"Report to Commander, urgent call from the 36th Division!"
Communications staff officer Takeo Nakamura hurried in and reported to Yoshio Iwamatsu.
"Read it!" Iwamatsu Yoshio suddenly reported.
"Hi!" Takeo Nakamura picked up the telegram and read: "Within half an hour, the New Regiment of the Eighth Route Army assembled about 100 cannons and poured nearly 10,000 shells on the city wall. The gap in the city wall has been opened, and the two sides started a fierce battle for the city wall.
, the division headquarters has ordered the 222nd Regiment and the 223rd Regiment to reinforce Heyuan County after dawn. Long live His Majesty the Emperor, and long live the Imperial Japanese Army!"
This telegram is not a request for combat guidance, but a telegram reporting important battle conditions.
Hearing that the Eighth Route Army artillery fired nearly 10,000 shells on the city wall, Yoshio Iwamatsu's expression changed slightly.
Just to bombard a city wall, he was willing to fire nearly 10,000 rounds of artillery shells.
An artillery regiment only had two bases of artillery shells, and only more than 7,000 rounds. Li Yunlong was simply inhumane.
Chief of Staff Masaru Hanatani, who replaced Yoshio Iwamatsu on wartime duty, happened to walk in and heard the contents of the telegram read by Takeo Nakamura.
"Your Majesty Commander, I feel something is wrong."
Hanatani walked quickly to Yoshio Iwamatsu, nodded to him and said.
"What's wrong?"
Iwamatsu Yoshio narrowed his eyes and looked at Hanatani Masaru.
Hua Guzheng said: "This is probably Li Yunlong's plan to encircle the point and provide reinforcements."
"Encircling a point for reinforcements?" Yoshio Iwamatsu looked thoughtful, and then said: "Even if we want to encircle a point for reinforcements, we need so many troops. The new regiment has a total of more than 10,000 people, including about 3 artillery regiments.
All the artillery of the team are located in Heyuan County."
"The 222nd Regiment stationed in Anhua County still has more than 1,800 imperial soldiers, and the 223rd Regiment stationed in Ping'an County has more than 2,500 imperial soldiers."
"If he wants to encircle the point and mobilize reinforcements to quickly eat up 4,000 imperial soldiers and more than 1,000 imperial associate troops, Li Yunlong needs 10,000 more troops."
"In addition, once the war started, Li Yunlong sent out troops to block the imperial reinforcements from Datong and Taiyuan."
"At least 5,000 more troops are needed to stop the imperial army's reinforcements. Does it mean that Li Yunlong has 25,000 men?"
When the 36th Division first arrived in northwest Shanxi, it was the 222nd Regiment that attacked Dagu Town. In that battle, the 222nd Regiment lost more than half of its troops.
In addition to the Japanese who were killed by the bunkers and gun towers that were taken away three times, the 222nd Regiment lost almost half of its troops.
The 223rd Regiment stationed in Pingan County suffered relatively little losses and still had more than 2,400 soldiers. The Japanese soldiers of the 223rd Regiment plus the puppet troops left one or two squadrons and some puppet troops to defend the city, able to assemble about 2,400 soldiers.
troops to reinforce Heyuan County.
Hua Guzheng thought for a moment after hearing this, and then said: "Li Yunlong's New Regiment does not have that many troops, but Commander, don't forget that there are not only the New Regiment and the Eighth Route Army in northwest Shanxi, but also the independent regiment of the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army and
The New Second Regiment, these two regiments are also the main regiments of the Eighth Route Army. If these two regiments participate in the war, they will have a chance to get one of the reinforcements."
Yoshio Iwamatsu walked to the map and frowned as he stared at it.
What Hua Guzheng said makes sense. If the Independent Regiment and the New Second Regiment of the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army also participate in the war, it will be bad for the 36th Division.
If it is a field battle, even if the new regiment, the new second regiment and the independent regiment are combined, they can only be tied with the 36th Division at best.
However, the three main combat regiments of the 36th Division are scattered within and around the three county towns.
At the beginning, Iwamatsu Yoshio thought that the three county towns that were at odds with each other could withstand the Eighth Route Army's 100,000 elite troops after the trenches, thickened bunkers, and gun towers were repaired.
However, I never expected that after the 36th Division was dispersed, it would be attacked one by one by the Eighth Route Army. Now, we have to be careful when sending reinforcements.
"The 222nd Regiment and the 223rd Regiment must reinforce Heyuan County."
Iwamatsu Yoshio coldly ordered: "Hanagani-kun, immediately order the Imperial Army and the Imperial Alliance Army from the Maguan Stronghold, Yujing Stronghold, and Xiaozhuang Stronghold of the Tongpu Railway to rush to Ping'an County and join the 222nd Regiment to reinforce Heyuan County.
!”
"At the same time, the 222nd Regiment and the 223rd Regiment are ordered to be careful and send more scouts to prevent being ambushed by the Eighth Route Army."
"In addition, apply to the North China Front Army to send a reconnaissance plane to conduct reconnaissance along the highway from Anhua County and Ping'an County to Heyuan County after dawn."
Don't be afraid of ten thousand, just be afraid of the worst. When fighting against Li Yunlong, Iwamatsu Yoshio was very cautious.
"Hi!" Hua Gu responded with his head lowered, and then advised, "Your Excellency, Commander, can you go and rest for a while and leave this place to me?"
Iwamatsu Yoshio waved his hand. He wanted to say how could I sleep at this time, but when the words came to his lips, he changed his words and said: "No need, I can still hold on."
Then he fixed his sights on the Taigu and Qixian areas. The main force of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army had broken through the defense line and was heading north along Baijin Road.
Compared with Li Yunlong in northwest Shanxi, the main force of the 129th Division currently heading north is the greatest threat to Taiyuan and the First Army Headquarters.
When Hanagu went to the communication room to give orders and returned to the operations hall, he saw Yoshio Iwamatsu's eyes still fixed on Taigu and Qixian.
"Your Excellency, Commander, where are the main forces of the Eighth Route Army in southeastern Shanxi?" Hua Guzheng asked.
"We have broken through the Baijin defense line." Yoshio Iwamatsu pointed at the map with a long stick in his hand and said: "We are about to enter the Fenhe Plain. Major General Kuribayashi has led the 1st Cavalry Brigade to stop the enemy."
Hua Gu was looking at the map and couldn't help but take a breath of air.
Although the main forces of the 14th Brigade and the 18th Brigade have withdrawn to Taiyuan.
But after a short sleep, the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army broke through the defense line so quickly? It was too fast, right? What is the difference between this defense line and no defense line?
Iwamatsu Yoshio said quietly: "According to the battle report of the Baijin Line garrison, they were shelled by at least five artillery regiments."
"Five artillery regiments?" Hua Guzheng's pupils shrank slightly, and his expression became extremely solemn: "Your Excellency, Commander, it seems that we have to re-evaluate the strength of the Eighth Route Army!"
The main force of the 41st Division has been sent to southern Shanxi to reinforce the 33rd Division.
The 37th Division stationed in Yangquan faced the threat of more than 30,000 Eighth Route Army troops and was barely able to protect itself.
Taiyuan's current military strength includes the 1st Cavalry Brigade, the 14th Infantry Brigade and the 18th Infantry Brigade, as well as the logistics troops of the 41st Division.
The situation in Taiyuan is also very bad.
"We still underestimated this group of mud-legged people hiding in the mountains. The speed at which these mud-legged people expanded their troops was indeed unexpected."
After taking a deep breath, Yoshio Iwamatsu's expression returned to normal:
"After the Guan special performance plan is over, the base camp will definitely send a Class A division to deal with these mud-legged people."
"By the time…"
As Yoshio Iwamatsu spoke, his murderous intent was awe-inspiring.
…
Peking Airport.
There is still about half an hour until dawn.
About 20 planes are taking off one after another.
The aviation unit of the Japanese North China Front suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Taiyuan and has not yet recovered.
Only a small part of the pilots and aircraft supplemented by the Kwantung Army have arrived.
Therefore, North China only had enough fighters and bombers for one flying team, flying towards Heyuan County.
Okamura Neiji was a little panicked when he learned that the new regiment was actually equipped with about 20 large-caliber heavy artillery, and ordered the aviation force to blow it up at all costs.
Not long after, all the planes took off from the airport runway in succession.
A flight formation of more than 20 fighter jets, bombers and reconnaissance aircraft roared in the night sky and flew toward northwest Shanxi.
…
At dawn.
The soldiers of the Independent Regiment and the soldiers of the Seventh Division of the New Regiment completed their concealment near Ono Village.
In this ambush battle, the soldiers of the seventh division were under the command of Kong Jie.
Kong Jie brought more than 3,000 people, plus more than 2,400 people from the seventh division of the new regiment, for a total force of nearly 6,000 people.
There is a big difference between an ambush battle involving nearly 6,000 people and an ambush battle involving hundreds or more than a thousand people.
An ambush involving hundreds of people or even more than a thousand people can be called a small-scale ambush. It can be well hidden on the roadside. Even after the Japanese scouts have passed, there is no problem for the troops to enter the ambush position.
, you can quickly rush forward and engage in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy after the battle begins.
But an ambush battle involving nearly 6,000 people obviously cannot be done in an ambush and concealment like a few hundred or more than a thousand people.
The ambush troops could only hide further away and set up a large pocket array. After the Japanese got in, each unit could shrink the encirclement.
In fact, there are no ambush conditions near Ono Village. It is a rare plain terrain in northwestern Shanxi.
But now it is early July, and there are corn fields on both sides of the road. The fields are full of corn stalks and sorghum stalks that are growing happily.
This provided conditions for the soldiers to hide. Even if the Japanese planes were conducting reconnaissance from the sky, they would not be able to detect anyone hiding in the cornfield.
Compared with infantry, artillery positions are the most difficult to conceal.
but.
The artillery position was set up 5 kilometers away, and the cannons were placed in the woods next to the road. It would not be too late to pull out the cannons and set them up when the scouts discovered the Japanese.
At such a long distance and in a flat terrain, only by calibrating and shooting Zhuyuan in advance, or by having excellent artillery observers like the New Regiment, can it be successful.
"Reporting to Commander Kong, we have just received the intelligence that all Japanese and puppet troops from three large strongholds near Tongpu Road have entered Anhua County."
In the headquarters of the independent regiment, Duan Peng read the telegram and turned to report to Kong Jiehui.
"Oh?" Kong Jie said in surprise, "How many Japanese and puppet troops are there in these three strongholds in total?"
Duan Peng recalled briefly and said: "There must be more than 1,200 people, half of them Japs and puppets."
Kong Jie asked: "So, the Japanese and puppet troops reinforced from Anhua County may number close to 3,000 people?"
"That's right!" Duan Peng nodded and said, "It's twice as much as we expected."
"The Japs actually gave up on the Tongpu Railway. I didn't expect this." Kong Jie was surprised at first, and then said loudly and domineeringly, "Whether the Japs and puppet troops come with 3,000 or 5,000, we will still attack them!"
Duan Peng smiled slightly.
According to the reconnaissance of the Sharp Sword Squadron, the Japanese have accumulated a lot of cement and steel bars at a small station on the other side of Tongpu Road.
After this battle is over, all these cement and steel materials will be a new batch!
