Rise From Eight Hundred

Toyoshima Futaro's "willful" death in battle was like the last straw that broke the camel's back!

After sitting in the command post for half the night, Okabe Saburo finally decided to withdraw!

However, the current situation is not that all battlefield initiatives are in the hands of the 1st Division, and it is not possible to withdraw whenever you want. Not only is the Four-line Regiment in Zishan a ferocious tiger, but the 80th Army Group, which is constantly tightening the encirclement, is also not easy to mess with.

"The front line continues to maintain an offensive posture, and each regiment will draw a certain amount of force to protect the wounded and the baggage troops and withdraw to Handan!" Okabe Saburo issued a somewhat vague military order to each infantry regiment in the morning.

But the Japanese generals who were familiar with him all tasted the taste from it, and the strength of the attack on the Zishan defense line was visibly weakened.

Perhaps, the only thing that the Japanese army in the Zishan area has been strengthened is the air bombing force!

This should also be the strongest aircraft group organized by the Japanese North China Front Army Aviation since the Zishan Air Battle. A group of 24 Type 96 fighters carried out high-altitude bombing on the 683 Brigade's position.

Although it was fierce, the damage to the 683 Brigade was not great. First, because the front lines of both sides were very close, the Japanese aircraft group had to place the bombing area a kilometer away;

Second, in order to prevent the terrible 40mm anti-aircraft guns from appearing on the ground again, the Japanese aircraft basically dropped bombs at an altitude of 3,500 meters, and the accuracy was not worth mentioning;

Third, the 683 Brigade had already done anti-bombing protection, and each company basically built anti-gun holes in the trenches. Unless the bombs fell directly on the top of the anti-gun holes, the soldiers' lives were safe under the dual protection of the trenches and anti-gun holes.

As for the probability that the bombs just happened to fall into the trenches and collapse the anti-artillery holes, it cannot be said that there is absolutely no chance. It depends on fate. Not to mention ordinary officers and soldiers, even Brigade Commander Cheng, who was only 2,500 meters away from the front line, was hiding in the air-raid shelter and smoking silently.

Soldiers who survived the war were not brave or invincible, but more on luck.

The 683rd Brigade, which survived this wave of attacks, lost about 200 people, which was much better than expected.

The commanders at all levels who drilled out of the anti-artillery holes looked at the remains carried away, usually just rubbed their red eyes and shouted fiercely: "Keep digging forward for me, fuck the dog."

"The 1st Division is going to run away!" Tang Dao, who was watching the fleet of aircrafts going away with a telescope in the mountains, and Brigade Commander Cheng who walked out of the air-raid shelter said the same thing almost at the same time.

"Order each regiment to speed up the digging progress and stick to them for me. If you want to run, you have to ask me for permission first!" Brigade Commander Cheng waved his hand and ordered.

"Order all battalions and companies to closely monitor the Japanese infantry's combat forces. All battalions and companies can launch counterattacks at any time based on their own judgment. Do you want to escape without paying a price? This is the territory of our Four-Line Regiment." Tang Dao also ordered.

The two best Chinese commanders in southern Hebei made the right judgment and issued almost identical military orders.

This is wisdom, courage and confidence!

A year ago, being able to withstand the fierce attack of the Japanese army was the dream of all Chinese soldiers in the Second War Zone, but now the situation is very different. The situation where the Japanese army can fight and leave as they please is a thing of the past.

"Small Chinese troops are constantly appearing in the three battlefields of Zishan, trying to attack our positions under the cover of artillery fire; Brigade Commander Hattori Shotaro sent a telegram saying that the Chinese in front of him are also eager to try and plan a major action, and he cannot withdraw the main force in a short time!" The 1st Division Colonel Chief of Staff reported to Okabe Saburo who was walking towards the truck and was about to head towards Handan City with a gloomy face.

"Since the Chinese dare to leave the trenches, what are our artillery waiting for? Send a message to the various regiments, they can contact the division staff at any time to coordinate artillery support, so that the Chinese who dare to leave the trenches will know the consequences." Okabe Saburo's face was cold.

"Also, tell Major General Hattori that as long as the Chinese do not launch a general attack today, he has one night to leave. If he thinks that leaving one infantry battalion behind cannot stop the Chinese on the other side, then add another one. He is a major general of the Imperial Army and must know how to make choices."

After saying this, Okabe Saburo did not look back, got on the truck and left with most of the civilian staff of the division headquarters and a part of the cavalry and infantry, leaving the Japanese Army colonel cold in the warm spring breeze.

Okabe Saburo, who had already left, meant very clearly that this battle had already been lost, and commanders at all levels had to do their best to preserve the main force of the division, which was destined to result in a considerable number of people being abandoned.

But this was not the main reason why the Japanese Army colonel was cold all over, but when would the main imperial division fall to the point of sacrificing pawns to save the king on the Chinese battlefield?

Looking back at the nine years from 1931 to 1940, there may have been battles where the Imperial Army was surrounded and annihilated, but it was the first time that a huge army of tens of thousands of people was forced to leave behind a considerable number of Imperial Army soldiers to cover the main force's retreat.

And this was when they had air superiority. If there were no fighters, the situation would be so bad that I couldn't imagine how bad it would be.

What made this Japanese army colonel even more pessimistic about the war was that he actually saw fear in the eyes of Lieutenant General Saburo Okabe. Although Saburo Okabe hid it very deeply, he could still feel that Lieutenant General Saburo Okabe was afraid. Even after making the decision to withdraw the division, he was unwilling to stay on the battlefield for a moment, even the 4th Division that had already boarded the special train and waited for 10,000 reinforcements from the Imperial Army.

Yes, Saburo Okabe was afraid!

The death of Major General Futaro Toyoshima reminded him that it was as if a pair of invisible eyes were watching him from a distance.

The Four-Line Regiment had already deployed this small group of elite soldiers to the battlefield to perform the tactics of reconnaissance, harassment, and destruction against the enemy to a superb level. The baggage and artillery positions were repeatedly bombarded by Chinese heavy artillery, which should be the masterpieces of these small elite troops.

On the night that had passed, the Chinese side was not only satisfied with the reconnaissance of the coordinates of the important target locations, but had even begun to use sharpshooters to shoot high-ranking officers at the commander level from a long distance. Okabe Saburo realized that the young but experienced opponent was already preparing for the final battle. If he, the lieutenant general division commander, did not leave, he might not be able to leave.

No wonder it is said that the person who knows you best in the world is your opponent. Okabe Saburo really guessed the plan that Tang Dao had started two days ago.

In fact, the 1st Division Headquarters had been targeted by a reconnaissance team of the Four-line Regiment Reconnaissance Company as early as 4 days ago.

Okabe Saburo was already very cunning and set up his division headquarters in a small town. Because the town was only 5 kilometers away from Handan City, a puppet army infantry company was stationed here in the past year, which was considered the range of activities of the Japanese army.

The Four-Line Regiment and the Eighty-Group Army did not want to push the Japanese troops in southern Hebei to death, so as not to force the Japanese to fight to the death. Apart from infiltrating the towns controlled by the Japanese, they did not take large-scale armed actions. The 10th Division stationed in southern Hebei became honest after being beaten up, and just defended the existing territory and did its best to ensure the smooth flow of transportation.

To put it bluntly, since the battle of Zhaojiazhuang, China and Japan have miraculously reached a tacit understanding. The Japanese army occupied an area with a radius of several kilometers centered on large cities, while the Chinese side was active in the vast rural areas. As long as the other side was not particularly excessive, both sides were almost in a state of you doing your defense and I transporting my supplies, and no one would provoke anyone.

Of course, the Japanese army also knew China's reverse scale. It was okay to control the territory and transportation lines, but if they indulged the soldiers to plunder and massacre the Chinese people in the occupied areas, then sorry, the transportation lines would be cut into pieces by countless guerrillas, and there would even be the risk of heavy siege. That was China's bottom line.

Although it was not put on paper, the 10th Division and the puppet army leaders tried their best to restrain the soldiers. They did not harm the Chinese people in the occupied areas, but at least there were no serious massacres.

This matter was very frustrating for the Japanese high-level officials, but the reality was that after a year of development, the Four-line Regiment and the 80th Army in southern Hebei had increased their strength and were already in a state of being too big to be eliminated, unless the Japanese North China Front Command made up its mind to completely overturn the headquarters' grand strategy from north to west, and draw 2 to 3 main divisions from Zhongtiao Mountain and the southeastern Shanxi front to encircle southern Hebei and completely eliminate this scourge.

But obviously, those old antiques in the headquarters would spit a mouthful of thick phlegm in Duo Tianjun's face. If they couldn't even deal with a group of local bastards and guerrillas, how could they have the face to talk about strategy with the headquarters?

No, Duo Tianjun, who was forced to do so, invited the 1st Division as a support soldier!

The 1st Division was located in a town with a population of nearly a thousand. All Chinese people were strictly prohibited from leaving the town. To put it bluntly, Okabe Saburo regarded these thousands of Chinese people as his human shields. If the Chinese dared to bombard the town, thousands of Chinese people would have to be buried with him.

In addition, four lines of defense were deployed outside the town, with a Japanese infantry battalion for defense, and a reinforced infantry squadron in the town to provide strict protection for the temporary division headquarters. As for the puppet army infantry company, it had long been kicked to the Zishan front line by Okabe Saburo. It was related to his own life safety. Okabe Saburo never trusted the Chinese. If the Chinese could surrender to the empire, they could turn against it and surrender again.

The scouts had no chance to sneak into the town, but through two full days of observation, they could completely judge that this was an extremely important command post of the Japanese army through the large number of people coming in and out and the multiple telephone lines pulled out of the town.

What kind of command post needs to be located 11 kilometers away from the front line? The answer is almost ready to come out.

However, determining the location of the 1st Division Headquarters does not prove that he can be killed.

When it comes to the safety of more than a thousand compatriots, the possibility of using artillery to solve the problem is zero, so the only way is to use elite troops for a surprise attack.

Tang Dao chose to stay put. He wanted to wait for the 1st Division's offensive to show signs of decline. Only when the Japanese army began to retreat and communication was delayed, would he have a chance.

The elite of the mountain infantry company and the reconnaissance company had quietly moved to this area since last night.

Even Tang Tuanzuo had handed over the command to Ye Chenghuan, Shangguan Yun, and Zhuang Shisan, and was organizing his equipment. He planned to lead Niu Er and others to sneak out of Zishan and enter the plain tonight.

If nothing unexpected happens, at the latest by tomorrow night, a raid on the 1st Division Headquarters will be launched, gathering most of the elite of the Four Lines Regiment.

However, Tang Tuanzuo didn't expect that Pang Zilong's extraordinary performance and killing of a Japanese Army Major General directly frightened Okabe Saburo, and he actually abandoned the entire division and ran away after issuing the order to withdraw.

The total number of Japanese troops left in this town was less than 450, which was led by the staff led by the 1st Division Colonel Chief of Staff who was still shivering all over, and more than 300 guard infantry.

Without the big fish Okabe Saburo, the temporary command that was still responsible for coordinating the retreat of the entire division was much lighter.

This was also a misjudgment of Tang Tuanzuo in the Battle of Zishan.

In his own words: I have personally come out, but I was only left with a colonel. This trip is a big loss.

A local armed work team leader of the 80th Army who was accompanying Tang Dao kept wiping cold sweat. No wonder it was said that Tang Tuanzuo was very powerful. A colonel-level Japanese officer was so worthless in front of him!

Think about how he led a hundred or so people to attack a small Japanese convoy some time ago. He personally shot and killed a Japanese army second lieutenant with a rifle. The Ji'nan Division also specially sent a battalion commander to their camp to give him a certificate of commendation and a reward of two dollars. He was so proud that he kept smiling for several days. Compared with Commander Tang, who felt that he had lost out after killing a Japanese army colonel, his vision was really too small.

Of course, this is a later story.

Okabe Saburo patted his butt and ran away, leaving a mess for the division colonel chief of staff.

Let's talk about the 5th Brigade first. Since the brigade commander was killed, the only people who can make the decision are two colonel commanders and a lieutenant colonel chief of staff. The three cobblers gathered together to discuss in the middle of the night, and just when they were sleepy, they received Okabe Saburo's order to retreat, which could only be understood but not expressed in words.

Why wait for a Jiba? Thinking of preserving their own strength, the two colonel regiment commanders directly abandoned two infantry squadrons to the lieutenant colonel chief of staff, who was responsible for leading more than a thousand people to cover the rear of the entire army. The rest of the people finally waited until dark and tiptoed away from the position. Even though the sound of gunfire was heard less than two hours later, the more than 3,000 people of the 5th Brigade, who had already left the position 4 kilometers away, did not even look back.

The gecko has even broken its tail, so how can it use its head to exchange for its tail? Since it has decided to run, run more resolutely.

This Japanese army finally showed the strength of a standing division this night. Carrying a large number of wounded soldiers and remains as well as a large amount of equipment and baggage, it ran 17 kilometers overnight and arrived at the outskirts of Handan City at 4 a.m.

If it was lightly equipped, with this perseverance, the 5th Brigade could run 50 or 60 kilometers, and it could also create a marching miracle.

This shocked the officers and soldiers of the 1st and 4th Battalions of the 4th Regiment who were responsible for the counterattack. They had already acted very quickly. After receiving the reconnaissance intelligence feedback from the scouts, Chief of Staff Shangguan Yun immediately and decisively ordered all the artillery and troops on hand to enter the counterattack, and broke through the defense line of the Japanese army, which had not invested much strength, in less than 2 hours.

Originally, I thought of sending two infantry companies to attack with light equipment to stick to the main force of the Japanese army carrying a large number of wounded soldiers. Even if they could not bite them to death completely, they would at least bite off a large piece of meat from this wounded "behemoth".

As a result, the two infantry companies threw away all their heavy equipment and chased for half the night. The scouts reported that the main force of the Japanese army was almost running back to Handan City.

"This dog is eating a powerful pill. It can run faster than me!" Tang Li, who was sweating all over, could only curse like this.

But the officers and soldiers of the Four-Line Regiment, who had been waiting for a chance to vent their anger for seven or eight days, could only curse at this sprint-level opponent and then turn around to find trouble with the Japanese army in the southwest.

There are those who run fast and those who run slow. This is the law of all things in the world. Otherwise, how can there be a difference between fast and slow.

Everything must be compared.

The 503rd Regiment of the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Division is such an unlucky child.

Colonel Shigenobu Yoshitsugu, the then commander of the 503rd Infantry Regiment, was famous for his steady combat style in the 1st Division. The regiment was also influenced by him and was good at defense but not attack. In the Battle of Nomonhan, it relied on ground positions and more than 3,500 infantrymen to block the successive attacks of two infantry regiments and dozens of tanks of the Mao Bears. It was considered a rare bright spot in the 100,000 Japanese troops in the battle of Nomonhan.

It is rumored that he is very likely to be promoted to Army Major General after the battle of Zishan.

In fact, in the past, Colonel Shigenobu Yoshitsugu would not only be promoted to major general, but would even serve as the commander of the first division after it was split in the mainland several years later.

But this stability of Keren! It means that everything is considered carefully, so the reaction is naturally a little slower, at least compared with the two cobblers of the 3rd Division.

Colonel Shigenobu Yoshitsugu's retreat tactics also began to evacuate after nightfall, but in order to evacuate more of his subordinates, he chose to evacuate in batches. If the Chinese who were ready to move dared to leave their positions to attack, he would even use superior forces to counterattack.

After all, although he was called the commander of the regiment, he was actually the acting commander of the brigade, commanding 7 infantry battalions plus nearly 10,000 auxiliary arms such as artillery and baggage soldiers.

The powerful 1st Division was completely equivalent to 3 mixed brigades in terms of strength, and the artillery support with 24 105 howitzers and 12 150 heavy artillery was far more than that of ordinary divisions.

This tactic of orderly withdrawal is correct. It can not only smoothly withdraw the main force but also have enough counterattack power. If this mode is followed, at least the 2nd Battalion and the Guard Battalion that are facing it this night really don’t have much to do with this group of thorny Japanese soldiers.

But the key is that Shigenobu Yoshitsugu didn’t expect to have a pig teammate!

The 3rd Division, which was less than 4 kilometers away from his position, really withdrew without leaving any room, leaving only a thousand people behind. Then, in less than 2 hours, the defense line was broken. By 1 a.m., the Japanese troops in this unit became a thing of the past.

More than 1,300 elite soldiers who cleaned up the mess began to approach the flank of the 503 Infantry Regiment. The two infantry battalions that remained on the position to fight hard to block the opponent and gain space for the main force to evacuate were stunned when they received this news!

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