Age of Conquest Reborn

Chapter 552: The End of Isotani Rensuke (1)

Isotani Rensuke heard the sound of gunfire coming from the direction of Xiao County, but he felt reassured and nodded with satisfaction. This is a normal situation. The cunning Chinese commander played a trick, pretending to retreat, and wanted to attack Xuzhou before I

When he was there, he stabbed me in the back, or made himself wary, and wrapped me in Xiao County.

By not moving forward, it has also achieved its goal of delaying itself, buying time to increase the mobilization of defensive forces in Xuzhou. This also shows that the Chinese troops that blocked them in Xiao County are not very large, and the Chinese troops in the direction of Xuzhou have not yet gathered in large numbers.

Otherwise, the tactic of suspecting soldiers will not be used. (Baidu search,)

He ordered that the troops sent to search the two wings should immediately return to their formation and prepare to participate in the attack on Xuzhou. The war was imminent and the troops should not be dispersed. The troops staying in Lizhuang and Huangkou should immediately speed up their march and move closer to Xiao County, especially

It was an artillery unit, which immediately rushed to Xiao County and prepared to bombard the Chinese defenders in Xiao County.

Liao Lei, who was at the forward headquarters of Jiahe Village, felt his heart in his throat as he watched the Japanese search troops approaching his position step by step. He was startled by the sound of gunfire from Xiao County. Then, the Japanese search troops

The troops suddenly retreated back and gave up the search mission, which surprised him again. This surprise made the dignified lieutenant general commander break into a cold sweat.

Tang Qiusheng, who was on standby in the area of ​​Sanbao in the southeast of Xuzhou, preparing to join the attack on the Japanese army, received a report from the troops monitoring the Japanese army's actions in Xiao County. He immediately realized that the complete defenses in Xiao County were withdrawn without resistance, which aroused the anger of Isotani Lian.

He was worried that it was a trap, and it was indeed a trap, but it was different from what Isotani Rensuke had imagined.

Tang Qiusheng didn't have time to ask for instructions from his division commander, so he immediately ordered the troops in Xiao County to immediately enter the defensive position. If the Japanese army carried out a probing attack, they would fight back with the fiercest firepower, and they must use the momentum and scale of a large force. Then, he

Two regiments of troops were dispatched and deployed on the second line of defense.

Tang Qiusheng knew very well that the troops who created the illusion of blocking the attack in Xiao County would be under unprecedented pressure and danger. If Rensuke Isotani attacked Xiao County with all his strength, it meant that he had been fooled. It was impossible for the troops to withdraw from the battle and they had to fight anyway.

For a while, let Isotani Rensuke feel reassured.

In the end, the blocking force had to pretend to be defeated. With less than three regiments, facing more than 100,000 Japanese troops, it had to pay a heavy price just to resist the first attack. However, Tang Qiusheng had no choice.

In order not to expose the intention of the battle, he had no choice but to do this. He sent two regiments to Xiao County, carrying a large number of mortars. This was the only thing he could do, using fierce artillery fire, to create a barrier for the large forces to block the attack.

The illusion also gives the troops a little firepower advantage.

The Japanese troops who came up to a regiment were beaten back by less than one regiment of the ** Division. As expected of the main force, they launched a small-scale counterattack and drove the Japanese troops out of Xiao County. Another regiment of Japanese troops came up.

They were unable to attack and were blocked in the outer positions of Xiao County.

After the troops of the two regiments came up, a fierce artillery fire exploded, causing the Japanese army's temporary position to be gleaming with fire, flying dust, and filled with gunpowder smoke. The Japanese army could not withstand the attack of artillery fire and was defeated.

They attacked the outskirts of Xiao County.

Two Japanese army captains, covered in dust, one of them still injured, stood in front of Isotani Rensuke with a face of shame. After the battle just now, Isotani Rensuke's last doubt was dispelled. He was convinced of his judgment.

This was the last line of defense for the Chinese army. Therefore, instead of blaming the two regiment captains who had suffered a defeat, he comforted them with words of comfort.

Subsequently, he ordered the artillery to immediately bombard the Chinese garrison positions in Xiao County. The tank regiment and infantry were preparing to attack Xiao County with all their strength, hoping to break through the last barrier in Xuzhou in one go. After taking Xiao County, the troops did not stop until

He himself will report to the dispatched army headquarters to ask for credit for the troops who were the first to attack Xuzhou.

The overwhelming artillery fire instantly enveloped the outer positions of Xiao County. The test for the *** division's pretense of blocking the troops has really come. The soldiers hid in the anti-gun holes, like sitting on a small boat tossed in a storm.

It was ups and downs, and if you wanted to talk, you had to lie down next to each other's ears and shout loudly to barely hear each other clearly.

After the bombardment, groups of Japanese troops, under the cover of light and heavy machine guns, attacked the position like a tide. There were wild beast-like shouts everywhere. The troops of less than three regiments were scattered to a defense six to seven kilometers wide.

On the front, the troops were pitifully sparse. Fortunately, there were a large number of mortars, which were able to withstand the fierce Japanese attack. The thin defense line was crumbling.

After about two hours of fierce fighting, several positions were defeated by the Japanese army because all the soldiers guarding them were killed. However, the troops who had not received the order to retreat were still fighting hard. Tang Qiusheng, who had been paying close attention to the situation in Xiao County, immediately issued an order

The order to retreat was enough, but any further drama would have gone too far.

The troops who received the order immediately broke away from the Japanese army, almost in front of them and behind them. As soon as the troops of the Japanese Army evacuated their positions, the Japanese army attacked. In the eyes of the Japanese soldiers, the Chinese soldiers fled across the board and accumulated in Kaifeng and Shangqiu.

resentment and anger

The anger burst out in an instant, staring at the blood-red eyes, chasing the soldiers' backs, small artillery, machine guns, and 38-gun guns fiercely greeted them. From time to time, wounded and straggler soldiers would pull off the grenades on their bodies, and their intentions

The Japanese soldiers who captured him alive perished together.

This further aroused the ferocity of the Japanese soldiers. If the Japanese commander had not issued an order to stop the pursuit, these red-eyed Japanese soldiers could have continued to pursue them, and the evil spirit in their hearts was revealed. Isotani Ren, who had been observing the battlefield situation,

Introduction, he was very satisfied with the bravery displayed by the soldiers. The morale that had been beaten low in Kaifeng and Shangqiu was finally restored after this battle.

This is what the soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Empire should be like. With this kind of morale, they can conquer Xuzhou in one go. Xuzhou, which is so close and haunts him, will become his own. Isotani Ren

Jie became inexplicably excited.

The Japanese troops rolled towards Xuzhou along the opened passage. Tang Qiusheng stood outside Sanbao Town, staring into the distance. The cold wind blew his military coat, flying like eagle wings. He was surrounded by a group of staff officers.

He also looked solemn.

A group of figures appeared in the field of vision. The soldiers who had returned from the bloody battle were covered in dust and almost all of them were injured. The two captains who led the group quickly ordered the troops to line up. Tang Qiusheng looked at the soldiers with an indescribable emotion.

It came to my mind that of the two regiments with full strength, only one regiment could come back alive. There were more than 2,000 brave soldiers. They fell in a battle of just over two hours. The intensity of the battle was evident.

Yiban, this is almost a suicide mission.

He looked at each soldier, and the soldiers responded with unyielding anger in their eyes. Tang Qiusheng ordered that the two regiments immediately retreated to the rear to rest and not participate in the combat operations to encircle and annihilate the Japanese First Army. They had fought hard enough.

How could Tang Qiusheng have the heart to let them, who had already suffered a lot of losses, throw themselves into a life-and-death fight again?

The soldiers stood motionless. The two captains exchanged glances and insisted on participating in the battle. This was also the common wish of all the soldiers. Tang Qiusheng took a deep look at the soldiers. Ruhong's fighting spirit was different from what he had just seen.

When the exhausted troops returned from the bloody battle, he only said: "Return to the original organization and prepare to join the battle." He could not bear to refuse and could not refuse the soldiers' desire for war.

The Battle of Xuzhou started at around 4:00 pm on December 21. The Japanese soldiers, who had just successfully breached the Xiaoxian defensive position, swept away the decline in the past few days and were full of vigor. They arrived at the gate of Xuzhou City and launched an attack on Xuzhou with almost no pause.

They launched a fierce attack, first bombarding the Xuzhou city defense positions with fierce artillery fire, and then simultaneously deployed four regiments of troops, flooding the mountains and fields toward Xuzhou City.

The Japanese attack was shrouded in ominous blood from the beginning. Li Zongren, who was well prepared, took out two divisions of the Sichuan Army and two divisions of the Gui Army, and fought head-on with the Japanese army in Xuzhou. He had already positioned himself to shoot Zhu Yuan.

The Japanese artillery used ferocious artillery fire to explode walls of fire along the Japanese attack route.

The Japanese troops who were lucky enough to rush to the city were violently attacked by the Chinese defenders who relied on the solid fortifications and blocked the attack route with crossfire. Bullets as dense as locusts formed a web of death. The Japanese troops hit the iron plate head-on.

It was thrown back, leaving thousands of corpses behind, and retreated back to the starting point of the attack like an ebbing tide.

This was Li Zongren's established strategy. He put on a posture of defending Xuzhou and attracted all the Japanese troops under Xuzhou City, creating a space for Liao Lei's 21st Group Army and the Sichuan Army of six divisions to outflank the Japanese First Army from the rear and both wings.

Favorable conditions, now that the Japanese troops are in full deployment, they will wait for the Japanese army to weaken in Xuzhou, and then launch a full-scale attack to encircle and annihilate the Japanese army.

At this time, Isotani Rensuke did not realize that he had fallen into a huge trap. He was just surprised that the defensive strength of the Xuzhou Squadron was beyond his imagination. Judging from the intensity of the battle and the imperial

Judging from the casualties of the army, the Chinese army guarding Xuzhou will not be less than 50,000 troops, and it should be the elite of the Chinese army.

It was getting late, the attack of the troops was not going smoothly, and the soldiers were already exhausted due to continuous rapid march. Isotani Rensuke ordered to suspend the attack and readjust the deployment. Based on the fighting style of the Japanese troops and the fighting methods of the soldiers, he instinctively

I feel that this force is not a ** division force that continuously blocks me along the way.

Where did this unit come from, and what was its designation? Isotani Rensuke knew nothing about the commander's name, but he didn't care, as long as it wasn't the unit of the Chinese demon Tang Qiuli, it really wasn't in his eyes.

To be honest, except for the troops of the North China Army Division, Isotani Rensuke believed that the other Chinese Army units were not worthy of being his opponents.

And his so-called adjustment of deployment is to change the direction of the main attack. The current direction of the main attack is changed to assist. The purpose is to attract the attention of the China defenders. Then, the main attack force suddenly breaks out. Even if the commander of the China army wakes up, there will be no time.

Too late.

(To be continued)