The most cattle cottage in the Anti-Japanese War

Chapter 603 What is Gao Jiu waiting for?

These troops are of course the Eighth Route Army and the 69th Division led by Gao Jiu, Jiang Xiaomei and others.After they defeated the two search squadrons of the Japanese army, they launched an attack on the Japanese army brigade without stopping.

The Japanese army did not expect that there would be so many enemy troops here, so they rushed to the battle and suffered heavy losses.

The division head of the 37th Division didn't want to fight Gao Jiu desperately. When he saw the enemy army coming, he immediately gave the order to retreat.

The chief of staff of the Sixth Army couldn't figure out the real situation of the enemy. He didn't stop the commander of the 37th Division and withdrew with the troops.

The Japanese army ran for more than ten miles in one breath before stopping.The head of the division asked: "Your Excellency, Chief of Staff, a large number of enemy troops have appeared here. There is also an enemy division and a brigade of the Eighth Route Army ahead. The terrain here is difficult, and the enemy has built a large number of fortifications. How can we survive?" ah?"

The chief of staff of the Sixth Army also felt a headache, but his superiors issued a death order, asking him to supervise the 37th Division, and to rescue the 42nd Division no matter what.Seeing that it was getting late, he said, "Let's set up camp here tonight. After dawn tomorrow, I will ask the Commander for tactical guidance."

The Japanese army took the road as the center and released warnings to the surrounding areas, and then the large troops began to camp.

That night, Gao Jiu, Jiang Xiaomei and others attacked the Japanese army again. They bombarded the Japanese army violently with a large number of artillery pieces, then made a false attack with a bluff, and then quickly left the battlefield.

The fierce artillery attack caused a lot of casualties to the 37th Division. The head of the 37th Division saw that Gao Jiu was serious, and knew that if he continued to reinforce the 42nd Division, he would definitely arouse Gao Jiu's anger .He made up his mind, regardless of whether the Chief of Staff of the Sixth Army agreed or not, he was going to take the troops back directly.

The Chief of Staff of the Sixth Army nearly died in the shelling just now, and now he is also terrified. He did not stop the retreat of the 37th Division and followed suit.

The commander of the Japanese Sixth Army received telegrams from the 37th Division and the Fifth Air Force respectively from the Chief of Staff and the Deputy Chief of Staff. The regiment sent a telegram, telling them the actual situation of the reinforcements and letting them break through on their own.

Tian Zhong Minyu did not expect that his originally good fishing plan did indeed catch a big fish, but unfortunately, the fisherman ran away, and he was left as the bait surrounded by vicious big fish.

He decided to immediately organize troops to prepare to break out.

The various units of the coalition army had already dug their trenches in front of the Japanese trenches, but they waited for two days, Gao Jiu still did not give the order to attack, but instead asked them to reinforce the fortifications to prevent the Japanese army from breaking out.

The commanders didn't understand what Gao Jiu was going to do, so they called Li Fengming at the headquarters and asked why?
Li Fengming replied, please don't worry, you must strengthen your guard, strictly guard against death, and prevent the Japanese army from forcibly breaking through.

Gao Jiu did this because he was waiting for a message.On this day, he finally got the news.Jia Liu received a telegram from Taohuashan, which was sent by Du Shengxi.He said that the things were ready and loaded onto the plane, and he would definitely be able to arrive in Lan County by noon tomorrow.He will rush over with the members of the Taohuashan Special Forces, and personally manipulate these new weapons.

Gao Jiu's heart became more at ease, and he asked Li Fengming to inform all the troops to be on alert from now on, and resolutely repel the Japanese army's breakout operation.Starting at two o'clock tomorrow afternoon, the whole army will launch a general attack on the surrounded Japanese 42nd Division.

At 8 o'clock in the morning, Gao Jiu personally called Ma Xingbang, the commander of the 103rd Division, and the commanders of the Northeast Army and the Northwest Army, saying that the Japanese army might break out tonight, and told them not to be careless.

Gao Jiu said: "According to common sense, the Japanese army should break out to the east in order to join the 37th Division. However, they guessed that our army will definitely strengthen the defense force in the east, so they are likely to attack east and west. In our opinion Break out of the encirclement in an unexpected direction. If I were the commander of the Japanese army, I should first launch a feint attack to the east, and then break through with the main force to the west or south. Therefore, you must not be careless. The general attack will be launched at [-] o'clock tomorrow afternoon. Today At night, at least half of the troops must not sleep, and once the Japanese army breaks out, don't care about ammunition, and resolutely fight back at all costs."

After being reminded, the three division commanders expressed their obedience to the command of the commander-in-chief and strictly prevented the Japanese army from breaking through.

Tonight is a crucial night to encircle and annihilate the 42nd Division of the Japanese Army. In order to prevent accidents on the battlefield, Gao Jiu transferred a regiment from Jiang Xiaomei's independent brigade, as well as the guard battalion of the 187th Division, together with Zhang Quan's special forces, As a general reserve, it is always ready to strengthen the weak links on the battlefield.

After dinner, Toshiyu Tanaka convened a meeting of officers above the captain.He said: "Everyone, now I have to tell you the truth. Now the enemy we are facing is well-equipped, powerful, and the number is more than twice the strength of the division. Moreover, the enemy has the ability to completely wipe out our army." Attempt. Now, our army's reinforcements will not be able to arrive in a short period of time, if the division continues to stay here, the entire army will be in danger of being wiped out."

In fact, these days, the officers of the Japanese army have already seen that the enemy army is different from the national army troops they encountered in the past, and everyone also feels the danger.Hearing that there were no reinforcements, everyone was a little panicked and started talking about it.

Tian Zhong Minyu said: "The situation is critical now, and our army can only break through on its own. I am determined to break through with the whole army tonight.

According to the analysis and judgment, in order to prevent our army from breaking through, the enemy will definitely place heavy troops between our army and the 37th Division.Therefore, the focus of our army's breakthrough should not be to the east. The south is the so-called rear area of ​​the enemy. The enemy will definitely judge that our army will not break out in this direction. Therefore, the defense in the south should be relatively weak.

I decided to use the tactic of attacking the west from the east. First, I launched a feint attack to the east with a part of the troops. When the enemy mobilized its troops to move eastward in an attempt to prevent our army from breaking through, I concentrated the main force of the division to break through to the south.After breaking out of the encirclement, continue to attack southward, and then turn eastward to catch the enemy by surprise.

Everyone, tonight's breakout operation is related to the life and death of the 42nd Division. I hope you will work together, please! "

The officers also knew that tonight's breakout was a matter of life and death. They stood up together and shouted loudly: "Ha Yi."

The night was deep, the land was silent, and many unknown bugs sang softly, adding to the tranquil atmosphere.

At 3 o'clock in the morning, the sound of rumbling cannons suddenly rang out, breaking the silence in the fields.A large number of shells fell on the position of the independent brigade.Immediately afterwards, the Japanese army launched a fierce attack on the position of the Independent Brigade with a reinforced brigade.

Jiang Xiaomei had already received Gao Jiu's notice. She didn't close her eyes in the first half of the night, and she leaned on the trench to take a nap in the second half of the night.After hearing the sound of the artillery, she immediately ordered all the troops to enter the position, resolutely repel the enemy's breakout operation, and at the same time notified Gao Jiu through the radio.

Gao Jiu had already been awakened by the sound of gunfire. After receiving Jiang Xiaomei's report, he was not in a hurry to dispatch troops, but quietly observed other directions.

The battle lasted for a full 40 minutes, and there was no movement in any direction other than the east.

Tian Zhong Minyu was very shrewd. He was worried that he would not be able to deceive Gao Jiu, so he did not rush to break out to the south, but sent another infantry brigade to strengthen the offensive to the east.

On the position of the Independent Brigade, there are only two regiments left, but their number still exceeds 3000, and they are well-equipped, with a large number of automatic firearms such as machine guns and submachine guns.

Although the artillery fire of the Japanese attack was fierce, the soldiers of the independent brigade hid in the trenches and did not suffer much casualties.While the enemy's artillery extended and the infantry charged, the soldiers of the Independent Brigade opened fire from the trenches on the enemy.

The Japanese army suffered heavy casualties, but with the determination to die, they still charged forward one after another.The fighters of the Independent Brigade have been fighting for a long time, and mercilessly knocked down the rushing enemy troops to the ground.

At this moment, an accident happened, and the enemy suddenly launched a violent shelling.

At this time, the distance between the enemy and us is already very close. Under normal circumstances, in order to avoid accidentally injuring one's own people, the Japanese army would not use artillery.

In order to mobilize the enemy, Toshiyu Tanaka not only asked the false attacking troops to launch a real attack on the independent brigade's position, but also bombarded the independent brigade's position with artillery again regardless of the life and death of Japanese officers and soldiers.

The soldiers of the Eighth Route Army guarding the forward positions did not expect the enemy to be so frenzied that they fired brazenly regardless of the lives of their own soldiers.They were caught off guard and suffered a lot of casualties.The officers and soldiers of the Japanese army took the opportunity to rush up.

The officers and soldiers of the Independent Brigade were forced to withdraw to the second trench.While Jiang Xiaomei ordered the artillery to suppress the enemy's artillery fire, she reported to Gao Jiu again.

At this moment, Gao Jiu also had doubts, thinking that there might be a problem with his judgment.However, he did not make a decision immediately, but listened carefully to the situation on the battlefield.

He heard that although the artillery fire on the battlefield was very lively, the number of artillery fire invested by the Japanese army did not exceed the size of a regiment, which also showed that the main force of the Japanese army still had not started to act.

Gao Jiu decided to wait and see. However, in order to prevent the Japanese army from really breaking through the position of the independent brigade, he still sent the 187th Division Guard Battalion in the reserve team to support Jiang Xiaomei.

Tian Zhong Minyu was really calm. He fought the feint attack to the east for an hour and 10 minutes before he gave the order for the whole army to break out to the south.

The Japanese army concentrated all their artillery fire, and suddenly opened fire on the 103rd Division of the National Army defending to the south. At the same time as the shelling began, the Japanese army directly launched a fierce attack with a regiment of troops as the vanguard.

The officers and soldiers of the Japanese army jumped out of the trenches and rushed to the position of the 103rd Division howling.

After Gao Jiu's reminder, the officers and soldiers of the national army had already prepared themselves.When they saw the enemy army rushing over, they immediately poked their heads out of the trench and fired fiercely at the enemy army.

Seeing that his judgment was indeed correct, Gao Jiu immediately issued an order to the national army troops guarding the west and east, asking them to attack the Japanese positions and contain the enemy's forces. The army sent a regiment of troops to support the 103rd Division.

After issuing the order, Gao Jiu personally led the reserve team of that regiment of the Eighth Route Army and ran towards the position of the 103rd Division.

The Japanese army desperately charged forward regardless of casualties.Due to the close distance between the positions of the two sides, although the Japanese army suffered a lot of casualties, they also rushed into the first trench of the national army, and then launched an attack on the second trench.

Regarding the breakout operation of the Japanese army, Gao Jiu had already made deployments, and each unit of the besieging enemy troops dug nine trenches.In order to avoid casualties, the national army's defensive positions adopted the principle of light deployment of troops first and heavy deployment of firepower, giving full play to the advantages of firepower, so that the Japanese army would have to pay a heavy price for attacking every trench.

When the Japanese army captured the first trench, although they suffered heavy casualties, they had a large number of troops and quickly occupied the first trench.When they charged to the second trench, they suffered heavy casualties. However, their strength was still sufficient at this time. Soon after, they occupied the second trench, and then the Japanese army launched to the third trench. Offensive.

At the beginning, the Japanese army maintained a strong offensive, but with their heavy casualties, when they attacked the fourth trench, the Japanese army's vanguard company had been disabled and could no longer organize an effective offensive. .

Tanaka Toshiyu had been prepared for a long time, and immediately ordered the second wing to attack.

The strength of the Japanese army has been strengthened, and the number of troops in the trenches behind the Guo army has also increased, and the weapons and equipment withdrawn from the front have strengthened the firepower in these trenches, causing even greater damage to the Japanese army who launched the charge. casualties.

Ma Xingbang, the commander of the 103rd Division, was also an experienced general. He saw the Japanese army launching a fierce attack on his forward position, so he ordered the artillery to fire at the enemy's rear, killing and wounding the enemy behind in large numbers, so as to block them from the enemy in front. contact.

After the breakout battle started, Tanaka Minyu was also very nervous. Although he received a report that the Japanese army had broken through several enemy trenches, he was still very nervous, even a little anxious, because he knew that the enemy at this time The commander of the army must have identified the direction of the Japanese army's breakout, and a large number of reinforcements must be rushing here.

He said to the chief of staff: "Don't wait any longer, abandon all the artillery, let all the people in the division charge together, and break through the enemy's position as soon as possible."

The chief of staff immediately issued an order. Nearly 103 officers and soldiers of the Japanese army rushed towards the position of the [-]rd Division with bright bayonets.

The officers and soldiers of the national army did not expect the Japanese army to come up with such a large number of troops at once, and they panicked, and some wanted to retreat.Those officers knew the consequences of retreating, and they yelled loudly: "Brothers! No one is allowed to retreat, there is a supervisory team behind. It would be dead if you retreated. It's better to fight the devils here."

Encouraged by the officers, most of the soldiers persevered.Regardless of life and death, they kept pulling the trigger towards the surging Japanese officers and soldiers.

The strength of the Japanese army was still too strong. They broke through the fourth, fifth, and sixth trenches one after another, and then broke through the seventh and eighth trenches.Facing the strong pressure of the Japanese army, many officers and soldiers of the national army still couldn't bear it, and they fled back in a hurry.

Standing behind them was the supervisory team of the 228th Division of the Northwest Army. They usually couldn't understand the high-spirited officers and soldiers of the Central Army.

The broken soldiers of the 103rd Division were knocked down by the firepower of the supervisory team, and they were forced to retreat.

Seeing that the Japanese army broke through the eighth trench and was about to break through the position of the 103rd Division, Ma Xingbang, the commander of the 103rd Division, was also anxious. He put all the reserve team of the remaining battalion into it, and he also rushed into the trench. He picked up a submachine gun and fired at the Japanese army himself.

At this moment, a high-pitched charge horn sounded.Ma Xingbang and the officers and soldiers of the 103rd Division all recognized that this was the sound of the Eighth Route Army's bugle, and reinforcements had arrived.

The morale of the officers and soldiers was boosted, and they fired more violently.

When Gao Jiu led a regiment of the Independent Brigade of the Eighth Route Army to the battlefield, Huang Shuigen, the chief of staff of the Independent Brigade who led the team, immediately led the whole regiment to charge, and the officers and soldiers of the 103rd Division followed behind them and launched the charge together.After a fierce battle, they regained the eighth trench and stabilized the defensive position of the 103rd Division.

Tian Zhong Minyu also heard the sound of the Eighth Route Army's bugle. He knew that the enemy's reinforcements had arrived, and he became more and more anxious. He immediately issued an order and told all the Japanese commanders that they must take advantage of the enemy's reinforcements. Did not rush to break out of the tight encirclement.

The Japanese army was also desperate. Regardless of the fierce firepower of the enemy, as long as there was still a breath, they charged forward with shouts.

The officers and soldiers of the Eighth Route Army fired fiercely at the enemy, but the number of the enemy was too large and the distance between the two sides was very close. As a result, the Japanese army rushed into the eighth trench, and the two sides began to fight with bayonets.

The follow-up troops of the enemy army rushed up continuously. The officers and soldiers of the Eighth Route Army were at a numerical disadvantage and the situation was very critical.

At this moment, a regiment of the Northwest Army arrived, and they entered the battlefield without hesitation. They wiped out a few Japanese soldiers who broke out, and then joined the ranks of the Eighth Route Army fighting the enemy with bayonets.

Ma Xingbang, the commander of the 103rd Division, saw that the enemy and the enemy were mixed together and could not exert firepower. Therefore, he also held a bayonet-mounted rifle and led the officers and soldiers of the 103rd Division to join the battlefield.

The sound of killing on the battlefield was loud, and the officers and soldiers of the enemy and us, like the ancient warriors, began a tragic hand-to-hand battle.

Knowing that the situation was critical, Tian Zhong Minyu also pulled out his command knife and led the guard squadron of the division headquarters to rush forward.

At this time, a regiment of the Northeast Army also arrived, and they also mounted bayonets and joined the battle.

Soon after, the other two regiments of the Independent Brigade, which had repelled the enemy attacking eastward, also rushed over, followed by a regiment of the newly formed 187th Division.

The officers and soldiers of the Ninth War Zone Guard Regiment and the five supplementary regiments of the training headquarters had been hiding behind the 103rd Division. At the beginning, Gao Jiu didn't let them go into battle because he was worried that these recruits would be in the middle of the battle. Crashes will be created on the battlefield, which will disrupt the positions of the 103rd Division of the National Army.

At this moment, Gao Jiu ordered them all to join the battle.

At this time, the strength of the national army had exceeded the number of the Japanese army. They blocked the Japanese offensive and began to move forward.

Gao Jiu himself did not join the battle group. He calmly observed the situation on the battlefield and commanded the artillery unit to bombard the enemy's rear violently, killing and injuring as many enemy troops as possible.

Tanaka Minyu saw countless enemy troops in the dark, and he knew that the breakout operation had failed.He began to hesitate a little, and had the idea of ​​retreating and defending.

At this moment, news came from the blocking troops behind, saying that the enemy was attacking fiercely from the east, west, and north, and the blocking troops were about to lose their hold.

Although Tian Zhong Minyu was in a very irritable mood, he tried his best to keep calm. After analysis and judgment, he decided to lead the troops to retreat and return to the position with Lan County as the core. Wait for reinforcements.

So he gave the order to retreat.

Seeing the enemy's retreat, the officers and soldiers of the national army boosted their morale. They shouted and chased after the enemy.

At this moment, Gao Jiu's order came, ordering all the troops to regain their original positions and not continue to attack forward.

The officers and soldiers who participated in the battle originally planned to annihilate the enemy in one go, but they didn't understand Gao Jiu's order.However, the military order was like a mountain, and they still obeyed Gao Jiu's order.

Soon after, both the enemy and ourselves restored their original positions.

After this battle, both sides suffered heavy casualties.The coalition forces suffered more than 3500 casualties, among which the officers and soldiers of the 103rd Division suffered the heaviest casualties, reaching more than 1900.Followed by the Eighth Route Army, the officers and soldiers of the Independent Brigade of the Eighth Route Army also suffered more than 800 casualties.

The casualties of the Japanese army were even heavier. In tonight's breakout operation, they lost more than 7700 people, and the organizational system of many troops was disabled.

Tanaka Minyu merged the officers and soldiers who had been beaten and disabled into other troops, and ordered all ministries to strengthen their defenses to prevent the enemy from attacking.After that, he didn't care whether the senior men were sleeping or not, and sent a telegram for help directly.

In the headquarters of the 103rd Division, the generals of the coalition forces did not understand Gao Jiu's order to stop the attack just now, and believed that this opportunity to annihilate the enemy should not be missed. questioned.

Gao Jiu said: "In the battle just now, our army suffered nearly 4000 casualties. If we continue to attack and engage in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy, even if we win the battle, I am afraid that more than half of the entire army participating in the battle will suffer casualties. If there is such a large loss, What's the point of this victory?"

The 103rd Division suffered the most. The division commander Ma Xingbang was very saddened by the heavy casualties of his officers and soldiers. He was a little emotional and said: "If you don't take advantage of this opportunity to launch a fierce attack, wait for the enemy to retreat to the position and wait for work. Our army will launch another attack." Attack, wouldn't the casualties be greater?"

Everyone thought so too.They thought that the enemy army was hiding in the trenches, and the artillery fire in the hands of the national army could not do anything to them.If a strong attack is launched, it will suffer heavy losses just like the Japanese army launched an attack on them. It is better to take advantage of the chaos of the enemy army and annihilate the enemy army in one go.

Gao Jiu said: "I understand everyone's thoughts. However, fighting is not what you imagined. I have a way to annihilate the enemy army in front of me with fewer casualties. Now everyone hurry up and rest, and at the same time strengthen the strength of the forward position." Take precautions. At noon tomorrow, the matter will naturally be resolved."

The generals still trusted Gao Jiu. Hearing him say this, although everyone didn't understand what method he would take to reduce casualties, they still obeyed his order.

At 10 o'clock in the morning, many trucks came from Nanyang. Du Shengxi led the members of the Taohuashan Special Forces and unloaded many gasoline barrels from the trucks.The officers and soldiers didn't understand what they were doing, so they surrounded them one after another.

Everyone saw that these gasoline barrels were no different from the usual gasoline barrels in appearance, but there was no cover on one end of the gasoline barrel, and the iron sheet was empty inside.None of them understood what these petrol cans were for.

Wang Jindong asked: "Brother Gao, what are you waiting for these days? Can you use them against the Japanese?!"

Gao Jiu said with a smile: "Brother Wang, don't underestimate these things. They are not ordinary gasoline barrels, but huge cannons. Have you ever seen cannons with such a thick caliber?"

(End of this chapter)