Chapter 29: Adjustment of Jin Province and continuation of the battle at Nokan Gate
On June 7, 1939, the Shanxi-Chahar War Zone held a military meeting in Songquan Village, Xiazhenwu Mountain (Northern Wudang Mountain) in Fangshan County, 216 kilometers away from Taiyuan. Participating in the meeting were the new commander-in-chief of the war zone Li Guo, chief of staff Zhu Shouguang, deputy commander Yang Aiyuan, deputy chief of staff Ge Jingen, as well as army and division commanders of the Shanxi Army and chiefs of staff of various units, a total of 17 people.
The meeting decided to establish six regional commands, namely, Southern Shanxi, Southeastern Shanxi, Western Shanxi, Northwestern Shanxi, Eastern Shanxi, and Yanbei, and appointed Zhou Dai as the commander of the Western Shanxi Command, Fu Zuoyi as the commander of the Northwestern Shanxi Command, Zhao Chengshou as the commander of the Yanbei Command, Yao Beichen as the commander of the Southern Shanxi Command, Sun Chu as the commander of the Southeastern Shanxi Command, and Yang Aiyuen personally served as the commander of the Eastern Shanxi Command.
Among them, the Jinxi Command was composed of Yang Chengyuan's 34th Army of the former Fourth Army and Liang Chunpu's 3rd Reserve Army of the Jin Army's general reserve.
The Northwest Shanxi Command was composed of the 35th Army of the former Fifth Army and Guo Zongfen's Second Reserve Army of the former Fourth Army.
The Southeast Shanxi Command was composed of the 33rd Army of the former Fourth Army and the 50th Army under Yang Qutong.
The Jinnan Command, also known as the Zhongtiao Mountain Command, was equipped with the 221st Division, the 64th Division of the 15th Army under Wu Tinglin, and the 8th Reserve Division of the 38th Army under Sun Fucheng.
The Jindong Command was equipped with Feng Pengzhu's 19th Army, the Jindong Anti-Japanese Corps and Liu Shirong's 4th Reserve Army.
The Yanbei Command was composed of the 3rd Cavalry Army and the 61st Army led by Chen Changjie.
In addition to passing the two major themes of redivision of provincial combat zones and troop adjustments, this military meeting also passed a combat strategy of one large, one small, one more, and one concentrated.
The so-called "one big" refers to the large-scale dispersion of the field troops under various commands to various counties in accordance with the characteristics of combat behind enemy lines in order to establish and improve local anti-Japanese governments and local anti-Japanese self-defense forces.
"Small" means that small groups of elite troops in the field should be concentrated at the scale of a regiment or division to form a powerful fist.
One and more refers to launching more small-scale, uninterrupted harassment wars and guerrilla warfare.
The first concentration refers to concentrating attacks on the roads and transportation systems in the Japanese-occupied areas.
As compensation for the splitting of the Fifth Army and to balance the relationship between Yang Aiyuen and Fu Zuoyi, at the end of the meeting, Li Guo also read out the letter of appointment from the Northwest National Defense and Anti-Japanese Government appointing him as acting chairman of Shanxi Province. In this way, the Shanxi military and political system that Yan Xishan had painstakingly maintained was driven into a wedge of division by the Northwest after he went to Lanzhou.
"I watched your graduation defense at the Staff College. The viewpoints in your article are clear and the arguments are strong. It can be seen that you have indeed learned something in the past two years. I am very pleased that you are not burdened by the false reputation of the past and are able to concentrate on studying seriously."
Looking at the former King of Central Asia standing upright, Dai Jiliang nodded with satisfaction.
"Now that the national war is in full swing, it would be a bit of a shame to hide your sharp sword in the sand. So after discussion by the Military and Political Committee, it was decided to send you to Hebei to organize the Hui people to resist the war. Do you have any personal opinion on this?"
Facing Dai Jiliang again, Ma Buying was filled with emotion. However, Ma Buying hesitated for a moment about Dai Jiliang's decision to release him from the cage, and then responded decisively: "The Hui people are members of the Chinese nation. The Japanese army wants to enslave the Chinese nation, which means they want to enslave the Hui people. In the face of such a major issue, Buying has no other choice."
"It's good to have such awareness. You should go to the Military Commission's Personnel Bureau to handle the promotion procedures first, and then go directly to the Hebei-Shandong-Henan War Zone."
Dai Jiliang’s words did not end here.
"Hebei is now an occupied area, so your name is too annoying. I'll change one character for you. From now on, you'll be called Ma Zhongying!"
Ma Buying was stunned for a moment, but soon understood and saluted Dai Jiliang: "Thank you for the name, Your Excellency. Zhongying will never let you down and will beat the Japanese as if they were the Russians."
"The red and white imperialisms are equally brutal. Since you have learned from your failure in Central Asia, you should naturally know how to deal with it."
Dai Jiliang looked at Ma Zhongying deeply.
"I won't say much else. I just hope that after the war of resistance is won, I will have the opportunity to award you the medal in person."
Upon hearing this, Ma Zhongying bowed deeply to Dai Jiliang again and said, "Your Excellency, I will leave right away."
After Zhukov arrived in Outer Mongolia, in order to facilitate the transfer of troops from the western front of the Sino-Soviet confrontation and the transportation of military supplies from the Soviet Union, he decided to rush to build an emergency military railway and a front-line highway in the eastern province of Outer Mongolia.
At the same time, the Japanese army also mobilized a wide range of troops to continuously reinforce the Nomonhan area and rushed to build front-line field airports, ammunition depots, oil depots, grain and fodder depots in Ganzhuer Temple, Amugulangbulak, Jiangjun Temple and other places.
By mid-June, the military preparations of both sides were nearly complete. On the 22nd, the Soviet army took the initiative and mobilized more than 150 I-15bis biplane fighters to bomb the Japanese airports and warehouses on the front line of Ganzhuer Temple.
In response to the reports from the frontline observation posts, the Japanese army launched 120 Nakajima Ki-27 fighters to intercept the enemy. There was a fierce exchange of fire between the two sides, with both sides suffering losses, but no decisive results were achieved. As a result, fierce air battles broke out again on the 24th and 26th.
On June 27, the Second Flying Group of the Japanese Kwantung Army assembled 12 Type 97 reconnaissance aircraft, 6 Type 97 light bombers, 24 Type 97 heavy bombers, and 77 Type 97 fighters into four bomber groups. Under the leadership of Major General Hisao Hozoji, commander of the Seventh Flying Regiment, they took off from Kangyur Temple and Hailar Airport and attacked the Soviet field airport at Tamsagbulak.
The Soviet army did not learn lessons from the previous battles in the northwest and continued to ignore the air defense of the front-line airports. As a result, the Japanese army destroyed nearly half of the front-line aviation aircraft in one fell swoop, and lost air superiority for a period of time.
Just as the Kwantung Army was rejoicing over the glorious achievements of the air force, when the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Tokyo General Staff, Tetsuzo Nakajima, went to the palace to report the battle situation, he was severely reprimanded by Emperor Showa for "bombing foreign territory without authorization". The Emperor was worried that the Soviet Union would use this as an opportunity to intervene in the Chinese battlefield, and the Emperor had to verbally reprimand the relevant personnel.
This move was like a bucket of cold water poured on the Kwantung Army, severely damaging the morale of these warmongers.
However, the Emperor's rebuke could not stop the Kwantung Army, which was accustomed to acting alone. According to the "counterattack plan" drawn up by Tsuji Masanobu, the Kwantung Army, which was preparing to encircle and annihilate all Soviet and Mongolian troops on the east bank of the Khalkha River, dispatched the 7th Division and the 23rd Division stationed in Qiqihar and the entire Kwantung Army's Second Air Group.
On the evening of July 2, the 23rd Division began laying an engineer pontoon bridge on the Khalkha River, preparing to attack the rear of the Soviet and Mongolian troops on the west bank of the river. However, they found that the engineer pontoon bridge at hand was just a mock-up for exercises, and the real thing had already been delivered to the battlefield in mainland China.
The Japanese heavy artillery, tanks, and armored vehicles were simply unable to use it to cross the river.
The Japanese army had no choice but to change its battle plan and let the 71st Infantry Regiment and the 72nd Infantry Regiment of the 23rd Infantry Regiment of the 23rd Division, and the 26th Infantry Regiment of the 1st Cavalier Regiment cross the river to fight.
Lieutenant General Masaomi Yasuoka, commander of the 1st Tank Division, led the 3rd and 4th Tank Regiments, the 1st Battalion of the 13th Field Artillery Regiment, the 2nd Battalion of the 28th Infantry Regiment, the 23rd Engineer Regiment and other units to form the Yasuoka Detachment to stay on the east bank of the river to provide support.
The Japanese army's actions did achieve the effect of a surprise attack at the beginning. The three Japanese infantry regiments that crossed the river quickly occupied Bayingchagan Mountain and formed a siege on the Soviet and Mongolian troops.
But as the Japanese army continued to advance, they soon encountered a counterattack from Soviet tank forces.
At that time, the Japanese army's tactics against tanks were similar to those of the Chinese army. Both used close combat tactics such as grenades and Molotov cocktails. Only a few 37mm rapid-fire guns could hit Soviet tanks at a longer distance.
Although the Chinese side had no choice but to act because of its weak material base, the Japanese army believed that the "spiritual atomic bomb" of the "spirit of loyalty and righteousness" would definitely be able to break steel with human bombs. Of course, the Japanese army's material base was only slightly better than that of the Chinese side, but the Japanese army always avoided talking about this.
Therefore, when faced with the overwhelming attack of more than 400 Soviet tanks, the Japanese army was simply unable to resist. After a struggle, only three empty shells of the Japanese infantry regiments were left and were forced to withdraw to Hexi on July 5.
On the night of July 2, the Angang Detachment took advantage of the heavy rain to attack the heavy artillery positions of the 6th Cavalry Division of the Red-Mongolian Army and the 36th Motorized Infantry Division of the Soviet Army, destroying more than ten heavy artillery pieces, more than ten armored vehicles, and two tanks of the Soviet-Mongolian Army in one fell swoop.
However, this rare tactical victory of the Japanese army was soon offset by its own disastrous defeat. On July 3, the 3rd Tank Regiment attempted to directly attack the Soviet-Mongolian positions on the west bank of the Khalkha River, but was almost completely wiped out by the well-prepared Soviet army. The regiment commander, Colonel Kiyohide Yoshimaru, was accurately killed by a Soviet sniper after jumping out of the tank.
On July 4, the Soviet army assembled two tank brigades to launch a counterattack under artillery fire, using traditional cluster tank tactics with a wide front and high speed to launch the most intense tank battle in the Battle of Nomonhan.
On a small battlefield of less than 10 square kilometers, more than a thousand tanks from the Soviet and Japanese sides fought in a melee. T-28, T-26 and Type 89 bombarded each other, BT-6, BT-7 fought against Type 97, and BA-6 and BA-10 fought against Type 95.
After a melee, the Japanese tanks and armored vehicles with backward weapons, thin armor and extremely poor mobility were completely unable to resist the Soviet tanks and were almost wiped out by the Soviet army. Only a very small number of Japanese troops escaped from the battlefield with the cover of sandstorms. At this point, the Japanese tank units had lost the ability to fight again.
The Japanese army, which had suffered defeats in the "river crossing operation" and the "tank duel", was unwilling to accept its failure, so it used the "night battle" which it was not good at. In fact, the "night battle" is indeed a magic weapon for the militarily weak side to turn the tide of the battle. Even the "half-baked" Japanese army (Note: of course the Japanese army would become extremely skilled in the future) could make the Soviet army cry for their parents at night.
However, just as the heat of the sun melts ice and snow, by daybreak the advantage in the battle was in the hands of the Soviet army, leading to an extremely bloody tug-of-war, in which both sides lost a considerable number of troops.
