Quartermasters can also fight the devils

No one knows why, but Lieutenant General Kazuichiro Sonobe, commander of the 11th Japanese Army, and his staff had a mysterious obsession with Commander Tang's 31st Chinese Army. After several months of material storage and battle situation research, this time, Lieutenant General Kazuichiro Sonobe, commander of the 11th Japanese Army, still determined the attack target as: to destroy Commander Tang's 31st Army as the main combat goal.

Originally, after the Zaoyi Campaign, the 31st Army Group of the Chinese government was the closest Chinese army to the 11th Army of the Japanese Army. However, not long after, Commander Tang of the 31st Army Group received an order from the Fifth War Zone Command and led his troops to move to Suiping and Xiangcheng in Henan Province.

In order to completely destroy the 31st Army of the Chinese government, Lieutenant General Kazuichiro Sonobe, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, also worked out a combat plan with the staff department:

First, the 11th Army sent troops to launch a feint attack in the direction of Xiangyang, making the Fifth War Zone of the Chinese government think that the Japanese army was going to launch a large-scale attack on the Fifth War Zone this time. According to the previous practice of the Chinese army to retreat after a battle, the 31st Army Group would definitely retreat to the northwest. At that time, their own troops could surround and annihilate the 31st Army Group halfway.

At the same time, the commander of the Japanese 11th Army, Lieutenant General Kazuichiro Sonobe, limited the attack range of the Japanese offensive force to the line of Gwangju, Xincai and Xiping, 80 kilometers northeast of Xinyang in Henan Province, in accordance with the "short-range" combat principles formulated by the expeditionary army.

The southern Henan region is a large plain, with the Pinghan Railway connecting northern China and the three towns running through it. The road transportation network in southern Henan is also very developed, which is very beneficial for the advance of the Japanese mechanized forces. The Japanese attacking forces can quickly attack northward along the Pinghan Railway, so as to quickly intercept the 31st Army of the Chinese government on its retreat. At the same time, the Japanese attacking forces in northern Anhui and eastern Henan also effectively supported the offensive on the Pinghan Railway, completely encircling the 31st Army of the Chinese government.

The Chinese intelligence personnel soon learned that the Japanese 11th Army had begun to gather troops. When this information was passed to the Chinese government's intelligence department, it immediately attracted the attention of the intelligence department. After all, the Japanese 11th Army was the only force that could threaten the safety of the mountain city. Any large-scale troop movements of the Japanese 11th Army required extreme attention.

Therefore, the Chinese intelligence department mobilized all senior undercover intelligence personnel to quickly find out what the Japanese army was up to.

Finally, after the unremitting efforts of senior intelligence personnel, senior intelligence officers lurking in Shanghai and the three towns almost simultaneously sent back top-secret information that the Japanese 11th Army was gathering troops to encircle and destroy the 31st Army Group. This made the Chinese government immediately understand the combat objectives of the Japanese 11th Army this time.

After learning that the offensive target of the Japanese 11th Army was the troops of the 31st Army, the Chinese intelligence department immediately reported this intelligence to the highest level of the government. When the highest level of the government heard that the Japanese 11th Army had set its target on its own 31st Army, it immediately took it seriously. Then the highest level of the government personally sent a telegram to Commander Tang of the 31st Army, requiring Commander Tang to strictly order all troops of the 31st Army to be prepared for battle and not let the Japanese army's combat plan succeed.

At the same time, the highest level of the government also informed the Fifth War Zone Commander General Li of the Japanese 11th Army's combat goal, and ordered General Li to take precautions and deal a heavy blow to the Japanese army when conditions were right.

After the Zaoyi Campaign, Commander Li of the Fifth War Zone repeatedly reflected on and summarized the operations. When he learned that the Japanese 11th Army was preparing to attack the 31st Army Group, Commander Li began to carefully study and analyze the possible routes and methods of the Japanese attack.

After research and deduction, Commander Li and the staff of the Fifth War Zone Command planned to use a small force to block the frontal attack of the Japanese 11th Army. The main purpose was to delay the advancement of the Japanese offensive forces.

In addition, the Fifth War Zone sent troops to encircle the Japanese attacking forces from behind, harassing and even cutting off their retreat, while the main force of the Fifth War Zone quickly retreated to the two wings of the Japanese attack direction, and when the time was right, it would attack and besiege the Japanese from both sides.

In fact, the tactics of the Fifth War Zone were the same ones used by Commander Xue of the Ninth War Zone in the Battle of Changsha. Commander Li of the Fifth War Zone also saw the heavy losses suffered by the Japanese army at the hands of the Ninth War Zone in the Battle of Changsha, which showed that this tactic was very effective in attacking the Japanese army. So he planned to use this tactic in this battle to teach the Japanese army a severe lesson.

Due to the sluggish domestic economy in Japan, it took four months for the Japanese 11th Army to fully prepare the strategic materials and ammunition needed for this attack. When the materials and troops were ready, the commander of the Japanese 11th Army, Lieutenant General Sonobe Kazuichiro, could not wait to announce the start of the operational plan.

Following an order from Lieutenant General Kazuichiro Sonobe, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, the 18th Independent Mixed Brigade of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, which had been assembled long ago, and a part of the troops drawn from the 4th Division and the 39th Division launched an attack on the 33rd Army and the 29th Army of the Chinese government in the direction of Zhongxiang, Dangyang and Jingmen in Hubei Province.

However, the Chinese government knew that the attack of the 11th Japanese Army in this direction was a feint, which was actually intended to cover up the real intention of the 11th Japanese Army to attack the 31st Army in the direction of southern Henan. It was also a means to contain the Chinese government's Fifth War Zone troops and attract the Chinese government's attention.

Although the Japanese attack on the battlefield in Hubei Province was a feint, the 33rd and 29th armies of the Chinese government did not retreat in the face of the Japanese attack and drove back the Japanese offensive forces.

Moreover, the main force of the Fifth War Zone was not mobilized as the Japanese army expected because of the Japanese attack in Hubei Province, which made Lieutenant General Sonobe Kazuichiro, commander of the Japanese 11th Army, feel a little incredible.

Subsequently, Lieutenant General Kazuichiro Sonobe, commander of the 11th Japanese Army, ordered the 3rd Division of the Japanese Army to send troops to attack the Chinese army's defensive positions north of Xinyang, hoping to cut off the retreat of the Chinese government's Fifth War Zone troops.

However, the Fifth War Zone troops of the Chinese government in Xinyang were very well prepared and did not allow the raiding force sent by the Third Division of the Japanese Army to succeed.