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

Chapter 215
After knowing that Li Yunlong's new regiment was advancing towards Yuanpingcheng, Tsuda Meiwu immediately commanded the troops to set off towards the county seat.

The four brigades of the Japanese and puppet troops were equipped with 23 artillery pieces, and they went south along the railway in a mighty way.

Even though there was no combat order from the First Army Command this time, Tsuda Mitake still wanted to fight the county seat.

In his view, this is a rare opportunity, and as long as he launches an attack, he can fully obtain the results of the battle.

At [-] o'clock in the afternoon on September [-], Japanese and puppet troops arrived one after another in the area south of Xinxian County.

Mitake Tsuda began to deploy in person, and a large number of Japanese and puppet troops set up starting positions in different areas.

One by one artillery, artillery positions have also begun to be set up, ready for cover operations.

The cavalry of the [-]-day puppet army dispersed and advanced in all directions. They launched a fire reconnaissance in an attempt to expose the firepower of the defenders in advance.

Sparse gunshots sounded soon, this is the sound of the cavalry of the Japanese puppet army being hit by rifle fire.

The cavalry of the Japanese and puppet troops were very cunning. They scattered out and used their superb riding skills to repeatedly swim in front of the position.

Tsuda Mitake, who came to the front line to command in person, took the staff to check the deployment situation outside the county in detail.

At present, in the area north of the county seat, there is the Eighth Battalion under the Supplementary Regiment, and the Ninth Battalion is equipped with a mortar company for defense.

Qian Bojun and Zhang Fugui were in charge of conducting the command, of course they were only commanding in the name of the head of the regiment and the regiment attached.

In fact, these two battalions have already established contact with the brigade headquarters.

Major decisions such as their evacuation can only be implemented with orders from the brigade headquarters.

On the east and west sides of the county, there are the fifth battalion and the sixth battalion of the 11th reserve regiment to be responsible for defense.

The first battalion of the 11th Reserve Regiment is responsible for the communication between the various ministries and is also the general reserve of the peripheral combat forces.

The artillery companies directly under the two regiments, and the eight Jin Shanshan Cannons built artillery positions in the city and were ready for support.

The tenth battalion of the supplementary regiment was deployed for defense in the city, and they were also the last reserve team.

Wu Ziqiang, the acting head of the 11th reserve regiment, and Qian Bojun, the head of the supplementary regiment, both commanded and fought from the periphery.

Inside the city was the brigade headquarters of the independent 48th Brigade, and Chu Yunfei took Fang Ligong and others to the city for unified command.

The total strength of these troops is quite a lot, which is completely half of the strength of the independent 48th Brigade.

Of course, whether it is the 11th reserve regiment or the supplementary regiment, their overall combat effectiveness is not very strong at present.

The supplementary regiment is a unit formed by drawing soldiers from various ministries, and they cannot form effective cooperation.

The 11th regiment prepared to fight one after another, and suffered casualties, and then transferred troops to the 358th regiment.

They received a security regiment of hundreds of people before returning to full strength.

The security regiment sent by the first war zone has almost no combat effectiveness.

It will take time for them to integrate into the army and form combat effectiveness.

Therefore, they are under certain pressure in the face of the attack of the little devils.

This is why Chu Yunfei personally set up the brigade headquarters in the city. Without the direct command of the brigade headquarters, they might be completely defeated.

After the brigade commander of Major General Tsuda Mitake learned about the deployment of the county's defense through the cavalry, he decisively issued a combat order.

Here in the south of the county seat, he dispatched puppet Mongolian troops to divert the attack.

Here in the east of the county seat, the first brigade of independent infantry was dispatched to carry out a feint attack.

He chose the main attack direction to the west of the county seat, and the third and fourth battalions of field infantry were responsible for the attack.

At the same time, three [-]-type mountain guns were directly assigned to these two brigades to assist in combat.

Eight Liao-made field guns, eight [-]-type field guns, and four Liao-made howitzers are deployed in a unified position for support operations.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, the Japanese and puppet troops came to the designated area, and they directly launched an attack.

Sixteen 75MM field guns and four 100MM howitzers began to shell fiercely.

A round of grenades continued to hit the position.

The Sixth Battalion of Shi Yujia, the 11th Regiment, was prepared to the west of the county seat, and was heavily attacked by Japanese artillery.

The shells of the four howitzers almost fell here.

With the sound of the explosion, positions began to be destroyed everywhere, and the shrapnel quickly spread around.

After some shelling, the Japanese and puppet troops accelerated their advance, and the troops of both sides began fierce battles outside the county seat.

"Launch an attack with all our strength, we must break through their outer positions before dark, and hit directly into the city."

"Whether we have a complete advantage in terms of military strength or weapons and equipment, these Jinsui troops will definitely not be our opponents."

"Warriors of the empire, let them know how powerful you are. Use your sharp bayonets to pierce their hearts."

Tsuda Mitake stood at the rear, he kept waving his saber, loudly boosting morale.

The cannons were engaged in coordinated shelling, and when the troops advanced to a certain distance from the position, they began to extend the shelling towards the city.

Since they were supplemented by transport troops, their shells have been supplemented. When shelling, the Japanese army was full of confidence!

Ten minutes later, intense gunfire began.

Jin-made heavy machine guns, Type [-] heavy machine guns; Czech-style light machine guns, Jin-made light machine guns, crooked light machine guns and other sounds sounded one after another.

The Independent 48th Brigade is currently expanded to three regiments, and has a large direct unit.

Therefore, their weapons and equipment are also very messy, some are Japanese-style, some are made in Jin Dynasty, and some are issued by the above.

For a while, on the outskirts of Xinxian County, the sound of various weapons shooting rang out.

The officers and soldiers of the supplementary regiment and the reserve 11th regiment relied on their positions to fight calmly. They built a firepower network one after another to intercept the attack of the Japanese and puppet troops in front of them.

However, the Japanese and puppet troops also launched a continuous onslaught, and fully demonstrated their powerful individual combat capabilities.

Up to now, these Japanese and puppet troops have survived continuous combat, and they all have rich combat experience.

As long as they had no ability, they would have been shot to death long ago.

Regardless of their low strength, they can all be regarded as veterans with strong combat capabilities.

Especially the two field brigades that stormed on the west side of the county seat showed strong combat capabilities.

Eight infantry squadrons launched a wave-like tactical attack, and a little devil quickly advanced.

The Japanese grenadiers hid in different areas and fired grenades one after another.

As long as the machine gun fire of the Sixth Battalion of Shi Yuframe is exposed, it will definitely be hit by grenades immediately.

The four heavy machine guns of the machine gun company were completely suppressed and had no chance to fire.

Fortunately, their two 82MM mortars were constantly swimming and shelling, which blocked some little devils.

The fierce battle continued, with casualties on both sides, and more and more corpses on the ground.

The bright red blood dyed the ground red, and the smell of blood could be smelled from far away.

Tsuda Mitake stood in the rear to supervise the battle, constantly dispatching messengers to convey various combat orders.

The artillery will also provide shelling support in an attempt to assist the troops to break through quickly.

Major General Harada Kenzo of the Japanese army in the hilly area got the report soon, and he couldn't help being stunned when he knew that Tsuda Meiwu commanded the troops to attack the county directly.

Kenzo Harada contacted the army headquarters immediately by sending a power call, so as to know whether the First Army had issued an attack order.

When he knew that the First Army hadn't issued an attack order, he couldn't help being furious, fisted with both hands, and beat the table hard.

"Baga, you bastard Tsuda Mitake!"

"The main force of the 48th Independent Brigade of the Jinsui Army is gathered in the county, so let this bastard die."

"He won't get any results in the county, and it will definitely cause a devastating blow to the troops."

"Maybe this bastard will be killed directly."

Kenzo Harada gritted his teeth and said, he wished he could see Mitake Tsuda lose the battle now.

Originally, both of them were defeated generals, but now Mitake Tsuda continued to gain victories, and they were about to turn around completely.

How could Kenzo Harada remain indifferent, after all, this was directly related to his life.

He doesn't want Tsuda Meiwu to win the battle, and he even wants Tsuda Meiwu to lose the battle.

In this way, all the responsibilities will be shifted to Mitake Tsuda, and Kenzo Harada may be able to save his life.

Kenzo Harada is closely watching the situation on the battlefield, and at the same time he will resolutely gather troops in the hilly area.

An infantry brigade, an artillery squadron, plus more than 1000 troops of the heavy soldiers.

As long as something is wrong, Harada Kenzo will immediately direct the troops to move towards Yuanping Castle.

However, the battle here in the county did not develop according to the result he expected at all.

At seven o'clock in the afternoon, the major staff came to report.

Tsuda Meiwu commanded the third and fourth battalions of the field infantry to cut off the connection between the defensive troops on the west side of the county seat and other peripheral troops.

In addition, the fourth battalion of the field infantry mobilized more than 400 Japanese troops, and quickly moved towards the side and rear, preparing to cut off the connection between the western defense forces and the city.

By nine o'clock in the evening, the latest news from the county came.

The outer positions on the west side of the county seat were captured, and its defense forces withdrew into the city in embarrassment.

The peripheral troops fighting in the county began to attack other peripheral Jinsui Army troops in an all-round way, and gradually completed the encirclement of the county.

When Kenzo Harada got the news, he began to feel a little restless.

After thinking for a long time, Kenzo Harada began to dictate in person, and directly contacted the headquarters of the First Army by telegram.

He hoped that the First Army Command would punish Mitake Tsuda for his disobedience and revoke his authority to command operations.

Harada Kenzo also recommended himself, wanting to replace Tsuda Meiwu to command the troops to attack the county.

Seeing that Mitake Tsuda is really going to take back the county seat of Xin County, Kenzo Harada is ready to pick peaches.

It's just that his telegram was sent out, but the First Army Command didn't pay attention to it at all.

In the little devil army, it is a tradition to go down and up.

The First Army has a very classic example, during the Battle of Xucheng in 38.

The North China Front Army Command asked the First Army to cross the river to participate in the battle. The 14th Division went south to participate in the encirclement operation.

However, the First Army Command completely ignored it and directly asked the 14th Division to move west from Shandong Province and seize the capital of Henan Province through the east of Henan Province.

In the end, the Battle of Lanfeng broke out, and more than a dozen divisions of the First Corps launched an encirclement operation against the 14th Division.

Although this battle was called the laughingstock of the ages by the headmaster, the 14th Division of the Little Devils also suffered a lot of casualties.

Subsequently, the commander of the First Army, Xiangyue Qingsi, was dismissed from his post.

This is a typical case of going up against the top, even in combat, they will directly violate the orders of the above.

Of course, the 14th Division did not achieve the expected goal and was hit, so it must be punished.

However, if the 14th Division can deal a heavy blow to the First Corps and capture the capital of Henan Province, the result will definitely change.

It's not that the Japanese army can't accept defeat, they just can't accept failure.

Mitake Tsuda violated the order to attack the county seat, and now that he has made progress, the First Army Command will naturally not care about it.

On the contrary, Mitake Tsuda was really able to regain the county seat and severely damage the independent 48th brigade, and Yoshio Shinozuka would give him a reward.

Harada Kenzo wanted to sue Tsuda Mitake and replace him in command. Looking at it now, it was completely wishful thinking.

Time was passing, and at two o'clock in the morning, the two sides fought fiercely on the periphery.

Tsuda Meiwu commanded four brigades, equipped with 23 artillery pieces for continuous attack.

Chu Yunfei unified command of the fifth battalion, the first battalion, the eighth battalion, the ninth battalion, and the mortar company to fight.

They tried their best to stick to their positions north of the county seat, but these troops were attacked by the Japanese and puppet troops.

The fierce battle lasted until eight o'clock in the morning, and the supplementary regiment was defeated and gradually withdrew from the battlefield.

While withdrawing from the battlefield, the supplementary regiment instantly appeared in a sheep-herding state.

The troops dispersed in a rush, and the officers and soldiers only hated themselves for not having two extra legs, and they fled the battlefield at an accelerated rate one by one.

When troops such as the Jinsui Army often defend their positions, they can still fight tenaciously.

But once they evacuate, there will be chaos in an instant.

The two battalions of the supplementary regiment were completely herding sheep, and fled towards the east of the county in a chaotic manner.

The 11th reserve regiment quickly withdrew to the city, and their formation did not appear chaotic.

"It's embarrassing!" Chu Yunfei said with a gloomy face after observing the situation of the supplementary group through the telescope.

Immediately afterwards, he immediately dispatched Fang Ligong, the chief of staff, to leave the city quickly to assist in gathering the troops.

The Japanese and puppet troops outside the city took the opportunity to surround the county.

At nine o'clock, the Japanese and puppet troops completed the encirclement operation against the county.

Tsuda Mitake showed a confident expression on his face, he thought he had the chance to win.

The artillery unit began to harass and bombard the city, firing shells into the city from time to time.

The four brigades are building a starting position and preparing for an attack.

"The troops quickly built positions, and then rested to replenish their physical strength."

"At eleven o'clock, we will launch an all-out battle!"

"Before noon tomorrow, the Jinsui Army troops in the city must be completely wiped out."

"Contact Harada Kenzo at the same time and ask him to dispatch four Liao-made wild cannons immediately."

"We need to concentrate artillery to launch shelling to reduce casualties."

"After all, after the battle here is over, we still have to mop up and wipe out the remaining Jinsui Army."

"And the Eighth Route New First Regiment that was transferred to the original Pingcheng to fight, we also want to wipe them out completely!"

Tsuda Mitake raised his binoculars to observe, and said with a proud expression on his face.

The supplementary regiment withdrew from the battlefield in a sheep-herding state, which made Tsuda Mitake realize that this Jinsui army had already lost its combat effectiveness.

He felt that the next battle would be very easy.

What he has to do now is to obtain the greatest results with the least casualties.

(End of this chapter)