluence of the Xinkai River and the Xila Murong River, the permanent fortification group was mainly concentrated on both sides of the Tongliao-Zhengjiatun railway, as well as along the Tongliao-Kailu line and the periphery of the two county seats.

As for the anti-tank trenches dug in depth, whether they can withstand the offensive of the anti-Japanese alliance is actually very clear to Lieutenant General Kawa and Mi. These anti-tank trenches can hold out for a while, but not for long. And if the remaining forces are dispersed, continue to hold all the fortified areas. can only disperse their remaining forces and create conditions for the anti-union to be interspersed and divided.

According to the orders of the Kwantung Army, the 14th Division was to hold the two county towns of Tongliao and Kailu, not one of them. In the battle of the central banner of the left flank of Horqin on the north bank of the West Liao River and Bayantara, the 14th Division had lost more than one-third of its troops. If you continue to disperse and stick to it, I am afraid that you will have to take care of one or the other.

Under the situation that the in-depth defense has been unable to stop the assault of the anti-United Nations tanks and cavalry clusters, and Zhengjiatun, the seat of Shuangliao County, has been captured by the anti-United Nations. Shrink the forces back to the two county seats, and abandon the fortifications along the Tongliao-Zhengjiatun railway. Concentrating on the semi-permanent fortifications around the county and ensuring the connection with the two counties of Tongliao and Kailu has become the best choice for Sichuan and Mitsu at present. And Lieutenant General Kawa Mi did exactly that.

In fact, Lieutenant General Kawa Minami, as the commander of the Japanese Army's lieutenant general division, was more qualified than his predecessor, Kita Seiichi, who was a spy. In terms of adaptability and decisiveness, he far surpassed his predecessor, who was dismissed from his post at the beginning of the year because of last year's huge losses and transferred to the Taiwan military to become a deputy chief of staff in charge of intelligence.

As early as when he received a farewell message from the front-line defenders of Bayantara, he had already consciously shrunk his forces and abandoned some unimportant strongholds. As soon as the frontal defense line of the West Liao River was broken through by the Anti-Japanese Union, Lieutenant General Chuan and Mi immediately began to shrink the troops east of Kongjiawobao, with the line of Kongjiawobao as the easternmost point of the entire in-depth defense zone.

As for the various fortifications east of Kongjiawobao, they were all consciously abandoned by him. However, when the retreat was imminent, in order to prevent these permanent fortification groups from being used by the Anti-Japanese Union to resist the possible counterattack of the Kwantung Army, Lieutenant General Kawa Namimi ordered to be completely blown up.

All the laborers who were originally going to be transported to South Manchuria, but were stranded east of Tongliao County because the railway line was cut off, were all shot when there was enough time. If it is too late, those laborers will be directly put into the fortification group and completely disappear along with the fortifications.

Although all the fortified areas have been exposed, secrecy is no longer so important. But these laborers are a source of replenishment for the Anti-Japanese Federation. The Kwantung Army Command had already ordered that it would rather kill all these laborers than let them fall into the hands of the Anti-Japanese Union. When it was necessary for the units to abandon their positions, if there were laborers, all of them were executed.

In order to weaken the replenishment capability of the Anti-Japanese Federation and its long-term combat capability, the Japanese have resorted to unscrupulous means to the extreme. Not to mention tens of thousands of workers, even hundreds of thousands of workers, they won't care. Regardless of whether these laborers are already a threat to them, killing them all is the best solution.

and those puppet Manchu troops who had been completely disarmed by the Kwantung Army at this time and thrown into the labor as a labor supplement, were also treated the same. The Japanese will not be soft when they kill them. On many battlefields in this battle, a large number of laborers were slaughtered.

The troops of the 14th Division on the south bank of the West Liao River moved quickly, and when the 18th Division broke through the West Liao River, most of the Japanese fortifications east of Qianjiadian were completely blown up. However, due to the rapid breakthrough of the defense line of the West Liao River, the 18th Division's river-crossing troops advanced too quickly, and they did not have time to shoot the laborers.

When the Japanese retreated, they only had time to shoot the laborers around their fortifications, but most of the laborers did not have time. The vanguard of the 18th Division rescued more than 20,000 laborers at Pillow Wobao and Henan Tun south of Jiaogan, as well as two brigades of the puppet Manchu army who were served as hard labor.

The situation was already critical, and all the laborers had been herded into several anti-tank trenches and several sand nests that were to be used as killing grounds. If it weren't for the rapid advance of a tank battalion attached to the 18th Division, even if it was only ten minutes at night, the Japanese would have already started to move.

After the 77 Incident, the 14th Division, which fought on the Chinese battlefield for nearly three years, is naturally no stranger to massacring Chinese. At that time, dozens of machine guns around the area where they were scheduled to be started had already been loaded, waiting for all the laborers to enter the scene of the massacre. If the tanks of the Anti-Union arrive one step too late, it will become a purgatory on earth.

It's just that although these laborers were rescued at the last moment, the rescue force was faced with a new dilemma. After long hours of overtime and inhuman torture, these laborers are not only physically weak, but almost all of them are malnourished.

After rescuing these laborers, Chen Hanzhang breathed a sigh of relief, but found that he was facing three problems at the same time. One is the issue of the resettlement of laborers, and under the current situation that the entire Tongliao has become a battlefield, he has no place or personnel to resettle this group of nearly 30,000 laborers.

The second and most serious question is the question of how he should feed these laborers. Nearly 30,000 people need to consume food a day, which is almost an astronomical amount for him now. And these frail people are also in dire need of a lot of influence. Where did he go to find so much food to feed these laborers? Not to mention that in order for them to recover as soon as possible, let them eat as well as possible?

The third problem is not very critical, but it is also a problem if it is not solved well. Among these rescued people, there were also two puppet Manchu troops in formed brigades. Although they have been disarmed, they have received complete and rigorous military training. Although it can be pulled into the battlefield, it can be used as a supplementary force.

But with no time and no enough manpower to screen them, who would dare to let them go into battle? Who can guarantee that the die-hards among them will not turn back on the battlefield when they arrive? Are there any enemy elements who will be involved in the battlefield and will cause sabotage? If there is a fierce battle in front of you, these people will be very troublesome in the back.

Although the Anti-Union rescued them from the guns of the devils, but even so, who can guarantee that they will not turn back again? Soldiers may be able to be trusted, but what about the Manchu officers? But leaving these people in the rear is also an unstable factor, not to mention, Chen Hanzhang does not have enough manpower to watch them at the moment.

In the face of the large number of laborers who were rescued on the south bank of the Xiliao River and on the battlefield of the Horqin Left Wing Central Banner before, the materials in their hands were already insufficient, and they were simply unable to cope with the sudden increase in so many mouths. And all the grain in the entire Tongliao battlefield was completely collected by the Japanese army, and Chen Hanzhang, who had no place to collect supplementary food, had no choice but to send the first telegram asking for help after he was ordered to intersperse with Tongliao.

After receiving Chen Hanzhang's telegram asking for help, Guo Bingxun immediately coordinated with Wang Guangyu to transfer a large amount of supplies from the materials allocated to the battlefield in Linxi. A battalion was transferred from Wang Guangyu's car to transport a large amount of supplies from the western part of the Horqin Left Wing Central Banner, mainly food supplies to Chen Hanzhang to alleviate his urgent needs.

He quickly ordered a car regiment that was replenishing supplies to the Linxi battlefield to immediately turn around and transfer the transported materials to Chen Hanzhang to the east. It's just that this automobile regiment, which was all transporting ammunition and food, set off from Qiqihar only when it received the order, and under extremely bad road conditions, even if it drove at maximum speed every day. But the time to arrive at Chen Hanzhang's headquarters will be at least five days later.

Fortunately, Wang Guangyu, who can be said to be quite empathetic, knew that even if the headquarters set off immediately after receiving Chen Hanzhang's telegram asking for help, the supplies and ammunition replenished to Chen Hanzhang would take at least three or five days after arrival. As for the airdrop supply, because the amount of aviation fuel has been reduced to a dangerous factor, it can only give priority to the use of fighters and bombers. It will not be used lightly unless it is absolutely necessary.

And Chen Hanzhang himself was interspersed with operations, and it was impossible to carry too much ammunition, and the supply line behind him was temporarily cut off by the interspersed operations of the 18th Division. At the same time, there has been a fierce battle for so long in the territory of the Horqin Left Wing Central Banner, not only the supplies, but also the ammunition is definitely insufficient.

Therefore, Wang Guangyu also allocated an additional 20,000 rounds of shells to Chen Hanzhang from his current small artillery shell reserves. Mainly 75-mm mountain artillery shells, 57 recoilless artillery shells, and 82 and 60 mortar shells, as for rockets, he also had a considerable demand.

It is only that although Chen Hanzhang's department captured the Horqin Left Wing Central Banner, although it was unable to open up a frontal connection with the Linxi battlefield, it had actually opened up the border area between the Guò Alu Korqin Banner and the Horqin Left Wing Central Banner, and opened up the flank land connection with Wang Guangyu's department.

However, it was also restricted by the restrictions of the road conditions from the Zalut Banner through the Horqin Left Wing Central Banner to Chen Hanzhang's headquarters, as well as the stragglers and harassment of the Japanese army along the way. Although the headquarters and Wang Guangyu moved quickly, the replenishment of these materials did not arrive until after the battle of Tongliao and Kailu County began.

In the peripheral pull-out operations in the early stage of the offensive in Tongliao and Kailu counties, and in response to the Japanese counterattack, the two divisions under Chen Hanzhang did not receive much artillery support. Moreover, the main artillery support was concentrated on seizing the key points on the periphery. As for the counterattack of the Japanese army, it can only be ranked second. Because the remaining shells should be kept for use until they are replenished......