Chapter 38: The Third Battle of East Henan (VII)
According to the urgent instructions from Lanzhou, 17 hours after the Japanese army besieged Kaifeng, the two groups of Geng Zhijie and Zhao Lianquan located on the Ningling and Minquan front lines began to retreat one after another.
The six divisions of the above two groups will first withdraw to Tongxu, then to Weishi and finally to the southwestern Henan region and be renovated on the spot after being incorporated into the Seventh Army.
"Quick, load the bombs."
Looking at the bomber that had just landed, dozens of ground crew technicians rushed out from the maintenance shed. Some of them stepped on the wings and fell to the side of the cockpit, helping the pilot who could not even lift his fingers in the cabin to open the glass cabin cover. Others refueled the plane and hung As for the bullet holes on the wings and fuselage that did not affect the flight, they were simply filled with yellow wax.
"Sir, have some hot soup."
The pilot, who was already exhausted to the extreme, was slowly helped down from the fighter plane. There was no other way. The front line was retreating under the pressure exerted by the Japanese army. With the heavy artillery, artillery, tank units and other special forces retreating first, only these frequently attacking aerial artillery batteries were the last resort for the Geng and Zhao groups to preserve themselves to the greatest extent.
"Authentic Luhua Chicken is the best way to nourish your body."
The pilot shook his head and used his cramped hands to struggle to take out a pack of cigarettes from the upper pocket of his flight jacket. The ground staff next to him immediately took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth, then lit it for him.
The pilot took a deep breath. At this moment, the machine gunner was also helped to the side. The two looked at each other, their faces filled with smiles of surviving a disaster.
But the smile soon froze as a rising dragon with a trail of black smoke was seen swaying from the sky to the runway. Its speed was so fast that even people who didn't understand the landing process could see that something was wrong.
Sure enough, the Shenglong plane soon ran off the runway and hit the ridge of the field that served as a barrier, and then fell over.
Seeing a large number of ground crews and medical personnel rushing to Thang Long, the machine gunner narrated in a bitter voice: "I heard that the Japanese army used a new type of fighter plane, which is much more powerful than the Type 97. The brothers in the escort fighter squadron suffered heavy losses."
"That's right."
The pilot nodded.
"The Jiuhua Squadron once encountered such an enemy plane. As a result, in order to protect Captain Wang and his men, the escorting Huangshan Squadron suffered two casualties and two losses."
The result of a fighter squadron being completely destroyed in the face of an enemy plane caused an uproar among the top brass of the Northwest Air Force. For this reason, various factories in the Northwest have sent people to the front-line troops to inquire about the details of the encounter with the Japanese army. This is something that cannot be concealed.
"Fortunately, there are only one or two Japanese planes of this type, and they are from the navy. Otherwise..." The pilot did not finish his words, but the meaning was very clear. The machine gunner shuddered all over, then pretended to be heroic and laughed dryly twice: "It's nothing more than martyrdom for the country. A real man dies on the battlefield, and his death is worthy."
"That's not right ."
The pilot chuckled in a wry way.
"How can we abandon our useful bodies so easily? Even if we have to die on the battlefield, we must first harvest as many Japanese lives as possible. Otherwise, how can you and I report our merits to our predecessors when we die?"
"Second Lieutenant Yu is right."
The corporal machine gunner also laughed. At this time, the pilot reported that the plane was ready, so the machine gunner scooped a bowl of chicken soup and drank a few sips, then picked up a piece of chicken and chewed it for a while before swallowing it all together.
"Second Lieutenant, you should come too. It's better to eat so that you can continue on the road." At 4 p.m. on September 29, Wang Yizhe led the Second Corps Headquarters and Du Jiwu's 109th Division into Zheng County. At the same time, Yao Dongfan's 117th Division and Chang Jingwu's 120th Division, which were also affiliated with the 57th Army, entered Xinzheng. Gao Pengyun's three divisions of the 63rd Army and Qiao Fang's 17th Independent Artillery Regiment 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 3:17 a.m. on September 30, Qu Shounian led the 227th Division in launching a fierce counterattack against the Japanese Xianshan Detachment in front of them.
Since the Japanese army already knew that the Chinese side was preparing to retreat, the Japanese army that had already entered the attack starting position did not expect that the Chinese side would suddenly counterattack on all fronts. For a time, the fierce artillery fire dealt a heavy blow to the Japanese army.
Due to the heavy losses suffered by the 227th Division's oppressive attack, the Xianshan Detachment was forced to switch from offense to defense and implement a comprehensive retreat.
Qu Shounian took this opportunity to lead the entire division to retreat westward rapidly.
Among them, more than 3,300 officers and soldiers from the division's 1st Company of the Anti-Aircraft Battalion, the 1st Battalion of the 2271st Regiment, 5 companies of the 2nd Battalion, 2.5 companies of the 2nd Battalion of the 2272nd Regiment, the 1st and 2nd Companies of the 227th Battalion of the Quartermaster Corps, the Engineer Guidance Company of the 2273rd Regiment, and the Anti-tank Artillery Company withdrew along the Longhai Road into Kaifeng. Except for a few delayed troops on the front line, most of the remaining troops withdrew to Qi County, and then the Geng and Zhao groups withdrew to the west of the road via Tongxu and Weishi, and finally returned to the Second Army and were transferred to Yiyang and Luoning for repairs.
"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 used 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 behind enemy lines and the corresponding anti-Japanese regime. Knowing that the big fish was about to escape the net, the Japanese army naturally refused to give up.
To this end, Lieutenant General Otaka Kamezo personally revised the plan for continuing the offensive. The plan was for more than 13,000 people from the 36th Division to cooperate with the 110th Division to besiege the eastern line of Kaifeng, completely close off the city of Kaifeng, and then conquer this "ancient capital of ten dynasties" and the capital of Henan Province.
In addition, General Wei Gao also ordered the Fifth Division to advance in the direction of Qixian, Tongxu, and Weishi, and to attack Zhongmou and Zhengxian as the opportunity arose.
The 35th Division also marched towards Taikang, Fugu and Yanling to protect the flank of the 5th Division and threaten the direction of Xuchang.
The 21st Division also attacked Shenqiu, Huaiyang and Xiangcheng from Dancheng, in order to threaten the Hubei-Henan-Anhui war zone in the direction of Taihe and Fuyang in the east, threaten Zhoukou, Shangshui, Luohe and Shangcai in the west, and attack Runan and Xincai in the south. Faced with the Japanese army's advancement all the way, in order to shorten their own front line and lengthen the Japanese army's supply line, the Geng and Zhao groups that had already retreated to the west of Wohe River continued to retreat westward.
At 5 p.m. on October 2, the vanguard of the Japanese 5th Division entered Weishi County, and a mixed squadron of the 36th Search Regiment of the 36th Division of the Japanese Army also joined forces with the 110th Cavalry Battalion of the 110th Division north of Zhuxian Town. At this point, Kaifeng became an isolated city amid the frantic shouts of "Long live the Japanese army."
"At present, our army has all of Sun Weiru's 8th Corps, Yang Sen's 20th Corps, Wang Yizhe's 2nd Corps, the 249th Division, the 1st Super Heavy Artillery Team, and the Armored Vehicle Team in Zhengxian and Zhongmu. However, except for Wang Yizhe's troops and the 249th Division, all of the above-mentioned troops suffered heavy losses in the previous battle."
Ma Kang personally made a report to Dai Jiliang who came to Luoyang.
"On the Xuchang front, there are He Guozhu's Third Army, Sun Tongxuan's Eighth Corps, Shang Zhen's 32nd Army, Henan Hui Muslim Anti-enemy Corps, etc. However, like the Zhengxian Group, the above-mentioned units have more or less been hit by the Japanese army in previous battles, and their manpower has been severely reduced, and their technical weapons have also suffered great losses." Dai Jiliang did not comment on Ma Kang's report, but just asked: "What is the situation in Kaifeng City?"
"Before Kaifeng was completely surrounded by the Japanese army, the War Zone and the Second Army had evacuated 170,000 residents and 3,000 wounded soldiers from the city through the east and south passages, and gradually added about 6,000 soldiers to the city in battalion and company units. Now there are more than 14,000 officers and soldiers and 10,000 civilian laborers in Kaifeng. There are also reserves of Kaifeng military depots in the city, so 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 to the city and street fighting."
"Kaifeng's city defense is not as good as Guide, Lankao and other places. Xue Ming has a heavy burden, but I and the people of the Northwest hope that they can fight in the style of the old Northwest Army and not let the Guide battle take all the credit."
Dai Jiliang said slowly.
"But whether Kaifeng can hold on depends on the battle on the outside."
