Chapter 81 Zhang Xueliang's Decision
Fu Zuoyi's worries did not become a reality. The Joint Logistics Command of the Hunan-Hubei-Bashu War Zone mobilized seven regiments of unarmed baggage soldiers, and used people to carry hundreds of thousands of kilograms of grain from the rear warehouse to the Xiangfan front-line military station in the wind and rain.
At the same time, the western part of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui War Zone, which received a telegram for help, also urgently allocated one million kilograms of rice and flour from the Neixiang military station to the Zaoyang front line, thus ensuring the needs of Liu Duoquan and Sun Lianzhong's siege.
Even Fu Zuoyi's troops themselves obtained food guarantees for about five days by seizing the Japanese military station in Sui County, thus avoiding the worst consequence of collapse due to running out of food.
However, the food problem was only one aspect that affected the war. As the First Corps and the 19th Army Group were unable to capture Zaoyang, Fu Zuoyi's troops, which were known for their good defense, could only suffer under the attacks of the Japanese reinforcements.
The Japanese were composed of three infantry battalions of the 58th Infantry Regiment of the 13th Division, the 3rd Battalion of the 116th Infantry Regiment, the 1st Battalion of the 231st Infantry Regiment of the 39th Division, and the 4th (armored vehicle) Squadron of the 39th Search Regiment.
It was composed of the 1st Battalion of the 39th Field Artillery Regiment, the 1st Squadron of the 7th Tank Regiment directly under the 11th Army, the 7th Independent Machine Gun Battalion, the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Independent Mountain Artillery Regiment, the 2nd Battalion of the 13th Field Heavy Artillery Regiment (missing one squadron), and the 1st Squadron of the 2nd Field Gas Team, with a total strength of about 9,000 people.
It is equipped with more than 20 tanks and armored vehicles, 8 155mm howitzers, 12 105mm mountain guns, and 12 75mm field guns.
Although Fu Zuoyi's troops were known for their defensive skills, it also depended on who their opponent was. Just like his failures in the defense of Chahar and Taiyuan, although he might have had a slight advantage in terms of manpower, he was still unable to stop the sharp attacks of the Japanese army with its powerful firepower.
By the morning of March 28, the 101st Division under Sun Lanfeng, which was the first to bear the brunt of the attack, had been completely wiped out. The division commander Sun Lanfeng was hit by Japanese artillery shell fragments while supervising the battle at the front line and was evacuated seriously injured. The deputy division commander, chief of staff and 12 colonel-level officers were killed.
Seven other regimental commanders, deputy regimental commanders and battalion commanders were also seriously injured, eight battalions were disbanded, and artillery equipment at both levels of the division was destroyed.
Given that the 101st Division had completely lost its combat effectiveness, Fu Zuoyi could only use Jin Xianzhang's unit of the slightly weaker Reserve 6th Division to defend Suixian County, and used Lu Yinglin's unit of the 138th Division to set up a third blocking line in the northwest of Suixian, trying to delay the Japanese attack with a step-by-step resistance and buy precious time for the Zaoyang front.
However, the offensive power of Sun Lianzhong and Liu Duoquan was weak, causing precious time to slip away from the hands of the Chinese soldiers bit by bit.
On the afternoon of March 29, the Japanese army broke into Sui County with the support of aircraft. Jin Xianzhang failed to break out and was unfortunately killed on the spot. The command system of the Sixth Reserve Division collapsed. The army of 11,000 people before the war was finally preserved. Only the First Regiment, which was controlled by Fu Zuoyi as the general reserve, was preserved. Most of the rest died in and around Sui County.
Faced with a desperate situation, Fu Zuoyi, who could no longer hold on, had to ask for urgent help from the war zone. Unexpectedly, this once again caused a disagreement between Zhang Xueliang and Liu Wenhui.
"Brother Hanqing, according to Fu Yisheng's report, the Japanese troops on the southern front may break through their last line of defense within 24 hours."
Liu Wenhui seemed to remind Zhang Xueliang with concern.
"24 hours, are the 19th Army and the 1st Corps sure they can capture Zaoyang within 24 hours? I don't think it's likely. Since there is no way to capture the city immediately, we must make a prompt decision to retreat." Zhang Xueliang listened quietly, his mind in a mess.
To be honest, if he had not stayed in Hunan, Hubei, Bashu and Sichuan to supervise the war, he would naturally agree with Liu Wenhui's opinion of retreat. But the problem now is that once the two Japanese troops merged, what choice would the opponent make next.
Should we turn to attack Xiangfan? Or should we go straight to the center and march north to Nanyang?
If the Japanese army attacks Xiangfan, it won’t matter, but what if the Japanese army advances northward?
You must know that although the battles in Zhengxian and Nanyang are difficult now, it is not a problem to stop the Japanese army. However, if the situation changes due to problems in Hunan, Hubei, Bashu and Sichuan, the blame will not only be on Liu Wenhui, but also on himself.
Zhang Xueliang weighed the pros and cons for a long time, then raised his head and looked at Liu Wenhui: "Commander Liu, can the Tenth Corps hold Xiangfan?"
Liu Wenhui smiled bitterly and said, "Please rest assured, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Zhang. The Tenth Corps has also been tested in the Battle of Guide. Other things cannot be guaranteed, but in terms of urban positional warfare, we can still hold back the Japanese army."
After hearing Liu Wenhui's assurance, Zhang Xueliang nodded slowly: "Since the Tenth Corps is confident, I am relieved."
Liu Wenhui was still pondering the subtext of Zhang Xueliang's words when he heard Zhang Xueliang say, "Don't worry about Zhengxian County for now, but the Nanyang front is fighting the Japanese army. We must not let the Japanese army on the southern line go there to disrupt the situation at this time. Therefore, I suggest that the 56th Army immediately reinforce the 4th Corps, and the 51st Army should also be prepared to reinforce at any time."
Liu Wenhui obviously would not object to Zhang Xueliang risking his own direct subordinates' lives. After all, if the battle went well, he, as the commander of the war zone, would have a share of the credit. As for if the battle went badly, it would not be his own direct subordinates who would suffer the loss.
Therefore, Liu Wenhui responded: "Brother Hanqing has such determination, the theater can naturally agree, but the two combined forces before were unable to capture Zaoyang, and now only the 19th Army is left to besiege the city, I am afraid it is even more incapable."
"I am relatively familiar with the situation of the Japanese Osaka Division."
Zhang Xueliang considered his choice of words.
"Well, this group of Japanese troops is the type that won't fight hard even if you force them, so my suggestion is that since we can't take Zaoyang for the time being, we should just surround them instead of fighting."
Liu Wenhui asked in astonishment, "Encircle but not attack? What does Deputy Commander-in-Chief Zhang mean?"
Zhang Xueliang drew a line of defense on the map with a blue pencil: "I thought, why not just transfer the 30th Army to Xinye and Tanghe to build a blocking position, and only use the 42nd and 77th Armies to encircle Zaoyang."
The southern part of the 30th Army in Tianzhen was composed of three divisions, namely the 30th Division, the 31st Division and the 21st Reserve Division. It was the main force in the 19th Army Group. However, precisely because it was the main force, it was the first to bear the brunt of the attack on Zaoyang. After a hard fight, it suffered heavy losses. This time, Zhang Xueliang suggested that it retreat in order to allow it to reorganize and strengthen itself.
"There are still about 4,000 people in the Guxian Detachment in Zaoyang City. Although the 42nd Army and the 77th Army have 4 divisions, they have suffered losses before. The total strength is less than 32,000 people now. I am afraid that they may not be able to stop the Osaka Division from breaking out."
Surrounding the enemy with an absolute advantage of 8 times the number of troops, and still being afraid that the enemy would successfully break through, this was not a joke Liu Wenhui was telling.
As the saying goes, if you have ten enemies, you should surround them. This is not only a lesson from ancient Chinese military tactics, but also a true reflection of the current gap in combat effectiveness between the Chinese and Japanese armies.
It can be said that even the Northwest Army headquarters needed more than 5 times the force and more than 2 times the firepower to encircle and annihilate the Japanese army. Naturally, the various units whose combat power was far inferior to that of the Northwest Army were even more vulnerable.
"Brother Ziqian, how about we make a bet on whether the Guxian detachment will take the initiative to break out."
Zhang Xueliang seemed full of confidence.
"As for the bet, just a bottle of French red wine. I bet that old devil Gu Xianyi won't break through."
The Sichuan Army was full of gamblers, and a bottle of French red wine was not something Liu Wenhui could not afford to gamble with, but Liu Wenhui did not have the courage to gamble, so he declined politely, "Brother Hanqing, this is a matter of life and death, please don't joke around."
"I'm not kidding."
Zhang Xueliang said seriously.
"There is a reason why I judge that the Ancient Sages' Detachment will not break out."
Zhang Xueliang pointed to the map and explained.
"To the north is our army's hinterland, to the west is the fortified city of Xiangfan, and to the east is the Tongbai Mountain area. The only possibility for the Japanese army is to break out to the south to call for reinforcements. But."
Zhang Xueliang emphasized his tone.
"But the Osaka Division has always been reluctant to fight tough battles. I guess the Guxian Detachment must have thought that since the rescue troops from the south are about to arrive, there is no need to increase their casualties."
"Guess?"
Liu Wenhui was a little dumbfounded.
"This, this is a bit ridiculous."
However, Zhang Xueliang is now the military supervisor, and Liu Wenhui has someone holding something against him, so after feeling both amused and helpless, Liu Wenhui thought about it seriously for a while.
"Deputy Commander-in-Chief Zhang wants to place the main forces of the 42nd and 77th Armies south of Zaoyang to block the Guxian Detachment's route to break out to the south?"
Zhang Xueliang didn't think so, but Liu Wenhui was the commander of the war zone after all, so Zhang Xueliang, who couldn't interfere too much, could only accommodatingly say: "Commander Liu is right. As the saying goes, encircle three and leave one. After the 30th Army moves north, we will open the encirclement west of Zaoyang. Do you think the Guxian Detachment will be suspicious?"
"Encircle three and leave one?"
Liu Wenhui paced in front of the map for a long time before making a decision.
"I think it's possible, but the Japanese army may still take advantage of the situation and advance westward, so we still need to send a troop to defend the Gunhe River."
Zhang Xueliang nodded, so Liu Wenhui ordered: "Come here, send a telegram to the Zaoyang front."
China's movement was soon noticed by the Guxian Detachment of the Japanese Army in Zaoyang City. However, as Zhang Xueliang predicted, the Guxian Detachment did not attempt to break out of the encirclement. Instead, it further repaired the defenses in the city and prepared to defend it to the death. At the same time, it kept sending telegrams to the division headquarters and the army headquarters, claiming that it had repelled the Chinese attacks many times. However, the city was already short of food and ammunition and urgently needed guidance.
It was precisely because of the conservatism of the Guxian Detachment that the Hunan-Hubei-Bashu War Zone was able to withdraw most of its forces to the south. Before the Japanese troops on the southern front broke through the final resistance of Fu Zuoyi's troops, a new line of defense was established in the southeast of Zao. As a result, the Japanese troops, which were gradually losing their fighting spirit, began to stop moving forward, forcing Lieutenant General Yuanbe and Ichiro to continue to rob Peter to repair Paul.
The situation in Zhengxian and Nanyang was the same. Although the Japanese army inflicted heavy casualties on the Chinese side, it had no remaining reserve forces and could only rely on reinforcements from the country to replenish its front-line troops.
However, the inadequate domestic reinforcements were not enough to restore the combat effectiveness of the Japanese troops. Coupled with the sequelae of methamphetamine abuse, the Japanese offensive in Zhengxian and Nanyang began to become difficult.
