Yang Zhen, who was looking at the map in the headquarters, was naturally unaware of the conversation outside. Lee Myung-bak was right. The reason why Yang Zhen insisted on staying was indeed not simply to gather the southern line that he had not yet contacted.
Troops and a battalion of rearguards.
Although he is also very anxious about the troops that have lost contact with the southern front, Yang Zhen still understands the principle of abandoning one to save the main force at the critical moment. The reason why he stayed is to attract the attention of the surrounding enemy forces.
Strength, coordinate the actions of the military headquarters and the main force.
In fact, in order to attract the attention of surrounding enemy forces, Yang Zhen does not necessarily have to stay by himself. The deputy chief of staff of the military department, the chief of staff, or even a regiment commander can do it. The reason why he stays is that once he is in the follow-up
Before the troops arrived, the breach was sealed, and I was able to stabilize the morale of the following troops.
Another key issue is how to use the limited troops in hand to present the main force and make the surrounding enemy forces think that the military headquarters is still in Xingtan, which is difficult for others to do. Use the limited troops in hand to attract the enemy's attention.
Power, this is a very difficult technical job.
Although the development of the battle situation has been under Yang Zhen's control so far. However, in the second half of the night, the situation deteriorated so quickly that he was somewhat unexpected. The enemy forces around Xingtan unexpectedly changed.
It was customary to move slowly at night. They did not hesitate to advance overnight, and the speed was quite fast, which surprised Yang Zhen.
At present, Xingtan is the focus of competition between the two sides. For the southern Anhui army, Xingtan is almost the only way to survive when the surrounding enemy troops gather. And for the third theater, losing Xingtan means that
This means that a gap will be opened in the entire blockade. Once the southern Anhui troops enter the Tianmu Mountains of Jingde, it will be tantamount to returning to the mountain for the Third War Zone.
Tianmu Mountain covers a vast area, with a length of more than 200 kilometers from east to west and a width of more than 60 kilometers from north to south. The mountains are high and forested, with an average altitude of more than 1,000 meters. To the east, you can enter the mountains of western Zhejiang, and to the south, you can enter Huangshan and Jiuhua in Jixi.
Mountain range, with access to the Taihu Lake Basin in southern Jiangsu from the north, and ample room for maneuver.
If the New Fourth Army troops in southern Anhui enter the Tianmu Mountains, the Third Theater District would like to seize this force again, even if all the troops on hand are used. I'm afraid it would be no more than a dream. In order to block the southern Anhui troops from moving southward into the Tianmu Mountains, the Third Theater District will go all out.
Try your best. Almost all the elites are mobilized around Yunling.
Therefore, after the breakthrough was opened in Xingtan, it is normal for the three theaters to mobilize forces at all costs to counterattack. As long as the southern Anhui troops pass through the Xingtan line and re-close the Xingtan line, it means that the initiative on the entire battlefield is still there.
In one's own hands.
Yang Zhen did not know at this time that as early as when the army commander concentrated his forces to attack the Xingtan front line, in order to complete the encirclement of the southern Anhui army as soon as possible, Xu Zhixu, chief of staff of the 32nd Army, ordered Shangguan Yunxiangzhi, Commander-in-Chief of the 32nd Army, to
He personally rushed to the 52nd Division to take command and urged the 52nd Division to speed up its actions.
Under Xu Zhixu's urging, Liu Bingzhe, the commander of the 52nd Division, changed his previous steady and steady tactics after nightfall. He temporarily reorganized the main 154th Regiment into two reinforced battalions and merged them with the search company directly under the division, using the Piling front line Wannan provided by Zhao Lingbo.
The troops deployed intelligence and penetrated into the Piling battlefield to seize various commanding heights. At the same time, all the 155th and 156th regiments were committed to the attack. Deputy division Zhu Huirong and division chief of staff Shao Jianzhong were all assigned to command the two regiments.
After learning that the Xingtan front line had been breached, in order to seal the breach as quickly as possible, Liu Bingzhe, who did not know how many members of the southern Anhui army had broken out from the Xingtan front line, dispatched the 56th Regiment, one of the most complete organizations, to carry out the mortar attack.
One company each of artillery and heavy machine guns bypassed the blocking position of the Laoshan Regiment. From the Bangshan line, they forced their way southwest and tried to attack Xingtan.
After the Xingtan front line was breached, Fang Riying, commander of the 40th Division, was severely reprimanded by the 32nd Army Headquarters. He was strictly ordered to mobilize all the troops on hand and seal the breakthrough again within two hours.
In desperation, the main force was previously deployed on the line from Sanxi to Xingtan. After the line at Bangshan was lost, some troops were transferred back to the Sanxi Protection Division headquarters, and only one battalion was deployed in the direction of Langqiao. At this time, Wannan was not yet known.
Fang Riying, whose headquarters and main force had already crossed the Huihe River, could not even take care of his own division headquarters.
In addition to leaving one battalion of the 448th Regiment of the 148th Division that had just arrived under his command to defend the front line from the south of Xingtan to Sanxi, he ordered the main force of the 448th Regiment to commit all two battalions without waiting for rest.
Xingtan front line. Fang Riying's move brought considerable pressure to the Xingtan defenders who only had one battalion at this time.
The 52nd Division advanced faster than expected, and its tactical adjustments also exceeded expectations. After the 40th Division was broken through at Xingtan, it desperately mobilized forces to counterattack, causing the situation to rapidly worsen.
If Yang Zhen hadn't made a decisive decision, not waiting for Xingtan to be completely captured, and taking advantage of the time difference when reinforcements from the Forty Division came up, and asked the army commander to lead the military headquarters and the main force to break through Huihe, I am afraid that he would have waited until three in the morning to leave, facing the
The north-south pincer attack between the two divisions may not be able to escape.
At that time, the entire Xingtan could only have five regiments of troops on the surrounding battlefields. Facing two divisions and six regiments of enemy troops coming out in full force, under the huge disparity in strength and equipment, it could be said that they were unable to fight.
There is no way out. Fighting will lead to a dead end. If you want to leave, it will take time and cost to break through in front of an opponent with superior strength.
Waiting for the 144th Division behind them, a brigade of the New 7th Division, the 108th Division, and the 79th Division on the southern front, which has also obviously accelerated its movements, to arrive. Together with the non-combatants of the military headquarters, Wannan has only 9,000 troops.
The troops will be surrounded in a small area west of Huihe River, south of Tanlikou, north of Niulan Ridge, and east of Pi Ridge.
Although Xingtan was facing an extremely difficult situation at this time, Yang Zhen succeeded in attracting the main forces of the 52nd Division and the 40th Division to Xingtan with one battalion. This caused the military headquarters and the main force to move to the northeast of Jingxian County.
At that time, the two troops did not deploy any troops to pursue.
Although the military headquarters and the main force had broken out, they were faced with the counterattack of the Forty Division, which forced them to stay to attract the attention of the surrounding enemy forces. Xingtan, which was seriously under-strength, immediately fell into a dangerous situation. The final outcome of the old regiment that was left behind
A fully organized battalion with the strongest combat effectiveness. Although it repeatedly charged and killed, the gap in strength comparison quickly fell into passivity. By four o'clock in the morning, the defensive troops had been compressed to the northeast corner of Xingtan.
By four o'clock in the morning, the entire Xingtan defense force, including the guard company, was already less than one and a half companies. The leading troops of the 448th Regiment had already reached less than 200 meters away from Yang Zhen's command post. Faced with increasingly serious threats,
In this dangerous situation, Ye Chao and Yin Yang could no longer keep their composure no matter how calm they were.
Ye Chao, who had just commanded the guard company to counterattack a company of the Forty Division that had rushed in, walked up to Yang Zhen covered in blood and said: "Political Commissar, the defensive troops in front have been injured and killed. If we don't withdraw, we really won't be able to leave."
.Political Commissar, I beg you, please evacuate as soon as possible before the northeast is completely sealed off."
Facing the anxious Ye Chao, Yang Zhen looked at his watch calmly, estimated the marching speed of the main force, and then said: "If everything is normal, the military headquarters has now passed the road from Langqiao to Sanxi.
We have entered the mountains to block the front line. It should be said that the military headquarters and the main force are already out of danger."
Having said that, Yang Zhen turned to face his side. Yuan Dejun, the director of the Communications Section of the Military Ministry who was specially retained by the military commander to cooperate with Yang Zhen because of his extremely high professional level, said: "Why haven't we contacted the southern front troops and rear guard troops yet?"
superior?"
Hearing Yang Zhen's question, Yuan Dejun shook his head and said: "The rearguard has just been contacted. They have got rid of the enemy's entanglement. They can arrive at Xingtan in ten minutes at most. As for the southern front troops, they have not been contacted yet.
On average, we called one side for ten minutes on average, but there was still no response from the troops on the southern front."
"I sent multiple groups of human correspondents, with the cooperation of local cadres who are familiar with the local situation, to search on the front line of Changkeng Mountain, but they could not be found. For such a long time, the political commissar and the southern front troops had no news. Is there any accident?
Otherwise, even if there is a problem with the radio station, the human communicators we have sent for such a long time should have found it."
Yang Zhen did not answer his words, but turned to ask Yin Yang, deputy chief of the reconnaissance section: "Where are the troops of the 79th Division on the Niulanling front line now? Can you find out? Don't tell me, now
The artillery shells coming from the southwest that landed on our heads, we don’t know which unit came from it.”
Upon hearing Yang Zhen's inquiry, Yin Yang quickly said: "Political Commissar, the 79th Division has now crossed the Niulan Ridge line and is developing to the north of Niulan Ridge. However, compared to other directions, the 79th Division's movements are relatively
Slowly. After occupying Niulan Ridge, the 235th Regiment did not continue to go north, but stationed on the spot at the front line of Niulan Ridge."
"Although the 236th Regiment on the left has seized the Guanling and Dashan lines, it is extremely cautious in its eastward development. However, it can reach the west of Changkeng Mountain this morning at the latest. Only the 237th Regiment on the right has moved faster and has now seized the
From the Zeng family east of Niulanling, the forwards have reached the front line of Changkeng Mountain. A communications squad sent to find the southern front troops encountered them on the front line of Changkeng Mountain."
"During the battle, our army suffered heavy casualties. Six people were killed and three were missing. A communications squad, only one squad leader came back to report. Political Commissar, it can now be confirmed that the southern front troops are no longer on the Changkeng Mountain front line. As for where they went.
, we don’t know yet.”
Facing the southern front troops who were still unable to contact him, Yang Zhen frowned. The southern front troops carried two radios, but they were still unable to contact them. It seemed that the worst was possible. As they continued to wait, four radio stations had already been contacted.
The troops of the Tenth Division compressed in a corner of Xingtan will be completely surrounded and annihilated here.
After looking at the map, Yang Zhen said to Ye Chao beside him without any hesitation: "Take my horse and tell the rearguard camp to run to Xingtan immediately. Everyone fixes their bayonets and prepares to break out. Also, move all the light and heavy machine guns and fortresses."
Set up all the artillery pieces for me and hit me hard at a point southeast of Xingtan."
Hearing that Yang Zhen was about to concentrate his troops to break out to the southeast, Ye Chao couldn't help but hesitated and said: "Political Commissar, there are only no gunshots in the northeast around Xingtan, which means that the reinforcements of the 40th Division have not arrived there yet. There should be
It is the best place for us to break out. How do you choose the southeast direction? That is the enemy's rear, and in the previous battles, the enemy's offensive in that direction was also the strongest."