After receiving a report that a large number of unidentified troops equipped with a large number of tanks and trucks appeared outside Taiyuan City and rushed across the Fenhe Bridge and forcibly penetrated into the industrial zone northeast of Taiyuan City, Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadichi in the First Army Headquarters felt slightly.
Trembling, he hurried to the northeast wall.
He had already made a certain judgment when he heard the word "tank". After only observing the outside for five minutes, he accurately judged that the army rushing out from Guanlui Mountain was not the Eighth Route Army, let alone the Jinsui Army.
Army or the Central Army, but his old rival in the Northeast, the Anti-Alliance Armed Forces.
Watching the troops outside the city under the cover of tanks, using standard anti-alliance tactics, using a large amount of small-caliber direct fire to destroy his peripheral fortification group troops, listening to all anti-alliance standard automatic rifles emitting the typical crisp sound of three bursts of gunfire,
Recoilless artillery shells and rocket launchers fired rockets, and the dull explosions made when they collided with the bunker made Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadichi stunned.
Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadichi can swear that those two direct-aimed firearms, which emit flames from behind as soon as they are fired, and are almost 100% lethal to fortification groups at close range, are definitely the so-called rocket launchers and anti-union standard equipment.
With the recoilless rifle, the standard Anti-Alliance tactics, and the uniform steel helmet, Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadichi, who was already quite familiar with the Anti-Alliance, believed that he would never admit his mistake.
Although the German-made steel helmets worn on the heads of these troops can easily make people misjudge them as the Central Army of China, which was equipped with a large number of German-made steel helmets, in terms of weapons, the Kwantung Army had many dealings with the Anti-Japanese Alliance.
Yoshimoto Teiichi believes that he will never make a mistake in judgment.
Less than half an hour after the battle actually started, the anti-alliance troops rushed to the gate of Yinghuimen City, which made Yoshimoto Zhenyi take a breath of cold air. Damn it, weren't they fighting on the same front in Datong in northern Shanxi?
, how they bypassed the northern front and emerged from the west bank of the Fen River.
Although the density and quantity of the Datong fortification group are sufficient, most of these fortification groups were built to prepare for counterattacks in the Second Theater of China. Due to the different firepower of the opponents, their sturdiness is not the same as that built by the Kwantung Army in Manchuria.
Compared with the fortification area, there is really no comparison between the fortification group and the fortification area.
These fortification groups were not prepared for the Anti-Japanese Alliance who were armed to the teeth. In addition, with the lack of troops in hand, how to fight this battle? How to defend such a large Taiyuan City with the troops on hand now?
The key is that when the imperial army attacked Taiyuan before, the city wall that was severely damaged has not been repaired yet.
In fact, Yoshimoto Seiichi's reaction was quite fast. As early as after receiving the report that Jingle and Lan County had lost contact, Yoshimoto Seiichi, who had already sensed something was wrong, ordered the entire city of Taiyuan to be under martial law and prepared for battle.
, he abandoned most of the peripheral strongholds, and used the defenders who were transferred back to defend the city wall with all their strength.
Just before the troops commanded by Yang Jicai reached the front line of Baijiazhuang, he even withdrew all the defenders from Dongshan and Xishan into Taiyuan City, focusing on Niutuo Village in the northeast, Crouching Tiger Mountain, and the Twin Towers on the south side of Taiyuan.
Temple and camp stronghold to concentrate troops and fully defend Taiyuan City.
However, no matter how quick the reaction was, the troops he could mobilize were really limited. Most of the original defenders around Taiyuan had been transferred northward by the front army to reinforce the Datong battlefield. Even though he had sent troops from Gujiao, Qingyuan, and Jinyuan in advance.
All the Japanese troops have been mobilized back to the city, but at present, apart from the puppet troops, there are only four and a half serious Japanese troops in Taiyuan City, plus the Taiyuan Military Police Squadron and the Japanese Mine Police.
Although there are a large number of puppet troops in Taiyuan City, the main force of the Xingya Yellow Army is 3,000 people, and a division of the puppet Shanxi Communist Suppression Army is 2,000 people. In addition to the railway garrison and Taiyuan garrison, the total number is nearly 10,000, and the equipment is They are relatively sophisticated, and they are all Shanxi-made rifle machine guns made by the Japanese army during the battle with the Shanxi-Sui Army.
It's just that although these puppet troops are tightly controlled by the Japanese army in the name of advisors, and some of the puppet army's officers are even directly served by Captain Cao sent by the Japanese army, Yoshimoto Teiichi knows very well that these troops are not reliable. In the Northeast battlefield, The puppet Manchukuo troops trained by the Kwantung Army first-hand would mutiny on a large scale once they lost the battle.
In the opinion of Yoshimoto Teiichi, the credibility of these Imperial Army troops in Shanxi can only be lower and definitely not higher. On the contrary, those plainclothes teams composed of traitors from the Eighth Route Army have problems with the reliability of their back roads. They still need to be stronger. As for the strong men they brought in, they are just three characters.
When fighting a downwind battle with Japanese troops supervising the battle behind them, these puppet troops could still rely on bunkers to resist. If the battle went unfavorably, there would be a large-scale rebellion. Therefore, even though the Anti-Japanese Alliance did not have many troops to fight, But Yoshimoto Sadashi did not dare to rely entirely on the puppet troops to defend the city.
Moreover, Motoichi also clearly knows that relying on these guys to defend the city, even if there are currently too many troops to resist the alliance, it will be difficult to defend. Therefore, after the old friend lost contact, Yoshimoto Seichi became more and more aware that something was wrong. General, immediately sent a report to the North China Front Army for help, launched a general mobilization of the overseas Chinese in the city, and armed thousands of overseas Chinese.
Even the technicians and managers who were sent to Taiyuan by various Japanese trading companies to manage factories in Taiyuan, who relied on the force of the Japanese army to forcibly annex major industrial and mining enterprises in Taiyuan, were temporarily recruited by him, issued with weapons, and sent to the city walls for defense. As for the factory, it doesn't matter if it temporarily suspends production for a few days.
However, Yoshimoto Seiichi did not expect that at present, the First Division of the Shanxi Suppression of the Communist Army in the two key points of the resistance alliance reaching Niutuo Village, Crouching Mountain, and northeastern Taiyuan, one and a half squadrons of the Japanese army, ignored them and bypassed the northern city wall. He went straight to Yinghui Gate. As soon as the cannons fired at Yinghui Gate, he immediately understood that the Anti-Japanese Alliance had probably decided to attack the city directly.
As for the fighting power of the Anti-Japanese Alliance, Yoshimoto Teiichi, who fought against the Kwantung Army many times as chief of staff and suffered repeated defeats, knew that although the Taiyuan city wall was tall, it was difficult to defend, so he just let him go without a fight. Withdrawal, as the commander of the First Army, this is almost impossible. Even if it is symbolic resistance, he must carry out it.
After coming down from the city wall, Yoshimoto Teiichi immediately sent a second telegram requesting reinforcements to the North China Front Army, and sent a message to the Fourth Independent Mixed Brigade stationed in Yangquan, asking them to reinforce Taiyuan at all costs. As for the Fourth Independent Mixed Brigade, , the troops of the Taihang Military Region of the Eighth Route Army, which were now besieged from all sides, were divided into dozens of pieces from Yuci to Niangziguan, and were asking for help from him, but they could not take care of the current situation.
Anyway, the current Zhengtai Railway has been paralyzed and is being destroyed, but it can't be damaged much. If the dignified First Army Headquarters is taken over by others and the first provincial capital of the North China Front is lost, then the fun will be too great. I guess I If not, he might become the first army commander to die on the battlefield in China.
At the same time, the telegram ordered the commander of the 41st Division, Lieutenant General Qing Shuijuju, who was still fighting with the Taiyue Military Region troops of the Eighth Route Army, that a regiment must arrive in Taiyuan within ten hours. As for the front army, he ordered the 41st Division to go north immediately to participate. The order to fight on the Taiyuan battlefield is no longer something that Yoshimoto Teiichi can consider at this moment.
In fact, although Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadichi has a very sensitive sense of smell, he obviously made a big mistake during the deployment. If he did not transfer all the Japanese squadrons stationed in Gujiao back in advance, only the pseudo-Koji traffic policemen would be left. If the reserve brigade was stationed, he might have known about this detour of the Anti-Japanese Alliance.
Even though he knew that the credibility of these Imperial Alliance troops was not high, Yoshimoto Teiichi still handed over several counties outside Taiyuan to these puppet troops. He really thought that a few advisers, without Japanese troops behind them to supervise the war, would not be able to do so if the war situation was unfavorable. Under the circumstances, these puppet soldiers can really be firmly controlled in their hands. Without the dog-beating stick in their hands, these dogs raised by the Japanese army will not be so honest and obedient.
Because after receiving the report that Jingle and Lan County had lost contact, he never thought that it would be the Anti-Japanese Alliance from the north. Yoshimoto Teiichi, who detoured to northwest Shanxi and penetrated directly into Taiyuan, thought of the Eighteenth Group Army's march in North China the year before last. That large-scale so-called Hundred Regiment War.
When Lan County lost contact with Jingle, he thought it was the troops of the Jinsui Military Region of the 18th Group Army in northwest Shanxi. In order to cooperate with the resistance alliance on the Datong battlefield in the north, they repeated the operation of the previous year to contain the Japanese army and disperse the First Army. The lack of military strength made it unable to fully reinforce the Datong battlefield. In his opinion, those puppet troops faced the poorly equipped Tuba Road and relied on the fortification groups to defend the county and strongholds under the supervision of Japanese advisers.
In the end, he did not expect that those who came were not the Tubal Road in his eyes. The puppet troops under his command were frightened to death when they saw the mechanized troops rushing all the way. Some of them tied up the Japanese consultants and treated them as a meeting gift. Some simply killed them directly. Anyway, they came to a battlefield. Not only did they not have any effect, they also led to Yoshimoto Teiichi's judgment to a certain extent.
Even if he only left a small force in Gujiao and Baijiazhuang, he would not wait until all the anti-alliance troops had rushed across the Fenhe Bridge to find out. At least there would still be time to blow up the Fenhe Bridge. If If he could blow up the Fenhe River Bridge before Yang Jicai's troops arrived, then Yang Jicai would have to stay on the west bank of the Fenhe River for at least a long time.
The current Fen River is deep enough that Yang Jicai, who lacks the equipment to cross the river, has a headache for a while. In this matter, the Eighth Division troops cannot be of much help. After all, under the nose of the Japanese army, it is impossible to transport the bridge building equipment to the Fen River bank. , even if Yang Jicai's command brought an engineering company, the necessary equipment would still be available in the Baijiazhuang Coal Mine.
However, when exposed to the firepower of the Japanese west wall, it was not easy to build a short bridge that could pass tanks. What's more, Yoshimoto Seiichi, who acted too quickly, had already received all the ferries to the east bank of the river. Yoshimoto Teiichi was anxious to shrink his troops to defend Taiyuan and the Tongpu Railway, but he left a gap.
He thought that by deploying two teams of troops on the Fenhe River Bridge, with the firepower support of Taiyuan City behind him, he would have no problem guarding the bridge in the face of those Tubal Roads. The Fenhe River Bridge connecting Taiyuan and the mountainous area of western Shanxi, The geographical location is quite favorable, as it can directly rely on the fire support of the fortifications in the west of the city, and the bridgehead itself is also built with a solid fortifications.
But he didn't expect that before his two teams had time to fire up their machine guns, they would be destroyed by the firepower of the tanks rushing towards them at high speed and the flat-fire self-propelled anti-aircraft guns covering them behind them. His fortification groups were approached. The tank's 40mm cannon fired, turning it into a hornet's nest.
Some Japanese fortifications were even crushed by the nearly 20-ton tanks that drove directly up to them. The Japanese troops inside, along with their fortifications, were covered by firepower on the west city wall, which he had high hopes for, and were automatically destroyed. The double twenty-three anti-aircraft guns on the anti-aircraft guns were so powerful that they couldn't even lift their heads.
The battle for Fenhe Bridge ended so quickly that the Japanese did not even have time to plant explosives. The entire Fenhe Bridge was intact in less than ten minutes, and not even a steel nail was missing. He fell into the hands of Yang Jicai, opening the most important channel for his next move.