Outside the north gate of Wuyuan, the Japanese army formed an independent second brigade headquarters.
Abe Kihide hurriedly walked into the communications room and asked the female radio operator: "Still can't contact the division headquarters?"
The female radio operator quickly stood up and paused again, and then Hayi said: "There is still no response from the division headquarters."
"Baga, something must have happened." Norihide Abe cursed and hurriedly walked out of the communication room with his saber. At this time, a major officer hurriedly walked in.
"Your Excellency, General." The Japanese Major suddenly reported, "The counterattack of the Chinese Army has been repulsed by us."
The thirty-fifth Army's counterattack just now was carried out from four directions at the same time. The counterattack from the other three directions went smoothly, but only the counterattack against the north gate was unexpected, because there was an old devil named Abe Norihide at the north gate. He was personally in charge, and the old Japanese had two infantry brigades, so the counterattack was not smooth.
However, Abe Norihide did not know the situation in the other three directions.
In particular, the situation in the east gate direction made Abe Norihide very worried.
Hearing that the counterattack had been repulsed, Abe Norihide immediately nodded happily and said, "Yoshi."
The Japanese Major asked again: "General, do you need to continue attacking Wuyuan North Gate?"
Abe Kihide hesitated for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Don't rush, let's check the situation first." After a pause, he added, "Order all infantry squadrons to be on full alert and beware of a second counterattack by the enemy."
"Hai." The Japanese Major nodded heavily and turned around.
As soon as the Japanese Major left, another Japanese Major came out of the communication room.
"Your Excellency, General!" the Japanese Major reported. "We have just received cavalry communications from the 11th Infantry Regiment, the 12th Infantry Regiment and the 3rd Infantry Brigade. Now we can confirm that the China Army launched simultaneous attacks from four directions. Counterattack, and except for our northern gate which withstood the counterattack of the Chinese Army, the other three directions have been defeated."
It should be said that the counterattack of the 35th Army greatly exceeded the expectations of the little devil.
The little devil had no idea that under such difficult circumstances, the Thirty-fifth Army would secretly leave a considerable number of troops. Neither Kuroda Shigenori nor Abe Norihide had expected it. Therefore, Suddenly hearing the news of the 35th Army's full-scale counterattack, Abe Norihide seemed very surprised.
Abe Kihide originally thought that the 35th Army just wanted to break out.
But he didn't expect that the 35th Army did not want to break out, but wanted to counterattack in an all-out way!
"Nani?" Abe Kihide said in shock, "The Chinese army counterattacked from four directions at the same time, and except for the north gate, the imperial army's troops in the other three directions have been defeated?"
"Hai.
"The Japanese Major paused and said, "That's the fact. "
However, it was not a fluke that Norihide Abe gained the reputation of the Flower of Famous Generals. After just a moment, the old devil quickly calmed down. Then, the old devil further thought that the entire Mongolian army was in a state of confusion. In danger, because except for the two infantry brigades he led, the rest of the troops participating in the Wuyuan Battle had actually lost their command.
No matter how well-equipped or well-trained an army is, once it loses effective command, it will immediately become vulnerable. Therefore, the top priority is to harass the troops in the other three directions as soon as possible, so that the troops participating in the Wuyuan Battle All troops resumed command, and then it would not be too late to decide whether to withdraw to Baotou or continue to attack Wuyuan.
However, the radio stations of each army can no longer be contacted. Abe Norihide can roughly guess the reason. It is probably because the Chinese counterattack was too sudden, and the Japanese troops in the other three directions were caught off guard. They were not clear at first. situation, so they did not communicate with each other in time. When they found that the situation was wrong and tried to contact them, the Chinese had already called, and they were not given time to establish communication at all.
It is for this reason that the troops in the other three directions will send cavalry messengers.
Therefore, if Abe Norihide wants to collect the defeated troops in the other three directions, he can only rely on the cavalry troops.
At that moment, Norihide Abe called Shigeru Katagiri, commander of the First Cavalry Brigade, and said: "Katatiri-kun, I have to tell you a very unfortunate news. A quarter of an hour ago, the Chinese Army suddenly launched a full-scale counterattack, and the North Gate Although the counterattack of the Chinese Army was repelled by us, the Imperial Army in the other three directions was in turn defeated by the Chinese Army."
"Nani?" Shigeru Katagiri's reaction was the same as Norihide Abe's, they were both dumbfounded and unbelievable.
Abe Kihide added: "Not only are the troops in the other three directions at the moment in danger of being annihilated, but our route is also in danger of being annihilated. In other words, even the entire army stationed in Mongolia is in danger now. , and the only one who can turn the situation around is your First Cavalry Brigade."
Katagiri Zang immediately paused and said, "Then ask the brigade commander to give the order."
"Yo Xi." Norihide Abe nodded happily and added, "Order your first cavalry brigade to immediately attack in squadron units. Remember, the first task of each cavalry squadron is not to fight the Chinese Army, but to find the remaining ones. The imperial troops from all directions were routed and tried to bring them back as much as possible."
"Hai." Shigeru Katagiri paused and left.
Watching Katagiri Shigeru's figure go away, Abe Norihide slowly walked out of the tent, cast his gaze towards the distant Gohara County town with flames blazing into the sky, and murmured: "I hope it's too late.
"
But, is it really still too late
…
The failure of the North Gate counterattack made the atmosphere at the 35th Army headquarters suddenly tense.
But war is like this. It is impossible to proceed perfectly according to any party's plan at any time. God will always stumble upon you here or there, making the war situation confusing and full of variables. It is precisely because of this , war will always be full of charm.
Just as unpredictable as the battle situation is the human heart.
When the South Gate, West Gate, and East Gate counterattacks went smoothly, when the good news came back to the headquarters, several senior staff members of the headquarters celebrated with joy, and some even did not hesitate to offer extremely disgusting flattery to Xu Rui, but now The situation was reversed. When Beimen's counterattack collapsed, the attitudes of these high-ranking officials immediately changed.
"I have long said that this plan is too idealistic." A senior adviser knocked on the table and said with a complete afterthought, "There are too many settings in the entire combat plan. There are limiting conditions, and every limiting condition must be met before it can ultimately succeed. How can such a plan not fail?"
"What Brother Gao Gong said is absolutely true." Another senior counselor continued, "German strategist Clausewitz once said that an excellent combat plan must be a simple plan, but to be honest, this time Xu The plan drawn up by the chief of staff is really too complicated and too detailed. I don’t know how to describe it... "
"What's so hard to describe?" The words of the third senior counselor sounded even harsher. "I'll just say it bluntly. This plan is just talk on paper. What's the difference between using troops like this and Zhao Kuo during the Warring States Period?" he said. After it was over, the senior counselor said directly to Fu Zuoyi, "Chief Commander, before the situation is completely corrupted and there is still room for recovery, I suggest that you take back the command of the 35th Army immediately, otherwise we will be in big trouble."
That is, the fourth senior counselor continued: "These nine main battalions are the only remaining seeds of our Thirty-Fifth Army. We can no longer use them to waste them with the Japanese. Otherwise, our Thirty-Fifth Army will The army and even the entire Northern Route Army would become useless, and at that time the entire anti-Japanese war situation in Suiyuan would completely collapse."
Several senior staff members at the headquarters were excited and criticized Xu Rui.
Fortunately, Fu Zuoyi was not affected by these high-ranking officials who could only talk.
The reason is very simple, because the entire previous combat process, whether it was the destruction of the Japanese artillery positions, the abandonment of the multi-echelon defense after the Beige blockade, or the final battle for the city wall, almost all developed in perfect accordance with Xu Rui's expectations. , and even the time was exactly the same as Xu Rui’s estimate.
Therefore, Fu Zuoyi has reason to believe that the failure of the North Gate counterattack should not affect the entire counterattack.
"Shut up!" Fu Zuoyi interrupted the cynicism of these senior staff officers without politeness, and said to Xu Rui, "Chief of Staff Xu, don't take what they just said at ease. I trust you completely."
"Thank you, Chief Fu, for your trust." Xu Rui nodded, then turned his attention to the senior counselors, and said calmly, "In addition, I will not hide it from you, the collapse of the North Gate counterattack was indeed within my expectation. , I really didn’t expect that after the Battle of Wuyuan until now, the Japanese still have some remaining strength.”
After a pause, Xu Rui continued: "But so what? Even if the Japs in the north gate have not been defeated, the Japs in the other three directions have been defeated. Now the morale of our 35th Army is like a rainbow, and it has completely turned around. In the counterattack, the Japanese outside the north gate alone, with less than two brigades and already exhausted, can completely defeat the comprehensive counterattack of the nine main battalions of our 35th Army that have been preparing for a long time? That is pure fantasy. !”
Ye Qijie immediately asked: "So, there is no problem in guarding Wuyuan?"
"Of course." Xu Rui said firmly, "There is absolutely no problem in guarding Wuyuan."
Fu Zuoyi couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this. In fact, from the beginning, he and Ye Qijie had never thought about annihilating the Mongolian army or recovering the entire province of Suiyuan. Their goal was just to defend Wuyuan City and the 35th Army. As long as this last base can achieve this goal, the two of them will have nothing more to ask for.
However, those high-ranking officials obviously did not want to let Xu Rui be left alone.
The senior staff officer who just said that Xu Rui was talking about military affairs on paper said: "If I remember correctly, the goal that Chief of Staff Xu set at the beginning was not to defend Wuyuan, but to completely annihilate the Mongolian army, right?"
"That's right." Xu Rui said, "Not only at the beginning, but even now, my goal is still to completely annihilate the Mongolian troops and recover Suiyuan Province. And I will not hide it from you, the situation is still under control. .”