Not long after, Ishikawa Shuizhi came in again and reported to Iguchi Ren:
"Division Commander, the order has been issued."
"Yo Xi!" Jingguan Ren nodded and asked: "Ishikawa-kun, how is the reinforcement of the city wall you are responsible for?"
Ishikawa Zhishui originally wanted to answer that it was impregnable, but then he thought about it. The new regiment was likely to be equipped with large-caliber heavy artillery. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to pull out so many thickened bunkers and gun towers in such a short period of time.
He changed the topic and said: "Reporting to the division commander, the city wall has been reinforced with cement on all sides. Considering the strong artillery fire from the Eighth Route Army, the 75mm cannon cannot be pushed up the city wall to aim directly, so I ordered the engineers to dig out some from half of the city wall.
The artillery position is so that the mountain artillery can aim at the Eighth Route Army attacking the city and fire directly, which will definitely cause heavy losses to the Eighth Route Army. The project is now completed."
The city wall of Heyuan County does not have special forts built like the city wall of Taiyuan.
However, Ishikawa found a different way to control the flood. If there were no artillery forts, he dug gun emplacements on the city wall.
"In addition, all the buildings on the streets and the commanding heights of the houses are thickened fortresses, and most of them have been completed at present."
"Unless the Eighth Route Army drags large-caliber heavy artillery into the city and aims it directly, they will definitely pay a heavy price."
Although he was only a captain, Ishikawa's level of flood control was still very high.
And because he belongs to a different system and works beside the division commander, his actual power is greater than that of the commander below.
"Yo Xi!" Jingguan Ren nodded and said in a satisfied tone, "After this battle, Ishikawa-kun will probably be promoted to major general."
Currently, the Japanese military strength in Heyuan County is 1,000 at the Japanese division headquarters.
In addition, there are more than 800 people in the Engineer Regiment and 2,000 people in the Mountain Artillery Regiment. Although these are logistics and artillery units, after being equipped with weapons, their combat effectiveness may not be strong, but their fighting will is no worse than that of infantry.
In addition, there are more than 2,000 people from the 224th Regiment and a battalion of puppet troops.
As for the baggage detachment of the 36th Division, it is on Tongpu Road, doing the job of transporting cement and steel bars, and is not in the county.
The total military strength in Heyuan County is still very large. The total number of Japanese and puppet troops is close to 7,000. The more powerful ones include the division headquarters and the 224th Regiment, which number more than 3,600.
This is also the reason why Jingguan Ren is very confident and will not slip away.
According to pre-war analysis, the total strength of the new regiment was only about 10,000.
If the New Regiment really wanted to capture the 36th Division, in addition to attacking Heyuan County, it would also have to face Japanese reinforcements from the directions of Datong, Taiyuan, Ping'an and Anhua.
Even if Li Yunlong sends 3,000 troops to fight for reinforcements.
Among the other 7,000 people, 1,000 to 2,000 were artillery and other arms. The infantry that attacked Heyuan County only had 5,000 people.
The casualty ratio in street fighting was 1:1. Even if all the infantry of the new regiment were exhausted, they would never be able to capture Heyuan County.
even.
The mountain artillery deployed on the belly of the county wall can inflict heavy damage to the new regiment.
Thinking of this, Lieutenant General Jingguan Ren became more and more confident. It was indeed surprising to remove the thickened bunkers and gun towers, but what could happen?
Can your new group still eat my 36th group?
"I'm borrowing from the leader Ji Yan."
Ishikawa Harishui lowered his head, with a look of expectation in his eyes. Which colonel doesn't want to be promoted to major general?
Jingguan Ren's eyes flashed sharply: "Order the artillery regiment to immediately place the mountain cannons in the gun positions and be ready to deal with the eight-pronged siege at any time!"
"Hi!"
Ishikawa Zhisui laughed ferociously and turned around to give orders to the artillery regiment.
…
About an hour later.
The vanguard of the new regiment and battalion advanced to the foot of Heyuan County.
The Japanese army built some trenches, foxholes and other defensive fortifications around the county.
However, the number of Japs was not large, and most of them were puppet soldiers who were placed outside the city as cannon fodder.
Because part of the artillery and artillery of the 1st Artillery Battalion and the 2nd Artillery Battalion have not yet come up.
The enemy can form cross fire above and below the city, strafing the siege troops, so the attack is suspended.
"Report to the leader!"
Duan Peng, wearing a ghillie suit, with camouflage oil on his face and an M3 submachine gun hanging on his chest, walked into the headquarters and saluted Li Yunlong with a bang.
The auspicious suit and camouflage oil were all given by Chen Feng.
In addition to these, there are also body armor, steel helmets, etc., which are priority equipment for Sword Squadron and Wolf Fang Squadron.
"Duan Peng, your Sharp Sword Squadron did a good job in infiltration."
Li Yunlong first praised him, and then asked: "Did that old devil Jingguan Ren run away?"
Duan Peng reported loudly: "Reporting to the head of the regiment, from this morning to now, the highway leaving Heyuan County has been under the surveillance of our sharp sword squadron, and Jingguan Ren has not been found to have escaped."
"Haha, Jingguan Ren, I finally caught you."
Li Yunlong laughed when he heard this, and then said to Duan Peng: "Take the soldiers to take a rest first, and later your Sword Squadron will provide the artillery with shooting parameters."
"yes!"
Duan Peng straightened his body, turned around and walked outside the headquarters.
Watching Duan Peng leave the headquarters, Li Yunlong gave a loud order: "Pass my order, and all battalions and divisions will outflank them according to the original plan. Surround the four walls of Heyuan County for me. Not even a mosquito can fly out."
!”
As Li Yunlong's order was issued, the main infantry battalions of the New Regiment and the first and second divisions began to encircle them in a roundabout way. In less than half an hour, about 9,000 people surrounded Heyuan County.
There were at least 2,000 people in each direction to prevent the Japanese from escaping by jumping over the wall.
In addition, there are more than 2,300 people in the three divisions as reserve teams.
After each truck transported the cannon and artillery shells to the designated location, they quickly unloaded the artillery shells.
Under Xing Zhiguo's order, they went to Zhaojiayu Airport to transport helmets, while the artillerymen of the new regiment quickly set up the cannon.
Everything is proceeding in an orderly manner according to plan.
About two hours later, at 3:30 in the morning, the frontline headquarters of the New Regiment issued an order for artillery fire.
As a string of red signal flares took off, the sound of artillery instantly tore through the quiet night sky.
The heavy artillery battalion, the 1st artillery battalion and the 2nd artillery battalion fired artillery towards the three walls of the county town from three directions.
The first round of more than a hundred artillery shells over 75 mm fired from different directions hit the Japanese and puppet army positions outside Heyuan County.
The orange-red trajectory of the artillery shells in the night sky was clearly visible, tracing arcs.
Metal projectiles carrying the breath of death pierced the air and made a horrifying whistling sound.
Boom boom, boom boom boom...
The Japanese and puppet army's positions were immediately plunged into a sea of smoke and fire.
In the direction of the west gate, the heavy artillery battalion is responsible for bombardment.
Li Yunlong looked through the field of view of the telescope, and vaguely in the light of the fire, he saw the bodies of the Japanese and puppet soldiers being thrown high.
The high-explosive artillery shells weighing more than 80 kilograms fell one after another. In addition to turning the Japanese and puppet army positions into a sea of fire, they also made many large craters.
"The Japanese and puppet troops outside the West City Wall are finished."
After three rounds of shells landed outside the county town, Zhao Gang said with certainty.
No matter what kind of civil fortification it is, it cannot withstand the bombardment of a cannon of this caliber. In addition to blowing up a large area, the earthquake also killed the enemy.
Even the Japanese and puppet troops at the center of the explosion were directly blown into a cloud of blood mist, leaving no bones left.
"So damn exciting!"
Seeing the movement and power of the 19 150mm howitzers, Li Yunlong smiled and said: "Hey, one base has nearly 10,000 rounds, which is enough for that old devil Jingguan Ren to drink a pot."
The new regiment has 3 artillery battalions and nearly 100 cannons of 75 mm caliber or above.
The new regiment's artillery shell reserve was 3 bases. For the first wave of shelling, a base of nearly 10,000 shells was prepared for the Japanese.
Apart from transporting artillery shells by truck, the cavalry battalion, logistics transport team and more than 2,000 militiamen did nothing but exclusively transport artillery shells for the artillery.
In order to put pressure on the Japanese, Li Yunlong also put pressure on his old assets.
If the battle went to the end and the new regiment failed to capture or severely damaged the 36th Division, and Boss Chen did not reimburse the ammunition after the war, then the battle would have been a big loss.
After destroying the civil engineering works of the Japanese and puppet troops outside the city, artillery fire began to extend towards the city wall, and the shells fell on the west wall.
The power of 150mm high-explosive artillery shells is not comparable to that of 75mm caliber mountain guns and 105mm howitzers.
As long as the high-explosive artillery shell hits the city wall, a big hole can be blown in the city wall.
The city wall of Heyuan County, like the city wall of Ping'an County, was built during the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty. The wall was built with city bricks, glutinous rice juice mixed with mortar.
The city wall is extremely strong for cold weapons, but it is far from enough in the face of hot weapons, especially large-caliber heavy artillery.
Although the city wall can survive for hundreds of years, in terms of sturdiness in the face of large-caliber heavy artillery, it is not as strong as the thickened bunkers and gun towers recently built by the Japanese.
After all, city walls built in ancient times were used to protect against cold weapons and catapults, not cannons.
…
36th Division Headquarters.
Lieutenant General Iseki Ren was pacing back and forth at the headquarters with a livid face, and his right hand tightly grasped the handle of the sword given to him by Emperor Hirohito, showing that he was a little restless at the moment.
Since setting foot on the battlefield in China, Jingguan Ren has never been as afraid of the firepower of the Chinese army as he is today.
As a veteran of the battlefield, Jingguan Ren was naturally able to judge from the sound of artillery the number of artillery pieces being fired by the Eighth Route Army.
If according to the Japanese artillery organization, the number of artillery guns with a caliber of 75 mm or more being fired by the Eighth Route Army would be at least 3 artillery regiments!
There are even about 20 large-caliber heavy artillery among them!
There is no way to fight this battle, we can only fight in the streets.
Jingguan Ren was a little lucky that he did not lead the main force to go out to fight with the new regiment, otherwise he would be looking for abuse.
Amidst the rapid footsteps, Chief of Staff Ishikawa Colonel hurriedly walked in and said: "Reporting to the division commander, based on the number of torches and flashlights reported by each city wall unit, the total strength of the Eighth Route Army should be around 10,000!"
Jingguan Ren's face became more and more gloomy, and asked: "What is the situation of the garrison troops on each city wall?"
Colonel Ishikawa shook his head and said solemnly: "The defensive positions and city walls in the west, south and north directions were all violently attacked by a new group of artillery fire. The number of artillery of the Eighth Route Army was beyond our expectation. Their artillery was like
With eyes wide open, almost all the artillery shells landed on the defensive positions and city walls, especially the west city wall, which suffered a lot of damage. Faced with the continuous bombardment of about 20 large-caliber heavy artillery pieces, the number of casualties may not be small."
Jingguan Ren asked: "Can the artillery aim at the Eighth Route Army's artillery from the emplacement in the middle of the city wall and fire directly?"
"The artillery positions of the Eighth Route Army are set up relatively far away." Ishikawa Harishui said, "The artillerymen cannot judge the location of the Eighth Route Artillery Positions. If they fire the artillery in advance, the gun positions will be exposed."
Jingguan Ren narrowed his eyes and said murderously: "The Eighth Route Army is always reluctant to part with ammunition in battles. It will stop the shelling in a few minutes at most. After the shelling stops, their infantry will definitely attack the city. Order the artillery and machine gunners to be ready.