Quartermasters can also fight the devils

Chapter 173 Both Sides Are Reinforcing

Chief of Staff Zhao Dong didn't waste any time and turned around to notify the troops to assemble. At the same time, he had already organized the combat personnel of the division headquarters last night. Except for a platoon of soldiers from the division headquarters' special service battalion who were left to be responsible for the security of the division headquarters, all the reinforcements went into the village. The other staff members were added to the more than 1,100 people evacuated from the village to serve as grassroots officers.

Even the cooks were left with only a few older men, and all of them were incorporated into the combat troops. It can be said that now except for the two people who were left behind in the necessary communications department and the quartermaster department, all the other people in the division headquarters have been reinforced.

Liao Qian was also in the troops that reinforced Zhuangzi. All of his political department members were assigned to the reinforcement force as grassroots officers. After he followed the team to run across the pontoon bridge, he turned around and looked at the south bank of the canal. He didn't know if he could return to the land on the south bank alive, but the current situation did not leave him any time to sigh. Liao Qian turned around and pulled out the Mauser pistol from his waist, then rushed into Zhuangzi with the officers and soldiers around him.

Chief of Staff Zhao Dong did not fulfill his promise to let Zhang Wenwu's troops train for two days. After sending the troops on the south bank to Zhuangzi, Division Commander Huang asked Chief of Staff Zhao Dong to contact Zhang Wenwu who was still in Xuzhou, asking him to quickly bring his troops back to the division headquarters to report and be ready to reinforce the battle in Zhuangzi at any time.

Division Commander Huang and Chief of Staff Zhao Dong were at a loss as the Japanese army's sudden use of poison gas bombs caught the 102nd Division off guard. After they sent all the remaining officers and soldiers to reinforce, they now had no available soldiers left. They had to hold out in Taierzhuang for at least three days. Even if they were to stuff the two of them into the village, it would still not be enough.

Chief of Staff Zhao Dong then called Li Houcai from the Quartermaster Department and asked him to rush to Xuzhou City to find Zhang Wenwu and inform him to bring the troops over immediately and make sure that all of them arrive near the division headquarters and assemble on standby before 10 o'clock tonight.

Li Houcai also knew that the war situation in Taierzhuang was not optimistic, so he hurriedly took the train that had just unloaded ammunition and rushed to Xuzhou.

Zhang Wenwu was discussing the troop training with Ouyang Heng when he saw a guard at the gate jogging towards him with Li Houcai.

"Director Zhang... Brigade Commander, the chief of staff wants you to rush to the division headquarters with your troops to report for duty. The order is to assemble and be on standby near the division headquarters before 10 o'clock tonight, and be ready to reinforce the battle in the village at any time." Li Houcai conveyed Chief of Staff Zhao Dong's order in detail, a little out of breath.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Wenwu and Ouyang Heng secretly exclaimed in their hearts that it was so fast. They had previously thought that the two days of training time given to them by the division might be too optimistic, and they had been prepared for only one day of training. As a result, the actual situation happened half a day earlier than they thought.

"Houcai, tell me what's going on in the manor now." Zhang Wenwu called the signalman and asked him to notify the battalion commanders under his command to come for a meeting quickly. Then he asked Li Houcai who looked anxious.

"Brigade Commander, the Japanese troops in the village used poison gas bombs in the afternoon, and the 211th Brigade guarding the village suffered heavy losses. The division commander and the chief of staff mobilized the more than brothers who had withdrawn earlier to reinforce the village. Then the chief of staff organized all the people in the division who could hold guns, and sent them all to reinforce the village. Even Director Liao from the political department went there." Li Houcai quickly told all the information he knew.

Zhang Wenwu was shocked for a long time when he heard that even Liao Qian was pushed into the village. After listening to Li Houcai's introduction, Ouyang Heng's brows were frowned more and more. At this time, the regiment and battalion commanders of the supplementary brigade also rushed to Zhang Wenwu, waiting for instructions in confusion.

Zhang Wenwu adjusted his state, and then said to everyone: "Brothers, the division headquarters just sent an urgent order, requiring our brigade to rush back to the division headquarters and be ready to reinforce the battle in Taierzhuang at any time. Everyone, hurry back and organize the team. Chief of Staff Ouyang will tell everyone the marching sequence later."

Everyone was shocked when they heard that they had to go out immediately. The agreed two-day training time was gone after only half a day. It seemed that the battle ahead would be very intense. However, no one asked any questions. After saluting, they all hurried to assemble the troops.

"Brother Ouyang, I will go to the station to contact the train, and you arrange the marching sequence. After the arrangement, the troops can go directly to the platform and wait for the train. We will meet on the platform." After Zhang Wenwu and Ouyang Heng gave a brief explanation, they took Li Houcai and walked quickly to the station.

In the dispatching room of Xuzhou Station, Zhang Wenwu quickly requisitioned the train that was originally responsible for transporting ammunition to the Taierzhuang front. He asked the railway staff in the dispatching room to add more carriages to the train so as to transport more officers and soldiers at one time.

After Zhang Wenwu arranged the train, he came to the designated platform. At this time, the officers and soldiers of the supplementary brigade were lined up and walked onto the platform under the guidance of the station staff to wait for the train.

"Brigade Commander Zhang, the marching sequence of the troops has been determined. The first regiment will be the first batch to advance, and the brigade headquarters and the second regiment will follow in turn." Ouyang Heng quickly walked up to Zhang Wenwu with his guards and reported the problem with the marching sequence of the troops.

Zhang Wenwu nodded, and then he asked Ouyang Heng to organize the troops to wait for the car here. He would follow the first batch of troops to arrive at the division headquarters. He needed to rush to the division headquarters early to understand the situation. After the troops arrived, he could make arrangements based on the actual situation.

After the 102nd Division sent reinforcements into Zhuangzi, the front line of the 211th Brigade, which was constantly being pushed forward by the Japanese army in Zhuangzi, gradually stabilized. It was not until this time that the officers of the 102nd Division were surprised to find that this attack by the Japanese army had actually occupied a large area of ​​Zhuangzi again. Now the area that the 102nd Division can still control only accounts for a quarter of the entire Taierzhuang.

"Division Commander, I just sent someone to contact the village. According to rough statistics, there are about 211 people on the side of Brigade Commander Han of the th Brigade. There is no news yet from Brigade Commander Cai who came to reinforce in the afternoon, but it is estimated that the number of officers and soldiers left should not be many. Now the two of them have divided the territory we still occupy, and each of them is guarding one side. But now there is still an hour or two before dark. If the Japanese attack again, we may lose some territory." Chief of Staff Zhao Dong hated himself a little. Every day he seemed to be a mourning bird, reporting all kinds of bad news.

After listening to Chief of Staff Zhao Dong's report, Division Commander Huang also sighed and said, "Brother Zhao, thank you for your hard work. We don't have any good solutions at the moment. We can only let the troops in the village hold out until dark. After Zhang Wenwu's supplementary brigade arrives, we will use night attacks to take back some of the lost territory. Hold on, we are almost done with the defense time Zhan Qiu gave us. Hold on for another three days, and after the 20th Corps attacks southward, we will win."

Chief of Staff Zhao Dong took out a cigarette and lit it for Commander Huang, then he started smoking too. There was no need to say any words of comfort at this point, and there was nothing else to say. The battle had come to this point, and the only way was to persevere, so let's fight.

Colonel Fukuei Shinpei still felt that his troops' attack today was okay, although it was a pity that the Chinese army launched a fierce counterattack in the end, which made his troops fail to occupy the village in one go, but he also knew that the final victory was getting closer and closer to him. However, the tenacious spirit of the Chinese defenders also made him feel a little troubled. The officers and soldiers of the two battalions that launched the attack in the afternoon still lost nearly 102 people with the assistance of special bullets. Every position of the Chinese defenders was occupied by his troops only after all the defenders were killed. This made him admire the Chinese army of the nd Division.

Although Colonel Fukuei Shinpei was satisfied with the progress of his attack, Lieutenant General Nishio Toshizo, commander of the Japanese North China Expeditionary Army's 2nd Army, was very dissatisfied with the progress of the Taierzhuang Battle. He now received various inquiries and questions from the expeditionary army and the country every day, which made him feel a little stressed.

Therefore, Lieutenant General Nishio Hisazo sent an order to the Fifth Division, which was responsible for the eastern attack, and asked the commander of the Fifth Division, Lieutenant General Itagaki Seishirō, to withdraw troops from the Linyi battlefield to reinforce the attacking forces of the Tenth Division in Taierzhuang.

Lieutenant General Seishirō Itagaki, commander of the 5th Division, was reorganizing his forces to attack Linyi City again because of the failure of the previous attack on Linyi. After receiving the order from Lieutenant General Toshizo Nishio, commander of the 2nd Army, he thought for a moment and very generously changed his previously formulated battle plan for attacking Linyi.

Itagaki Seishirō ordered Major General Jun Sakamoto, commander of the 21st Infantry Brigade of his division, to form the Sakamoto Detachment to reinforce the 10th Division's troops in the direction of Taierzhuang. The Sakamoto Detachment was composed of the 21st Infantry Regiment and an infantry battalion of the 42nd Regiment, the 5th Field Artillery Regiment and a mountain artillery company. In the direction of Linyi City, Itagaki Seishirō ordered the remaining two battalions of the 42nd Regiment of the 21st Brigade to contain the Chinese defenders in Linyi City.

The sudden westward advance of the Sakamoto Detachment disrupted the important deployment of the Fifth War Zone. According to the original plan, the 20th Corps should have been preparing to withdraw from the battlefield after the feint attack on Zaozhuang, and then the entire army would turn southwest to launch an attack on the 10th Division's attack on Taierzhuang, and cut off and encircle this Japanese army from the rear. The reinforcement route of the Sakamoto Detachment was just behind the flank of the 20th Corps after its turn.

The 59th Army and the 3rd Corps guarding Linyi were completely unaware of the deployment of the main force of the 21st Brigade of the Japanese Army on the front line. This created great hidden dangers and loopholes for the later battle zone to judge the enemy situation.

At six o'clock that evening, Zhang Wenwu led the officers and soldiers of two battalions of the first regiment of the supplementary brigade and rushed to the division headquarters on the first train bound for Taierzhuang.