Age of Rebirth

Chapter 550 The End of Isoya Rensuke ([-])

Coincidentally, the new attack direction chosen by Rensuke Isoya happened to be Tongshan in the south of Xuzhou, and the five main brigades of the independent division led by Tang Qiusheng, with more than 6 troops, were on standby at Sanbao near Tongshan. Li Zongren placed the troops of the Independent Division in the southeast of Xuzhou, implying that he was afraid that Tang Qiusheng would compete for merit.

No matter from the direction of the Japanese army's attack or the topographical conditions of Xuzhou, the direction of Tongshan is not suitable as the best place to attack. Terrain conditions, from the perspective of Li Zongren's overall strategic layout, the line from Tongshan to Sanbao is the secondary direction of the Xuzhou battle.

Isoya Rensuke invested a total of more than [-] troops from a division and a brigade in the direction of Tongshan, and strengthened a large number of artillery and tanks. In his words, he wanted to use this heavy hammer to smash the To open the defense line of Xuzhou's Chinese defenders, tomorrow will be the most critical day in determining the battle of Xuzhou.

Regarding the confusion of other generals, why did the commander put the main assault force on Tongshan, which has complex terrain and is easy to defend and difficult to attack? The commander will definitely not place heavy troops here, which is also the weak point of Xuzhou's defense line. We gathered heavy troops and used a sudden attack to open a breakthrough when the battle in the west of Xuzhou was the most intense. [

After the troops invaded Xuzhou, they immediately attacked from south to west, and the imperial army attacking in the west flanked the Chinese defenders, split Xuzhou into two parts, divided and wiped them out. "That's my plan.

Looking at the admiration eyes of his generals, Isoya Rensuke smiled reservedly and unsatisfactorily. Immediately, the Japanese army readjusted their deployment according to the order and got busy all night.

Li Zongren in Xuzhou City was also in a good mood at this time. Isoya Rensuke stepped into the trap step by step according to his own plan. The six divisions of the Sichuan Army who copied the Japanese army's back route had reached the line from Lizhuang to Huangkou and were rushing to build fortifications , Isoya Rensuke's retreat has been cut off.

Liao Lei's troops ambushed in Yanglou and Jiahezhai on the two wings of the Japanese army had already sharpened their knives, and suddenly rushed out at his own order. The two wings of the Japanese army were oppressed, and Xuzhou's troops launched a counterattack again. They can go, but waiting for them is more than 8 Sichuan soldiers waiting in full battle. These Sichuan soldiers are desperate to fight. The Japanese army can't get any cheap, enough for the little devils.

He issued an order overnight, ordering Liao Lei's No. 20th Army to approach the Japanese army in a concealed manner and prepare for an attack. However, he did not expect that Rensuke Isoya had already set the main attack direction on Tongshan in the south of Xuzhou. In terms of direction, he did not invest many troops, and the main force was concentrated in the two directions of west and north, which were vulnerable to attack.

Tang Qiusheng, who was about to sit on the bench, received a report from the reconnaissance unit that a large number of Japanese troops were moving covertly to the Tongshan area in the south of Xuzhou overnight. Looking at the topographic map of Xuzhou, he roughly guessed the intention of the Japanese commander, and it must be a frontal attack. Xuzhou failed, and wanted to attack him by surprise.

He smiled and shook his head, he is really a lucky person, don’t be too busy, there is no reason not to eat the fat that is sent to his mouth, there are tens of thousands of independent division troops in Sanbao, the Japanese army didn’t notice it at all, just happened to catch him by surprise, he ordered Troops, pay attention to strict confidentiality, and do not reveal any whereabouts. The reconnaissance troop closely monitors all actions of the Japanese army based on the principle of not alarming the Japanese army, and wants to get back the distribution map of the Japanese army.

The artillery unit secretly built a position overnight and entered the state of battle. Immediately, he reported the situation here and the deployment of the troops to the division commander. Soon, Tang Qiuli called back, with only three words "beat hard", For the rest, he didn't say anything. Tang Qiusheng understood his brother's thoughts and fully agreed with his battle plan. What he wanted was to be under the city of Xuzhou, which resulted in the lives of Isoya Rensuke and his first army.

Information about the latest movements of the Japanese army has been continuously transmitted to Tang Qiusheng's headquarters. When the Japanese army, who thinks it has a plan, is working hard under the cover of night, they don't know that in the darkness, several pairs of eyes are staring at him. With all their actions, one by one troops drove out of the three forts and moved towards the intended target.

Tang Qiusheng immediately informed Li Zongren in Xuzhou City of the news of the Japanese army's change of deployment. Li Zongren was taken aback. The direction of Tongshan was indeed a place where there were very few troops because of the dangerous terrain. He also judged that the Japanese army would not choose where to go. As the main direction of attack, he secretly scolded the Japanese for their cunning, while lamenting that the troops of the Independent Division are really lucky, and they can catch hot steamed buns with cold hands. He exchanged several telegrams with Tang Qiusheng and confirmed the battle in the direction of Tongshan. The plan is to use the independent division as the main force to annihilate the Japanese siege troops. The defenders in Xuzhou city will transfer the main force to the direction of Tongshan without alarming the Japanese troops outside the city, and attack the Japanese troops from inside and outside.

Heino Kutaro, the commander of the Japanese division in charge of attacking the southern part of Xuzhou, is a very cautious Japanese general. His division, together with the strength of a brigade attached to it, moved to the direction of Tongshan overnight. After seeing the terrain conditions here, He couldn't help frowning, the ravines were criss-cross, and he couldn't deploy too many troops at all. He could only use one regiment's troops for each attack. Facing the conveniently located Chinese defenders, this amount of troops was useless. .

Increasing the number of troops step by step can only send piles of live targets to the defenders of China. How to attack Xuzhou with the least casualties and in the shortest time is very troublesome for Heino Kyutaro. Going to a place not far from Xuzhou City for reconnaissance, a large group of staff and staff officers, accompanied by His Excellency, Division Chief, was frozen in the cold wind. In the dark night, Xuzhou City could not see any lights. The walls of the city, silent like giants.

After completing a heroic reconnaissance operation, when he returned to the division headquarters, Heino Kutaro relaxed his frown. He made the following deployments for the attacking troops. The attached artillery units focused their bombardment on the defense of Xuzhou City The position is three kilometers wide, and the depth of shelling is increased.

His intention is obvious. Use a lot of artillery fire to blast a channel in Xuzhou, concentrate firepower, attack one point, extend the artillery fire, and bombard the defenders in China. The chariot is used as a mobile fortress to cover the infantry attack, and the distance cannot be reached. A distance of more than 500 meters.

This is a very risky way of attack. It is equivalent to rushing forward with the explosive point of the cannon. If you are not careful, you will be shot by your own people. Nearly a hundred cannons will fire in salvo. Who can guarantee the accuracy of the point?Officers at all levels looked at each other in blank dismay, all shocked by the bold tactics of His Excellency the Division Chief.

Heino Kyutaro was also forced to do so. Only in this way could the troops be prevented from becoming a living target for the defenders of China. He carefully looked at the terrain and found that as long as there were three or five heavy machine guns, the attacking road could be sealed. What kind of traditional After the shelling, the tactics of the infantry charging were not suitable for use here at all. Even if a machine gun from the defenders survived, it would cause huge casualties to the troops.

On December 22, the battle first started in the west of Xuzhou. After the heavy Japanese shelling, the tanks covered a large number of infantry and began to storm the Xuzhou city defense fortifications. For a while, the surrounding areas of Xuzhou were bombarded with gunfire, and the Japanese attacked across the board regardless of casualties. The city walls of Xuzhou were blown down in many places by the Japanese artillery, and then the Japanese artillery turned to suppress the artillery fire of the Chinese defenders, and fierce artillery battles also started at the same time.

The collapsed city walls formed huge gaps one by one. These gaps became the key targets of the Japanese attack, because most of the defenders were transferred to the direction of Tongshan. The western defense line of Xuzhou was in crisis for several times, and the Japanese army had already attacked the gaps. Below, the No. 80 Eighth Division of the Sichuan Army guarding here had to use a pile of people to block the gap.

The Japanese soldiers who had already touched the victory wreath left numerous corpses and fought to the death without retreating. They used the only three footholds to rush to build fortifications. If the Japanese army succeeded in this move, it would undoubtedly pose a great threat to the defenders. On the contrary, the direction of Tongshan, where the battle should have been more intense, was surprisingly calm. So far, no sign of the Japanese attack has been found. [

Feeling the pressure, Li Zongren almost wavered last night to strengthen the deployment in the direction of Tongshan, and transferred the troops there back to the frontal position. Facing such a fierce Japanese attack, he suspected that Rensuke Isotani had played a suspicious strategy for himself. Attacking south and west, the Japanese army in the direction of Tongshan is a real feint attack force.

Otherwise, the Japanese army would not desperately attack the western city defense position. There is no such method of feint attack. Only one division of the Sichuan Army is defending the west line of defense. He has no idea whether he can withstand the next Japanese attack. , Several times I wanted to pick up the phone to give orders, but there was a voice that kept echoing in my ears.

Those were the words of Tang Qiusheng, the deputy commander of the Independent Division. Commander Li, according to the latest deployment of the Japanese army, Tongshan must be the main attack direction of the Japanese army. It means that the battle of Xuzhou has come to an end ahead of schedule.

Li Zongren finally made up his mind, and the original plan remained unchanged, but the battle situation in the frontal position really worried him. After thinking twice, he threw in the last troop in his hand, which was his guard regiment. It is a regiment, but the strength has reached more than [-] people. They are well-equipped. They are all veterans and experienced officers in the Guangxi Army. There are not many scars on that person's body.

This guard regiment is known as a tiger in the Gui army, and Li Zongren is reluctant to use it easily. It was fed by the white ocean. The most rare thing is that everyone is loyal to him. Now, he has to use this troop to fight the last battle. A card to stabilize the crumbling western defense.

Watching the more than 4000 officers and soldiers of the guard regiment disappear into the smoke of gunfire, Li Zongren kept looking at their backs, and couldn't help feeling distressed and aching, unwilling to leave for a long time. The Japanese artillery exploded far and near, stirring up mud and dust , Falling on him from time to time, the guards reminded Chief Li to be careful, but he didn't hear it, and his mind was all on his own heart and soul.

(To be continued)