Quartermasters can also fight the devils

Chapter 163 Prelude to the Great War (4)

The 22nd Army Group had the 41st and 45th Armies under its command, but the Sichuan Army was organized into Type B divisions, with only two divisions in each army, two brigades in each division, and two regiments in each brigade. Their weapons and equipment were appalling. The soldiers used Sichuan-made Type 79 rifles, broadswords, grenades, and a small number of Sichuan-made light and heavy machine guns and mortars.

Moreover, before coming to Teng County, the 22nd Army had fought with the Japanese army on the battlefield in eastern Shanxi for more than 40 days, suffering heavy losses with more than half of its troops killed or wounded. When the 22nd Army arrived at Teng County for defense, the actual combat strength of the entire army was less than 20,000 people. However, facing the aggressive and well-equipped Japanese 10th Division, all officers and soldiers of the 22nd Army did not show fear, and arrived at the designated area on time to deploy defenses.

On March 15, the 10th Regiment of the Japanese Army, which was responsible for attacking Teng County, discovered through aerial reconnaissance that the Sichuan Army had set up several defense lines in the north of Teng County, but the defense in the eastern region was weak, so they left a squadron of soldiers in the north of Teng County to feign an attack in order to attract the attention of the defenders, while the main force of the Japanese army made a big detour and suddenly launched an attack from the east of Teng County. The Sichuan Army soldiers responsible for the defense on the east fought hard, and the commander of the 10th Regiment, Colonel Yaezao Akashiba, learned through aerial reconnaissance that Teng County was not heavily guarded, so he ordered two battalions of Japanese troops to avoid the Sichuan Army's defensive positions in front, and successfully bypassed the Sichuan Army's defensive positions again and directly attacked the Teng County seat which had almost no defense force.

At that time, the military force in Teng County was quite scarce. There were only the 122nd, 124th, and 127th Divisions and the 364th Brigade in the city, with a total of 4 special companies, 4 communication squads, and 4 medical teams with less than a thousand people, and there was not even a single combat unit. When it was discovered that the Japanese army had circumvented the outer defense line, the commander of the 122nd Division, Wang Mingzhang, hurriedly transferred the 727th Regiment defending Beishahe and another battalion of combat troops back to the city for defense, and then ordered the 266th Brigade on the Pingyi front to quickly reinforce Teng County, and at the same time asked for help from the group army commander Sun Zhen.

After receiving Wang Mingzhang's call, Sun Zhen was also extremely anxious. At that time, he had no reinforcements to send, so he had to send a telegram for help to Wang Zhonglian, commander of the 20th Army, the vanguard of the 85th Corps of the Central Army, which had just been transferred to the Fifth War Zone.

The 20th Corps had fought fiercely in Nankou, North China before. After the troops withdrew, they had been resting in Henan Province. They had just been assigned to the Fifth War Zone to participate in the war. The entire corps was still marching towards the designated area of ​​the Fifth War Zone. At that time, the 20th Division of the 85th Army, the vanguard of the 89th Corps, was relatively close to Tengxian. After receiving the telegram for help from the 85nd Army Group of the Sichuan Army, the commander of the 85th Army, Wang Zhonglian, sent a telegram to his commander, Tang, for instructions. Commander Tang was afraid that if his vanguard went to rescue, it would be easily surrounded by the concentrated forces of the Japanese army, and would suffer heavy losses at that time. So he asked the th Army to wait for the arrival of the main force of the corps before taking action together.

Sun Zhen was very depressed when he saw the reply from Wang Zhonglian, commander of the 85th Army. If he had waited until the 20th Corps arrived before rushing over, Teng County would have been lost long ago. He also knew that there was no way a ragtag army like his could mobilize the Central Army's direct troops to rescue him. He was desperate at the time, so he sent a telegram for help to the Fifth War Zone Command. At the same time, he left one company of the only special forces battalion left by his side as a guard and sent all the others to reinforce the battle in Teng County.

Commander Li took the telegram sent by Chief of Staff Xu and read it carefully. The content of this telegram sent by the 20nd Army was very detailed. The telegram directly stated that there were only defensive troops in Teng County, and the other troops of the nd Army had been pinned down by the Japanese army and suffered heavy losses, so they could not be withdrawn for reinforcement. It was hoped that the war zone could order the nearest th Corps to come for reinforcement.

"Commander Li, Sun Zhen has already contacted the 20th Army, the vanguard of the 85th Corps, but the commander of the 85th Army, Wang Zhonglian, said that they have to wait until the main force of the corps arrives before they can send reinforcements to the north." When Chief of Staff Xu saw that Commander Li had finished reading the contents of the telegram, he quickly gave a supplementary explanation of what had happened.

Commander Li stood in front of the map with a frown on his face. After thinking for a while, he said to Chief of Staff Xu, "Yanmou, send a telegram to the 20th Corps, ordering the Tang Corps to immediately send the 85th Army to reinforce Teng County. Also, send a telegram to Commander Sun of the Second Army, asking his troops to prepare and be ready to reinforce Teng County at any time."

Chief of Staff Xu was stunned. Commander Li had made two preparations. If the 20th Corps obeyed the order and went to rescue Teng County, then everything would be fine. But if the 20th Corps did not go to reinforce Teng County, then Commander Li would send the Second Army to reinforce. However, the Second Army was originally intended for the key battle later.

Chief of Staff Xu did not waste time, but quickly asked the Telecommunications Department to send out both telegrams. The first person to reply was Commander Sun of the Second Army Group. He said that he would immediately assemble the troops according to the requirements of the theater and wait for the theater's orders at any time, which made Chief of Staff Xu feel relieved.

"Yan Mou, is there any news?" Commander Li also walked into the telecommunications room. He was waiting in the office and was a little anxious.

When Chief of Staff Xu saw Commander Li coming to the telecommunications room, he knew that the other party was also a little anxious, so he quickly gave Commander Li the reply call just sent by the Second Army.

"The 20th Corps still hasn't replied?" After reading the telegram from the Second Army, Commander Li asked about the 20th Corps with concern.

Chief of Staff Xu gave a bitter smile and was about to say that he had not received a reply from the 20th Corps when he heard the telegraph operator next to him say, "Chief of Staff, the 20th Corps has replied."

Chief of Staff Xu quickly took the telegram that had just been translated and read it. After reading the contents of the telegram, he smiled bitterly and shook his head, then handed the telegram to Commander Li and said, "Commander Li, the commander of the 85th Corps, Tang, is worried that if the vanguard th Army rashly goes to reinforce Teng County, it will be defeated by the Japanese army one by one. He said that he would wait until all the corps arrived before reinforcing Teng County together."

Commander Li also quickly read the contents of the telegram, then snorted coldly, "Humph, we can't rely on these disciples of the emperor. Immediately send a telegram to the Second Army to reinforce Teng County. After rescuing the troops in Teng County, gradually resist and delay the attack of the Japanese Tenth Division. According to the plan formulated by the theater, attract the Tenth Division to Taierzhuang. At the same time, notify the commander Huang of the 102nd Division and ask him to come to the theater headquarters for a meeting immediately."

Commander Li also issued orders quickly. The 102th Corps' disrespect for military orders made him more determined to let the 102nd Division take on the task of guarding Taierzhuang. He did not dare to send the 102nd Division out to fight. By then, the nd Division might do the same as the th Corps and find many excuses to evade the orders from the war zone. As for the affairs of the th Corps, he had no good way to solve it now. After all, the th Corps was an important part of his next combat plan.

The progress of events has now deviated from the original course. When Zhang Wenwu learned in the operations hall of the division headquarters that the theater command had sent the Second Army to reinforce Teng County, he felt something was wrong. Now the 102nd Division would definitely be sent by the theater command to Taierzhuang to defend it and attract the attention of the th Division.

"Wenwu, you are at the division headquarters right now. You should go to the theater headquarters for a meeting with me and Division Commander Huang immediately. Commander-in-Chief Li just ordered Division Commander Huang and me to go to the meeting, and at the same time told our division to pick up a batch of weapons and ammunition." Chief of Staff Zhao Dong's words interrupted Zhang Wenwu's thoughts.

Zhang Wenwu, with a worried look on his face, took a train to the theater command headquarters with Division Commander Huang and Chief of Staff Zhao Dong. In the theater conference room, Commander Li and Chief of Staff Xu were already waiting there.

"Commander Huang, thank you for your hard work." Commander Li greeted Commander Huang and Chief of Staff Zhao Dong enthusiastically. Zhang Wenwu was also honored to be greeted by Commander Li because he had followed the two chief officers to the conference room.

After hearing Commander Li's condolences, Division Commander Huang immediately said that it was not hard at all and that it was just his duty.

"Commander Huang, the reason I called you here so urgently is that the war in this theater has reached a critical moment. It's time to send out your ace troops in this theater to fight the Japanese army. What do you think, Commander Huang, do you have confidence?" Commander Li explained the reason with a smile on his face.

What else could Division Commander Huang say to Commander Li's question? He could only stand at attention and answer, "Please rest assured, Commander Li. Our troops are confident that we can fight the Japanese army. Please give the order, Commander Li."

"Well, you are worthy of being the troops of the 18th Army. The morale is impeccable. Come, Chief of Staff Xu will tell you about the theater's strategic concept for the next round of battle." After Commander Li encouraged Commander Huang, he asked Chief of Staff Xu to introduce the task.

Chief of Staff Xu picked up a baton and walked to the large military map hanging on the wall and began to introduce: "Some time ago, the Japanese Fifth Division heading south from the east was severely damaged by our Third Corps and the Fifty-ninth Army in the direction of Linyi. At present, the Japanese army has retreated to Ju County. Before the reinforcements of the Fifth Division arrived, the Japanese army along this route was no longer able to continue to attack southward. This made the Japanese army's pincer attack plan from north to south lack one of the pincers. At present, the Japanese Tenth Division is heading south along the Jinpu Railway to attack Teng County. The theater has deployed the 22nd Army in Teng County to achieve the goal of consuming the Japanese army and The Second Army has just been sent to reinforce the battle in Teng County, striving to consume as much as possible to block the Japanese army from moving south. After a certain period of time, the Second Army will gradually lure the Japanese army to the Taierzhuang line, and then the Second Army will move to the flank of the Japanese army to contain it. Your troops need to arrive in Taierzhuang tomorrow to deploy defenses to attract the main force of the 10th Division. Then, when the attacking force of the 10th Division is trapped in the Taierzhuang battlefield, the 20th Corps will launch an attack from the rear to complete the encirclement of the Japanese army. At that time, we will launch an attack on the encircled Japanese army and strive to achieve the strategic concept of completely annihilating this Japanese army. "

Now the two big bosses of the 102nd Division knew the intention of the theater command. This was a big game. No wonder the theater did not let the 102nd Division participate in any battle for so many days, but only let the troops train well. It turned out that this was all to put the 102nd Division in such a core place to defend it at this critical moment.