Anti-Japanese War: I have unlimited assistance

Chapter 501 Good news!
"Commander, the Japanese have started attacking again today, but the artillery firepower is not as strong as in the past few days."

In Ping'an County, at the headquarters of the New 1st Regiment, Zhang Dabiao reported to Li Yunlong with admiration.

Last night, after the battle between the airport and Ping'an County Highway ended, Sun Desheng immediately reported the results of the battle to the regiment headquarters.

As Li Yunlong expected, the Japanese paratroopers were wearing the uniforms of the Eighth Route Army and planned to launch a surprise attack on the airport.

Fortunately, Li Yunlong was very foresighted and guessed the Japanese's purpose. He called the airport and the county town in advance to notify them.

At the same time, the Second Tank Battalion was dispatched to intercept and kill the Japanese paratroopers, catching them off guard.

The remaining 100 or so Japanese soldiers fled into the mountains. Zhang Dabiao has now arranged for the county brigade to encircle and suppress them.

Zhang Dabiao couldn't help but admire that he was able to guess the Japanese army's next battle plan just from one piece of information reported by the radar station.

Great!

"As expected." Li Yunlong nodded with satisfaction. "It seems that our three Eagle Eye teams and the Death Squad have inflicted considerable damage on the Japanese artillery."

"Pity…"

"This tactic can only be used once or twice, more than that won't work."

Zhang Dabiao raised the corner of his mouth.

"Boom!"

At this moment, the ground shook violently, and the dirt and debris above their heads sprinkled all over Li Yunlong, Zhang Dabiao and several staff officers.

"Oh no, this is... a 240mm howitzer!"

"Didn't the 240mm howitzer get blown up?"

Zhang Dabiao's expression changed slightly.

The Japanese 150mm howitzer has good performance, but it poses a general threat to the New 152st Regiment. The mm howitzer equipped by the New st Regiment can suppress it.

but.

The Japanese 240mm howitzer was so powerful that even if a concrete bunker was hit, it could not withstand the power of a single shot.

"Damn it!" Li Yunlong cursed. "It must be that the two Japanese field siege heavy artillery battalions have come to northwest Shanxi. What we killed a few days ago must have been just one of them."

"That should be the case," Zhang Dabiao said. "Captain, the weather is good today. We should be able to roughly see the Japanese artillery positions over at Yunshan. Should we order the 152mm howitzers in the tunnel to counterattack?"

"Okay." Li Yunlong nodded. "Order the Yunshan Observation Post to provide artillery fire parameters, and the 152mm howitzers in the Jiangjunling Tunnel to counterattack and suppress them."

Three days ago, a Japanese field siege heavy artillery regiment destroyed 12 bunkers of the New st Regiment in just one day of shelling.

If the Japanese 240 heavy artillery continued to bombard the area for another day, half of the New st Regiment's bunkers at Jiangjunling would have been blown up.

Soon, Chu Yunfei sent a telegram saying that he had defeated a division of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army and was currently negotiating with Yan Laoxi.

Li Yunlong nodded with satisfaction. Although there were some twists and turns, everything was developing according to his plan.

But at this moment, bad news came from the Yunshan Artillery Observation Post:

"A large amount of smoke has been set off in the area where the Japanese are located, and the artillery observation post cannot see the Japanese artillery positions."

The Yunshan Observation Post is more than 10 kilometers away from the Japanese artillery positions.

They can only roughly determine the location of the enemy artillery position through the muzzle flash and the smoke produced when firing, and then calculate the shooting parameters to guide their own artillery units to fire long-range artillery.

After the Japanese set up an artillery position on the reverse slope of a hill, they released smoke everywhere. The artillery observation post on Yunshan could no longer see the Japanese artillery position and naturally could not provide artillery fire support.

"Damn it, the Japs have learned their lesson!"

Li Yunlong narrowed his eyes.

He hadn't expected this move from the Japanese artillery. "We must also order the 152mm howitzers to continue firing and not waste ammunition!"

"Fire in the direction we've marked in advance, where the Japanese might have set up artillery positions!"

"Yes!"

Zhang Dabiao quickly went to convey the order.

Takeda Isamu led the 21st Aircraft Regiment and launched another air strike on Ping'an County and the highway bridges leading to the county from various defense fortifications.

The Japanese's 2nd Field Heavy Artillery Siege Battalion and the remaining 150mm howitzers continued to fire, turning the New st Regiment's Jiangjunling position almost into a sea of ​​fire.

At the same time, the Japanese 28th Brigade, under the cover of a mountain artillery regiment, launched a fierce attack on the Yunshan position.

The front-line positions of Yunshan changed hands repeatedly, and the two sides engaged in hand-to-hand combat at one point, but the positions were still in the hands of the New 1st Regiment.

But the situation is not looking good for the New 1st Regiment.

"Commander, we destroyed ten bunkers today, but the Japanese weren't having a good time either. They suffered at least a thousand casualties in the four battlefields." Zhang Dabiao reported today's losses and results to Li Yunlong.

Li Yunlong nodded with a slightly serious expression, but he was still calm.

"We have been fighting the Japanese for five days. They should be replenishing their combat supplies," said Li Yunlong.

"Captain, do you mean..." Zhang Dabiao asked, "to send troops on the periphery to ambush the Japanese transport convoy?"

"That's right!" Li Yunlong nodded. "The Japs have run out of ammunition. Let's see what they can use to attack."

"We only have one infantry battalion on the periphery, and we can only ambush once at most. The Japanese will definitely increase the force escorting combat supplies later, which is only a temporary solution and not a fundamental solution." Zhang Dabiao said worriedly.

The new regiment's infantry battalion had 2500 men and could confront a Japanese infantry regiment head-on.

Although the new regiment has strong firepower, the proportion of new recruits is relatively high, and the individual soldier quality is not as good as that of the Japanese.

in case.

When a Japanese infantry regiment escorts a logistics regiment to transport supplies, the infantry battalions on the periphery can only temporarily avoid the attack and at most harass it, but they cannot stop the main force of the Japanese from transporting supplies to the front line.

Li Yunlong nodded and said, "I know that. We won't win this battle relying on the outer infantry battalions, but we can relieve some of the pressure on us. Once the Japanese troops on the front line are almost exhausted, Ding Wei will break out from the Tiger's Mouth and head straight for Datong!"

Zhang Dabiao was puzzled. "Captain Ding only has 30,000 men. The Japanese troops in Datong and Shaohukou probably number 50,000 to 60,000. Can they complete the mission?"

Li Yunlong smiled without saying anything and pointed his finger at the Jinzhong base on the map twice.

Zhang Dabiao's eyes lit up, and he instantly understood Li Yunlong's strategic intentions. The corners of his mouth curled up at the same time: "Captain, I understand."

Li Yunlong said: "But before that, we must first withstand the attack of the main force of the Japanese."

"If we don't destroy the Japanese 240mm heavy howitzer," Zhang Dabiao said, "the battle in northwest Shanxi will still be difficult to win."

Just then, the communications staff handed over a telegram.

"Report to the commander, chief of staff, good news!"

"The telecommunications experts at headquarters have deciphered the Japanese telegram. A Japanese troop will infiltrate the base tonight."

"Attack our supply transfer station, Dongjiayu."

"Also, tomorrow morning, a Japanese logistics corps will depart from Datong to transport supplies to Heyuan County."

Li Yunlong and Zhang Dabiao's expressions changed at first, and then they looked happy.

The Japanese had been bombing the highway with air strikes, so Li Yunlong had already hollowed out the hillside next to Dongjiay Village on the highway from Ping'an County to Jiangjunling and built a material transfer station, where he stored a large amount of food and ammunition.

Some of the supplies that the New 1st Regiment transported to Jiangjunling these days came from Dongjiayugou. Apparently, the Japanese reconnaissance planes also discovered this place.

(End of this chapter)