At this time, the Battle of Xuzhou had reached the stage of fighting for Taierzhuang.
From Teng County to Xuzhou, it was actually Lincheng and Hanzhuang that were closest. The Japanese army captured Hanzhuang on March 20.
However, there is a canal defense line to the south of Hanzhuang, and a division of the 52nd Army is defending it. The Japanese army cannot break through and can only go east, trying to cross the canal from Taierzhuang.
Because Xuzhou is only a hundred or ten kilometers away from the front line, the distance is already very close, so naturally there are clouds of war all over Xuzhou.
Li Hang didn't know what was going on outside the airport.
Because they received news that they might have to return in the afternoon, a group of pilots were also asked not to run around at the airport.
Anyway, not long after landing, Mao Yingchu disappeared, perhaps accompanying the principal.
The remaining nine pilots, headed by Li Hang, found a place at the airport to sit and chat. On the tarmac not far away, ground staff were refueling and overhauling their aircraft.
"Captain Li, do you think Xuzhou can win? It is said that the Nationalist Government has assembled a million troops here." Wang Yuanbo, deputy squadron leader of the 21st Squadron, asked curiously.
"One million troops? Just listen. It's just an exaggeration by the government. It's not worth putting one million troops here just for Xuzhou." Li Hang explained with a smile.
"Squadron Captain, can we win this Xuzhou battle?" Liang Tiancheng came over and asked.
"Difficult." Li Hang shook his head.
"We have an army of five to six million people, how can we still not win?" Liang Tiancheng was a little puzzled.
"The Battle of Songhu assembled the most elite troops of the government, 73 divisions, and more than 700,000 troops. In the end, they were still defeated."
"That's because the Japanese army landed in Hangzhou Bay with the intention of cutting off the retreat of the troops on the Songhu front line, so the Battle of Songhu was defeated." Wang Yuanbo argued.
Many people believe that the Battle of Songhu ended in the defeat of the Chinese army as a result of the Japanese landing in Hangzhou Bay. Therefore, in the minds of Wang Yuanbo and others, if the Japanese had not landed in Hangzhou, the Battle of Songhu would not necessarily have been lost.
"Are you putting your hope on the enemy's side? Let's talk about the Xuzhou battle at hand. What if the Japanese army bypasses the Jinpu Line and directly cuts off the retreat of hundreds of thousands of Xuzhou troops from the west of Weishan Lake?" Li Hang asked. possibility.
"The main force of the Japanese army is now east of Weishan Lake. How can they go west and make a detour?" Wang Yuanbo was unconvinced.
"You see, you depend on the Japanese army to win the war. If I were the commander of the Japanese army, no matter whether I could achieve a breakthrough in the east, I would still make detours in the west..."
"Li Hang, what are you talking about here?" Just as Li Hang was analyzing the current situation for a few interested subordinates, a displeased voice sounded behind him.
"Captain...Sir Lin!"
All the pilots turned around quickly, and when they saw the person coming, they stood up and saluted with a 'whoosh' sound.
The visitors were none other than Captain Mao Yingchu and Deputy Chief of the Military Command Department Lin, who was also one of the four great kings of the civil engineering department.
Chief Lin nodded and looked at Li Hang curiously, "Li Hang, right? I've heard your name a lot in recent months.
how? Do you also know about army operations? "
"Mr. Lin's words are serious. We are just bragging here." Li Hang shook his head in denial.
"That's not necessarily true. I've also listened to it, and it sounds like that's what you said about the battle situation. Do you think the Japs will take a detour to the west?" Perhaps out of curiosity, Chief Lin wanted to give this young man a lesson.
"Yes." Li Hang hesitated for a while and nodded.
"Why are you so sure? Chief Li has deployed a large number of troops on the Longhai Line west of Weishan Lake." Chief Lin would not say how many troops there were.
"That is now. If the war situation on the Eastern Front becomes anxious and even gives us a chance to annihilate part of the Japanese army, the heavy troops on the Western Front will definitely be transferred eastward."
"You mean that in order to quickly encircle them from the western front, the Japanese army will use a troop on the eastern front as bait, or even let us eat it?" Commander Lin was a little surprised.
Because he knew that the national government’s intention and deployment for the Taierzhuang battle was to use the Second Army of the former Northwest Army, which was good at defending, to defend the front line of the Taierzhuang Canal. On the one hand, it would prevent the Japanese army from advancing into Xuzhou, and on the other hand, it would attract the arrogant and arrogant Isoya Division to the Taierzhuang Canal. In the southern area of Yixian County, the 20th Army Corps of the Central Army hidden in the northeastern mountainous area of Yixian County was used to flank the enemy and annihilate it.
"It doesn't necessarily mean that we are eaten on purpose. Whether the little devil did it on purpose, or he never thought that he would suffer heavy losses in Taierzhuang and other places. Once the battle situation is tense and the Japanese army cannot break through the eastern defense line, if they want to defeat us, except Besides adding more troops, the best way is to outflank them in a roundabout way.
If the Japanese army can really make a detour from the western front, then our hundreds of thousands of troops in Xuzhou will face the situation at the end of the Songhu Battle, a huge rout!
At that time, it would even threaten Henan. Once it was broken through by the Japanese army, the Japanese army could threaten Wuhan at any time. "
Although what Li Hang said was a bit exaggerated, Chief Lin couldn't help but be shocked when he heard it.
He was well aware of the layout of the Battle of Xuzhou. Now tens of thousands of Japanese troops were attacking Taierzhuang with all their strength under the cover of aircraft and artillery, with the intention of breaking through the Chinese army's canal defense line.
It would be impossible for the Japanese army to take risks with tens of thousands of people, and the Chinese army would not be able to sustain so many Japanese troops. But the current war situation in Taierzhuang is indeed a bit anxious. Under this situation, the headquarters in Xuzhou, including senior officials in Chongqing, also intend to mobilize the Western Front troops to reinforce Taierzhuang.
But if the Japanese army really acted according to what the young man in front of them said, it would be no small matter.
"I didn't expect that Captain Li would be quite knowledgeable about the situation of such a large-scale battle.
good! No wonder Momofuku has praised you many times before! "With that said, Chief Lin patted Li Hang on the shoulder and left with a smile.
As soon as the other party left, Mao Yingchu looked at Li Hang who had made a long speech in front of the Deputy Minister of Military Command. He felt a little uncomfortable, but he still showed the dignity of a captain and said, "Li Hang, don't make such remarks in the future. You are Pilot, those battles have nothing to do with you. Fortunately, Commander Lin doesn’t blame him, otherwise you will definitely not get any good results."
Li Hang didn't take it to heart. He could have pretended not to understand, but he also wanted to save the lives of the soldiers on the front line.
The current gap in national power between China and Japan is there. Even though 600,000 troops have been deployed on the Xuzhou front line, the level of these troops is uneven, and not many of them have undergone systematic militarized training like the Japanese army.
But if the people above listened to what he said just now, and found an opportunity to attack the Japanese army, not to mention severely injuring the Japanese army, there would still be no problem in biting off a piece of flesh from the Japanese army.
Li Hang smiled and then changed the subject, "Didn't the captain accompany the senior officials? Why did he come back so soon?"
