Glorious Mission 1937

Guodiantun. Headquarters of the First Column of the Shandong Eighth Route Army.

The command center of the First Column is located in the small and inconspicuous place of Guodiantun. From 4:5 a.m. on April [-], the entire headquarters of the First Column in Shandong was in a state of confusion. Column commander Xu Xiangqian and political commissar Zhu Rui and other senior cadres all appeared at the headquarters, discussing the battle plan nervously, and the beeping sound from the high-power radio station in the combat headquarters has not been interrupted.

"Old Zhu, what's the situation now, which army has come out?" Xu Xiangqian frowned and asked.

"The situation is very bad. Except for the headquarters of the Second Regiment and the First Battalion, which rushed out, the other troops are surrounded by devils. Now the encirclement of the devils is shrinking, and their strategic space is getting smaller and smaller. We must rescue them." Zhu Rui said loudly.

"Has the First Brigade Headquarters rushed out? Is there any news about Li Erlian?"

"Chong rushed out, but they only broke through the first encirclement circle of the Japanese army, and there is another encirclement circle of the Japanese army around them. Brigadier Li and the others are all fine, but the three battalions of the first brigade headquarter now only have more than 400 soldiers. More than 500 people were killed, and 200 wounded voluntarily stayed to stop the Japanese army, and all of them died!" Zhu Rui replied.

"How about the casualties of other troops?" Xu Xiangqian continued to ask.

"It's all very serious. The first brigade has now lost one-fifth of its troops. In addition, more than 70 villages have been looted by the Japanese army. Many militia teams have been wiped out by the devils. Among them, 27 villages have been massacred by the devils. It is estimated that The casualties were about 3000. This is not counting the casualties of ordinary people. If all are counted, the Japanese and puppet troops caused at least 1 military and civilian casualties in our defense area in just one day."

Hearing such a huge loss, Xu Xiangqian couldn't help but gasp. The little devil is determined to get rid of Shandong Yizong this time, otherwise he wouldn't do it.

"How is the morale of the troops? What do the soldiers think?" What Xu Xiangqian is most concerned about now is the morale of the troops. As long as the morale of the troops is still there, there is still a chance to make a comeback. No, an army without a soul is no longer a regular army.It will be a matter of time before someone eats it.

Zhu Rui sighed and said: "Because of the little devil's massacre of the village, the morale of the troops is very low. Some soldiers are unwilling to retreat and transfer, and they are having a relationship with the brigade headquarters."

"Hey! There is no way to do this. Most of the soldiers in the first brigade are locals. Now the little devils are killing people and setting fire to their homes. No one wants to be chased by the little devils like this. Let a group The political commissars of the brigade and the instructors of the battalions and companies did more ideological work for the soldiers. We had to move because we had to move, and only by moving could we preserve our strength, and then we could avenge the death of fellow villagers!" Xu Xiangqian said.

"The main reason is that the little devil is too cruel. Wherever he went, he almost didn't stay. There are more than 1000 people in Douhutun, where the headquarters of the first brigade is located. Except for less than 200 people who withdrew with the troops, the other [-] people The rest of the people were all slaughtered, among them were infants and young children who were waiting to be fed and old people with white hair, it was too tragic!" Zhu Rui said through gritted teeth.

"Bastard!" Hearing that the Japanese army dared to commit such a tragic murder in North China, Xu Xiangqian couldn't help but slammed the pencil in his hand on the conference table, and gritted his teeth and spit out these two words.

"Commander, what should we do now? The little devil has made it clear that he wants to eat up the first brigade. We can't let their plot succeed!" Li Guang, chief of staff of Shandong First Column, asked loudly.

"One mixed brigade and two rubbish infantry divisions just want to eat my Shandong Yizong. The little devils have a lot of appetite. There are not many little devils in Luxi, and they have been scared by us in the past few years. This team The little devil should have been transferred from another place, and we don't know our strength yet, so let's have fun with these bastards." At this point, Xu Xiangqian's voice suddenly changed, and he said loudly: "Order : The first brigade immediately searched for favorable terrain on the spot to organize a defense line, and dealt with the Japanese army. It must persist for more than a week. The second brigade, the third brigade, the first security brigade, the second brigade, and the third brigade, the Lihai detachment and the Wangshan detachment immediately went to Liaocheng At the same time, order the county brigades, district squads, and militia detachments to immediately cover the transfer of ordinary people." Xu Xiangqian ordered decisively.

"Yes!" Even though none of them knew Xu Xiangqian's strategic intentions, they still faithfully carried out Xu Xiangqian's order due to their consistent trust.

In fact, Xu Xiangqian's plan is very simple-surround Wei and save Zhao!Although Shandong Yizong has not been established for a long time, its reputation in Luxi is not small. With the strong support of the Eighth Route Army headquarters, Shandong Yizong has developed extremely rapidly in the past two years. Although there are only three regular infantry brigades on the surface, plus The total strength of the troops directly under the upper column is no more than 1.8, but in fact, there are 12 regular troops belonging to the Shandong First Column in the entire Luxi area, with a total strength of 3.2. In addition, there are also a large number of local armed forces , with a total strength of more than 7 troops.

After successively launching attacks against the Japanese and puppet troops in West Lu, Shandong Yizong has established a solid base in West Lu, and the Japanese and puppet troops in West Lu can only control a few kilometers around the county seat.In addition, part of the puppet army has secretly joined the Eighth Route Army. If it were not for the fear that the destruction of the entire Japanese and puppet troops in the western Luxi area would cause large-scale retaliation by the Japanese army, otherwise Shandong Yizong would have killed all the Japanese and puppet troops in the western Luxi area. up.

Xu Xiangqian judged that the Japanese army obviously didn't know about this situation. The Japanese commander in Luxi probably didn't tell the truth to the No.12 Army Command stationed in Shandong. Otherwise, the Japanese army would never dare to send a mere infantry brigade to sweep Luxi.

Moreover, the Japanese army appeared very suddenly this time. According to common sense, these Japanese troops could not carry too many weapons and ammunition, so Xu Xiangqian judged that the Japanese army must have a logistics base in the Luxi area.Through analysis, Xu Xiangqian judged that the logistics base was most likely in Liaocheng. On the one hand, Liaocheng was the largest city in Luxi, and the transportation here was convenient, which was very conducive to the transportation of materials.

On the other hand, because Liaocheng is the closest to the main battlefield, setting up the logistics base there is conducive to the attack of the troops.Therefore, Xu Xiangqian prepared to concentrate his superior forces to besiege Liaocheng, forcing the main force of the Japanese army to return to help, so as to solve the crisis of the first brigade.

After receiving the order from the First Column Headquarters, the First Brigade immediately established a line of defense in the Wangtangshan area, and then the troops scattered nearby quickly assembled towards Wangtangshan and stood by for orders.As of the evening of April 4, the number of regular troops of the Eighth Route Army on the Wangtangshan line had exceeded 7, and there were also more than 3000 local troops and militiamen, and about 5000 ordinary people who followed the troops.

Yan Junliu and Netsuhiro were extremely happy to see that the battle situation was developing as they expected. Although this was not a war worthy of attention in Yan Junliu's view, as part of the test of the real combat effectiveness of the Imperial Japanese Army, Yan Junliu Still very concerned about this battle.

However, judging from the battlefield situation now, the Chinese people seem to be as vulnerable as before, although the news from the front said that the combat effectiveness of the Chinese army has improved, causing certain casualties to the imperial army.But the imperial army has taken the absolute initiative in strategy. As long as this Chinese infantry brigade is surrounded, the remaining two Chinese infantry brigades can only be led by the nose.

However, soon another news came from the front line that ruined the good mood of Yan Jun's six generals. The tens of thousands of Chinese troops besieged Liaocheng, and the defenders were in danger. A telegram was sent to the No.12 Army Command for help.

Where is Liaocheng? Of course, the six generals of Yan Jun knew that this small town in China played an important role in the campaign to encircle and suppress China's Tuba Road. It was the logistics base of tens of thousands of imperial troops, so there was absolutely nothing to lose.

Although the good mood was ruined, the six generals of Yanjun were not worried. Although Liaocheng is not a heavy city, in order to ensure the smooth progress of the bandit suppression in the west, the No.12 Army has strengthened the defense force of Liaocheng. In addition to a reinforced brigade, there is also a heavy machine gun squadron and a mortar squadron, as well as a puppet infantry regiment, plus the military police and police in the city, the total strength of the established defenders has exceeded 1.

Moreover, Liaocheng's fortifications are very complete. It is not so easy for even the Eighth War Zone, which has the strongest combat effectiveness in China, to take Liaocheng, let alone the China Tuba Road, which lacks heavy firepower.

Although the troops of the Tuba Road attacking Liaocheng are said to be tens of thousands, they lack the necessary siege weapons and equipment, and they are barely able to deal with the strongholds under ordinary county towns or towns, let alone a city like Liaocheng.As long as Liaocheng can persist for three or two days, the imperial army will be able to annihilate the Chinese army in the encirclement in one fell swoop, and then return to aid Liaocheng, and cooperate with the defenders in the city to wipe out all the hateful Tuba Road.

However, the ideal is full, but the reality is skinny, not only the backbone, but more cruel. On the night of April 4th, the Liaocheng Garrison Command sent a telegram that the Imperial Association Army in the city had mutinied. Jiang Shouyi, the deputy head of the Imperial Association Army, led two battalions of soldiers to rebel, killed the head Liu Erhu, and opened the east gate of Liaocheng. Let the Tuba Road come in, and now the Liaocheng Garrison Command is organizing street battles, but due to the huge gap in troop strength, they can last for 8 to 3 hours at most, if the reinforcements have not arrived by then, they will collectively break down as His Majesty the Emperor loyal.

Yan Junliu, Liaocheng's garrison commander, did not know him, but he heard from the No. 12 Army's top brass that he was a real soldier.Now that Shao Zuo Inoue has said all the words about the collective jade broken, the acceptance of the rotten situation must have far exceeded their expectations, so the Sixth General Yan Jun ordered the troops around Liaocheng to reinforce Liaocheng urgently, and at the same time ordered the Ministry of Nemotobo to immediately Step up the offensive and be sure to wipe out all the Chinese troops in the encirclement before the 9th. (To be continued..)