At this time, the 21st Brigade under the 5th Division of the Japanese Army, which launched an attack on the position of the 9th Army, had the reputation of "the flower of the imperial army" in the Japanese army, and had two infantry wings under its command, the 21st and 42nd Infantry Wings, and the brigade commander was Major General Toshiji Miura. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

"Boom!"

With Toshishi Miura's order, the 21st Brigade launched an attack on the position where the 9th Army was stationed. Their way of attacking was still the same old way, the infantry did not go up, and the shells went first.

The officers of the 9th Army saw through the binoculars that the Japanese troops were moving in a big way, and hurriedly reminded the soldiers loudly: "Everyone, pay attention, the devils are attacking!" ”

In the smoke of gunpowder, the Japanese army's fast and accurate artillery shells poured down towards the position of the 9th Army, and the officers and men of the 9th Army had never seen such fierce artillery fire, and many soldiers who went to the battlefield for the first time were even more frightened by the shells and ran wildly, and were soon blown up into the sky by the shells.

The artillery of the Japanese army has undergone a lot of rigorous training, and the artillery has always inherited the characteristics of the Japanese short and concise, although it is not as powerful as the German heavy artillery, but the lethality of the Kuomintang troops is still very amazing.

Hao Mengling, who personally commanded the front, saw that his soldiers were constantly killed and injured by the Japanese artillery fire, and he was very sad and indignant, and he immediately ordered his adjutant: "Go and ask the artillery battalion if you have measured the coordinates of the Japanese artillery positions, and immediately destroy the small Japanese artillery after the measurements." ”

"Yes, Throne!" The adjutant immediately went to carry out the order.

On the artillery position of the 9th Army, the artillerymen were nervously calculating the coordinates, and the artillery battalion commander urged: "Everyone work hard, the army commander orders us to immediately destroy the devil's artillery, otherwise the brothers on the front line will not be able to withstand it!" ”

At this time, an artilleryman stood up and reported: "Battalion commander, the coordinates have been measured, please give an order!" ”

The battalion commander said happily: "Okay, I will personally ask the commander for credit for defeating the Japanese artillery, all of them have it, the goal: the Japanese artillery position, fire quickly!" ”

"Boom!"

Under the order of the artillery battalion commander, the few 12 guns of the 9th Army bombarded the Japanese artillery positions, although the artillery of the 9th Army was not as many as the Japanese army, but it was basically imported from Germany, especially the two 150 mm howitzers, which were extremely powerful.

"Oh my God!"

"Nani!"

The artillerymen on the Japanese artillery positions had no idea that the Kuomintang troops, who were vulnerable in their eyes, were actually equipped with German artillery, and when they saw the shells as big as a sand bowl in the sky flying towards them, they couldn't help but exclaim.

"Boom!"

The shells accurately hit the Japanese artillery position, and the Japanese artillery that looked up at the sky was blown away on the spot, and those short and concise artillery pieces were also blown apart, and for a time, the Japanese artillery position seemed to fall into hell, and the sound of explosions and wails converged into a tragic symphony of hell.

"Dog's day little devils, you also have today!"

The officers and men on the position of the 9th Army immediately cheered loudly when they saw that the Japanese artillery that had inflicted a lot of casualties on their troops was blown up.

Commander Hao Mengling saw the tragic situation of the Japanese artillery from the binoculars, and praised loudly: "Good! Well fried! ”

On the Japanese side, there was a gloomy cloud, and the brigade commander Miura Toshishi gave a loud slap to the officer in charge of intelligence, and he scolded: "Eight grid tooth road!" The Chinese army was actually armed with German artillery, why didn't your pre-war report mention this? Caused the artillery of our brigade to shatter, yours, big too bad! ”

The chief of staff next to him saw that the situation was critical, and the artillery of the 9th Army would soon blow up his infantry after blowing up the artillery position, so he hurriedly stood up and offered his advice: "Your Excellency the brigade commander, there is no point in pursuing responsibility now, let's hurry up and ask for the support of the field artillery wing of the division and regiment, and call our air force." ”

After slapping the intelligence officer, Miura Toshitoshi's mood also calmed down, and after listening to the chief of staff's suggestion, he nodded again and again: "That's right, communications soldiers, immediately ask the division commander for artillery support, call for air force support." ”

The signal soldier replied: "Hey! ”

Later, with the support of the field artillery wing of the 5th Division and the Japanese bombers, the artillery fire of the 9th Army was quickly suppressed, and the officers and men on the position had to accept the ravages and destruction of the Japanese artillery again.

"Kill, give!"

Seeing that his artillery once again had the upper hand, the complacent Toshitoshi Miura, brandished his saber and ordered the infantry of the 42nd Wing to rush towards the position of the 9th Army.

Under the cover of artillery fire, the Japanese army soon approached the position, and the two sides fought each other in short quarters, and launched a desperate fight with bayonets, but unfortunately because the equipment and training were far inferior to the Japanese soldiers, although the officers and men of the 9th fought for their lives, they still gradually fell into the upper hand, and the situation became more and more severe.

The two sides fought fiercely until noon, and with the help of aircraft and artillery fire, the Japanese army took advantage of the fact that the defenders were exhausted in casualties and reinforcements could not arrive in time. After breaking through the Nanhuaihua position, the Japanese army immediately broke through in depth and captured the vital 1300 heights.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Hao Mengling, commander of the 9th Army, urgently sent the 125th Regiment and the 124th Regiment of the 21st Division to block the Japanese attack, and after paying great sacrifices, the two regiments killed and wounded more than 400 Japanese soldiers, recaptured the 1300 heights at about 15 o'clock in the afternoon, and forced the Japanese army to retreat to the south bank of the Yunzhong River.

At this time, the Yanzhuang position of the left wing corps was also broken through by more than 3,000 Japanese troops, but the 10th Division gave a resolute counterattack and repelled the Japanese army. The Battle of Xinkou reached a fever pitch on the first day, with both sides increasing their forces and casualties.

Although the first battle of the Japanese army did not achieve the expected goal, Wei Lihuang, as the commander-in-chief, understood that after the enemy's frontal attack was frustrated, it was necessary to adjust the deployment, reorganize the troops, and receive reinforcements before it was possible to carry out follow-up operations.

In order to divert the offensive and change the unfavorable situation, Wei Lihuang urgently called Yan Laoxi at 12 o'clock on the 13th, asking him to attack from the central area with a reserve army.

Yan Laoxi then sent troops to engage the retreating Japanese troops, and ordered the left and right flank troops to actively detour behind enemy lines to prevent the reinforcement of the Japanese follow-up forces. In addition, the 68th Division of the Left Wing Army, Meng Xianjie's Division, and the 71st Division's Guo Zongfen Division, were transferred to the command of the Central Army.

On the night of the 13th, Fu Zuoyi ordered the 4th Brigade of the new formation, the 218th Brigade of the 35th Army, and the 2nd and 3rd Independent Brigades of the 61st Army of the General Reserve Army, which participated in the counterattack, to advance to the vicinity of Jiehepu to launch a counterattack.

At the same time, on the side of the Central Army, which was in the main direction of counterattack, the 54th Division, the 21st Division and the newly formed 4th Brigade carried out an all-out counterattack to Huaihua in the south. After the battle began, the Japanese army also invested a large number of reinforcements, and the battle between the two sides once again entered a stalemate.