Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 333: It is better to provoke

Seeing Wang Yaowu asking for battle, the brigade commanders also asked for battle, and morale was boosted. Yu Jishi saw that the provocation had worked, so he struck while the iron was hot and said:
"Okay, this is the spirit that our 74th Army should have. The Japs are nothing special!
After the headquarters was destroyed, the 14th Division had lost its unified command, which was the weakest moment for them.
We must take advantage of his illness to kill him. Our 74th Army must seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and make every effort to annihilate the enemy in front of us. We must never let this old devil Kenji Doihara escape.

His hands are stained with the blood of the Chinese people. We must destroy him at all costs!"

Yu Jishi said in a murderous tone, and everyone echoed him, and then launched a fierce attack on the enemy's 2nd Regiment in front of them;

As the main attacking force, the 51st Division, under the command of division commander Wang Yaowu, rushed into the enemy group like a tiger descending from the mountain, killing the enemy troops, leaving corpses all over the ground and forcing them to retreat step by step.

The 58th Division, which provided assistance, also launched an attack from the flank and quickly broke through the outer defense line of the 2nd Regiment, killing thousands of enemies.

Other armies also launched a fierce attack, and the Japanese defense lines were broken one after another. Faced with the desperate units of the Henan East Corps, the main force of the 14th Division, which had already lost the initiative, was defeated and suffered heavy casualties. The balance of victory gradually tilted towards the Henan East Corps.

Seeing that they were about to annihilate a first-class division of the Japanese, the whole government was very excited, especially the military attaché office, which sent telegrams to Xue Boling many times to give him instructions, but Xue ignored them all. He didn't need anyone to teach him how to fight.

Unfortunately, he still underestimated the terrible power of "micro-manipulation". The secret plan from the attendant's room was not only sent to him, but also to the army commanders, division commanders, and even the regiment commander Yue Qianli received a letter.

Yue Qianli was just short of a piece of toilet paper when he went to the toilet, so he took it out and used it when no one was paying attention. It was much more convenient to use than the rough straw paper.

Lao Yue understood his urgency to annihilate the 14th Division, but everyone should do their job and give guidance to Commander Xue. There was no need to "micro-manage" him at his level. It was common for good intentions to lead to bad results.
As the saying goes, “micro-control” is as powerful as a tiger!
Yue Qianli still underestimated the power of micro-manipulation. After all, not everyone is Xue Boling who dares to disobey orders, especially his seniors from the first period, many of whom regard it as an imperial decree;
Originally, under the command of Xue Boling, the encirclement and annihilation of the 14th Division was going smoothly. If the situation continued normally, it would only be a matter of time before the 14th Division was annihilated.

Unfortunately, the Military Commission was eager to win and wanted to kill all the devils in the encirclement immediately, and then show the powerful strength of the National Army to friendly countries.

The Battle of Xuzhou was not a defeat. The victory at Taierzhuang and the annihilation of the 14th Division were enough to make the National Government proud and prompt friendly countries to continue to provide huge support to the National Government.

As the saying goes, haste makes waste. The micromanipulation from the top disrupted the deployment of the corps, which gave the Japanese a chance to buffer.
Kenji Doihara keenly sensed the opportunity and immediately adopted the strategy of cutting off the tail to survive after arriving at the Sakai Detachment. He ordered the other two detachments to leave a part behind to block the attack, while the main force retreated in large strides and moved closer to the Sakai Detachment.

After resuming command of the other two detachments, he began to gather troops at all costs, and soon he had assembled more than ten thousand troops.

This is definitely a very strong assault force. Facing the Central Army units that were pressing forward step by step, Kenji Doihara once again left a unit behind to contain the Henan East Corps.
The main force adopted the strategy of making a feint to the east and attacking in the west to break out to the west, intending to break through the Longhai Line to the south, and then move westward to attack the Pinghan Road.

The old devil is indeed quite capable. At this time, the western front does not have many troops. If he really crosses the Longhai Line, it will be a big trouble.
Fortunately, Yue Qianli had been guarding against this move, and the 14th Division advancing westward hit the iron wall of the Third Detachment.

The two sides engaged in a fierce battle. In order to severely damage the last mobile forces of the Japanese, Yue Qianli did not hesitate to use the artillery battalion, which blew up the Japanese and left corpses all over the ground.
The third team took the opportunity to launch a counterattack, killing and wounding many Japanese soldiers.

Seeing that the situation was not right, Kenji Doihara once again left a battalion behind to cover the retreat, and the main force went south to attack the 8th Army's base in Ande City.

When Yue Qianli learned that the remnants of Kenji Doihara were heading south to attack Ande City, he immediately broke out in a cold sweat. He even regretted not letting them go west.

But going west was not an option, as Gui Yongqing's 27th Army was to the west, and they could not stop Kenji Doihara. The main force of the guerrilla column had just surrounded and annihilated the Banxi Detachment and was waiting on the eastern front. It was too late to go south to plug the hole. The main force of the 14th Division was only about 8 people, and the 8th Army guarding Ande had more than 2 people, and the main force was the German-equipped Tax Police Corps. As long as they could stop the devils for a while, the Third Detachment could surround and annihilate them.

Yue Qianli immediately sent a telegram to Xue Boling, hoping that the 8th Army could hold Ande City for half a day, and that he would personally lead the Third Detachment and the column's direct troops to encircle and annihilate the remaining Japanese troops.

After receiving the message, Xue Boling immediately sent an urgent message to Huang Jie of the 8th Army, asking them to hold Guide for one day.
Huang Jie’s reply was that they had more than 2 elite German-equipped troops, so they could easily survive three days, let alone one day.

Old Xue believed it and asked the main force of the guerrilla column to cooperate with the 8th Army to annihilate the remaining Japanese troops in Ande area.

Yue Qianli left a part of his detachment to annihilate the remaining enemy, and he personally led the main force to bypass the enemy and pursue Doihara Kenji;

Now time is life to him. He doesn't believe that Huang Jie can hold on for three days. In another time and space, Huang Paopao just ran away.

The Japs are now in a weak position, and we can only hope that he will hold out for a day, or even half a day, for this reason.

Guide City, 8th Army Defense Zone, filled with smoke
The Sakai Detachment of the 14th Division, which had just arrived, launched a fierce attack on the 8th Army's defense zone. The soldiers of the 8th Army fought back and dealt a heavy blow to the Japanese.
Major General Sakai thought he had hit a wall again, and quickly suggested to Kenji Doihara:

"Captain of the Division, the defenders of Ande City are the elite 8th Army of China, formerly the German-equipped Tax Police Corps, with more than 2 men and strong fortifications.
The enemy is numerous and we are few, it is difficult for the Imperial Army to break out in a short time, and Yue Qianli's guerrilla column is chasing us. If we continue to fight, we may be trapped in Guide City. It is better to continue to move south--"

Kenji Doihara said naturally:
"Sakai-kun, the soldiers are incompetent and the generals are incompetent. The German-equipped 8th Army is very powerful, but it depends on who is in command.

Huang Jie is just a fool in name only. You just need to attack with all your might. We have no way to retreat. Don't forget that the one chasing us is Yue Qianli, the Tiger of China.

The only way to survive is to break through Guide City and head east to join the 106th Division.

The 16th Division in the northeast has already launched an attack on Xue Boling's back. As long as we break out and come back, victory will still belong to the Imperial Army!"

Major General Sakai had a mysterious trust in Kenji Doihara. Hearing what he said, he immediately became confident and personally went to the front line to supervise the battle.
The Japanese attack was extremely fierce, and the artillery shells fell like raindrops, raising dust all over the defenders' positions. However, it did not scare the soldiers who were fighting bravely, but instead frightened Huang Jie.

Huang Jie fought well in Shanghai, and like Gui Yongqing, he was frightened by the beatings, a mysterious transformation;

The 8th Army only held out for more than an hour before Huang Jie left behind a part of the army to fight the enemy and personally led the main force to flee!

As a result, as soon as he left, the people who stayed behind to block the attack also ran away, and the Sakai detachment occupied Guide City almost without a fight.
The encirclement was torn into a big hole, and the remnants of the 14th Division escaped. Yue Qianli was of course dumbfounded when he heard the news.

(End of this chapter)