I am helping

Chapter 343 Surround Wei and save Zhao!

"It is said that Balu received external assistance."

Ishida Kinzo's tone was puzzled: "The intelligence department of the headquarters has been investigating this matter, but it has not been investigated until now. Where did the assistance from the Eight Routes come from?"

Hirata Kenkichi couldn't help yelling: "The intelligence personnel in the headquarters are a bunch of waste."

"Your Excellency, Division Chief, Chief of Staff!"

Holding two telegrams, the communications staff hurried in, paused and said, "The 226th Wing and the 227th Wing sent telegrams requesting tactical guidance at the same time!"

Those who participated in the sweep were mainly the two brigades of the 225th and 226th Wings of the Japanese Army, and the 227th and 226th Wings were on the outside.

At present, the 225th regiment has been completely lost again, and only the regiment headquarters followed the division headquarters to Changzhi. The captains of the 225th regiment and the 226th regiment each commanded more than 2000 people to defend the county.

Hirata Kenkichi accepted the telegram, and his face darkened suddenly after reading it: "Baga!"

Ishida Kinzo hurriedly asked: "Your Excellency, Division Commander, have the rescue troops been ambushed by the Eighth Route?"

When the Eighth Route had just shelled, Hirata Kenkichi gave the two troops an order to rush to help immediately.

Ishida Kinzo was a little puzzled, although it was said that the tactic of encircling the spot and attacking reinforcements was the usual tactic of the Eight Routes, it had only been less than half an hour, and logically speaking, they were not ambushed by the Eight Routes so quickly.

“八路同时向襄垣、黎城县攻击，第225联队和第226联队已经无法驰援。”平田健吉脸色难看：“八路各动用了至少40门75毫米以上的大炮，还有不少的105口径的榴弹炮。”

Hearing this, Ishida Kinzo's face suddenly became extremely ugly.

The Eight Routes actually attacked Xiangyuan, Licheng and Changzhi County at the same time.

And it wasn't a feint attack, they were all main attacks, with the intention of not giving up until these three county towns were taken.

As a result, the battle situation became extremely complicated.

Ishida Kinzo adjusted his glasses: "Master, it's all my fault. I miscalculated the tactics of the Eighth Route Army. I thought that the Eighth Route Army would not attack three counties at the same time, causing the imperial army to disperse."

"Ishida-kun, it's not your fault." Hirata Kenkichi waved his hand and said, "Even if the troops are gathered together, they still have to face a siege of more than 3 people, and the situation is not much better."

At this moment, the communications staff officer ran in again, paused and said hurriedly: "Reporting to the division commander, the commander, the commander of the mountain artillery regiment, Narita Dazuo, reported that the eight-way mountain artillery and howitzers are both 5 kilometers away from the city wall, and the mountain artillery regiment cannot deal with the eight-way artillery. Troops retaliated."

"Nani?" Hirata Kenkichi's face darkened suddenly when he heard this.

"How is the accuracy of the eight-way shells?" Hirata Kenkichi asked.

"The landing point is accurate!" said the communications staff officer. "According to Narita's report, the Eighth Route did not test fire in advance. As soon as it came up, it covered the positions and walls outside the city with artillery fire."

The shelling was actually fired at a distance of 5 kilometers, without pre-test firing, and the landing point was very accurate. Is the quality of the Eighth Route Artillery so good?
Ishida Kinzo said: "Division commander, it is definitely impossible for the artillery regiment to rely on the mountain artillery to counter the eight-way artillery position. Now we can only see if the aviation can find the eight-way artillery position and destroy it."

During World War II, there were three main methods of attacking the enemy's deep artillery positions: artillery countermeasures, air strikes, and infantry sneak attacks.

The most important thing in artillery countermeasures is to find out the exact position and distance of the enemy's artillery positions.

After finding out the position of the enemy's artillery position, guide your own artillery to cover it with artillery fire.

Obviously, the observer soldiers set up by the devils on the city wall were unable to measure distance and position.

"Quickly ask." Hirata Kenkichi said anxiously, "How long will it take for the air force to arrive!"

"Also, immediately report to Commander Shinozuka that the Eighth Route will concentrate its forces to attack Xiangyuan, Licheng, and Changzhi counties at the same time, and request reinforcements to rush to help!"

"Hi!" Ishida Kinzo nodded.

……

Taiyuan, the headquarters of the Japanese First Army.

After listening to the communications officer read the telegram from Lieutenant General Kenkichi Hirata, the expressions of Yoshio Shinozuka and Hideyoshi Kusuyama changed at the same time.

The Eighth Route Army actually attacked three heavily defended and well-fortified county towns at the same time, which really surprised the two of them.

Nanshan Hideyoshi said with emotion: "Li Yunlong is totally out of order in fighting, just like a lunatic. We only guessed that his target is the 37th Division. We didn't expect him to have the courage to attack three counties at the same time."

"Such an opponent is difficult to deal with." Yoshio Shinozuka felt the same way, "It's hard for you to guess what he's thinking and what he's going to do next."

Nanshan Hideyoshi's tone was gloomy: "Commander, Li Yunlong's move is just playing with fire. If the battle falls into a stalemate, and when reinforcements from the imperial army arrive, Li Yunlong's corps will only end in annihilation. I suggest ordering the 2nd Guards Division immediately The regiment stopped mopping up and went all out to help the 37th Division."

Shinozuka Yoshio frowned, staring at the map in silence.

Let the 2nd Guards Division stop the raid and rescue the 37th Division, then the openings in the north, east and west will be given up to the Eighth Route Army.

Then the Eighth Route Army and the common people in its base areas can jump to the outside line from these directions.

Because once they rush to help, they will concentrate their forces, and there is no way to divide them into multiple raids.

Shinozuka Yoshio suddenly asked: "Mr. Nanshan, have you ever thought that this might be the strategy of the Eight Routes to encircle Wei and save Zhao?"

"A plan to encircle Wei and save Zhao? Your Excellency, Commander, you mean that the Eighth Route Army may not want to destroy the 37th Division, but besiege the 37th Division to rescue the troops and ordinary people in the Eighth Route Bandit area?" Nanshan Hideyoshi was taken aback, He really didn't think about this issue, he always felt that the Eighth Route Army was going to eat up the 37th Division.

Shinozuka Yoshio said: "Regardless of whether the plan of besieging Wei and saving Zhao was included in the Eight Routes plan from the beginning, the current situation is that the Eight Routes have achieved the strategic goal of encircling Wei."

Hideyoshi Kusuyama thought about it carefully, and thought about it carefully, it seems that this is really the case.

If the 37th Division is not rushed to the rescue, then the 37th Division will be eaten by the Eighth Route Army led by Li Yunlong.

If the other three routes of troops all rush to help the 37th Division, then the entire mopping up plan will go bankrupt.

After rescuing the 37th Division and returning, we went to sweep the Eighth Route Base Area. The Eighth Route Army and the common people had long since disappeared.

"Commander, what should we do now?" Kusuyama Hideyoshi asked.

Save or not?
The advance speed of the 14th and 18th Brigades is very slow, and it is not known how long the 27th Division can last.

Yoshio Shinozuka stared at the map closely, and suddenly thought of Kazuki Yamamoto. If Kazuki Yamamoto was by his side, what suggestions would he make?
Suddenly, Yoshio Shinozuka saw a line of sky on the map, which was the location of the Eighth Route Army's Huangyadong Arsenal.

"Order the 2nd Guards Division to speed up and sweep towards the sky!" Shinozuka Yoshio said.

Nanshan Hideyoshi's eyes flashed sharply: "Your Excellency, Commander, are you going to use the strategy of besieging Wei and saving Zhao to force Li Yunlong's corps to go back to rescue Huangyadong Arsenal?"

The straight-line distance from Licheng County to Huangyadong Arsenal is only 30 kilometers, and even the mountain road is only about 40 kilometers away.

It only takes half a day for the troops to march quickly.

However, the 40-kilometer mountain road was blocked by the Eighth Route Army at various levels, and the Japanese troops said it would take at least two or three days to walk.

"That's right!" Yoshio Xiaozuka said, "Since the Eighth Route Army can use the strategy of besieging Wei and saving Zhao, then the Imperial Army will use their own methods to treat them."

Kusuyama Hideyoshi: "Hi!"

Shinozuka Yoshio suddenly thought of something, and hurriedly called Nanshan Hideyoshi and said, "Mr. Nanshan, please wait a moment. The telegram to Lieutenant General Hirata reminded that Li Yunlong's artillery is very good at beheading tactics. Please leave the headquarters immediately to command fight."

Shinozuka Yoshio remembers very clearly that when Li Yunlong attacked Yangquan City and Shouyang County, he used this artillery decapitation tactic, which made the Japanese army lose their command system, so that they could easily take down the county and seize so much equipment.

Kusuyama Hideyoshi: "Hi!"

……

Changzhi.

The mountain artillery and howitzers of the Eighth Route Army continued to pour shells at the city wall.

The deafening change was like the sound of an explosion rumbling like a landslide.

In particular, the explosion of the 105 howitzer shells exploded into the vast sky like thunder, and the movement was as loud as shaking mountains and shaking mountains, destroying the sky and collapsing the earth.

Kong Jie answered a high-powered phone, and then said: "Commander-in-Chief, Political Commissar Zhao, the Commander of the 1st Battalion of the Independent Regiment just reported that the West City Gate has been blown down by shells."

"Oh?" Li Yunlong and Zhao Gang raised their binoculars to look, but they couldn't see the specific situation in the direction of the west city wall.

But the northern city wall in front of it has been completely devastated by the bombing, and it seems that it can't last long.

More than ten minutes ago, a wave of Devil planes had arrived.

The main target of the Devil's plane is the Eighth Route Army artillery positions located on the outer line.

However, the artillery positions of the Eighth Route Army were either set up in cave dwellings, or they were well camouflaged, and they were far apart from each other. They even pulled a lot of camouflage nets. Because the guns would emit smoke, special personnel put smoke under the camouflage nets to confuse the devils. Pilots, within a few kilometers around the county town, hundreds of smoke spots made it impossible for the devil pilots to know where the real Eighth Route Army artillery positions were.

Less than 3 minutes later, the north city wall of Changzhi, two kilometers in front of the headquarters, collapsed with a bang. When the smoke and dust dispersed slightly, a gap of more than ten meters appeared in the north city wall.

Li Yunlong immediately said: "Old Kong, order the artillery in the rear to stop shelling, let the mortars attack, and the infantry press up."

"Yes!" Kong Jie straightened up, and immediately turned around and picked up the high-power walkie-talkie to send an order.

At present, the east city wall and the south city wall have not been destroyed, but as long as the tactics arranged by Li Yunlong are followed, the soldiers break into the north city and the west city, detour along the city wall, first take down each city wall, and then the soldiers fight in depth from four directions together. That's not a big problem.

As soon as the mountain guns and howitzers stopped, the mortars started working again. With the muffled sound of the mortar positions, the 60mm mortar shells fell on the positions outside the Devil City.

This is the advantage of having a walkie-talkie, which enables the seamless connection of mortars, mountain artillery, and howitzers, so that the devils and puppet troops have no chance to breathe.

"Rush! Kill!" When the mortar shells landed on the devil's position, the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army who had entered the attacking position rushed towards the city wall with the siege ladder.

The shouts of killing, as if from hell warriors, suddenly rang out.

……

(End of this chapter)