Xuzhou, Fifth Theater Headquarters.
Li Zongren, who had just returned from inspecting the troops on the front line, received this telegram from Tang Enbo asking for help. The core of the message was to mobilize the troops of the First Regiment directly under the Third Theater to cooperate with him in conquering Beidayao.
Looking at this telegram, Li Zongren frowned deeply. To be honest, he was even caught off guard: Tang Enbo's army is currently the strongest and largest unit in the fifth theater. They have just been transferred from the first theater. When we came here, we had nearly 70,000 troops! Let’s look at Sun Lianzhong’s second group. Even including the logistics troops, there are only more than 30,000 people. If you include the 59th Army before it is divided, it is only more than 50,000 people. There is no Tang Enbo Army. There are many troops.
Is this still counting troops, and then other equipment? Not to mention other things, Tang Enbo's regiment is equipped with a German heavy artillery battalion of 150 (i.e. 150 mm caliber howitzers), light and heavy machine guns, etc., although it is not as good as the 36th Division and 80th Division before the Anti-Japanese War. The weapons and equipment of German weapon divisions such as the 7th Division and the 88th Division have also reached the standard of elite adjustment divisions.
Don't forget, in addition to Zhang Zhen's 10th Division, whose combat effectiveness is not very good, Tang Enbo's army also has four divisions!
Zheng Dongguo's 2nd Division and Zhang Yaoming's 25th Division under Guan Linzheng's 52nd Army, Chen Daqing's 4th Division and Zhang Xuezhong's 89th Division under Wang Zhonglian's 85th Army. These four divisions are It was expanded from the original Thirteenth Army. Basically, the old foundation was left over from the Northern Expeditionary Army. It can be called an elite.
The only fly in the ointment is that these units were expanded and formed after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, so their training is still slightly lacking, especially Zhang Xuezhong's 89th Division, which is ranked last in the order of replenishment, and priority is given to replenishing the Second Division. , the 4th Division and the 25th Division are the three units with higher numbers.
As for Zhang Zhen's 110th Division, it was formed by the merger of the Henan North Division troops and the Northeastern Cavalry Brigade. These two units are both units with weak combat effectiveness. In addition, the troops have mixed factions, so their combat effectiveness has never been strong. .
The troops in the division area sound like regular troops, but in fact they are five poorly trained militia battalions, and they are the type with a serious shortage of qualified cadres, not to mention that they have been in a state of inactivity since the Xi'an Incident. The Cavalry Brigade of the Northeast Army.
It can be said that the combat effectiveness of the 110th Division is really weak, so Tang Enbo has never regarded them as a key unit for training. After all, the key training units are all the four that were expanded from the original Thirteenth Army. A teacher!
"This Tang Enbo Army is the essence of our army. Why do they have to ask for reinforcements? Do they have other ideas?" Li Zongren looked at Xu Zuyi in front of him. After all, what is the strength of Tang Enbo Army? The fifth theater, but They all know it clearly.
"I don't know, and they want the first regiment directly under Zhang Tianhai's third theater to provide reinforcements." Xu Zuyi said in a deep voice. He is a good chief of staff, but at his level, there are many factors to consider. .
"The 20th Army Corps also has a heavy artillery battalion with 15 howitzers. Even their corps of more than 60,000 people cannot defeat them, let alone the third theater directly under the First Regiment." Li Zongren snorted. He said, obviously he was a little dissatisfied with Tang Enbo's slow action.
This dissatisfaction must start with the slow action of the 20th Army Corps and its "failure to save" the Sichuan Army Wang Mingzhang's troops who were firmly defending Teng County.
After all, when the 20th Army Corps headed north from Liguo Station to Teng County, Li Zongren sent several telegrams to Tang Enbo, ordering him to go up as soon as possible. However, after the leading troops of Wang Zhonglian's 85th Army had already arrived in Lincheng, However, because of Tang Enbo's previous order to "wait for the arrival of the legion headquarters before taking action," Wang Zhonglian could only send one regiment of troops north to Teng County. As a result, the entire 122nd Division of Wang Mingzhang's division was martyred, and the Sichuan Army The 1st, 24th and 4th Divisions were almost reduced to an empty shell.
Therefore, Li Zongren had resentment against Tang Enbo. Therefore, when Tang Enbo proposed to transfer Zhang Tianhai's third theater directly under the first regiment, he subconsciously thought that Tang Enbo was being passive and lazy again.
This is not just a conjecture. When Li Zongren was about to mobilize Tang Enbo's army to go south, he sent a very stern telegram to Tang Enbo, the commander of Tang Enbo's army: if he continues to disobey military orders and miss the mission, he should follow the instructions of Han Fuju The precedent is strictly enforced.
This shows how dissatisfied Li Zongren was with Tang Enbo's slow action at that time.
"What does Chief Li mean, is that the third theater will be sent directly to the first regiment?" Xu Zuyi asked.
"Of course not." Li Zongren came to the conclusion directly after thinking about it, "This third theater is directly under the First Regiment and can be transferred to other battlefields, but it cannot be allocated to Tang Enbo's department, which fights in Teng County and At this time, everyone in the battle south to Taierzhuang was slow to move. Although the first regiment directly under the third theater suffered heavy losses in the Linyi battle, it was still a combatable division. At least Zhang Tianhai's regiment was relatively obedient, although Sometimes we don’t play according to common sense, but after the last warning, things should improve.”
Xu Zuyi thought for a while and said: "Sir, what you did is right, but do you need to make some corrections in your methods? Let's just say that the first regiment directly under the third theater has not recovered its strength from the recent Linyi battle, so it is not suitable." Such a fierce frontal battle."
"No need, this Tang Enbo has been slow in many battles. First he fought in Tengxian County, which led to the death of the entire Wang Mingzhang division of the Sichuan Army. Now, because of the poor progress in his battles and his slow actions, the defenders of Taierzhuang were completely killed and injured. Let these Japanese troops occupy Taierzhuang. Just attack directly." Li Zongren's attitude was very determined. He could see that Tang Enbo, an old boy, only cared about his 20th Army Corps, but did not think about the overall situation of the battlefield!
The lives of the officers and soldiers of the 20th Army Corps matter. Aren’t the lives of these brothers from the Sichuan Army and the Northwest Army also matter? This is the reason why Li Zongren has such a firm attitude.
"Then it's up to you." Xu Zuyi said with a smile.
…
Without any surprise, Tang Enbo once again received a very stern message from the headquarters of the Fifth Theater Commander. The content was probably to order the 20th Army to speed up the pace of combat attacks and form a complete encirclement of the enemies of Taierzhuang as soon as possible. .
After all, from Li Zongren's point of view, the enemies of Taierzhuang are already in a state of being trapped and fighting, and they must be completely surrounded. Otherwise, when they discover the weaknesses of the encirclement and break through, it will be too late. It's too late.
Therefore, Li Zongren must think about how to encircle the Japanese army as soon as possible, and then gather together to annihilate them!
Anyone who wants to prevent him from achieving this goal must obey, otherwise he will be shot!
"It seems that the senior officers are still wary of us... This battle must continue to be fought..." Holding this telegram from the senior officers, Tang Enbo sighed, "That's all. It is better to seek help from others than to ask for yourself. Order the troops to continue fighting!"
"Yes, sir!" Guan Lin responded, and then continued to command the troops to fight.
Zhang Tianhai had no idea about the open and covert struggle between the 20th Army Corps and the Commander-in-Chief. What he had to do was to urge the 1st Battalion to complete the position as soon as possible, and then seize the time to train the 2nd and 4th Battalions!
The war is about to come to Zhangshan. If you are not prepared, you will definitely suffer!
…
PS: The first update will be sent out, and the second update will be sent out before 11 o'clock later!
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