After the attacking Japs were defeated, the soldiers of the new regiment and battalion immediately retreated into the tunnels of the mountain under Zhang Dabiao's order.
More than twenty seconds later, the Japanese artillery fire arrived as expected, and groups of artillery shells fell on the first battalion's position.
More than a dozen soldiers retreated a beat too late to rescue the wounded, and were immediately covered by Japanese artillery fire.
However, the vast majority of soldiers and their wounded successfully evacuated into the tunnels of the mountain just seconds before the Japanese shells fell.
Li Yunlong looked at the Japanese and fired artillery at the position, but his expression was very indifferent.
When the Japanese attack again with one or two suicide attacks like this, the new regiment can launch a counterattack.
According to intelligence, the Japanese who came to attack Dagu Town this time only had one infantry regiment, plus an infantry brigade and a mountain artillery regiment.
The Japanese have already lost an infantry brigade in three attacks.
If the Japanese attack one or two more times, they will have to lose at least one infantry brigade, and then the Japanese will only have two infantry brigade and mountain artillery regiment left.
The cavalry battalion and the main battalions of the New Regiment only need one charge to defeat the remaining Japanese.
But now the Japanese still have an infantry regiment and a mountain artillery regiment. Even if the main force of the new regiment is fully pressed, even if they can win, the losses will be considerable.
Again, we can't do business at a loss.
…
at the same time.
Inside the Japanese military headquarters.
The division commander Jing Guanren ordered the artillerymen to bring in a pair of artillery scopes.
While the rear artillery regiment was bombarding the Eighth Route Army positions, Jingguan Ren was also observing with the artillery scope.
You can see more clearly with an artillery scope than with a telescope.
I saw artillery shells biting every inch of the Eighth Route Army's position, but I couldn't see the broken limbs that were blown up by the explosion at all.
There was no one at all on the Eighth Route Army's position, and the shells exploded into a lonely place.
"Bagaya Road, immediately order the artillery to stop firing!"
The headquarters and the rear artillery positions have been connected by telephone lines. Upon hearing this order, the Japanese telephone soldiers immediately dialed the phone and ordered the rear artillery to stop firing.
As the order was issued, the Japanese artillery immediately stopped firing.
The sound of artillery then became sporadic and then completely inaudible, and the entire battlefield became quiet and strange.
"Your Excellency, Division Commander, please allow me to personally lead the infantry to charge again."
"This time, I will definitely win the Eighth Route Position!"
When the commander of the 222nd Regiment, Atsushi Sato, ordered the division commander to stop the artillery bombardment, he thought that the artillery bombardment had finished and it was time for the infantry to charge again.
The failure of the 3rd Infantry Battalion's attack just now left Sato Atsushi unable to lift his head in front of Iseki Ren.
Even if an infantry brigade-level charge failed to capture the Eighth Route Army's position, it suffered heavy losses, with most of the casualties.
What a shame!
This is often the case in battles. Even if they know they are losing, the troops will die as soon as they go up. But the military orders are overwhelming, and when the orders from superiors come down, they have to go up even if they know they will die.
"idiot!"
Iguchi Ren immediately cursed angrily, fired his bow left and right, and slapped Sato Atsushi twice loudly:
"It's a shame that an officer at the rank of colonel actually thinks of leading the infantry in a charge!"
"Hi!"
Sato Atsushi did not dare to be dissatisfied at all and quickly straightened his face.
The opponent is a lieutenant general, and he is just a colonel. There are two senior ranks in between. Even if the opponent farts, it is still correct.
"Don't have such thoughts in the future. The colonel should be in a command position instead of leading the infantry to charge!"
"Hi!"
Sato Atsushi paused quickly.
He didn't know whether the division commander was angry because the attack failed, or because he wanted to lead the infantry in a charge.
"Your Excellency, Division Commander, there seems to be something strange about the Eighth Route Army's position."
Chief of Staff Colonel Ishikawa Shimizu put down his telescope, narrowed his eyes, and suddenly said in a deep voice.
Jingguan Ren's expression changed: "Ishikawa-kun, what did you find?"
"Hi!" Ishikawa Zhishui said: "Do you know, Division Commander, that in the Taiyuan battle more than half a month ago, one of the battles was when the 3rd Brigade was reinforcing Taiyuan, but it was blocked by a battalion of the New Regiment at Baozi Mountain.
, the 3rd Brigade suffered more than 3,000 casualties but failed to cross Baozi Mountain, which indirectly led to Taiyuan being captured by the Eighth Route Army, and General Shinozuka Yoshio died for his country."
"of course I know!"
Iguchi Ren said solemnly: "That battle was a humiliating battle for the 3rd Brigade. The commander of the 3rd Brigade, Masao Miyazaki, was dismissed, and the two regiments of the 3rd Brigade were beaten until only one regiment remained.
"
After Masao Miyazaki was dismissed, he served as deputy chief of staff of the First Army, assisting Yoshio Iwamatsu.
He has now taken up his post in Taiyuan, but because of the huge defeat at Baozi Mountain, he is not popular at all in the headquarters.
The base camp also hopes that Masao Miyazaki will realize his shame, be brave, achieve some results, and then return to be the brigade commander.
But Masao Miyazaki and the 3rd Brigade have become the shame and laughing stock of the First Army.
Ishikawa Harishui said: "If your Excellency, the division commander, does not want to follow in the footsteps of Major General Miyazaki, I will order the withdrawal of troops and give up the capture of Dagu Town."
Jingguan Ren looked unkind and asked in a deep voice: "Ishikawa-kun, do you mean that our 36th Division still can't capture a small town called Dagu?"
"Your Excellency, Division Commander, our 36th Division will certainly have no problem capturing Dagu Town!"
Seeing the division commander's face, Ishikawa Jisui hurriedly said:
"But the current situation is that the new regiment has used the same tunnel tactics as Baozishan."
"Moreover, the new regiment also has artillery support from two artillery regiments."
"If these two problems are not solved, even if our 36th Division captures Dagu Town, the final casualties may be no less than two infantry regiments!"
When they heard that there were no less than two infantry regiments with casualties, Jingguan Ren and the officers behind him couldn't help but change their expressions suddenly.
The 36th Division can participate in the battle, that is, 3 infantry regiments and an artillery regiment, as well as a search regiment of more than 400 people.
The rest are the engineering regiment, the baggage regiment, the communications team, the field hospital and other departments.
Is it worth it to injure two infantry regiments for a mere Dagu town?
"Can we request aviation reinforcements to blow up the artillery positions of the New Eighth Route Regiment, and use aerial bombs to blow up the tunnels dug by the Eighth Route Army in the mountain?"
Colonel Atsushi Sato said unwillingly.
In the recent attack, most of his 3rd Infantry Battalion was lost, and even the captain was shattered. Sato Atsushi naturally wanted to take revenge.
"Not to mention that the aviation unit suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Taiyuan and has not yet recovered. The aviation unit of the First Army has not even been reorganized."
"How many aerial bombs are needed to blow up the tunnels of the Eighth Route Army?"
"In addition, Li Yunlong is extremely cunning. Not only does he create many fake positions every time he builds an artillery position, he also has a large number of machine guns to protect the artillery position."
"I have studied the previous battles between the Imperial Army and Li Yunlong. Almost every time, the Imperial Army's aircraft was shot down by Li Yunlong."
"Even in the last battle of Taiyuan, more than 110 imperial aircraft were shot down."
Ishikawa flood control obviously studied Li Yunlong.
In his opinion, Li Yunlong was indeed crazy, but he had the capital to be crazy. How could he dare to challenge the 36th Division with the strength of a regiment without any strength?
Jingguan Ren narrowed his eyes, and Ishikawa's words about water control gave him a step down.
I originally thought that Dagu Town could be captured easily, but now it seems that it is impossible to capture Dagu Town without losing thousands of people.
Baga, who invented this tunnel tactic? It’s so disgusting!
"Send the order, turn back to the county seat!"
Jingguan Ren loudly ordered.
The current situation of the 36th Division is different from the 3rd Brigade's attack on Baozi Mountain.
The order received by the 3rd Brigade at that time was to rush to Taiyuan at all costs.
Therefore, Masao Miyazaki had no choice but to risk the lives of soldiers.
But even with the tactic of bombarding with artillery and charging with infantry, they still failed to break through the Eighth Route Army's positions at the cost of huge casualties.
But now that the 36th Division has been ordered to watch and monitor the new regiment, there is no need to capture Dagu Town despite huge casualties.
"Hi!"
Sato Atsushi was unwilling to do so, but he had no choice but to obey the order and bow his head in response.
"Transfer back to the county seat!"
As the command was issued, the Japanese immediately gave up the attack on Dagu Town.
The 222nd Regiment returned to Anhua County under the leadership of Colonel Sato, and the 36th Artillery Regiment returned to Heyuan County under the leadership of Jingguan Ren.
Soon, news of the Japanese retreat reached the headquarters of the new regiment.
"Jingguan Ren, this old devil, is not a good man. Where did he come from? Why did he run away?"
Li Yunlong was immediately disappointed. He was still thinking of waiting for the Japanese to charge once or twice and the new regiment to launch a major counterattack.
It would be better if we could kill the old devil Jingguan Ren.
Although the Japanese command post was within the range of the howitzer, the distance was too far and the location of the Japanese command post could not be found, so it was impossible to use the howitzer to hit the Japanese command post.
However, Li Yunlong did not order a pursuit in case he fell into the Japanese's conspiracy.
The most important thing at the moment is to expand the troops. As long as the troops are mobilized as soon as possible, then it will not be the Japanese 36th Division attacking the new regiment, but the new regiment attacking the 36th Division.
After ordering the First Battalion to continue to defend Dagu Town to guard against Japanese sneak attacks, Li Yunlong ordered the assembled troops to disband.
At the same time, a telegram was sent to the New Second Regiment and the Independent Regiment, informing Ding Wei and Kong Jie that the ducks in their mouths had fled, telling them not to come.
Ding Wei and Kong Jie had just set off with their troops. They both received orders from the headquarters to reinforce the new regiment. After seeing the telegram, they immediately led their troops to train for a long time and then returned to their base.
The people in the base area were preparing to pack up the strong walls and clear the country, but soon they received news of the victory of the new group in repelling the Japanese, and they all ran away from home.
After this battle, the sense of security of the people in the base area instantly doubled.
In the past, when the new regiment did not come, the Japanese and puppet troops in the strongholds and gun towers went out to clean up the countryside, and the villagers had to hide in the mountains.
But after the new group arrived, they successively defeated the Japanese and greatly pleased people's hearts.
However, unless the little devils are driven out of China, the Chinese people will not feel at ease for a day.
Therefore, the villagers support the work of the Eighth Route Army even more.
News of the annihilation of a brigade of the 36th Division reached the headquarters. Headquarters leaders praised Li Yunlong for his brilliant battle and sent commendation telegrams.
Although this battle is not outstanding among the records of the New Regiment, it was the record achieved by the New Regiment after it arrived in northwestern Shanxi and independently faced the attack of a Japanese division.
The news soon spread to the Japanese First Army Headquarters. Although Yoshio Iwamatsu did not scold Iguchi Ren, he also ordered him to strictly prohibit unauthorized attacks on the New Regiment without orders.
After the 36th Division arrived in northwestern Shanxi, it was not as simple as just occupying three county towns.