Chiba Xunyi led a large force into Ping'an County in a mighty manner. In front of him was Wancheng, which was the Mawu Mountain base area.
Thinking of the past experience of fighting against Xu Dalong's troops, Chiba Xunyi was still frightened. He ordered the troops to rest and recuperate on the spot in the county town and contact the Japanese 21st Brigade.
This time, he would never march alone. He must stay consistent with the 21st Brigade and attack Xu Dalong's base at the same time.
The Japanese 21st Brigade was very arrogant and asked them to cooperate with the 32nd garrison division. Commander Yokota thought it was a shame.
He was very impatient with Chiba Xunyi's constant telegrams asking about the 21st Brigade's itinerary, and told him to march immediately, and the 21st Brigade would definitely be able to enter the designated position in advance.
After all, the commander of the Yokota Brigade was not familiar with the situation in Mawu Mountain. When they saw Mawu Mountain from a distance, they sent a telegram to Chiba Xunyi, saying that they were about to enter the enemy's base area and urged him to
March on immediately.
Chiba Xunyi was nominally the commander-in-chief of this operation, but he could not control the arrogant Yokota brigade commander at all. Facing Yokota's urging, he delayed for another hour, then ordered the troops to leave the city and continue to Guancheng County.
March direction.
Not long after Chiba Xunyi's car left the gate of Ping'an County, he suddenly received a telegram from Commander Yoshio Shinozuka. The telegram stated that the main force of the Mawushan guerrillas was now attacking the Japanese troops coming from SJZ.
The 16th Brigade ordered them to take advantage of the emptiness of the base area to speed up their march and capture Guancheng County in one fell swoop.
When Qianye Xun heard that Xu Dalong and his main troops were not in the base area, he immediately became bolder. He ordered the troops to speed up their march and quickly captured Guancheng County.
The two Japanese cavalry regiments attached to the 32nd garrison division heard that there was no main enemy force in the Mawushan base area, so they wanted to take advantage of it and took the initiative to ask Qianye Xunyi to capture Guancheng County first.
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Chiba Xunyi was still very afraid of the Mawushan guerrillas from the bottom of his heart. He longed for someone to charge into the battle for him and take the lead.
I was very happy to see these cavalrymen volunteering. I was about to agree to their request when I was called aside by the chief of staff.
The chief of staff said in a low voice: "Your Excellency, division commander, it is best to let them stay with us. Xu Dalong uses his troops to appear and disappear. They have a large number of cavalry troops. If these two cavalry regiments leave, we will be attacked by Xu Dalong's cavalry."
, they are still difficult to deal with. It is better to leave them behind to defend our marching group."
Then he glanced in the direction of the two cavalry regiment captains, lowered his voice, and said close to Chiba Xunyi's ear: "If these two cavalry regiments are allowed to attack Guancheng County, if they fail,
, we still have to take responsibility. Even if they succeed, the credit belongs to them, and our 32nd Division's face will not look good."
Qianye Xunyi suddenly understood, nodded and said: "What you said makes sense. Let's do it like this."
Chiba Xunyi came to the two cavalry captains and said to them: "You are brave enough to take the initiative to attack the enemy, and I appreciate it very much. However, you are not familiar with the enemy's base area, and it is very difficult to go there rashly."
It is easy to suffer losses. To be on the safe side, we should march together and wait until the 21st Brigade arrives before launching an attack on the enemy."
The two cavalry captains were indeed unfamiliar with the enemy's situation. Although they were a little regretful, they still expressed their gratitude to Chiba Xunyi for his concern for them.
Next, the troops guarding the 32nd Division, under the cover of two cavalry regiments, continued to advance toward Guancheng County.
At this time, the 21st Brigade of the Japanese Fifth Division, coming from the direction of Taiyuan, had also entered Yangcheng County and continued to move towards Wancheng County.
Guancheng County, Airport.
Accompanied by a translator, Zhao Gang came to the airport and asked Bob to take his pilots to bomb the Japanese 21st Brigade.
During this period of time, Bob and others had not carried out combat missions and were already too idle. After listening to Zhao Gang's words, he took the pilots and prepared to set off without saying a word.
After this period of field investigation, Bob and his pilots were basically familiar with the terrain around the base area. They quickly started the plane and flew towards Yangcheng County based on the information provided by Zheng Xirong.
The 21st Brigade of the Japanese Army is one of the few fully mechanized troops in the Japanese Army. It has two mechanized infantry regiments, a tank brigade, an artillery brigade, an engineering brigade and a heavy equipment brigade. It has a strength of 12,300 people and is the main force of the Japanese army.
The main force, the officers and soldiers, were very arrogant.
It's no wonder that since they entered the battlefield in Shanxi, they have never suffered a loss in more than a dozen major battles. Facing the regular army in Guofu, they have never taken it seriously. With the strength of a brigade, they have never suffered a loss.
They defeated enemy armies many times, and the division-level troops once used a brigade to hold off a group army of the Shanxi-Sui Army and won an overwhelming victory.
Yokota, the commander of the 21st Brigade, is a short, fat man with a stout body that develops almost horizontally. Although he is not tall, he has a very big head. His face is full of flesh, and his cheeks are bulging on his head.
Narrow and wide at the bottom. His eyes were not big originally, but they were almost invisible due to the thick flesh on his face.
Although this guy doesn't look amazing, he is actually a very powerful general. Japanese brigade commanders usually hold the rank of major general, and Yokota's brigade commander is a Japanese lieutenant general.
This time Yoshio Shinozuka sent him to attack the Mawushan guerrillas. He was very dissatisfied. He thought that the dignified 21st Brigade actually went to attack a guerrilla force, and had to cooperate with the 32nd garrison division.
Fighting gave him the feeling of using a cannon to swat mosquitoes. He was very confident that without the cooperation of the 32nd garrison division, his single brigade was enough to annihilate Xu Dalong's Mawushan guerrillas and destroy the entire anti-Japanese base area.
The reason why the leader of the Yokota Brigade is so arrogant is that he has never dealt with the Mawushan guerrillas before. The 21st Brigade was originally stationed in the Xinkou area, and Chiba Xunyi specially transferred them there in order to deal with the Mawushan guerrillas.
Taiyuan.
Before the 21st Brigade set off, the Chief of Staff of the First Army specifically reminded Brigade Commander Yokota to be careful of Xu Dalong's guerrillas.
He agreed with his mouth, but disagreed in his heart. He heard that the 32nd Division, the 110th Division and the 108th Division had all suffered losses under Xu Dalong, but he still didn't take it seriously because he looked down on the 110th Division at all.
Second-rate field divisions such as the regiment and the 108th Division were later established, let alone an inferior garrison division such as the 32nd Guard Division.
He firmly believed that the 21st Brigade would be able to annihilate Xu Dalong's guerrillas this time, and let those second-rate divisions see how the 21st Brigade fought.
The airport was only more than 100 kilometers away from Yangcheng County. Bob and others flew bombers at high altitudes and soon discovered the Japanese marching brigade on the road. He immediately decided to bomb the Japanese troops.
According to normal operations, in order to accurately hit targets on the ground, bombers usually perform dive bombing and drop bombs at a distance of five to six hundred meters from the ground.
However, Bob and others did not lower their altitude, but flew towards the Japanese marching group at an altitude of more than 3,000 meters in the air.
According to the information provided by Zheng Xirong, the Japanese 21st Brigade had a lot of rapid-fire artillery. These rapid-fire artillery were dual-purpose high-altitude and horizontal artillery and could be used as anti-aircraft artillery. In order to avoid losses to the bombers, Bob and others chose to drop bombs at high altitude.
Bob and others could see the Japanese marching brigade from high in the sky, and the Japanese troops on the ground could also see the aircraft in the sky. Before setting off, the 21st Brigade had received a notification that there were several Mawushan guerrillas.
bomber.
At this time, the airport in the Taiyuan area had been destroyed, and there were no Japanese aircraft nearby, so the Japanese officers and soldiers immediately judged that it was an enemy aircraft.
The Japanese officers and soldiers of the 21st Brigade were well-trained. When they saw the enemy plane coming, they did not panic at all. They immediately controlled the rapid-fire cannon and prepared to shoot into the air.
The effective range of the rapid-fire cannon can reach 2,300 meters, and the anti-aircraft shooting can also reach a height of 1,900 meters. The Japanese officers and soldiers knew that the enemy planes would dive down if they wanted to carry out bombing. They loaded the shells and waited for the enemy planes to dive down.
Then strike hard.
However, what happened was completely beyond their expectation. The enemy's plane flew over the Japanese marching group at an altitude of 3 kilometers, and a large number of aerial bombs were dropped directly from high altitude.
The commander of the Yokota brigade was sticking his head out of the car window and observing the situation in the sky with a telescope.
Seeing that the enemy's planes were so unruly, he was so angry that he yelled: "Bayalu, Tubal Road is Tubal Road, there is no military common sense at all."
Regardless of whether they had military knowledge or not, Bob and others flew over the Japanese marching group and dropped bombs and wooden gasoline barrels.
Although the Japanese officers and soldiers knew that the artillery in their hands could not reach the high-altitude aircraft, they still couldn't help but fire violently into the sky, which at least could have the purpose of forcing the enemy aircraft not to fly at low altitudes.
The shells fired by the rapid-fire cannon flew into the sky at an alarming speed at first. As the altitude continued to climb, the speed slowly decreased. Then they made a brief stop at an altitude of more than 1,900 meters and turned around.
Down, toward the ground.
Before these artillery shells fell to the ground, the homemade aerial bombs and wooden gasoline barrels dropped from the plane had already fallen. Although the throwing at an altitude of 3 kilometers was completely inaccurate, the Japanese marching brigade was still in a long queue.
Some aerial bombs and gasoline barrels fell into the Japanese marching column.
Although the aerial bombs made by the guerrillas were not very powerful against solid targets such as buildings, they fully exerted their power against Japanese vehicles and the people on them. The explosion of the bomb destroyed the Japanese vehicles and the bombs
A large amount of iron sand splashed everywhere like a heavy rain, causing a large number of casualties to the Japanese officers and soldiers.
The wooden gasoline barrel hit the ground and the Japanese vehicle, and immediately turned into pieces. The fuel inside was instantly ignited, and the flames flew everywhere, causing the Japanese officers and soldiers to howl like ghosts.
After Bob and others finished throwing bombs and gasoline barrels, they circled in the air as if in a demonstration, admiring their masterpiece, and then flew to the airport.
The six fighter jets and bombers that came for the bombing this time carried a limited number of ammunition and gasoline barrels. Despite this, they still destroyed one Japanese tank and two armored vehicles, causing more than 300 Japanese casualties.
The commander of the Yokota brigade was furious. He roared and ordered the troops to speed up. He wanted to take revenge on the guerrillas' airport and completely destroy these bombers.
Shangqiuzi Village, Pingan County.
Shangqiuzi Village is a small village at the junction of Ping'an County and Guancheng County. It can be said to be one of the most outposted villages in the Mawu Mountain Base Area. The villagers have received notice that the Japanese army is about to invade in a large scale, so they went to the village committee to
The organization moved to mountainous areas.
Since tunnels were dug in the village, militia captain Wang Sanqiang and more than a dozen militiamen stayed in the village.
Shangqiuzi Village is the outpost of the base area. The Mawushan guerrillas specially sent engineers to help the village dig tunnels. The tunnel system is quite complete. Wang Sanqiang and the militiamen are eager to try. They have long been waiting for the little devils to come and die.
The militiamen standing sentry on the roof of the village saw smoke billowing in front of them, and soon they saw a large group of Japanese soldiers heading towards their village.
The sentry hurriedly got off the ladder, ran to the village committee, and reported to the captain Wang Sanqiang.
Wang Sanqiang also went up to the roof, looked at the Japanese soldiers approaching from a distance, and said to the militiamen standing in the yard: "Brothers, the Japs are really here, hurry down to the tunnel."
The militiamen quickly entered the tunnel through the hidden hole.
Soon after, a large group of Japanese troops entered the village. Stationed in Shangqiuzi Village were the brigade headquarters of an infantry brigade and two infantry squadrons of the 81st Regiment of the Japanese Army.
Seeing that there was no one in the village, they dispersed and moved into the villagers' homes. The cooking soldiers began to cook, and they would take a short rest here before continuing to Guancheng County.
The militiamen hiding in the tunnel saw the Japanese soldiers in the village through the lookout. Following Wang Sanqiang's order, they looked for opportunities to attack the Japanese soldiers.
In a yard, a Japanese second lieutenant saw a water tank in the corner. He stepped forward and opened the lid, and saw that the water tank was full of clean water. The weather was really hot at this time.
The Japanese captain took off his clothes, picked up a water ladle and poured water on himself, hoping to take a bath here.
At this moment, a brick from the corner of the wall was pulled out, revealing a hole in the wall. Then a red eagle gun came out of the hole, and it was thrown into the waist of the Japanese second lieutenant.
The Japanese second lieutenant screamed and fell down. The red tassel gun was quickly withdrawn, and then the brick outside was blocked again.
The Japanese soldiers in the room heard the noise outside and hurriedly ran out. They looked around with guns in hand and only saw the Japanese second lieutenant lying on the ground. They had no idea how he was killed?
In the landlord's compound in the center of the village, the Japanese brigade headquarters lived here. A Japanese sentry stood at the door. Not far from him, under the millstone, a muzzle was quietly stretched out, and a shot was fired.
, hitting the Japanese sentry on the chest, the sentry threw away his rifle, covered his chest and fell to the ground.
The sound alerted the Japanese soldiers in the yard. They swarmed into the street and searched everywhere, but they had no idea where the bullets came from.
In a house at the east end of the village, a group of Japanese soldiers searched outside and saw nothing, so they returned to the house.
The squad leader of the Japanese was giving instructions to the Japanese, telling them to be more careful. He was arranging to send sentries at the entrance of the courtyard. There was a pair of shoulder poles and two baskets placed in the corner of the courtyard.
The basket was moved away, and a militiaman poked his head out from below. He held two grenades in his hands, pulled out the fuses, threw them into the house through the window, and then quickly disappeared.
With two "boom boom" sounds, the house was blown up and smoke billowed. Except for one of the Japanese soldiers in the house, all the others were wiped out.
In a small courtyard where there were no Japanese soldiers, there was a thatched house against the wall. A militiaman emerged from it. He moved the ladder in the corner and leaned against the wall, then quietly looked out from the top of the wall.
He saw a group of Japanese soldiers searching around in a chaotic manner on the street. He threw out the two grenades in his hand, then quickly jumped off the ladder, got into the thatched house, and then disappeared.
Ping ping ping pong, bang, bang, gunshots and grenade explosions kept ringing in the village.
The Japanese soldiers had no idea where the enemy was and were beaten so disoriented that they suffered heavy casualties.