Ma Zhenyu and others were very generous this time. They not only provided a large amount of food and other living materials for the coalition forces, but also prepared 15 oil tankers to ensure the fuel supply to the coalition forces.
The coalition troops stayed in Datong for two days, organized the troops, and then continued their march northward.
Except for the cavalry, the coalition forces were all mechanized troops. They marched very fast and reached the border of Shanxi and Suiyuan the next day.
The special operations brigade opened the way ahead, captured a border town in Suiyuan, eliminated a cavalry company of the puppet army, and captured more than 120 war horses. The coalition troops had a meal in Tianjin and then continued north.
It was impossible for such a large-scale operation of the coalition forces to be concealed, and the enemy was quickly reported.
The news was reported to the First Army Headquarters, and Yoshio Shinozuka was shocked when he got the news. When he heard that this unit was not going to Taiyuan, but to Suiyuan, he breathed a sigh of relief.
In previous battles, the Japanese Chahar Dispatch Army rejected Yoshio Shinozuka's request several times and refused to send troops into Shanxi to fight. Yoshio Shinozuka had strong objections to them.
However, he was a person with an overall view, and still sent a telegram to the Chahar dispatched troops to remind them to be prepared for the attack of the coalition forces.
The Chahar Dispatch Army has sent cavalry units into Shanxi to fight many times before. Each time, they suffered heavy losses and were very afraid of Xu Dalong's troops. When they heard that Xu Dalong was leading the coalition troops to Suiyuan, they immediately became nervous and hurriedly held an emergency meeting to discuss countermeasures.
Baotou, Chahar Expedition Army Headquarters.
The Chahar Expeditionary Force was very powerful when it was first formed, with three cavalry brigades and two independent mixed infantry brigades. As time went by, the Japanese army was short of troops, and the two independent mixed infantry brigades of the dispatched army had been transferred. The original three cavalry brigades were constantly consumed and could no longer be restored to their original formation. Later, they simply One cavalry brigade was eliminated. The current Chahar Expeditionary Army actually only has two cavalry brigades and part of the garrison troops, which are stationed in several large and medium-sized cities in Suiyuan. The rule of Suiyuan mainly relied on a large number of pseudo-Mongolian armies. These pseudo-Mongolian armies were composed of tribes of different sizes in Mongolia. The strongest among them was King De.
King De is Prince Demuchukdonglupu, whose courtesy name is Xixian. The prince of NMG advocates NMG independence.
After the July 7th Incident in 1937, the Chahar dispatched troops quickly took control of the Pingsui Railway between North China and NMG, and occupied Baotou on October 17. King De, Li Shouxin and others defected to the islanders and served as puppet leaders. After the establishment of the Mongolian Union Autonomous Zhengfu, King De served as Deputy Zhu Xi, and in 1938 he became Zhu Xi. Later, the "Chanan Autonomous Zhengfu" and the "Northern Shanxi Autonomous Zhengfu" were merged to form the "Mongolian-Xinjiang United Autonomous Zhengfu", which led There are five leagues including Bayantala (today's CF City), Chahar, XLGL, WLCB, Yikezhao (today's EEDS) and two Zhengting Halls in Northern Shanxi (Datong), Chanan (Zhangjiakou). The capital of the United Zheng Mansion is located at HHHT, which is nominally under the jurisdiction of Wang Jingwei Zheng Mansion in Nanjing.
King De had more than 30,000 cavalry under his command. He was very arrogant and oppressed other Mongolian tribes for a long time, and even acted against the islanders.
Fan Zhaoshouming, the commander of the Chahar Expeditionary Army, was also very dissatisfied with him and had long wanted to get rid of him. However, due to King De's influence among the Mongols and the fact that his troops were currently stretched thin, We had to use the Han kings like King De to maintain their rule in Chahar.
Fan Zhao is a very scheming person. He is well aware of the power of Xu Dalong's troops, and hopes to let King De's troops fight to the death with Xu Dalong first, consuming Xu Dalong's strength, and then he can reap the benefits.
So he praised King De in front of the leaders of various tribes.
He said: "Dear Your Majesty King De, the warriors of the Mongolian people have always been brave and good at fighting, especially the soldiers of Your Excellency King De, who are even more brave and invincible. Now the Eighth Route Army has come to invade Suiyuan. They are causing communism and are here to steal your cattle." Sheep, property, and your lives will also be destroyed.
You are all brave and fearless Mongolian warriors, and you will never tolerate the Eighth Route Army of the underground party bullying you. I believe that you will be as glorious as your ancestors, fight bravely, destroy the invading enemies, and restore the glory of your ancestors. Next, I would like to invite His Excellency King De to speak. "
After saying this, he took the lead in applauding, and the tribal leaders also applauded sparsely.
King De had always been arrogant, and after being praised by Fan Zhao, he stood up triumphantly and said carelessly: "Those Tuba Road in Shanxi are making trouble in the borders of Shanxi. I can't control it, but if they dare to come to our Suiyuan to die, I was the first to say no.
Now that they are here, I will let them taste the power of our Mongolian sabers. I will kill them so that they will not even dare to invade our Chahar again even in their dreams. "
Fan Zhao despised King De's boastful performance, but he still had a smile on his face and took the lead in applauding him.
The meeting then made a decision that King De would lead his cavalry and the cavalry of the four tribes, with a total force of more than 50,000 people, to fight Xu Dalong's coalition forces first.
On this day, the coalition troops were marching. A squadron of the special operations brigade of the vanguard found enemy cavalry in front, and then enemy cavalry was also found on the left front and right wing. There are so many of them, thousands of them can be seen. Probably seeing that there were few people in the special operations squadron, he held his saber high and rushed over with a roar.
Of course, the officers and soldiers of the special operations squadron would not fight with them with sabers, and they were not equipped with sabers at all. They naturally have ways to deal with the enemy's cavalry.
Seeing the cavalry rushing up, the special operations team members quickly dismounted, lined up ten light machine guns one after another, and fired fiercely at the enemy's cavalry. The rest of the special forces members also picked up sniper rifles and attacked the cavalry on horseback.
Although the enemy's cavalry was numerous and menacing, facing the firepower network composed of more than a dozen machine guns, they were shot and fell one after another. No one or one horse could rush within 100 meters. After the enemy's cavalry suffered a blow, they suffered heavy losses and had to retreat.
After a while, the special operations team members discovered that a large number of enemy cavalry had arrived. More than 10,000 people could be seen. There were also cavalry troops coming in a steady stream from a distance.
They hurriedly reported to Xu Dalong using the wireless telegraph phone.
After Xu Dalong received the report, he commanded the troops to rush over.
The invading enemy cavalry was the cavalry unit led by King De and four other tribes, with a total number of more than 50,000. At this moment, they were arrayed on the grassland. Looking from a distance, they saw a sea of people and a magnificent momentum.
However, in the eyes of the Eighth Route Army officers and soldiers, there was no pressure at all, and mocking smiles appeared on all their faces.
In order to confuse the enemy, Xu Dalong ordered the cavalry of the coalition forces to form a formation in front. The cavalry troops made some arrangements behind them, waiting for the enemy to launch an attack.
King De looked at the mighty cavalry troops behind him and was very satisfied. He drew his saber, swung it forward, and shouted loudly: "Mongolian warriors, you are all brave warriors. For the glory of your ancestors, go and kill all those hateful Tubalu. Charge!"
The Mongolian cavalry saw that the number of enemy cavalry was far less than their own, and they were already eager to try.
After hearing King De's order to charge, they urged their horses, raised their sabers high, and rushed over with a roar.
The cavalry of the Eighth Route Army were very timid. When they saw the Mongolian cavalry rushing over, they did not dare to fight and fled quickly to both sides.
Seeing this situation, the Mongolian cavalry became more and more excited, shouted at the top of their lungs, and ran forward wildly.
However, when all the cavalry of the Eighth Route Army withdrew, what the Mongolian cavalry saw made their hair stand on end. What they saw were the Eighth Route Army infantry in formation. In front of these infantry, there were rows of light and heavy machine guns, at least hundreds, and a large number of artillery, no less than a hundred.
The cavalry in front suddenly panicked and hurriedly tried to rein in their horses. However, the cavalry behind did not know the situation in front and continued to swarm forward. The formation suddenly became chaotic.
The person in charge at the front was Sun Desheng. He maintained the original tradition and always treasured his saber.
He waved his saber and shouted: "Fire." The machine guns and artillery roared immediately.
Hundreds of light and heavy machine guns fired bullets like strong winds, mowing down rows of enemy cavalry. Artillery shells of different calibers exploded among the enemy groups, causing the cavalrymen to fly bloody.
The fierce fire attack lasted only for a minute and already caused thousands of cavalry casualties. Under such horrific firepower, the courage of the enemy cavalry disappeared in an instant, replaced by panic, and then they fled desperately.
At this time, the officers and soldiers of the Eighth Route Army quickly put away their machine guns and artillery and moved out of the way.
Cui Zhenyue's chariot troops took the lead, followed by hundreds of trucks, chasing the enemy's cavalry.
This is an endless flat prairie, and all kinds of vehicles can drive on it without any hindrance. The officers and soldiers of the Eighth Route Army used machine guns and rifles on the trucks to attack the fleeing enemy cavalry, constantly knocking them off their horses.
The tank brigade was even more powerful. They lined up one after another, and the machine gun firepower of the tanks and armored vehicles was like a sickle, knocking down the enemy's cavalry to the ground one by one.
After the cavalry of the Eighth Route Army dispersed to both sides, they immediately surrounded the enemy from the left and right wings.
Although the enemy cavalry fled in all directions, some of them were still cut off their retreat. The cavalrymen were already frightened out of their wits. Many of them jumped off their horses and knelt down to surrender.
The entire battle lasted for only ten minutes. The officers and soldiers of the Eighth Route Army wiped out more than 20,000 enemies.
King De's troops suffered the greatest losses in this battle, with more than 13,000 men. He no longer had the arrogance and the courage to continue fighting with the Eighth Route Army.
He did not ask Fan Zhao for instructions and fled back to his home lair with the remaining defeated generals. Other ministries participating in the war were also beaten to a pulp, and each fled back to their home base with their troops.
Fan Zhao originally counted on King De and the cavalry to inflict heavy damage on Xu Dalong's troops, at least to the point of losing both sides. Who would have thought that these idiots would be defeated as soon as they faced each other.
He could no longer count on King De, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and take the main force of Chahar's dispatched army to prepare for a decisive battle with Xu Dalong's troops.
Fan Zhao knew that his troops and firepower were not superior, so he reduced his main force to Baotou, and ordered the Mongolian cavalry to move closer to Baotou, preparing to rely on Baotou to fight Xu Dalong's troops in a decisive battle.
Xu Dalong would naturally not fight according to Fan Zhao's ideas. He ordered the Guojun troops in Zhongtiao Mountain and the guerrilla column in Daqingshan to advance from the front to put pressure on the Japanese army and attract the Japanese army's attention.
He ordered Sun Desheng to lead a rapid mobile detachment and a special operations brigade to attack King De's lair overnight to completely defeat the Mongolian cavalry and eradicate the Japanese accomplices.
King De lost nearly half of his cavalry in the last battle and was severely weakened. He fled back to his lair, intending to recuperate. He knew that as long as he still had troops and territory under his command, he could guarantee his status as King De and continue to dominate the grasslands of Chahar.
After returning, he gave orders to his subordinates. They were not allowed to go out without permission, let alone conflict with the Eighth Route Army. All actions were focused on preserving strength.
He had the same calculation as Fan Zhao, hoping that the Japanese army would fight to the death with Xu Dalong's troops to give him time and opportunities to recuperate and grow stronger again.
That night, King De and his two beautiful concubines spent a lot of energy and were sleeping soundly on the kang when they were suddenly awakened by the sound of gunfire.
He got up in panic and asked what happened. He saw his entourage running in in panic and reported that he had discovered the Eighth Route Army.
King De never dreamed that the Eighth Route Army would pursue him here. At night, he couldn't figure out how many Eighth Route Army troops were coming, so he ordered his followers to prepare their horses and escape first.
His women were also awakened, and when they saw King De was about to leave, they cried and begged him to take them with him and escape. King De couldn't care less about them and left without looking back.
King De led the guards to escape directly to the north. After running only two or three miles, he saw a large number of lights and fires in front of him. He hurriedly turned around and ran westward. Not far away, there were also countless Eighth Route Army troops in front of him. He had escaped from the south, and now he had only the east to go.
However, he ran not far before a large number of lights and fires appeared in front of him again, as well as the rumbling roar of engines and the shouts of the Eighth Route Army officers and soldiers. They have been surrounded.
During this night attack, Xu Dalong issued a death order and would never allow King De to escape. In order to prevent chaos and allow King De to escape, Sun Desheng set up a large encirclement and then continued to shrink it.
All the vehicles had their headlights on, illuminating the front very brightly. It was impossible for the enemy cavalry to take advantage of the chaos and escape.
(End of chapter)
