Outside Changzhi City, there was a loud bang, and the north wall of Changzhi, which Fan Hanjie described as a fortified city, collapsed on a large scale.
In the early stage of the siege, the Japanese army was blocked by trenches and suffered heavy casualties. After failing to capture strong men from near the battlefield, Imada Yukio became ruthless. The Japanese army captured at least 3,000 men from Lucheng and Licheng counties and the suburbs of Changzhi. The young people were forced to fill in the huge ditch surrounding the city wall.
Over the past few days, more than 3,000 young men were divided into several work sections, working day and night. The dozen or so work sections that were being constructed at the same time in the entire 30-meter-wide and 20-meter-deep outer trench were almost ready to be filled up, and the work sections were almost filled up. The nearby city wall was the key target of the Japanese heavy artillery regiment.
During this period, the national troops guarding the city had no other choice but to shoot at the little Japanese who acted as supervisors.
The sound of the city wall hitting the ground made the ears of everyone present ring. The national soldiers guarding the city wall were buried under the rubble. The flying gravel caused heavy losses to the young man who was filling the soil.
The headquarters of the 27th Army in the city.
In order to prevent the military headquarters from being bombed by Japanese spies in the city, General Fan Khanjie moved the headquarters to an ordinary residence in the city.
"What's the sound?" Fan Hanjie asked immediately, even though the explosion of Japanese artillery shells still did not cover up the sound of the city wall collapsing.
"Military seat, it's not good. The 23rd Regiment in the North City and the 24th Regiment in the West City both called and said that several gaps in the city wall were blasted by the Japs' heavy artillery. The city will be breached immediately!" the Chief of Staff of the 27th Army reported. road.
Fan Hanjie did not show any panic after hearing this. He was not surprised that the city wall was blown down by the Japanese army. In fact, whenever the Japanese army bombarded the city, the Eighth Division responsible for defending the city did not place many personnel on the city wall.
I saw Fan Hanjie ask: "How many days is it today to defend the city?"
"The Japanese army launched an attack on the Changzhi City where our army was defending on the morning of the 16th. Today is the 20th, which is already the fifth day!" the chief of staff replied.
Fan Hanjie nodded after hearing this, with a look of perseverance on his face: "Well, there have been a lot of casualties among the soldiers in the past few days, but I estimate that things are almost over over there in Lingchuan. Send my order to prepare for the Eighth Division." Based on the collapsed city wall, we blocked the Japanese army once and then withdrew behind the fortifications deployed by the division in the city!"
"The little devil has a beautiful thought. The real battle begins now!"
"Yes, I will convey it right away!" the chief of staff responded standing at attention.
The generals have a will to die, and the soldiers have no desire to live. This sentence is well interpreted by all the officers and men of the 27th Army who defended the city in Changzhi.
The strategic position of Changzhi did not allow the national army to give up. After learning that the Japanese army was going to attack Changzhi, and facing the menacing main force of the Japanese army, Fan Hanjie knew that with the strength of the 27th Army, he might be able to survive by holding on to Changzhi. , abandoned the city and fled, but the Japanese army seized the opportunity, and what followed was a great rout of the national army in the entire Changzhi area.
Therefore, from the very beginning, Fan Hanjie was determined to maintain long-term governance.
On the other side, the collapse of the Changji City Wall finally gave Imada Yukio, who had been distressed for many days, the dawn of victory.
At this time, today Yukio stood on a small high ground outside the city, put down the telescope in his hand, and said proudly: "Yusi, the big drop is great. Facts have proved that no solid city can stop the bombardment of heavy artillery. Immediately order the troops to attack , we must wipe out the 27th Army today and capture Changzhi City!"
"Hi!" the adjutant on the side responded.
Afterwards, today Yukio continued to stand where he was with great interest, watching the siege troops who received the order form their formations one by one and rush towards several gaps in the city wall.
Each gap is thirty to forty meters narrow and hundreds of meters wide. The ruins are pressed on the trenches filled with soil, making the terrain at the gap higher than other places. The officers and soldiers of the 8th Division are distributed among them.
The ruins serve as a bunker and are an excellent blocking position.
As the Japanese troops approached step by step, the soldiers of the Preliminary Eighth Division who were hiding among them all opened fire. Even though the little Japanese were well prepared, they were still knocked down in large numbers.
The two sides were in a stalemate for a while, and without waiting for the Japanese artillery fire to counterattack, the soldiers of the 8th Preliminary Division withdrew into the city.
Upon seeing this, Imada Yukio nodded with satisfaction, and then strode towards the headquarters.
When he entered the headquarters, the adjutant who came back first immediately reported: "Your Excellency General, a call came from Xinxiang Airport. When the flying team was conducting air support in Lingchuan, it was attacked by the national army's anti-aircraft machine guns. Two of the bombers were destroyed.
, but before that, the aircraft fleet had already torn a hole in the national army’s position!”
"Do you have any call back from Nimura-kun and Kawamoto-kun?"
"Not yet. The imperial army's ground troops should still be at war with the national army. I believe there will be news of victory soon!" the adjutant said excitedly.
Imada Yukio felt that today was really a happy day. Both strategic plans must be realized. He immediately shouted to the telegraph operator: "Immediately send a report to General Okamura, saying that Changzhi has been breached by our troops and is expected to capture Changzhi today."
city, and completely occupy the Changzhi area within three days!"
The words are divided into two parts.
Outside Ryokawa Castle, the situation of the Japanese troops of Ichiro Kawamoto and Yoji Shinmura was not as good as Yukio Imada expected.
Although the positions set up by the 89th Division faced double attacks from the Japanese army and many positions were lost, they still prevented the two Japanese armies from reuniting for a long time. The resilience of the 89th Division greatly exceeded the expectations of the Japanese army.
"Sir, the 110th Division on the northeast side of the battlefield is rushing towards the battlefield. It is less than five miles away from the battlefield!" A Japanese officer came over in a hurry to report.
"Baga, how could the 110th Division move so fast!" Ichiro Kawamoto was shocked when he heard this. Now that all the troops were pressed up, it would be difficult to withdraw them all.
"Kawamoto-kun, withdraw. Although our troops are not afraid of the National Army, there is the Eighth Route Army on the side. If we don't withdraw, we will be surrounded by the National Army and the Eighth Route Army!"
"After several days of fighting, my subordinate Zuo is exhausted, so we really shouldn't fight anymore!" Zhang Lanfeng on the side advised.
"How far can we withdraw? Is it possible that we have to withdraw to Lingchuan County? In this case, not only the troops who came to reinforce will fall into the hands of the national army, but our troops may be truly trapped in an isolated city!" Ichiro Kawamoto looked at him.
Lengjun, changed his previous idea of conserving strength.
Suddenly, there was a burst of gunfire from Lingchuan County, seven or eight miles behind the battlefield, and then the west gate of the county was shattered by the explosion.
Ichiro Kawamoto heard the noise and quickly looked through his binoculars. He saw groups of soldiers in gray military uniforms rushing out and marching rapidly towards the battlefield.
It turned out that after learning that the Japanese army was attacking the 89th Division in the west, Xu Dali immediately concluded that Lingchuan County must be empty. Instead of taking a detour to reinforce the 89th Division, it would be better to go straight through Lingchuan County.