After Guo Bingxun quickly recorded Yang Zhen's order, he immediately began to mobilize troops to the battlefield in northern Shanxi. According to Yang Zhen's request, the headquarters of the 10th Division was prioritized to be airlifted to northern Shanxi. The remaining troops newly incorporated into the 10th Division were flown from
The 13th Engineering Regiment, the most complete system, and the two battalions of the Headquarters Guard Regiment began airlifting.
Other troops were quickly concentrated using Harbin and Qiqihar as bases. When two battalions were reached, they were airlifted to northern Shanxi. Considering the overall situation of the battlefield in northern Shanxi, all the 10th Division was transferred to northern Shanxi by air this time.
They will be transported dispersedly and will undergo centralized training after arriving in northern Shanxi.
The two railway corps that were withdrawn from the Tongliao-Kailu railway construction site immediately boarded the nearest train and were directly transported to Harbin for training and replacement of weapons and equipment. The reason why railway corps were not used nearby was because these railway corps needed to be retrained.
It took a long time. Although the regiments to which these two railway corps columns belonged were closest to Tongliao, they were not combat troops after all.
Just as Guo Bingxun was racing against time to mobilize reinforcements to reinforce the battlefield in northern Shanxi, the entire Shanxi battlefield was already in full swing. The main force of the Jinsui Military Region going south had been intensively deployed, and with the target already determined, the enemy was hiding in the battlefield.
The Zuojian detachment in the mountainous area north of Jingle and Lanxian roads launched a siege on all sides.
However, the Zuojian detachment relied on the mountainous terrain and the accompanying artillery fire cover to hold on. It relied on the abundant grain and ammunition stored before the war, and through continuous tactical counterattacks, it repeatedly fought against the main forces of the Jinsui Military Region participating in the war. It was precisely
In response to Chen Hanzhang's initial concerns, the battle became a stalemate from the beginning.
Repeated tug-of-war hindered the troops of the Jinsui Military Region. On the second day of the battle, in a ravine in the area controlled by the Japanese army, the troops of the Jinsui Military Region who participated in the battle discovered thousands of Chinese who had been massacred by the Japanese army.
The remains. It is obvious that these are the people who were plundered before the war and were massacred by the Japanese army after building fortifications for the Japanese army.
In northeastern Shanxi, Du Kaishan, who had already arrived at the battlefield in northern Shanxi, took over the command of the entire battlefield in northeastern Shanxi. Without any delay, he turned most of his troops to the west, focusing on Guangling County and the surrounding Japanese troops.
offensive. With the strength of a regiment and the cooperation of a battalion from the first division of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, Feihukou was seized and the connection between Yu County and Laiyuan was cut off.
His main force cut off the highway between Guangling and Yuxian, and between Guangling and Lingqiu. Together with the troops who launched a diversionary attack from the front, he completed the encirclement of the Japanese troops in Guangling and Lingqiu. And with one part, he moved towards Pingxingguan.
The attack was launched with a bluff. Although the Japanese army's inverted triangle formation in northeastern Shanxi was not disrupted, one of its arms was surrounded.
At the same time that Northeastern Shanxi was fighting, the 21st Division of the Japanese Army suddenly left Wutai Mountain and entered Dai County, concentrating its forces to launch a fierce attack on the line from Yanmen Pass to Guangwu. After an encounter with Su Yingqi, the 21st Division
The speed of the operation was significantly accelerated. On the second day after the encounter with Su Yingqi, his vanguard troops stationed in Dai County.
In fact, the 21st Division that Su Yingqi encountered was just one of its fragments. The main force had already entered the Wutai Mountains between Nao County and Dai County on the day Su Yingqi set out. If he really wanted to fight with the main force of the 21st Division,
After the encounter, I'm afraid it would not have been so easy for Su Yingqi to escape in the first place.
On the day when the 21st Division launched an attack on the Yanmen Pass line, the 32nd Division in Taiyuan neither invested in northwestern Shanxi nor participated in the mopping up of the Taihang Military Region. Instead, it concentrated all its forces and took trucks.
Passing through Dingxiang and Wutai, it quickly goes straight to the north bank of Hutuo River.
The leading troops, without waiting for the follow-up main force to arrive, immediately launched an attack on the Ruyuekou line after arriving at Fanzhi. They also seized the two commanding heights in Ruyuekou, Tiejia Ridge and Wudou Mountain. They set up artillery on Tiejia Ridge.
Continuously carry out artillery strikes in depth.
At this time, the entire battlefield in Shanxi, from southeastern Shanxi to northeastern Shanxi, was full of dense gunfire. The flames of war and smoke almost covered the entire land of Shanxi except southwest Shanxi. The Japanese invaders almost mobilized all the troops that could be mobilized in North China.
All troops launched a full-scale counterattack to northern Shanxi and southern Chanan.
Facing the 32nd Division of the Japanese Army, the direction of action was beyond almost everyone's expectations. Chen Hanzhang did not panic. Instead, he deployed two battalions from the battlefield in northeastern Shanxi and left the boss to his own 13th Column of the Shanxi-Sui Sixth Column.
The brigade was also mobilized in this direction. It took advantage of the terrain and adopted the tactics of constant resistance to delay the actions of the 32nd Division.
However, Tiejia Ridge and Wudou Mountain, the commanding heights within the Ruyue Pass, were lost and occupied by the Japanese before the blocking troops arrived, which caught Chen Hanzhang somewhat off guard. Tiejia Ridge is located in Ruyue Pass, with an altitude of more than 2,000 meters, and is the center of the entire Ruyue Pass.
The commanding heights inside and outside.
Once the Japanese army occupied this place, they would have an unobstructed view within a radius of dozens of kilometers inside and outside Ruyuekou. Its artillery fire could completely suppress the mountainous areas on both sides of Ruyuekou with an altitude of less than a thousand meters. The Japanese army seized Tiejia Ridge and Wudou Mountain first, blocking the troops.
We can only retreat to the north of Ruyuekou to stop the attack.
In this way, he is too close to the ambush circle he left for the 21st Division. Once the 32nd Division moves west, not only will his entire tactical intention be exposed, but also the entire behind of the encircling troops will be exposed.
Come out. When the time comes, not only will you not be able to complete the encirclement and annihilation of the 21st Division, you will actually be faced with being attacked from both sides.
Moreover, after the loss of Tiejia Ridge, all troop movements outside Ruyue Pass were almost unsecret to the Japanese army. The artillery fire deployed on Tiejia Ridge also posed a strong threat to the mobilization of troops in depth. But counterattack against Tiejia Ridge
Ridge, with the follow-up troops of the 32nd Division already arriving one after another, unless Chen Hanzhang mobilizes a large number of troops, there is no hope of retaking it by relying on the blocking troops.
Facing the 21st Division getting closer and closer, it was already too late to adjust the deployment. Chen Hanzhang gritted his teeth and determined to remain unchanged in response to changes. No adjustments to the deployment were made for the time being, and the main combat goal was still to maintain the 21st Division.
The 11th Division is the main force. We will attack this main Japanese division first, which has never received any blow since it entered the Shanxi battlefield.
Order the original blocking force on the front line of Ruyuekou to immediately cooperate with a regiment from Beiyue District originally deployed here. Use the mountains on both sides of Ruyuekou to fight at all costs and win at least three points for the middle line battlefield.
Days of time. Even if all the troops are exhausted, we still have to hold on for three days.
Considering that the 32nd Division deployed troops in the direction of Ruyuekou, there were roughly two and a half regiments. At the insistence of his boss, Chen Hanzhang quickly transported the only 14th Brigade of the Jinsui Sixth Column to Yingxian County by car.
. Along the Ruyuekou to Yingxian line, as the second line troops, they immediately went into defensive operations.
On the middle road, the regiment in Beiyue District that was originally guarding Yanmen Pass was used to adopt the tactics of constant resistance to lead the 21st Division in the direction of Guangwu. However, to the great surprise of Chen Hanzhang and all the participating troops, the Japanese army
After the 21st Division occupied Yanmen Pass, it suddenly stopped its entire offensive.
The entire division leisurely began to build fortifications leisurely inside and outside Yanmen Pass, assuming a posture of defending according to the natural dangers of Yanmen Pass. The 21st Division stopped the offensive and directly built the fortifications set up by Chen Hanzhang inside Yanmen Pass.
The ambush circle was put aside.
At the same time, on the front line of Ruyuekou, the offensive of the 32nd Division became more and more fierce. Although the blocking troops relied on the terrain to continuously delay the Japanese offensive, under the fierce attack of the Japanese artillery fire, the number of casualties increased every day.
It was rising every hour. The Japanese army's tactics of attacking from the east and defending from the west made Chen Hanzhang immediately feel considerable pressure.
In order to reduce the pressure on the front line of Ruyuekou, Chen Hanzhang took the risk of withdrawing all the security troops on the front line of Loubeikou to the second line. He opened the gate of Loubeikou and let the 32nd Division divide its forces at Loubeikou. And Loubeikou is located in the Hengshan Mountains.
, very close to Hunyuan County.
Once the Japanese army chose to split their forces and attack together from Loubeikou, Chen Hanzhang could only give up the offensive against the Japanese army in Hunyuan County. At the same time, the 32nd Division would also be integrated with the Hunyuan Japanese army, which would be extremely detrimental to the subsequent war.
The entire battlefield in northeastern Shanxi will also be turbulent across the board. But with no choice, Chen Hanzhang can only take this risk.
But no matter what method Chen Hanzhang took, the 32nd Division was like a muscle, staring at the front line of Ruyuekou. It concentrated its forces to attack the frontline of Ruyuekou, and it was a straight line away from Ruyuekou.
It's not far away. The north entrance of the building is now wide open, as if you didn't see it.
The 21st Division on the central line from Yanmenguan is also like this. Yang Wankou, who is close at hand, seems to have nothing to do, and puts the entire division on the line from Yanmenguan to Yangmingbao. Two divisions
The group of hedgehogs gathered together and formed a complementary posture, which gave Chen Hanzhang an unusual headache.
Even if they mobilized troops and went south to counterattack across the board, the troops on hand are not enough to deal with two Japanese divisions at the same time. If you attack the 21st Division in Yanmen Pass, the 32nd Division can quickly rescue. And once the attack is
The focus is on the 32nd Division, while the attacking troops will be attacked from two sides by the 21st Division and the enemies of Hunyuan.
Although the Japanese army adopted a series of confusing postures, Chen Hanzhang knew very well that the 21st Division of the Japanese Army did not really stay at the Yanmen Pass line. This posture was just to confuse himself. If he had transferred his troops first
If we attack the 32nd Division, the 21st Division will march in without any hesitation.
But Chen Hanzhang, who knew the true intention of the Japanese army to adopt such tactics, but used his troops to the extreme, had nothing to do when faced with this situation. He did not want to adopt a purely defensive posture, because in his opinion, this would make him more mobile.
The highly capable troops were helpless in battle.
But if we now concentrate the ambush troops and move south to encircle and annihilate the 21st Division around Yanmen Pass, there will be two headaches. First, there will not be enough troops to cover the flanks to deal with the inevitable rescue of the 32nd Division. Second,
The complex terrain inside Yanmen Pass also restricted the movement of our tank troops.
Third, and the most critical problem cannot be solved. Once they move south, the entire battlefield will no longer have mobile troops. Once a new enemy situation appears, they will be unable to deal with it. Unless they give up the protection of the main flanks of the Jinsui Military Region and deploy Mu Chang
The two regiments commanded by Qiu crossed the Tongpu Railway and attacked northeastward. Otherwise, once the war reached a stalemate, things would easily be delayed.
Once Yingxian County is gained and lost, the entire battlefield in northern Shanxi will be divided into two parts. If the 32nd Division attacks Shanyin to the west after capturing Yingxian County, then its troops heading south to Yanmen Pass will be destroyed by the Japanese army.
In turn, it surrounded the battlefield within Yanmen Pass.
With a Japanese division right behind him, no one could turn a blind eye. Especially now that his troops have been used to the extreme, he is deep in the void and has almost no defensive force. To stop the 32nd Division,
The troops were in such a situation of adding fuel to the fire again. It was destined that this battle would be resolved on the inside and could not be extended to the outside.