December 3, 1941, 12:57.
"Your Excellency Major General, the 139th Infantry Regiment and the Cavalry Squadron have arrived in Yuanping. Please wake up."
The pursuit for many days made the old guy Ishii Kaho exhausted.
In order not to miss the mark in the upcoming decisive battle, he had no choice but to prepare contingency plans in advance as much as possible, thus squeezing out some time to recharge his batteries.
Hearing the call from his chief of staff, the old man sitting in the passenger seat of the truck opened his eyes with difficulty.
At this moment, his face was pale and sweating profusely, and he still had a vague feeling of surviving a disaster. At first glance, he knew that he was having a nightmare.
"I just had a dream. In the dream, the train I was riding in was overturned by a bomb prepared by the guerrillas. The damn Eighth Route Army really didn't let anyone sleep for a day."
"Pass my order! Troops at all levels speed up their march and try to minimize the time they are exposed to the basin."
"At the same time, let the 139th Infantry Regiment strengthen its reconnaissance efforts. Expand the original warning range to the limit of the radio. Be sure to beware of enemy dive bombers!"
This dream, similar to the one in which the commander-in-chief arrived at Huanggutun, gave Ishii Kaho an ominous premonition in his heart.
As a senior officer who graduated from mainland China and had rich combat experience, he naturally knew that the Eighth Route Army was planning a decisive battle.
Considering that the opponent's air force always launches the first wave of attacks, how to prevent air attacks has naturally become a top priority.
At present, our own army aviation strength is limited, and it is almost impossible to snatch air superiority from the enemy. It is better to ask for help than to ask for help yourself. The only way to break the situation is to put troops at all levels on high alert and concealment.
"Hi!"
After receiving the instructions from the top commander of the brigade, the signal soldiers immediately conveyed the order to the vanguard troops.
After repeatedly confirming that there was no problem with his deployment, Ishii Kaho first picked up the kettle and took a sip of water, and then continued to think about how to attack.
Seemingly thinking of something, Chief of Staff Kimura Naoki said tentatively:
"Your Excellency, Major General, are you too cautious? We are not insects of the Osaka Division, so why should we drag our feet on the way forward?"
"If outsiders know that our brigade is so timid, they may doubt the loyalty of the warriors to our younger brother's country."
"What's more, the front is Xinkou."
The above conversation sounds extremely abstract, but it is indeed what the vast majority of soldiers in the 108th Brigade think.
Nothing else.
Just because this place, Xinkou, has extremely special significance to the Japanese army.
In that shocking battle four years ago, Itagaki Seishiro led the troops headed by the Fifth Division and defeated the Republic of China defenders who were several times their own size.
After this battle, the North China Front not only occupied most of the towns in Jin Province, but also destroyed the property that Yan Laoxi had accumulated for many years.
As we all know, Benzi has always been superstitious about such mysterious things as luck.
The above-mentioned great victory, coupled with the tactics of deliberately showing weakness by the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, caused all the middle and low-level officers of the 110th Division to always believe in one thing.
Even if the enemy has a powerful air force, as long as we can launch another Battle of Xinkou, we will definitely be able to regain our past glory.
As for the defeat at Zhongtiao Mountain?
It was all a sneak attack launched by the despicable and shameless Eighth Route Army, and it was purely a villain's behavior.
If you have the ability, you can abandon the four-step line-filling division of the Preserved Fruit Guards and try to fight our six divisions on the plain with real swords and guns.
His chief of staff's outrageous speech made Kaho Ishii almost choke to death on the water he just drank. He frowned, as if he was staring at a breeding pig standing at the mouth of the pig pen and drooling. Are you worthy?
The Osaka Division is in ruins, but it is also a serious Class A division.
You are just a chief of staff with no real power. Who gave you the courage to comment arbitrarily.
At this moment, the Japanese Major General even felt like he shot himself in the foot. It seems that too thorough a brainwashing effect is not entirely a good thing.
"As long as we can retake Shanxi, the rumors from the outside world will naturally collapse. Compared with the illusory honor, I care more about how to survive and win."
"By the way, don't forget to give"
Before the old devil finished speaking, there was a sudden strange noise from the horizon due south.
Almost at the same time, the piercing air defense siren also echoed in the sky above the 108th Brigade.
If the scream of the horn of Jericho was the nightmare of the four countries of Britain, France, Ugly, and the Soviet Union in the early and middle periods of World War II, then the unique roar of the Saber engine is the lingering shadow in the book's heart.
"Enemy attack! Bombers!"
"Hidden! Hidden quickly!"
Although he hadn't seen those death-like dive bombers yet, Kaho Ishii opened the car door and ran towards the road without saying a word.
The whole set of movements is so smooth that you can tell at a glance that you are going to get a lot of blows.
As for the ordinary soldiers, they abandoned their baggage and hid nearby, without paying any attention to the heavy equipment and supplies.
After all, if things are gone, they can still be transported from the rear. If that doesn't work, they can even go to the preserved fruit store to grab them, but once the manpower is exhausted, the chance to start over is completely lost.
After hiding in a safe place, Ishii Kaho didn't have time to take a breath, so he picked up a telescope and began to observe the movements of the Eighth Route Army bombers.
"Signal Corps! Use the radio to contact the 139th Regiment to confirm their current status! Then notify the division headquarters in the rear and let Lieutenant General Iinuma Mamoru be ready for battle!"
"Send my order and the air defense squadron will immediately meet the enemy! I will never allow those Republic of China people to continue to shit on our heads!"
After speaking, Kaho Ishii found that he had not received a response, and that none of the surrounding soldiers and staff carried out his orders.
Just when the old Japanese was about to curse his mother angrily, Chief of Staff Naoki Kimura put down his telescope and said with an ugly face:
"Captain of the brigade, it seems...it seems like it's too late."
While the two were talking, dozens of Typhoon fighter jets had already entered combat positions.
Since there is no large-scale anti-aircraft fire network interference on the ground, every fighter of the Second Air Division has sufficient time to select a target.
Along with the first collective dive, nearly a hundred 227 kg and a small number of 454 kg aerial bombs were thrown towards the enemy's dense areas.
In just one attack, the soldiers in each formation threw more than 20 tons of bombs, which was only as much as Li Yunlong's four units in the original work.
As the aerial bombs continued to fall, a series of explosions and flames enveloped most of the 139th Wing, and the entire basin seemed to have turned into a huge pressure cooker at this moment.
The devils are the meat in the pot.
Facing the sudden attack, a regiment of infantrymen immediately began to run for their lives.
It's a pity that no matter how fast your legs run, you can't escape the damage range of the aerial bomb in a short time.
Boom boom boom!
The pilots who can be selected into the 2nd Air Division are all elites. Under the organized and planned attack of the comrades, the 139th Infantry Regiment, which was marching as usual one minute ago, was severely damaged in an instant.
If it hadn't been for the commander of the regiment, Tatsuo Shimoeda, who spread out the troops as much as possible, at least half of them would have died in the bombing just now.
After clearing the inventory of aerial bombs, it’s time for rockets to target and cannons to pierce sugar-coated haws.
Although the MK2's western artillery is not as accurate as the subsequent upgraded version, each Typhoon has up to 560 rounds of ammunition, which is definitely a good hand for torturing the Japanese.
Fifteen minutes later, the soldiers of the Second Air Division fired all the ammunition they carried on this trip. They passed by the Xinzhou Basin and flew into the distance without looking back.
What greeted everyone was the sparse use of small-caliber anti-aircraft guns and the sound of wailing from all over the place.
······
"idiot!"
"Xiazhi Junyu is broken? Are you sure!?"
Although Kaho Ishii was mentally prepared, he still found it difficult to accept the bad news. The old devil's hands were firmly holding on to the collar of the communications soldier, and the anger and irritability on his face was almost visible to the naked eye.
There are also differences between a colonel and a colonel. Ryuuo Shimoji is a brave and capable frontline commander, and one of his few confidants and capable generals.
The loss of such a captain will have a considerable impact on their brigade.
"Hi!"
"The attack just now is the largest one carried out by the Eighth Route Army Air Force since the Battle of Datong. Under that level of bombing, all living beings are equal."
"idiot!"
Ishii Kaho slapped the communications soldier in the face with a big blow. Just as he was about to pull out his command knife, the chief of staff on the side reminded him in time:
"Brigade Commander! The top priority now is to retreat immediately!"
"Our whereabouts have been exposed. The Eighth Route Army's attacks have always been combination punches. There will definitely be a second or even third wave of offensives."
The words of his chief of staff made the Japanese major general regain his sense.
They were currently in a basin, and there were very few places to hide. Based on past experience, the Eighth Route Army's air force is ready very quickly and can return to the battlefield within an hour at the latest.
If we do it again, the entire brigade will probably be blown up into a unit.
Thinking of this, Ishii Kaho quickly found a higher position. He first looked around with a telescope, then took out a map from his arms and started comparing it.
"Kimura-kun, immediately draft a telegram to Lieutenant General Iinuma and report to him what happened to our brigade."
"Then order the troops at all levels to immediately arrive at the Nanhuaihua and Lingshan areas as quickly as possible. The terrain there can effectively reduce the damage caused by enemy aircraft!"
"Keep going! Fast!"
The Xinzhou Basin is 173 kilometers long and 12.5 to 42.5 kilometers wide.
With this length and width, even if all members of the 108th Brigade were mechanized, they would not be able to retreat to a safe position within an hour.
Rather than running away against a large number of close ground support aircraft, it is better to launch a charge in the direction of Taiyuan. At least this way there is still hope of gaining a glimmer of life.
"Hi!"
Just as Ishii Kaho and his command headquarters were preparing to return to the convoy, the harsh air defense siren echoed over the troops again, and at the same time, twelve twin-engine fighter jets that did not look very good appeared on the horizon.
Unlike the previous dive bombers, these unfamiliar aircraft did not even glance at the 139th Infantry Regiment, but went straight to the brigade command center in the rear.
"Formula! What a wonderful plan!"
"The Japs would never have imagined that we would divide into two echelons to attack. I seem to have seen a big fish, so act quickly!"
Hearing this, Fang Ziyi followed the instructions of his team members.
In the northeast, there is a large convoy heading towards Taiyuan.
Unlike common baggage convoys, those trucks did not tow heavy weapons, and there was a high probability that they were the enemy's headquarters.
"good!"
"Attention crews! Start attacking!"
After receiving the order, twelve twin-engine heavy fighter jets flew towards Ishii Kaho's convoy in a shallow dive attitude. After descending to a height of about 1,500 meters, the soldiers opened the magazine and began to drop bombs.
As the Japanese watched, forty-eight napalm bombs fell from the sky.
The handsome warrior's bomb load capacity provided by the system is fully twice that of the original version with the British, and it can carry a full ton of aerial bombs.
The napalm bombs used by Fang Ziyi and others this time, both in terms of power and loading structure, are very similar to the M69 developed by the United States in the late World War II.
Boom boom boom!
Compared with conventional aerial bombs, this M69-like weapon exploded with a louder noise, and huge fireballs swallowed up the headquarters of the 108th Brigade in an instant.
The flames are raging into the sky, just like purgatory on earth.
Hundreds of Japanese soldiers died in the high-temperature flames the moment the napalm bomb hit the ground, directly completing the process of crushing their bones and raising ashes.
Thanks to the loading of submunitions and the characteristics of the gel, at the end of the first wave of explosions, a large amount of flames splashed around, looking like a hammer hitting a fresh iron embryo.
The devils who came from impoverished nationalism have naturally never seen such a terrifying weapon, not to mention that this is the first time napalm has appeared on the earth.
Just a small step slower, a ball of flying flames touched Ishii Kaho's back. If he took off his coat decisively at this time, he might actually have a chance to escape.
Fortunately, it seemed that considering the temperature, the Japanese major general did not take off his clothes immediately.
He chose to roll around on the spot, trying to squeeze out the air and put out the flames on his body.
"ah!"
After a scream like a slaughtering pig, the napalm became thicker and thicker as it burned, and even ignited the dead grass on the ground. The fire spread to the entire upper body in an instant.
The thick cotton coat also became the best accelerant for burning oil. The intense high temperature turned Kaho Ishii into a fireman.
In desperation, Chief of Staff Kimura Naoki on the side did not hesitate to shoot, trying to extinguish the fire by destroying the burning conditions.
Then?
Pyro x 2.
From a humanitarian perspective, killing the Burning Man with one shot is the greatest relief. But the strict hierarchy prevented the devils in the command center from taking action.
Even after trying various options, they couldn't put out the raging fire.
In the end, he could only watch helplessly as his brigade commander and chief of staff were burned alive into Japanese barbecue. (End of chapter)
