Bright Sword: Hosting the independent regiment, all become special forces

Chapter 91 The Greatest Disgrace in the History of the Anti-Japanese War
The southern part of China's SX Province is located on the north bank of the huge bend of the Yellow River from north-south to east-west.

The Yellow River here becomes the boundary river of the three provinces: before the Yellow River turns, Hexi is Shaanxi, and East is Shanxi; after the Yellow River turns, Henan is Henan, and Hebei is Shanxi.

Three famous mountain ranges tower over it: Taihang Mountain in the east, Luliang Mountain in the west, and Zhongtiao Mountain in the south.

Zhongtiao Mountain, which runs from east to west, lies on the north bank of the Yellow River. It is about 170 kilometers long from east to west and about [-] kilometers wide from north to south. It forms a dustpan-shaped mountain with Taihang Mountain and Luliang Mountain. The Fen River running through Shanxi flows into the Yellow River here, and its downstream valley is the dustpan-shaped mountain. The bottom of the skip.

The junction of the three provinces controls northern Henan to the east, Luoyang to the south, and Tongguan to the west. It is the strategic support point for the Chinese army in North China on the frontal battlefield.

The 20 troops of China's first war zone are stationed on the front line of Zhongtiao Mountain.

Beginning in May, the devils in North China carried out large-scale assault operations in the Zhongtiao Mountain area.

Zhongtiao Mountain guards the strategic center of the Central Plains. In terms of battlefield division, it is listed as the first among all theaters of the Chinese Anti-Japanese War, that is, the first theater.

Under the command of Wei Lihuang, the first theater troops have been stationed in this crucial area for three years.

In the past three years, there has been no war in the war zone. The main reason is that the Wei Lihuang Army, Yan Xishan Army, and the anti-Japanese armed forces led by our party are stationed in this area, especially the Taihang and Taiyue Anti-Japanese Bases established by the Eighth Route Army. An important frontier barrier in the theater.

There is no doubt that Zhongtiao Mountain is a confidant of the North China devils.

The devils knew that as long as the KMT-CCP ​​anti-Japanese national united front remains unbreakable, attacking and occupying this area is only a conjecture.

The main task of the Japanese North China Front Army was to secure the North China occupied area, and its combat target was mainly the Eighth Route Army.

Especially after the Hundred Regiments War, intimidated by the powerful destructive power of the Eighth Route Army, the devils determined a strategy centered on eliminating the armed forces of the Eighth Route Army.

However, as far as North China is concerned, Wei Lihuang's 20 troops are still stationed in China's First Theater with Zhongtiao Mountain as the axis.

The devils believed that: "Because the Chongqing Army in southern Shanxi is holding down the three divisions of the Japanese Army", it must be "eliminated first" so that the devils can "deal with the Eighth Route Army with all their strength.

It can be seen that the Zhongtiaoshan operation was the preliminary preparation for the devil's full-scale operation against the Communist Party's anti-Japanese armed forces behind enemy lines;

It can also be seen from this that the devils did not pay attention to the 20 regular troops in China's first war zone at all, thinking that they would be wiped out in one fell swoop soon, so as to free up troops for the real battle later—the decisive battle with the Eighth Route Army. battlefield space.

There are eleven armies in the Wei Lihuang Department of the First Theater of China.

Four of the armies were deployed in the Taihang Mountain and Taiyue Mountain areas, confronting the two anti-Japanese bases of the Eighth Route Army, Taihang and Taiyue.

About 15 people from the remaining seven armies are deployed in the Zhongtiao Mountain area.Defense on the west side of Zhongtiao Mountain: Kong Lingxun's No.80 Army, under the jurisdiction of the new No.20 Seventh Division, the [-]th Division, the [-]th and [-]th Guerrilla Columns, and the Hebei Civil Army.

The western garrison of Zhongtiao Mountain west of Yuanqu and Sangchi: Zeng Wanzhong, commander-in-chief of the Fifth Group Army, commanded the Third Army of Tang Huaiyuan, governed the Seventh, No.12 Division and No.30 Fourth Division; Gao Guizi's No.17 Army, governed No.80 Fourth Division, New Second Division and First Guerrilla Column.

Defense on the north side of Zhongtiao Mountain: Liu Maoen, commander-in-chief of the No.14 Group Army, commanded the No.15 Army of Wu Tinglin, and had jurisdiction over the No.60 Fourth and No.60 Fifth Divisions;

Wu Shimin's No.90 Eighth Army governs the No.40 Second and 90th Divisions; Liu Kan's No.[-] Third Army governs the Tenth, [-]th Divisions and the new Eighth Division;
赵世铃的No.40三军，辖No.70师和暂编No.40七师。中条山东侧守备：裴昌会的第九军，辖No.40七、四师以及新编No.20四师。

The devil's troops located around Zhongtiao Mountain are: No.30 Sixth Division near Jincheng, No.30 Seventh Division near Yuncheng, No.40 First Division near Linfen, and No.30 Fifth Division near Henan .

After confirming the implementation of the Zhongtiao Mountain Operation, in order to strengthen the force in this direction, the devils transferred the No. 11 Third Division from the No. 30 Army of the Central China Front Army and assigned it to the First Army of the North China Front Army;
The No.13 Division of the No.17 Army located in the direction of Shanghai will also switch defenses with the No.20 First Division located in the northern Jiangsu direction, and the No.20 First Division will be drawn into the Zhongtiao Mountain battlefield.

At the same time, the Devil's First Army also mobilized part of the independent mixed ninth and No.16 brigades and the fourth cavalry brigade from the area under its jurisdiction to participate in the battle, which brought the total number of troops attacking Zhongtiao Mountain to more than [-].

The Tokyo Base Camp also transferred No.30 II and No.80 III flight teams from the Kwantung Army to strengthen the third flight regiment, based on the Yuncheng and Xinxiang airports, to cooperate with the army in operations.

Neiji Okamura, the commander of the Devil's First Army, decided to concentrate his forces to wipe out all the Chinese troops on the Zhongtiao Mountain line at the cost of "disregarding" the "decline of law and order" in the North China occupied area.

The devils mobilized a lot of troops to the south of Shanxi, and KMT soon realized that the devils had an attempt to attack the first theater.

For this reason, the Military Command Department of the Military Commission formulated three plans: first, the main force retreated to the south bank of the Yellow River to consolidate the river defense. This was a plan to abandon Zhongtiao Mountain and retreat to the Yellow River;

The second is to take advantage of the enemy's deployment and pre-emptively use offensive operations to smash the devil's campaign attempt. This is a proactive attack plan;
The third is to adopt mobile tactics and change the inside line to outside line operations, that is, to let the devils come in and deal with them in Zhongtiao Mountain.

On April [-], Chief of Staff He Yingqin arrived in Luoyang from Chongqing to convene a meeting of senior officers from the first, second, and fifth theaters to study the combat issues in southern Shanxi.He Yingqin believes that the devils attacked Zhongtiao Mountain in order to seize Luoyang and look westward at Xi'an: "In terms of the northern battlefield, the first and fifth theaters are very important. If the fifth theater is consolidated, not only Luoyang will be safe from threats, but the sixth The war zone must also be consolidated.

In terms of the first and second war zones, Zhongtiao Mountain is extremely important. If part of the triangle area is now occupied by the enemy, not only will Longhai Road be deeply threatened, but Luoyang may also be in danger, and Xi'an will also be in danger.If Luoyang and Xi'an are not defended, the fifth theater will be completely threatened by the enemy. "

At present, "the enemy in southern Shanxi seems to be capturing our strongholds in Zhongtiao Mountain one by one in an attempt to completely wipe out our army on the north bank of the Yellow River, and then echoing the enemy in eastern Henan, enter Luoyang and Tongguan to threaten our fifth theater. Or go west to see Xi'an".

The meeting lasted until the [-]th, and He Yingqin finally decided to adopt the second plan provided by the military command, that is, to use active offensive operations to crush the devil's attempt to attack Zhongtiao Mountain.

But one thing that is a bit of a joke is that in the face of the devil's large-scale attack, the Chinese army on the frontal battlefield rarely launches an active offensive to disrupt the opponent's offensive intentions in advance. The Chinese army does not yet have such combat capabilities.

It is not an exaggeration to say that He Yingqin's idea is whimsical. It has not been five days since Wei Lihuang went back, and the plan has just been issued. Well, the battle has already begun.

On May [-], [-], the Devils Air Force first bombed Xi'an, Xianyang, Tongguan, Zhengzhou and other places, and broke the Longhai Railway.

On the evening of the 40th, the devil's six divisions plus two semi-mixed brigades adopted the tactics of "penetrating in the middle and encircling on all sides" to launch a full-scale attack on the Chinese army in the Zhongtiao Mountain area.Its combat deployment is: in the western area of ​​Zhongtiao Mountain, the No.14 First Division and the Independent Mixed Ninth Brigade went south from Yicheng and Jiangxian respectively, and went straight to Yuanqu, the core area of ​​Zhongtiao Mountain. The connection between the Fifth Army and the No.[-] Army to the east, and a double encirclement of the Fifth Army;
The No.30 Sixth and No.30 Seventh Divisions were paralleled from Wenxi and Yuncheng to the east and north, and joined the No.40 First Division and the Independent Mixed Ninth Brigade to encircle the Fifth Army and the No.80 Army of the Chinese Army ;The independent mixed No.16 brigade is in the south of Yuncheng, from Pinglu along the north bank of the Yellow River to Jiyuan, and joins the No.30 and No.20 divisions on the East Road to cut off the fifth and No. The retreat of the 14th Army and the No.80 Army to the south bank of the Yellow River.

In the eastern part of Zhongtiao Mountain, the No. 30 Fifth and No. 20 First Divisions of the Devils marched westward from Wenxian and Qinyang in northwestern Henan, respectively. After capturing Shaoyuan, they joined the independent No. 16 brigade and cut off the The Chinese garrison retreated southward or eastward in the mountainous area, and then compressed northward along the road from Jiyuan to Shaoyuan to attack the No.14 Army of the Chinese Army.

In the northern area of ​​Zhongtiao Mountain, the No. 30 Third Division of the Devils went south from Yangcheng on the bank of the Qin River, and cooperated with the No. 30 Fifth and No. 20 First Divisions to carry out a north-south pincer attack on the No. 14 Group Army of the Chinese Army.

Apparently, the western part of Zhongtiao Mountain was the key direction for the devils to attack.

这个方向上的中国守军，是No.80军以及第五集团军的第三军和No.17军，而鬼子投入了No.40一、No.30六、No.30七师团以及独立混成第九、No.16旅团。无论在兵力还是武器装备上，鬼子都处于绝对优势。

The devil first implemented the penetration operation of the No.40 First Division and the Independent Mixed Ninth Brigade. They wanted to cut through the middle of the Chinese Fifth Army and the No.14 Army, and first split the two armies. Then implement each encirclement.

The devil had detected in advance that the No.40 army of the Chinese army was Yan Xishan's Jin army, and its combat effectiveness was relatively weak, so he chose the location of the No.40 army to launch a violent assault, and this was precisely where the Fifth Army and the No.14 Army were located. junction.

On the evening of the 40th, the two divisions of the No.17 Army and the two divisions of the No.40 Army defended the positions of Mu'er River and Tianpan Mountain. The officers and soldiers fought against the devils all night. .

Liu Maoen, commander-in-chief of the No.14 Army, ordered the No.15 Army to cooperate with the No.40 Army to counterattack the devils.

The Shibaping position was once taken back by Chinese officers and soldiers, but the devils released poisonous gas during the attack, and the No. 40 army had to retreat, and the No. 17 army position was also broken by the devils.The Devil's ground troops quickly advanced towards Yuanqu, and the Devil's paratroopers were first dropped around Yuanqu.

On the evening of the [-]th, the Japanese infantry and paratroopers jointly captured Yuanqu, the core part of Zhongtiao Mountain.

The Chinese defenders in the west of Zhongtiao Mountain were divided by devils into two parts that were not connected with each other and fought independently.

At the same time, along the north bank of the Yellow River, the Guizi No.30 Sixth, No.30 Seventh Division and the independent No.16 Brigade launched between Xiaxian and Zhangdian in the southeast of Shanxi, and went west side by side to attack No.80 Army and the junction of the third army.

At dawn on the 80th, the devils broke through the right-wing position of the No.80 Army, cut off the connection between the No.[-] Army and the Third Army, and then quickly rushed eastward along the north bank of the Yellow River, forcing the Chinese army to retreat to Qinjialing, Wangyuan, etc. Second line position.

So far, the defense line of the Chinese defenders in the west of Zhongtiao Mountain has completely collapsed.

That is to say, after a few days of playing, it will be gone.

As for the remaining battles, it will last for a month or two, and this is the last chance for Zhang Wei and the others to develop.

Not long after Zhang Wei left, the brigade commander called the regiment headquarters, and it was Zhao Gang who answered the phone: "Where is that kid Zhang Wei?"

Zhao Gang thought about it for a while and decided to tell the truth: "He led the team to ambush the reinforcements in the direction of Yangquan, and now I and deputy head Xing are in charge of commanding."

"Well, today, we have carried out raids on the railways south of Tongpu Road, south of Baijin Road Changzhi, and south of Pinghan Road SJZ. Fight, grab supplies, cover the transfer of the people, and transfer to Taihang Mountain."

"Chief, don't worry, our independent group promises to complete the task!"

Zhao Gang hung up the phone and told Xing Zhiguo the brigade commander's situation just now. Xing Zhiguo followed him and drew a map: "The battle should end within two days, so it shouldn't be a big problem."

Zhao Gang sighed: "I just don't know how the mission is going. It would be great if the battalion level could have a telegraph! Lao Xing, you just keep an eye on it, and I don't know what's going on with the transfer of the people."

"I'm here, don't worry."

　Deployment and campaign referenced public sources.

　　The battlefield statistics of the devils after the war are: the Chinese army "captured [-] people and abandoned [-] corpses".

　　The losses of the devils were negligible: "Three of 670 were killed and two thousand, 290 were injured.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)