In Ma Zhenyu's office, the chief of staff of the Daqingshan Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Column asked with some concern: "Commander Si Ling, you and Captain Xu proposed to attack Datong. Why didn't you mention how to guard against Japanese reinforcements once the battle started?"
Captain Xu immediately agreed to attack Datong without mentioning reinforcements. What if reinforcements from the Japanese army arrive?"
Ma Zhenyu smiled and said: "You still don't understand Captain Xu. Let me ask you, once the Battle of Datong starts, where will the Japanese army be most likely to send reinforcements?"
The chief of staff said: "The closest ones to Datong are the Japanese 110th Division in Yangquan, and the Chahar Dispatch Army in the Suiyuan direction. If the Japanese 110th Division uses roads or railways to come for reinforcements, it can take half a day.
Come here, the Japanese cavalry troops in the direction of Suiyuan can arrive in one day."
Ma Zhenyu smiled and said: "That's right. Southeast of Yangquan is the Mawushan Military Division. The main defense of the Japanese 110th Division is the troops of the Mawushan Military Division. I'm sure that when the battle started, Captain Xu
The troops from the Mawushan Military Division will definitely be arranged to attack the enemy's 110th Division to contain their forces. Under such circumstances, the Japanese 110th Division simply did not dare to send troops to the direction of Datong for reinforcements.
Even if the Japanese army dares to dispatch, the air force of the Mawushan Military Division can bomb them along the way. The special operations brigade or cavalry brigade under Captain Xu will also intercept them along the way. Therefore, there is no need to consider the Japanese 110th Division.
Reinforcements.
Regarding the Japanese cavalry units of the Chahar Expeditionary Army, have you noticed? They have not sent troops into Shanxi for a long time because they have been frightened by the troops of the Mawushan Military Division. Once the Battle of Datong started, Captain Xu
As long as a small number of cavalry units are sent to the direction of Suiyuan, and then the news is spread that the troops from the Mawushan Military Division are attacking Datong, the cavalry units of the Chahar Dispatch Army will not have the guts to come for reinforcements. Therefore, we in Daqingshan
The guerrilla column has no worries and can go all out to attack Datong."
The chief of staff nodded and said: "So that's it, you know Captain Xu and the others better."
At this point, he remembered something and asked with some confusion: "You said that Captain Xu would send cavalry troops to intercept the Japanese troops along the way, but there was only one special operations squadron coming with him. I'm afraid this troop strength is still not enough.
"
Ma Zhenyu said with a smile: "You don't have to think about this. Captain Xu never fights an uncertain battle, and he will take any relevant factors into consideration. If it goes as expected, Captain Xu will definitely give the Ma Wushan Army
Send a telegram to the division and send a special operations brigade or cavalry brigade to participate in the Battle of Datong."
The chief of staff finally felt relieved and said with emotion: "We can indeed attack Datong with confidence and boldness. It is really a pleasure to fight with Captain Xu."
Ma Zhenyu's guess was correct. Xu Dalong never fought an uncertain battle. Since he wanted to attack Datong, he had to consider Japanese reinforcements.
Just after he agreed to the request of the Daqingshan Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Column, he quickly sent a telegram to Li Yunlong, Zhao Gang and others, asking them to organize troops to pretend to attack Yangquan and contain the Japanese 110th Division. At the same time, special warfare was sent
The brigade and the cavalry brigade went to Datong.
After Li Yunlong received the telegram, he was very excited and immediately carried out pre-war mobilization, allowing the military division's rapid response detachment and the troops of the five regiments to prepare for the war.
Based on the information provided by the scouts, Xu Dalong and others formulated a battle plan to attack Datong. After another week of preparation, the Battle of Datong was officially launched.
The Daqingshan Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Column that participated in the Battle of Datong had more than 13,000 troops. Such a large-scale troop mobilization could not be done silently.
When they approached Datong, the Japanese and puppet troops in Datong City had already received the news and immediately strengthened the city defense. At the same time, they reported the situation to the First Army Headquarters in Taiyuan City and requested to send troops for reinforcements.
At 9 o'clock in the morning that day, the Eighth Route Army officers and soldiers, who had completed the encirclement of the Japanese army, launched an attack on the Japanese and puppet garrison in Datong City.
Datong is a famous historical city with thousands of years of history. It was an important border town in all dynasties and was once the capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty. The city walls are very strong.
The inner part of the city wall was made of rammed earth and ginger rice water. After long-term air drying, it became extremely strong. In order to prevent rain erosion, a thick layer of blue bricks was added on the outside.
The height is nearly three feet, and the thickness at the bottom is more than two feet. The top can drive horse-drawn carriages. Such a strong city wall was a nightmare for attackers in the ancient cold weapon era. Even now, relying on the small size of the Daqingshan Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Column,
caliber artillery, it is not easy to destroy the city wall.
In comparison, the city gates were relatively fragile. There were only three city gates in the whole city. The main force of the guerrilla column was divided into three groups and attacked the three city gates respectively.
Shortly after the battle started, three city gates were blown down by Type 92 infantry artillery. The officers and soldiers of the Eighth Route Army rushed towards the city gates.
The Japanese army had already taken precautions and deployed a large number of additional troops near the three city gates. The officers and soldiers of the Eighth Route Army were unable to rush in, and instead caused many casualties.
The Eighth Route Army officers and soldiers were very brave and launched fierce attacks on the city gate one after another. Each attack was beaten back, and then they launched another attack.
When Ma Zhenyu and the leaders of the guerrilla column saw the large number of Eighth Route officers and soldiers who had died near the city gate, they were all heartbroken and looked at Xu Dalong.
Xu Dalong remained unmoved, just looked at his watch and continued to look towards the city gate.
At this moment, under the north wall of Datong City, a group of Japanese officers and soldiers climbed up the stairs to the city wall and suddenly launched an attack on the Japanese and puppet defenders on the wall.
It was Zhu Guangming and his special forces who launched the attack. They had quietly sneaked into Datong City two days in advance and hid themselves with the help of the underground party. This was a battle plan formulated by Xu Dalong in advance.
After the battle started, the main force of the anti-Japanese guerrilla column attacked three city gates respectively. There was no city gate in the north, and the Japanese army also invested a lot of defenders. However, the Eighth Route Army's attack near the three city gates was so fierce that they had to redeploy their troops.
Go over for reinforcements.
Zhu Guangzhao and others were waiting to take advantage of this opportunity and successfully captured the city wall.
They slid the rope ladder they had prepared long ago down the city wall, and the Eighth Route Army officers and soldiers who were ambushing outside the city continued to climb up the city wall under the cover of the special operations squadron.
After they climbed up the city wall, they lowered more rope ladders. Soon there were more than thirty rope ladders on the north wall, and groups of Eighth Route Army officers and soldiers quickly climbed up the city wall.
Zhu Guangming led the special forces to block the Japanese reinforcements on the city wall.
He waited until the number of Eighth Route Army officers and soldiers on the city wall was large enough, and then launched a counterattack against the Japanese army.
As more and more Eighth Route Army officers and soldiers entered the city, they quickly took control of the northern part of the city and then continued to attack in the other three directions.
Originally, the Japanese and puppet troops in the city relied on Datong's strong city walls and had strong confidence to defend the city. When they saw that the north of the city had been breached, they immediately became panicked.
The first to collapse were the puppet troops in the city. Some of them fled in all directions, and some surrendered to the Eighth Route Army.
The strength of the Japanese army itself was insufficient, and they had to defend three city gates and three city walls. Now they had to detach large groups of troops to snipe the Eighth Route Army entering the city. The number of troops defending the city gates and city walls became increasingly thin.
Soon after, part of the Eighth Route Army invaded the east gate of Datong, and a large number of Eighth Route Army troops swarmed in and attacked to the south and west of the city.
The Japanese brigade commander saw that the city was destroyed and kept sending telegrams asking for reinforcements.
Yoshio Shinozuka had already sent a telegram to the 110th Division stationed in Yangquan, ordering them to send troops to reinforce the defenders of Datong. However, the reply he received was that Yangquan City was attacked by the main force of the Mawushan Military Division of the Eighth Route Army.
There is no ability to dispatch reinforcements to reinforce Datong.
Yoshio Shinozuka had no other choice but to bite the bullet and send a telegram to the Chahar Expeditionary Force asking for help.
Just as he feared, the cavalry troops of the Chahar Expeditionary Army had already been frightened by Xu Dalong. They vowed not to enter Shanxi again, and they had discovered a large number of Eighth Route Army cavalry near Tianzhen.
Based on their experience, they knew that only the troops in the Mawushan Military Division had so many cavalry troops. They had no guts to compete with the troops in the Mawushan Military Division. Therefore, the telegram sent by Yoshio Shinozuka was like a bull in the sea, and there was no one at all.
Deal with it.
The Japanese defenders in the city received a reply from Yoshio Shinozuka, saying that reinforcements could not arrive for the time being and asked them to hold on to Datong and fight to the death.
The Japanese and puppet troops in the city were completely desperate and their fighting spirit was even more disorganized. They could not withstand the fierce attack of the Eighth Route Army. After four and a half hours of fierce fighting, the Daqingshan Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Column annihilated all the Japanese and puppet troops in the city and occupied the area.
The entire Datong City.
The next morning, Xu Dalong, accompanied by Ma Zhenyu, went to visit Huayan Temple.
While Xu Dalong and others were visiting, two gunshots suddenly came from a courtyard in the northwest corner of the temple.
The special forces members who were on guard duty immediately rushed over, and soon several more gunshots were heard. Soon after, the special forces members escorted a fat, middle-aged man in plain clothes out.
The squad leader of the special force said: "Report to the captain, two men with guns killed a monk here. We killed one and captured this one." At this point, he handed over the tortoise in his hand.
Box, said: "This was seized from them."
Xu Dalong looked carefully at the guy in front of him. He looked to be between 40 and 50 years old. Although he did not have a beard on his mouth, the beard under his nose seemed to have been shaved recently. He had not been shaved cleanly and there was still some
With the mark of Ren Danhu and the weapons in their hands, Xu Dalong concluded that this person should be a Japanese soldier in hiding.
He asked directly in Japanese: "Who are you?"
The fat man pretended not to understand and looked at Xu Dalong blankly.
Xu Dalong said: "It's useless for you to hide it. Judging from your age, you should be a senior commander of the Japanese army. There are many people who know you in this city. As long as I send someone to identify you, I can find out immediately
Rather than having your identity revealed, it would be better to tell it yourself, which would look better."
The fat man blinked, thought for a moment, and asked in Japanese: "Who are you?"
Xu Dalong smiled lightly and said: "Xu Dalong."
The fat man looked at Xu Dalong with some horror. After a moment, he suddenly put his legs together and stood at attention, just like Xu Dalong bowed.
He said: "It turns out to be the famous General Xu. I am the commander of the 86th Brigade, the supreme commander of this city, Watanabe Katsuo.
General Xu is a truly famous general, and I have nothing to say after losing at your hands."
Ma Zhenyu and the leaders of the guerrilla column didn't know what the little devil was talking about. Monk Wei who was standing by said: "I didn't expect to catch a big fish. He is Katsuro Watanabe, the commander of the 86th Brigade of the Japanese Army."
.”
Ma Zhenyu laughed loudly and said: "No wonder, I haven't found it after searching for a long time. This guy turned out to be hiding here. This is really a big fish."
Datong City is indeed very rich. After three days of searching, more than 5.7 million yuan was seized. Other various materials are difficult to estimate at the moment.
Ma Zhenyu said: "Captain, we have agreed beforehand that you will be the first to pick out the seizures this time."
Xu Dalong was not polite and said: "It's not convenient for us to carry other things. All we need is money. Our two families will share the seized oceans equally."
Ma Zhenyu said: "How can that be done? We have already agreed in advance that all the captured oceans will be given to you. Even if you don't take them all, you should take the bulk."
The two sides gave in for a few more words, but in the end Ma Zhenyu insisted that Xu Dalong take away 4 million yuan.
The telegram was sent back to the Mawu Mountain District Division, and Zhao Gang smiled from ear to ear.
Li Yunlong was a little unhappy in his heart. Xu Dalong and the others captured Datong City and got a bite of fat. However, Li Yunlong led the troops on a feint attack mission. They consumed a lot of food but did not get any loot. This made him
I felt very unhappy.
He sent a telegram to Xu Dalong, saying that he was now in Yangquan City with the rapid mobile detachment and the main force of the five regiments, and asked Xu Dalong to come with the Daqingshan Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Column and capture Yangquan City together. He Li Yunlong also wanted to enter
Go to the city to make a fortune.
The 110th Division of the Japanese Army was stationed in Yangquan City and had been confronting the Mawushan Military Division for several years. Xu Dalong had long wanted to deal with them, so he discussed with Ma Zhenyu and others and asked them if they were willing to attack Yangquan and then launch an attack.
A windfall.
Ma Zhenyu and others won a big victory and made enough money. At this moment, they are full of confidence.
Yangquan is the main obstacle between the Mawushan Military Division and the Daqingshan Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Column. If Yangquan can be captured, the base area of the Daqingshan Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Column will be connected with the base area of the Mawushan Military District.
Being able to capture Yangquan City was also very important to the Daqingshan Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Column. They agreed without hesitation and soon led their troops straight to Yangquan City.