Chapter 92 The Longest Night (Eight)

The two mechanized companies commanded by Tang Ziqiang directly targeted the artillery positions of the Japanese 14th Division, but the Renault ft17 tank and the Venilla armored vehicle were both products of two pairs of heavy wheels with narrow tracks, and their adaptability to the snow was very poor! The slow speed made Tang Ziqiang almost anxious.

Naoki Matsuki was caught off guard by the Chinese army's unexpected counterattack. The troops who had already fought all could not afford decent resistance. They knew that the Chinese army would not have too many counterattack forces, but because the troops were in chaos and were difficult to control for a while, Xu Guohui's counterattack was smoothly carried out.

In desperation, Matsuki Naoliang had to order the troops to retreat five kilometers quickly and reorganize and launch a counterattack. Matsuki Naoliang knew that the Chinese army's counterattack would definitely not be too deep, because the main force of the Chinese army was used to defend Chengde. Zhang Xuewu learned that the counterattack was successful at this moment, and Tang Ziqiang's mechanized company was attacking the Japanese field artillery corps position, and he slapped the table with joy.

Standing in front of the map, Zhang Xuewu suddenly realized that the large-scale retreat of the 14th Division of the Japanese Army seemed to provide him with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to break through. If you break out of the encirclement, just enter the Great Wall Pass, it will be considered safe?

Zhang Xuewu knew that he had not made any preparations for breaking through at this moment, and he would inevitably fall into an extremely passive situation. Moreover, the Japanese army had added several cavalry brigades for the Rehe Battle. Each Japanese division had a cavalry corps, and a beast with two legs could run through four legs? Zhang Xuewu was not optimistic about this so-called rare opportunity.

If he led his troops to really give up Chengde's breakthrough, then he didn't know whether history would return to its original trajectory. What he knew was that the loss of Chengde meant that the defeat of the Rehe Battle would mean that Zhang Xueliang would definitely step down. Even if Zhang Xueliang stepped down from the blue, it would mean that his identity would no longer be popular.

If he defended Chengde, once the main force of the National Army launched a counterattack, the nearly 200,000 Japanese army in Rehe would always be wary of the National Army's recovery of Shanhaiguan and cut off its supply line. Then naturally, North China would not become a so-called non-armed area, and Zhang Xueliang would not step down from the field in disgrace. As the Central Army, it would be better to seek development in northwest Shanxi, Suiyuan, and Chahar.

If you have the name of the new First Division of the Central Army of Nanjing Government, you can rely on Zhang Xueliang to help him redevelop the military industry and restore his strength. You should also be able to do everything possible and increase your strength. The prospects are undoubtedly very beautiful, but the reality is extremely cruel. That is, Zhang Xuewu must first pass the Iron City of Chengde to guard this level.

In the eyes of many people, Zhang Xuewu is seeking death by defending the city of Zhang Xuewu, but in the eyes of Zhang Xuewu, this is seeking survival in death! No matter what, Zhang Xueliang must not be allowed to step down!

The fierce firefighting in the direction of Tiger Gower was much weaker than the direction of Majiagou side ridge. Major General Shirabe and Ichiro personally arrived at the front to supervise the battle. However, the so-called front of Shirabe and Ichiro are actually more than ten kilometers away from the attack launch position. For Shirabe and Ichiro, safety first has become his criterion. Shirabe and Ichiro do not want to be promoted to Lieutenant General like Heimatsu Heimatsu.

Yuanbe and Ichiro formulated a very perfect combat plan, which directly pointed to the key points of Zhang Xuewu, especially after the Tiger Gow Counterattack War, but the death of Heimatsu Heimatsu made senior Japanese officers subconsciously stay away from the battlefield and commanded their subordinates to fight by phone. After a night of fierce fighting, the exhausted Japanese troops had long lost their confidence in the Chinese defenders' positions with fierce firepower. Therefore, the seemingly fierce offensive was actually just to deal with the death orders issued by Yuanbe and Ichiro. The thunder was loud and the rains were small, and the casualties of the troops were reduced a lot.

As the top three graduates from the Lu University, Yuanbe and Ichiro's identity and talents have always been valued by the General Staff Headquarters. Yuanbe and Ichiro's most proud masterpiece is the nearly perfect General Staff Plan. Listening to the fierce sound of gunfire in the distance, Yuanbe and Ichiro smiled and marked the map with red and blue pencils.

Untamed and Ichiro didn't expect that the corps commanders of the four infantry regiments he unified in command seemed to have reached a tacit understanding, and they did not work hard! Not only the Japanese army, it can be said that the military chiefs of many national armies hate those blind staff and bad officials of the theoretical data faction to cause trouble. If they were to have such a top-heavy commander of the theoretical faction, then the complaining subordinates would really cry without tears.

For example, the commander of the brigade of Yamabe and Ichiro decided that as long as the Chinese army launched a counterattack in the direction of Tiger Gow, the defense of the side ridge of Majiagou would be relatively empty, and there was no concern about the fatigue level of the officers and soldiers, the sluggish morale, the unfavorable terrain, the enemy's fierce firepower and tenacious will to resist.

Just as Yuanbu and Ichiro were scrupulously calculating which line of defense the Chinese defenders should break through, the Japanese soldiers who had exhausted their strength and were hungry, weakly launched futile attacks. Some Japanese officers and soldiers lost their eyes and lost consciousness as they walked, falling to the ground without even being concerned.

Many officers and soldiers of the newly formed third regiment of the Chinese defenders in the front line were already soaked in cotton coats by ice and snow. After fighting with passion, each of them was sweating all over. As they struggled in the ice and snow, the cotton coats soon became ice-like armor. They were as if they were in an ice cave. The extremely tired officers and soldiers shouted their names, bit their lips, and slapped them in the face to remind themselves not to fall asleep, because if they fell asleep in this environment, they would be like they would never wake up.

The regiment commander Zhao Xinyu walked in the trenches of the first line of defense, slapped the surviving soldiers' shoulders one by one, said a word of encouragement in everyone's ear, and handed them a kettle for each officer and soldier to drink a small sip of the burning knife sent by the division seat to warm the body and refresh their minds.

Undoubtedly, Zhao Xinyu's behavior boosted the dispersed and sluggish morale due to extreme fatigue! Zhao Xinyu had already noticed the Japanese offensive with heavy thunder and small rain. In order to prevent the Japanese army from taking a desperate last attack, Zhao Xinyu divided a battalion stationed on the third line of defense into two parts to strengthen the first and second lines of defense, and planned a reserve team to replace the exhausted front-line defenders at seven o'clock.

At 7:00 am on March 5, the thin fog had dissipated in the early morning. After successfully attacking the Japanese artillery positions, the two mechanized companies and attacking troops began to retreat one after another. The twenty-one Renault ft17 tanks and two of the Vinira armored vehicles that attacked were destroyed by themselves due to mechanical failures. Four were shot by Japanese mountain artillery. Although they successfully destroyed the Japanese 14th Field Artillery Corps, the attacking forces that attacked the Japanese army's relatively tightly guarded field artillery positions were also seriously injured.

Pine Muzhiliang, whose face was ashen, looked at the burning chariots and the bombed artillery. There were only corpses of the imperial soldiers on the ground, and not a single Chinese army? What does this mean? The Chinese army can still take away the bodies of the dead comrades in battle? An unprecedented sense of humiliation triggered the rage of Maine Muzhiliang!

"Assemble the troops!" After Matsuki Naoki issued a vicious order, the chief of staff, Shimada Nakakusa, who was standing behind him, was stunned. The troops were all driven away at this moment, and officers and soldiers ran everywhere. How to assemble and reorganize? The other staff members looked at Shimada helplessly with a pity look.

At this moment, the roar of the plane motor sounded from the clouds in the sky! Matsuki Naoki looked up at the sky and nodded, "Yuxi! Immediately arrange the air contact map to indicate the direction of the air explosion (bombing)!"
Chapter completed!