In light of the new situation on the Huangshan defensive line, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army boldly changed its tactics in order to grasp the initiative on the battlefield. The headquarters decided: The Su Yu Division of the 1st Corps continued to attack in the direction of Nanjing in accordance with the established policy, ostensibly advancing slowly according to the Japanese army's ideas. At the same time, the 2nd Corps was ordered to change from a feint attack to an offensive, forming a two-pronged attack posture and disrupting Okamura Ninji's military deployment. One of the biggest drawbacks of attacking Hangzhou is that considering the large number of ancient buildings in Hangzhou, if you storm Hangzhou, you will inevitably destroy a large number of ancient buildings.

Runzhi believes that ancient buildings are treasures of the Chinese nation, and once destroyed, they cannot be repaired. Nowadays, the Japanese army has become Wuxia Amun, and the defeat is only a matter of time, so it is extremely irresponsible to destroy a thousand-year-old city in the battle of attacking fortified positions. According to the situation in Hangzhou City, the headquarters formulated an offensive tactic to get out of the way and occupy one side.

Since the eastern part of Hangzhou City is Hangzhou Bay, and the narrow area is not conducive to the operation of large corps, the headquarters decided to launch a strong attack on the line of Tianmu Mountain in the northwest of Hangzhou City, and then encircle Hangzhou City from the north. Its purpose was to maintain a limited offensive against the Japanese defenders in Hangzhou in the south and force the Japanese to abandon Hangzhou.

In the headquarters of the 2nd Corps in Tonglu, Commander He Long was overjoyed to receive the operational order from the headquarters, and immediately ordered the troops that had feinted to attack Hangzhou City to temporarily stop the offensive and make new military deployments. After the order was given, a large-scale change of guard began in the troops. At this time, Tan Zhenlin, chief of staff, said in a particularly high spirited mood: "Commander He, according to the operational order of the Corps Headquarters, Deputy Chief of Staff Xiao Feng (also the commander of the 6th Army) led the headquarters from the south of Hangzhou City to the west side of Tianmu Mountain, and the southern attack was changed by Luo Binghui's 8th Army. ”

"Song Renqiang's 7th Army was transferred from the west of Hangzhou City to attack the eastern side of Tianmu Mountain, and the original offensive position was held by Peng Xuelan's 9th Army. The 3rd Artillery Division was responsible for artillery support from the 6th and 7th armies. The 10th Army, the 4th Artillery Division, served as the headquarters reserve. "Xiao Feng's 6th Army and Song Renqiang's 7th Army are the strongest troops in the 2nd Corps. Two sharp knives attacked north on both sides of Tianmu Mountain, which ran east-west respectively. The Japanese army deployed 3 divisions in Hangzhou, one of which served as the first-line defense operation of Tianmu Mountain northwest of Hangzhou, in addition, there were 4 divisions of the puppet army in this direction.

Three days after the troops completed the change of defense, the 8th Army and the 9th Army took the lead in launching a powerful offensive against the positions outside Hangzhou, intending to confuse the Japanese army. For three days in a row, the attack was repeatedly blocked. It was a sunny morning and the sun was abundant. On the attack position of the 7th Army's forward formation, Song Renqiang personally inspected the front line. In recent years, in order to strengthen the defense of the northwest line of Hangzhou, the Japanese army has arranged a minefield nearly one kilometer wide at the southern foot of Tianmu Mountain, the purpose of which is to prevent the enemy from outflanking Hangzhou from this direction.

Due to the minefield as a barrier, the Japanese army deployed a division and four divisions of puppet army units here, with a total strength of nearly 100,000 people. In addition, the Japanese army built hundreds of kilometers of reinforced concrete fortifications and placed artillery in underground bunkers. A trench with a depth of 3 meters and a width of 4 meters was dug behind the minefield. There is a 2-meter-deep ditch inside the trench. The Japanese army once boasted that the Hangzhou defense line was impregnable. Before the attack, it is necessary to open a minefield channel, and how to pass through the minefield, the means and the plan have been carefully prepared.

At this time, Song Renqiao held a telescope in his hand and stood in the forward command headquarters to look forward. A brigade commander waited anxiously with a watch in his hand. Suddenly, there was a roar in the sky to the west, and I saw dozens of bombers roaring towards me. "Commander, the Air Force brothers are very punctual, I heard that mines were cleared with special bombs, haha! It's time to feast your eyes! Song Ren said: "You can still see new things in a while, don't drop your jaw in shock!" "Commander, reveal it, what a novelty!" The brigade commander tried to get to the bottom of it, when the bomber began to dive.

The first bomber dived, the second followed and lined up in a column. The bomber fell into the sky and began to drop bombs a hundred and ten meters from the ground. The bomb dropped by the bomber was a kind of scatter bomb, with a dull first explosion followed by a multitude of explosions. This kind of scattered bomb was specially developed by the Jiujiang Arsenal to deal with minefields. The explosion of the scatterbomb then detonates the mine, and as the bomber throws bombs continuously, the minefield forms a chorus of bombs and mines, and produces a continuous roar and co-explosion.

"Haha! Modern warfare is really omnipresent, and this method of demining is extravagant, but it is too efficient. "Song Renqiao was overjoyed and a little out of shape, and many officers in the brigade headquarters opened their mouths wide, unbelievable, the bomb could explode with such an effect." The Japanese troops and puppet troops defending on the opposite side of the minefield were also dumbfounded by this shocking scene. The Japanese troops on the opposite side did not arrange anti-aircraft weapons, and could only watch the bombers perform in the sky. Half an hour later, the first wave of bombers flew away, and the second wave followed.

"Commander, I can't think of such a way of demining. We thought that we would cross the minefield with sappers to clear mines, and even consider using war horses to clear mines, but we have done a lot of useless work. "Therefore, we cannot predict that the means of warfare in modern warfare will reach unimaginable levels. The mine array is our weapon, and the Japanese army has learned it, and since we are our ancestors, we naturally have a way to deal with it. The bomber can't clear all the mines in the passage, and it takes a while for the new things to be completely cleaned. ”

After the third wave of bombers flew away, soon after, there was a roar from behind, and dozens of strange iron guys appeared on the position. "Commander, what is this, it looks like a tank but has no barrel." The brigade commander was confused. "This is an armored minesweeper delivered from the United States. Look at the shovel in front of you to bulldoze the earth, and the chain is wide enough to lay mines" At this time, an officer wearing a tank cap walked into the command headquarters, "Report to the commander, the armored minesweeping detachment has arrived, please instruct!" ”。“ It's hard work along the way, and after a while you enter the minefield to clear mines, the Japanese army will shell you, so be mentally prepared. ”

"The minesweeper has a rough skin and thick meat, and is not afraid of Japanese shelling!" "After a while, the artillery regiment will carry out indiscriminate shelling of the forward positions of the Japanese army, covering the minesweepers to clear mines, you go and prepare!." The shelling began 10 minutes later, and the Japanese puppet fortifications opposite the minefield were shrouded in smoke. Accompanied by heavy shelling, the minesweepers rumbled into the minefield. When the Japanese defenders saw the minesweepers entering the minefield, they immediately opened fire when they had a premonition that something was wrong. Song Renqiang ordered the heavy artillery to open fire and suppress it. The artillery bombardment on both sides was very good, and the minesweepers seemed to be leisurely, crushing the soft ground ploughed by bombs.

At about midnight, the minesweeper completed its task and opened a passage 100 meters wide. The minesweeper is really good, and Song Renqiang ordered the minesweeper to drive to the edge of the trench to act as a fortress to cover the attack of the attacking troops. At about dawn the forward positions of the Japanese troops were broken through, and a battalion of boats and bridges erected two bridges over the trenches. Breaking through the minefield does not mean being invincible. Due to the narrow offensive area and the formation of a bottleneck, the troops could not be deployed, and Tianmu Mountain was a natural barrier, and the next brutal attack was staged.

Okamura Ninji, the command center of the Japanese army in Nanjing, received a report from Kagawa, the commander of the defense of Hangzhou, that the enemy had broken through the minefield in the south of Tianmu Mountain, indicating that the Eighth Route Army was still a feint attack on Hangzhou City, breaking through from the minefield, and intended to outflank Hangzhou City from the north. "Your Excellency General, you can be sure that the Eighth Route Army's siege of the city is fake, and the siege of Hangzhou City from the north is real." Okamura Ninji had a calm expression and didn't seem to be worried. In fact, he doesn't value Hangzhou City, and the defense line from Taihu Lake to Hangzhou Bay behind Hangzhou is what he really has to hold.

A defensive system of depth had already been formed from Taihu Lake to Qinshan and even Songhu, and he hoped that the enemy army would attack in this direction to gain time for strengthening the Wufu defensive line. "Tianmu Mountain is the first natural barrier, and the northern area of Hangzhou is a river network area, which is very unfavorable for the operation of the large corps. The commander of Kagawa was ordered to transfer the defensive forces of the city to strengthen the blockade. "Okamura Ninji decided to lure the enemy army to continuously invest troops in this direction and strengthen the defense, and decided to fight a war of attrition, and could not easily abandon the city of Hangzhou. In fact, Gangcun Ningci did not expect that the enemy army chose a difficult attack route in order to take into account the ancient buildings of Hangzhou City not to be destroyed. Otherwise, Okamura Ninji will use Hangzhou City more and more as a bargaining chip.

Another night came, with the rumbling of artillery ahead and the flash of explosions looming. The 6th Army broke through the minefield in the same way. Although the minefield was broken, it faced a brutal attack next. Breaking through the minefield is Tianmu Mountain, and it is extremely difficult to attack as an attacker.

The attack became very difficult, and the Japanese defense was very stubborn. In the army headquarters, the face of the army commander Xiao Feng was ugly, indicating that the attack was not going well. "Report, Liu Zhen, commander of the 18th Division, reported that the Japanese army in Baliling was well fortified and the attack was blocked." Xiao Feng stood up and said, "Tell Liu Zhen that he can't take Baliling tomorrow morning, and let him come to see me with his head." Seeing Xiao Feng's tiger face, the political commissar said as calmly as possible: "Tell Liu Zhen that the large army cannot be deployed, and let him take Baliling at any cost tomorrow morning." ”

In the early morning, the news came, the division commander Liu Zhen personally commanded, and a regiment commander of the headquarters was unfortunately killed, and Baliling was conquered. Xiao Feng breathed a sigh of relief when he received the news, his body relaxed and fell asleep on the table. The front-line commanders were under pressure, and the rear commanders were not easy. At this time, in the corps headquarters, He Long's eyes were red. Although the two attacking units that served as sharp knives successfully broke through the minefield of the Japanese army, the attack was very slow, especially under the stubborn resistance of the Japanese army, the speed of the large corps was not satisfactory.

He Long had already sent reports continuously, urging Xiao Feng and Song Renqiang to speed up the attack, but the situation on the front line was very bad. "Report, call from headquarters!" An operational staff officer reports. Chief of Staff Tan Zhenlin took the telegram and checked: "Commander He, Mr. Peng called, and the telegram only said that he couldn't eat hot tofu in a hurry!" "The emperor is not in a hurry, what does it mean that the eunuch is in a hurry?" "I judge that the headquarters is mentally prepared for the difficulties we encounter in the offensive, and it is obvious that Gangcun is trying to fight with us."

"It seems that we are in a hurry, in this case, we will have a hard fight with the Japanese army and consume a lot of his living force." "Okay, I'll send a report to Xiao Feng and Song Renqiao immediately!"