In order to ensure the safe retreat of the entire army, Yang Jicai specifically talked with the commanders of the Jinsui and Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei military divisions before the retreat. Yang Jicai, who was pressed for time, directly told them that as long as each unit strictly abides by its own retreat plan, He ensured that not a single wounded person was lost and all the troops and all the dismantled equipment were brought out safely.
However, as long as one unit disobeys orders and does not act according to the plan and time requirements, the retreat is likely to make it impossible for the entire army to evacuate safely, not to mention the dismantled industrial equipment currently concentrated inside and outside Taiyuan City. It is very likely that these troops will be completely destroyed under the Taiyuan City.
Facing the severe situation in the surrounding area and the increasing number of Japanese and puppet troops, the two commanders, who knew that the situation in the surrounding area was very dangerous, did not hesitate at all. At the meeting, they both stated without hesitation that they would strictly follow the combat plan formulated by Yang Jicai. , no one bargained on this matter.
At this moment, he has received orders from his old superior, the political commissar of the advancing army, and the deputy commander-in-chief who is now acting as the commander of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region. The transferred boss must provide a lot of cover for the anti-alliance forces to break out of the encirclement. The Commander of the Fourth Division of Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei , at the meeting, he took the initiative to lead the troops belonging to his division and serve as the final cover.
The commander's excuse was very good. His troops had been operating in the area east of Tongpu Road and west of Taihang Mountain. Moreover, the territory north of Wutai Mountain, east of Tongpu Road, and west of Zhengtai Road were all Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei. In the area under the jurisdiction of the fourth division, I am familiar with every mountain, water, plant and tree here. Since I am responsible for the final cover mission, I can also take advantage of the familiar terrain to evacuate safely after completing the mission.
At this moment, the two commanders knew very well that it was not a question of who had the final say at this time, but how to bring these troops out safely and transport the disassembled big things out. This young man's plan in front of them Although it is a bit risky, it is also the only option available at the moment.
Yang Jicai did not agree to the invitation of the commander of the Second Division of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Division. He left the final responsibility of covering the general retreat to Su Yingqi, but he also asked the Second Division of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Division to leave behind one of the commanders who was most familiar with the terrain and enemy situation. regiment to cooperate with Su Yingqi's retreat.
Taking into account the poor communication capabilities of the brother troops in Guan Nei, the troops under the regiment have almost no wireless communication methods except wired telephones. When the large troops were there, this problem was not a big problem, but now that the large troops are withdrawing one after another, all wired All communication lines need to be dismantled. Without direct radio communication, problems will arise that will delay the evacuation time.
Yang Jicai equipped each battalion participating in the war with a walkie-talkie from the communication equipment he traveled with him. Anyway, his troops had almost been exhausted. Most of the walkie-talkies originally equipped to the company level were no longer used by the troops. Yang Jicai simply sent these walkie-talkies, together with the walkie-talkie crews, to the troops of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei and Shanxi-Sui Military Regions participating in the war to ensure smooth communication during the war.
In order to safely withdraw all the troops participating in the war, Yang Jicai deployed all plans and waited for the air cover to arrive. Instead of retreating, Yang Jicai advanced, concentrated his already limited troops, and carried out tactical counterattacks at key locations. He fought in the south of the city. The coalition forces gathered the troops of the last reinforced company, and under the cover of three tanks, took the lead in launching a full-line counterattack against the Japanese troops who had occupied the front line of Shuangta Temple.
According to Yang Jicai's plan, the unit used a feint attack to attract all the attention of the Japanese troops in the south of the city. After all the rest of the troops got on the train, they retreated northeast along the Tongpu Railway under the cover of tanks to Jianzi Bay.
After joining the first line of the Anti-Japanese War there, the two units were unified under the command of Su Yingqi and retreated to the front line of Wohu Mountain to take over the defense of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Fourth Division troops.
At the same time, the main force of the Jinsui Eighth Division in the south and west of the city laid a large number of mines along the east bank of the Fen River, entered the city directly from the south gate and west gate of Taiyuan City, and evacuated directly along the city to Zhenyuan Gate in the city, where a train was already on fire.
Wait for them.
As for the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Fourth Division troops on the Dongshan front line in the east of the city, the main force alternately covered the retreat to the Crouching Mountain front line and boarded the train to the west of Crouching Mountain.
After the troops arrived, they withdrew from the battlefield from the east foot of Wohu Mountain toward Zhangzitou.
Yang Jicai made extremely strict regulations on the withdrawal time and the place of getting on the train for all the troops participating in the war. He even made strict regulations on the time to abandon each position and the time required for marching. In order to ensure that all troops can
Strictly abiding by the retreat plan, Yang Jicai distributed hundreds of watches seized from Japanese trading houses in Taiyuan to all cadres above the company level of all participating troops.
When the counterattack at the Shuangta Temple on the southern line began, other troops in the south and west of the city began to gradually shrink their positions according to Yang Jicai's plan, adopting an alternating cover posture, and quickly evacuated into the city. At the same time, under Yang Jicai's order, the troops in the east of the city began to retreat.
The remaining half of the anti-alliance battalion on the front line of Jianzi Bay, with the cooperation of two companies of the Eighth Division of the Jinsui Military Region, and under the cover of all artillery fire, once again launched a counterattack on the front line of Jianzi Bay.
Their main task now is to attract the attention of the enemy forces in the front, buy time for the final evacuation of the troops from the Shuangta Temple line in the south of the city, and at the same time cover the evacuation of troops in other directions, waiting for the troops to evacuate from the Shuangta Temple line.
After the rendezvous, they actually conducted a general retreat along the Tongpu Line to the Wohu Mountain line with tanks as the guide.
Although a lot of price was paid in the battle for Jianzi Bay, the front line of Jianzi Bay was not completely recaptured in the end. However, under Yang Jicai's counterattack at almost any expense, the Japanese 32nd Division attacked the Tongpu Railway.
The offensive was finally contained, ensuring that the Tongpu Railway would not be cut off by the Japanese army for the time being.
Although the Jianzi Bay line could not be recaptured, Yang Jicai used the entire middle area between Jianzi Bay and the Tongpu Railway to reconnect with Wohu Mountain to the north and Haojiagou line to the south to form a line of defense. Although the terrain is on a plain,
It was an unfavorable area, but with the support of artillery fire on the city wall behind it, it could barely compete with the Japanese army.
It is obvious that the Japanese army did not want to cause too much damage to the Tongpu Railway, the main supply channel of the Japanese army in northern Shanxi, during the battle in northern Shanxi. Although the Japanese army's deep artillery fire was quite fierce, from the Jianzi Bay line to Taiyuan Dongguan
, was almost razed to the ground by the Japanese artillery fire. All the troops could only rely on the bomb craters left by the Japanese army, and struggled to block the offensive of the 32nd Division under the situation that there was basically no depth.
However, the Tongpu Railway did not receive a single artillery shell from the Japanese army. Seeing that the Japanese army had such a tacit understanding, Yang Jicai gradually reduced the strength of the counterattack. As long as the Japanese offensive was stopped and the infantry did not pose a threat to the Tongpu Railway,
He didn't have to take back the front line of Shear Bay.
But the past was before, and now the Jianzi Bay line is crucial to whether the troops in the south of the city can safely evacuate. The Jianzi Bay line is now the pivot point of the entire retreat route. If the Japanese army's attention cannot be attracted, the Haojiagou line will With only one battalion of the troops left, the last covering unit was likely to be intercepted by the Japanese army.
So after hesitating again and again, after the general retreat began, Yang Jicai suddenly stepped up his counterattack against the Jianziwan front line. His order to the Jianziwan frontline troops was very simple, which was to intercept them before rejoining the Shuangta Temple frontline troops. The Japanese troops living on the front line of Jianzi Bay also ordered the troops on the Haojiagou front line to withstand the attack of the 32nd Division at all costs.
Yang Jicai knew very well that it was impossible for the Japanese to not notice his actions. The 41st Division in the south of the city did not have many troops. Excluding the casualties during this period, the offensive had actually gradually slowed down. Therefore, for the 41st Division in the south of the city, He wasn't really worried.
However, the 32nd Division in the east of the city is the biggest threat to the entire retreat. If the 32nd Division's attention is not attracted, it will be difficult for the troops of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Fourth Division in other directions to safely engage the Japanese army. To break away, as for a battalion in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Fourth Division on the Haojiagou line, under the circumstances that it was temporarily impossible to evacuate, he could only temporarily take over the command of this battalion.
Even if there is air cover, the Kannai troops have no ground-to-air combat experience. In this night air raid, it is impossible for the pilots to clearly distinguish the ground targets. If the Kannai brother troops are responsible for the final retreat cover task, let alone whether they can safely fight with the Japanese army. If you break away, there may be accidental injury.
It was precisely with this excuse that Yang Jicai finally persuaded the two divisional commanders of Jinsui and Jinchaji, who were rushing to serve as the final cover after receiving the boss's order, to hand over the task of the final general retreat to Su Yingqi. In fact, Yang Jicai was very distressed by this decision.
A strengthened regiment has only so few troops left after so many days, and now it is in this situation. If there is a slight negligence, the possibility that the remaining troops of this regiment can be safely withdrawn is extremely low, but for this moment For Yang Jicai, he had no choice.
The order he gave to Su Yingqi's unit, which served as the final cover, and to the battalion in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Division 4 on the Haojiagou line was to wait until all trains carrying troops and equipment had passed the Xiangyang line, and then use the high speed of the Crusader tanks to After breaking away from contact with the Japanese army under air cover, the Shilingguan line merged with the main force. Before all the troops crossed the Xiangyang line, even if the troops were completely exhausted, they were not allowed to retreat even one step.
Although the general retreat of the entire army has begun, and the covering troops have begun to counterattack towards the predetermined target, Yang Jicai did not act in a hurry. Instead, he arranged all the trains in two rows into a formation according to the plan, with one locomotive at the front and rear. Group two trains into a group, adopt an interval of fifteen minutes, and evacuate in a centralized and unified direction to the north.
Although before the start of the general retreat, the two trains as the first echelon had already moved north to the Queen's Park line, in order to free up the parking position of the trains for the follow-up troops to pedal, and at the same time reduce the risk of being too concentrated due to all trains being too concentrated. The retreat plan also avoids the possible losses caused by the Japanese troops penetrating in depth once that direction is breached.
However, the distance traveled by the two trains and the stopping locations were strictly controlled before other troops started pedaling. They could only travel at the speed calculated by Yang Jicai. When all the troops had finished pedaling, Only then will the two trains start traveling at maximum speed as planned.
Before the retreat began, the reconnaissance troops sent out by Yang Jicai in advance had secretly deployed along both sides of the entire retreat route, controlling various crossings and marshalling stations, and cooperating with the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Second Division troops already in place to cover the troops as they forcibly passed through Shiling. At various points along the route south of Guan, Yang Jicai had only one sentence: As long as the railway was not damaged and the branch roads were not moved, all trains would not be allowed to stop.