On the second day of the city defense battle, the Japanese 40th Regiment and the troops from the Jiehe direction arrived late and entered the battle late. Although the battle was brutal, the city defenders still supported until the evening. On the third day,
It was different, the battlefield was more brutal and the defenders had more difficulties.
The 10th and 40th regiments are all elite Japanese troops, well-equipped and of high tactical quality. However, the defenders are the worst-equipped troops in China. They don’t even have combat artillery that can hit tanks. They only have sufficient weapons.
It was a train of grenades brought in before the war in the Fifth War Zone. The grenades could be thrown tens of meters at most, but the cannons and machine guns on Japanese tanks and armored vehicles could be fired thousands of meters away. This battle was destined to be a one-sided battle. What's more, now
The Japs have entered the city, and they are a hundred times more vigilant. No matter how brave the defenders are, no matter how unafraid of sacrifice, if they want to use cluster grenades to blow up the Japs tanks, they have to have a chance. Under normal circumstances, the soldiers will be killed if they cannot reach the tanks.
The devils beat him to death.
The Japanese troops were strong, and this time they launched an all-out attack. By noon, the defenders had been divided into several pieces by the Japanese troops. They were struggling to hold on. They saw that if they did not break through, all the troops would be sacrificed here.
Teng County is in town.
Wang Mingzhang once again sent a report to Sun Zhen, explaining the situation in the city, and finally expressed his attitude: "With the weak strength and dilapidated weapons of the Sichuan Army, it is self-evident that the Sichuan Army has shouldered the major task of defending Xuzhou on the Jinpu line.
As soldiers, it is our bounden duty to make sacrifices. Now we can only sacrifice everything to complete the mission. Even if there is not a single soldier left, there is no regrets. Otherwise, we cannot serve the country, and it is not enough to redeem the Sichuan Army's twenty years of civil war.
What a sin! I am determined to fight to the death to repay the country!"
After receiving the report, Sun Zhen knew that the situation in the city was extremely dangerous. Wang Mingzhang had sent a fatal telegram, so he ordered Chen Dingxun to lead three regiments of the 22nd Army outside the city to risk their lives in a deadly attack to contain the Japanese army and reduce the pressure in the city. At the same time, Wang Mingzhang sent Wang Mingzhang to
The telegram was forwarded to Li Zongren, asking where the 20th Army Corps was and why it did not launch an attack on the Japanese troops in Lincheng and Zaozhuang. If the 20th Army Corps could not launch the attack as scheduled, could Wang Mingzhang be ordered to break out of the encirclement and maneuver behind enemy lines to deter the Japanese army?
Li Zongren was already very angry at this time. The Sichuan Army was fighting bloody battles in the direction of Teng County, but Tang's Army was slow to move. It seemed that Teng County had to hold on for a few more days, otherwise it would be impossible for Tang's Army to be deployed in place, let alone
They said they were encircling and annihilating the Japanese army.
However, the situation is now obvious. Teng County has been holding on for three days and it is impossible to hold on any longer. It may fall today. The problem is that after Teng County is lost, the Japanese follow-up troops may rush to Lincheng and Zaozhuang until they attack
Taierzhuang. If another incident occurs in the direction of Linyi and southwest Shandong, and the Japanese 16th Division and the 5th Division concentrate their forces to attack Xuzhou, not to mention destroying the Japanese troops attacking Taierzhuang, will they be able to hold it?
Xuzhou is a problem.
Li Zongren lingered around the room for a long time and sent another report to Chiang Kai-shek, requesting the First Theater Army to cooperate with the Third Army to block the Japanese Fifth Division so that it could not advance eastward. He asked Chiang to personally send a telegram to Tang Enbo to urge him to deploy quickly and ensure encirclement and annihilation.
The Seya detachment of the 10th Division of the Japanese Army stood out alone.
After sending the telegram to Chiang Kai-shek, Li Zongren sat at the table and kept tapping the table with his fingers. While tapping, he thought, since it is a pocket, it is better to carry one regiment, two regiments is to pretend, and three regiments are to be pretended.
What's the problem? After several days of desperate fighting by the 22nd Army, the Japanese Tenth Division must have suffered heavy casualties, so let them come to Taierzhuang, mobilize the army to give it a one-pot fight, and fight an unprecedented battle in the national military system.
A great victory, which inspired the anti-Japanese spirit of the Chinese people. Simply destroying the 63rd Regiment was a bit petty and would not have much impact on the war situation.
Thinking of this, Li Zongren called Chief of Staff Xu Zuyi and asked him to go to the front line of Linyi again to coordinate and command the actions of the various armies in Linyi, and to ensure that the Japanese troops in Linyi would not be reinforced before the Segu Detachment of the Japanese Tenth Division was eliminated.
Xu Zuyi happily accepted the order, and after discussing the situation of the Linyi battle with Li Zongren for a while, he went to prepare for departure.
Li Zongren took a sip of tea and wanted to be quiet for a while, but his mind was racing, sometimes it was Sun Zhen's telegram, sometimes it was the tattered uniforms and dark and thin faces of the Sichuan army when they first arrived. After thinking for a while, Li Zongren felt that the big aspect of the battle was
The plan has been decided. Instead of letting all Wang Mingzhang's troops die in the city, it is better to retreat outside the city and cut off the enemy's rear. At least it can have the effect of harassing the enemy's rear. He then sent a telegram to Sun Zhen and the troops of the 22nd Army outside Teng County.
, immediately went into battle and fully supported the battle of Wang Mingzhang's troops in the city. We must launch harassment operations against the enemy at night to make the enemy unclear about the strength of our army. As for when the troops in the city will break out, Li Zongren clearly pointed out: The 22nd Army is at Jiehe, Beishahe,
Teng County fought bloody battles for several days and nights, showing the Sichuan Army's heroic resistance spirit and setting an example for the entire army. It was extremely difficult for Teng County to hold on for three days. In order to ensure the victory of subsequent operations, the 22nd Group Army was specially ordered to defend
The troops in the city chose an opportunity to break out. After the breakout, the troops moved westward to rest and recuperate. Two days later, they crossed the Beisha River, captured the boundary river, cut off the retreat of the Japanese army, and contacted the Third Army to jointly assume the task of cutting off the retreat of the enemy's 10th Division.
After receiving Li Zongren's telegram, Sun Zhen hurriedly sent a message to Wang Mingzhang, ordering him to organize all forces to hold on, gather the troops, and break out after dark. He also informed that he had ordered three regiments outside the city to attack with all their strength and support the defense of the city.
Sun Zhen's telegram was like a shot in the arm for the defenders who were already in extremely difficult circumstances. People who were already dying frequently, suddenly knew that there was a glimmer of hope, and the will to survive that burst out was very powerful. Under Wang Mingzhang
Under the order of the Japanese army, the units that had been divided by the Japanese army fought back desperately. Wang Mingzhang, Zhang Xuanwu, and Wang Zhenwen all led their guards directly to the front of the line to fight and defeated the Japanese offensive. The defense lines of each unit took the opportunity to restore contact.
From the morning's fighting until now, the Japanese army was also tired. Seeing the Sichuan army's desperate counterattack, Setani Kei thought it was a return to the past and ordered the troops to consolidate their positions, besiege them on all sides, and seize the time to eat. After eating, they would go all out to wipe out the defenders.
Chen Dingxun was ordered to lead his troops to reinforce the defenders of Teng County. He knew that the Japanese army had completed the siege of the defenders and compressed them to a corner of the county. How easy was it to relieve the siege? The only way to save the enemy was to attack them, force the enemy to divide their forces, and reduce the pressure on the defenders. So,
Chen Dingxun fixed his sights on the Japanese artillery position. However, the enemy artillery position was at Dongguan, Teng County. To get around there, the troops had to move to the front ten miles shop and the back line before they could seize the back route of the Japanese artillery position. This
At that time, the Japanese aircraft in the sky were worried about not being able to find their target. If they went around so far to attack the enemy's artillery position, it would be no different from going to die.
After much deliberation, Chen Dingxun decided to attack the nearest Xiguan first, trying to open up a passage with the defenders in the city. If that didn't work, he would build up a great momentum to make the Japanese think that reinforcements had arrived, and split up their forces to stop the attack. He would then attack the Japanese artillery at night.
position to cover the retreat of the defenders.
Before the attack, Chen Dingxun paid more attention. After the troops were in place, he sent one regiment to attack the Japanese position in Xiguan. Two regiments set up an ambush between Zhongzhai and Dayan Village, preparing to kill the pursuing Japanese.
When the battle reaches this point, the soldiers have already become red-eyed, and their lives are nothing, because too many brothers have died. It truly complies with the saying: "A man is no longer a human being on the battlefield, and his life is worthless than grass on the battlefield."
.So, the three regiments competed for the attack mission. In the end, the reduced regiment of the 125th Division, which had a larger number of people, won the attack mission.
Chen Dingxun graduated from the second phase of the Baoding Army Officer School. He was considered a veteran in the army. He also loved watching Sichuan opera and admired the strategies of the ancients. He told the leader of the group not to attack with death, but to use two companies to deploy suspicious troops.
Bring all the bugles, and when they sound, blow all the charge bugles for me to let the little devils know that our reinforcements have arrived, and let them automatically shrink their positions and not dare to let go and surround and annihilate the defenders. Be quick when retreating, otherwise the devils will
The cavalry and tanks will catch up with you, which will be bad.
Chen Dingxun's intentions were clear to the officers and soldiers, which was to spread suspicion on the troops like Zhuge Liang and scare away the Japanese.
The time when the 125th Division attacked was when the Japanese army was changing defenses and having a meal. Gunshots were fired, more than a dozen bugles were blown at the same time, and a regiment of soldiers pounced on the Japanese army in Xiguan, Teng County.
Seeing the fierce incoming force of the Chinese army, the Japanese troops who were responsible for guarding and covering Xiguan called for help and retreated towards the west gate in an attempt to rely on the city wall fortifications to hold on.
Setani Kei received the report and thought it was really the arrival of the Chinese army reinforcements. He hurriedly ordered the 40th Division to reinforce Xiguan and resolutely repelled the Chinese army reinforcements. Later, seeing that the Chinese army retreated quickly, Setani Kei
I felt that I had been fooled. This army was only regiment-sized at best. It was a dream for them to come to rescue the Tengxian defenders. However, it was also very troublesome to have such an army waiting outside the city. Maybe they
Will attack the baggage troops.
Therefore, Kei Setani ordered the 40th Regiment to send out a cavalry brigade and two squadrons of infantry to pursue and must destroy this Chinese force.
The Japs' pursuit out of the city played right into the hands of the Sichuan army outside the city. Without heavy firepower, they could not attack the city gate, so they could just use a small ambush! As a result, the Japanese troops chasing out of the city naturally got into the Sichuan army's ambush circle. However, the Sichuan army
It was indeed the poor firepower that allowed some of the Japanese to escape.
The Japanese who escaped reported to the 40th Regiment the ambushes in Zhongzhai and Dayan Village and the heavy casualties. Only then did Setani Kei become convinced that there was indeed a large Chinese army outside the city, at least division-level, ready to attack at any time.
Taking the retreat route of the Japanese army, Setani was not surprised but overjoyed, and immediately ordered the Fourth Regiment to leave the city and eliminate the Chinese division.
As the 40th Regiment left the city to pursue pursuit, Wang Mingzhang and others felt the pressure suddenly lightened and concentrated on dealing with the new round of Japanese attacks.
This fight lasted until dark. Naturally, the casualties of the defenders were increasing, and the Japanese army was not faring any better. In the words of Colonel Akashiba Yazozo, captain of the 10th Regiment, since entering China, the 10th Division has
The regiment was invincible. Only two battles were severely disadvantaged. One was an ambush by the Chinese instructor Liu Yimin. It is horrifying to think about it. It was a bloody mess. The elite imperial soldiers were smashed to pieces by Liu Yimin's troops like bricks and tiles.
The second time was the attack on Teng County. Of course, the Teng County defenders could not compare with Liu Yimin's instructors. They were a group of invisible devils who ate meat but did not spit out bones. However, although the Teng County defenders did not have Liu Yimin's teachings,
The instructor was so terrifying, but they were fighting with their lives for lives. Even the wounded fired grenades and died with the imperial army, causing huge casualties to the attacking troops. The small town of Tengxian County turned out to be a nail that could not be chewed.
After dark, Wang Mingzhang and Zhang Xuan retracted their troops and stayed near the south city wall, preparing to break out. This contraction caused Wang Mingzhang to bite off two of his teeth. At the beginning of the defense, there were more than 5,000 people. After three days of fighting, 5,000
The number of people turned into about 1,000, including more than 300 lightly and seriously wounded. In other words, 4,000 Sichuan Army soldiers were buried in Teng County.
Wang Mingzhang wiped away his tears and ordered Zhang Xuanwu to organize all the troops into three battalions. Zhang Xuanwu led a battalion to be the vanguard of the breakout, Wang Zhenwen led a battalion to transport the wounded, and he personally led a battalion to the rear to cover the breakout troops.
Zhang Xuanwu and Wang Zhenwen believed that if they wanted to leave, the teacher should go first, and there was absolutely no reason to let the teacher take the back seat.
Wang Mingzhang stopped the two men and said: "We held on for three days in Teng County. Together with the Jiehe blockade, Beishahe blockade, and Longyangdian blockade, we killed more than 3,000 Japanese. Our 22nd Army
Although we were crippled, it was worth it. We basically lost five lives in exchange for one of the kid's life. Although it was a bit of a loss, there was nothing we could do about it. After so many brothers died, how could I have one more life? Don't worry, I will
This person has a long life, so there will be no problem."
Zhang Xuanwu and Wang Zhenwen refused, and finally decided that Wang Zhenwen would be the vanguard of the breakout, with Zhang Xuanwu behind, and Wang Mingzhang leading a battalion to evacuate the wounded.
As a result, all the more than 300 wounded soldiers refused to retreat and were unwilling to hold back the troops. They asked each of them to send five grenades and place them in different places so that they could serve as the final rear troops.
Wang Mingzhang couldn't bear it, but his reason told him that it was unrealistic to break out of the encirclement with the wounded. Besides, the fight was now a mess. Even if he broke out, it was hard to say whether he could return to Xuzhou. The wounded would not be able to survive without treatment.
. He gritted his teeth and ordered the wounded to be concealed and each of them to be given 5 grenades.
Before the breakout began, Wang Mingzhang sent a telegram to Sun Zhen and asked if he could respond. Sun Zhen called back and Chen Dingxun led three regiments to fight fiercely with the pursuing Japs in the afternoon. They were still unable to break away from the enemy and planned to retreat at night. They could only wait until they got rid of the pursuit.
Only with the number of Japanese soldiers can they attack the Japanese artillery positions and assist the defenders in breaking through.
Wang Mingzhang thought about it and broke out of the encirclement while Chen Dingxun and the others were fighting the Japanese. He immediately ordered Wang Zhenwen to take action.
The breakout went smoothly at the beginning. After several days of fierce fighting, the 10th Regiment suffered heavy losses. The attack was suspended at night and was on alert. Wang Zhenwen and the others did not attack by force. Instead, they relied on ladders on the south wall, climbed up the wall and used
The rope is lowered.
At the beginning, Wang Zhenwen led the leading battalion up the city wall first, set up machine guns on both sides, and was ready to cover the firepower for the breakout. Then he let the soldiers climb the ropes and slide down.
After the vanguard battalion successfully left the city, Wang Mingzhang led his men up the city wall. As soon as he climbed down on the rope, the Japanese on both sides of the south city wall noticed and began to shoot with machine guns to block the breach.
As soon as Wang Mingzhang saw the Japanese starting to blockade, he shouted repeatedly under the city wall: "Suppress with firepower, cover the brothers and crawl quickly!"
Before he could finish his sentence, a Japanese machine gun came over and hit him directly. Wang Mingzhang glanced at the direction of the Japanese machine gun, cursed "turtle son", and fell down suddenly.
When the Chief of Staff Zhao Weibin and the Deputy Chief of Staff of the 124th Division Zou Shaomeng saw that Wang Mingzhang had been shot, they both ran forward to check the injury. As a result, another Japanese machine gun fire hit them, and both of them were shot and died on the spot.
Seeing the death of their division commander and chief of staff, the only remaining platoon of guards of the 1st, 2nd and 2nd Divisions still on the city wall became red-eyed. They shouted and rushed towards the Japanese, and fought with the enemy. Unfortunately, the Japanese firepower was too strong, and the entire platoon
A heroic sacrifice.
Upon discovering that the defenders had broken through, Setani was furious and ordered his troops to pursue and intercept them. The Japanese were under the south wall and fought fiercely with the covering troops led by Zhang Xuanwu.
Seeing that the troops were almost standing out, Zhang Xuanwu ordered the covering troops to climb the city wall in batches and quickly lower the city. At this time, news came that Wang Mingzhang had died for his country. Zhang Xuanwu didn't believe it yet, but when he saw the soldiers in Wang Mingzhang's guard platoon
If you pounce on the Japanese like crazy, you will know it is true.
Zhang Xuanwu picked up his machine gun, stood up and fired fiercely at the Japanese who were chasing him. While shooting, he shouted: "You little devil, I'm your eighth generation ancestor!"
After finishing a round of shooting and just putting on a new magazine, Zhang Xuanwu felt himself being pushed hard and fell directly to the ground. In the hazy state, Zhang Xuanwu felt several brothers carrying him on their backs and climbing up the ladder.
The city wall will be in a coma from now on.
In the end, it was the more than 300 lightly and seriously injured soldiers who really stopped the Japanese pursuit.
Seeing that the troops were blocked from breaking through, the lightly wounded soldiers immediately jumped into the battle with their guns and opened fire behind the enemy pursuers. While firing, they shouted and cursed to attract the enemy's attention. When the enemy turned to eliminate this group of wounded soldiers, there was a roaring sound.
I remembered the explosions of cluster grenades one after another. It was often a wounded soldier who blew up a group of Japs. The tragic scenes scared the Japs out of their wits and they no longer dared to pursue them. They watched helplessly as the soldiers who broke out of the encirclement carried their commanders on their backs.
The body disappeared into the darkness.
After the breakout troops and the troops outside the city merged, Sun Zhen, commander-in-chief of the 22nd Army, inspected the more than 500 warriors who had broken out and saluted each soldier one by one. Finally, Sun Zhen checked the numbers of Wang Mingzhang, Zhao Weibin, and Zou Shaomeng.
After leaving his remains, he solemnly performed military salutes and moved with the troops.
At 2 o'clock in the night, after the troops moved to a safe area, Sun Zhen tearfully sent a report to Chiang Kai-shek, Li Zongren, and Deng Xihou, reporting the progress of the defense battle in Teng County and the news that the commander of the 122nd Division of the National Revolutionary Army and Army Lieutenant General Wang Mingzhang was martyred.