I am helping

The reinforcement troops of the 1st Division of the Japanese army are rushing to Datong day and night.

The Eighth Route Army of each military region received orders to plant landmines, blow up bridges, and use various methods to delay the reinforcement of the Japanese army.

After noon.

Kong Jie sent another four battalions into the city of Datong, and started a street-by-street battle with the Japanese 1st Division.

The Eighth Route Army made a posture to wipe out the 1st Division.

The battle was extremely fierce, and soon entered a fever pitch.

Every house and every street on the outskirts of Datong City became a battleground for the Eighth Route Army and the Japanese Army.

Explosions and dense gunshots were heard like popping beans and firecrackers.

Sometimes, the living room was captured by the Eighth Route Army, but the kitchen was still in the hands of the devils.

Street fighting is the most difficult battle, and the fighting will of the soldiers on both sides is very tenacious.

The houses and streets on the outskirts of Datong became a meat grinder, and the casualties on both sides were not small.

Street fighting is often a contest of willpower between the enemy and ourselves.

After some cities are conquered, the defending army will quickly collapse, while some cities can carry out fierce street battles.

One of the most important reasons is that the city defenders are not elite and their willpower is not strong enough, so they are not even qualified to participate in street fighting.

The 1st Division of the Japanese Army is obviously one of the most elite units of the Japanese Army.

Although the main force of the 1st Division was wiped out by the Eighth Route Army in Northwest Shanxi, the two newly joined regiments were also elite troops.

The Japanese army in Datong had a strong will to fight.

The 1st Division of the Japanese Army turned the entire Datong City into a fortress. The squad fights for itself, and the people fight for themselves.

Every house and every window may be a fortification and shooting point of the Japanese army. The Eighth Route Army conducted house-by-house inspections, otherwise they may face bullets fired from behind.

Although in the street fighting, the Eighth Route Army's superiority in strength and weapons could not be used.

However, in the usual training of the Eighth Route Army, street fighting is a key training subject, especially among the veterans of the New Second Regiment and the Independent Regiment, many of them are veterans with street fighting experience.

Coupled with the fact that the soldiers are equipped with submachine guns and semi-automatic rifles, they have a certain advantage in firepower.

However, the Japanese had the advantage that they were on the defensive.

The two sides launched a high-level street fighting on the outskirts of Datong City.

As night fell, both sides in the street fighting had casualties, and the casualties were not small. There was a tacit understanding between the Eighth Route Army and the Japanese army and they did not continue to fight.

The street fighting was already mixed up. If the fighting continued in vain, both sides would accidentally injure their own people.

……

Jinzhong area.

too valley.

Last year, Li Yunlong led his troops along the Baijin line, went northward quietly and captured Taiyuan, and killed the commander of the First Army, Shinozuka Yoshio.

After the new commander of the First Army Yoshio Iwamatsu took office, the old devil did not want to follow in the footsteps of Yoshio Shinozuka.

So he ordered the construction of a large number of defensive positions in the Taigu area, and ordered the 14th and 18th Brigades to be stationed for a long time.

The Eighth Route Army defending the southeast of Shanxi went north. As for the Baijin Railway, it had already been occupied by the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army.

After the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army occupied the Baijin Railway, they did not remove the tracks, but often sent engineers to maintain them.

Later, the Eighth Route Army recovered Taiyuan, Yangquan and Shouyang, as well as the Zhengtai Railway.

The Baishan-Shanxi Railway is the link between Jinzhong and Jindongnan.

The Eighth Route Army needed a rear. If the Japanese army in North China counterattacked and reoccupied Taiyuan, Yangquan, and Shouyang, the troops could transport materials and equipment from Taiyuan and other places back to southeast Shanxi along the Baijin Railway.

The Left Attack Group of the Eighth Route Army, led by the commander of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, arrived at the Japanese defense line before dark.

This time, the main force of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army going north was divided into three attack groups, left, middle and right.

左路攻击集团共6万余人，携带1个105毫米榴弹炮团，3个75毫米山炮团。

At noon during the day, the bombers of the Japanese army came to carry out a bombing, the target was the artillery unit of the left attack group.

Several of the mountain cannons were blown up by the devil's plane, and one of the devil's bombers was shot down by the air defense force, causing mutual losses.

The artillery units of the Eighth Route Army's left, middle and right attack groups were also bombed by Japanese aircraft, but the losses were not large.

Perhaps the Japanese army felt that the Eighth Route Army's northward march was not really intended to attack the First Army, so Japanese planes did not come to continue bombing the Eighth Route Army's artillery units in the afternoon.

In the headquarters of the attacking force on the left.

It was still dark at this time.

The security personnel of the division headquarters have already set up a temporary headquarters.

The combat staff quickly spread out the map, the telegraph soldiers quickly set up the radio station, and the walkie-talkie soldiers began to adjust the walkie-talkies.

"Report to the division commander, all regiments and brigades have entered the attack position, are you launching a tentative attack on the enemy?"

In the headquarters, the chief of staff of the division reported to Commander Liu and asked.

Although the left attack group is also under the command of Li Yunlong, the division commander has a lot of autonomy.

Because the attacking group on the left was also covering and assisting, the division commander led the main force of the 6th Route Army to go north along Baijin Road, not to attack Taiyuan.

At present, the Japanese army's defense against Taiyuan is still very strong.

Relying on the main force of the 6th Route Army and 4 artillery regiments alone, it is impossible to recover the current Taiyuan.

Therefore, the attacking group on the left may attack the Japanese army or not.

The division commander narrowed his eyes and asked, "Have the positions of the artillery units been set up?"

"The cannons of the four artillery regiments have all been set up, and they can fire at the Japanese positions at any time." The chief of staff nodded.

"What about the 60mm mortars, 82mm mortars and 70mm infantry guns of the regiments and brigades? Have they been erected?" asked the division commander.

The Eighth Route Army Arsenal in southeastern Shanxi has 60mm mortars and 70mm infantry gun production lines.

After more than a year of overtime production by the arsenal personnel, each infantry main regiment of the 129th Division now has an artillery battalion under its jurisdiction, equipped with at least 12 60mm mortars and 70mm infantry guns.

Some elite units, such as the 772 regiment and other elite units, are even equipped with 82mm mortars and 75mm mountain guns.

The main force of the 129th Division is in terms of artillery firepower, and the division commander is very satisfied.

"Not yet." The chief of staff wondered, "According to the battle plan, didn't we cover and feign an attack, so the troops did not make an offensive posture."

The teacher said: "Nonsense, who said that cover and feint are not offensive?"

"Immediately order all regiments and brigades to set up mortars and infantry artillery, and first bombard the devil's position."

"Then order the troops to launch a tentative attack to expose the devil's firepower."

"Finally, order mortars, infantry artillery, mountain artillery and howitzers to fire at the devil's position together."

"Someone reimbursed us for ammunition, what a great opportunity for artillery combat, we can't waste it!"

The Eighth Route Army arsenal in southeastern Shanxi only has a production line for 75mm mountain cannons. After more than a year of production and storage, even if the Eighth Route Army now has more than a dozen 75mm artillery regiments, the shells for 75mm mountain cannons are enough.

However, there is no production line for 105mm shells, and the 129 howitzers of the 105th Division will not be used until the critical moment.

However, the commander-in-chief of this battle was Li Yunlong, and Boss Chen reimbursed the shells.

Boss Chen has already said that even if the Eighth Route Army consumed 100 million tons of shells in this battle, he will reimburse them.

Since the formation of the artillery regiments of the 129th Division, there have not been many opportunities to go to the battlefield, only a few times.

Moreover, there was no opportunity to reimburse the ammunition in the past few times, but this time there is such a good opportunity, how could the teacher miss it?

Naturally, it was necessary to open the cannons and let the Japanese army have a taste of the shells.

The division chief of staff asked: "Then division commander, how long shall we test the bombardment?"

The teacher said lightly: "Half an hour."

"Yes!"

"Master!"

The chief of staff of the division straightened his body, turned around and went to deliver the order.

Following the order of the division headquarters, the mortars and infantry guns of the brigades and regiments of the 129th Division were quickly set up.

"This is the division headquarters, shelling for half an hour!"

"Listen to my unified command and fire at the enemy's position!"

In the walkie-talkie, the chief of staff of the division gave a unified order to fire.

As soon as the words fell, the division commander stepped on the ladder, and saw dense ballistic paths suddenly appeared in the dark sky ahead.

At least 500 mortars and infantry guns fired at the Japanese positions.

boom boom boom…

Not long after, the sound of continuous explosions rumbled to the headquarters.

In the field of vision of the division commander's artillery team, the defensive positions of the 14th and 18th Brigades of the Japanese Army were suddenly plunged into smoke and flames.

At first, the devil's artillery unit still had a little counterattack, and wanted to have an artillery battle with the artillery unit of the Eighth Route Army.

But soon the artillery units of the Japanese army were defeated. In terms of artillery firepower, the artillery units of the Japanese army were not opponents at all.

At this moment, the soldiers of the 129th Division raised their heads and looked at the artillery positions of the Japanese army with joyful expressions on their faces.

Seeing the devils being bombed, the soldiers couldn't be too happy.

And the soldiers all knew that this was just a pre-dinner dessert, and there was still a big meal waiting for the devils.

The four artillery regiments of the Eighth Route Army have not yet opened fire on the devil's position, only mortars and infantry artillery fired.

Half an hour later, the devils on the battlefield were a little stunned by the bombing.

At this time, the infantry of the Eighth Route Army began to launch a tentative attack on the positions of the Japanese 14th and 18th Brigades.

Soon, the artillery firepower and machine gun firepower of the Japanese army were all exposed under the temptation of the infantry of the Eighth Route Army.

The artillery observers quickly communicated the devil's firepower point to the rear artillery position by walkie-talkie.

Since it was a tentative attack, the infantry casualties of the Eighth Route Army were not large.

As the tentative attacking troops retreated, the four artillery regiments and all the mortars and infantry artillery were ready to cover the Japanese firepower area.

"Master, how long is this bombardment?" the division chief of staff asked.

"Leave half of the base number of shells, and shoot all the rest!" the teacher said in a cold tone.

"Leave only half a base of shells?" The chief of staff was surprised and persuaded, "Master, we can't do it? If the Japanese army launches a counterattack, we won't have enough shells to deal with the devils."

This time, the division commander's attacking force on the left carried 3 base shells.

Enough artillery units bombarded the devil's position for several hours.

The division chief of staff had never fought such a rich battle in his life, so he hesitated immediately.

"Small, send a report to Li Yunlong tomorrow morning and ask him to call for an airdrop of supplies for us."

The teacher's tone was firm: "Execute the order!"

"Yes!" Hearing this, the division chief of staff grinned and said, "Master, our 129th division has never fought such a rich battle!"

The teacher smiled slightly at the corner of his mouth, where did he go? (end of this chapter)