At this time, with the collapse of the mountain in the Yixiantian Canyon Passage, the elite troops of the Japanese 36th Division, who were the first to advance into Huangya Cave, were in a rather embarrassing situation.
The cunning Eighth Route Army used hidden blasting methods to attack and blew up the mountains on both sides of the canyon, causing the entire passage to be completely blocked.
The entire central area of the canyon passage was filled with falling gravel and soil.
If you want to enter the Huangya Cave with its unique terrain, this canyon passage is almost the only and most convenient way.
In addition, the Japanese army could also try to cross the mountains and climb over the peaks on both sides of the sky.
It's just that if you want to cross mountains and ridges, let alone the main force with a large force, it is extremely difficult.
Even if people can cross the mountains and ridges, it is difficult to transport the various tanks carried by the baggage troops, including the artillery carried by the artillery troops, through the rugged and difficult mountains.
But it was just light infantry. Without the advantage of artillery fire, even if they climbed over the mountains and entered the interior of Huangya Cave, they would not be able to defeat the well-equipped and well-prepared Eighth Route Army.
At this time, the leader of the Japanese Brigade at the external temporary headquarters in the front line was also quite anxious.
In the end, he could only hope that nearly half of the elite imperial troops who entered Huangyadong could rely on the terrain to hold back the Eighth Route Army inside Huangyadong.
It would be great if we could directly defeat the Eighth Route Army troops inside Huangyadong and destroy the Eighth Route Army's arsenal.
If that's not possible, you can at least hold on tight and wait for reinforcements from the main force.
The most urgent task now is to reopen the canyon channel in front of us.
The Japs were relatively well prepared for their surprise attack on the Huangyadong Arsenal. The baggage troops accompanying the elite troops of the 36th Division also included some special combat vehicles for clearing roadblocks.
Such as some light forklifts.
So the leader of the Japanese Brigade made two preparations.
On the one hand, they immediately contacted the headquarters that entered Huangyadong and ordered their troops to hold tight inside Huangyadong, hold back the Eighth Route Army troops, and try to launch a sudden advance towards the Eighth Route Army Arsenal.
At the same time, light-armed infantry were sent up the mountain in an attempt to seize the ridges of the peaks on both sides of the sky to provide warning for opening up the canyon passage.
Completely eliminate the Eighth Route Army that may be lurking in the mountains on both sides.
It's a pity that Commander Cheng and Commander Feng, who had been defending the outside of Huangyadong for a long time, how could they sit back and watch the Japanese attack?
At the entrance of the Yixiantian Canyon passage, a sudden bombardment came to an end. Commander Cheng and Commander Feng led the main elites to detour from both wings and launch an attack on the Japanese army that had not yet had time to establish a firm foothold.
There were no bunkers at the entrance area of the canyon passage, and the Eighth Route Army's artillery fire was fierce. The Japanese captain who led the team did not dare to hesitate, and quickly led the troops to fight and retreat under the attack of Commander Cheng and his party, and headed towards the group in the distance. The mountains come closer.
The canyon passage area was quickly occupied by Captain Cheng and his party.
Then, Captain Cheng also sent out troops. The soldiers followed the path up the mountain with familiarity to the ridges of the mountains on both sides of the sky, seized the high ground, and built fortifications, condescendingly facing Huang who was trying to reach the ridges. The Japanese troops outside Yadong launched an attack.
In order to effectively avoid the Japanese's direct artillery fire and fierce offensive.
Commander Cheng ordered the construction of anti-slope defenses on the spot and relied on the mountains to block the attack.
Thanks to the steepness and peculiarity of the mountains on both sides of the line, the current canyon passage of the line is completely blocked, and the Japanese army cannot take down the mountain ridge fortifications for a while.
Inside Huangya Cave, middle line defense zone.
As Captain Cheng speculated, Commander Xu, who was in charge of the 771st Regiment stationed in the central defense zone, had already led his troops to attack the first batch of main Japanese troops approaching the central defense zone.
It's still the old rule, first a burst of artillery fire.
The little devil was caught off guard.
The first batch of more than 2,000 elite soldiers entered Huangya Cave.
, casualties spread rapidly under the fierce bombardment.
The entire interior of Huangya Cave relies on three lines of defense and perfectly combines the characteristics of the terrain. The range of artillery fire can cover almost all defense areas.
In the somewhat boastful words of Commander Wu of the Headquarters Artillery Regiment:
Even if a sparrow comes into this Huangya Cave, we can shoot it down with cannonballs.
At this moment, the little devil had a profound understanding of this.
Faced with the artillery offensive of the Eighth Route Army, which was almost unknown where it was hidden, and under the sudden artillery fire, the Japanese army quickly dispersed the troops in order to prevent the troops from being killed by concentrated firepower.
However, no matter how their dispersed troops moved and avoided, the shells that hit them in mid-air seemed to have eyes and hit them wherever they went.
Whenever a confrontation breaks out between the two sides and the location of the Japanese army is exposed, the Eighth Route Army seems to be able to attract precise artillery fire immediately.
Being suppressed and beaten the whole time, the two Japanese captains were so shocked that they called ghosts.
It was like there were several bombers hanging above my head.
They also realized that this time they had definitely been fooled by the Eighth Route Army and fell into a trap. The inside of Huangya Cave was basically a trap created by the Eighth Route Army in advance.
How could these damn Tubal Roads be so unprepared and caught off guard?
Captain Xu, who led the battle in the middle line, and Captain Jiang of the 17th Regiment had a great fight.
I have never fought such an exciting battle in my life. It was completely one-sided firepower, and it also gave the little devil a good taste of the frustration of being crushed by artillery fire.
The two regimental commanders sighed in their hearts at the same time: The comrades of the artillery regiment are really powerful. They have built hidden artillery offensives in advance, as if they have already planned where the Japs will hide.
Once the artillery scouts reported the coordinates of the Japs, artillery shells would hit them accurately soon.
This confrontation lasted no more than ten minutes.
The first batch of more than 2,000 elite troops of the 36th Division of the Japanese Army that entered Huangyadong were forced to break into pieces under the bombardment of artillery fire. They used the cover of the mountains to avoid the artillery fire.
After successfully dividing the Japs who were originally gathered together.
Captain Cheng and Captain Jiang did not hesitate and immediately commanded the soldiers to carry out roundabout and annihilation tactics with ease.
Divide it into strands and eat all these little devils.
The drastic change in the situation made the two Japanese captains who led the team aware of the crisis of the situation. They quickly sent a communication requesting tactical guidance to the headquarters.
The leader of the Japanese Brigade outside Huangya Cave was also startled.
Before the edge of the Eighth Route Army's occupation was laid down on our side, an urgent request for help from the vanguard troops inside was conveyed.
Who knows what the vanguard troops encountered inside Huangya Cave.
Unfortunately, the little Japs outside Huangya Cave were also in a hurry, but could not help the vanguard troops inside Huangya Cave at all.
The only effective means for the Japanese army was probably aerial firepower reinforcement.
Taking advantage of the fact that Licheng temporary airport is close to Huangyadong.
The Japanese flying troops arrived very quickly. After the Japanese planes arrived, with the help of bombers and fighter jets to reinforce the battlefield, the Japanese vanguard troops inside Huangyadong managed to regain a victory and temporarily gain a foothold.
The Japanese bombers arrived and bombed some of the exposed Eighth Route Army artillery fortifications.
The hidden air defense forces of the Eighth Route Army also took action at the same time to compete with the Japanese aviation forces.
The fighting between the two sides intensified.
At this time, the sky was completely isolated, and the only threat the Japanese could pose to the interior of Huangyadong were these fighter jets and bombers.
But it has to be said that the devil's only method is indeed effective.
Faced with the Japanese's superiority in air firepower, the deputy chief of staff at the headquarters had to issue an order for the artillery groups to be concealed in a timely manner to avoid losses.
The air defense forces launched a counterattack.
If you can shoot down a plane, it counts as one.
Shi Dahu, who stayed inside Huangya Cave to help, was not idle and quickly led the soldiers to start disguises in various places.
Take the initiative to expose some fake factories, fake military bases, and fake artillery fortifications to lure Japanese planes for bombing.
With the help of aerial firepower reinforcements, the Japs' vanguard troops entering Huangyadong temporarily entered into a confrontation with the Eighth Route Army.
…
The outside of Huangya Cave.
The Japanese army and the Eighth Route Army opened a new situation of confrontation.
Before the start of this battle, the Japanese army made a plan. While attacking and raiding the Huangyadong Arsenal, they would use the Huangyadong Arsenal as a bait to lure reinforcements from the Eighth Route Army, and then conduct an ambush midway.
At present, this situation seems to be proceeding according to the Japanese army's plan.
However, the confrontation between the two sides that followed did not go as smoothly as the Japanese army had expected.
The reinforcements from the Eighth Route Army were indeed rushing towards Huangyadong, but these Eighth Route Army troops were quite cunning and did not fall into the trap foolishly.
On the contrary, they were aware of the Japanese conspiracy in advance.
The ambush battle that the Japanese army had carefully prepared turned into a positional battle between the two sides relying on the terrain.
Soon, the Eighth Route Army, which did not follow routines, turned positional warfare into mobile warfare.
The main force attacked from all sides and acted completely out of order.
Local military units and even militia units came to assist in the attack and also showed considerable combat effectiveness.
From an overall level, although the Japanese army has certain equipment advantages, as an elite mixed brigade, its military quality is also not low.
However, the Eighth Route Army troops did not confront the Japanese army head-on and fought head-on.
The Japanese army was also helpless for a while.
Around the direction of the Eighth Route Army's 385th Brigade base area, some troops, mainly the Japanese Third Mixed Brigade, continued to attack the 385th Brigade base area.
As they went deeper, the Japanese officers of the Third Mixed Brigade realized in shock that the raid in front of them seemed not as simple as they imagined.
As they advanced toward the hinterland of the 385th Brigade base area, the combat effectiveness of the Eighth Route Army troops they encountered seemed to be getting stronger and stronger, and their equipment became more and more sophisticated, and they even gradually felt strenuous and shocked.
All parties are fighting.
In the multi-party battles surrounding the Huangyadong area and the 386 Brigade base area, the Japanese army did not gain a clear upper hand.
The key nodes quickly gathered in the 386th Brigade base area.
Inside the headquarters of the Japanese First Army.
The Japanese commander Yoshio Shinozuka, who was in command and in charge of the overall situation, had a panoramic view of the gradually changing situation on the military map in front of him.
There was shock and horror in his expression.
In the Taihang Mountains, these damn Eighth Route Army had grown so powerful without even realizing it!
"General, as expected, as you speculated, if we want to completely destroy the Huangyadong Arsenal of the Eighth Route Army and destroy the main combat force of the Eighth Route Army in the Taihang base area, it is only the troops mobilized by our First Army this time, and I am afraid it is not enough.
If the general had not had the foresight this time to contact the Mongolian Army Headquarters in advance and enlist the two armies for joint operations, it would have been difficult to defeat these Eighth Route Army troops! "
Chief of Staff Beichuan said in shock.
The strength of the Eighth Route Army once again subverted his cognition.
These were originally just beggar-like teams that were behind enemy lines and looked out of place in the Empire of Japan, with backward equipment and scarce ammunition.
Now it has become a serious problem for the imperial troops.
"In the battle around the Huangyadong area, several mixed brigades of our army and some elites from the 36th Division have attracted a considerable part of the main combat troops in the Taihang base area.
The only change at the moment is the troops stationed in Mongolia who are rapidly moving south.
According to the cavalry group of the Mongolian Army, there is still a chance
With the speed of the automated combat troops, they can reach the northern part of the Taihang Mountains from time to time, near the defense area where the 386th Brigade is located.
A considerable part of the main force of the Eighth Route Army was completely contained in the Huangyadong area.
The Tubal Road of the 385th Brigade has been compressed into the base area by the Third Mixed Brigade.
The winter offensive launched by the Eighth Route Army of the damn 386 Brigade was nearing its peak not long ago, and they had not had time to withdraw their troops.
A considerable number of Eighth Route Army troops are even in the security area that formerly belonged to our First Army not long ago.
This is the perfect opportunity for our army to unite with the troops stationed in Mongolia going south, and at the same time cooperate with the 3rd, 9th, and 16th mixed brigades to go north, attack from both sides, and wipe out the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army in one fell swoop, eradicating the iron triangle in northern Shanxi. "
Kitagawa slowly spoke, this was his and Shinozuka Yoshio's final plan.
Destroy the Huangyadong Arsenal, the largest arsenal of the Eighth Route Army in the Taihang Mountains.
Eradicate the 386th Brigade, the most powerful main brigade of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army.
Destroy the damn Northern Shanxi Iron Triangle, eliminate Kong Jie, kill Li Yunlong, and completely open the door to invade the Taihang base of the Eighth Route Army.
In one fell swoop, a large amount of land occupied by the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army since it launched its winter offensive was recovered.
"As soon as the Mongolian troops arrive, we will unite the three major mixed brigades and attack from both sides!"
…
…
Inside Huangya Cave.
Over the mountains, more than a dozen Japanese planes circled past, and the bombing of the Eighth Route Army's hidden military buildings and artillery batteries in the mountains was temporarily over.
And in a remote place in the mountains, even the Eighth Route Army scouts could not find it.
The speed of the Japanese plane whizzing by seemed to have dropped a lot, and the flying altitude also dropped greatly, almost flying close to the top of the mountain.
Not long after.
Below the dozen or so lonely planes, suddenly there was an abrupt series of small black dots falling towards the mountains.
Because of the destruction of Yamamoto's special agent team, the Japanese who harbored hatred for the Eighth Route Army and even hated Kong Jie with gnashing of teeth. The retired veteran members of Yamamoto's special agent team and the demobilized Japanese Lieutenant Colonel Shimada Shozo finally brought his Chinese-destroying airborne troops. Come on stage.
Seizing the opportunity, we launched an airborne operation in the Huangyadong area.
Little black dots gradually sprinkled down. After all the parachutes were opened, more than a hundred parachutes fluttered down towards the mountains. The scene was quite spectacular...
