Just when Duanwu and his special forces successfully escaped the Japanese pursuit. Zhou Weiguo led the 522nd Regiment, Commander Huo's 112th Division, and He Zhizhong's 103rd Division also successfully retreated to the vicinity of Jintan.
After gathering the troops and counting the number of people, there were less than 2,500 people who could continue to fight.
Zhou Weiguo's May 22nd Regiment had 300 people, and the Independent Regiment had less than 200 people. Of the rest, the 103rd Division accounted for more than half, while the 112th Division accounted for only a small half.
It has to be said that the Chinese army suffered heavy losses in the front-line battle in Changzhou. The reason is still a command issue.
The plan of Duanwu and Zhou Weiguo was to organize a surprise force to insert into the enemy's interior to quickly eliminate the enemy's active targets when the Japanese army attacked the front line of Changshu.
Taking the Independent Regiment and the 522nd Regiment as an example, when they marched to the Changzhou battlefield, their total strength could reach 1,600 people. Once such a large number of troops are mobilized, they can ambush and annihilate any effective force below a Japanese army brigade, or even a regiment, in a short period of time.
Of course, this is if the method is appropriate. For example, when the Dragon Boat Festival was in Changshu, they successfully annihilated the vanguard of the Japanese 30th Brigade before their arrival. He gave Sasaki a loud slap in the face.
But all this was ruined by that Donald Duck. Changzhou's frontline troops are insufficient. He did not send other reinforcements, but directly pushed forward the 522nd Regiment and the Independent Regiment.
Before Zhou Weiguo led the Independent Regiment and the 522nd Regiment to Baijia Town, they encountered a fierce battle, which caused heavy losses to the Independent Regiment. When they arrived at Baijia Town, they were even held back by the passive battle situation and unable to move. . In the end, Duanwu could only lead a special operations team to infiltrate the enemy's interior, ambush the headquarters of the Japanese 21st Brigade, and seize the Japanese code book at the Japanese field hospital, thus learning the Japanese plan to use chemical weapons.
However, the Dragon Boat Festival only destroyed the Japanese chemical weapons arsenal, temporarily blocking the Japanese attack.
But unexpectedly, the defeat of the Ma'anshan front-line defenders gave the Japanese an opportunity. A large group of Japanese soldiers inserted themselves into the back of the Changzhou front-line defenders, causing Changzhou to retreat across the board.
So if that Donald Duck hadn't given random orders, the battle in Changzhou would never have been so passive.
But at this time, the Donald Duck was still unrepentant and still adopted the defensive strategy of positional warfare, ordering the defenders to retreat to the Jintan and Danyang lines to continue to resist the Japanese aircraft and artillery.
It is conceivable how many Chinese soldiers will be killed or injured by this kind of combat thinking.
But there is no other way. Soldiers regard obedience as their bounden duty. Sometimes they have to stand firm even though they know that they will die.
Zhou Weiguo and others were arranged to Qinglong Mountain to rest and recuperate. In other words, the reserve team.
Originally, Zhou Weiguo could be withdrawn to the safer Fangshan base, which was the defense area of the 87th Division.
However, in order to wait for the Dragon Boat Festival, Zhou Weiguo, the Independent Regiment and the 522nd Regiment voluntarily stayed in Qinglong Mountain.
But little did he know that the Dragon Boat Festival had already crossed the Yangtze River and went to the north bank of the river.
Of course, the north bank of the river is not safe either. Originally, Dragon Boat Festival planned to go north first and then westward into the Chinese Defense Zone. However, the Japanese have deployed a large number of troops on the north bank, and they have blocked the road heading west during the Dragon Boat Festival.
And during the investigation along the way, Duanwu discovered that in addition to the Japanese army hoarding a large number of troops on the western front, the Japanese actually had troops mobilizing northward.
Obviously, the Japanese did not want to conquer Nanjing, but wanted all of China. What's more, the Japanese also want to open up traffic on the road.
The Japanese army had already occupied Hebei at this time, but Shandong was still in the hands of Chinese soldiers. Therefore, if they want to connect Hebei, Henan and Jiangsu together, they must win Xuzhou.
After Li Zhongren became the commander-in-chief of the Fifth War Zone, he also noticed this.
Xuzhou is a traffic chokepoint in eastern China, and it is easy to attack but difficult to defend.
It's just that although there are many troops under his command, their quality varies. In his words, they are just a group of stragglers. And at that time, many people were not very willing to listen to his command.
Therefore, Li Zhongren was very anxious when he arrived in Xuzhou. He could only formulate a battle plan first. As for matters related to the army, he would wait until the plan was completed and approved by the local officers before he could discuss it slowly.
In other words, Li Zhongren was crossing the river by feeling the stones because the troops did not listen to him. What could he do?
His plan is: first, to retain most of SD Province and the area in northern Jiangsu for a protracted war with the Japanese army. Second, in the early stages of fighting the Japanese army, key points along the Yellow River and along its banks should be guarded to directly prevent the enemy from infiltrating. As a last resort, we will lure the enemy deeper into the southern Shandong and northern Jiangsu areas one by one, and prepare for a battle to win the final victory.
In order to achieve this policy, Li Zhongren also made a three-stage implementation plan.
In the first stage, the front-line troops were used to stop the Japanese troops on the north bank of the Yellow River and coastal areas. In this way, the Japanese army's attack to the south was slowed down. This gives the Chinese army's second-line corps ample time to deploy near Xuzhou.
In the second stage, if the Yellow River is lost, the first-line corps will retreat to Laiwu, Tai'an, and Xintai to set up defenses, stick to Huitong, and the main force of the second-line corps advancing toward Teng County, Zouxian County, can fight the Japanese near Yanzhou. , launched a fierce counterattack against the Japanese troops in Nanjing.
In the third stage, if the battle near Yanzhou fails, then a decisive battle will be held near Xuzhou.
The decisive policy was to use a small number of troops to hold on to the core of Xuzhou, while most of the troops in the First War Zone launched attacks along the flanks of the Jinpu Railway, carrying out mobile warfare and guerrilla warfare to prevent the Japanese army from advancing southward.
So it can be seen that this Commander Li is not a wasted reputation. If he can command, he will at least be better than that Donald Duck.
It's just that he doesn't deal with Duanwu, which gives Duanwu a headache.
If we go north now, we will have plenty of time to catch up with the Battle of Xuzhou, but when we see Commander Li, he will have to skin him.
And he didn't know how he offended him. In the words of the Dragon Boat Festival, it is too protective of the calf, or it is deceived by beauty.
Of course, the most important thing is to survive first.
The special forces team is in urgent need of rest and recuperation. They have been fighting for two consecutive days and have traveled more than 100 kilometers.
Dragon Boat Festival calculated that the data was almost the same, so the soldiers were very tired and needed to take a rest.
But there are enemies everywhere, and there are not many roads that Dragon Boat Festival can take. What's more, he was afraid of being discovered by the Japanese.
Now as soon as he is discovered, the Japanese will immediately surround him and completely eliminate his special operations team.
The Japanese hated the Dragon Boat Festival so much that it would be weird if they didn't finish him off completely when they took advantage of such a good opportunity! ...
