People are shining their swords, secretly helping the Iron Triangle in Northwest Shanxi

Chapter 171 The Independent 48th Brigade Will Help
In the dark night, you can't see your fingers, and the surrounding area is very quiet.

Along the Zhengtai Railway, a large number of troops approached one after another, and as the time came to ten o'clock in the evening.

The cadres who commanded the operation immediately issued an attack order, and a large number of Eighth Route troops began to attack the intended target.

The 129th Division's left and right two raiding combat units immediately went into battle, and fierce battles began.

A string of tongues of flame spurted out, and dense bullets shot out.

One grenade was shot out one after another, attacking the bunkers and gun towers with precision.

The infantry fired with full firepower, and the engineers carried explosive packages and quickly advanced under cover.

For a time, there were battlefields everywhere along the Zhengtai Railway, and the troops of both sides fell into fierce battles.

Zhengtai Railway is a railway from Taiyuan in Jin Province to Zhengding in Hebei Province. It crosses the Taihang Mountains and is the connecting hub of Tongpu Railway and Pinghan Railway.

The North China Front Army regarded this railway as an important lifeline and dispatched a certain number of troops to defend it.

Its main defense force is the independent mixed Eighth Brigade, and a part of the independent mixed Ninth Brigade in the Taiyuan area of ​​Jin Province assists in defense.

Here in Hebei Province, there are units under the 110th Division of the Army directly under the Army to undertake the defense of this section of the railway in Hebei Province.

"Old Ding, my dear, your new second regiment is amazing."

"Every squad has a light machine gun, every platoon has a grenadier, and every battalion has a fucking heavy machine gun."

"No wonder Brigadier Chen specially equipped your regiment with two mountain cannons. Your weapons and equipment are too powerful."

"There are four 90MM mortars directly under the regiment. I don't think the old main force regiment has the weapon configuration like your regiment."

"You said that you are a base group, which base group can have mortars and heavy machine guns."

At this time in the eastern Jin area, the right wing attacked the combat troops here.

The New Second Regiment participated in the battle directly as the main force of the right-wing assault force, and Ding Wei came directly to the front line to command.

Under the cover of mountain artillery, more than 1000 troops quickly advanced towards the Japanese artillery stronghold.

As the whole regiment of the New Second Regiment launched combat operations, the nearby brother troops were completely dumbfounded.

It didn't take long for several blockhouses and bunkers to be easily taken down by the New Second Regiment.

The head of a fraternal army found the head Ding Wei and said enviously.

At first they knew that the New Second Regiment was just a basic regiment, but they still didn't understand how the higher-ups made such an arrangement.

For such an important battle, the main force must be required to participate in the battle.

As a result, the battle was going on now, and the powerful firepower of the new second regiment left them dumbfounded.

The heads of the two main regiments who were fighting together finally understood why their superiors had made such an arrangement.

"It's not for me to brag, the regiment is directly under four 90MM mortars, three infantry battalions, each infantry battalion has three infantry companies, and one machine gun company."

"Each infantry company has nine light machine guns and three grenade grenades, and the machine gun company has four heavy machine guns. The rifles are either regular or [-]-style."

"You can try to find out, even if it is the main force, how many of them can have the weapons and equipment of my new second regiment."

"Don't say you are dumbfounded, even the Japanese and puppet troops in the artillery stronghold were dumbfounded."

"Brigade Commander Chen also deployed two mountain cannons for us this time. What's that called? It's called a tiger with wings added."

"Don't talk about attacking these blockhouses and fortresses, even if the fucking county town is flattened, I can take it down."

Seeing the rapid progress of his troops, Ding Wei said with a proud expression on his face.

The head of the nearby brother army could only look at Ding Wei enviously.

Although they are also the formation of the main force regiment, with more troops than the new second regiment, they are far behind in terms of weapons and equipment.

The attack operation is still going on, and the sound of fierce guns keeps ringing.

The independent and mixed Eighth Brigade, which was in charge of the defense of the Jin Province area of ​​the Zhengtai Railway, was completely baffled.

The five independent infantry brigades under them were attacked at the same time, and all contact with each other was completely cut off for a while.

The brigade headquarters here wanted to communicate by radio, but even their brigade headquarters began to be bombarded.

Brigadier Chen has often asked for artillery from Li Yunlong, and now his brigade headquarters has an artillery battalion directly under it.

This artillery battalion is equipped with mountain artillery, field artillery, and infantry artillery, and the amount of ammunition is quite sufficient.

Of course, these artillery are currently distributed to each regiment to strengthen their operations. With these artillery reinforcements, each department's operations will be more heroic.

They fought very tenaciously and had a great impact on the Japanese army in a short period of time.

The First Army Command, which was too far away, did not receive the news until after six o'clock in the morning on August 21.

Chief of Staff Kusuyama Hideyoshi was reported by the Chief of the Second Section at first, but he didn't pay much attention to it.

But as more and more news came, Kusuyama Hideyoshi showed a serious expression on his face.

He didn't dare to delay at all, and quickly found the army commander Yoshio Shinozuka to report.

At this time, the First Army was completely unaware of the large-scale sabotage operation against the Eighth Route Army.

Yoshio Shinozuka was still checking the location of the Yangcun area, thinking about the upcoming attack by the independent and mixed fourth brigade against Chu Yunfei's troops.

"Your Excellency, Commander, the second section will report based on various aspects of the situation. The independent mixed eighth brigade and the independent mixed third brigade have been attacked."

"In addition, in the occupied area of ​​the southern Shanxi region, a large number of Eighth Route troops also participated in the war."

"The Eighth Route Army launched large-scale operations, mainly destroying our strongholds, artillery towers, and bunkers, and also destroying railways and roads."

"The scale of their operations this time was beyond imagination. According to the second lesson report, the northern sections of Zhengtai Railway and Tongpu Railway were almost completely attacked."

Kusuyama Hideyoshi walked over quickly, and he said with a serious expression on his face.

Hearing this news, Shinozuka Yoshio widened his eyes and showed an incredulous expression.

He glanced at the map and muttered to himself, "Why didn't we get any reports, is the news true?"

According to common sense, after being hit to such a degree, the little devil's army must report immediately.

It's just that the current combat situation is completely unexpected by the little devils. They want to report, and some brigades and regiments have been attacked.

Some brigades and regiments are quickly establishing contact with subordinate troops, commanding troops to fight in a panic, and there is no time to contact the army headquarters.

There are 129 divisions in the Jin Province area of ​​Zhengtai Railway, and 120 divisions in the northern section of Tongpu Railway.

If these two divisions were organized normally, the two independent mixed brigades of the little devils could completely deal with it.

But these two divisions can no longer be described as strengthening divisions.

For example, the 129th Brigade under the 386th Division, not counting the local troops, has seven regiments of troops!
There are dozens of regiments in a division, which is not counted as local troops.

And such a troop, launching an attack with all its strength, is not something that a little devil and a mixed brigade can handle.

Even though most of these troops were poorly equipped with weapons, they fought very tenaciously, and their fierce attacks were not something the Japanese army could parry.

Don't talk about reporting, now that the little devil can keep his position, it's pretty good.

During the initial period of the large-scale battle, the eight routes and various ministries attacked fiercely, and the gains were also great.

In terms of command ability, whether it is the deputy commander-in-chief or division commander Liu, which one is not a handsome man who can easily command hundreds of thousands of troops to fight?
"Your Excellency, Commander, we have repeatedly checked through the spy team, listening to the radio, deciphering the code, and determining the location of the radio."

"At present, almost all the railways and highways we have have been attacked to varying degrees, and the Eighth Route has dispatched a large army that we can't imagine to start the battle."

"We don't know what the frontline combat situation is like, but what is certain is that we have been hit to an unprecedented degree."

"Almost all of our subordinate troops have been attacked, especially the independent mixed third brigade and the independent mixed eighth brigade."

The head of the second class, Da Zuo, stood aside, and he reported with a serious expression on his face.

Shinozuka Yoshio frowned, and now he had to believe it was true.

"Find a way to contact the frontline troops and ask them about their detailed situation."

"At the same time, we quickly contacted the aviation force, and dispatched staff members to take a reconnaissance plane to check the situation of the Zhengtai Railway."

"In addition, quickly contact the headquarters of the front army and report the problems we have encountered here."

"Independent mixed fourth brigade, Yamamoto Special Forces and other troops canceled the previous combat plan."

"The Yamamoto special team quickly returned to the headquarters of the Taiyuan Army to stand by, and the independent and mixed fourth brigade stood by."

After pondering for a while, Shinozuka Yoshio immediately gave an order with a serious expression on his face.

"Hi, Your Excellency Commander." Kusuyama Hideyoshi immediately agreed.

The First Army Command made a series of arrangements and deployments, but the frontline operations continued.

The Japanese army's reaction was a bit slow, and they were unable to deploy effectively.

After all, they still don't understand the specific situation and have no way to make arrangements.

Until noon, the Little Devil Army Command hadn't fully grasped the situation.

At one o'clock in the afternoon, the staff of the Little Devils Army Command began to take a reconnaissance plane to check the battlefield situation.

A cavalry division of the Pseudo-Mongolian Army, which was originally going to strengthen the independent mixed fourth brigade, was directly intercepted in the original Pingcheng area.

They were directly left behind by the independent mixed third brigade to assist in operations.

By two o'clock in the afternoon, the brigade headquarters of the 48th Independent Brigade is here.

After Chu Yunfei got the relevant news, he immediately held a combat meeting.

"This... this is impossible, traveler, is the news true?"

"With the broken guns of the Eighth Route Army, they dared to launch a large-scale offensive against the Japanese army."

"Even if it is their main force, they don't have many heavy weapons."

"Yangcun Li Yunlong's new regiment has a lot of heavy weapons, but how effective can their single regiment be?"

After Chu Yunfei announced the battle news related to the Eighth Route, the officers talked a lot.

They thought this was incredible, after all, the impression given to them by the Eight Route Army was that the weapons and equipment were too poor.

Not to mention fighting tough battles, even if the Eight Route Army is used to fight positional warfare, it may be difficult to gain an advantage.

"Based on the information we have received so far, they have indeed launched a large-scale battle."

"And they directly launched an attack on the Japanese army. Up to now, they have achieved certain results."

"Now that the various units of the Japanese army are under attack, they cannot support each other. This is the best opportunity for us to encircle and wipe out the independent and mixed fourth brigade in Xin County."

"According to the report of the cavalry company, eight routes attacked Xin County, but they were attacked by the independent and mixed fourth brigade, and no results were obtained."

"We can take advantage of this opportunity to encircle and annihilate the independent and mixed fourth brigade."

Chu Yunfei came to the map, pointed to the location of Xin County, and said with a serious expression on his face.

"Lu Zuo, if we attack at this time, isn't it equivalent to assisting the Eight Routes in combat?"

"The Minister's Department has issued repeated orders and repeated orders. To cooperate with them in fighting, there must be a written order from the Minister's Department."

"Now the position of the Minister's Department and the General Command is unclear. If we attack without authorization, we are going to violate the order."

"Once the Minister and the General Headquarters investigate after the incident, I'm afraid it will be difficult for us to take responsibility."

As soon as Chu Yunfei finished speaking, Qian Bojun immediately stood up to object.

After his words fell, some officers were also whispering among themselves.

But Chu Yunfei knocked on the table with a serious expression on his face.

"We have already applied to the general headquarters before, and the chief's department also agreed that we can choose the opportunity to launch combat operations to attack the independent mixed fourth brigade."

"Now is the best opportunity. As for assisting the eight-way battle, they fight theirs, we fight ours, and they have nothing to do with each other."

"The Fourth Independent Mixed Brigade slaughtered civilians one after another. Now that we have such a good opportunity, it would be a pity if we miss it."

"I have made up my mind, you don't need to say more!"

With a firm expression on Chu Yunfei's face, he looked towards the officers.

"I will follow the order of the traveler."

Chen Ziyun got up immediately, and he was the first to express his opinion.

Wu Ziqiang, Shi Yujian, Liang Guoping and the four battalion commanders of the 358 regiment also quickly got up to make a statement.

Qian Bojun and Zhang Fugui glanced at each other, then slowly stood up to express their support.

Chief of Staff Fang Ligong began to read out the combat order, and this time all the independent 48th Brigade went out to fight.

Chen Ziyun prepared the 11th regiment and advanced to Zhuangmo Town, Baizi Mountain, and Crouching Tiger Mountain in the south of Xin County.

Baizi Mountain and Crouching Tiger Mountain are located on the west side of Tongpu Railway, which is a highland.

Starting from Xin County and going south, you can enter Yangqu through here, and after passing Yangqu, you will be too far away from the capital of Jin Province.

Chen Ziyun's troops came here to prevent the independent fourth brigade from withdrawing too far.

Qian Bojun's 358th regiment advanced to Qicun Town in the northwest of Xin County and the hilly area to the east.

Here Chen Ziyun once commanded the troops to fight fiercely with the Harada detachment, and the 358th regiment advanced here also to grasp the terrain advantage.

They are stationed here, so that they can cut off the independent and mixed fourth brigade and go northward, approaching the original Pingcheng area.

As for the cavalry company, guard company, and field artillery company directly under the brigade headquarters, they were commanded by Chief of Staff Lin Zhiqiang.

They advanced to Hesuo Town, south of Qicun Town, and paid close attention to the movements of the Japanese army in Xin County to the east.

Chu Yunfei and Fang Ligong are capable, and they immediately made accurate judgments based on the information they received.

The overall strength of the independent mixed fourth brigade is very strong. They are gathered here in Xin County and have not been threatened in the slightest for the time being.

The First Army Command is likely to arrange for them to go to other regions for support.

The railway is an important lifeline for the Japanese army, and all their actions depend on the railway.

The two regiments of the independent 48th brigade, one south and one north guarding the commanding heights, can naturally effectively curb the support operations of the independent mixed fourth brigade.

Moreover, they have favorable terrain, and they can also bring unexpected combat blows to the Japanese troops.

(End of this chapter)