Zhengding County has always been a county that the local Eighth Route Army wanted to capture but did not dare to attack.
The garrison was not very large, with only a thousand Japanese and puppet troops in total.
But Zhengding County is too close to Shijiazhuang.
After the county seat was attacked, the Shijiazhuang garrison could reach Baoding in two or three hours, giving the siege troops a pincer attack from both inside and outside.
Early this morning, the 16th Regiment operating nearby suddenly received an order from its superiors to take all the regiment's equipment and troops and set up an ambush on the road from Zhengding to Shijiazhuang to eliminate all Japanese and puppet troops stationed in Zhengding during the reinforcement period.
When he first saw this order, Captain Wang thought his superiors were joking with him again.
Even if reinforcements are needed, it will be from Shijiazhuang garrison to reinforce Zhengding County.
The Zhengding garrison only has about a thousand people, but the Shijiazhuang garrison has more than 6,000 people. It is impossible for the Zhengding garrison to go to reinforce Shijiazhuang.
After repeated confirmations, he learned that the thunderous Independent Brigade of the Eighth Route Army was coming to attack Shijiazhuang.
In the eyes of other Eighth Route Army troops, the Independent Brigade and the Sole Brigade of Yi Zhong had defeated even the main Japanese divisions. The Shijiazhuang garrison at full strength only numbered over 6,000 people, and half of them were from the Imperial Association Army, which had extremely poor combat effectiveness.
As long as the Independent Brigade takes action, Shijiazhuang will definitely be captured.
Shijiazhuang is in crisis. As the county closest to Shijiazhuang, Zhengding will definitely send troops for reinforcements, and he will have a good opportunity to set up an ambush halfway.
…………
At three o'clock in the morning, Captain Wang was squatting on a high ground in the cold wind to observe the highway.
Six kilometers ahead along the road in front of you is Zhengding County.
If the Japanese and puppet troops were to send troops inside the city, they would be able to get into the pocket formation within an hour at most.
However, the troops began their ambush at eight o'clock in the evening. It has been a full seven hours now, and there is still no movement in Zhengding County, and the so-called reinforcements have not appeared.
The political commissar rubbed his almost frozen hands and couldn't help but remind him.
"Captain...Shijiazhuang has not been attacked."
"The independent brigade mentioned by superiors is still on its way to Shijiazhuang. Since the battle has not started yet and Shijiazhuang is not in danger, the so-called reinforcements will definitely not appear."
"How about we withdraw our troops to the back of the position for repairs first."
"It's leeward, and it'll be warmer than holding the position no matter what."
The regiment leader shook his head. The serious expression on his face showed that he had not relaxed his vigilance because the Independent Brigade was still on the road. He frowned and responded: "If I were a kid, I would definitely not wait for the Independent Brigade to surround Shijiazhuang before deploying troops from Zhengding.
reinforce."
"The Independent Brigade has tens of thousands of infantry and artillery troops. Just the thousands of people in Zhengding County. If they really dare to run into the Independent Brigade's encirclement, they will die without even knowing how they died."
"Furthermore, there are so many troops in the Independent Brigade, and they also carry a lot of heavy equipment. They can only travel by road. The Japanese army must have been aware of their movements long ago."
"The Shijiazhuang garrison will not wait for the independent brigade to attack them. They will definitely mobilize troops in advance to increase the strength of the garrison in the city."
"Let comrades hold on a little longer."
"The superior commander said that after fighting this ambush and cooperating with the independent brigade to defeat Shijiazhuang, we can replace our guns with cannons and equip them with mountain artillery that we could not even imagine before."
"Shijiazhuang has a large reserve of weapons, ammunition and supplies. If we really capture it, the troops can seize some trophies and it will be enough for everyone to have a good year."
At this moment, several beams of car lights suddenly appeared at the end of the road. The regiment leader quickly raised his binoculars, and three three-wheel vehicles equipped with little devils slowly drove towards the pocket array.
Behind the three rounds of the side are the mighty little Japs, about two reinforced squadrons, equipped with six mortars and six heavy machine guns. Behind the Japs are two battalions of the Imperial Association Army, about 600 people, only equipped with three
It's a heavy machine gun, not equipped with mortars.
Maybe it was because there were three-wheelers in front conducting fire reconnaissance on the roadside, maybe it was because the Japanese thought that their retreat was too sudden, and the Eighth Route Army could not have imagined it, let alone set up an ambush in advance, so the road must be safe...
Except for the kid on the side three-wheeler who was very vigilant and fired a bunch of bullets at the roadside from time to time, the other Japanese and puppet troops all carried their rifles on their backs and carried their machine guns on their shoulders. They lined up neatly and marched towards Shijiazhuang like a drill.
"Commander, there are heavy transport vehicles behind the puppet army..." the sharp-eyed political commissar suddenly shouted.
"A lot of baggage and ammunition... Could it be that the Japs emptied all the ammunition and baggage they had stored in Zhengding County?" the chief of staff exclaimed.
The leader nodded: "It's not impossible..."
"Even a fool can tell whether Zhengding County is more important than Shijiazhuang. Instead of dividing our forces to defend Zhengding, it is better to abandon Zhengding County and concentrate our forces to defend Shijiazhuang."
"Eighty percent of Zhengding County has been abandoned by the Japanese and puppet troops."
"Let comrades prepare for battle."
"The 1st and 2nd Battalions concentrated their firepower to eliminate the Japs from the first two squadrons. We must not let the heavy machine guns and mortars equipped by the Japanese army be destroyed by me as soon as possible."
"The third battalion mainly attacks the puppet troops behind."
"The guard company raided the Japanese and puppet army's supply troops."
"Aim and then fire. Try to kill all the little Japs escorting around the cart with one shot, and then attack the remaining puppet troops. Don't let the Japanese and puppet troops blow up the baggage ammunition..."
If the Zhengding garrison defends the county seat, even though there are only about a thousand people, but with the strong fortifications, even the two sixteenth regiments will not be able to take it down.
Now that they have entered the pocket formation prepared by the 16th Regiment in advance, their terrain advantage is gone. If they are caught off guard by the 16th Regiment again, all the gunners and machine gunners will be killed immediately, and the firepower advantage will be gone.
Then the next battle will be easier to fight.
that's the truth.
From the moment the first gunshot was fired, the initiative on the battlefield was in the hands of Commander Wang.
The thousands of Japanese puppet troops were like a bunch of lambs waiting to be slaughtered, allowing the Sixteenth Regiment to be destroyed.
…………
Japanese Army Shijiazhuang Garrison Headquarters.
The commander, Yoshiro Fujita, is a major general. At this moment, he is guarding the war room and pacing back and forth.
The order to retreat was issued to all surrounding strongholds and counties a few hours ago.
Judging from the time, there should have been garrison troops arriving in Shijiazhuang, but the headquarters did not receive relevant news.
After waiting for half an hour before the garrison outside the city entered Shijiazhuang, Fujita Yoshiro became anxious and immediately sent scouts on horseback to look for them. He wanted to see the people alive and the corpses dead.
"General... some scouts are back, but the situation is a bit bad..." The chief of staff of the headquarters suddenly ran to Yoshiro Fujita, saying with a panicked look on his face.
"Oops?" Fujita didn't react for a moment and asked subconsciously.
The chief of staff quickly reported: "More than 500 imperial troops and imperial associate troops from the Luquan stronghold were ambushed on the road, and the entire army was destroyed..."
"When the scouts arrived at the battlefield, they found nothing but the corpses of the soldiers."
