"The northern city wall has been occupied by the Eighth Route Army?"
Taiyuan Inner City, First Army Headquarters.
Yoshio Shinozuka suddenly turned his head and looked at the communications staff officer Toshimatsu Kasai who was reporting, with a look of disbelief in his eyes.
Less than an hour and a half before the Eighth Route Army bombardment started, the city wall was occupied by the Eighth Route Army.
Isn’t this too fake?
Just now, the gunfire in the direction of the north city wall changed from dense to sparse. He thought that the defenders of the city wall had repelled another Eighth Route Army attack.
You should know that the defenders on each city wall had a squadron of the Japanese army, plus a regiment of the Imperial Army, with a strength of almost 100 people.
Even though the city wall was blasted with more than a dozen gaps by the Eighth Route Army's artillery, some hiding caves were blown down, the defenders were killed by artillery shells, and some were killed and injured by infantry artillery and mortars.
There are at least about 1,000 defenders left, and there are no less than 100 light and heavy machine guns.
The battle supplies for 1 division used by the Japanese army to attack Zhongtiao Mountain are still in Taiyuan, and were originally going to be transported to the front line via the Nan-Tong-Pu Railway.
However, once Li Yunlong led his troops to attack Taiyuan, these supplies could only be in Taiyuan.
There are many spare weapons among them, plus the weapons and ammunition originally in Taiyuan's arsenal, the machine guns defending Taiyuan have a lot of firepower and sufficient bullets.
Under such strong firepower, it would be impossible for the Eighth Route Army infantry to occupy a single city wall without losing thousands of people, and it would take most of a day.
However, coupled with a test attack during the day, this was the Eighth Route Army's second attack, and they easily captured the city wall?
Yoshio Shinozuka didn't believe it at all.
"Hi!"
Kasai Toshimatsu lowered his head and spoke in a hurry: "According to the last call from Captain Harada who was guarding the city wall, the Eighth Route Army not only used mountain artillery and howitzers, but also used a large number of anti-aircraft machine guns to aim and fire directly at the defenders' machine gun fire points.
The machine gun shells penetrated the crenellations of the city wall and hit the machine gunner and assistant shooter. In less than half a minute, all the machine gun firepower points came under a devastating attack almost simultaneously!"
Upon hearing this, Yoshio Shinozuka's expression changed from questioning to shocked and angry, and now he finally believed it.
A few minutes ago, he did hear the sound of continuous rapid machine gunfire, but he didn't pay much attention to it.
In his opinion, the anti-aircraft cannons of the Eighth Route Army were only used for air defense. He was still a little confused. The imperial army's planes were not dispatched at night. What was the Eighth Route Army doing?
I never thought that anti-aircraft cannons could be used to attack cities!
Suddenly, Shinozuka Yoshio's expression suddenly changed, because he remembered that not only from the north of the city, but also from the other three directions, there were dense anti-aircraft gunfire sounds at the same time a few minutes ago.
"No, immediately order the defenders on the east city wall, west city wall and south city wall to stop shooting!"
Yoshio Shinozuka said to Toshimatsu Kasai very quickly.
If only the northern city wall was occupied by the Eighth Route Army, the situation would not be out of control.
As long as the east city wall, west city wall and south city wall are not occupied by the Eighth Route Army, aircraft support can be dispatched immediately at dawn in more than an hour.
With the cooperation of the aircraft, the Yoshino regiment was ordered to concentrate its forces and launch a counterattack. There might be a chance to retake the northern city wall.
"Hi!" Kasai Toshimatsu stood up straight and lowered his head, preparing to walk out.
A communications lieutenant hurriedly ran in and paused: "Report to the general, the east city wall and the west city wall have been occupied by the Eighth Route Army. The Eighth Route Army has attacked the south city wall and is fighting fiercely. Captain Xiaoshi is asking for reinforcements!"
The movements of the Eighth Route Army attacking the city were so fast that the Japanese and puppet troops could not react at all.
Moreover, the advantage of machine guns over mortars and infantry guns is that unless the siege infantry has already attacked the city, it can always provide fire cover for the siege infantry.
As long as any shooting hole in the city wall spurts out tongues of fire and shoots at the siege infantry.
The machine gun's bullet chain fire line can immediately extend and wrap around there, and the crenellations of the city wall at the Japanese and puppet army's firepower point can be easily penetrated.
Coupled with the occasional flares, there is no need to worry about hurting any of your own people.
The machine gun firepower of the 1st, 3rd and 3rd attack groups was not as good as that of the new group, but the battle did not last long, and they followed closely to attack and occupy the city wall.
"Bagaya road!"
Yoshio Shinozuka suddenly exploded and punched the table, which made a loud creaking noise, frightening the communications lieutenant.
"General, do you still have this order?"
Communications Staff Officer Toshimatsu Kasai stopped when he heard this and looked at Yoshio Shinozuka.
Yoshio Shinozuka had a sullen face and a cold tone: "Kasai-kun, immediately order the Yoshino unit to prepare for street fighting, and be ready to fight with the Eighth Route Army from house to house and street to street at any time!"
If you order the soldiers to stop shooting at this time, isn't that a mental illness?
"Hi!" Toshimatsu Kasai stood at attention and lowered his head, turned around and left. The communications lieutenant stood at attention, lowered his head and hurriedly followed.
…
Outer city, Yoshino regiment headquarters.
After receiving the order from the headquarters, Yoshino Yongo immediately summoned the three captains.
One young man from the left and two from the middle left stood neatly in front of Yoshino Yuuo.
"Gentlemen, General Shinozuka's order has come down."
Looking at the three captains standing at attention in front of him and the three pairs of enthusiastic eyes, Yoshino Yuuo narrowed his eyes.
The Yoshino Regiment was originally affiliated with the 9th Brigade, and its commander, Yoshino Isamu, went to Qi County last year to reinforce the Kuroshima Cavalry Regiment.
However, when Yoshino Yuuo led the Yoshino Regiment to Qi County, the Kuroshima Regiment had been completely wiped out. Captain Kuroshima Morita Regiment was beaten into several pieces and his body was stinky.
Later, the Yoshino Regiment was transferred from the 9th Brigade by Yoshio Shinozuka and became a regiment directly under the front army. It was stationed in Taiyuan for a long time to protect the safety of the headquarters.
"The Eighth Route Army has occupied the city wall."
Isamu Yoshino glanced at the three of them and said harshly: "According to reliable information, among the Eighth Route Army attacking Taiyuan this time, there is the infamous New Regiment of the Eighth Route Army. This new regiment must be familiar to everyone. There are 4 major generals in the Imperial Army.
, famous lieutenant generals, and countless imperial warriors were crushed in the hands of this new regiment, Li Yunlong and his new regiment caused immeasurable losses to the empire."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Just a few words made the three captains' eyes glow with murderous intent.
Unexpectedly, Li Yunlong and the New Regiment were also attacking Taiyuan.
"Then kill them all, leaving no one behind!"
The captain who wears the rank of Shao Zuo has a loud voice.
"Don't underestimate the Eighth Route Army, you have to use your brains when fighting."
Yoshino Yongfu glanced at the young man and was very satisfied with his attitude. Then he pointed at his temple and said:
"It is expected that the Eighth Route Army will launch an attack after dawn. The Eighth Route Army has more troops and we have fewer troops. Therefore, we must kill a large number of Eighth Route soldiers in the first wave."
The Eighth Route Army has more than 30,000 main troops, while the Yoshino United has only more than 3,600 people. The number of both sides is almost 10 to 1.
There is a huge disparity in military strength.
Yoshino Yongo continued: "Deploy a small number of machine guns and troops on the street to build firepower points to attract the Eighth Route Army to attack along the street. Most of the firepower is placed in the houses on both sides of the street. When the Eighth Route Army enters the ambush circle, the light and heavy machine guns on both sides will attack simultaneously.
Fire!"
"The next step is to start a house-to-house and street-to-street battle with the Eighth Route Army!"
In 1937, Isamu Yoshino participated in the battle to attack Shanghai. At that time, he was only a captain, and his military rank was only a center left.
In the middle of the battle, China and Japan engaged in large-scale street fighting. When the Japanese soldiers counterattacked, the Japanese army used this tactic to kill and injure a large number of Japanese soldiers.
After deploying the combat mission, Yoshino Yuuo suddenly raised his voice: "Gentlemen, the time has come for you to be loyal to Your Majesty Tian Locust and to the Empire of Japan!"
"Long live His Majesty the Locust, long live the Empire of Japan!"
The three captains raised their hands and shouted.
After several shouts, the three captains turned around and left with fanaticism and madness in their eyes.
…
Headquarters of the 3rd Taihang Column of the Eighth Route Army.
Wang Dehou put down the high-power walkie-talkie and reported to Li Yunlong: "Report to the commander-in-chief, the 1st attack group reported that the south city wall has been occupied. Commander Ding asked for instructions, do you want to start a street fight immediately?"
The southern wall of Taiyuan's outer city was captured by Ding Wei's 1st attack group.
All the outer city walls fell into the hands of the Eighth Route Army.
"Not urgent!"
Li Yunlong looked at the watch on his hand and said: "It will be dawn in more than an hour. The soldiers of each attack group have to hurry up to replenish ammunition and have breakfast. They will enter the city to fight street battles at dawn. Street battles must be carried out in advance.
The battle plan is formulated, and the house-by-house and street-by-street fights must be synchronized.”
However, Li Yunlong was not in a hurry to go into the city and fight street battles with the Japanese and puppet troops.
Although time is tight, Li Yunlong's command of the troops has rich experience in street fighting and will not be like Leng Touqing, who sends soldiers to attack along the streets as soon as they enter the city.
If we do that, the attacking troops will definitely fall into the trap set by the Japanese and puppet troops.
Li Yunlong suffered such a loss when he first attacked Yangquan. However, there were not many Japanese in Yangquan at that time. Although he suffered some losses, it was not a big one.
Then, Wang Dehou immediately conveyed the order to each attacking group through a high-power walkie-talkie.
Li Yunlong added: "Chief of Staff, immediately prepare a telegram and send it to the headquarters, saying that our Taihang 3rd Column has successfully captured the outer city wall of Taiyuan and will enter the city after dawn to start street fighting with the Japanese."
"yes!"
Wang Dehou quickly drafted a telegram and handed it to the telegraph operator, who then sent it to the headquarters.
About 0 minutes later, the headquarters called Li Yunlong back.
The head of the headquarters commended Li Yunlong and the 3rd Column of Taihang, and encouraged Li Yunlong and the 3rd Column to make persistent efforts and capture Taiyuan in one go.
And the headquarters' telegram also contained news about the Japanese reinforcements in Taiyuan.
The main force of the Japanese 3rd Brigade, the 1st Cavalry Brigade of the Mongolian Army, is heading south to reinforce Taiyuan, and the 108th Division is coming from Shimen City to reinforce Taiyuan.
Li Yunlong was a little surprised after reading the telegram.
The old Japanese Yoshio Shinozuka actually did not withdraw his troops from the Nakajo Mountain battlefield to return reinforcements.
Instead, they applied to the North China Front for the 108th Division and the 1st Cavalry Brigade of the Mongolian Army to reinforce Taiyuan.
The 108th Division must be heading west along the Zhengtai Railway for reinforcements. Now that the Zhengtai Railway is blocked again, the 108th Division must not dare to take the train for reinforcements.
However, if the Taihang 3rd Column led by the brigade commander cannot end the battle early, it will be fighting against the 1st Guards Division.
When the 108th Division arrived and the Taihang Column faced the Japanese division, the pressure on the brigade commander increased.
Li Yunlong narrowed his eyes. It seemed that he had to speed up the battle to end the attack on Taiyuan.
