The Japanese reinforcements of the 1st Division were rushing towards Datong day and night.
The Eighth Route Army in each military region received orders to lay landmines, blow up bridges, and use various methods to delay Japanese reinforcements.
After noon.
Kong Jie sent four more battalions into Datong City and started street-by-house fighting with the Japanese 1st Division.
The Eighth Route Army made a posture of annihilating the 1st Division.
The battle was extremely fierce and soon reached a fever pitch.
Every house and street outside Datong City became a battlefield for the Eighth Route Army and the Japanese Army.
The sound of explosions and intensive gunfire were as constant as popping beans and firecrackers.
Sometimes, the living room was captured by the Eighth Route Army, but the kitchen was still in the hands of the Japanese.
Street fighting is the most difficult battle, and the soldiers on both sides have a tenacious will to fight.
The houses and streets outside Datong turned into a meat grinder, with heavy casualties on both sides.
Street fighting is often a contest of willpower between the enemy and ourselves.
After some cities are captured, the defending army will quickly collapse, while other cities can engage in brutal street fighting.
One of the very important reasons is that the defending army is not elite and their willpower is not strong enough, so they are not even qualified to participate in street fighting.
The Japanese 1st Division is obviously one of the most elite units of the Japanese army.
Although the main force of the 1st Division was wiped out by the Eighth Route Army in northwest Shanxi, the two newly added regiments were also elite troops.
The Japanese army in Datong has a strong will to fight.
The Japanese 1st Division turned the entire Datong City into a fortress. The squad fought for themselves and the people fought for themselves.
Every house and every window may be a Japanese fortification and shooting point. The Eighth Route Army conducted house-by-house inspections, otherwise they might face bullets fired from behind.
Although in the street fighting, the Eighth Route Army's superiority in troops and weapons could not be used.
However, in the ordinary training of the Eighth Route Army, street fighting is a key training subject, especially among the veterans of the New Second Regiment and the Independent Regiment. Many of them are veterans with street fighting experience.
In addition, the soldiers are equipped with submachine guns and semi-automatic rifles, giving them a certain advantage in firepower.
However, the advantage of the Japanese army is that they are on the defensive side.
The two sides launched a high-level street battle outside Datong City.
As darkness fell, both sides in the street fighting suffered casualties on each other, and the casualties were not small. There was a tacit understanding between the Eighth Route Army and the Japanese army not to continue fighting.
Street fighting is a mess. If we continue to fight in the dark, both sides will accidentally injure their own people.
…
Jinzhong area.
Taigu.
Last year, Li Yunlong led his troops along the Baijin Line and quietly marched north to capture Taiyuan, killing the commander of the First Army, Yoshio Shinozuka.
After the new commander of the First Army, Yoshio Iwamatsu, took office, the old Japanese did not want to follow in the footsteps of Yoshio Shinozuka.
So he ordered the construction of a large number of defensive positions in the Taigu area, and ordered the 14th Brigade and the 18th Brigade to be stationed for a long time.
The Eighth Route Army was guarding the southeast of Shanxi from moving north. As for the Baijin Railway, it had already been occupied by the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army.
After the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army occupied the Baijin Railway, they did not remove the tracks. Instead, they often sent engineers to maintain them.
Later, the Eighth Route Army regained Taiyuan, Yangquan and Shouyang, as well as the Zhengtai Railway.
This Baijin Railway is the link between central Shanxi and southeastern Shanxi.
The Eighth Route Army needed a rear area. If the Japanese troops in North China counterattacked and reoccupied Taiyuan, Yangquan, and Shouyang, the troops could transport materials and equipment from Taiyuan and other places back to southeastern Shanxi along the Baijin Railway.
The Eighth Route Army's left attack group, led by the commander of the Eighth Route Army's 129th Division, arrived at the Japanese defense line before dark.
This time, the main force of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army going north was divided into three attack groups: left, middle and right.
The left attack group has a total of more than 60,000 people, carrying one 105mm howitzer regiment and three 75mm mountain artillery regiments.
At noon during the day, Japanese bombers came for a bombing, targeting the artillery units of the left attack group.
Several mountain artillery pieces were blown up by Japanese planes, and one of the Japanese bombers was shot down by the air defense forces, causing losses to both sides.
The artillery units of the Eighth Route Army's left, center and right attack group were also bombed by Japanese aircraft, but the losses were not significant.
The Japanese army may have felt that the Eighth Route Army's march north did not really intend to attack the First Army, so the Japanese aircraft did not come to continue bombing the Eighth Route Army's artillery units in the afternoon.
In the headquarters of the left attack force.
It wasn't dark yet.
The division's security personnel have set up a temporary headquarters.
The combat staff quickly laid out the map, the telecommunications soldiers quickly set up the radio, and the walkie-talkie soldiers began to debug the walkie-talkies.
"Reporting to the division commander, all regiments and brigades have entered attack positions. Do you want to launch a probing attack against the enemy?"
Inside the headquarters, the division chief of staff reported to Division Commander Liu and asked.
Although the left attack group is also under the command of Li Yunlong, the division commander has great autonomy.
Because the left attack group also provided cover and assists, the division commander led the main force of the 60,000 Eighth Route Army northward along Baijin Road, not intending to attack Taiyuan.
At present, the Japanese army's defense against Taiyuan is still very strong.
It is impossible to recapture the current Taiyuan with only the main force of 60,000 Eighth Route Army and four artillery regiments.
Therefore, the left attack group may or may not attack the Japanese army.
The division commander narrowed his eyes and asked, "Have the positions of the artillery units been set up?"
"The cannons of the four artillery regiments have all been set up and can fire at the Japanese positions at any time." The chief of staff nodded.
"Where are the 60mm mortars, 82mm mortars and 70mm infantry guns in each regiment and brigade? Have they been set up?" the division commander asked.
The Eighth Route Army Arsenal in southeastern Shanxi has 60mm mortar and 70mm infantry gun production lines.
After more than a year of overtime production by arsenal personnel, each main infantry regiment of the 129th Division now has an artillery battalion, equipped with at least 12 60mm mortars and 70mm infantry cannons.
Some elite units, such as the 772nd Regiment, are even equipped with 82mm mortars and 75mm mountain cannons.
The division commander is very satisfied with the main artillery firepower of the 129th Division.
"Not yet." The chief of staff asked doubtfully, "According to the combat plan, we are not covering and feinting, so the troops have not made an offensive posture."
The division commander said: "That's nonsense. Who said we can't attack when we cover and feint?"
"Immediately order all regiments and brigades to set up mortars and infantry artillery, and give the Japanese positions a round of artillery fire first."
"Then order each unit to launch a probing attack to expose the enemy's firepower."
"Finally, order mortars, infantry artillery, mountain artillery and howitzers to fire at the Japanese positions together."
"Someone has reimbursed us ammunition. What a great opportunity for artillery combat, we can't waste it!"
The Eighth Route Army arsenal in southeastern Shanxi only has a production line for 75mm mountain cannons. After more than a year of production and storage, even if the Eighth Route Army now has more than ten 75mm artillery regiments, the shells of the 75mm mountain cannons are enough.
However, there is no production line for 105mm artillery shells. The 105 howitzers of the 129th Division will not be used until the critical moment.
However, the commander-in-chief of this battle was Li Yunlong, and Boss Chen reimbursed the artillery shells.
Boss Chen has already said that even if the Eighth Route Army consumes 1 million tons of artillery shells in this battle, he will reimburse them.
Since the artillery regiments of the 129th Division were established, there have been only a few opportunities to go to the battlefield.
Moreover, there were no opportunities to reimburse ammunition in the previous few times. With such a good opportunity this time, how could the division commander miss it?
Naturally, we had to open up the cannon and let the Japanese army have a taste of the shells.
The division chief of staff asked: "Then division commander, how long will we test the artillery strike?"
The teacher said calmly: "Just half an hour."
"yes!"
"Master!"
The division chief of staff straightened up, turned around and went to deliver the order.
As the order from the division headquarters was issued, the mortars and infantry artillery of each brigade and regiment of the 129th Division were quickly set up.
"This is the division headquarters, shelling for half an hour!"
"Listen to my unified command and fire at the enemy's position!"
The division chief of staff gave a unified order to fire on the walkie-talkie.
As soon as he finished speaking, the division commander stepped on the ladder and saw dense ballistic trajectories suddenly appearing in the dim sky ahead.
At least 500 mortars and infantry guns opened fire on the Japanese positions.
Boom boom boom…
Not long after, the sound of continuous explosions rumbled to the headquarters.
In the sight of the division commander's artillery mirror, the defensive positions of the Japanese 14th Brigade and the 18th Brigade were suddenly plunged into smoke and fire.
At the beginning, the Japanese artillery troops still had a little counterattack, and they wanted to have an artillery battle with the Eighth Route Army's artillery troops.
But soon the Japanese artillery force was defeated. In terms of artillery firepower, the Japanese artillery force was no match at all.
At this moment, the soldiers of the 129th Division looked at the Japanese artillery positions with their heads held high, expressions of joy on their faces.
Seeing the Japanese being bombed, the soldiers felt very unhappy.
And all the soldiers knew that this was just dessert before the meal, and there was a big meal waiting for the Japanese behind.
The four artillery regiments of the Eighth Route Army have not yet opened fire on the Japanese positions. They have only fired mortars and infantry artillery.
Half an hour later, the Japanese on the battlefield were stunned by the explosion.
At this time, the infantry of the Eighth Route Army began to launch a tentative attack on the positions of the Japanese 14th Brigade and the 18th Brigade.
Soon, the Japanese artillery and machine gun firepower points were all exposed under the test of the Eighth Route Army infantry.
The artillery observers quickly communicated the enemy's firepower points to the rear artillery positions using walkie-talkies.
Since it was a probing attack, the Eighth Route Army's infantry casualties were not heavy.
As the probing offensive troops withdrew, the four artillery regiments and all mortars and infantry artillery were ready to cover the Japanese firepower area with artillery fire.
"Division Commander, how long will this artillery strike last?" the division chief of staff asked.
"Leave half of the base number of shells and shoot out the rest!" the division commander said in a cold voice.
"Only half the base of artillery shells are left?" The chief of staff was suddenly startled and advised, "Division commander, can we survive? If the Japanese army launches a counterattack, we will not have enough artillery shells to deal with the Japanese."
This time, the division commander's left attack force carried three bases of artillery shells.
Enough artillery troops to bombard the Japanese positions for several hours.
The division chief of staff had never fought such a rich battle in his life, so he immediately hesitated.
"I'm so jealous, I'll send a report to Li Yunlong tomorrow morning and ask him to call us for an airdrop of supplies."
The division commander's tone was decisive: "Execute the order!"
"Yes!" The division chief of staff heard this and suddenly grinned, "Commander, our 129th Division has never fought such a rich battle!"
The teacher smiled slightly, where did he go? (End of chapter)
