Anti-Japanese War: I have unlimited assistance

Chapter 105 The curtain opens!

Around three o'clock in the afternoon.

The Japanese 20th Division Headquarters and its main force had entered the ambush circle.

But some Japanese baggage troops did not enter the Eighth Route Army ambush area.

This march from Guangyang Highway was a plan personally formulated by Fumisaburo Kawagishi.

The 40th Brigade, the Cavalry Regiment and part of the artillery units arrived at Songta Town first as the vanguard troops.

The 20th Division Headquarters, the Guard Battalion, and the Logistics Unit were in the middle.

Then the field hospital and other troops continued to move forward, and finally the 39th Brigade came to the rear.

With this arrangement, even if the Eighth Route Army ambushes any position, the field troops of the 40th Brigade and the 39th Brigade can provide quick support.

Although the 20th Division suffered heavy casualties in the battle to attack eastern Shanxi, it had not yet had time to replenish its troops.

Currently, the 20th Division has a total of more than people, but most of them are elite field troops. After all, it is a Type A division, but its combat effectiveness is still strong.

Fumisaburo Kawagishi was very cautious, but he did not take the Eighth Route Army too seriously.

The Eighth Route Army only dared to ambush the baggage train, but never dared to ambush the Locust Army's field troops.

but.

When Fumisaburo Kawagishi led the guard team walking on the Guangyang Highway, he was still shocked by the terrain.

The division headquarters soon arrived at Hufeng Village, which was only a few kilometers away from Guangyang Village and about 15 kilometers away from Songta Town.

Chief of Staff Colonel Kishura Kyuzo said, "Your Excellency, we have walked nearly 20 kilometers straight. Let's take a break."

"Yoshi."

Kawagishi Bunsaburo nodded:
"Order the troops to rest for 10 minutes before continuing on their journey."

Hufeng Village is a small village with less than 150 households. However, before the Japanese invaders arrived, the villagers were notified by the Eighth Route Army and had to move to the mountains with their families.

Just as they stopped to rest, the Japanese soldiers from Kawagishi Fumisaburo's guard battalion rushed into Hufeng Village in the name of vigilance.

But it's a pity.

This village has been plundered by the Japanese vanguard troops of the 40th Brigade. Nothing is left except the houses.

After entering North China, the Japanese soldiers burned, killed, looted and raped women along the way. After tasting the sweetness, they implemented the "Three Alls" policy in every village they arrived at.

The Japanese soldiers who had confiscated the loot were furious. As the division commander's guard battalion, they had fewer opportunities to burn, kill and loot than the combat troops.

The guard battalion of the Kawagishi Division has only more than 600 people, but they are all carefully selected elites and well-equipped. Their overall combat effectiveness is not inferior to that of the infantry battalion of the elite field forces of the Type A Division.

Lieutenant General Fumisaburo Kawagishi sat steadily on a rock, leaning his hands on his lieutenant general's sword, and stared at the surrounding terrain.

Professional soldiers are too sensitive to terrain. With his military intuition, the old Japanese soldier seemed to smell a hint of danger.

In his opinion, the terrain here is too dangerous.

Generally speaking, due to climatic reasons, the mountains in Jin area lack vegetation and are covered with rocks due to soil erosion. From a distance, the mountains appear iron-gray, gloomy, cold and monotonous.

This kind of mountain cannot support people. The land is very barren, and people's ability to survive in the mountains is limited, making it easy to expose targets in an ambush.

There are few natural shelters, and the broken mountains make mountain roads very complicated, which can even restrict the mobility of troops.

However, the terrain here is surrounded by mountains, and the road almost passes through a canyon. The mountains are high and the forests are dense, and the hillsides on both sides of the road are overgrown with bushes.

This terrain is perfect for ambushes.

Although Kawagishi Fumisaburo made a rational judgment, the Eighth Route Army would never dare to ambush the entire 20th Division.

But based on a soldier's intuition, this place is too dangerous and we must leave as soon as possible.

"General."

Colonel Kishura Kyuzo came over:

"The 40th Brigade Headquarters just sent a telegram saying that the vanguard of the 79th Regiment has arrived at Songta Town and encountered no resistance from the Chinese army. The locust army has captured another small Chinese town."

This vanguard was the same Japanese vanguard that was harassed by the 686th Regiment yesterday, with about six or seven hundred people.

In yesterday's attack by the 686th Regiment, this group of Japanese soldiers suffered more than 80 casualties, including more than killed.

Kawaishi Fumisaburo asked in a deep voice, "Where is the rearguard? Where is it?"

Kishura Kyuzo reported, "The rearguard, the 39th Brigade, and other troops have arrived at Chansang Town and plan to rest briefly there before setting off again."

"Order the rearguard to depart immediately."

Kawaishi Fumisaburo glanced at the gold watch on his wrist. They had only rested for less than five minutes, but a dangerous intuition prevented him from staying any longer.
"Division Headquarters will also depart immediately. Instruct all units to speed up and reach Songta Town as quickly as possible. Once there, we will rest. We will be staying in Songta Town tonight. Also, call all brigade and regimental headquarters to maintain open communication with division headquarters at all times."

"Hi."

Kishura Hisazo suddenly lowered his head, turned around and went to pass on the order.

As the order from the division headquarters was issued, the Japanese soldiers began to march again, and their marching speed was three times faster than before.

……

"Reporting to the Commander, Deputy Chief of General Staff, the Japanese supply troops have all left Zhanshang Town and entered the ambush circle."

"In addition, the 769th Regiment also reported that a major force of the Japanese army has arrived in Zhanshang Town."

At the Eighth Route Army Front Headquarters, a staff officer received a call and immediately reported the situation to the commander.

The Eighth Route Army was fully prepared for this large-scale ambush, and the headquarters chief personally commanded it.

The Headquarters Commander and the Deputy Chief of General Staff nodded, their gazes calm. "Reporting to the Commander and Deputy Chief of General Staff, the Japanese in the ambush area have rested for a while and are now marching again, a bit faster than before."

Another piece of news reached the front-line headquarters.

"It seems that the Japanese have noticed something." The Deputy Chief of General Staff's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Have all the troops arrived at the designated ambush position?" asked the leader.

"Everyone has arrived at the designated ambush position," said the Deputy Chief of General Staff. "The 685th and 686th Regiments have already set up an ambush on both sides of the road from Guangyang Village to Hufeng. The 771st and 772nd Regiments have already set up an ambush on both sides of the road from Hufeng to Dahankou."

"The 769th Regiment and the Special Forces Regiment will be responsible for blocking the Japanese reinforcements from the direction of Zhanshang Town."

"The New 1st Regiment, the Independent Regiment, and the New 3rd Regiment will block the Japanese reinforcements coming from Songta Town."

由红4军第12师改编的129师第385旅770团，385旅旅部率第770团担负保卫陕甘宁边区任务，归八路军后方留守处建制。

Taking into account that the Japanese had changed their plan and actually left a brigade to cover the rear, the headquarters also sent out the special forces regiment to block the enemy. In this battle, the Eighth Route Army dispatched a total of 9 regiments.

Immediately, the boss's eyes hardened, and his tone was decisive and murderous:
"Order the troops to attack."

"Eat up the damn 20th Division's supply train."

The Deputy Chief of General Staff quickly walked to the phone, picked up the receiver, and put it to his ear:

"Hey, this is headquarters. Let's start fighting and eat up the damn 20th Division's supply troops."

last night.

After the troops arrived at the pre-ambush area, the Eighth Route Army's engineers laid telephone lines for each unit overnight.

In order to prevent the Japanese from detecting the radio signal and exposing the troops, the Eighth Route Army's radio station has maintained radio silence since the previous two days.

at the same time.

Commander Lin grabbed the phone and said, "Call!"

Although the words were concise, they were full of murderous intent.

the other side.

Division Commander Liu also grabbed the phone and said, "Start fighting! Eat up the 20th Division's supply troops, the damned one."

The leaders of each ambush regiment quickly received the order to start fighting and quickly ordered the firing of signal flares.

Accompanied by a series of red flares, they rose into the sky with a sharp sound.

The curtain has been raised on a large-scale ambush that will go down in history!

The Japanese division headquarters and the Japanese supply regiment were marching quickly along the road towards Songta Town when they suddenly saw red flares slowly rising from the hillsides on both sides of the road.

Almost all the Japanese soldiers stared blankly at the sudden signal flare.

And then the next second.

Heavy rain of bullets was fired at the Japs, dense grenades were thrown onto the road, mortar shells soared into the air and then fell into the Japs' formation.

"Da da da…"

"Boom boom boom..."

The sounds of rifles, machine guns, grenade explosions and mortar shells from the ambush troops suddenly filled the valley.

The Japanese were suddenly attacked and caught off guard, and a large number of them fell down quickly.

Some of the Japanese soldiers crawled to avoid the attacks, while others were hit by bullets and shrapnel.

The four main regiments of the Eighth Route Army, with more than 9000 people, launched an attack on the Japanese logistics troops in an 8-kilometer-long valley area.

In an instant, almost the entire valley in the ambush area was shrouded in smoke and hail of bullets.

On the valley road, Japanese screams and wails suddenly filled the air.

The 20th Division's logistics unit was mainly composed of mules and horses, with a small number of vehicles.

The 20th Division went to the south of Taiyuan to intercept the main force of the Second War Zone. The baggage troops carried about 1000 mules and horses, more than 100 vehicles, and a huge transport formation, which stretched for several kilometers on the Guangyang Highway.
The Japanese 20th Division Headquarters and its guard battalion of more than 1000 people had just left Hufeng Village and had not yet arrived at Longmenkou.

They were attacked fiercely by the 686th Regiment.

The 686th Regiment was a heroic unit with outstanding military achievements. It was reorganized from the 4th Division of the st Red Army Corps. Its members were all elite veterans of the Red Army who had climbed snow-capped mountains and walked through grasslands. They were extremely powerful and adept at fighting tough and difficult battles.

Before the Guangyang ambush, the 686th Regiment had already participated in the Pingxingguan battle.

This time, the 686th Regiment fought against the 20th Division Headquarters and the Guard Battalion, and they were evenly matched.

However, the difference between this ambush and the Pingxingguan battle was that the soldiers had more ammunition.

Each person has more than 200 bullets. Soldiers with poor marksmanship get fewer bullets, while soldiers with good marksmanship get more bullets.

There is no need to fight for a while like in the Pingxingguan battle and then rush forward to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese.

Thanks to the soldiers' heroic and tenacious fighting, the Japanese division's guard battalion suffered more than 100 casualties not long after the exchange of fire.

"idiot!"

"How dare you ambush the locust army here."

He crawled on the ground to avoid the oncoming bullets. The bullets hit the mud and bounced up two or three puffs of mud. Kawaishi Fumisaburo was shocked and angry:
"Send an order, call for reinforcements from the 40th and 39th Brigades immediately."

……

(True history: In the Guangyang ambush, the 115th Division surrounded the 20th Division headquarters and its supply train in the Guangyang area. Due to the Japanese desperately trying to reinforce and the Eighth Route Army's reinforcements not arriving in time, the 115th Division voluntarily withdrew from the battle, allowing the old Japanese soldier Kawagishi Fumisaburo to save his life. This time, will this old Japanese soldier still have that luck to escape?)

(End of this chapter)