In mid-June, Shanxi is in the hot summer season. The heating sun shines mercilessly on the earth, and you can even see a twisted halo emerging on the ground. The temperature of landmarks even reaches more than 40 degrees.
At this time, the new commander of the First Army in Shanxi, Lieutenant General Yoshio Iwamatsu, led the First Army in Shanxi to implement the cage policy under the instructions of Okamura Neiji.
What is the cage policy? It is to divide the Eighth Route Army's base areas piece by piece, and then build blockade ditches, blockade walls, railway lines, and highway lines to cut the entire North China into pieces. In the words of later generations, it means turning the entire North China into
gridding.
The most immoral and vicious thing about the Japanese army was that they forcibly recruited people from all over the country to raise and reinforce the original roads.
Don’t underestimate this. After the Japanese army rebuilt the road, the surface of the repaired road will be several meters higher than the original road. Moreover, the Japanese army also ordered all people not to plant crops on both sides of the road. In this way, if someone is on the road,
If you walk up, you will be seen clearly, and the Eighth Route Army and guerrillas will have no way to conceal or hide.
Maybe someone has said, since the road cannot be hidden, then why should I not take the road or walk on both sides of the road?
Haha...I'm sorry...it really doesn't work.
As mentioned before, an important part of the cage policy implemented by the Japanese army was to use roads to divide the entire North China into grids, and then build strongholds and bunkers around the grids.
As a result, if the Eighth Route Army or guerrillas wanted to cross from one grid to another, they had to cross over from the road. Once the Eighth Route Army did this, they would inevitably be exposed to the sight of the Japanese army.
Commander Liu of the 129th Division once said that the Japanese army used the railway as a pillar, the highway as a chain, and the stronghold as a lock to form a cage and "execute us late".
It can be said that throughout the Anti-Japanese War, blockade and counter-blockade became the subject of repeated contention between China and Japan.
And today, in such a hot weather, a team wearing gray military uniforms marched majestically on the road.
Such "rampant" behavior naturally attracted the attention of the Japanese army. The Japanese army became angry on the spot. When did those Tuba Road dare to be so rampant in broad daylight? So all the Japanese troops in Shanxi were alerted, accompanied by radio waves.
and telephone calls, the Japanese troops along the entire Taihang Railway were mobilized, and the Japanese troops in each stronghold all started as if they were facing a formidable enemy.
The new commander of the First Army, Yoshio Iwamatsu, who was responsible for public security in Shanxi, issued strict orders to the troops stationed along the Shotai Railway to eliminate all the Eighth Route Army within Shanxi.
Pingan County
This county town, which was liberated in the Battle of Qixiaguan a year ago, fell into the hands of the Japanese army again due to the evacuation of the Liantai militia. Due to its special geographical location, over the past year, the Japanese army built a total of 100,000 square meters around Pingan County town.
There are eight strongholds, among which the Hutou stronghold is the strongest and the largest.
Not only that, the Japanese army also deployed two Type 92 infantry cannons and three Type 94 90mm mortars on the top of the turret, which was the only one among all the strongholds with a radius of hundreds of miles.
Therefore, when the commander of the Tiger Head stronghold, Major Ryota Nakagawa, received a message from his superiors that the main force of the Eighth Route Army was heading towards the Tiger Head stronghold, instead of worrying, he became extremely excited and confidently told his superiors that as long as he was alive, he would The Eighth Route Army will never be allowed to pass.
After sending a telegram to his superiors hoping that reinforcements would come in and encircle the Eighth Route Army, Ryota Nakagawa climbed to the top of the bunker.
Due to the extremely important geographical location of the Hutou stronghold, a four-story bunker was built on both sides of the road. In each bunker, two small groups of Japanese troops and a company of puppet troops were stationed.
When Ryota Nakagawa arrived at the top of the bunker full of confidence, he found that the Japanese troops here not only looked solemn, but many of the puppet soldiers even had looks of fear on their faces.
Seeing this scene, he couldn't help but feel a surge of anger in his heart. Just when he was about to yell, his eyes swept ahead, and his expression suddenly became condensed. Then he widened his eyes and looked carefully, and found that there was a person about a few hundred meters away in front of him. The farmland under the highway foundation was already crowded with densely packed Eighth Route Army troops wearing gray military uniforms. It was roughly estimated that there were hundreds of people at least, and people from further away were coming one after another.
Nakagawa Ryota was shocked and quickly picked up the telescope to look.
It didn't matter. He was so confident that he almost dropped the telescope on the ground. In the telescope, he clearly saw three trucks parked beside a slope a few miles away. Among these trucks Behind him, there were three artillery pieces lined up in a row, and the black muzzles were facing the bunker where he was.
Relying on Nakagawa Ryota's rich experience, he recognized at a glance that this was the Type 91 105mm field gun that was only equipped by elite field divisions. He couldn't help but shouted: "Baga... How do the Chinese equip it?" Is there any Imperial heavy artillery?”
Under the gaze of a group of Japanese soldiers, dozens of Eighth Route Army soldiers were making fine adjustments to the artillery. Seeing the black muzzle pointed at themselves, Ryota Nakagawa was almost scared out of his wits and shouted without thinking: "You guys What are you still doing in a daze? Hurry up and fire at the Chinese artillery, hurry up!"
Just as the Japanese troops were busy turning their guns, the Eighth Route Army on the opposite side opened fire.
I saw a flash of fire, followed by a sharp whistling sound, and a cannonball landed on the wasteland less than twenty meters away from the bunker. Accompanied by a huge explosion and billowing smoke, the explosion point suddenly appeared. A huge crater was created that was several meters wide.
Even though they were tens of meters apart, the Japanese troops on the top floor of the bunker could still feel the pungent smell of gunpowder smoke hitting their faces along with the shock wave.
"It's too late, fire quickly!"
The Japanese gunner, who was almost scared out of his wits, had no time to adjust, so he hurriedly controlled the Type 92 infantry cannon and fired a shot in the direction of the Eighth Route Army artillery. However, in his haste, he could not get any accuracy, and several shells fell far away.
At this time, the Type 91 field artillery that had readjusted its angle fired again. This time the Japanese army was not so lucky. With a violent explosion, the bunker where Nakagawa Ryota was located was directly hit by two 15.76 kilogram grenades. , the huge explosion and shock wave blew up half of the huge bunker on the spot, and the entire bunker collapsed from the second floor to the top floor. More than 200 Japanese and puppet soldiers, including Ryota Nakagawa, were all buried in the ruins.
Seeing the Japanese bunker that had been destroyed with two cannons, the Eighth Route Army soldiers who were ambushing nearby all cheered. Amidst the cheers, several Type 91 artillery turned their muzzles again and used the same method to clear the other side of the road.