The Japanese 81st Division launched the attack on Shagou Town with a total strength of more than 10,000 men.
At this time, there were two infantry divisions transferred by the Japanese to Duolun County. One division was in Duolun County ready for reinforcements, and the other division was directly attacking on the front line.
Both divisions were transferred from Fengtian. After all, the Japanese knew the importance of Duolun County and did not want the Eighth Route Army to block their choke points out of the area west of the Daxingan Mountains.
The total strength of the Eighth Route Army on the front line is equivalent to that of the Japanese: the Independent Regiment, the New First Regiment, the New Second Regiment, plus a Hundred Battle Regiment. The total army has four regiments with more than 11,000 people, from Shagou Town to Zhangjiakou.
There are still seven regiments preparing for reinforcements, of which Zhangjiakou has at most four regiments.
The reason for this allocation was that Wang Xuexin was worried that if too many troops were mobilized, it would arouse the suspicion of the Japanese and make them less likely to be fooled.
Now as soon as he heard that the Japanese had launched a full-scale attack on Shagou Town, Wang Xuexin immediately ordered the four regiments in Zhangjiakou to go forward and start a counterattack... not reinforcements but counterattacks.
Because if there are no accidents in this battle, the Japanese will definitely be defeated. If the Japanese are defeated, of course these four regiments will be counterattacks rather than reinforcements.
At the same time, the two regiments from Baochang Town behind Shagou Town immediately launched a counterattack along the left and right wings of Shagou Town. A regiment from Zhangbei County behind Baochang Town went from the middle to Shagou Town.
Pushing forward is like opening a big net and casting it towards the Japanese 81st Division.
As a result, the Eighth Route Army's troops on the front line immediately exceeded those of the Japanese. The four regiments in Shagou Town plus the three regiments transferred from the rear reached seven regiments with a strength of nearly 20,000 men.
This puzzled Takeda Uchiji, the commander of the Japanese 81st Division.
"Is this considered a desperate move by the Eighth Route Army?" Takeda Uchiharu asked: "With no air superiority and no artillery detection radar, they are looking for death by fighting like this!"
No wonder Takeda Uchiharu couldn't understand it.
Judging from the attitude of the Eighth Route Army, they wanted to fight to the death with the imperial army.
However, at this time, the imperial army had air superiority, artillery detection radar, and air defense systems. In addition, it also had the indestructible "Tiger"... Why did the Eighth Route Army have a decisive battle with the imperial army?
The staff officer whispered: "Your Excellency, Lieutenant General, looking at the Eighth Route Army's formation, it seems that they want to encircle our army in Shagou Town..."
"Counter encirclement? This is impossible!" Takeda Uchiharu immediately denied the staff's speculation.
Then Takeda Uchiharu thought of the air defense system.
Unless the Eighth Route Army still has an air defense system in Shagou Town, they are confident of regaining air supremacy there.
Yes, that must be the case!
Thinking of this, Takeda Naiji raised his head and issued several orders in succession:
"Requesting reinforcements from the 59th Division, our army will have a decisive battle with the Eighth Route Army in Shagou Town!"
"Request the air force to carry out air strikes on the Eighth Route Army reinforcements outside Shagou Town to prevent them from reinforcing Shagou Town!"
"Order Major Fukada to send all the Tiger Types up. We must take Shagou Town as quickly as possible!"
From Takeda Uchiharu's perspective, this series of his commands were all right.
The first order is to deploy an additional division from Duolun County to fight the Eighth Route Army. By then, the imperial army will once again have the advantage in strength.
The second order is for the air force to bypass the town of Shagou, which has an air defense system, and instead attack the Eighth Route Army reinforcements... It is impossible for the Eighth Route Army's reinforcements to have an air defense system. The air defense system is only suitable for towns and not for marching. Once
It won't work if it's in marching mode and is prone to malfunction.
The third order is to use the "Tiger" all-out attack to destroy the Eighth Route Army's last air defense system, thus extinguishing the Eighth Route Army's last hope of victory.
But what Takeda Uchiharu didn't expect was that the Eighth Route Army's deployment in Shagou Town was not an air defense system, but the T44 for the "Tiger"...
After receiving the order, Yota Fukada immediately sent all 23 "Tiger" vehicles under his command onto the battlefield.
"Don't save cannonballs!" Yota Fukada ordered on the radio: "Any obstacles or suspicious places, blow them up with cannonballs!"
Then he added: "Also, remember the training you have received and stay mobile!"
"Yes!" the Japanese chariot soldiers responded confidently.
It goes without saying why Major Fukada gave this order, it was to avoid the Eighth Route Army's anti-tank missiles.
This tactic is indeed effective against anti-tank missiles: shooting at suspicious targets with tank guns can suppress the Eighth Route Army shooters or interfere with their sight. At the same time, the tanks will start immediately after firing the guns. Once anti-tank missiles are found flying, they can maneuver.
avoid.
These are not the main ones. Fukada also specially assigned several grenade shooters to each "Tiger". Once they find that something is wrong, these grenade shooters will immediately fire smoke grenades in front of the "Tiger".
With this combination, it will be quite difficult for the Eighth Route Army's anti-tank missiles to hit the "Tiger".
However, what surprised Major Fukada was that the Eighth Route Army did not have a single anti-tank missile in this battle, at least not yet.
"Boom!" There was a burst of artillery, and the "Tiger" used its direct-fire cannon to easily destroy the wall of Shagou Town. The imperial soldiers lying on the ground shouted and got up and poured in through the gap in the wall.
But before the imperial soldiers could rush in, rows of bullets were fired from inside, knocking them down in pieces.
Major Fukada frowned when he saw this situation.
In this situation, the "Tiger" is usually needed as a shield for the infantry to cover the infantry rushing in from the gap.
If it were before, Major Fukada would have ordered his subordinates to do this without hesitation.
But now... Major Fukada felt that this was a trap, a trap that allowed the "Tiger" to approach Shagou Town.
Major Fukada wanted to wait and see the situation. At least the infantry had to find out the internal defenses of the Eighth Route Army before his "Tiger" squadron could go up.
However, he only hesitated for a moment when a call came from Takeda Naiji.
"What's going on with you?" came the question from Takeda Naiji on the phone: "Shouldn't the chariot be blocking the front of the soldiers? But you let the soldiers block the front of your chariot! Are my soldiers the only ones to use?"
Made of steel?”
Major Fukada replied: "Your Excellency, Lieutenant General, I am worried that this is a trap of the Eighth Route Army..."
"There is no trap!" Takeda Uchiharu interrupted Major Fukada: "They are protecting the air defense system and fighting for air supremacy for them, so send your tank up! Otherwise I will send you up!"
"Yes!" Major Fukada responded helplessly.
After putting down the phone, he finally raised his binoculars and looked toward Shagou Town, hoping to see something.
But there was still nothing except houses and Eighth Route Army soldiers running back and forth.
Major Fukada sighed and waved forward, and the "Tiger"s passed his position one by one and drove forward...