Taiyuan City, the headquarters of the Japanese First Army.
In the commander's office, Yoshio Shinozuka had taken off his military uniform and was wearing a white shirt. He was sitting on his knees in the lounge, meditating with his eyes closed. There was a rib in front of him.
He thought of all the battles he had participated in since he entered China. In which case had he not defeated his opponent with an absolute advantage? Especially the 10th Division that he took over and reorganized last year, how high-spirited it was!
But now, he was actually faced with the dilemma of being trapped in a corner and unable to retreat.
"Your Excellency Commander!"
Outside the door, the shouts of Hashimoto Gun, Chief of Staff of the First Army came.
"Come in!" Yoshio Shinozuka opened his eyes and responded in a deep voice.
Hashimoto opened the door, strode in, and reported with a serious expression: "Sir, the Eighth Route Army has almost advanced to the center of the city. If we don't turn in, it will be too late!"
Yoshio Shinozuka sighed and said: "The main passages on the north and south sides of the Jinzhong Basin are blocked by the Eighth Route Army. In such a situation, where can we turn?"
Hashimoto Group: "Sir, you have just arrived in Taiyuan and are not familiar with the surrounding terrain. We can go to Gujiao, then take the mountain road on Luliang Mountain, bypass Shiling Pass to Xinkou, and join the Fourth Mixed Brigade!"
Shinozuka Yoshio's eyes were still dim and he said: "You can take the remaining people and move in. Counting the previous battle against the 129th Division, plus this time, the First Army suffered two disastrous defeats in a row. It is difficult for me, the commander, to To abdicate the blame, the only way to wash away the shame is to die."
"Baga!" Hashimoto was a little anxious and cursed out loud.
Yoshio Shinozuka suddenly raised his head and looked at the Hashimoto group in shock, as if he didn't expect that the other party would dare to scold him.
Before he could speak, Hashimoto Gun squatted down in front of Yoshio Shinozuka and said: "As an imperial soldier, how can we lose our fighting spirit due to a momentary defeat? Now, we are fighting against the 122nd Division. The people who know the Eighth Route Army best should remain useful. Even if they can no longer lead troops in battles in the future, they should at least contribute strategies to the Imperial Army's successful annihilation of the Eighth Route Army!"
Yoshio Shinozuka's eyes finally regained clarity and he looked straight at Hashimoto Group.
Then, he stood up and bowed deeply towards Hashimoto: "Hashimoto-kun, thank you for your wake-up call!"
Seeing that His Excellency the Commander did not pursue his mistake just now, Hashimoto Group also breathed a sigh of relief, and quickly straightened up and returned a bow to Shinozuka Yoshio.
Then, he said again: "Sir, we must turn in, otherwise it will be too late! I have asked the third squadron to launch a desperate attack against the Eighth Route Army to buy time for the military personnel!"
"Yoshi! Let's go now!"
. . . . . .
More than an hour later, when he learned that Yoshio Shinozuka had escaped and that Gao Jingting in Taiyuan City had been captured, Liu Yu called the military chiefs at all levels to hold a meeting.
At this time, except for Gao Jingting, who was still clearing the remaining Japanese in Taiyuan City, all other cadres at the brigade level and above came to the temporary headquarters in Yuci.
"What a pity that Yoshio Shinozuka ran away!"
Liu Yu took a puff of cigarette and said: "Taiyuan City has been captured. The results and battle losses are still being calculated. Now we are just short of the 37th Division. Let's all work together. We can kill the 37th Division as soon as possible. Pull out your hands to reinforce in other directions.”
Wang Zhitao suddenly had a bitter look on his face when he heard this: "It's really difficult to fight. The 225th Regiment in the north occupied the hills in the Beishan, Shishan, and Luoyangpo areas and built mountain defenses. The trenches on the outside were all counterattacking. Our artillery can't reach them on the slope. The same goes for the 227th Regiment in the south. If we insist on attacking by force, even if it is defeated, the casualties of the 366th Brigade will probably not be much less than that of the 364th Brigade. Our entire division will be crippled by then. !”
Everyone was speechless. In the battle this morning, although the 364th Brigade achieved brilliant results, it still suffered 1,000 losses to the enemy and 800 losses to itself. Only a little over 3,000 of the more than 7,000 combat personnel in the entire brigade were left.
Although a large part of the lost troops are wounded, and with the strong medical team of the military region, most of the wounded soldiers will be able to return to the army in the future. Even those injured soldiers will burst out with stronger combat effectiveness in the future, but when they are injured It will take at least a month or two to heal, and sometimes it will take at least three months for some injured muscles and bones.
This is also due to penicillin. In the past, many soldiers who injured their limbs could only avoid septicemia through amputation after their wounds became inflamed.
But even so, the 364th Brigade can no longer be of much help in a short period of time.
If the 366th Brigade does this for a while, the entire 122nd Division will have to enter a state of residual health. If the Japanese refuse to stop after destroying the 37th Division and continue to add troops here, it will be sour.
Liu Yu knew very well that the Japanese and the red bears would cease fighting soon, and the Kwantung Army could move south at any time.
The 120th Division and the 115th Division will definitely not be able to stop the Kwantung Army's attack. After all, they do not have as gorgeous equipment as the 122nd Division. Once Shiling Pass is broken through by the Japanese, the Jinzhong Basin that the 122th Division managed to capture with great difficulty will be lost again. Gotta give up.
Maybe the Japanese Kwantung Army will continue to advance eastward along the Zhengtai Line after reoccupying the Jinzhong Basin. How can the 122nd Division, which is already in a semi-disabled state, resist?
Abandon the Yangquan Industrial Base, which has been initially constructed and has begun production, and continue to fight guerrillas in the mountains?
Bullshit, right?
Thinking of this, Liu Yu slammed the table, stood up and said: "Let Taiyuan stop counting and see if there are any gas bombs in the Japanese warehouse. If there are any, send them all to the 366th Brigade and give them to Luo Haiming! The rest are left over. All the weapons and ammunition seized by the police will be sent to Shiling Pass and Han Xinling and handed over to Commander Nie and Commander Chen!"
"Gas bombs?"
Everyone was shocked.
Lao Song directly stared at him: "Don't be stupid! If this spreads out, our party's reputation will be severely damaged. You, the commander, will definitely be beaten to the end. No one can protect you!"
"Yes, Lao Liu, you can't do this. The worst we can do is suffer some casualties!" Wu Hongbo also advised.
Liu Yu was unhappy: "What are you doing? Only the little devils are allowed to use poison gas bombs on us, but we are not allowed to use them? What nonsense?"
Then he complained: "Besides, your ears are stuffed with donkey hairs? Didn't you hear what I said about the captured Japanese artillery shells? As for why it was poison gas bombs, our frontline ammunition is in short supply, and the personnel in charge of military supplies are in a hurry and all the captured Japanese artillery shells are used The artillery shells were all transported up, but the other Eighth Route Army soldiers like us were all born with mud-legged backgrounds. Those artillerymen didn't even know a few Chinese characters, let alone Japanese characters. They mistakenly fired poison gas bombs as regular artillery shells. Isn't it strange? ? I would say it is simply reasonable and legal!”
Everyone's expressions froze, and then their faces changed. Some people smiled and gave Liu Yu a thumbs up, while others looked at each other, and then looked at Liu Yu with dumbfounded eyes.
Why is our commander so shameless?
But don’t tell me yet, this reason is really impeccable!
Lao Song looked at Liu Yu speechlessly, and finally could only give him a thumbs up with a wry smile.
Then, Lao Song grimaced again and said to the others present with cold eyes: "Just like the commander said, the order we issued is for the artillery of each regiment to use captured artillery when the shells are exhausted. Japanese artillery shells! Cover your mouths tightly. If I hear the words 'poison, gas, and bombs' pop out of someone's mouth, don't blame me, Old Song, for turning your back on him!"
Not to mention, although Lao Song was a civil servant, he had accumulated a lot of murderous aura after more than ten years of military career. Once it broke out, all the warriors present were severely shocked.
. . . . . .
At 11 o'clock at night, Yoshio Shinozuka took more than 300 remaining members of the First Army Headquarters to the foot of a mountain called Dananyu in the north of Gujiao City. He and the two who had broken out from the city at night had been beaten. The half-disabled squadron merged into a reduced group, and then fled straight north along the mountain path.
Don't look at the fact that these 600 Japs don't bring any heavy firepower. Ordinary guerrillas really can't get much advantage when encountering them. But now the main force of the Eighth Route Army in the northwest of Shanxi is either in Datong, Shuozhou and other places to delay the Japanese reinforcements going south. , or they all gathered at the foot of Gujiao Castle, there really wasn't any decent troops that could intercept Shinozuka Yoshio.
In the mountain road, Yoshio Shinozuka, who was originally marching with the large army, suddenly stopped and turned his head to look in the direction of Yuci to the south.
There, there is also the trapped 37th Division.
Not far away, the Hashimoto group saw Yoshio Shinozuka stop and ordered others to continue on their way. Then they walked to Yoshio Shinozuka and followed his gaze to the southeast.
Needless to say, the Hashimoto group guessed what Shinozuka Yoshio was thinking and persuaded: "Don't worry, sir, the 37th Division has been building permanent fortifications at the borders of Yuci and Shouyang in the past few months. The strength of the defense line is higher than The Niangzi Pass is not even close to that, and at the same time they have stocked up a lot of supplies. I estimate that they can hold on for at least a month. Now that the base camp has started negotiations with the Soviets, I believe that the Kwantung Army will be free soon. By then The Imperial Army can cooperate with the 37th Division to create a central flowering center!"
Yoshio Shinozuka nodded and said, "I hope so."
Immediately, he thought of something again and said through gritted teeth: "Who is supporting Liu Yu behind the scenes? According to the report sent back by the 37th Division, the firepower assigned to a company under Liu Yu's command exceeded that of a brigade of the Imperial Army, so that They broke through several times but were beaten back!"
"Sir, the Special High School Division is already investigating this matter intensively. I believe there will be an answer soon. Let's not get entangled. The more serious thing is to get out of the Eighth Route Army's sphere of influence as soon as possible." Hashimoto Qun said.
Yoshio Shinozuka nodded, looked at the southeast again, then turned and left.
He secretly swore in his heart that he would never underestimate Liu Yu again. When the support from the Kwantung Army arrived, Liu Yu would be cut into pieces!
. . . . . .
Yoshio Shinozuka fully thought that the 37th Division could hold on for a long time, but he met Liu Yu, a time traveler who didn't play by the rules and had a lifelong hatred for the Japanese.
September 5th at 2am.
This was supposed to be the quietest time of the day, but the artillery of each regiment of the 366th Brigade broke this tranquil state. They each conducted free artillery fire on the defense line of the 37th Division. The fire of the shells constantly exploding illuminated the night sky like daytime.
However, because the Japanese were hiding in mountain fortifications or on anti-slope positions, the bombing effect was not ideal.
Many Japanese soldiers who were awakened huddled in the fortifications, yawning, chatting boredly, and mocking the stupidity of the Eighth Route Army.
But what they didn't know was that there was a temporary artillery battalion 1 kilometer away from their defense line, which was slowly moving forward. The artillery of the 366th Brigade was only providing cover for the more than 30 newly captured artillery pieces.
Just when Hirata Miyoshi, the commander of the Japanese 37th Division, ordered his soldiers to sleep, Luo Haiming, the commander of the 122nd Division Artillery Regiment, led a group of artillerymen he personally selected and absolutely trusted, using hundreds of mules. With 14 Type 41 mountain cannons, 8 Type 92 infantry guns, and 12 Japanese-made 90mm mortars, they came to a mountain depression less than 1,500 meters away from the Japanese forward position.
After selecting the artillery position, Luo Haiming looked at the Japanese position in the distance that was flashing with shell fire, and then looked behind him at the shell boxes that had been unloaded from the mules and had skulls painted on the outside.
Even though he hated the Japanese devils deeply, he hesitated at this time. After all, not everyone was as crazy as the Japanese devils.
Ten minutes later, the 75 field artillery battalions of each regiment of the 366th Brigade behind stopped shelling.
At this time, a battalion commander below walked up to Luo Haiming and reported: "Captain, you have sent a telegram to the headquarters that there are insufficient artillery shells. An order has also been issued over there, saying that the captured Japanese artillery shells will be used for bombardment. The text of the telegram has been saved. Okay. Now that the artillery positions have been prepared, the wind direction is also in the direction of the Japanese position, everything is ready, do you want to start the bombardment?"
Luo Haiming frowned and thought for a long time, but finally gritted his teeth and said: "Let's get started, the infantry artillery and mortars will attack the front, and the mountain artillery group will attack in depth!"
. . . . . .
On the Japs side, seeing the Eighth Route Army stop shelling, the commander of the 37th Division, Hirata Miyoshi, sneered, left the observation port on the fortification, and mocked: "The Eighth Route Army is still a force armed by farmers after all. It has nothing to do with us." It is childish to think of using artillery fire to vent anger. If this kind of wasting of artillery shells were used by the imperial army, the commander would definitely be dismissed!"
A combat officer on the side responded: "Sir, you are right. Although the 122nd Division of the Eighth Route Army is well-equipped, it lacks the spirit of bushido. If it were the imperial army, no matter how strong the opponent's fortifications are, we can crush them with jade-breaking tactics!" "
Hirata Jianji laughed contemptuously: "The other units of the Eighth Route Army are as poor as beggars, and many of them don't have military uniforms. Only Liu Yu's 122nd Division is armed to the teeth. Obviously this is the trump card unit they formed by selling iron, and of course they are not willing to give it up. Use jade-breaking tactics."
"However, the combat effectiveness of the 122nd Division is indeed strong. They defeated the 41st Division with one brigade. Of course, this also makes them dare not pay the same price to attack us, otherwise they will not have enough troops to resist the emperor. The army’s counterattack!”
As he said that, Hirata became angry again when he saw that Yoshi was serious, and complained: "It was all that Malu of the Tojo First Class who instigated His Excellency Prince Kaningu to launch an offensive against the Soviet Union. If the Kwantung Army had not been trapped in the Nomonkan area, Liu Yu would have also You don’t have the guts to attack us!”
There was a drop of sweat on the forehead of the staff officer who just spoke. He did not dare to accept such words. He could only smile and said: "Now there is a ceasefire over Nomenkan. I believe the Kwantung Army will soon go south to support. By then we... ....”
"call out......"
"Uh..." Before the staff officer could finish his words, there was another sound of artillery shells piercing the air above his head. He was stunned for a moment, and then he said: "Does the Eighth Route Army really have so many artillery shells that they are still firing? "
However, after a while, I could only hear the sound of flying artillery shells, but no explosion.
The staff officer looked confused, not knowing what the Eighth Route Army was doing.
Hirata frowned when he saw Ji, and then his expression changed drastically.
"not good!"
"Dingle bell bell bell..."
As soon as Hirata Miji finished speaking, the phone rang.
The staff officer originally wanted to answer the phone, but Hirata Miyoshi pushed him away and ran to the phone himself and grabbed the phone.
"Moses Moses, I am Hirata Miyoshi!"
The other end of the phone: "Cough cough cough, division commander, the Eighth Route Army threw special bombs at us, cough cough cough, we..."
"Moses Moses, Moses Moses!"
The phone didn't hang up, but there was no voice from the other side.
Hirata Miyoshi turned his head mechanically and asked the staff officer: "How many gas masks are equipped in each of the subordinate regiments?"
The staff officer was a little confused at first, but when Hirata saw what Yoshi said, he immediately came to his senses and said in a panic: "Only...only the artillery regiment, in order to prevent the special bombs from accidentally leaking all the personnel, also There are squadrons serving as vanguards in each squadron, and the others..."
As he spoke, the sound of shells breaking through the air again came to his ears, and this time the shells were particularly close to them.
"昘!"
"puff!"
"Bah..."
They were all too familiar with the special sound of poison gas bombs.
Immediately afterwards, a pungent yellow smoke mixed with the smell of garlic floated in through the vents of the fortification, and shells continued to fall outside the fortification.
The entire command center immediately fell into chaos, and everyone looked at Hirata Miyoshi nervously.
Seeing this, Hirata Jianji's soles softened and his whole body collapsed.
"Division commander!" The staff officer quickly supported him.
Hirata saw Yoshi struggling to stabilize his body and said through gritted teeth: "Send a farewell telegram to His Excellency Tada Shun and report to him the shameless behavior of the 122nd Division!"
"Order the troops again to break out of the encirclement immediately! Don't stay in the fortifications and wait to die!"
