Seeing his subordinates risking their lives, Okamura Neji chose to believe in him again.
After five seconds of silence, he began to give orders: "The reinforcements that have been assembled in the city will set off immediately..."
"Use all the baggage trains and the troop transport vehicles that can be collected in the city, and send them to the edge of the Eighth Route Army Wing Center base area as quickly as possible. Then we will advance on foot and make a rush march to reinforce Chenjiazhuang."
"The troops are moving forward lightly. In addition to mortars, heavy machine guns, and mountain artillery that can be transported by mules and horses, all other heavy weapons are launched."
"We must fight to Chenjiazhuang before three o'clock in the morning."
"Send another telegram to Sakuragi-kun."
"It doesn't matter whether the left and right mopping up troops can reach Chenjiazhuang on time."
"An infantry regiment sent by Baoding City can be in place before three o'clock in the morning. Please hold on until the reinforcements arrive."
…………
On the Chenjiazhuang battlefield, Huang Yu didn't know that Okamura Neji had transferred an infantry regiment from Baoding City to join the battle.
At this moment, all his attention was focused on the encirclement and annihilation battle in front of him.
The sooner the participating troops end the battle, the sooner the base area in the wing will be out of danger.
If the other two mopping up troops of the Kwantung Army were ignorant and insisted on continuing to mop up the Yizhong base area, Huang Yu would not mind pursuing the victory and eating up the mopping up troops all the way.
"Xiao Huang..." Chief of Staff Liu Sen walked up to Huang Yu with a happy face.
"Shunping Garrison Regiment, 26th Regiment, 23rd Regiment, 22nd Regiment, 21st Regiment, 2nd Regiment, 3rd Battalion, and artillery are all in place and ready to launch attacks at any time."
"The little devils in the encirclement are still seizing the time to repair the fortifications."
"The outer defense line seems to have been built, and the second and third lines of defense are being repaired."
"They also want to build a few more blocking positions and gradually use up their energy to fight against us, so as to hold on for a longer period of time."
Huang Yu snorted and replied: "Dreaming..."
"The battlefield is really big. It's useless no matter how many defensive positions they rush to repair."
"Inform all regiments to launch an attack in five minutes."
"Strive to break through the Kwantung Army's outer defense line within an hour and eliminate all the little Japs there."
"There are only over 6,000 Japanese troops in our encirclement at full strength."
"Every one we kill is one less. As long as everyone advances steadily, the final victory will definitely belong to us."
…………
At the Japanese Army Command Headquarters, Lieutenant General Sakuragi was listening to reports from his subordinates, with a very ugly expression on his face.
After previous consumption, the extent of troop losses far exceeded his expectation.
But the opponent's strength far exceeded his imagination.
The terrain advantage was also in the hands of the Yi Zhong Eighth Route Army. Faced with such an unequal battle, to be honest, Lieutenant General Sakuragi felt helpless and unsure for the first time.
"Division commander..." The communications staff officer ran over in time to relieve the siege.
"An urgent message from the former enemy headquarters: Your Excellency, the Commander, requested that we do not have to hold on until three in the morning."
"Even if the left and right mopping up troops fail to arrive on time, the reinforcements sent by Baoding City will be able to reach Chenjiazhuang before three in the morning."
"Baoding has sent troops..." Lieutenant General Sakuragi's serious face immediately flashed with joy.
The solemn look on everyone's face just now was partly due to the huge disparity in strength between the enemy and ourselves on the battlefield, and the advantage was almost entirely in the hands of the Eighth Route Army. If the two sides really want to fight, their chances of winning are very low.
On the other hand, it is because the left and right mopping up troops are also facing a very bad situation.
In order to cooperate well, the three parties joined forces to fight a beautiful battle of annihilation. Lieutenant General Sakuragi had just made contact with the mopping up troops on the left and right.
The moment I received the call back, my hot heart suddenly went cold.
The two mopping up troops were all resolutely blocked by the Eighth Route Army. Not only the troops were lost, but the advance was extremely slow.
It is almost impossible to reach Chenjiazhuang on time.
To put it another way, even if they reach Chenjiazhuang on time, there will be very few troops left.
The main force of the Eighth Route Army blocking them along the way will certainly not let them easily join the battle.
Maybe these two mopping up troops will not only be unable to reinforce the battlefield, but they will also get themselves trapped, and in the end they will lose both their wives and their troops.
In desperation, Okamura Neiji actually transferred an infantry regiment from Baoding to reinforce himself.
Lieutenant General Sakuragi felt like he had survived a desperate situation and once again saw hope of defeating the Eighth Route Army in Yizhong.
The main force of the Eighth Route Army in Yizhong is either besieging itself or blocking the mopping up troops on the left and right. Except for some local armed forces along the route from Baoding to Chenjiazhuang, there is no main force.
The reinforcements advanced lightly, and the destruction of roads by the Eighth Route Army did not affect their marching speed.
Okamura Neiji said that if they could reach Chenjiazhuang before three o'clock in the morning, they would definitely make it there.
Lieutenant General Sakuragi seemed to be a different person, suddenly gaining fighting spirit.
He strode to the map hand-drawn by the combat staff and ordered: "Our first line of defense has been completed and the second line of defense is being repaired."
"In order to buy enough time for the troops to repair their positions, the first-line peripheral positions must be held for two hours."
"In addition to heavy artillery and field artillery, the remaining mountain artillery, infantry artillery, and mortars were all dispersed to various squadrons to concentrate firepower on the Eighth Route Army's attacking troops, slowing down their attack speed and reducing the combat pressure on the defenders."
"The field artillery and heavy artillery brigades are ready to annihilate the mountain field artillery and heavy artillery units that the Eighth Route Army has never shown up."
"They pose too great a threat to our defensive positions. We must strike back and destroy them in the shortest possible time."
"This way we can have a chance to keep the three o'clock in the morning."
…………
"Boom boom boom..."
The sound of artillery soon rang out on the battlefield, centered on the headquarters where Lieutenant General Sakuragi was located, and surrounded by the sound of exploding artillery shells.
The entire sky was dyed red by gunfire.
As artillery shells from both sides came and went, the attacking troops formed a skirmish line, bent over, and slowly moved toward the Kwantung Army's outer positions.
There are also many mine gunners among the infantry.
Working in teams of two, they carried barrels made of gasoline barrels and followed closely behind the infantry.
"Flying thunder cannons... The Eighth Route Army has brought up flying cannons. Fire quickly and kill them..." The Japanese army blocked the position, and a sharp-eyed Japanese squadron leader shouted with fear on his face.
He had seen the power of flying thunder cannons in previous battles.
It exploded into a large area. Until now, the terrifying picture is still reflected in my mind and has not gone away for a long time.
More than a hundred soldiers under his command defended a 200-meter-long position.
With the powerful destructive power of the thunder cannon, it does not need to hit the target. As long as four or five explosive packets are hit near the position, the entire defense line will be finished.
"Boom, boom, boom..." The four mortars assigned to him quickly joined the battle.
Fire splashed and smoke billowed, and a torpedo cannon team was instantly submerged in the gunfire.
"Boom boom boom..."
The second round of shells quickly hit the next thunder cannon group.
The squadron leader could not help but let out a sigh of relief. As long as the flying thunder cannons did not participate in the battle, he would not be afraid no matter how many mortars the Eighth Route Army used to attack the position.
