The armored column advanced towards Shengjing at a sudden speed of 150 to 200 kilometers per day. Since the Japanese opened up the northern battlefield, the main force of the Kwantung Army was in the Far East. There were less than 100,000 troops in Manchuria, and more than half of them were concentrated in the puppet army. Xinjing, the capital of Manchuria, includes the headquarters of the Kwantung Army.
One hundred thousand people sounds like a lot. On average, each of the four provinces outside the pass only has 20,000 to 30,000 people, and they are scattered in several central cities. The force is very empty and cannot stop the attack of the 50,000 armored column.
After the armored column captured Rehe, the Japanese Kwantung Army headquarters became anxious. They were worried that the Eighth Route Army's armored group would go straight to Xinjing;
The Japanese Kwantung Army headquarters responded quickly, shrinking all surrounding troops to Xinjing, including some mobile forces in Pancheng and Shengjing, in preparation for the battle to defend Xinjing.
At the same time, reinforcements were mobilized from Blackwater Province and the Far East. Xinjing was the core city that the Japanese must protect, with more than 40,000 Japanese and more than 80,000 puppet Manchurian troops concentrated there.
There is only one independent brigade in Shengjing City, and the Japanese are already beyond their capabilities to deal with Shengjing City;
The Kwantung Army headquarters judged that the Eighth Route Army's target was Xinjing, because this was the location of the Kwantung Army headquarters and the capital of the puppet Manchuria, and there was no room for error.
The armored column entered Haizhou from Coulun City in Jehol, and then divided into two groups. A tank brigade and some trucks pretended to be the main force and marched towards Xinjing with great fanfare;
The main force went straight to Shengjing. It was only more than 200 kilometers from Haizhou City to Shengjing. The armored troops assaulted at full speed. It only took one day to reach the city of Shengjing, and then launched an attack on Shengjing City.
Defending Shengjing was the 22nd independent mixed brigade, which had five infantry brigades with a total strength of about 6,000 people, as well as a division of puppet troops.
Major General Mishan Milu, the commander of the 22nd Brigade, has been staying outside the customs. At most, he usually sweeps up the poorly equipped Anti-Japanese Alliance. He has never seen such a large formation.
More than eighty tanks rumbled in, shaking the ground. If the Japanese had not strictly enforced military discipline, he would have wanted to lead his troops to escape.
Major General Mishan knew very well that defending the city must defend the country. Before the Eighth Route Army arrived in Shengjing, he sent three brigades outside the West City to rely on the favorable terrain and hastily built three lines of defense, all of which were simple civil fortifications;
The Japanese's ring fortifications were very effective against the Anti-Alliance. Half of the 22nd Brigade once withstood the siege of two Anti-Alliance armies with a single ring fortification, with less than a hundred casualties, while the Anti-Alliance paid a heavy price. At the cost of 2,000 people, the blood of the Chinese people dyed the black land red.
This time Major General Mishan repeated his old trick and built three lines of defense outside the city. He still underestimated the power of the Chinese armored forces.
Dozens of self-propelled artillery were lined up in a row, and dozens of black 120mm howitzers fired fiercely at the Japanese ring fortifications;
Sections of trenches were blown down, and a large number of Japanese were buried in the trenches. The Japanese were unable to fight back.
The hastily built civil fortifications were like paper in front of the 120mm heavy artillery. The defense line of a large group of Japanese soldiers had no depth at all. After several rounds of shelling, there were only a few Japanese soldiers on the position.
The tank troops took advantage of the situation and launched an attack. They broke through the first line of defense of the Japanese with one charge and killed more than 700 Japanese soldiers. The rest fled to the second line of defense.
The self-propelled artillery regiment continued to bombard the second line of defense. This time, the Japanese were defeated before the tanks could charge, leaving behind hundreds more corpses.
Major General Yoneyama's face was as cold as frost. The intensity of the Eighth Route Army's offensive had exceeded his imagination. He said to Chief of Staff Lieutenant Colonel Ikeda:
"Ikeda-kun, the third line of defense probably won't last long. I didn't expect the Eighth Route Army to be so powerful. The 22nd Brigade simply cannot defend Shengjing;
Order the main force of the brigade to abandon Shengjing and retreat to Yinzhou! "
Lieutenant Colonel Ikeda breathed a long sigh of relief, and then said to Major General Yoneyama:
"Your Majesty General, do the Manchurian Army and other troops in the city need to be notified?"
Mishan shook his head and said:
"Don't worry about them, let them stick to Shengjing!"
Ikeda left with a hey. Shengjing City was full of logistical departments. Don’t even think about running away with these cumbersome 22 Brigade. They believed that the Eighth Route Army’s thoughts should be in Shengjing and would not have the energy to take care of these two. , three thousand remaining soldiers.
Major General Mishan ran away with two brigades of Japanese soldiers and the brigade headquarters. This news soon reached the ears of Fan Dabiao, commander of the 7th Division of the Puppet Manchuria Army. He immediately cursed:
"Mom, what a shame, this little brat Mishan is nothing anymore. I don't want to bring him into trouble with me!"
"Brother, don't just scold me, the Eighth Route Army is about to enter the city, so hurry up and start talking."
The speaker was Fan Dabiao's sworn brother, First Brigade Commander Liu Xiaobao. Both of these brothers used to have beards.
Fan Dabiao shook his head and said:
"Second brother, you don't understand. From now on, the world outside the customs may be ruled by the Eighth Route Army. Where can we escape?
Now in the entire city of Shengjing, we are the only brothers with the most guns. There are also a large number of Japs and arsenals in the city. They are all trash who have never played with guns. Now is the time for our brothers to make meritorious deeds!
You lead the first brigade to eliminate all the Japanese in the city, and I will lead the second brigade to protect the arsenal to prevent the Japanese spies from jumping over the wall and blowing up the arsenal;
As long as we keep the arsenal, our brothers will make great contributions. Can the Eighth Route Army treat us badly? "
Liu Xiaobao's eyes narrowed into slits after hearing this. With such great achievements, following the Eighth Route Army must be much better than going up the mountain to be a beard.
"Brother, you are still smarter, just do it!"
Fortunately, the two brothers were born with beards, so they did what they were told. Liu Xiaobao led a brigade to attack the military police headquarters, hospitals, arsenals, secret service agencies, 513 units, etc. They were local snakes and had taken advantage of the Japanese garrison in Shengjing. The door is clear.
At the 513 Troop station, a large number of Japanese soldiers wearing protective clothing and masks were hastily destroying experimental materials;
The Eighth Route Army is approaching the city, and Shengjing City may not be able to defend it. In order to keep the secrets of Unit 513, the commander of the unit, Major General Nagai Goro, ordered the immediate destruction of all experimental living subjects, specimens, materials, etc. These are ironclad evidence that the Japanese develop and use bacterial weapons. Nagai Naturally We will not let them fall into the hands of the Chinese.
Unit 513 is a more mysterious unit than Unit 713. Like Unit 713, they are both germ warfare units. They use a large number of living people as experiments and have committed countless crimes!
Because they were well hidden and kept secret very well, few people in later generations knew about it, and it was not as well known to the world as 731.
Just in line with that sentence, if you want others to know nothing, you have to do it yourself. Liu Xiaobao is one of the people who know it;
Of course, he just knew that there was a mysterious army of Japanese soldiers there, and if no one was allowed to get close, he didn't know anything else.
The first target that Liu Xiaobao led his troops to attack was the 513 unit station. Because the Japs were the most tightly guarded, the value would be greater. This was Beard's thinking. He thought that there were treasures snatched from the palace hidden inside.
"Brothers, kill! The time has come for meritorious service!"
