Outside the north gate of Wuyuan, the Japanese army formed an independent second brigade headquarters.
Abe Kihide hurriedly walked into the communications room and asked the female radio operator: "Still can't contact the division headquarters?"
The female radio operator quickly stood up and paused again, and then Hayi said: "There is still no response from the division headquarters."
"Baga, something must have happened." Norihide Abe cursed and hurriedly walked out of the communication room with his saber in hand. At this time, a major officer hurriedly walked in.
"Your Excellency, General." The Japanese Major suddenly reported, "The counterattack of the Chinese Army has been repulsed by us."
The thirty-fifth Army's counterattack just now was carried out from four directions at the same time. The counterattack from the other three directions went smoothly, but only the counterattack against the north gate was unexpected, because there was an old devil named Abe Norihide at the north gate.
He was personally in charge, and the old Japanese had two infantry brigades under his command, so the counterattack was not smooth.
However, Abe Norihide did not know the situation in the other three directions.
In particular, the situation in the east gate direction made Abe Norihide very worried.
Hearing that the counterattack had been repulsed, Norihide Abe immediately nodded happily and said, "Yo Xi."
The Japanese Major asked again: "General, do you need to continue attacking the north gate of Wuyuan?"
Abe Kihide hesitated for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Don't rush, let's take a look at the situation first." After a pause, he added, "Order all infantry squadrons to be on full alert and beware of a second counterattack by the enemy."
"Hai." The Japanese Major nodded heavily and turned around.
As soon as the Japanese Major left, another Japanese Major came out of the communication room.
"Your Excellency, General!" the Japanese Major suddenly reported, "We have just received cavalry communications from the 11th Infantry Regiment, the 12th Infantry Regiment and the 3rd Infantry Brigade. Now we can confirm that the China Army launched simultaneous attacks from four directions.
Counterattack, and except for our northern gate which withstood the counterattack of the Chinese Army, the other three directions have been defeated."
It should be said that the counterattack of the 35th Army greatly exceeded the expectations of the little devil.
The little devil had no idea that under such difficult circumstances, the Thirty-fifth Army would secretly leave a considerable number of troops. Neither Kuroda Shigenori nor Abe Norihide had expected it. Therefore,
Suddenly hearing the news of the 35th Army's all-out counterattack, Abe Norihide seemed very surprised.
Abe Kihide originally thought that the 35th Army just wanted to break out of the encirclement.
But he didn't expect that the 35th Army did not want to break out, but wanted to counterattack in an all-out way!
"Nani?" Abe Kihide said in shock, "The Chinese army counterattacked from four directions at the same time, and except for the north gate, the imperial army's troops in the other three directions have been defeated?"
"Hai." The Japanese Major paused and said, "That's the fact."
However, it was not a fluke that Norihide Abe was able to obtain the reputation of the Flower of Famous Generals. After just a moment, the old devil quickly calmed down. Then, the old devil further thought that the entire Mongolian army was in a state of confusion at this time.
In danger, because except for the two infantry brigades he led, the rest of the troops participating in the Wuyuan Battle had effectively lost their command.
A troop, no matter how well-equipped and well-trained it is, will immediately become vulnerable once it loses effective command. Therefore, the top priority is to harass the troops in the other three directions as soon as possible, so that the troops participating in the Wuyuan Battle
All troops resumed command, and then it would not be too late to decide whether to withdraw to Baotou or continue to attack Wuyuan.
However, the radio stations of each army have been unable to contact each other now. Abe Norihide can roughly guess the reason. It is probably because the Chinese counterattack was too sudden, and the Japanese troops in the other three directions were caught off guard. They were not clear at first.
situation, so they did not communicate with each other in time. When they discovered that something was wrong and tried to contact each other, the Chinese had already called, and they were not given time to establish communication at all.
It is precisely because of this that the troops in the other three directions will send cavalry messengers.
Therefore, if Abe Norihide wants to collect the defeated troops in the other three directions, he can only rely on the cavalry troops.
At that moment, Norihide Abe called over Shigeru Katagiri, commander of the First Cavalry Brigade, and said: "Katagiri-kun, I want to tell you a very unfortunate news. A quarter of an hour ago, the Chinese Army suddenly launched a full-scale counterattack, and the North Gate
Although the counterattack of the Chinese Army was repelled by us, the Imperial Army in the other three directions was in turn defeated by the Chinese Army."
"Nani?" Shigeru Katagiri's reaction was the same as Norihide Abe's, they were both dumbfounded and unbelievable.
Abe Kihide added: "Not only are the troops in the other three directions at the moment in danger of being annihilated, but our route is also in danger of being annihilated. In other words, even the entire army stationed in Mongolia is in danger now.
, and the only one who can turn the situation around is your First Cavalry Brigade."
Katagiri Zang immediately paused and said, "Then ask the brigade commander to give the order."
"Yo Xi." Norihide Abe nodded happily and added, "Order your first cavalry brigade to immediately attack in squadron units. Remember, the first task of each cavalry squadron is not to fight the Chinese Army, but to find the remaining ones.
The imperial troops from all directions were routed and tried to bring them back as much as possible."
"Hai." Shigeru Katagiri paused and left.
Watching Katagiri Shigeru's figure go away, Abe Norihide slowly walked out of the tent, cast his eyes towards the distant Wuyuan County town with flames blazing into the sky, and murmured: "I hope I can make it in time."
But, is it really still too late?
…
The failure of the North Gate counterattack made the atmosphere at the 35th Army headquarters suddenly tense.
But war is like this. It is impossible to proceed perfectly according to any party's plan at any time. God will always stumble upon you here or there, making the war situation confusing and full of variables. It is precisely because of this
, war will always be full of charm.
Just as unpredictable as the battle situation is the human heart.
When the South Gate, West Gate, and East Gate counterattacks went smoothly, when the good news came back to the headquarters, several senior staff members in the headquarters celebrated each other, and some even did not hesitate to offer extremely disgusting flattery to Xu Rui, but now
The situation was reversed. When Beimen's counterattack collapsed, the attitudes of these high-ranking officials immediately changed.
"I have long said that this plan is too idealistic." A senior adviser knocked on the table and said with a complete afterthought, "There are too many settings in the entire combat plan.
Limiting conditions, and each limiting condition must be met before it can ultimately succeed. How can such a plan not fail?"
"What Brother Gao Gong said is absolutely true." Another senior counselor continued, "German military strategist Clausewitz once said that an excellent combat plan must be a simple plan, but to be honest, this time Xu
The plan drawn up by the chief of staff is really too complicated and too detailed, I don’t know how to describe it..."
"What's so hard to describe?" The words of the third senior counselor sounded even harsher. "I'll just say it bluntly. This plan is basically just talk on paper. What's the difference between using troops like this and Zhao Kuo during the Warring States Period?" he said.
After it was over, the senior counselor said directly to Fu Zuoyi, "Chief Commander, before the situation is completely corrupted and there is still room for recovery, I suggest you take back the command of the 35th Army immediately, otherwise we will be in big trouble."
That is, the fourth senior counselor continued: "These nine main battalions are the only remaining seeds of our Thirty-Fifth Army. They can no longer be used to waste them with the Japanese. Otherwise, our Thirty-Fifth Army will
The army and even the entire Northern Route Army would become useless, and at that time the entire anti-war situation in Suiyuan would completely collapse."
Several senior staff members at the headquarters were excited and criticized Xu Rui harshly.
Fortunately, Fu Zuoyi was not influenced by these high-ranking officials who only talked about things.
The reason is very simple, because the entire previous combat process, whether it was the destruction of the Japanese artillery positions, the abandonment of the multi-echelon defense after the Beige blockade, or the final battle for the city wall, was almost developing in perfect accordance with Xu Rui's expectations.
, even the time is exactly the same as Xu Rui’s estimate.
Therefore, Fu Zuoyi has reason to believe that the failure of the North Gate counterattack should not affect the entire counterattack.
"Shut up!" Fu Zuoyi interrupted the cynicism of these senior staff officers unceremoniously, and said to Xu Rui, "Chief of Staff Xu, don't take what they just said at ease. I trust you completely."
"Thank you, Chief Fu, for your trust." Xu Rui nodded, then turned his attention to the senior advisers, and said calmly, "In addition, I will not hide it from you, the collapse of the North Gate counterattack was indeed within my expectation.
, I really didn’t expect that the Japanese still have some remaining strength after the Battle of Wuyuan.”
After a pause, Xu Rui continued: "But so what? Even if the Japs in the north gate have not been defeated, the Japs in the other three directions have been defeated. Now the morale of our 35th Army is like a rainbow, and it has completely turned around.
In the counterattack, the Japs outside the North Gate alone, with less than two brigades and already exhausted, can completely defeat the all-out counterattack of the nine main battalions of our 35th Army that have been preparing for a long time? That is pure fantasy.
!”
Ye Qijie immediately asked: "So, there is no problem in guarding Wuyuan?"
"Of course." Xu Rui said firmly, "There is absolutely no problem in guarding Wuyuan."
Fu Zuoyi couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this. In fact, from the beginning, he and Ye Qijie never thought about annihilating the Mongolian army or recovering the entire province of Suiyuan. Their goal was just to defend Wuyuan City and the 35th Army.
As long as this final base can achieve this goal, the two of them will have nothing more to ask for.
However, those high-ranking officials obviously did not want to just leave Xu Rui alone.
The senior staff officer who just said that Xu Rui was talking about military affairs on paper said: "If I remember correctly, the goal that Chief of Staff Xu set at the beginning was not to defend Wuyuan, but to completely annihilate the Mongolian army, right?"
"That's right." Xu Rui said, "Not only at the beginning, but even now, my goal is still to completely annihilate the Mongolian troops and recover Suiyuan Province. And I will not hide it from you, the situation is still under control.