Chapter 907 Abandon the outer city and retreat to the inner city
At the Shanxi Garrison Headquarters, Commander Yoshio Iwamatsu was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, circling around the sand table, raising his head to look at the door from time to time, expecting good news to be sent back from the front line.
"Your Excellency, Commander..." A messenger rushed into the war room in a hurry.
"Did the garrison in the east of the city call out the Eighth Route Army that occupied the city?" Yoshio Iwamatsu asked anxiously.
The ordering soldier shook his head and looked at Yoshio Iwamatsu's expectant eyes with a look of confusion on his face: "The Eighth Route Army used a kind of ammunition that we have never seen before in the siege battle."
"The method of killing enemies is similar to that of napalm bombs. Although it is much less powerful, it still causes huge casualties to the city defense troops."
"Many places at the top of the city were covered in fire, making it impossible to defend."
"In order to reduce casualties, guard the east gate..."
"They had to abandon the city head and built a temporary defense line around the gap in the city wall to continue blocking the Eighth Route Army's siege troops."
"Although the enemy was not driven out of the city, it blocked the Eighth Route Army's offensive..."
Although the news brought by the messenger is not good news, it is not bad news either.
As long as the garrison in the east of the city stabilizes the battle situation, keeps the enemy out of the city, and persists until dawn, it will be a victory.
It doesn't matter how or where you keep it. Yoshio Iwamatsu only cares about the result and not the process.
Just then, an accident happened!
There was a sudden explosion in the west direction of the city. Within a few seconds, the explosion was replaced by the sound of fierce firefights.
As a battle-hardened veteran, Yoshio Iwamatsu knew as soon as he heard the sound that the west part of the city was also under attack.
Two thoughts suddenly came to mind.
The Eighth Route Army is attacking in the east and in the west...
The Eighth Route Army attempted to break through the east of the city and advance into Taiyuan by feigning an attack on the west of the city so that they did not dare to mobilize troops from other city defense units to reinforce the east of the city.
If the first thought is true, then the west of the city is in danger.
If the second thought comes true, that's okay.
After all, all the reinforcements that he should have transferred have been transferred.
Moreover, the intelligence showed that even if he underestimated the strength of the Eighth Route Army outside the city, they did not have the strength to attack two city gates at the same time.
The result is whatever you are afraid of.
The operator seemed to be frightened and rushed to Yoshio Iwamatsu with a look of panic on his face.
"Your Excellency Commander..."
"Urgent call from the troops stationed in the west of the city..."
"They were suddenly violently attacked by the Eighth Route Army..."
"The enemy is equipped with at least six mountain field guns, twenty mortars, twelve tanks, nearly twenty thunder cannons, and a reinforced battalion of infantry..."
"The city defense troops were attacked by artillery fire and suffered heavy losses. We are requesting reinforcements..."
"Bang..." Yoshio Iwamatsu punched the table. If he hadn't supported the table with both hands, he would have almost collapsed to the ground in fright.
Staring at the operator and gritting his teeth, he asked: "Are you sure the contents of the telegram are true?"
"The west of the city was really attacked by the Eighth Route Army, and the troops suffered heavy casualties?"
Seeing the operator nod, Yoshio Iwamatsu continued to ask: "Where did the Eighth Route Army get so many troops from?"
"Even if we underestimate their strength, there aren't that many troops?"
The chief of staff shook his head and replied: "I can't figure it out even in my humble position..."
"Perhaps the Eighth Route Army was hiding its clumsiness from the beginning..."
"Hiding the troops outside the city, exposing only a small part of them, deliberately letting us underestimate the enemy... giving us a fatal attack at the most critical moment..."
Iwasatsuyoshi returned to his heroic spirit, but he did not forget his responsibilities.
I couldn't figure out where the Eighth Route Army came from with so many troops. I quickly turned my attention to the city defense map and asked with a serious face.
"Is there any troops that can immediately reinforce the west of the city..."
The chief of staff knew the troops inside the city well and immediately replied: "We only have one reinforced brigade left to defend the inner city!"
Yoshio Iwamatsu interrupted before the chief of staff finished speaking: "No..."
"The inner city defense forces must not move."
"This is our last trump card..."
"If we lose them too, there will be no hope of defending Taiyuan City."
"Then we can only mobilize troops from the south and north of the city!" the chief of staff retreated and asked for his next suggestion.
"Although there are many troops stationed in the east of the city, they are also being attacked fiercely... They are counterattacking the Eighth Route Army's siege troops. They don't have enough troops. They will definitely not be able to send troops to reinforce the west of the city..."
After hearing this, Yoshio Iwamatsu prepared to dispatch a reinforced squadron from the south and north of the city to reinforce the west of the city.
As a result, before the order was uttered, the two messengers rushed into the war room at the same time as if they were discussing it.
"Your Excellency Commander..."
"The south of the city was attacked by the Eighth Route Army..."
"The opponent is equipped with a large number of mortars and tanks...The offensive is very fierce, and the infantry covered by the tanks has rushed four to five hundred meters outside the city..."
"Your Excellency, Commander..." Another messenger followed and reported.
"The north of the city was violently attacked by the Eighth Route Army."
"The opponent is equipped with mortars, thunder cannons, and tanks... The attacking troops have already reached 300 meters outside the city under the cover of tanks..."
"There are a large number of thunder cannons hidden among the attacking troops."
"They want to use tanks to send the thunder cannons to a position one or two hundred meters outside the city, use the thunder cannons to attack the city head, and kill a large number of troops stationed in the north of the city..."
Yoshio Iwamatsu had been stunned by the series of bad news, and he was stunned for a while without reacting.
The chief of staff had to speak first: "Your Excellency, Commander..."
"The south and north of the city were attacked at the same time, which shows that the Eighth Route Army has been prepared to dispatch troops from there to reinforce the west of the city..."
"This was a premeditated siege."
"They want to break through the outer city of Taiyuan tonight..."
"Without reinforcements, the garrison in the west of the city will definitely not be able to hold on for long."
"With the west side of the city breached, the Eighth Route Army can advance into the outer city of Taiyuan and go straight to the inner city."
"We can also divide our forces and block the troops stationed in the south and north of the city on the top of the city and annihilate them to prevent them from returning to support the inner city."
"Then there is only one strengthened garrison left in the inner city of Taiyuan. The number of troops is too small and it will definitely not be able to stop the joint attack of the Eighth Route Army's heavy artillery and tanks."
Although the chief of staff did not express his thoughts directly, there was something behind his words, and Yoshio Iwamatsu understood it after hearing it.
Now he has two choices before him...
Continue to defend the outer city...
The outer city will still be broken through by the Eighth Route Army, and the thousands of elites defending the outer city will be blocked on the battlefield by the Eighth Route Army, unable to return to the inner city.
But if you abandon the outer city and stick to the inner city.
Although the defense time of the outer city is greatly reduced, the inner city can gain at least two thousand more garrison troops.
The inner city is much smaller than the outer city.
If the garrison exceeds 3,000 people, they can definitely form an airtight line of defense.
Even if the Eighth Route Army attacking Taiyuan is equipped with heavy mortars and tanks, they can't take it down easily.
Iwamatsu Yoshio made a decision after a little analysis.
The chief of staff looked at the decisive order: "Abandon the outer city and defend the inner city..."
"Notify all city defense troops to alternately cover the evacuation of the outer city and retreat to the inner city..."
