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

Chapter 154 Chen Ming's Grand Move: A Raid on Five Counties in Northern Shanxi

The Japanese guess was correct. While Ding Wei's troops were busy attacking Hunyuan County, the other units of the Independent Detachment were not idle either.

They hid at night and remained hidden in the surrounding areas.

The Japanese have now reduced their control over the rural areas surrounding Hunyuan County to a minimum, and can no longer use strongholds, blockhouses, and other units as eyes to monitor the surrounding area.

To put it simply, it's like playing a game where all these areas are covered by the fog of war, and the role of the pillboxes and strongholds is equivalent to wards.

All the eyes were removed, leaving large swathes of land in the entire rural area without any view.

Under these circumstances, Chen Ming secretly mobilized more than 6,000 people and moved them to the vicinity of Hunyuan County, waiting for the Japanese reinforcements to come to his aid.

With the current strength of the troops stationed in Mongolia, it is difficult to defend so many places, and the troops are scattered, making it hard to spare enough troops for reinforcement.

As for Datong, which is 60 kilometers away, as long as the troops stationed in Mongolia dare to withdraw troops from Datong, Chen Ming dares to ignore Hunyuan County and turn his guns directly to attack Datong and the surrounding coal transportation lines.

The total number of troops stationed in Mongolia is only 2.3, including auxiliary troops of the puppet Mongolian army.

The core forces consisted of only one independent mixed 2nd brigade, a cavalry group, the 26th Infantry Division, and the 13th Independent Infantry Battalion.

The 26th Division will soon be transferred to Luzon Island in the Philippines.

By then, the core forces of the Mongolian garrison consisted only of the 2nd Independent Mixed Brigade and the cavalry group.

With such a small force defending such a large area, wouldn't it be like the land is leaking everywhere?

This is the disadvantage of the Japanese fighting on two fronts: dispersing their limited forces across the Pacific and mainland battlefields resulted in them having no advantage in either.

It can only be said that the situation of the Japanese and the Third Reich was very similar.

Both sides were fighting on two fronts, which dragged them into a quagmire and ultimately led to their defeat.

Fifteen kilometers west of Hunyuan County, Chen Ming listened to the intelligence reports from various units and secretly felt regretful.

Even though Ding Wei slowed down the liberation of the county town, giving the Japanese enough time to reinforce, the Japanese still hid in the city and did not come out to reinforce, which can be regarded as a disguised abandonment of Hunyuan County.

"What a pity. The Japanese devils could just stand by and watch us annihilate them in Hunyuan County. They didn't even dare to send reinforcements. We prepared a table full of delicious food, but no guests came."

Last time, they prepared a table full of dishes, but two tables of guests arrived, and the Independent Detachment suffered heavy casualties before finally annihilating the Japanese.

This time, a table full of dishes was prepared, just waiting for the Japanese soldiers to come and eat this last meal before their execution.

As a result, the Japanese soldiers didn't dare to come anymore, rendering all the troops Chen Ming had mobilized useless.

"Our Independent Detachment has such a great reputation that the Japanese devils don't dare to come anymore once they know it's us. They're practically handing over the Japanese soldiers in Hunyuan County to us to eat," He Jianxin said with a smile.

"Yeah, with that little Japanese force, if they dare to come out and provide support, we'll wipe them all out," Wang Dafei said, looking at the map.

"Since the Japanese have retreated into their shells and aren't coming out, we can't just stand by and watch with so many troops around. We have to do something big for them," Chen Ming said.

"Tell Ding Wei to speed up the attack. There's no need to slow down the pace. After taking Hunyuan County, move east to take Laiyuan and Lingqiu."

"In addition, the First Brigade will be reinforced to take Ying County to the west, threatening the Huai'ren area."

"I refuse to believe that the Japanese can continue to cower in the face of the threat of falling cities along the Tongpu Railway!"

Chen Ming issued the order.

Upon receiving the order, the troops began to move quickly.

Hunyuan County.

Upon receiving the order, Ding Wei did not hesitate and issued the order for a general offensive.

The Flying Thunder Cannon roared and blasted open the city wall of Hunyuan County.

"Comrades, charge!"

The soldiers of the Independent First Battalion, carrying light machine guns, rushed through the breach created by the blast and engaged in fierce fighting with the Japanese soldiers inside the county town.

Machine gun fire swept across the area, and the Japanese soldiers hiding behind their fortifications couldn't even raise their heads. They could only watch as the soldiers of the First Independent Battalion gradually eroded their position.

"Hurry up, keep up!" the soldiers at the front urged, continuing to suppress the Japanese with machine guns.

It feels amazing not having to count on your fingers to shoot!
Before the First Independent Battalion was reorganized, it was considered quite wealthy.

Other units would fire three or five shots before launching their charge, but the soldiers of the Independent First Battalion could fire a few more shots, though they couldn't fire as many bullets as they were now.

With the resources of an independent detachment, plus the continuous supply of bullets from the arsenal, the bullets can now be described in one word—plenty!
At least in critical moments, we can suppress the Japanese with firepower without any scruples.

As time passed, the Japanese soldiers in the area where the city wall had been breached were completely wiped out.

After the breach was opened, soldiers followed one after another, pouring into the county town.

Ding Wei was assigned to one of the most elite battalions of the newly reorganized Independent First Brigade, where he engaged in street fighting and hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese.

The county town was littered with corpses—Japanese soldiers, puppet troops, soldiers of the First Independent Brigade, and others who had taken advantage of the chaos but were shot dead by the soldiers of the First Independent Brigade.

There were more than two hundred corpses at the breach in the city wall alone.

The Japanese attempt to resist stubbornly by relying on the county town's fortifications was thwarted.

The Independent First Battalion's firepower was too fierce, and its soldiers were of excellent quality; the Japanese simply couldn't stop the Independent First Battalion's offensive.

The Japanese troops had been depleted in the previous siege battles, and the Independent First Battalion soldiers, who looked like tigers descending the mountain, were being driven back in defeat.

Soon only a little over two hundred people remained, relying on the fortifications of the garrison command for defense.

How familiar this scene is!
Without hesitation, the attacking soldiers, just like the First Battalion when they attacked Ping'an County, pushed aside the Flying Thunder Cannons and used high-yield explosive charges to blow up the Japanese soldiers inside the fortifications.

"boom!"

The explosive charge detonated, bringing the Japanese firepower inside the garrison command to a standstill.

"Come on!"

The sounds of battle were exhilarating.

One after another, eager soldiers rushed in to fight the Japanese soldiers.

The battle lasted for three hours before the gunfire and explosions gradually subsided and eventually ceased. All resistance forces in Hunyuan County were wiped out.

A large number of puppet troops were captured, and traitors were caught by the people of the city and publicly tried and executed on the spot.

After capturing the county town, Ding Wei began to tally up the spoils of war.

"In this battle, the First Battalion suffered 273 casualties, the Second Battalion suffered 186 casualties, and the Third Battalion, which was the first to enter the county town, suffered the most casualties, with 320 casualties."

"More than 900 Japanese and puppet troops were eliminated, and more than 800 puppet troops were captured."

The chief of staff, who was in charge of tallying the battle results, spoke up.

"That's right, the soldiers fought very well and wiped out all the Japanese soldiers in the county town. Not a single Japanese soldier escaped."

“I, Ding Wei, want to let the Japanese devils know that if they dare to invade our country, they should be prepared to be buried here. If one comes, I will kill one; if two come, I will kill both.”

Ding Wei said with a smile.

In this liberation of the county town, both sides suffered casualties, resulting in a ratio of 1:1.2. This casualty ratio was not good within the Independent Detachment, and was even somewhat poor.

However, if we include the victory in liberating the county town, the casualties are quite impressive.

In a battle of attrition, being able to keep the casualties of your troops lower than those of the defending side is already a very impressive achievement.

In the past, when we relied on positional defense and the terrain advantage, it was difficult to control the casualty ratio.

Now the tide of battle has turned, and the Japanese have begun to fight a defensive war using the advantageous terrain, yet their casualty ratio is positive, which shows the strength of the Independent First Battalion of the Independent Detachment.

After capturing Hunyuan County, Ding Wei did not stop there and continued to carry out Chen Ming's orders.

After Hunyuan fell, the Japanese soldiers in Lingqiu and Guangling became nervous, worried that the Eighth Route Army would attack them again after finishing off Hunyuan.

According to the intelligence gathered by the scouts, the facts were exactly as the Japanese had predicted.

Therefore, the Japanese troops and their puppet troops in the two counties began to prepare for battle and jointly build a defensive line to meet Ding Wei's attack.

They knew that if they didn't unite, it would be only a matter of time before they were defeated one by one by the Eighth Route Army.

To defend against Ding Wei's attack, the Japanese directly blew up all the bridges in the defense zone, thus delaying Ding Wei's advance.

This made Ding Wei burst out laughing.

"In the past, it was always us blowing up bridges to block the Japanese. This time, the situation has reversed, and the Japanese are the ones blowing up bridges to block us."

Upon hearing Ding Wei's words, Political Commissar Yang of the First Independent Brigade smiled and said:

"It's extremely rare for the Japanese to deliberately blow up the transportation lines and bridges they depend on. This shows that we have already hurt the Japanese badly and made them afraid."

"The Japanese were afraid of us, which is why they deliberately blew up the bridge to prevent us from using their lifeline to attack them."

"However, the more afraid the Japanese are, the weaker and more helpless they are, and the more we should fight them."

Upon hearing this, Ding Wei smiled and nodded: "That's right, we should give these sons of bitches a good beating and let them know how powerful we are."

"I've heard that Guangling's fat-tailed sheep mutton and millet are very good. They used to be tribute items. Now that we've taken over Guangling and Lingqiu, I'll have to try them properly."

While Ding Wei's troops were advancing towards Guangling, He Jianxin's troops also successfully surrounded Ying County.

The Japanese troops in Ying County belonged to the Independent Mixed Brigade No. 2. Because it was close to Huai Ren, its strength was not as great as that in Hunyuan County, with only about 500 men.

After being surrounded by He Jianxin's troops, the Japanese soldiers in Ying County quickly began to request help from the Mongolian Army Headquarters and the Japanese soldiers in Huai Ren.

However, Huai Ren is also in a bad situation now, as the surrounding areas are under attack from He Jianxin's troops, and large areas of land have been lost.

The Japanese troops in Huai'ren were powerless to help Yingxian, as they themselves were also requesting tactical guidance from the Mongolian military headquarters.

The Japanese soldiers in Huai Ren and Ying County were facing He Jianxin's most elite and strongest unit of the Independent Detachment.

With the old foundation of the Independent Second Regiment, which was personally trained by Chen Ming, this unit's combat effectiveness and fighting spirit are the best among the independent detachments.

This is an elite force forged by battle achievements and honors.

Faced with such a force, the Japanese were driven back in defeat and forced to rely on strong fortifications for defense in the cities they were in.

Inside the headquarters of the Japanese army stationed in Mongolia, telegrams requesting reinforcements poured in, piling up into a small tumbleweed. The commander of the Japanese army in Mongolia, Saburo Noon, and his staff were engaged in a heated discussion about how to respond to the Independent Detachment's attack.

Some people believed that support was necessary and that those places should not be left unattended, especially Huai'ren, an important city along the Tongpu Railway, which should not fall into the hands of the Eighth Route Army.

Otherwise, if Huai Ren were lost, the Tongpu Railway would be cut in half, and coal from Datong would not be able to be transported to Taiyuan and other places.

At the same time, with the loss of Huai Ren as a gateway, Datong will face the onslaught of the Independent Detachment, and coal mining will inevitably be severely affected.

However, others believe that Huai Ren's condition is not suitable for rescue.

Because no one had anticipated such a fierce attack from the Eighth Route Army in the occupied territory, Huai Ren's city defenses were relatively weak, lacking any particularly sturdy fortifications.

It would be difficult to defend against the Eighth Route Army's attack. It would be better to withdraw Huai Ren's troops back to Datong and strengthen Datong's defenses.

Relying on Datong's robust defense system, they withstood the onslaught of the Independent Detachment.

Once the troops in other areas are freed up, then turn around and deal with the independent detachment.

As for the Tongpu Railway being cut in half by the Independent Detachment, there was nothing that could be done.

Anyway, the Tongpu Railway was attacked by the Eighth Route Army some time ago and has not been repaired and resumed transportation yet. It's gone and that's gone.

The two groups were arguing so fiercely that they were almost about to come to blows right there in the headquarters.

Those who persisted in the rescue denounced those who chose to retreat and defend as cowards, saying they had no courage in the face of the Eighth Route Army's attack, were unworthy of being imperial soldiers, and had failed His Majesty the Emperor.

Those who suggested retreating angrily denounced those who insisted on the rescue as reckless fools who didn't use their brains at all during the war.

In a place like Huai Ren, how many troops would the Mongolian garrison have to send to withstand the Eighth Route Army's attack?

After sending a large number of troops to rescue Huai Ren, what about other places? Should Datong still be defended? Should Wucheng (now Zhangjiakou) be defended? Or even Guihua?

Can Huai Ren be compared to these strategic locations in terms of importance?
The Japanese can accept losing Huai Ren, but if they lose these important strategic locations, the trouble will be much greater.

Noon Saburo was so annoyed by the argument between the two groups that he had a headache.

However, the two groups of people did provide Noon Saburo with many unexpected situations.

Gradually, he began to think about abandoning the Huai Ren region and withdrawing his troops back to Datong.

Huai Ren was not as well-defended as Da Tong, and it would be difficult for it to hold out against the fierce Independent Detachment.

If the troops were withdrawn to Datong, Noon Saburo believed that even if the entire Independent Detachment were mobilized, they would not be able to easily take Datong.

Datong has heavy artillery and a solid defense system, so it is not afraid of any number of Eighth Route Army soldiers who do not have heavy artillery.

However, doing so would inevitably lead to the loss of mineral resources in the Huai Ren area, causing these resources to fall into the hands of the Eighth Route Army.

This was undoubtedly a huge blow to the resource-poor Japanese.

Ultimately, Noon Saburo reported the matter to the North China Expeditionary Army Headquarters and let Okamura make the decision.

His orders were to hold the line, and the North China Expeditionary Army would send reinforcements from other places to work together to annihilate the main force of the Independent Detachment in the plains of the Datong Basin.

Gangcun was a China expert and was very familiar with the battles against the Eighth Route Army.

Even now, the Eighth Route Army does not have large-caliber artillery, nor do it have powerful weapons for plains areas such as airplanes and tanks.

In the plains and in battles against the Eighth Route Army, the Japanese tanks and heavy artillery had a great deal of room to maneuver.

Even though the Independent Detachment had a large number of troops, Okamura was not worried that his troops would be unable to defeat the Independent Detachment.

Upon receiving the order, Noon Saburo immediately transferred a regiment from the 26th Division to other locations, along with two infantry battalions from the Independent Mixed Brigade No. 2.

In addition, two regiments were drawn from northern Hebei and southern Shanxi by the North China Expeditionary Army.

A force of about 10,000 men was assembled and rushed to the aid of Huai'ren from three directions: Datong, Shuoxian, and Guangling, with the aim of annihilating the main force of the Independent Detachment in the plains of Huai'ren.

"The Japanese are making a big move this time, once again mobilizing a large force to annihilate us."

"However, if the Japanese think that our independent detachment's combat effectiveness will be weakened because we have lost our guerrilla advantage in the plains, they are sorely mistaken."

Inside the command post, Chen Ming looked at the map and addressed the other officers of the independent detachment.

Chen Ming's words were endorsed by the officers of the Independent Detachment.

Their independent detachment had fought so many battles; besides guerrilla warfare, they were also adept at annihilation warfare.

The repeated annihilation battles are the best proof.

Even without the advantage of the mountainous terrain, the soldiers of the Independent Detachment were by no means inferior to the Japanese.

"Tell He Jianxin and Ding Wei that I want them to take Yingxian, Guangling and Lingqiu as quickly as possible, and then retreat back to the mountains immediately, without any delays."

"When the Japanese arrive, they won't be able to find our troops. So many troops definitely won't be able to stay in these places for long."

"When the Japanese can no longer hold out, we will take these counties again, and in this way, we will gradually erode the Japanese forces."

"I want to see how many Japanese lives we can throw in."

Chen Ming spoke up.

Chen Ming's plan was to use the county town to lure out the Japanese troops.

The Japanese troops were all transferred from other places and wouldn't stay in these county towns for long.

After the main force of the Japanese army leaves, they will either have to redeploy troops to defend these counties, or they will have to abandon these counties and let them be controlled by the Independent Detachment.

Once the Japanese dare to deploy troops to defend the county towns, Chen Ming will mobilize superior forces and firepower to take these county towns and eliminate the fighting force within them.

They could wipe out hundreds of Japanese soldiers at once, and even if the Japanese had a large number of troops, they couldn't withstand it.

No matter what the Japanese choose, the Independent Detachment will not suffer losses.

In the end, they had no choice but to abandon these counties and let them fall under the control of the Eighth Route Army.

In this way, Chen Ming's strategic objective would be achieved.

"In addition, I order the Special Operations Brigade, the Sharpshooter Brigade, the Third Brigade, and the detachment's direct machine gun battalion to take over the airport in Daixian County and destroy the Japanese air hub in northern Shanxi," Chen Ming added.

The Japanese army had three important airfields in Shanxi Province: Yangmingbao Airfield in Daixian County, Changzhi Airfield, and Taiyuan North Gate Airfield.

The three airports are responsible for control and support tasks in northern Shanxi, southeastern Shanxi, and the surrounding areas of Taiyuan, respectively.

Among them, Yangmingbao Airport in Daixian County is now the airport that poses the greatest threat to the Independent Detachment.

Although there are only five regular aircraft at Yangmingbao Airport, it can serve as a transit point, allowing the Japanese to move aircraft from other places.

Destroying the airport would reduce the Japanese air support capabilities and consequently decrease the casualties among our soldiers.

After the order was issued, the speed of each unit of the independent detachment increased.

Ding Wei directly divided the First Independent Brigade into two units, each with a force of one to two thousand five hundred men, to attack Guangling and Lingqiu simultaneously.

Both of these county towns were small, and since they were located in areas where guerrillas were active, the defending forces consisted of about a company of Japanese soldiers in each town.

Using over two thousand men to fight a single Japanese company was considered giving the Japanese a huge favor.

To speed up the attack, Ding Wei used every trick in the book against the Japanese.

Various divisive tactics and threats made the Japanese soldiers in the two counties suspicious of the puppet troops, and the defending troops could no longer unite as one.

The puppet troops were also worried that the Japanese would send them to their deaths, and they were also afraid that the Eighth Route Army would purge them after the city fell. Therefore, they did not put in any real effort when defending the city, and simply fired their guns into the air.

When the soldiers of the First Independent Battalion attacked the city, the puppet troops fled, allowing the soldiers of the First Independent Battalion to annihilate the remaining Japanese soldiers and easily capture the two county towns.

For Ding Wei's Independent First Brigade, this small county town was just a piece of cake.

In just a few hours, Ding Wei's troops captured both county towns.

After capturing the county town, Ding Wei began sending people to transport the supplies out of the town, while arresting and trying traitors in the town, increasing the difficulty of governing the town after the Japanese recaptured it.

After doing all this, when the Japanese reinforcements from northern Hebei arrived, they found only an empty city with all its supplies gone.

To continue defending the county town, they either had to redistribute supplies from other places or plunder them from the surrounding local people.

Taking supplies from ordinary people is not a viable option.

Firstly, due to last year's drought, the people are very poor now and can't get much, making it difficult to maintain the needs of a regiment.

Secondly, if they wanted to seize supplies, they would have to disperse their forces to surrounding towns and villages, which would make them vulnerable to attacks by guerrillas and small groups of the Eighth Route Army's main forces.

At that point, forget about whether we can even get any supplies; we'll be lucky to come back alive and well.

Transporting supplies from other places also presents numerous difficulties.

The Japanese logistics troops were not as strong as the main combat troops, and they also carried a large amount of supplies, making them easy targets for the Eighth Route Army to ambush. Supplying them was very difficult.

The Japanese troops from the Hebei-North support regiment had no choice but to leave a small squad to control the county town before the main force headed towards Hunyuan County to reinforce Huairen.

After Ding Wei withdrew from Lingqiu and Guangling, he dispatched a portion of his troops to defend Hunyuan County, blocking the Japanese regiment and buying time for He Jianxin's troops to attack Ying County.

The other part headed directly west, with their goal of reaching Fanshi County.

He wanted to see if the Japanese would just stand by and watch Fanshi County suffer the same fate as Guangling and Lingqiu.

As long as the Japanese troops split up, Ding Wei would dare to turn his gun on them and wipe out the Japanese troops that had broken off from the enemy lines.

However, after learning that Ding Wei's troops had a portion of their forces preparing to attack Fanshi County, the Japanese still did not divide their troops.

Their mission was to join forces with other units to encircle and annihilate the main force of the independent detachment located in the plains south of the Datong Basin.

Fanshi County is a small county town. If we give it up, we can give it up. We can take it back later.

As for the garrison in Fanshi County, they received orders from the Mongolian military headquarters to withdraw to Dai County and hand over Fanshi County to the Independent Detachment.

At this time, the 110th Infantry Regiment, which belonged to the 110th Division of the Japanese Army, launched a fierce attack on the Independent First Battalion defending Hunyuan County.

They attempted to break through the flank of the Independent Detachment and launch a long-range attack on Huai'ren and the main force of the Independent Detachment in Ying County.

(End of this chapter)