In Baotou, a cavalry division of the puppet Mongolian army suddenly appeared outside the northwest gate. It turned out that this unit had been stationed in the fortifications outside the city, and when they found out that the city gate was lost, they immediately rushed to reinforcements and launched a counterattack against the 3rd Battalion of the 341st Regiment stationed at the northwest gate. It was later found out that this army belonged to the Dewang system, and was basically composed of horse bandits, Hu bandits, and the cronies of the Dewang Dynasty, all of whom were mothers with milk, and it was impossible to expect them to be patriotic. Fortunately, the 341st Regiment left the third battalion here when it broke into the city, otherwise the consequences would have been serious.

The third battalion of the 341st Regiment was adapted from the main force of the Fan Zixia Volunteer Army. Commander An Zhongkun has been practicing martial arts since he was a child and served as a martial arts instructor in the 106th Division of the National Army. Historically, An Zhongkun served as the commander of the 47th Regiment of the Eighth Route Army, and was known throughout the army for his "resourcefulness and bravery". At the time, he called it the first fierce general of the Pinghan Column (the number of the troops after Fan Zixia led his troops to join the Eighth Road, that is, the new 10th Brigade of the 129th Division) and the most fierce young commander of the 129th Division. It's a pity that he later died during the liberation of Chongqing.

Deputy battalion commander Zong Fengzhou, an underground party member, organized a guerrilla force in Gaoxian County after losing contact with the party organization, and later joined Fan Zixia's volunteer army, and grew rapidly. Historically, he successively served as chief of staff and commander of the Taihang Sixth Division. Although he is not a professional soldier, he has a high level of military understanding and belongs to a learning general.

With these two tiger generals in charge, and the troops are regular troops that have undergone strict training, it is really a bit of a bully to deal with these local chickens and dogs of the puppet Mongolian army.

"Call me!" The third battalion An Zhongkun waved his hand, and the light and heavy machine guns on the city opened fire together. Immediately, the horse bandits were beaten on their backs. However, these guys are used to robbing homes and houses, but they have a fierce spirit, and they haven't escaped yet. Of course, then they are even more tragic.

The cavalry of the puppet Mongolian army, with riding boots on their feet and long robes on their bodies, made it very inconvenient to run in the snow. Plus their tactics are also very backward, and they actually shoot from their knees. As we all know, the target is very small when lying down, but the target is mostly shot while kneeling.

The soldiers stood on the top of the city and used the "oblique shooting method" as easily as shooting a target. Soon the puppet army collapsed. The oblique shooting method is a method of defending the city adopted by Fu Zuoyi when defending Zhuozhou. The specific measures are: The soldier hides behind the battlements and shoots diagonally in front of him, so that he can easily aim and is in a relatively safe position.

Didi ...... The third battalion was fighting vigorously when a sudden burst of charging horns came from the opposite side. It turned out that the main force of the 34th Division had arrived. Accompanied by the roar of the trumpet. A large group of soldiers rushed over with shouts. The remnants of the puppet Mongolian army were caught off guard. All were blocked under the walls. After several officers who tried to resist were killed, the remaining guys had no intention of resisting and surrendered one after another.

One might be skeptical. The troops of a division broke up so quickly? Not really! It turned out that several divisions under King De (i.e., the 7th, 8th, 9th and 9th divisions of the puppet Mongolian army and the guard division) had an average of only 5 or 600 people, only half of the three battalions. The equipment is even worse, with only half of the new guns, almost no automatic weapons, not to mention heavy weapons. In the words of the soldiers of the Third Battalion, beating these guys is like playing.

After destroying this force, which did not yet know the number of the road, the division commander Zhao Yunxiang also led the division headquarters to rush over, and set up the siege headquarters at the northwest gate. After the 342nd and 343rd regiments arrived, Division Commander Zhao ordered them to take the north and south respectively, preparing to take the various city gates and completely surround the city. He also ordered the division's direct troops, especially artillery, to enter the city and reinforce the 341st Regiment.

Because of the topography of Baotou City, the city is not as regular as the Central Plains, and the city gate is also adapted to local conditions, there are five in total, namely the northwest gate, the northeast gate, the east gate, the south gate, and the west gate. So the 342nd Regiment swooped down on the northeast gate in three ways (inside the city, outside the city, and the city wall), and the 343rd Regiment swooped down on the west gate.

There is a place called Xi Naobao from the northwest gate, where a regiment of the puppet army is stationed. Of course, the 343rd Regiment was not afraid of him, and the regiment commander Li Shijing rolled up his sleeves and prepared to command the troops to charge. Who would have thought that this regiment had no intention of starting a fight at all, not only did not fire a single shot, but also gave them 10 boxes of ammunition and 10 boxes of grenades for nothing, and then took the initiative to retreat.

Li Shijing, the commander of the 343rd Regiment, scratched his head and wondered: "Hey, what the hell is going on?" ”

The chief of staff hurriedly said: "Don't worry about so much, Tuanzao, let's go to the West Gate, Ha Luha, angry with those guys in the 342nd regiment!" ”

Head Li said happily: "Yes, yes, yes!" Go, go! Take the West Gate two hours in advance, and see what else the surname Xia has to say! ”

The 41st Army was fairly harmonious, but the units still liked to compete before. Like this battle, everyone didn't say anything, but they actually wanted to break through the city gate before the other party and complete the task.

Thanks to the concession of the puppet Mongolian army, the 343rd regiment rushed to the west gate at once. The Japanese puppet army here is in chaos. They thought that they could still rely on the puppet regiment in front of them for a while, but they didn't expect the 343rd Regiment to come over without firing a shot. Under the cover of light and heavy machine guns and regimental artillery, the first battalion of the 343rd Regiment easily took the city gates.

Li Shijing, the regiment, was overjoyed and hurriedly ordered the first battalion to hold the city gate, the second battalion to seize the south gate along the city wall, and the third battalion and the troops directly under the regimental headquarters to fight along the West Gate Street. Ximen Street and Dongmen Street are the two main arterial roads in Baotou City, and as long as you occupy one of them, you can cut the entire city in half. Soon, the 343rd Regiment joined the 341st Regiment in the center of the city.

The battle of the 341st regiment was also wonderful. After the battle began, under the personal command of Regiment Commander Ma Biao, the first and second battalions of the 341st Regiment, as well as the combat defense artillery company directly under the regimental headquarters, quickly advanced deep into the city. The two battalions have a clear division of labor, and the first battalion is responsible for interspersing with all their strength, breaking the whole into parts, fighting separately, and mainly destroying the enemy's vitality; The second battalion concentrated its forces and went straight to the compound of the Suixi Tunken Governor's Office. According to intelligence, it was actually the headquarters of the Japanese army in Baotou.

At first it went very well, with the fighters charging with grenades and firing heavily with automatic firearms. The Japanese puppet army found that the sound of gunfire was nearby, and they couldn't figure out how many national troops had entered the city, and they were immediately frightened. Quite a few small bases. Even the defenders of the medium-sized stronghold did not dare to resist, and when they saw the arrival of the large forces of the national army, they scattered and fled in all directions.

For example, the first battalion of the 341st Regiment picked up a big advantage in vain - it easily seized the Japanese army's storage warehouse in Baotou (the new 31st Division also did it in history). This warehouse was the main munitions depot of the Japanese army in Baotou, and most of the munitions were stored here. It was extremely rare for the Japanese army to abandon such an important military point without resistance in battle, which showed that the Japanese cavalry was indeed inferior to the infantry.

However, the enemy cavalry group was also a well-trained regular unit, and most of the officers and men had withstood the test of war. Under the restraint of officers at all levels, the panicked soldiers gradually calmed down and no longer scurried around like flies. In addition, the Japanese army had built many permanent fortifications in the city before, and the attack of the 341st Regiment began to be blocked.

The 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 341st Regiment were both adapted from the 33rd Brigade, the number one main force of the 97th Army, and they also had experience in attacking Baoding. So they are not afraid of this resistance. And there are ways. Of course, the simplest and most effective is the "violent dismantling" of artillery.

"Battle defense artillery! Battle defense artillery! ”

A barricade and pillbox in front blocked the way, and the company commander in charge of the command immediately called for help from the artillery. The anti-aircraft artillery company quickly sent a squad over, that is, a 47-mm Bailu anti-aircraft gun.

"Enemy fortifications in front of the target. Attention. Three shots in a row! ”

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! Three shells bombarded. The barricades were quickly bombarded. The soldiers cheered loudly and excitedly, and asked the artillerymen to destroy the pillbox made of concrete piers as well. Unexpectedly, the cement pier was quite strong, and the Bailu anti-aircraft artillery bombarded four or five times in a row, but it failed to penetrate it.

Just when the fighters felt a little tricky. The citizens of Baotou have joined the war. After the war, the head of the regiment Ma Biao concluded: "The citizens of Baotou are more effective than heavy weapons!" ”

Like all the people of Suiyuan, the citizens of Baotou have also been bullied by the Japanese and have long hated them. Not to mention, the Japanese invaders set up checkpoints at the gates of Baotou, and the Chinese had to be inspected in the past and bow to the Japanese soldiers. In fact, this is the place where the Japanese army looted, as long as the Chinese did not obey the slightest, or forgot to bow, they were immediately beaten.

What's more, the Japanese soldiers deliberately searched the bodies of Chinese women under the pretext of checking weapons, and actually sought opportunities to molest and molest, and they could do any obscene actions.

At this time, seeing that the national army returned to Baotou, the citizens of Baotou were overjoyed, they braved the artillery fire to deliver tea and food, helped carry the wounded, and the young man even took earthen guns and earthen explosives, and fought with the soldiers.

In addition, they are familiar with the terrain, and when they encounter an enemy stronghold, they will take the soldiers around the flank and throw explosive bags. How can a small cement pier stand this? In this way, it was the turn of the Japanese army to be caught off guard. With the help of the citizens, the soldiers became more and more courageous, and soon captured a large part of the city. Flags of the blue sky and white sun were raised in the city, and the people of the whole city were all happy and burst into tears.

The battle was fought to such an extent that it was impossible not to alarm the Japanese military leadership. Lieutenant General Okabe Naosaburo, commander of the Mongolian army, also received the report of the attack on Baotou and hurriedly sent a telegram asking Lieutenant General Kojima Yoshizo, the commander of the cavalry group, whether he needed to transfer the Sui (now Hohhot) garrison for reinforcements.

It is said that thousands of people from the 34th Division have entered Baotou City, and with such a big momentum, Lieutenant General Kojima should have realized the seriousness of the problem a long time ago. But this guy is a dead duck with a hard mouth, and he insisted that it was a small attack by the Zhina army (which he did in history, probably because he was afraid of losing face), and refused reinforcements. Of course, Lieutenant General Kojima was not a complete idiot, he ordered the Japanese puppet army inside and outside the city to immediately shrink to the southeast of the city to hold on, and ordered the Japanese troops in Salaqi, Anbei, Guyang and other places to come back to help.

The commander of the 13th Wing of the Guyang Cavalry, Ohara Kazuaki Osa, who was stationed about 70 kilometers north of Baotou, and the commander of the 14th Wing of the Anbei Cavalry, who was about 90 kilometers away from Baotou, immediately led their troops to reinforce Baotou after receiving an order from Kojima Yoshizo. At the same time, the headquarters of the 1st Cavalry Brigade and its direct subordinate units stationed in Salazy were also dispatched. If these troops can quickly reach Baotou, they can counter-encircle the 34th Division.

However, the above-mentioned troops were far away, and the first to arrive was the "raiding party" sent by Kojima Yoshizo early in the morning. The small army walked around the city and didn't catch anything. After hearing the sound of guns and cannons in the city, he realized that something was wrong, and the captain of the crusade team, Xiong Chuan, was shocked and hurriedly commanded his subordinates to rush back to Baotou for reinforcements.

"Report, the small army of the enemy army that left the city early in the morning has returned!" The scout hurried to report.

Division Commander Zhao Yunxiang was a fine man, and after discovering that this small army was out of the city, he sent the division cavalry to closely monitor it. But in order to attack the head. He also did not have much reserve on his hands, only a divisional guard battalion and a battalion of anti-aircraft artillery.

Originally, there was no battalion of combat defense artillery, and the 34th Division did not have many combat defense artillery, and all of them were placed in the main regiments. Each regiment has a four-gun artillery battery. However, this time I came to Suiyuan to receive a lot of supplies, and after getting the approval of the General Assembly, I temporarily strengthened a lot of heavy equipment, and this anti-aircraft artillery battalion was also temporarily expanded after the approval of the General Assembly.

The guard battalion is a teaching unit composed of student soldiers who have little combat experience. In other words, he did not have a very effective army.

"Where is Chief Fu's vanguard now?" Division Commander Zhao felt that his troops were insufficient, and asked with some anxiety.

Chief of Staff Fan Zixia said: "I just contacted, and it will take three hours at the earliest!" ”

Zhao Yunxiang was slightly surprised. "Why is it so slow?" For three hours, I was afraid that the enemy's reinforcements had already reached Baotou City! ”

Like the 13th Cavalry Wing stationed in Guyang. It is only 70 kilometers away from Baotou, and I am afraid that it will not take three hours to run. Again, because there is snow, if the road surface is dry, the advance speed will be faster.

Chief of Staff Fan explained: "Our army is marching faster than expected. The siege time was also brought forward a bit. Commander Fu's troops are not as well supplied as we are. The march slowed down a beat. So it's a bit of a disjointed battle. ”

Division Commander Zhao sighed in annoyance and said, "Let's prepare the guard battalion and the battle defense artillery battalion first, if the enemy army attacks the city." They must be resolutely wiped out, and they must not be allowed to join the defenders in the city! Then he ordered: "Send another telegram to urge the friendly troops, and it would be bad if the enemy's reinforcements arrived first!" ”

There is a Murphy's Law in the West, which says that "everything that can go wrong must go wrong." Just like now, Zhao Yunxiang doesn't want the friendly army to be late, and the friendly army is late; I don't want the "crusade team" to attack the city, but the "crusade team" will attack the city.

Captain Xiong Chuan led his troops to Baotou City to take a look, and couldn't help but be surprised, because the city had been replaced with a blue sky and white sun flag. After contacting Lieutenant General Yoshizo Kojima, Captain Kumagawa decided to join the headquarters by breaking into the castle, so that it was more likely that he would hold out until reinforcements arrived.

"Kill, give!"

Under the cover of tanks and artillery, the raiding party quickly launched an attack on the northeast gate. This gate was guarded by the 2nd Battalion of the 342nd Regiment, and its strength was not weak, the problem was that they could not do anything with the enemy's tanks. Fortunately, the enemy's firepower was not strong, and the two sides fought fiercely near the city gate.

"Order the guard battalion and the battle defense artillery battalion to form a detachment, with Lin Feng, the commander of the guard battalion, as the detachment leader, and immediately reinforce the northeast gate." Although Zhao Yunxiang was a little reluctant, he still gritted his teeth and gave the order to attack. Although the enemy army is only more than 400 people, it will be even more difficult to destroy them after they have joined up with the defenders in the city!

Battalion Commander Lin Feng used to be the commander of the 5th Company of the 2nd Battalion of the 33rd Brigade, and he had outstanding performances in the battles in Guantai Village, Lanfengkou and other places. The general manager appointed him as the commander of the guard battalion of the 33rd Division, hoping that the cadets could be as tough as him.

"Brothers, we are about to go to Japan, are you afraid?"

"Don't be afraid!"

"Oh, it doesn't matter if you're afraid! To tell the truth, every time I go to the battlefield, I am afraid, but when I think about it, I am afraid of death, isn't the enemy afraid of death? It doesn't matter if we're afraid, as long as the enemy is afraid of us! ”

Battalion Commander Lin is very experienced, and only after making a joke did he lead his troops to set off. The fighters laughed for a while, and the psychological pressure was indeed reduced a lot. The troops drilled out of the northwest gate, preparing to outflank the Japanese rear. At that time, as long as the second battalion of the 342nd Regiment guarding the northeast gate is flanked in front and back, there is no worry about winning the battle.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the troops left the northwest gate, the telegraph operator hurriedly reported: "Camp, the little devil's crusade team is coming to the northwest gate!" ”

It turned out that the Japanese army could not capture the northeast gate for a long time, and gradually lost patience. Captain Kumagawa decided to take a look at the northwest gate and try his luck in a different place.

"Get ready to fight! Quick, follow your chief, and don't run around! ”

Quite a few recruits were frightened, and the officers had no choice but to step forward and kick them in the ass and drive them back to their positions. Fortunately, each battalion has a radio station, otherwise it would have suffered a big loss if it encountered it halfway.

Lyric! As soon as this side was ready, the cavalry of the little devils came. When the captain of the Kumagawa Wing found that the Chinese army dared to fight in the field, he couldn't help but be overjoyed, and hurriedly ordered the cavalry to disperse, and seven tanks rushed over at once.

"Hit!"

With the order of the battalion commander Lin Feng, the twelve battle defense guns opened fire together. The first round was quite accurate, and the first three tanks were hit several times. However, perhaps because of nervousness, the shells were not evenly distributed, and one of the tanks in front was paralyzed on the spot after receiving 8 shells. But the remaining tanks continued to advance, and the fighters panicked and hit not so accurately.

"Kill, give!" Captain Kumagawa didn't expect that there were so many battle defense guns hidden here, and he couldn't help but feel a little distressed. You must know that there are only a few hundred of these 89 tanks in total, if you kill seven here, you will kill seven there. I'm afraid I won't be able to manage it for a year. So he hurriedly ordered the cavalry to attack again. And let the artillery cover.

At this moment, the artillery fire of the guard battalion also began to threaten. They were armed with two types of artillery, one was the 60 mortar, which was relatively rare in the 41st Army. This weapon is very useful against infantry, but the enemy has tanks, cavalry, artillery. There is just no infantry. Make this weapon useless.

Fortunately, because of the receipt of supplies this time. They were newly equipped with another type of artillery - the Maxim 37-mm Bang Bang Cannon. The official name of this weapon should be the Maxim one-pounder cannon, and "Bang Bang" is the name given to it by the African Boers.

The Bang Bang Cannon is actually an enlarged Maxim machine gun, which was first jointly launched by Maxim and the British Vickers Company. But the stubborn British were not optimistic about this weapon.

A certain artillery bricklayer of the British army criticized. This kind of machine gun is "killing chickens with a knife" against infantry, and "powerless" against a strong fortress, and will not have any real effect on the battlefield.

However, the war in South Africa subverted the British army's previous assessment of the Bang Bang Cannon. The Boers were given a few bang guns, and there were many battles, and a well-concealed Boer behind rocks or trees could easily knock out an entire British artillery battery with a 4-man slam gun. The bombardment of the bang cannon uses smokeless gunpowder as the propellant, the Boers first use a single shell to test the target, used to correct the target, once the target is locked, it switches to fully automatic fire, the Boer shooters commonly use the entire 25 rounds of ammunition at one time, covering the entire target area, inflicting a fatal blow to the British artillery position. The British gunners, though skillful, were unable to suppress the well-concealed Bang Bang guns, often destroying their own artillery positions before the British could spot the Boer Bang Bang guns.

At that time, all the major newspapers in the world reported at length the bloody massacre of the British artillery units by the Boers, which disgraced the British.

However, this weapon was later eliminated, not because it was not powerful enough, but because it was too wasteful of ammunition. The representative of the Qing government commented: "The rate of fire of this machine gun is too high for China. ”

The Danish king had a similar opinion, he had hoped to see the shooting show of the bangbang, but when he learned the price of the cannonballs, he said, "This cannon will bankrupt my kingdom in two hours." ”

Nevertheless, a number of countries such as Great Britain, Germany, the United States, etc., equipped this weapon and improved it into anti-aircraft artillery. For example, the 41st Army's main anti-aircraft artillery, the 40-mm Bofors machine gun, was gradually developed from the Bang Bang gun.

After all, the performance of aircraft during World War II has been greatly improved, but it still has extremely powerful power against infantry. Zheng Huzi thought that this was a primitive grenade machine gun, so this time when he exchanged the information of the oil field for supplies, he asked for this weapon by name.

The Germans readily gave it, because this weapon was chicken ribs for them. A large amount of equipment cannot be afforded and can only be used for air defense, but air defense already has better weapons. After Germany's defeat in World War I, a large number of weapons were too lazy to be destroyed by the British and French, but this game was not taken seriously and escaped, which happened to be cheaper Zheng Huzi.

"Fire!"

Eight thump guns immediately burst into action at the target after a test shot. The soldiers present, as well as their opponents, had the good fortune to see the roar of the weapon after years of silence.

A 37mm grenade is equivalent to a grenade, and the explosion is not very powerful, but it is different when fired with gunpowder. Not only will it explode, but it also has a strong kinetic energy, and if it hits a person and explodes, it will definitely break in two; It is also a big hole in the horse.

Eight bangbang guns fired together, and more than a hundred grenades were fired in an instant. A dense rain of bullets whistled by, and there was a lot of flesh and blood flying on the battlefield. The poor squadron of cavalry was torn to pieces by a rain of bullets......

"Quick, get off the horse and hide!"

The remnants of the Japanese cavalry cried and tried to jump off their horses to escape, but it was a grenade, which could either shoot through the body or fall to the ground and explode, so with a rapid thud, the ground was soon covered with a layer of flesh and blood.

Looking at the tragic situation in front of him, the captain of the Kumagawa Wing forgot whether to attack or retreat. The fighters of the guard battalion and the anti-aircraft artillery battalion were also stunned, and both sides stood stunned for more than a minute.

"What's the fuss, hurry, the little devil's tank!"

Under Lin Feng's reprimand, the anti-Japanese gunners woke up like a dream, and hurriedly adjusted their shooting to shoot at the Japanese tanks that had lost cover! The Japanese army had already been frightened, and desperately fled eastward with tanks, and was ambushed by the 342nd Regiment when they passed through the northeast gate, and only two tanks escaped at the last time.

"Oh! Won, win! The soldiers above and below the city wall couldn't help cheering, but no one dared to look at the "duck blood soup" on the east side of the northwest gate, and the veterans would vomit it when they saw it.

With this "raiding party" eliminated, the 34th Division was finally able to concentrate its firepower on the defenders of the city. But before Division Commander Zhao Yunxiang could mobilize his troops, a shocking news came - the 13th Wing of the enemy cavalry was approaching, and it was only ten miles away from Baotou! (To be continued......)