In a small stone house in a remote mountain village, an antenna was erected high and wrapped around the branches. Three radio stations were working nervously in the simple house, and the sound of ticking and tapping came one after another.
The deputy commander-in-chief was sitting on a straw stool, with a table in front of him made of templates. He frowned as he looked at the map that was 100,000 to 1 in front of him.
The iron wall siege launched by the Japanese army that lasted for five months did not end with the sacrifice of the left deputy chief of staff. Instead, it became more crazy as time went by. Especially this month, the Japanese army organized more than 50,000 soldiers.
The Japanese and puppet troops, with the cooperation of hundreds of Japanese aviation aircraft, dispatched hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles, and were personally commanded by the commander of the North China Garrison Army, Okamura Neiji, to launch an unprecedented and brutal raid on the central Hebei region.
The Jizhong Military Region has been in emergency several times, and the deputy commander-in-chief has been unable to sleep at night these days.
You must know that the Jizhong Military Region is a second-level military region of the Eighth Route Army, with 5 military divisions under it. At its peak in October 1938, it had 44 counties (of which 22 counties were fully controlled), 8 million people, and 63,000 troops. Because of its wealth, it was
The Eighth Route Army called it China's Ukraine, and the Japanese called it the Eighth Route Army's military station.
Because the Central Hebei Military Region is so important, it has become a place where the Japanese army wants to attack quickly. Once the Central Hebei Military Region falls, the blow to the Eighth Route Army soldiers will be huge.
Just when the deputy commander-in-chief was worried, a voice sounded from beside him: "Chief, this is the telegram just sent from the 386th Brigade Independent Regiment."
A staff officer hurried over and handed him a telegram.
"A telegram from the Independence Group?"
The deputy commander frowned. According to the army's rules and regulations, reporting beyond the level is a taboo in the army.
After all, the Eighth Route Army so far has more than 600,000 troops and nearly 200 regiments. If each regiment reports to the headquarters without authorization, the deputy commander-in-chief will be too busy even if he has three heads and six arms.
The deputy commander-in-chief also knew that Li Yunlong would not understand this truth, so he took the telegram with some confusion and looked at it, and his eyes immediately widened.
"Li Yunlong accidentally rescued a pilot from the Liantai Militia Flying Corps. After Gao Hongming picked up the pilot, he airdropped 20 tons of ammunition and two tons of medicine to the independent group?"
Rao, the deputy commander-in-chief, has been in the army for decades, and this is the first time he has seen such a arrogant act.
1942 was the most difficult year in the Anti-Japanese War. After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the Japanese combined fleet almost swept across the entire Pacific. Even the Americans had to temporarily avoid the front line. This is why Okamura Neiji dared to mobilize from the front line.
The reason why more than 200,000 troops launched a large-scale sweep.
This sweep also caused unprecedented losses to the Eighth Route Army base area. As of late May 1942, the Japanese and puppet troops occupied all counties, larger market towns, and villages in the Jizhong base area; a total of more than 1,700 strongholds were established and more than 4,000 kilometers were excavated.
The ditch was blocked and the Jizhong base area was divided into more than 2,600 blocks.
Base areas such as eastern Hebei and northern Shanxi also suffered varying degrees of losses. Not only that, due to the large-scale raids by the Japanese army, the Eighth Route Army was not only severely short of ammunition, but also almost exhausted of medicines. This almost worried the deputy commander-in-chief.
Now such great good news has come out of Li Yunlong's independent regiment, which also made the deputy commander-in-chief overjoyed.
Without hesitation, he called his staff, "Immediately telegraph Li Yunlong and allow him to leave one ton of weapons and ammunition and one hundred kilograms of medicine, and I will transport everything else to the headquarters."
"Yes!" The staff officer quickly took the order and left.
The deputy commander-in-chief was happy but also relieved. With this batch of weapons, ammunition and medicines, the Eighth Route Army, which was short of medical treatment, could finally breathe a sigh of relief. But while he was happy, he couldn't help but think of the sacrificed left deputy chief of staff, and his eyes felt a little.
Turned red.
"Did you see, old man, Gao Hongming sent us another batch of weapons and ammunition? We can finally breathe a sigh of relief."
After the pressure eased slightly, the deputy commander couldn't help but feel a little strange, "That's not right... The Liantai Militia is now facing the siege of the Japanese Sixth and 108th Divisions. How can he have the spare capacity to support Li Yunlong? This is unreasonable."
Just when the deputy commander-in-chief was wondering about the miracle, the new deputy chief of staff, Mr. Teng, walked over quickly.
"Boss, great news."
Deputy Chief of Staff Teng said happily: "We have just received news that the New Regiment, which was sent by the 386th Brigade to Liantai County to assist in defense, and the Liantai Militia Group defeated the Japanese Sixth Division and the 108th Division in Liantai County a week ago. A total of
After wiping out 11,000 enemies, the Japanese Sixth Division and the 108th Division had to retreat 30 kilometers to rebuild their fortifications, and then they stabilized their position."
"Is it true that 11,000 enemies were wiped out?" the deputy commander-in-chief said, "You are not mistaken. You must know that they faced one of the most elite divisions among the permanent divisions of the Japanese army.
, let alone the Sixth Division, even 108 is not a good person, what ability does the new regiment have to beat them hard?"
It was no wonder that the deputy commander-in-chief was surprised. He asked himself that although the Eighth Route Army was having a hard time now and had to break up into pieces to engage in guerrilla warfare with the Japanese, it was nothing compared to the Liantai Militia.
Even if the Eighth Route Army is in trouble, it can be broken into pieces and dispersed to break out and deal with the Japanese army. It can even go to the mountains to fight guerrillas with the Japanese army. However, Gao Hongming's foundation is in Liantai County. If Liantai County is gone, the Liantai militia will be gone too. This is why
Even when faced with two divisions of the Japanese army, Gao Hongming could only choose to defend.
Deputy Chief of Staff Teng showed a look of surprise and admiration on his face: "Gao Hongming first ordered four artillery battalions with a total of more than 100 heavy artillery pieces to bomb the Japanese positions for an hour, and then sent out a new regiment and three Liantai militia groups.
A total of more than 7,000 infantrymen from a strengthened battalion launched a strong attack on the Japanese army.
In less than an hour, they broke through two Japanese lines of defense. When attacking the third line of Japanese defense, the Japanese army mobilized their reserves to launch a counterattack. At this time, Gao Hongming took the opportunity to dispatch more than 200 aircraft, including fighter jets and bombers, towards them.
The Japanese army dropped incendiary bombs and heavy aerial bombs, totaling more than 100 tons of bombs.
This bombing alone caused the Japanese army to lose thousands of people. Even the most elite Japanese army could not withstand the attack from the sky and had to retreat hastily. The New Regiment and the Liantai Militia took the opportunity to pursue them.
The New Regiment reported that in this battle they seized more than 5,000 Type 38 rifles, more than 700,000 rounds of ammunition and mortars, and countless ammunition including grenades just by cleaning up the battlefield.
Ding Wei, the leader of the New Regiment, said that because they had captured so much, their soldiers couldn’t even carry it anymore, so in the end the New Regiment sent dozens of trucks to help them haul the loot.”