Chapter 235: Xia Yuanmi and Xiongs patchwork of reinforcements
Yaojiamiao, Jing Dagang's group's blocking position was set up here.
Handan City is more than 80 miles away from Ci County and more than 140 miles away from Fengle Station.
Jing Dagang expected that if the Japanese army sent reinforcements, they would go south along the railway line. After all, this distance was the shortest.
The Yaojia Temple is located thirty miles south of Handan City, not far from the Pinghan-Han Line.
After receiving the blocking order, Jing Dagang first dispatched a small force to conduct investigation, and then boldly set up the blocking position at Yaojiamiao.
So a regiment of more than 1,600 people was divided into thirteen companies and acted separately. Taking advantage of the darkness, they passed through the guerrilla zone and penetrated the Japanese army's outer strongholds. The thirteen companies successfully met at the Yaojia Temple.
At this time, gunshots were everywhere in Yaojia Temple, and the sound of artillery shells was continuous.
Jing Dagang and political commissar Li Ziwen braved artillery fire in a mountain forest to observe the battle ahead.
"The little devil is really arrogant. He bombarded our position like it was free of charge!" Li Ziwen said with a frown.
"Hey, luckily we arrived at Yaojiamiao one day in advance and built tight fortifications. The little devil at least brought an artillery squadron with six large-caliber artillery. This is bullying our mortar's short hand!" Jing Dagang said with lingering fear.
said.
"You are not brave enough to set up the blocking position at Yaojiamiao. Even if you want to block the Japanese reinforcements, you still have to guard against the Japanese and puppet troops in nearby strongholds!" Li Ziwen said with complaint.
"There is no other way. You have also seen that the Japanese reinforcements are along the railway line. If we are far away from the railway line, how can we block the Japanese reinforcements? It is 110 miles from Yaojiamiao to Fengle Station. Even if the Japanese army breaks through us
If a group blocks the attack, the main force will have time to react!" Jing Dagang explained.
"But don't tell me, the Japs' artillery is not weak, but the infantry is afraid of fighting, as if they are just handymen!" Jing Dagang wondered.
"Hey, you've just jumped into the trap. The 108th Division has a lot of troops, but it also occupies a large area. This time our Eighth Route Army units are attacking everywhere. The brother troops in southern Hebei are probably also making big moves. The Japanese army can piece it together.
It's not easy to order reinforcements!" Li Ziwen said with a smile.
"Yes!" Jing Dagang observed for a while with his binoculars. Seeing that the first battalion in front repelled another Japanese infantry charge, he immediately shouted: "Inform the first battalion to withdraw from the position, and the second battalion is ready for battle!"
"Yes!" The two correspondents took the order and turned around to inform the first and second battalions.
Li Ziwen's guess was indeed correct. This group of Japanese reinforcements was really pieced together by Shimo Yuanmi Xiong.
The original strength of the execution platform included the division headquarters of the 108th Division, the wing headquarters of the 117th Infantry Regiment, an infantry brigade, an under-organized engineering regiment, the captain of the 108th Field Artillery Regiment, and the 108th Cavalry Battalion.
Captain Koshiro Goto
Before reinforcing Fengle Station, 54 people from the 117th Infantry Regiment, an Infantry Squadron 181, a Machine Gun Squadron 174, and an artillery squadron of 55 people were dispatched, which were drawn from the remaining infantry brigade.
A cavalry squadron of 144 and a field artillery brigade of 634 men were separately mobilized, carrying 12 field guns.
The above-mentioned transferred troops totaled 1,242 people, with the commander of the 117th Regiment, Sugiura Eikichi, as the commander, and went to southern Hebei Province for support under the orders of Motoya Kuma.
A mighty force of more than a thousand Japanese troops set off from the east gate of Xingtai and went deep into the hinterland of southern Hebei along the road from Xingtai to Wei County. However, the good times did not last long. They encountered the main force of the Eighth Route Army at Fengle Station on the fourth floor of Zhanmi Di in Handan.
Before the siege, the Japanese reinforcements lost contact.
Chen Zaidao, who had been promoted to the top of the Jinan Military Region, had already expected that the Japanese troops at Xingtai would be reinforced and ordered local troops to besiege the Japanese stronghold.
He personally led the main force of two newly formed brigades to ambush the Japanese troops coming from the execution platform. After the Eighth Route Army units in southern Hebei annihilated the Third Division of Shiyou, their weapons and equipment were significantly improved, especially the 12 mountain cannons and 4 pieces captured from the Third Division of Shiyou.
The anti-war artillery finally had the strength to compete with the Japanese army.
After the news of the attack on Fengle Station came, Shimomoto Mixiong thought over and over again and finally decided to send troops to support.
However, after learning the lesson from the reinforcements sent to southern Hebei, Shimoyuan Mixiong divided the reinforcements into two parts.
One force consisted of two engineer squadrons and a field artillery squadron from the engineer regiment (three engineer squadrons), and added some weapons and equipment, with less than 800 people, and went south along the west side of the Ping-Han Railway for reinforcements.
The other force was reinforced by the last cavalry squadron and cavalry machine gun squad heading south along the east side of the Ping-Han Railway.
...
The Japanese military position currently engaged in a firefight with Jing Dagang.
Nei Weiwu, commander of the engineering regiment in charge of this command, was worried about the situation in front of him.
When he originally received the reinforcement order, Shimomoto Yaxiong promised that if reinforcements could be sent to Fengle Station in time, Ouchi Weiwu could be transferred to the combat unit and become a captain based on his military exploits.
Ouchi Weiwu was overjoyed. Although the captain of an engineering regiment also had the rank of lieutenant colonel, he could not compare with the military commander of an infantry brigade in terms of strength and status.
Ouchi Weiwu heroically led his troops southward for reinforcements, but encountered a stubborn resistance from Jing Dagang's regiment, which was a huge setback.
Although suppressed by artillery fire, the soldiers of the two engineering squadrons were afraid of fighting. Every time they launched a charge, they were easily repulsed by the Eighth Route Army.
Even if Ouchi Weiwu personally supervises the battle, it will not be effective.
"Captain, three hours have passed now. Fengle Station has been besieged by the Eighth Route Army for at least two hours. With all due respect, with our strength, we probably won't be able to break through the Eighth Route Army's blockade. Even if we break through the blockage, we might run into them.
In my opinion, the main force of the Eighth Route Army is not as good as..." his adjutant said in a low voice.
Ouchi Weiwu was convinced after hearing this. The captain of the infantry brigade obviously couldn't do it. The strength of his own engineer brigade cannot be wasted in the end!
It is better to bring the reinforcements back intact than to be wiped out by that reckless man Sugiura Eikichi.
"Secretly tell the two squadron leaders not to attack too hard or drive away the Eighth Route Army!"
"Hey, the commander is wise!" the adjutant complimented.
Then he quietly contacted the two squadron leaders who were fighting at the front.
"Tsukata-kun, thank you for your advice. We are grateful!" The two squadron leaders had long been afraid and quickly thanked the adjutant Tsukada-o.
"Yo Xi!" Tsukada Man said with a smile on his face, he stretched out his fingers and rubbed them.
The two people immediately understood: "I understand, I understand!"
On the other side, more than 300 Japanese cavalrymen roared past along the east side of the Pinghan-Hankou Railway. Along the way, they encountered the Southern Hebei Eighth Route Army operating in the surrounding areas, but they ignored them completely.
"Damn, what a false alarm, I thought these little devil cavalry were coming for us!" The speaker was Brigadier Gui of the New Ninth Brigade of the Southern Hebei Military Region.
The New Ninth Brigade was ordered to destroy the railway from Xingtai to Handan. When the Little Japanese Cavalry came, many militiamen and young men were destroying the railway.
"Looking at the little devil's appearance, is there something big going on in the south?" Political Commissar Yang of the New Ninth Brigade wondered.
"Handan was beaten by our Eighth Route Army troops? That shouldn't be the case. How could we not know if there was any movement?" Brigadier Gui was also a little confused.
"It's broken, Zhou Weihan's independent detachment is moving south of the Ping-Han Line, and the little Japanese cavalry is going to attack them!"
Brigadier Gui then shouted: "Telegraph operator, telegraph operator!"