"Captain, with this great victory as the foundation, we are getting closer and closer to the ultimate goal of annihilating all three reinforcements!" Li Wensheng said with excitement.
Kong Jie took the telegram and read it twice before putting it down: "Chen Quan has already run ahead of us... We can't fall too far behind!"
"Let the troops seize the last two hours to repair the fortifications!"
"Try to end the battle before one o'clock tonight, kill the Japanese and puppet troops on the right, and then go together to deal with the Japanese and puppet troops in the middle!"
Li Wensheng understood the divine way in his heart: "I will make arrangements now..."
The fight against Tutu Temple became more and more fierce.
In order to capture the Earth Temple, Colonel Miyamoto not only dispatched six 120 mm caliber mortars, but also called in three aircraft to assist in the battle!
Time was limited, and the anti-gun holes repaired by the assault battalion in Tutu Temple could only withstand ordinary mortar attacks.
Facing the roaring large-caliber mortar shells and aerial bombs dozens of times more powerful, the shell-proof holes were blown up instantly like paper...
Tuyi Company originally planned to hold off the enemy here for more than three hours. Faced with the joint attack of heavy artillery and aircraft, it only lasted for two and a half hours and had to retreat due to too many casualties!
"Battal Commander, why don't we let the cavalry company dispatch early!" Zhong Chengjun suggested with a heartbroken look on his face.
"There are nearly 200 cavalrymen in the cavalry company. If they suddenly launch an attack and force a breakthrough, it is still very possible to break into the Japanese artillery position and destroy their artillery unit!"
"If we don't fight like this and let the infantry hold on, no matter how many troops we have, they won't be enough to blow them up!"
Huang Yu thought for a while before shaking his head and saying: "The cavalry company cannot move for the time being!"
"This is our last resort to turn defeat into victory, block the reinforcements and defeat them!"
"Let the cavalry company join the battle in advance. If we fail, we will not even have the trump card to defend the Earth Temple. If the Japanese take the opportunity to break through the blocking position here and reach Ping'an County, the New Second Regiment will be attacked from both sides. The price we have to pay is comparable to that of defending the Earth Temple." Is the temple much bigger?"
"Then what should we fight next?" Zhong Chengjun was anxious.
"The Japanese have aircraft support in the sky, and heavy artillery on the ground to provide artillery support... We only have six to seven hundred people left, and the anti-aircraft holes cannot withstand heavy mortar and aircraft attacks!"
"If we don't find a way to take away one or two of their advantages, we won't be able to fight the next battle at all!"
Huang Yu frowned and replied: "Not all battles can be tricky!"
"When it's time to fight a tough battle, we must fight it. No one can escape!"
"Our commando battalion can not only fight clever battles and take advantage of the Japanese, but we can also fight tough battles..."
"Ask the Second Tu Company to prepare for battle, and remind Xiang Tiezhu that there are only two recruit platoons left in the battalion headquarters. I will give him at most one..."
"There are still more than two hours until dark. The Second Company must hold on until dark before giving up the position!"
"At that time, we only need to be prepared for the heavy artillery brought by the Japs!"
"Coupled with night cover, the shooting accuracy of heavy mortars will be greatly reduced, the troop survival rate will be greatly improved, and the combat pressure will be much reduced!"
Zhong Chengjun couldn't think of any other way to break the situation, so he could only nod in agreement and acknowledge the decision.
The Japanese army attacked the position and saw that the attacking troops captured the first line of defense of the Tutu Temple, but Colonel Miyamoto was not happy at all.
The troops were dragged by the Eighth Route Army County Brigade for nearly two hours on the march. There is still no news about a reinforced squadron of the County Brigade that has been divided into chasing the County Brigade. 80% of them have already encountered an accident on the way to the pursuit.
After finally getting to the Tutu Temple, we were blocked by the main force of the Eighth Route Army for more than two hours.
In order to capture this line of defense, the reinforcements lost more than 500 people...
The Tutu Temple in front of him still had two lines of defense occupied by the Eighth Route Army. According to the attack pace just now, it would take him four to five hours and the loss of thousands of troops to take it down.
Not much time to say...
There is more than one team to reinforce Ping'an County. As long as other troops reach Ping'an on time, his arrival a few hours late will not affect the overall situation.
What worried him most was the military strength...
During the previous march, in addition to dividing the troops to pursue more than 300 people from the county brigade, the reinforcements also suffered more than 300 deaths and injuries from guerrilla warfare and mine warfare, resulting in a total loss of more than 600 people.
If the Tutu Temple is captured, another 1,500 people will be lost.
The total strength of the reinforcements will be reduced sharply from 3,500 to 1,400, and the casualties will be too high.
Just when he was frowning and thinking of ways to reduce the casualties of the troops, the radio operator hurried towards him: "Sir, there is an urgent call from Ping'an County!"
"Let us seize the time to seize the blocking position of Tutu Temple and reinforce Ping'an County..."
"The telegram also said that the New Second Regiment attacking Ping'an County has shown signs of retreat and may run away at any time!"
"If the reinforcements arrive late, they may miss us at any time!"
Colonel Miyamoto quickly took the telegram and browsed it. After confirming that what the telegraph operator said was correct, he began to issue orders: "We finally reached the Tutu Temple. We lost so many troops on the way and paid such a high price. We must not miss it, otherwise it will be too dangerous." loss!"
"Order the troops to start attacking the second line of defense of the Earth Temple... be sure to take it down in the shortest possible time... there is no time to think about ways to reduce casualties!"
"Contact the aviation force to provide us with another air support and blow up the second blocking position of Tutu Temple to the ground..."
"After the plane exploded, the artillery continued to explode..."
"Even if the Eighth Route Army's defensive positions are made of iron, I will blow them into molten iron..."
Although the brigade commander at the headquarters of the 386th Brigade was hundreds of kilometers away, he still cared about the three regiments in northwest Shanxi.
The base map on the table had long been replaced by a map of northwest Shanxi, and all the ongoing battles were marked on the map.
"Brigadier...good news..." Chief of Staff Zhou rushed all the way to Brigadier Chen to report.
"Kong Jie divided his troops into two main battalions, and Shen Quan unified the command, successfully annihilated a reinforcement force, killed more than 1,100 Japanese and puppet troops, captured more than 200 puppet troops, seized a large number of weapons and equipment, and suffered less than five casualties. Hundreds of people!"
As he spoke, he erased the blue flag representing the reinforcements on the map.
After hearing this, Brigadier Chen couldn't help but sigh: "The Independent Regiment is worthy of being the elite who fought in Taiyuan... Even when they reached northwest Shanxi, they still did not let us down!"
Chief of Staff Zhou continued to report: "There is another good news!"
"Comrade Kong Jie is personally commanding the four main battalions of the Independent Regiment to ambush the Japanese and puppet reinforcements on the right... He has killed more than a thousand Japanese and puppet troops so far, and is preparing for a decisive battle with the remaining more than a thousand Japanese and puppet troops here! "
"Based on the analysis of the strength and firepower of both the enemy and ourselves... they have at least an 80% chance of winning this battle..."
"If they win this battle, even if Li Yunlong fails to take Ping'an County, the independent regiment will kill three to four thousand Japanese puppet troops!"
"This does not include the results of Ding Wei and other reinforcements!"
"If we add them all up, we can at least kill tens of thousands of Japanese puppet troops in this battle!"
Brigadier Chen responded: "You underestimate Li Yunlong when you say this!"
"Based on what I know about him, if Ping'an could not be conquered, he would have changed his original plan to capture Ping'an County to encirclement and reinforce, and go with Kong Jie and others to take advantage!"
"We did not receive a telegram that he was preparing to encircle the point for reinforcements, which shows that his goal is still to attack Ping'an County!"
"I guess there was some problem when they attacked the city. If they find a way to solve it, it won't take long for good news to come back!"
The chief of staff hesitated and said, "Would you like to give Li Yunlong a heads up?"
"It's no big deal to give up if you really can't capture Ping'an County... Wait until we accumulate more strength in the future and then attack Ping'an County!"
The brigade commander shook his head and replied: "That's not necessary!"
"Li Yunlong's combat command experience is no worse than ours. If he doesn't have the ability to be flexible and adaptable, he should quit the position of leader of the new second regiment as soon as possible!"
At six o'clock in the afternoon, the new second regiment's offensive position in the east of the city had been dug to a position of 130 meters outside the city!
The Japanese also knew not to let the offensive position get close to the city wall, otherwise the Eighth Route Army would be able to send the explosive package into the city gate with a single charge, and the city defense troops would not even have time to stop the attack.
The blocking firepower began to be gradually strengthened, and the firing frequency of grenades and mortars also began to increase to prevent the Eighth Route Army from digging trenches as unscrupulously as before.
One hundred and thirty meters was already far beyond the two hundred meters distance he had initially determined. Li Yunlong stopped as soon as he saw the opportunity and decisively ordered the troops to stop digging forward.
Instead, they hid the troops in offensive positions, further deepened and widened the trenches, and built more firing positions for the thunder cannons.
"Old Li..." Zhao Gang panted and appeared behind Li Yunlong.
He bent down and touched Li Yunlong's side and began to report: "We have brought all the twenty-four flying thunder cannons we built during this period..."
"I also brought more than 500 special shells for thunder cannons..."
"As long as 20% of the artillery shells hit the top of the city, the little Japanese city defense garrison will be finished!"
Li Yunlong patted Zhao Gang on the shoulder and said, "Thank you for your hard work... leave the rest of the battle to me!"
"After being suppressed and beaten by the Japanese for a day, I have already suppressed my anger. I can finally fight back!"
"The offensive position has been repaired, and the thunder cannon firing position should be almost there..."
"All troops have entered the position, and we will strive to enter Ping'an County within two hours!"
After saying that, he took out the box cannon and walked towards the traffic trench not far away.
The thunder cannon carried by the war horses was carried by the soldiers into the traffic trench and quickly disappeared from Zhao Gang's sight.
At this moment, Yamamoto Colonel appeared again on the east side of the castle.
As soon as the sun set, he realized that the new second regiment's general attack was about to begin.
During the day, the field of view is clear, and the city defense troops are equipped with a large number of light and heavy machine guns. No matter how many troops the New Second Regiment dispatches to launch an attack, they will be treated as living targets and eliminated.
And he can also call for air support during the day.
Once the plane arrived, no matter how many troops the New Second Regiment had, it wouldn't be enough to blow it up.
But there are no such problems when it is dark!
The hit rate of light and heavy machine guns at night is definitely not as good as during the day, and planes cannot come to support. The advantage of the city defense force is directly reduced to the minimum!
