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

Chapter 241 Preparing 12 Regiments to Fight Lancheng
The battle at Lijiapo continued, and the Eighth Route Army continued to advance and attack.

Facing the threat of Japanese artillery, the soldiers began to adopt the strategy of spreading and crawling forward, and slowly advanced to the starting position in front.

Zhihei Sayamazaki, the Japanese soldier at the top, kept observing through the telescope, and a sneer gradually appeared on the corner of his mouth.

The overall strength of his more than 1000 troops is very strong, and even if they continue to fight, their own casualties are not very large, and they have not been affected at all.

Eight Type 90 [-]MM mortars shelled one after another, firing grenades continuously.

Even if the soldiers adopted the strategy of crawling forward, they were still shelled and suffered casualties.

It didn't take long for Yamazaki Zhihei to organize an artillery unit to launch a cover bombardment.

At one time, ten mortars, four infantry guns, four mountain guns, and four rapid-fire guns concentrated fire.

Grenades, shrapnel shells, armor-piercing shells, and armor-piercing shells rushed towards the attacking troops.

With the deafening explosion, the shrapnel quickly spread around.

The 772 regiment, which was the main offensive task, was under a lot of pressure.

Some of their light and heavy machine guns, grenadier mortars, and even infantry artillery were hit during the battle and were destroyed on the spot.

Commander Cheng, who was in command of the battle, saw this scene with a serious expression on his face.

The fighting lasted until ten o'clock in the morning, and the main attacking force retreated again.

Brigadier Chen at the forward command post frowned tightly when he saw this scene.

Brigadier Chen walked quickly to the map. He looked at Li Jiapo's location and fell into deep thought.

For the battle-hardened Brigadier Chen, the current battle is completely passive.

The Japanese army occupied favorable terrain, and it was impossible for all the troops to fight.

Moreover, the little devils they faced were not an ordinary infantry brigade, but troops that had been strengthened in various ways.

Among other things, their large number of artillery pieces was beyond the reach of Brigadier Chen's troops.

What's more, the four infantry squadrons under them are all elite troops drawn from various ministries and have strong combat effectiveness.

The little devil's light machine gun shooter can almost shoot meat with a gun.

As long as the grenade is locked on the target, a grenade can easily hit it.

Most of their riflemen can accurately hit the vital points at a distance of two to 300 meters.

The [-]-type rifle is not very powerful, but its accuracy and penetrating power are very strong.

As long as it hits the vital point, it is basically hopeless.

Seeing his troops suffer casualties, Brigadier Chen felt very uncomfortable.

It's just the above order, he must be executed unconditionally.

"Brigade Commander, Li Yunlong's new regiment has arrived near the battlefield."

"Should we let them go up? Li Yunlong is a bastard who can cause trouble, but he is good at fighting."

"Let them go up, maybe they can gain something."

"Although the new regiment is the follow-up field main regiment, their weapons and equipment are more sophisticated than the old main regiment."

Chief of Staff Zhou hesitated for a moment, and came to the brigade commander to make a suggestion.

Compared with the 2000-strong troops of the new regiment, there is a gap in the number of troops compared with the 772-strong old main regiment like the 3000 regiment.

But in terms of their weapon configuration, they are not comparable to the 772 regiment.

The new regiment has four 82MM mortars, two infantry guns, two mountain guns, and nine 60MM mortars.

The number of light and heavy machine guns is almost one hundred, and they also have a large number of grenades.

As for ammunition, the 772 regiment is even more incomparable with the new regiment.

From Cangyunling to the end of the battle in Xin County, Li Yunlong had been accumulating ammunition.

It is not easy for him to hide weapons and equipment, but he hides a lot of bullets and grenades.

Few people knew about this matter in the Xinyi Regiment, let alone the brigade commander.

Although the 772nd regiment is the earliest main field regiment in the 386th brigade, its ammunition is far behind the new regiment.

Even if the new group of heavy machine gun shooters continued to shoot, Li Yunlong was able to ensure the supply of ammunition.

Chief of Staff Zhou knows Li Yunlong very well, so he hopes that he can come up and join the battle.

Brigadier Chen glanced in the direction of Li Jiapo through the observation hole, with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Let the Xinyi regiment continue to stand by, but Li Yunlong can take the cadres to the front to observe the situation."

"Tell Li Yunlong, when the Xinyi Regiment goes to the battlefield, if he fails to achieve results, see how I deal with him."

"One more thing, let him be honest. The division commander and the deputy commander are nearby. If he gets into trouble, no one can keep him."

"The deputy commander-in-chief is very angry now. He, Li Yunlong, weighs himself whether he can bear the anger of the deputy commander-in-chief."

After pondering for a while, Brigadier Chen shook his head, he did not arrange for a new regiment to go up.

After giving the order to the new regiment, brigade commander Chen started to go to the front line and directly discussed with regimental commander Cheng and other cadres.

He wants to organize the 772 regiment and other troops to continue to attack and attack Yamazaki Zhihei's troops.

And Li Yunlong, who came near the Lijiapo battlefield, couldn't help muttering after learning about the situation in detail.

"An army of tens of thousands of people can't eat more than 1000 little devils. What's going on here?"

"I just said that Cheng Xiazi is not good. When I taught him how to shoot a gun, I saw that he was not a command material."

"The brigade commander is also right. Let our new regiment come over earlier and join the battle directly. Maybe the battle will be over by now."

"What, Lao Zhao, what are you talking about, the brigade has the new regiment on standby?"

"No...the division commander and the deputy commander are nearby..."

Li Yunlong was mumbling, and Zhao Gang came over to deliver the brigade's order.

Li Yunlong was naturally unhappy when he heard that Xinyituan was still on standby.

But when he wanted to lose his temper, he heard that the division commander and deputy commander were near the battlefield.

In an instant, Lao Li became calm like a mouse seeing a cat.

Li Yunlong, who can be controlled by a brigade commander Chen, is obedient, not to mention that there are division commanders and deputy commanders nearby.

So Li Yunlong obediently took Zhang Dabiao and other cadres to the Lijiapo battlefield to observe.

At eleven o'clock in the morning, Brigadier Chen organized troops to attack Lijiapo again.

The troops of the two sides continued to fight fiercely, but the Japanese army clearly had the upper hand.

At the same time as the fierce battle at Lijiapo, the area west of Taiyuan, the area of ​​Lancheng.

The Independent 48th Brigade also launched a combat operation after discussions with Chu Yunfei, Chen Ziyun and others.

They intend to capture Lancheng and ensure the absolute safety of the junction with the Seventh Army.

At the same time, the main force of the brigade can also quickly advance to Lancheng, posing a threat to the east side too far, and supporting the Eighth Route Army to fight.

The mission to attack Lancheng was originally assigned to Chen Ziyun's 358 regiment.

However, Qian Bojun and Zhang Fugui, who were preparing for the 12th regiment, took the initiative to fight.

Chu Yunfei thought for a while, and handed over the task of attacking Lancheng to the 12th Reserve Regiment.

After all, the Independent 48th Brigade has grown to tens of thousands of troops at this time, and Qian Bojun, the group of officers who have followed Chu Yunfei for a long time, is also the absolute core.

If they don't give them any chance and always reuse Chen Ziyun, it will inevitably cause some unnecessary conflicts.

During this period of time, Qian Bojun and Zhang Fugui kept a low profile. Apart from wooing the troops, they followed Chu Yunfei's advice.

Even if they are reprimanded by Chu Yunfei, they will take the initiative to admit their mistakes.

Moreover, Qian Bojun kept meeting with Chu Yunfei, telling about his old friendship in the past.

After all, they have followed Chu Yunfei through life and death for many years, and Chu Yunfei is not a heartless person.

Therefore, as long as Qian Bojun and Zhang Fugui didn't make too many mistakes, he was still willing to give them a chance.

According to intelligence, there are only 800 Japanese soldiers in Lancheng, which is only the size of an independent infantry brigade.

There are a full 12 people in the 2000th regiment, and the weapons and equipment are also very sophisticated.

The regiment has six infantry guns, twelve heavy machine guns, four mountain guns, and a large number of 60MM mortars.

Chu Yunfei thought that it would be no problem for them to advance to the battle in Lancheng.

Qian Bojun and Zhang Fugui also vowed that this battle in Lancheng would definitely be an easy victory.

At 11:30, the vanguard of the 12th Reserve Regiment arrived in the Lancheng area.

However, they were soon attacked by Japanese troops, and the little devils troops stationed on the high ground and launched a direct fire attack.

Light machine guns, grenades, and rifles continued to fire, and the vanguard paid the price of more than 20 casualties and was forced to retreat quickly.

After Qian Bojun and Zhang Fugui got the news, they began to command the main force to come.

At twelve o'clock, the 12th regiment prepared to set up various weapons and directly launched a fierce attack on the little devils on the high ground.

The two sides fought fiercely, and a large number of soldiers advanced rapidly with the help of fire cover.

Hitting and hitting, Qian Bojun vaguely realized that something was wrong.

He once held the command of 2000 troops, so he is naturally capable.

Otherwise, Chu Yunfei would not have used him so much. Through observation, Qian Bojun judged that there were not many Japanese troops here on the high ground.

Just as he was wondering, on the flanks of the attacking troops, there were little devil troops directly attacking.

A light and heavy machine gun, a grenadier, and a mortar fired.

A large number of infantry quickly advance with firepower, these little devil riflemen are very fast.

As if in the blink of an eye, they came to the attacking troops.

The Japanese rifleman held the rifle with the bayonet installed and directly started fighting with the soldiers.

These soldiers were first hit by intensive flanking firepower, and they had already suffered casualties.

Immediately afterwards, before they could fully react, the little devil's hand-to-hand combat began.

The firepower behind the cover barely had time to shoot, and the troops of both sides started a hand-to-hand battle.

The reserve 12th regiment was not good at hand-to-hand combat, and many soldiers fell in a pool of blood instantly.

Seeing this scene, Qian Bojun quickly commanded the troops to retreat.

The soldiers gradually left the battlefield, but when the 12th reserve regiment launched a fire strike.

The Japanese grenadiers fired smoke bombs, and the little devil riflemen dispersed to hide.

Qian Bojun began to make operational adjustments. Each department built a position, defended first, and then launched an attack.

But the little devils army completely changed their previous tactics.

Their defense is no longer concentrated in one place to form an effective defense.

Instead, they are scattered in different areas, and the 12th reserve regiment simply cannot capture their main force for strikes.

Lancheng was surrounded by mountains on all sides, and the little devils did not have any troops to defend the town, and they were all scattered on the high ground.

Moreover, they are not an independent infantry brigade, and their main combat force is only three infantry squadrons.

However, these three infantry squadrons have been strengthened with heavy machine guns, mortars, and infantry artillery.

They were elusive and adopted flexible defensive tactics.

From time to time, stick to the defense of the high ground, and from time to time gather on the flanks to attack.

The 12th Preparatory Regiment captured the county seat of Lancheng at three o'clock in the afternoon, but it was just an empty city.

But their casualties and losses have exceeded 100 people.

On the Japanese side, there were only a dozen casualties.

Qian Bojun arranged for troops to guard the county seat, but did not take the initiative to attack for the time being.

He wanted to attract the little devils to attack the county, so as to give full play to the firepower advantage of the whole regiment to attack.

But the Japanese troops were not fooled at all. They hid in the surrounding highlands and did not launch any attacks.

But their officers, through binoculars, closely checked the situation of the 12th Reserve Regiment.

Time passed, night fell, and when it was past seven o'clock, the sky was dark.

Qian Bojun and Zhang Fugui stood in front of the map with thoughtful expressions on their faces.

"Tuan Zuo, there are not many little devils. Now that we have captured the county, they haven't appeared again for an afternoon."

"I think they should have already evacuated. After all, if we fight head-to-head, they will definitely not be our opponents."

"Do you think we should quickly contact the brigade headquarters and report that we have won the county."

Zhang Fugui felt that the Japanese troops had withdrawn, so he couldn't wait to generate electricity to claim credit.

Qian Bojun glanced at the map, and then at the dark sky outside.

"There's something weird about it. The tactics of these little devils have obviously changed a lot."

"Have you noticed that since the little devils took control of most towns in Jin Province, they have changed a lot."

"This is because the Japanese army has no opponents in Jin Province, so they are generally relaxed."

"The reason why Chen Ziyun was able to win several battles is mainly because he grasped that the Japanese army underestimated the enemy."

"But now, the Japanese army has become more cautious, and they have returned to the vigilance they had when they just started the war."

"They have begun to pay attention to flanking attacks, and their forces have assembled. Zhang Tuanfu, it is not a wise choice for us to come to Lancheng this time."

With a solemn face, Qian Bojun spoke slowly.

As his words fell, there was loud gunfire outside.

The sounds of light and heavy machine guns, rifle grenade launchers, and mortar infantry guns came one after another.

A few minutes later, the dark night began to look as bright as day as the flares went up.

"Tuan Zuo, Tuan Fu, it's not good, the little devil launched a night attack and assaulted the Tenth Battalion's position."

"They assembled a lot of mortars and infantry artillery to attack, and the tenth battalion's position was about to be breached."

Ten minutes later, some military officers began to come to the regiment headquarters to report the combat situation in detail.

When Qian Bojun and Zhang Fugui heard the news, they couldn't help widening their eyes and showing expressions of disbelief.

The two of them glanced at each other, and hurriedly began to order the mountain artillery company directly under the regiment headquarters to fully support the tenth battalion.

The Ninth Battalion and the Eighth Battalion also began to deploy troops separately, and rushed towards the Tenth Battalion to help.

(End of this chapter)