Just as the boss, deputy chief of staff and others were discussing the current situation of the war, a combat staff officer hurried in.
"Boss, the intelligence department reported that a group of nearly a thousand Japanese troops were approaching Wangjiayu from Qin County through Xiying. The villages they passed along the way and the villagers who had not had time to move were all murdered by the Japs. Their houses were burned down, and their livestock and
Food was taken away, and even the wells they usually used were destroyed."
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone present took a breath of air-conditioning, and then their teeth started to itch with hatred.
Because they had early insight into the Japanese army's large-scale raids, the Eighth Route Army moved from Wangjiayu in Wuxiang to Xijing Town in the northwest of Licheng three days ago.
At the same time, manpower was also arranged to evacuate the local people. Unexpectedly, some people were still unable to escape.
"This Japanese army has a very good nose. Judging from their marching route, they are coming specifically for our Eighth Route Army headquarters!" said the deputy chief of staff.
The boss slammed the pen in his hand on the table and shouted angrily: "It's too rampant. Since they dare to go to the base area to kill, burn, and loot, we can't let them go!"
Everyone was just discussing the inexplicable appearance of a group of Japanese troops in other base areas. As a result, such a group of Japanese troops also appeared at the original headquarters of the Eighth Route Army.
"It seems that there is indeed a Japanese advance team that has lurked into the base area in advance. Otherwise, the Japanese army would not be so sensitive and noticed the location of our headquarters. Boss, eat them?" said the deputy chief of staff.
"I ordered the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, the Shanxi-Suiyuan Military Region and the subordinate secondary military regions to eliminate this group of Japanese vanguard troops who were burning, killing and looting in the base area at all costs!" the boss ordered.
"The location of the Huangyadong Arsenal is hidden. Even if the Japanese army arrived in Xijing Town, they would not be able to find the specific location of the Arsenal, but the headquarters secret service group could not move and still had to take on the task of protecting it!"
"Zhou Weihan's Tainan Military Region has a lot of troops, but he has to deal with the offensive of at least two regiments of the 41st Division. In addition, the Second Regiment of the Independent Detachment in Shexian County is in a special position and cannot move easily!"
"I think we can allocate some troops from the Taiyue Military Region, and at the same time let the 385th Brigade and the New 10th Brigade on the northern line return to the inner line to form an encirclement of the Japanese army, and completely eliminate this Japanese army before the Japanese army's external encirclement is formed.
"The deputy chief of staff suggested. On the same day, the Eighth Route Army headquarters officially issued a combat order: the 386th Brigade and the 772nd Regiment and the 16th Regiment moved north to Wuxiang and moved at the junction of Licheng and Licheng, the 385th Brigade and the 769th Regiment advanced from north to south, and the 28th Regiment of the 10th Brigade were newly formed.
Regiment, the 29th Regiment encircled from the east. It happened that the 22nd Regiment of the first desperate column rushed from the vicinity of Linfen to the Taihang base area, so the 22nd Regiment encircled from west to east.
Sneaking into the Taihang base area was the Okazaki Battalion of the 36th Division of the Japanese Army. Its personnel and firepower configuration were exactly the same as those of the Yamazaki Battalion.
Just when the Eighth Route Army was encircling it, Gangqi's brigade saw that the situation was not good and quickly moved north from Wangjiayu, retreating towards the northern part of Wuxiang County, preparing to seize the road to Wuxiang and withdraw to Qin County in the west.
As a result, they were attacked head-on by the oncoming 22nd Regiment. The 22nd Regiment was the team that Zhou Weihan personally pulled up. Although the weapons and equipment were not comparable to the current Jing Dagang Regiment, it was more than enough to intercept the Okazaki Brigade.
The Okazaki Brigade had no intention of fighting, leaving a small group of troops to block the attack, and withdrew to the vicinity of Guanjianao in Panlong Town overnight.
Guanjianao is located in the heart of the Taihang Anti-Japanese Base Area, 13 miles due north of Zhuanbi Village, Panlong Town, Wuxiang County.
Guanjianao is a high hill surrounded by mountains. The top of the mountain is a flat land with a radius of several hundred meters, which is very suitable for arranging troops.
To the north is a steep cliff, with a deep ditch below. The slopes on the east and west sides are steeper, and only the southern slope is gentler, which can be used as an attack route. Therefore, Guanjianao can be said to be an easy-to-defend but difficult-to-attack place.
There were more than 50 families named Guan who originally lived on the southern slope of Guanjianao. They built cave dwellings one after another along the mountain wall.
At this time, the people in the village had already moved out, and on the opposite side of the south slope was a hill called Liusunao that was higher than Guanjianao.
The path to Guanjianao.
Different from history, because there had been an obvious war in the Tainan Military Region for a long time, the Eighth Route Army headquarters quickly passed a resolution, so the two regiments of the New Tenth Brigade encircled from the east were withdrawn to Guanjianao when the Okazaki Brigade
, they have already taken the lead in occupying Guanjianao and Liushunao, which have difficult terrain.
At this time, in Guanjianao and Liushunao, the two regiments of the New 10th Brigade took advantage of the terrain and formed a tight fire network.
When the Okazaki Brigade, which fled in a panic, arrived at Guanjianao, it was ambushed again by the New 10th Brigade and suffered heavy injuries.
Seeing that there was no way to escape, Okazaki Jihei, filled with grief and anger, ordered his troops to forcibly capture Guanjianao and Liusunao in an attempt to gain a chance of survival.
The two sides fought fiercely for two hours. Group after group of Japanese troops attacking along the hillside were repelled by the New 10th Brigade. Even with the artillery support of the mountain artillery, the Gangqi Brigade still suffered more than half of its casualties.
That night, it was still dark.
The Eighth Route Army units surrounded from all sides completely besieged the Okazaki Brigade near Guanjianao. Since it was a night battle, the Okazaki Brigade had no air support from aircraft, and the Japanese army of more than a thousand people was completely annihilated.
In this battle, the Eighth Route Army dispatched six main regiments and annihilated more than 1,100 people from the Okazaki Brigade. The Eighth Route Army headquarters issued orders decisively, without even convening a division and brigade level combat meeting. The speed of assembly of each regiment was unprecedented. The furthest Taiyue Military Region
, it took only six hours to arrive at Guanjianao.
After the battle, the boss and the deputy chief of staff walked on the battlefield.
I saw the deputy chief of staff saying: "Boss, this battle was fought so happily and cleanly. I originally thought that the headquarters artillery regiment needed to take action, but unexpectedly, this group of Japanese troops were wiped out like this!"
"The location chosen by the New 10th Brigade is clever. If the Japanese army really seizes Guanjianao due to the terrain around you, it will be easy to defend but difficult to attack. Even with the artillery support of the artillery regiment, it will be a tough nut to crack!" the boss pointed to the surrounding area.
The terrain said, with a sense of joy in his tone.
At this time, each military district and brigade-level structure of the Eighth Route Army had more or less several artillery pieces. For example, the headquarters artillery regiment had more artillery pieces of all kinds, and due to the deal with Isamu Terauchi, the artillery shell reserve was sufficient.
The deputy chief of staff looked up at the sky at this time, and then said: "It's time for the regiments participating in the war to move. The 22nd regiment will move together with the headquarters, and the other regiments will split up and jump to the outside before the Japanese encirclement is completed!"
The boss nodded and the transfer orders were issued one after another.
As for the 22nd Regiment, which was a decisive column, the headquarters was specially transferred to cover the headquarters and logistics agencies, and the Northern Bureau transferred them.
Similar to Lijiagou, the battles at Guanjianao were staged one after another in various Eighth Route Army base areas. The tentacles of various Japanese army units extending into the base areas were cut off, and the No. 1 combat plan formulated by Neji Okamura was completely ruined.
However, the Japanese army's large-scale raids on various base areas were not over, and more brutal battles were yet to come.