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

The more than 605 troops of the First Division of the Imperial Association Army had fallen into the trap set by Chen Ziyun. They were attacked by intensive firepower from Fang Qing's [-]th Regiment.

Fang Qing commanded the entire regiment to launch a fierce attack with firepower, machine guns, mortars, flat-firing cannons and other weapons kept firing.

These troops are deployed on high ground, and they carry out combat strikes from a high position.

Intensive firepower hit the puppet troops, causing heavy casualties.

The puppet army commander had a panic expression on his face. He had never expected that Lishan would have such a powerful force to defend itself.

At this moment, he immediately realized that he had been fooled, so he quickly organized his troops to fight back.

"Quickly suppress their firepower and retreat to Lishan with alternate cover."

"They have an ambush here, and we've fallen completely into their trap."

"Light and heavy machine guns, grenade mortars fired, and mountain artillery fired effectively."

The leader of the puppet army shouted loudly, with a panic expression on his face.

The puppet troops also wanted to organize firepower to counterattack, but Chen Ziyun would not give them this chance.

The mountain artillery regiment and the mixed artillery regiment opened fire, and the artillery continued to fire grenades and shrapnel.

A large number of artillery shells fell on the puppet troops, and with the sound of explosions, countless shrapnel spread in all directions.

The puppet soldiers fell to the ground one by one, and many puppet soldiers were injured. They howled in pain.

At six o'clock on July 201, Liang Ruxian, commander of the 605rd Brigade of the [-]st Division, commanded the [-]th Regiment to launch an all-out attack.

The various units launched firepower, and dense bullets and artillery shells were fired at the puppet troops one after another.

Chen Ziyun personally commanded the Li Yangshan artillery regiment, and Sun Xiong mixed the artillery regiment for combat.

The three regiments continued to attack, and the three thousand puppet troops of the First Division of the Royal Association Army suffered heavy casualties.

It was impossible for this puppet army to evacuate at this time, and their casualties and losses were increasing.

By about seven o'clock, the commander of the puppet army and many officers were shot to death.

Seeing that there was no possibility of a breakout, the remaining more than a thousand puppet troops simply chose to lay down their weapons and surrender.

The 605th Regiment quickly attacked, quickly swept the battlefield, captured more than a thousand puppet soldiers, and completely imprisoned them.

It was at this time that the position on the east side of Hengling Pass was completely broken through.

The 215th Regiment suffered heavy losses, and its remnant of more than 1000 people retreated to the position south of Hengling Pass in embarrassment.

The two independent brigades of the puppet army suffered a devastating blow. A large number of puppet troops were either annihilated or became prisoners.

At [-]:[-], Chen Ziyun commanded the troops to establish contact with Hengling Pass.

Without any hesitation, he quickly dispatched Li Yangshan Artillery Regiment and Lin Zhiqiang Field Supplementary Second Regiment to Hengling Pass to strengthen the defense deployment here.

At the same time, he gathered other troops together one after another and was ready to cooperate with the second brigade to attack the Japanese and puppet troops south of Hengling Pass.

Time passed, and the sky gradually became dark.

The various departments of the Japanese and puppet troops quickly established contact and they began to mobilize.

The 33rd Division and the Second Division of the Royal Association Army, originally deployed south of Hengling Pass, quickly moved toward the area west of Hengling Pass.

They reunited with the 21st Division. After all, if they continued to stay here in the southern position, they might be attacked from a flank.

The Japanese and puppet troops continued to fight and had already suffered heavy casualties.

Especially the puppet troops were wiped out one after another.

A large number of puppet prisoners were held in different places. These prisoners would be interrogated and then dealt with separately.

Those who commit heinous crimes will definitely be shot directly.

As for those that can be added to the army, they can be educated to quickly replenish the combat consumption of each department.

At eight o'clock in the evening, Chen Ziyun met Chu Yunfei directly in the area south of Hengling Pass.

After Chu Yunfei saw Chen Ziyun, a smile appeared on his face.

He inquired in detail about Chen Ziyun's combat situation in the northern Henan region, and then began to discuss the next combat situation with Chen Ziyun.

Li Chongtao's First Brigade, Zhou Wenbo's Field Artillery Regiment and other units suffered heavy casualties.

These two troops withdrew directly to Yuanqu City for rest and replenishment, and would not participate in any battles for the time being.

The defense at Hengling Pass is undertaken by Liang Ruxian's third brigade, Li Yangshan Artillery Regiment, and Sun Xiong's mixed artillery regiment.

For the defense from Lishan to Xicheng Mountain, the independent detachment New Second Regiment, Independent Regiment, and Artillery Regiment are responsible.

Sun Yu's field operations replenished the first regiment, and Lin Zhiqiang's field operations replenished the soldiers of the second regiment, all of which were added to the first brigade to restore the first brigade's combat strength as soon as possible.

Sun Yu and Lin Zhiqiang took relevant officers with them and went to the puppet prisoners to select officers and soldiers to supplement them.

In addition, they also want to recruit soldiers in northern Henan and other areas to restore the establishment of the two field supplementary regiments as soon as possible.

Hao Shiwen's second brigade was stationed from Hengling Pass to the center of Yuanqu City so that it could support clan wars at any time.

As the battle continues, the 201st Division has made great gains. They have seized a lot of weapons and equipment.

However, the casualties suffered by various units were not small. Almost all the first brigade had completely lost their combat effectiveness.

Shi Yujian, the leader of the 601st Regiment, has already begun to be sent to the west of Zhongtiao Mountain for treatment.

Li Chongtao, the commander of the 601st Brigade, also serves as the commander of the [-]st Regiment to command operations.

"A message has been sent from the First War Zone Commander's Department. They will take advantage of the cover of night to transport a batch of supplies to us."

"In addition, they are also mobilizing troops to replenish the troops. They will recruit about a thousand new troops to supplement them."

"Of course, the recruits that can be sent over from the first theater probably have no combat experience at all, and they may be old, weak, sick and disabled."

"We still have to find a way to replenish it ourselves, select from the prisoners of the puppet army, and then recruit some soldiers."

"Ziyun, do you think the Japanese troops will continue to launch strong attacks on Hengling Pass and other areas?"

"If they continue to fight, our troops may be injured."

Chu Yunfei came to the map and asked with a solemn expression on his face.

The losses of various units of the 201st Division were considerable, and their replacement troops were very limited.

Although there are now larger seizures through combat, it is useless to have weapons and equipment but not enough soldiers.

Chen Ziyun still has a special combat mission assigned by the system, which is to annihilate the [-]th Japanese Cavalry Brigade.

But judging from the current situation, it is almost impossible to complete this combat plan.

The Japanese and puppet troops have assembled tens of thousands of cavalry troops in the area east of Huaiqing City. These troops pose a strong threat.

If you take the initiative to attack them, you may not be able to achieve victory, but will incur heavy losses.

As for whether the Japanese and puppet troops will continue to attack, Chen Ziyun has a very clear judgment.

When the battle reached this point, the little devils gathered a large number of troops to take the initiative, but they did not achieve the expected results.

Instead, they paid greater casualties. If the North China Front was Shun Tada, the commander of the First Army would be Yoshio Shinozuka.

With their characters, they will definitely make a desperate move and continue fighting.

But the one who now serves as the commander of the North China Front is Okamura Neiji!

Okamura Neiji is well-known for his commanding characteristics. He will prepare carefully for every battle.

After ensuring absolute certainty, Okamura Neiji will launch combat operations to ensure the success of the operation.

This battle was not what Okamura Neji wanted to do at all.

Mainly because the 33rd Division acted without permission, which triggered a large-scale battle between the two sides.

Chen Ziyun analyzed that Okamura Neiji may not continue to command the troops in combat. After all, the little devil is about to go south.

Before going south to fight, even if the North China Front Army cannot ensure security in the occupied areas, they still need to ensure that the North China Front Army troops will not suffer too many casualties.

"Master, I think the Japanese and puppet troops may not be able to continue the fight."

“But they will keep us under siege and limit our growth.”

"So we have to capture the northern Henan area and inner lines, Huaiqing City and other towns."

"Even if necessary, we will recover Jiangcheng and use these to build peripheral positions."

"If the Japanese and puppet troops want to attack us in the future, we will have enough space to maneuver around."

Chen Ziyun pointed at the map and said with a serious expression on his face.

After hearing this, Chu Yunfei nodded in agreement.He and Chen Ziyun discussed overnight and determined the regional defense operation plan such as Hengling Pass.

At the same time, the 201st Division also quickly contacted the independent detachment to ensure that both parties could always maintain cooperative operations.

After all, if they fight independently, the puppet army will have a great opportunity to take advantage of it.

The main force of the 201st Division and the independent detachment continued to defend.

At the same time, Chen Ziyun made a relatively bold defense, that is, he secretly transferred the guard regiment defending in the west of Zhongtiao Mountain.

The Sun Ming 602 Regiment under the Second Brigade returned to the western area of ​​Zhongtiao Mountain to defend together with the baggage regiment.

The guard regiment came to Zhongtiao Mountain and was directly deployed at Xicheng Mountain.

The special task assigned by the system seemed impossible to complete, but Chen Ziyun still wanted to try it.

At this time, in the area west of Hengling Pass in Zhongtiao Mountain, the 21st Division headquarters is here.

Tanaka Jiuichi stood in front of the map with an indifferent expression on his face.

Shozo Sakurai, commander of the 33rd Division, Nobumasa Tominaga, the commander of the 27th Division, Xu Chengpu, commander of the Second Division of the Royal Association Army, and others all rushed here.

They sat in different positions, all dejected.

After all, they had an absolute advantage, but they continued to fight and never made much progress.

The three divisions launched an offensive operation, but ended up like this. The three division commanders were disgraced.

Especially since the battle has continued until now, the 33rd Division has continued to fight, and its own casualties have been very high.

The 27th Division also suffered a certain amount of casualties. Even though the 21st Division only entered the battle later, they still suffered more than 1000 casualties.

"This is simply a shame and a great humiliation. We have an absolute strength advantage, but we have been unable to break through the position."

"On the contrary, each department has suffered a certain amount of casualties. If this matter spreads, we will definitely become a laughing stock."

"If the front army headquarters holds the responsibility, how should we bear it?"

"You must know that just a few years ago, two or three of our divisions were able to sweep through their troops in a theater."

"But until now, we have assembled such a large number of troops and have been unable to achieve results."

"The 21st Division and the 27th Division are still organized into three field divisions. This..."

Tanaka Jiuichi's face was full of anger. He looked at two Japanese division commanders and one puppet division commander, making fists with both hands and slamming the table.

At the end of the conversation, Tanaka Kuichi was obviously speechless.

After all, he is the lieutenant general commander of the 21st Division, and he is obviously one of them when it comes to incompetence.

"The Henglingguan high ground is easy to defend but difficult to attack. In the previous battle at Zhongtiao Mountain, we also suffered heavy losses to capture it."

"Furthermore, our air support is very limited. If the aviation force fully supports the operation, we will not be in this situation."

"The most important point is that Chu Yunfei and Chen Ziyun's 201st Division are by no means ordinary troops. They have sophisticated weapons and equipment and very powerful combat effectiveness."

"When we were attacking, they fired a large number of submachine guns effectively, inflicting a heavy blow on us."

"And the large grenades unique to the Jinsui Army are almost equivalent to miniature grenades. They throw them from the high ground and we cannot deal with them."

"I can confirm that even if the elite permanent division comes here, they may not be able to capture Hengling Pass."

"What's more, the Imperial Association Army that is assigned to fight with us is simply a bunch of losers. They have no effect at all."

"On the contrary, they participated in battles and were defeated several times, constantly boosting the enemy's morale. The enemy could even supplement their own combat consumption through prisoners of the Imperial Alliance Army."

Tanaka Jiu slapped the table and reprimanded him. The North China Front Army Headquarters authorized him to conduct unified command of operations.

However, Nobumasa Fukunaga of the 27th Division was a graduate of the 21st class of the Military Academy, and Hisashi Tanaka was a graduate of the 22nd class of the Military Academy.

The commander of the 33rd Division, Shozo Sakurai, is extraordinary. He graduated from the 31st Saber Team of the Army University.

The qualifications and abilities of these two people are not inferior to Tanaka Kuichi's.

Generally speaking, for the sake of the North China Front Army Headquarters, they might not argue with Tanaka Jiuichi.

But now Tanaka Kuichi is slamming the table in front of them, which Sakurai Shozo and Fukunaga Nobumasa cannot accept.

The two people said with cold faces and indifferent tone.

The three division commanders were somewhat tense, and the atmosphere at the 21st Division Headquarters instantly became tense.

Seeing this posture, the puppet army commander Xu Chengpu shrank his head and tried to avoid it. How dare he participate in such a thing.

The chiefs of staff of the three divisions were also in the room. They looked at each other and hurriedly came out to smooth things over.

After a moment of silence, the 21st Division Headquarters began to generate electricity and directly contact the North China Front Army to report in detail the combat situation here.

Around ten o'clock in the evening on July [-]th, here is the North China Front Army Headquarters.

General Commander Okamura Neiji stood in front of the map. He looked at the markings on it and couldn't help showing a surprised expression.

"Chu Yunfei, Chen Ziyu, and Li Yunlong have extraordinary command capabilities. They have a very keen sense of battlefield."

"Their troops adjusted their deployment in a short period of time and quickly found weak points to attack, which directly turned the tide of the war."

"They are not simple. It seems that if we want to completely deal with them, it cannot be done by two or three divisions."

"Of course, if we continue to attack and fight regardless of casualties, we can also annihilate them."

"Just losing three divisions to annihilate them is obviously not the best choice."

Okamura Neiji pointed at the map and looked at Chief of Staff Tanabe Moritake and said.

"Your Excellency, Commander, according to the information provided by Third Deputy Chief of Staff Arimo Sei, both the 201st Division and the independent detachment have suffered heavy casualties."

"If we fight with all our strength at this time, we are still certain to completely annihilate them. If we give up the fight at this time, we will probably lose all our efforts."

"A large number of the Imperial Alliance Army were captured by them, and a large number of weapons we assigned to the Imperial Alliance Army became their trophies."

"Now that our troops are withdrawn, they will stay in Zhongtiao Mountain to develop, and then this place will definitely become our innermost concern again."

"Xiaojima Shinko's special garrison team has arrived in the southern Shanxi area, and they can assist in operations."

"There is also Yamamoto Kazuki's special agent team. They can enter Mount Nakatō to fight at any time."

When Tanabe Moritake heard that Okamura Neji wanted to give up the battle against Nakajo Mountain, he had a solemn expression on his face and hurriedly tried to persuade him.

In his opinion, as long as the Japanese troops grit their teeth and persist in fighting, they are still very confident of completely annihilating the 201st Division and the independent detachment.

Moreover, the Yamamoto Special Agent Team and the Special Guard Team, consisting of 5000 troops, are in southern Shanxi.

These two armies have very strong combat capabilities. If they engage in combat, they will definitely be able to achieve results.

"The 27th Division is a unit directly under the Front Army. They were originally responsible for defense tasks in Hebei Province."

"After they were seconded to fight in Jin Province, they never came back, but have you noticed that a large number of armed forces in Hebei Province are rapidly developing and growing."

"Tanabe-kun, if the 27th Division cannot withdraw quickly to fill the defense gap, Hebei Province will become the second Jin Province in the future."

"Don't underestimate these troops developing in our occupied areas. They will pose a fatal threat to us at any time."

"You should be aware of the 40 years of large-scale sabotage operations. This is a lesson learned from the past."

"The 27th Division needs to have the combat power to withdraw for defense, rather than withdrawing after a devastating blow."

Okamura Neji shook his head directly, he looked at Tanabe Moritake in front of him and said.

At this time, the troops directly under the North China Front included the 27th Division, the 35th Division, and the 110th Division.

The 27th Division was seconded to fight in Jin Province, and the 35th Division assumed the defense and garrison tasks in the occupied areas of Henan Province.

In the huge Hebei province, there are only 110 divisions and two or three independent mixed brigades for defense.

These troops were obviously not enough, and the Japanese troops in many villages were completely out of control.

The various departments fighting behind enemy lines took the opportunity to develop, and the number of armed forces behind enemy lines continued to expand.

Under such circumstances, if the 27th Division and other troops encircled and annihilated the 201st Division, the independent detachment would suffer a devastating blow.

So for the North China Front Army, this is a very serious matter.

Okamura Neji had just taken office, so naturally he would not allow such a thing to happen.

After listening to Okamura Neji's explanation, Tanabe Moritake nodded thoughtfully.

The North China Front Army Headquarters has not yet issued an order to retreat, but they have already drawn up a plan to abandon the battle for the 27th Division and other units.

Moreover, Okamura Neji also called Kojima Nobuki and Yamamoto Kazuki to the North China Front Army Headquarters in advance. (End of chapter)