Li Guotao continued: "Not only did we not expect the little devil to lose so quickly, but even the little devil himself did not expect our army's offensive to be so rapid.Although the Japanese army has gathered more than 250,000 troops near Xuzhou, the time is in a hurry and the preparation is insufficient, so we must not give the little devils any respite, and we must launch an attack as soon as possible to completely defeat the enemy in Xuzhou. ”Ma Zhenguo nodded and said: "At present, the situation of the Anti-Japanese War is very good, the Japanese army has been defeated in successive battles, and taking advantage of this opportunity, the Central Army has also launched a full-scale counteroffensive in Central China and South China.Judging from the information we have so far, the main forces of the Fifth and Ninth Theaters have begun to prepare for a counteroffensive on Wuhan and are currently attacking the periphery of Wuhan.In South China, Chongqing also gathered hundreds of thousands of troops and prepared to counterattack Guangxi and then Guangdong.The Japanese army was attacked on all sides and was seriously understaffed, and in the Pacific and Southeast Asian theaters, the Japanese offensive also began to slow down, and after the Battle of Midway, the Allies began to embark on a counteroffensive.Under such a large situation, after the Japanese army lost this important industrial base in the northeast, it was difficult for Japan's industrial level to support such a huge war.According to the information we have received from within the Japanese army, the Japanese army in Xuzhou is seriously short of weapons, ammunition and logistical supplies, especially in terms of weapons and ammunition, which is simply not enough to support a large-scale battle, and it will only take half a month at most, and the Japanese army will fall into the embarrassment of running out of ammunition and food. ”Li Guotao smiled and nodded, and said: "It is precisely because of this that we must seize this opportunity to defeat the Japanese army in Xuzhou as soon as possible and capture Xuzhou." ”While the two were talking, a staff officer hurriedly walked over, stood up and saluted a standard military salute, and then said loudly: "Report to the commander, I have just received a telegram from the Seventh Column that the newly formed First Division of the Seventh Column, with the assistance of the Weishan Lake Detachment, has successfully crossed Weishan Lake.The new Second Division and the new Third Division are also stepping up time to cross Weishan Lake. ”"Okay" Li Guotao nodded, took the telegram and confirmed it again, and then ordered with a serious face: "Immediately order the new first division to immediately advance in the direction of Peixian, seize Peixian in one fell swoop, and attack Fengxian, Dangshan and other places, and continue to move south, and copy Xuzhou from the west." ”"Yes," the staff officer replied respectfully, turning to deliver the order.Li Guotao turned around and walked to the front of the sand table, took a careful look at the sand table, and then said with a serious face: "Order the 17th Column, the 7th Column, the new 4th Division, the 5th Division and other units of the 7th Column to launch a full-scale attack in the direction of Taierzhuang.The Armored Division, the 7th Cavalry Division, and the 17th Cavalry Division were ordered to move directly south, bypass the Japanese Taierzhuang defensive line, directly attack Pizhou, and then launch an attack in the direction of Xuzhou from the east. ”"Yes" Ma Zhenguo responded, turned around and went to convey the order.Li Guotao's order was soon transmitted to all the troops on the front, and the troops immediately launched a full-scale attack on the Japanese near Xuzhou in accordance with the order.The main force of the Eighth Route Army, with more than 200,000 troops, launched a fierce attack on the enemy in Taierzhuang from two directions.The Japanese army deployed more than 100,000 troops on the front line of Taierzhuang, desperately resisting the fierce attack of the Eighth Route Army.The battle was extremely fierce, the two sides fought fiercely for two days, and as the main forces of the follow-up Eighth Route Army arrived one after another, more and more troops were directly engaged in the attack.The Japanese army gradually could not support it, and the outer positions of Taierzhuang were successively broken through by the Eighth Route Army.At the same time, the new 1st Division of the Eighth Route Army successfully recovered Peixian, and then the 2nd and 3rd Divisions of the new Division also crossed Weishan Lake one after another, and cooperated with the 1st Division of the new formation to successfully recover Fengxian.Subsequently, the main force of the newly formed 1st Division went directly south and advanced to the vicinity of Xuzhou.The tens of thousands of troops of the new Second Division and the New Third Division continued to attack in the direction of Dangshan and outflanked the west of Xuzhou.The armored division and cavalry units on the east road rushed to Pizhou overnight and immediately launched an attack.After a day of fierce fighting, the Eighth Route Army successfully regained Pizhou and wiped out more than 10,000 defenders in the city.After the Eighth Route Army captured Pizhou, it immediately boldly interspersed with a roundabout way to the southern area of Taierzhuang.The more than 100,000 Japanese troops gathered near Taierzhuang, on the one hand, resisted the fierce attack of the main force of the Eighth Route Army in the north, and were already powerless, and now the rear was threatened by the Eighth Route Army, and immediately fell into an even more dangerous situation.After Gangcun Ningji got the news, his anger jumped like thunder, originally according to his plan, he could completely block the Eighth Route Army near Xuzhou, but the progress of the Eighth Route Army on the east and west roads was too fast, or the Japanese troops on both flanks were defeated too quickly.Now the main force of the Japanese army near Taierzhuang is already very dangerous.Once the main force of the Japanese army was completely annihilated by the Eighth Route Army near Taierzhuang, not only Xuzhou would not be protected, but I am afraid that the entire northern Jiangsu and northern Anhui regions would not be protected.However, this time Gangcun Ningci still underestimated the strength of the Eighth Route Army, and at the same time underestimated Li Guotao's courage.As soon as the Japanese army began to retreat, the armored division and cavalry division successfully broke through the blocking Japanese defense line and made a detour back to the southwest area of Taierzhuang, where they happened to encounter the retreating Japanese main force.A fierce melee broke out between the two sides, and the little devil was bent on retreating to Xuzhou as soon as possible, and had no intention of fighting at all.At the same time, the main force of the Seventh Corps took advantage of the fact that the Japanese army began to retreat, launched a more fierce attack, and finally succeeded in breaking through the Japanese Taierzhuang defense line after paying a certain price in casualties.After receiving the news, Li Guotao immediately ordered the troops of the five divisions to go directly south, pursue the retreating Japanese army, and cooperate with the armored division and two cavalry divisions to defeat the main force of the Japanese army.The rest of the troops were responsible for clearing the remnants of the Japanese army near Taierzhuang as soon as possible.The main force of the Japanese army in Taierzhuang was originally a remnant of the defeated army withdrawn from North China, and the morale was completely lost, and the combat effectiveness had dropped to the extreme.Under the fierce pursuit of the main force of the Eighth Route Army and the desperate interception of the armored division and cavalry division, the Japanese army was finally completely defeated.The main force of more than 100,000 Japanese troops was annihilated successively, and nearly 100,000 people were defeated, and in the end, only tens of thousands of remnants of the defeated army successfully fled back to Xuzhou.After this battle, the Japanese army in Xuzhou was greatly damaged.On the Western Front, the Eighth Route Army also progressed smoothly, taking the opportunity to recover Dangshan, and then continued to advance in the direction of Xuzhou along the Longhai Railway.At this point, the Japanese army in Xuzhou was only about 100,000 people, and was forced to retreat near Xuzhou City, and the Japanese base camp was furious, and strictly ordered Gangcun Ningci to hold Xuzhou and block the main force of the Eighth Route Army from moving south.aa2705221: