With the end of the Peiping battlefield, except for a part of the troops that originally fought on the battlefields around Peking, almost the entire army went south to participate in the battle. The total strength of the Anti-Japanese Alliance in the entire Jizhong battlefield has been
Four columns plus five divisions.
In the North China battlefield, thousands of tanks have been deployed, nearly 400 artillery pieces over 100 mm, and nearly 500 combat aircraft of various types. Although the losses are considered heavy at the moment, the current number of tanks is still
There are more than 700 vehicles and more than 360 combat aircraft.
However, the take-off and landing conditions in the mountainous area of western Hebei are too poor, and the maneuverability of Soviet aircraft is relatively poor, so the accident rate of aviation take-off and landing is relatively high. The number of crashed aircraft is not much smaller than the number of battle-damaged aircraft. Therefore, the aviation force
The losses are relatively larger.
Among the troops on the ground, in addition to three independent tank regiments and four infantry divisions, which are attached to the Tianjin battlefield to suppress the enemies of Tianjin, the rest of the heavy equipment and main forces are mainly invested in the Jizhong battlefield.
That is to say, although the troops currently deployed on the Jizhong battlefield have suffered a certain loss in terms of overall strength, they are still within the tolerable range.
Coupled with some of the battle-damaged equipment that has been repaired, the current quantity is enough to meet the needs even if no additional heavy equipment is transferred from the Northeast. If we also add one unit each from the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei, Shanxi-Hebei-Luyu, and Shandong Military Regions participating in the war, we will have one unit each in hand.
Yang Zhen, who was extremely powerful, was determined to prepare for a comprehensive counterattack.
But in terms of the overall battle situation, starting from the main situation of the North China battlefield and the base areas behind enemy lines in North China, Yang Zhen was still determined to concentrate most of his troops first from the west and then to the east, as well as the main force of the armored group, to first deal with the enemies on the west bank of the Ziya River.
Cut off possible connections between the Japanese troops in the Hebei battlefield and the Shanxi battlefield.
Although the First Army on the Shanxi battlefield has not been able to take a step out of the Shanxi battlefield since the battle started. However, this First Army, which has three reorganized divisions, has always been Yang Zhen's thorn in the side. First, solve the problem on the west bank of the Ziya River.
The Japanese army is heavily armed. Even if the Japanese army in Shanxi breaks through the interception and blockage of the brothers' troops, they may not be able to fight back.
On the battlefield east of the Ziya River, except for the local battlefield between Renqiu and Dacheng, Yang Zhen's determination was still on the overall situation. At first, he mainly focused on the defensive, and adopted local and continuous counter-attack tactics to contain the Jinpu Railway.
The top priority of the Japanese army is the five infantry regiments that the Japanese army has currently deployed on the Baoding battlefield, and the six Japanese infantry brigades in front of Gaoyang.
In terms of the entire tactical deployment, Yang Zhen planned to use the main force of the 1st Armored Division to reinforce an infantry division, commanded by Xiong Botao, to pass through Wan County and forcibly penetrate Qingfengdian in the rear direction of Baoding. At the same time, he would use the strength of one division to move from Gaoyang to Baoding.
Flanking attack advances on the battlefield.
Cooperating with the troops intersecting towards Qingfengdian, Chen Hanzhang's one and a half divisions who were fighting fiercely with five Japanese regiments in the front, and the two divisions that were transferred up later. Under the cover of all tactical attack aircraft, they attacked the troops who had arrived in front of Baoding.
Five Japanese regiments carried out encirclement operations.
On the front of Gaoyang, an original division was concentrated, accompanied by an armored brigade transferred from the Pingxi battlefield, to launch a full-line counterattack on the front of Gaoyang. At the same time, an infantry division was used to strengthen the entire 11th independent tank regiment and penetrate Suning from the direction of Gaoyang.
Cut off the connection between Gaoyang and the enemy in Hejian.
After cutting off the connection between Gaoyang and the enemy in the river, the department used an infantry regiment to strengthen a tank battalion, attacked the troops from east to west that cooperated with Gaoyang's frontal attack, and eliminated the six infantry brigades of the enemy in front of Gaoyang. The main force immediately moved toward Gaoyang.
East, launch an attack on the left flank of the 64th Division.
On the frontal battlefield between the rivers, a tank regiment of the 2nd Armored Division, two battalions of the division's mechanized infantry regiment, and an armored reconnaissance battalion directly under the division were concentrated, with two infantry divisions attached. To deal with the main force of the 64th Division of the Japanese army, the
A comprehensive counterattack. The key point is to divide the 64th Division and the connection between it and the Japanese troops on the left and right wings.
According to this deployment on the battlefield west of the Ziya River, Yang Zhen deployed almost all the tank forces except the 4th Tank Regiment of the 2nd Armored Division, the 11th Armored Battalion of the 3rd Armored Brigade, and two infantry divisions as the general reserve force.
, and tactical attack aircraft have been invested.
On the Cangzhou battlefield on the western front, in addition to an infantry division with the cooperation of the Hebei-Shandong Border Military Region troops, the 22nd Division and the remnants of the 32nd Division trapped in Cangzhou were firmly blocked around Cangzhou.
And cut off the connection between the 22nd Division and the 32nd Division.
Yang Zhen sent the Second Cavalry Brigade out, and with the cooperation of the First Department of the Shandong Military Region, launched an attack on the supply line of the Japanese 22nd Division. He had only one order for the Second Cavalry Brigade, and that was to let the Second Cavalry Brigade on the Cangzhou battlefield
The 12th Division tried to weaken the Japanese army's supply capability as much as possible before the main force completed its turn.
As for the Japanese army bypassing the fronts of Hejian and Cangzhou, trying to bypass Renqiu, reversely outflank and divide the entire Japanese brigade on the Jizhong battlefield. Although it was true that Du Kaishan was caught off guard before, using Du Kaishan's energy, Cangzhou and He
Taking advantage of the opportunity of the frontal battlefield to attract the enemy, the Japanese army completed the forced crossing of the Ziya River and broke through the East Cluster between Nianzu Bridge and Liugezhuang, which was also the weakest defense in the entire Jizhong battlefield.
But who is Du Kaishan? He is the master who dared to poke a hole in the sky with a bamboo pole. Although when the Sixty-sixth Brigade broke through the Nianzu Bridge, they were indeed somewhat passive and even caught off guard. But
He didn't panic at all, nor did he rush to mobilize troops to block the gap.
Faced with the situation where an entire brigade of Japanese troops tore a hole in his defense line, he was very calm. Taking advantage of the large number of vehicles in his army, he quickly mobilized some troops and deployed along both sides of the breach.
The idea of directly allowing the 66th Brigade to expand to the two wings and widen the breakthrough point turned out to be a bunch of bubbles.
When the Japanese army in the direction of Nianzu Bridge could not hold off for a long time and turned around to turn between Renqiu and Dacheng, they adopted the tactics of resisting step by step, weakening the Japanese troops in front layer by layer, and using intensive artillery fire to block the breach opened by the Japanese army.
This brigade has been stationed around Lugong Fort, and has formed a situation of going deep alone.
Instead of retreating, they concentrated two regiments, strengthened a tank battalion and a battalion of the 2nd Armored Division's Mechanized Infantry Regiment, fought out from both wings of the Japanese army, and captured the main force of the 63rd Division and 66th Brigade that broke through the Japanese defense line.
The main force of the 66th brigade was surrounded by Lu Gongbao as the core and the surrounding area was no more than ten square kilometers.
And just after the Sixty-sixth Brigade broke through the Nianzu Bridge line and opened a gap in the Anti-Japanese Alliance's defense line on the north bank of the Hutuo River. Whether it was on the front of Hejian or on the Cangzhou battlefield, although the flanks were broken through by the Japanese army, two
The anti-alliance troops on the battlefield did not fall into any chaos.
In addition to urgently mobilizing some troops from the front of Hejian and the Cangzhou battlefield, they deployed on the Shaheqiao line and the Zhusheng and Chongxian lines respectively to strengthen the second line of defense on their respective flanks. The remaining forces of the Anti-Union forces on the two battlefields were participating in the battle.
, basically how to fight or how to fight.
There was no wavering or confusion that the Japanese army had expected. This made the First Department of the Central Hebei Military Region and the First Department of the Hebei Shandong Border Military Region, which were cooperating with the anti-alliance operations, feel extremely surprised and unbelievable. Ordinary troops were captured at one point.
After a breakthrough, it is difficult for the frontline combat troops in other directions to avoid wavering.
However, the anti-alliance forces were broken through at a very important point. Whether it was the Hejian battlefield or the Cangzhou battlefield, they were already under severe pressure. Not only did they not waver, but they actually fought a battle on the front.
A series of beautiful tactical counterattacks.
This undoubtedly made the two battlefields cooperate in separate operations, and the front line of Nianzu Bridge was broken through. The battlefield west of the river has actually been divided into two sections that are not connected to each other. The situation feels like it has taken a turn for the worse, and everyone is pinching for Du Kaishan.
I have a good impression of Khan's brother troops.
The flanks were broken through, and the frontal troops not only did not fall into any chaos or wavering. Not only did they fight tenaciously, they did not even lose any piece of the main position. Not only were the brother troops surprised by this, but also their
Opponents, especially Lieutenant General Funabimasa, the commander of the 64th Division, and Saburo Isoda, the commander of the 22nd Division, who are facing the river, feel the most obvious.
Originally, I wanted to take advantage of the breakthrough of Ryuuo Shimoji's 66th Brigade to create some opportunities for my long-awaited breakthrough attack. As a result, the 66th Brigade was on the front line of Nianzu Bridge.
Twenty-four hours had passed since the breakthrough operation. Even the Sixty-sixth Brigade had reached the front line of Lugongbao, but they still did not see any weakening of the resistance of the frontal defenders. This made the two division commanders,
It's quite a shock.
Because when the flanks were breached, the frontal combat troops hardly wavered. No troops retreated, but continued to carry out tactical counterattacks. This is difficult to achieve in any army. The flanks
When being broken through, the defense is usually reduced. This kind of approach without any wavering in other directions is called a truly immovable army, and this is called an army whose true will is iron-clad.
Compared to the astonished two division commanders, Major General Xia Zhilong, the commander of the 66th Brigade, who tore through the front of the Ziya River and is now surrounded on the Lugongbao front line, is indeed in trouble. In the first moment of the breakthrough,
, he felt that he and his 66th Brigade had stepped into the Fire Hedgehog Formation.
Originally, after receiving the order, Major General Ryuuo Shimoeda did not want to go deep into the enemy's depths alone to implement General Okamura Neiji's plan to outflank the enemy's back when the progress on the left and right wings was almost negligible. Especially...
He broke through on the flank, but the enemy positions on both flanks did not show any signs of wavering, so he did not want to take this risk.
Therefore, he took advantage of his favorable situation in breaking through the Nianzu Bridge and attacked the left wing of the Hejian battlefield desperately. He tried to cooperate with the 64th Division in the frontal attack to completely defeat the enemy in the Hejian. As for the original direction of General Okamura
Ren Qiu planned to attack the advance, but he only sent a reinforced infantry brigade to deal with the errand.
The main force still stayed at the Hejian battlefield, attacking Shaheqiao and Ershilipu in an attempt to leverage the enemy's deep defense line on the Hejian battlefield and create favorable opportunities for a frontal breakthrough. But it was a pity that after six hours of hard fighting,
After that, they failed to make any progress, let alone shake the frontal enemy's defense.
Under the urging of General Okamura Neiji one telegram after another, he had no choice but to turn his head and continue the assault to the north. He also wanted to use the enemy's attention to be attracted to the flank of the river battlefield by his previous offensive.
opportunity. Break through the enemy's deep defense line in one fell swoop to seize Lugong Fort, cut off the road from Renqiu to Dacheng, and take advantage of the opportunity to seize Renqiu County.
But a six-hour delay is too long for a commander like Du Kaishan. He can give Major General Xia Zhilongnan six hours, not because he has no troops to deploy, nor because he does not have the strength. He is
After all the sixty-sixth brigade are brought in, they will be completely dealt with.