Northwest Shanxi.
In the new Second Regiment defense area, Erdaohezi is the main defense point of the defense area.
Attacking along Erdaohezi was the Japanese 21st Division.
The 21st Division was a division composed of three infantry regiments formed together with the 15th, 17th, 22nd, and 23rd Divisions on April 4, 1938 (Showa 13) after the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War.
The division commander is Lieutenant General Tanaka Kuichi, who led his troops to attack Nakajo Mountain a few months ago.
The original plan of the base camp was to integrate the 21st Division into the Southern Army. However, due to the heavy losses of the First Army, the division continued to fight in the North China Front.
Before the war started, Tanaka Jiuichi's tone was very arrogant: eliminate the Eighth Route New Second Regiment within three days and capture the regiment leader Ding Wei alive.
In Tanaka Jiuichi's view, his arrogance makes sense.
When the Japanese army attacked Zhongtiao Mountain with 100,000 troops from five divisions, it took only one month to defeat the 170,000-strong Central Army.
But this time, the 21st and 35th second-line divisions attacked one regiment of the Eighth Route Army. Isn’t that easy to catch?
The same regiment, Lieutenant General Tanaka Jiuichi recognized the strong combat effectiveness of the new regiment of the Eighth Route Army. The frontal attack severely damaged the 36th Division and killed the division commander Jingguan Ren.
In that battle, even if the 36th Division was replaced by the 21st Division, the result might not change much.
But this is only the new second group, not the new first group.
Looking at the defensive position of the New Second Regiment on the other side, Tanaka Jiuichi sneered. Li Yunlong and the New First Regiment would not be able to fight for much longer.
By the time the Locust Army of the 21st and 35th Divisions had eliminated the New Second Regiment, the 23rd and 25th Divisions had eliminated the Independent Regiment.
By then, the new regiment will be surrounded by five elite divisions of the Locust Army.
Coupled with General Okamura's iron-rolling sweep, the Eighth Route Army Li Yunlong and the New Regiment will surely be severely damaged or even wiped out.
In the final analysis, Okamura Neji's real goal is to eliminate Li Yunlong and the New First Regiment. The Independent Regiment and the New Second Regiment are just a matter of convenience.
If Yan Laoxi did not transfer the 358th Regiment back to Kenanpo for rest, the 358th Regiment would also be eliminated together.
At the 21st Division Headquarters, the furious Tanaka Jiu drew out his command sword and cut off the small table in front of him.
"fire!"
As he gave the order, the artillery regiment in the rear opened fire.
Tanaka Jiuichi's style of play has always been violent. He did not test the attack and used artillery fire to destroy the Eighth Route Army's body and will.
Boom boom boom…
The 51st Regiment of the Japanese Mountain Artillery began the artillery bombardment. The muzzle fireworks flickered in the wind and almost connected together.
Artillery shells streaked across the sky, drawing beautiful arcs, and hit the position of the New Second Regiment on the other side of the river.
The 51st Mountain Artillery Regiment is equipped with 12 105mm howitzers and 24 75mm mountain cannons. The artillery firepower is very powerful.
In just a few minutes, the New Second Regiment's position by the river was engulfed in flames.
"Yoshi!"
Looking at the tragic scene of the Eighth Route Army's position in the field of vision of the telescope, Tanaka Jiuichi smiled with satisfaction.
"attack!"
Subsequently, Tanaka Jiuichi sent a squadron of Japanese troops and a battalion of puppet troops, preparing to wade across the river and occupy the position of the New Second Regiment.
The bridge over the Erdao River has been blown up by Ding Wei's order, but the river is not deep and one can wade across the river without a boat.
Grenadier soldiers and machine gunners set up firepower cover on the other side of the river, while Japanese riflemen entered the river with rifles.
Type 97 mortars and Type 92 infantry guns were set up by the Japanese to provide artillery support to the infantry at any time.
Not long after, a puppet infantry stepped on an S mine in the river. With a loud bang, seven or eight puppet soldiers around him screamed and fell into the river.
The weapons and ammunition given by Boss Chen are not all American equipment. Among them are German-style big guns and S mines, and the rest are American-style equipment.
Ding Wei ordered S mines to be buried in the river.
The other Japs seemed not to notice and continued to cross the river with their rifles in hand.
Although the puppet soldiers were scared to death, with a gun pointed at their backs, they had no choice but to move forward. Whether they survived could only depend on luck.
But then more Japanese and puppet soldiers stepped on landmines one after another. With the banging and banging, the river water was soon dyed red, and the remaining Japanese continued to cross the river.
By the time the Japanese and puppet troops came ashore, dozens of people had been killed and injured under the mine array at the bottom of the river.
Soon, the Japanese squadron leader led the Japanese and puppet troops to the river bank and arrived at the position of the New Second Regiment. During this period, they were not attacked except for landmines.
Arriving at the trench position of the New Second Regiment, the Japanese squadron leader opened an Eighth Route Army corpse and found that it was a dummy.
The Japanese squadron leader's face immediately changed: "Baga, this is a trap..."
Before he could finish his words, the sound of machine gunfire as dense as exploding beans rang in his ears.
The gunshot was not far away, but it came very suddenly.
The moment the gunfire rang out, a large number of Japanese and puppet troops fell down. At least a dozen heavy machine guns were firing wildly at the position.
The Japanese squadron leader turned around and ran away, and the Japanese soldiers also turned around and ran away. The puppet soldiers moved faster than the Japanese, and even ran in front of the Japanese.
The Japs' movements slowed down a beat, and in an instant, more than a dozen Japs were shot and killed on the false position.
More than 20 60mm mortars from the New Second Regiment began firing rapidly. Explosions continued to rise among the crowd of Japanese and puppet soldiers, harvesting the lives of the Japanese and puppet soldiers.
"Chew, gnaw, gnaw, gnaw..."
The beautiful sound of the American heavy machine gun continued to scream wildly.
The Japs who turned around and ran back were always exposed to machine gun fire. In addition, during the process of crossing the river, the Japs and puppet troops stepped on a mine in the river and were shelled by 60mm mortars.
The Japanese and puppet troops were completely targeted.
Tanaka Kuichi, who saw this scene in the field of telescope, angrily put the telescope on the ground:
"Order the artillery regiment to remove the firepower points of the 8th Route!"
Those ordinary little dirt bags dozens of meters away from the Eighth Route Army's position turned out to be Eighth Route Army bunkers.
Each small earth bag is tens of meters apart, and a bunker is a machine gun fire point.
More than a dozen heavy machine guns in more than a dozen bunkers and mortars from unknown locations in the distance opened fire at the same time, knocking down the troops trying to attack one by one.
"Hi!"
The communications captain quickly sent the order.
The Japanese artillery regiment immediately shelled the bunker.
But it is a pity that the maximum caliber of the artillery wing's cannon is only 105 mm, which cannot destroy these small bunkers at all.
Under intensive firepower, only nearly 100 of the nearly 600 attacking troops returned.
Not long after, the furious Tanaka ordered a bombardment and then ordered the soldiers to launch a second attack on the Eighth Route Bunker.
…
Independent regimental defense area.
The Japanese 23rd and 25th divisions were responsible for attacking the independent regiment's defense area.
Like Tanaka Kuichi, the 23rd Division Commander Nishihara Kanji and the 25th Division Commander Akashiba Yaezo did not take the independent regiment seriously at all.
The Eighth Route Army is just a regiment, not a new one. How strong can it be? Can it defeat two elite divisions of the Locust Army?
The division commander is so arrogant, and the Japs below are even more arrogant.
These two divisions are the elite divisions of the Kwantung Army. They have been in Manchuria for a long time. From the division commanders to the soldiers, they are all arrogant and do not pay attention to other Eighth Route Army units except the New Regiment.
Big ditch.
This is the only way to enter the independent regiment base area.
There are loess hillsides on both sides, and the road passes through the bottom of the ditch.
Although the terrain here is not dangerous, it is the focus of the independent regiment's defense.
Because Kong Jie improved the tunnel and anti-slope tactics provided by Boss Chen.
He ordered tunnels to be dug in the mountains on both sides of the road, machine gun shooting holes were poured with reinforced concrete, and then blocked with stones to make the appearance invisible.
The person commanding this battle was Shen Quan, the second battalion commander of the independent regiment.
He ordered the Japanese scouts and search teams to be released.
Arrogant be arrogant, the Japanese would not joke with their own lives. The scouts and search team went to the top of the mountain and searched carefully before continuing forward.
Because this terrain is the Eighth Route Army's favorite ambush terrain.
After the Japanese scouts and search teams passed by, they were followed by the large Japanese troops. Since the Japanese reconnaissance troops had searched once, the Japanese who entered later were not at all wary.
Not long after, a large group of more than a thousand Japanese soldiers marched into Dajinggou.
Following Shen Quan's order on the walkie-talkie.
The bricks blocking the shooting holes were removed by the soldiers or pushed away gently, and then there was a dense firecracker-like sound of shooting.
More than sixty light and heavy machine guns were shooting at the Japs in the ditch at this moment, and a dense rain of bullets poured down on the Japs without any warning.
Boom boom boom…
Continuous rapid explosions sounded in the ditch.
"Ahhh!" Second Battalion Commander Shen Quan yelled while firing an M2 heavy machine gun at the Japanese in the ditch.
Wherever the bullets passed, blood mist continued to splash, and the Japanese were interrupted.
A large group of Japanese soldiers were completely unable to fight back under the fire of more than 60 light and heavy machine guns from 360 degrees without blind angle.
After nearly half an hour of fierce fighting, all the Japanese in this brigade were wiped out.
The 23rd Division and the 25th Division now woke up and finally knew that the guy named Kong Jie and the Eighth Route Independent Regiment under his command were not easy to deal with.
Nishihara Kanji and Akashiba Yaezou originally thought that the Independent Regiment of the Eighth Route Army could be easily defeated by just one regiment. However, they killed the 2nd Infantry Brigade of the 23rd Division as soon as they exchanged fire, and the independent regiment suffered very few casualties.
On the first day of the Japanese attack, it was the Independent Regiment that achieved the greatest results.
…
"Nani?"
"On the first day of the attack, the Locust Army suffered more than 2,300 casualties?"
When the news reached the North China Front Army Headquarters, Okamura Neiji suddenly stood up and looked at the communications staff officer who reported the news.
The old Japanese had guessed that the attack of each division might not go smoothly, but he did not expect that the Locust Army would suffer such heavy losses.
"Hi!"
The communications staff officer lowered his head and handed over the telegram in his hand, and said: "The 10th Division suffered more than 900 casualties, the 21st Division suffered more than 400 casualties, and the 3rd Brigade of the 64th Regiment of the 23rd Division was all in pieces!"
Okamura Neiji frowned and asked: "The entire infantry brigade is shattered. What's going on?"
The current communication staff officer told Neji Okamura the process of annihilating the 3rd Battalion of the 64th Regiment.
idiot!
Ding Wei, Kong Jie, I underestimate you!
These two little-known little-known captains actually caused such huge losses to the Locust Army.
However, how can a mantis arm be used as a chariot, how can a cricket fly shake a tree, the Independent Regiment and the New Second Regiment are not the New Regiment after all.
Four divisions of the Locust Army are attacking. I don’t believe that they can’t wipe out just two regiments?
