"Hay!" Mamoru Iizawa immediately bowed his head in response, and immediately turned around to take the order to leave, and it didn't take long for this guy to turn back.

Tada asked, "Are all the reconnaissance planes sent?" ”

"Yes, general, I have just received a report from the Tianjin garrison, and there is also a branch army in the direction of Cangzhou that is heading north." Mamoru Iizawa nodded and reported.

"Cangzhou?" Tada Jun frowned slightly when he heard this: "It seems that this time the dragon tooth column is pouring out, and it is bound to win the Pingjin area." ”

"Yes, Your Excellency, Commander, we must prepare for the worst and put the cavalry and reserve infantry units in the cities of Pingjin and Tianjin into the battlefield at any time. At the same time, we should ask the naval fleet stationed in the port of Tianjin to send their carrier-based aircraft to provide us with air support to prevent the Cangzhou Army from invading Tianjin. Iizawa paused and said: "Only in this way can our land-based aviation force concentrate on supporting the Bazhou and Zhuozhou defense lines." ”

Tada Jun nodded and said, "I'll send a telegram to the War Department of the base camp, ask them to coordinate the 1st and 3rd fleets of the Navy to support us, and report this emergency to the top management of the base camp." ”

The news soon spread back to the Japanese mainland, and under the vigorous efforts of the Japanese War Department, the Emperor nodded and approved, and the Admiralty was forced to agree, and the 1st and 3rd Navy Fleets were temporarily transferred to the North China Front Command.

However, Ishihara Wanji, deputy chief of the General Staff Headquarters of the Japanese base camp, was worried that Tada Jun and Mamoru Iizawa were not Qiao Youhua's opponents, and after discussing with a number of high-ranking members of the War Department, it was decided to transfer Okamura Ninji, who was at the front line at this time because of his disagreement with the Japanese fanatical militarists, to North China to go to Beiping to supervise the war on behalf of the Japanese base camp.

It can be regarded as a chincha who is armed with the sword of Shang Fang, nominally assisting Tada Jun, Iizawa Mamoru and others in commanding this battle, but in fact supervising it, if Tada Jun's appearance is not good, Okamura Ninji is likely to replace him.

Historically, Okamura Ninji was an extremely difficult opponent, and this old devil was not the same as the murderous brutality of his predecessors, Sugiyama Moto, Tada Jun, Terauchi Shouichi and others.

He advocated using China to contain China, and the cage policy he formulated caused great losses to the Eighth Route Army and other anti-Japanese armed forces active in North China.

If it were not for the fact that Japan launched the Southward Campaign, the Pacific War broke out, and troops were constantly drawn from the battlefields of Chinese mainland such as Manchuria in North China, then the anti-Japanese armed forces such as the Eighth Route Army would probably not survive in North China.

…………

Zhuozhou, located in the northwest of the North China Plain and the southwest of Beiping, has been the southern gate of Gyeonggi since ancient times, and the throat of the Jinghan Railway leading to Beiping City, which is the only way to conquer Beiping, and its strategic location is extremely important.

Therefore, the North China Front of the Japanese invasion of China also deployed 40,000 troops here, including 20,000 Japanese troops and 20,000 imperial troops.

With Zhuozhou as the center, it is the most important defensive place in the west of its Zhuo, Ba and Jing defense lines.

The 1st Division adhered to the principle of high speed and rapid warfare, and formed a rapid assault vanguard with tank regiments and mechanized infantry regiments, marching all the way non-stop, and arrived at Dingxing County in the south of Zhuozhou at noon on 8 September.

If Zhuozhou is the southern gate of Beiping City, then this small city of Dingxing, which is also located along the Jinghan Railway, is also an important barrier of Zhuozhou City.

It is impossible for the Japanese army to deploy all the 40,000 Japanese puppet troops in one Zhuozhou city, so as the barrier of Zhuozhou, the Japanese army stationed three field wings here, more than 8,000 people, plus 5,000 imperial troops.

The total strength is more than 13,000 people.

Long before the arrival of the attacking troops of the 1st Dragon's Tooth Division, the Japanese learned of the enemy situation through the Guò reconnaissance planes and the defeated soldiers, and were now ready for battle.

The advance unit of the First Division was personally commanded by Liu Yidao, deputy division commander and commander of the First Infantry Corps, and after the troops arrived, he immediately instructed Li Xiangtian, commander of the tank regiment: "Commander Li, I order your unit to immediately concentrate firepower, cooperate with the artillery battalion of the First Regiment, launch an artillery attack on Dingxing County, and cover the infantry attack!" ”

"Yes!" Li Xiangtian immediately personally led the 50 No. 4 tanks of the tank regiment to form a torrent of steel, and roared to a place about a kilometer away from the city wall, where the chambers of the tank guns were raised high and began to fire fiercely at the city wall of Dingxing County.

At the same time, more than 20 Type 92 infantry guns of the artillery battalion directly under the First Division also opened fire one after another.

Every minute, hundreds of shells bombarded the not very strong city wall of Dingxing County, and five minutes later, the city wall in the south of the city was shrouded in raging artillery fire and explosion shock waves, and the devils and puppet soldiers stationed at the head of the city were shocked and injured and the dead are unknown.

The tank gun's direct-aim fire and high rate of fire, coupled with the caliber of 75mm, exerted great power at the moment. 、

Tom tom ...... Boom Boom Boom Boom ...... With another volley of intense fire, a violent explosion resounded across the city walls.

This time, the city wall, which had been repeatedly damaged, finally could not support it, and was blown down by the explosion for four or five meters, and several puppet soldiers and devils on that section of the city wall were swept off by the shock wave on the spot, and fell to the city and died.

"Baga Yalu, the firepower of the Chinese army is too fierce, and it has so many tanks and combat vehicles, we must ask for air support." Faced with the ferocious artillery fire of the tank and combat vehicle group outside the city, the devil commander in Dingxing City was shocked and angry.

Although they have a large number of troops under their command, they still lack effective anti-tank weapons, especially the German tanks equipped with this kind of dimensional defense of the Dragon's Tooth Column, which are far stronger than the Japanese tanks.

In addition to mine arrays, the only thing that can threaten them is the strikes of air fighters.

As for the mine array, the devils were also prepared, but it was within 500 meters of the city wall, and it was specially used to deal with the enemy's attacking troops.

Now the tanks of the 1st Division are two miles away, and they cannot pose a threat to them at all.

The devils were shocked, and the puppet soldiers were even more frightened, and they had no will to resist, if it weren't for the devils pressing the formation, they wouldn't have waited for the dragon tooth infantry to charge, they should have abandoned the city and fled.

The devils were frightened, but Li Xiangtian's tank regiment was very happy, this kind of one-sided firepower superiority, completely abusing the little devils, and fighting them without the power to fight back is really good.

As early as a year or two ago, during the anti-encirclement and suppression campaign in the base areas, the Japanese army still had the advantage in artillery and tanks, who would have thought that in just one or two years, the situation on the battlefield would be reversed.

The devils are even more depressed, who would have thought that it has only been more than half a year since they invaded the defense area of the first division of the dragon's tooth column last time, and the first division actually has such a scale of tank armored troops, and this battle is simply impossible to fight.

More than half a year ago, in order to cope with the special forces of Yoshio Shinozuka, the North China Front Army ordered the Japanese puppet army bordering the defense areas of Cangzhou and Baoding Longya Column to launch several attacks on its own initiative.

Therefore, the devils in Dingxing, Zhuozhou and the first division stationed in Baoding can be regarded as old opponents.