Age of Rebirth

Chapter 550 Xuzhou after the war

During the two-hour shelling, tens of thousands of shells landed in an area within a few kilometers of Xiao County, and the Japanese army's position was shrouded in bloody wind. In Li Zongren's memory, this was the first time he had seen such intensive shelling. It also made him fundamentally change the military guiding ideology, all of which were taught by Tang Qiuli.

Liao Lei turned around and gave the general attack order. To be honest, in Liao Lei's opinion, going up the troops was similar to cleaning the battlefield. The Sichuan army rushed up from all directions, stepping on the floating soil that had been blown loose by the cannons and covered the feet, and did not see a living Japanese soldier, and even the corpses were fragments.

It was only when they approached the core area that they encountered weak resistance. They were some Japanese soldiers who were seriously injured and still breathing. They held on to their last breath and shot sporadic bullets. Some dying Japanese soldiers lay in the pile of corpses, and when the Chinese soldiers came over, they rang the grenades on their bodies, which caused certain casualties to the squadron.

Even so, it did not have the slightest impact on the overall battle situation. The encircling troops of the Guangxi Army and the Sichuan Army joined forces in Xiao County. The army was wiped out, and not even a single prisoner was caught, which made Li Zongren, who was going to use the Japanese prisoners to make a big fuss, very dissatisfied. [

He issued an order to find the corpses of Isoya Rensuke and other senior Japanese generals, and searched the entire position without even a trace. Li Zongren felt nervous. Did Isoya Rensuke slip through the net?If this is the case, the battle of Xuzhou was a pot of raw rice, and the impenetrable encirclement of 23 troops, it is impossible to explain that Isoya Rensuke was able to slip through the net.

After careful investigation, they finally found the corpses of more than a dozen senior Japanese officers in a basement. However, they had been burnt beyond recognition by gasoline. It was impossible for Rensuke Isotani to tell the difference, only from the command knife left at the scene. In fact, to judge their identities, it is indeed suspected by all the senior generals of the Japanese First Army.

From the beginning of the Kaifeng Blocking Battle on December 28 to the end of the Xiaoxian Battle on December 23, the Xuzhou Battle, which lasted more than ten days, finally came to an end. , with a force of 13, the first army of the Japanese North China Expeditionary Army, Isoya Rensuke's headquarters, which had penetrated into the hinterland of the Yellow River defense line, had a total of [-] people, and wiped them out in the Xuzhou area.

In this campaign, the troops belonging to the Xuzhou Theater had less than 4 casualties. It can be said that they achieved the greatest results at the smallest cost. To explore the reason, there was no Su Jingfeng Yellow River Henan Defense Corps affiliated to the independent division. The tragic blockade, Zhang Zizhong's two days of bloody fighting in Shangqiu by the Sulu Garrison Corps, provided Li Zongren with ample time to calmly arrange in Xuzhou, not only would there be no great victory in Xuzhou, but it is not yet known which direction the battle will develop. One thing is possible For sure, Isoya Rensuke will occupy Xuzhou.

In order to ensure the victory of the Xuzhou Battle, the Independent Division paid a huge price. The Yellow River Henan Garrison Corps suffered more than 3 casualties, more than half of the troop strength. Major General Su Jingfeng, the commander of the Corps, was killed. The Lu Garrison Corps suffered more than [-] casualties, nearly one-half of the army's strength. Lieutenant General Zhang Zizhong, the commander of the Corps, was killed, and the two corps had a total of more than [-] casualties.

With a weak force against the vigorous Japanese First Army, the hardship and cruelty of the battle can be imagined. What Li Zongren faced under the city of Xuzhou was just an exhausted division that had been frustrated by the troops of the independent division, and its strength was weakened layer by layer. , When they arrived at the city of Xuzhou, the total strength of the Japanese army was less than 23, while Li Zongren had [-] troops, waiting for work with leisure. In the Battle of Tongshan, Tang Qiusheng's troops wiped out more than [-] Japanese troops, and the Xuzhou theater fell. Of all its forces, the Japanese army encircled and wiped out in Xiao County was no more than [-] people. This is the entire process of the Xuzhou Battle.

Therefore, in the battle of Xuzhou, Tang Qiuli's independent division made the most sacrifices and paid the greatest price, but they did not participate in the final battle of annihilation. The world is often like this, people only see those who run to the finish line with the laurels in their hands , and cheered and applauded for them, those who dedicated on the way are often ignored by the public behind the halo.

The military reporters in the Xuzhou war zone took a large number of on-the-spot photos and sent them to newspaper offices in major cities across the country as quickly as possible, especially in Shanghai and Nanjing.

The whole country was in a state of excitement, and major newspapers printed their numbers one after another, with eye-catching headlines "Great Victory in Xuzhou, General Li Zongren's Command Headquarters Attacked, Gathering and Annihilating More than 13 Elite First Army of the Japanese Army", or "General Li Zongren Uses Soldiers Like a God" , the Japanese Chief Jigu Lianjie was buried under the city of Xuzhou," and the content is a detailed report of the Xuzhou battle by the reporters.

For a time, Li Zongren became a well-known hero, a newly rising hero of the Anti-Japanese War, with all kinds of honors in one body. His goal was achieved. With the Battle of Xuzhou, the Xingui Clan quickly entered the sight of the people and entered the political circle of the Republic of China. On the stage, Gui Jun, who lived in a corner of Guangxi, also won the praise of the people. The limelight faintly overshadowed Generalissimo Jiang and Tang Qiuli, who first set the record of annihilating the Japanese army in North China, and became a hotly debated figure among the people and the new darling of the media.

Xuzhou, the war zone commander's department, facing the reporters flocking from all over the country, Li Zongren was full of joy, wearing a brand-new general uniform, which set off his demeanor of a Confucian general. The adjutants were busy distributing the pre-printed materials to the In the hands of the reporter, Li Zongren looked very modest, and attributed all the credit to the soldiers of the Guangxi Army and the Sichuan Army, especially the Sichuan Army, who was the object of his praise, and took the trouble to answer all kinds of questions from the reporters, as well as strange questions .

In order to satisfy the curiosity of the reporters, Li Zongren specially arranged for them to go to Xiao County to do on-the-spot interviews. Seeing the scene after the fierce battle, the reporters who had never experienced the flames of war exclaimed again and again. During the explanation, the cameras of the reporters kept ringing, and the pens were even more nervous to record.

Li Zongren is very satisfied with this kind of scene. He has plenty of time to show off. The news that the Isoya Rensuke First Army was wiped out in Xuzhou quickly spread to all Japanese troops. Since losing contact with the First Army, Zairen and Xiang Feeling that something was wrong, Yue Qingsi ordered the Japanese troops to stop attacking, and strengthened the defense against the Chinese army based on the principle of sticking to the existing positions.

The two of them did not dare to conceal such a big incident, and reported the actual situation to the base camp. The Japanese base camp, which was extremely surprised, immediately jumped up and down, and immediately ordered the various departments of the Shanghai Dispatch Army to immediately stop all kinds of military operations in order to hold on to the existing positions. In order to basically know the policy, it's just that their so-called existing positions are still ships wandering at sea.

There are no targets that need to be rescued, and there is no way to fight. If it is not possible, the troops sent in will be eaten by the Chinese army. The Japanese army all took a defensive position and adjusted their deployment.

The Japanese army took a strategic defensive position. The generals of the Central Army and Chairman Jiang in the Songhu and Hangzhou Bay battlefields in the south were naturally relieved. During this period of time, they fought fiercely with the Japanese, and the Central Army suffered a lot of losses. With the addition of troops and various supplies, the Japanese army's refusal to fight is naturally in line with its intentions.

Officer Yan Xishan Yan on the Shanxi battlefield was also happy that the Japanese would take the initiative to give up. He had no idea of ​​taking the initiative to take advantage of this opportunity. Under the siege of the Japanese army several times, it was not easy to keep the altars and pots in Shanxi. He even took the initiative to provoke the Japanese People, that's asking for trouble, old men don't do such thankless stupid things.

Yan Xishan and Chairman Jiang did not move, but it does not mean that the generals of the Independent Division were able to let the Japanese army go. Liu Tiehan and Li Honggang, who beat the 30 Japanese troops under the personal command of Zai Ren on the front line of Cangzhou, were beaten to death. Taking advantage of the opportunity of the Japanese army retreating across the board, they took the initiative to attack. Not only did they intercept and kill several brigades of the Japanese rearguard, but they also extended the front line to the outskirts of Cangzhou. The original Japanese positions had already changed hands.

In this regard, apart from the passage connecting the north and Tianjin, the other three directions of Cangzhou City are under the control of the independent division. In addition, Li Honggang was sent to lead four brigades to approach the Jinghai area in the south of Tianjin. Pointing at Tianjin City, this move scared Zai Ren into a cold sweat, the only passage leading to Tianjin was cut off, and the Japanese army in Cangzhou became a shackle. [

He sent two divisions back to help Tianjin's defense, and repeatedly competed with Li Honggang's troops for key areas. After several fierce battles in Qingxian County and Dongziya area, Li Honggang's troops killed the Japanese army a lot and found that the Japanese army There is a tendency to gradually increase troops. In order to avoid being surrounded by the Japanese army in the Jinghai area, they voluntarily withdraw to the front line of Cangzhou, threatening the Tianjin campaign, and it came to an end.

Feng Jiwu, who was on the Niangziguan battlefield on the western front, received information that the Japanese army had stopped attacking and that there were signs of retreat, so he sent Han Tie, chief of staff of the Niangziguan Garrison Corps, to lead five brigades with more than 6 troops to sneak out from the old pass on the right wing of Niangziguan. The Japanese army set up an ambush on the only way to retreat to Jingxing Pass. When the Japanese army appeared, they suddenly broke out and fought fiercely for a day, inflicting a large number of casualties on the Japanese army.

Due to the huge difference in troop strength, Hantie's troops voluntarily left the battlefield in the evening. For some unknown reason, the Japanese army did not pursue them, and Hantie's troops returned to Niangziguan safely. So far, all fighting in the northern battlefield has ceased.

Looking at the overall situation on the northern battlefield, after the Japanese troops stopped attacking everywhere, the Japanese Yamaguchi troops under the city of Wuxiang were isolated and highlighted. In fact, they were already a lone army. , There are signs of retreat. The troops of the three regiments are already on the route back to Shijiazhuang, deploying guard troops and strengthening bridges. This route just passes through the Taihang Mountains.

(To be continued)