Quartermasters can also fight the devils

Chapter 732: Being Beaten Everywhere

After the Chinese troops' defensive positions on the mountain were completely occupied by the Japanese attacking forces, they continued to put up a tenacious resistance using the earth walls in the village, but these simple defensive supports could not stop the artillery fire of the Japanese attacking forces.

With the coordinated attack of more than 20 tanks, the Japanese attacking force occupied Yu County on May 3. As a result, the battle plan previously formulated by Commander Tang, deputy commander of the First War Zone of the Chinese government, to have a decisive battle with the Japanese attacking force in Yu County was declared a failure.

At the same time, the Japanese Army's 7th Independent Mixed Brigade and the Japanese Army's 37th Division also launched a fierce attack on the Xiangcheng area defended by the troops of the Southern Corps of the First War Zone of the Chinese government.

On May 2, the Japanese attacking force, with the support of thirty tanks and dozens of artillery pieces, launched a fierce attack on Xiangcheng, which was defended by the Chinese army. The fighting lasted until the early morning of May 4, when the Japanese attacking force successfully occupied Xiangcheng.

When the Japanese offensive forces launched an attack on Yu County, the Japanese 3rd Tank Division also launched a full-scale attack on Zheng County. Under the attack of nearly 100 Japanese tanks, the officers and soldiers of the 81st Division of the Chinese government also used their flesh and blood to desperately resist the advance speed of the Japanese tank forces.

In order to reduce the defensive pressure on the 81st Division in Zheng County, the First War Zone Command of the Chinese Government ordered part of the 29th Army of the Chinese Government, the newly formed 43rd Division and the temporary 55th Division to launch counterattacks against the Japanese offensive forces from the northeast, southeast and southwest, in support of the defensive operations of the 81st Division of the Chinese Government defending the city.

However, under the fierce attack of the Japanese offensive forces and the bombing of dozens of aircraft, the 81st Division of the Huaxia government defending Zheng County suffered extremely heavy casualties. As a result, the 81st Division had to retreat to the Baofeng line that night. On the morning of the next day, the Japanese offensive forces took advantage of the situation to occupy Zheng County.

On the night of May 2, the 110th Division of the Japanese Army also set out from Mi County, preparing to launch an attack on the 13th Army of the Chinese government stationed near Dengfeng.

Because, General Okamura Yasuji, commander of the Japanese North China Front Army, believed that the headquarters of the 31st Army Group, the main force of the First War Zone of the Chinese government, was located near Dengfeng. Moreover, the First War Zone of the Chinese government also assembled more than 70,000 troops of the Northern Corps near Dengfeng. This was the main force of the Chinese government that must be completely eliminated.

However, what the Japanese North China Front Commander General Okamura Yasuji did not know was that the Chinese government's Ninth Army had fully taken over the defense of Dengfeng on May 3, and the Chinese government's 31st Army Group Command and the main forces of the 13th Army and the 89th Army had all withdrawn to the mountainous area.

Starting from May 4, the offensive forces of the 110th Division of the Japanese Army launched a fierce attack on the outer positions such as Hancun, Yucun, and Shiyangguan, and quickly occupied these outer defensive positions.

After the Japanese attacking force occupied Zheng County, in addition to the 3rd Tank Division, the 37th Division and the 4th Cavalry Brigade of the Japanese Army also joined in the attack towards Baofeng and Linru Plain.

On May 3, Commander Tang, deputy commander of the First War Zone of the Chinese government, planned to gather combat-capable troops for a decisive battle with the Japanese attacking forces near Linru, so he ordered the 47th Division, the 85th Army, and the 13th Army of the Chinese government to take charge of the defense of Linru.

However, among the troops in the combat plan of Commander Tang, deputy commander of the First War Zone of the Chinese government, only the 85th Army of the Chinese government reached the mountains north of Linru at night, while the rest of the troops were unable to reach the designated assembly point due to various problems.

On May 4, the Japanese offensive force successfully occupied Linru City by using the tactics of frontal containment and roundabout flank attack. This not only made the Linru decisive battle plan formulated by Commander Tang, deputy commander of the First War Zone of the Chinese government, fail, but also caused 60,000 officers and soldiers of the 13th, 29th and 85th Armies of the Chinese government to be surrounded by the Japanese offensive force in a small area of ​​60 kilometers from east to west between Yucheng and Linru, 70 kilometers from Dengfeng to Zhengxian in the north, and about 180 kilometers around. The only thing to be thankful for was that the undulating mountains of the Funiushan Mountains made it difficult for the mechanized troops of the Japanese offensive force to move, thus avoiding the fate of being annihilated by the Japanese offensive force.

The Japanese tank troops that successfully occupied Linru, in order not to give the Chinese army a chance to breathe, continued to attack rapidly along Linru Town, Baisha, and Longmen Street towards Luoyang. After successfully breaking through the Chinese army's resistance along the way, they began to attack in three directions on May 5.

The first Japanese attack force consisted of 150 tanks and armored vehicles, responsible for attacking Longmen Mountain and Yanggouzhai from the east.

The second Japanese attack force consisted of more than 60 tanks and more than 5,000 infantrymen, responsible for attacking Longmen Mountain from the west.

Another Japanese attacking force consisted of more than 30 tanks and more than 1,000 infantry and cavalry. They crossed the west bank of the Yi River and launched a fierce attack on the Chinese army.

Faced with the fierce attack of the Japanese offensive forces, the Chinese army also resisted tenaciously. After several hand-to-hand combats, the Japanese offensive forces suffered heavy casualties. Dozens of tanks alone were destroyed by the defending Chinese army.

At dawn on May 7, the 85th Division of the Guizhou Army suddenly launched a counterattack against the Japanese attacking forces that were attacking Longmen, and recaptured the high ground outside Longmen in one fell swoop, but the Japanese attacking forces immediately concentrated their forces and launched a counterattack.

Under the heavy artillery and air bombing of the Japanese attacking forces, all the highland defensive positions of Longmen were destroyed. When the Chinese army lost the defensive position in Yanggouzhai, the 85th Division also organized a suicide squad of more than 100 officers and soldiers to launch a counterattack. However, in the early counterattack, this suicide squad was eventually killed and wounded.

On that day, the 85th Division's commander Chen Deming was wounded by a Japanese artillery shell, and two regimental commanders were killed one after another. In the end, there were only more than 200 officers and soldiers left in the entire division. The defensive positions were eventually lost, and the Longmen area was completely occupied by the Japanese offensive forces.

However, the battle of the 85th Division of the Guizhou Army, which was extremely poorly equipped, in the Longmen area was a rare highlight of the First War Zone of the Huaxia Government in the entire Battle of Central Henan.

At the same time, the Japanese Army's 7th Independent Mixed Brigade launched an attack in the direction of Lushan. The newly formed 43rd Division of the First War Zone of the Chinese government was responsible for the defense of Lushan. However, before the temporary 43rd Division's defensive positions were deployed, it was attacked fiercely by the Japanese offensive forces.