Yang Zhen hesitated whether this was the final general attack. When the final blow was dealt to the Japanese troops on the front line of General Stone. On the other side, Toji Yasui had already made up his mind that the whole army would immediately withdraw south and join up with the troops on the southern front under the command of Major General Saburo of Katayama Province. Yasui Fujiji knew that according to the progress of the battle in front of him and his own casualty figures, he would not be able to hold out for long if he continued to fight. If you don't retreat, what awaits you will be the end of Hiroshi Nemoto.

Yasui Toji is now very glad that Major General Saburo Katayama was not fooled by that Hattori Takushiro and carried out his prudent orders very thoroughly. chose to take a detour to the south bank of the Nada River, instead of directly interspersing it from the Junde line to the north. Otherwise, in the case of rear air defense, their own rear road will be completely cut off.

Originally, according to Yasui Toji's plan, when he chose the interspersed route for Saburo Katayama Province, he did not choose the Junde line to intersperse directly to the northwest. Instead, they took a detour to the south bank of the Nata River to avoid possible blocking forces from their opponents. In order to put on a posture of the 25th Division of Western Aid, attract the attention of the opponent, and relax their vigilance.

But I didn't think of hitting it right. As soon as he arrived at the front line of Wang Duzitun, he encountered the opponent's troops behind him. If there were no roundabout troops led by Major General Katayama, with only a strength of more than 1,000 troops in the six squadrons deployed in the flanks and rear, it would be difficult to resist the onslaught of the opponent's nearly 10,000 well-equipped troops.

Fujiji Yasui, who has a steady personality, does not think that his second division really has the ability to block ten with one. Unless the difference in equipment between the two sides is too great, there is still effective air and ground artillery cover. However, judging from the battle report sent by Major General Saburo Katayama after the encounter with the enemy's roundabout troops, it is clear that the opponent has lost air support, and in some respects the gap between the opponent and the second division is not as large as imagined.

In fact, Yasui Fujiji's intention to retreat was already there when Yang Zhen launched a counterattack. Retreating as soon as there was only a brief engagement was really detrimental to the majesty of the imperial army. And in Yasui Fujiji's opinion, although the opponent has defeated several divisions of the imperial army. But it may not be possible to find an opportunity in the second division.

Yasui Fujiji's previous steady and steady fight was not that he didn't want to wipe out Yang Zhen's troops in one go, not that he was afraid. It's just that in his opinion, the reason why the other imperial army forces failed to attack and suppress was, in the final analysis, that they were too light on the enemy. Divide the troops and give the opponent a chance to break through. That's why he has been holding his troops firmly together, using rolling tactics to squeeze little by little.

Compared to other generals in the Japanese army, Toji Yasui is just not so arrogant. In other respects, he was no different from the average Japanese general. Especially when it comes to unscrupulous means, Toji Yasui is no different. When it was time to cast the poison gas, he didn't let it go at all. It was only Yang Zhen's department that was fully equipped with gas masks that made his poison gas tactics ineffective.

Originally, when Yang Zhen counterattacked on the whole front, he was ready to fight, and even held the Japanese army on the front line of the general stone as the center, attracting the opponent's main force to his side, and after Major General Taro of Katayama Province defeated the opponent's roundabout troops, Lieutenant General Yasui Toji, who quickly went north and stewed the opponent, did not expect that the more he fought, the more cold his heart became.

Now he is almost repentant in his intestines. Only then did he realize that his former colleague had not lost entirely unjustly. He didn't expect that his opponent's attack would be so strong, and his skills and tactics were far above his own estimates.

Not only in the middle of the night but also after half a day of fierce fighting, the troops of the 2nd Division of the General Shi Line can be described as suffering heavy losses. Not only were the casualties huge, but even his own division and regimental headquarters were defeated by the opponent. If it weren't for the desperate efforts of the guard squadron to block the attack, I would have made the mistake of Lieutenant General Nemoto Bo who died honorably on the battlefield.

Fujiji Yasui, who had withdrawn to the position of the 30th Wing, received a request for help from each wing or a farewell message from a certain unit. Faced with the fact that the losses were getting bigger and bigger, and almost half of the troops could be written off the roster or lose their combat effectiveness, Yasui Fujiji could not care about the dignity of the Second Division, and ordered all the wings to immediately retreat south from their current positions, except for some troops left behind to block the opponent.

After most of the night and a morning of fierce fighting, Yang Zhen's troops were unable to finally defeat the Japanese resistance. However, the entire Japanese defense of the general stone line was cut into pieces. Although the Japanese army on the front line of Jiangjun Shi tried several times, they were never able to recover to their previous situation. The units of the divided Second Division could hardly fight on their own, and they could no longer form a complete coordination.

Even if the division headquarters was destroyed and withdrawn to the 30th Wing, Yasui Fujiji was a little sad to find that the troops he could directly command were still only a crippled brigade of the 30th Wing, plus two engineer squadrons, and they also had to face constant attacks from their opponents. As for the remaining brigade of the Thirty Wing, it had been wiped out in the fierce battle of last night and morning.

In the face of the current situation, it strengthened Yasui's determination to immediately break away from his opponent and retreat south. It is only under the circumstance that the various units of the Second Division, which are already in their own combat situation, can no longer form a unified and coordinated action. Toji Yasui could only order the ministries to act alone.

At the same time, in order to make the disengagement operation more hopeful, Yasui Toji sent several telegrams to Major General Saburo Katayama Province one after another, urging him to immediately get rid of the entanglement of his opponent and quickly go north to support the main battle. In his opinion, even if Saburo Katayama can't defeat his opponent, there is still no problem in getting rid of his opponent.

Yasui Toji had a good idea, but it was quite difficult to implement. Whether it was Du Kaishan and Liu Changshun, who attacked from the front, or Tao Jingfei, who made a detour from the flank, although they failed to make decisive progress in the previous attacks. However, while constantly bleeding the Japanese army, he stubbornly bit the Japanese troops on the first line of the general's stone. Since you are here and want to leave, it is not so easy.

And as soon as Yasui Fujiji's side started, Yang Zhen over there was immediately keenly aware of the situation of the Japanese army reported from below. Since the launch of the counterattack operation, Yang Zhen asked Du Kaishan and Liu Changshun to report on the movements of the Japanese army every half hour. Regarding the actions of the Second Division of the Japanese Army, although Yang Zhen could not say everything, he at least hated it.

And Yasui Fujiji didn't expect it at all, it was his move that made Yang Zhen, who didn't want to suffer too many casualties and was slightly hesitant about the final general attack, made up his final decision.

After a brief discussion with Guo Bingxun, Yang Zhen adjusted some of the deployments. In addition to Guo Bingxun's original inconvenience in adjustment, he transferred a battalion from Liu Changshun's headquarters to replace Du Kaishan. Two battalions were used against the 4th Wing of the Japanese Army, and the remnants of the 16th Wing were pinned down with the strength of one battalion. And Du Kaishan's headquarters were all put into the depth of the Japanese army.

At the same time, he ordered Tao Jingfei, who was under the greatest pressure and faced the most Japanese troops, to hold out until the two battalions led by Du Kaishan arrived at any cost. Before reinforcements arrived, it was important to block the route of the Japanese army's southward retreat.

Yang Zhen's plan was very simple, as long as the Japanese army on the front line of General Shi was defeated, the Japanese detachment currently in the north of Tangyuan would be alone. Even if it can't force it to retreat without a fight, it can at least trap it in the northern area of Yubara, so that it will not be able to continue northward.

It is better to cut off one of his fingers than to hurt his ten fingers, this is Yang Zhen's creed of commanding operations. Only when the Japanese army was beaten painfully and frightened, they would withdraw on their own. Since the 2nd Division is now walking on two legs, then break one of his legs. The second division, which became lame, would have been timid on its own.

After receiving a telegram from Yang Zhen ordering him to choke the Japanese army's southward retreat route at any cost, Tao Jingfei, who had already contacted Mu Changqiuhui, could only smile wryly without a word. In the battle with the 2nd Brigade of the 30th Wing, although he won the battle, he annihilated most of his troops. But under its stubborn counterattack, its own casualties are not small.

It was definitely a hard-fought battle to the death. The 1st Battalion of the 9th Regiment commanded by Chi Feng, with the cooperation of the 3rd Battalion of the 8th Regiment that came over later, fought a fierce battle with a complete brigade of the 30th Wing, as well as an infantry squadron and two engineer squadrons.

After discovering that the opponent was detouring from his flank, although the strength was not superior, the firepower was also at an absolute disadvantage. However, the 2nd Brigade of the 30th Wing, under the command of the captain Yuzo Kono, fearlessly responded to the battle with all its might.

After the fierce fighting in the middle of the night, after two more squadrons were transferred, the second brigade, which had only two squadrons left, plus one squadron of the third brigade and two communist squadrons, fought hard and suffered heavy casualties. However, the 1st Battalion of the 9th Regiment also suffered heavy losses, and almost all the casualties of the 1st Battalion were lost, and it completely lost its combat effectiveness.

In this battle, in addition to the fact that the first battalion of the Ninth Regiment was almost exhausted, plus a company of the second battalion commanded by Tao Jingfei, and more than one company of the third battalion of the Eighth Regiment who rushed over later, in fact, Tao Jingfei only had less than two battalions of troops on hand so far.

In the process of detour, he fell behind, but took the initiative to attack the Japanese army in front of him, terminated the Japanese artillery position and its headquarters, and is now fighting fiercely with the two squadrons of the 29th Wing.

In fact, Mu Changqiu is not only unable to support him now, but even needs his support. Not counting the casualties during the surprise attack on the Japanese artillery, nearly half of the casualties were suffered in the attack on the regimental headquarters of the 2nd Division and the fierce battle with its guard squadron. If it weren't for the effective support of the two artillery companies of the mountain artillery battalion directly under the accompanying brigade, Mu Changqiu's side would have suffered a big loss in the fierce battle with the two squadrons of the 29th Wing.

In desperation, Tao Jingfei tried his best to mobilize a company of reinforcements from among the troops that he had in his hands and had combat effectiveness, so that Mu Changqiu stabilized the battle and was not driven back by the Japanese army.

Although Du Kaishan was already rapidly reinforcing himself, for Tao Jingfei, he had to almost bypass the entire front-line battlefield of General Shi in order to rush to his reinforcements, and when he could arrive, he had no foundation at all.

After transferring a company to Mu Changqiu, Tao Jingfei, who had even more thin troops at hand, could only pin his hopes on his brigade commander and speed up the march. Strive to be able to join yourself before the Japanese breakout operation begins. Otherwise, Tao Jingfei did not dare to guarantee how long his troops could hold out under the all-out onslaught of the Japanese army.

In fact, Tao Jingfei's worries are not groundless. At present, although the strength of the Japanese army on the front line of General Shi has been greatly weakened, coupled with the fierce battle last night, it can be said that it has suffered two-thirds of the casualties. At this moment, the troops that Toji Yasui could directly command, except for an infantry squadron cobbled together by the first brigade of the 30th Wing with wounded and other non-combatants, and the remaining more than one squadron after the second brigade was withdrawn, there were only two engineer squadrons.

But it was these forces that were extremely weak before the division of troops that made Tao Jingfei dare not underestimate it in the slightest. In the previous battle to defeat the Second Brigade of the 30th Wing, Tao Jingfei had fully appreciated the combat effectiveness of the Second Division. He knew that even some non-combat units, such as engineers and baggage soldiers, were extremely strong in combat.

The company lost by the 2nd Battalion of the 9th Regiment, which Tao Jing did not directly command, was lost in a fierce battle with an engineer squadron of the 2nd Brigade of the 30th Wing. Although the resistance of the engineer squadron was eventually crushed, the company was also killed and wounded two-thirds in the fierce battle, and lost its combat effectiveness.

Tao Jingfei, who had eaten a pot of raw rice before, did not dare to take it lightly to non-combat troops such as the engineers of the Second Division. They are wary of it, and they do not underestimate it because they are not combat troops.

Sure enough, Yasui Toji's breakthrough operation, which was dominated by engineers, gave Tao Jingfei a dismount as soon as he came up, and an engineer squadron at the head of him, under the cover of light and heavy machine guns and grenadiers, adopted the usual pig-like attack method under the command of his officers and non-commissioned officers as soon as he came up.

It was these sappers who even broke through to the positions of the blocking troops several times. If it weren't for the light and heavy mortar companies of the two regiments, which did not hesitate to consume artillery fire to stop their follow-up troops, almost in the first hour of Yasui Toji's breakthrough, the blocking position would have been torn apart. And Chi Feng, who commanded the front-line battle, took a lot of effort to drive out the Japanese troops who broke into his position.

Despite withstanding, the first wave of the Japanese army broke out at any cost. However, as Yasui Fujiji gradually increased his troop input, after transferring a company to Mu Changqiu, Tao Jingfei, whose actual strength had plummeted to a reinforced battalion, felt that the pressure was increasing.