Chapter 22 8. Saburo's Last Stand

Zhang Zizhong was not shaken by the current unfavorable situation. He calmly analyzed the gains and losses on the battlefield, recognized the favorable and unfavorable factors on the battlefield, carried forward his own strengths, and overcome weaknesses.Now both the enemy and us are in the most difficult time. Judging from the overall battlefield situation, the Japanese army suffered a lot of losses. They came here without sufficient rear support, and a large number of wounded were left untreated. This naturally affected the morale of the Japanese army.The Itagaki division, which was hit hard, was unable to organize a larger-scale offensive counterattack under such circumstances.Of course, they also think that the 59th Army of the Kuomintang cannot be capable of attacking them across the board.When Zhang Zizhong thought of this, his eyes lit up. The self-righteous ace army of the Japanese army would definitely think so. They never put the Chinese army in their eyes and underestimated the Chinese army. This is their fatal weakness. They must make good use of the Japanese army. This kind of psychology.

Commander Zhang leaned over the map, drawing dots and circles with a pen.He wanted to do the opposite to the Japanese army. The more they thought it was impossible, he would give them a possibility.As long as our army perseveres to the end, as long as we explain the truth to the soldiers, things that turn the corner may happen.But you must choose the right attack target and deal the most fatal blow to the enemy, so that you can destroy the enemy in one go. To defeat the Japanese army, you must first destroy their spirit.To destroy the spirit of the Japanese army, they had to fight fiercely, ruthlessly, and with vigor.Zhang Zizhong wanted to take out the whole army's family property, put it to death and survive!He looked up at the sky, the sky was overcast.It works.Zhang Zizhong thought it over, he thought it through very well, including how to retreat after the enemy could not be defeated, he thought of it all.

He slammed his fist on the table with a bang, which startled the staff officers around him. Zhang Zizhong asked the staff officers to notify Commander Huang Weigang and Commander Liu Zhensan to rush to the military headquarters, saying that there was a major military consultation. Master Huang Weigang and Master Liu Zhensan came to the military headquarters in a hurry.Zhang Zizhong looked up at the two of them from the map table, as if he had never seen the two teachers.Liu Zhensan looked down at himself, there was nothing wrong, why did the commander look at us in this way?He was about to ask the army commander, but the army commander spoke first, and he said, we are not allowed to fight at the top, let us go down to rest, but I did not agree.

Master Huang Weigang couldn't hold his breath, he untied the belt, put it on the table and said, how can it be done!The battle has been fought to this point, and no one wants to withdraw.Commander, what do you think is the next step?Let's do it with Itagaki!Commander Liu Zhensan waved his hands and said, Commander, you can't just go down like this without knowing why. Not only the people of the country ridiculed us, but also sorry for the thousands of brothers who died.Let's fight to the end, let him die. Zhang Zizhong knew his subordinates best, not to mention that he did not agree to withdraw, even if he agreed, the work of these subordinates was not easy to do.He said to the two division commanders, I have asked Commander Li to allow us to fight for another day and night to explain clearly to the officers and soldiers.He paused while speaking, and then said that our army suffered heavy casualties, and the enemy also suffered heavy casualties, and both the enemy and us were struggling.The outcome of the war depends on who can persist for the last 5 minutes.

They discussed the final battle plan together.After the combat plan was mature, Commander Zhang Zizhong personally made deployments to the commanders of the entire army.When Gu Xiangzhen, who was then the combat staff officer of the 108th Division of the 59th Army, recalled the specific content of the order issued at that time, he wrote: 1. On March 17, all the mountain guns, field guns and heavy mortars of the army and divisions were pushed to the front line of the two divisions. They took all the shells and waited for the command of the front line. Before dusk, all the shells were directed towards the enemy. ;

2. The military headquarters is still in place, under the command of the deputy commander; 3. Commander Huang Weigang of the 38th Division led the reserve team to the front line of Liujiahu to command all the artillery shells before dusk, and then set a secret signal for the field battle and ordered the front line troops to attack together; 4. Commander Liu Zhensan of the 108th Division and Brigadier Qi Guangyuan personally went to the front line of Zhuge City to command. After firing all the shells, they immediately ordered the entire regiment of the 715th Regiment to attack the enemy at Miaojiazhuang;

5. Commander Zhang Zongheng of the 26th Brigade led the whole brigade to support the two divisions in time between Liujiahu and Miaojiazhuang. This order issued by Zhang Zizhong showed his determination to do his best to fight the Itagaki Division.Before the attack, he told the brigade commanders of several main attacking brigades that in this attack, only victory is allowed and no failure is allowed, otherwise the military law is ruthless!The timing of the 59th Army was very appropriate. First, the Japanese army was unable to launch a strong attack due to heavy casualties; secondly, it chose dusk, taking advantage of the favorable conditions that the enemy could not get aircraft support and was not used to night battles, to launch a full-line attack on the Japanese army. Let the Japanese army not care about each other.

On the evening of March 17, the heroic 59th Army launched an unprecedentedly violent attack on the enemy, thundering and shaking the earth.This momentum and scale made the extremely exhausted Japanese soldiers shudder, and mentally destroyed the invincible Japanese soldiers. As soon as the cannons stopped, there were killing sounds on the battlefield. In the dark night, this sound had a strong deterrent effect. From the killing sounds and roars, the Japanese soldiers seemed to realize something: the Chinese nation is an unconquerable nation!Can they appreciate this?I don't think so, they are like the Nazis in Germany, they only have Germans in their eyes.The same is true for the Japanese, who look down on ethnic groups other than Yamato, and look down on the Chinese people even more. In their hearts, the short Yamato ethnic group is the best and the best race.So they go around raping asian women like a herd of wild boars.

The 38th Division of the 59th Army first rushed into Liujiahu Village occupied by the Japanese army with a suppressive advantage. After fighting with grenades and broadswords, the Japanese army was finally completely defeated.They left four or five hundred corpses and fled towards Tangtou in a panic.At the same time, the 108th Division attacked the enemy in Miaojiazhuang, and the head of the 715th Regiment led the whole regiment into the village. All the soldiers fought bravely and forced the enemy into the village.Then one house and one courtyard fell to compete with the enemy.The entire village was full of gunshots and killings, and it was not until midnight that the Japanese army was defeated.There are more than two hundred corpses in the woods outside the village alone.

Fighting fiercely across the board all night, not only repelled the Japanese troops who invaded Linyi, but also killed nearly half of a brigade that smuggled into Hexi.When cleaning the battlefield at dawn, it was found that among the corpses abandoned by the Japanese army were Nagano Zuoichiro, the captain of the 11th Regiment, Lieutenant Toyoda, the captain of the 3rd Battalion, and many other officers, including the captain of the 9th Squadron.According to the captured first-class soldier Lu Fu, the Sakamoto detachment of the 5th Division suffered more than 3,000 casualties in the battle on both sides of the Yi River.

Most of the Japanese army retreated to Ju County, and some retreated to Tangtou.Zhang Zizhong ordered the 114th Brigade of the 38th Division to pursue and killed a large number of enemies.All the positions on the outskirts of Linyi were recovered, and Linyi's victory has been completed. Zhang Kexia, chief of staff of the 59th Army, wrote excitedly in his diary: The Banyuan Division of the Imperial Army, which was invincible in the past, defeated my Chinese good man, and the "Iron Army" met the Iron Man! On the morning of March 17, Chiang Kai-shek called Li Zongren, Zhang Zizhong, and Pang Bingxun, and the telegram said: Linyi's good news is frequent, which is very comforting.I still hope that the governor will lead his troops, coordinate exactly, surround the enemy near the battlefield and annihilate them.If the enemy escapes, he must be followed and pursued fiercely. Since the start of the battle, the new record of annihilating the enemy has been reported. There is high hope for the momentum of the national army. Subsequently, telegrams from all walks of life across the country flew like snowflakes.Yes, how can the Chinese people not be excited? Chinese soldiers and civilians are encouraged.But in the face of victory, Zhang Zizhong and his entire army did not relax their fight against the enemy. They continued to pursue the enemy amid frequent success reports and cheers celebrating victory. On March 18, the 59th Army and the 3rd Army surrounded the disabled Sakamoto Detachment in the Tangtou area.When the siege was about to be launched, the 59th Army suddenly received an order from the Fifth Theater, ordering the 59th Army to leave a brigade under the command of Pang Bingxun, and the rest of the troops immediately turned to Fei County. Military orders are like mountains.Zhang Zizhong had no choice but to give up the favorable fighter plane in front of him to wipe out the enemy and execute the order in the theater. With the development of the situation later, people realized that it was only the first battle of Linyi that ended here.