At around four o'clock in the afternoon, Japanese fighter planes taking off from Qingdao intercepted and bombed the 57th Army attacking Pingyi. The Xueyi Division was the first to bear the brunt and suffered heavy casualties. More than 500 people were killed and injured. Zhang Zizhong led two anti-aircraft regiments and Two tank regiments attacked, shooting down three enemy planes and damaging two.
The troops suffered heavy losses. Although Zhang Zizhong was heartbroken, he was secretly excited at the same time. He said to Zhao Dengyu: "It seems that the Japanese want to fight with us in Pingyi. Okay, I'll accompany you." Then he ordered the First Xue Division and the Mountain Division to be released. All reconnaissance troops should conduct reconnaissance of the enemy in four directions: east, west, and north.
At about 5:30 in the afternoon, Ge Zengfu sent back the most important information. As expected, the main force of the Japanese army's capital recovery detachment had settled in Pingyi and assumed a defensive posture. A quarter of an hour later, the 51st Army Headquarters sent a telegram stating that the 10th Division's The 63rd Regiment left the north gate of Teng County, but the direction of the attack was unknown.
Zhang Zizhong immediately summoned all division commanders and chiefs of staff for a meeting. He said: "The 63rd Regiment must be here to take our retreat. Haha, now we are fighting a brigade. Let's talk about how we will fight this battle." "
The 38th Division and the 132nd Division are also fully equipped with Category A. In this way, the 57th Army has a total of more than 45,000 people, while the Japanese army has more than 12,000 people. The 57th Army not only has the advantage in terms of strength, but also in terms of weapon configuration. absolute advantage,
Guo Da glanced at everyone and said: "Military seat, Deputy Commander Zhao, everyone, our current whereabouts have been completely controlled by the Japanese army. After the Battle of Linyi, the Japanese have completely grasped the strength of our army. I think under this situation, , the main force of the detachment dared to station in Pingyi to wait for a decisive battle with our army. There must be a scam later. The 63rd Regiment must be directed at our army, but this is definitely not the only Japanese army that comes to help. The Japanese are stupid Ah, you know you are not doing anything but you still come here to die. Where is the Japanese mixed third brigade now? Even if it is still in Tai'an, with the help of the railway, it is really convenient for them to support Teng County. Pingyi must be attacked. But how to fight is indeed debatable, and I am very worried about what we will do once the 3rd Infantry Brigade goes to Teng County and the 10th Division is freed up to march in front of the city."
With the timely intelligence delivered by the agents of Hutong Foreign Affairs Department, Guo Da and Huang Haifu were able to learn the movements of the Japanese troops in North China at the first time. This also gave Guo Da and Huang Haifu a lot of confidence when they made their choices.
The North China Front has four and a half divisions in Shandong and Hebei. In addition to the 5th Division, the 10th Division is located on the front line. The 101st Division is stationed in Qingdao, the 27th Division is stationed in Jinan, and the independent mixed The 3rd Infantry Brigade was stationed in Jining. Guo Da and Huang Haifu dared to go straight to Feixian County and attack Pingyi. It was because they had Agent Hu Tong as their backing and they didn't worry about being ambushed or surrounded by the Japanese army.
Zhang Zizhong dared to attack Feixian and Pingyi precisely because Li Zongren provided him with relevant information and the 57th Army had no worries, so he dared to attack with the whole army, hoping to conquer Feixian and Pingyi in one go, thus destroying the entire area. The water was completely muddy, but the information provided by Li Zongren did not include information about the third mixed infantry brigade. When Guo Da said this, he couldn't help but hesitate,
The 51st Army is pretending to attack Teng County, so the 10th Division can completely deceive Tao Xuezhong by leaving a brigade and gain a few hours to successfully complete the defense handover with the hybrid third infantry brigade. Once the 10th Division enters In front of the city, the 57th Army will be in danger. Whether it is the 27th Division or the 101st Division, as long as another division comes to outflank the division from the east, the 57th Army can be tightly surrounded. To the southeast, the Japanese Army has a third There is one brigade in the 5th Division. If the Japanese troops in this division move north by then, even if Li Zongren can send reinforcements immediately, what awaits the 57th Army will be a bloody battle. It is very possible that the entire army will be lost here. Zhang Zizhong pondered, It was difficult to make a decision, and he even felt that the decision to send troops to Pingyi was a bit hasty. He took a look at everyone and found that Zhao Dengyu and other former officers of the 29th Army all looked heavy, while Guo Da, Huang Haifu and others looked relaxed, and his heart suddenly moved , asked with a smile: "Mr. Guo, you can't finish what you said, keep talking."
Guo Da, Huang Haifu, Guo Muyi and others looked at each other and smiled. Guo Da said: "We still have to fight in Pingyi. If we don't fight, the Japanese army will not change the original battle plan. If we really wait for the Japanese army to gather heavy troops, then Xuzhou will sooner or later If you want to lose your military seat, what we mean is that since the 51st Army can pretend to attack Teng County, why can't we pretend to attack Pingyi? Haha, by then the 10th Division will be deceived out of Teng County, and we will stop it with one division of troops. Detachment, with the strength of three divisions plus the 51st Army, can we make a lot of money from the 10th Division?"
The faces of Zhang Zizhong and Zhao Dengyu changed. The 51st Army pretended to attack Teng County. Only the two of them in the 57th Army knew where Guo Da got the news. Could it be that there was someone with fox pupil around Li Zongren? Hey, originally It was because they were afraid that Guo Da and Huang Haifu would not be able to contribute to their work, so they concealed the matter. Now it seems that they are judging a gentleman with a villain's heart. Zhang and Zhao looked at each other, looking a little embarrassed.
Zhang Kexia spoke. He is now the Chief of Staff of the 38th Division and is just qualified to participate in this level meeting. He directly questioned Guo Da's plan: "What if the 3rd Infantry Brigade attacks the 51st Army? The 51st Army is surrounded by enemies from both sides. Can it withstand it?" Well, once the 51st Army is defeated, we will be in a passive position. Commander Guo will not think that we can defeat the 10th Division first."
Guo Da looked at him and said nothing. His chief of staff Yu Zequan spoke: "It depends on whether Commander Li has the courage to fight the enemy in front of the city. We still have the 31st Army and the 48th Army in the south of Xuzhou. As long as we can By moving one over, we can maintain our strength advantage."
"But, in that case, the remaining army may not be able to withstand the Japanese army on the southern front." It was Zhao Dengyu who said this.
Guo Muyi said: "Everyone, do you think we can hold Xuzhou? What if we lose Xuzhou? The slogan put forward by the Chairman is to trade time for victory and accumulate small victories into big victories. At this stage, our goal is to kill Xuzhou." The enemy, as long as we kill as many Japanese invaders as possible, temporary loss of city and territory may not be a bad thing. As long as we severely damage the 10th Division, the Japanese army's plan will be completely disrupted. What will they do, launch the Xuzhou offensive in advance? , then their losses will only be greater."
Many of what Guo Da said before came from Guo Muyi,
Ouyang Yun appointed Guo Muyi as the chief of staff of the Mountain Division because of his overall view and his ability to plot. Guo Muyi lived up to expectations. In the face of large-scale battles, he really showed extraordinary judgment without speaking. He came to remember him as soon as he opened his mouth, but unfortunately, Li Zongren couldn't listen to him.
His conclusion is correct, but Xuzhou cannot be lost like this. Once Xuzhou is lost, the 57th Army and the 51st Army can still retreat from Shanxi. However, what about the other national armies? How can they withstand it if they are not ready for war? What is the next Japanese offensive?
Guo Muyi kicked the ball to Zhang Zizhong, and Zhang Zizhong kicked it to Li Zongren. After discussing with Bai Chongxi, Li Zongren finally decided to fight in Pingyi, as long as it could temporarily attract the attention of the Japanese army on the northern front and win some points for Xuzhou's strategic layout. Time is enough. He will not allow the 57th Army and the 51st Army to have too much entanglement with the Japanese army.
Li Zongren's ideal place for the decisive battle was Taierzhuang. Before that, he would not allow any of his troops to fight the Japanese. He would accumulate strength and strive for a great victory to boost the morale of the national army that was retreating along the Yangtze River. ,
In the Battle of Pingyi, the thunder was loud and the rain was light. Four divisions of the 57th Army pounced on it. The current top commander of the recapture detachment, Colonel Kiyoshi Hirahatoyama, originally thought that there would be a hard battle. For this reason, Isoya Rensuke and the cabinet were born. (Commander of the Third Infantry Brigade) frequently sent telegrams requesting support. However, at dawn the next day, he was surprised to find that the Chinese Army outside Pingyi City had disappeared. Later, he received a reconnaissance plane from the aviation unit. The latest intelligence detected is that the 57th China Army has retreated to Beizhuang.
"Eight grids." Taira Hatoyama Kiyoshi felt that he had been fooled and cursed angrily. Then he received an order from Tojo Hideki, asking him to immediately send troops to Linyi. After joining Linyi with the 5th Division, they marched towards the city. ,
In the Battle of Linyi, one part of the Banben detachment was wiped out, and the detachment leader Major General Jun Banben was killed. This was not a big stain for Hideki Tojo. After all, the Central China Front's offensive on the southern front was not smooth either. The losses were greater than those of the North China Front Army, but the burning of the Linyi military supplies warehouse almost caused him to be dismissed and court-martialed. The Battle of Linyi was a turning point in the entire Xuzhou defensive war. Because a large amount of supplies were burned, the Japanese troops mobilized and assembled in an orderly manner. Being disrupted, the Japanese base camp was furious and ordered Hideki Tojo to immediately launch the Xuzhou offensive. In this way, he fell into Li Zongren's plan and fell into the trap carefully set by Li and Bai step by step.
On April 21, the 5th Division set out from Linyi and launched an attack on Xiangcheng. On the same day, the 10th Regiment of the Japanese 10th Division violently attacked Lincheng, and the 63rd Regiment violently attacked Zaozhuang. On the Chinese side, the 57th Army attacked Xiangcheng. , the 51st Army blocked the Japanese army at the front lines of Lincheng and Zaozhuang. The two sides fought fiercely for two days. The first part of the 51st Army had to abandon Zaozhuang first at the cost of heavy casualties. The main force of the 51st Army and the 57th Army were forced to follow the situation. In half an hour, they abandoned Lincheng and Xiangcheng and retreated to Hanzhuang and Dige to build a second line of defense. The two sides fought fiercely for two more days. The 51st Army withdrew toward Taierzhuang along the Grand Canal; the 57th Army, led by Zhang Zizhong, and the 5th Division The regiment fought for another two days, and after achieving the expected blocking purpose, they voluntarily evacuated and also retreated to Taierzhuang.
On April 26, the Japanese army began a fierce air attack on Taierzhuang, focusing on the tanks and self-propelled artillery units of the Xuebing Army. The defenders relied on their generally backward air defense weapons to engage in fierce battles with Japanese aircraft. Within five days, a total of 1,000 Japanese aircraft were shot down. Nine aircraft were damaged, eleven were damaged, and the two student divisions lost a total of twenty-seven tanks and forty-three anti-aircraft vehicles. The self-propelled artillery did not suffer any losses because it was hidden in time.
On May 2, the 5th Division took the lead in launching a ground offensive against Taierzhuang, which also marked the beginning of the Taierzhuang battle.