Night slowly enveloped the entire battlefield, and Datong City was no exception.
Inside the city fortifications, every Japanese and puppet soldier became nervous.
During the day, there were aircraft covering the battlefield, so the Eighth Route Army did not dare to lay siege to the city.
Now that it's dark and the planes have left, they will definitely swarm in, surround Datong, and then launch an attack.
Everyone can feel that there will be a fierce battle waiting for them tonight.
By holding on to the city's fortifications, everyone still has a chance to survive.
If we can't defend it and let the Eighth Route Army break through the city defenses and charge into the city, everyone will die.
"Sir, the Eighth Route Army..."
On the east wall of the city, less than ten minutes after the plane left, exclamations rang in the ears of the Major Captain.
"Where?" Major quickly raised his telescope and looked outside the city.
About one kilometer away, a large number of Eighth Route Army troops appeared out of nowhere, densely packed.
Some were carrying guns, others were carrying engineering shovels, and they ran towards the city wall like a pack of wolves.
The Major was startled by this group of Eighth Route Army troops. He thought they were going to attack, so he quickly ordered: "Everyone get into position and get ready for battle!"
"The enemy rushed five hundred meters outside the city and fired all light and heavy machine guns."
"Commander, please contact the headquarters immediately. The main force of the Eighth Route Army is coming!"
The captain was fortunate that the Eighth Route Army did not launch a direct attack.
They all stopped when there were still 500 meters across the city wall.
The man with the gun lay down on the ground on guard, the black muzzle of the gun pointed directly at the city head, and the man with the engineer's shovel began to dig soil and repair the fortifications on the ground.
"Sir, they are building an offensive position!" reported a squadron leader under his command.
The captain saw this and was anxious in his heart. If this were normal times and faced with this situation, he would definitely order the artillery to fire immediately to prevent them from building positions. At the worst, he would kill some Eighth Route Army troops.
But that didn't work today. In the morning, they shelled the Eighth Route Army's reconnaissance troops. Only one of the six mortars under their command was bombed. They were no match for the Eighth Route Army.
There is no point in continuing to fire except to die in vain.
Suppressing the anger welling up in his heart, he ordered with a look of reluctance: "The troops will be on heightened alert. As long as the Eighth Route Army does not continue to attack, we will stand still."
"Hasn't the messenger contacted the headquarters yet? I want to have a phone call with His Excellency the General."
"The Eighth Route Army is likely to launch an attack on Datong City tonight. Our artillery fire is seriously insufficient. We must have support to defend this place."
The brigade headquarters has become a mess.
Not only in the east of the city, but also in the other three directions of Datong, a large number of Eighth Route Army troops appeared.
It was agreed upon that everyone should advance the defense line to a position 500 meters outside the city, dig trenches, and establish offensive positions.
There are too many Eighth Route Army soldiers. If there is no way to stop them, they will be able to repair their offensive positions in less than three hours and then attack Datong City.
Seeing that his subordinates all had panicked and nervous expressions, and some of them had pale faces, as if Datong City had been breached by the Eighth Route Army, the brigade commander was not too nervous at first, but he gradually became nervous due to this atmosphere.
His mood became more and more irritable, and he shouted dissatisfiedly at the war room: "Why are you panicking? The sky has not fallen yet."
"We have nearly 4,000 garrison troops and more than 1,000 armed expatriates, as well as strong fortifications and an arsenal full of weapons and ammunition. It will not be easy for the Eighth Route Army to capture Datong."
"Also, let me tell you another piece of good news: the military has agreed to cooperate with us in defending Datong City."
"At dawn tomorrow, the two thousand troops assembled by the military headquarters will rush into the garrison base and destroy their lair."
"The morning after tomorrow, another three thousand troops will march into the garrison base, a total of five thousand people."
"The remaining troops of the garrison are definitely no match. If they continue to attack Datong, the base area will suffer a devastating blow. If you want to keep the base area, you must withdraw from Datong, and even if you go back, you can only keep part of the base area. In the end, not only will you not be able to take it
Datong will also lose his wife and troops."
"So we must win this battle."
"As long as we persist for three days, the Eighth Route Army that attacked us will definitely withdraw."
The panic among the people in the headquarters has not been alleviated.
Three days is not a long time.
If they were facing an ordinary Chinese army, most of the officers here would be confident of holding Datong City.
Don't say three days, five days is fine.
But their opponent was the garrison regiment, an Eighth Route Army that was well-equipped, powerful in combat, and equipped with heavy artillery.
They used a trick to eat up half of the city's defenders before the siege started. It's too mysterious.
As for the city defenses, they are indeed very strong, but only for ordinary artillery and light and heavy machine guns.
No one can guarantee how long it can last in front of heavy artillery.
Seeing that there wasn't much reaction from everyone, the brigade leader knew that what he just said was in vain.
In fact, the encouraging words just now were ostensibly meant for his subordinates, but in fact they were meant for himself.
He didn't have much confidence against the strong enemy of the garrison.
Although the garrison regiment has tightly surrounded Datong, the communication between the radio station and the outside world has not been interrupted, and intelligence from outside the city is still continuously collected into the hands of the brigade commander, including news about the participation of the Eighth Route Army in the Northwestern Shanxi Province.
A garrison regiment is difficult enough. The Eighth Route Army in northwestern Shanxi is also involved, and the brigade commander is even less confident.
But in front of his subordinates, he had to pretend to be confident no matter how confident he was, otherwise Datong would really be doomed.
But he is also a person who refuses to admit defeat.
If you want troops, equipment, and foreign aid, you will definitely not be willing to fail.
After re-reading the enemy situation summarized by the deputy chief of staff, a general idea slowly emerged in my mind.
To preserve Datong, everyone's confidence must be restored as soon as possible.
Only with military morale and morale can the troops have the confidence to defend Datong.
The best way to restore morale and improve confidence is to win the battle, so the city defense troops must block the first round of the Eighth Route Army's attack before they have the capital to talk about other things.
The brigade commander was very satisfied with this combat idea. He stared at the map and began to issue orders: "Deputy Chief of Staff, order all police in the city to go to the city wall and divide into four to reinforce the city defense garrison."
"The expatriate armed forces drew out 400 people and divided their forces to reinforce the four walls."
"Make sure there are 1,200 garrison troops on each city wall."
"The remaining expatriate armed forces are organized into four squadrons and are ready to go to the battlefield at any time."
"The Gendarmerie is responsible for public security in the city. Except for the imperial army, no Chinese can appear on the streets, otherwise they will be killed without mercy."
"The Eighth Route Army's favorite siege is to arrange internal support in the city. I don't want to see Datong City lost because of internal support."
"In addition, people who have served as artillerymen from the armed expatriates and all city defense forces were recruited to form a temporary artillery unit, and all the remaining mortars in the arsenal were used to ensure that each city wall had ten mortars to provide artillery support.
"
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