...Army Command Headquarters of the 11th Infantry Regiment of the 26th Division of the Mongolian Army.
The commander of the regiment, Hiramura Masaaki, was roaring angrily. He was so angry that he was about to go crazy. He originally thought that this time going south to unite the First Army to deal with the Eighth Route Army troops in the Taihang base area would be smooth sailing and they would achieve great success.
However, after arriving at the defense area of the Iron Triangle of the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army.
Everything has changed, completely opposite to what he expected.
First, the two cavalry regiments that were the first to advance were the first to fall into the iron triangle base area.
He originally thought this was just an accident. Although the cavalry unit had a higher mobility advantage, its firepower configuration was still far behind that of the elite infantry.
Perhaps he fell into a trick of the Eighth Route Army and fell into a trap in the rugged and difficult mountainous area.
Wait until he leads his elite 11th Regiment and officially enters the defense zone of the Iron Triangle.
He had thought that it would be easy for an elite infantry regiment like his own, which belonged to the Kwantung Army, to defeat those Eighth Route Army troops with backward equipment and scarce ammunition.
In the end, it was just a face-to-face confrontation.
Colonel Hiramura was completely stunned.
——The rifles are Type 38, medium and formal, or even American-made Garand semi-automatic rifles; the machine guns are mounted with crooked handles, Czech style, or even American M1 light machine guns; the heavy machine guns used by others are 92
type, and even an M2 heavy machine gun.
Small-caliber artillery, such as 50-meter mortars and 60-meter mortars, are directly assigned to squad platoons, as well as submachine guns, rifle grenades, and sniper rifles.
The firepower of the imperial troops pressed him almost from beginning to end.
When the company was established, even equipment such as the Type 82 mortar and the Type 92 infantry gun were pulled out.
If the people opposite were not wearing uniforms of the Eighth Route Army, Pingcun would have even suspected that this was an absolutely elite unit of the Central Army in the National Army, secretly pretending to be an Eighth Route Army unit.
Is this the Eighth Route Army with backward equipment?
As for the impression that the Eighth Route Army's ammunition is scarce, it is even called the Three Guns Tubal Army.
Many Eighth Route Army troops, even the main combat troops, carry very little ammunition per person. Even the Eighth Route Army's light and heavy machine guns have very limited bullets, and they often dare not unleash firepower at will on the battlefield.
However, the current situation is.
At the beginning of the confrontation between the two sides, the Eighth Route Army on the opposite side fired light and heavy machine guns, roaring wildly, and the artillery shells on the opposite side continued to bombard the Japanese camp as if they were free.
Are they still the Eighth Route Army?
What the hell, the Eighth Route Army!!!
After just over an hour of confrontation, the front-line troops made preliminary casualty statistics and made reports. The vanguard troops suffered more than 200 casualties.
Hearing this, Pingcun felt his heart bleed.
He believed that this was all the fault of the First Army. The development of the equipment of the Eighth Route Army was definitely inseparable from the First Army and the Security Army stationed in Shanxi.
"These stupid guys, they have been stationed in Shanxi for so many years and have been dealing with the Eighth Route Army troops in the occupied areas.
But in the end, instead of being able to eliminate these Eighth Route Army, they actually allowed these Eighth Route Army to develop their equipment to such a terrifying level, they are simply a bunch of incompetent trash!"
As time went by, the fighting between the two sides quickly intensified.
At this time, the so-called reinforcements of the 11th Regiment of the Mongolian Army heading south seemed like a joke.
It's more like his 11th Regiment just blindly plunged into the trap of the Eighth Route Army's 386th Brigade Iron Triangle.
While Colonel Hiramura was fighting with fear, he also realized that if this powerful Eighth Route Army unit was not eliminated in time, it would definitely become a serious problem for the empire.
As a warrior of the empire, he mustered up the courage to continue to fight the enemy tenaciously. At the same time, he contacted the headquarters of the First Army, hoping that the 3rd, 9th, and 16th brigades nearby the battlefield could be reinforced in time to cooperate with his troops to eliminate these Eighth Route Army irons.
Triangle Force.
The result was good, they didn’t come at all.
Not a single troop came.
The commander of the Third Mixed Brigade, Ishikawa Brigade, even clamored to unite with the other two mixed brigades to destroy the 385th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army in one fell swoop.
Then...
Three mixed brigades fell directly into the base of the Eighth Route Army's 385th Brigade. Instead of being able to eliminate the Eighth Route Army, they fell into a quagmire and even shamefully asked the headquarters for help.
"If Major General Ishikawa could adopt my suggestion, unite with our troops, and take the lead in eliminating the Eighth Route Army troops in this iron triangle, how could we end up in this situation?"
Hiramura cursed angrily and put all the blame on Ishikawa.
Then another news came.
The First Army Headquarters issued an order for the evacuation of the entire army.
As an escape expert, Ishikawa may not have performed well when attacking the Eighth Route Army, but during the evacuation, he was a blockbuster.
He directly left other combat troops at a distance, took the lead with the main force of his third brigade, and retreated to the nearest county.
Subsequently, the 9th and 16th Brigades also ran away.
However, the 11th Regiment of the Mongolian Army was left behind. The two sides did not even say hello, nor did they say they were advancing or retreating together.
As the three major mixed brigades of the Japanese army took the lead in withdrawing, pressure from all sides of the Eighth Route Army came, all of which fell on the troops stationed in Mongolia heading south.
Pingcun was beaten so hard that he almost couldn't breathe.
..."General, if it weren't for the incompetence of the 39th and 16th mixed brigades, if they could withdraw from the 385th brigade base area in time and join forces with our troops to take the lead in defeating the Iron Triangle of the Eighth Route Army, how could this battle have been defeated in such a confusing manner?
Their First Army withdrew as soon as they wanted, and they did not care about the life and death of our troops stationed in Mongolia.
General, our unit is now surrounded by the Eighth Route Army!"
Pingcun, who was full of anger and depression, naturally had no way to complain to the First Army Headquarters, so he directly contacted the 26th Division Headquarters and complained directly to his old superior, Lieutenant General Harem Jun, the division commander of the 26th Division.<
/p>
Harem Chun was furious.
Send your own troops to reinforce your First Army. It’s okay if your First Army fails to fight well and fails to cooperate with our 11th Regiment to defeat the Eighth Route Army.
With no regard for the lives of their allies, the 3rd, 9th, and 16th brigades suddenly chose to evacuate.
Almost at the same time that the three major brigades of the First Army were trying to evacuate to the nearest county, the 11th Regiment of the Mongolian Army and two cavalry units were still trying to move closer to the third brigade! p>
Isn’t this a typical example of selling teammates?
When he thought of this, Lieutenant General Harem Jun, who was full of anger, couldn't care so much anymore. When he talked to the commander of the First Army, Yoshio Shinozuka, he no longer even cared about Yoshio Shinozuka's face and severely reprimanded the Third Brigade.
Ishikawa and others from the group.
Just after Yoshio Shinozuka comforted Harem Jun with his kind words, and said that he would definitely assist the 11th Regiment in its strategic transformation.
The senior officers at all levels in his First Army also completely quarreled.
Ishikawa heard that Pingcun was the first to complain, and that he had complained to the headquarters. It was not a bad thing, so he immediately complained to the headquarters.
He also said that if it were not for the fact that the combat effectiveness of the troops stationed in Mongolia was really exhausted and they were unable to stop the Iron Triangle troops, they would have seen the Iron Triangle troops detour back to the back of the 385th Brigade.
The 39th and 16th Brigades would not be attacked from both sides during the evacuation, resulting in heavy casualties.
The two sides just complained to each other, and Yoshio Shinozuka was at a loss for a while.
Immediately afterwards, the two sides attacked each other with guns and sticks.
I don’t know who it was, but suddenly the 36th Division was also included in the camp being criticized.
I believe that if the 36th Division had not fought ineffectively this time, not only had it failed to take the lead in destroying the Huangyadong Arsenal of the Eighth Route Army as planned and encircling the point for reinforcements, but it had also been beaten back by the Eighth Route Army and retreated first.
This battle would not have been so miserable.
After learning about this incident, the commander of the 36th Division of the Japanese Army, Jingguan Ren, was also very angry. This was really an unreasonable disaster.
"These bastards, after all, were defeated by the Eighth Route Army. How can they have the face to accuse others? There is an old saying in China: Fifty steps to laugh at a hundred steps.
It’s just self-deception and self-humiliation.”
At this time, the senior officers of the Japanese army were quarreling fiercely.
The blame game is passed on to each other, and no one wants to take the blame for this defeat.
The Japanese and puppet troops, mainly composed of the Japanese 3rd, 9th, and 16th mixed brigades, quickly withdrew from the 385th brigade base area and retreated to some nearby counties, towns and towns until they could not hold on.
The soldiers did not continue the pursuit and launched a forcible offensive. They only temporarily blocked the Japanese and puppet troops in counties and towns.
It’s night!
The Japanese and puppet troops guarding the city were on tenterhooks, fearing that the Eighth Route Army would attack the city at night, so throughout the night, the Japanese in the county and the puppet city defenders basically did not dare to sleep a wink, and kept guarding the city gate fortifications.
It was not until dawn the next day that the Eighth Route Army did not launch a night attack, and the Japanese and puppet troops breathed a sigh of relief.
Unexpectedly, just after dawn, the headquarters of each city received news that Shimen and HD were suddenly in emergency. A large number of main combat troops of the Eighth Route Army appeared under the city and were forcibly attacking the city.
At the First Army Headquarters, Yoshio Shinozuka was also shocked when he learned about this. He could not figure out how the main force of the Eighth Route Army, which was still near Yangquan, disappeared overnight.
They crossed the heavily guarded Yangquan and took a detour back to Shimen and HD.
Just a few days ago, a large number of offensive troops from the Eighth Route Army suddenly appeared near Licheng, the base camp of the 36th Division.
This made the Japanese army immediately vigilant, believing that the Eighth Route Army would probably attack Li City with a tactic that would completely overturn the situation of the war.
As a result, a large number of Japanese troops advanced towards Licheng to defend Licheng.
The military value of Licheng is too important. Once Licheng is lost, it will be a fatal blow to the 36th Division.
The remaining main force of the 36th Division stationed in Changzhi also moved closer to Licheng.
But who could have expected that at this juncture, the Eighth Route Army would feint a shot and instead of attacking Licheng first, they would launch an attack on Shimen and HD.
As for how the main force of the Eighth Route Army bypassed the heavily defended Yangquan and appeared in HD and Shimen.
On the one hand, this is naturally because a large number of the main forces of the Japanese army were deployed to deal with the Taihang base area, resulting in a lack of troops in the rear area.
On the other hand, I have to thank the Yangquan Iron Triangle - Kawashima, Qian Dekai, and Miki Ichiro.
Since the private business dealings with the Eighth Route Army troops, the one who has made the most money is the Yangquan Iron Triangle.
The phenomenon of tightness at the front and tightness at the rear is most vividly reflected in the hands of these three talents.
Even the First Army launched such a large-scale operation against the Eighth Route Army troops in the Taihang base area.
In Yangquan.
The private business dealings between the Yangquan Iron Triangle and the Eighth Route Army have not been interrupted.
Especially at this juncture.
What is this called? Once the war breaks out, there will be ten thousand taels of gold.
Since the rapid rise of the Yangquan Iron Triangle, and the fact that other Japanese and puppet army officers in Yangquan were quickly joined in the complicit camp, the entire Yangquan has basically fallen under the control of this group.
In addition, the main force of the field army was transferred to the Eighth Route Army base area to fight.
When the Eighth Route Army sent a businessman who had frequent contact with Qian Dekai and his party to express that a caravan wanted to pass the checkpoint, the three people from Kawashima agreed without any hesitation.
As a result, the soldiers successfully passed the Yangquan blockade, then passed through Jinzhong, and quickly detoured back to HD, near Shimen.
In addition, before the battle between Shimen and HD, the Eighth Route Army was naturally prepared.
The Eighth Route Army troops in Jizhong had already learned the news in advance, including Ding Wei's old unit Jizhong 28th Regiment, which had close contacts with a team, and also participated in the war.
What are you doing?
The troops in central Hebei suddenly launched a large-scale attack and even took the initiative to attack the Japanese security area.
This abnormal action of the Eighth Route Army troops in central Hebei made the Japanese army quickly alert. The Japanese field army stationed near Shimen immediately transported combat troops to the central Hebei area through the convenient transportation line of the Zhengtai Railway to prevent the Eighth Route Army from causing chaos. As a result, several military trains were traveling in the middle of the road and were blasted by the Eighth Route Army troops who were secretly ambushing them in the middle of the night. The railway tracks were directly blown up.
Then, before the reinforcing Japanese troops successfully arrived at the Eighth Route Army base area in central Hebei, they received an emergency telegram saying that a mobile unit of the Eighth Route Army had appeared in the direction of Shimen, the base camp, and was attacking the city.
The little devils panicked and realized that they had fallen into the Eighth Route Army's plan to divert the tiger away from the mountain.
After the train and rails were repaired in a hurry, I was ready to go all the way back, but on the way I discovered that a large number of rails were missing along the way.
These damn Eighth Route Army's night raid operations caused the Zhengtai Railway to be paralyzed again.
The Japanese officer leading the team was so angry that his eyes were on fire. Before he could give the order for the soldiers to leave the train carriage, the sound of artillery broke the dead silence of the night.
A large number of shells with swaying flames flew through the air and hit the transport train heavily.
Boom——
Commander Lu of Jizhong arrived in person with the elite combat troops of Jizhong...
……
At this time, the entire Taihang area, including the Licheng area, Shimen, HD, and even the Jizhong area, was completely reduced to a pot of porridge.
The border area between northern Shanxi and Inner Mongolia is also no exception.
The Japanese army has received relevant news that the Yan'an garrison of the Eighth Route Army is joining forces with the main force of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army to capture an important transportation hub town two days ago and is rapidly advancing towards the defense area of the 35th Route Army of the National Army in the Hetao area...