With the recapture of Xinkou and Niangziguan, the gate of Taiyuan suddenly opened, and more than 100,000 troops surrounded Taiyuan in just a few days.
Before the army besieged the city, the people in Taiyuan City rushed out. After all, everyone knew that once a war broke out, bullets would not have eyes, and staying in the city would only lead to death.
What puzzles many people is that the Japanese troops in Taiyuan City originally wanted to stop the large-scale escape of the people in Taiyuan City, but then Neiji Okamura personally issued an order to let them go.
Nowadays, except for the old people who have nowhere to go and those who are unable to leave their homeland, most of the people in the huge Taiyuan City have already fled.
"Commander, is Gao Hongming's telegram true?" Commander Yoshio Iwamatsu of the First Army asked reluctantly, looking at the silent Okamura Neji.
"I don't know." Faced with Yoshio Iwamatsu who rushed into his office, Neji Okamura did not care about his rudeness, but replied calmly.
Iwamatsu Yoshio said again: "Then why did you let those Chinese people leave Taiyuan City? If we have these people in our hands, it is also a very good bargaining chip. At least it can force the Chinese people not to use heavy artillery to attack the city."
"Because I don't dare to gamble." Okamura Neji threw the telegram on the table.
"Gao Hongming has already said in the telegram that if we dare to use the people in Taiyuan City as bargaining chips in the war, he will send long-range bombers to bomb Tokyo, Daban and even Sasebo!
Iwamatsu-kun, even if the possibility is only half, do you dare to bet?"
Yoshio Iwamatsu remained silent.
"Okay Iwamatsu-kun, I know you are very unwilling." Okamura Neji's expression became serious: "But it is related to the safety of His Majesty the Emperor. Even if there is only the slightest chance, we cannot be careless. Do you understand?"
"Hi!"
Seeing that Okamura Neiji has even moved out the emperor, if Yoshio Iwamatsu dares to beep again, Okamura Neiji can even directly order him to be relieved of his duties and send a report to the base camp to send him to a military court.
"Hey, I understand." Yoshio Iwamatsu shuddered and quickly bowed to Neji Okamura.
Okamura Neji's expression suddenly became fierce: "Go, you go to the outer perimeter to personally supervise the battle. We can only win this battle but not lose!"
"Hi!"
Before the coalition forces arrived, tens of thousands of Japanese troops from the 110th and 115th Divisions responsible for defending Taiyuan City had already built fortifications throughout Taiyuan City, and hundreds of bunkers and semi-permanent fortifications were built on the periphery.
Not only that, Okamura Neiji even ordered the construction and reinforcement of fortifications throughout the city, assuming a posture of fighting the allied forces in street fighting to the end even if the outer positions could not be defended.
In order to discuss how to attack Taiyuan, a command group composed of Gao Hongming, Yang Aiyuan, Sun Chu, Commander Liu, and Political Commissar Ping had been discussing for several days, but they still could not come up with a practical solution.
"Snapped!"
Sun Chu slapped the table with some annoyance, "What on earth does Okamura Neji want to do? Is he building a tortoise shell? He has even built so many fortresses in the city. Is he planning to coexist with Taiyuan?"
"This Okamura Neji is probably in a hurry."
Sun Chu looked at the sand table in front of him and sighed.
This sandbox was created piece by piece according to scale based on hundreds of photos taken by reconnaissance aircraft.
In order to make this sand table, more than ten combat officers in the general staff worked hard for several days before it was completed. It is said that after the sand table was completed, the more than ten staff officers were all exhausted.
"No matter how difficult it is, we must fight." Gao Hongming said in a very firm tone, "Since the war has started, the Japanese are certainly riding a tiger and are unable to get off, so why aren't we the same?
Now people across the country are looking at us, those in Chongqing are looking at us, and even Americans thousands of miles away are looking at us?
If we do not fight well or even lose this battle, the confidence that the people have finally mustered up may be severely damaged.
Chairman Chiang, who is far away in Chongqing, will have more excuses to interfere in Shanxi affairs. Once the news reaches the United States, the U.S. government and people will lose confidence in the Chinese War of Resistance, which will be very detrimental to our future military aid.
Therefore, we must continue to fight this battle no matter how high the price is, and we must win with success!"
Yang Aiyuan was silent for a while: "Brother Gao, you are right. We really cannot afford to lose this battle. If we lose, the good situation that Shanxi has finally achieved will be in vain."
Sun Chu frowned and sighed: "But we have seen that Taiyuan City has been built into a fortress by the Japanese. The price we need to pay to capture it is too high. We will die just to capture the outer positions.
how many people?"
Everyone was silent. Okamura Neiji withdrew the 110th and 115th divisions and the original garrison troops to Taiyuan City. There were now at least 30,000 to 40,000 Japanese troops in Taiyuan.
Under normal circumstances, if you want to capture this city, the price you have to pay is unimaginable.
Gao Hongming thought for a moment: "We must fight even if it is difficult. Didn't Okamura Neji build hundreds of bunkers to try to stop us? Then let's use heavy artillery to crack open these turtle shells!"
On an artillery position six kilometers away from the outskirts of Taiyuan City, more than a dozen B4-type 203mm howitzers stood quietly on the position.
Behind the artillery, three soldiers pushed a cart behind the B4 howitzer. Then two artillerymen standing next to the artillery pushed the shells on the cart into the guide trough. Then the four gunners picked up the push cart.
The rod combined the warhead of this 150kg concrete-penetrating projectile to push the projectile into the barrel.
Then a gunner pushed a 3.8-kilogram gunpowder bag into the barrel. After doing this, the gunner on the side closed the gun bolt.
Since the B4 shells are too heavy for most people to carry, this artillery has two methods of feeding ammunition.
One is to use a small crane placed on the artillery pad, and the other is the method currently used by artillerymen.
The gunner checked the firing range one last time, then waved his hand, and the gunner behind him immediately pulled the match rope.
"boom!"
There was only a loud noise, and the 15-ton artillery was as if it had been kicked by a giant. The whole artillery shook violently, and bounced back for a while before returning to its position.
As the artillery was activated, the entire artillery position was shrouded in thick smoke and dust.
However, the gunners no longer cared about this, and an observer who was holding a telescope for observation shouted happily.
"Hit...hit...the enemy's bunker was hit!"
"What, did you hit it?"
A group of gunners rushed to the observer's place, and some ran to a gun observation post not far away and grabbed the observation telescope to take a look.