About 3,000 troops are marching along the highway toward Heyuan County.
The Japanese 94 reconnaissance plane that had just strafed the cornfield passed by at low altitude with its engine roaring.
Looking towards the direction in which the reconnaissance plane left, Atsushi Sato, who was wearing a puppet military uniform, put down his binoculars.
Soon.
At the rear of the team, a puppet soldier put down the radio headset, ran over and reported to Sato Atsushi:
"Report to the commander, the reconnaissance plane just came in and found no trace of the Eighth Route Army ambush."
Both the division headquarters and the First Army headquarters sent telegrams to Sato Atsushi, ordering him to lead his troops to reinforce Heyuan County after dawn, but beware of an Eight-Road ambush.
Sato Atsushi is also cautious enough, or a thief.
This time he led his troops to reinforce Heyuan County and left a Japanese squadron and a puppet military camp in Anhua County.
Then he led the main force of about 3,000 people to reinforce Heyuan County, including half puppet soldiers and half Japanese soldiers.
Therefore, Sato Atsushi ordered the uniforms and equipment of the puppet soldiers and the Japanese soldiers to be exchanged, and even their shoes were replaced.
The Japanese soldiers were walking in front wearing puppet military uniforms, and the puppet soldiers were walking behind in Japanese military uniforms. The two sides were separated by half a mile.
However, since the puppet soldiers were on average taller than the Japanese soldiers, the puppet soldiers' uniforms worn by the Japanese soldiers were a bit tight, while the Japanese soldiers' uniforms worn by the Japanese soldiers were a bit loose.
Sato Atsushi did this because he was naturally afraid of being ambushed by the Eighth Route Army.
If the Eighth Route Army had an ambush, it would definitely let go of the puppet troops in front and focus on attacking the Japanese troops behind.
In this way, the puppet troops will be exposed to the firepower of the Eighth Route Army first, and the Japanese army will benefit.
Sato Atsushi shook his head and said with certainty: "Li Yunlong will definitely send troops to stop us if he makes such a big noise in Heyuan County."
"Then why didn't the reconnaissance plane find anything?"
A staff officer next to him asked doubtfully, if there was an ambush on the Eighth Route Army, it would definitely expose the enemy.
"Aviation pilots are all a bunch of trash." Sato Atsushi snorted, "There must be eight routes waiting for us ahead, so we order the scouts to be careful."
"Then shall we take a detour and go to Heyuan County through a small road?" the Japanese military staff asked again.
"It's easier to be ambushed if you take a small road." Sato Atsushi said, "What's more, it takes four hours more to walk on a small road, and the division commander is still waiting for us to send reinforcements."
"Order the troops to speed up!"
Sato Atsushi glanced at the puppet troops wearing Japanese military uniforms at the rear and said harshly: "If anyone dares to fall behind, have his legs broken!"
"Hi!" the Japanese staff officer paused.
…
Heyuan County, Japanese Army Command Post.
"Your Excellency, Division Commander, the breakout force has been prepared." Ishikawa Shuizhi reported to Iseki Renhui.
In last night's shelling and city wall attrition battle, the puppet army's cannon fodder has basically been used up.
Coupled with the street fighting during the day today, the Japanese casualties have exceeded 1,500, and most of the machine gunners and light and heavy machine guns have been lost.
At present, the total strength of the Japanese army in the city is still more than 5,000, but half of them are engineers, artillery and other units with weak combat effectiveness.
A combat staff officer of the division calculated that according to the current speed of street fighting, in at most two days, all these 5,000 people will be eaten by the new regiment of the Eighth Route Army.
"How did you deploy it?"
Iguchi Ren was holding his saber and was resting with his eyes closed. He slowly opened his eyes, looked at Ishikawa Harishui and asked.
Ishikawa said: "Captain of the Engineer Regiment, Colonel Toshiya Toshiji, led the Engineer Regiment, and nearly 2,000 people from the 9th Infantry Battalion broke out from the east gate. The division headquarters, division headquarters troops, artillery regiment, and tank team totaled more than 2,000 people. From
After breaking out of the West City Gate, more than 1,000 other combat soldiers are fighting street battles with the Eighth Route Army. They are entangled with the Eighth Route Army and cannot withdraw."
Jingguan Ren nodded and had no objection to this deployment: "Ishikawa-kun, start the breakout operation immediately!"
As early as dawn, Jingguan Ren ordered the logistics team to distribute the division's spare weapons to the soldiers of the engineering regiment and artillery unit.
Compared with the soldiers of the Engineer Regiment, the artillery of the Mountain Artillery Regiment is more valuable, so it is obviously appropriate to break out with the 36th Division Regiment Headquarters.
"Your Excellency, Division Commander," Ishikawa Harishui advised, "I feel that the success rate of breaking out from the West City Gate is not very high. It is better to wait for the 222nd Regiment and the 223rd Regiment to arrive together, and have the two Regiments take over to ensure that nothing goes wrong.
.”
However, Jingguan Ren didn't want to wait any longer and said: "The 222nd and 223rd Regiments will definitely be blocked by the Eighth Route Army. Whether they can come is a matter of debate. The later things will change, the longer it takes the imperial soldiers.
The more people die in the battle, the more we have to act quickly!"
Ishikawa Harishui secretly cursed, now that he is so afraid of death, why did he go there so early?
He had no choice but to say: "Your Excellency, Division Commander, I have applied to Commander Yoshio Iwamatsu for aviation reinforcements. General Okamura, commander of the North China Front, has sent fighter jets and bombers and will arrive in about an hour. The aviation force will then provide cover."
Division and regiment headquarters break out!"
Jingguan Ren thought about it carefully, nodded and said, "Okay, let's wait until the front air force arrives and we can break through."
The 36th Division also has a tank team with a total of 12 tanks, including 7 Type 95 light tanks and 5 Type 97 medium tanks.
However, the Eighth Route Army is equipped with sophisticated anti-tank weapons, which may not be effective when 12 tanks break out of the encirclement.
If there is air support, the success of the breakout will be much greater.
Jingguan Ren added: "Ishikawa-kun, you must arrange soldiers before breaking through. After breaking through, blow up the grain depot, ammunition depot and cannon. Not a single bullet or grain of food can be left to the Eighth Route Army."
"Hi!" Ishikawa Harishui lowered his head and turned to leave.
Looking at the back of Ishikawa Zhishui, Iguchi Ren narrowed his eyes.
There is an old saying in China, which goes like this: A tiger that falls flat is bullied by a dog, and a phoenix that loses its feathers is not as good as a chicken.
Jingguan Ren was quite cowardly when he thought about it. The majestic second-line division of the Japanese Empire was actually defeated by a regiment of the Eighth Route Army, at the hands of a group of beggars wearing rags.
However, there is an old saying in China that Wei Junjie is the master of Western things. If he can successfully break through this time,
The shame of today's defeat will be returned to Li Yunlong and the New Regiment twice as much in the future!
About 50 minutes later.
The fighting in the city became more and more intense, with various gunshots and explosions crackling like firecrackers.
Ishikawa Harishui walked in again, put his feet together and immediately nodded to Iguchi Ren: "Your Excellency, Division Commander, the aviation unit will arrive in 5 minutes."
Jingguan Ren suddenly opened his eyes and coldly ordered: "Breakout begins!"
"Hi!" Ishikawa Harishui turned and left.
As the order from the 36th Division Headquarters was issued, the battle began in the direction of Dongcheng.
The east city gate was wide open, and the Japanese swarmed out of the city gate. Under the cover of the mountain cannons in the city wall emplacements, they frantically attacked the positions of the second division of the New Regiment.
The battalion commander of the second division is Wei Dayong.
He was complaining in the command post because the first division and four main infantry battalions had entered the city to engage in street fighting.
Only the troops of the second division dug trenches outside the east city, and no artillery troops came to bombard the city wall to open a gap in the wall for the second division.
However, Wei Dayong only dared to say a few words in private, but did not dare to complain in front of Li Yunlong.
Now I saw the Japs rushing out from the east city gate like crazy. There were at least a thousand people, and there were still large Japanese troops pouring out from behind. I suddenly grinned:
"Little devils, your uncle Wei is here!"
"Send my order and prepare to fight!"
The soldiers of the second division jumped into the half-dug trench and raised the guys in their hands.
Then, Wei Dayong picked up a high-power walkie-talkie and reported the situation at the East City Gate to the regiment headquarters.
After getting permission from the regiment headquarters to call for artillery firepower, he was originally a special forces soldier. He quickly calculated the firing parameters of the artillery attack on precise drawings and asked the guards to convey them to the 1st Artillery Battalion and the 2nd Artillery Battalion.
Although the 1st Artillery Battalion and the 2nd Artillery Battalion were hidden, Heyuan County was still within range. With just a call from a walkie-talkie, the artillerymen could set up artillery to bombard the Japanese at any time.
At the new regiment command post, Wang Dehou reported the situation at the East City Gate to Li Yunlong.
When Li Yunlong heard this, he immediately said in a disdainful tone: "Jingguan Ren, this old devil is really boring. He is not a real man. He just handed him over. He hasn't had enough of fighting yet, so he is ready to run away with oil on his feet."
Zhao Gang smiled and teased: "Old Li, how did I find that there are no Japs that you like? It's normal for the Japs to be unable to defeat and escape. According to what you said, no one in the Japanese army can catch your eye."
"Yamamoto Kazuki is barely the number one figure." Li Yunlong said, "Dozens of people dare to go deep into the hinterland of our base to carry out sneak attacks."
Xing Zhiguo said worriedly: "Captain, political commissar, there is only one unit from the Second Division on the east gate. If Jingguan Ren gathers the main force to break out from the east gate, I am afraid the Second Division will not be able to stop it. Should we send reinforcements from the Third Division?"
Second Division, push the Japanese back to the county?"
"No need to worry." Li Yunlong waved his hand and said calmly, "Even if Jingguan Ren gathers all his troops and the second division can block the Japanese breakout for several hours, there will be no problem at all."
Li Yunlong has great confidence in Wei Dayong.
Among the seven divisions, the combat effectiveness of the second division is second only to Lu Yingjun's first division.
Moreover, it is equipped with all American equipment, including machine guns, M2 large-caliber heavy machine guns, bazookas and mortars, plus the fire support of 2 artillery battalions.
If the little devil breaks out from the east gate, he can drink a pot of it.
About 5 minutes later, a series of violent explosions were heard from behind the west city wall, and smoke filled the air.
Amidst the continuous explosions like landslides and earth-shattering, more than a dozen Japanese tanks came out from the west city gate, followed by a large Japanese army.
After these dozen tanks came out of the city gate, they immediately lined up and headed towards the new regiment headquarters, followed by Japanese soldiers as dense as locusts.
"Are the Japanese trying to make a fool of themselves and attack the west?" Xing Zhiguo said fearfully. If he had lost his composure just now and sent troops from the third division to reinforce the east city gate, then the headquarters of the new regiment would now be in danger.
"Here for our command post!" Li Yunlong put down his telescope and ordered calmly with both eyes: "Give me the order to prepare for battle, level all the anti-aircraft guns and machine guns, aim at the Japanese and hit me hard, and order the first battalion to continue street fighting.
The second battalion returns to occupy the west city wall. Since the Japanese are out to seek death, there is no hope of returning alive!"
Seeing the Japanese tanks and infantry rushing towards the command post, Commander Li did not panic at all, and was even looking forward to it. He was worried that he would not have the chance to shoot the Japanese infantry with the 37mm anti-aircraft gun to try the power of the anti-aircraft gun leveled.
If the Japanese take the initiative to come to your door now, don't blame labor and management for being rude!