At the beginning of June of the 40th year of the Republic of China, the huge encirclement formed around the first division of Zhang Mingyu's reading army was officially formed, and it reached Baotou in the west. From Guisui to Chahar in the north, to Cangzhou in the east, to Shanxi and Shandong in the south, millions of military and civilian troops composed of the Jinsui Army and the Eighth Route Army formed a huge encirclement.

The small and medium-sized county towns in Shandong and the strongholds of various highways and artillery towers were all lost, and the main force of the army was forced to retreat in Jinan and Qingdao. Jining and other large and medium-sized cities.

The guerrillas and armed forces of the Eighth Route Army have swelled rapidly, and the strength of the Guanglu Central and Lunan sub-military regions has reached an astonishing 100,000 people, but of course the combat effectiveness of these units has not really taken shape, and some soldiers have hurriedly put down their hoes to join the army, and their military quality is not worth mentioning.

But in the future, these forces will become the main force to compete with Chairman Chiang, Shandong has been a place of outstanding people since ancient times, and the soldiers of Shandong are brave and fearless of death, and in the original long history, the Huaihai Campaign in the three major battles is thanks to the elders of Shandong.

In Xingtang, Xinle and other places, with the full cooperation of the Jin Sui army, Ling Tianbao's Second Infantry Division had successfully occupied the second county of Xingtang and Xinle, forcing the main force of the Yue army to turn around and respond to the battle.

This is also the reason why the Eighth Division, as the forward force, was stationed in place and did not move, because its main force had been deeply entangled by the Jin Sui Army and the Reading Li Army and could not be withdrawn.

In addition, the masses launched by the Eighth Route Army attacked and harassed from time to time, and the logistics and supply of the army were not very smooth.

Looking at the big picture, the situation is slowly starting to turn in favor of the Reading Army.

………………… Beiping, the General Headquarters of the Northern Group of the Army.

The senior generals of the army gathered together, and Okamura Ninji strode in with a dark face surrounded by several staff officers.

The generals of the Yue Army present hurriedly got up, and Okamura Ninji snorted coldly: "Gentlemen, please take a seat!" ”

Everyone sat down, and Okamura Ninji said straight to the point: "At present, I say that the situation faced by this imperial army is not optimistic, it can be said that it is very serious, the counterattack of the people of China has caused immeasurable losses to the imperial army on the front of thousands of miles in the east and west, if the imperial army cannot completely annihilate the empire's henchmen and reading force this time, the empire's losses will be extremely heavy!" ”

Chief of Staff Okabe Naosaburo stood up, bowed his head suddenly, and said, "General! The unfavorable situation that arose in this operation was a mistake in the command of the lowly position, and the lowly position was willing to accept the judgment of the imperial court! ”

"Okabe-kun! The fighting is not over yet, and it is not yet time to hold accountable. Okamura Ninji said and motioned for the attendant behind him to take out a folder, and continued: "This is the situation that the special high-tech personnel came from Qingdu, and the people of China have gathered all the main forces in the east direction of Qingdu, and the garrison on the western front is weak. ”

"Huh? Why did the Chinese army move all its main forces to the Eastern Front? Okabe Naosaburo said puzzled.

"There is our heavy army group on the Eastern Front, and of course they have to deploy heavy troops to defend it." Yoshio Shinozuka, commander of the 10th Division, stood up and said.

"According to reliable information, it seems that the Chinese army wants to surround and eat our eighth division!" Okamura Ninji asked.

"General, it is simply wishful thinking that it is wishful thinking to eat the Eighth Division with the strength of the Qingdu Zhina Army alone!" Yoshio Shinozuka stood up and said.

"Hmmm! What Shinozuka-kun said is right! So Okabe-kun, this is your chance, you have to break through their defense in one fell swoop when the defense of the reading force on the western front is empty, and take Qingdu, so that the reading force and Zhang Mingyu will be the turtle in the urn, and it will be impossible to escape! Okamura nodded to Naosaburo Okabe.

"Hay! Humble duty understands! Okabe Naosaburo hurriedly bowed his head and said.

…………………

To the west of Gyeongdu, the position of the guard battalion.

The 2nd Infantry Wing of the 27th Brigade of the 10th Division of the Army had already joined up with its 2nd Forward Squadron, and the leader of the 3rd Squadron Anan hurriedly ran to the wing headquarters to report the battle situation.

In the wing headquarters, the commander of the second infantry wing was Hei Zhenzang Dazuo and several staff officers of the wing headquarters to discuss the battle situation. ”

"Oh! Anan-kun! Ishiguro put down the pencil in his hand, raised his head and asked, "Anan-kun!" How's the war going? ”

"Report to the Wing Captain! The firepower of the Chinese army was swift and strong, and our squadron launched two attacks in a row but failed to take its forward positions! Anan Shozo replied with his head raised.

"Hmmm! General Okabe has long said that the people of China opposite us are the most elite army in China, and their combat effectiveness is naturally strong! However, under the fierce shelling of the Imperial Army, we will destroy all the mighty troops! Ishiguro nodded slightly, but said with an imposing voice.

"Hay! The captain of the wing was wise, and he also thought that it was most appropriate to deal with the people of China with the most intense shelling! Anan Shozo bowed his head again abruptly.

"Yo Xi! The artillery squadron was ordered to immediately build artillery positions, and fifteen minutes later to carry out the most intense artillery bombardment on the forward positions of the Chinese Army! Ishiguro ordered solemnly.

"Hay!" Anan Zhengsan bent down suddenly, then turned around and strode away.

For example, the artillery squadron under the wing of the 14th Division has three artillery squads (platoons), each with two 70mm caliber Type 92 infantry guns.

This kind of artillery firepower was already very good in China's regimental army at that time, because most of the [***] teams did not have artillery at all.

The quality of the artillery was quite good, the efficiency was extremely high, and in less than 10 minutes, with the help of the engineers, a simple artillery field fortification was built.

Six 70mm caliber Type 92 infantry guns were lined up, and the black holes were aimed at the [***] alert position opposite.

With the order of a squadron leader, nearly a hundred artillerymen suddenly got busy, reloading and firing! I saw six fireballs soaring into the air in an instant, dragging a long tail flame and slamming down towards the [***] guard position.

Suddenly, the cannonballs hit the ground and exploded, bursting out with dazzling firelight, and clusters of scarlet flames quickly rose into the air with billowing smoke.

The first round of shelling was just a test shot, and after the first round of shelling, the artillery began to adjust the firing of Zhuyuan, and opened fire again, boom....! The chamber of the black hole once again spewed out a ball of scarlet fire, falling towards the opposite [***] position.

This time, the artillery bombardment effect was much better than the last time, and all six shells hit the target, and two of them fell directly into the trench dug by the alert squad.

Dust was stirred up in the sky, and within a moment, the guard position of the alert squad was blown away by dense and fierce artillery fire.

The soldiers of the alert squad who had withdrawn to the first main trench opened their mouths in shock, and the squad leader Zhao Si scolded in surprise: "Damn, fortunately, the brothers withdrew early, otherwise this time they would all be cannon fodder for the little devils." ”

The quality of the artillery of the army was really not covered, especially the veterans of the 17 permanent divisions and regiments of its main force, and the combat quality was also one of the best in the world at that time.

For example, in the Battle of Nokanmen in Northeast China and the Soviet Union, the Soviet Army had absolute superiority in strength and mechanized corps, and also had overwhelming artillery fire.

The army only had a small number of tanks and combat vehicles, and the number and caliber of artillery could not be compared with the Soviet army, but even so, the casualties on both sides were still two to one, and the army only admitted that the number of casualties and missing was about 18,000, while the number of casualties announced by the Soviet Union reached more than 23,000.

However, Xiao Yueben will always be the kind of person who does not admit mistakes when he is killed, and the internationally recognized number of casualties of the Yue army should be about 50,000.

The 23rd Division, the 7th Division, the 8th Border Garrison (Brigade), the 1st Tank Division of the 1st Reading Garrison, and 11 Special Wings were almost completely wiped out, and the casualties among senior officers were extremely heavy.

Therefore, the casualty ratio of the two sides should be 2 to 1, you must know that the military strength of the two sides is not at the same level at all, except for the navy, and the army's 95-type, **-type and other types of tanks are like small toy cars in front of heavy tanks such as the T-28 of the Japanese army.

Infantry weapons are generally equipped with 38 rifles that can be fired and pulled, while the Soviet army has advanced automatic infantry guns, assault infantry guns, and submachine guns, and light and heavy machine guns are at an absolute disadvantage.

However, under such circumstances, the Yue army was still able to inflict such heavy casualties on the Soviet army, which shows that its combat effectiveness is not ordinarily strong, and if the Yue army has a powerful artillery and tank group comparable to the Soviet army, then the outcome of the battle may have to be rewritten.

An old soldier of the Eighth Route Army once made a comparison in an interview, and with the same 100 rounds of ammunition, the Soviet army could only kill one soldier at most, and the number of enemies killed by the soldier was several times that of them.

This is related to the ordinary training of the army, which attaches great importance to combat efficiency, and its infantry marksmanship is accurate, and the artillery is also very accurate. This saves unnecessary waste and reduces dependence on logistics.

Straight to the point.

After the artillery bombardment, Ishiguro sent a fully armed infantry brigade to attack the guard camp position in three directions.

Thousands of soldiers, armed with thousands of bayonets, shouted hoarsely and launched a fierce charge towards the position of the guard battalion.

Behind them, heavy machine guns and mortars fired wildly, providing fire support to their infantry.

Tie Niu lay in the trench and saw a large group of devils charging at them in a straggler formation, pondered for a moment, Tie Niu immediately ordered: "Put the enemy close before fighting, snipers specialize in fighting devils' officers and grenadiers and light machine guns, and the rest of the people concentrate their firepower on Lao Tzu to beat them hard!" ”

"Yes!"

"Yes!" The soldiers responded in unison, loaded their guns one after another, sharpened their knives, and lay quietly in the trenches, erecting the muzzles of black holes and calmly waiting for the army to enter the firing range.

The artillery fire was continuous, the shouts of the army shook the heavens and the earth, and the soldiers were not afraid, looking at the front with solemn expressions, not caring at all about the shells that fell not far from them from time to time, and the violent explosions seemed to have not reached their ears at all.

When the Devil's forward was less than two hundred meters away from them, the warriors could already faintly see the Devil's hideous face and the bayonet glowing with blindness.

Tie Niu picked up the telephone and yelled into the microphone: "All platoons listen to orders!" Hit me hard! Bring down all the dogs! ”

(To be continued)