Because the remaining remnant troops in Teng County evacuated under the cover of the 59th Army!
The Japanese army also did not repair in Teng County, causing the Taierzhuang War to start nearly a week earlier than before!
But this does not mean that the tragedy will be less severe than before. In fact, because the tens of thousands of troops on the two wings of Taierzhuang are "sweeping the snow in front of each other", they have no intention of dividing their troops to support Taierzhuang, which is located on the central battlefield.
In the late stages of the battle, the two Japanese infantry brigades even deployed their troops on the flanks to ensure safety and devoted themselves to the attack on Taierzhuang.
Tang Dao couldn't see it with his own eyes, but he could get a glimpse of it through a battle report sent by the division headquarters to the fifth theater, forwarded by the two commanders Wu and Zhang!
"On the morning of March 18, more than 2,000 Japanese troops, with the cooperation of aircraft, artillery and tanks, began a massive attack on our positions.
The 1st Battalion of the 186th Regiment, which stood firm at the north gate of our Taierzhuang position, resisted tenaciously under the command of Commander Wang Zheng and Battalion Commander Jiang, and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese army outside the north gate of the city, repelling multiple Japanese attacks. Because the 1st Battalion is a new recruit, here we
Almost all of them died in the battle at the North Gate position, and Battalion Commander Jiang died for his country."
On the night of March 18, 200 Japanese troops broke through the Xiaobei Gate and hid in the Taishan Temple near the Xiaobei Gate. Commander Wang Zheng personally led his soldiers to besiege the enemies of the Taishan Temple and finally eliminate them.
On the 19th, the Japanese troops repeatedly attacked our positions and entered the village many times. Our troops resisted tenaciously and launched a fierce battle with the Japanese troops."
"On the 20th, the Japanese army bombarded the city wall of Taierzhuang with heavy artillery. The north wall was blown down and the small north gate was also destroyed. All the officers and soldiers of the 3rd Battalion of the 181st Regiment who guarded the small north gate were sacrificed. More than 300 Japanese troops broke into the city!"
"On the 21st, the Japanese army invaded the northwest corner of Taierzhuang, seeking to seize the west gate, in order to cut off the connection between our division headquarters and various departments in the village. The commander of our division personally commanded to suppress the Japanese army with artillery fire, and organized a 60-man death squad from the division headquarters guard battalion to fight hand-to-hand with the enemy.
Finally regain the position!"
"On the 22nd, the Japanese Setani detachment provided additional support and occupied the eastern half of our position! The 2nd Battalion of the 186th Regiment defended the position and 500 people were killed!"
“On the 23rd, the Japanese army completely occupied all the peripheral positions of our division. The three regiments stationed on the periphery of our division suffered more than 70% casualties. The first regiment was surrounded by Japanese invaders and cut off contact with our division headquarters. Only two battalions of soldiers remained in the core position!
"
In just six days, an infantry division with four infantry regiments and two directly affiliated battalions suffered more than 5,000 casualties according to rough statistics. You can imagine how fierce the battle was.
At this time, the division was also exhausted!
However, the Japanese army still did not completely occupy the entire Taierzhuang position, and at least one-third of the position was still firmly in the hands of the Chinese army.
Perhaps, they only need two more days to completely occupy this position that they dream of, and to completely kill the opponent who caused them heavy damage.
Unfortunately, Tang Dao knew that they had no chance.
Not only are they at the end of their game, but also because the 59th Army and the 63rd Army have already moved.
Perhaps it was not just these two infantry corps. The general named Tang did not seek merit in the war, but he was very keen on grabbing credit.
An infantry corps under his command actually obeyed the orders of the Fifth War Zone and set off on a rapid march from its original station a hundred miles away.
The three infantry corps all set off on the evening of the 23rd. By the time the Japanese reconnaissance planes discovered at 8 o'clock in the morning that the Japanese troops were attacking the city and countless Chinese troops were pouring in from three sides, the three forward regiments of the infantry corps were no longer close to Taierzhuang.
10 kilometers.
For the light infantry advancing at full speed, 20 miles is only a matter of 2 hours.
I don’t know how frightened the pilots of the Japanese reconnaissance planes were, but half an hour later, the two Japanese troops on both sides of Taierzhuang immediately withdrew from the completely occupied positions in the village. The scene of a large number of baggage escaping to the north without even having time to drag it away already demonstrated their
Inner panic.
In just one night, the Japanese army, which had been in the lead and even expected to rush to Xuzhou, had to fight for their lives. This really made Indoor Shroud, who was still waiting for the good news of victory in Pingcheng, want to yell "Eight!"
Ga!"
However, the lives of tens of thousands of imperial infantrymen were not waiting for him to start chopping tables and benches with a knife. He quickly called the staff of the war department and asked where the nearest Japanese army was and whether he could divide his troops and send reinforcements there.
But unfortunately, the nearest Japanese army to the unit is also 60 miles away. What's even worse is that the Japanese army in the unit is facing a Chinese army three times their size. If they give up the position that has begun to take shape, will they be able to survive on their own?
Insurance is a problem.
Indoor Shroud, who was stunned by the bad news, seemed to have forgotten that in the entire battle of Xuzhou, the Japanese side invested more than 200,000 troops, while the Chinese side, which lacked firepower, invested nearly 600,000 troops to compete with it.
"It's over!" The then general commander of the Japanese North China Front wailed as he sat slumped in his Taishi chair on such a warm spring morning!
Not only for the two Japanese infantry brigades who started running wildly, but also for themselves.
He knew that more than 4,000 people were lost in the battle of Jindong. He might be able to pass all the blame on that idiot Xia Xiong Yuan, but if two infantry brigades were lost in this battle, no one could take the blame except him.
The commander of the front army will carry it!
"The Chinese have premeditated this!" Lieutenant General Kawagishi Bunzo, the front army's chief of staff who also had dull eyes, suddenly realized.
Indoor Shroud waved his hand, not wanting to talk nonsense to his subordinate. At this time, couldn't he see that this was something the Chinese had been planning for a long time? Wasn't he more of a pig than a pig?
Could it be that those 60,000 to 70,000 Chinese people fell from the sky? The Chinese people have been waiting for this day for a long time!
Pig: I’m really tied to Q!
The general commander and lieutenant general chief of staff of the Japanese North China Front knew that the two infantry brigades with more than 10,000 soldiers left were doomed.
Yes, despite the fact that the Japanese had reconnaissance planes, they at least gave these two Japanese troops a two-hour advance warning. The Japanese army's marching speed is naturally not slow, at least it is faster than the Chinese soldiers, but where will the Chinese army give them a chance?
The first ones to pounce are inevitably the light infantry. With a rapid march at any cost, the 2-hour time difference will soon be made up.
The light infantry does not need to fight the Japanese army desperately. All they have to do is delay them and reduce their marching speed. When the main force arrives, it will be the end of the Japanese.
As for the Japanese army, do they want to abandon all their baggage and heavy artillery and become light infantry, and send a wave of pure light infantry into the wilderness of northern Jiangsu?
Then they really don't dare.
Because they can't be sure if there is another Chinese army hiding on their way. If another one comes and they lose their artillery and tanks, they will have no choice but to let the Chinese army, which is four or five times more powerful than them, be beaten. They will not even resist.
There is no power at all.
The two Japanese infantry brigades, anxious but worried about gains and losses, did not have the chance to occupy the county seat as they had in time and space. When their forward was still ten miles away from the county seat, an infantry regiment of the 59th Army was inserted above the city wall of the county seat.
’s military flag.
The county seat occupied by one infantry regiment was enough for the Japanese army to attack for half a day!
Obviously, they didn't have the time this time. The closest Chinese army to them was already approaching ten miles away.
The two Japanese major generals who had completely lost their last hope showed extraordinary courage at this moment. They built fortifications on the spot in a hilly field in an attempt to stand firm and wait for reinforcements.
The reason why this Japanese army is determined to defend is also very simple: the empire will not abandon tens of thousands of imperial warriors.
Yes, the North China Front will certainly not give up on the imperial army that had already suffered a bloody blow in the Battle of Taierzhuang. What's more, these two infantry brigades, one belongs to Itagaki Seiro's Fifth Division, and the other
The 10th Division belonging to Ren Isotani are all ace troops.
Indoor shrouds cannot use infantry reinforcements on the battlefield, but they can dispatch large-scale bomber formations to carry out air strikes against the pursuing Chinese troops.
It is a pity that this battle to lure the enemy was completed under the personal command of the commander of China's fifth theater, and he had long expected this move of the Japanese.
In order to ensure the annihilation of this Japanese army, this man evacuated almost all the air defense battalions in Xuzhou City, almost turning his base camp into a defenseless one against the air.
A total of six air defense battalions, dozens of 20mm anti-aircraft guns and eight 88mm anti-aircraft guns all entered the Taierzhuang battlefield.
The war has not yet begun, the ground and air war begins!
In the sky full of bomb explosions, nearly 6 Japanese aircraft were shot down in this battle, but it failed to prevent nearly 70,000 people from three infantry corps and six infantry divisions from encircling the remnants of more than 10,000 Japanese troops.
By five o'clock in the afternoon, the last gap in the encirclement was blocked!
The Chinese army, which was extremely tired after marching all night, did not give the Japanese army any time to breathe. Six infantry divisions gathered a total of more than 40 artillery pieces to bombard the Japanese army in the encirclement for up to 2 hours.
Normally, a Japanese infantry division has 60 artillery pieces of various calibers, and its firepower is far greater than that of a Chinese infantry corps.
Even these two elite infantry brigades each carried 105 howitzers, 75 mountain guns, and 75 field guns when they arrived. The total number of artillery was more than 30, which was not something that an infantry corps could compete with.
But this time, there are 3 infantry corps and 6 infantry divisions under their command. They have artillery of different calibers, from 82mm mortars to 75mm mountain guns, and even some Italian artillery. Let’s not talk about their power. The key point is
It’s a big deal.
At least in terms of heavy firepower, the Chinese army is worthy of this wave of Japanese remnants.
After two hours of crazy shelling, statistics after the war revealed that more than 3,000 shells were fired, with an average of more than 80 shells per gun.
Among them, the 63rd Army and the 59th Army were the most important. They had carefully prepared for this battle for more than a month. The two lieutenant generals stayed at the munitions office in the theater for a whole day, just to drag back dozens of more artillery shells.
No matter how hard the past few battles were, I still couldn't bear to let go and fire. I had been waiting for this day.
In this first artillery battle, the two infantry corps consumed 70% of the number of artillery shells they carried.
Although the infantry corps under the command of the 20th Army did not fire so many artillery shells, they could not stand it because they were direct descendants of the principal and were equipped with good artillery!
There are 12 guns in total, all of which are the latest Bofors Mountain Cannons. They not only have a long range but are also extremely accurate. They even dare to shoot against the Japanese 105 howitzers.
Take Tang Dao's original words: These guys are just trying to fight head-on, but they still work very hard to beat the drowned dog!
If the Japanese troops, who were very good at civil fortifications, were given a few more hours, they might be able to rely on trenches and artillery holes to withstand the overwhelming wave of artillery shells flying in. But unfortunately, the Chinese opposite them knew their characteristics very well, and at most
This gave them time to dig a trench more than half a meter deep.
Facing a barrage of 3,000 artillery shells without enough fortifications, the Japanese finally felt the pain their opponents suffered in Songhu.
They watched one infantry squad after another blend into the position under Chinese artillery fire, but they were powerless.
By 8 o'clock in the evening, a total of 6 infantry regiments tried to attack the Japanese invaders. The exhausted Japanese army also exploded with extremely strong combat effectiveness. Faced with nearly 10,000 soldiers who were by no means weaker than themselves, they launched a counterattack.
A total of 4 rounds of attacks by the Chinese army were repelled within an hour.
However, they had no time to celebrate their victory as another wave of attacks came.
Because the Chinese army has invested 6 more infantry regiments, and what's more terrible is that they have different designations.
The biggest advantage of the Chinese army over the Japanese army at this time is not the fierceness of its heavy firepower, but the fact that we have more people.
There are up to 20 infantry regiments in the front-line infantry alone. If the direct battalions and reserves of each division are included, the total can reach 33 infantry regiments.
In just one night, you can change nearly 6 waves!
Moreover, the temporary command headed by Commander Wu did the same thing this time. In order to prevent Ye Changmengduo from being escaped by this wave of Japanese troops, they were determined to resolve the battle in the shortest possible time.
Throughout the night, a total of 24 infantry regiments were dispatched to attack the Japanese positions in turn, and the fighting continued all night.
By early morning, many Japanese soldiers, whose eyes were red from staying up, started crying with excitement.
Because they thought they would never see the morning sun again, but in the end, they still had a chance to see it.
Then, the gunfire sounded again!
The battle comes again.
The three infantry corps formed an iron barrel formation, but the attack points were roughly only four corner points in the southeast, northwest and northwest. The 63rd Army and the 20th Army's infantry corps were each responsible for one of them, and the 59th Army was responsible for two of them. Three of them were focused on attacking.
One mainly uses feints to contain the enemy.
As for the infantry division, a round-robin system is used. After an infantry regiment has fought for 2 hours, it will immediately retreat to the trenches that have been dug behind to rest. Another infantry regiment will come up again, and so on. On average, one infantry regiment will
You can rest for about 6 hours in 24 hours.
The Chinese army has a large number of people, so it can be done like this, but the Japanese can't stand it!
For two whole nights and one day, the Japanese army withstood the attack of the Chinese army, which was stronger in strength and firepower than them, vividly demonstrating the combat effectiveness of the Japanese elite divisions.
Even Commander Wu, who had a fierce battle with the Japanese Tenth Army in Songjiang, was secretly stunned by the combat effectiveness of this wave of Japanese troops.
You must know that this group of Japanese troops had fought fiercely for six days and nights in Taierzhuang, and they had reached the extreme level of mental and physical exhaustion and ammunition consumption.
As a result, facing such a fierce battle, he actually held on for another 36 hours.
If the Japanese troops he encountered in Songjiang were so vicious and tough, his 63rd Army might not only be unable to complete the task of blocking the enemy, but might even die in Songjiang City.
It turns out that Commander Wu thought too highly of the Japanese army and underestimated himself.
Human potential is actually very great, it just depends on how hard you push it!
If the 63rd Army that defended Songjiang that day was ordered to defend not for 3 days but for 30 days like Hengyang in the future, the 10th Army might not be able to capture it even if it finally collapsed.
And why this wave of Japanese troops are so tenacious is probably because they unleashed 200% of their potential under the fear of death.
It's just that potential is not endless, there will always be a moment when it is exhausted.
At that time, all the struggles ahead were just flashbacks before death.
The 36-hour battle resulted in more than 7,000 casualties among the three Chinese infantry corps! The carriage hauling the corpses alone contained hundreds of weapons.
No one on the Japanese side calculated that the encirclement built by 60,000 to 70,000 people, not to mention the people, not even a fly could fly through.
Even if they could still breathe at this moment, the Chinese soldiers who had also killed them so hard that their eyes were bleeding had already regarded them as dead.
Because, even after 36 hours, an infantry division of the Japanese army coming from the north for reinforcements was still a hundred miles away.
Moreover, another infantry corps of the 20th Army has been ordered to stop the enemy. There is no need to fight to the death, and it only needs to slow down its marching speed.
The last struggle of the indoor shroud has become Song Jiang's military advisor--Wu Yong!
"Victory!" This was the telegram sent by Commander Wu to Tang Dao at noon on the 26th.
Thousands of miles away, Tang Dao, who had been pacing back and forth at the regiment headquarters, clenched his fists and felt relieved!
Finally, success!
Further away, the shroud in the room was slumped on the seat, his face gloomy.
But another 50-year-old man with three gold stars on his collar badge showed a smile in his office.
That was the brightest smile he had had in the past ten days.
Taierzhuang, stained with blood, is full of sacrifices, but also full of glory!
...
PS: Fengyue's new book "I Can Bury All Things" will be on the shelves at 0:00 a.m. on December 1, yes, just one and a half hours later. I hope that book friends who read it can support it. I am very grateful!
This chapter has been completed!