Chapter 25 4. The ace army was defeated

On November 18, Wang Yaowu, the commander-in-chief of the Corps, led the 74th Army, which he also served as the commander, and the 100th Army newly formed by the Military Commission to the battlefield. The 100th Army was nominally under the command of Wang Yaowu, but the Military Commission and Chiang Kai-shek were afraid that this precious lump equipped with the first batch of American military aid would be filled into the bottomless pit of war. The Japanese Chiang Kai-shek's "Skillful Telegram" clearly stipulated: "The use of the 100th Army must be carried out after the entire army has arrived on the battlefield, and a favorable time is selected to strike effectively at the most painful areas."

Wang Yaowu knew in his heart, that is to say, in other troops, the blood was almost bleeding, and the hard bones were almost gnawed off. The last effort was left when the battle was fought. The Chinese and Japanese armies were fighting desperately. "Painful", the 100th army's magic soldiers descended from the sky, destroying the dead, and sweeping away the clouds.Winning battles and fighting for the jackpot. If the 100th Army has face, it means the chairman has face, and the American allies who donate money and guns have face. Once everyone is happy, the next batch of arms will come again.In China, when did the military and politics separate?Well, the 100th Army is on standby, pull my 58th Division up first!

On the 19th, the head of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army Chilu Li commanded five regiments with more than 20,000 people to kill from Shimen to Cili.At noon, he met the Chinese defenders, and within an hour, Chiluli felt that his opponent was definitely not an ordinary army. Zhang Lingfu's 58th Division is code-named "Jiyang".At that time, very few units in the Chinese army dared to put the Japanese army at the front of the position and opened fire when they could see a few gold teeth in their mouths. The 58th Division dared. Zhang Lingfu's theory is that the little devils are better than us by relying on airplanes, cannons and heavy firearms. If they don't have this advantage, they will definitely not be the opponents of the ace army.Putting the enemy closer, aircraft and cannons cannot be used, light weapons against light weapons, bayonets against bayonets, life against life, sticking to close combat, although it is risky and dangerous, but avoids the enemy's strengths, playing the mighty power of an ace army.

By the evening of the 20th, the Japanese army had not gained an inch of ground and suspended their attacks.Zhang Lingfu inspected the positions and saw that the officers and soldiers on the front line were very tired, and some of them fell asleep after eating steamed buns in their hands.Zhang Lingfu suddenly thought that the Japanese army might take advantage of our army's fatigue to attack in the middle of the night. Sometimes it is hard to say what theories and experience are used to command operations on the battlefield. Maybe it is just a flash of thought, an idea that pops up out of thin air, and it determines how to fight and win or lose.

Just after midnight, the two brigades of the Japanese army turned around.The Japanese soldiers walking in front were wearing Chinese military uniforms. When they met the sentries, they shouted in Chinese: "Password!" At this time, the officers and soldiers of the 173rd regiment of the division reserve team who were ambushing aside fired shots and dropped bombs together.Seeing that there was an ambush, the Japanese army immediately became a mess, bit the bullet and broke through the way they came. Most of the casualties were in the dense fire net. After 20 minutes of fierce fighting, Japanese reinforcements arrived and rescued the remaining soldiers in the encirclement. They did not dare to fight any more and fled back in embarrassment.

Since it is not an ordinary opponent, it is even more necessary to fight. On the 21st and 22nd, Chiluli added artillery to cooperate with the infantry to repeatedly attack the defenders' positions. The 58th Division suffered more casualties in the tenacious refusal. At 3:00 p.m. on the 22nd, the Japanese army concentrated artillery fire to carry out a cover bombing, tearing a hole in the right wing of the defense line. The infantry followed the point where the artillery shells fell forward, rushed in desperately, and stepped on the corpses of the defenders to capture the The position of about 1 Huali divided and surrounded the right wing of the defenders. At 3:40, the 39th Division of the Japanese Army rushed to the battlefield and encircled the main force of the 58th Division together with the 13th Division. The situation suddenly became extremely critical.

Seeing the situation just marked on the map, Wang Yaowu hurriedly ordered the 58th Division to abandon all supplies, and forced the army to retreat to the southwest area of ​​Qijiahe. Although very reluctant, Zhang Lingfu followed the order and immediately deployed to retreat. The retreat was rapid and orderly, taking all the wounded and the remains of the martyrs in the positions not occupied by the Japanese army, as well as all the luggage that could be carried. Only two cars that could not be repaired for a while were blown up. The bridge equipment also turned into thousands of fragments at the same time.

The Japanese army trembled for a long time and dared not set foot on the ground, thinking that the 58th Division was playing tricks again. The Chief of Staff of the 13th Division, Chief of Staff Ichikawa Yoji, praised Chilu Li, saying that this was a beautiful retreat, the retreat was not bad, it was just right, and the retreat was orderly and clean. But no matter how beautiful it is, it is a retreat.Zhang Lingfu sat on a truck and looked back at the battlefield frequently. During the "August 13" Songhu Anti-Japanese War, Zhang Lingfu served as the commander of the 305th Regiment of the 153rd Brigade of the 51st Division of the army. The entire battle failed, but his regiment fought tenaciously in the defense of Shanghai and suffered heavy casualties. He was praised in the post-war summary.In the Battle of Wuhan, he led the 305th Regiment with thousands of elite soldiers, following the example of Deng Ai's smuggling into Yinping to attack Xishu during the Three Kingdoms period, climbing up dead branches and vines, and climbing up from the back of the extinct Zhanggu Mountain.Immediately afterwards, they fought fiercely for 5 days and nights with the Japanese army who counterattacked this important control point.During the battle, Zhang Lingfu's right leg was wounded by a Japanese machine gun bullet, and he was still wounded to command, so he could not get off the line of fire.The Battle of Zhang Gushan created conditions for the famous "De'an Victory" in the battle.In the live newspaper drama created by the progressive writer Tian Han reflecting the Battle of De'an, Zhang Lingfu was named after him.After that, he took part in the battle of Nanchang and three battles of Changsha.In the battle of Shanggao, he served as the deputy commander of the 58th Division. The whole division withstood the Japanese attack in the Beixiapi Bridge at the cost of more than 2,000 casualties.After the war, the 74th Army was awarded the "Flying Tiger Banner" by Chiang Kai-shek, and Zhang Lingfu was honored and promoted to the commander of the 58th Division.

But this time it fell into the hands of the devils, nearly half of the entire division was killed, but there was nothing to brag about. Zhang Lingfu, who was eager to win, couldn't swallow this breath.He was seen crying in the car. After the Battle of Changde, the Military Commission awarded Zhang Lingfu the fourth-class Yunhui Medal in recognition of his tenacious defense and defeat of the Japanese army in the Cili area.At that time, he already knew that the 58th Division was able to escape from the encirclement encircled by the Japanese army that was several times larger than himself, and how fortunate it was not to become the second temporary 5th Division, and how frightening it was!