Chapter 24 1. The magic pen

The Taierzhuang War and the Taierzhuang Victory, which was a complete victory later, are undoubtedly the magic strokes in the Xuzhou Battle.When Li Zongren, the commander-in-chief of the Fifth War Zone, conceived the classic masterpiece of the Battle of Xuzhou, he would never have thought of such wonderful chapters as the Taierzhuang Battle and the subsequent Taierzhuang Victory. What surprised Li Zongren even more was that the Taierzhuang victory made him the most glorious time in his life.The halo of Taierzhuang Great Victory shrouded the rest of his life, or in other words, under the light of this halo, he finished the rest of his life.What a wonderful thing this is!It is enough for a person's life to have such a beautiful and magnificent shining fragment, which makes people recall and dream for a lifetime.

The Battle of Taierzhuang was an accident, which was caused by the occurrence of countless accidental events. That is to say, the Battle of Taierzhuang was not in the fifth theater's combat plan at all.The Supreme Command of the Kuomintang formed the Fifth Theater, with the original intention that if the Chinese army was defeated in Songhu and Nanjing fell, they would use the favorable terrain on both sides of the Jinpu Line with Xuzhou as the center to block the Japanese army for 3 months, so as to gain enough time to guarantee China’s The military deployment of the army in Wuhan established a strategic defense line centered on Wuhan.

Therefore, the commander-in-chief of the fifth war zone drew up a combat plan based on the intention of the high command, combined with the enemy's situation, terrain and tasks in the theater at that time.Its policy is: The first period (to prevent the enemy from invading) 1. The first-line corps guarding the south bank of the Yellow River should directly guard both sides of the Yellow River, focusing on Jinan and the areas west of it, and separate strong reserves near Jinan and Tai'an, and stick to the banks of the Yellow River. When it is necessary to ensure the following points , do not let the enemy expand the area or threaten the side of our main force.

2. The first-line corps guarding the coast connects the key points of guarding the coast to prevent the enemy from landing, and deploys a strong reserve force in the area between Zhucheng, Rizhao, and Donghai to support the direct defense forces on the coast and defeat the enemy's landing attempt.When the enemy has landed, we must stick to the established fortification line and try our best to prevent the enemy's development. 3. The second-line corps is located near Xuzhou, adding defense fortifications near Xuzhou, and preparing to use the Jinpu and Longhai lines to assist the first-line corps in operations.

The second period (the battle near Yanzhou) 1. If the Yellow River Defense Corps is oppressed by the enemy from Changqing and its east, it may retreat to Laiwu, Tai'an, Feicheng, Xintai, and Dawenkou areas one by one to occupy key points; and leave most of the small troops in the north of this area , implement guerrilla attacks, and delay the enemy's southward advance.The purpose of the previous section has been achieved, or when the enemy is oppressed from the northwest side of Changqing, Pingyin and Dong'a should do their best to support, cover the main force of the corps to retreat to the line of the canal north of Nanyang Lake, rectify the situation, and focus on the vicinity of Jining , Prepare for the battle, and at the same time, be alert to Shouzhang and Fanxian.

2. The part east of Tsinan, which cannot retreat to the west of Jinpu Road, can retreat to Boshan, Tai'an, Xintai, and the mountains in the north and south of Sishui one by one to assist the main force in the battle and flank the enemy. 3. When the main force of the Japanese army lands on the coast, or when the Yellow River Garrison Corps retreats to the south of Tai'an, the main force of the Coast Garrison Corps should retreat to the Rizhao, Juxian, and Yishui lines one by one. The left wing should contact the friendly forces near Xintai and Sishui. Cover the right flank of the theater.One of them, as invincible in the face, still sticks to the coast near the East China Sea.

4. When the first-line corps retreats, the second-line corps should advance to the vicinity of Zouxian with powerful troops, indirectly support the retreat of the Yellow River Defense Corps, and directly prevent the enemy from going south along the Jinpu line.The rest are still controlled near Xuzhou. 5. In the battle near Yanzhou, the Zouxian and Jining corps and the guerrilla troops near Sishui and Xintai supported each other. In the outer line situation, the focus was on the left, and a vigorous counterattack was launched against the southward enemy. The third period (the battle near Xuzhou)

In the battle near Yanchow, if the enemy is unfavorable, if the enemy breaks into the flat land west of Nanyang Lake from the line of the canal, or if the enemy presses westward from the coast and advances westward across the Ganyu line, or if the enemy crosses the Yellow River from the area west of the canal, the All corps belonging to the theater shall act as follows: 1. Part of the corps along the canal retreated to Shangqiu to defend the left flank of the theater; the main force gathered in the area west of Weishan Lake, ready to attack southwest; 2. The Jinpu Road frontal corps retreated to the area between Xiao County in the southwest of Xuzhou and Jinpu Road, preparing to attack northwest and northeast;

3. The 22nd Group Army is a reserve force located in the Soviet, Henan, and Lu border areas for support. The 68th Army of the First Theater was located in Shangqiu, Lankao, and Kaifeng in eastern Henan. It defended the Longhai Road and cooperated with the 3rd Army in Southwest Shandong of the Fifth Theater to defend the south of the Yellow River. Judging from the battle situation at that time, the plan was not only in line with the strategic policy of protracted consumption, but also thoughtful and feasible. If it can be implemented in this way, the Chinese army may achieve the goal of the campaign.However, Han Fuju, deputy commander of the Fifth Theater of the Yellow River Garrison, openly disobeyed the military order and retreated without a fight, completely disrupting the planned plan, causing the Fifth Theater to be extremely passive, and putting Xuzhou in an extremely dangerous situation.

Han Fuju blatantly disobeyed the military order and swaggered to lead the army to retreat, allowing the Japanese army to easily pass through the entire territory of Shandong and reach Xuzhou, where the headquarters of the fifth theater is located. A severe test. Faced with the harsh reality, Li Zongren's subsequent combat plans were all designed to smash the Japanese army's plan to join forces in Taierzhuang: first stop the Japanese army on the south bank of the Huaihe River on the southern line, and break its attempt to join the Japanese army on the northern line; Then on the northern line, the right wing of the Japanese army on the East Road was blocked in the Jiaxiang area of ​​Shandong, so as to ensure the safety of Xuzhou.

Li Zongren, the commander-in-chief of the fifth war zone, never expected that Teng County would be lost after a bloody battle, and the 22nd Army he placed in Teng County would be defeated by the 10th Division of the Japanese Army going south.Lieutenant General Isoya Rensuke, who defeated the 22nd Army of the Sichuan Army, went south alone without waiting for the friendly Japanese troops attacking from south to north, or the 5th Division on the right to break through Linyi. Open towards Taierzhuang.This was completely beyond Li Zongren's expectations.Time was running out, and in just three or four days, the Fifth War Zone had to rush ahead of the Jigu Division and temporarily deploy defenses at Taierzhuang.From this point of view, it was the tens of thousands of martyrs in Teng County that made the Taierzhuang War complete, and it was Isoya Rensuke's arrogance and greed for merit that made the Taierzhuang victory possible. Accidents contain inevitability, and any accidental event is the inevitable result of the development of things.This is true of the Taierzhuang War, and so is Li Zongren's magical stroke of the Taierzhuang Victory.