For Su Yingqi, no matter whether the Japanese 32nd Division was full and left him alone in Crouching Tiger Mountain without a care, or the 32nd Division looked down upon the remnants and defeated generals like him, the real intention was to
Having a plan is not the point. The point is that since the Japanese army has not launched an attack on itself, the retreat route behind it has not been cut off.
In fact, Su Yingqi did not know that the reason why the Japanese troops around Taiyuan did not launch an attack on the front line of Crouching Mountain and let him go at the last moment was that Yang Jicai caused heavy damage to the Japanese troops when he left, which caused heavy losses to the Japanese troops.
The Japanese troops that had already entered and outside Taiyuan City suffered heavy losses in the air raids the night before.
The aviation forces of the Anti-Japanese Alliance stationed in northern Shaanxi and Suinan were dispatched in full force, using the Japanese army aviation fighter units, which currently have almost no night flying capabilities. They launched a large-scale bombing of the Japanese positions in the south, west, and east of Taiyuan City. The aviation forces of the Anti-Japanese Alliance
, has specially practiced a set of night bombing tactics.
Because the main purpose was not to capture the Japanese army's positions, or to annihilate the Japanese army's effective forces and destroy its field fortifications. Therefore, among the bombs dropped during this night flight bombing, except for a small number of high-explosive bombs, they were mainly American-style bombs.
Mainly incendiary bombs and napalm bombs. These incendiary bombs and napalm bombs caused serious casualties to the Japanese army, which was engaged in the Zhengcheng offensive and had weak field air defense capabilities.
Especially the 32nd Division, which was heavily attacked by air attacks, the sixteen special aerial bombs, even in the mountainous terrain, limited a considerable part of their power. Moreover, these sixteen special aerial bombs were less powerful than those on the Kangbao battlefield.
For the dozen or so pieces used, the equivalent is relatively small.
However, these sixteen special aerial bombs still caused heavy losses to the 32nd Division. Especially in the Mengjia, Xiaoyaotou, and Naoma lines, which were the focus of the bombing, on average, two to three bombs fell at each Japanese army assembly area.
Air-fuel bombs. Although the mountainous terrain limits the impact of such bombs on the area.
However, it is precisely because it is thrown along the ravine that the air-fuel bomb exploded in the ravine because the distribution surface is limited to the ravine, but it increases the local power and lethality in disguise. The Japanese troops in the selected target ravine,
Almost no one survived the explosion.
The 32nd Division fighting in the east of Taiyuan City did not launch an attack on the front line of Crouching Mountain. In addition to suffering heavy losses in the bombing, a considerable part of the reason was that the violent explosion in Taiyuan City destroyed the 32nd Division.
His attention was drawn to it. He really didn't have time to discover that there was actually a small anti-alliance force holding on here in Crouching Tiger Mountain.
The most important thing is that the 32nd Division at this time, even if it did not suffer too much losses in the overnight bombing, was actually somewhat unable to fight. Behind them, Taihang and the reinforcing Jinan Military Region
Although the troops failed to contain the division's actions, they used the usual combination of guerrilla warfare and mobile warfare to cut off the supply line of the 32nd Division.
Not to mention that the connection with the 32nd Division's logistics supply base Zhengding has been cut off, even the supply lines with Yuci and Yangquan are also in a situation where the connection is sometimes blocked. Transporting a batch of food and ammunition requires at least one infantryman.
Only with a team escort can we arrive safely.
But at present, the 32nd Division simply cannot deploy so many troops to escort logistical supplies. If an infantry brigade is allocated for each batch of supplies, then the 32nd Division will have to deploy two-thirds of its troops.
Only by sending out to protect the supply lines can we meet the needs.
Moreover, the reserves of materials in Yuci and Yangquan were unable to support too many Japanese supplies. The food and ammunition reserves in Yuci, which is closest to Taiyuan, were all allocated to the 32nd Division, which could not meet the needs. This Jin
The Battle of Beibu started so suddenly that the Japanese army had no time to prepare in advance. The siege of Taiyuan was beyond the Japanese army's expectations.
Except for the transportation hub of Taiyuan, which has a large reserve of grain, the other strongholds have not carried out special wartime reserves. The amount of grain stored in various places is not very large. Even Yuci, an important stronghold of the Zhengtai Line,
The stored food and ammunition can only meet the needs of an infantry group for a week. These food and ammunition are nothing more than a drop in the bucket for a complete division.
The food from behind could not be transported for a long time. In the last few days, the 32nd Division could only eat one meal a day on average from top to bottom. More importantly, the ammunition carried by the 32nd Division itself
, not only were they consumed a lot in the battle, but more than half of them were lost in the anti-alliance air raids.
With supplies from the rear being delayed, the number of bullets issued to individual soldiers per day has dropped to thirty rounds. And the reserves of artillery shells have dropped to a dangerous number. The shells of infantry artillery and rapid-fire artillery have been reduced.
Less than a hundred rounds. Heavy artillery and mountain artillery shells, with an average of only ten shells left per gun.
These are infantry artillery shells and rapid-fire artillery shells used as fire support at the Japanese brigade level, and there is a certain amount of inventory in Yuci. After the 32nd Division arrived east of Taiyuan, a squadron of the Japanese defenders in Yuci transferred all the artillery shells to
All of them were allocated to the 32nd Division at once. Otherwise, the current 32nd Division would not be able to get even a hundred rounds.
What is unbearable at the moment is not only Yang Jicai, who has exhausted his troops and is no longer able to defend. There is also the 32nd Division, which is almost stopped from the mouth of the people to the muzzles of the guns. Compared with the troubled Three
As far as the Twelfth Division is concerned, the situation of the Forty-first Division fighting in the south and west of the city is much better.
Although the logistics of the 41st Division were in jeopardy under the harassment of the Taiyue Military Region, and were forced to deploy a large number of troops to escort ammunition and food. However, although the situation could barely meet its own needs, it was far better than that of the three.
The Twelfth Division. Moreover, with Jinyuan, Qingyuan, and Jiaocheng as its back, they could allocate part of the food supply.
At the same time, because the marching distance is not that long, the logistics supplies can still partially meet the needs. Although it cannot form a reserve, it is better than the 32nd Division that is about to run out of food. If Yang Jicai can hold on for a day, I am afraid that the first one to retreat will be
He, but the Thirty-Second Division, which has almost run out of food.
Although Su Yingqi didn't know all this, Yang Jicai already knew it clearly from the mouths of Japanese prisoners. But whether the 32nd Division couldn't hold it at first, it made no difference to Yang Jicai. Thirty-second Division
The Second Division is now almost at a standstill, and its only effect is that when it retreats, the risk of being pursued by the Japanese is much smaller.
The 32nd Division was eager to enter Taiyuan City for supplies, but found that there was nothing left. Even the First Army Headquarters was shaking from hunger from top to bottom. Not only was it unable to provide supplies to the 32nd Division
, and even reinforcements were needed to provide relief. The 32nd Division, which had no choice but to recruit food on the spot, that is, to grab food, and sent troops immediately back to Yangquan to grab food, did not even take into account that there was still an anti-resistance force in Crouching Tiger Mountain.
Small troops.
The 32nd Division was out of food, and the 41st Division was unable to pursue it due to greater casualties. The main force of the Japanese army along the way had been almost exhausted, and some of the remaining puppet troops did not dare to make any moves at all. The enemy situation made Yang Jicai retreat.
At that time, it can be said that there was almost no interception or pursuit by the Japanese army.
But the problem is that many times the enemy is not the only one faced on the battlefield. More often, the reason for changing the plan is unforeseen opponents. Yang Jicai, who evacuated as quickly as possible according to the original plan, retreated much faster after leaving Taiyuan.
Not planned or imagined by him.
His train convoy traveled for half a day from Taiyuan to Huangzhai. Otherwise, the distance would not have been only a few dozen kilometers, but it was not until noon the next day that Su Yingqi was given the order to retreat. It was in dilapidated condition.
Poor railway facilities, large and small tunnels and bridges have all become the reason why the fleet cannot increase its speed.
Even in order to ensure the safety of transportation, every time they arrived at a turnout, the personnel from the underground working committee of the Tongpu Railway of the Jinsui Military Region who accompanied the evacuation got out of the car to check. In order to prevent the turnout from being moved by the Japanese army, something that should have been avoided occurred.
An accident. And every train that is obviously overloaded cannot run at the maximum speed under complex road conditions, even if one front and rear locomotive pushes and one pulls.
Shanxi is mountainous, and the terrain is relatively more complex than Hebei. Although when building the Tongpu Railway, we tried our best to avoid overly complex terrain. But the actual situation in Shanxi is there, no matter which way this railway takes
In any direction, it is inevitable to pass through countless mountainous areas, large and small, as well as countless ravines and branches.
Countless bridges have also been erected on these ravines and branches. Although the number of tunnels on the entire Tongpu Railway is not as good as that of Zhengtai Road, it is enough to put the Jinpu Railway, which is mainly built on plain terrain, to shame. Although I had already thought about it before
Prepared and made detailed plans. All actions were implemented step by step according to the plan, but the speed and efficiency still gave Yang Jicai a headache.
Stopping and going along the way, it took nearly ten hours for Yang Jicai's motorcade to arrive at Huangzhai. If it weren't for Yang Jicai's measures, and the bombings last night and this morning, the anti-alliance aviation forces would have tried their best to
cover, and the 32nd Division was unable to pursue it due to supply difficulties. At this speed, the Japanese army had already caught up with them.
Even though he passed Huangzhai, it did not mean that Yang Jicai's retreat was smooth. In order to ensure safety when passing through the tunnel, Yang Jicai had to change his plan and lengthen the time between trains. After passing through Duanjialing, etc., it was relatively long.
tunnel, the delay will be longer.
Because these tunnels on Tongpu Road were originally built in accordance with narrow-gauge railway standards. The height of the tunnels is generally relatively low. Trains carrying equipment can only pass through with caution. Otherwise, once they pass through, there will be scratches.
If touched, it is not just the equipment that will be damaged.
What is even more time-consuming is that when Tongpu Road was first built, in order to save costs under limited funds, many simple bridges that were supposed to be iron bridges were replaced by wooden bridges. These were erected in countless ditches and branches.
The simple wooden bridge on the road could not bear the heavy weight, and it repeatedly reduced the traffic speed that was not planned.
When passing these jerry-built bridges, Yang Jicai had to divide a train into three separate passages. Otherwise, these bridges that could not bear the heavy load would have to throw all his fleet into the ditch. Although these bridges are all small
bridge.
On the contrary, the large bridges on the route had not caused too many problems because they had been reinforced by the Japanese army when they replaced the rails and converted the original narrow gauge into standard gauge, and the quality of the original construction was pretty good.
The trouble is that all trains basically run as planned and pass through at once.
As for whether overloading will harm these bridges, that is not what Yang Jicai has the time to worry about now. But these far exceed the number of large bridges, and they are erected on countless roads that cannot be bypassed and cannot be filled.
During the dry season, Yang Jicai wasted a lot of time on the wooden railway bridge over the small river and ditch that was basically dry.