The relatively well-preserved Yangquan City Wall is four to five feet high, with a wide horse path above it.
The city bricks are made of glutinous rice juice and mortar, and are extremely strong. The intact and neat crenelations show the tactical characteristics of the cold weapon era.
There is a moat surrounding the city outside the city wall, but due to the passage of time, the moat has dried up and become silted up.
However, at this time, Yangquan City was filled with smoke and the fighting was extremely fierce.
The firepower of the assault company of the new regiment was very fierce, and the mountain artillery battalion plowed the Japanese outer positions. The Japanese and puppet troops outside the city wall simply could not withstand it.
As soon as a Japanese soldier poked his head out of the foxhole and prepared to shoot, a few dazzling tongues of fire lashed out like whips. The Japanese soldier twitched as if he had been electrocuted, and was beaten to a pulp in a matter of seconds.
The outer positions of the city wall were quickly cleared, and the assault company divided into two parts and rushed towards the blasted gap.
The mountain cannon blasted two gaps in the city wall, a V-shaped gap and a U-shaped gap. The collapsed bricks, gravel and soil were more than three meters high from the ground.
"Get up the ladder and move fast!"
Xu Yonghai held a submachine gun, leaned against the gentle slope of the gap, and shouted loudly.
The soldiers carrying the ladder from behind ran forward and set up the ladder, and the soldiers of the assault company climbed up the ladder.
As soon as a few soldiers climbed to the gap, the Japanese machine gunner behind the sandbags on the street was manning a light and heavy machine gun. Fire swept over them. Two soldiers were hit and rolled down the ladder.
Several other soldiers dodged a wave of burst fire and then emerged, holding on to the ladder and shooting with a submachine gun in one hand.
Taking advantage of the Japs' firepower being suppressed for a moment, several grenades were thrown at the Japs. After several explosions, the Japs machine gunner was killed.
The soldiers took the opportunity to climb up the gap and stabilize their feet. More and more soldiers swarmed up behind them.
In the blink of an eye, the assault company broke into the city from two gaps.
The Japs immediately organized a firepower street battle, but the Japs were short of troops and were quickly defeated by the assault company's ferocious firepower and precise marksmanship.
After the assault company opened the gap and opened the city gate, the Sword Squadron, the 1st Battalion, 2nd Company and 3rd Company immediately poured into the city from the city gate.
Among them, the second and third companies attacked along the city wall, and the Sword Squadron and the Assault Company pounced on the Japanese ammunition warehouse and grain depot respectively.
At this time, Kurosawa Shoji was watching the battle on the roof of the fourth brigade headquarters.
The communications staff and intelligence staff were also there, and several captains had basically died in the battle.
Seeing that the west city wall was breached by the Eighth Route Army, and then attacked on both sides along the city wall, several staff officers immediately knew that Yangquan City could not be defended, and their troops were too few.
The air support that Kurosawa Shoji expected did not appear. He guessed that the headquarters knew that Yangquan would definitely be captured, so it did not want to waste aerial bombs and fighter jets.
After all, this Eight Route Army is very evil. There are dozens of anti-aircraft guns for air defense. Unless a group of hundreds of bombers are dispatched at the same time, a few aircraft will not be able to do anything.
Now the Tongpu Railway and the Zhengtai Railway are basically controlled by the Eighth Route Army without any support. Yangquan has become an isolated city.
"Your Excellency, Chief of Staff, I suggest breaking out." The intelligence staff panicked, "The Eighth Route Army did not attack the east gate. We can escape through the east gate."
"I guess the Eighth Route Army doesn't want to fight us to the death and cause them greater casualties."
"Since the Eighth Route Army has given us the opportunity to step down, why should we support ourselves so hard? Only by saving our lives will we have the opportunity to avenge the brigade commander in the future."
Kurosawa Shoji snorted coldly: "Do you think the Eighth Route Army will let us go if we escape from the East Gate? The Eighth Route Army must have ambushed troops outside the East Gate. Going out at this time is just throwing yourself into a trap."
As expected of a veteran on the battlefield, these are all summed up from experience in hundreds of battles.
"Are we going to die here today?" The communications staff officer was also afraid.
"Baga, as warriors of the Japanese Empire, are you so afraid of death?" Kurosawa Masaji's cold eyes swept over the two of them, and they shuddered coldly.
"Hi!" The two staff officers nodded in unison.
Kurosawa Shoji said: "Nomura-kun, please send power to the headquarters immediately. Yangquan City has been breached. The Fourth Brigade Headquarters swears to live or die with the city and asks whether to blow up the ammunition warehouse and destroy the grain depot!"
Under normal circumstances, the Japanese would not dare to blow up ammunition warehouses and grain depots easily even if all the jade was broken into pieces.
If there is a possibility of the supplies being snatched back after being seized by the enemy, then the Japanese will definitely not destroy the supplies.
On the other hand, if the supplies are captured by the enemy and there are no friendly troops nearby, they will definitely not be able to get them back, so the supplies will definitely be destroyed.
Yangquan was an important military town for the Japanese army in Shanxi, and it stored a large amount of weapons, ammunition, and food supplies. Even if he knew he would die, Kurosawa Shoji would not dare to decide whether to destroy the supplies easily.
"Hi!" The communications staff officer nodded, walked down the ladder, and walked quickly toward the communications room.
Kurosawa Shoji felt that street fighting was a very cruel battle, and the superior strength of the Eighth Route Army could not be deployed. Even if the strength was insufficient, it would be no problem to persist for a few hours.
Therefore, it is completely too late to ask for instructions before bombing the drug depot and grain depot.
However, he never expected that the headquarters of the fourth brigade had been targeted.
In a three-story private house, Lu Yingjun held up a telescope and looked in the direction of the Japanese headquarters.
On the roof of the Japanese Army headquarters, a sun flag and a rising sun flag fluttered in the wind.
There were Japanese soldiers with light and heavy machine guns around the headquarters and on the roof. It seemed that the Japanese soldiers had no intention of escaping and were preparing for a desperate fight.
The few hundred meters surrounding the Japanese headquarters are basically Japanese-style buildings.
At present, Lu Yingjun used precise methods to calculate the firing parameters for the artillery position to bombard the fourth brigade headquarters.
Then he immediately picked up the radio and used a code word to call the mountain artillery battalion and send out the shooting parameters.
Wang Chengzhu received the shooting parameters and fired a test shot first. Then Lu Yingjun quickly corrected the shooting parameters based on the impact point of the bullet.
Not long after, the artillery outside the city began to operate, and 12 mountain cannons fired volleys into the city.
The shells arced across the sky and fell with a long scream. Accompanied by a thunderous explosion, fireballs and smoke instantly enveloped the Japanese headquarters.
After three rounds of shelling, the entire Japanese headquarters was destroyed. Not a single building was intact, and many Japanese-style houses around it were also destroyed by artillery shells.
Lu Yingjun, who saw this scene through the telescope, couldn't help but curl up his lips.
"This precision bombardment method is really useful."
…
In Taiyuan, the headquarters of the First Army.
Communications Staff Officer Toshimatsu Kasai quickly walked into the operations hall and said to Yoshio Shinozuka: "General, the Fourth Brigade Colonel Kurosawa sent a farewell telegram. The Eighth Route Army has breached the Yangquan city wall, and the Fourth Brigade headquarters has made preparations to communicate with Yangquan. To prepare for the survival of the city, ask whether ammunition and food supplies will be destroyed?"
"Nani?" Yoshio Shinozuka's expression changed. Li Yunlong moved so fast?
It seems that Li Yunlong's troops can capture Yangquan City tonight. This is not good news.
Although Kurosawa Shoji requested aviation support several times, Shinozuka Yoshio really did not dare to send aviation troops.
If you go to support once, you will lose five aircraft. If you go to support twice more, all the aircraft will be shot down. By then, there will be no aircraft used for aerial reconnaissance.
That's the real blinding.
In response to the major attack by the Eighth Route Army, the countermeasure plan formulated by the First Army Staff Headquarters was to mobilize forces from Tongpu Road and Pinghan Road to attack from both east and west.
However, at this time, the troops on Tongpu Road and Pinghan Road had not yet been able to assemble.
As the Japanese troops mobilized, more and more Eighth Route Army troops joined in the fight.
There were approximately 20 regiments of the Eighth Route Army troops participating in the attack on the Zhengtai Railway, but the number of Eighth Route Army troops cooperating in the operation far exceeded this number.
At present, no troops can save the headquarters of the 4th Brigade in Yangquan.
After thinking for a moment, Yoshio Shinozuka said with a dark face: "Order the Fourth Brigade to immediately destroy the ammunition depot and grain depot. The military supplies in Yangquan must not fall into the hands of the Eighth Route Army!"
"Hi!" Kasai Toshiatsu paused, then walked out quickly.
Less than five minutes later, Kasai Toshimatsu hurriedly walked in and paused.
"Reporting to General, the headquarters has lost the radio signal of the Fourth Brigade Communications Department."
"N...Ni?"
After hearing the news, Yoshio Shinozuka was so angry that he almost spat out a mouthful of blood.
Just now I was feeling sorry for the loss of a large amount of ammunition and food.
Now this batch of food and ammunition is very likely to fall into the hands of the Eighth Route Army, and it will also be in the hands of Li Yunlong, and the whole person will be in bad shape.
…
In Yangquan City, the Japanese's regular troops only numbered more than 200.
The rest are useless puppet soldiers and Japanese ronin with guns.
The latter basically had no fighting power, let alone fighting will, and almost collapsed at the first touch.
These puppet soldiers and rogues were shot to death, and those who surrendered surrendered.
Although the Japanese still had a few tanks, they were quickly destroyed by bazookas in street fighting.
The Japs without tanks were even more disadvantaged. In addition, the brigade headquarters was completely destroyed by the mountain artillery battalion, and the Japs were trapped in a situation where they were fighting on their own.
However, the Japanese resistance was very tenacious. Even if their troops and equipment were completely suppressed, they still delayed the new regiment for two hours.
It wasn't until it got dark that the battle was completely ended and the Japanese in Yangquan City were cleared.
The ammunition warehouse and grain depot in Yangquan City were also successfully captured by the Sword Squadron and the Assault Company respectively.
At the Lion Mountain Regiment Headquarters, after listening to the signal soldier's report, Zhao Gang smiled: "Old Li, we have taken down the ammunition warehouse and grain depot. Now it's time for the brigade commander to congratulate you on getting rich."
Li Yunlong said: "We have won such a big victory and made such a fortune. I was very happy at first. But when you say this, the labor and management are in a bad mood again. Damn it!"
"Are you still in a bad mood?" Zhao Gang said: "If you are robbed, you will be robbed. It's not like you fell into the hands of the Japanese. Anyway, what is growing is the overall strength of our Eighth Route Army."
"That's true." Li Yunlong said, "Let's go into the city and see how many weapons, ammunition and food the Japanese have in Yangquan City."
Immediately, the two of them walked out of the headquarters together, got on their horses and headed towards Yangquan City.
Arriving in Yangquan City, Li Yunlong and Zhao Gang quickly asked the second battalion commander to estimate the total amount of ammunition and grain seized.
Preliminary estimates include no less than 3 million rounds of bullets, at least 20,000 rounds of artillery shells of various calibers, and at least 2 million kilograms of grain.
When Li Yunlong heard this, Lao Gao grinned: "It seems that I want to congratulate the brigade commander on getting rich this time."
