On the Japanese side, within just a few minutes, they shot down six anti-Japanese planes in a row. Their morale obviously rose sharply. They even ignored Yang Jicai's counterattack and had tanks to cover it, and started a confrontation with the counterattack troops, putting on a display. The deputy made great efforts to penetrate directly into the city of Taiyuan and cut off the Tongpu Railway.
Although all six trains of trucks carrying equipment were parked in the north of Taiyuan City, and the Japanese army in the east of the city could not observe it, after Yang Jicai gave up the front-line position in Xishan, the Japanese army had clearly understood that once the battle was lost, the Anti-Alliance's retreat route could only be To the north.
Affected by the war situation in Hexi, the appetite of the 32nd Division has obviously increased at this time. It has made it clear that it will eat up all the Anti-Union and 18th Army troops around Taiyuan City. Its follow-up troops will brave the resistance of the Anti-Union. Artillery fire, regardless of the number of casualties, desperately reinforced the scissor bay.
It is actually not difficult to understand that the Thirty-second Division was so desperate. After learning that the First Army Headquarters was trapped in Taiyuan City, the furious headquarters ordered Okamura Neiji to either rescue the First Army or rescue the First Army. Either he, Okamura Neiji, packs his bags and gets out of his position as commander of the North China Front.
Originally, we wanted to take advantage of the strong fortifications in Taiyuan City and take advantage of the opportunity when most of the Shanxi Communist Army was concentrated in and around Taiyuan City to mobilize troops to eliminate the Communist Army here first. Okamura Neiji could only change his tactics and change the original situation. The combat policy of steady advancement and encirclement on all sides urged the 32nd Division to rescue the commander of the First Army from the sea of fire at all costs.
As the most complete division currently on the battlefield in Shanxi, Lieutenant General Tetsuzo Ide has been under tremendous pressure since the division entered Shanxi. Telegrams urging development from the North China Front Army and the First Army were sent almost every hour. Lieutenant General Tetsuzo Ide, who was forced to go to his house, had no choice but to push down when the Shotai Railway was completely blocked and could not go to the front line to personally command. When his superiors urged him, he forced Major General Yasuada Ishida. .
The commander of the 32nd Infantry Regiment of the 32nd Division of the Japanese Army, Major General Ishida Yasutada, has received an order from the division commander, Lieutenant General Ide Tetsuzo, to break through the outskirts of Taiyuan within 24 hours at all costs. line of defense and entered Taiyuan City to rescue the First Army Headquarters from the dire siege.
Major General Ishida Yasutada, who was forced to smoke by Lieutenant General Ide Tetsuzo, had no choice but to make a dangerous move, ignoring the troops of the Southern Hebei Military Region and the Taihang Military Region behind him who had cut off his supply line. In Niutuo Village, large and small Before the Yaotou front line is captured, a brigade of troops will be mobilized and all artillery cover will be strengthened to forcibly penetrate the Shearer Bay front line.
After the adventure was successful, and after discovering the true situation of the empty communist troops around Taiyuan City, Major General Ishida Yasutada still dared to hesitate and put two of Colonel Renhua Toyoyoshi's 210 Regiment behind him to block the troops of the Southern Hebei Military Region. The entire brigade was mobilized back and prepared to join the front line at Shear Bay.
Strive to rush directly to Taiyuan City, cut off the retreat route and communication of the Communist Army in the south of Taiyuan City, and rescue the Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadichi who has been complaining all day long from the dire straits, and save the division commander who is in charge of Harulu , was driven crazy by the commander of the North China Front Army.
Looking into the telescope, the follow-up Japanese troops desperately reinforced Shearzi Bay regardless of the artillery fire interception. However, his own troops on the front line fell into a bitter battle as soon as the counterattack started. Yang Jicai frowned. The Japanese troops in the east of the city had now opened up. The desperate posture, but the troops at hand.
Although an artillery company has been concentrated to implement fire interception at all costs, coupled with fire support from the flanks of Niutuozhai, it is difficult to completely prevent the Japanese reinforcements. The troops launching a counterattack from the front fell into a bitter battle, and the two companies on the flanks made little progress. Extraordinarily slow.
At the same time, on both wings of Niutuo Village and Naoma, the Japanese offensive became more and more fierce. More than half of the outer positions of Niutuo Village had been lost. A Japanese squadron had reached a distance of 500 meters in front of the core position of Niutuo Village. In the end, The defenders, who had already mobilized some reserves, were no longer able to counterattack this Japanese army.
Facing the increasingly unfavorable situation, Yang Jicai gritted his teeth and directly called the commander of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Fourth Division who was commanding at Niutuo Village, asking him to immediately abandon Niutuo Village and organize troops to move along the ridge. To block the attack, the limited troops cannot be consumed entirely on Niutuo Village.
After receiving a call from Yang Jicai, the commander of the fourth division of Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Province, who actually knew that there was no need to defend Niutuo Village at the moment, did not hesitate at all. After blowing up all the fortification groups, he organized troops to alternately cover and move along the mountain ridge. Pursuing the Japanese troops behind them layer by layer, their ultimate goal was the line of Crouching Tiger Mountain in the northeast corner of Taiyuan City.
At the same time, Yang Jicai also began to shrink his troops in the direction of Naoma. He organized troops to cover alternately and gradually shrank towards the Haojiagou line. On the southern front, he abandoned the Shuangta Temple and the Veterans Camp and withdrew all troops to Taiyuan Nanguan. Yang Jicai was preparing to sell the pot and shrink all his troops to the last line of defense around Taiyuan City. He had already begun to prepare for the worst.
As the entire line began to shrink its troops, Yang Jicai's counterattack force on the front of Jianziwan did not dare to decrease at all. The gains and losses on the Jianziwan front line were now not only related to the safety of the Tongpu Railway, but also related to it. Can the troops on the southern front be withdrawn when necessary?
Jianzi Bay, a small village between Taiyuan Basin and Dongshan, is not large in terms of population or size. At this time, it does not know that it has become the focus of the entire Taiyuan battlefield and even the Shanxi battlefield because of its location. .
Although the troops invested by both sides are only at the battalion level, this battalion-level battle is related to the life and death of both sides. The troops invested by the Anti-Japanese Alliance to counterattack, under the cover of tanks, although the first wave of offensive broke into the scissors In Wan Village, due to insufficient follow-up troop investment, the breach opened was quickly blocked by the Japanese troops on both wings, and resistance could only be organized on the spot.
One of the three tanks that cooperated in the battle was destroyed at the entrance of the village. The remaining two tanks followed Yang Jicai's order and did not break out alone. Instead, they stayed in the village to cooperate with the encircled troops and persisted in the village, using their own firepower to cooperate with them. A platoon in the village caused a riot in the village.
The company commander commanded the troops and fought very bravely in the village. With the back road cut off, he did not advance but retreated. Instead, he used his own superiority in individual firepower to fight against the Japanese army under the cover of two tanks. An offensive battle broke out and the Japanese defense system in the village was thrown into chaos.
The company commander's actions in the village attracted most of the Japanese troops and launched an uninterrupted siege. However, facing such a favorable situation, Yang Jicai was unable to mobilize his troops to use fighter planes to retake the front line of Shear Bay in one go. He can no longer mobilize even a platoon of troops.
However, although the troops on the ground were already stretched thin, Yang Jicai took advantage of the artillery firepower. He temporarily modified the two long-range howitzers. After determining the approximate location of the Japanese heavy artillery position, he fired several rapid fire Down, the two 105 howitzers of the Japanese army quickly died out.
It's just that under the high-intensity firing of these two artillery guns, the gun mounts, which were not of very good quality, were shaken to pieces and turned into a pile of useless scrap metal. The only good thing is that the gun mounts fell apart. , but the barrel is not too damaged. It can be used reluctantly after being installed back on its own gun mount.
But even if the two 105 heavy artillery pieces are suppressed, it does not mean that the current tense situation can be fundamentally relieved. It only reduces the threats to other directions. On the contrary, after destroying the two howitzers, the Japanese army will More artillery fire was diverted to the front line of Shear Bay. According to Yang Jicai's judgment, only two squadrons of field artillery were deployed.
The mountain artillery battery that suppressed the depth of the Japanese army, under the overwhelming Japanese artillery fire, was simply unable to complete the task assigned by its superiors to suppress the depth of the Japanese army and blockade the Japanese reinforcements. On the contrary, it was itself because of its maximum range of six thousand meters. Heavy losses were suffered during the artillery battle.
Three of the company's four Type 41 mountain guns were blown up during the artillery battle. The infantry artillery company, even with the help of mortars on the flanks, was unable to resist the Japanese army's deep artillery fire. At this moment, all the firepower was They all fell on the Anti-Alliance cannon company.
This undoubtedly makes the artillery company, which is responsible for most of the fire suppression tasks at this moment, seem a bit in a hurry. However, even though it has an absolute disadvantage in terms of strength, the artillery company still relies on its high rate of fire and long range in artillery battles. Not falling behind, especially the extremely high muzzle velocity, made the Japanese artillery in front of them almost impossible to defend against.
The entire Jianzi Bay front line was razed to the ground by artillery fire from both sides. However, the artillery fire from both sides obviously avoided one location, the Tongpu Railway. The Japanese artillery that had advanced to the east of Jianzi Bay concentrated its firepower on the east. The anti-alliance artillery on the city wall used forced fire to suppress it, but not a single shell fell on the Tongpu Railway.
Yang Jicai needs to temporarily retain the Tongpu Railway in order to evacuate when necessary. However, the Japanese army does not destroy the Tongpu Railway. It is obvious that they intend to continue to use the Tongpu Railway to transport materials, equipment and personnel northward after this battle is over. Therefore, The artillery shells from both sides deliberately avoided the Tongpu Railway. Although the target of this railway was so obvious, not a single artillery shell fell on the Tongpu line during this battle.
Although the Tongpu Railway has never been destroyed, it does not mean that Yang Jicai's pressure has been relieved in the slightest. The advantage of artillery cannot solve the dilemma on the ground. With the counterattack being unable to make progress, knowing the worst Yang Jicai, who had reached the critical situation, secretly gave Su Yingqi in the south of the city an order to prepare for evacuation, called the commander of the fourth Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei division, and began to make arrangements for a general evacuation.
In fact, everyone knows at this moment that if the Jianziwan front line cannot be recaptured, not only the Dongshan front line will be difficult to hold, but the entire Taiyuan City will be unable to hold it at all under attack from both inside and outside, not even in the last twenty-four hours. The question of whether they can persevere is whether the anti-league and customs forces around Taiyuan City can escape.
The situation was extremely tense, and all the troops had begun to prepare for the worst. The commander of the Eighth Division in the north of the city, who was responsible for ensuring the troops' final retreat, after receiving the enemy's report, secretly told the director of the Political Department of the Eighth Division, who was responsible for the final dismantling, that Once the Wohu Mountain, Haojiagou, and Shear Bay lines were broken through by the Japanese army, the dismantling work was immediately stopped and all the dismantled and undisassembled equipment were blown up.
The commander and political commissar of the Eighth Division is now ready to really burn the boat. Based on the idea that if I can't get it, you can't get it, if the situation deteriorates sharply and several trains are in danger of being unable to evacuate, Under the circumstances, they simply ordered that when it was really impossible to carry these behemoths away, all the equipment and the trains would be blown up. Not a single rivet or a single steel plate would be left for the Japanese.