After a while, the communications staff officer hurriedly walked back with a telegram in his hand, respectfully saluted the military salute, and said loudly: "Report to the commander, Deputy Commander Yang will call back." ”When Li Guotao heard this, he hurriedly turned around, snatched the telegram, read it carefully, and couldn't help frowning slightly.Yang Erhu next to him asked anxiously: "What did Deputy Commander Yang say on the telegram" Li Guotao frowned and said with a serious face: "Lao Yang said that the 57th Division of the Japanese Army has just arrived in Daxing Town, and it is when the foothold is not stable, and the Japanese army has come from a long journey, and it is already a tired division.Therefore, Lao Yang suggested that he take the initiative to launch an attack on the Japanese army and strive to defeat it in one fell swoop. ”Yang Erhu frowned and asked: "Although this 57th Division is only a second-rate division, it has a strength of 20,000 people, and we only have an armored division in Daxing Town. ”Li Guotao smiled and said: "Lao Yang is full of confidence, but the main force of our army is now in Tongyu, and we can't rush to the front line of Daxing Town to support in a short time, and the Japanese 1st Division and the 7th Division have been defeated, although the 57th Division has not retreated now, but it should be withdrawn by tomorrow at the latest, if this little devil retreats to Changling, if we want to defeat this little devil, we can only wait for the next opportunity." ”Yang Erhu couldn't help but be silent, and hesitated for a while.Li Guotao pondered for a while, his eyes gradually became firm, and he said with a serious face: "Don't miss the opportunity and don't come again, call back to Deputy Commander Yang immediately, let him act when he sees the opportunity, if he can defeat this 57th Division, it will naturally be the icing on the cake, if not, there is no need to force it." ”"Yes" The communications staff officer who was waiting next to him responded respectfully, and hurriedly turned around to convey the order.Li Guotao's order quickly reached the front line headquarters in Daxing Town, after Yang Xuecheng received the telegram, he read it carefully, and said with a smile: "When did the commander become so cautious, with the combat effectiveness of our armored division, if we can't even deal with the second-rate division of a little devil, wouldn't it be too embarrassing?"
Yang Xuecheng said with a serious face: "Don't miss the opportunity, since the 57th Division took the initiative to send it to the door, if we give up this opportunity, we don't know when we will wait for the next time."
Now that our army has won consecutive battles and its morale is booming, it is precisely when it is time to pursue the victory, how can we give up such a good opportunity. ”"The deputy commander is right, now that all the units of our armored division are ready, just waiting for the deputy commander to give an order, we must not miss the opportunity in vain."
At this time, a combat staff officer next to him spoke.Yang Xuecheng nodded, and then said with a serious face: "Immediately pass the order, and launch an attack on the whole line in an hour to defeat the 57th Division of the Japanese Army in one fell swoop." ”"Yes," the staff officers present replied in unison.At this time, it was already past four o'clock in the morning, and the sky was gradually getting brighter.At half past five in the morning, the sun finally rose to the horizon, and the warm sunlight swept away the darkness of the world.At the same time, the order to attack was also transmitted to the front command headquarters, and the rumbling sound of artillery first sounded on the artillery positions of our army, and the shells streaked across the sky, with bursts of piercing whistling, and quickly flew towards the positions of the devils."
Boom" A violent explosion sounded continuously, and pieces of fire rose into the air, and in the blink of an eye, the devil's position was shrouded in a cloud of artillery fire.After half an hour of wanton bombardment, the Eighth Route Army finally launched an all-out attack.The heroic soldiers of the Eighth Route Army rushed out of the trenches with a loud roar and rushed to the devil's position like a surging tide.At the same time, more than 200 chariots of the armored division divided into two routes and detoured from both flanks to the flanks and rear of the devils.The Japanese 1st Division and the 7th Division were defeated, and the 57th Division was ready to withdraw to Changling, but before it could retreat, the Eighth Route Army took the initiative to attack.The main force of the Japanese army had just arrived last night, and had already planned to retreat, but due to the long journey, most of the soldiers were exhausted, so it was delayed until now.Therefore, the little devils only had time to build a temporary line of defense, and did not build a complete fortification at all.In this case, it was fiercely attacked by the armored division of the Eighth Route Army, and for the little devils, the consequences were catastrophic.The fierce battle lasted less than an hour, and the armored group of the armored division was the first to break through the Japanese defense line from both flanks and continue to attack in a roundabout way towards the Japanese rear.The war was already quite unfavorable to the Japanese army, and if this situation continued to develop, it would not be long before the Japanese 57th Division would fall into the encirclement of the Eighth Route Army.The little devil had no choice but to retreat in the direction of Changling County.Naturally, the Eighth Route Army could not easily let go of this little devil and continued to attack all the way, and the originally orderly retreat soon turned into a large-scale rout, after all, the 57th Division was only a second-rate division, and it had just been established, and the quality of officers and men could not be compared with that of a standing division like the 1st Division.Once the troops were defeated, they were immediately in disarray, and they could not be controlled at all.A large number of routs rushed to flee in the direction of Changling County, for fear that they would lose their lives if they were one step slower.The armored division pursued and killed all the way, from Daxing Town to Changling County, and the little devils who were directly killed were bleeding like rivers and corpses all over the field.Of the more than 20,000 men in an integrated division, less than 5,000 of them managed to escape back to Changling County, with losses of more than three-quarters.After the armored division chased Changling County, it did not rashly launch an attack on Changling County, because although Changling County is only a small county town, after all, there are complete city fortifications, not to mention that the rout of the 57th Division is forced to a dead end, and it will inevitably resist desperately.Even if the Eighth Route Army can capture Changling, it will inevitably pay a heavy price, and the gains really outweigh the losses.What's more, the armored division at this time had only one division's strength, and the lone army was deeply penetrated, and once the war dragged on, the Japanese army mobilized reinforcements to come to support, which was also quite unfavorable to the armored division.Although the 57th Division was not completely annihilated in one fell swoop, it had also annihilated most of its troops, temporarily losing its combat effectiveness, and it could no longer pose a threat to the Eighth Route Army in a short period of time, and our army's strategic intention had been achieved, so there was no need to take risks for the sake of a small Changling county town.aa2705221: