"Boom boom boom..."
The rain of shells fired from the mortars quickly hit the city top, and the firing point at the top of the city was instantly silenced by more than 20%.
The casualties of the attacking troops instantly decreased a lot.
As more and more machine gun firepower points were eliminated, the Japanese and puppet troops on the city wall became chaotic again, making it almost impossible to effectively block the first battalion. If he is willing, the attack in front of him can destroy the city gate, seize the city fortifications, and advance into Shijiazhuang.
But this is not the result that Captain Zhou wants.
He immediately frowned and ordered: "The attacking troops will retreat immediately and continue to use light and heavy machine guns and mortars to suppress the Japanese and puppet troops on the top of the city. The field artillery and heavy artillery will not be moved for the time being. I want to go to the former enemy headquarters..."
…………
Independent Brigade Headquarters.
Li Yunlong was also observing the attack. When Captain Zhou suddenly issued a retreat order, he instantly realized something was wrong.
Less than ten minutes later, the hurried figure of Commander Zhou appeared at the entrance of the command department.
"Chief..."
"There is something wrong with the Japanese and puppet troops on top of the city..."
"There are mostly puppet troops, and only a small part of the Japanese population."
"We have a large number of heavy artillery and mountain field artillery to cooperate with us. If we really attack by force, we can break through the city defenses and enter Shijiazhuang in one attack at most..."
"I think the Japanese and puppet troops have seen our intention to consume a large number of their troops at the top of the city, so they replaced the Japanese in the city defense troops with puppet troops."
"What an awesome little devil..." Although the two sides were rivals, Li Yunlong still admired him sincerely.
"The puppet army's combat effectiveness is limited. Under the supervision of the Japanese, it is no problem to rely on city fortifications to defend the city."
"It would be great if we let them fight with us in the city and become deserters."
"Obviously the little Japs in the city knew this, so they asked the puppet army to replace the little Japs in the city defense force, and let the puppet soldiers defend the city head and be bombed, while the little Japs stayed in the city to fight with us in the streets."
"Even if Shijiazhuang finally falls into our hands, the Japanese's performance in street fighting will definitely cause huge casualties to our siege troops."
Captain Zhou became anxious when he heard this, and chased Li Yunlong and asked, "Then our plan of using mountain artillery and heavy artillery to consume a large number of Japs in the city will soon be unable to be carried out."
"The little Japs won't fight at all. No matter how many artillery shells we fire, they will still be a bunch of puppet troops with no combat effectiveness."
"It's such a waste to use so many heavy artillery shells on the puppet troops."
"How about we go straight to Shijiazhuang?"
"Since the little devil wants to gather a large number of troops to fight with us in the streets, let's have a good fight."
"We have the advantage of strength. While we are attacking frontally, we can divide our troops to outflank them. Several troops attack together, making it difficult for the little Japs hiding in the city to defend themselves. If the attack continues, they may suffer more casualties than us."
I don't know when several other regiment leaders also rushed to the headquarters.
After listening to Captain Zhou's analysis, he approached Li Yunlong with a supportive attitude: "Chief, I agree to storm Shijiazhuang in advance and fight street battles with the Japanese and puppet troops in the city."
"Street fighting and guerrilla warfare have the same origin."
"Our Eighth Route Army is the ancestor of guerrilla warfare, and street fighting is not bad either."
"If we really fight against the Japanese and puppet troops in the city, we won't necessarily lose in the end."
"Kill..."
"Assembling dozens of heavy artillery and mountain artillery to deal with a bunch of puppet troops is indeed a waste of artillery shells."
"It would be better to push the mountain artillery into Shijiazhuang during street fighting and destroy the barricades built by the Japanese and puppet troops in the city through direct fire. In this way, we might be able to kill a few more little Japs."
Another group leader also expressed his position: "I support the opinion of Captain Zhou."
"After the troops entered the city, they were divided into battalions and attacked the Japanese headquarters at the same time."
As he spoke, he walked to the city defense map, pointed at the map and expressed his thoughts: "Each attacking force will be divided into several groups to advance at the same time."
"The main force of the battalion advances forward and storms all barricades encountered along the way."
"Separate several platoons to attack from the flanks of the main force. They can outflank the Japanese and puppet troops by climbing over walls, blowing up walls, etc., and attack the Japanese and puppet troops who want to attack us from both front and back, and let those Japanese and puppets who want to engage in street fighting with us The army is unable to defend itself."
"Originally they were the hunters and we were the prey."
"After disrupting the battlefield, we become hunters and they become prey."
"Even if some Japanese and puppet hunters are very well hidden and cannot become prey, we can organize a counterattack immediately after our troops are attacked by them, eliminate them as soon as possible, and end the battle at the minimum cost."
Li Yunlong is not afraid of street fighting. His only worry is that the troops will suffer too many casualties in the street fighting and there will be no troops to fight for reinforcements.
Moreover, the Eighth Route Army participating in street fighting was not an independent brigade, but several regiments headed by the headquarters to support the independent brigade.
They would be embarrassed if they lost too many troops in street fighting, so they tried to avoid street fighting with the Shijiazhuang city defense troops when formulating the battle plan before, hoping to use artillery fire to consume them at the top of the city.
Since the Japanese and puppet troops in the city refused to fight and insisted on fighting with them in the streets, it was impossible for me to trick them out.
And the little devil is not stupid. Since he has seen his purpose of using artillery fire to consume a large number of their troops, he will not be easily fooled.
Therefore, if we want to capture Shijiazhuang, we must fight this street battle.
After taking a deep breath, he ordered: "Since you are all ready for street fighting with the Japanese and puppet troops, let's march into Shijiazhuang."
"Although the enemies on top of the city are mainly puppet troops, supplemented by little devils, rabbits will bite when they are in a hurry."
"In order to reduce the casualties of the siege troops and allow the participating troops to have more experience and strength to fight the Japanese in street battles, I will ask the armored battalion of the Special Forces Regiment to cooperate with everyone when the city is breached."
"Explode the city and rush into Shijiazhuang..."
…………
On the battlefield in Jinzhong.
The Japanese army's long-awaited raid finally began.
Now that he had decided to take a gamble, facing the Jinzhong Independent Regiment that had launched a full-scale attack, the regiment leader no longer hesitated and immediately organized his troops to outflank the two wings of the Independent Regiment, preparing to annihilate them with superior strength to avoid future troubles.
But he still underestimated the power of people's war.
As soon as the roundabout troops set off, news was received from the battlefield five hundred meters away.
Captain Huang is not only not nervous, but is particularly looking forward to the upcoming decisive battle, because the independent regiment at this moment is no longer what it used to be.
Although the troops suffered heavy casualties in successive raids, they have been temporarily transferred from local troops and guerrillas to fill the gap.
The participating troops of the independent regiment are still two fully-staffed main battalions.
The firepower has increased at least twice as much as a few hours ago, and the heavy weapons the Japanese and puppets rely on have increased at least three times as compared to a few hours ago.
During the last raid battle.
The Independent Regiment ate up half of the Japanese infantry brigade in one go, captured five mortars, four heavy machine guns, and ten light machine guns, which directly raised the firepower level of the Independent Regiment to a higher level.
Facing such a powerful army, the Japanese commander's dream of a quick victory was destined to fail.
