Chapter 371 Ru'an Supply Line

After the 14th Division went south, it did not immediately go to the front line of the Yangtze River between the Feng army and the Anhui army, but stayed in Henan to suppress the bandits, which made many people incomprehensible.

Many people believe that the 14th Division took huge human and material resources to form the elite troops of the Soviet Army, and the resources invested by the 14th Division even exceeded the combined resources of the 11th Division and the 12th Division. Such an army should shoulder more important responsibilities.

Where is the most important thing for the Soviets?

The Yangtze River front line!

Especially Jinling and Anqing, these two places are the bridgeheads of the Yangtze River defense line of the Anhui army, attracting the main forces of the two armies of Feng and Anhui!

Troops like the 14th Division should go to places like Jinling or Anqing. How can they go to Henan to suppress bandits?

However, if outsiders don't understand, it won't change the decision of the Fengjun Command, or can't change Zhao Dongyun's decision!

It is precisely because the 14th Division is so important that Zhao Dongyun wants this unit to officially invest in front of the cruel southern battlefield to accumulate more combat experience, let the soldiers see blood, let the officers adapt to the atmosphere of the battlefield, and the worst thing is to let the troops increase the experience of live-fire shooting!

Even under the circumstances that many senior generals of the Feng army did not understand, the 14th Division continued to suppress bandits. From the beginning of its arrival in Henan, the troops of the 14th Division carried out a lot of activities in Henan, especially in southern Henan, and put into heavy troops to suppress all the informal armed forces encountered, whether it was bandits or The civil groups and security groups organized by the landlord gentry themselves are among the clean-up.

In the face of the suppression of the 14th Division, most of the above-mentioned informal armed forces chose to surrender, especially those civil groups, security regiments and other local armed forces organized by landlords and gentry. After all, a considerable part of these local armed forces are also forced to protect themselves. Not everyone is quite a bandit or a warlord. Ambition.

These surrendered local armed forces are also simple to deal with. On the one hand, they dismissed the old and the weak, and selected the young and strong to be integrated into patrol forces, which made the number of patrol troops in Henan rise rapidly. At the beginning, there were only the 21st Patrol Regiment, the 22nd Patrol Regiment, the 23rd Patrol Regiment and the 24th Patrol Regiment. The four unsatisfied patrol regiments of the police, a total of 4,000 people. Now not only have the above four patrol regiments been added one after another, but also a new patrol regiment and a patrol cavalry company. The total number of patrol troops under the Zhengzhou Garrison Command has reached more than 8,000, and the number of patrol troops under its jurisdiction is second only to Fengtian Province.

Those bandits and local armed forces have chosen to fight, and naturally there are also those who choose to resist stubbornly like Qi Yunzhuang. Naturally, these local armed forces who choose to resist are not good there. They are all regular troops sent by the local 14th Division and the Third Army one by one by one.

In less than half a month, most of the local armed forces in Henan, especially bandits and civil groups in southern Henan, have been wiped out!

With the elimination of the local armed forces in Henan, it also means that the Soviet system has truly achieved the rule of the whole Henan.

"At present, the public security situation in southern Henan has been greatly improved, and a series of illegal armed forces in the area have been devastated by our army. In this case, the safety of our army's logistics transportation supply lines in this area can also be preliminarily guaranteed!" In Xiyuan Juren Hall, Fang Biyong said so with a report.

"Although some small-scale illegal armed forces have fled into the Dabie Mountain area, the Zhengzhou Police Headquarters has sent two patrol regiments to continue to clean up the Dabie Mountains. Even if they can't completely solve these escaped illegal armed forces for a while, it is enough to guard against him. They are threatening our 'Ru'an supply line'. Fang Biyong continued to report.

Zhao Dongyun said, "This time, the security strengthening operation in southern Henan is still effective, and the 14th Division is not bad. However, the Ru'an supply line is related to the strategic security of tens of thousands of troops of the First Army, and the 14th Division does not know that it has been stationed in southern Henan, and always needs to continue to move east to An. The subsequent security maintenance of the Ru'an supply line requires not only the vigorous maintenance of the Third Army, but also requires the cooperation of the local police force!"

The so-called Ru'an supply line, that is, the land-based foot transportation supply line from Runing Prefecture to Anqing Prefecture. At the end of last year, the quartermastership Department proposed to further move the supply transfer center south to Xinyang, so that the or imported ordnances produced by the Fu factory can reach Xinyang through the Jingfeng Railway and Jinghan Railway, and then From here, it passed through Gwangju, Liu'an Prefecture and Anqing Prefecture and was finally delivered to the first army.

This 400-kilometer-long supply line is acceptable in terms of terrain because it bypasses Dabie Mountain, but although it has been infected with Dabie Mountain, there are many small bandits in Dabie Mountain at this moment. These bandits are certainly not worth mentioning in the war, but if they rob the logistics of the Feng army If you lose the team, it will also be a trouble.

So although the 14th Division has eliminated all the large and informal armed forces on this line, there are still many small bandits who have fled to the Dabie Mountains, so although this supply line has been successfully opened, the security work cannot be ignored.

Fang Biyong said: "The Zhengzhou Garrison Command has sent two patrol regiments to station on the front line of Runing and Gwangju, and will be ready to enter the Dabie Mountain operation in the near future. Lu'an is stationed with the regular army of our first army. I believe there will be no big problem!"

Zhao Dongyun said, "The task of the First Army is heavy, and now we can draw troops to station in Liu'an, but together with the subsequent war, we must have no time to take into account the rear Liu'an and other places, and the maintenance task of the rear supply line still needs to be undertaken by the patrol force. Hasn't the 28th patrol regiment in Anhui been formed and sent to Liu'an? Although Henan Ruzhou and Gwangju now have one division and two patrol regiments of the Third Army, the situation in Dabie Mountain is complex and the situation cannot be underestimated. It is rumored that the Zhengzhou Garrison Command should continue to strengthen the maintenance force of the Ru'an supply line!"

Fang Biyong was also a little puzzled after hearing this: "Let them send another patrol regiment to station and change the line. In this way, there will be only two patrol regiments and a patrol cavalry company left in other directions of Henan. I'm afraid it will be difficult to suppress the place!"

Zhao Dongyun didn't care: "It doesn't matter. Now the five patrol police regiments in Henan are all full, and the Beijing-Han line does not need their patrol forces to be responsible. In addition, the previous large-scale local armed forces have been cleared. If it is just to suppress the place and maintain public security, the two patrol police regiments are already very sufficient. If you say the problem again, there is still a third army!"

Zhao Dongyun is still more confident in the control of the situation in Henan. Although Henan was in a mess in the past, it was because neither the Feng army nor the Hubei army nor even the Southern Federation had the intention to manage local affairs before. The same is true for the Feng army to deal with each other's big enemies. After entering Henan, the Third Army was limited by strategic limitations and has always been stationed on the Beijing-Han line, and it can be said that it has not paid much attention to other prefectures and counties in Henan.

It was precisely because of the lack of the attention of the Feng army that gave the opportunity for the local armed forces in Henan to develop and be arrogant. However, when the Feng army stopped the war in Jiangbei and had a strategic need to open up a supply line to maintain Ru'an, it did not hesitate to vigorously strangle the local illegal armed forces in Henan.

Now the local armed forces in Henan have basically been cleared, leaving only a few bandit forces in the Dabie Mountains, so the patrol force of the Zhengzhou Garrison Command is enough to control the situation. Even if something goes wrong, there is still a third army.

The Third Army did not dare to transfer the main force to leave the Beijing-Han line, but there was still no problem in withdrawing several infantry battalions to suppress bandits. It was just because there was no need for it.

Therefore, even in the worst case, the Soviet system can ensure the control of Henan and the complete control of the Beijing-Han line. In this case, Zhao Dongyun naturally focuses on the safety of the Ru'an supply line and continues to transfer troops to maintain the safety of the supply line.

"Now that the situation in southern Henan has calmed down, the Ru'an supply line has been opened. What is the follow-up combat plan of the 14th Division? What is your opinion of your staff?" Zhao Dongyun closed the report on the strengthening of public security in southern Henan and asked Fang Biyong.

Fang Biyong was also slightly stunned when he heard this, but he did not expect that Zhao Dongyun would directly ask the follow-up combat arrangements of the 14th Division.

You should know that Zhao Dongyun is a busy person. The military affairs he usually inquires about generally involve strategic directions, and he rarely says that he will pay attention to the specific movements of a certain force.

Generally speaking, Zhao Dongyun usually asks, "How is the expansion and consolidation of the army going?" What is the situation of the First Army in southern Anhui?" What strategic plan does the staff have for the subsequent river crossing? Even if you ask about a specific unit, you usually ask about the general situation. For example, in the Chuzhou Campaign, you asked about the situation of the Third Division? Did you win? But it is generally not asked what operational plan the Third Division has made to attack Chuzhou.

That is to say, Zhao Dongyun generally does not ask about the specific combat plan of a certain unit.

However, Fang Biyong is relieved when he thinks about it. It is not surprising that the 14th Division, as a force that has met many expectations, has received the attention of Zhao Dongyun.

If the 14th Division is placed under the jurisdiction of the First Army or the Second Army or the Third Army, then the Combat Office cannot directly obtain the division's operational plan report, but the 14th Division is not currently under the jurisdiction of any army, but directly under the direct jurisdiction of the commander-in-chief like several other units of the Feng Army.

There are three armies in the Feng army, but there are also many troops directly under the command, such as the first cavalry brigade stationed in Chahar, the fifth mixed brigade stationed in Tianjin Horse Factory, the seventh mixed brigade stationed in Nanyuan, the ninth mixed brigade stationed in Tangshan, the 10th mixed brigade stationed in Shenyang, and the tenth mixed brigade stationed in Shijiazhuang. A mixed brigade, trained in Nanyuan of Beijing, the 15th Division, which has not yet formed an army, has been transferred to the 14th Division in Henan. The above troops are all under the direct jurisdiction of the command.

That is to say, the 14th Division is not responsible for the Third Army or the First Army, but directly to the Command, whose operations are directly responsible by the Operations Department under the General Staff of the Command.

So Fang Biyong is still relatively clear about the specific combat plan of the 14th Division!

"According to the operational plan of the Operations Department, at the end of the security operations in southern Henan, the 14th Division will rest in Gwangju for about half a month, and then move east to the areas of Liuhe and Hefei in Anhui, and then decide to reinforce Anqing or Jinling according to the development of the war situation. Regarding the strategic arrangement of the division, I agree with Director Shi of the Operations Department, that is, as the strategic reserve of our army!"

Fang Biyong and Shi Yanglin, director of the Operations Department, are still relatively cautious and conservative. They regard the 14th Division as a strategic reserve, which fully embodies the basic quality of a general: not winning before defeat!

Their top priority is not what to do after the victory after launching the cross-river battle, but to first consider what to do once they encounter setbacks in the cross-river battle, and even considering that the cross-river troops are defeated, causing the front-line troops to counterattack and collapse, then the Feng army will need a strong department. The team is coming to make a frenzy!

And this unit is the 14th Division!

After hearing this, Zhao Dongyun also nodded. He still agreed with Fang Biyong and Shi Yanglin's caution. After all, no one can explain the things on the battlefield. Although the Feng army won a series of victories in the early stage, no one knows whether the Feng army can continue to win in the future.

When Duan Qirui went south to fight last year, he was not in a good spirit. His fourth division went south to fight in five provinces and was not defeated after dozens of battles. However, in December last year, he was still cleaned up by himself in Jiangbei.

And who can guarantee that Zhao Dongyun is not the next Duan Qirui, and the third division is not the next fourth division!

So the necessary caution is still needed!

It is only necessary to be cautious, but it is too wasteful to put the main combat power of the 14th Division, which has high hopes, in Hefei, 100 miles away from the front line.