Because I didn't dare to turn on the lights of the car, and the weather was too bad tonight, I arrived more than 20 minutes later than expected. During this period, the devils in Tianzhen City also called the two turrets outside the city, but they were all confused by the soldiers of the special combat team.

At this time, there was also a rush in the county seat of Tianzhen, because the special combat soldiers did not know the special colloquial language when the Japanese army was in contact with each other, so they inadvertently showed their feet. Takahashi Tundra, who received the report, was shocked and immediately ordered his troops to assemble, and at the same time issued a first-class alert order to the defenders of the defensive positions outside the city.

When Chen Geng and the others were less than three kilometers away from Tianzhen, the members of the special combat team who had opened the road came back and reported that the Japanese army seemed to have discovered us and there was no need for concealment. Now the Japanese positions are brightly lit, and a large number of devils have entered the fortifications, waiting for us to hit the muzzle.

Chen Geng sighed helplessly, and said to Wang Yuanhua beside him: "Old Wang, these little devils are indeed not ordinary, they are much more shrewd than those reported by the intelligence department, it seems that this Gaoqiao tundra really has two brushes." ”

"Division commander, it's not a big deal to be discovered, anyway, our mission is not to take Tianzhen County, as long as we beat these cunning guys outside the city, it doesn't matter if they find us or not" Wang Yuanhua said matter-of-factly, in his opinion, there is no need to hide this battle at all, except that it will make the casualties of the troops smaller, it will not have a big effect.

"Lao Wang, you are engaged in political work, and you really lack experience in fighting. Although the commander didn't say it explicitly, do you think that the devil who hit Tianzhen County so hard as to dispatch our entire infantry division? The commander meant that it was best to take Tianzhen City, and if he couldn't take it, he would hurt them. It seems that we really can't take this small county town this time, but it's not necessarily, it depends on whether the Japanese reinforcements want to come back to Datong or desperately come to rescue Tianzhen, hehehe, the more this battle is fought, the more interesting it becomes. Chen Geng said as he walked, he knew that Wang Yuanhua was a person who was good at learning, and he would not have a pimple in his heart because others pointed out his shortcomings.

Wang Yuanhua didn't care when he heard Chen Geng say that he lacked experience in fighting, Han Yunhua had already told him about this, and even said that he was only an infantry battalion commander's command level, but Han Yunhua praised him for his excellent political work and was an excellent political commissar. So he knows his strengths and weaknesses, so he doesn't compare his own shortcomings with the strengths of others, which will only make him uncomfortable.

"Division commander, don't worry, our division's combat effectiveness is far stronger than you think. The predecessor of our independent 77th Division was formed by combining the 77th Independent Brigade with the main brigades of the Guard Brigade and the Second Assault Brigade. You must know that each of these brigades is a first-class main field brigade, and its combat effectiveness is comparable to that of the two divisions of the Nationalist Government, and during the Battle of Saibei, these brigades and the Japanese army lost all their elite, so the commander combined them into the Independent 77 Brigade, and all the soldiers of the Independent 77 Brigade are the elite who have been selected by thousands of people, and the commander ordered all the minor and serious wounded who have recovered from their wounds to report to the Independent 77 Brigade after being discharged from the hospital, so although the Independent 77 Brigade is a brigade establishment, But the actual number far exceeded that of a brigade, amounting to a terrifying seventeen thousand people. When the 77th Independent Brigade was expanded into the 77th Independent Division, the commander cut out some soldiers who were not very effective in combat, so we are now much stronger than the commander's integrated 300th Division, and there is hardly a single recruit in our entire division, all of them are veterans who have fought with devils with bayonets on the battlefield. Moreover, out of care for the independent 77th division, the commander also allocated an additional mountain artillery battalion to the artillery regiment of our division, so our independent 77th division is now armed to the teeth, what else do you have to worry about. Wang Yuanhua knew that Chen Geng had not been in the military region for a long time, and most of them had a meeting in Guisui City, where he worked out various plans for the military region with Han Yunhua, and the independent 77th Division was driven to the Jining defense area shortly after the reorganization was completed, so Chen Geng knew very little about the troops, and he knew almost nothing about the history of the independent 77th division.

"Oh, it seems that I still underestimate the combat effectiveness of our division, Lao Wang, why does the commander prefer the independent 77th Division so much? What about the armament of other troops? Chen Geng was a little worried that Han Yunhua was unfair to several troops, if some troops gnawed meat and bones, and some troops drank soup, it would be difficult to say. ,

Speaking of this, Wang Yuanhua smiled hehehe, and then explained in Chen Geng's surprised gaze: "It's not that the commander himself loves the Independent 77th Division, but now the Independent 77th Division is famous, so he has to improve the combat effectiveness of the Independent 77th Division." You must know that almost all the achievements of the military region are under the name of the independent 77th brigade, that is, our current independent 77th division, and although the commander went south to Wuhan to fight, although he brought Jiang Spruce's assault brigade and one regiment and those regiments directly under the military region, our division only went to one regiment, but all the results of the commander's battle in Wuhan fell on the head of the independent 77th division, so our division is now prestigious, and it is definitely the most prestigious unit of our Eighth Route Army. You say that under such circumstances, does the commander dare to stuff which soldiers, ruffians, and the like into our division? The commander is difficult to ride a tiger, but the weapons and equipment and combat effectiveness of several other units are very strong, especially the commander's integrated 300 division, a mechanized brigade alone is not comparable to ordinary troops. Thinking about the fact that two tank regiments and one tank regiment entered more than 300 vehicles, and the Iron King Eight rushed over like this, can we infantry compete with that momentum? ”

Wang Yuanhua's words made Chen Geng's hanging heart finally fall into his stomach, and seeing that the time was almost up, Chen Geng said with a straight face: "Political commissar, you wait here for the follow-up troops, I will go to the front line to command the battle, and I will leave it to you here." "After that, I will go to the front.

Wang Yuanhua hurriedly grabbed him, looked around, and then whispered in Chen Geng's ear: "If the devil's fortifications are too difficult to fight, then let the special artillery assigned to us by the commander be connected, and it can be done in ten minutes." ”

Chen Geng knew that there must be a mystery in this, but now that time is limited, there is no time to ask at all, so Chen Geng nodded and said: "Well, I know, if the casualties of the troops in front are too large, I will consider letting that special artillery company go up." ”

By the light of the fire on the Japanese position, Chen Geng saw that the defensive position in the direction of the east gate of Tianzhen was about two kilometers long and about one kilometer deep, with 24 exposed firepower points, more than a dozen pillboxes half-buried underground, and the communication ditches on the positions intersected each other, and the Japanese army seemed to have a lot of troops. Chen Geng saw that there was about one squadron on the first line of defense alone, and there were two lines of defense in this place, plus those pillbox firepower points, such a defensive position needed the strength of one brigade, and four positions needed four brigades, plus the defenders in the city and the more than 1,200 Japanese puppet troops that they wiped out, Chen Geng judged that the Japanese army should be more than the two brigades mentioned in the intelligence.

It is true that the strength of the Japanese army is more than two brigades, Takahashi Tundra due to the poor performance on the battlefield some time ago, coupled with the bad luck, the opponent encountered was the 88th Division of the Nationalist Government and the Central Teaching Corps, under the combined attack of these two troops, the Takahashi Brigade suffered heavy losses, and when a complete field brigade withdrew to Shanghai, there were only more than 2,000 people left, and the casualty rate was as high as 75%, so Major General Takahashi became the current Takahashi Daisa, and the position also changed from brigade commander to wing commander. What made Takahashi Tundra most depressed was that although his wing claimed to be a second-line garrison wing, it was actually just an infantry wing or a reinforced brigade with discontent. In desperation, Takahashi Osa had no choice but to ask for help from his old boss, Lieutenant General Yoshio Shinozuka, and under the maneuvering of Lieutenant General Yoshio Shinozuka, General Binshan Moto finally gave the Takahashi Wing a reinforcement brigade supplement, plus the original two brigades, the total strength of the Gaoqiang Wing suddenly broke through to 4,200 people. Coupled with a puppet infantry division, a cavalry regiment, a plainclothes team and a Japanese gendarmerie in Tianzhen City, the defenders of the entire Tianzhen are now as high as more than 8,800 people, but more than 1,200 people have been quietly wiped out by Chen Geng's department, so Chen Geng's judgment is still very accurate.

The battle soon began, Chen Geng first ordered the 75mm mountain artillery battalion to fire ten rapid shots and bombard the Japanese battlefield, while the infantry took this opportunity to advance and establish a simple forward position. The artillery bombardment achieved certain results, except for the devils in the bunkers who were still shooting, the devils in the trenches all hid in the anti-artillery holes. Therefore, the infantry of the 99th Regiment easily established an improvised position 500 meters away from the Japanese defensive line.

Although the proposed positions were established, the ensuing battle was still arduous, and the Japanese pillboxes still posed a great threat to the infantry, dozens of heavy machine guns fired vicious bullets at the positions of the 99th Regiment all the time, and from time to time soldiers were hit and let out miserable shouts.

Although the Japanese occupied a favorable position, it was obviously impossible for the 77th Independent Division to break through this line of defense as quickly as possible. However, the independent 77th Division had an absolute advantage in artillery, as a second-line garrison wing, the Takahashi Wing was only equipped with 12 mortars, and its power could not compete with the 75mm mountain artillery at all. When the Japanese artillery squadron had just fired a round of shells at the position of the 99th Regiment, the artillery battalion of the 77th Independent Division followed the trajectory of the mortars to carry out retaliatory shelling, and only three guns of a reinforced artillery squadron could barely be used, and the rest were blown up into scrap metal by the artillery of the 77th Independent Division, and they were no longer usable.