Two hundred and twenty eighth chapter galloping all the way
This time, in the words of the deputy commander in charge of front-line work in the Eighth Division, the Eighth Division was bleeding heavily and was undergoing a thorough clearance. When the ammunition handed over by Yang Jicai was not in place, the only ammunition in stock was taken out, not only You must issue it to your own troops, and also to the troops in the four divisions of Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei.
This regiment in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Division 4 has consumed a lot of ammunition due to continuous anti-mopping operations. Now each person only has an average of five rounds of ammunition. All heavy machine guns have been lost. Each company of light machine guns has only one light machine gun. Without replenishing ammunition, this A small regiment with only five companies was unable to fight at all. It was heartbreaking, but the Eighth Division did not dare to be too localistic in this matter.
It's just a pity that there are a lot of troops, but the financial resources of the Eighth Division are really limited. The inventory has been carefully cleaned and very clean, but the amount of ammunition that can be scraped is really not much. Although they can find ways to raise it, but in In order to ensure that the counties participating in the war are armed with ammunition, each soldier can only guarantee twenty rounds of ammunition, nearly half of which are reloaded ammunition manufactured by the Jinsui Arsenal.
The troops of the Eighth Division of Jinsui were secretly competing with themselves. Yang Jicai naturally didn't know it at this moment. At this time, Yang Jicai commanded his roundabout detachment to maximize the maneuverability of tanks and cars, using this road The road conditions were relatively good, so we headed towards Taiyuan along the highway at the fastest speed.
Facing the roundabout detachment of the Anti-Japanese Alliance that ran all the way without stopping at all, the Japanese and puppet army strongholds along the highway were caught off guard by the local armed forces of Jinsui, even if they had the intention, they were unable to carry out the attack. Anything, even a superficial interception.
Of course, during the intervening process, Yang Jicai would not turn a blind eye to the large-scale raids carried out by the local armed forces in Jinsui along the way. When he saw a stronghold that the local armed forces were unable to capture, he would also dispatch a tank to carry out a vehicle-mounted attack. The 40mm artillery arrived and directly fired the shells into the firing hole, neatly assisting the local armed forces in solving the problem.
Or the self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery that served as long-range cover along the way fired a round of shells to shut up the Japanese firepower. By doing this, although he could only penetrate along the road this time, his roundabout operations At least before arriving at Gujiao, we didn't encounter much trouble caused by the Japanese and puppet troops along the way.
Even though there were several local armed forces, the Japanese and puppet troops in the stronghold that had not been taken care of for the time being wanted to resist, but when they saw so many tanks, they immediately retreated. Although the Japanese were brave, they were not stupid. What a joke, there are so many tanks, why are you poking a hornet's nest when you have nothing to do?
The journey along the way went smoothly, which made the commander of the Eighth Division very proud. This area was basically his territory. The detachment's detours were carried out so smoothly. This made his face very bright. The only thing was a little Embarrassingly, when entering the front line from Hujiazhuang to Loufan, there was a small-scale conflict between the roundabout troops and the local armed forces who did not know each other.
The several district squadrons and basic militiamen who were ordered to serve as security guards along the route did not know that there was such a large mechanized force operation of their own troops. In the minds of this local armed forces, tanks and cars were the equipment of the little devils.
After receiving instructions from the county party committee and hearing tanks and cars passing through their jurisdiction, the armed forces in these places thought that the Japs must have come out to sweep them again. In addition, the correspondent of the county party committee only gasped when he found them. , and did not convey the order clearly.
Together, several district party secretaries who led the team were ordered to pull out telephone poles and cut off the enemy's wired communications. At the same time, they did not forget to follow the custom of counter-mopping up and planted more than a dozen landmines on the road. The troops also After getting ready for battle, even the only Jin-made light machine gun, which only had more than a hundred rounds of ammunition, was set up.
As for other Hanyang-made and Jin-made rifles, let alone one-on-one, even a pine tree cannon, a necessary weapon for anti-mopping up by the county armed forces, has been set up. These things cannot be hit by tanks. , there is still no problem in attacking the infantry behind.
Although in the hands of the Jingle County Second District Party Committee Secretary who was in charge, only half of the lens was left in the telescope, there were dozens of tanks rushing toward him, and trucks full of infantry could not be seen at a glance. , but the district committee secretary did not hesitate or flinch.
In his opinion, the superiors ordered to ensure the safety of this highway, so he would still complete the order even if it was lightened, even though he could not understand how so many tanks and infantry could be rushed out from the depths of the base area at once trucks, but for this local cadre who carries out orders without making samples, the orders from his superiors are everything.
This district party committee secretary, who has been active in Jingle, an enemy-occupied area, and suffered heavy losses from the Japanese tank mechanized troops during the anti-mopping up campaign, never thought that these tanks and trucks belonged to his own people. In his mind, There are a lot of tanks and trucks, so you don't have to think that they must be little devils.
Except for cloth military caps and a small number of captured Japanese helmets, most of the Eighth Route Army did not have helmets, let alone tanks and trucks. Although the helmets worn by the troops who came were somewhat different from those worn by the Japanese army, they were not the same as those of the past. The helmets worn by the Central Army are very similar.
The tanks and trucks are also different from the tanks used by the Japanese army in the past. The tanks are much larger than the Japanese tanks. The weapons in the hands of the infantry are also different from those used by the Japanese. However, such a lavish army will not be able to win the battle in Shanxi. It must be the Japs. Apart from the Japs, no other army is so fashionable.
Not to mention the Eighth Route Army, which is too poor to afford military uniforms, is not so wealthy. Even the Jinsui Army, which is rich and wealthy, is not so wealthy that each person has a helmet, let alone so many tanks and trucks. Even though they know that they And these troops of his own may die here because of this battle, but the district committee secretary still decided to fight this battle.
Fortunately, the mines made in these border areas and filled with black powder, due to the lack of high explosives, have almost no effect on the Crusader tanks. When more than a dozen pull-out mines were rushed over at high speed by a tank platoon from the front , when the explosions occurred one after another, these tanks did not cause any casualties except for a slight vibration.
Even his platoon guns and pine cannons did not cause any losses in the face of the extremely quick response of the Anti-Japanese Alliance. On the contrary, the district squadron, together with the Eighth Division backbone battalion that came to greet them, were carried by tanks that responded extremely quickly. The machine gun was stuck in a ditch on the side of the road, unable to move forward or retreat.
If Yang Jicai had not been reluctant to waste artillery shells and had issued a strict order before the interlude to strictly prohibit the use of artillery unless encountering fire interception from the Japanese stronghold, it is estimated that under a continuous artillery fire, the squadron of this district did not die on the battlefield, but would have fallen to his own people. The muzzle is up.
Fortunately, Yang Jicai reacted quickly. He heard something was wrong from the explosion of landmines and gunshots, and hurriedly ordered to stop the attack and asked people from the 8th Division to use the bugle to contact them. Only then did this small unit get out of danger. Only after the misunderstanding was resolved, the result was But it was very bad. In the gun battle of several minutes, the local armed forces seriously injured three people and lightly injured fifteen people.
If Yang Jicai hadn't reacted quickly and stopped the troops from attacking and using artillery fire, maybe it wouldn't have been a matter of casualties. This misunderstanding made the commander of the Eighth Division a little embarrassed, and the anti-alliance forces encountered During the attack, his reaction speed also surprised him.
Before the explosion of the first landmine here fell, all the troops riding in the follow-up tanks and trucks over there had already disembarked and immediately formed a battle formation. All weapons were loaded at the same time, and the machine guns were already on the first line. Time, pointing to a suspicious location in the mountains on both sides.
The leading tank immediately rushed through the minefield at high speed, turned its turret to get ready for battle, and fired at suspicious targets on the road with its onboard machine gun in a 135 to the east and 246 to the west, while the following tanks simultaneously fired at suspicious targets on the road. Drive off the road and form a temporary defense line around the convoy.
As soon as the volley of gunshots on the hillside was fired, the anti-alliance troops here had already formed a fan shape to surround them. The firepower of the tanks was also directed at the place where the gunshots were fired. In less than three minutes, all the artillery fired. It had been taken off the tractor and quickly prepared for firing. The artillery observers had even reported shooting Zhu Yuan.
Even mortars and large-caliber machine guns are all ready for battle. With such a reaction speed, even if it were not for my own reaction, it would not be slow. Although it is an encounter, the gap in weapons is not counted, but my several district squadrons I'm afraid I won't last ten minutes.
Although his troops were not slow to react, they were always a little slower in their movements. Looking at the reaction speed of the anti-Japanese war troops, the commander of the Eighth Division, who felt that he had lost face, had already planned to After this battle is over, train your troops well.
Yang Jicai, who had no time to delay here, let alone what the commander next to him thought, stopped the commander's attempt to reprimand the somewhat reckless district committee secretary and left a military doctor behind to treat the wounded. Lead the team to move forward. As for this misunderstanding, we should wait until the battle is over to explain it.
The troops led by Yang Jicai stayed in Gujiao after the Japanese troops withdrew because the Japanese and puppet troops had withdrawn to Taiyuan along the highway east of Loufan. However, they did not encounter any interception. After seeing so many tanks and artillery, they He surrendered cleanly without firing a shot. He even had no time to pay attention to the neat rows of puppet troops that had already marched out of the city.
Instead, he commanded the troops to gallop along the highway in the direction of Taiyuan. By 2 p.m. on April 15, the entire army arrived at the Baijiazhuang line on the outskirts of Taiyuan, and the troops emerged from Baijiazhuang, the northwest steel mill outside Taiyuan City Thick smoke was clearly visible.
After arriving at Baijiazhuang, Yang Jicai did not take any rest and continued to force his way into the gates of Taiyuan City. Under the eyes of the stunned Japanese defenders, he used tanks to cover the infantry and forcibly rushed across the Fenhe Bridge, leaving behind the control of the Eighth Division's key battalion. After the Fenhe Bridge, the troops divided into two groups.
With a tank company carrying one of his own companies, with the cooperation of the two basic battalions of Jinsui, they penetrated directly into the northwest steel mill and industrial zone in the northwest corner of Taiyuan outside the city, while he commanded the main force of the roundabout troops, regardless of Taiyuan. The puppet troops in the Crouching Tiger Mountain and Niutuo Village penetrated directly into Yinghui Gate in the northeast corner of Taiyuan.
The rest of the troops of the Shanxi-Sui Military Region strengthened a regiment of the fourth division of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, under the unified command of the commander and chief of staff of the eighth division of the Shanxi-Sui Military Region, and then forcibly attacked southwest along the Fen River, preparing to seize the front line of the West Mountain of Taiyuan to ensure that the entire army Escape route if necessary.
After the roundabout troops commanded by Yang Jicai arrived, Taiyuan City, which had been peaceful since its fall, was surrounded by intensive gunfire. Gujiao, Jinyuan, Qingyuan and other counties outside Taiyuan were abandoned, and all the Japanese troops retreated into the city, relying on The city walls and surrounding fortifications are desperately resisting.