Hundreds of Japanese soldiers searched house to house. Except for the bodies of the Japanese soldiers who died in the yard, not a single attacker was seen.
The militiamen in Qiuzi Village had just annihilated a small team of Japanese soldiers. They were in high spirits and became even more excited when they saw so many Japanese soldiers coming.
They still fought on their own, seizing the opportunity to open fire on the Japanese soldiers.
The captain of the Japanese army heard gunfire in the village, and the soldiers could not find the enemy who attacked them. He also guessed that there must be a tunnel in the village.
He knew that the battle would definitely not work like this, so he led the Japanese soldiers to retreat outside the village.
Militia captain Li Mancang had been staring at the Japanese captain for a long time. He took off a brick from the courtyard wall near the street. When he saw the Japanese captain passing by, he shot him in the back of the head.
Fresh snow sprayed from the head of the Japanese captain and he fell to the ground.
The Japanese soldiers panicked, picked up the Japanese captain and ran away. Of course Li Mancang refused to let the Japanese soldiers go, so he threw two grenades directly.
With the fierce explosion, the Japanese soldiers carrying the captain were blown to the ground.
Seeing this situation, the other Japanese soldiers couldn't care less about the corpse of the Japanese captain. They ran out desperately, only hating their parents for giving them two legs.
When the militiamen in the village saw the Japs fleeing, they went up to the roof and fired another burst of fire at the Japs soldiers. In this way, more than 100 Japanese soldiers were handed over to Qiuzi Village.
The militiamen in Qiuzi Village are very experienced in combat. They know that the Japanese soldiers will definitely not give up. I am afraid that it will not be long before they use artillery to bombard them. They were worried that the weapons left by the Japanese would be blown up, so they hurriedly got out of the tunnel, took the time to clean the battlefield, and then quickly got into the tunnel again.
The captain of the Japanese army also rushed to the vicinity of Qiuzi Village at this time. When he saw the Japanese soldiers escaping in panic, he was very angry. He didn't understand why the Yellow Army soldiers couldn't even defeat a village and were beaten in such a mess. .
When he saw a squadron leader running back, he asked someone to bring him over. Without any explanation, he first gave him a few big words and cursed: "As a warrior of the Yellow Army of Japan, why are you so panicked? It's so embarrassing." The face of the Yellow Army of Japan was stained.”
The Japanese squadron leader was beaten until his nose was bruised and his face was swollen, but he did not dare to say a word. He stood there and screamed every time he was slapped.
The Japanese captain's hand hurt from the beating, so he took a breath and asked, "How many enemy troops are there in the village?"
The Japanese squadron leader said: "Your Excellency, the captain, I don't know how many enemies there are in the village. All the enemy troops are hiding in the dark, and we haven't seen any of them."
The Japanese commander had rich combat experience, and he understood that there must be a tunnel in the village. Faced with this situation, he did not dare to send any more troops in. But in such a small village, hundreds of soldiers were lost. How could he be so angry?
He then shouted loudly: "Get ready, artillery, and level this village with me."
The Japanese artillery set up mortars and Type 92 infantry artillery and blasted the village.
Most of the houses in the village were blown down, and the Japanese soldiers finally let out a bad breath. However, they still did not dare to enter the village, so they bypassed the village and continued to march deeper into the base area.
The militiamen in Qiuzi Village saw that their house had been blown up by the Japanese again. Although their superiors had promised that the guerrillas would pay and help rebuild any house destroyed by the Japanese army, this was their home after all. The militiamen were furious when they saw the Japanese destroying their homes, so they left the village along the tunnel.
The militiamen in Qiuzi Village originally had three light machine guns, and they had captured two more in the battle. After the militiamen emerged from the tunnel, they arrived in front of the left front of the Japanese marching group in advance, and waited until the Japanese marching group passed in front of them. , five light machine guns opened fire at the same time, and other militiamen also carried rifles and started banging, causing heavy casualties to the Japanese army.
The Japanese commander was furious and immediately commanded a large group of troops to rush over.
The militiamen hurriedly got into the tunnel.
The Japanese soldiers rushed over. They guessed that the attacker had entered the tunnel again, so they searched everywhere.
However, the tunnel entrance was designed very cleverly, and the Japanese searched for it for a long time, but still could not find it.
At this time, the militiamen emerged from another tunnel entrance and were ready to attack the Japanese army.
The Japanese commander counted the number of people. The attack just now caused more than 60 casualties of Japanese officers and soldiers. He did not dare to stay here anymore, so he led the troops forward, hoping to get out of this terrible place as soon as possible.
The Japanese soldiers ran less than 100 meters, and machine gun and rifle bullets flew from the field. The militiamen killed more than 40 Japanese soldiers.
The commander of the Japanese army was also frightened. He did not dare to let the soldiers go to search anymore, and ran all the way with the Japanese soldiers.
When the militiamen saw the Japanese army's embarrassing appearance, they chased them with bullets and killed a dozen more Japanese soldiers.
It wasn't until the Japanese soldiers were out of sight that the militiamen of Qiuzi Village cleaned up the battlefield and returned to the village.
The village had been blown up beyond recognition by the Japanese soldiers, so the militiamen counted their seizures at the entrance of the village.
This time the militiamen of Qiuzi Village made a fortune. They seized a total of five light machine guns, a mortar, more than forty Type 38 rifles, and two grenade launchers.
The militiamen raised their arms and shouted excitedly. The militia captain Li Mancang said happily: "Our militiamen from Qiuzi Village have shown their faces again this time. The captain will definitely reward us personally."
The villagers of Qiuzi Village also drilled out of the tunnels one after another. Although their homes were destroyed by the Japanese again, they were still sincerely happy to see the militiamen in their village fighting such a great victory.
The Japanese joint captain led the troops and continued to advance deeper into the base area, and saw several more villages on the way.
After the lesson they just learned, they no longer dare to enter the village again. They could only bypass the village and march through the fields.
The intelligence network in the base area is very tight. After the Japanese soldiers pass by, the militiamen in each village will report to their superiors.
The news soon reached the ears of Zhao Daman, captain of the Yinping County Brigade. While using the radio to report to Kong Jie stationed in Yinping County, he led the county brigade to intercept the Japanese soldiers entering the base area.
After receiving the report, Kong Jie also deployed two battalions of troops to intercept this group of Japanese soldiers. At the same time, he reported the situation to Xu Dalong.
Xu Dalong decided to eat this Japanese army, so he gave an order to Wang Limin's independent brigade, asking them to work with the troops of the New Second Brigade and the Yinping County Brigade to encircle and annihilate this Japanese army.
After the battle started, the officers and soldiers of the Independent Brigade had not participated in the battle as a reserve force. They were already ready to set off at any time. After receiving the order, the officers and soldiers were very excited and immediately drove to intercept the Japanese army.
The Japanese regiment leader was marching with his troops and was first attacked by the Yinping County brigade.
The Japanese captain saw the various costumes of the enemy troops who attacked them, and felt very contemptuous.
He thought this was a good opportunity to train the troops, so he stopped, commanded the troops to open up their formation, and started fighting with the county brigade.
He originally thought that he could easily defeat the group of Tubal soldiers in front of him, but he did not expect that the weapons and equipment of these Tubal soldiers were not inferior to his troops. Not only that, it seemed that their tactical level was also not low. The two sides fought for a long time. It was a tie.
At this moment, two battalions of troops sent by Kong Jie also arrived. They first cut off the Japanese army's retreat and prevented them from escaping from the base area.
Seeing this formation, the Japanese commander couldn't help but panic. He didn't know how many enemy troops there were here and whether new enemy troops would arrive.
Seeing that his retreat was cut off, he gritted his teeth and led his troops towards the direction of Yinping County, hoping to cooperate with the main force of the Japanese army to capture
Yinping County.
When the officers and soldiers of the New Second Brigade and the county brigade saw the Japanese retreating, they chased them and entangled them to buy time for the troops of the Independent Brigade to arrive.
The Japanese army relied on two legs, and they were entangled by the officers and soldiers of the county brigade and the New Second Brigade. They could not move fast at all.
Wang Limin and Huang Jingzhong quickly led two regiments of the independent brigade to rush over and quickly surrounded the Japanese army.
Seeing that they were surrounded, the Japanese commander could only organize resistance on the spot.
The officers and soldiers of the Independent Brigade, County Brigade and New Second Brigade set up artillery and bombarded the Japanese army. Soon after, the general offensive was launched.
At this time, there were less than 3,000 Japanese troops left. The total number of troops participating in the battle from the independent brigade, county brigade and the New Second Brigade was more than 10,000. Their weapons and equipment exceeded that of the Japanese army, and they had rich combat experience.
Most of the Japanese troops are recruits who are on the battlefield for the first time. Where are the opponents of the anti-Japanese armed forces? Soon after, the Japanese army in this regiment was completely destroyed.
After careful planning, Yoshio Shinozuka launched a series of attacks in Shanxi, effectively containing the anti-Japanese armed forces of the underground party in the Taihang Mountains, the Jinsui Army in southeastern Shanxi, and the Guojun troops in Zhongtiao Mountain, and finally he was able to free up his hands. Come, go all out to attack the Mawushan base area.
He was very ambitious and planned to completely eliminate Xu Dalong's troops, destroy the Mawushan base area, and remove the nail planted by the anti-Japanese armed forces behind the Japanese army.
He hated Xu Dalong so much that he ordered the troops to kill Xu Dalong. It would be better if he could be captured alive.
Yoshio Shinozuka also estimated the strength of the anti-Japanese armed forces in the Mawushan base area before the war. Based on the intelligence provided by Yan Guiwu and verification by other Japanese intelligence departments, he knew that the Mawushan base area contained Xu Dalong's guerrillas, independent brigade, and Li Yunlong's Xinyi Brigade, Kong Jie's New Second Brigade, and Chu Yunfei's 358th Brigade, with a total strength of about 30,000, as well as some county brigades and other local armed forces.
The total strength of the Japanese troops he brought reached 100,000, not including the troops of the Fourth Division of Huang Xiejun in this area. In the past, when the Japanese army fought against ordinary anti-Japanese armed forces, their force allocation was one to two, or even as high as one to eight, and they often had an advantage in battles. Now the situation is reversed. The total strength of the Japanese army exceeds three times that of the anti-Japanese armed forces in the Mawu Mountain area. This was extremely rare in the previous combat deployments of the Japanese army, and could even be said to be unique.
If under such circumstances the Mawushan Anti-Japanese Base Area cannot be captured and the anti-Japanese armed forces there cannot be eliminated, there will really be no place for Yoshio Shinozuka's face.
Before the battle started, Yoshio Shinozuka believed that once the Japanese army arrived, they would march straight in, quickly occupy the counties controlled by the anti-Japanese armed forces, and then annihilate the anti-Japanese armed forces in this area in field battles.
Although he is a very cautious person, his scheduled combat time will not exceed five days at most to achieve all campaign objectives.
However, after the battle started, the result was completely beyond his expectation. The anti-Japanese armed forces in the Mawushan area not only did not run around and fight guerrilla warfare as before, but actually relied on their positions to fight the Japanese army. In this case, the Japanese army could not take advantage at all.
Two days passed, and the Japanese troops of various groups made little progress and instead lost thousands of people.
Yoshio Shinozuka is an experienced senior general who is good at summarizing in combat and can adjust his combat deployment according to local conditions. He found that when the Japanese army stormed the county where the anti-Japanese armed forces were stationed, they had to constantly attack the enemy's relatively complete defenses. Not only was it hard work, time-consuming and labor-intensive, the Japanese army would suffer heavy casualties, and the Japanese army would not be able to deploy large forces.
After discussing with the chief of staff, he decided to order part of the troops to continue attacking the defensive positions of the anti-Japanese armed forces, and then concentrate a considerable part of the troops to choose a breakthrough point, directly enter the hinterland of the Mawushan base area, cut off the connection between several counties, and then attack the enemy Defeat each one.
In order to achieve this campaign goal, Yoshio Shinozuka ordered the 32nd garrison division to take over from the 108th division to continue the siege of Ping'an County, and ordered the main force of the 108th division to leave Ping'an County and go deep into the hinterland of the Mawu Mountain base area. At the same time, the 110th Division and the 140th Division were ordered to each deploy an infantry regiment and enter the hinterland of the Mawushan base area. First, they would cut off the connections between the counties and cut off the traffic between them. Then they would select a county and attack from the side. Attack from the rear.
Ping'an County.
Li Yunlong received a report that the combat effectiveness of the Japanese troops attacking them seemed to have weakened, the frequency of attacks was also much lower, and the weapons and equipment seemed not as good as those of the previous Japanese troops.
He couldn't help but feel a little puzzled, and said to Zhang Dabiao: "There seems to be something wrong with the situation. The previous little Japs were so powerful that they couldn't attack our forward positions. The new group of Japs that came in were not as powerful as the previous group of Japs." This is obviously something abnormal."
Zhang Dabiao was also a little confused. He said doubtfully: "Did the previous group of Japs get tired from fighting and wanted to take a short break before replacing them with another group of Japs?"
Li Yunlong shook his head and said: "It's not that simple. According to intelligence, the Japanese army's 108th Division and the 32nd Garrison Division attacked us. The previous attacker must have been the Japanese 108th Division of the Field Army. The Japanese Army is a division. There are so many troops and horses, but not many are used each time to attack us. If there is a wheel battle, just replace it with any unit from the 108th Division, but now it is replaced by the 32nd Division. This is obviously unreasonable.
I suspect that the Japanese 108th Division has other intentions. Zhang Dabiao, please quickly send a telegram to Brother Dalong and tell him the situation. "
Li Yunlong indeed had a strong intuition on the battlefield, and his guess was correct. The main force of the Japanese 108th Division, led by division commander Fujiwara Konichi, has left the frontal position in Ping'an County. They still chose the gap where the infantry brigade entered the base area last time, bypassing the defensive position of the new brigade. , entered the Mawu Mountain base area.
Li Yunlong had already judged this, and he did not send out the main force to intercept the Japanese army as he did last time, because the enemy's force was now too strong, and the New First Brigade would not be able to bear the burden of a field battle with the Japanese army.
He only sent one battalion of troops to monitor the actions of the Japanese army and keep track of the whereabouts of the Japanese army at any time.
After Xu Dalong received the telegram from the New First Brigade, he sent a telegram back to Li Yunlong, telling him to continue to rely on fortifications and hold on to the county seat. The Japanese who entered the base area would be dealt with by the Mawushan guerrillas and the independent brigade.
Fujiwara Kinichi led the 108th Division with more than 20,000 troops and entered the Mawu Mountain base area. After several hours of marching, except for the battalion sent by Li Yunlong that exchanged fire with the Japanese army and was repelled by the Japanese army, there was no guerrilla attack. team attack.
Fujiwara Konichi believed that this was because the enemy's main force had been restrained by other Japanese troops, so he continued to advance deeper into the base area with confidence and boldness.
At noon, the Japanese troops stopped to rest and began to cook rice in preparation for eating and drinking before moving on.
