Taiyuan inner city.
Japanese First Army Headquarters.
As time passes steadily and coldly.
The intensive gunfire of the battle between the Eighth Route Army and the Japanese army was getting closer and closer to the inner city, and more and more streets were lost on the sand table.
Shinozuka Yoshio felt panicked and became more and more irritable.
If we continue to fight like this, if reinforcements do not arrive, the inner city of Taiyuan and the headquarters will also be captured by the Eighth Route Army.
"Kasai-kun, your Communications Department wants to ask the 3rd Brigade if they have eliminated the Eighth Route Army?"
Communications staff officer Toshimatsu Kasai just walked in, and Yoshio Shinozuka said in a deep voice.
"Report to the General!"
Kasai Toshimatsu held a telegram in his hand and walked up to Shinozuka Yoshio with an ugly expression on his face: "Major General Miyazaki of the 3rd Brigade called and said that the Eighth Route Army was still not able to be eliminated!"
"Nani?"
Yoshio Shinozuka asked in a bad tone: "Didn't I order aviation to be dispatched to reinforce the 3rd Brigade? Did the aviation not obey the order, or did your communications department fail to convey the order?"
Kasai Toshimatsu replied: "The Ministry of Communications has conveyed the order, and the aviation force has also carried out the mission, bombing the Eighth Route Army positions on the front and reverse slopes of Baozi Mountain."
Yoshio Shinozuka asked: "Then why did the 3rd Brigade still not capture the Eighth Route Army's position?"
Kasai Toshimatsu lowered his head: "According to Major General Miyazaki's message, the shells fired by the artillery on the Eighth Route Army position and the aerial bombs dropped by the aviation force did not seem to have the effect of killing the Eighth Route Infantry. This is why the 3rd Brigade failed to attack. Get down to the Eighth Route Army position."
"Baga!" Yoshio Shinozuka roared angrily: "Immediately order the 3rd Brigade to break through the Eighth Route Army position at all costs. I will see the 3rd Brigade in Taiyuan tonight when it gets dark!"
"Hi!" Kasai Toshimatsu stood at attention and lowered his head, turned around and walked quickly to the communication room next door.
Soon, Major General Masao Miyazaki, commander of the 3rd Brigade, received a telegram from Yoshio Shinozuka.
Seeing this order, Miyazaki Masao knew that Taiyuan and the First Army Headquarters had reached a critical moment of life and death.
So far, there have been four waves of assaults, and the infantry has suffered more than 1,800 casualties, and nearly half of the artillery shells carried by the artillery brigade have been consumed.
Miyazaki Masao really didn't want to fight. The Eighth Route Army was like a nail, staring firmly at Baozi Mountain.
Nearly two infantry brigades and a tank squadron went in, and the soldiers didn't even touch the threshold of the Eighth Route's forward position.
Not only was it unable to chew, but half of the teeth in his mouth were shattered.
But an order is an order, and there is no room for Miyazaki Masao to bargain or hesitate.
Three more infantry squadrons were immediately ordered to attack.
However, this time Masao Miyazaki changed his tactics and ordered the artillery to fire at the Eighth Route Position when the soldiers attacked.
Previously, the infantry charged after the artillery bombardment, and the artillery bombardment after the infantry charged.
This time, the artillery fired while the infantry charged.
In the smoke of continuous artillery fire, the soldiers emerged from the tunnels with weapons in hand, braving the air waves that hit them at any time, the deafening roar in their ears, and braving the random sweeping of gravel, sand and shrapnel, using the weapons in their hands. The weapon fired at the Japanese. The machine gunner was knocked down by shrapnel, and the deputy gunner immediately stepped on it.
The Japs braved the hail of bullets, artillery fire from the Eighth Route Army, and their own artillery fire to storm the Eighth Route Army position.
Light and heavy machine guns, semi-automatic rifles and automatic rifles were operated, and the intensive firepower was like a rain of bullets, pouring continuously towards the Japanese who were rushing up.
Both sides are risking their lives.
Halfway through this wave of Japanese attacks, the 15th Company that had just come up suffered more than 100 casualties under the Japanese artillery fire, and its firepower intensity was almost reduced by half.
Just when the Japanese were about to break into the position, the 16th Company came out of the tunnel to provide reinforcements, and the firepower more than doubled in an instant.
Under the dense rain of firepower, the fifth wave of Japanese attacks were repulsed. Only less than 100 of the more than 600 Japanese from three squadrons escaped.
The front of the position was already filled with densely packed corpses of Japanese soldiers.
exist
In the field of view of the artillery team, they saw that the attack failed again, and most of the attacking troops suffered casualties. Major General Masao Miyazaki whipped out his command saber, and he was so angry that he slashed with the sword.
…
"Report to the Commander-in-Chief, telegram to the Fourth Battalion!"
At the column headquarters, Wang Dehou took the telegram from the decoder and reported it to Li Yunlong after reading it.
Li Yunlong was studying the map with a magnifying glass. When he heard this, he asked without raising his head: "What did Chen Dugu say?"
At present, more than 12,000 troops have entered the city to fight with the Japanese in street battles.
The new regiment sent in more than 3,000 people, including more than 1,000 people from the 3rd Battalion and more than 1,000 people from the county brigade. The other three attack groups also sent in two regiments each.
Fighting with the Japanese in the outer city of Taiyuan, street by street and house by house.
The attacking troops caught a Japs tongue and learned that it was the Yoshino Regiment of the Japanese army that was fighting street battles with the Eighth Route Army.
More than 12,000 people fought against a Japanese regiment, which was a huge advantage.
The current battle situation is going smoothly, and it is expected that the street fighting in the outer city will be over before dark.
As long as no Japanese reinforcements arrive, if the inner city is breached tonight, the entire Taiyuan will be captured by noon tomorrow at most.
The Japanese plane that was expected today never showed up, which made Li Yunlong a little regretful.
The anti-aircraft firepower of the air defense force, which had been supplemented with machine guns, did not decrease at all, but the Japanese planes stopped coming, which caused Li Yunlong to lose an opportunity to make a fortune.
Wang Dehou then said: "Battle Commander Chen reported that the 4th Battalion has killed more than 2,000 Japanese soldiers from the 3rd Japanese Brigade."
Li Yunlong raised his head when he heard this, his eyes widened, and his tone was surprised: "What did you say? More than 2,000 Japanese were killed. How many casualties did the 4th Battalion have?"
The expressions of Xing Zhiguo, Zhao Gang and others at the headquarters were also very surprised.
"The casualties of the 4th Battalion were okay," Wang Dehou said. "There were more than 180 casualties. Battalion Commander Chen did not report the specific casualty data in single digits."
"With a casualty ratio of more than ten to one, this guy Chen Dugu did a good job!"
Throwing the magnifying glass on the table, Li Yunlong looked extremely satisfied.
Li Yunlong has led his troops to achieve this casualty ratio many times.
There was even an even more exaggerated casualty ratio of 3600:0, which no one believed.
However, the Fourth Battalion was fighting a positional battle with the Japanese this time, and it took a stance to confront most of the elite Japanese brigade head-on.
Although the Fourth Battalion has the advantage of the terrain, its individual weapons are better than those of the Japanese, and it has sufficient weapons and ammunition, the 3rd Brigade has a mountain artillery brigade, which poses a great threat to the soldiers in the field.
Li Yunlong thought that the casualties of the Japanese and the Fourth Battalion were three to one, which was very good. Unexpectedly, it was more than ten to one, which gave Li Yunlong a big surprise.
"The Fourth Battalion did indeed fight well this time." Zhao Gang nodded and said, "The 3rd Brigade, which suffered more than 2,000 casualties, will not be able to make any trouble even if it reaches Taiyuan."
Li Yunlong said: "Call back to the Fourth Battalion to affirm its performance and ask it to continue blocking the 3rd Brigade. If ammunition is needed to replenish it, you can send a telegram to the headquarters at any time."
"Yes!" Wang Dehou straightened up and drafted a telegram, asking the telegraph operator to send it to the Fourth Battalion immediately.
…
Losing his mind, Masao Miyazaki ordered the artillery to fire gas bombs at the Eighth Route Army positions.
Masao Miyazaki has always disliked the use of gas bombs.
He believed that the use of poison gas bombs by soldiers was a cowardly act and that soldiers should use the spirit of bushido to defeat the enemy.
But this time, Miyazaki Masao had to use poison gas bombs and could not reach Taiyuan. So many soldiers were killed and injured. After this battle, even if he was not ordered to have a caesarean section to apologize, he would at least be dismissed.
As poison gas bombs exploded on the Eighth Route Army's position, the entire position was soon shrouded in poison gas.
Two full squadrons and 100 remnant soldiers, a total of more than 500 Japanese soldiers wearing gas masks, rushed towards the Eighth Route Army position from the attack position.
Just when the Japanese were about to break into the Eighth Route Army's position.
Eighth Route Army wearing a gas mask
Soldiers suddenly appeared one after another, raised their guns and shot at the Japanese.
Under the intensive firepower, the Japanese fell in pieces...
The Japanese army's sixth attack failed, and the Japanese suffered more than 400 casualties.
When the news reached the headquarters of the 358th Regiment, Chu Yunfei was so shocked that he doubted his life. The number of Japs killed was almost 2,500.
He was filled with emotions, and he couldn't help but be secretly frightened when he thought that one day he would have to fight with such troops on the battlefield.
The Japanese attack continued until dark, and the Japanese suffered heavy casualties. The 3rd Brigade was never able to cross Baozi Mountain.
In the subsequent attacks, the Japanese army used the tactic of bombarding with artillery and charging with infantry.
This resulted in considerable casualties for the Fourth Battalion. In the end, the Fourth Battalion suffered more than 400 casualties and killed more than 3,000 Japanese soldiers.
All the artillery shells carried by the artillerymen of the 3rd Brigade were exhausted. They were no longer able to attack and retreated back to Xinzhou City.
Chen Daku wanted to launch a night attack at night, but his plan to kill or capture Major General Masao Miyazaki failed to come true.
The news that the 3rd Brigade was repulsed by a battalion of the Eighth Route Army reached the First Army Headquarters. The angry Lieutenant General Shinozuka Yoshio drew his lieutenant general's sword and chopped into pieces the Taiyuan sand table that the combat staff in front of him had spent great efforts to build. He thought that if Masao Miyazaki were in front of him, he would definitely chop off his head.
Most of the brigade and an artillery brigade were unable to defeat even a single battalion of the Eighth Route Army.
What a waste, what a disgrace to the Imperial Army!
At this time, it had been dark for more than two hours. The Eighth Route Army had occupied the outer city of Taiyuan. The Yoshino Regiment was completely wiped out. The Eighth Route Artillery was using mountain artillery and howitzers to bombard the inner city of Taiyuan.
The Eighth Route Army brought mountain artillery and howitzers to the street, and under the cover of mortars and infantry artillery, aimed at the inner city walls and fired directly.
The roaring sound of artillery seemed to be very close at hand, and the explosion of each howitzer shell caused the strong building of the headquarters to shake slightly.
Yoshio Shinozuka closed his eyes in pain. There was a dull pain in his chest, and there was a stuffy feeling in his mouth that he couldn't spit out.
Perhaps, if we had not coveted an honorable retirement and stayed there until the day of disgraceful retirement, perhaps none of this would have happened.
But it's too late to say anything now.
In the past few days, even Principal Chang who was far away in Shuangqing City was paying attention to the battle situation in Taiyuan.
Principal Chang received information that the Eighth Route Army had occupied the outer city of Taiyuan and was storming the inner city. Principal Chang was shocked.
The Central Army on the Zhongtiao Mountain battlefield suffered consecutive defeats under the command of Minister He, but the Eighth Route Army, led by Li Yunlong, attacked Taiyuan and made great progress.
He stared at the map and was very unconvinced, "Nang Xipi, what's going on with Yoshio Shinozuka?" What are the little devils doing?
The Central Army, the direct line of the little devils who fight against labor and capital, is so fierce, but it is vulnerable to the Eighth Route Army?
