"Your Excellency, Commander..." Another messenger rushed into the war room, his face solemn, maybe because he was too anxious, and he was a little awkward when speaking.
"The Eighth...Eighth Route Army...entered Taiyuan from Ximen..."
"The garrison in the west of the city was defeated and was unable to resist..."
"and……"
Yoshio Iwamatsu couldn't sit still either. He didn't expect the war situation to deteriorate so quickly.
Before the order to retreat to the outer city was sent out, the Eighth Route Army had already entered Taiyuan.
If there are particularly many Eighth Route Army troops entering the city, and the troops are divided into separate groups, heading straight to the south and north of the city, blocking the garrisons there on top of the city, then the goal of assembling heavy troops to defend the inner city will not be achieved...
Then Taiyuan City is really dangerous.
Regardless of his identity as a commander, he grabbed the messenger by the collar and shouted: "And what? Say it quickly? Don't hesitate with me!"
"There are so many Eighth Route Army soldiers marching into Taiyuan from Ximen..." The ordering soldier was afraid that Iwamatsu Yoshio would vent his anger on himself, but he had to report it, so he could only say half of it.
Little did he know that doing so would only anger Iwamatsu Yoshio even more.
He yelled at the messenger: "Bagya Road..."
"How many people are there in particular?"
"Don't you know how to report the battle situation..."
"If you don't finish what you said in one breath, get out of here. The Shanxi garrison doesn't want messengers like this who can't even report."
"The Eighth Route Army entering the city has at least three elite battalions..." The ordering soldier did not dare to be clever anymore and reported directly.
"Well-equipped and powerful in combat."
"After entering the city, the troops were divided into four groups, each with chariots leading the way, heading straight to the inner city of Taiyuan, east of the city, south of the city, north of the city..."
"There are still some Eighth Route Army troops who don't have tanks to clear the way, and they are fighting towards the arsenal in units of companies and platoons..."
"It's over..." Yoshio Iwamatsu slumped down on the chair.
No matter how many times I calculated, I still didn't count the Eighth Route Army outside the city.
There are at least six battalions of the Eighth Route Army outside the city, but only one battalion is always active outside, and all other troops are on standby.
All preparations in Taiyuan City were based on the fact that the opponent only had one or two battalions of infantry.
Now six battalions of infantry suddenly appeared, three times more than previously expected. How to fight...
Even if Okamura Neji is called here, he is no match.
Before Iwamatsu Yoshio could react to the bad news that the west of the city was breached, another messenger rushed into the war room in a panic, directly bringing him back to reality from the shock.
"Your Excellency Commander..."
"The Eighth Route Army attacking the east of the city has entered the outer city..."
"The temporary defensive positions built by the city defense troops collapsed across the board..."
"Nani?" Yoshio Iwamatsu looked at the messenger with a look of disbelief on his face.
Before this, he had always believed that the east side of the city was the direction with the strongest defensive power in Taiyuan City.
Wherever the Eighth Route Army could break through, it could not be from the east of the city.
Previously, the headquarters also received news: In order to reduce casualties, the garrison in the east of the city took the initiative to retreat into the city, established a temporary defense line with the gap in the city wall as the center, and successfully blocked the Eighth Route Army's siege troops.
At that time, he subconsciously believed that the temporary defense line established by the garrison in the east of the city was indestructible...
Only a short time had passed since then, and the defense line east of the city, which gave him great confidence, was actually broken through by the Eighth Route Army.
If he hadn't heard it with his own ears, he wouldn't have believed it.
Seeing the increasing anger on Iwamatsu Yoshio's face, the orderly soldier was also worried that he would get burned and become the target of the commander's vent.
My military rank is too low, I have become a vent, I have nowhere to go, so I quickly explain.
"The Eighth Route Army attacking the east of the city suddenly assembled a large number of artillery to attack the temporary defense line."
"There are mountain guns, large-caliber mortars, ordinary mortars, and thunder cannons that can fire gasoline bombs..."
"The fortifications on the city's defense line were temporarily repaired by the troops, and there are almost no permanent firepower points."
"Vulnerable to artillery fire..."
"In just five minutes, the rapid artillery fire destroyed the defense line and made it impossible to continue the defense."
"The Eighth Route Army took the opportunity to launch an attack under the cover of tanks..."
"A single assault tore a hole in the defense line..."
"Then the entire defense line collapsed..."
Iwamatsu Yoshio couldn't listen any more. He waved his hand to signal the messenger to leave, and then immediately looked at the chief of staff.
"The troops stationed in the east and west of the city will definitely not be able to withdraw... We can only rely on the troops in the south and north of the city to defend the inner city..."
"Has the order to retreat been sent to the troops..."
"Do they still have a chance to evacuate the city and retreat to the inner city..."
The chief of staff quickly replied: "They have received the order to retreat..."
"We are using squadrons as units to alternately cover the evacuation of the city..."
"Although a large number of Eighth Route Army troops have entered the west of the city, it will take time for them to fight from the west to the south and north of the city."
"As long as they retreat quickly enough and there are no accidents on the way... it will definitely be no problem to withdraw half of the troops."
Iwamatsu Yoshio's face looked a little better, and he breathed a long sigh of relief and said: "There are more than a thousand people, enough to defend the inner city..."
…………
On the streets from the west of the city to the south of the city, an Eighth Route Army of more than 600 people was rapidly advancing with three tanks to attack.
Wei Dayong ran in the middle of the team and kept urging: "We have to speed up..."
"The little devil must be sending troops from the south of the city back to support the inner city..."
"Last time we failed to capture the inner city of Taiyuan, it was because the little Japanese soldiers broke their arms, abandoned the outer city, and assembled heavy troops to defend the inner city."
"Never make the same mistake twice!"
"No matter what I say this time, the Japanese and puppet troops defending the outer city will be blocked outside the inner city..."
"Speed up and keep rushing forward..."
Five minutes later, a group of Japanese troops retreating to the inner city happened to appear on the street ahead.
Wei Dayong was so anxious that he jumped to his feet and immediately ordered: "Chariot fire... Others are ready to fight, we will kill directly..."
"Dong dong dong..."
The sound of heavy machine gun fire soon came from the three tanks, and bullets flew toward the street.
More than a dozen little devils were beaten into a sieve in an instant. Without making a sound, they fell to the ground and turned into corpses.
The Japanese retreating troops were frightened. They obviously did not expect that the Eighth Route Army would come so quickly.
The more than one hundred soldiers who broke through the Eighth Route Army's interception immediately accelerated and rushed towards the inner city, fearing that they would be chased and beaten by the Eighth Route Army and eliminated here.
The Japanese soldiers who were blocked in the street could only lie on the ground and worry.
Three tanks and six vehicle-mounted machine guns fired at the same time, and the bullets fired directly intertwined into a line of fire on the street. Let alone a living person, it was difficult for even a rabbit to cross.
"Battal Commander... there are more than a hundred Japanese who have fled towards the inner city."
"Follow one tank and let me catch up with them and kill them." Wei Dayong didn't expect that he would be late even if he hurried and slowed down, so he ordered with a fierce expression.
"The others followed me and went to defend on the spot to block the retreating troops of the little Japs..."
"The troops attacking the south of the city will come over soon..."
"When the time comes, we will attack from both front and back, and no matter how many days we have, the puppet troops will be completely killed by us..."
"Chariots move freely..."
"Wherever the fighting is fierce, reinforcements will come..."
