Chapter 86: Prelude (3)

The battle was extremely fierce at the beginning, Jiang Spruce repaid the belief of avenging the dead comrades, and Kabayashi Yuichi was to give Yamashita Fengwen a past explanation in order to save his own life, between life and death, Kabayashi Yuichi issued a death order to the entire brigade if it was unsuccessful.

In terms of combat effectiveness alone, the 1st Assault Brigade and 1st Regiment are much stronger than the 1st Brigade of the 1st Infantry Wing of the Yamashita Brigade, but now Shanglin Youyi is determined to fight to the death with the 1st Regiment, even if the entire brigade is left here, it will not hesitate, so for a while, the two sides actually fought to a draw, and no one could help anyone.

However, on the whole, the casualties of the first brigade of the Yue army were much greater, mainly because Kabayashi Yuichi desperately organized his troops to launch a continuous group charge against the position of the first regiment regardless of the dark environment, so he caused such large casualties.

However, Jiang Spruce is not having a good time now, the impact of the devil's charge on the first regiment is still very great, and the first regiment is slightly inferior to the Yue army in terms of firepower, especially in terms of artillery, the first regiment was completely pressed and beaten by the Shanglin brigade, and the eight small-caliber mortars that only brought were destroyed by several infantry guns of the Yue army not long after the battle, so the first regiment was completely at a disadvantage in artillery support.

Fortunately, the army also provided emergency support this time, and did not carry a few infantry guns, and there were not many shells, otherwise this battle would be difficult to fight.

Jiang Yunshan ordered the 1st Battalion to quickly retreat to the battlefield that the 2nd Battalion had just built, and ordered the 1st Battalion Commander Liu Daqiang to lay some tricks on the position when he retreated.

Liu Daqiang acted quickly, laid the minefield in less than ten minutes, and withdrew to the rear position under the cover of the second battalion. However, at this time, the first battalion was less than two-thirds of the original size, and nearly 200 men remained in the position 300 meters away forever.

Kamibayashi Yui 1st Lieutenant saw that the 1st Battalion retreated without warning, and did not dare to approach too much under unknown circumstances, but he was afraid that the Shina army would escape, so he ordered the 1st Squadron, which had less casualties, to immediately bite the tail of the opposite Shina army.

Kabayashi Youichi's cautious approach was undoubtedly correct, but he far underestimated Jiang Spruce's firm belief that he would completely annihilate him, and now it was not that he was worried that Jiang Spruce would escape, but that Jiang Spruce was very worried that Kabayashi Youichi would retreat. The strength of the two sides is almost the same, and the combat effectiveness of the troops is almost equal, and it is almost impossible to completely annihilate a force that is determined to escape.

The first squadron of the army soon set foot in the original position of the first battalion, Kabayashi Yuichi never thought that the first battalion would lay minefields on the position, the reason is very simple, in the battle with their own position to lay mines is simply looking for death, the enemy a shell hit, then the mine you use to defend against the enemy is likely to become your own lifeline.

As a result, it can be imagined that the troops of the 1st Squadron did not go a few steps before they were cleverly planted and blown back, leaving more than 20 corpses on the original position of the 1st Battalion. However, this strengthened Kabayashi Yuichi's determination to pursue, and he believed that this mysterious Chinese army was likely to be the unit of Han Yunhua's unit operating in Zhangbei County, and the combat methods of the opposing troops were also very similar to the consistent combat methods of Han Yunhua's department.

Kabayashi Youichi participated in the four-way siege campaign of the North China Front against Han Yunhua's department two months ago, so he had a little understanding of Han Yunhua's combat skills, and when he saw the tragic situation of the first squadron, Kabayashi Yuichi's mind suddenly had a flash of inspiration, which was almost the same as the battle he participated in some time ago.

As the captain of the main infantry brigade of the Yamashita Brigade, Yuichi Kabayashi still knows some inside information. He knew that this time, the brigade commander Xingshi moved the defense line forward by moving dozens of kilometers forward, and did not hesitate to dispatch the treasure search squadron, the purpose of which was to completely solve the Han Yunhua division entrenched in the Chahar region.

Uebayashi Yuichi also knew that there were now tens of thousands of elite troops of the empire gathered in the Chahar border area, although Uebayashi Yuichi did not know exactly how many people there were due to his low position, but he knew that there were nearly 20,000 imperial army troops in Zhangjiakou City alone, and a few days ago he also saw Kameda Masaka, a graduate of the same class who served in the 21st Division, and at that time he was really envious of Kameda's majestic military uniform.

At the same time, Kamibayashi Yuichi also knew what the brigade commander was worried about now, and he knew that what the Yamashita brigade commander was most worried about was that the Eighth Route Army, which did not have the spirit of bushido, would hide before the arrival of the empire's large troops, in that case, the empire would be in trouble, and it would not be a good thing for tens of thousands of troops to be consumed in Chahar, a place where birds don't. Now as long as this unit of the Eighth Route Army is dragged here and the main force of the Eighth Route Army is forced to come to help, then the imperial army will follow, and the trouble of the brigade commander will be solved, and at that time, will the brigade commander still care about his search team, and if he can't get it back, he will be promoted.

Kamibayashi Yuichi immediately ordered the artillery unit to extend its fire to the front of the retreating Shina army, cut off the rear route of the Eighth Route Army of China, and then ordered his men and horses to drag the opposing Eighth Route Army at all costs. Later, Kabayashi Youichi asked the telegraph operator to immediately send a report to the head of the Yamashita Fengwen Tourism Regiment in Zhangjiakou City, reporting that he had now dragged a regiment of Han Yunhua's Eighth Route Army at the junction of Zhangjiakou and Zhangbei County, and asked His Excellency the brigade commander for instructions on the next step.

After receiving the news, Yamashita immediately rushed to the temporary headquarters in Zhangjiakou to meet with Lieutenant General Washizu Matsudaira, commander of the 21st Division, and truthfully reported the situation to Lieutenant General Washizu Matsudaira.

Lieutenant General Washizu Matsudaira immediately decided to send troops to attack Zhangbei County on a large scale, and while asking for instructions from General Terauchi Shouichi who was far away in Beiping, he ordered the troops in Zhangjiakou Castle to immediately prepare for battle and be ready to board the car and go north at any time.

The instructions of the North China Front Army Headquarters were soon issued, agreeing to Lieutenant General Washizu Matsupei's request for operation, and appointing Lieutenant General Washizu Matsuhei as commander of the Eastern Route Army to command all the puppet armies in the Zhangjiakou area.

At the same time, the North China Front Army Headquarters urgently sent two urgent telegrams to Datong and Guisui cities respectively, appointing Lieutenant General Houguan Chun, commander of the 26th Division, as commander of the Southern Route Army, to unify and control the 4th Brigade, the 39th Infantry Brigade, and the 26th Division stationed in Datong, and launch an all-out attack on the Chahar area on 3 July. At the same time, he appointed Gu Shoufu, commander of the Sixth Division, as the commander of the Northern Route Army, commanding the main force of the Sixth Division, and with the four cavalry divisions of Li Shouxin's division of the Imperial Allied Army, he attacked the defense line around Zhuozishan County of Han Yunhua's division from the northern route.

In order to prevent other units of the Eighth Route Army from reinforcing Han Yunhua, Terauchi Shouichi ordered the commander of the 109th Division, Lieutenant General Shigehou Yamaoka, to command the main force of the 109th Division and the 3rd Brigade to be mixed with the 3rd Brigade and more than 14,000 puppet army troops in Jizhong to attack the Eighth Route Army operating in the area of Wutai Mountain. In order to be able to completely contain the main force of the Eighth Route Army, Terauchi Shouichi also transferred two field heavy artillery wings and a tank brigade from the First Army to join the battle sequence of attacking the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region.

Under the order of Terauchi Shouichi, the fighting machine of the North China Front of the army was running at full strength, and the calm of the previous period was just the silence before the storm, and the tranquility on the surface was once again broken by Terauchi Shouichi, accompanied by the rumble of the chariot and the roar of the army, this war that attracted attention from all walks of life officially kicked off.

At the same time that Terauchi Shou gave the order to attack, Han Yunhua was also dispatching troops. At 10 o'clock in the evening of 2 July, Han Yunhua received a telegram from Yang Chengwu, saying that the reconnaissance company of the 1st assault brigade and 1 regiment had met a small unit of the devil in the southern part of Zhangbei County, and that the two sides had fought an encounter battle, and that the reconnaissance company of the 1st regiment was almost completely wiped out, and that there were less than 20 survivors of a reinforced company of more than 180 people, including Chang Yong, the commander of the reconnaissance company, four platoon commanders, three deputy platoon commanders, and 10 squad leaders, all of whom were killed in battle. In the telegram, Yang Chengwu also made a special explanation, telling Han Yunhua that the reconnaissance company that was almost completely wiped out by the devils was the most elite reconnaissance company of the First Assault Brigade, and the combat effectiveness of this company was not inferior to the combat effectiveness of ordinary battalion troops, and the soldiers of this company's formal Han Yunhua's personal guard team were trained by themselves, but they did not expect to be lost in the northern Hebei region.