Chapter 5 The war started, and the military division became an army (16)
Time always passes unnoticed. When New Year's Day arrived in 1936, two major events occurred in North China. Among them, for the people of the Rencha Special Administrative Region and the officers and soldiers of the Xuexi Division, this day had a special meaning for them. Meaning, and for Ouyang Yun, it means that he has truly become a warlord from now on, and has enough power to step onto the stage of history.
On this day, the Xuebing Division was officially expanded into the Xuebing Army. On this day, the Japanese army, with the 108th Division of the Kwantung Army as the main body, launched a surprise attack on the boundaries of the Tianjin 38th Division.
I don’t know if it was God’s will, but when representatives of all the active units of the Military Academy gathered at Renqiu Military Camp to participate in the promotion and award ceremony, at that moment, Ouyang Yun just stepped onto the podium at the invitation of the hosts Chen Shichang and Mei Lanshu. The staff officer on duty at the division headquarters hurriedly ran over. From a distance, he shouted loudly: "Master, the urgent telegram from Tianjin is sent by Commander Zhang himself."
Renqiu is not very far from Tianjin. Suddenly, as if to explain the words of the staff officer on duty, a continuous dull explosion came from the direction of Tianjin. An expert can tell at a glance that these are weapons with a caliber of 150 mm or more. The sound of exploding artillery shells or aerial bombs weighing more than 50 pounds did not shock Ouyang Yun. Looking at the senior officials of the military training division sitting on the rostrum, their faces were as calm as water. They were obviously not surprised that this happened. I was mentally prepared for this scene. Among them, Zhang Zhen said: "No way, this little devil really knows how to choose his day."
"It would be good to expand the ceremony into a swearing-in ceremony," Ji Xingwen said,
Shortly after Jin Bihui left Renqiu, Hu Tong's team in Shenyang sent back detailed intelligence. Combining information from all aspects, they came to the conclusion that the Kwantung Army would soon use troops against North China, and the most likely target would be Tianjin. ,Later, the Fox Tong Shanghai team, which had already contacted Xia Wenyun under the pseudonym He Yizhi, sent back more certain information, that the Japanese were really planning to invade Tianjin.
That afternoon, just when Ouyang Yun and others had a meeting and were about to call Zhang Zizhong to inform him of the matter, Zhang had already arrived at Renqiu. The Xuebing Division had Hu Tong, and the 38th Division also had its own intelligence system, and they also This information has been obtained,
The situation in North China is no longer as simple as it was six months ago. As for the 29th Army, which was once dominated by Yicha, although it still maintains "stability and unity" on the surface, anyone with a discerning eye knows that it has already been divided into three factions, among which , the 29th Army Headquarters headed by Song Zheyuan is one faction, and the territory of this faction is Peiping; then there are the 38th Division headed by Zhang Zizhong and the 143rd Division headed by Zhao Dengyu. Zhang Zizhong was naturally recruited because of his close relationship with Ouyang Yun. Although the 143rd Division and the Xuebing Division have reached many cooperation agreements, he personally seems to have no favorable impression of Ouyang Yun.
When Zhang Zizhong came to Renqiu, Ji Xingwen happened to be there, so several senior veterans of the military training division, including Jiang Shuren, who was mainly engaged in political affairs, had a comprehensive exchange of views with him on the upcoming "Sino-Japanese" war.
Under the management of Zhang Zizhong, the 38th Division currently has more than 50,000 regular troops. In addition, there are security forces and several local troops based on the Renqiu Self-Defense Force. Such a scale is already an army establishment. Logically speaking, with such a Compared with the 108th Division of Doihara in terms of numbers, the 38th Division is not at a disadvantage. However, considering the entire Kwantung Army behind the 108th Division, as well as the opponent's overwhelming air forces and tanks, the 38th Division has a numerical advantage. Then nothing remains,
Although the Xuebing Division and the 38th Division did not sign an alliance agreement, due to the 38th Division's critical help in the latter Battle of Wen'an, whether it was Ouyang Yun, Li Tieshu, or Zhang Zhen, they had long regarded the 38th Division as From a strategic point of view, Tianjin is the only barrier between the Xuebing Division and the Kwantung Army. For this reason, the Xuebing Division will not turn a blind eye to the survival of the 38th Division.
Zhang Zizhong often went to Renqiu. In the past, he usually came to rob the equipment that he liked. He had long been familiar with everyone in the military training division, so he was not polite after sitting down. First, he discussed the situation and problems of the 28th Division. After explaining, he started asking for people and things.
Before that, the Japanese first asked Doihara to come forward to negotiate with Zhang Zizhong, and asked him to immediately give up building fortifications in Tianjin, especially the plan to block the Dagukou, in the name of hindering the reconciliation between China and Japan. Later, after seeing threats To no avail, Zhang Zizhong was given advice through some senior traitors in Tianjin, asking him to either declare Tianjin independent and autonomous, or to abandon Tianjin directly. If not, in order to change the current difficult situation of Japanese overseas Chinese in Tianjin, the Japanese army would Send troops to take over Tianjin, and anyone who dares to despise the military power of the Imperial Japanese Empire will be eradicated at all costs. From that time on, Zhang Zizhong began to mobilize troops and generals. Now, the main force of the 38th Division has been deployed around the Japanese Concession and the 108th Division. The main forces have formed a confrontation, and the war is about to break out.
As for the Kwantung Army, in addition to the 108th Division, it also mobilized the 4th Mixed Brigade of the 8th Division. A brigade of the 9th Division was deployed near Shanhaiguan. Nanjiro's purpose of doing this was, on the one hand, to use this The two brigades deter Yidong's two special police squadrons. On the other hand, if the war in Tianjin is tight, they will be able to enter Tianjin as reinforcements at any time. In addition to providing sufficient support to Doihara in the army, Nanjiro also mobilized Two aviation squadrons were provided for its command, and the equipment of the fifty-three "Chilo" vehicles that had just been shipped from Japan was given to the 108th Division.
The predecessor of the 108th Division was only the reserve force of the Eighth Division. According to convention, such units have limited combat effectiveness, so most of them will not be used for critical tasks. However, now, under Nanjiro's careful cultivation, it has been replaced with the standing division. With comparable conventional equipment, the 108th Division has transformed into a first-class division that can match the combat power of the Japanese standing divisions. This is what Zhang Zizhong is worried about. The Japanese division organization is called a division. In fact, The number of soldiers is equivalent to two Chinese divisions. In addition, the quality of the Japanese army is higher than that of the Chinese army, and they have the upper hand in weapons and equipment. Although Zhang Zizhong now has nearly 50,000 regular troops, he is left to fight Doihara alone. It was really hard to carry it. This was also the main reason why he, who had always thought highly of himself, had to lower his status to seek help from a military advisor.
Maybe the situation was really critical, so Zhang Zizhong really showed off his old face this time. He first wanted to imitate the air defense regiment that the military division had just recently established (a regiment-sized "disease-style" double-linked anti-aircraft machine gun plus a battalion-sized air defense regiment. 27-caliber anti-aircraft gun), and then proposed that since the 38th Division's own anti-tank troops still lack anti-tank guns, Ouyang Yun was asked to borrow the anti-tank reinforcement battalion of the Xuebing Division for use.
The anti-tank reinforcement battalion of the Xuexing Division was personally organized by Ouyang Yun after the Second Wen'an War. The purpose of its formation was to effectively suppress the "Qiluo" of the little devil. This anti-tank reinforcement battalion had the main firepower. It is a 57mm caliber anti-tank gun, and the auxiliary firepower is anti-tank mines and anti-tank guns.
Speaking of which, it has only been about two months since the formation of this reinforced battalion, and it has not even completed the required basic training courses. Therefore, when Zhang Zizhong just made this request, everyone from the military training division, from Ouyang Yun to Guo Biao, Everyone's expressions became a little ugly,
Zhang Zhen said: "Commander Zhang, our anti-tank reinforcement battalion has only been established not long ago, and the soldiers do not have much practical experience. If we rashly pull down the battalion on the battlefield, I am afraid it will be counterproductive. It will be a small matter if it cannot play its role. But once If it's exposed and destroyed, we won't have to fight in the future."
Ji Xingwen agreed: "To be on the safe side, I think the air defense regiment will be mobilized first, and the anti-tank battalion should wait."
Zhang Zizhong frowned and looked at Ouyang Yun, meaning he was waiting for him to make a decision.
Ouyang Yun also frowned, but it was not because of the anti-tank battalion, but because he was calculating another matter. In fact, he had been thinking about this issue since Jin Bihui came to Renqiu, because the relationship was too important. It has been difficult to make a decision. What he is worried about is: Will the Anti-Japanese War begin in full force?
When I was in military school in later generations, I was studying the history of the Anti-Japanese War. There was a sentence in the reference book: For China, the War of Resistance Against Japan was seven years early; for Japan, the War of Aggression against China was seven years late. This statement It was said by a German with a very strategic vision. Regardless of whether Ouyang Yun is willing to accept this point of view, in fact, the German is absolutely right. In terms of 37 years of history, China is far from the Ready to go to war with Japan, and for Japan, from a strategic perspective, he gave China, especially the National Government, too much time to prepare for the war of resistance. The seven years before 1937 were 30 years. At that time, China was still in disarray. If Japan sends troops under this situation, God knows what it will be like.
There is no doubt that the Japanese military operation against Tianjin this time is the same as the previous Battle of Wen'an. The goals have limitations. The Japanese are not ready for a full-scale invasion of China. Ouyang Yun is worried that if the war is too fierce, , will it be exploited by the militarists in Japan and then use it as an excuse to launch a full-scale war of aggression against China?
If it really develops to that point, with a mere student division plus the 38th Division, or the 143rd Division, can they withstand the southern invasion of hundreds of thousands of wolf-like Kwantung Army?