Quartermasters can also fight the devils

On the third day of the Japanese army's full-scale offensive, the Chinese Ninth Army on the eastern front finally temporarily withstood the Japanese attack at Fengmenkou. However, since the Japanese army had occupied Yanqu County last night and began to attack Shaoyuan, the First War Zone Command had no choice but to order the Ninth Army to cross the Yellow River at any time according to the situation and hold the river defense on the south bank of the Yellow River.

After cutting off the connection between the 80th Army and the 3rd Army of the Chinese government, the Japanese army on the western front dispatched a large number of troops and special forces disguised as the Chinese government army, cooperating with the bombing and strafing of aircraft in the air, and launched an attack on the 80th Army of the Chinese government, which caused further chaos and defeat of the 80th Army.

In a melee, many officers including the commander of the newly formed 27th Division Wang Jun, chief of staff Chen Wenqi and battalion commander of the 165th Division Yao Ruchong were killed near Leigongmiaoling west of Taizhai Village. The remaining troops retreated to Nangou, the Yellow River ferry, in the evening.

As a result, after the remnants of the 80th Army retreated to Nangou, the 80th Army Commander Kong Lingxun and the 165th Division Commander Wang Zhiqi did not reorganize and gather their troops, but abandoned their troops and crossed the Yellow River alone. The 80th Army, which had lost its commanding officers, scrambled to cross the river in chaos on the bank of the Yellow River, resulting in even more heavy casualties.

Liang Ruxian, deputy commander of the newly formed 27th Division, felt great shame and powerlessness when he looked at the chaotic scene. Seeing that the troops by the Yellow River were in such a panic that they could not be organized, and the army commander, who was the chief officer of the troops, fled alone, Liang Ruxian, deputy commander of the newly formed 27th Division, felt ashamed to face people and chose to jump into the river to die for his country.

After occupying Yanqu County, the Japanese troops on the northern front divided their troops into two routes according to the pre-war combat plan, one heading east and the other heading west. The eastern route was responsible for attacking and occupying Shaoyuan and joining up with the Japanese troops advancing westward from Jiyuan, while the western route was responsible for attacking Wufujian and joining up with the Japanese troops in Wufujian. Once the Japanese troops on the northern front completed their combat plan, the inner encirclement of the Japanese troops would be completely formed, and the supply lines and retreat routes of the Zhongtiao Mountain defenders along the Yellow River would be completely cut off.

On the fourth day of fierce fighting, the Ninth Army on the eastern front could no longer hold Fengmenkou due to extremely heavy casualties. As a result, the Ninth Army had to cross the Yellow River to the south and retreat to Henan Province. During the crossing of the river, it was bombed by Japanese planes, causing even more serious losses to the troops.

The battlefield on the western front was even more brutal. After completely defeating the 80th Army, the Japanese army concentrated most of its forces to encircle the divided Third Army of the Chinese Government, encircling the Third Army of the Chinese Government in the Jianshan area.

The commander of the Third Army of the Chinese government, Tang Huaiyuan, led his troops to break out of the Japanese encirclement three times regardless of casualties. However, in the face of the powerful firepower of the Japanese army, all the breakout operations of the Third Army failed. Seeing that there was no hope of breaking out and the troops suffered heavy casualties and were out of ammunition and food, the commander of the Third Army, Tang Huaiyuan, committed suicide in a temple on the top of Jianshan Mountain.

The commander of the 12th Division of the Third Army, Cun Xingqi, led his troops to break through to Hujiayu and were ambushed by the Japanese army. He was shot in the chest and seriously injured, but he still led his troops in a hard battle with the Japanese army. However, as the Japanese encirclement tightened, he was injured again when his right leg was blown off by the fierce Japanese artillery fire.

Cun Xingqi, commander of the 12th Division of the 3rd Army, knew that he was powerless to save the situation, so he shot himself with his own pistol.

In the following two days, the Japanese troops made smooth progress. After several days of fierce attacks, the Japanese army broke through the Yanqu defense line of the First War Zone of the Chinese government and divided the entire Zhongtiao Mountain into two. As a result, the Chinese government troops defending Zhongtiao Mountain could not support each other and had to abandon their existing positions. They each held the mountain pass and put up uncoordinated passive resistance. The entire battle situation was extremely critical.

While the Chinese defenders were retreating on all fronts, the Japanese army took the initiative with superior manpower and fierce artillery fire, quickly broke through all defensive positions in the Zhongtiao Mountains, and successively occupied the counties of Yuanqu, Jiyuan, Mengxian, Pinglu and related passes and strongholds, blocked all ferry crossings on the north bank of the Yellow River, and completed the double encirclement of the Chinese army in Zhongtiao Mountains from both inside and outside.

After completing the first phase of the combat plan formulated before the war, the Japanese offensive forces all switched to the second phase of the combat mission of repeatedly sweeping the various positions of the Chinese army.

Starting from May 11, the fourth day after the full-scale offensive was launched, the Japanese troops on the western front turned back to the north side by side, and then turned back to the Yellow River line from May 15, and repeated this dragnet-style sweep. This combat method of the Japanese army continued until June 10.

During this repeated mopping-up operation, the Chinese troops broke through one after another after suffering heavy casualties. The remnants of the 3rd Army and the 15th Army, led by the commander of the Fifth Army Group Zeng Wanzhong, crossed the Yellow River to the west and moved to Luoyang and Xin'an for reorganization. The 93rd Army crossed the Yellow River at Yumenkou and entered Hancheng in Shaanxi Province after getting rid of the pursuing Japanese troops. The 98th Army, led by its commander Wu Shimin, entered the Taiyue Mountain area. The 43rd Army retreated to between Fushan and Yicheng. The 9th Army also crossed the Yellow River after fighting guerrilla warfare for several days in the western section of Daoqing Road and near the Jiyuan Mountains.

After only a few days of attack by the Japanese army, the Chinese government's troops in Zhongtiao Mountain were basically driven out of the Zhongtiao Mountain area by the Japanese attacking forces. It can be said that the Chinese army was completely defeated in this battle.

In this battle launched by the Japanese army, after only a few days of fighting, 20,000 Chinese troops were captured by the Manchukuo puppet army, more than 15,000 were captured by the Japanese army, and more than 42,000 officers and soldiers were killed. The total casualties exceeded 100,000. It was a disastrous defeat.

The great victory of the Japanese army this time was mainly due to the attention paid by the Japanese army from top to bottom. In addition, Lieutenant General Yoshio Shinozuka, commander of the Japanese First Army, as the highest commander of the Japanese army in this battle, also launched an attack with seven divisions of more than 100,000 main forces in one go, ensuring the continuity and stability of the Japanese offensive force in terms of manpower. Moreover, all Japanese troops had made sufficient preparations before the battle.

On the other hand, the Chinese army in Zhongtiao Mountain sold grain and opium in the defense zone, turning the entire Zhongtiao Mountain into a business place. The Japanese army sent spies and reconnaissance personnel to easily infiltrate the defense zone of the Chinese army in Zhongtiao Mountain. Before the war, the Japanese special forces even airdropped and lurked next to the Chinese army's headquarters, while the Chinese army was still unaware of it. Therefore, about an hour after the full-scale attack by the Japanese army, all the command systems of the Chinese army were basically paralyzed.

In addition, all Japanese troops had made very careful preparations before the battle. To ensure the success of the battle, the Japanese army had all attacking troops undergo intensive training in mountain warfare and cleared the surrounding areas in advance in preparation for the breakthrough.