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

The Japanese First Army Headquarters has now come up with an idea, as the Chief of Staff of the North China Front Moritake Tanabe arrived to assist in the command.

The First Army is preparing to strengthen its defense in southern Shanxi and at the same time dispatch a unit to support the battlefield in eastern Shanxi.

The specific arrangement is to let the 36th Division strengthen the defense of the Houma City area on the north side to reduce the defense pressure of the 69th Division in Pingyang City.

The main force of the 69th Division can quickly strengthen contact with the 41st Division in Luzhou City in southeastern Shanxi to form a first-line defense.

The 41st Division can dispatch its elite troops and go directly north to join the battle to support the 33rd Division in carrying out combat strikes against Commander Chen's troops.

The commander of the First Army, Yoshio Iwamatsu, and the chief of staff, Masaru Hanatani, both came from intelligence backgrounds and had limited command capabilities.

But Tanabe Moritake has rich experience in commanding operations, and he has also led troops in combat.

After he came too far to Jin Province, he came to assist the command in name, but in fact the command power was basically in his hands.

Tanabe Moritake came to take command on behalf of the North China Front, so the First Army Headquarters naturally wanted to give him face.

What's more, Tanabe Moritake is also a lieutenant general and has no problem commanding the First Army troops in combat.

This combat strategy was also drawn up by Tanabe Moritake himself.

He wanted to take advantage of the fact that the 21st Division and other troops entered the battle in northern Shanxi to completely solve the problem of repeated attacks on the Zhengtai Railway in eastern Shanxi.

Even Tanabe Moritake wanted to assemble the 33rd Division of Shanxi East and part of the 41st Division of Southeast Shanxi to launch a pincer attack on Commander Chen's troops.

Of course, if given the chance, these Japanese troops would definitely launch an annihilation operation without hesitation.

But the order from the First Army Headquarters was passed to the 36th Division, and the division commander Jing Guanren looked serious.

After all, the 36th Division is responsible for the defense of many towns in the Yunxian area, and is also responsible for the defense of this section of the Tongpu Railway.

In addition to these defense tasks, they also have to keep an eye on the Zhongtiao Mountain 201 Division and other units. The overall pressure is still very high.

Small adjustments made at this time may have an impact on their overall situation.

Jingguan Ren's face was solemn, but when faced with the message from the headquarters, he did not have the courage to refuse it directly.

Especially as the lieutenant general division commander, he also knew that the current chief of staff of the North China Front, Tanabe Moritake, was sitting too far away.

If he refuses the combat order now, the consequences can be imagined.

"Contact the 223rd Wing and ask them to strengthen the defense on the north side."

"At the same time, contact the army headquarters, and our division will fully implement the combat orders."

"Order the 222nd Regiment stationed in Wenxi City to advance to the area north of Wenxi City to support the defense of the 223rd Regiment in the Houma City area."

Jingguan Ren had a serious expression on his face and directly issued the combat order.

You must know that not long ago, Major General Sakuma Shigemori, the commander of the [-]th Cavalry Brigade, committed suicide to apologize for going out to fight without permission.

At this time, Iguchi Ren did not have the guts to challenge the consequences of violating combat orders, especially since Tanabe Moritake was sitting here at the First Army Headquarters.

Therefore, although he was dissatisfied in his heart, he also knew that making such adjustments would have a greater impact on the overall defense of the 36th Division.

But he had no choice but to obey completely.

The 36th Division Headquarters issued an order, and the 223rd Regiment and 222nd Regiment in the Houma City and Wenxi City areas made a series of adjustments at the same time.

Originally, the main force of the 222nd Regiment in Wenxicheng was more than 2000 people stationed in the county town for defense, and a brigade with puppet troops stationed in the gun tower and bunker.

However, after Jingguan Ren's order was issued, the number of more than 2000 troops in Wenxi City dropped sharply to more than 1000.

The 222nd Regiment defending Wenxicheng became more dispersed.

Chen Ziyun received the report at around nine o'clock in the evening. He looked at the map carefully and marked it directly.

"Hehehe, we originally thought we were going to have to fight a tough battle, but looking at it now, the battle will be much easier than we thought."

"The Japanese troops are so dispersed, which is a good opportunity for us to defeat them one by one."

"Contact all ministries immediately to change the previous combat deployment."

"Li Chongtao commanded Wu Ziqiang's 358th Regiment, and Li Yangshan Artillery Regiment continued to attack the county seat."

"Ding Wei commanded the New Second Regiment and the artillery battalion quickly surrounded and annihilated the Japanese troops on the north side of Wenxi City."

"Shi Yuzhen commanded the 601st Regiment to launch an attack on the gun towers and blockhouses along the Tongpu Railway."

After checking the map for a while, Chen Ziyun immediately called the communications troops and decisively issued the combat order.

"Yes, Commander Chen." The communications soldier replied hastily.

At about [-]:[-], each ministry received the order and began to make different adjustments.

At ten o'clock, each department gradually advanced towards the designated area.

By [-]:[-], Chen Ziyun received reports from various ministries one after another that they had completed their mobilization and assembly.

Chen Ziyun called back to various ministries and asked them to launch an attack at twelve o'clock in the evening.

Time is passing me, Li Yuanzhen area on the north side of Wenxi City.

About 222 or 1000 troops from the Second Battalion of the [-]nd Wing took a short rest here. The little devils had just arrived here from the county seat.

Following the orders from the 36th Division Regiment Headquarters, they will gather the main force in Li Yuanzhen, and at the same time allocate one unit to strengthen contact with the 223rd Regiment on the north side.

In this case, if there is any danger here in Houma City on the north side, the second brigade can rush to help quickly.

As for the 223rd Regiment stationed in Houma, the main force is deployed on the north side of Houma City, close to the Pingyang City area.

The defense here in Houma City has therefore become relatively empty.

"The situation here in Jin Province is so complicated that the base camp actually sent them to the First Army to take command."

"They don't have any command experience. I think they will die if they fight in the future."

"The Yunxian area that our division is responsible for is so important. At this time, they actually gradually adjusted their main force to the north."

"If the enemy troops in Zhongtiao Mountain launch a counterattack, we will definitely suffer."

In Liyuan Town, the Major Captain of the Second Battalion showed an unhappy expression on his face and couldn't help complaining.

It is now September [-]st, the weather is very hot, and the march is very fast and dusty.

The major captain's whole body was soaked with sweat, and there was a lot of dust on his face, which made him very dissatisfied.

He believed that the commander of the First Army, Yoshio Iwamatsu, and the chief of staff, Masaru Hanatani, were giving completely random orders.

The orderlies and others in the room pretended not to hear and continued busy with what they were doing.

After the Major Captain cleaned up, he came to the map.

I looked at the time and saw it was already midnight.

He was about to issue a deployment order, but at this time, artillery fire began to sound in the distance.

At midnight on September [-]st, the New Second Regiment advanced to the north of Wenxi City, and the artillery battalion took the lead in launching combat operations.

Under the command of Ding Wei, commander of the new second regiment of the independent detachment, the artillery battalion of the first brigade took the lead in opening fire.

Ten Jin-made 75MM mountain guns began to bombard the town, and grenades fell one after another on the Japanese troops without any warning.

For a time, the Japanese troops were in chaos, and many little Japanese soldiers were thrown off their feet after being bombed.

Broken arms and limbs were everywhere, and the smell of blood began to spread along the air.Ten Jin orogenic cannons continued bombardment, and the grenades hit the little devil accurately.

This is because it was late at night, and after the second brigade marched to Li Yuanzhen in a hurry, they didn't have any worries.

There are lights here in the brigade headquarters, and there are also firelights in the rest areas of the various units of the little devils.

Under such circumstances, the area where the Japanese army was located was a living target for the artillery troops!

Shanxi's orogenic artillery continued to fire, and the troops of the New Second Regiment had already launched combat operations.

Under the command of Ding Wei, the artillery battalion directly under the regiment quickly advanced to build positions for cover.

The troops of the [-]th, [-]th and [-]th Battalions quickly advanced towards the town and attacked, while the [-]th Battalion was controlled by Ding Wei as a reserve force.

At present, each regiment of the independent detachment has four infantry battalions, and its overall strength is very strong.

The New Second Regiment also continued to fight, and its overall combat effectiveness was second only to Li Yunlong's New First Regiment.

The regiment leader Ding Wei is also capable. At this time, under his command, the various ministries are actively launching operations.

Just 10 minutes later, the troops of the New Second Regiment broke through the outer positions of the Second Brigade and gradually attacked the town.

The entire defense line of the second brigade of the 222nd Wing was completely penetrated, and their various units were unable to cooperate with each other.

Captain Shao Zuo planned to use the houses in the town as bunkers and use his advantages of light and heavy machine guns to launch combat strikes.

But at this time, he didn't know that the weapons and equipment of the new second regiment had already been replaced by cannons.

The artillery battalion directly under the regiment fired four Jin orogen cannons and four Type [-] infantry cannons.

Artillery shells came one after another, and the Japanese light and heavy machine guns were knocked out one after another.

The machine gun companies directly under each battalion have 37MM flat-firing cannons that directly fire armor-piercing explosive shells.

These weapons are completely the enemy of the little Japanese machine gun.

"Captain, this Tubal Road must be a subordinate unit of the independent detachment. They have very sophisticated weapons and equipment."

"And...and their strength is three to four times that of ours. We are no match for them at all."

"Four heavy machine guns in the machine gun squadron have been destroyed. Your Excellency, captain, we...should we turn in quickly?"

"If we continue to fight here, we are likely to be surrounded and attacked by them."

Here at the brigade headquarters, the major captain had gauze wrapped around his head, and a second lieutenant came over quickly to report.

In the shelling just now, a grenade was fired, and the major captain was also injured.

When he heard the second lieutenant's report, the major captain had a solemn expression on his face. After much hesitation, he still issued the retreat order.

At around [-]:[-], the second brigade began to evacuate Li Yuanzhen, preparing to move towards the county seat and join the main force of the regiment.

But if they want to withdraw under Ding Wei's nose, it will definitely not be a simple matter.

At the gun tower stronghold along the Wenxicheng-Tongpu Railway, Shi Yuzhen also began to command the 601st Regiment to carry out combat strikes.

There were about 2000 Japanese and puppet troops stationed in the gun towers of these strongholds.

To say that these stronghold gun towers are useful, but in front of the 201st Division troops, they are obviously nothing to worry about.

Because each regiment under the 201st Division will have a heavy weapons battalion.

These heavy weapons battalions will have four 20MM machine guns, four 81MM mortars, and six 12.7MM anti-aircraft machine guns.

The machine gun battalion directly under each infantry battalion has two infantry cannons and two flat-firing cannons.

With such firepower, there is absolutely no problem in dealing with these gun tower strongholds.

In particular, the light machine guns and submachine guns of these troops are assigned to the infantry squads, and their firepower is very powerful.

As the battle began, the artillery strongholds stationed by the Japanese and puppet troops were destroyed one by one.

Their forces are scattered and they are no match for the 601st Regiment's full attack.

12:30左右，222联队第三大队1000两百人部队，已经是有300多人伤亡出现了。

The four puppet security teams assigned to their operations also suffered losses of more than 300 people.

Two thousand Japanese puppet troops suffered about [-] casualties.

The Major and Captain of the Third Battalion did not dare to delay and quickly contacted the Wing Headquarters to report.

Of course, the 222nd Wing in Wenxi City is also in a very bad situation now.

As the troops were constantly being transferred away, the only troops left in the city by the 222nd Regiment were the First Battalion and the rapid-fire artillery, mountain artillery, and transportation squadrons directly under the regiment.

There are about 500 troops in these troops, but at this time they are facing more than 358 troops from the 4000th Regiment and the Mountain Artillery Regiment.

The mountain artillery regiment of more than 75 troops had already set up artillery positions. At this time, [-]MM mountain cannons continued to shell.

The 358th Regiment launched an attack under the command of its leader Wu Ziqiang. About forty minutes later, a gap appeared in the wall of Wenxi City.

The various units continued their fierce attack, firing dense rounds of bullets and artillery shells one after another.

Smoke filled the air, dust rose, and the number of corpses on the ground continued to increase.

By 55:358, troops from the [-]th Regiment had begun to attack the city.

Troops from both sides began to engage in street fighting in Wenxi City, but the 358th Regiment had the advantage.

"Your Excellency, Captain, what's bad, the enemy troops have broken through the city defense positions, and now they have entered the city to fight."

"We have already suffered more than 200 casualties and losses, and our weapons have also suffered certain combat losses."

"We are currently launching a powerful attack on us. According to reports from various ministries, the enemy has dispatched a main force of more than 1 troops to fight."

"Their purpose is obvious, to carry out an annihilation operation against our 222nd Wing."

"Your Excellency, the Wing Commander, the Second Brigade and the Third Brigade are trying to make peace. They will not be able to rush over for reinforcements in a short time."

"We...should we abandon the county seat and quickly move to the Wanrong City area in the west?"

A major came quickly to the wing headquarters. After saluting, he said with a panic expression on his face.

Although the captain of the 222nd Wing pretended to be calm, after hearing the report, his body could not help but tremble slightly.

The independent detachment of the 201st Division here in Zhongtiao Mountain is famous, and the little devils naturally know their strength.

At this time, when they heard that more than 1 troops were coming, the Japanese officers were inevitably a little nervous.

"Whether they can quickly move closer to the county seat to strengthen the defense deployment here in the county seat."

The Major Commander looked at the Major Officer and immediately asked.

The major officer hesitated for a moment and shook his head.

The Second Battalion of the 222nd Regiment is currently being attacked by the New Second Regiment. They are very passive in combat, and their casualties and losses are increasing.

Now let alone their return to aid the county, it is still unknown whether they can retain their troops.

As for the third brigade, it is scattered in the gun towers of various strongholds. At present, their 1000 and [-]-day puppet troops are gathered together.

This Japanese and puppet army wanted to join the Second Brigade, but the 601st Regiment had quickly launched a pursuit. (End of chapter)