In the end, the 59th Division chose to fight back along the gap.
Wang Xuexin also believed that the 59th Division would fight back.
This is not only because fighting from Daqingshan and Luliang Mountains is not suitable for the Japanese, but also because of the unwillingness of the Japanese... One division with tens of thousands of people will be blocked by two regiments of the Eighth Route Army with more than 4,000 people? What's more, if they fight out,
If so, it would be a life-and-death fight with the Eighth Route Army. Even if you lose, you will still lose the glory. If you starve to death in the mountains, what is going on?!
According to common sense, two regiments of the Eighth Route Army cannot stop one Japanese division.
But these two regiments of the Eighth Route Army are not ordinary infantry regiments, but the New First Regiment and the New Second Regiment equipped with repeating rifles.
In the battle to block the 59th Division at the gap, the half-track vehicles did not implement the "kite-flying" tactics against the Japanese like the cavalry... The gap area is between Daqing Mountain and Luliang Mountain, and the terrain is complex and mountainous.
There are rugged hills and jungles everywhere outside that road, which are not suitable for half-track vehicle maneuvers.
But half-track vehicles also played a big role in battles. Soldiers deployed them on high ground as bunkers, used them to transport ammunition, and during war they could also use them to transport troops to reinforce weak spots.
In short, all the things that usually require manpower to carry and run on two legs consume a lot of manpower and time, and require taking great risks and may not be possible, but can be easily done with a half-track car.
As for the gasoline needed for half-track vehicles... the materials seized at Ningbei Railway Station are not a problem for mechanized units such as the Eighth Route Army, including the independent regiment, for a month.
The Japanese 59th Division was badly beaten.
The commander of the 59th Division, Yui Nakata, thought from the beginning that this battle would be difficult because he knew that the Eighth Route Army was equipped with repeating rifles.
With the firepower of a repeating rifle, one regiment may be able to withstand three regiments.
Therefore, the 59th Division faced not just two regiments as it seemed on the surface, but six regiments with more than 10,000 people.
But Yui Nakata is still confident about breaking through.
Because he believed that it would be easy to defeat the 10,000-odd people of the Eighth Route Army with more than 10,000 people from the 59th Division.
Nakata Yui said this to his staff: "The Eighth Route Army, assuming that one person carries one hundred and twenty rounds of ammunition, and every forty rounds of bullets can kill one of our troops, if they use up all their ammunition, they will only just kill all of our troops."
Light it up!"
Forty rounds of bullets killed one person, which is a pretty high hit rate.
You must know that during World War II, an average of more than 2,000 bullets were fired to kill one person.
However, this average was definitely raised by Eagle Sauce. The Eighth Route Army emphasized that each bullet must destroy an enemy and the ammunition supply was insufficient, so the kill rate was much higher.
However, this was the Japanese's method of letting the Eighth Route Army fight without fighting back at all times.
This is a battle. The Japanese have cannons, rifles and quite good military quality. Although there is a big difference between a bolt-action rifle and a repeating rifle, how can they defeat the Eighth Route Army with three people and one person?
It was with this idea that Yui Nakata launched an attack on the encirclement.
But reality slapped Yui Nakata hard in the face...
Nakata Yui discovered that what they had to face was far more than just two regiments of the Eighth Route Army.
The first is a fighter jet flying in the sky.
They can no longer be said to be fighter jets, it would be more accurate to say they are bombers.
Because as long as the "La 5" is equipped with a rocket rack, it can transform into a bomber that can bomb the ground.
Wang Xuexin invested a total of 74 bomber squadrons in three squadrons at Daqingshan Iron and Steel Plant, with 24 bombers in each squadron, and the other two were used as combat preparations.
These bombers did not originate from the Daqingshan Iron and Steel Plant.
When a bomber performs its mission, it flies to the destination, launches rockets and then returns, so there is no problem of fighting with enemy aircraft. Its combat radius requirements are much lower than those of fighter jets.
Taking off from Liyuan Airport does consume fuel, but there is nothing you can do about it.
The main reason is that the steel plant does not have so many rockets... 74 bombers, assuming that each can fire 20 rockets at a time, can fire nearly 1,500 rockets in just one bombing wave.
The Daqingshan Iron and Steel Plant is the front line, and rocket reserves are very valuable to the front line troops. Of course, they will not be bombarded indiscriminately by bombers.
Therefore, the Daqingshan Iron and Steel Plant only has fighter jets: a squadron of 24 is temporarily deployed, and there are 24 more at Liyuan Airport in preparation for combat.
In addition, if necessary, the bomber can be transformed into a fighter immediately after removing its pylons.
The reason for this arrangement is not that the steel factory airport cannot accommodate more fighter planes, but that the steel factory airport is too close to the front line and is within the range of the enemy's "human-operated missiles". In addition, it may be suppressed by enemy artillery fire during the battle, so it must be
Deploy as little as possible.
Liyuan Airport has much less pressure in terms of rockets.
Since Wang Xuexin built the aviation base in Liyuan, he has stored more than 3,000 rockets in a few months just for today's battle.
The Japanese 59th Division was in dire straits.
Although the 59th Division has a small designation and looks like a second-class division, it is actually composed of independent mixed brigades... with the independent mixed 10th Brigade as the backbone, plus heavy casualties on the front line.
The 53rd Infantry Brigade was transferred back to the second line, and was organized into an engineering team, communications team, baggage team, and field hospital in April last year, with a total strength of 11,982 people.
Its main combat force consists of only three infantry regiments.
Nakata Yui arranged it like this: one infantry regiment cut off the rear, and the other two infantry regiments retreated along the road. Among them, the main force, the 177th Infantry Regiment, was placed at the front, which was used as the main force to break through.
But if you are in front, you will die sooner.
Not long after the 177th Infantry Regiment entered the road, it was mercilessly bombed by Eighth Route Army bombers... As the troops advanced along the road, they would inevitably gather together in a long snake formation, followed by supplies, ammunition and trailers.
Cannon car.
As soon as the Eighth Route Army fighter planes arrived, the Japanese's reaction was quite quick. With an order, the infantry dispersed and took cover on the roadside.
But the Eighth Route Army used incendiary bombs, and there were hundreds of them in a dozen.
Amidst the whistling sound of "swish, swish, swish", the rockets followed a curved trajectory along the road, and a bright red flame with dark and thick smoke always exploded at the explosion point.
The flames shot into the air and continued to burn, and when they fell to the ground, they ignited fires everywhere.
After a while, the entire highway was ablaze, and the Japanese who thought they were well hidden were already burning in the flames and running around.
Not to mention cars and artillery. As long as incendiary bombs get even remotely involved, they will become another source of explosion.
After being bombed like this, more than half of the 177th Wing was lost.
Then Yui Nakata understood that he should also include incendiary bombs when calculating the battle loss ratio!