On July 15, the Battle of Tianjin officially began. The 1st Corps of the Eighth Route Army took the lead in launching an attack on the outer defense line of Tianjin on the southern front. At present, the sky is completely a one-man show staged by the air force of the Eighth Route Army, and all the Japanese army's ground aviation units have withdrawn to the northeast, so the scene of fierce air battle between the two sides cannot be seen in the sky above the battlefield. With the U.S. B29 long-range bombers bombing the Japanese mainland repeatedly, the Japanese army's combat aircraft were in short supply. Even if there are fighters to supplement the combat troops, because the quality of the fighters has dropped significantly, they will not be able to compete with the Chinese and US air forces.

At present, the 14th Air Force of the U.S. Army is located in Taiwan, and it is going all out to support the U.S. Marine Corps in the attack on the Ryukyus. The air support of the Tianjin Campaign was entirely the air force of the Eighth Route Army. More than 400 combat planes of the two flight regiments of the Eighth Route Army were stationed at the military airfields in Xuzhou and Jinan, respectively, to carry out air strikes against the Japanese troops in Tianjin. At this time, in the defense headquarters of the Japanese army in Tianjin, the commander Ban Heng Seishiro stood in the reinforced concrete fortress and looked at the sky with a depressed expression. In the sky, the bomber group of the Eighth Route Army flew away in waves, and wave after wave came, and the smoke and roar of the explosion were deafening.

"Commander, the Chinese Air Force is getting stronger and stronger, it is like no man's land, but our army aviation units have all retreated to the northeast, and we have no power to fight back in the skies over China." The chief of staff of the Japanese army said with a gloomy face. According to the base camp report, after the Chinese army captured the island of Taiwan, the US long-range bombers used the Taipei airport to frequently attack the mainland. At present, the vast majority of local aircraft factories have been devastated. Therefore, the rate at which our fighters are consumed is much greater than the rate at which they are manufactured. ”

Itako Seishiro continued: "It is impossible for our army aviation troops to retreat to the northeast. How the empire survives the crisis must rely on the northeast defense operations. We have no way to retreat, we must come up with the bloody and tenacious defense of the imperial soldiers, and the Yamato soul will not be easily defeated. "Report, the Western Defense Forces have found enemy troop tracks!" An operational staff officer reports. "Commander, it looks like the enemy is going to attack from the west and south."

The chief of staff of the Japanese army continued: "It can now be confirmed that the enemy's launch of the Tianjin Campaign was an early draw up battle plan. It was wise for the 47th Division and the 107th Division to abandon Jinan. The retreat of the two divisions greatly strengthened Tianjin's defensive strength and played a solid role in our in-depth defense. The 7th and 9th Divisions were responsible for the defense of the southern perimeter defensive line, and the 61st Division was responsible for the western perimeter defensive line. The 107th Division, which was withdrawn from Jinan, served as the city defense operation, and the 47th Division served as the general reserve, and our defensive system was very perfect. ”

"Commander Okamura's judgment was correct, and the enemy army would definitely use airborne troops to withdraw troops from Jinan in a timely manner, which played a role in preventing the enemy from carrying out airborne operations. The 47th Division was reserved, and an assault force was specially formed to prevent the enemy from airborne operations. "The enemy is not a fool, and airborne operations consist in taking them by surprise and attacking them unprepared. At present, we have a large number of troops, a narrow combat area, and the conditions for airborne operations are no longer available. Next up is a frantic attack by the enemy. ”

"Commander, the 1st Corps of the Eighth Route Army is an elite unit built by Ouyang Jian himself, and its attack power is very strong. Now the Eighth Route Army's weapons and equipment have surpassed ours, and the strike firepower is very terrifying. The enemy's infantry has a complete range of light weapons, such as rockets, grenades, and mortars, which are extremely lethal to our defensive forces, and we must have measures against them. "The enemy's heavy artillery and aerial bombardment are also powerful means of attack, and how to avoid casualties is related to whether or not we can stabilize the defense."

Itako Seishiro continued: "The military experts of the Dispatch Corps Command this time believe that the use of mine arrays is one of the effective means to deter the enemy's attack, and I hope that our mines can play a role. "In the clean-up operation in the Jizhong Plain, the use of mine warfare on the Tuba Road made us suffer a lot, and this time we will treat others in the same way." "Report, enemy forces have launched an attack in the west." An operational staff officer reports

Ban Heng and the chief of staff hurriedly walked to the sand table to check, the sand table was very exquisitely made, and the outer defense line and city fortifications were vivid. Its criss-crossed trenches and reinforced concrete fortresses are very clear. The combat staff officer pointed at it with a wooden stick, and the chief of staff said: "There is no deviation from our expectations, and the enemy army has indeed launched an offensive in Area 32. This open area had a minefield of 1 km, and the enemy fought on the southern front all morning, and the minefield effectively contained the enemy's offensive. ”

"Very good, ask the forward defenders of the southern front, how many meters the enemy broke through in the minefield!" Itako Seishiro asked. An operational staff officer picked up the phone, "Report, the forward troops of the southern front report that the enemy has advanced 200 meters in the minefield. "Commander, at this rate, the enemy army can advance at least 500 meters before dark." "After dark, if the enemy troops are unable to stay in the open area, the sappers are ordered to continue to lay mines in the minefield under the cover of darkness and disrupt the enemy's deployment."

In the headquarters of the 1st Army on the Southern Front, the sound of telephones was incessant. The First Army was responsible for a frontal 5-kilometre offensive area, and the attacking force had to cross a minefield of 1 kilometre in open land. The Japanese army has placed a large number of anti-infantry mines in the minefield, and this kind of palm-sized anti-infantry mine has little explosive power, but it can effectively cause soldiers to be injured and lose their combat effectiveness. Originally, this kind of anti-infantry mine was the patent of the Eighth Route Army, but with the capabilities of the Japanese army, it was easy to develop this kind of cheap mine.

In the military headquarters, army commander Zhao Liang held his glasses and looked ahead. After observing for a while, the political commissar Guan Xiangying walked in from the outside. Zhao Liang put down the binoculars and said, "How is the situation ahead?" "The soldiers used their brains to think of a lot of ideas, and it was effective, but the speed of advance was a little slow." "Commander Su warned us not to be anxious. How to effectively deal with the minefields of the Japanese army is to accumulate actual combat experience in the future. ”

"Commander, it seems that there will be more minefields in the future. The Japanese were very cunning and took advantage of the terrain here. On the right is a swampy area, on the left is a river, and we must cross this 5 km of open land to create conditions for the fraternal troops to go into battle. "Noji has sent news that the 2nd Army is also encountering a Japanese minefield on the west side, they need our experience, you sort out the demining method as soon as possible and report it to the headquarters."

At the forward position, the soldiers were in full swing to clear mines. If it was unrealistic and too slow to remove all the mines in the way ahead, they came up with a good solution: clearing the area of mines, using companies as a unit, to clear a 20-meter-wide safety zone, with 30-meter spacing between the two sides, so that N safe routes could be opened. For the sake of clarity, small flags are planted on both sides of the cleared safety zone.

In the fortifications on the side of the minefield, the Japanese often used machine gun fire to stop the demining, but they could not stop the soldiers from advancing. After a morning of demining, the soldiers came up with a combination of methods. First a dense point of explosion is formed with mortars, and then a grenade is used to clear the way. Finally, the soldier holds a long bamboo pole with an iron rake at one end. Since anti-infantry mines are very shallow to bury, an iron rake can both trigger and remove mines from the dirt.

Finally, the sappers used mine detectors to remove the mines buried in the depths. This combination method was very practical, and the Japanese could only watch that there was no way. Every once in a while, bombers flew into the battlefield and bombarded the Japanese fortifications. Occasional support artillery fire covered the Japanese forward fortifications, effectively containing the Japanese machine-gun fire points.

That night, the army commander Zhao Liang ordered the attack to be stopped, and the demining troops retreated to rest outside the minefield. However, who would have thought that in the dead of night, the Japanese army sent engineering units to lay mines in the cleared minefield area, which was equivalent to useless work on the first day. The next morning, the army commander Zhao Liang was angry when he heard this, and said: "The Japanese sappers must have a secret passage in the minefield, otherwise how could they come and go freely in the minefield?" ”

"Commander, it's not difficult to understand that if the Japanese sappers don't leave their own passages, they won't be able to lay mines." Political Commissar Guan Xiang responded. "Order the forward troops, 24 hours from now on, and not give the Japanese army a chance to breathe." "Commander, it is extremely difficult to clear mines at night, I once heard Chief of General Staff Ouyang talk about how to clear anti-infantry mines at night, as if using small bamboo sticks to clear mines." "I also remembered what you said, Chief of General Staff Ouyang did say it."

Zhao Liang immediately picked up the phone and said, "Pick me up the first brigade??????。 "The use of small wooden sticks to clear mines, to put it bluntly, was the battle on the Sino-Vietnamese border in later generations, and the method that the demining engineers came up with, especially against anti-infantry mines, was very effective. That night, the Japanese army continued to send sappers to lay mines, and the result can be imagined, the Japanese sappers were not only hunted, but also the speed of demining at night was not slow, and they advanced 300 meters.

The commander of the Japanese forward position was very confused and did not know what tricks the Eighth Route Army had used. Three days later, the 1st Army successfully passed through the minefield at a very small cost and began to attack the outlying positions of the Japanese army, and brutal battles began to be staged.