Li Kun, who had been waiting for a long time, picked up the phone and gave the order, and the Battle of Hancheng officially started.
Taiyuan City, the headquarters of the Japanese First Army.
Yoshio Shinozuka was awakened from his sleep, hurriedly put on his clothes and came to the war room.
After listening to the report from the chief of staff, he immediately ordered the Japanese troops stationed in Taiyuan and the Fifth Division stationed in Niangziguan area to rush to the rescue of the Japanese 112th Division stationed in Hancheng.
Xu Dalong never passively defends in battle. After capturing Niangzi Pass, he led Sun Desheng's cavalry brigade and Wei Monk's special operations squadron to cross Niangzi Pass and penetrate the enemy's flank and rear before the Japanese army could launch a counterattack. , prepare to use harassment tactics. As well as the transportation lines of the Fifth Division, cooperate with Li Yunlong and Chu Yunfei to defend Niangzi Pass.
After receiving the name of Yoshio Shinozuka, the Japanese Fifth Division immediately marched to Niangziguan and launched a fierce attack on the defenders.
Li Yunlong and Chu Yunfei commanded the troops and used the favorable terrain of Niangzi Pass to launch a fierce battle with the Japanese army.
The fifth division of the Japanese army was extremely powerful. Under unfavorable terrain, they actually launched 6 attacks in one day, which put huge pressure on the anti-Japanese armed forces.
The troops of the Mawushan Military Division and the officers and soldiers of the 358th Brigade fought hard in the snow and finally repelled the enemy's attack.
Xu Dalong, Sun Desheng and Wei Monk led the troops, penetrated to the side and rear of the Japanese 5th Division, and continuously attacked the baggage troops and material depots of the 9th Brigade of the 5th Division. The Japanese army had to deploy an infantry regiment and Huang Xiejun's The two regiments dealt with Xu Dalong, Sun Desheng and others, reducing the pressure on the front of Niangziguan.
On the night of November 17, the 10th Brigade of the Japanese 5th Division used the cover of night to launch an attack on the 358th Brigade's position. The officers and soldiers of the 358th Brigade were not good at night fighting, and the battle was a bit chaotic. One of the Japanese soldiers The infantry brigade broke through the forward position of the 358th Brigade, and all the officers and soldiers of a battalion on the forward position were killed.
After the Japanese and puppets captured the forward positions, they continued to advance in depth, and the 358th Brigade's position was in danger of total collapse.
After receiving the report, Li Yunlong immediately ordered Zhang Dabiao to lead a regiment of the New 1st Brigade to rush for reinforcements.
When the officers and soldiers of the New First Brigade crossed mountains and ridges and rushed to the position of the 358th Brigade, a Japanese infantry squadron had already broken through the second line of defense of the 358th Brigade. Carrying his heavy body, he immediately launched a counterattack against the Japanese army.
When the officers and soldiers of the 358th Brigade saw the arrival of reinforcements, their morale was boosted, and they launched a comprehensive counterattack against the Japanese army.
After more than two hours of fierce fighting, the Japanese attack was finally repelled and the forward position was recaptured.
Early the next morning, the Japanese army once again organized troops to launch an attack on the Niangziguan defenders' position.
By 12 noon, the officers and soldiers of the New 1st Brigade and the 358th Brigade repelled three more Japanese attacks.
The battle was extremely fierce. After a day and a half of fighting, the Japanese army suffered more than 2,000 casualties, and the casualties of the 358th Brigade and the New 1st Brigade also exceeded 1,700.
On the afternoon of the 17th, the Japanese army launched another attack on the Niangziguan garrison position. This time, the Japanese army prepared artillery fire for 40 minutes and directly launched two infantry regiments to attack the positions of the New 1st Brigade and the 358th Brigade respectively.
The Japanese offensive was very fierce. The forward positions of the New 1st Brigade and the 358th Brigade failed many times and were recaptured.
The two sides fought fiercely around the forward positions. The officers and soldiers of the New 1st Brigade and the 358th Brigade continued to launch counterattacks against the Japanese army regardless of casualties.
By 5:40 in the evening, all the forward positions were finally recovered. The battle that afternoon was extremely fierce, with losses on both sides exceeding 3,000.
In any case, the troops of the Mawushan Military Division and the 358th Brigade defended Niangzi Pass, buying valuable time for the main force of the Shanxi-Sui Army to encircle and annihilate the Japanese 11th and 2nd Divisions.
At the same time, General Fu commanded the troops of the 28th, 30th, and 31st Army, relying on Phoenix Mountain to block the Japanese reinforcements dispatched from the direction of Taiyuan. They also paid a heavy price. After two days of fierce fighting, the number of casualties among the troops exceeded 10,000.
World War II District Chief's Department.
The King of Shanxi came to the war room in person, looked at the arrows marked on the map, and said angrily: "What on earth is going on? Why is our Jinsui Army making such slow progress?"
While the fierce battle between Niangziguan and Fenghuang Mountain was in full swing, the four main armies of the Shanxi-Sui Army and the 63rd Army of the Zhongtiaoshanguo Army launched an attack on the Japanese army in the direction of Hancheng.
The Japanese defenders in the direction of Hancheng resisted tenaciously. The Jinsui Army's troops made slow progress. For two full days, they were still 55km away from Hancheng. The 63rd Army's troops were blocked by a reinforced infantry brigade of the Japanese army.
Such a result made the Shanxi King really worried.
This joint operation, whether it is the underground party troops or the Guo Army in Zhongtiao Mountain, is remarkable so far. Only the Jinsui Army has been really unjustifiable in this battle. There has been basically no progress for two days.
It is said that the Jinsui Army dispatched a total of four armies this time. Together with the 63rd Army cooperating with them, the strength was more than four times that of the Japanese army. However, the Jinsui Army has already developed a habit of fighting. The senior generals will only fight against the wind. Once they encounter setbacks, the first thing they think of is to preserve their strength. Therefore, when fighting, they do not work hard, and they rely on mutual cooperation. Not on.
Cui Zhenyue was ordered to lead the chariot troops to cooperate with the 68th Army of the Jinsui Army. They braved enemy artillery fire to open a path in front and covered the officers and soldiers of the Jinsui Army to launch an attack on the Japanese army.
The Japanese army could not deal with Cui Zhenyue's tank troops, so they used artillery fire to attack the Jinsui Army troops following the tank troops.
After Cui Zhenyue led the chariot troops to break through the Japanese defense line, he looked back and was so angry that the troops of the Jinsui Army had not followed up at all.
Japanese officers and soldiers took the opportunity to attack Cui Zhenyue's tank troops from all directions and fired at close range with artillery. The Japanese officers and soldiers rushed towards the tanks and armored vehicles of the tank brigade with grenades.
Although the Japanese officers and soldiers suffered heavy casualties under machine gun fire, there were many of them approaching tanks and armored vehicles and detonating grenades.
Cui Zhenyue saw this scene and hurriedly led the chariot troops to retreat. In this battle, they lost three tanks and six armored vehicles, which can be said to be the worst loss since the establishment of the tank brigade.
After receiving Cui Zhenyue's report, Xu Dalong was a little bit dumbfounded. He regretted it now. It would have been better to let the officers and soldiers of the Jinsui Army capture Niangziguan and let the main force of the Mawushan guerrillas be responsible for attacking Hancheng.
General Fu commanded the troops to stand firm at Fenghuang Mountain. Facing the slow movements of the Jinsui Army, he was also very annoyed and sent a telegram urging the King of Shanxi to seize Hancheng as soon as possible.
On the night of the 18th, an even worse situation happened. An infantry brigade of the Japanese 112th Division launched a counterattack against the 61st Army of the Jinsui Army at night. They broke through three positions of the Jinsui Army one after another and broke into the headquarters of the 61st Army.
The deputy commander and chief of staff of the 61st Army were killed in the battle, and the troops of the 61st Army were forced to retreat 15 kilometers.
After this attack, the troops of the Jinsui Army became even more demoralized, and the Japanese attack in the direction of Hancheng came to a standstill.
Faced with this situation, Li Yunlong was very angry.
He scolded: "He brewed it. What kind of war is this that the Jin-Sui Army fought? Are 100,000 troops all just decorations?"
Li Yunlong's intuition was very keen. After studying the battlefield situation, he saw the key link to break the deadlock on the battlefield.
He said to Zhang Dabiao: "Dabiao, do you see? If we can dispatch a force from Niangziguan to Sishui Village behind Hancheng, and pass through Hancheng from here, we can break the current deadlock."
Zhang Dabiao said: "Commander, you are right, but our troops here still have to block the Japanese Fifth Division, and I'm afraid we won't be able to spare the troops to intersect."
Li Yunlong said: "Hurry up and draft a telegram and send this situation to Xu Dalong and listen to his opinions."
After receiving Li Yunlong's telegram, Xu Dalong also believed that this was the most effective way to break the current deadlock.
He consulted Chu Yunfei and Li Yunlong for their opinions, and decided that Chu Yunfei would lead the main force of the 358th Brigade, and Wang Chengzhu would lead an artillery brigade to cooperate with Chu Yunfei's troops to go to Sishui Village to disrupt the Japanese defense deployment.
Chu Yunfei and Wang Chengzhu led the troops to leave. The only defenders at Niangziguan were the New First Brigade led by Li Yunlong and part of the infantry of the Mawushan guerrillas. The strength of the troops was much weaker, and the pressure on the Japanese army suddenly increased.
The Japanese Fifth Division also noticed this, so they stepped up their attack, and the situation at Niangziguan became very critical.
In order to boost morale, Li Yunlong personally came to the forward position and commanded the officers and soldiers of the underground party to repel the Japanese attacks again and again.
The Japanese army lost thousands of troops and had to temporarily stop the attack.
The underground party's anti-Japanese armed forces also suffered heavy casualties. They took advantage of the pause in the Japanese army's offensive to rest and recuperate.
However, the rest time left for the defenders was very short. Soon after, the Japanese army replenished their forces and launched another attack on Niangziguan.
Xu Dalong, Sun Desheng and Wei Monk led the cavalry troops to maneuver at high speed and launched continuous attacks on the rear of the Japanese Fifth Division, making the Japanese rear areas restless.
The Japanese army had to allocate more troops to deal with Xu Dalong and others, thereby reducing the pressure in the direction of Niangziguan.
Chu Yunfei and Wang Chengzhu led the troops to travel through the night and night to the direction of Sishui Village, penetrated the side and rear of the Japanese 224th Brigade, and launched an attack on the Japanese army.
In front of the Japanese 224th Brigade was the 68th Army of the Shanxi-Sui Army. They had launched more than ten consecutive attacks on the Japanese army, suffering heavy casualties and making little progress.
The commander of the 68th Army saw that his troops suffered too many casualties, so he basically stopped the attack.
As the troops of the 61st Army encountered a Japanese counterattack, the commander of the 68th Army was worried that his troops would encounter the same situation, so he put the troops on the defensive.
At 3 o'clock in the afternoon that day, the commander of the 68th Army suddenly received a call from the Chief of Staff of the World War II Zone, saying that Chu Yunfei had led the troops behind enemy lines and was about to launch an attack on the Japanese 224th Brigade, asking them to cooperate with Chu Yunfei's instructions. troops, launched an attack on the Japanese army, and tried their best to break through the Japanese defense line.
The commander of the 68th Army was doubtful, but still followed the orders of the chief of staff and prepared the troops for the attack.
At 3:45 in the afternoon, the commander of the 68th Army received a report from the forward position, saying that the Japanese troops stationed in the position had withdrawn from the trenches and retreated to the rear. Then he received a telegram from Chu Yunfei, saying that the troops of the 358th Brigade had launched an attack on the flanks and rear of the Japanese 224th Brigade, and asked the commander of the 68th Army to launch an attack on the Japanese immediately.
The commander of the 68th Army finally believed that Chu Yunfei's actions were real and reliable, so he commanded the troops to launch a full-scale attack on the Japanese positions.
Since most of the Japanese troops were deployed to block Chu Yunfei's troops, the officers and soldiers of the 68th Army finally broke through the frontal Japanese defensive positions.
The officers and soldiers of the Jinsui Army are good at fighting against the wind. After capturing the Japanese position, the morale of the officers and soldiers was greatly boosted. They quickly advanced towards the depth of the Japanese defensive position. The Japanese 224th Brigade was attacked from both sides. After hastily resisting for a while, it retreated. Take the direction of Hancheng.
After the 68th Army joined Chu Yunfei, Wang Chengzhu and others, they launched a pursuit of the Japanese troops who retreated to Hancheng.
Other Japanese troops were worried that their retreat would be cut off, so they also fled towards Hancheng.
The various units of the Jinsui Army and the 63rd Army of the Zhongyang Army took the opportunity to launch a full-scale attack. The Japanese defense positions were breached across the board. They fled to Hancheng, preparing to rely on Hancheng to redeploy their defenses.
The Jinsui Army pressed towards Hancheng, preparing to encircle and annihilate the Japanese 112th Division in Hancheng.
Taiyuan City.
Yoshio Shinozuka was very worried about the situation in the Hancheng area. The Japanese 112th Division was about to be surrounded by the main force of the Shanxi-Sui Army, and the Fifth Division in the Niangziguan direction and the Japanese reinforcements in the Taiyuan direction were both attacked by the enemy. Blocking the attack, the 112th Division could not be rescued, and the 112th Division was in danger of being completely destroyed.
He told the chief of staff: "The current situation is really too bad. In order to prevent the 112th Division from being wiped out by the enemy, I plan to abandon Hancheng."
The chief of staff said: "I agree with your opinion. But if the 112th Division abandons Hancheng, how should it choose the direction to break out?"
Yoshio Shinozuka said: "There are defenders of three enemy armies in the direction of Phoenix Mountain. It is very difficult for the 112th Division to break out from Phoenix Mountain. The enemy defenders in the direction of Niangziguan are underground party troops. According to According to the report of the Fifth Division, their strength does not exceed two brigades, and part of them has been deployed in the direction of Hancheng. The number of troops guarding Niangzi Pass is obviously insufficient. My opinion is to let the 112th Division break out in the direction of Niangzi Pass with all its strength. Attack from both sides with the Fifth Division, break through Niangzi Pass in one fell swoop, and eliminate the anti-Japanese armed forces of the underground party there. After the troops of the two divisions merge, they will immediately launch a comprehensive counterattack against the enemy, and the Battle of Hancheng can turn defeat into victory."
