Chapter 29 6. Looking for Tang Enbo

As mentioned earlier, Tang Enbo's 20th Army was a new army formed only 6 months ago, and it was directly under the jurisdiction of the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government.Under the jurisdiction of the 13th Army, 52nd Army, 85th Army and 1 independent cavalry regiment.The commander of the 13th Army is concurrently served by Tang Enbo himself, under the jurisdiction of the 110th Division, commander Zhang Zhen; the 52nd Army, commander Guan Linzheng, under the jurisdiction of the 2nd Division, division commander Zheng Dongguo, the 25th Division, division commander Zhang Leiming; the 85th Army, commander Wang Zhonglian, under the jurisdiction of the 4th Division, the division commander Chen Daqing, and the 89th Division, the division commander Zhang Xuezhong.This is an elite unit of the Kuomintang.

When the 20th Army participated in the Battle of Xuzhou, Li Zongren was both happy and worried. He was always in a whirlpool of contradictions.The transfer of this unit to the fifth theater undoubtedly strengthened the military strength of the theater, because it is a direct descendant of Chiang Kai-shek, which strengthened the central government's support for the fifth theater and was conducive to coordination with other theaters.But there are many things to worry about, and the biggest one is the fear of not obeying orders and disobeying transfers.Li Zongren has experienced Tang Enbo's arrogance and conceit.

When he was still defending Teng County, Tang Enbo, who had just been transferred to the fifth war zone, gave Li Zongren a look when he came up.At that time, Teng County was in danger, and Li Zongren sent a telegram to Tang Enbo in a negotiating tone, which meant that the 22nd Army had few soldiers and inferior weapons, and it might be difficult to resist the enemy.With the consent of the chairman of the theater, the 85th Army was transferred to serve as the reserve force of the 22nd Army.It is a kind of flattery for a commander-in-chief of a theater to treat his subordinates in this tone.But Tang Enbo was not only ungrateful and immodest, but instead scolded Li Zongren for making blind orders.The villain first filed a complaint and brought Li Zongren to Chiang Kai-shek.

After Tang Enbo knew that it was Chairman Jiang's intention to stick to Teng County, he still procrastinated and found many excuses.To put it bluntly, I just don't want to smear Li Zongren's face in the fifth theater. I would rather sacrifice my compatriots and let the Japanese eliminate those miscellaneous troops than let Li Zongren win the battle.Tang Enbo's faction has strong ideology. In Li Zongren's words, Tang Enbo is a big idiot.Why didn't Chiang Kai-shek want to eliminate the miscellaneous army?He thought about it all the time.It was Chiang Kai-shek's trick to kill two birds with one stone to transfer the troops of the miscellaneous army to the front line of the Anti-Japanese War.But Chiang Kai-shek was a statesman after all, and his brains were much brighter than Tang Enbo's, and his family's face was decent, so the image of the leader of the Anti-Japanese War still needs to be talked about.

The Taierzhuang War is no joke.The Anti-Japanese War is a major event related to the destiny of the country and the nation, not a private matter of any one person.Tang Enbo regarded the affairs of the fifth war zone as Li Zongren's personal matter. This was not only his personal narrowness, but also endangered the lives of hundreds of thousands of anti-Japanese soldiers.Li Zongren talked to Tang Enbo with reason and earnestly. Tang Enbo also understood the combat plan of the entire Taierzhuang, and he was very clear about the heavy responsibilities and combat tasks of his army.He expressed his love to Chiang Kai-shek and Li Zongren at the Xuzhou Military Conference very resolutely.Li Zongren didn't know why, but he was still a little worried.

Li Zongren's premonition is still very effective. When the Taierzhuang battle was at its most difficult, the defenders in the village only had a large defensive area, and 2/3 of the positions were occupied by the Japanese army.Tang Enbo's 20th Army could not be found in the Fifth War Zone, and could not be contacted, and all the radio stations were turned off.Li Zongren's face turned pale with fright, oh my god, this has become a big deal. Li Zongren asked the staff office to call day and night, and must find Tang Enbo! (Second Group) Army Chief of Staff He Zhanghai recalled:

The radio station of Tang Enbo's regiment is called "Swimming Whistle".When the Taierzhuang position was almost completely lost, our radio station lost contact with the "moving post" of Tang Enbo's army.Commander-in-chief Sun Lianzhong saw that his Second Army was almost exhausted, so he asked several staff officers at the staff office, what should we do? I said that since the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War, Tang Enbo has often told us that the Second Army and his Twentieth Army are close brother armies, and they should take care of each other without losing the opportunity.

We have fulfilled our promise and always take care of him.I think Tang Enbo's army will definitely support us.It's just that our two radio stations can't be contacted now, which is very dangerous.I have strictly ordered Director Fu Yintu to try his best to get in touch with Tang Enbo's army. Li Zongren was anxious, of course not as angry as Chi Fengcheng, the commander of the 31st Division who fought bloody in Taierzhuang.Chifeng City began a bloody battle with the 10th Division of Jigu on March 23, which has already exceeded the deadline Tang Enbo asked him to stick to for 3 days, but Tang Enbo did not fulfill his promise before the war.Master Chi clearly remembered Tang Enbo's words. Once his 31st Division engaged the Japanese army, the 20th Army would move south to attack the Japanese army.The battle has been fought for six or seven days, and it has come to this point. Master Chi has long given up hope for Tang Enbo.

On the evening of March 30th, Commander Chi Fengcheng received a telegram from Commander Guan Linzheng of the 52nd Army who had not heard from him for a week. "It's a pity that the army couldn't come south in time because of its mission. Now it's ordered to attack the entire back of Taierzhuang. It can contact the enemy in the afternoon of the 31st. We, iron-blooded men, must fight the enemy." Chi Fengcheng shook the telegram in his hand and asked the sky, what mission?What task can be greater than the Taierzhuang war? So, what is Tang Enbo's 20th Army doing this week?

He still adopts the same old style, trying to avoid encounters with the main force of the Japanese army, let alone fighting each other. He puts the preservation of strength as the top priority, and then watches the development of the battle situation and moves accordingly.If the main battlefield is defeated, take the method of retreat and transfer.If our army wins the battle, or if our army gains a profit, the whole army will attack and destroy the tired enemy. Such a person can still be reused by Chiang Kai-shek.Li Zongren's original words were: "This is Tang Enbo, who is actually the most pussy, he is most trusted."

During the most intense and cruel days of the Taierzhuang War, Tang Enbo really pretended to be pussy.When both parties were exhausted, he swaggered like a hero, as if he had won the whole battle, and put the halo of victory on his head. According to the combat plan of the Fifth Theater, the 85th Army of the 20th Army should solve the Japanese army in Zaozhuang before dawn on March 24 and occupy Zaozhuang.The 52nd Army should also start attacking the Japanese army in Yi County at dawn on March 24.Judging from the actions of Tang Enbo's 20th Army Corps, they did not implement the combat plan formulated by the Fifth Theater to complete their tasks. In fact, Tang Enbo lacked confidence in whether the Fifth War Zone could hold Taierzhuang and Linyi. In his opinion, if these two aspects were not guaranteed, then his 20th Army would face the main force of the Japanese army in Yi County. Danger of pinching.Conversely, if the Chinese troops in Taierzhuang and Linyi could hold their positions and frustrate the Japanese attack to consume the enemy to the maximum, then it would be easier, less labor-saving, more sure, and easier to gain military exploits against the exhausted enemy. Therefore, on the one hand, Tang Enbo made arrangements to avoid contact with the main force of the Japanese army, and on the other hand, he lied about the military situation to deal with the continuous calls from Li Zongren and the 31st Division.On the grounds that the main force first attacked the enemy in Zaozhuang, the main force of the 20th Army was placed in the mountains north of Zaozhuang, and the troops did not move. Until the 28th, Tang Enbo still did not have all the determination and deployment to go south. He ignored Li Zongren's order and repeatedly found excuses to keep the 85th Army in the mountains, and ordered a small part of the 52nd Army to go south to support Sun Lianzhong. Can play or go.At that time, the 52nd Army had 8 regiments in addition to the troops directly under the army. According to Tang Enbo's plan, only 3 regiments were sent.Guan Linzheng disapproved of such a dispersed use of troops from the beginning.He advocated that if you want to fight, you should concentrate on fighting instead of piecemeal fighting. Therefore, Guan Linzheng did not make the deployment of sending three regiments to support Taierzhuang on the 28th. Li Zongren saw that the Tang army was not coming, so he sent a telegram to Tang Enbo at 10:00 pm on the 28th: ​​"The Sun Group in Taierzhuang is in a stalemate. Both the enemy and ourselves are in difficulties. Your army should quickly go south to attack it with strong assistance." After receiving Li Zongren's telegram, Tang Enbo still delayed repeatedly. Late at night on the 29th, Li Zongren sent orders to Tang Enbo again.However, Tang's actions were still slow at this time. Although the reconnaissance team of the 2nd Division of the 52nd Army arrived in Zhanglou, more than 10 kilometers north of Taierzhuang, on the afternoon of the 29th to investigate the enemy's situation.But its main force is now 30 kilometers north of Taierzhuang. On the morning of the 30th, the 52nd Army first arrived at Lanling Town, about 25 kilometers northeast of Taierzhuang, and then advanced southwest.But until the afternoon of the 30th, Sun Lianzhong still failed to get in touch with the 52nd Army. Li Zongren was very dissatisfied with the Tang Army's avoidance of war, so he sent a telegram to Chiang Kai-shek about Tang's avoidance of war. Cooperate with Sun Jun to eliminate the enemies in Taierzhuang. Arrive before dawn on the 31st within the time limit, and it is important not to delay." Li Zongren wrote in his memoirs: After repeated orders and applications, Tang's regiment was still patrolling in the aunt's mountainous area.In the end, I admonished Commander Tang, saying that if he did not obey the order and caused a mistake in the military plan, he should be severely punished according to Han Fuju's previous example.Only then did Tang's army go south.However, at this time, the defenders of Taierzhuang were exhausted. Tang Enbo is greedy for life and afraid of death, and preserves his strength. His pustules are outrageous.Because of his delay and refusal to fight, hundreds of my outstanding Chinese sons and daughters died in battle.Ordinarily, Tang Enbo's performance could have been sent to the Military Court for trial, even if he was sentenced to death a hundred times, he would not be wronged. After the Battle of Xuzhou, Yang Junchang of the 21st Group Army was taken to Hankou for losing Su County, where he was handed over to the Military Court for trial and sentenced to 10 years in prison.From this, Li Zongren thought of Tang Enbo in the Taierzhuang War. In fact, Master Yang was guarding Su County, and had exhausted his last strength, and he was exhausted before retreating.During the Anti-Japanese War, the troops made more serious mistakes than this, and they were rarely punished, and even if they were punished, they were very light.Especially in the Central Army, the officers were all from Whampoa, and the classmates took care of each other, and many serious mistakes were sloppy.Chiang Kai-shek was unfair, and even let Tang Enbo pass by sloppily.This is something. At this time, after Tang Enbo received the telegram, he knew that the military order could not be violated again, so he began to urge the troops to step up the attack, and he himself went to Hongshan Town and Lanling Town to command that night. After the 52nd Army received the order, its main force pressed on the side of the Japanese army from the Ganlu Temple tens of kilometers north of Taierzhuang before dawn on the 31st.Under the onslaught of the superior forces of the Chinese army, the Japanese army retreated steadily.By 3:00 p.m., the Chinese army successively captured Mazhuang, Dazhuang, Zhanglou, Jiajiabu, Xiaoji, Lanchengdian, Sanfolou and other places, recovered more than ten villages, and advanced the front line by 4 kilometers. So far, the pressure on Taierzhuang's first-line defense has been temporarily eased.