War of Resistance: Glory of the Beasts

Chapter 665: A phone call that can make people cry (11 additional chapters in November)

During the days when Xu Chaoyang was farming in Xinzhou, after the Japanese invaders occupied Nanjing, the head of the Central China Front Army was replaced by Hata Shunroku from Matsui Iwane. The 13th Division crossed the Yangtze River to the north and continued to advance towards Fengyang and Bengbu along the Jinpu Railway. At the same time, the Central China Front Army was changed to the Central China Expeditionary Force. In early 1938, in order to completely open up the Jinpu Line and gather forces from the north and the south, the devils mobilized eight divisions and five brigades with a total of 24 troops to besiege Xuzhou, forcing Li Zongren into a pincer attack.

Xuzhou is the intersection of the Jinpu and Longhai railways. It is adjacent to the north-south corridor of the Grand Canal. It is the throat of the four provinces of Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan and Anhui by both land and water, and is a place that military strategists must fight for.

The bloody battle of Xuzhou could cut off the Jinpu Railway, making it impossible for the Japanese invaders to penetrate the north and south, and ensure that the Longhai Railway was unobstructed. On a larger scale, if the Nationalist government recovered, this place could also threaten Nanjing and Jinan, and it would be the best strategic transit point to recover the two places.

Once the Japanese invaders succeeded and utilized the surrounding plains to unleash the combat capabilities of their mechanized forces, it would be extremely difficult for them to take Xuzhou back.

After the Battle of Xuzhou took shape, the writer of the diary went to Shangqiu to supervise the battle, which shows how much he valued it. The first thing he did when supervising the battle was to offer sacrifices to the enemy. He arrested Han the Crazy at the meeting, which led to the classic question and answer: "If Jinan is lost, I am responsible. Then who is responsible if Nanjing is lost?"

There is no conclusion to who will be held responsible, but it is imperative to shoot Crazy Han!

The great victory in Shanxi made this gentleman realize that the Japanese were not truly invincible. If he wanted to reduce the pressure on his shoulders, he had to first prove that even without Xu Chaoyang, the National Government Army could still win the battle.

As the saying goes, when a large army is fighting, discipline must be strict...

Uh, sorry, I got off track.

Afterwards, this gentleman rushed to Wuhan to plan the Battle of Xuzhou, gathered heavy troops in areas within reach at the north and south ends of the Jinpu Railway, and appointed Li Zongren, commander-in-chief of the Fifth War Zone, to be stationed in Xuzhou to command the battle. This led to many subsequent major battles, including the initial blocking battle, the blocking battle in the Huaihe River area in the south, the defense of Linyi and Tengxian in the north, the Taierzhuang victory in the middle period, and the retreat of the main force of the National Government Army in the later period.

Of course, this is Xu Chaoyang's perspective after observing history.

On the southern front, on January 1938, 1, the 26th Division that captured Jinling advanced towards Fengyang and Bengbu. Li Pinxian, deputy commander-in-chief of the Fifth War Zone, commanded the operations in the area south of Xuzhou. The 13st Army of the Gui Army resisted in the area west of Chihe River and retreated to the west of Dingyuan and Fengyang. By February 31, the Japanese invaders successively captured Huaiguan and Bengbu. From the 2th to the 3th, the main force of the 9th Division of the Japanese invaders crossed the Huaihe River at Bengbu and Linhuaiguan respectively, and launched an attack on the north bank.

The 51st Army, which was reorganized from the former Northeast Army, fought fiercely with the Japanese invaders under the leadership of Yu Xuezhong. The Huaihe River changed hands several times and the two sides engaged in hand-to-hand combat many times. It is said that the battle dyed the Huaihe River bloody and the smell of gunpowder and blood could be smelled from a long distance away.

After ten days of bloody battle, Zhang Zhizhong of the 59th Army came to help and together with the 51st Army blocked the Japanese invaders on the north bank of the Huai River. At the same time, on the south bank of the Huai River, the 48th Army held Luqiao, and the 7th Army cooperated with the 31st Army to attack the rear of the Japanese army in Dingyuan, forcing the main force of the Japanese 13th Division to withdraw to the north bank of the Huai River. The 59th and 51st Armies took the opportunity to counterattack, and by early March, they recovered all positions north of the Huai River, all!
Afterwards, Yu Xuezhong's 51st Army and Zhang Zhizhong's 59th Army were ordered to go north to provide support, and the 31st Army concentrated from the south bank of the Huai River to the north bank. The two sides confronted each other across the river until they covered the safe transfer of all the Kuomintang troops in the later stage of the Battle of Xuzhou.

On the northern front, the 10th Division of the Western Route Army led by Lianjie Isogai marched southward along the Jinpu Railway, while the 2nd Army led by Toshizo Nishio marched southward from Weifang, Shandong, attempting to join forces at Taierzhuang. After setting out from Weifang, Toshizo Nishio successively captured Yishui, Juxian, and Rizhao, and headed straight for Linyi. The military fortress of southern Shandong was in a state of emergency, but Li Zongren had no one available at this time without the help of Deng Xihou of the Sichuan Army. During the entire Battle of Xuzhou, something very interesting happened...

Mr. Pang Bingxun, who is almost 60 years old, was transferred to the front line by Li Zongren!

If Li Zongren had generals of the level of Xue Lao Hu and Wang Yaowu, he would never use this veteran. Unexpectedly, Grandpa Pang gave you a live teaching of what "veteran generals come out and one is worth two" on the battlefield in Xuzhou, which made people unable to accept it.

Before Grandpa Pang went to Linyi to fight against the Japanese, there was another person he had to talk about. His name was Liu Zhendong. In real history, it was this person who, after the Northeast Army stopped fighting against the Japanese, ran to Nanjing and bought the empty title of commander of a guerrilla force with his own money. Later, he spent his own money to form a guerrilla force to fight the Japanese invaders to the death. Before Grandpa Pang arrived, it was this person who blocked the Fifth Division in Ju County and eventually died on the battlefield.

Of course, in Xu Chaoyang's time, he blocked Nishio Toshizo, but what does that matter? A righteous man who graduated from the Northeast Military Academy spent all his family wealth to fight against the Japanese when the Northeast Army did not fight against the Japanese. Is it not worthy of admiration just because he blocked the Fifth Division?

The person who took over from Liu Zhendong to continue resisting the Japanese invaders was Grandpa Pang. If the Japanese wanted to take Xuzhou, they had to take Taierzhuang. If they wanted to take Taierzhuang, they had to take Tengxian and Linyi.

Everyone in China knows what happened in Teng County in history. The Sichuan Army defended the country to the death and stained the country with blood. They are absolutely worthy of the word "hero".
But Linyi is equally epic and the legends that happened in this place are enough to make people cry!

To talk about the Battle of Linyi, we have to make a comparison first. At the beginning of the comparison, it was the diary writer who gave the heavy artillery brigade that was supposed to be given to Han Fengzi to Tang Enbo. Han Fengzi withdrew from Shandong with one breath held back, but was eventually defeated by the diary writer.

In Linyi, Pang Bingxun, who came in a hurry, said that he was leading the Third Corps, but in reality, the people under his command were nothing special. Anyone who has read a little modern history knows that they were not a force that could compete with the Japanese.
The problem is that it was Mr. Pang who led this army and held on for more than 20 days!

At that time, Xu Chaoyang was looking at the map in Xin County and going around in circles like a millstone. Even though he knew what would happen next, he could not help at all. At this time, the 217 could not be pulled to Xinzhou at all.

At this critical moment, a phone call came to Xu Chaoyang's military sub-district. Yes, Xu Chaoyang had a phone number, which was left by Fu Zuoyi when he defended Xin County to the death...

Bell~
The telephone, which was unique to this era and rarely rang, rang. At that moment, everyone working in the military sub-district looked over.

That’s a phone number that wouldn’t even be called to report news from Yan’an, so why is it ringing at this time?

"Xinzhou 217th Military Sub-district Headquarters."

The person who answered the phone was Xu Chaoyang's communications soldier.

The next second, the signalman turned around and looked at Xu Chaoyang, and said inexplicably: "Commander, the other party said... He is Zhang Zhizhong from the 59th Army..."

"Who?"

Xu Chaoyang didn't react for a moment.

"The 59th Army..."

But the signalman didn't even have time to explain for the second time. Xu Chaoyang rushed over, grabbed the phone, put it to his ear and answered softly, "Hello?"

"it's me."

When the voice of the general who had served in the Northwest Army and was cursed by the whole world for failing to defend Peking came, Xu Chaoyang felt as if his whole body was electrified!
This year, he won two great victories in succession in Shanxi, which attracted the attention of the world. However, this old comrade was almost slandered as a traitor by the literary criticism!
Xu Chaoyang never expected that he would call him at this time, and he never expected to hear General Zhang's voice.

"It's me. I'm Xu Chaoyang."

There was laughter on the other end of the phone, but the laughter was so empty, as if he was facing his old comrade-in-arms again without any words.

"You..." He probably wanted to get away with it by saying 'how are you doing lately', but he only said one word and didn't go on.

How Xu Chaoyang is doing is known to the people of the whole country. Although he supported the Shanxi battlefield and lost the undefeated record of 217, he also created the legend of killing four mixed brigades of the Chahar Corps...

But in the next sentence, Xu Chaoyang heard a sense of sadness from the phone: "I just came back from the Huaihe River front. Li Zongren sent me to support Pang Bingxun."

Xu Chaoyang had worked under the Northwest Army, so he knew very well about these two people!

At this moment, among all the generals in the Northwest Army that General Zhang can still contact, only Xu Chaoyang is still in his position. In other words, after the July 7 Incident, he is the only person in the world to whom General Zhang can speak his true feelings.

However, as soon as the words "Li Zongren sent me to support Pang Bingxun" were spoken, Xu Chaoyang felt as if he was walking on a wire. He was afraid that the flapping of the butterfly's wings would change the outcome of the entire Battle of Xuzhou.

What should he do if General Zhang doesn't go?
These two people have a personal feud that wants to kill each other, so even if they deliberately delay for a while, it is understandable!
But Xu Chaoyang was more afraid that General Zhang would go to the front because of what he said...

That should have been his own decision, so this general appeared great, and that when he died in Xiangyang, General Pang burst into tears.

Rather than saying that this moment was the most difficult moment in General Zhang’s life, it would be better to say that this phone call directly threw this difficult problem to Xu Chaoyang!
How could he be willing to take even a bit of credit from General Zhang...isn't that shameless?

(End of this chapter)