880 Decisive battle, capture the Huting stronghold
Boom——
The violent explosions were heard from the outside of the Huting stronghold to the stronghold headquarters, and reached the heart of the Japanese Major Furukawa, who was increasingly trembling with fear.
"Your Majesty, Major, something bad is going on. The Eighth Route Army is attacking fiercely from all directions. They even have weapons that can directly destroy our artillery towers.
Nearly half of the outer artillery towers of the stronghold have been demolished by the Eighth Route Army!"
"Nani?"
At this moment, Furukawa, who originally thought calmly that even now, with the help of the geographical location and defensive strength of the Huting stronghold, could still ensure a stable tiger halt, was completely panicked.
The turrets built extending from the stronghold to the outside are concrete turrets specially built to deal with the offensive artillery of the New Second Regiment.
Some even add some steel bars during pouring to construct a reinforced concrete structure.
On the one hand, these turrets provide excellent bunkers for machine gunners, and use elevated floors to create the highest firepower design point.
Stationing a certain amount of troops, with sufficient firepower, can completely withstand several or even dozens of times the enemy's attack.
There is nothing more suitable for defense than these dual-purpose turrets.
On the other hand, these turrets extend to the outside line, while ensuring that the wind and grass within a range of nearly 500 meters from the outside line are cleared and fired.
Be alert at any time to raids by Eighth Route Army troops.
In other words, these turrets also serve as guard towers.
Even a fly cannot easily fly into the Huting stronghold.
The Japanese troops in the stronghold will also have a much larger scope for collecting intelligence on the Huting stronghold.
This is also the reason why Li Yunlong devoted himself to demolishing the outer turrets of the Huting stronghold.
But now, even the Japanese concrete turrets are still destroyed by the Eighth Route Army's artillery.
In addition, the entire Huting stronghold has so far not been able to bring in even a drop of water from outside.
The soldiers of the New Second Regiment completely cut off the water supply line of the Japanese and puppet troops in the Huting stronghold.
Even the boreholes of some ancient wells on the outside where the Japanese could hold off on using water were directly blown up by the soldiers.
Furukawa, who was quite panicked, once again ordered the Communications Department to continue to contact the higher headquarters, hoping to receive reinforcements and relieve the crisis of the Huting stronghold being blocked by the Eighth Route Army.
The answer you can get is still: stick to the Hu Stop stronghold and wait for the situation to change!
Reinforcements?
It is impossible to have reinforcements now.
Kong Jie led a detachment and made a scene near the three cities of Yangquan, Shouyang and Tanxian, and the three-stage offensive was fully launched.
The little devil is so busy trying to maintain local security that he has no time to think about anything else.
Plus this winter has an end.
The rarely visited roads in the wild are also covered with snow.
After the Eighth Route Army units, mainly the Independent Regiment, the New First Regiment, and the New Second Regiment, took advantage of the winter to carry out raids on various transportation lines of the Japanese army.
Even if the Japanese reinforcements want to reinforce the Huting stronghold, I'm afraid they can only walk step by step with their feet on the snow and the biting cold wind.
..."Sir, we still have to stick to the command's order!"
The Japanese communications soldier lowered his head and said with a bitter look on his face.
"Hold on, how long do you have to hold on?"
Furukawa asked angrily.
"It will take at least half a month until the heavy snow melts and our army's transportation lines are repaired!" Furukawa murmured.
"But these damn Tuba Road who have completely blocked the stronghold are eager to chew down the Huting stronghold right away. Can they wait half of it?"
The Huting stronghold has completely fallen into a water shortage crisis again...
Facing the Eighth Route Army's advance and attack on the Huting stronghold from four directions, Furuchuan sent reserve troops and artillery troops to reinforce respectively.
In the end, the two sides fought for nearly two hours.
As evening approached, Li Yunlong ordered the attacking soldiers to temporarily stop the attack and temporarily stationed not far from the outer line of the Huting stronghold for repairs.
More than half an hour later, looking at the completely dark sky and the dead silence around the entire stronghold, Furukawa breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that today's stronghold was saved.
He felt a little heavy, and the casualties and losses in today's battle were quickly counted.
The adjutant reported the specific situation to Furukawa: "Major, this battle was unfavorable. Our army suffered heavy losses. The entire Hidewa Squadron was wiped out, with a total of 153 people in pieces.
The cavalry troops, tank squads and subsequent reinforcements of mechanized combat troops suffered heavy casualties, with a total loss of 145 people.
In addition, in the next two hours, the losses suffered by the Eighth Route Army in the battles launched from four directions of our stronghold.
So far, our army has lost nearly 400 people!
In addition, more than 70% of the artillery towers built on the outer lines have been completely destroyed by the Eighth Route Army."
Furukawa was silent after listening to the report, and the number of employees was reduced by nearly 400.
And how many people are there in the entire Huting stronghold of the Imperial Army and Imperial Alliance Army?
Just over a thousand people.
This is equivalent to losing nearly half of the troops.
Coupled with the artillery towers destroyed by the Eighth Route Army on the outside, the entire Huting stronghold is already in danger.
Furukawa, who had a headache, looked at the pitch-black night, and for a moment he didn't know how long he could hold on to the Huting stronghold.
Who knows when the Eighth Route Army will launch its next attack?
What is the next attack method?
It is absolutely unrealistic to expect that this night will be extremely cold and completely freeze those Tuba roads to death.
Those damn Tubal Road fighting will is so tenacious that it’s frightening.
Helpless, Furukawa asked the Communications Department to contact the headquarters of the nearby Ping'an County for the last time, and expressed his determination in the communication:
I swear to live and die with the Huting stronghold, and break the jade to repay the emperor!
It was dawn the next day.
The Japanese Army Headquarters in Pingan County tried to send a reinforcement force in an attempt to reinforce the Huting stronghold. However, they were directly ambushed by the Eighth Route Army troops on the way, and they fled back to Pingan County in embarrassment.
After receiving the news, Furukawa became more and more desperate.
Time flies by.
"Sir, the soldiers have been without water for two days. I'm afraid they won't be able to hold on for much longer!"
"In addition, due to lack of water, many of our war horses are already in health problems!"
The Japanese officer in charge of logistics came to report.
Furukawa shouted: "After the water supply line of the stronghold was cut off by Tubal Road, didn't I ask you to collect the snow in the stronghold nearby as a short-term water supply?"
The logistics officer said helplessly: "Sir, Hu Pavilion is located on a high terrain and has sufficient sunshine. The snow has melted a lot. After we collected the remaining snow, we did not get much water."
At the end, the logistics officer even said with some shame: "Sir... some soldiers are so thirsty that they can't stand it anymore. They are even... even drinking horse urine!"
Humiliation, this is a great humiliation!
Furukawa clenched his fists in annoyance.
"Shui Shui..."
This usually inconspicuous military water supply has become the most troublesome problem at this moment. Even when he said these words, his mouth was so dry that he couldn't even secrete much saliva, and his lips had already been dry due to lightness.
Severe water shortage may cause dryness and cracking.
The terrain of the entire Huting stronghold is too high, and the water seepage is quite serious.
The soldiers even dug dozens of large pits in the stronghold, but there was only some underground soil that was occasionally moist, but no water.
The kid in the stronghold was so thirsty that he almost went crazy.
"What about our food? There is still some moisture in the food, so we can always hold on!" Furukawa asked again.
The logistics officer shook his head: "We have a lot of food in store, but most of it is rice and noodles. These things require water to cook.
As for some vegetables and fruits that contain enough water, they are not in large quantities and have already been eaten up!"
Furukawa was silent for a long time, then he waved his hand and said: "I know, you go ahead! I will think of another way."
"Hi!"
After the officer left, Furukawa was silent for a long time. He looked at the sky, which had remained unchanged for the past few days, and even looked forward to it in his heart.
"It would be great if it rained or even snowed!"
Unfortunately, there is little rain in northwestern Shanxi, and snowfall is not frequent.
It is simply unrealistic for this old devil to expect heavy snow or rain from the sky within three to five days.
God will probably not sympathize with the invaders.
It’s night!
Deciding not to sit still and wait for death, Furukawa took advantage of the night and sent out several troops to sneak out of the stronghold from multiple directions, hoping to get some water.
As a result, they were all ambushed by the Eighth Route Army troops as expected, and suffered heavy casualties.
Looking at some of the troops who fled back in disgrace, Furukawa was angry and helpless at the same time.
These damn Tuba Road, despite the severe cold at night, blocked the entire stronghold.
The soldiers had no chance to break out of the blockade.
Later in the night.
Most of the Japanese and puppet troops in the entire Huting stronghold were already suffering from mild water shortage and fell asleep with exhaustion in their hearts.
Like an experienced and cunning old wolf, Li Yunlong waited patiently for several days and finally gave the order to raid the Huting stronghold at night.
The specific offensive deployment is nothing fancy. It is directly divided into four groups of troops. With the cover of the night, they approach the Huting stronghold in four directions at the same time.
The fighting suddenly broke out around two o'clock in the morning.
Due to the cover of darkness and the fact that most of the enemy's outer artillery towers were destroyed, the ability to alert was greatly reduced. It was not until the Eighth Route Army soldiers from four directions were about to break through the Japanese outer defenses that the Japanese discovered the movement.
At this time, the strength of both sides has already been reversed.
There are only six to seven hundred Japanese and puppet troops left in the entire Huting stronghold.
In addition, the soldiers had been dehydrated for several days, and their mental condition and fighting will were severely damaged.
Li Yunlong was cruel this time and pulled out all the elites from his four battalions, with a total strength of nearly 1,500 people.
In Li Yunlong's words: "No matter the priority, they are all the main attack. Whichever direction is the first to break through the Japanese blockade, I will give him credit!"
Night, big cold, around three o'clock.
Loud charging horns sounded from all directions, completely covering the entire Huting stronghold, and shouts of killing resounded from all directions, echoing back and forth in the ears of the Japanese and puppet troops in the stronghold.
A team headquarters.
The charcoal fire is blazing in the house and the lights are bright.
A large combat map is laid out on the small square table in front of you.
Chief of Staff Xu Guoan, political commissar Li Wenjie, and detachment leader Kong Jie all focused their attention on the Huting stronghold not far from Pingan County.
Xu Guoan rubbed his hands and said, "Old Kong, half an hour ago, news came that the New Second Regiment had launched the final attack on the Huting stronghold.
At this point in time, I estimate that the Huting stronghold has been almost defeated by Lao Li!"
Kong Jie said with a smile: "That's for sure. A few days ago, the Huting stronghold suffered heavy casualties. In addition, after our reinforcements were sent over, they helped the New Second Regiment destroy a large number of artillery towers in the Japanese counties.
It is impossible for the Japanese reinforcements to come over for the time being.
If we still can’t win a small Huting stronghold, then we won’t be the Li Yunlong we know.”
Kong Jie is now concerned about another thing, "Wenjie, how is the contact with the 57th Regiment of the Jinsui Army?"
Li Wenjie nodded and replied: "We have been contacted. According to our information, the 57th Regiment is advancing towards the Huting stronghold under the leadership of its leader Yang Chongshan."
"It seems that everything is going well, so the next step is to wait for the news!" Kong Jie said.
……
At night, it gets colder.
Around 4:30.
The New Second Regiment dispatched the main force of the entire regiment to besiege the Huting stronghold at night. The battle has lasted for more than an hour.
At this point the battle enters its final stages.
The Japanese defenses in the four directions of the Huting stronghold, east, west, north and south, have been completely broken through by the Eighth Route Army's offensive troops.
The remaining Japanese troops retreated to the central area of the Huting stronghold and finally resisted.
The enemy is in the open and we are in the dark.
Li Yunlong was not polite at all, and directly ordered the artillery troops of the New Second Regiment to be pulled over, conducted several rounds of artillery bombardment at the last resisting Japanese army, and then launched the final charge.
The battle lasted less than 30 minutes and was completely over.
All remaining Japanese enemies were wiped out, and more than 100 puppet troops directly chose to surrender.
Furukawa, the old Japanese soldier, saw that the Huting stronghold could not hold on and that the situation was over. While dispatching the blocking troops, he also arranged several small teams to deliberately burn the military supplies and food stored in the Huting stronghold.
In addition, he ordered that all guns and ammunition, including artillery squadron artillery, be blown up in a concentrated manner.
This is what little devils always do.
We would rather burn and blow up the supplies than leave them to the Eighth Route Army.
Fortunately, Li Yunlong had already anticipated this situation.
Just as Li Yunlong said at the pre-war meeting: "Son of a bitch is hard to deal with. If he burns our ammunition and supplies before he dies, won't my work be in vain?
Therefore, once I break through the Japanese blockade and break into the Huting stronghold, each company will arrange a platoon for me in advance.
What are you doing?
Focus specifically on the Japanese supplies, ammunition and warehouses, and take the lead in attacking.
We must get rid of the little Japs before they burn supplies and ammunition."
That's it.
Although the little devil's movements are very fast, the soldiers' movements are also not slow.
After Furukawa's order was finally issued, the Japanese had not yet had time to complete the destruction of supplies, ammunition and artillery.
It only progressed part of the way, and then was stopped by the soldiers who quickly killed them.
At the end of the battle, Li Yunlong went straight to the artillery of the Japanese artillery unit that he had been thinking about.
It turned out that only the last two regiment guns, plus two infantry guns, were left. The others were all blown up by the Japs. The distressed Lao Li cursed...