At night, Xiaji Town, north of Dengzhou City, frontline headquarters of the Third Route Army of the Northwest Army.
The town was busy with people moving around inside and outside. Dozens of large trucks loaded with ammunition were heading north quickly. Groups of ragged and exhausted officers and soldiers lined up in a long snake-like formation, retreating northward through the town. Large trucks returning one after another
Transporting hundreds of wounded officers and soldiers who had been evacuated from the battlefield, they entered the town from the south. The blood on the carriages kept flowing, and spilled on the dusty loess road all the way.
The command post that received the order to retreat was bustling with ringing phones, radio waves, and calls. The generals and colonels coming and going looked panicked and hurried. Cao Haosen, the acting commander of the Third Route Army, sat expressionlessly on the commander's chair, staring at the message on the desktop.
, his brows were furrowed and his forehead was covered with beads of sweat.
Lijiagang, which I thought would be taken down in one attack, turned out to be unexpectedly strong and became a flesh-and-blood mill for the 26th Division and three other main divisions. One day's attack killed more than 4,700 soldiers and more than 9,000 light soldiers down the mountain.
Seriously injured officers and soldiers huddled in Xinye City and resigned to their fate. In total, one of the three divisions had been lost. The defenders' position was still as solid as a rock and could not be shaken at all. The distance from the closest charge to the enemy's position was less than 100 meters.
The Dengzhou battlefield where Cao Haosen personally commanded the front line also suffered heavy casualties. He deployed two divisions and launched a fierce attack for several hours but was unable to cross the long trench dug by the defenders in advance. The corpses of more than 5,000 soldiers still could not fill the long trench.
At noon, the whole army organized another vigorous attack and finally broke through the defenders' defense line and crossed the trenches. Liu Ruming's troops in the west
The emergency call for help came at this moment. Cao Haosen, who was shocked, realized the danger and immediately ordered the entire army to retreat. However, the all-pervasive defenders seized the opportunity and rushed out of the city wall to launch a major counterattack. A brigade that reached the city could not escape again.
To the north of the long trench, the two main divisions that had fought hard for a day were still tightly entangled by Dengzhou's pursuers, and all artillery and heavy weapons were lost.
Not to mention, the officers and soldiers of the two divisions under fierce enemy fire were unable to escape even if they wanted to. The cunning enemy kept a distance and followed closely, using a large number of light and heavy machine guns and mortars to continuously bombard thousands of soldiers.
Enemy officers and soldiers wearing camouflage uniforms would usually rush up to the impact point of the artillery shells and shoot wildly. When the confused brothers stabilized their positions and counterattacked, they would fire again.
Once the brothers who retreated and were red-eyed and unafraid of death, chased after them, they would be fired by machine guns that were denser than raindrops. Almost all those who fell on the vast battlefield were the corpses of their own Northwest Army soldiers.
The fewer people there were, the more frightened the fight became. Many officers and soldiers who had made bold statements over the years shed tears of despair for the first time on this cruel battlefield.
The guards urged Cao Haosen to retreat twice but did not move. At this time, what he faced was not advance or retreat but life and death. His mind was at a loss. He had been unwilling to serve as the commander of the Third Route Army before and strongly opposed the commander's desperate plan.
An adventurous plan, but the commander with absolute authority did not give him any chance to make a judgment.
, as he had for many years, he had a mountain of military orders, so Cao Haosen could only bite the bullet and take office, sending away the old man Pang Bingxun who suffered heavy casualties and was depressed, and stationed in Nanyang with two and a half of the main divisions, who had not yet settled down.
I received an urgent order from the headquarters: attack Lijiagang and Dengzhou with all your strength!
Cao Haosen knew that the commander-in-chief was in a hurry. The resurgent Guangxi overlord Li Zongren sent his troops north and quickly conquered Hengyang and Changsha. He Jian was beaten by Bai Chongxi and Zhang Fakui so dizzy that he panicked and retreated to Tingsi Bridge before he stopped and hurriedly captured him.
The fleeing troops formed formations to resist. However, the famous battle of Tingsi Bridge in the early days of the Northern Expedition was a miracle created under the command of Li Zongren and Zhang Fakui. The main forces in the attack are still Li Zongren's Seventh Army and Zhang Fakui's Fourth Army. It must be said that
worldly affairs
Like chess, fortune plays tricks on people. Anyone with a discerning eye knows that He Jian's failure is only a matter of time. Li Zongren's army with high morale will return to Wuhan again, regain control of the two lakes and strive to dominate the world. It is precisely because of such a delicate situation that the commander-in-chief is here
change
In the blink of an eye, the main force of five divisions was rushed to Nanyang, in an attempt to gather the strength of more than 70,000 elite soldiers of seven and a half divisions to defeat the Central Army's Fifth Army's defense line in one fell swoop. Then, regardless of the situation, they turned southeast and occupied Wuhan ahead of Li Zongren in exchange for
best interests.
However, no one expected that it would end like this. The Fifth Army Corps of the Central Army was so determined and brave. The seven temporarily assembled divisions, under the command of the young general An Yi, were bold enough to create a time difference.
, and played so smartly and quickly.
It wasn't until the opponent launched a general offensive that Cao Haosen realized that An Yi had already seen clearly his army's intentions, or had already imagined the possibility. He actually dug a nine-kilometer-long trench in advance and built a solid Lijiagang blocking front.
The land will be invincible.
Cao Haosen's command of the offensive was frustrated and hit a wall repeatedly. When he saw the bitter battle reports from the two front lines, he suddenly remembered that the enemy commander An Yi was an engineer company commander. In the early days of the Northern Expedition, he became a leader with his original innovations and improvements in engineer expertise and theory.
Army engineering and military science
Xi Jinping's role model, Cao Haosen, never expected that the Fifth Army Corps, which was younger than their coach, would perform so well. They had strict military discipline, kept pace, and fought decisively and ferociously yet with flexibility. Looking at the entire army, there were several generals.
Who possesses such prestige and talent?
Defeated, defeated like a mountain!
Everything has passed and everything has become an irreversible fact. Even if Cao Haosen has the power of heaven, he cannot restore it. He is well aware of the habits of the Northwest Army and how much impact the disastrous defeat in the Nanyang Theater will have. Even if he is very lucky this time, he can
He barely managed to keep three divisions to defend Nanyang, and the crime of defeat was unforgivable. Although he had always advocated carefully monitoring the Fifth Army of Western Hubei, adopting a defensive strategy to defend Nanyang, and using limited troops to
When he arrived at the main battlefields of southeastern Henan and Henan-Anhui where the war was fiercest, although he was still unwilling to take the initiative after being ordered to lead his troops to Nanyang in the face of danger, a single order destroyed all his plans and ideas, making him endanger the entire war situation in the blink of an eye.
As a defeated general, Marshal Feng only needed one reason to lose his troops. There was no other way out for him except shooting. From ancient times to the present, it is hard to find those who have made outstanding achievements in battle, and scapegoats are everywhere.
"Senior, let's go, it's too late if you don't leave..." the loyal captain of the guard urged again.
"Go? Where to go?"
Cao Haosen shook his head and smiled sadly, stood up slowly and whispered: "Call all the division commanders and deputy division commanders. I want to talk to them. Maybe this is the last time I talk to them... Go quickly!"
"yes!"
The captain of the guard hesitated for a moment, then turned and left.
At noon the next day, Xuzhou Pengcheng Camp, Central Army General Headquarters.
"Report to the Commander-in-Chief, General An Yi is sending an urgent message!" Ge Jingen's face was filled with joy that could not be concealed.
"Read it quickly!"
Chiang Kai-shek stood up and stared at Ge Jingen with bright eyes. More than ten generals present also stood up, eyes full of expectation.
"Our soldiers fought hard day and night for two days and defeated two divisions of Liu Ruming's department. The enemy's temporary ninth division, twenty-sixth division and three mixed brigades in the Nanyang theater were wiped out more than 28,000 enemies and captured more than 30,000 enemies.
Everyone, as of 10:40 this morning, General Zhang Cunzhuang led the New 10th and 16th Divisions of the Left Route Army to fight back bravely and arrived in the east of Nanyang City to form an encirclement. General Yin Jinan led the 16th Division.
The 44th Division and the 44th Division took advantage of the victory to pursue and blockade the west and north of Nanyang. General Deng Bin led the New 9th Division and the New 14th Division to the south of the city. Seeing that the situation was over, the more than 9,000 remaining enemies in the city put down their weapons and stopped resisting. The defenders sent generals out of the city.
Negotiate surrender matters. The Fifth Army Corps plans to move the frontline headquarters from Dengzhou to Nanyang for the next phase of war command. Student, An Yi..."
The whole hall burst into cheers, and Chen Yi and other generals came to Chiang Kai-shek one after another and congratulated each other, saying that this victory was another turning point after the Hu Jialin Independent Division and Zhang Chengzhu's 1st Cavalry Division, with the cooperation of friendly forces, captured the Jieshou Straight Shangshui in the early morning.
Great victory.
Ge Jingen quickly said that the victory of Nanyang was of greater significance. Due to the victory of Nanyang, the enemy defenders in Luohe and Ye County were defeated without a fight, and they retreated north to Xuchang to build a new defense line. The Third Army finally broke the deadlock and marched north across the entire line. At this point, southern Henan has entered our army.
With my hands, from now on Luoyang will be
Will be under the front of our third and fifth armies. The Northwest Army's original desperate attempt to capture Wuhan and then occupy the two lakes has completely failed. The consequences will be infinitely magnified. Our army's various departments have since stopped their decline.
Soon we will enter the overall counterattack stage.
The generals were inexplicably excited, but Chiang Kai-shek was very calm. He instructed Chen Yi to immediately report the victory of Nanyang to the whole country, award the Yunhui Medal at all levels to the division commanders of the Fifth Army and above, and be promoted to commander-in-chief of the Left Route Army of the Fifth Army and staff officer of the Forty-fourth Army.
Chang Zhang Cunzhuang
Yin Jinan, commander-in-chief of the Right Route Army, and Lieutenant General Deng Bin, deputy commander of the 44th Army, rewarded the Fifth Army Corps with a heavy reward of 800,000 yuan, and ordered the Fifth Army Corps to compile the remaining meritorious officers into a book and submit it to the Ministry of Military Affairs, the Central Military Commission and the Commander-in-Chief
The department will also award and commend them.
"Report to the Commander-in-Chief, Commander He of the Third Army Corps in a secret message." The major general's staff officer handed over the message with both hands.
"oh?"
Chiang Kai-shek received the telegram, read it twice, and happily issued the order: "Call General Xue Zhou (characterized by He Chengjun) immediately and fly Mr. Ming Wei (characterized by Cao Haosen) here by plane. I will wait for you at the airport in person, haha... Huanzhang
Brother, since you can’t tolerate talented people like Mr. Ming Wei, I will thank you for your support and respectful acceptance..."
Nanyang, Fifth Army Frontline Headquarters.
"The Commander, the Military Commission and the General Headquarters jointly sent a commendation message..."
"Put it on the table."
An Yi didn't even raise his head, and sadly read the secret message sent by Hu Jialin over and over again. The joy of his victory was long gone.
In the battle at Jieshou, the Independent Division and the 1st Cavalry Division exerted all their strength. The Independent Division was responsible for the main attack, while the 1st Cavalry Division made a long-distance attack on the enemy's right flank. In the end, it fell into a brutal hand-to-hand battle. The brothers of the two divisions paid a huge price before they were defeated by the two friendly divisions.
With coordinated efforts, they broke through the defense lines of Zhang Weixi's three divisions of the Northwest Army and made great contributions to the friendly forces' attack on Shangshui.
In this battle, more than 3,000 officers and soldiers of the Independent Division were killed, and as many as 6,000 brothers were injured. Only 50% of the soldiers of the 1st Cavalry Division were left. Xiao Wu, the commander of the Independent Division's Cavalry Regiment, was shot in the abdomen, and Li Yuewu, the deputy of the regiment, was knocked unconscious by a bomb to this day.
He was unconscious, and half of the battalion and company-level chief officers who had been added to the independent division from each phase of Huangpu were gone.
An Yi never expected that he had always insisted not to fight unprepared battles, especially not to fight the kind of critical battles that use human lives to pile up military exploits. He had always advocated finding fighter opportunities to annihilate the enemy during the movement, but his trump card was used by the Military Commission and the Third Party Committee.
Those people in the legion were so ruined, which made him feel sad but helpless.