I fought guerrilla warfare in the Yimeng Mountains during the Anti-Japanese War

The Fifth New District sent an urgent telegram, and then the headquarters sent an urgent telegram. Tang Enbo did not dare to hesitate any longer and ordered Guan Linzheng to lead the 52nd Army and Wang Zhonglian to lead the 85th Army to immediately enter the front line and take over the eastern front. The 13th Army advanced three kilometers and was ready to support and replenish the two armies at any time. He ordered Guan Linzheng and Wang Zhonglian to make sure to leave behind the artillery of Sun Lianzhong's unit and cooperate with the artillery of their own army group to arrange real and fake artillery positions overnight.

Zhang Zizhong and Pang Bingxun's troops did not need to be urged by the headquarters. As soon as the Fifth War Zone received the order, the two troops quickly moved forward and took over the defense line of the 60th Army. They rushed forward, but the population was too dense, so they only deployed half of their troops and kept the other half hidden as reserves. Overnight, the entire line of more than ten miles was completely replaced.

The Lone Wolf Commando had been lying in wait for several days, and was very bored listening to opera every day. They tried several times to probe the Japanese barracks, arsenal, and artillery positions, but still had no chance. There were plainclothes scouts patrolling within two kilometers, and a large number of Japanese sentries and patrols within one kilometer. The passwords changed many times a day, and they could not infiltrate at all. They even almost encountered a plainclothes patrol once.

Some of the team members wanted to enter the position, but were rejected by Chen Feng. Chen Feng did not trust any force except the Sichuan Army. The team members were all treasures and must not be used as cannon fodder by others. There was no chance to wait, and if they really could not participate in the war, then it was over. Li Yunyan informed Chen Feng of the battle situation every day. A reverse slope tactic had already caused huge losses to the Japanese army. The headquarters and the Fifth War Zone had also repeatedly ordered the commandos not to do dangerous tasks again, as the gain would not outweigh the loss.

When daybreak came, there were still air bombings, artillery strikes, infantry charges, and skirmish line attacks across the board. However, today Kenji Doihara and Seishirō Sakagami discovered the situation. They couldn't move up the skirmish line at all, not even by stepping on the artillery positions. The firepower of the opposing position was too strong.

No, the defense has changed. With the strength of the Third Corps and the Sixtieth Army, they definitely cannot launch such firepower.

The Taierzhuang front was in a stalemate, but problems arose on the defense line west of Weishan Lake. Facing the attack of a Japanese brigade and two infantry battalions, Sun Tongxuan's Third Army began to defend very tightly. The soldiers were fearless and kept the Japanese army outside the defense line.

Because the battle lines were all in the plains, the reverse slope tactics could not be used, and the artillery was almost wiped out by the Japanese heavy artillery and mountain artillery. The soldiers could only shoot under the artillery fire. The battle was extremely cruel. Yesterday afternoon, the Japanese broke through the first line of defense under the cover of heavy artillery. Li Zongren urgently mobilized the remnants of Sun Zhen to join the battle, and together with the remnants of Sun Tongxuan, they drew their bayonets and barely stabilized the second line of defense. However, under the pressure of the Japanese heavy artillery, the defense line was also in jeopardy.

In the war situation simulation room of the Chongqing Command, a group of senior generals with the title of general were having a heated discussion:

"We must defend Xuzhou to the death. The Taierzhuang front has already reached a stalemate with the Japanese army and has inflicted heavy casualties on the Japanese. As long as we grit our teeth and hold on, the Japanese won't be able to stop us for long."

"You are pedantic and ignorant. According to reliable information, the Japanese headquarters is transporting troops to Qingdao, and the Kwantung Army has also taken action. The support troops have passed Shanhaiguan. Once the western front is lost, the 300,000 troops in the Xuzhou war zone will be surrounded immediately. Everyone should know what the consequences will be at that time."

The commander listened to the heated argument below and had the idea of ​​retreating. Many of the 300,000 troops in the Fifth War Zone were his own troops and they must not be consumed in the Battle of Xuzhou. Great results had been achieved on the Taierzhuang front. Although the 60th Army and Sun Lianzhong's troops had lost more than 30,000 troops, the Japanese army had also suffered more than 10,000 casualties.

The commander secretly made up his mind that it was almost done and he was already very satisfied. The Inamura Division had more than 20,000 casualties, and the Doihara Division and Itagaki Division had more than 10,000 casualties. In the entire Battle of Xuzhou, a total of 40,000 enemies were killed. This result was unprecedented.

A lieutenant general chief of staff saw the commander's hesitation:

"Commander, give the order! We don't have to retreat now, but we must let Li Zongren leave a way out for ourselves. Otherwise, once the Japanese army surrounds us, we will probably repeat the mistakes of Nanjing."

Although the commander-in-chief agreed with this in his heart, he did not want to issue this order himself. This was an order of passive resistance, which would have a huge impact on him. After thinking it over, he could only put the pressure on Li Zongren:

"Send a telegram to the headquarters of the Fifth War Zone, informing them of the imminent encirclement by the Japanese army, and asking Li Zongren to seize the opportunity and deploy more troops on the Western Front. We must ensure that the Western Front is not lost. If it is really impossible, some of the defensive forces in Taierzhuang can be withdrawn. Now the troops cannot be deployed at all as there are too many reserve troops."

Li Zongren received a telegram from the headquarters and felt distressed after reading it. They were meddling again. The deployment of Japanese troops in two regions made these armchair talkers uneasy. Except for the tense situation on the western front, the situation in other places was very good. The opportunity to destroy the Japanese army was right in front of him. Li Zongren really couldn't bear to retreat.

But he understood what the commander-in-chief meant. The credit was his, but he had to take the blame. Given the current situation, if the Fifth War Zone suffered too many casualties, he would most likely be held responsible.

Although the Fifth War Zone achieved impressive results, Li Zongren was not satisfied. He wanted to kill another 10,000 or 20,000 Japanese, but now he had to consider retreating.

At eight o'clock in the evening, Chen Feng received a personal telegram from Li Zongren, asking about the Fifth War Zone's stay or departure. Chen Feng was a little surprised when he received the telegram. With Li Zongren's iron style, this shouldn't happen! It was probably a problem with the command. This leader couldn't change the problem of factional disputes. He should want to preserve the strength of the Central Army.

Chen Feng suddenly thought of a fatal problem. The Huayuankou dike was about to burst. It should have happened after the Battle of Xuzhou, at the end of May or the beginning of June? At that time, it should have been to cover the withdrawal of the National Army to Wuhan and block the Japanese army's front. In order to win time for the Wuhan Battle, the Huayuankou dike burst caused a major disaster to Anhui and Henan provinces.

Chen Feng was instantly shocked and broke out in a cold sweat. It was too tragic. He had seen the movie of 1942 in his previous life. He heard that the content shown in the movie was embellished. The actual damage caused by the disaster to the people of the two provinces was appalling.

No, we must find a way to stop this, but how to stop it? We can't just send a telegram to the headquarters saying that blowing up Huayuankou will be useless! If this is Li Zongren's decision, it shouldn't be difficult to convince him based on the Lone Wolf Commando's record and its help to the Fifth War Zone.

But this was the commander-in-chief's decision. In order to protect the army's evacuation and gain time for deployment, Chen Feng, a small leader of a civilian anti-Japanese organization, might not be able to manage it at all. How could he achieve his goal? He fell into deep thought.

After much deliberation, we can only start from three aspects. First, ensure the smooth retreat of the national army without the danger of annihilation; second, make it impossible for the Japanese army to attack the retreating national army so that the commander-in-chief has no worries; third, explain the dangers of this matter so that the commander-in-chief dare not make a decision with the risk of being criticized by the world.

It's too difficult. I only have a small team and people's words don't matter. But even if it's difficult, I have to work hard to find a solution. At this moment, it feels like the Battle of Xuzhou is not that important.