Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Changjin Lake, a Hundred Battles, a Hundred Victories

Chapter 145 The Japanese Deploy Heavy Artillery!

This performance was arranged by Chen Ming.

In order to create the illusion that Ping'an County was still in the hands of the Japanese, and to attract the attention of the Japanese, the main force was given the opportunity to annihilate the two battalions of Japanese troops in Shuangqu Town.

Chen Ming ordered the local armed forces and militia, as well as the soldiers of the independent detachment who remained to defend Ping'an County, to put on a show for the Japanese.

Whenever the Japanese planes came, the soldiers would put on Japanese uniforms and assume a posture of attacking or defending the city.

The Japanese soldiers were indeed fooled.

Knowing that Ping'an County had not yet fallen and that the main force of the Eighth Route Army was still attacking Ping'an County, the Japanese continued to reinforce their troops towards Ping'an County.

The Japanese soldiers in Shuangqu Town also received incorrect intelligence and mistakenly believed that the main force of the Eighth Route Army was still fighting in Ping'an, so they were not very vigilant.

Otherwise, if they knew that Ping'an County had been lost and the main force of the Independent Detachment had been freed up, the Japanese soldiers of the two battalions in Shuangqu Town would not dare to leave only one-third of their troops to defend at night.

They didn't even dare to stay in Shuangqu Town, but instead retreated to Luyang, waiting until dawn to find the main force of the independent detachment before making further arrangements.

Because of the performance of the soldiers in Ping'an County, an opportunity was successfully created for the Independent Detachment to launch a continuous raid, a surprise attack on Shuangqu Town, and annihilate two battalions of Japanese soldiers.

Similarly, since Ping'an County has not yet fallen, the Japanese troops in the Shuiquan direction will continue to reinforce, creating opportunities for the sabotage operations organized by headquarters.

Taiyuan First Army Headquarters.

"Sir, news from the air force."

A communications soldier jogged up to Yansong and respectfully handed him the documents.

"Read it." Yansong was looking at the map and didn't even look up before speaking.

"Hai!"

"Today, reconnaissance aircraft repeatedly reconnoitered over Ping'an County. The garrison of Ping'an County successfully drove the Eighth Route Army out of the county. Ping'an County is still under the control of our army."

"In addition, a large number of our soldiers' corpses and numerous traces of artillery fire were found in Shuangqu Town, north of Luyang. No traces of other troops were found in the surrounding area."

After hearing the telegram, Yansong clenched his fists, filled with doubt.

"The main force of the Eighth Route Army was still in Ping'an, so why did the troops in Shuangqu Town suddenly lose contact and get wiped out?"

"Furthermore, if Ping'an County is still in our hands, why have we been unable to contact it? There has been no news from either the radio or the telephone."

In response to Iwasatsu's question, the Japanese chief of staff offered his guess.

"Yesterday, I heard in the last telegram from the troops in Ping'an County that the Eighth Route Army had entered the county town. It is possible that the communication system in Ping'an County was destroyed at that time."

"As for the troops in Shuangqu Town, according to previous records, Shuangqu Town had been captured by the Eighth Route Army before."

"Could it be that the Eighth Route Army planted a large amount of explosives in the town and detonated them when our troops were resting at night, thus preventing the troops inside from even having a chance to send back messages?"

"According to the reconnaissance of the air force, a large number of explosion traces were indeed found in Shuangqu Town, which confirms this point."

After listening to the chief of staff's guess, Yansong thought about it for a moment and reluctantly accepted it.

Although this conjecture is somewhat far-fetched, for example, planting explosives in a town would require a lot of time and resources, and two large teams would be resting in the town, so why were no traces of explosives found?

These are all points of doubt, but the Japanese have no other ideas besides this speculation.

Surely the reconnaissance planes' reports of numerous explosions in Ping'an County couldn't be faked, could they?
How could the Eighth Route Army have so many artillery pieces and so many troops?
The siege of Ping'an County was so fierce, it couldn't have been fought by the main force of the Eighth Route Army, could it?
The several thousand Eighth Route Army soldiers who besieged Lan County were definitely the main force of the Eighth Route Army; otherwise, the Japanese soldiers in Lan County would not have been trapped inside the county town and unable to get out.

"The captains of these two battalions are traitors to the empire. It was their carelessness that caused the loss of two battalions of the empire's elite troops in Doublebow Town."

Yansong angrily rebuked the Japanese captains of the two brigades in Shuangqu Town.

"Order the two regiments and one infantry battalion that are to reinforce Ping'an County to do whatever it takes to get them to the county seat by noon today!" Yan Song issued a death order!
"Hai!" All the Japanese could do now was urge the reinforcements to speed up their advance and take Ping'an County as their first priority.

Ping'an County is in imminent danger. According to reports from the air force, artillery fire outside Ping'an County has become very rare, which means that there are not many artillery shells left in the county.

If reinforcements are not sent to Ping'an soon, the county town will be even more difficult to defend, given that the enemy has artillery but our side does not.

As long as reinforcements can reach Ping'an County in time, they can leverage Ping'an County's geographical location to support Lan County and force the Eighth Route Army to withdraw.

This is how the two county towns were preserved.

If Ping'an County is lost, Lan County will also be lost, and with the two battalions that have been wiped out, the Japanese will have lost more than four battalions in one fell swoop.

Such a large number of troops would be enough to cripple them, and their living space would be further compressed.

Yansong had only been in office for a short time and couldn't handle such a huge loss, which would cause the headquarters to question his abilities.

Pingan County.

Chen Ming smoked a cigarette as he organized the deployment of the county's defense facilities.

He was going to fight a battle in Ping'an County against two regiments and an infantry battalion of the Japanese army.

The residents of the county town also evacuated the town under the organization of the political commissar.

The Japanese were not like the Eighth Route Army; when they bombarded the county town, they only targeted the city walls.

Once the Japanese attack the city, their artillery will bombard the city indiscriminately. In order to reduce civilian casualties, a temporary retreat is necessary.

Moreover, in order to block the main force of the Japanese for three days, Chen Ming could not put all his troops in the county town; he could only leave a portion behind.

Otherwise, if the Japanese army's rear is on fire and they are determined to escape, it will be very difficult for the Independent Detachment to stop them for three days.

Therefore, the troops remaining in the county town consisted of only two main battalions, an artillery battalion, and local armed forces and militia.

The remaining four battalions plus two artillery battalions must move behind the Japanese forces when they attack Ping'an County, and block them on the highway between Ping'an County and Shuiquan.

The forces defending Ping'an County were outnumbered by two Japanese regiments and one infantry battalion, a ratio of 1:2, representing a significant disadvantage.

Even with the protection of city walls, defensive battles are extremely difficult.

Moreover, this time, that old Japanese devil Yansong even used heavy artillery for his own future.

A heavy artillery squadron was specially dispatched from Taiyuan to reinforce Ping'an County, aiming to strategically suppress the artillery of the Independent Detachment.

This heavy artillery squadron is equipped with four 105mm howitzers and ten tracked tractors for towing artillery and transporting shells.

This was the most treasured possession of the old Japanese soldier, Yansong. As for the more powerful 150mm howitzer, Yansong thought it would be a waste to use it against the Eighth Route Army, so he didn't use it.

This is also why the Japanese insisted on taking the road; transporting heavy weapons required taking the road.

"The Japanese really think highly of us; they've even brought in heavy artillery. This is going to be a tough battle!" Chen Ming exclaimed.

"Yes, they've deployed four 105mm howitzers. The Japanese are really desperate this time. This battle won't be easy," the brigade commander said.

"We must fight, even if it's difficult, otherwise the people will suffer again," Chen Ming said firmly.

The Japanese brought in heavy artillery. Due to the range of the heavy artillery, the artillery units of the Independent Detachment had to disperse and hide themselves, otherwise they would be suppressed by the Japanese heavy artillery.

Without large-scale artillery support, this battle was extremely difficult, arguably the toughest one fought by the Independent Detachment.

This is because the Japanese bullied us because of our weak industrial strength and equipment. If we had airplanes and artillery, we wouldn't have to be afraid of the Japanese heavy artillery!
"Let Ding Wei retreat. He's under too much pressure from two regiments and a battalion of Japanese soldiers. Let the Japanese troops retreat to Ping'an County," Chen Ming ordered.

(End of this chapter)