[Anti-Japanese Iron Blood King] Chapter 578: Recovering Taiyuan (Ask for subscriptions, ask for monthly passes, ask for everything!) ）

Ma Zheng had already felt the tension on the front line, but Ma Zheng, who was in Handan, was very calm. Although the Fifth Division www.biquge.info Pen & Fun & Pavilion is strong, even the divisions he brought up alone may not be the opponent of the Fifth Division.

But Ma Zheng knew his advantage, they were now defending the city, and they did not need to fight the Japanese army in the field. Even if the Fifth Division successfully reached Shimen, it was still in a disadvantageous situation of feint, since ancient times, it was always easier to defend the city than to attack it, and the casualties were much smaller.

What's more, the Fifth Division is in this rescue operation, so they will inevitably be required to march quickly, and China's backward infrastructure is a common problem in the whole country, especially in terms of transportation, there are few qualified roads in the country, so if the Fifth Division wants to quickly reach Shimen, it must throw away heavy weapons that seriously affect the speed of the march, such as heavy artillery, such as chariot troops, and so on.

In fact, it was true that when the Fifth Division set out from Qingdao, it not only carried a complete heavy artillery wing, but also a complete tank wing, equipped with more than 120 Type 94 and Type 95 tanks. But when they arrived in Texas, they found that there was no direct railway from Texas to Shimen, and the road was not in good condition.

The heavy artillery is uncarable, but Lieutenant General Ando Toshikichi hopes that the chariot wing can move with the army, but the result is that the road from Texas to Hengshui is too broken, coupled with the deliberate destruction of the Eighth Route Army, the chariot moves slowly, not to mention, the failure rate is extremely high, and in desperation, Lieutenant General Ando Toshiyoshi can only endure the pain and let the chariot wing also stay in Texas to standby.

The siege of the city is about an attack, and these heavy weapons are not available, even if the soldiers of the Fifth Division are Iron Man, it is impossible to break through the stone gate with their bare hands. Besides, Ma Zheng didn't think about letting the troops on the front line hold on, at most a week, a week later, if the devils in Shanxi have not been eliminated, and the Japanese army is still frantically attacking Shimen at that time, then Xie Wensheng can retreat and transfer with his troops.

If it doesn't take another week, Huang Sicheng's department will always be able to defeat the Japanese army on the Xinkou front, and then it's a big deal to let the reorganized first division reinforce Shimen, and fight to the death with the fifth division of the little devil, to see if the Japanese steel army is really invincible.

When the Battle of Shimen broke out, Huang Sicheng's division of the Suicha Military Region advanced very smoothly, and the Xinkou defense line that General Umezu Mijiro pinned his hopes on was basically torn apart by Huang Sicheng's division without much effect, and the 20th Division of Ushijima Shitsuna finally could not hold on, abandoned its position and fled in a hurry, and the puppet army for more than 30,000 days retreated into the Xinkou urban area, intending to strictly defend it. If it weren't for the fact that Taiyuan City was south of Xinkou, the 20th Division would probably have left Xinkou and fled.

Although such a result was not what Ushijima, who was bent on saving face, hoped to see, the 20th Division was heavily damaged by Ma Zheng's headquarters when it was on the north bank of the Hunhe River, and its vitality had not yet recovered. It was already rare to be able to stalemate with Ma Zheng's department for so long, and Ushijima really didn't know what else to do to stimulate the fighting spirit and morale of the soldiers on the front line.

At the same time, in the battle south of Taiyuan, the Japanese army was also retreating, Yang Aiyuan and Wei Lihuang's two-way army advanced smoothly, according to this speed, at most three days the two-way army will be outside Taiyuan.

The Fourth Army on the Gujiao side is also progressing smoothly, because with the strong reinforcement of the main force of the 14th Army, the army has reached the outside of Gujiao City, and is fighting fiercely with Iida Shojiro's department.

The sudden erosion on the battlefield in Shanxi directly affected the battle situation in Zhangjiakou. After the Japanese army, which had already gained the upper hand, learned that the First Army of Shanxi might be completely annihilated by the Chinese in Taiyuan City, their morale dropped rapidly, which made Yamashita Fengwen very depressed, but helpless.

The rapid advance of the army under the command of the Second World War Zone caused great pressure on General Umezu Mijiro, and when he insisted until September 13, the ammunition inventory of the First Army was less than the consumption of the troops for 5 days, and the Fifth Division was frantically blocked by the Eighth Route Army after entering the border of Hebei, and after launching the collective participation of hundreds of thousands of people, the Eighth Route Army almost destroyed the road to Shimen, and the Fifth Division felt very difficult every step forward, and it took a whole day from the 12th to the 13th. The Fifth Division advanced a meagre 20 kilometers, less than one-fifth of the original plan.

At this rate, when the army arrives at Shimen, they don't know about the Year of the Monkey and the month of the horse, and when they lay down the Shimen, I'm afraid that Taiyuan City will already have a blue sky and a red flag.

Although Umezu Mijiro is arrogant, his strategic vision is really good, looking at these senior officers of the Japanese army in World War II, Umezu Mijiro can definitely rank in the top three in terms of ability, and only a limited number of senior officers such as Okamura Ninji and Yoshio Shinozuka can compete with it.

knew that if it continued like this, what was waiting for the first army would be the tragic end of running out of ammunition and food, and it would even be possible to be completely annihilated by the people of Taiyuan City. Even if he was lucky enough to hold Taiyuan City, the losses of the first army under his command would be extremely amazing, and in the end, the result would still be the loss of the city and land. In desperation, Umezu Mijiro made a bold decision and ordered the troops to abandon Xinkou, Taiyuan and other first-tier cities, and the whole army withdrew to the front line of Yangquan and Niangziguan.

Ma Zheng was taken aback by this bold decision of the Japanese army, and the broken wrist of Umezu Mijiro, a strong man, was indeed unexpected, and it took a lot of courage to abandon Taiyuan City, both militarily and politically, the Japanese government suffered heavy losses.

But purely from a military point of view, Umezu Mijiro played a good chess game, although they gave up Taiyuan, but they occupied Yangquan and Niangzi Pass, which were easy to defend and difficult to attack. Moreover, a strategic encirclement was formed against the Eighth Route Army fighting in the Jingcheng and Shimen areas, and now Xie Wensheng's headquarters has the powerful Fifth Division in the east and the 60,000 troops of the First Army stationed in Shanxi in the west.

In desperation, Ma Zheng had no choice but to order Xie Wensheng's subordinates to cover the retreat alternately and abandon Shimen. At the same time, no matter whether it is the county seat of Jingcheng or the Shimen area, as long as it is a military facility, all of them will be blown up, and the Japanese army must not be left with a complete bunker and station, or even a complete barracks.

At three o'clock in the afternoon of the 13th, the 1st Division, which was heading south, finally joined the main force of the Second War Zone at Taiyuan City, and the headquarters of Umezu Mijiro also recaptured Shouyang and Yangquan at this time, and the main force was rapidly advancing in the direction of Jingcheng Pass.

In this battle, the happiest person was Yan Laoxi, who finally got his wish and recovered the old nest Taiyuan. Although the price paid is a bit large, it is worth the credit of recovering the provincial capital. Even Yan Laoxi was much more pleasing to the Eighth Route Army, and sent a telegram to the Eighth Route Army headquarters as soon as the old man returned to the Yan Mansion in Taiyuan, thanking the Eighth Route Army for their help this time.

Mr. Zhu and the others knew what Yan Laoxi meant, and they must be grateful, after all, the Eighth Route Army dispatched so many troops to assist in the recovery of Taiyuan in the Second War Zone this time, and even risked the danger of Zhangjiakou being occupied by the Japanese army, which is not something that can be fooled casually. And it is completely conceivable that the casualties of the Eighth Route Army in this war will definitely be not small, so he must show something.

But Mr. Zhu and others know better that Yan Laoxi's telegram is by no means just to thank him, Yan Laoxi can rise strongly in the era of warlord melee, and the iron bucket of the land of the Three Jin Dynasty is by no means what ordinary people can imagine. The old man who recovered Taiyuan must be grateful in his heart, but this old man also has another meaning, that is, he hopes that the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army will order Ma Zheng's troops to withdraw from the Taiyuan area, preferably to the north of Xinkou. (To be continued.) )