General Fu sent a telegram to Xu Dalong and Li Zhendong to inform Xu Dalong and Li Zhendong of the changes in the battlefield situation, so that they could be mentally prepared for the worst case.
When the reinforcements arrived on the battlefield, Xu Dalong and Li Zhendong were left to break out on their own.
Liangzhou River Bridge.
When Xu Dalong received the telegram from General Fu, he couldn't help but smile bitterly. Although he had been mentally prepared, he still felt a little disappointed when such a situation actually happened.
After Li Zhendong received the telegram, he was shocked and immediately came to the south from the north side of the bridge.
Seeing Xu Dalong, he said: "Brother Dalong, the Zhongtiao Mountain Command has drawn away the strength of the two armies at this critical moment. I am afraid that the plan to encircle and annihilate the Japanese 37th Division will not be completed. We are still in great danger.
What do you think we should do?"
Xu Dalong smiled and said: "Sir, you don't have to worry. I have anticipated this incident, and I have already prepared backup plans. You can continue to hold the position with your troops, and I guarantee that there will be no danger."
Li Zhendong trusted Xu Dalong very much. Hearing what he said, he felt relieved and said: "Brother Dalong, I believe you. Please rest assured that as long as I, Li Zhendong, am here, the Japanese will not even think about attacking the bridge."
Xu Dalong was worried that the Japanese army would send people to destroy the bridge in other ways, so he called Monk Wei and asked him to send some guerrillas under the bridge to set up guard posts to prevent the enemy from sneak attacks from under the bridge.
He especially told Monk Wei that the Japanese army had placed many landmines under the bridge in the past. The guerrillas must be careful not to step on the landmines. He asked them to build fortifications under the bridge. The Japanese army could not approach the bridge from under the bridge during the day, but at night
It’s hard to say, so take precautions in advance.
Seeing that Monk Wei went to make arrangements, Xu Dalong said to Lin Xueying: "Send a telegram to the regiment leader and Commissioner Zheng and ask them to implement the original battle plan."
After Li Yunlong received the telegram, he was very angry. He had fought with the Guo army for many years in the past and had a very bad impression of them.
He said angrily: "I knew those guys were unreliable. Now, in order to help them, I trapped the Dalong brothers and the others. Guards, please notify them quickly and let the reinforcements set off quickly.
"
Before leaving, Xu Dalong had already discussed with Li Yunlong and others, asking them to organize a rapid mobile force in advance, all riding in cars, and waiting for news from Xu Dalong at any time.
Li Yunlong and the others had already made arrangements in advance. They would dispatch a main regiment from the New 1st Brigade and the 2nd New Brigade, plus part of Wang Chengzhu's artillery unit, and use all the transport vehicles in the Mawushan base area. Kong Jie and Zhang Dabiao would lead the team first.
Rush to the aid of Xu Dalong's troops.
Li Yunlong and others wanted to mobilize more troops, and even sent troops from the Mawushan base area. Unfortunately, there were not so many vehicles, and the troops sent had reached the limit of transportation capacity.
When Chu Yunfei heard about this incident, he also gathered all the vehicles of the 358th Brigade, requisitioned some civilian vehicles from Xinhe County, and also sent a reinforcement group to the Liangzhou River area with Kong Jie and others.
, rush to the rescue of Xu Dalong's troops.
Zhao Gang learned that Xu Dalong and others were in critical condition, so he hurriedly drove to the flying brigade and asked them to quickly load supplies and prepare to airdrop them to Xu Dalong and others.
On the front line of Liangzhou River, the troops of the Guo Army were fighting fiercely with the Japanese army.
They launched fierce attacks on the Japanese defensive positions many times, but the Japanese army was very tenacious and the troops suffered heavy casualties.
The generals of the Guo army had begun to slack off after repeated attacks, and the speed of the attack began to gradually slow down.
At this moment, bad news came. The Japanese 112th Division went to sneak attack the Zhongtiao Mountain headquarters and had already evacuated the 26th Army and the 54th Army from the battlefield. The commanders of the remaining four armies felt very sad.
Discouraged, I began to hesitate.
According to the original battle plan, the Zhongtiao Mountain Command used six armies to attack the Japanese 37th Division. The strength ratio reached 5:1, and the generals of the Guo Army felt a little confident.
Now it has become 3:1. Everyone's confidence is obviously low and their attitude has become more and more negative. They each ordered the frontline troops to slow down the attack speed and pinned their hopes on the friendly forces, hoping that they could be the first to break through the Japanese positions.
Then follow up later.
General Fu is definitely a responsible general. He knows the thoughts of his generals. He can never ignore Xu Dalong and others, so he drives to the front line in person. He wants to personally command the front line and urge his troops to continue to complete the tasks set in advance.
Formulated campaign deployment.
The officers and soldiers of the Japanese 37th Division have been resisting the attacks of the Fruit Army. They are very tenacious. Although the enemy's troops have an absolute advantage, they are not afraid and have repelled the attacks of the Fruit Army time and time again.
When they heard that the reinforcements were about to arrive and the enemy had already transferred troops from the two armies, the morale of the Japanese officers and soldiers was greatly boosted. Not only did they hold their positions firmly, they also mobilized some of their troops to launch a counterattack.
The troops of Guojun caused a lot of pressure.
The commander of the 37th Division saw that there were no problems with the defensive positions of his troops, so he mobilized as many troops as possible and went to the Liangzhou River Bridge to besiege Xu's headquarters.
On the north side of the Liangzhou River Bridge, Li Zhendong had been observing the enemy's situation on the position. Although he knew clearly that the enemy would deploy more troops to attack the Guo Army's defensive positions, he had already been mentally prepared.
When he saw the Japanese reinforcements arriving from afar, he couldn't help but feel very anxious.
He sent a telegram to his immediate superior, the commander of the 98th Army, hoping that they could speed up the attack, quickly break through the enemy's position, and join him.
The commander of the 98th Army sent a telegram back to Li Zhendong, telling him to hold his position and wait for rescue. He also sent a telegram to General Fu, asking him to urge other Guo Army troops to speed up their attack to avoid Li Zhendong's troops being surrounded and annihilated by the enemy.
That afternoon, under the cover of artillery fire, the Japanese army launched a fierce attack on Li Zhendong's position.
Although the officers and soldiers of the Guo army repelled the enemy's attacks every time, they suffered heavy casualties. So far, Li Zhendong's troops have lost more than 600 people and more than 200 wounded, and their ammunition has been almost exhausted.
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Li Zhendong was a little anxious, so he sent a telegram directly to the Zhongtiao Mountain headquarters, asking General Fu to urge the soldiers of the Guo Army to speed up their march and come to the rescue as soon as possible. Then he crossed the bridge to find Xu Dalong.
After crossing the river, Li Zhendong discovered that the pressure on Xu Dalong's side was much less. There were only a few hundred troops guarding the bridge, because the enemy did not attack the bridge at all. This was not because the Japanese army did not attack the troops guarding the bridge.
, but they simply can’t get through.
The first line of defense of Xu Dalong, Sun Desheng and others was set up in an open area about 1,500m away from the bridge. It was convenient for cavalry and chariot troops to move. As long as they saw the Japanese 33rd Division sending troops, they would rush to attack them first.
Launch an attack.
Since the Japanese army came in parts, some small units simply could not withstand the guerrilla attack. Later, the Japanese army came to an infantry regiment, which could only hold out for less than half an hour in the face of the fierce attack of the Mawushan guerrillas.
, was defeated. Therefore, the Japanese army had no chance to directly attack the bridge.
Li Zhendong came to the bridge, got on a motorcycle, and went to the front to look for Xu Dalong. After he saw Xu Dalong, he informed him of the situation on the north side of the bridge.
Li Zhendong said: "Brother Dalong, I think the problem is serious. The attack speed of the Guo army is too slow. I guess there must be a lot of people working there. Otherwise, the Japanese army would not be able to mobilize so many troops to attack the bridge.
It seems that this battle will be difficult to fight. The Japanese offensive is very fierce, and our troops have suffered heavy casualties. The worst thing is that there is not much ammunition left."
Xu Dalong was very calm. He said: "Mr. Li, don't worry. I just received a telegram. The guerrilla air force will be here soon. I have already told them to bomb the Japanese troops fighting you south of the bridge first to support you."
We will then airdrop supplies to you. Our reinforcements have also set off and will be on the battlefield before 4 o'clock this morning."
"It's great." After hearing the good news, Li Zhendong became happy. He said, "I feel relieved. I will go back and tell everyone the good news now." He got on his motorcycle and was about to leave.
"Wait a minute." Xu Dalong stopped him.
Xu Dalong called a correspondent and said to him: "You go and notify our bridge guard troops and ask them to follow Commander Li across the bridge to help the brothers of the Guo Army in their defense."
The correspondent agreed and got on the motorcycle.
Li Zhendong said gratefully: "Brother Dalong, you are really a help in times of need. You are such a good friend."
Xu Dalong smiled and said: "We are originally a family, and now we share life and death together, so there is no need to say these kind words."
Li Zhendong said: "Brother, take care." After saying that, he took the motorcycle and drove towards the bridge.
Li Zhendong returned to his position, and the head of the reinforced regiment and several battalion commanders gathered around him. They were very anxious and asked the division commander what his plans were.
He understood everyone's mood and said: "I just went to see Brother Dalong. He said that their air force will come soon to support our operations and airdrop weapons, ammunition and living supplies to us, and their reinforcements are also on their way here."
Come on. You must have heard about the combat effectiveness of Brother Xu's troops. Don't worry, everyone. With Brother Dalong here, we will definitely be fine." Hearing this exciting news, the officers also became excited.
.They went back immediately and told the good news to the soldiers of the Guo Army who were guarding the position.
When the soldiers heard the news, their morale was greatly boosted and they couldn't help but burst into cheers.
The Japanese troops on the opposite side heard the cheers from the Guo army's position and wondered why these guys were so excited now that they were surrounded here.
Although the Japanese commander couldn't figure out what was going on, he always felt something was wrong. He could now see that the enemy's firepower had begun to weaken, which meant that the enemy's casualties were heavy and they were running out of ammunition.
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He didn't know why the enemy was so excited, and guessed that they might get reinforcements. He was determined to capture the bridge in one fell swoop before the enemy's reinforcements arrived.
So he ordered the tanks and armored vehicles from various departments to be concentrated, and assembled a dozen of them. He also dispatched an infantry regiment, followed closely behind, and under the cover of artillery fire, launched another attack on the bridge.
When the guerrilla tank troops saw the enemy's tanks and armored vehicles rushing over, they immediately faced them, and the two sides started an artillery battle.
The number of guerrilla tank troops was more than twice that of the Japanese army, giving them a great advantage in firepower.
The Japanese armored forces are usually only used as support weapons for infantry, and they lack experience in group operations.
The chariot units of the Mawushan guerrillas have always used cluster operations. They cooperate with each other and have a tacit understanding, so they take advantage of it from the get-go.
The Japanese tanks and armored vehicles were destroyed one after another, and the Japanese infantry following behind were exposed to the firepower of the guerrilla tank troops and the army officers and soldiers.
The Japanese officers and soldiers also heard the cheers from the opposite side. They knew that the situation was urgent, and this time they rushed forward like crazy. The officers and soldiers seemed to be mindless robots. A group of them died in the front, and more came up from behind.
A group of officers and soldiers felt a little soft-hearted when they saw this situation.
At this moment, an unexpected situation happened.
The Japanese artillery suddenly opened fire, and the shells continued to fall into the position of the bridge defenders, causing heavy casualties to the officers and soldiers of the Guo army. Even Li Zhendong was knocked over by the air wave generated by the explosion of a shell nearby.
There were abrasions on his face, face and body, but fortunately they were only superficial injuries.
The Japanese army's infantry offensive tactics have always been to bombard with artillery and charge with infantry. They prepare with artillery fire first, and when the infantry launches the attack, their artillery will stop firing to avoid causing casualties to their own officers and soldiers.
This time the Japanese were so impatient that they couldn't care less and fired directly at the defenders' positions during the charge. A considerable part of the shells fell into the Japanese ranks, and many Japanese soldiers died in their own artillery fire.
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The officers and soldiers of the Guo army usually hid in the anti-gun holes when the enemy was preparing for artillery fire, and only came out when the enemy launched a charge.
But now the enemy is charging. They have no time to dodge the enemy's shells and can only stick to their position, resulting in a lot of casualties. This time the Japanese are anxious, they can't take care of that much, and they just charge.
Fired artillery at the defenders' positions. A considerable part of the artillery shells fell into the Japanese ranks, and many Japanese soldiers died in their own artillery fire.