Show the sword, start from the guerrillas

In ancient times, siege warfare involved many instruments and also many considerations. For example, in terms of troop strength and consumption, the attackers suffered a particular disadvantage. Therefore, there is a saying that if the siege force is no more than five times that of the defenders, then they should not fight, because the losses in a siege are too great and the siege force cannot be consumed!
Sun Tzu's Art of War also has a concept of comparing military strength, which is to surround them if they have ten of you, attack them if they have five of you, and divide them if they have twice as many of you.

In the various operations of our army later, the experience of siege warfare was also summarized. For example, 101 proposed a principle, that is: one point and two sides, three-three system, three fierce, three situations and three ways of fighting, four fast and one slow, four groups and one team. This principle was summarized by him based on the success and failure of various battles.

Li Yuexuan was standing on the shoulders of giants, so he had also summarized some principles about siege, and wrote an article to submit to the headquarters. Don't doubt it, Li Yuexuan could directly send the document to Minister Zhang, and Minister Zhang would of course forward it... So, this principle, well, well, became what he proposed...

Today, Xing Weiguo was in charge of attacking Yangquan, so he deployed troops on both sides and also adopted the strategy of "slow" among the three fasts and one slow, with a long preparation time.

In order to attack Yangquan, the scouts of Beishan Detachment were not idle! Because they were very familiar with the urban layout of Yangquan City, but did not know much about the new devils, so some scouts disguised themselves as ordinary people and entered the city to investigate the movements of the devils. For example, how many troops there were, how many puppet troops there were, whether the detective team was active frequently, what were the defense measures inside the city, what were the defense measures outside the city, etc.

According to reconnaissance, the Japanese focused their defense on the east and north of the city. There were also defensive measures in the west of the city, but not as good as in the other two directions. As for the south of the city, there was only a trench and some earthen bunkers, with few soldiers and equipment. This may be because the Japanese thought there was a river in the south, or it may be that the Japanese did it on purpose. The specific reason is unknown, but we will know after the battle.

Similarly, during these three days, Xing Weiguo mobilized the divisional artillery regiment and the detachment artillery battalion, and with the help of scouts, he remeasured the distance and other parameters. He also moved the flying thunder cannons out of the warehouse and had the artillerymen fire a training round at each cannon one by one to familiarize themselves with and master them again.

Then, the infantry company of the main first regiment detoured into the east of Yangquan, while the main second regiment, the regimental headquarters and artillery company of the first regiment waited on the south side of Taohe River and were incorporated into the troop sequence for the frontal attack.

Don't underestimate the regiment's direct team. At this moment, the regiment's artillery company is bombarding the fortifications of Yangquan City, the transportation company is busy transporting supplies, the communications team is ensuring communications, the reconnaissance company, and the guard company are all powerful! Once a strong attack is needed, this is the best fresh force.

That’s right, although the east is easier to attack, Xing Weiguo decided to focus his main attack on the south of the city, attacking from south to north!
It is good to place the team on the south side and attack northwards. At least for a few hours around noon, the sun shines from south to north. The front light and back light are helpful for aiming. Of course, this is only one of the reasons. Another reason is that we are used to it. After all, this is the third time to attack Yangquan. We are experienced...

Looking back at Yangquan City, there were only three squadrons of troops stationed in the city at this time, which were transferred from the Kwantung Army. They didn't know the situation here! In addition to the three squadrons of the Kwantung Army, there was a 62-man puppet army that the 2000nd Division of the Japanese army had worked hard to develop.

The 62nd Division had suffered enough losses, so in the past year, they worked hard to develop the puppet army, and even provided them with enough food and ammunition at all costs, just to be able to hold up when the Eighth Route Army attacked the city! It was just because of the war in the south that the 62nd Division was transferred away. As a result, when fighting the Central Army, the 62nd Division performed very well, which made the headquarters take a fancy to it...

At this moment, under the command of the devils, there are about 500 puppet troops stationed in the fortifications in the south of the city, and even a squad of puppet troops is stationed in those fortifications. In the east of the city, a whole squadron of devils are in the city fortifications, such as those reinforced concrete infantry gun bunkers, where there are many devils. The devils put the infantry guns in the bunkers, which are arc-shaped tops made of reinforced concrete more than half a meter thick. The defense ability is very outstanding, and their own infantry guns can be bounced off. Of course, the shape is a bit weird, because an arc-shaped bunker with a few holes opened and a gun barrel sticking out in the middle looks like a turtle shell...

This is also the reason why Xing Weiguo did not plan to attack from the east, because he did not dare to say whether he could blow up these turtle shells.

And now, with all the heavy artillery that can be mobilized firing together, it is time to test the actual combat effectiveness!

Chirp chirp... Boom boom boom... The sound of the cannons rumbled... The specially mobilized flying thunder cannons were responsible for bombing those arc-shaped steel and concrete fortifications. No matter how simple this cannon was, its power was there! In order to ensure that there were enough for each case, the artillerymen even made a division of labor. Four turtle shells were bombarded with 4 flying thunder cannons, with an average of one shell against one.

Just before the bombing, the Japanese soldiers living in these turtle shells were still somewhat dismissive, because they knew that the Eighth Route Army was very poor, almost like beggars, so they felt relieved: "Everyone, don't worry, the Eighth Route Army doesn't have so many heavy weapons, and can't blow up our fortifications at all. Everyone, just wait to make contributions! When the Eighth Route Army attacks, that will be our feast of slaughter!"

Then... Amid the rumbling explosions, the turtle shell continued to tremble. Not to mention, the Flying Thunder Cannon was so powerful, but it didn't cause much damage to the turtle shell in the first round of bombing.

This was mainly because there was no direct hit! As the large can shells exploded around the turtle shell, the sandbags piled by the Japanese around the turtle shell were blown away, the gasoline barrels filled with sand were also blown away, and the protective layer of the logs was also blown away.

Then came the second round of bombing. This time, the artillerymen had mastered the angles and parameters. The shells from the five flying thunder cannons exploded on the dome in perfect alignment, sending layers of shock waves from top to bottom.

…It was very quiet inside the turtle shell. Even though the dome was blown through, no movement from the devils was heard. Well, in the shockwave, the devils walked away peacefully…

The turtle shell was in such a state, and other brick and stone structures and civil engineering fortifications could not withstand the bombardment of long-range artillery grenades and 120 heavy mortars, and were also shattered in the bombardment.

Seeing this scene, the Japanese soldiers in other positions were all shocked. You call this the Eighth Route Army? This is the Eighth Route Army without any heavy weapons? (End of this chapter)