The War of Resistance Against Japan: Special Operations Battalion Traverses Shanghai and Slaughters

Chen Yiding laughed heartily and said, "Commander Chen, you should have made this decision a long time ago. Following Commander Long, we will definitely be invincible."

Zhu Ci chimed in, "Yes, Commander Chen, following Commander Long will not only help you win battles, but will also give you an unprecedented sense of exhilaration."

Liu Anqi, feeling the same way, said, "Commander Chen, once you join the Dragon Flame Legion, there will be no infighting like in the Nationalist army. You can lead your troops to kill the Japanese."

Others also spoke up, expressing their approval and appreciation for Chen Defa's decision.

Finally, considering that Chen Defa's former 194th Division still had more than 5,000 men, Long Fei made a decision.

"Commander Chen, welcome to the army. Your unit is the 7th Army of the Dragon Flame Legion. I appoint you as the Deputy Commander of the Dragon Flame Legion and Lieutenant General Commander of the 7th Army, which will consist of the 19th, 20th and 21st Divisions. Regiment Commander Ge appoints you as the Major General Commander of the 19th Division."

Upon hearing this, Chen Defa and Ge Dahai immediately stood up.

“Brother… oh no, Commander, we will obey your orders.”

"Commander, rest assured, I, Ge Dahai, will definitely lead the 19th Division well and follow you to kill the Japanese devils fiercely."

This decision was of great importance to Chen Defa, but once he made it, the gloom in his heart vanished.

Then everyone happily drank, and they told each other about the situation of the Dragon Flame Legion after Chen Defa left.

When the banquet ended, Long Fei said goodbye and gave Chen Defa some instructions.

"Commander Chen, you'd better send a telegram to the whole country first thing tomorrow morning, so that the National Government doesn't have to send you an obituary later."

"Also, keep a close eye on the 117th Division tonight, in case they make any unusual moves."

"Yes, Commander, I understand."

After returning to their camp, Long Fei examined the map and decided to speed up the march the next day to reach Tancheng as soon as possible, then investigate the situation and make the latest deployment.

The next morning, Chen Defa led his troops out of Suqian through the north gate of the city.

Li Shouwei, commander of the 117th Division, immediately received the report.

"What is Chen Defa planning to do? His 194th Division has not received any mobilization orders, so why is he leading his troops out of the city?"

However, Li Shouwei did not dare to go out of the city to stop him. He knew that Chen Defa was not someone to be trifled with, and that the scene of drawing guns against each other yesterday might happen again.

Just as Li Shouwei was preparing to report to the Nationalist government, his adjutant reported that Chen Defa had sent a telegram to the whole country early that morning, announcing that the 194th Division had left the Nationalist army and joined the Longyan Army Corps.

At this time, although Li Shouwei knew that his report would not be of much significance, he still sent a telegram to the National Government, saying that the 194th Division had left Suqian County early in the morning and its whereabouts were unknown.

Of course, after receiving Chen Defa's telegram, the leaders of the Nationalist government, as usual, cursed and smashed their cups.

But he knew that he had to consider the overall situation, and besides, the Dragon Flame Legion was now quite powerful, and its achievements were well-known throughout the country.

Therefore, he could only suppress his anger and hope that the battle would end soon so that the acting director could immediately carry out a secret operation to eliminate this major threat.

Meanwhile, the mainland advance team dispatched by Hata Shunroku has already set off at full speed, divided into four teams, to quickly investigate the whereabouts of the Dragon Flame Legion.

Furthermore, one of the teams, based on the information they obtained, determined that the Longyan troops had already headed north and were most likely going to the Xuzhou area.

In order to find out the true location of the Dragon Flame Legion, Hata Shunroku also ordered the air force to dispatch multiple reconnaissance aircraft to conduct reconnaissance near Xuzhou.

Therefore, when Long Fei led the Longyan Legion to the vicinity of Tancheng two days later, they were finally discovered by the Japanese reconnaissance plane.

When Xie Qiang saw the Japanese plane appear, he wanted to order the Hidden Blade anti-aircraft missile to shoot it down, but Long Fei stopped him.

Seeing Xie Qiang's puzzled look, Long Fei explained.

"We can shoot down the Japanese fighter planes and bombers, but let them do the reconnaissance."

"If our presence can make the Japanese wary and adjust their deployment accordingly, wouldn't that be great?"

"This will not only reduce the pressure on the Nationalist army in southern Shandong to defend the front, but also buy the Nationalist army more time to deploy defenses in Xuzhou."

While the troops were having lunch, Long Fei asked Xu Peng to contact Sixth Brother again, hoping to get the latest battle intelligence.

Fortunately, Zheng Yaoxian quickly sent a reply.

In the telegram, Zheng Yaoxian roughly told Long Fei that the fighting in southern Shandong was fierce, and the Japanese Fifth and Tenth Divisions were advancing towards Linyi, Tengxian, Yixian, and Zaozhuang.

The Japanese army's intention was clear: to seize the gateway to Xuzhou, the Taierzhuang area.

Moreover, Zheng Yaoxian also told Long Fei in the telegram that the Japanese Fifth and Tenth Divisions were extremely arrogant.

They dispatched two separate detachments, Sakamoto and Seya, as two lone steel blades, advancing deep into enemy territory with exceptional ferocity.

With the latest intelligence from Sixth Brother, Long Fei quickly made a decision and immediately convened a battle meeting.

"According to intelligence, the Japanese 5th and 10th Divisions dispatched two detachments, acting as two steel knives to advance all the way."

"Now I will introduce the situation of these two Japanese detachments to you."

"The Sakamoto Detachment is the main force of the 21st Brigade of the 5th Division of the Japanese army. The commander is Major General Sakamoto Jun. This time, he also brought more than 10,000 troops of the puppet army under Liu Guitang, bringing the total strength to 20,000."

"I want to make a special mention of Liu Guitang. In his early years, he was a bandit in Shandong. He was extremely cruel and cunning and harmed countless people."

"Over the years, he has joined many warlords, and his forces have continued to grow."

"After the Japanese occupied Jinan, Liu Guitang immediately defected to the Japanese and transformed himself into the commander-in-chief of the Shandong puppet army."

"The Setani Detachment, belonging to the 33rd Brigade of the 10th Mechanized Division, is commanded by Major General Setani Kei. It consists of three infantry regiments, as well as cavalry, engineer and artillery regiments, and tank units, with a total strength of 15,000."

Long Fei paused for a moment, then said decisively, "Therefore, I am determined to break these two steel knives of the Japanese devils into pieces first, and I will also wipe out Liu Guitang and his puppet troops without leaving a single one alive."

"This can relieve the defensive pressure on the National Army, teach the Japanese a lesson, and most importantly, it can provoke the two Japanese divisions to rush forward at all costs."

"This operation plan will be called Operation Broken Blade. Now I will assign tasks."

As soon as Long Fei began assigning tasks, everyone at the meeting stood up, ramrod straight.

After looking around at everyone, Long Fei announced, "This time I plan to split my forces into two groups and eliminate these two Japanese detachments at the same time."

"I will lead the 1st Special Operations Division and the 1st to 3rd Armies to annihilate the Sakamoto Detachment."

"Deputy Commander Xu will lead the reserve force, along with the Fourth to Seventh Armies, to annihilate the Setani Detachment."

"The specific tactic was to outflank the Japanese from behind, surround them, and then use artillery and rocket launchers to carry out a saturation bombardment."

"Then, we will use tanks and armored vehicles to carry out combined arms operations to annihilate the remaining enemy forces."