Glorious Mission 1937

Chapter 290: The Unexpected Ending of the Battle of Wuhan

The fall of Shimen completely messed up Umezu Yoshijiro's rules. This war is about people, and it is about money, food and ammunition.Although the Japanese army still has some ammunition in stock in Taiyuan City, if they want to support an army of [-] to [-] to fight for a long time, the difference is not a little bit.It's okay for a short time, but if it takes a long time, the problem will become big.

This is different from small troops. Small troops can still be solved by airdrops, but the ammunition needed by tens of thousands of troops cannot be solved by a few dozen fighter planes.What's more, it's different now. In the past, the Chinese army lacked air combat power, and dozens of hundreds of fighter planes in the Japanese military area controlled China's air supremacy.The Japanese army, which has mastered the air supremacy, can drop a sufficient amount of ammunition to any trapped army anytime and anywhere, and the exhaustion of ammunition and food seems to be far away from the Japanese army.

But it's different now. Although the air power of the squadron is still not as good as that of the Japanese army, it is not much less than the Japanese army in terms of the number of fighters. What is lacking is the combat experience of the pilots.However, such things as combat experience are difficult to say, and it is easy to say that it is easy to solve. Although the air power of the eighth theater has been reduced by less than one-third after these several air battles, the combat effectiveness has increased extremely rapidly. The way of fighting caused the Japanese army to suffer a lot and complained endlessly.

Chen Feng has already judged that the Japanese army is likely to airdrop supplies to the Japanese army in Shanxi, so all the fighter planes that were about to go to Guisui Airport were transferred to Datong Airport, and they even buried eyeliner next to the Japanese army airport.As long as you see a Japanese plane taking off, you will immediately report it to Datong by radio, and then send fighter planes to intercept it.

The effect was very good. In just one day, the Japanese aviation regiment was shot down more than 70 transport planes and 17 fighter jets, while the Northern Air Force lost less than [-] fighter jets, and most of the pilots returned safely. The results are brilliant. .

On the morning of December 12, the Japanese independent and mixed third brigade arrived at the outskirts of Shimen, and then quickly launched an attack on the Shimen defenders. The brigade leader, Major General Sasaki, even took command in person.The fighting was fierce. On the afternoon of the 12th, the 13nd Division finally arrived at Yuanshi.Its forward, a special mixed team, has already pointed directly at Luancheng, and the battle is imminent.

Although the Shimen defenders are under a lot of pressure, Yang Yi is not worried. Now they are guarding the city.The Japanese army was in an unfavorable situation of feint attack.more importantly.Since the Japanese army was in such a hurry, they did not carry much heavy firepower, nor did they have any heavy artillery for siege.Engineering is nothing more than a joke.

What's more, although the task given to them by the chief executive was to defend the city, they did not let them defend it, at most a week, and if the devils in Shanxi had not been wiped out after a week, and the Japanese army was still madly attacking Shimen, then Yang Yi could Retreat with troops.

Even so, Yang Yi was fully prepared. The Japanese army sent to attack Shimen this time was all the elite of the North China Front Army. The strength of each division and brigade was no less than that of Shimen's defenders. A first-class division is on its way, if it is not handled carefully, it may really suffer a big loss.

When the Battle of Shimen broke out, the two troops of the Eighth War Zone advanced very smoothly. The Iron Triangle planned by General Umezu Yoshijiro basically did not play much role before being torn apart by the two troops of Li Wensheng and Li Yifeng. The Fourth Division of the Japanese Army Finally unable to hold on anymore, they left their positions and fled in a hurry. At this time, the puppet troops for more than 2 days had retreated into Xinkou, intending to take strict precautions against defending.Although such a result was not what Shigeru Zetian wanted to see, but he knew better than anyone what the Fourth Division was originally. It was wiped out by the squadron with aircraft, cannons and steely fighting will.

Things have come to this point, Shigeru Sawada has nothing to say, after all, he has tried his best, blame those guys for being a bunch of mud that can't support the wall, dog meat that can't sit on the table.

In the battle south of Taiyuan, the Japanese army was also retreating steadily, and the two armies of Yang Aiyuan and Wei Lihuang advanced smoothly. According to this speed, the Chinese army would approach the outside of Taiyuan within three days at most.Especially Sun Weiru's Fourth Army, thanks to the strong reinforcements of Fu Zuoyi's 35th Army, the army has reached the outside of Gujiao City and is fighting fiercely with the 108th Division.

The sudden erosion on the battlefield in Shanxi directly affected the situation in Central China.The Ninth War Zone, which was already at the end of its strength, broke out with huge combat power after receiving the battle report from the World War II zone.The Japanese Sixth Division, which originally occupied Huangmei, the gateway to Guangji, recaptured it under the counterattack of the troops commanded by Bai Chongxi, the acting commander of the fifth war zone, within less than 4 days of occupying Huangmei.Even though the Japanese army held on to their defense in that battle, they also released a large amount of poison gas, which caused extremely heavy losses to the attacking squadron.However, with a strong will to fight and the assistance of a large number of combat aircraft, Huangmei finally returned to the hands of the Chinese, and the Japanese Sixth Division suffered heavy losses.

At the same time, the Li Pinxian Corps recovered Taihu Lake and Qianshan, cutting off the land supply line and land retreat of the Japanese 6th Division, making Inaba a difficult situation.Bai Chongxi seized the opportunity and commanded the confronting 28th Army, 84th Army and other troops to take the opportunity to attack, intending to wipe out the 6th Division, which had committed numerous crimes in the Nanjing Massacre.

Although Bai Chongxi's layout was clever, he still underestimated the combat effectiveness of the Japanese army.The 6th Division defended against danger and released a large amount of poisonous gas at the same time, and survived the difficulty.Even so, although the Sixth Division was not completely wiped out, the casualties were extremely heavy, and it basically lost its combat effectiveness, especially the two combat brigades under its command were almost wiped out.

As for the fortress of Tianjia Town, which was already crumbling under the onslaught of the Japanese army, after hearing the news that the Shanxi Chinese Army had strategically encircled the First Japanese Army, the defenders became more confident and stabilized the crumbling direction again. Not a lot.At the same time, Li Yannian, head of the 11th Army, ordered Qin Lianfang's 84th Army, Zhang Yichun's 48th Army, and Liu Ruming's 68th Army to immediately reinforce the Tianjiazhen Fortress.After three days and three nights of attack, the Hada detachment and the Imamura detachment were finally forced to retreat, and the crisis of the Tianjia Town fortress was temporarily resolved.

In the battle on the south bank of the Yangtze River, the Chinese army also achieved quite a lot.When the Japanese army marched westward to attack Ruichang, the 106th Division invaded south along the Nanxun Railway from Jiujiang.Relying on the favorable terrain on both sides of Lushan Mountain and the northern section of the Nanxun Railway, Li Hanhun, the 1th Army of the 29st Corps of the Defenders, Li Hanhun, the 4th Army of Ouzhen, and the 8th Army of Li Yutang fought tenaciously against the favorable terrain on both sides of Lushan Mountain and the northern section of Nanxun Railway. Li Jue's Jinguanqiao position, who knows that the 70th Army relied on the natural danger on Mount Lu to resist tenaciously, and Songpu's offensive was frustrated again.

Neiji Okamura, the commander of the No. 11 Japanese Army, had to order the 101st Division of the Japanese Army to cross Poyang Lake from the mouth of the lake for reinforcements, break through the defense line of the 25th Army Wang Jingjiu, and attempt to capture Xingzi. Together with the 106th Division, they attempted to capture De'an and capture Nanchang. , to ensure the safety of the south side of the Japanese army advancing westward.However, the commander-in-chief of the 1st Corps, Xue Yue, with Ye Zhao's 66th Army, Yu Jishi's 74th Army, 4th Army, and Chen Bao'an's 29th Army, cooperated with the 25th Army to fight fiercely in the Pass and Mahuiling areas north of De'an. into a glued state.

During the battle, troops from the Ninth War Zone wounded Lieutenant General Masaki Ito, head of the Japanese 101st Division, interrupting the Japanese attack for a while.Seeing the slow progress of Nanxun Road, Okamura was extremely anxious.Through aerial reconnaissance, he found that after a month of fierce fighting, the defensive gap between Nanxun Road and Ruiwu Road was getting wider and wider. At this time, a surprise soldier was sent through this gap and suddenly appeared behind the defenders. Ten thousand Chinese defenders may be surrounded by three divisions of the Japanese army.

Okamura personally planned everything for Matsuura. He divided the 106th Division into five parts so that they could sneak through gaps in the Japanese defense line and support each other when attacked. The 106th Division officially started operations and entered the Wanjialing area west of De'an, but got lost due to a map error.It was discovered by Xue Yue that he commanded the 4th, 66th, and 74th armies to detour from the side and rear to surround it.The first part of the 27th Division of the Japanese Army was reinforced, and was repelled by the 32nd Army and other units in the Baishui Street area west of Wanjialing.The squadron launched a general offensive and fought fiercely for three days and nights, defeating the Japanese counterattack many times.Due to the isolation of the Japanese army and the cut off of supplies, the 10th Division of the Japanese Army was wiped out on the 106th, and more than 6000 people were wiped out. In addition to the losses of several other troops, the Japanese army lost nearly 106 soldiers in Wanjialing, which is equivalent to the 7th Division. The regiment has about [-]% of its troops.

After suffering two consecutive annihilating blows, it has lost its offensive ability, that is, it is serving as a defensive task in the northern section of Nanxun Road, and is resting and replenishing. The original mission to attack Nanchang with the 101st Division was forced to cancel.

After the bloody battle of nearly a million troops on the front line in Wuhan, the powerful attack of the Japanese Central China Front Army was finally contained. So far, the Japanese army on the south bank of the Yangtze River was blocked by the Chinese Army in the northern section of Nanxun Road.The Japanese army north of the Yangtze River was blocked on the outskirts of the Tianjia Town Fortress.The Japanese army fighting in the Dabie Mountains was blocked by Song Xilian's troops in the Dabie Mountains, and they were unable to fight through the Dabie Mountains. Although the Japanese army's well-arranged Wuhan battle also achieved good results, they were still unable to occupy Wuhan.However, the army suffered heavy losses and urgently needed to be replenished. Therefore, Yan Junliu, the commander of the Central China Front Army, reluctantly issued an order to suspend the attack, and waited for the reinforcements to arrive before fighting again. The first Wuhan battle finally came to an end.

The suspenseful end of the Wuhan battle brought a sigh of relief to the whole camp in Wuhan. Tens of thousands of citizens in Wuhan spontaneously took to the streets to celebrate the national government's victory in defending the great Wuhan.

Although Wuhan was saved, He Yingqin and others were frightened into a cold sweat by the war, and asked Jiang to move to Chongqing.At the same time, the factories and enterprises in Wuhan were ordered to move to the southwest immediately. Anyone can see that the Japanese army only temporarily stopped the attack, and did not completely abandon Wuhan.When the Japanese army once again accumulated strength and attacked Wuhan, it would be another battle between dragons and tigers. Neither He Yingqin nor Chen Cheng was sure of victory. (To be continued..)