Rise From Eight Hundred

This turned out to be a telegram for help forwarded from the Tenth War Zone Command.

Although the main body of the request for help was not Tang Dao, but the Second War Zone not far away, the reason for the request for help surprised Tang Dao!

‘The Japanese army is gathering heavy troops at the occupied Yellow River ferry in southern Shanxi, with the intention of advancing westward to Guanzhong! The current garrison is short of manpower and urgently needs support, especially in Tongguan!

The Japanese army is active frequently, and the main force of the war zone cannot leave. Southeast Shanxi is still far away from the place, and it is out of reach. I hope your troops will overcome difficulties and rush to the Tongguan battlefield to crush the Japanese army's delusion of advancing westward!

If Guanzhong is lost, the retreat of 300,000 troops in our war zone will be lost, which is a small matter, but the important areas in the southwest will be in danger! "This is the original text of the telegram sent by the theater command to Tang Dao.

The Tenth Theater Command was not prominent in history because its jurisdiction was only in Shaanxi Province, which was separated from Shanxi Province by a river. Its main defense was to deploy defenses along the Yellow River to prevent the Japanese troops in Shanxi Province from crossing the Yellow River. It was cut one year after its establishment.

But the role of the theater cannot be denied. Since the beginning of 1938, the Japanese army has never given up the intention to cross the Yellow River and enter the Guanzhong Plain.

In the past, even until the eve of Japan's surrender, the old county town of Tongguan was bombarded by Japanese artillery. It may be the location where the war lasted the longest, but it was also a position that the Japanese army had never conquered.

Yes, if Tang Dao's memory is correct, although the Japanese army tried to cross the river countless times, they were all repelled by the Chinese soldiers and civilians deployed along the river.

The Guanzhong Plain has become a fertile land that the Japanese army rarely set foot on. One of the lands.

But this time, a war zone with 12 infantry divisions and 3 cavalry divisions actually sent a telegram for help to friendly forces. Could it be that the war situation had changed unexpectedly even Tang Dao?

Tang Dao quickly sent a letter to the regiment headquarters, and finally, he got the result he guessed but didn't want at all.

The flapping wings of the little butterfly finally blew up a hurricane on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.

The sequelae of the great victory in the Battle of East Shanxi, he came.

The newly appointed general commander of the Japanese North China Front Army set a total of two fires after arriving, but he didn't burn his opponent, but burned his own butt.

In two consecutive battles, the Japanese North China Front Army was not injured. The small wooden boxes transported back to Japan alone exceeded 50,000!

This level of loss even exceeded the Battle of Songhu and the Battle of Nanjing, and naturally broke the bottom line of the Japanese Army Headquarters.

No matter how powerful Shanshan Yuan is, With the support from behind, it was a bit too much to bear.

However, the Japanese Army Headquarters finally gave face to the Emperor of Earth and the former Army Minister. Shanshan Yuan did not resign in disgrace like his predecessor.

However, the Japanese Army Headquarters has newly established a Third Army!

The Third Army, which has the Fifth Division, the Third Division, and the Thirteenth Division, totaling more than 100,000 people, is responsible for the battlefield in Guanzhong.

However, this Third Army is not affiliated with the North China Front Army, but is directly under the Japanese Army Headquarters and has independent command.

The commander of the Third Army is Shiro Itagaki, the commander of the Fifth Division.

Most of the troops of this Third Army, which is directly under the Japanese Army Headquarters, are drawn from the North China Front Army. The original strength of the North China Front Army, which was as high as 300,000, has been reduced to more than 200,000, especially the Fifth Division, which has the strongest combat effectiveness, has also been withdrawn, and its strength has declined. But it's more than one-third.

To put it bluntly, this allocation that weakens the strength of the North China Front Army is a punishment for Shanshan Yuan's poor performance in North China.

But even with Shanshan Yuan's influence in the Japanese Army Department, he could not change this fact. After Shanshan Yuan took office, the Japanese North China Front Army not only did not change the reality of the poor performance of the indoor shroud, but also kicked the Japanese North China Front Army into a deep ditch.

The Japanese Army Department was not opened by Shanshan Yuan alone, and he could not cover the sky with one hand.

But the strategy of the Japanese North China Front Army is to attack Shanxi Province. The Zhongtiao Mountains in southern Shanxi and the Taihang Mountains in southeastern Shanxi are already a major concern. In addition to leaving tens of thousands of troops to stabilize the rear, the main force of the more than 200,000 troops is still to deal with the Chinese Second War Zone Army in these two mountain ranges. It is impossible that the newly divided Third Army will also perform the same task because of the power distribution!

That would be too embarrassing, even if Shanshan Yuan's old face had been swollen by the Chinese.

Therefore, the senior officials of the Japanese Army Headquarters who were responsible for concocting all this scratched their heads and actually came up with a new strategy - to advance westward into Guanzhong.

Naturally, the Third Army led by Itagaki Shiro was responsible for executing this task!

In the past, this strategy had been proposed, but it had to wait until 1942, four years later, and the so-called Fifth Front Army was established. Coincidentally, the commander was still the fat bald Itagaki Shiro.

If you want to advance westward, Tongguan, a majestic pass built on a narrow passage between the Yellow River, the Qinling Mountains, and the Huashan Mountains, is a must-win for the Japanese army.

In the past, the Japanese had not thought about Tongguan, or they were thinking about it all the time, but they had never been able to do so.

There are three reasons!

One is the terrain!

How steep is the terrain of Tongguan? The Tongguan County Chronicles may have said it very clearly, 'The Qinling Mountains stand majestically to the south of Tongguan, the forbidden ditch is dangerous in the southeast, and the Luo and Wei rivers converge into the Yellow River in the northwest! ’

Second, strictly guard!

The 28th and 1st Divisions of the Central Army successively stationed in Tongguan, dug spider-web-like trenches and communication ditches in front of the river bank, and built a large number of bunkers along the river!

Even the US General Wedemeyer praised it as the Maginot Line of the East!

I used to feel nothing when I saw Tang Dao's arrival in the information, but now when I read the request for help telegram from the 10th War Zone, I instantly felt that the guy was a crow's mouth and could compete with Bailey.

Three is for containment!

Located in the southern part of Shanxi Province, there is a big mountain on the north bank of the Yellow River - Zhongtiao Mountain! This mountain, which is 170 kilometers long from east to west and 50 kilometers deep from north to south, blocks Tongguan and Chang'an to the west, Luoyang to the south, and controls Tongpu Road to the north. Its strategic location is extremely important.

There are more than 150,000 Chinese troops in this mountain. Unless the Japanese army devotes heavy troops to carry out a large-scale sweep of Zhongtiao Mountain, once they gather heavy troops to cross the river, they will be threatened by the Chinese army in Zhongtiao Mountain, and may even be killed. Take the back road.

It can be said that before the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain broke out in mid-1941, the Chinese army in Zhongtiao Mountain was one of the main reasons why Tongguan was not lost.

Of course, the main reason why Tongguan was not lost for eight years was actually related to the strategy formulated by the Japanese army in the early days of the war.

The attractiveness of Tongguan, a majestic pass on the bank of the Yellow River, to the Japanese army completely depended on the Japanese army's judgment of the strategic value of the Guanzhong area after Tongguan.

From the beginning of the war to the Battle of Central China, the Japanese army focused mainly on capturing strategic locations and lines of communication and annihilating the effective strength of the Chinese army.

After the Battle of Central China, the Sino-Japanese War actually entered a stalemate stage. As the rear base of the Anti-Japanese War in northern China, the strategic status of the Guanzhong area has increased. However, at this time, the Japanese army mainly used tactical offensives to annihilate the Chinese army and 'mopping up' The base areas behind enemy lines were used to stabilize the rear and bombard mountain cities and other large and medium-sized cities to weaken the will of Chinese soldiers and civilians to resist. Coupled with the existence of Zhongtiao Mountain, there were also heavy troops in the Guanzhong area, so the Japanese army had never put the attack on Guanzhong on the agenda.

Until 1941, after Japan provoked the Pacific War, the Japanese army achieved successive victories in the Pacific and Southeast Asian battlefields. The Japanese judged that the operations in Southeast Asia and the Pacific were basically over, and they could fully carry out the war against China.

Therefore, in September 1942, the Japanese Army Base Camp launched the "Operation Plan No. 5". The overall concept was to "use the main force of China's dispatched troops, one from Chang'an and the other from Jiangcheng area, to conquer Rongcheng and Shancheng, and urge the Shancheng regime to surrender." with crash! ’

This cliff is a big move of "left and right uppercut" and "double attack". If it is really done like this, not to mention that Tongguan cannot be defended, Chang'an will also be lost, and Sichuan Province will hardly be spared.

Unfortunately, the Japanese think too much.

In the Pacific battlefield, which they thought had been stabilized, a sudden wave of American cowboys broke out, beating the Japanese naval fleet to a pulp.

As a result, the Japanese army base camp hurriedly mobilized troops from the Chinese theater to defend the islands in the Pacific to help the navy and mainlanders wipe their butts.

Naturally, the "Operation Plan No. 5" was stillborn, and it was not implemented at all until Japan surrendered.

But Tang Dao did not expect that the Japanese would come up with a Third Army similar to the "No. 5 Plan" four years in advance, and actually launch an attack on the Guanzhong area from the banks of the Yellow River.

The telegram sent from the headquarters of the Fourth Army Regiment showed that a week ago, the Japanese North China Front Army began to attack southern Shanxi, and at least 130,000 troops invaded Zhongtiao Mountain; at the same time, the 14th Division was transferred back from Henan Province to coordinate with the 108th and The 109th and two independent brigades, with 100,000 people, were waiting in the southeast of Shanxi;

Five days ago, Shiro Itagaki personally directed nearly 50,000 men from the Third Division and the Thirteenth Division to begin exploratory attacks along the river bank.

On November 28, in Fugu County, Shaanxi Province, more than 2,000 people from two Japanese infantry brigades forcibly crossed the Yellow River, but were repelled by the defenders!

The next day, a Japanese infantry regiment with nearly 4,000 troops and more than 20 cannons forced their way across the border under the cover of more than a dozen aircraft, but was once again repelled by the defenders.

On November 29, about 7,000 Japanese troops arrived at the two crossings of Matouguan and Qizhentan in Shanxi Province. They first bombarded the Liangshuiyan position on the opposite side, and then forced the crossing under the cover of more than ten aircraft. An infantry regiment of the defenders was completely wiped out. Fortunately, reinforcements arrived in time and were able to hold their position.

On November 30, 5,000 Japanese troops launched a forceful attack on the opposite river bank at Liulindu in Shanxi Province. A reinforced battalion of the defenders held out for half a day and suffered heavy losses. Three reinforcement infantry regiments arrived at the position in the afternoon and immediately organized a counterattack. After half a day of losses, At the cost of 2,000 people, all 500 Japanese troops who had landed and established their positions were killed!

The battle reports were shocking. The Japanese army launched attacks at more than ten important crossings along the river bank, using more than 40,000 infantry troops!

The Tenth Theater was forced to use all reserve forces and mobilized two cavalry divisions and four infantry divisions to support the original defenders.

But the theater commander who was an expert in civil war and an outsider in foreign wars was obviously deceived by Itagaki Shiro.

The focus of Itagaki Shiro's attack was not the areas that did not look particularly dangerous, but Tongguan.

That Xiongguan has geographical advantages, strict coastal defense and the strength of an infantry division.

Starting three days ago, the sound of artillery was rumbling in more than ten positions along the river. The Japanese attack became more fierce. More than 100,000 Chinese regular troops were on the ground. However, in the direction of Tongguan, no Japanese infantry was seen crossing the river. Instead, they were bombarded by Japanese heavy artillery.

The 150mm howitzer is already considered a large-caliber heavy artillery in the Chinese theater. One shell can destroy everything in an area the size of four basketball courts!

Twelve 150MM howitzers opened fire together, which was devastating. Even the reinforced concrete permanent bunkers deployed along the river were blown up by this heavy artillery.

Until then, the commander-in-chief realized that he had made a mistake. However, at this time, he had no available troops except some militias and an infantry division left in Chang'an City, and had to draw troops from other battlefields. When the enemy troops were approaching, those who knew only the troop mobilization, and those who didn't know thought that someone was going to run away, and they were defeated if they were not careful.

Under desperation, he had to ask the Second War Zone for help, hoping that they would withdraw troops to assist the Tongguan battlefield.

Although he made a mistake, the general had fought in the war after all. He guessed correctly that three of the four infantry regiments of the Japanese Third Division gathered at Fenglingdu on the other side of the river, which was basically half of the main force of the division.

If the 12 150MM howitzers and the Japanese aircraft that were not counted were added, let alone an infantry division on the opposite side, even an infantry army could not be defended.

The stingy old man was usually stingy, but at this time he also understood the principle of "lips and teeth are cold". The reason why he could grit his teeth and fight the Japanese army in southern Shanxi was that he had the natural barrier of the Yellow River and Guanzhong behind him. No matter what, he could retreat if he couldn't win. Isn't it said that taking a step back will open up a new world!

There is no sea, but the water is as turbulent as the mother river, and not everyone can cross it in one step.

But what if Guanzhong is lost? Then he, the commander of the general, will have no way to retreat. If he loses the war, he will have to die if he doesn't want to be a prisoner.

So, after the hair on his head, which was not much, was reduced a lot, after being reminded by his adjutant, the name of a regiment commander who had already taken a home leave appeared in front of the stingy old man.

Tang Dao is not a recruiting officer! There are still 4,500 new recruits in hand. Although the combat effectiveness of new recruits is weaker, they are still 4,500 men. One person has a clockwork gun. Even if he is cannon fodder, he can hold on for a while, right?

This was the statement of the adjutant of the headquarters, but for the stingy old man who was surprised, he had an indescribable confidence in Tang Dao.

With a stroke of the pen, Tang Dao and his new recruits became the only troops to rush to Tongguan.

Of course, the stingy old man still took Tang Dao's personal feelings into consideration. He did not send the telegram in the form of a military order, but forwarded the telegram for help from the Tenth War Zone. The War Zone Command just hoped that your troops would go to support.

The implication is that you can do it yourself. If you really have no confidence, you can pretend not to see it, but once Guanzhong is lost, not only will we brothers have no way to retreat, but your hometown in Sichuan Province will be in danger.

Good guy, moral kidnapping is used!

"This is the situation now, tell us what you think!" Tang Dao called Lu Sanjiang and the other four to a valley, Jianyi explained the current situation, and threw the question to several subordinates.

"Fuck! If our Four-Line Regiment was here, let alone 4,500 people, even if it was 500 people, I would dare to lead my brothers to fight. But these damn officials, don't they know that we are leading new recruits who have never been to the battlefield and have never seen blood? They are going to use 4,500 people as cannon fodder! These are 4,500 lives, not cats and dogs!" Lu Sanjiang's eyes were as big as copper bells, and he almost jumped up.

"Haha, go, I must go! I don't know what cannon fodder is, but I can really beat the Japanese." Long Yan now likes to play against Lu Sanjiang the most. When he saw him jumping up and down in anxiety, he immediately patted his chest heroically.

"You idiot, I'm not afraid of death, I'm afraid that all the 4,500 new recruits will die! Don't you think about their parents who saw them off?" Lu Sanjiang was so angry that he almost grabbed Long Yan, who was just pretending to be cool.

"If we don't go, once Tongguan is lost, Guanzhong will be gone. If Guanzhong is gone, Sichuan will be in danger. By then, it will not be 4,500 people who will die, but 4.5 million people who will die?" Mingxin, who has always been taciturn, was out of character at this time, looking at Tang Dao with bright eyes.

"Besides, what are you two arguing about? The commander has already made the decision. Now it's not a question of whether to go or not, but a question of how to fight."

"Then Mingxin, you guessed wrong. I really haven't decided whether to go or not." Tang Dao, who has always been confident, had a bitter look on his face.

"I don't know how many troops the Japanese have stockpiled, but what I know is that in addition to the 12 150MM howitzers, the Japanese should have prepared two terrible weapons for the Tongguan battlefield!"

The Third Army has been established for more than a month. According to the time calculation, the Japanese army has enough time to transport two 280MM howitzers from the country to the Tongguan front line as they did in the past.

This heavy artillery, which once appeared in the Russo-Japanese War, weighs 200 kilograms per shell. A truck can only transport 7 shells. Needless to say, it is powerful. One shell can destroy half a village!

In the past, these two cannons would not be installed on the artillery platform at Fenglingdu Ferry until the beginning of 1939, but now the "Fifth Front Army" has appeared in advance. What's so strange about pulling this huge cannon to the battlefield in advance?

"You can put a barrel down with me. There are two or three heavy shells for me. I am a good Japanese special devil." Even though Long Yan was brave, he couldn't help but curse when he heard Tang Dao say 280MM howitzer.

As the saying goes, the ignorant are fearless. Long Yan may not be afraid of any rain of bullets, but he is really afraid of the cannon.

In the battle of Sun Moon Valley, the Japanese army's grenade launcher, which was as thick as a baby's arm, killed at least a dozen of his brothers in the village, leaving him with indelible pain.

It was easy to imagine what kind of damage a cannon that could fire shells twice as heavy as his would cause.

"Damn it, this battle is almost impossible to win. The Japanese factory is so powerful. They can make such terrible things." Lu Sanjiang shook his head fiercely. "Since that's the case, let's fight with this idiot! We may have to fight with 300MM or even larger cannons at some point, so let's leave it to Deputy Commander Lei and Director Ye to suffer."

Lu Sanjiang has the kind of personality that gets stronger when strong. What he said just now is very clear. If Shaanxi Province and Sichuan Province are lost, more people will die than 4,500 people. It is better to take those 4,500 people to fight. Well, with this as psychological support, there is nothing to be afraid of how powerful the enemy's cannon is.

"Even so, then generate electricity for the war zone. Our troops will rush to Tongguan at Xingye. Please ask the 10th War Zone to prepare ordnance supplies for our troops in Hanzhong!" Tang Dao narrowed his eyes slightly and no longer hesitated at the moment.

"Also, notify the local mayor to temporarily store all the pack horses, carts, and military rations for our department!" ()