At the East Route Army Headquarters, Lieutenant General Harada is no longer as calm as before. The other armies are advancing with great success and achieving brilliant results;
Only on their journey, they were singing loudly all the way, but suddenly the situation took a turn for the worse and was out of control.
First, Highland 918 was suddenly lost and the supply line was cut off;
In order to open up the supply line, the 21st Division merged with a brigade of the Manchurian Army. Tens of thousands of troops returned eastward. As a result, they were ambushed by the Chinese Army and were in danger of being annihilated at any time.
If this partial division is annihilated, even if he, the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Route Army, wins the Central Plains strategy battle, his future will be over. The best outcome is to keep his position as division commander. In extreme cases, he may be dismissed. Return to China for retirement...
"Bagaya Road, Lord Shanchuan and Lord Tanaka must be rescued. Your 221st Regiment will continue to stay in Shaoyuan;
I led the main force of the division to support the headquarters of the 21st Division, and a regiment of the Fourth Independent Cavalry Brigade went to support Tanaka-kun first. "
Chief of Staff Hidetoshi Yamakawa laughed, but reminded Lieutenant General Harada kindly:
"Your Excellency, Division Commander, the Chinese who besieged Mr. Harada have an entire army, and the commander is still the famous Chinese general Zhao Sihu;
Our army rushed over to provide support. Could it be that we were also ambushed by Zhao Sihu?
The terrain of Langya Valley is special. Once you enter, you will easily be blocked in the valley, and there is a risk of being surrounded by the 78th Army;
Why not ask for tactical guidance from Your Excellency, Commander, and send air warriors to assist Your Excellency Tanaka in breaking out——"
Yamakawa Shuichi's words were stopped by Harada. He didn't know the danger of the army entering the Wolf Fang Valley, but if he didn't save Commander Tanaka to settle the score, his future would be ruined. In war, how could he not take a little risk?
"Kun Yamakawa, I have made up my mind. Zhao Sihu's second-class army has a total strength of no more than 20,000 people. If he fights fiercely with Tanaka-kun's tens of thousands of troops for half a day, the troop consumption will not be small;
He wants to besiege the tens of thousands of warriors of the 21st Division. Where will he come up with enough troops to deal with the attack of our main force of tens of thousands?
Could it be that he, Zhao Sihu, could spread the beans and make an army? "
Think about Shanchuan, war has its own inherent laws. Even if Zhao Sihu is full of conspiracies, he can't change the way to surround and annihilate the 20,000 soldiers of the imperial army. In the face of absolute strength, all conspiracies and conspiracies are in vain.
Thinking of this, Shankawa bowed deeply to Lieutenant General Harada, and then said:
"Your Excellency, Division Commander, I am overly worried. The main force of our division and the 4th Cavalry Brigade have more than 12,000 people. Even if all the 14th Chinese Army comes over, they still don't have the strength to swallow them all in one go. What's more, the other party only has one dissatisfied person. The second-class army;
Our army plus His Excellency Tanaka's troops are of equal strength, but the difference in combat power is more than five times. They do not have this strength.
The best way is to send a force to guard the gate and concentrate the main force to surround and annihilate the 21st Division headquarters;
The most precious thing now is time. We must seize Fengmenkou and march into Langya Valley before the Chinese annihilate the 21st Division. Then the 78th Army will be attacked from both sides! "
Harada nodded with satisfaction and said:
"Yo Xi, Mr. Shanchuan is indeed an elite sent by the Imperial General Staff Headquarters. He discovered the key to the battle situation at a glance. He is really a hero who sees the same thing;
time! Time is of the essence! Hurry! "
The main force of the 35th Division, the 219th Regiment (one brigade was missing and 918 Highland was annihilated), the 220th Regiment, the 35th Field Artillery Regiment, the 35th Engineer Regiment, the 35th Baggage Regiment, and the division headquarters, about 11,000 people, went straight to Langya Valley. come; come;
More than a thousand cavalry members of the Fourth Independent Cavalry Brigade have already set off in advance. Their mission is to use lightning speed to control the entrance of Langya Valley to seal the entrance and clear the way for the army.
At the sealed gate, Yan Haoyu led about 1,500 people from the 3rd Brigade (Pre-3rd Regiment) of the 78th Army, who were racing against time to dig defensive fortifications. They needed to hold the sealed gate for a while to buy time for the main force to encircle and annihilate the 21st Division headquarters.
As old Japanese Harada said, the 78th Army did not have the strength to swallow the entire Eastern Route Army in one bite, so it could only eat it bite by bite, eating most of the 21st Division first, and then letting the Japanese reinforcements enter the valley.
Now one part of the 21st Division has been annihilated, more than 4,000 Japs under Lieutenant General Tanaka have been eliminated, and more than 2,000 people from the puppet army Zhang Lanfeng have been captured;
Only the remnants of the 62nd Regiment and the Field Artillery Regiment remained in the encirclement of the valley, numbering less than 4,000.
They are being besieged by the 4th Preliminary Regiment, the 805th Regiment, the 806th Regiment, the 1st Division of the 3rd Brigade (the 3rd Preliminary Regiment), the 1st Artillery Regiment, and the 2nd Artillery Regiment. Their total strength exceeds 14,000 and is the main force of the 78th Army. The ratio of troops is 1 to 4.
There are too many variables in using 4,000 Japanese as bait. If you reduce it to about 1,000, you won't be able to make any big splash, so you have to slim down for them.
The Three Kingdoms Colonels and Murakami Colonels have recognized the reality and switched to a defensive state with all their strength. They turned on the groundhog mode and dug ring fortifications along the road. This is the enemy's strength.
What's strange is that the troops of the 78th Army did not engage in sabotage and allowed them to dig fortifications as if they had nothing to do with them.
They just surrounded but didn't fight, leaving the two old devils puzzled!
"Chief of Staff, what kind of medicine are the Chinese selling in their gourds? Could it be that they want to encircle the area for reinforcements?"
Colonel Murakami was a little frightened by the strange tactics of the 78th Army. There must be a monster when things go wrong. He no longer has any thoughts of contempt for the 78th Army.
The same goes for the Three Kingdoms Colonel. He no longer even doubts that the 78th Army has the strength to annihilate them all. The premise is that they cannot be given time to build a ring of fortifications, but the other party gave them the most precious time.
He was also unsure about Murakami's question and said cautiously:
"Mr. Murakami, no matter what conspiracy the Chinese have, we must stay alive first. Mr. Harada's 35th Division still has at least 15,000 people. Unless he divides his troops to rescue our unit like a refueling tactic, the 78th Army will not have the strength. Swallowing reinforcements.”
Murakami also realized that he was overthinking. The top priority was to protect himself from being surrounded and annihilated by the 78th Army. As long as complete ring fortifications were built, he was confident that he could hold the position for more than three days.
In the headquarters of a team of the 78th Army, Chu Dapeng put down the telescope in his hand and said to several regiment leaders:
"Commander Yan has sent back the news that the leading troops of the Japanese reinforcements and thousands of cavalry have rushed to seal the gate. The host and guest will arrive soon. We can help the Japanese lose weight here;
Wei Yixiao, the artillery battalion directly under each regiment, was ordered to quietly move to 300 meters outside the Japanese ring fortifications, establish an artillery position, and launch an artillery bombardment on time at 14:00 in the afternoon.
Don't worry about the explosive packs. Each cannon must fire at least ten explosive packs. I will blow out the devil's heart and lungs. "
As expected of someone who came from Chujiazhuang, he was used to spending a lot of money, and several group leaders were excited to hear this.
There are 4 artillery battalions, each battalion has 12 Wei Shen cannons. One salvo is 48 explosive packets, a total of 480 in ten rounds, which is indeed enough for the Japanese to drink a pot.
The Wei Shen cannons of the 1st and 2nd artillery regiments should be reserved to entertain the host and guests. Each cannon still has at least 2 base shells. This is the confidence that Chu Xiong dared to encircle and annihilate half of the Japanese division.
Half an hour passed quickly. On the closed battlefield, more than 1,000 cavalry still failed to break through Yan Haoyu's steel defense line composed of machine guns and trenches. In front of a large number of machine guns, the cavalry's role was limited and they could only wait for the infantry and artillery to catch up. arrive.
When the hour hand points to 14:00, the slimming plan for the Japanese in the encirclement begins.
"fire!"
"fire"
…
"Dong dong dong..."
"Dong dong dong..."
The four artillery battalions opened fire almost simultaneously, throwing explosive packets of revenge into the Japanese ring fortification area.
"Boom boom boom..."
"Boom boom boom..."
——
"Bagaya Road, enemy attack! Chinese heavy artillery!"
