Encouraged by many good news that boosted morale, more than 6,000 officers and soldiers of the 11th Division of the Zhili Allied Forces devoted themselves to the third offensive. When most of the officers and soldiers rushed 300 meters to assemble at the forward position, an unexpected surprise
It finally happened.
A dull sound of mortar fire suddenly came, and thirty-six shells with a sharp whistling sound passed over the positions of both sides. As if they had eyes, they accurately landed at the Jiguanshan headquarters with the big flag, and there was a deafening explosion.
The sound burst out from the dazzling flames and billowing smoke. Trees, mud and rocks splashed all over the sky, and the earth trembled. The 11th Division headquarters and a company of guard troops were wiped out.
Before the Zhilu officers and soldiers who were crawling on the front line could react, light and heavy machine guns rang out on the Revolutionary Army position. The dense bullets, twice as many as the previous two times, suppressed thousands of officers and soldiers to a line of 200 meters. The fierce firepower
The officers and soldiers who had their bodies and heads exposed were beaten to a bloody pulp. What was fatal was that after five minutes of continuous shooting, the thirty-six mortars hidden behind the revolutionary army position had adjusted their firing range, and the powerful shells hit the dense crowd of officers and soldiers.
Explosions occurred one after another, blasting the hastily built frontier fortifications full of holes and to pieces.
The stunned officers and soldiers could not suppress the strong sense of fear in their hearts, and began to flee sporadicly. As soon as they stood up, they immediately became targets of light and heavy machine gun fire. Within a distance of more than 200 meters, the long and short bursts of light machine guns were extremely accurate, not to mention powerful.
A water-cooled heavy machine gun with a powerful and effective range of more than 800 meters. Thousands of officers and soldiers of the 11th Division were killed by the unexpected and violent attack of the revolutionary army before they could launch the final charge.
As the firepower of the revolutionary army gradually weakened, serious disagreements arose among the remaining commanders on the four-kilometer-long Zhilu Army attack position. Almost half of the battalion and company launched a charge regardless of their own safety, while the other half, the cowardly ones, led their troops to fly fast.
After retreating, the loose charge team immediately became the best target of the revolutionary army. After only stopping for less than half a minute, dozens of light machine guns roared again after changing their barrels, beating more than two thousand brave enemies to death everywhere.
, helpless to resist.
The surviving charging officers and soldiers were affected by the fierce blows and the retreating officers and soldiers, and the courage they finally mustered up was completely lost. Almost all gave up the inevitable death charge, turned around and ran away.
Upon seeing this, Gu Changfeng, the commander of the Third Regiment on the Revolutionary Army's position, threw down his machine gun and jumped up, drew his sword and roared: "Brothers, kill me -"
"kill--"
Encouraged by Gu Changfeng, more than 1,600 soldiers roared in unison and rushed to catch up. They stepped on the enemy's corpses and bloodstains and rushed to pursue them first. Bullets and grenades flew towards the enemy who fell behind.
He slashed the sword with cold light and killed the enemy until he ran for two kilometers with howling ghosts and wolves. Then he turned around and rushed back to the position amidst the shouts of the ministers. He quickly evacuated the position and rushed to the front line of Fanjiashan and Xiaozhuang Village, which was 3.5 kilometers behind him.
The tired brothers of the engineering battalion have been sweating profusely and nervously building defensive positions on this 3.5-kilometer defense line bordering Nushan Lake to the south and the Huaihe River to the north.
Deputy division commander Hu Jialin took the staff and guards on a tour, and then he felt relieved and sent a telegram to An Yi: We had withdrawn to the second-line position as planned, and no enemy troops were seen intersecting.
Just when Hu Jialin called An Yi, the Shabu Pier three kilometers south of his position looked different. The Second Regiment of the Independent Division fought bravely for three hours after passing through the mouth of Tonghe River and then quickly retreated as ordered.
In these three hours of fierce fighting, the 2,100 officers and soldiers of the Second Regiment paid a heavy price of nearly half of their lives and injuries under the fierce attack of two regiments of the enemy's 9th Division and the 37th Division. The entire regiment's officers and soldiers were surrounded by thousands of people.
With the help of others, we evacuated to the west shore of the lake and boarded more than two hundred large and small fishing boats that had been parked here as quickly as possible. They pushed off the shore almost without stopping, and were able to outflank the enemy's Thirty-seventh Division's forward regiment.
The previous eight minutes were enough to escape.
The pursuers of the enemy's Thirty-seventh Division watched helplessly as more than 200 fishing boats fled with nearly 2,000 wounded revolutionary troops. They were furious and suffered from the failure of the mortar company and heavy machine gun company to arrive in time. They watched in vain.
The fishing boats hundreds of meters away were shooting aimlessly. The commander and chief of staff of the Thirty-seventh Division, who was so happy about their success, sent a telegram of victory to Commander-in-Chief Chu Yupu as soon as they successfully defeated the revolutionary army and crossed the river.
The rumble of horse hooves came from far to near, rushing towards the lakeside dock. The enemy's cavalry regiment of 800 cavalry successfully crossed the Tong River three kilometers upstream and galloped there. They rushed to the dock line with murderous intent and then slowed down.
Zhang Chengzhu, the captain of the colonel on the tall black horse, looked at the sails getting further and further away, raised his whip high, and pointed decisively to the north. The eight hundred well-trained cavalry surged up again and rushed to the north in an orderly formation. At this time, the cavalry regiment
Little did they know that the 11th Division had been defeated by the powerful Third Regiment of the Revolutionary Army. The division commander, deputy division commander, radio station and more than ten generals were killed in the artillery fire. The position of the Third Regiment of the Revolutionary Army had moved back 3.5 kilometers.
The speed of the eight hundred cavalrymen is getting faster and faster, like a sharp blade, cutting through everything and stabbing towards the north at high speed.
When the cavalry forward was 1.5 kilometers away from Xiaozhuang Village, violent explosions sounded one after another thirty meters ahead. The four wooden bridges above the Tao River flowing into Nushan Lake from the northwest were all blown up in an instant. The cavalry forward was high
With an angry roar, he tightened the reins and stopped before rushing into the eight-meter-wide river. The entire cavalry exploded violently. They uniformly reduced their speed and finally stopped, looking helplessly at the Tao River that lay in front of them.
Yelled and cursed.
Zhang Chengzhu galloped up the small slope by the river on the left and looked north. Eight hundred meters away, flags with a blue sky and white sun were fluttering in the strong wind. Zhang Chengzhu was shocked. He took out his binoculars and looked carefully. He saw the flags on the tight defensive position.
The officers and soldiers and the machine guns were puzzled one after another. He never expected that the enemy troops retreated so quickly. He thought it was the second-line position of the main force of the revolutionary army.
Zhang Chengzhu thought for a moment and felt something was wrong. He turned the telescope to the position of the 11th Army in the northwest. He was shocked to find that in that empty position, except for thick smoke, there were no signs of fighting. This made all the way from the west
Zhang Chengzhu, who was speeding up, was puzzled.
Suddenly, a rumbling sound was faintly transmitted to the eardrums. Zhang Chengzhu raised his telescope again and looked to the northwest. A flood line two meters high and hundreds of meters wide was surging in with a surging impact that swept everything, "rumbling."
"The impact sound became louder and louder. Zhang Chengzhu suddenly remembered the reservoir in the upper reaches of the Tao River on the map. In shock, he jerked the reins. The horse stood up in pain and hissed wildly. It turned beautifully in the air and carried its owner towards the river.
Going down the hillside, Zhang Chengzhu shouted while running:
"The flood has burst, run with me quickly——"
The eight hundred cavalrymen were taken aback. They turned their horses' heads with skillful riding skills and whipped their whips fiercely. The eight hundred war horses roared and rushed to the west. The overflowing floodwaters that burst the embankment flooded the ground and covered the ground.
Broken branches and wood together with the hoof marks left by eight hundred war horses rushed into the vast Nushan Lake.
The fast-moving 800 cavalrymen ran for two kilometers and looked back. The vast ocean in front of them was shocking. If they had been a minute later, the whole army would have been in danger of being annihilated. The knights on the horses were all broken into cold sweats.
Li Jinlong, deputy lieutenant colonel of the Cavalry Regiment, rode up to Zhang Chengzhu, who was looking up to the sky and sighing. He looked at the two kilometers of ocean in front of him and whispered:
"Brother, there is no need to sigh. The enemy is cruel! First they blew up the bridge to block my way, and then they blew up the embankment in an attempt to submerge our army. If you hadn't discovered the danger in time, I'm afraid most of our brothers would not have been able to escape this disaster. If it were different
If the infantry is chasing us, it will be tragic!"
Zhang Chengzhu shook his head: "I didn't sigh because I couldn't attack the enemy's rear as I wished, but I was surprised by the enemy's precise calculation. If you think about it, from the time we quietly watched the fierce battle at the mouth of Tonghe River to the time we moved upstream and successfully crossed the river, every day
It was very difficult to take every step. We encountered either cold shots or broken bridges along the way, which made our regiment waste more than an hour of precious time. I am now glad that we did not rush into the enemy's position, otherwise what awaited us would be a series of positions and dense
machine gun bullets.”
"How could it be? Aren't the four regiments of the 11th Division always oppressing the enemy's three main regiments? How could the enemy still have the strength to build positions behind them?" Li Jinlong asked in surprise.
Zhang Chengzhu shook his head and smiled bitterly: "There is no one on the battlefield of the 11th Division. There is not a single person on either side of the enemy. There must be a huge change that we don't know. Let's go, Jinlong, we will bypass this flooded area immediately and rush to Liuzhou."
Xiangzhen, I have a hunch that we may fall into the trap of the revolutionary army. If that is the case, we can cross the river immediately when we reach Liuxiang and avoid being surrounded by the enemy. The ground is soft and moist, with rivers crisscrossing it.
It is not suitable for the deployment of our cavalry at all. If we are blocked, we will not be able to use our cavalry's advantages at all, so leave quickly!"
"This...how is this possible?" Li Jinlong opened his eyes in disbelief.
"Jinlong, you heard me right! There is no time to say more, order the troops to move forward quickly!" Zhang Chengzhu had no time to explain in detail, and shouted to the west, and the eight hundred cavalry immediately followed, with "rumbling" horseshoes.
The sound immediately drowned out the sound of running water.
Wuhe County, Zhilu Army Headquarters.
Chu Yupu, who was in front of a large map, was very satisfied after listening to the battle report from his adjutant Qin Shanhu: "It took the Thirty-seventh Division three hours to break through the enemy's south bank defense line. It was a lot slower, but the Zhuzhu's cavalry battalion was able to cross the river smoothly, which was enough to catch the enemy off guard.
, as long as the 11th Division can maintain its offensive and entangle the main force of the enemy, those young and energetic boys will have no chance of escaping. This battle has been going on so far, and we have basically achieved our intended goal, and it will be before dark at the latest
The results will come out.”
"Deputy Commander, it's just that the Eleventh Division hasn't sent a telegram so far, so my subordinates are a little worried!" Qin Shanhu said in a low voice.
Chu Yupu nodded: "It's a pity that we encountered such horrible weather, otherwise our plane would have been clearly visible as long as it flew around in the sky... Give Jiang Yuming, the commander of the 9th Division in Changhuai, a call and ask him to lead a regiment to help Liuxiang.
Why is the 11th Division always huddled in Changhuai? His courage was shattered by the loss of one or two regiments?"
"Yes! I will do it immediately."
Dingyuan County, 85 kilometers south of Wuhe County, is the frontline headquarters of the Third Route Army.
After listening to the report from Chief of Staff Wang Yingyu, General Li Zongren raised his head in surprise: "What? The 37th Division from Su County marches eastward to the Wuhe area?"
"Yes, the intelligence has been verified again. The 37th Division of the Third Army stationed in Su County suddenly drove to Guzhen in the southeast yesterday afternoon, and then headed straight to Wuhe County in the east without stopping. My subordinates are also thinking that the people on this road
What's the purpose of rushing to Wuhe? It can't be to help Fengyang, right?" Wang Yingyu said doubtfully.
Li Zongren leaned over and looked at the map, and suddenly remembered something. He placed his finger on the Wuhe County area, raised his head and said loudly: "I understand! The Anyi Independent Division of the First Army must have disrupted the Wuhe front line. Didn't the battle report the day before yesterday say that
Did he once lead his troops to attack Wuhe County? There is nothing this guy wouldn't dare to do in a fight. His independent division cut off the enemy's northward retreat and waterway logistics supply lines. The enemy must have been intolerable and had to be tight-lipped.
One of the three divisions in Suxian County was secretly taken out to regain the lost ground... If this would be very beneficial to me! Fenting (Wang Yingyu's courtesy name) immediately sent a telegram to Jian Sheng to inquire about the matter, and then called the headquarters in Nanchang to inquire.
If the situation is indeed true, our army will immediately detach an army to cross Bengbu's left wing and penetrate directly into Su County. The enemy in Bengbu will definitely be in chaos without a fight. Our army of 20,000 soldiers can capture Bengbu with just one charge. The opportunity cannot be missed, and time is not lost.
Come again!"
"yes!"
Wang Yingyu left quickly.
Li Zongren leaned over to check the map again, and after a while he sighed to himself: "This guy is too courageous. He provoked two enemy divisions to besiege him. Although his courage is commendable, he is also in danger. Can he escape unscathed?
It just depends on his luck..."
Nanjing General Headquarters, Office of the Commander-in-Chief.
Commander-in-Chief Chiang, who had returned from a meeting at the Central Party Headquarters, entered the office. Attendant Yu Jishi came quickly to report: "Principal, General Li Zongren called and asked the headquarters if there is any news about the fierce battle between the Anyi Independent Division and the enemy in the Wuhe area. The message said
In addition to the enemy's Ninth Division, the enemy still has two garrison brigades defending He County. Yesterday afternoon, the enemy quietly mobilized the 37th Division from Su County again and rushed to the Wuhe area. The staff office felt that the situation was serious and had already contacted Chief Bai.
I got in touch, Director Ge is waiting for the principal in the side hall."
Chiang Kai-shek frowned: "Please quickly!"
"yes!"
Ge Jing'en strode in, saluted, reported a few words in a low voice and walked to the map. Waiting for the impatient Chiang Kai-shek to follow, he pointed at the map and analyzed in a low voice:
"Brother Jiansheng has called back, confirming that the Anyi Independent Division has pinned down the 9th Division, 37th Division and half of the garrison brigade of the Zhili Allied Forces. The other three regiments were annihilated by the Independent Division three days ago. However, according to our
We received intelligence early this morning that the enemy's 11th Division in Suqian advanced southward late at night the day before yesterday, and its destination was Shuanggou Town on the north bank of the Huaihe River, north of Wuhe. From this, we can infer that it must have been an attempt to eliminate the independent division and restore its land and water transportation.
Emergency deployment was adopted. My subordinates analyzed privately that the Anyi Independent Division is in danger and is likely to be surrounded on three sides."
Commander-in-Chief Chiang was taken aback. After seeing clearly the situation on the map at Ge Jingen’s signal, he walked around excitedly:
"What to do? What to do? Why didn't Bai Jiansheng send reinforcements to support the An Yi Independent Division? Since An Yi's lone army was allowed to deeply contain the enemy's strength, why didn't he send reinforcements at this time?"
"Commander-in-Chief, please rest assured. According to Jiansheng's telegram, An Yi's contact with him is still open. He has not made any request for assistance or retreat in the past three days. His subordinates believe that the independent division is moving at an unusual speed and is located near a lake surrounded by water networks.
In such an area, it will be difficult for the enemy to surround him." Ge Jing'en persuaded in a low voice.
Commander-in-Chief Chiang stopped and turned back to the map to look at it carefully. He stretched out his fingers and moved them between Nushan Lake and the Huaihe River for a while, and then muttered with confidence:
"Nang Xipi! This guy is too courageous. Don't be so surprised if you send out surprise troops... Zhanhou, contact An Yi immediately, just use the radio station at the headquarters. I want him to report to me in person!"