October 20, 1940. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info night. The western section of the Zhengtai Line.

That night, under the command of Chen Geng, the 129th Division attacked the railway in various places, and the station was very smooth, and almost all the pillboxes and artillery towers were blown up.

Shortly after the start of the offensive, two armored trains drove out from Taiyuan.

Armored trains are tanks on railways, made of iron armor in train cars. The armor is riveted on, rifle bullets, machine gun bullets shake and cannot be shot through. Because of the large size of the armored train, there were more machine guns and guns in it, and the fire was on top of several Japanese tanks.

Two columns of armored tanks, for the Eighth Route Army without heavy weapons, almost invincible, with armored trains, plus artillery strongholds along the way, the Zhengtai Railway was called the "steel blockade line" by the Japanese army.

Not long after the two armored trains left Taiyuan, they were almost arriving at Yushe, and the machine guns on the trains fired a few shots into the black fields on both sides from time to time. Suddenly, the first armored train saw something on the tracks in front of it and immediately braked.

The car stopped more than a dozen meters away from the thing, and the second car also stopped. When the first train came down, it turned out to be dozens of large stones piled on the tracks.

At this moment, a sound louder than a mortar sounded on both sides of the railway, and then four explosions were heard, both armored trains were hit, and two holes were punched in one side of the carriage, and the shells drilled into the carriage and exploded, blowing open the door and the small window of the cab.

The people in the carriage were killed in an instant.

Now, there are only two people alive who got out of the car, and the sound of killing sounded all around, and dozens of people rushed out. Two people resisted by gunfire and were shot dead indiscriminately.

Dozens of black shadows entered the armored train, and with great effort, they picked up the ammunition, guns, and Japanese hats inside. The Japanese soldiers inside were either blown up or shocked to death.

A dark shadow said, "My good boy." With a hundred rounds, no one else has anything to do, this bazooka is too powerful. ”

Another dark shadow said: "I see, this is an armor-piercing bullet." ”

A dark shadow who did not enter the armored car said: "This armor-piercing bullet is not cheap. Fortunately, the armored train has searchlights, and one dozen is accurate. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to aim accurately. ”

The raid lasted all night, mostly two or three hours, and the rest of the time was spent destroying the railroad and cleaning up the battlefield.

As Chen Geng recalled: "From Yangquan to Yuci, except for a few county seats, the blockade line composed of pillboxes in the past few years has been captured by me one after another. Every iron bridge, every station, every water tower, every railroad tie has been burned or destroyed by me. A complete railway, for a time turned into a dilapidated wasteland. ”

Historically, fighting has been fought almost all night on all fronts, and in many locations it was still fighting during the day the next day. A place far from Taiyuan had to withdraw from the battle. The reason is that the weapons of the eight roads are not good, the bullets are quickly exhausted, and a basket of grenades may not be able to kill a few devils. When many devils saw the grenade thrown into the position, they thought they would die, but the grenade exploded, and the people were blackened, but they couldn't be blown up, because the explosive power was too weak.

However, with the advanced weapons provided by Yichun, although there are few advanced weapons, they are still enough to deal with the Japanese army, and the Eighth Route is not afraid of death as in history, so the battle will naturally go much smoother.

Another reason is that the Japanese troops in Yangquan were firmly tethered by the blocking forces on Shiyuan Mountain.

October 21, 1940. 6 a.m. Yang Spring. Shiyuan Mountain.

The task undertaken by the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army was to attack the western section of Zhengtai Road, that is, from Yangquan to Yuci.

To attack this section of the railway, it is necessary to first restrain the defenders of Yangquan and prevent them from leaving the city.

Undertaking this task were the 385 regiments of the 769 and 14 brigades. Under the command of brigade commander Chen Xilian, they stationed at Shiyuan Mountain overnight, built fortifications, and prepared to meet the enemy.

Before 1900, the current urban area of Yangquan was a small mountain village called "Yangquan" in Pingding Prefecture, and some people believe that it was just a barren beach called Shajiangkou. After the opening of the Zhengtai Railway in 1903, the mining industry flourished, and the town gradually took shape. In the early years of the Republic of China, Pingding Prefecture was changed to Pingding County, and Yangquan was under the jurisdiction of Pingding County. In 1936, a small town of more than 30,000 people was formed near Yangquan.

The Zhengtai Railway is in the south and south of the Taojiang River, and one section passes through the foot of the north mountain of Shiyuan Mountain.

The First Army of the Japanese North China Front was stationed in Taiyuan and was commanded by Lieutenant General Yoshio Shinozuka. The 4th Independent Mixed Infantry Brigade under his command was stationed in Yangquan, and the brigade commander was Lieutenant General Taro Katayama. Therefore, the brigade is also called the Katayama Brigade.

The brigade was stationed in Yangquan was the 15th Brigade, and the captain of the brigade was Tokue Mitsunakasa.

On the 20th, before it was dark, the troops attacked the Xiyu Village Mine Police Team, cleared the obstacles, and went up to Shiyuan Mountain, each of them holding a shovel and a pickaxe. This is the idea of the path. As soon as they came up, they repaired the fortifications.

In addition, at more than 7 o'clock, dozens of people arrived near the railway and the road, and in the place where there was no one, ready to destroy the telephone poles, because many people did not know the time, and were afraid that it would be too late to destroy the telephone poles, and when the estimated time was about the same, they began to cut the telephone poles.

At less than eight o'clock, all the telephone calls from the Yangquan Headquarters of the Japanese army to the outside world had been cut off.

After eight o'clock, fights broke out in various places, and except for the unexpected explosion sound of more than ten miles that could reach Yangquan, the sound of other places was unknown. Soon, the telephones everywhere could not be reached, only telegraphs. When the telegram came, Yangquan's command was very panicked, and he didn't know what was going on.

When the situation at each station was known, the Yangquan command of the Japanese army quickly reported the news to Taiyuan. At this time, Taiyuan already knew, because telegrams from other places also came, and all telephone contacts with the outside world in Taiyuan were also cut off, only telegrams.

The Japanese army's movement of the Eighth Route Army has long been known, and this has been a few months ago. At that time, according to intelligence analysis, as well as the Kuomintang documents worn back by the handover kings in various parts of the Kuomintang region, the Japanese army had determined that the Kuomintang was preparing a major campaign against the Communist Party.

All the intelligence believed that the movement of the Communist Party in North China was clearly directed against the Kuomintang.

That is why the Japanese army can safely strengthen the offensive in South China.

Now, the Eighth Route Army suddenly launched an attack on the Japanese army, disrupting all the Japanese army's deployment.

After a brief period of panic, the Japanese decided to reinforce along the railway line and defeat the Eighth Route Army, which was attacking along the railway. At this time, new information came that the Eighth Route Army had occupied Shiyuan Mountain near Yangquan.

The Eighth Route of Shiyuan Mountain posed a great threat to the Japanese army in Yangquan, and if this Eighth Route was not eliminated, Yangquan would not be able to survive in peace. The attack on Shiyuan Mountain became the first priority of the Japanese army in Yangquan.