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

Chapter 299 Fierce Offensive, the Decisive Battle Begins!
Jining.

After receiving orders from Okamura, the Japanese 14th Division began to move its troops toward the Zhuozi area.

As the division commander of the Kwantung Army, he could have ignored Okamura's orders.

After all, Gangcun's reputation score had no effect on them anymore, and they considered it a sign of incompetence.

However, the day before yesterday, Gangcun ordered a bomber squadron to successfully destroy the Eighth Route Army's armored forces, which changed the opinion of these two Japanese Kwantung Army division commanders.

The armored unit under the command of the Eighth Route Army was very powerful.

According to Japanese intelligence, the tank regiment that the 3rd Tank Division had initially supported was lost at the hands of this unit.

After a tank regiment of the 3rd Tank Division was annihilated, the Eighth Route Army captured some tanks, and no one knew how much their strength had expanded.

The Japanese knew that the Eighth Route Army had a strong repair capability and could get a disabled tank working again.

The Eighth Route Army's night raid on the tank base transported by the Third Tank Division involved tanks that were being repaired by the Eighth Route Army as the main attacking force.

Neither Okamura nor the two Japanese division commanders dared to underestimate the armored forces in the hands of the Eighth Route Army.

Because if this armored force seizes an opportunity, they are very likely to suffer a major setback.

When the Japanese attacked the Fengzhen defense line before, they also took this armored unit into account, which is why they did not launch a full-scale attack but chose to advance steadily and cautiously.

Otherwise, how could the Eighth Route Army have held off two of their divisions for several days?
Of course, this wasn't the Japanese using their full strength; that's just what the Japanese themselves thought.

In fact, with full firepower, Ding Wei's troops could hold out for another half a month without any problem.

However, that wouldn't have been enough to cripple these Japanese soldiers in one battle, so they opted for a strategic retreat in order to achieve greater results.

"Division Commander, shouldn't we wait for the 57th Division to join us?"

A staff officer from the Japanese 14th Division asked in confusion.

"There's no need for that," said Noda, commander of the 14th Division of the Japanese Army, calmly.

"Now the Eighth Route Army no longer poses much of a threat to us. Instead, they are launching a full-scale attack on Baotou, attempting to make a desperate gamble."

"Speed ​​is of the essence in war. The most important thing now is to quickly open up Zhuozi, take Guihua, and wipe out the main force of the Eighth Route Army in Baotou."

“If the time drags on, and the Eighth Route Army finds that it cannot take Baotou, or that the tank division in Baotou cannot hold it, the Eighth Route Army is very likely to flee.”

"We must set off as quickly as possible. There is only one train in Jining, which is only enough for our own use. As for the 57th Division, let them come slowly."

Noda said with an arrogant expression.

This is the arrogance of a Class A division commander.

Even though the 57th Division was a division of the Kwantung Army, Noda still looked down on it.

The 57th Division was held back by the Eighth Route Army in Fengzhen, and suffered considerable losses.

If it weren't for his 14th Division coming to the rescue, the situation would have been very different.

It was a complete disgrace to the Kwantung Army.

"Yes, I understand." The Japanese chief of staff suddenly realized.

"Alright, let's load the heavy weapons onto the train first, and the infantry will travel light. We must reach Zhuozi before dawn tomorrow."

Noda gave the order.

A train was only enough to transport heavy weapons and a small number of infantrymen; the rest of the infantrymen had to walk.

"Hi Yi!"

The battle has been going on for ten days.

After arriving in Zhuozi, the Japanese first used reconnaissance planes to survey the surrounding terrain and check for any Eighth Route Army ambushes.

At the same time, observe the general deployment of the Eighth Route Army to prepare for the attack.

However, Zhuozi also deployed an air defense company, and the Japanese reconnaissance planes, having learned from the lesson of Liangcheng, dared not fly too low.

Maintain reconnaissance at altitudes beyond the reach of anti-aircraft guns.

However, due to the high altitude, the intelligence gathered was very limited.

But that was enough for the Japanese.

Knowing the Eighth Route Army's defenses in the Zhuozi area was enough for Noda to be confident of breaking through Zhuozi's defenses.

A company of soldiers on the outer perimeter of Zhuozi were the first to engage the Japanese in firefight.

The battle started small, but the intensity increased as both sides committed more and more troops.

In the end, it ended with the loss of the outer positions.

After capturing the outer positions, the Japanese became even more arrogant.

"Keep moving forward, target Zhuozishan!"

The Japanese division commander gave the order.

"Your Excellency, there are Eighth Route Army troops on both flanks of Zhuozi. If we attack Zhuozi directly, our flanks may be attacked by the Eighth Route Army."

A Japanese staff officer spoke up.

"Don't worry, we have plenty of experience dealing with this kind of 'pocket formation' of the Chinese army."

"As long as we attack the front line and our breakthrough speed is fast enough, the Eighth Route Army will only be able to continuously draw troops from the flanks to reinforce the front line."

"In this way, the Eighth Route Army will have no choice but to engage us in a direct confrontation, and the encirclement will naturally collapse on its own."

The Japanese division commander said calmly.

According to him, this is indeed a weakness of the pocket formation.

To form a fan-shaped pocket formation, the most basic requirement is that the front can withstand the attack.

Only by holding the line head-on can the flanks have room to maneuver.

If the frontal defenses fail and the enemy breaches the bottom of the pocket formation, the troops on both flanks will be separated and surrounded.

The two flanks were forced to reinforce the front, eventually turning into a head-on battle.

However, at this stage of the decisive battle, the Japanese also had to use tactics of encirclement and division to block the retreat of the defending troops.

As a result, the Nationalist generals who used the bag were worried about being surrounded, while their allies remained unmoved or even ran away first, leaving them with no choice but to retreat.

This is why many Nationalist generals used this pocket formation, yet ultimately failed.

Because the Japanese frontal offensive firepower was too strong, the frontal troops could not withstand it.

During the Battle of Changsha, Tiger Boy used the terrain to his advantage, making it difficult for the Japanese to exert their superior firepower, which caused the Japanese to suffer a great loss.

Chen Ming's deployment in Zhuozi was similar to Tiger Boy's Furnace Strategy, except that he broke down the core of the Furnace Strategy.

First, wear down the Japanese soldiers, then use an ambush formation to wipe them out in one go.

Closer to home.

The Japanese troops pressed their advantage and began attacking the main frontal positions of Zhuozi.

However, this time the Japanese suffered a crushing defeat.

The newly formed First Battalion of He Jianxin's troops, which was defending the front line, showed no mercy and immediately launched a barrage of machine gun and mortar fire.

Its firepower density was even greater than that of the Japanese 14th Division, which did not use field artillery.

In addition, being on the defensive, they can attack from behind machine gun bunkers, fortifications, and firing ports.

The Japanese soldiers, being the attackers, could only rely on those ridiculous bunkers to launch their attack.

The outcome of the battle goes without saying.

In just one attack, the Japanese soldiers retreated, leaving behind more than two hundred corpses.

Everyone says the Japanese weren't afraid of death? Well, that depends on the situation.

Knowing full well that attacking a well-defended position would not cause any harm to the enemy, they still suffered heavy losses themselves.

The Japanese soldiers weren't stupid; they knew they were just throwing their lives away.

Noda was not surprised that the Japanese infantry were driven back.

This was within his expectations.

As the last line of defense from Jining to Guihua, Zhuozi's defenses were by no means weak. This was crucial to the large number of Eighth Route Army troops in the Baotou area, and the key to this battle lay in Zhuozi.

The Eighth Route Army will certainly devote its efforts to this area, strengthening its defenses to the greatest extent possible and holding back the attacks of the two Kwantung Army divisions.

However, Noda was not afraid, as he believed that his greatest strength was tackling tough challenges.

"Let the 20th Field Artillery Regiment attack, and let the Eighth Route Army know the power of our artillery!"

Noda confidently gave the order.

The thirty-sixth field gun in his possession was Noda's greatest source of confidence.

His immense power was fully demonstrated in the Battle of Fengzhen.

More than 60% of the Eighth Route Army's casualties came from this field artillery regiment.

Artillery, the king of war!
"Comrades, enter the artillery shelter. After the Japanese retreat, the artillery fire will come soon."

The newly formed First Battalion, having fought the Japanese fifty times, was all too familiar with the Japanese's three main tactics.

The infantry can't advance any further, so the artillery should be the next to bombard them.

The newly formed First Battalion was He Jianxin's most elite field unit, and also the most powerful field unit under Chen Ming's command.

They inherited a significant portion of the original Second Independent Regiment's core members and are absolutely battle-hardened.

This is why the newly formed First Battalion was designated as a key unit for the bottom of the bag defense.

Both Chen Ming and He Jianxin believed that this unit could definitely hold off the Japanese Class A division.

Even if we add the Japanese 57th Division, it would be the same.

The Japanese artillery roared, and shells rained down on the newly formed First Battalion's position.

However, this time the situation is different from that of Mount Amitabha.

The geology here in Zhuozi is suitable for the construction of anti-artillery fortifications.

The soldiers dug many tunnels here to hide their troops and avoid the Japanese artillery fire.

This defensive tactic proved its superiority in the Battle of Shangganling.

The US military's ammunition is more luxurious, with larger calibers, and they've even come up with the term "Van Fleet ammunition capacity."

They still couldn't do anything about our soldiers hiding in the tunnels.

What is the Japanese army's firepower compared to that?

After a round of artillery fire from the Japanese, the ground fortifications at the Zhuozi position had been almost completely destroyed.

However, the underground tunnels did not suffer much damage.

As soon as the shelling ended, the soldiers climbed out of the trenches and returned to their positions to continue fighting the Japanese.

Noda stood on a distant high ground, looking through binoculars at the positions being bombarded by artillery.

A smile appeared on his face when he saw the position that had been razed to the ground.

"Indeed, indeed, the Eighth Route Army will suffer considerable losses from such a blow."

"Order the troops to continue the attack and strive to capture the main position of the Eighth Route Army in one fell swoop."

Even if we can't take them all at once, we must at least create an opening!

Noda excitedly gave the order.

The Japanese continued their attack.

This time, the scale of the forces is much larger; it's no longer a small-scale skirmish like before.

Faced with the Japanese army's massive offensive, the soldiers were not afraid and remained on the battlefield, fighting desperately to resist the Japanese attack.

Although the surface fortifications suffered heavy damage, many firing points and bunkers became unusable.

But as long as the soldiers of the newly formed First Battalion are there, they are the most solid fortress.

Thanks to the soldiers' desperate counterattacks, the Japanese were repelled six times in succession.

"Baka! You're all useless!"

Noda was furious when he saw that he had launched six attacks but had failed to create a single breach. He cursed in the command post.

He was filled with astonishment and doubt, wondering why the Eighth Route Army's resistance was so tenacious.

"Division Commander, for us, we must rescue the tank division in Baotou at all costs."

"The same applies to the Eighth Route Army; they must stop us in the Zhuozi area at all costs."

"Once we break through Zhuozi, the Eighth Route Army's defenses will collapse completely."

"The Eighth Route Army will certainly use every means and effort to devote itself to Zhuozi."

"That's why our army has been locked in a stalemate with the Eighth Route Army until now."

"Now the two sides are like two swordsmen, exchanging blows and competing to see who can last the longest."

The Japanese chief of staff spoke up to comfort the Japanese division commander.

"I know that. I just don't understand how a bunch of guerrillas without even a cannon could show such resilience."

“The average Nationalist army would have been crushed by us long ago.”

"And the Eighth Route Army on the other side is even more insane than we are."

"I saw with my own eyes that a member of the Eighth Route Army, whose lower body had been blown off, tried to drag our soldiers down with him before he died. He pulled the pin on a grenade and grabbed our soldiers, and even after his head was chopped off, he couldn't break free."

"Did the Eighth Route Army also take the 'Assault Pill'?"

The Japanese division commander was very puzzled.

Why is it that farmers who were previously bullied and never resisted suddenly underwent such an astonishing change after joining the Eighth Route Army?

His fighting spirit was even stronger than that of his soldiers.

You should know that the Japanese soldiers' Bushido spirit was indoctrinated from a young age.

The Eighth Route Army, on the other hand, only required a group of farmers to join the army, and it didn't take long for them to develop such a strong will.

All I can say is that the Japanese division commander didn't understand our patriotism and national cohesion.

The rise and fall, everyone is responsible.

Even ordinary farmers can unleash tremendous power after awakening.

The Japanese attack on the first day was forced to stop due to the arrival of night.

First, the soldiers had been fighting all day and were exhausted, so they needed time to rest.

Secondly, the Japanese had almost exhausted their artillery shells and needed to rely on logistics units to transport them from Jining.

The journey from Jining to Zhuozi is relatively smooth thanks to the availability of train transportation.

However, all the trains transporting goods from Datong to Jining were dismantled by Chen Ming's orders.

The Japanese could only rely on manpower and horses for transportation, which naturally reduced the speed and volume of transport.

As for transporting it by car?

Forget about it. The Japanese planes are almost out of fuel and need to be careful with their spending. There's no way they have enough fuel for cars.

The Japanese are currently prioritizing the use of fuel by the 3rd Tank Division in Baotou.

After rescuing the 3rd Tank Division, this fuel was to be allocated to the 3rd Tank Division so that their tanks could be put into operation.

Without fuel, the Japanese tanks in Baotou could not be taken away, let alone form a subsequent fighting force.

Therefore, the tanks of the 3rd Tank Division in Baotou must be the top priority, and their fuel supply must be guaranteed.

The Japanese army's logistical support will have to be put on hold for a while.

With ammunition supplies not yet arriving, the Japanese soldiers naturally lacked the means to launch an attack and could only wait until the ammunition arrived at night before continuing their offensive the next day.

The Japanese attack stopped, but the Independent Detachment did not rest, issuing one order after another.

Under the cover of night, countless figures surged forth!
P.S.: The name has been changed!
(End of this chapter)