The Fourth Battalion of the New Regiment, led by Chen Dugu, marched more than 60 kilometers and arrived at Baozi Mountain.
This is the only way for Tongpu Highway to go south after passing through Xinzhou.
Moreover, the terrain here is difficult and backed by endless mountains, making it both attackable and defensive.
Chen Dugu took out "Anti-Slope and Three-Three Tactics" and read it for a while, then ordered his four infantry company commanders and artillery company commanders to come over for a meeting.
These company commanders were all military cadres with excellent military qualities that Li Yunlong requested from the brigade commander or headquarters.
Many of them made meritorious service when they were platoon leaders at the grassroots level, and then went to the camp school to study intensively. Only those who passed the examination were transferred to various units.
Not only did he have excellent military qualities, he was also able to lead troops and do ideological work for the soldiers.
After several battles, both company and platoon leaders and soldiers have grown into qualified soldiers in the main force of the Eighth Route Army.
Although it is not as good as the three old infantry battalions of the New Regiment, its equipment is the same as that of the three infantry battalions, and its combat effectiveness is definitely far superior to that of the main regiment like the 772nd Regiment.
"Our fourth battalion, this time our opponent is the Japanese 3rd Brigade."
"Our mission is to hold the position here for three days. Within three days, we will never let a single Japanese go south to reinforce Taiyuan."
"The brothers' troops have blown up the Jinggou Bridge. The 3rd Brigade can only reach Yuanping Station by train."
"Yuanping Station is about 70 kilometers away from us. If the 3rd Brigade travels all night, according to the Japanese's rapid march, it will arrive at us at noon tomorrow."
Calling several company commanders for a meeting, Chen Dugu glanced at everyone.
"This is Baozi Mountain, and this is the road that the Japanese soldiers passed by."
He picked up a fist-sized stone, pointed to the hills in the distance beside the road, and the kilometers across the mountains, and then drew a mark on the ground to represent Baozi Mountain and the road.
Without being verbose, Chen Dugu pointed to the stones and traces on the ground and began to describe the deployment of the troops:
"The Thirteenth Company built trenches and foxholes on the front slope of Baozi Mountain. Remember to dig more artillery holes."
On the battlefield behind enemy lines, the Eighth Route Army used a large number of anti-gun holes. In addition to protecting against Japanese artillery, they also served the purpose of hiding, hiding ammunition, and hiding food.
The method of digging anti-cannon holes is also recorded in detail in the book "Reverse Slope and Three-Three Tactics".
"The engineer platoon laid many mines in front of the front slope position and on the road."
"The artillery company is responsible for building the reverse slope artillery position, and the other three companies are responsible for digging the mountain. I hollowed out the mountain, and connected the reverse slope and the front slope."
The instructor of the fourth battalion asked: "Old Chen, do you mean that we should use the "anti-slope and three-three tactics" in this battle, the anti-slope fortification plus tunnel tactics?"
"That's right!"
Chen Dugu nodded: "Our firepower is strong. One company can support the others' regiments. There is no need to put so many troops on the front slope."
The infantry units under the main infantry battalion of the new regiment adopt the 4-4 system, that is, four companies, four platoons per company, and four squads per platoon.
Each infantry squad has about 15 people and is equipped with 1 light machine gun, 1 submachine gun, 1 rocket launcher, 1 sniper rifle, and the remaining weapons are semi-automatic rifles.
There are 64 infantry squads in the fourth battalion, that is, 64 light machine guns, 64 submachine guns, and 64 rocket launchers...
In addition, there is an artillery battery equipped with 13 machine guns, 12 mortars and 4 Type 92 infantry guns.
The firepower is very strong.
"In addition, according to the information obtained by the regimental commander, the Japanese army used more than 200 aircraft to attack Zhongtiao Mountain this time."
"Although the Japanese artillery attacking from the front cannot hit our anti-sloping artillery position."
"But once the Japanese call for planes to drop aerial bombs, it will only take a matter of minutes to destroy our artillery positions and front slope positions."
"So, our artillery and infantry need tunnels to avoid the Japanese aerial bombs."
"And our weapons and ammunition can also be hidden in the tunnels."
"Also, we can
It can transport the wounded through tunnels that penetrate the mountain, provide timely reinforcements to the positive slope, and transport weapons and ammunition."
Chen Dugu has never practiced this reverse slope fortification and tunnel tactics, but the soldiers have been trained on how to quickly dig mountain tunnels in their daily training.
But he is a veteran who has experienced many battles. With only a brief analysis, he knows that this strategy of reverse slope fortifications and tunnels is indeed very useful.
"There are less than 20 hours before the Japanese arrive, so all ministries are seizing the time to lay mines, build positions and dig tunnels."
"The 3rd Brigade is a hard bone. No matter how hard it is, we have to crush it and swallow it."
Chen Dugu's tone was cold and stern.
"yes!"
All the company commanders responded in unison.
After the company commanders left, the instructor looked at Chen Dugu with a surprised tone:
"Old Chen, from your tone, do you want to eat the 3rd Brigade?"
"The Japanese 3rd Brigade is known as an elite group. It has 2 infantry regiments and 1 artillery brigade. It's hard for our battalion to support us alone, right?"
Chen Dugu spread out the map and said: "If you have a dream, the Japanese 3rd Brigade will still keep its troops to defend its home base. They will never go out in full force. At most, there will be 1 infantry regiment, plus 1 to 2 infantry brigades and
Artillery Brigade, we only need to kill a large number of Japanese on the front slope, break their morale, and then seize the opportunity to launch a counterattack... It will be difficult to defeat the 3rd Brigade, but there is still a chance to defeat the 3rd Brigade."
The instructor analyzed it carefully and suddenly felt that what Chen Dugu said made some sense.
It is very exciting to think about defeating most of the Japanese elite brigade with one battalion.
After a pause, Chen Dugu said again: "Lao Wang, immediately send a telegram to the headquarters to report our current position and tactics and see if the commander-in-chief has any other instructions for us."
Although the Fourth Battalion carried three bases of ammunition, part of the ammunition was transported by the militia.
However, semi-automatic rifles consume much faster than bolt-action rifles. In the case of frequent battles, the 3 base bullets can be used up in two days at most.
In order to facilitate the reception of airdrop supplies, Li Yunlong specially equipped the Fourth Battalion with a radio station.
If there is a shortage of ammunition, you can directly send a telegram to Li Yunlong, who will call Chen Dagu for airdrop.
"Okay!" The instructor turned and walked towards the communications team.
…
In the afternoon the last wave of attacks by Japanese aircraft ended.
Li Yunlong used the radio to talk to a certain boss named Chen.
In this call, Li Yunlong called for the same number of cannons and machine guns to be destroyed.
Li Yunlong dared to give up his artillery to the Japanese planes for bombing, so he was naturally confident.
His confidence comes from Boss Chen's battlefield airdrops.
At the same time, it also made the old Japanese Yoshio Shinozuka think that all the artillery of the Eighth Route Army had been blown up, and he would give the old Japanese a surprise at night.
Although today we shot down 110 Japanese planes and killed 110 Japanese pilots, we earned 330 75mm mountain guns and 110 105mm howitzers.
But Li Yunlong was not in a hurry to receive this large batch of goods.
We are not in a base area right now, we are fighting a war, and it is also a big battle against Taiyuan.
The maximum transportation capacity of the Eighth Route Army is only 48 mountain guns and 40 howitzers. Any more will exceed the Eighth Route Army's transportation capacity.
Therefore, Li Yunlong just called in so many artillery and machine guns.
48 mountain guns and 40 105 howitzers are enough to attack Taiyuan.
This time, Li Yunlong led his troops to shoot down more than 110 Japanese aircraft, achieving the achievement of shooting down 100 aircraft, and unlocked the 37mm anti-aircraft gun.
However, because the 37mm anti-aircraft gun was too heavy and needed to be pulled by a car, it was not shipped to Li Yunlong this time.
After replenishing the artillery and machine guns, the anti-aircraft firepower under Li Yunlong's command was replenished. However, more than half of the Japanese aircraft were lost, and the Japanese planes were just delivering food.
12 o'clock exactly at midnight.
The moon is dark and the wind is high.
On a flat land 6 kilometers away from the North City Wall of Taiyuan, Li Yunlong looked at the watch in his hand.
"ignition!"
Li Yunlong waved his hand, and a soldier next to him lit the torch with a match and then placed the torch under a pile of dry firewood.
After a while, the dry wood ignited a raging fire.
At night, whether parachuting or airdropping, a fire is usually lit to guide the pilot's coordinates.
Not long after, the dense clack-clack-clack of dragonfly helicopters sounded in the sky.
"Haha, here we come!"
Li Yunlong raised the corner of his mouth and sounded excited.
Zhao Gang, Wang Dehou, Wang Chengzhu and the soldiers around him were also all smiling.
Deputy commander Xing Zhiguo did not come, he was watching from the headquarters.
"Fire flares!"
As soon as Li Yunlong finished speaking, a flare went up into the sky with a sharp whistling sound, and the surrounding area of 1,000 meters was suddenly illuminated like daylight.
Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw dense dragonfly helicopters emerging from the dark night in the eastern sky.
There is one 105mm howitzer or two 75mm mountain guns hanging under each Dragonfly helicopter.
Under the guidance of fires and continuous flares, more than 60 Dragonfly helicopters placed 51 mountain guns and 42 howitzers on the ground, and then quickly flew away along the path they came from.
After the helicopter flew away, the humming roar of transport planes could be heard faintly in the night sky.
Li Yunlong ordered the soldiers to fire a red signal flare and illumination flare to indicate the direction of the transport plane.
As dozens or hundreds of large transport planes flew across the night sky, dense airdrop boxes and more than 80 machine guns descended slowly with parachutes.
The airdrop boxes are filled with artillery shells and machine shells.
Looking at these 105mm howitzers, 75mm mountain guns, and the densely packed airdrop boxes, Li Yunlong's smile became more intense.
He will give Yoshio Shinozuka a big surprise later.
Daytime is just a small test, night fighting is the specialty of the Eighth Route Army.
Of course, the most important point is.
At night, when the Japanese aircraft were unable to bomb, the Eighth Route Army artillery could pull the mountain artillery and howitzers 1,000 meters away from the city wall and aim directly at the city wall.
The city wall of Taiyuan is indeed high and thick, but it cannot stop the firing of more than ten or twenty 75mm mountain guns and 105mm howitzers aimed at a single point.
Li Yunlong said: "Chief of Staff Wang, immediately notify the artillery and transport teams of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd attack groups to come here to transport mountain artillery and howitzers, and by the way, machine guns and artillery shells."