Anti-Japanese War: I have unlimited assistance

Chapter 282 Great Victory!

After the main force of the Jinzhong Military Region completely wiped out the Japanese 3rd Brigade and the puppet army's 6th Independent Division, it immediately retreated to the base area.

However, Li Yunlong did not lead the main force back to Mengxian County.

On the one hand, the troops were likely to be subjected to retaliatory bombing by Japanese planes while marching during the day.

On the other hand, the soldiers had just experienced a great battle and needed to rest before fighting again.

In addition, the Blade Commandos in Meng County are harassing the Japanese artillery units, and the Japanese artillery units cannot reach the Wangjiawan front line for a while.

At noon, the headquarters of the new third regiment.

Kong Jie walked in quickly and reported to Li Yunlong, "Old Li, I asked the soldiers to search everywhere, but we didn't find any major-general's command sword among the captured items. The highest we found was a major-colonel's command sword."

"If there's nothing, then we won't look for it." Li Yunlong nodded. "Even if Yanagishita Shigeharu escapes and the 3rd Brigade is completely wiped out, we still have 12 heavy mortars."

"It shouldn't be able to escape." Ding Wei analyzed, "Unless that old devil Yanagishita Shigeharu didn't enter the Xiyan Basin with the main force. If he does, he won't be able to escape. Our pocket formation this time is very solid."

Zhang Dabiao suddenly said, "According to the soldiers of our first battalion, when we were clearing the last Japanese position, a dozen Japanese officers hid in the cellar and resisted stubbornly. Then the soldiers called in the flamethrowers, who burned all of them to death. Even their command swords were melted into molten iron. It is very likely that the old Japanese soldier Yanagishita Shigeharu was among them. He either burned to death or committed suicide by shooting himself."

"Hey!" Kong Jie took a puff of his pipe, "It's not impossible."

The old Japanese soldier Yanagishita Shigeharu is a major general and is worth 12 heavy mortars, so everyone is naturally concerned about his life and death.

Just then, Xiao Zhang walked in quickly with a telegram in his hand and a smile on his face.

"Xiao Zhang, what happened?"

Li Yunlong said, "Why do you have a smile on your face that looks like a chrysanthemum?"

"Commander, great news." Xiao Zhang handed over a telegram. "Headquarters just forwarded YA's commendation telegram to our Jinzhong base."

"Oh?"

Everyone's eyes lit up, and Li Yunlong, Ding Wei, Kong Jie who had just sat down, Zhao Gang and others all stood up in unison.

Even YA sent a telegram of commendation.

Needless to say, everyone knew who sent the commendation telegram.

Kong Jie was close to Xiao Zhang. He grabbed the telegram and took a look at it. His face suddenly became as bright as a chrysanthemum. "It really is a commendation telegram from Ya."

Li Yunlong hurriedly asked, "What's the content of the telegram?"

Kong Jie put his pipe on the table, held the telegram in both hands and began to read:

"Comrades Li Yunlong, Ding Wei, and Kong Jie, congratulations on your great victory in completely annihilating the Japanese 3rd Brigade in the Xiyan area. This victory is of great significance to the Anti-Japanese War in Shanxi, the Anti-Japanese War in North China, and even the entire nation. I commend you all for your perseverance in the War of Resistance and your ability to identify and seize opportunities..."

When Kong Jie finished reading the last three words, Li Yunlong, Ding Wei, Zhao Gang and all the staff officers were extremely excited.

Unexpectedly, this battle even alarmed the YA side.

"Why is it a great victory?" a staff officer asked in confusion. "Isn't it just the complete annihilation of a Japanese brigade and a puppet army division? That's enough to call it a major victory, not a great victory, right?"

Ding Wei thought for a moment and said, "Let me tell you why it is a great victory. It is because we, in the Jinzhong base, defeated an enemy that others thought was unbeatable, and we completely wiped out the enemy. Isn't that great?" The necessary conditions for being awarded first-class merit are to make great contributions in the military, play a decisive role in a certain battle, etc.

The conditions for being awarded special merit are that the person has done things that ordinary people dare not even think about, and has shown extraordinary courage and spirit of sacrifice in the interests of the country and the people.

This time, the Jinzhong Military Region won a victory that ordinary people would not dare to imagine, and it is representative across the country and the entire army, and can be regarded as a banner.

The higher-ups were unable to award the entire Jinzhong base area a special merit, so they called this victory a great victory, but it was at the same level as a special merit.

"That's right!" Li Yunlong nodded. "This battle can indeed be called a great victory, but this honor belongs to all the officers and soldiers and the people of our base area!"

At this time, although the Eighth Route Army's "New China Daily" had not yet published the headlines.

However, the news that the Eighth Route Army had completely wiped out the Japanese Army's 3rd Brigade had already reached the First War Zone Command, the Second War Zone Command and the highest level of the Shancheng National Government.

All the senior officials of the National Army were very shocked. At present, China lagged behind the Japanese army in both military quality and equipment. The casualty ratio between China and Japan once reached 7 to 1.

In other words, it took the sacrifice of about seven Chinese soldiers to kill one Japanese soldier.

Faced with the elite troops of the Japanese army, the national army often needed to mobilize troops several times larger than the Japanese army to barely cope with it.

To completely wipe out a Japanese brigade, even if it was a mixed brigade, judging from the comparison of strength on paper, the National Army would have to deploy at least 6 troops and suffer tens of thousands of casualties. However, at present, even the National Army has no record of completely wiping out a Japanese brigade.

From the perspective of the National Army, the Jinzhong base had at most 3 people. Facing the attack of an elite brigade, a mixed brigade and three puppet army divisions, they were able to completely wipe out a mixed brigade and a puppet army division of the Japanese army. How could this not be amazing?

A few hours later, Xiao Zhang came with a telegram, bringing another piece of good news.

"It's a telegram from Boss Lin. It says that Yanagishita Shigeharu, commander of the 3rd Independent Mixed Brigade of the Japanese Army, sent a farewell telegram to the First Army Headquarters when he was defeated. We can confirm that Yanagishita Shigeharu, Yamazaki Tatsuo, and more than a dozen other majors from the 3rd Brigade were killed by us!"

Li Yunlong read the telegram personally and announced the contents of the telegram to everyone with a smile on his face.

Everyone, including Ding Wei, Kong Jie and Zhao Gang, suddenly smiled.

24 heavy mortars obtained!
These 24 heavy mortars could form an entire heavy mortar regiment, while some artillery regiments of the National Army were only equipped with 24 mountain guns.

But the battle did not end there, because the Jinzhong troops shot down several Japanese planes. The quota of these Japanese planes and the Japanese pilots could also be exchanged for 120 heavy mortars.

But soon, Xiao Zhang received another telegram, which made Captain Li's smile disappear instantly.

This time it was sent by the Sharp Blade Commando. The main force of the 77th Regiment in Wangjiawan was dispatched and returned to support the artillery unit.

It is expected that the Japanese army's 240mm heavy artillery and field artillery battalion will arrive at the Wangjiawan front this afternoon.

Faced with two elite Japanese regiments escorting artillery units, even the Blade Commandos were powerless and could only watch from afar.

Because the Japanese army could send a regiment of troops to pursue the Blade Commandos.

The ammunition carried by the Blade Commando was almost used up. Even if they used guerrilla warfare to deal with the Japanese, it would be difficult for them to make a meal without rice.

Li Yunlong first ordered three regiments of cavalry to rush to the Wangjiawan front line, and then led the main force of more than 10,000 troops to reinforce without stopping.

Even if there were only two 240mm heavy howitzers, Li Yunlong was worried that Xing Zhiguo could not withstand it.

(End of this chapter)