Cai Dongcun.
New Regiment, the Eighth Route Army's frontline headquarters.
Li Yunlong, Zhao Gang, Ding Wei, Wang Dehou and other combat advisers stared at the map on the table, all with smiles on their faces.
"Captain."
"As expected, the political commissar of the 129th Division sent a telegram. Last night, the main force of the Taiyuan Japs, the First Army Headquarters, the 1st Division of the 5th Division, the 28th Division and the 1st Division of the Mixed 3rd Brigade were along the
Zhengtai Road fled towards Ji Province."
"We were ambushed by our troops in the Zhaodongxiang area, and the shelling is still continuing."
"After two hours of shelling, the ambush force will launch a general attack on the Japanese."
Chief of Staff Wang Dehou looked at Li Yunlong and introduced the current situation on Zhengtai Road to everyone.
"Very good."
Ding Wei looked at the map on the table, his eyes shining:
"In this way, our entire Shanxi battlefield will be revitalized and the main force of the North China Front will be eaten up in one battle."
"More importantly." Zhao Gang also looked excited and sounded happy, "The main force of the Japanese took the initiative to withdraw from Taiyuan. In this battle, we can save many soldiers!"
Before the war, Li Yunlong and Zhao Gang had calculated the costs of the Eighth Route Army and the Japanese Army respectively.
If it were a field battle, the Eighth Route Army and the Japanese Army would have a casualty ratio of about 1:4.
The Eighth Route Army in northwestern Shanxi is indeed strong in combat effectiveness, but the combat effectiveness of the 129th Division brothers' troops is only slightly stronger than the Japanese army due to their powerful artillery firepower.
If the Japanese army adopted tunnel and reverse slope tactics, the Eighth Route Army could even achieve a casualty ratio of 1:1 when it launched a forceful attack.
In that case, the Eighth Route Army's casualties would be huge!
The casualties were at least tens of thousands.
but.
Fortunately, Li Yunlong used ground-penetrating bombs and surrounded the Japanese tunnels outside Taiyuan before the Japanese could react.
The Japanese who frightened Taiyuan fled.
As a result, basically all the Japanese in Taiyuan were surrounded by the Eighth Route Army.
Encirclement and annihilation warfare has even lower casualties than frontal field battles!
Li Yunlong stared at the map, a wise expression slowly appeared on his face.
The 129th Division, the New First Regiment and the New Second Regiment combined a total of 100,000 troops and marched to Zhengtai Road to ambush the Japanese. It must be said that it was a risky move.
Because once Yoshio Iwamatsu did not lead the Japanese soldiers from Taiyuan to leave Taiyuan last night.
Instead, they continued to try to rescue the Japanese who were surrounded as they had done a few nights before, and the Eighth Route Army would inevitably fall into a two-sided battle.
With powerful artillery fire and air support, the Eighth Route Army would not be defeated by the Japanese, but it would certainly suffer heavy losses.
Li Yunlong admitted that he was gambling.
But he made the right bet.
Yoshio Iwamatsu, an old Japanese soldier, got scared and led his troops to flee along Shotai Road towards Shouyang. The main force of more than 30,000 Japanese soldiers plunged into the encirclement of the Eighth Route Army.
Li Yunlong looked at Wang Dehou and asked: "Chief of Staff, the main force of the Japanese has escaped from Taiyuan. How many Japanese and puppet troops are there in Tianlong Mountain, Crouching Tiger Mountain and Taiyuan?"
"There are still at most 2,000 Japanese."
Wang Dehou looked thoughtful and then answered:
"However, the telegram sent from the political commissar of the 129th Division did not mention the puppet troops, which means that the puppet troops are all in Taiyuan."
"According to this calculation, there are still 2,000 Japanese and 15,000 puppet troops in Taiyuan now."
As the chief of staff of the New Regiment, Wang Dehou was quite knowledgeable, and he quickly provided data that was close to the truth.
"The total strength is 17,000."
Li Yunlong nodded, stared at the map and thought for a moment, then showed disdain after a moment:
"The puppet army is also called the army? It's just a bunch of people who get paid to eat."
If there were 17,000 Japs, Li Yunlong would pay three cents to the Japs, but there were 15,000 puppet troops among them.
Although many puppet troops were the troops that rebelled against the Jinsui Army.
However, these Jinsui Army troops basically did not really work for the Japanese, and basically only fought against the odds.
In such a strong headwind, if the puppet soldiers still sacrifice their lives for the Japanese, they are seeking death.
Li Yunlong's tone was stern: "Give me the order to have the 1st Battalion of the Combined Infantry, the 1st and 2nd Battalions of Heavy Howitzers, the 150mm Howitzer Battalion, and the 1st and 2nd Battalions of Tanks to attack Crouching Mountain immediately. After capturing Crouching Mountain, then
Capture Taiyuan immediately!"
"In addition, the aviation group is ordered to dispatch attack aircraft squadrons and fighter squadrons to conduct a bombing raid on Crouching Tiger Mountain."
As the most elite ace unit of the Eighth Route Army, the New Regiment must be the first to attack Taiyuan City.
Ding Wei also wanted a piece of the pie, but after thinking about it, he decided not to.
Some of the troops of the New Regiment have been transferred away, and now they have to continue to encircle the Japanese 41st Division. They cannot send excess troops to attack Crouching Mountain and Taiyuan.
"yes!"
Wang Dehou straightened up, turned around and went to deliver the order.
There are some concrete fortifications and many tunnel fortifications in Wohu Mountain.
It was previously defended by an infantry regiment of the Japanese Fifth Division.
A new regiment's attack will inevitably encounter stiff resistance and pay a heavy price in casualties.
But after replacing a small number of Japanese and a large number of puppet troops, the new regiment can capture Crouching Tiger Mountain at any time without paying heavy casualties.
Following Li Yunlong's order.
A battalion of tens of thousands of infantrymen was formed, and under the leadership of Zhang Dabiao, they crossed the Qinglong Mountain position in a mighty manner and headed towards Crouching Tiger Mountain.
In addition, there are 2 tank battalions, 2 heavy howitzer battalions, and 1 150mm howitzer battalion of the new regiment, closely following.
…
More than two hours later.
The new regiment's army pressed towards the Japanese position at Wohu Mountain in the northeast of Taiyuan.
In the headquarters, Zhang Dabiao held up his telescope and looked in the direction of Crouching Tiger Mountain.
In the field of vision of the telescope, Crouching Tiger Mountain was almost in a mess.
Prior to this, aircraft from the New Regiment and the headquarters conducted several air raids on Crouching Mountain, dropping a large number of napalm and aerial bombs.
The two heavy howitzer battalions also fired a lot of high-explosive artillery shells at the Japs' positions in Crouching Mountain.
Some concrete fortifications were destroyed, but there are still many concrete fortifications in Wohu Mountain, as well as a large number of tunnel fortifications.
"It's just a bunch of puppet troops."
"Batalion Commander, give the order."
"Let the tank battalion lead the infantry and capture Crouching Tiger Mountain and Taiyuan as soon as possible. Let's have dinner in Taiyuan City."
Beside Zhang Dabiao, the instructor of the first battalion was already a little impatient.
"Not in a hurry!"
Zhang Dabiao looked at the watch in his hand, his eyes sharp:
"The regiment commander has already called for air support for us. After the planes have dropped incendiary bombs and aerial bombs, the heavy artillery will continue to bombard us for another hour. We will let the soldiers come in depending on the situation!"
"If the Japanese and puppet troops continue to resist, we will continue to call for aircraft and artillery fire reinforcements."
"In addition, each battalion was ordered to set up mountain artillery and mortars and fire into an area one kilometer in front of the Japs position in Wohu Mountain to provide artillery coverage."
The Japanese laid a large number of mines in front of the Wohu Mountain position.
I want the Eighth Route Army to pay a heavy price in casualties when attacking.
but.
To be continued...