Chapter 26 3. Choose an opponent for Isoya

The key to defending the spot is to guard the spot.That is to say, whether the troops guarding the point can stop the powerful attack of the Isoya Division on the line of Taierzhuang and the canal, hold the position of Taierzhuang, and drag and entangle the main force of the Japanese army. Only then can we talk about aid. This tactic is risky, like a gamble.Once the defending troops are defeated by Jigu, the enemy will occupy Taierzhuang and the canal line, not only approaching Xuzhou, but the more serious problem is that the two troops of Zhang Zizhong and Pang Bingxun defending the front line of Linyi, and Tang Enbo who entered the area east of Yixian County The legion will be in the front and rear attack of the Japanese army, and the entire Lunan defensive operation plan will be aborted.

Who will keep watch?Tang Enbo or Sun Lianzhong?Or Zhang Zizhong?Li Zongren couldn't make up his mind, he filtered all the generals that could be used in the theater in his mind.Impossible for Zhang Zizhong, he is playing hard in Linyi, once he is taken down, Linyi's defense will collapse immediately.Linyi collapsed, so why talk about the Taierzhuang War?this is not OK.Tang Enbo will not be ordered, Chiang Kai-shek's elite, he will not enter Taierzhuang and squat inside to be beaten. These grandchildren are darlings. Li Zongren stared at Sun Lianzhong.Can Sun Lianzhong do it?He put a big question mark in his mind.Although this group army has two armies in name (Tian Zhennan of the 30th Army and Feng Anbang of the 42nd Army), they suffered great losses because they participated in the defense of Niangziguan in Shanxi. There is not much left in the 42nd Army, which is equivalent to an empty number.Although Sun Lianzhong had repeatedly asked for supplements, he was not allowed to rest for training because of the tightness of the war.Therefore, only 3 divisions of the group army can actually participate in the battle (27th Division Huang Qiaosong, 30th Division Zhang Jinzhao, 31st Division Chi Fengcheng).

At this critical moment, the opponent's arrangements in all aspects must not be sloppy, otherwise it will lead to a total loss.He weighed repeatedly with the staff and decided to choose Sun Lianzhong of the 2nd Army. That's it, Li Zongren said with determination, I think only Sun Lianzhong can resist Isoya Rensuke, it can be said that he is a match for chess. The (Second Group) Army belonged to the former Department of the Northwest Army. The commander-in-chief Sun Lianzhong was born in Xiongxian County, Hebei Province. He was born in 1893 and was 45 years old at the time.After graduating from Baoding Middle School, he joined the army and became Feng Yuxiang's subordinate. Because of his clever mind and bravery in combat, he was appreciated by Feng Yuxiang. Afterwards, he was continuously promoted and became a member of Feng Yuxiang's army. After the war between Jiang, Feng, and Yan Zhongyuan in 1930, Feng Yuxiang's group collapsed, and Sun Lianzhong's troops were reorganized into the Second Army by Chiang Kai-shek, and Sun Lianzhong was still the commander-in-chief.

Li Zongren talked endlessly about Sun Lianzhong to the staff around him. This Sun Lianzhong is best at playing defensive battles and can be said to be a defensive general.During the reign of the Beiyang warlords, he fought several excellent defensive battles.Li Zongren counted on his fingers, like the Battle of Nantian and the Battle of Songcheng in Xi'an, they were all fought.In the past two years of the Anti-Japanese War, Xifengkou and Luowengu defensive battles were fought again. During the defense of Niangziguan in the Battle of Taiyuan, he was responsible for guarding the front of Niangziguan. The Japanese army had planes, artillery and tanks. Men pass.

The commander-in-chief of the fifth war zone became more and more excited as he talked, and immediately summoned Sun Lianzhong, asking him to seize the time to deploy defenses at the Taierzhuang position in the north of Xuzhou.Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi repeatedly asked Sun Lianzhong to set up a pocket-shaped defensive position in Taierzhuang to attract the Japanese offensive as much as possible.The two chiefs explained the Taierzhuang battle plan to Sun Lianzhong in great detail.After the 10th Division of the Japanese Army was stopped in Taierzhuang, Tang Enbo's 20th Army Corps moved on the periphery, encircling the Japanese army from the outside, attacking the Japanese army's back, and encircling and annihilating the Japanese army with internal and external attacks.

After Sun Lianzhong understood the combat plan formulated by the fifth theater, he set up a pocket-shaped position in Taierzhuang according to this plan.He defended the main position of Taierzhuang with the troops of the 31st Division Chifengcheng, the 30th Division and the 110th Division drawn from Tang Enbo's Army were placed west of Taierzhuang, the 27th Division and the independent 44th Brigade were placed east of Taierzhuang, and they respectively built Fortification positions.In this way, once the Jigu Division attacks, it will immediately fall into Sun Lianzhong's pocket position.

Li Zongren is very satisfied with Sun Lianzhong's arrangement, and he firmly believes that the opponent he chose for Isoya Rensuke is not wrong.In order to boost morale, Li Zongren personally met the commanders of the defensive forces at the headquarters of the Fifth Theater Command. With great enthusiasm, he highly praised the glorious battle history of the Second Army, and explained the great significance of the Second Army's undertaking this task. . The staff department also specially assigned combat missions to Commander Chi Fengcheng, and specifically told Commander Chi to assist his troops when the 20th Army Corps Tang Enbo's troops attacked the enemy's back, and do their best to suppress the enemy on the north bank of the canal and the Weishan Lake. Annihilate it.Li Zongren thought about it and said, for the convenience of coordination, your division is temporarily under the command of Tang Enbo, the 20th Army.

Before the war came, the commander of Tang Enbo's army and the commander of the 52nd army, Guan Linzheng, also met with the commander of Chi Fengcheng, especially emphasizing that they must work hard to block the enemy's southward advance. As long as your division can hold on to the front line of Taierzhuang for 3 days, the mission will be completed . Master Chi Fengcheng didn't dare to neglect, he knew the heavy responsibility on his shoulders, and he also knew how heavy the head was on his shoulders.Therefore, he deployed the troops in accordance with the spirit of the instructions of Li Zongren, the commander of the theater, Sun Lianzhong, the commander-in-chief of the group army, and Tang Enbo, the temporary direct leader. The brigade commander Kang Faru guarded Taierzhuang and the canal line, and the Nie Zibin brigade was responsible for the search and security of Yi County. Task.

The fifth war zone attached great importance to the defense of Taierzhuang, held many meetings, talked with commanders at all levels, and repeatedly explained tasks.When the war was approaching, Bai Chongxi, the deputy chief of the general staff, also personally inspected Taierzhuang to strictly check all the preparations of the defense forces.Bai Chongxi paid special attention to Chifeng City. How is the combat effectiveness of this division?How is the equipment?What is the mental state and living conditions of the soldiers?He checked them all.The 31st Division of Chifeng City is the focus of Taierzhuang. They are responsible for the frontal defense of Taierzhuang. If they are broken by the Japanese Isoya Division and directly enter Taierzhuang and the bank of the canal, the situation will be bad, and it may be difficult to remedy it. up.

After listening to Master Chi Fengcheng's report that they urgently needed artillery support, Bai Chongxi immediately called Li Zongren in Xuzhou and Cheng Qian in Kaifeng on the front line. Li Zongren and Cheng Qian agreed to send heavy weapons such as artillery and tanks to Taierzhuang immediately.Soon, the Tonbo artillery regiment was assigned to the Fifth Theater Command and placed on the banks of the canal.Although the artillery firepower is not strong, it is better than nothing.These artillery fires were considered the most advanced in the national government army at that time.Like the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 10th Regiment, the 1st Company of Heavy Artillery, the 1st Company of Tank Defense Artillery, and the 3rd Tank Squadron, all those who could be transferred to Taierzhuang were transferred.For this battle, the chiefs did their best.

The two artillery battalions are equipped with Krupp field guns imitated by Shenyang. The shells have a caliber of 76 mm and a maximum range of 13 kilometers. Each battalion is equipped with 8 of these guns.The heavy artillery company is equipped with a German-made Rhein-style heavy howitzer with a shell diameter of 150 mm and a maximum range of 15 kilometers. The artillery company is equipped with three of these guns.This kind of artillery was the field heavy artillery with the longest range and the greatest power in the Kuomintang army at that time.The tank defense gun is manufactured by Chongqing Wuling Armory Factory imitating the Swiss Su Luotong tank defense gun. The shell diameter is 37mm, the maximum range is 3000 meters, and it can continuously fire 20 shells per minute. The armor-piercing shells fired by this gun have excellent penetration Strong, it is very deterrent to tanks, and the explosive bombs fired can cause a lot of damage.This gun is a new product of the 1930s, equipped in the 200th Division, which was recently expanded by the Armored Corps.Attached to the 2nd Army is the 8th Company of the 52nd Artillery Regiment of the 200th Division, which is equipped with 6 guns.Although these heavy weapons are limited in number, they have greatly enhanced the combat strength of the 2nd Army.The artillery and armored convoy arrived at Taierzhuang on March 25 to participate in the battle.The anti-war artillery was also transported to Taierzhuang South Station on the night of March 26. Li Zongren selected a very suitable opponent for Rensuke Isoya of the Japanese 10th Division.He thought about it to see if there was anything else that had been missed, he was afraid that there would be chaos in his busy schedule.Li Zongren sat alone on the sofa and sorted out the entire deployment situation.Everything is ready, only the east wind is needed, he thought. Who is Dongfeng?He shook his head, no doubt it was Tang Enbo's troops who were tasked with mobile annihilating the enemy.Li Zongren has a headache when he thinks of Tang Enbo. He needs to do a good job in Tang Enbo's work, further straighten out the relationship, and unite people's hearts.I hope Tang Enbo doesn't behave like he did in the defense of Teng County.Li Zongren had no choice but to pray to the sky.