Quartermasters can also fight the devils

Commander Li and Chief Chen quickly reached an agreement on this matter. Chief Chen would support Commander Li's withdrawal plan on the issue of whether to fight or withdraw in Xuzhou, while Commander Li would propose a plan to downsize the Third Army and submit it to the Military Commission and the highest levels of the government. After the downsizing, the new 22nd Army would receive 60% of the surplus troops and soldiers of the original Third Army in proportion, and the remaining 40% would be allocated by Commander Li's Fifth War Zone. It can be said that this plan made both big men very satisfied.

At the meeting two days later, Commander Li and Chief Chen were surprised that the Military Commission, at the instruction of the highest level of government, directly approved Commander Li's application for the downsizing and disbanding of the original Third Army. However, what the two big men did not expect was that the highest level of government hated Han Paopao so much that they directly made major adjustments to Commander Li's downsizing and disbanding plan.

Under the decision of the highest level of government, the original Third Army was reduced to the size of only one division and one brigade. The officers and soldiers of the remaining divisions were all laid off and transferred to other units. It can be said that the Third Army is basically dead in name only.

Commander Chen was very happy after hearing about the scale of the layoffs. Now his new 22nd Army would have a large number of officers and soldiers to replenish. As for the problem of the Third Army, no one cared. When Han Paopao was alive, he had offended everyone he could.

Huang Jinxian, commander of the new 22nd Army, immediately received a telegram from Commander Chen with the results of the meeting. Commander Chen asked him to prepare to receive the officers and soldiers of the Third Army Group who were dismissed. At the same time, he told him that a decision had been made at the meeting to abandon the defense of Xuzhou City, and the troops of the Fifth War Zone would withdraw westward to the mountainous areas of southern Henan and northern Hubei, preparing to resist the Japanese attack to the west after occupying Xuzhou.

The new 22nd Army will be assigned to the combat sequence of the newly formed Ninth War Zone, and its commander-in-chief will be the big boss of his own system: Commander Chen. After the entire army has "replenished" personnel in the Fifth War Zone, it will go to the Three Towns to prepare to participate in the upcoming Battle of the Three Towns to prevent the Japanese army from attacking the three towns along the Yangtze River to the west.

When the commanders of the new 100nd Army came to the military headquarters for a meeting, they were very happy after learning from Commander Huang that the troops would soon be reinforced with a large number of officers and soldiers. There was no other reason, just because Zhang Wenwu's new 100th Division was too powerful. After Zhang Wenwu spent a lot of money, most of the troops recruiting in Xuzhou could hardly recruit any people. Even the beggars on the street were taken to the recruitment office by the recruiters of the new th Division. The recruitment points near Xuzhou were full of complaints.

As for the fact that the troops were allocated to the Ninth War Zone, everyone thought it was normal and agreed with it. After all, the highest commander of the Ninth War Zone was the boss of his own system, and his troops were quite guaranteed in all aspects in the Ninth War Zone.

At the meeting, Commander Huang assigned most of the officers and soldiers of the Third Group Army to the new 210th Division and the new 211th Division based on the actual situation of each unit. Zhang Wenwu's new 100th Division was almost fully staffed, and it was estimated that by the time the entire army was sent to the Ninth War Zone, Zhang Wenwu's new 100th Division would have a lot more people than the quota.

Regarding this distribution method, Zhang Wenwu generously said at the meeting that it was no problem and he would fully obey the arrangements of his superiors.

The new 22nd Army, which had "eaten and drunk enough" in the Fifth War Zone, received an order from the Military Commission half a month later. The troops were officially assigned to the newly formed Ninth War Zone. In addition, Commander Chen also ordered the troops to rush to the three towns to assemble and rest, waiting for the next combat order to be issued.

Sanzhen is located in the Jianghan Plain and is the intersection of the Pinghan and Yuehan railways. When the Battle of Shanghai began, the Chinese government had already organized some government agencies to move from Jinling to Sanzhen. Now Sanzhen can be said to be the military, political, and economic center of China, with a very important strategic position.

After the Japanese Army occupied Nanjing, the Army Department of the Japanese Army Headquarters began to study the combat plan for capturing the three towns. During the Battle of Xuzhou, the Japanese Army Headquarters decided to implement the combat plan for attacking the three towns after occupying Xuzhou. However, what the Japanese high-ranking officials did not expect was that in the Battle of Xuzhou, the 10th Division and the 5th Division that marched south were both severely damaged by the Chinese army.

Especially under the unprecedented defeat of the 10th Division, the original combat plan of the Japanese army was disrupted, so the Japanese headquarters re-formulated a new Xuzhou combat plan. This time, the Central China Expeditionary Army also sent a sufficient number of troops to launch an attack together with the North China Expeditionary Army, so as to avoid unnecessary danger caused by the troops' reckless advance.

Under the pincer attack from the north and south of the Japanese army, the troops of the Fifth War Zone, led by Commander Li, decisively abandoned the city of Xuzhou and withdrew to the Dabie Mountains for defense.

After the Japanese army occupied Xuzhou, the North China Expeditionary Army and the Central China Expeditionary Army successfully opened up the Jinpu Road, completely connecting the Japanese armies in the north and south. After the Japanese Army Headquarters’ Army Department saw that Xuzhou was finally taken as planned, it decided to launch an attack on the three towns in the autumn and submitted the battle plan to the Japanese Imperial Conference for review. By mid-June, the Japanese Imperial Conference formally decided to implement the battle plan to capture the three towns.

After the Chinese government and the Military Commission determined that the Japanese army would launch an attack on the three towns next, they also formulated a targeted combat plan to defend the three towns.

In the Military Commission's plan, this defense of the three towns drew on previous experiences and lessons. It was believed that the troops should not be left in the city to defend it, but the mobility of the troops should be fully utilized to achieve the central idea of ​​defending the three towns but not fighting in the three towns. The terrain and fortifications on both sides of the Yangtze River were used to carry out resistance one by one, so as to achieve the goal of consuming the Japanese army and complete the strategic concept of trading space for time.

At the same time, the government was also moving all government agencies, factories, and materials that had been relocated to the three towns westward along the Yangtze River to Yucheng, in preparation for long-term resistance.

According to this plan, the Chinese top leadership mobilized all the troops of the Fifth and Ninth War Zones, a total of 14 army groups and 50 army troops, to participate in the defense of the three towns. In addition, the Soviet Union's aid to China's aviation team and the Chinese Air Force were responsible for air defense and assembled about 200 combat aircraft to participate in this major battle. This time, the Chinese government assembled nearly 100 million troops, deployed in the Dabie Mountains, Poyang Lake and both sides of the Yangtze River for defensive operations.

In order to successfully complete the strategic task of occupying the three towns, the Japanese army reorganized the battle sequence of the Central China Expeditionary Army. The attack on the three towns was commanded by the commander of the Central China Expeditionary Army, Hata Shunroku, who concentrated 250,000 troops to launch an attack on the three towns.

Among them, General Okamura Yasuji commanded seven divisions of the Japanese 3th Army to attack the three towns along both sides of the Yangtze River, and Prince Toshihiko Higashikuni commanded four divisions of the Second Army to attack the three towns along the northern foothills of the Dabie Mountains as an auxiliary attack direction. More than 120 ships of the Navy's 500rd Fleet and more than aircraft of the Air Force Corps were responsible for coordinating the army's attack.

After the New 22nd Army set out from Xuzhou, it headed towards Sanzhen according to the order of the Ninth War Zone. When it was almost at Sanzhen, it received a telegram from Commander Chen of the War Zone, requesting that the entire New 22nd Army go to the Nanxun Line and be under the command of Commander Xue of the First Corps to join the anti-Japanese operations on the Nanxun Line.

The reason why the New 22nd Army was suddenly dispatched to fight on the Nanxun Line was because of a combat plan by Commander Xue of the First Corps. In this plan, he designed a combat plan to lure the enemy deep into our territory. He used Hongcheng, the capital of Gan Province, as bait to lure the Japanese army to attack Hongcheng. After the Japanese army was trapped in the battlefield of Hongcheng, he commanded the troops on the outside to cut off the Japanese army's retreat, surround and destroy the Japanese army.

In his plan, the most important thing is to have at least one army of troops good at defense to hold out in Hongcheng, so as to attract the Japanese army to Hongcheng to the greatest extent. This army must have the courage to fight to the last soldier. He specifically mentioned in the report that the New 22nd Army should be responsible for defending Hongcheng. After all, this army has made a name for itself in Shanghai and Taierzhuang.

After reading Commander Xue's telegram, Commander Chen thought for a long time and decided to give his beloved general the greatest support and send the New 22nd Army to help him complete this strategic concept. If his Ninth War Zone can also win a big victory this time, it will be very beneficial to his system. Moreover, he is relieved to send the New 22nd Army to complete this task. If he sends other troops, there is a chance that the troops will retreat without authorization during the battle, leaving the First Corps' army of more than 100,000 on the sidelines. That would be very troublesome.

After receiving the telegram from Commander Chen, Commander Huang of the New 22nd Army immediately sent a telegram to Commander Xue of the First Corps to ask for instructions on the assembly point of the troops. Commander Xue replied quickly, instructing the 22nd Army to station in Hongcheng, the capital of Jiangxi Province, and appointed Commander Huang as the Hongcheng Garrison Commander, responsible for Hongcheng's wartime security and guarding work.

Ten days later, on the top floor of "Xunjiang Restaurant" in Hongcheng, today Commander Huang held a banquet in the best restaurant in Hongcheng to comfort his officers. Since the battle of Taierzhuang broke out, everyone has not had a relaxing and suitable opportunity to have a good meal and drink good wine together. Now they have finally settled down in the ancient city of Hongcheng. In addition, the army has been supplemented with so many new officers, and they are about to fight a desperate battle with the Japanese army. They should comfort and encourage everyone.

Everyone enjoyed the drinking very much. After all, everyone came back alive from that hellhole of Taierzhuang. Especially Liao Qian, who has now been promoted to director of the army's political department. This time he truly experienced the feeling of life and death on the battlefield. He sat next to Zhang Wenwu, and kept pulling Zhang Wenwu to drink with great interest, as if he wanted to drink all the wine in his life at once.

On the afternoon of the next day, Commander Huang called the chief officers of the three division-level units to the military headquarters for a meeting. At the meeting, Commander Huang announced the combat mission given to him by Commander Xue. When the chief officers heard that the new 22nd Army was required to defend Hongcheng to the death, everyone fell silent. Everyone was thinking in their hearts, why did they always let their own troops do this kind of desperate defense work? Couldn't they change the unit to do the job?

(Thanks to the gifts from Duke Weiguo, Zhixiaxia, and ~Wandering around the world with you~ who love beef jerky, Song Da who loves Guanshan old rooster, Zhang Meihong from Zikuishan, Xiang Cangtian who likes to watch peppers, Lu Yilin and Tianle who like to chop melons, and Xiao Kui, the Emperor Xiaoming of Xiliang in Inner Mongolia! Thank you all for your support and encouragement!)