As of the end of April 1938, the battlefield north of Xuzhou was still "Tai Chi pushing hands".Basically, the "North China Front Army" can't get in, and the fifth war zone can't get through. However, this doesn't make people overly optimistic, because everything has just begun. Since then, various signs have shown that the biggest threat to Xuzhou is not the "North China Front Army", but the "Central China Dispatch Army" (that is, the "Central China Front Army"), and the offensive force invested by the latter is no longer just a 13th Division , but a full four divisions.

After Matsui Iwane was recalled to China, Hata Shunroku served as the commander of the "Central China Dispatch Army". Hata Toshiro, chief of the 22nd period of the Japanese Army University, was promoted from general to field marshal at the end of World War II. Hata Shunroku (first from the left) was as thin as a stick due to a gunshot wound Unlike Matsui, who was born in a literati family, Hata Shunroku is an authentic descendant of a samurai, and he has accepted since childhood that killing is justified and arson is innocent.During the Russo-Japanese War, he was assigned to the "Military God" Nogi Hidori's unit, which was almost a meat bomb unit. As a result, he was seriously injured like Itagaki.Itagaki was better, except that his calf was injured, but he was shot in the left lung by a Russian soldier. Although he saved his life, it affected his health. From then on, he became like a chronic patient, as thin as a stick of dry wood.

This "patient" is more vicious than a butcher, and more cunning than a fox. unconventional tactics Hata Jun shot four divisions on June 1, which was for a roundabout outflank. The first two divisions made long-distance detours from outside lines, while the last two divisions made short-distance detours from inside lines.Especially the detour at the back can be said to be a slanted sword, because the Gui army was concentrated on the Huaihe front line of defense before, and the flanking forces were very weak. On May 9, the "Central China Dispatch Army" captured Mengcheng.

Behind Mengcheng is the Longhai Railway to the west of Xuzhou. Hata Shunroku's combat intention is also obvious. As long as this railway line is cut off, Xuzhou will be in chaos. The fall of Mengcheng immediately woke up Chiang Kai-shek.At this time, there are enemy situations in the east, south, and north directions of Xuzhou. If the west is cut off again, it will become surrounded on all sides. Don't think about pocketing in Xuzhou anymore, the most important thing is to find a way to prevent your head from being covered by other people's nets. On May 11, Chiang Kai-shek flew to Zhengzhou with Liu Fei, director of the war department, and others, preparing to form a large-scale corps, namely the Eastern Henan Corps.

Hearing the news that the Eastern Henan Corps was about to be established, Li Zongren thought that reinforcements had been sent to him, and he had the idea of ​​doing more in the north of Xuzhou. He would be completely wrong. Chiang Kai-shek's establishment of the Eastern Henan Corps was not to continue to fight the "second Taierzhuang victory" in Xuzhou, but to build a ladder to rescue Li Zongren and his troops in the fifth theater that were about to fall into the encirclement. The task of the East Henan Corps after its establishment was to ensure the safety of the Longhai Railway and guard the west gate of Xuzhou.

After making these deployments, Chiang Kai-shek was still worried after thinking about it, and sent Liu Fei to Xuzhou to remind Li Zongren that the Japanese army was about to encircle him. If he didn't find a way quickly, hundreds of thousands of troops would be lost. Seeing Liu Fei, Li Zongren still looked calm. Don't be afraid, is Xuzhou trapped so easily?You have Corps over there, and I have Corps here, nothing unusual. The corps formed by Li Zongren himself was the Huaibei corps, which was dominated by the Gui army and joined by Feng Zhian, Liu Ruming and other reinforcements.

According to his estimation, there is still a period of time for the "Central China Dispatch Army" to advance northward, and relying on the Huaibei Corps to resist step by step, Hata Junliu will not be able to reach the Longhai Railway in a short time. But he was wrong again. Hata Shunroku used unconventional tactics, but unconventional tactics. Therefore, the development of the battle situation far exceeded normal expectations. This unconventional tactic was first tried by the Kwantung Army on the front line from Rehe to the Great Wall during the Great Wall Anti-Japanese War, and thus created a military miracle such as "128 rides into Chengde".

It has a special name called "fast forward".At that time, the "Rapid Advance Team" used by the Kwantung Army's Hongsaki Eighth Division was composed of cars and cavalry. There were also tanks, but the number was very small. Hata Junliu has upgraded on this basis. The "rapid advance team" of the "Central China Dispatch Army" is mainly composed of tanks and armored vehicles, and light tanks and medium tanks are matched. At the end, its characteristic is one word: fast. He wants to disrupt Li Zongren's rhythm as quickly as possible, and close the west gate first.

Faced with a large number of tanks suddenly appearing in front of them, the newly established Huaibei Corps immediately fell into panic, and its defense lines were breached one after another by the Japanese invading army. The "rapid advance team" with tanks and armored vehicles as the main body advances at an amazing speed On May 13, after Mengcheng, Yongcheng fell, and the Longhai Railway lost its last protection. Junliu Junliu's punch was so fast, it was so fast that it was dizzying. Before the Yudong Corps even had a prototype, the "Rapid Advance Team" was already close to the Longhai Railway.

On May 15, with a loud bang, the Longhai railway line was blown up by the Japanese invading army, and the west gate of Xuzhou was about to be closed. A month ago, Li Zongren had put the Isoya Division in his pocket, but a month later, he fell into the net cast by Hata Shunroku and Terauchi Shouichi. East, west, north, south, up, down, left, and right, so far it is full of Japanese invading troops. Li Zongren could no longer pretend to be calm. Liu Fei originally came to Xuzhou to be Chiang Kai-shek's sounding board, but accidentally fell into the pit, so naturally he kept complaining.

If I had known this before, why should you have mobilized mobile forces earlier and organized a stronger corps, but in the end you created a so-called "Huaibei Corps". It's all over. Li Zongren blushed with anger at this kind of "after-the-fact" denunciation: Is it so easy to be pulled down when the troops are pulled up?Should Xuzhou keep guarding the front? get out So far, it is useless to blame anyone, the important thing is what to do in the future. Of course I want to escape, but how to escape? Since the great victory in Taierzhuang, the originally small Fifth War Zone has accumulated a total of hundreds of thousands of troops. It is too difficult to escape with so many people under siege on all sides and without the ability to hide or hide. Difficult. To the north, the temple sent troops to the south, and the Japanese invading army was densely packed. Going south, Hata Junliu led his troops to go north, and then broke through. The consequences refer to "going north". To the west, this road was sealed off. Going east, is it possible to jump into the sea to take a bath? If you don't use your brain, it seems that this is a dead question with no solution. Lao Li's good and bad can be attributed to one thing: he doesn't read much. If you don't read so many books, you don't have many frames in your mind.At this time, what strategy to advance, what victory to break through, these are all words that scholars have come up with, what to do now, can be summed up in four words: escape is the most important thing.