Anti-Japanese War: From Becoming Chu Yunfei to Rising

Chapter 219: Tian Huang celebrates his birthday, and the Japanese major general celebrates his seventh day. (Subscribe)
Three thousand new recruits trained in firearms removal.

Among them are 300 veterans who have returned from the Niangzi Pass battlefield after recovering from their injuries.

In Chu Yunfei's opinion, it would only take a very short time to replenish these troops and restore their combat effectiveness.

The transfer of troops requires coordination across a theater of operations.

For this reason, Chu Yunfei specially asked Fang Ligong to bring some "gifts" to the headquarters of the commander of the First War Zone to visit General Cheng Qian.

This big shot who came from the Hunan Army is currently in the same mind as Chiang Kai-shek.

What's more, Chu Yunfei did not make a request to the headquarters in his own name.

Instead, he directly sent his chief of staff to visit him.

He also gave himself a valuable gift, a general-level command sword.

How could Cheng Qian not give face to Chu Yunfei?
Let’s take a step back.

Chu Yunfei's troops are stationed in Kaifeng.

Kaifeng is the capital city of Henan Province.

It is also the headquarters of the commander of a war zone.

The presence of Chu Yunfei's troops here means that his headquarters in the first war zone can rest assured.

Fang Ligong took advantage of Cheng Qian's happiness and hoped that the First War Zone Commander Headquarters could help organize some student consolation groups, song and dance troupes and the like.

Go to the garrison to carry out entertainment activities for the troops and boost the morale of the military and civilians.

Cheng Qian not only agreed, but also sent a colonel adjutant to assist Fang Ligong in implementing the matter as soon as possible.

That night.

The Wuhan headquarters received the latest telegram drafted by Chu Yunfei himself.

The content of the telegram can be summarized into three points.

First, the troops suffered heavy casualties and morale is low, and they are in urgent need of reorganization. I hope that the Chairman can send some officers from the Officer Training Corps and Whampoa Military Academy graduates to serve as officers.

Second, three thousand new recruits from the southeastern part of Shanxi will soon be transported to Kaifeng. They only have uniforms but no weapons, and need the support of the Chairman.

Third, the troops are still insufficient, and we hope to add two to three more regiments to strengthen the combat strength, and hope to add some artillery to the troops. We also specifically emphasize that the chairman does not need to add artillery, only some artillery shells.

To sum up, there are three points.

But the telegrams it sent were filled with dense numbers.

There are still 1.35 million rounds of bullets for the Type 65 rifle and 800,000 rounds of bullets for the Type 79 rifle.

There is still a shortage of 75 mm mountain artillery shells and mm artillery shells.

There is still a shortage of 70 mm shells
This gave Chiang Kai-shek a headache for a while.

The amount of ammunition and artillery shells consumed by Chu Yunfei's troops is already comparable to that of the 25th Corps.

Although Chiang Kai-shek was also aware that the Flying Tiger Honor Division had many automatic rifles, light and heavy machine guns, and artillery.

But if they continue to fight like this, not only will Yan Laoxi's family fortune be emptied.

He had to use up the war reserves he had reserved for Wuhan, and there was a high possibility that they would be used up in the Battle of Xuzhou.

How can this be done?
But it has to be done even if it doesn't work.

Other miscellaneous troops often fail to achieve decent results even if they obtain weapons and equipment.

For example, the two armies (corps) of the Guangxi clique that were recently criticized by Chiang Kai-shek.

Chiang Kai-shek always believed that Li Zongren was conserving his strength.

But in fact, the two troops in the Huainan area can be said to have done their best.

They really had no ability to stop the Japanese attack.

Only in Chiang Kai-shek's eyes.

The replenished troops should have a combat power of 0.5 veterans + 0.5 new recruits greater than 1.

But in reality, 0.5 veterans + 0.5 new recruits can often only exert a combat effectiveness of 0.7 or even less.

Moreover, the troops that are replenished are often 0.1 veterans + 0.4 new recruits, half of the shortage.

It would be nonsense to use such troops as if they were fully staffed.

Not to mention that there are some troops here that only exist "on paper".

Purely collecting empty salaries.

Six hundred thousand troops in the Xuzhou area.

In fact, this is how it is calculated. In reality, the number is far less than 600,000.

This is also the reason why senior generals such as Li Zongren had no confidence at all.

At this point in time, only Chiang Kai-shek was still confident about the prospects of the Battle of Xuzhou.
Chiang Kai-shek frowned and thought for a moment, then said, "Order people to speed up the allocation of foreign aid to the Wuhan area, especially American weapons and equipment, and distribute them to the troops fighting on the front line as soon as possible."

"Yes!" Zhu Peiji nodded and left.

Chiang Kai-shek frowned and quickly came to the phone: "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs."

"It's me" (Fenghua accent)

"Please arrange a dinner with Colonel Smith tomorrow night, and with General Falkenhausen the night after tomorrow."

"Yes, invite them to Zhengxian (Zhengzhou) and send a special plane to pick them up..."

"Yeah, that's it!"

Chiang Kai-shek sighed.

In order to supply Chu Yunfei's troops and for the cause of the War of Resistance.

He can only continue to ask for foreign aid.
This way of seeking help is actually not much different from begging.
But for Chang Kaishen.

Seeking foreign aid will be of immeasurable help to the current war of resistance.

He can only do this and must do it. After all, he is now the leader of the national united front for the war of resistance.

Second World War Commander Headquarters.

What Yan Laoxi was holding in his hand was a newspaper from Changzhi District Newspaper Office.

The title of the cover article is: The 358D Chu Yunfei's troops of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army won a great victory in Teng County, defeating the main force of the Japanese Fifth Division and annihilating Japanese troops!

Yan Laoxi likes this kind of title very much.

And under his feet.

He was stepping on a newspaper from the Central Daily News.

The title of this newspaper is: The Honorable Flying Tiger Division directly under the Military Commission, under the command of the Chairman, killed the commander of the 26th Brigade of the Japanese Army, Major General Numata Tokushige, in Meng County
In Yan Laoxi's opinion.

The Flying Tiger Honor Division is just an honorary title.

This group of reporters from the Central Daily News like to downplay the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army's imprint on Chu Yunfei whenever they have nothing to do.

Chu Yunfei’s troops do not have no official numbers.

358D is their official designation.

They were originally the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army. Even after the expansion, they were still the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army!
It should be!
Liu Tao, the director of the confidential office, walked quickly to the side of Yan Laoxi and reminded him in a low voice: "Commander Yan, Fang Ligong called."

"what's up?"

The fact that the call came from Fang Ligong and not Chu Yunfei indicates one thing.

The matter was not very urgent, otherwise an urgent telegram would have been sent in the name of Chu Yunfei.

"They hope to accept a group of graduates from the Jinnan Military Academy to make up for the shortage."

"Whose idea was it?"

"The telegram said it was Chu Yunfei's request..."

At this time, Yan Laoxi was looking down at the Changzhi Daily in his hand.

Chu Yunfei was extremely satisfied with this.

Not bad.

Know to give priority to your own people.

How much worse could the students graduating from the Jinnan Military Academy be than those from the Whampoa Military Academy?
three months ago.

When the Jinnan Military Academy was first established, Yan Laoxi proposed in front of his confidants that he wanted to set up a Whampoa Military Academy for the people of Shanxi.

The Jinnan Military Academy brought together officers from northern Shanxi (Shanxi Military Academy), as well as some military and political talents from the Red Party's 120th, 129th, and 115th Divisions.

It consists of four basic subjects: administration, civil movement, military affairs and education.

Targeted training of relevant talents is currently the most in-depth "project" of cooperation between the two sides.

From the perspective of the Eighth Route Army, Yan Laoxi's move could be called a progressive force.

A backward and reactionary warlord, under the stimulation of the Japanese, has been inspired to have patriotic feelings and has become a patriotic general.

This is a good thing, a very good thing.

In Yan Laoxi's opinion.

The Eighth Route Army was indeed very skilled in guerrilla warfare and mobile warfare.

The Jinsui Army was understaffed and weak.

Borrowing the power of the Eighth Route Army is not only beneficial to the great cause of resisting the enemy and defending Shanxi.

It is also a good opportunity to study the tactics of the Eighth Route Army in depth.
As for the military training.

The first batch of students have basically received secondary education or above.

While receiving basic military training, they also learned the most basic observation of terrain, arrangement of marching formations, reconnaissance, garrison, and basic attack and defense tactics.

The teaching was rather superficial...Yan Laoxi didn't expect them to learn much.

The first batch of students themselves are the product of the two sides' coordinated teaching methods.

Although there are some conflicts in concepts.

But for Yan Laoxi, these are all small things.

He ordered someone to call Chu Xichun, handed the telegram to Chu Xichun, and said, "Qingbo, you will take care of this matter, and you can take some time to go to Kaifeng to learn about the current situation of Chu Yunfei's troops."

"He has no experience in dealing with similar things before. I'm afraid he won't be able to control himself. It would be terrible if there was a mutiny."

Chu Xichun was startled and grinned: "Commander Yan, it's not that serious." "It's hard to say. Judging from the telegram, the intelligence is not good..."

Chu Xichun had just returned from northern Shanxi. This time he went to the 120th Division headquarters to discuss relevant cooperation on behalf of Yan Laoxi.

As for the fact that Chu Yunfei's troops were in a bad situation, he had heard about it, but he didn't expect it to be so serious.

He simply stood at attention and said, "Please rest assured, Commander Yan, I will definitely help Yun Fei handle this matter properly."

Montreal.

The Japanese Army's 13th Division Task Force was led by its division commander, Ogisu Tachibe.

Invade Mengcheng from Fengyang.

This task force is a special detachment composed mainly of the 25th Infantry Brigade under its jurisdiction, as well as a part of the armored forces.

(The diagram shows the armored assault of the 13th Division Task Force during the Battle of Xuzhou)

Its goal is to cut off the Huai-Meng Highway and make a small dumpling in the Huainan area first.

In addition to the subsequent main force.

Its division commander, Ogisu Rippei, also needed to lead his troops northward, attacking relentlessly and cutting off the Longhai Railway Line.

Complete the corresponding encirclement work.

When the Japanese 13th Division launched the attack.

It was already the tenth day after Chu Yunfei's troops annihilated the vanguard of Mengcheng.

The commander of the 13th Division, Ogisu Rippei, actually bore a lot of pressure.

Three days ago.

That was April 29th, the seventh day after the death of the commander of the 26th Brigade, Tokushige Numata.

It is the birthday of the Japanese locust.

This is also the "Tianchang Festival" mentioned in the previous article.

On that day, a task force consisting of 39 aircraft from the elite th Air Group of the Japanese Air Force stationed in Sasebo flew along the Yangtze River.

For a time, the sky over Wuhan was dark with enemy secrets.

Fierce anti-aircraft fire also broke out on the ground.

The Chinese Air Force, which had been gearing up for battle, had already completed its air combat formation.

According to the predetermined plan, they rushed straight towards the Japanese aircraft group like a tiger descending from the mountain.

From Wuchang to Huanggang, people watching the battle looked up.

The fireworks from the enemy's heavy bombers that were hit even exploded directly in the air, and the fragments formed were flying all over the sky, which was a spectacular sight.

Whenever a Japanese fighter plane was shot down, there would be thunderous cheers.

As described in eyewitness reports at the time.

"When they were fighting hard, all the soldiers and civilians in Wuhan looked up at the sky, anxiously and indignantly, cheered and stamped their feet, and even shed tears."

(Chen Huaimin also died in this battle. After attending the public memorial service for Chen Huaimin, his fiancée Wang Lulu resolutely jumped into the Yangtze River to commit suicide.)
The 4.29 air battle was the largest air battle during the Wuhan Battle, which shot down 21 Japanese invading planes, killed more than 50 Japanese pilots, and 2 were captured by soldiers and civilians after parachuting. It shattered the Japanese army's dream of a "tribute" and achieved the most brilliant air battle victory since the Anti-Japanese War.

The Japanese army suffered successive humiliations, and the air force units also suffered a head-on blow from the air force officers and soldiers.

For a time, the entire Japanese military was under unimaginable pressure.

Even if the army is simply in poor condition, the people can still accept it.

After the February 18th air battle, the aviation units were again decimated by the Nationalist aviation forces in the April 29th air battle when they were paying tribute to the locusts.

This makes it difficult for the Japanese people to accept.

All of a sudden, this group of fanatical Japanese citizens rushed to the junction and demanded that the military give an explanation to the people!
The North China Front Army and the Central China Expeditionary Army needed to capture Xuzhou and completely wipe out the main force of the National Army to give an explanation to Tianhuang and the Japanese people.

The commander of the 13th Division, Ogisu Rikuhei, needs to give an explanation to the Central China Expeditionary Force.
The city of Meng that stood in their way was the focus of the Thirteenth Division's current siege.

This task force was not only equipped with twenty tanks, but also thirty armored vehicles.

It is the most luxurious offensive force in the entire South China region.

To its southeast, the main force of the Japanese 9th Division was also advancing towards Suxian at a marching speed of 30 kilometers per day.

The reason why the marching speed was less than 40 kilometers per day was because they were conducting a dragnet-style campaign to clear out the guerrillas in the rear.

They launched an inhumane massacre-style attack on the areas where the New Fourth Army and small Guangxi clique units were active.

The guerrillas were not caught and the Guangxi troops had already left their area of ​​activity.

The common people suffered, and tragedies continued to occur in Huainan.

Stationed in Mengcheng were the main force of the 68th Army led by Liu Ruming and the 1033rd Regiment led by Deputy Division Commander Zhou Yuan.

It was originally planned that they would move to Zhengzhuang, northwest of Suxian, in the near future to build defensive fortifications.

After learning that the 13th Division had the intention of advancing northward in a large scale.

Li Zongren then ordered Deputy Division Commander Zhou Yuan again to defend Mengcheng to the death.

Liu Ruming strongly advocated that the 1033rd Regiment be responsible for the city defense, and his main force was to build a defense line along the Daxingji line.

Determined to fight the Japanese invaders to the death.

Zhou Yuan didn't think much about it and agreed to Liu Ruming's battle plan.

Since the friendly forces of the 68th Army were willing to take the initiative to undertake the task of frontal defensive operations, Zhou Yuan naturally would not say much.

The main force of its troops mainly built a defense line along the north bank of Wohe River.

He and the team leader Ling Yunshang stayed in Mengcheng County.

After the vanguard armored assault force of the Japanese 13th Division arrived, they discovered the defense line built by Liu Ruming's troops and launched an assault immediately.

Under the cover of the cavalry squadron, they charged straight towards Liu Ruming's defense line.

Its ferocious fighting style and quite tough style.

This made the soldiers stationed on the front line quite uncomfortable.

Although Liu Ruming is a good-for-nothing, it doesn't mean that all the soldiers under him are also good-for-nothings.

"The light machine gun can't penetrate the Japanese's turtle shell, so let's blow him up."

A company commander named Hu got angry and gave an order: "Tie up all the grenades and wait for the Japanese to rush over, then throw them directly at them and blow their assholes to pieces!"

"Everyone, get ready. No one is allowed to show their heads. The Japs are good at shooting. We don't want to get into trouble with them!"

"Yes, I've unscrewed the caps of the grenades. As soon as they come up, I'll throw them all at them and blow these sons of bitches to death!"

The soldiers used their flesh and blood to block the Japanese attack... Liu Ruming's six 150mm heavy mortars also exerted their intended power.

More than a dozen shells hit the attacking Japanese tanks, and one of the shells hit the target accurately, instantly destroying the Japanese Type 97 tank.

The heavy firepower of Liu Ruming's troops was the 150mm mortars that he had accumulated and used for more than ten years.

When the Japanese troops realized that the enemy was equipped with heavy artillery.

I was extremely excited for a moment.

This means that this unit is most likely Chu Yunfei's unit that previously annihilated the 26th Brigade.

This group of Japanese soldiers seemed to be energized by chicken blood and launched continuous attacks without regard for their lives.

It was as if they were robots that had no option to retreat unless the commander of the 13th Division, Ogisu Rikuhei, gave the order.

Fight to the death!

Both sides were fighting to the death.

Under the command of Division Commander Li Zengzhi, the 143rd Division used the same tactics that Chu Yunfei had used to annihilate the 58th Regiment of the 26th Brigade.

Outflanking from both wings.

But the firepower of Chu Yunfei's troops is far different from that of Li Zengzhi's division.
What's more, this time the Japanese army has more than just 4,000 troops.

It was a main force of tens of thousands of people.
The encirclement operation of the 143rd Division under Li Zengzhi was quickly stopped by the powerful firepower of the Japanese army.

Li Jintian, commander of the 119th Division, who was in charge of the frontal defense, and his main force fought desperately.

By dusk, the 119th Division of the 68th Army under Liu Ruming had suffered 1,500 casualties.

The first line of defense was almost completely destroyed.

The 143rd Division, which was responsible for the encirclement operation, also suffered heavy losses, with more than 800 casualties.

At this time, inside the 68th Army Headquarters.

Liu Ruming was already planning an evacuation route if the Japanese army launched such a powerful offensive tomorrow.

He would lead his troops to retreat to Woyang to regroup and fight again.

Li Zongren, who was commanding the battle in Xuzhou, never expected this.

Liu Ruming had just fought with the main force of the Japanese 13th Division for one day when he sent a telegram asking for help and hoped to retreat to Woyang to regroup and fight again.

Li Zongren knew that the 13th Division's attack on Meng County must be the main force of the 13th Division.

Looking at the telegram in his hand.

Li Zongren felt helpless.

According to Liu Ruming, the Japanese army that attacked the Mengxian area had more than a hundred armored vehicles and tanks.

A rough estimate of the combat strength is around 30,000.

It should be the main force of the 13th Division, and its heavy firepower has been specially strengthened.

"In just one day of fighting, Liu Ruming's troops suffered more than 3,000 casualties..."

Liu Fei, who was standing by, heard the noise and stepped forward: "Duke De, what happened..."

"Meng County was attacked by the main force of the Japanese army. If what Liu Ruming said is true, I am afraid that Mengcheng will fall in less than three days. By then, the main force of the Japanese invaders will break through to the Longhai Railway."

Liu Fei, Deputy Chief of the Military General Staff, was extremely surprised when he received the telegram handed over by Li Zongren.

The Japanese army moved too quickly... They just received news yesterday that the 13th Division of the Japanese Army was gathering in Fengyang.

This is just one night and one day.
The Japanese assault force had already arrived at Mengcheng. Such an attack speed
"We currently have no other troops to mobilize." Liu Fei frowned.

Li Zongren was silent for a moment, then gave the order expressionlessly: "Call Liu Ruming back and ask him to defend Meng County to the death."

I think everyone should have guessed it.


(End of this chapter)