Zhang Tianhai never thought that it was a big deal just because the equipment of the Zhiyi Regiment was better than that of other troops.
This war is always fought by people, and Zhang Tianhai will not risk the lives of his soldiers.
It's just that what happens next is no longer under his control. All he can do is adapt to circumstances. This battle is a duel between hundreds of thousands of troops from China and Japan. His straight regiment, which has more than half of the recruits, can't stand it at all. It can't influence the situation. If it were replaced by the Zhiyi Regiment before the Linyi victory, it might still have some chance of winning.
The word "defeat like a mountain" has never been an exaggeration. When the army is defeated, there will really be many uncontrollable factors. The most important thing is chaos and no command!
If most of them are veterans, the veterans will try their best to stabilize the situation so that at least the battlefield will not collapse. But the recruits are different. The recruits have no combat experience. Once they are caught in the fierce bombardment of the Japanese army, It is possible to fall into panic and collapse will inevitably occur.
While Zhang Tianhai had decided to resign himself to fate, the headquarters of the Fifth Theater Commander was already preparing the next battle plan.
For the national army, the entire Second Army has been assembled around Taierzhuang, and Tang Enbo's Army can also move south at any time. The main force of the Third Army and the remaining forces of the 22nd Army are in the northern section of Jinpu Road, which can temporarily block the Japanese reinforcements from going south.
In addition, the reinforcements surrounding the besieged Japanese army around Taierzhuang were already in a vacuum, which showed that the time for a decisive battle had come.
For the officers of the Fifth War Zone, Zhang Tianhai, the first regiment directly under the Third War Zone, came at the right time. They could serve as the sharpest knife and penetrate directly into the heart of the Japanese army!
"Now the 31st Division of Chifeng City is guarding Taierzhuang. There should be no big problem. The main force of the Second Army has surrounded the enemies in Taierzhuang. Except for one part of the enemy that has broken out from Taierzhuang, the rest of the enemies have retreated to the northwest of Taierzhuang. We have about 20,000 troops. Please express your opinions on how we should fight this battle." Li Zongren looked at the senior officers around him and asked. These officers also included Xu Zuyixu. Sir.
"I think it is still necessary to mobilize Tang Enbo's 52nd Guan Linzheng Army and Zhang Zhen's 110th Division to go south as an attacking force. If necessary, Zhang Tianhai's Third Theater Directly Affiliated First Regiment can also be mobilized to go directly to Taierzhuang. As a reserve force, it can reinforce Taierzhuang at any time," said Li Xingshu, deputy chief of staff of the theater.
"Well..." Li Zongren pondered for a moment and continued: "Deputy Chief of Staff Li's suggestion is very good, very pertinent, and very conservative. But I think we might as well be a little bolder."
After saying that, Li Zongren turned his attention to Xu Zuyi next to him.
Xu Zuyi naturally knew what Li Zongren meant by turning his attention to him at this time, so he cleared his throat and said: "I also think we can be bolder and try to use the main force of Tang Enbo's army, Guan Linzheng's 50th The two main forces, the Second Army and Wang Zhonglian's 85th Army, are mobilized to move south. They can first go south along Yixian County and around Tianzhu Mountain and Zhangshan Mountain to see if they can collide head-on with the main force of the Japanese army."
At this moment, "Little Zhuge" who had been silent next to him, Bai Chongxi, the deputy chief of staff of the Nationalist Government's Military Commission, spoke: "I think the scale of this battle is even larger. It will not only involve Tang Enbo's 52nd Army and 85th Army have entered the battle, and Zhou Bian's (pronounced yan, second tone) 75th Army has also been put into battle. Yesterday, Zhou Bian's 75th Army Together with Guan Linzheng's 52nd Army, they severely damaged the Japanese Itagaki Division's reinforcements to the enemy in Taierzhuang in the Xiangcheng and Aiqu areas. It can be seen that the combat effectiveness of the 75th Army is not weak and can be used. "
Bai Chongxi paused and said: "As for the first regiment directly under the third theater that you value so much, it is a matter of careful consideration. After all, the protagonists of this battle should be the 52nd Army, the 85th Army, and Zhou Qi's 75th Army and these units can be guarded by Sun Lianzhong's Second Group Army."
It's no wonder that Bai Chongxi doesn't take Zhang Tianhai's regiment seriously - this is a big battle, a contest between military-level units, no matter how bad it is, it's still a division-level unit. As for Zhang Tianhai's Zhiyi regiment, it can withstand the sky. It is just a brigade and cannot be of much use. What's more, Chairman Chiang has recently transferred two artillery regiments, the Fourth and Seventh Independent Artillery Regiments, as well as the Tenth Independent Artillery Regiment. An artillery company is sufficient in terms of artillery fire.
Chairman Chiang's arrival not only brought in two independent artillery regiments and an artillery company, but also brought in the few possessions of the National Revolutionary Army Air Force to the Fifth Theater, which shows how much he attaches importance to the front line.
Under this kind of handwriting, Zhang Tianhai's little possessions seemed extremely pitiful.
"Well, what Deputy Chief Bai said makes sense, let's implement it according to this! But I still decided to incorporate the first regiment directly under the third theater as a preparatory combat force. If the battle situation does not go well, we can The regiment goes into the battlefield." Li Zongren said, this sentence can be regarded as defining Zhang Tianhai's troops.
"I also agree with Chief Li's opinion." Lin Wei, deputy director of the Military Order Department, said.
The battlefield reserve force, isn’t it the reserve force? It was deployed when the frontline troops suffered too many casualties and the frontline war was unfavorable. This can be considered lucky or unfortunate.
Fortunately, we don't have to be a front-line offensive force and we don't have to bear the huge casualties of being a first-line offensive force. But if you win a big victory, there will indeed be some water in this credit. After all, it can be regarded as the fruit picked by stepping on other people's shoulders.
So, this is luck and misfortune.
Under the decisions of Li Zongren, Commander-in-Chief of the Fifth Theater, Bai Chongxi, Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Military Commission, Xu Zuyi, Chief of Staff of the Fifth Theater, and Lin Wei, Deputy Director of the Military Command Department, it was decided that the offensive force against the stubborn enemy in Taierzhuang would be the 52nd Army of Tang Enbo Corps , the 85th Army and Zhou Qi's 75th Army launched a final fierce attack on the stubborn enemy in Taierzhuang from the east, north, and northeast; Sun Lianzhong's Second Group Army surrounded the Japanese outer positions to prevent the Japanese from breaking through; and prepared The troops were Zhang Zhen's 110th Division of Tang Enbo's Corps, plus the First Regiment of Zhang Tianhai's Third Theater Division.
In front of the 75th Army and the two armies and one division of Tang Enbo's 20th Army, Zhang Tianhai's regiment looked like the little bits of pork head meat that the merchants usually put on when buying pork.
When the battle plan was being formulated, Zhang Tianhai was still sleeping soundly, as if everything in the world had nothing to do with him.
Both Tang Enbo's Army and Zhou Qi's 75th Army received orders from the Fifth Theater Commander's Headquarters to advance towards the predetermined target area.
At this time, a huge fire attack network was forming and was actively moving closer to the Japanese troops in Taierzhuang.
The camera turns to Taierzhuang.
In Shonai, the absolute main force of Rensuke Isotani's 10th Division and some remaining troops together with the 105th Division, the 111th Division, and the 114th Division have been besieged here.
A section of the Japanese army that had previously broken out from Taierzhuang had been ordered to station in the Tianzhu Mountain and Zhangshan areas to build positions in order to have an escape route when the Japanese troops in Taierzhuang evacuated.
Who would have thought that after the Japanese troops broke out, the Chinese army's encirclement would become even tighter. It wasn't that Isotani Rensuke didn't want to run away, but that he couldn't fight his way out and couldn't break out!
For Isotani Rensuke, after the reinforcements of Itagaki Seishiro's 5th Division encountered a fatal blow from the Chinese army in the city area, they were already isolated and helpless, so at this time they had to fight to the death with the Chinese army!
Isotani Rensuke has applied for air force support, so these days, Japanese transport planes are dropping supplies, especially food and military supplies, over Taierzhuang.
"Your Excellency, Division Commander, General Nishio Hisashi is calling!" A Japanese military communications staff officer walked up to Isotani Rensuke, stood at attention and lowered his head to report.
"Read it quickly!" There was a glimmer of light in Isoya Rensuke's slightly desperate eyes, as if he saw the hope of survival.
Indeed, at this time, the Chinese troops on the periphery were already under heavy siege. At this time, the main force of the 10th Division trapped in Taierzhuang and part of the remaining temporary reserve divisions transferred from Japan were deaf and blind. Their news relies entirely on the outside world conveying it through the radio.
From the perspective of Rensuke Isotani and others, the order conveyed by the superior officer at this time is most likely to hold on or to break out, but this can only be carried out with the cooperation of reinforcements. .
That's why Isotani Rensuke was so eager to know what the content of that telegram was.
"Your Majesty General Isotani Rensuke, Commander of the Tenth Division, you must do everything possible to hold on to Taierzhuang. Now, both the North China Front Army and the Central China Front Army are trying their best to mobilize reinforcements. You must hold on to the end. Give full play to the brave spirit of Bushido and fight to the end. I wish you a long-lasting military fortune! An urgent message is sent from Nishio Hisashi, the headquarters of the Second Army of the North China Front!" the communications staff officer read aloud.
After listening to the contents of this telegram, Isotani Rensuke's face turned pale. He knew the subtext of Nishio Hiszo. The Second Army could no longer save them, and they could only rely on them to find a way to survive.
What does it mean to try every means to remove reinforcements? It means there are no reinforcements now. If reinforcements really come, then this telegram will definitely explain which troop is responsible for the reinforcement mission and which commander is responsible for the command.
No wonder Isotani Rensuke's expression changed so quickly. Indeed, this is very desperate news, and it is so desperate that it cannot be more desperate.
It is such a sad thing to run out of ammunition and aid, but the Japanese army's ammunition has not been cut off yet. Japanese aircraft are continuously dropping military supplies to Taierzhuang, most of which are ammunition used for guns.
But wars are always fought by people. Without the people, no matter how much materials we have, they will be useless.
This is the biggest problem that the Japanese troops trapped in Taierzhuang have to face.
…
PS: The first update is here, and the second update will be made up tomorrow. The account must be paid off within two days! It’s so difficult, there are so many things to do. . .
Thanks to Qidian Book Friends Du Shi Bookworm, Book Friends 20170224103839411, and Night Phantom Cold for each of their monthly passes!
