While the Americans were fighting a bloody battle with the Japanese on Guadalcanal, the battle to recapture Taiyuan thousands of miles away was also reaching a critical juncture.
As the capital of Shanxi, the importance of Taiyuan goes without saying.
For this important town, both the Chinese and Japanese armies were furious.
Okamura Neiji personally commanded the 110th Division, and the independent mixed 2nd Brigade and the remnants of the 115th Division formed several strong lines of defense. In a telegram to the commander of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, he vowed to tear the invading Chinese army into pieces.
The five top commanders of the joint command including Gao Hongming, Yang Aiyuan, Commander Liu, Political Commissar Ping and Sun Chu all agreed that in order to conquer Taiyuan, it is necessary to first clear out the three strongholds on the periphery of Taiyuan. These three places are Pingxing Pass.
There are three places: Xinkou and Niangziguan.
History is always surprisingly similar. When the Japanese army attacked Taiyuan in 1937, they followed the same route, but now the defenders became Japanese.
But fortunately, Pingxingguan had been occupied by two armored battalions and three infantry battalions sent by Gao Hongming a few days ago. They took advantage of the Japanese army's attention to the defeated 115th Division to cover its retreat to Taiyuan and occupied it before it could react.
The fall of Pingxing Pass made the Japanese army feel heavy pressure again, and it also made Okamura Neji become more vigilant towards Gao Hongming, and then made another request to the base camp for sending more fighter planes.
"Your Excellency, Commander, I'm afraid it's inappropriate for you to send a telegram to the base camp in such a tone, isn't it? This will be very detrimental to your future career."
Adachi Twenty-Three saw with his own eyes the telegram drafted by General Okamura Neji himself, and felt a tingle in his heart. He, the commander, was too courageous. How could he talk to the base camp in such a tone? He was not afraid of being punished by the gentlemen there.
Does he wear small shoes?
It's just that as the chief of staff, he couldn't speak too directly, so he could only use the most tactful tone to persuade.
Okamura Neiji did not speak, but seriously signed his name and handed the telegram to Adachi Twenty-three, and then sneered: "Adachi-kun, if we can't win this battle, do you think I will do it in the future?"
Is there any official career left?"
Adachi twenty-three stopped talking. He had to admit that what Okamura Neji said was very reasonable. If he lost this battle, Okamura Neji's official career would probably end here.
But even so, Okamura Neji does not have to worry about his life.
After all, when the official position reaches the position of commander of the front army, there are hidden benefits. In ancient China, there was a saying that punishment could not be promoted to a doctor, and the same is true in Japan. Generally speaking, as long as the official position reaches the general level, even if you make a mistake, the base camp will usually
If you keep your guard open, you won't really let them have a caesarean section.
After a moment of silence, Okamura Neiji asked: "How are the defenses at Niangziguan and Xinkou going now?"
In order to defend Taiyuan, Okamura Neiji also fought hard. He also recruited two brigades from other parts of North China to station in these two places. In order to use the favorable terrain of the two places to kill a large number of Chinese troops, thinking that the Japanese army
Create conditions for counterattack.
"Don't worry. I had a phone call with the commander of the Xiaodao Brigade and the Commander of the Zhongshan Brigade this morning. They said that all the fortifications have been completed. If the Chinese want to take over those two places, they have to fill them with corpses.
There is no other way."
"Should we fill it with corpses?" Okamura Neiji smiled faintly, stood up and walked to the window, looking at the sunset that was beginning to set in the west, all silently lost in thought.
Niangziguan and Xinkou are so important that Okamura Neiji even mobilized two brigades to be deployed there again. How could the joint command despise them?
In order to show the importance it attaches to this campaign, the joint command headquarters finalized the division of labor for this campaign after discussion.
The 115th and 129th Divisions of the Eighth Route Army were responsible for attacking Niangziguan, and the Shanxi-Sui Army temporarily assigned six divisions, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, and 42, to attack Xinkou. It can be said that in order to capture these two places, the Eighth Route Army and the Shanxi-Sui Army
Everyone put in a lot of effort.
Some people say that since both the Eighth Route Army and the Shanxi-Sui Army have work to do, what will the Liantai Militia do?
Of course, the Liantai Militia has work to do. As the most luxurious unit in terms of equipment and training, it is a mobile unit in the hands of the joint command. In layman's terms, it goes wherever it encounters difficulties.
Everything is ready, the next thing to do is one word... do it!
On September 11, the Eighth Route Army went straight to Jingxing County in front of Niangziguan and attacked the Snow Flower Mountain area southwest of Jingxing.
The garrison stationed at Snowflake Mountain is the 165th Regiment of the Mixed Sixth Brigade that was urgently transferred from Shandong by Neji Okamura. It also has the 166th Regiment of the Sixth Brigade garrisoned at Niangziguan, forming a divisive situation. As long as Snowflake Mountain can hold on
, Niangziguan will be safe.
In order to defend Snowflake Mountain, Major General Nobuo Kojima, commander of the sixth mixed brigade, even assigned the artillery brigade directly under the brigade to Snowflake Mountain.
At the 129th Division headquarters three kilometers away from Snowflake Mountain, all officers from the 129th Division and above were present, and dozens of commanders crowded the small headquarters to the brim.
In the headquarters, there is a huge military map with a ratio of 100,000 to 1 hanging on the inside. Commander Liu stood under the map and looked at the brigade commanders, regimental commanders and political commissars sitting in front with piercing eyes.
.
"Comrades."
"Wow!"
Everyone stood up.
"Everyone, please sit down."
Commander Liu waved his hand, "You may all know that the Joint Command assigned the task of attacking Niangzi Pass to our Eighth Route Army, and I, the Political Commissar of Peace, snatched this task from our 129th Division."
Hearing Master Liu use the word "rob" to describe this task, many people had smiles on their faces. Li Yunlong grinned and was about to speak, but was glared at by Brigadier Chen who was sitting in front of him, and he quickly opened his mouth in fright.
It was closed.
"You heard me right, this mission was stolen from me."
Seeing everyone smiling, Commander Liu not only did not laugh along with him, but said seriously: "Don't laugh, everyone, I'm not kidding. In order to win this mission, Commander Lin and I even took the lawsuit to the headquarters, and in the end he was the deputy commander-in-chief.
Deputy Chief of Staff He Teng made the decision and gave us this task.
I’m putting vilification first now. If this battle doesn’t turn out well, don’t blame me, Liu **, for turning your back on me! I don’t care whether you are a brigade commander or a regiment commander. If you should be removed from your post, you will be removed from your post. If you should be shot, you will be shot!"
Seeing that the always amiable division commander spoke harsh words today, everyone was shocked. They knew that the division commander was really cruel this time. If anyone was to fall short in this battle, he would never ask for mercy.
of.
However, none of you here have crawled out from the dead. As soon as Commander Liu finished speaking, Brigadier Chen stood up and said loudly: "Commander, please don't worry. This time you use our 386th Brigade to attack. I will