Chapter 40 What kind of medicine is sold in the gourd

The initial surprise of the 106th Division has long since expired, but limited to Okamura's order, and they cannot withdraw troops alone-if they want to withdraw, they must launch a reasonable offensive to prove that the 106th Division has indeed completed "" Annihilate the main force of the Chongqing Army" strategic goal, so that it can be justifiably withdrawn to Fengxin. After observation, the 106th Division found a weak point in the Chinese defense line, and immediately made a key breakthrough.At this time, although the defense line in the north of the Chinese side had a weak point, the surrounding troops were very close together. As soon as the Japanese army broke in, the reinforcements would fill in the gap, making it impossible for the 106th Division to move forward.

Seeing that the breakthrough failed, the head of the Zhongjing Division had no choice but to use lies instead of the results of the battle, and reported to the headquarters of the Eleventh Army, saying that the 106th Division had "had a breakthrough" and imposed "significant penalties" on "the Chongqing army retreating from the northwest". strike". From the beginning of the Battle of Nanchang, Okamura deliberately supported the 106th Division in order to regain confidence in the "weakest division" accused of being useless. The extent to which one destroys the other is naturally overjoyed, even saying that the current 106th Division "makes me happy and makes me feel at ease."

Obtaining Okamura's nod and letting go, Nakai was amnesty, and hurriedly prepared to retreat, lest the rear road be completely cut off by the 57th Division. The retreat of the Japanese army was a secret operation. Although the Chinese army in front seized a map of the Japanese army, which clearly indicated that the 106th Division would withdraw to Fengxin, the attitude of the other side not retreating or advancing still made Luo Zhuoying hesitated, not knowing exactly what kind of medicine was sold in Zhongjing's gourd. After some research, Luo Zhuoying judged that the Japanese 106th Division would continue to attack westward.According to his order, the 51st and 58th Divisions of the Seventy-Fourth Army assembled behind Shanggao, and the Fifty-seventh Division attacked to the north of Hengqiao in order to attack the Japanese 106th Division together with friendly forces. group.

On this point, Wang Yaowu, the commander of the 74th Army, is more clever than Luo Zhuoying.As early as when the 106th Division of the Japanese Army was looking for a weak point to attack, he believed that the purpose of Nakai's offensive was not to join up with the main force in northern Hunan, but to cover the army to gain a firm foothold in Jiuxiantang, and then look for an opportunity to retreat to Fengxin . Therefore, before Luo Zhuoying discovered the real intention of the Japanese army and issued a pursuit order, Wang Yaowu made a deployment one step ahead. He sent the 51st division to advance towards Jiuxiantang, and the 57th division to advance towards the area between Jiuxiantang and Fengxin. Shangfu attacked, leaving only the fifty-eighth division as an army reserve.

The 51st Division marched lightly, and the troops received strong support from the people in northern Jiangxi on the way.Although Neiji Okamura formulated the so-called strategy of "seeking Jiang's love for the people" from the perspective of being conducive to aggression, he also admitted that from the beginning to the end, his policy of "loving the people" was not fully implemented, and the Japanese army "had to The captives, the inhabitants lack charity."If in areas occupied by the Japanese army such as Wuhan, the atrocities will be relatively restrained, it will be different in the "hostile areas" such as northern Jiangxi. The Japanese army on the front line is like a beast. Just over a month ago, the Tuanshan Temple tragedy broke out , more than 600 people in Gao'an were massacred at one time.

The people in northern Jiangxi, who were deeply poisoned and maimed by the Japanese army, in turn supported the soldiers even more.When the 51st Division went north, there was no need to recruit extra civilians. The common people spontaneously carried stretchers and delivered food and ammunition to the troops, and delivered them one by one. This greatly encouraged and encouraged the 51st Division. As a result, the morale of the troops is strong, and the officers and soldiers all have the confidence and determination to win big battles, catch devils alive, and win trophies. On October 6, the 153rd Regiment of the 51st Division captured the Japanese stronghold in front of Jiuxiantang, but encountered fierce resistance from the Japanese army when attacking Jiuxiantang, and the fighting was extremely fierce.

Northern Jiangxi is mostly mountainous, and the terrain gets higher as you go north. Jiuxiantang is a mountainous area with a higher terrain in northern Jiangxi.The attack is similar to a high ground. Generally, mortars are used to continuously shoot at the Japanese machine gun bunkers. After the machine guns are detonated, the attacking troops then use the dead angle to advance to the commanding heights. With the ability of the 153rd Regiment, it is usually not a big problem to use this method of attack to capture the high ground, but the defenders of Jiuxiantang are tasked with covering the retreat of the large troops, and they are very desperate to resist.In addition, it was the autumn rainy season at that time, and the mountain was covered with drizzle and thick fog, which greatly increased the difficulty of attacking.

When the 153rd Regiment had difficulty advancing and retreating, it had to hide in a blind spot, and the two combatants were once in a stalemate. At dawn on October 7, Li Tianxia, ​​commander of the 51st Division, received information that the 170th Regiment of the 57th Division had repelled the Japanese troops occupying the village north of Shangfu, and there was no trace of invincibility in the Shangfu area.Based on this, Li Tianxia judged that the main force of the 106th Division of the Japanese Army was rapidly retreating in the direction of Fengxin, and the Jiuxiantang Japanese army was only responsible for covering it, so he further increased the attack force and put the 151st Regiment into the battlefield.

The 151st Regiment from the right flank and the 153rd Regiment from the left flank, using mortar and machine gun volleys as cover, finally completely occupied Jiuxiantang.Jiuxiantang was the base of the Japanese military depot. When the Japanese army fled, they left behind a lot of food, ammunition, and even a lot of big leather boots. There are hundreds of families in Jiuxian Tang, and the fish that slipped through the net before they could escape hid in the houses and continued to resist.It wasn't until the battlefield was cleaned that Japanese soldiers were found upstairs in a civilian house.A captain officer tried to go up to catch him alive, but was shot down.Seeing this, the rest of the officers and soldiers shot the Japanese soldier in the abdomen and captured him alive.

In the end, the 51st Division captured a total of eight Japanese soldiers.It could have caught more, but the 51st Division had heard and witnessed the atrocities of the Japanese army in northern Jiangxi, and had long hated the enemy. Bounty, stabbed the guy off with a bayonet. At this time, the main force of the 106th Division of the Japanese Army had retreated to Fengxin. In order to avoid an attack, Luo Zhuoying sent a telegram to order all the troops to stop the pursuit and consolidate their positions in the recovered area.