The Eighth Route Army did not use air burst bombs.
This is because the cost of air burst bombs is relatively high and the output is low. They are usually used by elite troops, such as the independent regiment, the new first regiment, and the new second regiment.
The other is that this mission is "abandonment", which means leaving the artillery position to the Japs to withdraw. In this case, it is definitely not appropriate to transport air explosive bombs up. It would be even more uneconomical if they were captured by the Japs and asked to reverse engineer them.
However, it seems that there is no need to use air burst bombs at this time, because there are trees everywhere in this highland. The shells will explode among the thick branches when they are hit. In an instant, the broken branches and sharp wood fragments will follow the shrapnel.
Beat randomly...
The Japanese special forces group below was beaten terribly for a while. They lay on the ground for a long time and not only failed to rush forward, but were killed and wounded more than half of them after a few rounds of artillery shells. What was even more frightening was that the sound of artillery did not stop at all.
A few special operations team members took advantage of the gap in the artillery fire and tried to rush up, but they were shot down by a burst of gunfire from the Eighth Route Army soldiers who were occupying the dangerous position... Although the Eighth Route Army artillerymen were not very good in combat and did not have much combat quality, they were still good at shooting and throwing grenades.
, especially the grenades, there is no need to aim at all, just light them one by one and throw them towards the enemy's hiding place.
Even the Japanese special forces couldn't stand this style of play for a while. They were bombarded by artillery fire above their heads and bombed by grenades in front. They had no choice but to retreat after several organized charges.
In the end, Chen Yongping saw that something was wrong with the situation... Damn, if he keeps fighting like this, are he going to finish off the Japanese? How will he lure the enemy in?
Thinking about it, he ordered on the phone: "No. 5 gun position, retreat when you are ready!"
Not long after, there was only a "boom" sound, and a burst of thick smoke rose from the direction of the No. 5 gun fort. It seemed that the artillery was exploding...in fact, it was the soldiers who stuffed explosives into the barrel and detonated it.
"Exploding the chamber" is a common occurrence for artillery, especially when the Eighth Route Army uses Mao Xiong's artillery... The equipment produced by Mao Xiong is already relatively rough, and during this period of time, Mao Xiong's emergency production speed was accelerated, and the quality of the artillery was reduced.
It is very common to have some problems, and the Japanese will not have any doubts about it.
Then a chain reaction immediately started: the No. 5 gun position was responsible for covering the No. 3 gun position, the No. 5 gun position could not be defended without the No. 3 gun position, and the No. 3 gun position was responsible for covering the No. 7 gun position...
For a time, the Eighth Route Army was in "big chaos", but the Japanese troops were morale-boosted and launched a fierce attack.
The Eighth Route Army artillerymen had no choice but to throw a few grenades in the direction of the artillery and escape in a hurry. Some of the artillery was not even destroyed, and the artillery detection radar only had time to blow up one.
Naosaburo Okabe, who had been paying attention to this sneak attack, couldn't help but be pleasantly surprised when he heard the results. He immediately ordered: "Immediately turn the muzzle of the gun to bomb Niangziguan and cooperate with the ground troops to attack!"
"yes!"
Amidst the sound of artillery fire, the Eighth Route Army stationed at Niangziguan not only failed to receive artillery reinforcements from the highland artillery positions, but was suppressed by artillery fire, and finally had no choice but to withdraw from the position.
After the battle, Naosaburo Okabe was surprised, because everything seemed to go too smoothly, especially the Eighth Route Army casualties were very small: the report from the direction of the artillery position was that more than 30 enemies were killed and wounded, and only 30 people were killed and wounded from the direction of Niangziguan.
More than fifty Eighth Route Army corpses were found.
This must have been impossible before: the Eighth Route Army stationed at Niangziguan had an infantry regiment and an artillery regiment with a total of more than 2,000 people. It only suffered less than 100 casualties before abandoning this important barrier to Taiyuan.
No matter what, you have to hold on for a while, right?
This is the only thing Wang Xuexin can't fake...
Do we really want the soldiers to die and injure so many people in order to deceive the Japanese into entering?
If you have to use the real casualties of the soldiers to deceive, how many casualties will it take?
One hundred people, two hundred, or three hundred?
This is unacceptable to Wang Xuexin!
However, when Naosaburo Okabe heard the casualty report of the Special Forces Group, he had less doubts.
The one who reported the casualties was Oshiro Sanji. He directly commanded the operations of the Special Forces Brigade. He said with regret: "Your Excellency, General, the Third Special Forces Brigade has more than 60 casualties!"
There were only over a hundred people in the special brigade, and the casualties were more than sixty, so half of them were killed.
Naosaburo Okabe said "hmm" and then said silently: "If the Eighth Route Army had planned to retreat from the beginning, it would not have put up such tenacious resistance in the artillery positions, right? In this way, their retreat may indeed be due to
The artillery position is lost and it is a last resort!"
Sanji Ochito looked confused. He didn't understand what Naosaburo Okabe was worried about. Isn't this the opportunity they have been waiting for?
So the Japanese, one division and one chariot brigade, drove majestically through Niangzi Pass and headed straight for Taiyuan.
These two troops are all the Kwantung Army, that is, the two troops brought by Naosaburo Okabe from the Northeast: the 63rd Division and the 9th Independent Tank Brigade.
At this time, Wang Xuexin's worried heart was completely relieved... The Japanese were finally fooled. It was easy for these two troops to get in but difficult to get out.
This is the terrain advantage of Shanxi. Some people call Shanxi a natural city. Wang Xuexin believes that this is not accurate.
Because no city is as suitable for ambushes as Shanxi. The dangerous passes on the periphery are not insurmountable, but when the strength is equal, even if those dangerous passes are broken through, the enemy will not dare to pass easily... After passing those dangerous passes,
It will become the choke point for the attacking troops, and supplies and reinforcements will all have to pass through dangerous passes. It will also be the escape route for the Japanese. Once it is reoccupied by the enemy, it will be all over.
Naosaburo Okabe also knew this, so he did not concentrate his troops in one place to attack Taiyuan, but divided his troops into two groups and sent a force south to attack Huangyuguan.
Obviously, Naosaburo Okabe wanted to capture Huangyuguan and have an escape route, but Wang Xuexin obviously would not let him have his way. Huangyuguan already had two regiments and an artillery battalion stationed there. Unless it was the main force of the Japanese, it would be just a small force.
It is difficult for the detachment to pose a threat to it.
"Captain!" Chen Songyong asked after reporting the progress of the battle: "Should we send reinforcements from Datong? In addition, there is Yuncheng..."
Wang Xuexin was a little strange. There were three regiments in Taiyuan and there were hidden chess in Niangzi Pass. Why did they need to mobilize reinforcements from two places?
But after thinking about it for a while, I understood, then nodded and said: "Adjust!"
"Yes!" Chen Songyong stood up and responded and went to make arrangements.
Chen Songyong is putting on a show... If Taiyuan is caught off guard by the Japanese, reinforcements should be urgently mobilized from both places.
Otherwise, will the Japanese suspect that this is a trap set for them?