The Battle of Shimen also kicked off at the same time.
The rumble of artillery fire from the east gate and the south gate woke up Bunzaburo Kawagishi from his light sleep, who was lying on the cot in the division headquarters office with his eyes open for most of the night.
Bunzaburo Kawagishi, who was born in 1882, is already 55 years old this year. Even in the future, he will be middle-aged and about to enter his 60th year. The battle on the front line has made no progress for several days. There is an infantry brigade and almost an infantry regiment.
He lost contact with the reinforcements for a whole day, which made him even more exhausted mentally and physically.
The Japanese lieutenant general, who had only slept for less than five hours, had two big dark circles under his eyes that were almost as good as those of Xiong Si. Of course, in addition to the dark circles, he also had two big bags under his eyes that were so obvious that he needed deep beauty treatments.
At work, it is obvious that he cannot compare with Comrade Xiong Si, who looks cute but is extremely "cruel" on the inside.
He quickly stood up and walked to the window. Looking at the firelight bursting out in the twilight in the distance outside the window and the increasingly clear sound of artillery, the Japanese Lieutenant General's already extremely ugly face looked as if he had eaten a piece of jellyfish. It smelled so bad that it made people laugh.
Can not bear to look.
"Baga! What's going on? Signal Corps, call the guards at the southeast gate quickly and ask how many enemy troops there are?" Bunzaburo Kawagishi was an Army Lieutenant General after all. He quickly woke up from his anger and shock and shouted to the gate.
The guard outside ordered.
"Your Excellency, Division Commander, both the East Gate and South Gate have called to report that they have been attacked by enemy artillery fire. It seems that they are Chinese regular troops with no less than two infantry regiments." He has also been guarding the staff office next door.
The chief of staff of the 20th Division, Kushimura Kushiro, walked into Bunzaburo Kawagishi's office and reported with a solemn face.
"Two infantry regiments?" Kawagishi Bunzaburo's face became even more ugly. He turned his attention to the large map of Shanxi and Shanxi hanging on the wall. He was silent for a full minute, and suddenly a look of surprise appeared on his face: "Kisimura-kun
,Have there been any telegrams from Jingxing County since last night?"
"At about one o'clock in the morning, Harada-kun sent a telegram to the division headquarters. I think you, the division commander, have fallen asleep, so I didn't send it to you for review." Kushimura Kushiro nodded hurriedly.
There was a bit of confusion on his face. Your Excellency, the division commander, ignored the Chinese who were attacking the city, but thought of Jingxing, 60 kilometers away. Is this because he was sleeping and his brain was confused?
"Bring it to me quickly." Bunzaburo Kawagishi kept staring at the location of Jingxing County, saying eagerly without looking back.
"Please allow me to send out spearheads to the Qigen Village of Chiyu Town to investigate the movements of the armies led by Lord Shangyue..." After reading the contents of the message silently, Bunzaburo Kawagishi sat down on his chair.
, with a look of despair on his face: "No, Jingxing County has been lost."
"Why did the division commander say this?" Kimura Jiuzang couldn't help but be shocked.
The role of Jingxing County for the frontline troops is self-evident. Once it falls, it will not only be a matter of complete loss of materials, but also a problem of the retreat of nearly 20,000 troops. However, the Chinese are so sure that they can rely on one
Can the small county town withstand the bombardment of more than 10,000 infantry and 48 artillery pieces?
"Colonel Shinzo Harada is always cautious. With his personality, even if he wants to send elite soldiers to the mountainous areas, he will do it early in the morning, never at night. It is absolutely impossible to send a message to request military orders in the early morning. As a senior general, he needs
These small things still need to be reported to the division headquarters. This is the Chinese's attempt to conceal their plan to capture Jingxing County." Bunzaburo Kawagishi's face became more and more bleak, "Besides, if it were not for the road from Jingxing County to Shimen, the Chinese would have
How can a division of troops pass through the defense line of more than 20,000 troops of our 20th Division and reach Shimen? Unless they all have wings, Jingxing County must have fallen."
"Hiss~~~If Jingxing County falls, it won't be surprising for the Chinese to appear here." Jucun Jiuzang's face was also full of shock, and his hand slid on the map, "The division commander is right, China
If someone wants to transport our troops from Jingxing to Shimen overnight, the number of troops must not be too large. The maximum is one infantry division. And one infantry division in China has four infantry regiments or three infantry regiments. Now there are two infantry regiments.
The corps is attacking the east gate and south gate. There must be two infantry regiments hidden in the other two directions. This is to prepare to sneak attack on our division headquarters while its troops are empty! Your Excellency, division commander, we should immediately go to Peking.
Front Army Headquarters is asking for assistance."
"The appetite of the Chinese is really big." Bunzaburo Kawagishi seemed not to have heard his chief of staff's request. He stared at the map and muttered to himself: "Siege the infantry brigade of our 20th Division in the mountains.
For this reason, they even mobilized the elite air force to ambush and defeat our imperial fighter formation, thereby luring a part of the defenders of Jingxing County to go for reinforcements, and then use their familiarity with the terrain or use local guides to send a large army to Jingxing County. If I guessed correctly,
, there must be their internal support in Jingxing County, otherwise Harada Shinichi would not have lost the county without even having time to send out a telegram asking for help. Then, this army continued to march north to the headquarters of our Shimen Division. It even used
Our army's telegram code sent out a telegram that confused our division headquarters. One day and one night, every link was perfect, and all the generals of our 20th Division were manipulated. It's wonderful! It's really wonderful. I didn't expect that China would advance to the Jin Dynasty.
The commander of the Eastern Theater Command turned out to be such a talented and strategic person, I really underestimated him before."
If Liu Lang heard the analysis of this Japanese army lieutenant general here, he would definitely give him "encouraging" applause. This man is also strong enough, and he even reasoned from the cannon fire at the east gate and south gate based on the associations of yesterday's battle.
Reveal 70% of Liu Lang's battle plan.
However, he still suffered from the old habit of pride. Until now, he did not think that his infantry brigade and 3,000 reinforcements, which were surrounded by heavy siege, would be annihilated. He thought that at most they would only be contained. This problem is fatal.
, causing him to misjudge the strength of his opponent.
Moreover, he also miscalculated his opponent. The great commander of Jindong Theater whom he knew was still in a sweet sleep at the moment, and knew nothing about the continuous battles under his command that took place day and night. Waiting for him
By the time I knew it, the entire battle was already over.
"But the Chinese are too arrogant. Do they think that one infantry division can capture our Shimen? What a joke. I, Bunzaburo Kawagishi, am not Shinichi Harada." A blush appeared on Bunzaburo Kawagishi's old and defeated face.
"Order the four-door defense zone. Once any Chinese appears within 200 meters of the defense zone in the city, they will be shot immediately. At the same time, the patrol team is ordered that all Chinese are not allowed to leave their homes and no gatherings of more than four people are allowed. Otherwise, they will be shot without mercy."
"Hi!" Kuzo Kushimura hurriedly bowed in response, and then asked tentatively: "Should we notify the 39th Infantry Brigade that we can contact? Suspend the offensive against the enemy and dedicate part of the troops to support the division.
Regiment headquarters?”
"No need, I think the telegram from the 39th Brigade will be sent over soon, and the Chinese will definitely launch an offensive against them to hold them back." Bunzaburo Kawagishi said coldly with no expression on his face.
"There are not enough troops to hold back the two main infantry brigades of my 20th Division. How could they dare to send an infantry division all the way to Shimen?"
As expected, the Japanese lieutenant general knew what was going on. As soon as he finished speaking, a Japanese communications lieutenant hurriedly handed a message to Kushimura Jiuzang.
"Sure enough, the commander of the Takagi Yoshito Brigade called. About 400 Chinese people pretended to be our baggage troops and entered the defense line of our brigade and regiment and the 26th Artillery Regiment. They were seen through by our imperial warriors and are now fighting fiercely." Kuzo Kimura told Kawagishi
Reported by Bunzaburo Hui.
"Order Takagi Yoshito to use an infantry battalion plus the original guard squadron of the 26th Artillery Regiment to hold the defense line. The 77th Regiment and the 78th Regiment will stick to the field fortifications and wait for the next military order from the division headquarters." Bunzaburo Kawagishi snapped.
"At the same time, send a telegram to the headquarters of the Peiping Dispatch Army. We, Shimen, are being attacked by Chinese troops far exceeding our division headquarters. We request the aviation wing to assist in repelling them after daybreak. We also request them to attack the right wing mountain area of Niangziguan."
Investigate and assist them in returning to Jingxing. Also, order the security squadron to retrieve 4 infantry cannons and 200 rounds of artillery shells from the 108th Division's baggage warehouse. The artillery troops will be drawn from the baggage troops."
"Hi!" Kushimura Kushiro nodded heavily and bowed to leave.
Takagi Yoshito played a word game to hide the fact that the Chinese had actually entered the defense line. Bunzaburo Kawagishi also came and did not say that Jingxing County had been lost.
In the final analysis, since entering North China, Lien Zhan and Lianjie have cultivated them to be too proud and unable to accept the fact that they were defeated by the Chinese through tactics.
It's like a gambler who loses a hand at the poker table and dreams that he will get it back with the next hand. In that way, no one knows that they have lost before.
Two fatal mistakes made by the major general and the lieutenant general at almost the same time caused the Japanese lieutenant general, who was somewhat quick-witted, to lose the opportunity to save the last elite of the 20th Division. If he had ordered the 39th Division at this time,
If the infantry brigade retreats with all its strength, the more than 4,000 troops led by General Mitsumi Miku cannot stop the 5,000 elite Japanese infantry who want to escape.
Of course, this is an order that 99% of generals would never give, because no one would be willing to abandon 48 cannons.
The 39th Infantry Brigade's only chance of survival is to move closer to the 26th Artillery Regiment before Zhang Ruhao and the future general can break through the 26th Artillery Regiment's defense line, and then rely on the 26th Artillery Regiment to establish a blocking position. 48
The cannons were firmly protected, the infantry protected the artillery, and the artillery protected the infantry. Facing this big hedgehog with thorns, even if the 100,000 troops on the eastern Shanxi front attacked with all their strength, 48 guns could not break through the Japanese infantry defense line.
The damage caused by artillery can make any general cry with tears in his eyes. It is very likely that the final result will be more losses than gains.
Moreover, they only need to hold on until the 108th and 109th Divisions on the southern front return to support even one infantry brigade to complete the victory escape.
It is a pity that Kawagishi Bunzaburo did not have this prediction of the battlefield situation. Looking at the entire series of Japanese generals, no one had the ability to judge this situation in such a short period of time. This was the conclusion reached by the Japanese Army Ministry after the war.
Because in the end, they didn't know that there was anything unclear in the telegram sent by this idiot Yoshito Takagi. Yoshito Takagi didn't even wait for the day to correct his mistake.
According to the words of the Japanese expert group, any Japanese division that came to fight this battle under the command of the famous general of the Chinese 18th Group Army was bound to lose.
Whether it's China or Japan, as long as experts stick together as a team, they are basically experts.
This time, except for the dozen or so senior red generals who knew Liu Lang's role in it, Lang Tuanzuo was well hidden from all outsiders. He no longer made himself as bright and eye-catching as in the Battle of the Great Wall.
Riding a white horse and dancing with a silver spear on the battlefield is certainly very handsome, but the one who dies the fastest is also the most handsome. Otherwise, in the historical novels, Xiao Luo Cheng and Yang Zaixing, who have white horses and silver spears, both ended in tragedy?
The Great Patriotic War has just begun. Although Liu Lang is not afraid of dying for his country, he still wants to work hard to live longer. His wife has not yet consummated the marriage, and his parents have not yet fulfilled their filial piety. After all, he has to live a few more years, right?