Age of Rebirth

Chapter 560

At 23 o'clock in the morning on January 9, Tang Qiusheng commanded [-] troops of the Taihang Mountain Field Corps, and encircled more than [-] Japanese troops from the headquarters of the Japanese North China Expedition Army Chief of Staff Yamaguchi in the Taihang Mountains, from Xiangyuan to Lucheng in southern Shanxi. At around [-]:[-] in the morning, after three hours of fierce fighting, the Japanese army was compressed in the triangle area of ​​Xiadian, Wuyang, and Guhan, with a radius of no more than [-] kilometers.

After the initial attack, the remaining Japanese soldiers, under the command of Commander Yamaguchi, set up temporary field fortifications and fought tenaciously. The independent divisions moved the front to the center and narrowed the encirclement. The Japanese army could not escape.

In the encirclement, Yamaguchi looked at the division commanders around him with a dejected expression. He was very clear about the fate he was about to face. These division commanders also looked defeated. Their troops and organization had been destroyed. , The fierce artillery fire of the squadron made the arrogant Japanese army suffer a lot.

Yamaguchi looked at the soldiers who were desperately building fortifications, their bodies covered in mud and gunpowder smoke, their uniforms were full of traces of war flames, and the frozen corpses of their comrades had also become part of the bunker. His heart felt miserable. When the * team fell to this point, in just three hours, more than 3 soldiers fell under the artillery fire of the independent division. [

He knew very well in his heart that it is dangerous to defend, and holding on is nothing but lingering. In this sudden shelling, most of the troops' supplies and medicines were destroyed. If you can't support it for three days, you will be hungry.

The only thing he could do was to send telegrams asking for help one by one to the commander of the dispatched army, Xiangyue Qingji, truthfully reporting the desperation the troops were facing, without any exaggeration, in this icy and snowy, dangerous wilderness, being absolutely occupied Surrounded by superior troops and firepower, what kind of ending will they face?

He believed that Your Excellency, Commander, would understand that he was in a desperate situation. Kiyoshi Kazuki, who received a telegram from Yamaguchi asking for help, was about to go crazy. First, he lost his high hopes in Xuzhou. People and horses, followed by Yamaguchi's more than 13 troops, Kazuki Kiyoshi almost collapsed.

But he has nothing to do. There is no army that can rescue the mountain pass. If it is temporarily formed, it will face the situation of breaking through the blocking of Tang Qiuli's independent division. Now, the Imperial Army in North China is in a state of comprehensive defense and can It is already very good to hold the existing defense line.

He was in the frontline headquarters of Niangziguan, fuming with anxiety, Yamaguchi had to be rescued, but it took time, troops were dispatched from various places, and a group of regiments were dispatched, that was the appetizer delivered to Tang Qiuli's mouth, So he sent a telegram back to Yamaguchi, "Mr. Yamaguchi, the headquarters of the dispatched army is actively forming a rescue force. I hope your department will stick to the spot for three to five days, and the rescue force can reach the Lucheng area."

In fact, Kazuki Kiyoshi himself had no idea. First, where did this troop come from? It would definitely not work if it was too small. The independent division surrounding the mountain pass had more than 20 troops. , whether it can break through the blockade of the independent division troops is unknown. Once the troops desperately approach Lucheng, the Shankou Division has been completely destroyed, and the rescue troops fall into the encirclement again, wouldn't it be that they lose their wife and lose their troops?

At this time, he received a telegram from Prince Zairen, the chief of staff of the base camp, ordering him to immediately form a rescue force for Yamaguchi, otherwise, all consequences will be borne by him personally, Xiangyue Qing Si was dizzy for a while, how did His Royal Highness know about this?It must be that bastard from Yamaguchi who leapfrogged to report.

After receiving the telegram from Kiyoshi Kozuki, Yamaguchi was so angry that he almost vomited blood. He persisted for three to five days. He was joking and put it lightly. More than 6 people were crowded in such a small area. He fully believes that as long as the independent division surrounds the troops and starts attacking immediately, the troops that have been severely damaged will be wiped out in less than ten hours. The place where the fart is big is flattened.

It's not that Shankou has never tried to break out of the encirclement. He also knows that the water far away can't quench the thirst. Nai had no choice but to give up, could he just sit and wait to die?The red-eyed Yamaguchi tore Xiangyue Qingji's telegram to pieces, and ignored the army's rules. His life was the most important thing, so he simply sent a telegram to Chief of Staff Zairen, hoping that Zairen could put pressure on Xiangyue Qingji and send rescue as soon as possible. force.

Xiangyue Qingsi, who was under unprecedented pressure, assembled three divisions with nearly 10 troops from the Datong front, Niangziguan front, and Beiping garrison at the fastest speed, and formed a rescue corps with Handan as the assembly point. , to implement the rescue plan, but it takes about three days for these troops to assemble, not counting the time for logistical supplies.

Throughout the day on January [-]th, the independent division did not launch a full-scale attack on the surrounded Japanese army. It just used uninterrupted artillery fire to violently bombard the Japanese army positions. This was Tang Qiusheng's order. He severely rejected the orders of the commanders The idea of ​​​​attacking immediately, and the idea that this kind of charge can solve the battle, has been severely criticized. The Japanese army still has more than [-] troops. .

This move is more powerful than a direct attack, causing more casualties to the Japanese army. If the infantry attack, the Japanese soldiers can have a face-to-face bloody battle at any rate, and it can also arouse the fierceness in their hearts. It is in line with the most basic samurai spirit of the Japanese that can pull up a few pads.

But this saw the artillery roaring, and the infantry charge was not seen. The Japanese soldiers in the encirclement suffered a lot and destroyed their will to resist little by little. The only Japanese artillery unit that could counterattack, just launched After one shot was fired, countless shots were fired back. The flames flashed, and the snow foam that was stirred up blocked the sight of the Japanese soldiers.

The Japanese infantry watched helplessly as the cannons turned into piles of scrap iron, and the artillerymen turned into fragmented corpses. They could only hide in the temporary fortifications, enduring hunger, the biting cold wind, and the falling cannons whistling overhead, looking at their surroundings. The bloody corpse of his companion has already numb his heart. Maybe he will be the next one lying on the ground.

The unique tactics of the independent division made it impossible for the desperate Japanese soldiers to find their opponents. Moreover, all the troops adopted the method of watering the water to form ice and accumulating snow to form a moat. On the periphery of the encirclement, a long stretch of tens of kilometers was formed. The ice wall, facing the Japanese soldiers, has a very steep slope, which is as smooth as a mirror and hard to fall on. More than 6 Japanese remnants and defeated soldiers are surrounded inside.

The siege of the Japanese army under Yamaguchi was so successful that Tang Qiuli was surprised. He left Guocun immediately, took his division commanders, and rushed to the headquarters of the Huang Nian Corps. On the evening of the [-]th, he joined Tang Qiusheng. When he was in the middle of the war, he thought how similar the encirclement battle in front of him was to the Huaihai battlefield between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party.

The CCP's Zhongye and Huaye troops, under the command of Liu Bocheng, Chen Yi, Mao Zedong, and Su Yu, surrounded General Du Yuming's 30 troops. Rescuing soldiers from abroad can only be the fate of destruction. This battle also determines the military power balance between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party in the Huanghuaihai area.

The difference is that it is the Japanese army that is surrounded now, and there must be a shortage of supplies, but there will be reinforcements. He is well aware of the tradition of the Japanese army. It landed near Xingtai and Shexian County in Hebei, which are the closest to Lucheng. If the Japanese army sent rescue troops, they would definitely take this shortest route. This was also the main reason why he hurried to the front line.

After arriving at the front line, he immediately held a meeting of commanders above the brigades of the troops. At the meeting, he completely agreed with Tang Qiusheng's style of play. The battle plan, that is, use the besieged Japanese army as bait, attack but not wipe out, and attract the Japanese army to help, and we can eat the Japanese army's reinforcements. [

He inspected the encirclement and highly praised the soldiers for their creative method of splashing water into ice. Now, even if the little devils are allowed to break through, just by climbing over this ice wall, they can be tossed to death, and half of the troops can be dispatched to help. , can be implemented completely, this new battle plan immediately attracted everyone's attention.

The battle plan was quickly formed, with four brigades under Sun Zhenbang's Department of the Yellow River Defense Corps, three brigades from the Niangziguan Garrison Corps, the second independent brigade, the Huangyadong Garrison Brigade, and the first and second cavalry brigades of the Independent Division, with a total of 12 people He immediately withdrew from the encirclement and set up an ambush in Shexian County, preparing to ambush the Japanese troops who came to help.

Tong Batu's Second Cavalry Brigade immediately ended the battle from Wuxiang to Yushe, and marched to Shexian County to join the troops. In addition, two artillery regiments were drawn from Tang Qiusheng's troops to fight with the troops and encircle the Japanese troops at the Yamaguchi Station. The task of the battle was undertaken by the five brigades of the Independent Division and the Yellow River Henan Defense Line Defense Corps, with a total of 11 troops.

Tang Qiuli was not worried. The encircling troops with reduced artillery firepower would be in a tight position when facing more than 6 Japanese troops. The ice wall could withstand [-] soldiers. Besides, the surrounded Japanese troops, after a whole day of shelling, The morale of the army has been shaken, and the combat effectiveness has been greatly weakened. Such a Japanese army is like a tiger without claws and teeth. It will not pose much threat. After starving him for two days, without fighting, the Japanese army will naturally collapse. It is the fatal difficulty that they cannot overcome.

At night, the shelling of the surrounded Japanese army by the artillery of the Independent Division did not stop as the night fell, but became more violent. Some heavy mortars also joined the ranks of shelling. The Japanese soldiers were living in hell. They still didn't understand where the Chinese army got so many cannons, and they kept firing at them all day long.

They will never understand that with their backs to Huangyadong, medicines and supplies, they opened their supplies, and under the cover of artillery fire and night, they marched to Shexian troops and quietly evacuated their positions. Soldiers simply don't have the energy to pay attention to these changes, and a new battle is about to begin.

(To be continued)