The morning light slowly illuminated the vast battlefield filled with gunpowder smoke. On the five-kilometer-wide position, corpses were strewn all over the field, which was too horrific to look at. The remaining smoke after the fire was extinguished was everywhere, and the ground was covered with purple-red turbid pools of blood.
After the red-eyed soldiers of the three armies cleaned up the battlefield, they returned to the formation one after another. Exhausted, they lay down one by one on the headquarters position, with their bodies densely packed along the unrecognizable trenches that stretched for more than four kilometers. If it weren't for the bursts of rapid breathing and pain
The groaning sounds kept ringing, and they seemed no different from the corpses in different forms of death in the open position ahead.
On a hillock in the middle of the front line on the east bank of the Luan River, a group of generals and colonels in different clothes stood above them, raising telescopes and silently looking eastward. Everyone knew that the severely damaged Japanese army left behind tens of thousands of corpses and retreated fifteen kilometers.
, had no ability to organize an effective attack in one day, and the great achievements of the night counterattack, which was suddenly launched without any preparation, made the generals of all the armies deeply moved.
The words of Liu Ruming, deputy commander of the 29th Army, are the most representative: This battle started out of nowhere. There was no unified deployment and no specific plan before. The four armies that had never cooperated before actually fought in such a tacit understanding.
Looking back now, I can’t believe it. I rushed forward in a daze, and achieved results that I could never have dreamed of. If I had played according to the routine, I don’t know what it would have been like, but I dare to say that it will never be like this.
The results of the battle.
Liu Ruming's words were recognized by everyone, and everyone expressed the same meaning one after another. However, after comparing their own casualties and the results achieved, not everyone could laugh.
In this battle, the Anjia Army, Song Zheyuan's Northwest Army, Shang Zhen's Jinsui Army, and He Zhuguo's Northeast Army combined together invested as many as 89,000 soldiers, almost twice as many as the Japanese army. After more than four hours of fighting
Continuous night battles achieved great results, annihilating more than 11,300 Japanese troops and severely injuring more than 15,000 Japanese troops, but their own casualties also almost reached more than 16,000.
Among them, the Song Zheyuan Department suffered the most casualties, investing more than 23,000 troops. In the end, more than 3,200 people were killed and more than 5,000 people were lightly or seriously injured, with a casualty rate of more than 30%; followed by the Northeast Army He Zhuguo Department, which invested
There were more than 13,000 troops, more than 1,100 were killed, and nearly 3,000 were lightly or seriously injured. The brave and resourceful Shang Zhen commanded 18,000 Jinsui troops to fight for half a night, almost keeping pace with all the ministries.
, the results achieved were no less than those of the Northwest Army and the Northeast Army on both wings, but the price paid was much lighter: more than 970 people were killed and more than 2,300 were slightly or seriously injured.
The two divisions of the Anjia Army that fought best were Gu Changfeng and Xia Jian who were personally commanded by the front line. These two extraordinary Manchu divisions each left two regiments as reserves and had more than 24,000 people.
of charge force.
An Yi, who was furious and needed to vent his anger, sent out all his guards and special agents to suppress the formation. Dozens of artillery of various sizes rumbled as 24,000 well-equipped and well-trained officers and soldiers assisted in the battle. Before the attack was launched,
In five minutes, twenty fully armored wheeled tanks rushed out first, using the powerful rapid-fire cannons loaded on the vehicles to open large gaps for the infantry, and rushed until they could not pass in front of the first trench of the Japanese army.
After giving up, the rapid-fire cannons on the vehicle after stopping fired more accurately. Most of the remaining Japanese firepower points within two kilometers in front of the position were wiped out by these twenty fierce tanks in just a few shots.
Immediately behind the armored fighting vehicle are twenty-three anti-aircraft artillery vehicles. The twin high-level anti-aircraft guns equipped with them not only cover the charge of the fighting vehicle in front, but also specifically look for fire points missed by the fighting vehicle in front. They are accurate one by one. It can be said that in
With the tacit cooperation of tanks and anti-aircraft artillery vehicles, as far as the eye could see, the Japanese troops were unable to form formations for effective resistance.
At the same time, after the infantry of the two divisions launched a fierce charge, the artillery regiments of the two divisions moved forward at an incredible speed, firing pieces of high-explosive artillery shells every time they stopped. Basically, the two artillery regiments
Wherever the artillery shells fell, the soldiers of the two divisions rushed towards them. This seemingly crazy desperate fighting method finally achieved astonishing results. After a night of fighting, there was not a single living person wherever the Anjiajun passed.
Kou, when he came back from the battle, he counted more than 700 of his 24,000 soldiers killed and more than 2,800 wounded. However, he achieved the excellent result of annihilating more than 6,700 enemy soldiers.
What even more astonished the friendly generals was that almost no soldier from the two divisions of Gu Changfeng and Xia Jian came back empty-handed. Regardless of whether they were good or bad, the weapons they obtained from cleaning the battlefield were all carried back, and then they lined up in a long queue very skillfully.
The rifles, machine guns, sabers and bayonets, grenades, and mortars seized on the handles were neatly stacked in categories. The Japanese soldiers had suede leather shoes on their feet, aluminum lunch boxes on their waists, leather trouser belts, armed belts, leather magazines, briefcases, and even packaging.
The canvases were piled up into several hills. At dawn, more than 50 army trucks carrying supplies, ammunition and canned food to the front line were all loaded up. The eyes of the friendly generals widened and they thought they were so rich.
Why is An Jiajun so hungry?
Just when everyone was talking about it, Sun Jiaqi, the new major general and brigade commander of the Shanxi-Sui Army, arrived. He smoked a cigarette and said in a weird voice:
"Sirs, don't be surprised. My old classmate has ruined the entire An family army. This tradition of snatching back any junk was developed during the Northern Expedition. No one in the eight armies of the National Revolutionary Army at that time did not know it.
This matter, no matter where we fight, whether we fight side by side with brothers or friendly forces, every time the battlefield is cleaned up after the battle, An Jiajun runs faster than others. As long as other troops fall behind An Jiajun, they will be miserable, often
After searching for a long time, there was not even a hair left.
"What you see are all large items seized. Small items such as wallets, watches, gold rings, pens, etc. are all in the pockets of each officer and soldier. I heard that if there is enough time, many officers and soldiers will open the enemy's corpse.
Check your mouth to see if there are any big gold teeth. If there are any, knock them out immediately with the butt of your gun. Take all these gadgets back and hand them over to the public together when you settle down. They will be distributed equally among the company and battalion commanders of each department. No one will suffer.
If you do a good job, you will be rewarded, your merits will be recorded, and you will be given priority when you are promoted to a higher rank. They were quite polite today and did not go beyond our army positions to clean the battlefield, otherwise we might not get anything."
Everyone was happy when An Yi's old classmate said this. They laughed for a while and then sighed sadly - looking at the horrific battlefield and the rows of corpses of officers and soldiers being carried back and buried on the spot in the abandoned trenches.
, no general and colonel can still laugh.
Song Zheyuan couldn't help but recall the scene of watching the battle with An Yi last night. Although An's army advanced at an unstoppable speed, not only did they wipe out all the effective Japanese forces in front of them, Gu Changfeng, who was commanded with determination, was able to detach a brigade.
Assist the 29th Army to annihilate the stubborn enemies on the sides and front, and assist friendly forces to advance quickly.
Song Zheyuan, who was watching from a distance with a telescope at that time, was very moved by Gu Changfeng's loyalty, but An Yi, who was watching the battle with Song Zheyuan, Shang Zhen and others, kept sighing:
"This is what it should be. If two people fight one, they should take the initiative to attack them by surprise. If they continue to fight slowly, they will be embarrassed! If only in two years, my armored tanks can be replaced with tracks.
If so, the little Japanese would have no place to escape. The two large-caliber machine guns inside and outside the armored assault vehicle can mow down a large area. There is no need to slow down when crossing a trench one or two meters wide. Brothers in the army do not have to fight so hard.
There is no need to pay such a heavy price."
Although all the troops suffered heavy losses in this battle, Song Zheyuan and his soldiers felt deeply comforted and believed that the battle was fought happily and was valuable.
Thanks to the fierce attack of the two divisions of the Anjia Army, the Japanese Sixth Division near the Great Wall was beaten to a pulp. It basically did not organize any decent resistance, but was quickly defeated by the Anjia Army, which was good at night fighting. The Japanese army could only
Turning around and running eastward, Liu Ruming was able to seize the opportunity and lead two brigades to storm Xifengkou, which was guarded by only two Japanese brigades. In just one and a half hours, he recaptured the Northwestern Army's honor and left the Northwestern Army with heavy regrets.
The Great Wall Xiongguan Xifengkou.
In order to ensure that the Northwest Army steadily controlled Xifengkou, An Yi generously ordered Xia Jian's 39th Division to garrison the east line of Xifengkou Pass at the end of the battle and dig in a fan shape along the Great Wall within half a day.
Three blocking trenches with a total length of 17 kilometers erected a solid barrier for Liu Ruming's troops to defend Xifengkou, eliminating Liu Ruming's troops from worries.
In the future, if the Japanese army wants to attack Xifengkou from the side, it must first eliminate or defeat Xia Jian's Thirty-Ninth Division before they can do so. But how easy is it for the Japanese army to defeat Xia Jian's division, which is well-equipped and composed almost entirely of veterans?
What's more, the right-wing position of Xia Jian's 39th Division is the defense line of the 44th Division of the world-famous tiger general Gu Madman. Both divisions are super divisions with 16,000 officers and soldiers that attract the attention of the national army. Not only do they have considerable
For the artillery regiment owned only by the Northwest Army, they also added a new air defense battalion equipped with fourteen anti-aircraft artillery vehicles, plus twenty tanks capable of shooting at 90 degrees to assist in the battle against low-flying bombers.
It is extremely threatening. Such a powerful firepower configuration is equivalent to a division of the Japanese army. The only thing missing is probably a cavalry regiment. If the Japanese army wants to occupy Xifengkou again, they can only attack from outside the pass. Otherwise, even if they use two
A single division may not necessarily be able to defeat the two elite divisions of the Anjia Army, which are like wolves and tigers. Even if they can defeat them, they will have to pay a huge price, and even lose both sides.
"Look at the rear! It's such a long convoy, grandma's! Look at the posture, the cars are all filled with soldiers from the Anjia Army. I don't know which division has arrived. This is great. Once the reinforcements arrive, we have nothing to fear...
…”
The generals and colonels quickly looked back. On the two simple roads one kilometer away to the west, dust was flying. One after another, troop transport trucks came slowly like a long queue. Behind the truck in the middle, there was also a truck pulling a door.
Door of artillery covered with camouflage tarpaulin.
After a while, three medium-sized jeeps overtook the convoy and drove quickly towards the slope. They soon stopped at the slope where the generals were standing. An Yi and Zhao Rui, who had left more than half an hour ago, got out under the watch of the guards.
Car, together with several generals who got out of another car, walked up the slope with smiles on their faces.
Song Zheyuan and Shang Zhen looked at each other and hurriedly went down to greet them. The two met warmly on the flat part of the slope. When everyone heard An Yi's introduction, they knew that the young lieutenant general standing at the front with a smile and salute was Zhang Cunzhuang, the commander of the 44th Army.
He quickly raised his hand in return, then stretched out his hands, shook them warmly, and greeted politely.
Next are the younger Lieutenant General of the 24th Army Yin Jinan, the unshaven and smiling Major General of the 16th Division of the Central Army’s ace division Xie Chi, the Major General of the 1st Division of the 44th Army Cheng Mingzhe, the Major General of the Second Division
Division commander Wei Xinyang.
Sun Jiaqi, who was following Shang Zhen, stepped forward excitedly, picked up Yin Jinan who was walking quickly, laughed loudly, spun around before letting go, and took half a step back: "Junior brother Yin, I have to give him something."
You salute!"
"Stop talking nonsense! Haha..."
Yin Jinan grabbed Sun Jiaqi's hand, and the two of them strode to the top of the slope without caring about anyone else, looking at the position in front of them and talking eagerly.
"Junior brother, I've been waiting for you to come. Last night I was asking bandit B, how many days will it take for your divisions to arrive? He always said it's almost, it's almost, but when the question got urgent, he just said, '
If you're afraid of death, just go down there', which will make me very angry!"
"Don't be angry. In fact, it's not easy for him! I tell you, you must not tell anyone, otherwise you will be shot!" Yin Jinan looked around and whispered.
"Hey, what's going on? Come on, tell me, you still can't trust me?"
"My eldest brother is in trouble! There is not a grain of food left in the military station, and there is very little ammunition and various supplies left. Since the war started, the Central Military Commission and the Central Military Station have not sent any supplements... My eldest brother always has a smile on his face.
But his heart is on fire. I guess he will have to rush back to deal with this matter later. Otherwise, how can our divisions fight in the front? The more than seventy carts of ammunition and cans brought this time have to give priority to the three of you.
Army, we can only wait for the next batch."
Sun Jiaqi was shocked: "How can this be done? Those people from the headquarters are eating for free?"
Yin Jinan shook his head helplessly: "Forget it, let's talk about it... Before I come, the Minister of the Interior, General Ji Kuan, asked me to bring a message to my eldest brother, telling our Anjiajun not to take the initiative, otherwise it is very likely to anger our Principal Jiang.
With the big guys from the central government, the gains outweigh the losses. But I didn’t dare to tell my elder brother, so I could only grit my teeth and help him withstand it, never letting the Japanese invaders take a step forward, so as to give him some room for change.
As for being too sad. Alas... Since our Anjia army went north, we have died in battles and injured more than 16,000 people. Now the major hospitals in the rear are full of injured brothers. The price paid is not a small price, but now we say
The peace talks are just peace talks, and all the previous achievements have been wiped out. How can tens of thousands of soldiers swallow this bad breath?"
"The stubborn capitulation faction... I won't talk anymore, everyone is coming up..."
On the position far away from the hillside, the work of burying the corpses was not yet over. Many soldiers of the Northwest Army, Northeast Army, and Shanxi-Sui Army were attracted by the bursts of laughter on the slope behind them. They saw a large group of generals in different clothes standing there.
Pointing to the mountains and rivers on the soil slope, the soldiers immediately realized that reinforcements were coming. The tired men seemed to suddenly have strength and waved their arms vigorously.