As the Anti-Japanese War lasted for a year, the war between China and Japan began to feel a bit stalemate.
As the news of the Taierzhuang victory spread, the Chinese were of course rejoicing. However, after the Japanese base camp learned that the Setani detachment and the Sakamoto detachment were encircled and annihilated by the Chinese army in the Taierzhuang area, the first thought was that this was
Are you kidding? This is simply a fantasy!
After all, this kind of thing was completely beyond their expectation, because in the eyes of the Japanese, they deeply believed that losing to the Chinese army was something that lost the military power of the Japanese Imperial Army, and it was also something that could not happen.
things.
But now that things have happened, they have no choice but to believe it, so what they have to do at this time is to think carefully about how to retaliate against China and restore their lost dignity.
At this time, Japan also received some intelligence. Among the intelligence, the most important thing was that after the Battle of Taierzhuang, China's propaganda agencies began to build momentum and constantly promoted the victory of Taierzhuang, and even
He also declared that he would fight Japan decisively to gain the fruits of victory.
Moreover, at this time, China's rear army could be described as a convoy of vehicles, concentrating in the direction of Xuzhou day and night.
So now in the area around Xuzhou, the strength of the Chinese army has reached 28 armies, almost 600,000 people, which can be regarded as accounting for one-third of the total Chinese army, and these Chinese armies are all along the same lines.
Set up formation along Jinpu Road and Longhai Road.
Therefore, the current Xuzhou City can be described as "overcrowded". Therefore, the Japanese also decided to take advantage of the opportunity of the heavy Chinese army to gather in Xuzhou and mobilize the main force of the Japanese army from North China and East China, along the north and south of Jinpu Road.
To advance, and then cut off the Longhai Road, in order to encircle Xuzhou, eliminate the heavy Chinese army group, and resolve the war situation in one fell swoop, thereby forcing the Chinese government to surrender.
After issuing the combat mission, Japan mobilized nine divisions of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, divided into two routes, the south and the north, to jointly attack Xuzhou. By advancing from the north to the south, they could also completely cut off the traffic on the Longhai Road, thus completing the task.
The strategic encirclement of Xuzhou.
At the same time, the Japanese base camp ordered the remnants of the Setani detachment and the Sakamoto detachment to perform meritorious service and continue to stand firm in the Linzao and Yixian areas to await reinforcements and entangle the Chinese army.
They even ordered the navy to send troops to Lianyungang to threaten the east flank of Xuzhou as a suspect.
This time, the Japanese also dispatched a total of 300,000 troops to participate in the battle.
Even after the arrangements were completed, the Japanese troops from the south and the north followed the order and launched together to crush the Chinese army with thunderous force.
At this time, the Japanese army was like overwhelming locusts, so the Chinese army was unable to resist.
On May 5th, the Japanese troops on the southern route advanced northward and successively occupied the important towns of Mengcheng and Yongcheng in the southwest of Xuzhou. By the middle of the month, they had already pushed towards the southwest suburbs of Xuzhou and fought fiercely with the defenders day and night.
The four Japanese divisions on the North Route also crossed the Yellow River, advanced southward, successively captured Tangzhai and Heze towns, bypassed Nanyang Lake, Zhaoyang Lake, and Weishan Lake, and pushed towards Xuzhou from the west.
The Japanese 14th Division, with 30,000 guns, also crossed the Yellow River from Pu County on the 12th. The vanguard rushed southwest and captured Huangji in the important town east of Lanfeng in one fell swoop, cutting off the Longhai Road. By May 10
On the 5th, the Japanese troops from the south and the north joined forces to form an encirclement of Xuzhou.
When Li Zongren in Xuzhou learned about this situation, he was instantly shocked. To be honest, even if the Chinese army had 600,000 and the Japanese only had 300,000 at this time, if they were surrounded by the Japanese, then the Chinese army would
The main force will definitely be surrounded and annihilated by the Japanese.
And at this moment, no matter what strategy he used, he could not win. In order to preserve his strength, he hurriedly broke the army into pieces and began to order a retreat.
Following the order, the Northern Jiangsu Corps retreated southeastward to Northern Jiangsu; the 69th Army retreated to central Shandong to prepare for future guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines.
The remaining main force groups, each organized into corps and divisions, were divided into five groups to evacuate Xuzhou and retreat southwest to the mountainous areas of Anhui and Henan. At the same time, the 68th Army was ordered to defend Xuzhou to cover the retreat of the main force.
In this way, the Chinese army immediately burned the bulky materials and quickly retreated toward the southwest.
Moreover, going west from Xuzhou, the whole road is completely flat. Therefore, although the Japanese army formed an encirclement of Xuzhou, they did not have many troops. Therefore, they could only occupy a point line west of Xuzhou, but there were many gaps between the points and lines.
All of these can be used as escape routes.
Therefore, the Chinese troops retreating westward also opened roads through mountains and built bridges when encountering water. If they encountered weak enemies guarding the pass, they would concentrate their elite troops to clear the way, kill the Japanese troops and rush through. If they encountered strong enemies guarding the pass, they would leave partial divisions to contain them.
, the main force took a detour.
Under this day and night journey, within a few days, we got out of the Japanese encirclement and entered the designated position.
The Japanese army advanced from the south to the north. Although they said they captured Xuzhou on May 19, they only got an empty city.
After knowing that the siege failed this time and that another rout was fought in Xuzhou, the Japanese base camp was very angry, so it urgently ordered Japanese troops from all walks of life to follow the Chinese army and pursue westward along the Longhai Road in order to march into Wuhan.
Seize traffic lines.
Subsequently, the Japanese Tenth Division occupied Haoxian County in Anhui Province, went west to Henan, and successively captured Zhecheng and Taikang; the Sixteenth Division marched westward from Xuzhou along Longhai Road and successively occupied Dangshan, Mamuji, Guide, and Qixian County
, Tongxu, Weishi, Zhuxian Town.
The 14th Division took the lead because of its location to the west. It captured Lanfeng on May 24th, Kaifeng on June 6th, Zhongmou on the 7th, and a forward cavalry regiment of 1,000 men, and advanced on the 10th.
In Xinzheng, the Pinghan Railway Bridge was blown up and the Pinghan Road was cut off. Zhengzhou was in emergency.
At this time, Chang Shenkai was still in the Wuhan base camp. At first, when he knew that Xuzhou's 600,000-strong army was slowly retreating, all of them broke through the Japanese encirclement line and retreated into the mountains of Henan and Anhui, he was secretly relieved.
However, a few days later, Chang Shenkai learned that the Japanese army was invading and occupying Xuzhou. After opening up Jinpu Road, they actually divided into three groups and pursued westward along Longhai Road. They had now occupied dozens of cities in northern Anhui and eastern Henan.
Moreover, the Japanese forward 14th Division had already occupied Lanfeng and was attacking Kaifeng. For a while, Chang Shenkai couldn't sit still anymore.
Because if Kaifeng is lost, Zhengzhou may not be protected, but no matter what, Zhengzhou cannot be lost.