The Japanese communication team immediately reported the situation to the First Army Headquarters.
In Taiyuan, the First Army Headquarters, Yoshio Shinozuka and Hideyoshi Kusuyama did not play chess or practice calligraphy.
Rather, we are discussing the current situation in Shanxi.
"Your Excellency, Commander, after the 2nd Guards Division, 14th Brigade and 18th Brigade arrived at our First Army." Kusuyama Hideyoshi said: "The Eighth Route Army will have a hard time."
"The Eighth Route Army in northwestern Shanxi has arrived in the Jizhong Plain for activities. Now there are only sporadic Eighth Route guerrillas in northwestern Shanxi."
"Next, we can concentrate our forces to deal with the Eighth Route Army in the two bandit areas of Taihang and Taiyue in southeastern Shanxi."
Yoshio Shinozuka also looked excited: "The Shota Railway will soon be rebuilt. When the Shota Railway is completed, strategic materials from North China will continue to be transported in."
"In two or three months at most, the imperial army will be able to launch a mopping up operation against the Eighth Route Bandit Area."
"Mr. Nanshan, your staff should prepare a spring raid plan for the Taihang and Taiyue bandit areas in advance."
"Hi!" Kusuyama Hideyoshi paused, and then said, "But the commander, the spy lurking in the First Army Headquarters, has never been found."
"In order to prevent the plan from being leaked, it is better for me to do the spring cleaning battle plan alone."
"In this way, only Commander You and I at the First Army Headquarters know the contents of the plan, and there is no way it will be leaked."
Of course Yoshio Shinozuka would not refuse, but he still pretended to be concerned: "But in this case, Kusuzan-kun, you have other jobs, and your daily work tasks will be very heavy."
"For the sake of the empire's hegemony, this amount of work is nothing." Kusuyama Hideyoshi said: "What's more, there are still two or three months to launch a sweep, so there is absolutely no time."
"Then thank you Kusuyama-kun for your hard work." Yoshio Shinozuka said.
Shinozuka Yoshio changed the subject and said: "Commander Tada of the North China Front Army Headquarters sent the deputy chief of staff, Major General Hirata Masapan, to inspect the First Army. Today he inspected Niangziguan and welcomed the commander of the 2nd Guards Division.
Rest for the night in Yangquan and come to Taiyuan together tomorrow."
"Calculating the time, Hirata-kun and Muto-kun should have arrived at Niangziguan by now. We have to be prepared to welcome them."
"Commander, please rest assured." Kusuyama Hideyoshi said, "I will be fully responsible for the reception."
"Yoshi!" Shinozuka Yoshio said happily, "Then Kusuzan-kun has done the hard work."
As soon as he finished speaking, communications staff officer Toshimatsu Kasai hurried in with a telegram in his hand.
Walking in front of Shinozuka Yoshio and Kusuyama Hideyoshi, they clicked their feet together, paused and said: "Report to the commander and chief of staff, the communications team stationed at Niangziguan sent an urgent message. Five minutes ago, Niangziguan was attacked by the enemy.
Large-scale artillery attack, the enemy's artillery fire is very fierce!"
Upon hearing this, Yoshio Shinozuka and Hideyoshi Kusuyama suddenly turned their heads and stood up together, their expressions suddenly changed.
"Niangziguan was bombarded?"
"Large scale?"
Kusuyama Hideyoshi chewed these two sentences in his mouth with an unbelievable tone.
Muto Akira and Hirata Shogun were probably meeting, and it is self-evident that they were bombarded at this time.
If something happened to a major general and a lieutenant general on the territory of the First Army, the consequences... Kusuyama Hideyoshi did not dare to think about it in detail.
Without time to think too much, Yoshio Shinozuka immediately issued an order: "Order, the aviation force immediately dispatches all aircraft to assist Niangzi Pass, immediately orders the 225th Regiment of the 37th Division stationed in Yangquan to assist Niangzi Pass, and requests the North China Front Army Headquarters for the Imperial Air Force in Jingxing County."
The army immediately rushes to Niangziguan to help!"
Jingxing County is part of Hebei Province and is under the jurisdiction of the Second Army of the North China Front. Yoshio Shinozuka has no right to mobilize troops there.
"Hi!" Toshimatsu Kasai turned around and went out, quickly walking towards the communications room.
After Toshimatsu Kasai left, Yoshio Shinozuka and Hideyoshi Kusuyama immediately walked to a large and precise map on the wall.
The two of them stared at Niangziguan with their brows furrowed.
Has the information been leaked again?
If the intelligence was really leaked, the Eighth Route Army knew that a Japanese major general and a lieutenant general appeared at Niangziguan at the same time.
Then the large-scale artillery attack must be followed by a large-scale infantry attack.
The Eighth Route Army never fights an unprepared battle and will definitely send troops to block reinforcements from Yangquan and Jingxing counties.
Even though Niangziguan has the 3rd Infantry Regiment of the 2nd Guards Division, the Eighth Route Army is no longer what it used to be, and their artillery is extremely powerful.
Masabu Hirata and Akira Muto may be in danger!
Thinking of this, Yoshio Shinozuka and Hideyoshi Kusuyama looked at each other, their expressions gradually becoming gloomy.
…
Niangziguan.
The shelling of the mountain artillery battalion of the New Regiment has ended.
The Niangzi Pass has become devastated, with thick smoke billowing up and covering the sky.
The wailing of the injured Japanese, the shouts of organizing rescue, and the cursing of the Japanese all rang out.
The soldiers of the 3rd Regiment of the 2nd Guards Division, as the emperor's bodyguards, are more influenced by bushido than other Japanese troops.
Everyone wanted to work hard on the Chinese battlefield and make contributions to their Majesty the Emperor.
However, just a few days after arriving in China, these young men from Tokyo experienced firsthand the cruelty of war.
After all, the spirit of Bushido cannot withstand the broth of steel.
"Division commander?"
"Division commander?"
A Japanese officer was shouting loudly.
The entire train station was littered with broken limbs and arms.
This railway station is not big. It was hit by 500 rounds of 75mm artillery shells in five minutes, and there was no shelter.
The Japs gathered more than 4,000 people in this train station and were blown up. The Japs suffered extremely heavy losses.
Three trains and a Shenfenghao armored train parked in the railway station were all destroyed.
The Japs officer was looking for the division commander, and as he shouted loudly, the Japs who were lucky enough to survive all joined the search for the division commander.
"Has anyone seen the division commander?" a Japanese officer asked loudly.
"I saw the division commander under the train before the enemy shelled." A Japanese soldier responded.
"Where?" asked the Japanese officer.
"There!" the Japanese soldier pointed.
The Japs looked in the direction pointed by the Japs soldiers and saw that the train car had been blown up.
The floor of the train is basically made of wood. Wouldn't it be wrong if the division commander was hiding under there?
The faces of the Japs suddenly changed, they rushed toward the carriage, and then began to search for their division commander.
Before the bombardment, Muto Akira's guards pushed him off the platform, and a group of Japanese soldiers also jumped off the platform.
There was a train under the platform, and Muto Akira and a group of Japs officers were about to get under the train and leave.
But at this time, a group of artillery shells happened to fly in. Muto Akira and the Japanese officers hid under the train to avoid the artillery shells.
All the Japanese officers felt that the Eighth Route Army must not have many artillery shells, so they hid under the train and did not get out.
But the Japanese did not expect that there would be so many artillery shells on the Eighth Route Army.
They directly used artillery shells to wash the entire train station back and forth several times. By the time the Japanese officers tried to escape again, it was already too late.
Akira Muto and the officers of his 2nd Guards Division were lucky enough to receive two 75mm artillery shells.
Then the officers of the 2nd Guards Division were wiped out in one fell swoop.
By the time the Japanese dug their division commander out from under a pile of iron blocks and sawdust, he was already breathing weakly, with only one breath left.
Dying.
A Japanese guard lay on top of him at the critical moment and protected him with his body.
"The division commander has been found. The division commander is still alive!" the Japanese officer shouted: "Send the military doctor over immediately!"
Immediately, the Japanese soldiers brought a stretcher and put their division commander on the stretcher...
Several Japanese military doctors immediately gave up treating the Japanese soldiers and ran over to treat Muto Akira.
After more than ten minutes of busy work by the Japanese military doctors, Muto Akira finally gave up. He was too seriously injured and died after ineffective rescue efforts.
The Japs who heard the news were as mournful as if their parents were dead.
At this time, the aircraft of the 9th Flying Group of the First Army arriving from Taiyuan arrived, and 10 fighter jets lined up in battle formation and passed by Niangziguan at low altitude.
The Japanese pilots did not find the enemy. They only saw the devastated Niangzi Pass and the corpses of Japanese soldiers all over the ground in Niangzi Pass.
Horrible.
Kato Takashi, who was currently in charge of leading the team, signaled the flight formation to disperse and look for traces of the Eighth Route Army.
The Japanese plane flew over Niangzi Pass, then pulled upwards, then turned somersaults and dispersed.
There were 3 fighter jets and 2 attack aircraft flying in the direction of Mianshan.
Xinyi Regiment Mountain Artillery Position 2 kilometers away from Mianshan.
The strong men of the artillery battalion have dismantled the mountain cannon and tied it to the mules and horses with ropes.
The M1 75mm mountain gun can be broken down into 8 large pieces and carried on packs by mules and horses. It is not only easy to operate, but also facilitates quick transition between marching state and combat state.
Li Yunlong was not in a hurry to leave and continued to wait for the first, second and third battalions here.
Not long after, the three main infantry battalion commanders arrived with their teams almost at the same time.
"Regiment leader, political commissar, have you succeeded?"
When they met, the three battalion commanders gave a military salute, and Zhang Dabiao couldn't wait to ask.
"We succeeded." Li Yunlong nodded, "Our political commissar Zhao shot through two and killed a major general and a leftist with one shot."
The three battalion commanders shrank when they heard this and turned to look at Zhao Gang, their eyes full of admiration and disbelief.
"It's just good luck." Zhao Gang waved his hand and his tone was very humble.
"The first shot is good luck, but what about the second and third shots?" Li Yunlong said with wide eyes: "The second shot killed two Japanese officers, the third shot killed two Japanese soldiers, a total of three shots killed six Japanese
, do you think I’m bragging? I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.”
Commander Li's tone seemed to be more exciting than killing six Japs with three shots.
When he said this, the three battalion commanders and the surrounding soldiers looked at Zhao Gang, their eyes of admiration and disbelief brightening a little more.
To be honest, Zhao Gang was also a little excited, but now was obviously not the time to be excited: "Give me the order to retreat immediately. Maybe Japanese reinforcements are on their way here."
"That's right, we took advantage and must retreat immediately!" Li Yunlong shouted loudly.
At this time, a buzzing sound came from the distance.