Anti-Japanese War: I have unlimited assistance

Chapter 354 This battle was so exciting!

"Tum, tom, tom..."

At the positions of the artillery companies of the independent regiment, the independent regiment's artillery battalion commander gave an order over the phone.

12门120迫击炮、12门105榴弹炮和12门75毫米山炮几乎同时开火。

Artillery firepower of the size of an artillery regiment began to launch rapid fire at the city wall in the main attack direction.

Li Yunlong, Ding Wei and Kong Jie were looking through binoculars at the command center.

shhhhhh!
Shells drew arcs in the sky and exploded on the city walls. In an instant, the walls collapsed and fireballs flashed one after another.

"Haha, this artillery firepower is so fucking awesome!"

Seeing this scene through the telescope, Li Yunlong's mouth curled up.

In terms of organization, the independent regiment has an artillery battalion under its command, but in terms of scale it is definitely an artillery regiment.

And it is not an ordinary artillery regiment, but an artillery regiment with the size of two heavy artillery battalions.

The firepower of this artillery far exceeds that of the mountain artillery regiment or field artillery regiment under a Japanese division.

"Old Li, it's our New Third Regiment's turn to attack the next county town, right?"

Ding Wei's eyes were burning with anger when he saw this scene. The officers and soldiers under his command were complaining privately because he, as the regiment commander, did not get the first attack mission.

"Row."

Li Yunlong nodded and said, "After your New Third Regiment finishes attacking Yuanping County, our regiment will attack Gang County."

"Ding Ding Ding-"

At this time, a phone call came in and Kong Jie, the commander-in-chief of the siege, picked up the phone.

"What did you say?"

"Can't indirect fire knock down the city wall?"

"82mm mortars, mountain artillery companies, and heavy mortar companies continue to provide cover fire!"

"Pull the 75mm mountain cannon forward and fire directly at the city wall. I don't believe this mere wall is stronger than my cannonballs!"

Snapped!
Kong Jie hung up the phone and then raised his telescope to continue observing the battle situation.

The call just now came from the first battalion commander Guan Dashan.

Most of the indirect fire shells hit the city wall, and even blew up the towers on the wall, but the wall remained strong.

The attacking force prepared siege ladders, but if the city wall could not be blown down, the troops could only enter the city from the city gate and would be attacked by the enemy on the city wall, resulting in heavy casualties.

Kong Jie's tactic is to install bayonets on cannons.

The bayonet on the cannon means that the artillerymen use direct visual aiming to shoot at close range, which represents a strong fighting spirit of daring to fight and fight.

As Kong Jie's order was issued, under the cover of artillery fire.

The soldiers of the mountain artillery company quickly moved forward, pulling 75mm mountain artillery on large mules.

The artillery position was rebuilt at a distance of about 800 meters from the city wall.

……

Taiyuan.

When Yoshio Shinozuka returned to the headquarters from the airport with a gloomy face, he saw that the First Army Headquarters was in chaos.

This made Yoshio Shinozuka's already bad mood even worse.

The new commander of the North China Front Army, General Sugiyama Hajime, bluntly rejected his and Yamamoto Ikki's cage tactics.

What Sugiyama Gen wanted was not to trap the Eighth Route Army and the base, but to destroy the main force of the Eighth Route Army and the base within a short period of time.

Without the support of the North China Front Command.

Given the current situation of the First Army, it is absolutely impossible to provide so many strategic materials to blockade the Eighth Route Army in Shanxi.

"Baga, what are you doing?"

Walking quickly into the headquarters, Yoshio Shinozuka angrily scolded the staff who were in a mess.

At this moment, he really wanted to draw out his lieutenant general's sword and practice his sword skills on the staff officers.

"Commander, you are finally back?"

Mutaguchi Renya hurried over and reported solemnly:

"Just now, Major Tomioka, the captain of the Xinxian Military Police, sent an urgent telegram saying that the main force of the Eighth Route Army in Jinzhong is attacking the Xinxian County seat."

The telephone line from Xinxian to Taiyuan had been cut off, but the Japanese soldiers stationed in the county were equipped with radio stations, which they used to ask for help from the Taiyuan First Army Headquarters.

At present, the main force of the Japanese First Army is mainly stationed in important military towns such as Taiyuan, southern Shanxi and Yangquan. In county towns like Xinxian, the garrison force is not large, with at least one infantry company and at most one infantry battalion.

"Nani!"

Shinozuka Yoshio's face changed, and his voice rose an octave: "How could such a thing happen!?"

In his absence, the Eighth Route Army of Jinzhong attacked the county seat of Xinxian. No wonder the headquarters was in chaos.

A bunch of trash!
"How many troops does the Eighth Route Army have?" asked Yoshio Shinozuka.

"It's not clear yet," Mutaguchi Ren'ya replied. Seeing Shinozuka Yoshio's face darken, he hurriedly said, "The Eighth Route Army has no fewer than 5,000 troops, and they've also deployed heavy artillery."

"I have already applied to the North China Front Army Headquarters to dispatch aviation units to bomb the Eighth Route Army's heavy artillery positions!"

The gloom on Yoshio Shinozuka's face grew even darker.

There were only more than 400 Japanese troops in Xinxian County, and there was also a Locust Army Battalion of 1 people, with a total force of more than 600 people.

How could such a small number of troops possibly stop the attack of the Eighth Route Army?
Shinozuka Yoshio: "Go call Colonel Yamamoto!"

Mutaguchi Renya said with a sad expression: "Hi."

Not long after, Yamamoto Ikki, wearing a special operations uniform, with an MP38 submachine gun hanging on his chest and a fierce look in his eyes, walked in quickly.

Last time in southeastern Shanxi, after more than a dozen members of Yamamoto's special forces team were killed, Yamamoto Ikki planned to recruit some new special forces members.

"General, what happened?" As soon as he entered the headquarters, Yamamoto keenly noticed that the atmosphere was not right - telegrams were ticking, telephones were ringing one after another, and Yoshio Shinozuka and Mutaguchi Ren'ya both had serious expressions.

Seeing Yamamoto Ikki's outfit, Shinozuka Yoshio nodded slightly with satisfaction. It was obvious that Yamamoto had just come down from the training ground.

Mutaguchi Renya said in a deep voice:
"Mr. Yamamoto, the 5,000 main forces of the Eighth Route Army in Jinzhong are attacking Xinxian County, and they've deployed heavy artillery."

Yamamoto Ikki quickly understood the situation, but because the phone was not connected, the Xinxian gendarmerie did not report much information.

"Yamamoto-kun, what do you think?"

Yoshio Shinozuka had a gloomy and solemn expression on his face and looked at Yamamoto Ikki and asked.

Mutaguchi Renya, who was standing by, was also feeling very aggrieved.

He was the Chief of Staff of the First Army, but Yoshio Shinozuka did not ask for his opinion and instead asked Ikki Yamamoto.

But I can only bear the frustration.

Yamamoto Ikki carefully examined the map, and then a look of caution appeared on his face: "General, this is most likely the Eighth Route Army's strategy of encircling a point and attacking its reinforcements."

"Surround the site for reinforcements?"

Shinozuka Yoshio narrowed his eyes.

"That's right." Yamamoto nodded, pointing to the map and beginning to analyze. "The main force of the Eighth Route Army in Jinzhong has over 20,000 troops, all of them elite, equipped with tanks, heavy artillery, and a large number of anti-aircraft guns. Capturing Xinxian County is a piece of cake."

"If my prediction is correct, the real main force of the Jinzhong Eighth Route Army has already ambushed at the junction of Yangqu County and Xin County."

"Once the main force of the Taiyuan Locust Army is dispatched, it is very likely to be ambushed by the main force of the Eighth Route Army in this area."

Yoshio Shinozuka nodded, Yamamoto's analysis was still reliable.

"Order the 80th Infantry Regiment and the Kuroshima Cavalry Regiment of Yangqu County..."

Having said that, Yoshio Shinozuka paused.

Sending one infantry regiment and one cavalry regiment over there would obviously not be able to defeat the Eighth Route Army in Jinzhong, and they would most likely just be sent to the battlefield.

The 80th Regiment was the unit that Yoshio Shinozuka deployed in Yangqu County some time ago.

Its main function was to prevent the Eighth Route Army in Jinzhong from launching a surprise attack on Taiyuan from the direction of Yangqu.

The last time the Eighth Route Army bombarded Taiyuan Airport, they came from Qinglong Town in the direction of Yangqu.

Finally, Shinozuka Yoshio said coldly: "And the Taiyuan Yoshino Regiment, assemble immediately and stay on standby."

"Hi."

Mutaguchi Ren'ya lowered his head, turned around and hurried to convey the order.

Yamamoto suggested: "General, the battle in Xinxian may last one to two days. You can order the reconnaissance unit of the 80th Regiment to send troops to Xinxian and Yangqu counties to scout and see if there is an ambush by the main force of the Eighth Route Army."

Mutaguchi Renya had just finished giving the order and walked over. Shinozuka Yoshio looked at Mutaguchi Renya and said in a cold tone: "Give the order according to what Yamamoto said."

Mutaguchi Renya bowed his head in frustration: "Hey..."

……

Xinzhou battlefield.

Then Kong Jie used the tactic of using bayonets on cannons.

The 12 mountain cannons of the independent regiment's mountain artillery company aimed directly at the south city wall.

Although the Japanese artillery units in the city and on the city walls fought back.

However, under the powerful firepower suppression of 12 120 mortars, 12 105 howitzers, and dozens of small-caliber mortars, the Japanese artillery firepower posed no threat to the mountain artillery company of the independent regiment.

boom boom boom…

One after another, direct-fire shells exploded on the city walls, and the crimson fireballs burst into dazzling light.

The Xinxian city wall was first built in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, expanded during the Tang and Song dynasties, and completed in the late Qing Dynasty. With a circumference of 2190 zhang and a height of 4.2 zhang, it is entirely clad in bricks and stones.

The city wall is surrounded by city towers, arrow towers, corner towers and enemy towers, and is also equipped with battlements, horse paths, moats, drawbridges and drainage systems.

In the era of cold weapons, this was a strong city and difficult to conquer.

However, under the direct fire of 12 75mm mountain cannons, three huge gaps were blasted out in less than five minutes.

"kill!"

Amid the loud sound of the charge, the soldiers of the Second Company of the First Battalion of the Independent Regiment, in platoons, armed with submachine guns and rifles and carrying siege ladders, launched an attack on the city wall.

Da da da da da…

On the city wall, the machine guns of the Japanese and puppet troops roared wildly, and the soldiers fell down one after another.

Only the soldiers in the front row were shot, and most of the soldiers fell because they were crawling to hide.

The attacking troops used their bodies to expose the Japanese and puppet army's firepower points set up on the city walls.

The 12 mountain cannons of the mountain artillery company quickly aimed at the exposed firepower points of the Japanese and puppet troops and fired directly.

"Boom boom boom..."

Amidst the sound of explosions, the Japanese puppet army's machine gun fire point hiding behind the battlements, along with the battlements, machine guns and machine gunners, were blown away.

The 105mm howitzers and 120mm mortars also opened fire. Seeing the bad situation, the Japanese machine gunners tried to move their positions, but were hit directly. For a while, the city wall was shrouded in fireballs and smoke.

"kill!"

Seeing this, the soldiers of the second company began to charge. When the attacking troops were 200 meters away from the city wall, Kong Jie ordered the artillery positions to stop firing immediately.

200 meters is a dangerous distance. If you continue to fire at this distance, it is easy to hit your own soldiers.

However, the Japanese and puppet troops on the city wall had been almost wiped out by artillery shells, and the soldiers of the second company captured the south city wall in one charge.

Seeing this, Guan Dashan immediately led the main force of the first battalion and followed the second company into the city.

"Haha, it's exciting. This battle is really exciting."

At the siege command center, Kong Jie rolled up his sleeves with a laugh.

(End of this chapter)