Chapter 8: Fighting against the wind and snow to emerge from the heroic pass (1)
At seven o'clock that night, eight 17-car trains from Beiping, Langfang, Tangshan and other stations quietly gathered at Changping South Station, departing every twenty minutes, heading east into the gloomy snowy night. In the early morning of the next day,
At four o'clock, we arrived at Yutian Town in the northeast of Tangshan.
At 7 o'clock in the morning, 15,000 soldiers got off their vehicles and assembled, grouped into regiments, and turned north. They drove at high speed. The forward cavalry company had already arrived at Xingjiawu, five kilometers to the north, and the rear troops had just left Yutian Town.
north.
The five-kilometer-long team was interspersed with twelve well-covered anti-aircraft artillery vehicles that appeared out of nowhere, more than twenty military medium-sized small jeeps, several oil tankers covered with camouflage nets, and field medical vehicles.
, braved the heavy snow and rushed to Zunhua, 38 kilometers away.
At 7:20 a.m., the atmosphere in the Japanese frontline headquarters in Jinzhou City was tense. Under the instruction of General Muto Nobuyoshi, Xiaofan Guozhao read aloud the six pieces of emergency information received from 8:00 to 10 minutes ago last night. The attending generals immediately
Realizing that the independent division, the ace division of the Chinese army, which is famous both at home and abroad and has been invincible in several years of Chinese civil war. In the Shanghai 129 Battle, the Ueda Division, Kumiru and other brigades were humiliated and angered. The independent division, the ace division of the Chinese army, is driving towards the Zunhua line at high speed and is about to enter the battlefield.
.
Although all the generals had previously known that this ace division had advanced equipment and powerful firepower, after listening to the information read by Xiaofan Guozhao, they still felt that the pressure was only increased. Twelve tanks, more than twenty jeeps and other auxiliary vehicles suddenly appeared.
, with no less than 15,000 officers and soldiers plus chariot troops, this unexpected configuration and scale sent a very clear message - the fall of Qinhuangdao, making China's most elite troops unable to sit still.
Now, An Jiajun can't wait to make a desperate move!
Muto Nobuyoshi, who was sitting solemnly, was very satisfied with the surprised and angry reactions of the generals. He stood up unhurriedly, walked to the front of the large map, and asked calmly to the gathered generals:
"Do you really think that the Marine Corps and the Manchu Army's victory over Qinhuangdao is a staged victory? Do you really think that the Northeastern Army abandoning Shanhaiguan and retreating across the board means that our Japanese Army has broken through the most difficult barrier and is invincible?"
The generals immediately stood up straight and did not dare to say anything. They were thinking nervously about what Muto Nobuyoshi said.
Wu Luoxinyi signaled the staff to hand over the baton, took it and slowly pointed it at Jianchang on the center line: "This is a strategic location occupied by the Kumamoto Division (Sixth Base Regiment) without firing a shot. According to the Eighth Division's
According to the request, the headquarters agreed to let the 13th Regiment of the Kumamoto Division go north to attack the enemy's 44th Division and the remnants of Yang Jiuxiao's detachment entrenched in Garalaqin. However, so far, due to many reasons such as bad weather and road conditions,
, progress is extremely slow, and the main enemy force has not yet been found. With artillery and tanks unable to advance in coordination, the infantry cannot advance quickly, which instead delays the Kumamoto Division's overall move south.
"At this time, the enemy's elite independent division suddenly left Peiping and assembled towards Zunhua via Yutian, Tangshan. It was obviously aimed at our center-line troops. The Kumamoto Division had already advanced to Qinglong Town (today's Qinglong County) due to the 14th Regiment.
To suppress the enemy in order to cope with the advance of the eastern and western fronts, we did not consider that the enemy dared to make such a proactive response. They were likely to take the initiative on the basis of defense. If this was the case, we were left behind due to heavy snow.
The 7,000 officers and soldiers of the 14th Brigade who quickly occupied the front line of Qinglong Town under the artillery brigade would have a hard time resisting the enemy's independent division with superior equipment and combat experience, not to mention the enemy's 29th Army with more than 30,000 troops to coordinate with them.
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"Therefore, there are only two options before us now. First, the Fourteenth Division is withdrawn to Jianchang, which is a safe move; second, the Eighth Manchurian Division currently stationed in Jinzhou is quickly transferred to Jianchang
Rush to Qinglong Town and securely occupy this advance base leading to Zunhua. How to make a decision? Please feel free to tell me what you think.
After intense discussions, the remnants of Gu Changfeng Division and Yang Jiuxiao Division were deliberately ignored. No one of the Japanese generals, who had a superhuman sense of honor and self-esteem, was willing to spit out the territory they had swallowed.
After repeated weighings and exchanging opinions with Xiaofan Guoaki, Muto Nobuyoshi felt that sending a well-equipped puppet Manchukuo division to Qinglong Town could not only deal with possible active attacks by the Chinese army, but also adopt an active defensive posture first and wait for the backup of the 23rd Army.
The brigade made a roundabout attack and pushed the Chinese army back to the south of the Great Wall in one fell swoop, thus successfully maintaining the initiative and offensive pace across the entire front. As for the remaining enemy troops huddled in the Kaliqin area, unless they escaped early, they would be trapped in a tight siege after the layout was completed.
, it will be much easier to solve it when the time comes.
After reaching a consensus, Muto Nobuyoshi resolutely decided to order the 13th Brigade to retreat 20 kilometers, keep vigilance against the remnants of Gu Changfeng and Yang Jiuxiao in the Garaqin area and protect Jianchang, and ordered the Kumamoto Division to make all combat preparations.
Attack enemies who leave the border head-on at any time.
Based on this order, the Second Yi Regiment, which stayed in Jianri... sent two brigades of the Artillery Regiment of the Sixth Division to Qinglong Town and stationed in Xingcheng. The Second Yi Regiment was ready to go to Jianchang within 24 hours. The planned centerline strength of the Japanese army
The deployment is basically completed.
At 11:40 noon, An Yi's motorcade slowly drove into Zunhua City. Song Zheyuan, commander of the 29th Army, and Liu Ruming, deputy commander of the 29th Army, lined up in the south of the city to greet him.
Due to the status of the deputy chief of staff of the General Staff Headquarters of the Anyi Military Commission, Song Zheyuan, Liu Ruming and other generals of the Northwest Army, despite their reluctance, could only hold on to a lukewarm welcome ceremony, remembering that they killed each other to death during the Central Plains War.
The soldiers of the Northwest Army had no good impression of An Yi and his generals.
An Yi's performance was beyond the expectations of Song Zheyuan and other former Northwest Army generals. When he was fifty meters away from Song Zheyuan and others who were standing neatly, the motorcade had stopped. An Yi got out of the car door first, smiling despite the falling snowflakes.
He strode forward and arrived in front of Song Zheyuan and others, who had frosty faces, and respectfully performed a military salute: "Brothers, thank you very much for your welcome, An Yi!"
Song Zheyuan and the generals were slightly startled, and then returned the salute perfunctorily. Liu Ruming, who had directly fought with An Yi and was beaten away, simply looked up at the sky and turned a blind eye to An Yi's greeting. Seeing that the atmosphere was not right, Song Zheyuan hurriedly
He took half a step forward and tried his best to squeeze out a smile: "Welcome to the arrival of Vice-Chairman An, welcome to the arrival of An Jiajun, and invite Secretary-Chang An to come into the city."
An Yi shook his head and smiled, not caring about the laziness of the generals. He glanced at the horses behind Song Zheyuan and others, and waved back. Lin Yaodong, the captain of the guard, immediately brought the horses and stood aside. Zhao Ruihe and Zhan also picked up a few of them.
He took the reins handed over by the guard and waited for everyone to enter the city together.
Song Zheyuan was quite surprised that An Yi could keep his composure. Looking at the steady stream of troops and rumbling chariots coming from the south, he sighed: "Sure enough, he is the direct descendant of the direct descendants. The number of these chariots alone is enough.
The Northeastern Army is one legion."
An Yi explained with a smile: "General Song has given you the award. Whether the general believes it or not, I have made it clear that these vehicles, including the equipment of the 20,000 brothers who went north this time, were all brought back with my own money.
In addition to food expenses, I didn't give me an extra penny. On the contrary, the brothers of the 29th Army received more military commission allocations this month than me. My brother only got 300,000 yuan, which can only keep tens of thousands of brothers from going hungry.
Just freezing to death
Everyone was stunned, and then Song Zheyuan thought of An Yi's wealth and the generous assistance An Yi had provided to various departments of the Northeast Army and the Shanxi-Sui Army Shang Zhen Department for more than a month. He felt a little apologetic, but his face was still calm: "General Gao Yi
, the whole country knows, haha, please!”
"please".
An Yi flew on his horse, followed Jia Zheyuan and Liu Ruming, and rode into the city slowly. He glanced at the thinly dressed but energetic welcoming officers and soldiers standing on both sides, and sighed softly:
"General Song, this time Ai Yi suddenly led his troops to Zunhua under the order of the Central Military Commission. It is indeed a bit abrupt. The reasons are extremely complicated and cannot be explained for a while, but An Yi wants to tell the general and colleagues in the Northwest Army
Everyone, An Yi's troops are not here to show off, but sincerely want to fight Japan. I believe that the brothers in the Northwest Army can learn from the performance of General Gu Changfeng's 44th Division and General Jiuxiao's Second Division.
Can be seen.
"We have had a lot of unhappiness between us before, but now that we are facing a formidable enemy, we should temporarily put aside those trivial matters, cooperate sincerely, and be united in dealing with the outside world.
I shamelessly came here this time. After much thought and thought, I didn’t know what to give as a greeting gift. In the end, I had to bring a mortar company and the equipment of a heavy machine gun battalion to show my respect. I hope the general and brothers will accept it.
The group of people happened to be walking in the doorway of the long and narrow city gate. An Yi's words broke into the ears of every general and colonel clearly. Everyone was very surprised. Song Zheyuan was also surprised by An Yi's generosity. You must know that a company is forced to
Artillery and a battalion of heavy machine guns are not a small number, not to mention that they were presented by the Anjia Army, which has always been renowned for its advanced equipment. They are definitely much better than similar weapons currently equipped by other armies.
A pleasant smile appeared on Song Zheyuan's face: "Thank you very much. Our army is very poor, with extremely backward equipment and few heavy weapons to support its appearance. General An's generous recommendation makes Song and his brothers inexplicably grateful."
An Yi shook his head and continued to move forward: "To be honest, I just wanted to do something for the brothers of the 29th Army during the two previous meetings and an inspection. Although I was only responsible for combat and planning affairs and had no authority.
He criticized the military logistics supply, but he was still moved by the anti-Japanese spirit of the brothers in the 29th Army.
"To be honest, what I feel most emotional about is not the rhetoric of the Political Department of the 29th Army, but the swords tied with ropes behind the soldiers' backs. Previously, the swords of the Northwest Army made all the departments of the Central Army change their minds after hearing about it.
It must be more satisfying to cut down the Japanese invaders. But modern warfare cannot rely only on the sword, but also on the spirit of wielding the sword, right?
Song Zheyuan and the generals around him once again looked at An Yi, whose face was filled with emotion, and a sense of intimacy slowly emerged in their hearts.