Chapter 37: The Third Battle of East Henan (VI)
At 10:45 a.m. on September 29, 1939, exactly 30 hours after the 110th Division of the Japanese Army successfully landed on the south bank of the Yellow River, the vanguard of the Japanese Army had advanced to the edge of the Kaifeng city wall, except for the Caomen and Songmen directions. The small number of 120mm and 100mm heavy artillery they carried also began to fire at the Kaifeng city area. The earth-shaking explosions and the towering smoke columns caused by these heavy artillery shells made countless citizens waiting to evacuate feel the horror of war.
However, the real bloody scene was on the road of escape. The Japanese bombing planes and the artillery shells fired from the west of the Bian River could easily cause the tragedy of broken families and separation of wives and children. What made the Northwestern soldiers who assisted in the evacuation even more at a loss was that under the threat of the Japanese army, everything fell into a state of disorganization.
"What? You want soldiers? I have received requests for soldiers everywhere. No, really not. I tell you, Deng Hanguang, even if there is only one soldier left, you must hold the position for me. Otherwise, you and Qu Shounian will be court-martialed!"
After hanging up the phone in front of him, the Chief of Staff of the Second Army, Hu Jing, reported to the commander Gao Tianzi with a gloomy face.
"The Japanese army used poison gas on the Lankao front. Although the effect was not great, Ou Shounian was already exhausted."
"We can't be too harsh on the 227th Division."
Takadako dropped the pencil in her hand and smiled bitterly.
"After all, he only has one division, and he has to fight against more than 8,000 people from the Xianshan Detachment. The pressure is huge."
As he was talking, the phone rang again. Hu Jing went to listen and immediately grabbed the receiver: "Commander, it's General Ma."
Gao Tianzi called out "Boss" after the call, and the next words were stuck in his throat. It was not until the other party finished speaking that he promised with a difficult tone: "Please rest assured, Boss, I will definitely carry out your orders."
After hanging up the phone, Gao Tianzi looked at Hu Jing, who was alert, and sighed: "Lanzhou ordered the Second Army to immediately withdraw from Kaifeng City, first retreat to Weishi, and then retreat to Xingyang in order to organize the defense of Zheng County."
"Withdraw now?"
Hu Jing was stunned and blurted out immediately.
"What about the communication and dispatch at the front line?"
"The theater command will temporarily take over direct command."
Gao Tianzi also had a look of displeasure on his face. You have to know that in this way, he, the commander of the Second Army, would become a decoration.
"In addition, the theater of operations has also asked us to be responsible for the complete evacuation of the Second Army's rear hospital and 1,400 lightly and seriously wounded soldiers. This task is not an easy one."
Hu Jing sucked in a breath of cold air and answered subconsciously: "I just received a report from the city defense headquarters. The Songmen front line has been blocked."
"Order the military guard battalion to dispatch a company of soldiers to disperse the civilians blocking the road by force and maintain smooth traffic."
Takadako gave a firm order.
"Also inform the troops guarding Yuwang Terrace that even if all of them die, they must ensure the safe evacuation of the citizens from the city."
Hu Jing immediately went out to make the arrangements, and when he returned to the room, he heard Gao Tianzi continue.
"The troops cannot compete with the civilians for the road. So, the military headquarters and the rear hospital will go through Caomen, and then turn south when they reach Ewan."
"Okay, I'll arrange it."
Hu Jing nodded.
"Please ask the commander to lead the team to clear the way for the brigade."
Gao Tianzi shook his head. He certainly understood what Hu Jing meant, but he was unwilling to accept the favor: "Let the Chief of Staff lead the team first. After all, I am the head of an army. I can't do such a thing as panicking like a lost dog, and I can't afford to lose face."
Seeing that Hu Jing was still trying to persuade him, Gao Tianzi's face became serious: "This is an order, Chief of Staff, please execute it." Just as the Second Army Headquarters and the rear hospital began to withdraw from Kaifeng, according to the order of the war zone, the 204th Division in Ningling, Minquan, and Zhecheng also began to move backwards.
These troops retreated in the order of engineers, divisional artillery, field hospitals, regimental artillery, baggage troops, reserve troops, and front-line troops. After leaving behind a large number of blocking troops, the troops in the direction of Ningling and Minquan were able to retreat to Qixian, and the troops in the direction of Zhecheng retreated to Taikang.
The Japanese army certainly discovered the Chinese army's retreat, but thanks to the Chinese Air Force's continuous air strikes and the delaying troops' selfless sacrifice, the Japanese army's pursuit was not very smooth. In addition, many days of fighting had left the Japanese army short of ammunition, so they could only watch the Chinese army gradually retreat.
"Brothers, the main force has withdrawn."
Sitting on an empty ammunition box with his left hand still wrapped in gauze, Jin Zhili gathered the remaining soldiers around him.
"The rest of the troops have also been dispersed. Now we have a total of about twenty people and thirty guns.
If you want to use these to fight the Japanese, then the only way left is to die for your country.
But I was unwilling to give up. I always felt that we could better deal with more Japanese devils if we survived, so I decided to hide and wait for the Japanese devils to come. We could either turn back and chase the main force, or simply move eastward and turn the world upside down in the rear of the Japanese devils. "
"Deputy Captain, don't say anything."
A sergeant with a minor head injury glanced at his hesitant comrade beside him and responded.
"As long as we are still fighting the devils, we will listen to you no matter what you do."
After listening to the sergeant's words and looking at the other soldiers who nodded frequently, Jin Zhili gave the order without further ado: "Now count the ammunition, dry food, drinking water, and medicine. If you can't take the gun with you, you can leave it behind, but you must bring enough bullets and dry food. Then we will find a place to hide. The Japanese are going west to chase the main force, so the search will definitely not be so intensive. When it gets dark, we will set off, first to the west, and after we are out of the front line, we will consider what to do next."
There were many people who had the same idea as Jin Zhili, and many of them adopted the same method to get rid of the Japanese army's pursuit. These scattered troops later carried out extensive activities in the enemy's war zone, and under the organization of the Military Intelligence Bureau, the Liaison Office and other intelligence departments, they formed the Eastern Route Anti-Japanese Corps and the corresponding anti-Japanese regime. At 4 pm on September 29, Wang Yizhe led the Second Corps Headquarters and Du Jiwu's 109th Division into Zhengxian County. At the same time, Yao Dongfan's 117th Division and Chang Jingwu's 120th Division, which belonged to the 57th Army, entered Xinzheng. The three divisions of the 63rd Army under Gao Pengyun and the 17th Independent Artillery Regiment under Qiao Fang had also arrived in Xuchang and Luohe.
At 7 p.m. on September 29, Wu Huawen's 3rd Reserve Division of the 12th Army of Zhan Shutang advanced to the west of Zhongmu, trying to open a passage connecting to the urban area of Kaifeng. However, the Japanese army used the 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 1st Infantry Regiment of the Chinese Garrison of the 27th Division and the Hasegawa Detachment composed of machine guns and mortars to defend along the Yunliang River. Although Wu Huawen tried his best, he was unable to break through the Japanese army's tight defense line.
Seeing that a frontal attack was ineffective, Yang Sen commanded two regiments of the 152nd Division of the 20th Army under the command of Yang Hanyu, and crossed the Yunliang River from the direction of Zhuxian Town overnight and headed straight for the Bian River.
However, the Sichuan Army's actions were discovered by the Japanese Army near dawn. Under the fierce artillery fire of the Japanese Army, Bao Xiaolan, the deputy commander of the Yang Division who led the attack, was shot dead, and the two regiment commanders Yin Shihuan and Jing Jiamo were killed and one was injured.
As a result, the Sichuan Army was defeated and the battle was ultimately unsuccessful.
Since the attempts to open the road by force had failed repeatedly, the war zone could only withdraw troops from the enemy front line to reinforce Kaifeng City, which still had a slight connection.
At daybreak on September 30, Qu Shounian led the 227th Division, with the support of the Air Force, to launch a fierce counterattack against the Japanese Xianshan Detachment in front of them, forcing the Japanese army to retreat completely. Qu Shounian took this opportunity to lead the entire division to retreat rapidly westward.
Among them, more than 4,000 people from the 2271st Regiment, the 2nd Battalion of the 2272nd Regiment, the 227th Battalion of the Quartermaster Corps and other units withdrew into Kaifeng along the Longhai Road. The remaining troops, special forces and field hospitals withdrew to Qi County, and then withdrew to Xiangcheng via Tongxu and Weishi for repairs.
On the same day, the Second Army troops that had withdrawn to Qi County also selected effective battalions and companies to march quickly into Kaifeng.
Knowing that the big fish was about to escape the net, the Japanese army naturally refused to give up. The sound of gunfire that had just stopped rang out again. Lieutenant General Otaka Kamezō personally revised the attack plan. He used the 36th Division with more than 13,000 people to attack the eastern line of Kaifeng, the 5th Division to continue the attack on Qi County, the 35th Division to attack Taikang, and the 21st Division to threaten Shenqiu, Huaiyang, and Xiangcheng.
Given that Qi County and Taikang are far apart, the Japanese army might be able to cut off the connection between the two Chinese armies. Therefore, the Hebei-Shandong-Henan War Zone ordered the above-mentioned troops to continue their retreat.
So at 5 pm on September 30, the Qi County defenders withdrew across the Wohe River one after another. At this point, the Japanese army completely surrounded Kaifeng, and this thousand-year-old capital became an isolated city.
"The current situation is that our army will continue to retreat westwards to the west of the Wohe River. The 204th Division and other units will retreat all the way to the southwestern Henan region and join the Seventh Army. The Seventh Corps and the Third Army will retreat to Xuchang and reorganize and hold on in Xuchang. In this way, our army will form two groups, Zhongmu and Xuchang, outside Kaifeng."
"In addition, our troops in Kaifeng City have been supplemented , and there are still about 14,000 officers and soldiers. And because of the reserves at the Kaifeng military station, there is no shortage of food, fodder, and ammunition. Although the fortifications in the city are not complete, we are still confident that we can hold on in the city and street fighting."
"We estimate that the Japanese army will continue to besiege Kaifeng with one or two divisions, and the remaining four divisions will deal with our two major groups. However, we cannot rule out that after capturing Weishi, the Japanese army will continue to advance westward, cut off the Pinghan Road, and split our Zhongmu and Zhengxian groups from the Xuchang group."
"The First Division also believes that although the Japanese army is aggressive, its offensive momentum cannot last long. Not to mention that the areas recently occupied by the Japanese army require considerable manpower to maintain, even the Hebei and Shandong areas that the Japanese army has occupied for a long time cannot maintain such a tense situation for a long time. Therefore, we can start from this aspect to relieve the pressure on the front line."
"In order to mobilize and destroy the Japanese army, Kaifeng is tasked with an extremely important task."
Dai Jiliang said this after listening to the report from the General Staff.
"Send a telegram to Xue Ming, hoping that they will become the Madrid of the East and hold on until the final moment of victory. Also remind them to make long-term plans and control food , medicine, and ammunition."
After the recording staff left, Dai Jiliang closed his eyes and thought for a while.
"It's really difficult for Xue Ming and others to ask them to persevere with empty words."
Having said this, Dai Jiliang opened his eyes.
"Take a thousand days to raise an army, but only use it for a moment. Tell Ding Guo to prepare a transport plane and send the First Regiment over first!"
