The Eighth Route Army officers and soldiers on the road heard the gunfire from the top of the mountain and immediately mounted their horses and returned along the road.
The Japanese troops who outflanked them had not yet reached a position where they could intercept the Eighth Route Army soldiers. Seeing that the Eighth Route Army soldiers had begun to retreat, they could only shoot at the soldiers from a distance. Due to the relatively long distance, the cavalry of the Eighth Route Army were moving at high speed. Except for one Eighth Route Army soldier who was slightly injured, the others were safely out of the enemy's range.
At this time, Zhao Gang had received a telegram from the soldiers who went to conduct reconnaissance, and he immediately reported the situation to Xu Dalong, Li Yunlong and others.
This time Xu Dalong is also a little confused. He has sent surveillance teams in the six valleys where the Japanese army is most likely to enter the mountain. As a result, he has not received any reports from them. It seems that the Japanese army has entered the mountainous area by detouring to other places and has reached No. 6 Mountain. That area controls traffic lines.
Li Yunlong scolded: "These little devils are really cunning. We defended from the left to the right and still couldn't stop them. But it doesn't matter. Anyway, our original target was these little devils. Now that they have come to our door." , then eat them.”
In order to find out the size of the Japanese troops entering the mountainous area, Xu Dalong ordered Monk Wei to send people to conduct reconnaissance from the ground, and at the same time sent a telegram to the flying brigade, asking them to send reconnaissance planes to conduct reconnaissance in the No. 6 Mountain area.
Zhang Dabiao began to mobilize his troops according to the original combat plan to encircle the Japanese troops entering the mountains.
The Japanese army that appeared in the area of Hill 6 was the 220th Regiment led by Hirota Koki. They took a long detour, traveled long distances from places unexpected by Xu Dalong and others, climbed over mountains and ridges, and quietly occupied the top of Mountain No. 6. They happened to encounter a transport team of the Eighth Route Army and launched an attack on them, which was equivalent to a formal start. The first shot of the Battle of Licheng.
After destroying the Eighth Route Army's transport team, Hirota Koki immediately sent a telegram to Shinozuka Yoshio, saying that they had been exposed and requesting the commander to immediately lead the army to attack the Eighth Route Army.
Yoshio Shinozuka was very happy when he heard that the Eighth Route Army's transportation lines had been cut off. At least the battle started well and achieved the effect he expected. As a result, an attack order was immediately sent to the Japanese troops on the front line. The Japanese 109th Division and the 113th Division attacked towards Licheng at the same time.
Two hours later, the Japanese vanguard was blocked by Eighth Route Army officers and soldiers.
According to the pre-established combat plan, Chu Yunfei led the troops of the 358th Brigade to block the Japanese 113th Division. Wang Limin and Huang Jingzhong led the independent brigade to block the Japanese 109th Regiment. Li Yunlong and Zhang Dabiao led the main force of the New First Brigade to besiege the Japanese troops entrenched in the No. 6 Mountain area.
Xu Dalong led a regiment of the New 1st Brigade, Sun Desheng's cavalry brigade, Cui Zhenyue's chariot brigade and Wang Chengzhu's artillery brigade as the campaign reserve team.
When Hirota Koki led the 220th Regiment to the No. 6 Mountain area, the Regiment's attached Hirata Hiroshi led an infantry squadron, broke away from the main force, and headed towards Yangcheng County. They planned to first hide in the mountainous area near Yangcheng County until the Eighth Route Army's attention was distracted when the battle in Licheng was at its most intense, and then continue to advance toward the location of the military division headquarters at night, looking for fighter planes to destroy the Eighth Route Army's airport.
Li Yunlong and Zhang Dabiao led the troops of the four regiments of the New First Brigade to the No. 6 Mountain area. When they were approaching the enemy, Xu Dalong sent a telegram saying that the reconnaissance plane sent by the Air Force reported that the military base with No. 6 Mountain as the core was Japanese troops were found on the top of the five mountains. The number of troops ranged from four to five thousand and they were building fortifications.
At this moment, Monk Wei also rushed over. He reported to Li Yunlong that a large number of Japanese troops had gathered on the mountains in the No. 6 Mountain area, and sporadic Japanese troops were also found in the surrounding mountains and valleys. The special operations team members had exchanged fire with the Japanese army and were attacked by the lurking Japanese army, and they began to suffer casualties.
Combining the reports from the Air Force and Monk Wei, both Li Yunlong and Zhang Dabiao felt that the next battle might not be easy to fight. If the Japanese troops are concentrated on the mountains on both sides of the road, bombers can be used to bomb them to annihilate a large number of enemy troops. Now that the Japanese troops are so dispersed, the bombing effect may not be ideal. The area controlled by the Japanese army was very large. They occupied favorable terrain and were condescending. If they wanted to annihilate the Japanese army, they would have to fight for every hilltop and ridge. This will be an arduous battle. Every time a Japanese position is captured, a heavy price will be paid and a lot of time will be consumed.
The Japanese army's intention is very obvious, that is, they want to use space in exchange for time. Li Yunlong and Zhang Dabiao also had to admit that the little Japanese commander they faced this time was very smart and should not be underestimated.
After discussion, Li Yunlong and Zhang Dabiao decided to first surround the Japanese army according to the original plan. They dispersed the four regiments of the New First Brigade in four directions to encircle the Japanese army.
The Second Regiment of the New First Brigade was responsible for encircling the enemy from the south, and was attacked by the enemy far away from No. 6 Mountain. Enemy numbers are small, with only about one squad of enemy troops at each encounter. These Japanese soldiers were scattered everywhere, taking advantage of the favorable terrain on the mountains to launch sneak attacks on the Eighth Route Army officers and soldiers. The Japanese soldiers were obviously already familiar with the terrain on the mountain. They shot from one place to another. The mortars brought by the Eighth Route Army could hardly pose a threat to them.
The second regiment organized troops to launch a siege against the Japanese army. Although they were outnumbered, the Japanese army occupied a favorable terrain and was condescending. The Eighth Route Army was very passive in attacking from below. The second regiment dispatched a company of troops and spent two full hours to kill a squad of Japanese troops. As a result, it actually suffered more than 30 casualties.
The troops of the second regiment continued to advance and encountered multiple Japanese attacks along the way. Although these Japanese troops were eventually eliminated each time, the casualties were several times that of the Japanese troops, and the actions were very slow.
The situation encountered by other regiments was similar. Every step they took took a lot of time, and the casualties of the troops were also large.
Only then did Li Yunlong and Zhang Dabiao discover that there were certain problems with the originally formulated combat plan. Nowadays, the Japanese army is spread over such a wide area. If you want to surround them, you have to pay a high price and consume a lot of time. Now the main force of the Japanese army is launching an attack in the direction of Licheng, and the pressure on the troops is very high. If the Japanese troops here cannot be eliminated as soon as possible, once the troops responsible for blocking cannot withstand the Japanese offensive, the entire war situation will collapse.
Faced with this situation, both Li Yunlong and Zhang Dabiao felt a little headache. After discussion, the two decided to report the situation to Xu Dalong and seek his opinion.
Hearing this situation, Xu Dalong also felt a little headache at first, and couldn't think of any better way for a while. He asked Li Yunlong and Zhang Dabiao to find a way on their own. They must first surround the Japanese troops no matter what, and then gradually compress them into a smaller range. Only in that way can the bombers be able to play their role.
Li Yunlong and Zhang Dabiao called Monk Wei and asked for his opinion.
Monk Wei suggested that the troops of the four regiments should be dispersed to expand the scope of encirclement. First, they should encircle the Japanese army as a whole, and then gradually attack the core and gradually compress the Japanese army's defensive circle.
He believed that the Japanese army had the advantage of occupying favorable terrain, but it also had a major shortcoming, that is, they had very few people at each location. The Eighth Route Army had an absolute advantage in both strength and firepower. If the attack during the day is not effective, then use night to encircle and suppress the Japanese troops on the mountain.
At night, both the enemy and ourselves can hide their figures, and the so-called advantage of the Japanese army cannot be exerted. The Eighth Route Army's numerical advantage can be fully exerted.
In order to explore ways to deal with the enemy, tonight Monk Wei's special operations brigade will first take action to explore an effective method, and then spread it to all units of the Eighth Route Army.
Li Yunlong adopted Monk Wei's advice, and all units retreated first, taking advantage of the number of people to encircle the Japanese army from a distance. In this way, the fighting with the Japanese army was indeed reduced, the speed of movement was accelerated a lot, and finally the Japanese troops entering the mountainous area were surrounded before dark.
That night, Monk Wei sent a special operations team to search and advance on a mountain in front. The special operations team members formed a group of three people and used the terrain and features to continuously approach the top of the mountain. Soon after, they were attacked by the enemy. Since it was at night and the visibility was relatively low, the Japanese guns were not accurate and no special forces members were injured.
The special forces members were well-trained. One special operations member hid behind a cover and fired to attract the attention of the Japanese army. Two special operations members were responsible for attacking the Japanese soldiers who fought back. This move was very effective. The Japanese soldiers were killed one by one. wipe out. After an hour of fighting, a squad of Japanese troops in this area were finally eliminated. Only one special operations team member was sacrificed. The effect was significant.
According to the order given by Monk Wei in advance, the team leader who commanded this operation went down the mountain to report to Li Yunlong, Zhang Dabiao and Monk Wei after wiping out the Japanese troops in front.
Li Yunlong believed that this experience was worth learning from, so he asked Zhang Dabiao to call each unit, and the captain of the special operations team introduced their combat experience in detail to the commanders of each unit.
The commanders of the troops all adopted this method and spread out in company units to search and advance. After being attacked by the enemy, some people attracted enemy firepower, while others used the darkness to continue moving forward and get as close as possible to the Japanese army. When the Japanese troops launched a counterattack, the surrounding Eighth Route Army officers and soldiers fired at the Japanese troops who fought back and threw grenades there.
The Japanese soldiers were unable to resist the bullets fired from around them, and many of them were killed. Some Japanese soldiers are very clever, and their tactics are more flexible. They can shoot and change places. Unfortunately, the Eighth Route Army had a large number of people. After the Japanese soldiers fired, the surrounding Eighth Route officers and soldiers immediately threw a large number of grenades in that direction. The Japanese soldiers had nowhere to hide, and they died in the explosion of the grenades.
The commanders of each regiment are also constantly summarizing. They have compiled successful experiences and made reports.
Li Yunlong promoted the most effective experience to various groups, and finally formed a very effective style of play.
The officers and soldiers of the Eighth Route Army took advantage of their numerical advantage. They distanced themselves in the shape of a skirmish line and searched forward. Even if it is attacked by the Japanese army, the casualties will be very small. When the location of the Japanese attack was discovered, they left a small number of people to shoot and continue to attract the attention of the Japanese army. The rest quickly approached the location where the Japanese army was discovered. As soon as the Japanese army starts to counterattack, they will immediately throw a large number of grenades there and eliminate the Japanese troops who launched the attack one by one.
In this way, small groups of Japanese troops were continuously eliminated, and the Eighth Route Army's casualties were much reduced compared to the daytime. The Japanese troops were constantly being eliminated, the Eighth Route Army units continued to advance, and the encirclement circle continued to shrink.
Li Yunlong and Zhang Dabiao were very happy to see that they had found a way to deal with the Japanese army, and reported the situation to Xu Dalong and Zhao Gang.
On this night, various units of the Eighth Route Army fought continuously, advancing an average of 2 to 3 kilometers, and basically encircled the Japanese army.
After dawn the next day, Li Yunlong and Zhang Dabiao commanded the troops to continue attacking the Japanese army. The combat effectiveness during the day was relatively poor, and the Eighth Route Army's casualties continued to increase.
After discussion, Li Yunlong and Zhang Dabiao decided to stop the attack during the day or to use night fighting to gradually advance.
Hirota Koki's command post is located under a huge rock on Mountain No. 6. The rock forms a natural bunker, which can ensure safety even if it is bombed by the enemy's air force.
Japanese commanders stationed everywhere constantly reported the situations they faced to Hirota Koki. Seeing the slow progress of the Eighth Route Army's offensive, he felt that it had achieved the desired effect, so he reported the situation here to the First Army Headquarters, expressing their confidence that they would hold on here for ten days.
After receiving the report, Yoshio Shinozuka ordered the Japanese troops on the front line to increase their attack intensity and strive to break through the enemy's defensive positions as soon as possible.
Chu Yunfei's frontline command post is very close to the forward position, which is also his consistent style of fighting. The officers and soldiers of the 358th Brigade were best at positional warfare. The officers and soldiers hid in the trenches and repelled enemy attacks time and time again, causing heavy casualties to the Japanese army. Chu Yunfei was very satisfied with the performance of his troops.
That afternoon, the Japanese army once again launched an attack on the 358th Brigade's position.
At the beginning, the Japanese army deployed an average of about one infantry brigade on the front of the 358th Brigade defensive position.
While the fighting was fierce, a large number of Japanese troops suddenly appeared in the position of the first regiment of the 358th Brigade. The strength reached an infantry regiment, and a large number of tanks and armored vehicles also appeared. Under the cover of fierce artillery fire, they launched a fierce attack on the troops of the Jinsui Army.
The frontal defense of the Japanese army was the position of the third battalion of the first regiment. The battalion commander did not expect that the Japanese army would concentrate its forces to break through in his direction. While ordering the troops to resist desperately, he reported to the regiment commander.
The leader of the first regiment is Qian Bojun. He is also on the forward position at this time and does not need the report from the commander of the third battalion. He has already seen the critical situation on the battlefield.
While he organized troops to go for reinforcements, he reported the sudden situation to Chu Yunfei.
Chu Yunfei had a battalion of reserves in his hands. Seeing the critical situation, he immediately ordered the reserves to go for reinforcements. At the same time, Xu Dalong was informed of the situation here.
After Xu Dalong received Chu Yunfei's call, he immediately ordered Cui Zhenyue's chariot brigade to reinforce Chu Yunfei's troops.
The Japanese offensive was very fierce this time. The officers and soldiers of the 358th Brigade lacked experience in dealing with Japanese tank troops. Soon after, the position was breached by the Japanese army. A large number of Japanese troops subsequently entered the defensive positions of the 358th Brigade and advanced in depth.
The officers and soldiers of the 358th Brigade were also very tenacious. They hid in the trenches and continued to fight the Japanese army. Despite heavy casualties, they still fought to the death. Qian Bojun commanded his troops to entangle with the Japanese army, and reinforcements sent by Chu Yunfei also arrived.
They had some rocket launchers and 82mm recoilless rifles in their hands. When they arrived on the battlefield, these two weapons immediately played a great role.
The Japanese tanks and armored vehicles were unable to withstand the attacks of rocket launchers and 82mm recoilless rifles. Soon they were turned into balls of fire and turned into scrap metal.
Seeing that this was not an option, the Japanese armored forces concentrated their forces on the reserve team sent by Chu Yunfei. At the same time, a large number of Japanese officers and soldiers also rushed towards the reserve team.
The officers and soldiers of the Japanese army also focused on the bazooka operators and 82mm recoilless rifle gunners of the Jinsui Army. They concentrated machine gun and rifle fire to suppress the bazooka operators and gunners, making it difficult for them to calmly aim and shoot at the Japanese army.
Japanese tanks and armored vehicles rushed up quickly, firing with machine guns and artillery. The rocket launchers and 82mm recoilless rifles of the Jinsui Army were also constantly destroyed by the Japanese army.
The Japanese army quickly broke into the reserve's defensive position, and the two sides engaged in fierce hand-to-hand combat.
The Japanese army had long known that the Eighth Route Army had rocket launchers and recoilless rifles. Their mission this time was to try to capture some of them and bring them back to the Japanese military industry department for research and imitation. Therefore, after the Japanese officers and soldiers rushed into the position, they went to look for those rocket launchers and recoilless rifles.
The battalion commander of the Jinsui Army, who served as the reserve team, had long received a death order from Chu Yunfei, and he could not let these two weapons fall into the hands of the Japanese army under any circumstances. He saw a group of Japanese troops rushing toward an 82mm recoilless rifle, and the surrounding officers and soldiers of the Shanxi-Sui Army were already dead and wounded, so he personally led the battalion's guard platoon to rush forward.
The Japanese army also gave a death order to grab the 82mm recoilless rifle in front. While they used firepower to suppress the Jinsui officers and soldiers who came for reinforcements, they organized their troops to rush towards the 82mm recoilless rifle regardless of casualties.
The battalion commander and his Jinsui officers and soldiers were beaten so hard by the Japanese firepower that they could not lift their heads. However, when they saw the enemy approaching the 82mm recoilless rifle, they all became anxious and fought desperately. Launched a charge against the Japanese army.
They fell one after another under the enemy's fire. Even the battalion commander was hit by two bullets. Although there was no vital damage, it still caused him to faint from the pain.
