Chapter 171 5. The attack on Linyi was frustrated

The five armies fought together for half a month, and the results were brilliant.By the end of August, the Japanese and puppet troops in Shandong had been compressed into a few isolated cities along the railway line and in the liberated areas, and they were in constant panic. Among these offensive operations, the most brutal and longest-lasting one was the Battle of Linyi. After the Japanese government announced its surrender, the Japanese troops stationed in Shandong concentrated on the city one after another.The Japanese army stationed in Linyi soon fled to Zaozhuang, and most of the puppet troops around Linyi also fled with the Japanese army.But there are also horizontal ones.This is Xu Lansheng, captain of the Linyi Security Brigade of the puppet army.After the main force of the Japanese army and the Linyi puppet army withdrew, someone persuaded him to leave. Xu Lansheng stared at him with big eyes: "I don't believe that the Eighth Route Army has three heads and six arms, so I will stay in Linyi."

Xu Lansheng made up his mind to keep it, not because he was so fearless, but actually because he wanted to flatter Chiang Kai-shek.It is good to wait for the main force of the Kuomintang army to come back and get a "founding hero".He also knows that he is alone and weak, and Linyi is difficult to defend.So he agreed with Shao Zihou, the security brigade of Puppet Fei County, that the two departments would concentrate on defending Linyi City together.In order to strengthen their strength, the two got in touch with Wang Hongjiu, a puppet army located in the north of Linyi and southwest of Wanggou, and agreed that the three would guard Linyi together.The total strength of these three enemy forces is nearly 5,000.The deployment was that Xu Lansheng and Shao Zihou's two units relied on the strong fortifications of Linyi City operated by the Japanese army for many years, and Wang Hongjiu led his troops to defend the Wanggouxi fortifications with fortifications.The two points are mutually dependent and support each other.

After the Battle of Baishabu, the Luzhong Military Region decided to take a temporary defensive position against Wang Hongjiu's troops north of the Dasha River in Linyi and concentrate its forces to recover Linyi. In order to quickly remove the strong fortress of the enemy and puppet troops in Shandong, the Shandong Military Region decided to form a siege group with the 4th Binhai Regiment and the 11th Luzhong Regiment. On August 15, the 11th Regiment of the 2nd Military Division of the Luzhong Military Region, which had arrived in Linyi earlier, attacked Linyi City under the leadership of regiment leader Chen Hong and political commissar Dong Chao.The engineers carried explosives and carried out close-in blasting. At the cost of 70 casualties, two of the three ancient city gates in the north gate of the city were blown open.When the troops were attacking the last city gate, the siege command post of the 2nd Division of the Binhai District came and ordered the 11th regiment to withdraw from the battle. The siege task was carried out by the 2nd Division of the Binhai District.

The commanders and fighters of the 11th regiment looked eagerly at the two city gates that had been opened, and reluctantly withdrew from the battle. Soon, Wu Ruilin, the commander of the 2nd division of Luzhong, arrived, and Chen Hong, the head of the 11th regiment, reported to him the situation of the siege just now. Wu Ruilin later wrote regretfully: I only learned of this situation when I marched towards Linyi City to the headquarters of the 11th regiment after conquering Baishabu.This small episode in the specific combat operations of the two fraternal troops, although it was due to the rapid changes in the war and the lack of time for the new deployment of the Shandong Military Region, finally lost a city-breaking fighter that should not be lost. ; Otherwise, if the two brother troops cooperate to break the city, the ending is very likely to be different.

On August 17, after two days of preparation, Binhai Division 2 decided to launch an attack from the south pass of Linyi City instead.After the battle started, the siege troops took advantage of the commanding heights of the American Church Hospital building and organized firepower to cover the commandos climbing the ladder and climbing the wall.Although the commanders and fighters played extremely heroically.He rushed up the city wall twice, but was repelled twice due to the fierce enemy firepower, and the troops suffered more than 300 casualties.The siege battle was frustrated.After Luo Ronghuan learned of this situation, he was very anxious and urgently ordered Li Zuopeng, the chief of staff of the military region, to command the front line.He led the Shandong Military Region Special Service Regiment and Teaching Regiment to participate in the battle.

On the 18th, Li Zuopeng came to the command post of Binhai Division 2 and listened to the report from the command post of the siege, and then conveyed Luo Ronghuan's instructions.Afterwards, it was decided to use the Shandong Military Region Special Service Regiment, the 4th Regiment of the 2nd Brigade of the original teaching, and the 3rd regiment of the 11th Regiment of the 2nd Division of the Luzhong Military Region to attack the city.In order to ensure the success of the siege, Li Zuopeng led the leaders of the siege force to survey the terrain for two days.Afterwards, Li Zuopeng convened a meeting of battalion-level and above cadres of the three regiments responsible for the siege mission to study how to fight.

After the meeting started, Li Zuopeng briefly talked about the main agenda of the meeting, and then invited everyone to speak.Most people believe that the best time to launch a siege is at night.The best time to blast is at dusk. When everyone was speaking, Li Zuopeng did not interrupt and listened quietly. When everyone had finished their opinions, Li Zuopeng stood up and announced his decision to attack the city: "At 3 o'clock in the night on August 20, the siege troops came from the east and west. The attack was launched, with the first attack from the east and the second attack from the west. On both sides of the east and west, the 3rd Battalion of the 11th Regiment organized continuous blasting. Second echelon."

On August 20, after a short preparation, the siege troops launched a siege battle again.Although the troops organized four blasts in a row, they were unsuccessful because the city walls were too thick and the explosive packs were weak. The blasting failed, and the siege troops still launched an attack on time at 5 o'clock. The Secret Service Regiment, the 3rd Battalion of the 4th Regiment, and the 3rd Battalion of the 11th Regiment climbed up the city twice, but were all repelled by the defending enemy and were crushed in the moat outside the city wall. So far, the battle to attack Linyi has suffered two setbacks.