Chapter 9: The curtain opens (I)

The sudden southward movement of the 1st Army of the North China Front not only caused the Yellow River defense in the First World War Zone to fall, but also cut off the Longhai Line in the Yima area. This unit echoed the 12th Army Tuqiao First and the two divisions of the 11th Army who were stationed on the Tanghe line, and vaguely formed a situation of encirclement and annihilation of the main forces in the First World War Zone. This caused the situation faced by the First World War Zone and the Fifth World War Zone to deteriorate sharply!

After confirming that the Japanese army's troops of Shin-yoshi Yoshimu were joined in the western Henan battlefield, Bai Chongxi, who was pulled to the General Staff Department by He Yingqin, sighed and said, "The situation in the First World War Zone is over..."

After Yoshimu Shin-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi-

Bai Chongxi had previously reminded He Yingqin to order the First World War Zone to strengthen the defense of the Yellow River to prevent Jimuzhen from passing through Henan. Although his reminder was only general and did not emphasize or specific plans, He Yingqin could not deny Xiao Zhuge's foresight and could not shirke away the negligence he had on this issue as the chief of staff.

"Jiansheng, the situation in the First War Zone has indeed been corrupt, but now the important places such as Luoyang, Yanshi, and Nanyang are still in the hands of our army. It is still early to order the troops to retreat. It is best to use the fortifications to deal with the enemy for a while before retreating." Thinking of the suggestion of Bai Chongxi's situation in the First War Zone being corrupted, he retreated to the mountainous areas in southwestern Henan to rely on the advantage of geographical advantages, He Yingqin said, "If you order to retreat now, you must release the sheep!"

"After defeat, you cannot retreat hastily. It will only create the opportunity for the enemy to kill and have vitality." Bai Chongxi nodded in agreement, but pointed to the map and suggested, "The strongest enemy is to prevent the enemy from being defeated by the Japanese army. In order to prevent all units of our army from being defeated by the Japanese army, we should not blindly defend the front, but should have organized alternate cover and retreat in an orderly manner in the sequential fight. If the Japanese army can be dragged to winter in western Henan, after the Yellow River is frozen, the troops in the Second World War Zone can be ordered to go south and threaten the Japanese army to advance westward, and try to stabilize the front line in the areas east of Hangu Pass, Xionger Mountain, and Funiu Mountain. In addition, for the sake of stability, Hu Zong from the Eighth World War Zone can be ordered to go east to Hangu Pass, and while receiving the troops in the First World War Zone retreat, we can seize the time to build fortifications."

"If the southern part of Hu Zong advances eastward, the eighth war zone will be almost empty. This will require the consent of Junzu." He Yingqin sighed, and then said with some dissatisfaction: "Yan Baichuan's hundreds of thousands of troops are now much better than the Central Army. He asked him to entangle the 1st Army of Jimu Zhenichi in southeastern Shanxi, but the Japanese army has crossed the river, and he is still ignorant! I really don't know what he is busy with!"

Although Bai Chongxi also complained about Yan Xishan's head-on conflict with the Japanese army in order to preserve his strength, he was unwilling to see He Yingqin blamed the former anti-Chiang ally, so he distinguished him: "From the war report ahead, Yoshimu Shinichi must have gone south in seclusion. Since even the defenders on the south bank of the Yellow River waited for most of the Japanese army to cross the river before they realized that the central government could not blame the Second World War Zone for this. Besides, now is not the time to hold them accountable."

He Yingqin thought about the current situation and gave up in disappointment and went to see Lao Jiang with the planned plan with Bai Chongxi.

At this time, Chiang Kai-shek was frightened and angry at the corruption of the war zone. When he saw He, Bai and the others said even more angrily: "Yan Baichuan has dereliction of duty! Jiang Ming's three crimes cannot be forgiven!"

"Junzu, the battle situation is still important at the moment." After He Yingqin reminded him, he briefly explained the proposed response plan and said to Lao Jiang, "I would like to ask Junzu to make a decision on the transfer of troops from the Eighth War Zone to the east!"

"The 34th Army cannot be fully transferred eastward. At least one army must be left to ensure that Guanzhong and western Shaanxi are safe." Since ** and the People's Party are in the army, Chiang Kai-shek is still worried about Shaanxi, so he decided to say, "Just transfer Dong Zhao's 16th Army and Li Wen's 90th Army to Hangu Pass first! Other troops are ready and stand by at any time!"

Although Chiang Kai-shek relaxed, he had the strongest combat effectiveness and the first army among the direct lineage of the Central Army, he was still retained in the Eighth War Zone without moving. This made Bai Chongxi, a general of the Guangxi clan who had witnessed it, secretly complained in his heart.

Just as the Chongqing authorities were busy dispatching troops to deal with the crisis, new changes occurred in the war in the First World War Zone.

After the fall of Sishui and the 96th Army retreated towards Songshan, the fourth army Sun Weiru's troops were left with only one Zhao Shoushan troops of the 38th Army. The Zhao Shoushan troops only had two divisions, the 17th and the newly formed 35th divisions. The unit was originally responsible for river defense tasks in Yanshi and Mengjin areas, but was urgently transferred by Jiang Dingwen to the west bank of the Yiluo River to defend it by Jiang Dingwen when the fall of Sishui and Heishi Pass was in danger.

After resisting the fierce attacks of the Japanese 32nd Division and other units over the past few days, Sun Weiru's troops were already in a state of disarray. When the 1st Army of the North China Front Army crossed the river, Yoshimu Satoshi ordered Okamoto to lead the main force of the 36th Division to attack Mengjin. At the same time, he also detoured towards Yanshi with the 224th infantry revolver and the 36th Armored Vehicles to the division.

On the morning of the 30th, just as Sun Weiru and Zhao Shoushan commanded their troops to fight fiercely with the Japanese crusades on the west bank of the Yiluo River, the detoured troops of the 36th Division of the Japanese army suddenly appeared behind Sun Weiru's troops and immediately launched an armored assault on the front troops.

Although before leading the First World War Command to evacuate Luoyang, Jiang Dingwen sent someone to inform the Fourth Army of the Fourth Army of the Japanese army's troops who were Yoshimu Shin-seok passing through Henan and asked Sun Weiru's troops to take precautions, because the Japanese mobile troops had not yet crossed the river at that time, neither Jiang Dingwen nor Sun Weiru expected that the enemy could launch an armored assault in Hexi!

After receiving the news reported by Kong Congzhou from the rear of the newly-edition 35th Division, Zhao Shoushan said to Sun Weiru anxiously: "Commander, this battle cannot be fought anymore! The 32nd Division of the Japanese and some armored units on the east bank were the Japanese planes on their heads, but the Japanese troops who had traveled to Henan appeared behind them. If we take the initiative, we must make dumplings! Now that even the War Zone Command has withdrawn, we should leave!"

After the central part of Li Xing of the 96th Army turned into Songshan, the Fourth Army held on with the 38th Army against the bombing of the Japanese for more than ten days. As a miscellaneous army that was not favored by Chiang Kai-shek, the record of Sun Weiru's troops was enough to explain to all parties.

"Liu Shulin did not defend the river defense, and Jiang Mingsan also slipped from Luoyang. We were originally the uncle who didn't love grandma. We have been holding on these days and lost so many brothers. Now we have said that!" Sun Weiru patted the dust on the hat in his hand to vent his anger. Then, after putting on the hat again, he decided to say, "Du Ting, you will be responsible for the matter of the dead! We must bury the sacrificed brothers, and we must not let the Japanese get their bodies be ruined! Also, take away all the injured brothers! Then, destroy all the things that can be used by the Japanese here!"

"Make sure to complete the task!" Zhao Shoushan agreed loudly, but asked again, "Commander, should we go west to Luoyang to meet with the 14th Army, or go from another direction?"

"The Japanese are all coming from the side, and it will be useless even if we go to Luoyang! Besides, Japanese armored vehicles appear on both sides of the east and west sides. We will definitely not be able to escape the turtle shells with our legs!" Sun Weiru pointed to the map and said, "Let's retreat from the Yihe River and Luohe River to the Xionger Mountains in southwest Henan! I will take the Army Command to the Luoning area first. You can use the Yihe River first, and then lead the Japanese to the Luohe River for a while! In addition, we have all stepped up contact with the 96th Army, so that Li Shifu will find the opportunity to lead his troops to cross the blockade line of the Japanese army on the east bank of the Yihe River and meet with us as soon as possible! Can't let Chiang take the opportunity to swallow up the old foundation left by Commander Yang!"

After Sun Weiru explained the matter clearly, he led the Group Army Command, his direct personnel and wounded personnel to take the opportunity to retreat to the southwest mountainous areas of Henan while the Japanese planes were exhausted from ammunition and returned to the airport. Zhao Shoushan commanded the troops to use the two natural barriers of the Yihe River and Luohe River and the Japanese for several hours, and also retreated to the southwest when the night was coming.

As soon as the Fourth Army retreated, the 32nd Division of the Japanese army and some armored units crossed the Yiluo River from the pontoon bridge built by the engineers and rushed towards Yanshi and Luoyang to the west.

"Damn it! Sun Weiru actually took the troops to retreat to southwest Henan!" Liu Maoen, who led the remaining troops of the 14th Army to Luoyang to defend, heard the news, pointed at Wu Tinglin angrily and shouted, "What fucking bad idea did you come up with? Now, we are trapped in Luoyang and have become the Japanese's sandwich pie!"

Wu Tinglin sighed with a crying face: "Who knows that Sun Weiru dared to retreat without authorization? She didn't pass by Luoyang? If we had known this, we would have left!"

"Sun Weiru followed Yang Hucheng to the Central Committee! Now the theater command has evacuated from Luoyang, and the theater commander is on it. What else does Sun Weiru dare not?!" Liu Maoen said hatefully, "I was also blinded by lard for a while, and I forgot these things!"

"Commander, why don't you lead the Army Command to retreat first, and I will lead the 15th Army to Luoyang for a while!" Wu Tinglin was scolded by Liu Maoen, and he was so angry that he even stubbornly said, "There is no shortage of food and bullets in Luoyang, and there are ready-made fortifications. I can hold the brothers of the 15th Army for more than ten days!"

"Just rely on you? Anyone can say a big talk!" Liu Maoen said angrily.

Wu Tinglin's temper also came up and blurted out: "I dare to issue a military order!"

Liu Maoen's eyes lit up. Since someone was willing to hold the jar in Luoyang, that would be great. At that moment, he pointed at Wu Tinglin and said, "This is what you said! Well, except for the Army Command and the guards, you will call all the troops and combat materials in Luoyang City! As long as you can hold in Luoyang for ten days, it will be a great achievement!"

"If you don't make great achievements, let's talk about it when you're alive!" Wu Tinglinman also took his leave and said, "If the commander dares to hand over Luoyang to me, I can really stay for ten days!"

Since the War of Resistance Against Japan, especially since Wei Lihuang became the commander of the First War Zone, Luoyang has started a series of urban defense fortifications. Later, since Jiang Dingwen became the commander of the First War Zone and set up the theater command in Luoyang, the city defense construction has been strengthened again. Wu Tinglin believes that as long as the reinforced concrete fortifications around Luoyang and the Mangshan area, two divisions of the 15th Army, plus a division that Jiang Dingwen stayed in Luoyang City before leaving, he will still be sure to drag the Japanese for more than ten days. If there is no confidence, Wu Tinglin, an old army who has been in trouble for 20 or 30 years, will not stay and hold on just because of Liu Maoen's words!

Liu Maoen patted his butt and took advantage of the opportunity when the Japanese army had not yet surrounded him and led the Army Command to retreat southwest along the Luo River. The troops of Li Jiayu, the 36th Army in Xin'an, could not withstand the fierce attack of the Japanese 69th Division and began to lose. In addition to leaving a unit of troops at Hangu Pass, the main force of the 47th Army also followed Li Jiayu to retreat southwest. Of course, this Hangu Pass was built in the Han Dynasty, which is the so-called Donghangu Pass, not the Qin Dynasty Xihangu Pass near Lingbao.

As for Jiang Dingwen, who had arrived in Xin'an area earlier, after hearing that the Japanese army had appeared in Mianchi and Yima, the passage along the Longhai Line was cut off, he also retreated along the Luo River to the southwest Xionger Mountain area.

The rapid retreat of the Yellow River Defense and Longhai Line defenders in the War I zone was certainly due to the strong Japanese troops, fierce firepower and successful surprise attacks, but it also had a lot to do with the idea that the defenders of all departments hoped to wait for the victory of the War of Resistance.

After the People's Party armed forces attacked Suzhou and Mongolia in the summer of 1941 and successively annihilated Suzhou and Mongolian army, some knowledgeable people in China realized that the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan was not far apart. After the Pearl Harbor incident, the military and political officials led by Chiang Kai-shek were even more happy. Many people believed that Japan's war against the United States was self-destructive, and victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan was just around the corner.

Influenced by this idea, not only the miscellaneous army, but also the direct lineage of Chiang Kai-shek's Central Army, there were generals who preserved their strength and waited to enjoy the results of victory. The commander of the First War Zone, Jiang Dingwen, fled without a fight in Luoyang, which also gave other generals a "model" to learn from. Everyone's mind was simple and practical: Since the commander of the Great War Zone, can be turned into a so-called "show" and left alone, it is understandable that he will follow the example!

With the rapid retreat of the fourth, fourteenth, and 36th Army and other troops, not only did the battle situation on the Longhai Line undergo a collapsed change, but its impact also affected Tang Enbo's troops, which were still fighting in the Nanyang to Linru area.

After confirming that the troops of Yoshimu Shin-I of the 1st Army of the North China Front Army had formed an encirclement of Luoyang, Okamura Yasuji ordered the commander of the 12th Army Tobashi to command the main force of the headquarters to go south to Linru, and cooperate with the two divisions of the 11th Army in the Tanghe area to annihilate Tang Enbo's troops. At the same time, Okamura ordered the main force of the chariot cluster to advance west along the Longhai Line to cooperate with Yoshimu Shin-I of the army to resolve the enemy in Luoyang as soon as possible and advance westward.

The 32nd Division and two brigades went south, which brought great pressure to Shi Jue's troops, the 13th Army, which was blocking the 35th Division of the Japanese Army, and also made Tang Enbo feel that the situation was not good!

"The river defense was easily broken through, and the Longhai Line was defeated too quickly, which was simply a collapse!" After receiving the report on the battle situation, Tang Enbo was furious and rushed out, "How else do we fight?"

"Since the 32nd Division and ** mixed into the 5th and 6th Brigade of the 6th Brigade joined the Linru line, our 13th Army has been in a hurry several times. The 3rd and 40th Divisions in the east are attacking the Tanghe defense line again. This is not good. As long as the Japanese army breaks through one place, we will be attacked by the enemy and the enemy!" Zhang Xuezhong, deputy commander of the 31st Group Army, looked at the enemy-to-me situation and frowned into a knot, and suggested, "Commander, we must also be prepared to retreat!"

"If it is just a matter of my war zone, there is a precedent for Jiang Mingsan to retreat without fighting from Luoyang, I can lead my troops to retreat! But it won't work now!" Tang Enbo exhaled a long sigh and said, "If my troops retreat from Nanyang, the first thing that will be implicated is Li Delin's fifth war zone. This man used to have prejudice against me because of his different views on combat. If he gave him a statement, he would definitely run to the commission to sue me for the imperial examination!

Besides, the commissioner also called us to guard the eastern branch of southern Shaanxi. If we retreated, the Japanese could cross the Tuanhe River and Xishui River to the west and attack Zijing Pass and Shangnan in southern Shaanxi directly! In this way, our guilt would be great!"

"But if my troops persist here, it will be a dead end!" Zhang Xuezhong reminded, "It can be foreseeable that Luoyang cannot hold back the Japanese army for how long. Once the troops of Jimuzhen solve Luoyang, or the troops only have part of their troops to encircle Luoyang first, its main force will continue to advance west along the Longhai Line. Even if the attack is blocked between Xihangu Pass and Tongguan, the troops can turn to the south through the Lu family with the characteristics of its armored troops' mobility and strong assault power. If so, our troops will face the state of being surrounded on three sides, and Jimuzhen's troops can also attack Shangnan via Xiping!"

"Brother Tongming, why don't I know?" Tang Enbo smiled bitterly, "But the commission's telegram is here, and now the Longhai Line has collapsed. If we resist the order and retreat at this critical moment, the consequences will not be something you and I can afford!"

Although Tang Enbo was classified as the generals of the Huangpu system, he was not from Huangpu. He became the best among the Central Army only with the trust of Chiang Kai-shek. Unlike Chiang Kai-shek, he was good at dancing and had a wide range of friendships. In addition to Chiang Kai-shek's orders, Tang Enbo's relationship with other military officials such as Chen Cheng has never been very good, and he even has some people in the officialdom and military rivals. If he lost Chiang's trust due to the retreat of the Anti-Administrative Order at this time, Tang Enbo's opponents would definitely not have a good result.

In history, Tang Enbo, who was criticized as "**" and "corruption", retreated to Taiwan, lost the trust of Chiang Kai-shek and was excluded and suppressed by Chen Cheng's civil engineering department. After losing all his actual positions, he could not even afford to pay for medical treatment in the United States! From 1949 to 1954, less than five years after Tang Enbo arrived in Taiwan, he died of illness. Although this included the factor that Tang betrayed his teacher Chen Yi in order to be loyal to Chiang Kai-shek, Tang Enbo's popularity was extremely poor.

"Then, are we spending here waiting for the Japanese to surround him?" Zhang Xuezhong was anxious and quickly persuaded, "The result of continuing to waste here is obvious. Even in order to preserve the vitality to strengthen Guanzhong, southern Shaanxi or northeastern Sichuan, we should bring the troops out as soon as possible!"

"There is a telegram from the Commissioner, and now is not the time!" Tang Enbo sighed helplessly and said, "As long as Ruhe and Tanghe defense line can be held, we must fight! Of course, if Jimuzhen can break through the Xihangu Pass defense line, or occupy the Lu family, or lose the line in the Laohekou line in the fifth war zone, then we can ask the Commissioner for retreat!"


Chapter completed!