On the evening of October 5, 1941, in a mountain forest east of Heze, soldiers of the New Third Brigade were scattered and hiding.
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The New Third Brigade has three regiments, with a main force of nearly 5,000 troops. This time, in conjunction with the Southwestern Shandong Army Division operation, in addition to the remaining troops, two regiments and brigade troops were dispatched, totaling more than 4,000 troops.
It's October, the sun is shining brightly during the day, but the weather is quite cool in the morning and evening.
In the mountains and forests, the cool breeze was blowing. Each and every soldier of the New Third Brigade was still wearing summer singles. They were not like the troops of the Tainan Military Region, who each had a marching quilt.
I saw only two or three people huddled together, or sharing a quilt with exposed cotton wool, or wearing a felt or poncho to protect from the wind, or even hiding in the leeward, covered with hay.
"Old Han, we have arrived at the scheduled location, but why can't we stand still? Is this because the battle plan has changed?" Political Commissar Tan of the New Third Brigade asked.
"That may be true. The telegram only said that we should stand by where we are. Maybe there is something going on with the Japanese army. In the final analysis, we are just attacking and cooperating with our brother troops. We just wait!" Brigadier Han said.
...
By the time Zhou Weihan received the telegram from the headquarters, it was already the 6th.
Zhou Weihan was deeply surprised by the reply in the telegram. He really didn't expect that the head of the Military Commission and the headquarters would trust him so much.
Zhou Weihan had been hesitating before whether to fight or not, until he finally made up his mind after seeing this telegram.
"Old Zhou, the headquarters wants you to decide whether or not to give me a nice message. We will listen to you!" Li Yunlong was still chattering in Zhou Weihan's ear.
"Fight, take Heze!" Zhou Weihan slammed the table decisively, startling Li Yunlong next to him, and then asked: "We will also take Heze City?"
"Once you do it, is there any difference?" Zhou Weihan asked rhetorically.
I saw Li Yunlong agreeing: "Then hit him. At worst, he will die, and his head will have a scar as big as a bowl!"
Luo Benzhong sneered at Li Yunlong's irrelevant words. This battle had a lot to do with it. How could it be that he, Li Yunlong, had lost his head?
"Commissioner, has the decision been made?" Luo Benzhong asked.
"The decision has been made. Although the situation we face in the future is very severe, we must have confidence!" Zhou Weihan said firmly.
Since he joined the Eighth Route Army, he has been flapping like a butterfly's wings. Although Zhou Weihan's actions cannot change the overall situation of China's Anti-Japanese War.
But at present, the changes in the Taihang base area with the Eighth Route Army headquarters as the core are obvious. The base areas in other places are also developing better than in history. The change in food alone is particularly obvious.
Secondly, the Huangyadong Arsenal has a 79-caliber bullet production line, which is mixed with seizures, transactions, etc., to meet the combat needs of the three military regions of Taibei, Tainan, and Taiyue.
The Tainan base area has developed into a benchmark for all Eighth Route Army base areas. The troops in the Tainan Military Region have also developed towards regular field troops. With the strength to compete head-on with the Japanese army, the other military regions have also formed large-scale field troops.
In this battle of southwestern Shandong, Heze was fully recovered, and then Heze was used as a base for development, which changed the Eighth Route Army's consistent development philosophy.
The moment Zhou Weihan made his decision, history had already shifted.
...
"Okay! But the specific combat plan, as well as the manpower and material resources mobilized will need to be adjusted!" Luo Benzhong nodded.
"Immediately adjust and report my decision back to the headquarters!" Zhou Weihan said.
At present, most of the military chiefs and political chiefs of the troops commanded by Zhou Weihan were directly promoted by him. Among the cadres at the military division level, only Luo Benzhong joined halfway, and the same is true for middle- and lower-level cadres.
The good thing is that once Zhou Weihan's order is issued, internal opinions will be quickly unified and the troops will be at arm's length.
As for the disadvantages, although it is a unit of the Eighth Route Army that is disciplined and principled, being under the command of one person, Zhou Weihan, for a long time will inevitably leave its mark and even form a mountain.
But right now, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, and Luo Benzhong's performance is the best proof.
After Luo Benzhong left, Li Yunlong asked: "Should we mobilize more troops? The Heze area is not small. The current troops on hand are not enough. If I had known, I would have gathered more troops before!"
Zhou Weihan was also thinking about mobilizing some troops. At the moment, the troops in the Hebei, Shandong and Yu Military Region were really not enough.
Taking the Zhinan Military Division as an example, it covers Neihuang, Qingfeng, and Nanle counties, and also occupies parts of the area north of Puyang, Guancheng, Chaocheng, and west of Guan County.
As the main force, the regiment has been operating on the move outside. Only Zhou Weiguo's independent regiment is stationed in the base area, and its military strength is really stretched thin.
In comparison, the situation of the Zhangbei and Henan military divisions is slightly better, and the southwestern Shandong military division will face the same situation in the future.
"It's too late to temporarily form troops. We need to capture Heze first. We can select soldiers from the puppet army, or form new basic troops from local armed forces in other military divisions!" Zhou Weihan said.
On the evening of the 6th, combat orders were issued to all participating units. The third regiment moved south from Hanji Town first and secretly assembled east of Kaocheng to cut off the Japanese transportation lines or block Japanese reinforcements at any time.
The independent regiment of the Southwestern Shandong Military Division serves as a siege force and supports each other with the New Third Brigade. The First Regiment, the New First Regiment, and the Artillery Regiment are moving to Heze in the north, and are expected to ambush the Japanese army at the junction of Heze and Dingtao.
of reinforcements.
Inside Shangqiu City.
A man in black leather hurriedly walked towards Wu Ji's leather goods shop, which was the enemy's stronghold in the city.
Dongdongdong's knock on the door sounded, and then the lights turned on in the house.
"Sir, our shop is going overseas and we can no longer do business. How about you come back tomorrow?"
"It's me who's the shopkeeper!"
With a creak, the door opened, and the shopkeeper looked out.
"Don't worry, there's no one around. I happen to be on patrol tonight!" Hei Pi Xiao San said.
"Come in quickly!" the shopkeeper greeted, "What's so urgent?"
"Today I heard from someone standing guard at the train station that the Japanese army had brought several tanks from Kaifeng and they arrived in the afternoon. I thought they must be against our troops!"
"Tanks? How many are there?"
"It should be the tank squadron under the search wing of the 35th Division. As expected, there should be twelve tanks!" Xiao San said.
"It's broken. The little devil actually brought all the tanks!" The shopkeeper hurriedly walked around in circles, and then said: "Comrade Xiao San, your information is very important. I want to thank you on behalf of the organization!"
"There is no need to be grateful, this is what every Chinese should do!" Although Xiao San was wearing black leather, he had a fiery heart hidden in his body.
