Chapter 409: Guangxi Clique Air Force

The 200th Division is a large formation, possessing over twenty thousand men, almost equivalent to a Japanese Army division.

If this unit is committed to Taierzhuang, it will be a fresh force that will produce unexpected results.

"Excellent!"

"With the 200th Division, our subsequent battles will be more favorable; this unit is currently almost the best army in the entire country."

The 200th Division can currently be considered the best army on the Chinese side, even compared to the Sichuan Army 22nd Group Army and several other group armies.

They are still lacking in terms of equipment; first of all, the Sichuan Army group armies have no tank units, which is a point where they are inferior to the 200th Division.

Subsequently, Li Delin shared another piece of good news.

These men are all old subordinates of Li Delin and Bai Zhuge, and many of the pilots among them studied at the Japanese Mingye Army Aviation School.

The sun rose, the first rays of sunlight spilled onto the earth, and in the dawn's light, countless blades of grass bent their soft bodies as low to the ground as possible.

The 3rd Squadron Commander is Wu Ruliu (3rd Class of Guangdong Aviation School, native of Xinhui, Guangdong).

All three group armies are placed on the South Line, joining some other forces, such as the New Fourth Army and the Northeast Army, to block the Japanese Army from moving north.

Central China Area Army Commander Hata Shunroku committed three reinforced divisions into the battle.

"Isn't our Guangxi Clique Air Force under the unified command of the central government? That old fellow Donald said he wanted to provide training for our Guangxi Clique Air Force."

In this way, in the fighting at Xuzhou, both the Chinese and Japanese sides have armored troops and air forces facing off.

On the contrary, on the North Line, the forces commanded by Terauchi Hisaichi, the Segaya Detachment and the Isoya Rensuke 10th Division, rapidly routed the defense lines of the Sichuan Army and the Lu Army Third Group Army.

As for the Japanese Army on the South Line, the attacking power of the four divisions was indeed very strong; once the attack began, the three Guangxi Clique group armies really could not hold them off!

He ordered Inaba Shiro and the others to accelerate their marching speed as the Guangxi Clique Troops withdrew; this, on one hand, allowed the Japanese Army to rapidly occupy Mingguang, Dingyuan, Huaiyuan, and the Anhui Province stronghold of Bengbu, pushing northward.

Now that the Guangxi Clique Air Force has been reorganized by the central government, it has one squadron, the 3rd Squadron, which oversees two flights, the 7th Squadron and the 8th Squadron respectively.

After determining the overall strategy, everyone evacuated Xuzhou and began making operational arrangements. At the 22nd Group Army headquarters in Lincheng.

After the Japanese aircraft departed, the Segaya Detachment concentrated its artillery fire—over one hundred mountain guns, field guns, and heavy field artillery pieces, along with more than twenty tanks and armored vehicles—and launched a fierce assault on Teng County.

At this moment, Teng County felt like the oppressive stillness before a storm. Looking at it, the grass growing in the soil seemed to sense the thick, murderous aura as well.

7th Squadron Commander Lv Tianlong (1st Class of Guangxi Aviation School, native of Luchuan, Guangxi, Overseas Chinese returned from Nanyang);

8th Squadron Commander Lu Guangqiu (6th Class of Guangdong Aviation School, native of Tiandong, Guangxi);

At this time, the Guangxi Clique Troops began to sally forth from the mountainous areas, adopting a combination of Movement Warfare and Guerrilla Warfare to constantly harass the Japanese Army, while the New Fourth Army also ambushed Japanese supply lines behind enemy lines, pulling up rails, destroying roads, and so on.

To cope with the Japanese offensive on the South Line, Li Delin dispatched his own Guangxi Clique Troops to intercept them.

Yu Hua looked at the various generals, "Gentlemen, I have already formulated the plan for this campaign; everyone, please make arrangements according to these operational blueprints."

The group responded in unison, and everyone pledged that they would certainly fight the Japanese well and would not disrupt this encirclement and annihilation plan.

After the Chinese side finished their preparations, the Japanese Central China Area Army and Pingjin Area Army also launched attacks on the Xuzhou region almost simultaneously.

These armies all possessed air forces, among which the strongest were the Guangxi Clique Air Force and the Guangdong Air Force.

Inaba Shiro's 6th Division was temporarily placed under the command of Hata Shunroku, so four divisions were deployed directly on the South Line.

Mentioning the air force units, the generals on the scene all clapped and cheered; this was truly good news.

When Bai Zhuge learned it was the Guangxi Clique Air Force, he felt a pang of distress in his heart; these were all sons of the Guangxi Clique Clique, and now that they were coming to fight in Xuzhou, he didn't know how many would survive.

At the same time, the 5th Division and the Sakamoto Detachment also successfully encircled Teng County, with the Sichuan Army 124th Division and the remnants of the 122nd Division defending Teng County.

Before the July 7th Incident, among the local forces were the Guangxi Army, the Sichuan Army, the Guangdong Army, and the Jin-Sui Army, etc.

At the Nanjing Command in Hankou, there was only one small formation guarding the airspace over the Hanyang region, with no spare fighter planes to head north.

The Guangxi Clique Troops gave way, the Japanese Army marched north all the way, and when the news of victory reached Shanghai, Hata Shunroku was as happy as a child.

The Fifth War Zone Guangxi Clique Troops had three group armies: the 11th Group Army, with Li Pinxian as Commander-in-Chief; the 16th Group Army, with Xia Wei as Commander-in-Chief; and the 21st Group Army, with Liao Lei as Commander-in-Chief.

However, on the other hand, this also stretched the Japanese supply lines, and the Japanese logistics units needed to transport military supplies to the front-line troops continuously.

At the same time, the birds flying in groups in the sky and in the fields had now disappeared; they seemed to have sensed that danger was approaching.

Bai Zhuge was very clear about this point; now that the Nanjing Command was sending an air force, could it be that they had obtained planes from abroad?!

Li Delin cleared his throat, "This aircraft formation is our Guangxi Clique Air Force."

Bai Zhuge stepped forward and asked softly, "Old Li, which air force is coming to Xuzhou?!"

For a time, the Japanese offensive on the South Line fell into a stalemate because the dense river network on the South Line was unfavorable for the advance of Japanese mechanized units.

He ordered the front-line troops to withdraw rapidly to the west, clearing the front of the Jin-Pu Railway.

"Gentlemen, we will have air force units participating in our operations at Taierzhuang this time."

Yu Hua, based on the Heavenly Furnace Tactics used by Xue Laohu in the Ninth War Zone, made some improvements and gave them to the Sichuan Army to use in the Fifth War Zone.

"Remember, this operation must feign being routed by the Japanese, and then rapidly move to the flanks of the Japanese formation."

The 7th Squadron is stationed at Xiaogan Airport, and the 8th Squadron is stationed at Xinyang Airport; now the planes of both squadrons have received orders to fly to Guide Airport.

"Please rest assured, Adjutant Yu, we will certainly proceed according to the plan."

"Now that the training is over, Principal has transferred them to the Xuzhou region."

After Li Delin received this news, he immediately adjusted the defensive posture on the South Line, because the Japanese devils' Weaponry was stronger than that of the Guangxi Clique Troops, and Li Delin knew well that he would suffer if he went head-to-head.

The first to attack Teng County was the Segaya Detachment; the Pingjin Area Army assembled fifty aircraft to conduct round-robin bombing of Teng County, setting the entire city ablaze.

The Jie River and North Shahe positions set up by the Sichuan Army outside Teng County, as well as several hilltop strongholds, held out until ten in the morning before they were all lost, and three battalions of Sichuan Army soldiers were killed in action.

The 9th Division and 13th Division, plus the 101st Division—these three divisions were also reinforced with some artillery units and armored vehicle units.

The South Line!

After the Segaya Detachment took the outer positions of Teng County, the Sakamoto Detachment bypassed them to Puyang Mountain in Teng County and launched a fierce assault on a regiment of the Sichuan Army guarding the area.

Regimental Commander Yao Chaolun, who was guarding the position, followed the plan: after blocking the Japanese Army for a while, he began to lay a minefield on the mountain and withdrew his troops into the city.

(End of chapter)