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The art of war has clouds: "Good keepers, hiding under the nine lands."
During the Battle of Wuhan during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Song Xilian led more than 30,000 people to get out of danger under the unfavorable situation of being blocked by a large river in front of him and surrounded by Japanese troops on three sides, east, west, and north. Do not fire a shot, do not damage a person, fully interpret what is called "good keeper, hidden under the nine lands"
On the afternoon of October 24, 1938, Song Xilian, commander of the 71st Army, who was commanding operations on the front line of Shawo and Xiaojieling in Dabie Mountain, suddenly received a call from Sun Lianzhong, commander-in-chief of the 2nd Group Army, ordering him to immediately abandon his position and move to the area west of Zhongxiang via the huayuan, Yunmeng, and Jingshan lines.
For this retreat, Song Xilian had already had a premonition.
Just 2 hours before Sun Lianzhong called, Song Xilian had received information that the southern huzong stationed in the Xinyang and Luoshan areas had abandoned Xinyang without permission.
Song Xilian, who was familiar with the war situation, knew very well that Xinyang was a key point in the Jiangbei battlefield of the Battle of Wuhan, and if the Japanese army wanted to attack Wuhan, it must eat the south of Huzong before it could move west. However, the consequences of Hu Zongnan's unauthorized abandonment of his position were serious, which meant that the 71st and 30th Armies that were blocking the Japanese army in the northeast of Xinyang would be surrounded by the Japanese army. For this reason, retreat is sooner or later.
As an old classmate of the same Huangpu Phase I, Song Xilian still knows Hu Zongnan better, and his biggest problem is that he cares too much about the little family foundation in his hands. The troops led by Hu Zongnan were the best in terms of both the quality of the soldiers and the weapons and equipment, but if they wanted to fight, there would be attrition, and Hu Zongnan must have seen the heavy casualties of his troops and was afraid to fight. But abandoning Xinyang without authorization, his troops were saved, but what about the other troops? What about the victory or defeat at the Battle of Wuhan?
Just as Song Xilian was thinking, Tian Zhennan, commander of the 30th Army stationed in Shawo and Xiaojieling with the 71st Army, broke in and told Song Xilian another piece of news: After Hu Zongnan abandoned Xinyang, the westward Japanese army had moved south to Anlu, Yunmeng, Xiaogan, and Hanchuan, and Hu Zongnan had already fled to Nanyang with his troops.
Although he was fully prepared for the evil consequences of Hu Zongnan's unauthorized abandonment of Xinyang, Song Xilian was still surprised that Hu Zongnan had fled to Nanyang.
In Song Xilian's view, Hu Zongnan's garrison in Xinyang had two outcomes, one was to fight to the death and not retreat, and finally the whole army was destroyed; the other was to take the initiative to retreat, and then stick to the Pingjingguan and Tongbai fronts, and use the geographical advantages here to gradually withdraw south or west of the 71st Army and the 30th Army. As long as the main force exists, it can still use the geographical advantages of Dabie Mountain and Tongbai Mountain to negotiate with the Japanese army, and it is difficult to say whether the victory or defeat of the Battle of Wuhan will be won. However, Hu Zongnan abandoned Pingjing Pass and directly withdrew to Nanyang, which meant that he did not care about the death or death of friendly troops and the victory or defeat of the Battle of Wuhan, and only had his own little belongings in his eyes, which was a big taboo in the army. I don't know how President Jiang will deal with it in the future?
After Tian Zhen left south, Song Xilian immediately arranged for a retreat, and the remaining 20,000 men and horses of the 71st Army after a bitter battle took advantage of the night to begin the retreat. At this time, Song Xilian received a call from Zhong Song, the commander of the 61st Division assigned to the 71st Army, and asked the 61st Division to retreat together with the 71st Army, song Xilian agreed, and ranked the 61st Division in the first order of march when retreating.
Song Xilian The picture comes from the Internet
After a night of marching, the troops finally came to the road from Huang'an to the garden, and the sky had begun to light up. But at this time, Song Xilian suddenly made a surprising decision, that is, the troops were not allowed to rest, and they continued to march in four columns.
Song Xilian actually took a lot of risk in making this decision. Because the Japanese planes will definitely bomb after dawn, and the road from Huang'an to the garden is flanked by plains, there is no place to hide, once the Japanese planes fly to bomb, the troops must lose a lot. But Song Xilian's idea is that the biggest problem at this time is how to quickly get rid of the Pursuit of the Japanese Army, only by speeding up the speed of the march can it unexpectedly jump out of the encirclement circle of the Japanese Army, if you are afraid of this and that, delay the speed of the march, once caught up by the Japanese army, the casualties caused will be far greater than the casualties caused by the bombing of the Japanese aircraft.
What made Song Xilian and all the soldiers feel strange was that after dawn, the Japanese planes did come, but they turned a blind eye to this army of more than 30,000 people, neither strafing nor bombing, but continued to fly forward.
"When things go wrong, there will be demons."
After thinking about it, Song Xilian believed that the reason why these Japanese aircraft turned a blind eye to their troops was by no means because they were soft-hearted, but because they wanted to blow up all the bridges and ferries on the edge of the Han River and cut off their own back roads. It seems that the Japanese army's plot is very big!
Sure enough, soon after, Song Xilian's judgment was verified, and the Japanese aircraft blew up all the bridges and ferries on the Han River, and the back road of his 30,000 troops had been cut off.
At this time, Song Xilian understood why the Japanese army did not pursue themselves when they retreated, because they already knew that they would be blocked by the Han River. Nowadays, there are great rivers in the front and pursuing soldiers in the back, and the situation is becoming more and more severe. Song Xilian fell into deep thought.
At this moment, the troops came down to report that the 61st Division of the first echelon had found it impossible to cross the river when it reached the river, and had gone west, and the vanguard of the 71st Army asked for instructions on the next course of action.
Will it follow the 61st Division westward or choose another direction of breakthrough? The sound of gunfire coming from the west side of the garden told Song Xilian that the road for the 61st Division's westward retreat was probably no longer clear at this time, and even if he led his troops to open a bloody alley to highlight the siege, it would also penetrate into the pockets of the Japanese army attacking Wuhan west along the Yangtze River, so it was absolutely impossible to go west.
Just as Song Xilian was struggling to think about the route of the breakthrough, his subordinates came again to report that Xiao Zhichu's troops of the 44th Army, which had retreated to the Han River, and some other scattered troops who had broken through the siege, totaled 4,000 or 5,000 people, and the 71st Army demanded a breakthrough together with the 71st Army.
Clear-eyed people know that in this unfavorable situation, the smaller the number of people, the more certain they are to break through. Although the Japanese army has surpassed the attack and formed a siege of the Chinese army in the three aspects of the east, west and north, after all, the Japanese army has too few troops, and there are still gaps, as long as it is broken into pieces, it can still break through the siege. But now, he already has more than 20,000 people (Zhong Song's 61st Division has broken through), plus Xiao Zhichu's troops, this is more than 30,000 people, so many troops want to disperse the breakthrough, this is more difficult than not much. However, Song Xilian decisively told his subordinates to allow these people to follow the 71st Army, and there was only one requirement, that is, they must obey their own orders.
After receiving a positive reply, Song Xilian immediately summoned the officers of various departments to a meeting, at which Song Xilian first informed everyone of the enemy's situation. At this time, the Han River in the south could not be crossed, the road to the west was no longer clear, and the enemy troops in the east were moving west along the Yangtze River and were gradually moving closer to the Han River Valley, fortunately, the enemy in the north did not arrive, and now there was only one road left, that is, the northeast direction of the garden. Song Xilian's strategy was to first hide the troops in the mountains of Sanlicheng, Xuanhuadian and Qiliping, northeast of the garden, which were high and densely forested and the terrain was complex, which was conducive to the concealment of the troops, and then when the time was ripe, they would highlight the heavy siege.
After Song Xilian's order was issued, some officers proposed to rest for half a day before acting, but Song Xilian refused. The timing was fleeting, and if the Japanese army behind them caught up with them in the half day of rest, they would really face the disadvantage of a battle.
In fact, the reason why Song Xilian was so decisive was more deeply considered.
Thinking about it in another way, what does a long-war and tired army want most at this time? Definitely a break. The Japanese generals had long known through aircraft reconnaissance the embarrassment that Song Xilian's troops were facing at this time, so their judgment should be that the 71st Army was resting in the garden area at this time. He did the opposite, not only did not rest, but immediately broke through, which hit the Japanese army with a cold defense.
Sure enough, when Song Xilian's more than 30,000 people suddenly disappeared into the garden area, the Japanese general was dumbfounded, where did this unit go? Is it still impossible to go to heaven and earth?
Just when the Japanese army did not react, several reconnaissance soldiers sent by Song Xilian sent back news that no enemy intelligence had been found in the northeast direction of the garden. Therefore, Song Xilian led his troops to rush forward and came to the Sanli City and Xuanhuadian area overnight.
However, just when everyone thought that Song Xilian was going to lead his troops through the Xinyang (Xinyang) Huangchuan (Huangchuan) Highway and completely break through the siege, Song Xilian suddenly issued two orders in a row:
First, the radio stations are all silent, and the communication between the various departments is changed to telephone or signal troops.
Second, the large army remained unchanged, paid attention to concealment, and sent troops to closely monitor and guard all roads.
Song Xilian's intentions were clear, and although the army had now disengaged from the Japanese army, it was not at all clear about the next move of the Japanese army. At this time, it is better to move than to be quiet, and if you rush to contact friendly forces or break through, it is very likely to expose the objectives of the troops and make the breakthrough operation ineffective.
Fortunately, the troops obtained 400,000 kilograms of military food in the Sanlicheng area, and there was no risk of food shortage in the short term.
This is Song Xilian in a psychological contest with Japanese generals.
According to the japanese general's vision, although the whereabouts of the Chinese army are unknown, no matter where they are hiding, the ultimate goal is to break through, as long as the Chinese army moves, it is bound to expose the target, and at that time, the Japanese army will come together. And Song Xilian, once again, did the opposite, not only did not move, but hid for 4 days.
During the 4 days of waiting, Song Xilian finally waited for the information he hoped to get. Since the Japanese army did not find out where the Chinese army was hiding, the defense of the Xinhuang Highway was not tight, and the armored vehicles only patrolled during the day and did not move at night, which was the case during the 4 days that the Chinese army hid.
Opportunities are fleeting. Although the Chinese army is well hidden, but after a long time, who dares to say that it will never be exposed? To this end, Song Xilian immediately made a decision and decided to break through overnight.
Under Song Xilian's orders, the various units of the 71st Army moved northward one after another according to the instructions, and strictly stipulated that no trace should be left during the movement. At 10 o'clock in the evening, all the units of the 71st Army had reached the designated position on the Xinhuang Highway. Under Song Xilian's order, the various departments began to break through in an orderly manner. Four hours later, more than 30,000 troops had crossed the Xinhuang Highway.
Fortunately, shortly after the Chinese army crossed the Xinhuang Highway, three Japanese armored vehicles drove by. It turned out that just when Song Xilian led his troops to break through, its movements were discovered by the Japanese special forces and immediately reported to the Commander of the Japanese Army in Xinyang. The Japanese commander immediately sent out armored vehicles, but it was too late, and the Chinese army had already broken through by this time.
After the breakthrough, Song Xilian did not let down his vigilance, he ordered the troops not to rest, to continue to advance, and all units should still be prepared for battle to avoid accidents.
The so-called step by step is slow and slow, the Japanese army learned of the intelligence hidden in Sanli City and Xuanhuadian by Song Xilian's troops, first sent troops to search, and when they wanted to send troops to pursue after confirming the information, Song Xilian had already led his troops to wade through the Huai River and entered the Zhumadian and Queshan areas in Henan.
Only at this time, Song Xilian was relieved. This means that the breakthrough has been successful.
Song Xilian's textbook command in this breakthrough made all the generals, including Chiang Kai-shek, praise them.
He first marched in 4 columns along the road during the day, seemingly risky, but solved a problem of marching speed. The so-called "two evils take the lesser", in the case of no casualties, Song Xilian chose speed.
Then, after Zhong Song led the 61st Division to the west, Song Xilian realized that it was indispensable to break through to the west, and the Japanese army would never leave such a large opening for the Chinese army to easily break through, even if there was a mouth, it must be a trap. To this end, Song Xilian did not act according to the intentions of the Japanese army, but hid it on the spot. In this way, you will change from the light to the dark, from passive to active. Moreover, despite the severe fatigue of the troops, he forced the troops to move quickly, because he knew that at this critical juncture, every minute and second was a matter of life and death.
Then, Song Xilian ordered his troops to move in the opposite direction of the Japanese army, not only did not retreat westward from the Japanese army and broke through in the direction of Wuhan, but turned northeast, hiding in the sanli city and Xuanhuadian area, and decisively broke through to henan when the time was favorable. Although the Japanese army is fierce, after all, it is insufficient, and its encirclement seems to be tight, but in fact, there are gaps everywhere.
Finally, after Song Xilian led his troops into Henan, he did not let down his vigilance, but continued to advance until he completely got rid of the threat of the Japanese army.
If Song Xilian was fighting the Japanese army in the Battle of Fujinshan, then in the Xinhuang breakthrough, Song Xilian was fighting with the Japanese army. Afterwards, it turned out that whether it was fighting courage or fighting spirit, Song Xilian won, and Song Xilian's honor as a famous general of the War of Resistance was thus laid.
However, Hu Zongnan, who claimed to be Chiang Kai-shek's best student, after defeating Nanyang, in order to shirk the guilt of abandoning Xinyang without authorization, actually put all the responsibility on Chen Dingxun, commander of the 45th Army of the Sichuan Army.
Although Chen Dingxun struggled with bitter arguments, he was still punished by dismissal and retention, while Hu Zongnan did not receive any punishment. As for the guilt of abandoning Xinyang without authorization and causing great disadvantage to the Battle of Wuhan, it was over.
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