Chapter 11: Wild Supplement (21)

The Seventh Army retreated to Lu'an, and the news that the Japanese army had already obtained it, and during this time, it had been waiting, and after the Seventh Army retreated, it would immediately occupy the vast area east of the vacated Pinghan Road. The Japanese army has coveted this area for a long time. For two years, the Japanese army fought against the Chinese army in the Suizao area, and the attack from the east of Pinghan Road became the biggest threat to the Japanese army. There was a desire to attack Pinghan Road, Xili Mountain, Macheng and other places, but the complex terrain of Dabie Mountain made the Japanese army daunting. From June 1938 to the turn of spring and summer this year, the Japanese army launched several attacks on the eastern part of the Pinghan Road. After suffering a lot of losses in Dabie Mountain, the Japanese army easily did not dare to set foot in Dabie Mountain. This time, the Seventh Army's voluntary retreat allowed the Japanese army to see an opportunity.

The Central China Front Command, Yuan Department and Commander Kazuhiro, had a very thorough plan, consisting of the 68th Wing of the 3rd Division and the 60th Wing of the 15th Division, one south and one north, to converge in the Banzhuyuan area of Lihuang. Once the encirclement is formed, a solid defensive fortification will be established, which will be difficult to break through with the Chinese army's ability to attack fortifications. In this way, Guangshan, Jingfu, Macheng, Luotian and other places east of the Pinghan Line will be all in the bag. Next, take Macheng as a base to attack to the east, and at the same time, the 116th Division of the 13th Army in Hefei will cooperate with the westward attack to flank Lihuang, and the western Anhui region with Lihuang as the center can be easily taken.

Wishful thinking is playing loudly!

The Seventh Army received orders, and the two divisions split up to repel the enemy. At the combat preparation meeting, deputy army commander Wang Zanbin said to Cheng Shufen, who was also deputy army commander: "In this operation, Brother Yanshan (Cheng Shufen) has the home advantage, and the 172nd Division is bound to be devastating and invincible against the little-known 60th Wing. Relatively speaking, the 171st Division was not so easy to deal with the 68th Wing, and in the recent Battle of Zaoyang, Huang Weigang's 57th Army fought with it for several days with the might of an army, but failed to make any contributions, and it was still driven away under the flanking attack of Wang Yuwen's 91st Division. Now the 68th Wing is violently killing from Xinyang, only 171 Division, if you want to resist the enemy, I am afraid that it will not be easy, after all, it is difficult to support alone. ”

Cheng Shufen, a native of Huanggang, Hubei, joined the Xingui Department after graduating from the sixth infantry section of the Baoding Army Military Academy, and was relied on by Li Zongren, since entering the Dabie Mountain, he led the 172nd Division to stick to the Luotian line, not only practiced himself, but also used the advantages of the locals to jointly establish the Eastern Hubei Guerrilla Force with the self-defense regiment of the veteran Cheng Ruhuai of the Huang'an people, and sent Qin Shouqiao, the former deputy commander of the 171st Division, to serve as the deputy commander-in-chief of the Eastern Hubei Guerrillas. In the past two years, the Eastern Hubei guerrillas have cooperated with the 172nd Division in a very tacit understanding, not only keeping the Japanese troops out of the Dabie Mountain, but also taking the initiative to attack Huangmei County, and once occupying Huangmei County, which has become a big news sensation throughout the country. In May of the 28th year of the Republic of China, about 2,000 people of the Japanese army stationed in eastern Hubei Gaoqiao Wing and Morioka Cavalry Wing invaded Huanggang Daqi Mountain to sweep, and were ambushed by the Eastern Hubei guerrillas and the 172nd Division, and fought bloody battles for eight days, killing 400 officers and soldiers below the Japanese Sato Brigade Commander, capturing 6 people alive, and capturing more than 300 rifles, 5 cannons, and 13 machine guns. The Battle of Loess Ridge at the foot of the Osaki Mountains was the largest battle of annihilation in eastern Hubei before that.

Cheng Shufen was confident about this operation, believing that the entry of the 60th Wing of the Japanese Army this time must be the same as before, and the moths will fight the lights and kill themselves.

After reading the telegram, he locked himself tightly in the small room where he lived, and after smoking cigarettes one by one, the ground was full of cigarette butts, and the house was full of smoke miasma, and from the broken holes in the window paper, there was a chimney-like white mist coming out.

Chief of Staff Wang Weicang and Deputy Division Commander Cao Maocong had been waiting at the door for a long time, both of them were from Hunan, and it was very speculative to talk in Hunan dialect together. The two of them also found it difficult to complete the orders of the military department. After all, they know how many people there are in a wing of the Japanese army and how much combat effectiveness they have, and as the upcoming opponent, the 68th Wing is even more well aware of it, and they specially studied it in the Zaoyi battle that was held not long ago. As the main wing of the Third Division, as the Royal Forest Army of Yamawaki Masataka of the Third Division, it should not be underestimated. After the end of the Zaoyi War, the three divisions suffered serious losses, and the Japanese army base camp rewarded the three divisions, and the materials and personnel were replenished at the earliest. After the replenishment, the overall strength of the 68th Wing is not inferior to that of the 68th Wing two months ago, especially the increase in the formation of the Type 81 curved artillery unit, which is in some respects better than before. The terrain of Dabie Mountain is complex, the mountain roads are winding, and the Japanese tanks and large artillery are inconvenient to walk and cannot participate in the battle, which will make their strength slightly discounted, but the combat area is not far from Xinyang, and the Japanese planes at Xinyang Airport can be on call, which will also pose a huge threat to the operation. The more you talk, the more you feel that this battle is difficult to fight, perhaps the 171st Division has faced the harshest fierce battle since joining the war, and it must be prepared to sacrifice. At the end of the conversation, Cao Maocong said with a smile: Put it to death and then live, stretch out your head and slash your head, and shrink your head is also a knife, let's start first. Wang Weicang nodded in agreement, it is impossible not to fight because there are many problems and problems are difficult to solve.

After the two unified their thoughts, they walked to the door of Qi Daozheng, who was still thinking independently about creating smoke, and Cao Maocong knocked on the door.

"Master, it's going to rain, my mother is going to get married, what should I do. If you don't come out inside, the Japanese won't retreat. Cao Maocong was full of Hunanese, laughed at the Qi Daozheng in the house, walked out of the door, and said, "Then what do you say should be done?" Cao Maocong spread his hands and said, "Cold salad!" ”

Wang Weicang on the side took over the conversation and said: "Shizuo, I thought that the opponent only had one wing, but there were more than 3,000 people, but we had more than 5,000 people, and we had an advantage in numbers. The terrain of Dabie Mountain is treacherous, we are familiar with them and unfamiliar, and we still have the advantage. The only tank artillery in which the Japanese had an advantage was useless in such a place and could not be superior. After all the calculations, we still have a chance to win, at the very least, we have the strength to fight. ”

Qi Daozheng shook his head and said: "I have thought about all this, there is one thing that we do not have an advantage, that is, the quality of individual soldiers, the so-called one force is worth ten meetings, even if we take advantage of our geographical advantages, when we really engage the enemy, with the quality of the Japanese army's individual soldiers, we will not be superior." We usually face the enemy, generally with five enemies and one, at least with three enemies and one, this time we use one point and five enemies and one, it is difficult to take advantage! ”

Cao Maocong asked: "Why are they still superior in Dahong Mountain, Mo Tianzong, Yan Seng Wu, and Lingyun?" ”

Qi Daozheng smiled bitterly and said: "What I regret the most is this incident, in Dahong Mountain, the 84th Army has Lingyun, the 172nd Division has Liao Hanguo, and the military department has also sent a special service group, that is, we will not send troops to learn how to fight guerrillas from Mo Di, this time, stupid." ”

Wang Weicang knew that it was the division commander who looked down on his little fellow at that time, and thought that a small colonel of the 48th Army would not do much, so he rejected Wang Zanbin's suggestion to let him send a regiment, and as a result, he not only gave up the credit to the special service regiment, but also lost an excellent learning opportunity.

"No matter what, let's go ahead first, we can't avoid it without fighting, that's not what our 171st Division did." The three of them walked back to the headquarters, and Qi Dao made a decision. The 171st Division, because of the Xuzhou War, the division commander Yang Junchang passively avoided the war, once became a typical example of criticism from the Military Command Department, if this time again, the ugly reputation will be settled, as the division commander, Qi Daozheng does not want to follow Yang Junchang's old path.

At this moment, the wing commander of the 68th Wing, Koizumi Masatoshi Dazuo, was jumping like thunder in Kangwangzhai, and scolded one after another: "There are a bunch of fools in the division and regimental staff, and they only use the triangular ruler of the garden rules to formulate combat plans every day, so they don't know that this road is the most difficult to walk in the region?" Eight grids of that crimp! ”

The 68th Wing came here, not entirely because of the blind command from above, but it was recorded in the history books, telling them in black and white that the Jin people invaded the south and took this road. It is said that Yue Fei Yue Wumu is in Kangwang Village to resist the enemy, since there is an attack and a defense, then this road must be open. Judging from the map, this road starts from Jingfu County, basically a straight line, the distance is not far, the road travels in the middle of the lofty mountains, there are mountains to cover, there are dense forests to hide, you can reach Banzhuyuan without knowing it. This was a very good experiment, an experiment with strategic vision, an experiment in which the imperial army entered China and attacked according to a small road for the first time, and Koizumi Masatoshi, the commander of the 68th Wing, became the experimental object of this plan.

It was very easy to draw a line on the map, but in fact it was not so easy, from Xinyang to Jingfu, the rapid march walked for two days, and the 68th Wing was so tired that his tongue licked the ashes. After resting for a day in Jingfu, replenishing grain and grass, continuing to march to the southeast, arriving at Kangwangzhai, he walked for three whole days. It's not that the Japanese army is walking slowly, it's really too difficult to walk, the Japanese army wears big leather shoes and walks on the mountain road, three steps and two slips, either the nose is blue and the face is swollen, or the legs are lame and bent. Koizumi Masatoshi knew that there was no secret at all in such a long march, and the combat intentions and operational directions had long been clearly displayed to the people along the way. The most terrible thing is that when you arrive at Kangwang Village, the mountains are long, the dense forests, look at the front of you, there is no way out, the birds and beasts are walking, there are no people, you want to find a guide, it is difficult to go to the blue sky. There were only two days left before the scheduled arrival time at Banzhuyuan, and the entire wing stayed in Kangwangzhai, and Koizumi Masatoshi was so anxious that he jumped to his feet. One telegram after another was sent to Xinyang, and the return call was very simple, only four words: direction southeast.

When Mo Di was in the military academy, a Japanese instructor once said that the biggest problem of the Japanese army was that the Japanese army was not a problem with their intelligence, but because of objective reasons. The Japanese simply cannot imagine the vastness of China, the variety of terrain, the height of the mountains, and the steepness of the roads. The Japanese army came to China from a small island country, and they only knew the railway line and the big water system, and once they left the main stream of the railway line and the big water system, they were completely dizzy and could not distinguish between the southeast and the northwest. The Japanese army also mostly used flat maps to command operations, and as for the difficulty and ease of the roads on the map, steep and slippery, they seldom considered it, after all, there were too many factors that they could not fully grasp.

After walking for a day in Kangwangzhai, Koizumi Zhengmin sadly found that he had completely lost his way, could not find the way forward, and could not even distinguish the road when he came, the peaks and peaks around him were similar, the same trees grew on the mountains, the valley under the mountain, the valley was secluded, and he went down with the gurgling stream, and as he walked, the stream turned into a waterfall, and he flew straight down from the cliff, and the road was gone.

The 68th Wing did not know where it was, but the 171st Division knew exactly where they were.

"I dare to conclude that the Japanese army has lost its way." Wang Weicang said: "We don't need to attack, we only need to wait for two more days, and the Japanese army will eat up the food they brought with them, and they will be in chaos without a fight." ”

Cao Maocong shook his head and said: "We can't pin our hopes of victory on our opponents, we should try our best to take the initiative in our own hands." ”

Qi Daozheng looked at Wang Weicang, then at Cao Maocong, and said: "I think, now the Japanese army may especially want to be attacked by us, as long as we fight, we will actually point out the direction of progress for them, and follow the footsteps of our attack, and they will be able to get out of this natural labyrinth." ”

Wang Weicang nodded, it is completely possible, so is it to fight or not?

"Hit! Must fight. Qi Daozheng said: "We first set up an ambush at the pass gate, and after the ambush, we pretended to be invincible, retreated, and led the Japanese troops to the valley in the direction of the Dishui Cliff on the north side, where we picked them up. ”

"Good plan!" After Cao Maocong praised it, he said worriedly: "What if the Japanese army is only partially chased? ”

"Then we will leave a part of the troops in Kangwangzhai and eat the part of the Japanese army left in Kangwangzhai." Wang Weicang said.

The plan has been decided, and the next thing is the work assignment, led by the division commander Qi Daozheng, Meng Peiqiong's 512th Regiment and Li Fangxi's Field Supplementary Regiment to ambush in the direction of Dishui Cliff, Chen Kairong's 511th Regiment led by Wang Weicang to perform the task of feint and lure, and Cao Maocong led Xiao Xiangyang's 513th Regiment to monitor Kangwangzhai and wait for an opportunity to take down the Japanese army's remaining troops.

Masatoshi Koizumi, who ran around like a headless fly, never dreamed that he had fallen into the calculations of the Chinese army.

The 60th Wing of the 15th Division on the Southern Front was also on the march to the north. This is a wing that enjoys the heroic treatment in Japan, because they were the first wing to set foot on the land of Wuhan, entered China in August 1938, and entered Wuhan as a victor in October.

After staying in Wuhan, the 15 th Division assumed the work of guarding and maintaining law and order in the areas occupied by the Japanese army, and it had no merit in combat and no characteristics in defense, and the only thing that was more distinctive was that the division commanders were changed frequently, basically once a year, and the Japanese army itself said that the 15 th Division was a training base for the commanders of Japanese divisions, and the current division commander was Lieutenant General Keiichi Kumagai.

This time, they still set off from Huanggang in the posture of receiving the big man, and walked confidently towards the vast mountains in the north.