Chapter 572: The Siege of Shexian (2)

The Kwantung Army troops going south, the spirit is in full swing, and it is a big threat to the independent division troops on various battlefields, Tang Qiuli, who learned the intelligence of the Kwantung Army's southward movement, immediately adjusted the battle plan, at this time, it is no longer useful to keep Yamaguchi, in other words, Yamaguchi has completed its historical mission, and it is already excess interest to use him to fish for 100,000 Japanese troops, Tang Qiuli gave Tang Qiusheng on the Xiadian and Wuyang fronts, and issued a general attack order to completely annihilate the remnants of the Yamaguchi.

On the evening of 17 January, the general attack of the encircling troops began, and the artillery fire rang out in unison, and the shells as dense as flying locusts were drawn in the dim night, drawing a dark red trajectory, and smashing on the heads of the Japanese soldiers like hailstones, and in the encirclement, the fire flashed, the smoke of gunpowder was filled, and the snow that was blown up, mixed with the corpses of the Japanese soldiers, flew into the air, like a boiling furnace of molten iron, and poured their heads on the heads of more than 60,000 Japanese soldiers.

This is different from the previous few days, the shelling was to create a tense atmosphere, forcing Yamaguchi to ask the Japanese command for help, to complete Tang Qiuli's next battle plan, the artillery bombardment of the general attack, is all-round coverage, in the encirclement, there are no dead ends, shells are flying from all directions, with a terrifying scream that makes the Japanese soldiers frightened, falling in the narrow encirclement.

The Japanese soldiers, who had been starved for several days, were dizzy and exhausted with hunger, struggling in vain to run around, and there was volcanic eruption-like artillery fire, and there were shrapnel flying with death howls, and the corpses of Japanese soldiers were covered in the filthy encirclement.

Yamaguchi, who was already numb to his nerves, realized at this time that he was being used as a bait, since he received the telegram that the Second Army had retreated to Shexian, he knew that his fate was sealed, and the general attack launched by the troops of the Independent Division undoubtedly sounded the horn announcing his death, and the firelight that exploded everywhere reflected his pale face and dull eyes.

On the faint light of the flashlight, he trembled and took out a pen and paper, ready to write a suicide note, just started, a large-caliber cannonball fell, a ball of fire rose with gunsmoke, the mountain pass has disappeared, only a severed hand holding a pen, helplessly lying on the snow, snow-white letter paper, by the shock wave of the shell explosion, blown into the sky, with the cold night wind of Taihang Mountain, drifting into the distance.

The Japanese soldiers who faced a desperate situation spontaneously organized themselves and rushed desperately to the periphery of the encirclement, the ice surface was as smooth as a mirror, and suddenly stopped their steps, the Japanese soldiers took out their grenades, ready to blow up a gap, hoping to escape from this terrifying area, before their grenades were thrown, behind the ice wall, countless black small black spots flew in, and a burst of explosions no less than artillery bombardment, the Japanese soldiers who rushed to the front of the encirclement became a lifeless corpse.

At dawn, the troops rushed into the encirclement, not a single living Japanese soldier, the artillery of the independent division unit, ploughed this small area many times, every inch of land, was turned up by the exploding shells, the corpses of the Japanese soldiers were broken pieces, mixed with large pieces of frozen soil, all over the ground, the heavy smoke and smell of blood, stimulated the soldiers to their stomachs for a while, there was no need to clean the battlefield, all the qiē, all in the artillery fire, all of them were turned into pieces.

The last remnants of the Japanese troops under the Yamaguchi Division, which had been rampaging through the base area for two months since they entered the Taihang Mountain Base Area on 5 November, were annihilated in one fell swoop, and they did all the bad things and turned the Taihang Mountain Base Area into a scorched earth.

After the battle, according to the order of the division commander Tang Qiuli, Tang Qiusheng led the troops to quickly go north, through Liaoyang and Yixing, directly into Dingyukou, threatening the flank of the Japanese army in front of Niangzi Pass, preparing to cooperate with Feng Jiwu's Niangzi Pass garrison corps, take Jingcheng Pass, and return the Japanese army containing Feng Jiwu's headquarters back to Shijiazhuang.

The artillery of the Xiangyuan siege had just stopped, and the battle to attack Shexian County began at 3 o'clock in the morning on 18 January, Tang Qiuli commanded the troops, with fierce artillery fire, bombarded the three city gates in the west, north, and south of Shexian County.

It has been more than two years since he fought with the Kwantung Army, for the old opponent sent to the door, Tang Qiuli's palms are itchy, if the Kwantung Army goes south to the nest, Tang Qiuli only has to evacuate Shexian, and now, the Japanese army with only one division and regiment, he has the strength to fight an ambush like Xiangtangpu again, and give the Kwantung Army a dismount.

For this reason, last night, he sent Sun Zhenbang, the Yellow River River Defense Force, the Ma Chaoyang Department of the Second Independent Brigade, and the Liu Chun Department of the First Cavalry Brigade, a total of more than 47,000 troops, with Sun Zhenbang, chief of staff of the Taihang Mountain Field Corps, as the commander-in-chief, and went out to the Cishan and Yangwu lines between Handan and Shexian counties.

As for Shexian, he didn't really plan to attack it, the Second Army was different from the Japanese army under Yamaguchi, and it didn't go through more than two months of fighting in the mountains, although it was hit head-on in Xiangtangpu, the main force was still there, and it was defending the fortified city, but it was a tough battle, destroying 1,000 enemies, losing 800 self-losses, and fighting with the Japanese army.

In addition, the position of Shexian County is forward, next to Handan, for the wedged into the depth of the Japanese army's defense, the Japanese army in North China will definitely fight for it repeatedly, and its own strength will be involved in this large part, from a strategic point of view, defending a county town that is not very important, it is also worth the loss, so he just ordered artillery to violently bombard the Japanese army in the city.

In the north of Shexian County, he ambushed Tong Batu's Second Cavalry Brigade, the so-called "encirclement of three missing one", he hoped that Hirano Haoliang's Second Army would break through from the north gate and use cavalry to attack, which would give the Japanese army retreating in panic the greatest damage, and the troops that advanced to Handan and Shexian would also give the defeated Japanese army the greatest blow.

If the Japanese army resolutely does not break through, then, Sun Zhenbang's troops, will go all out to ambush the Kwantung Army troops who come to help, if the Japanese army in Shexian breaks through, Sun Zhenbang's troops, the first to fight that, no matter how profitable, this is Tang Qiuli's overall deployment, after this battle, the Japanese army in North China, in a short period of time, is unable to launch a new offensive, and they can readjust their deployment and prepare to meet the newly arrived Kwantung Army southward corps.

Fierce artillery fire, the masonry of the city wall of Shexian County was blown up, and the smoke was filled, Hirano Hirora was indeed panicked, he ordered a part of the troops to withdraw from the city wall, ready to fight street battles, the troops were concentrated on the city wall, the artillery fire of the independent division was too fierce, the city wall was bombed down in several places, and the defenders suffered heavy casualties, and then, he sent an urgent telegram to Kazuki Kiyoji, the second army was fiercely attacked by the independent division troops, and was under great pressure, urging reinforcements to speed up.

However, he didn't plan to break through, this guy slyly saw that the north gate was not attacked, it was a trap set by Tang Qiuli for him, once the troops broke through, in the wild where there was no danger to defend, only to be hit more violently, if the independent division troops used cavalry, it would be even more disastrous for themselves, with the city fortifications of Shexian County, he was confident to hold on to the moment of reinforcements.

Sure enough, in the afternoon, the troops of the Independent Division, in several gaps in the city wall that had been blown up, carried out several tentative attacks, and were fiercely returned fire by the Japanese troops, and the Japanese light and heavy machine guns and mortars, raining bullets and shells on the road of the troops' attack, the troops of the Independent Division, which were blocked, quickly retreated.

Repelled the attack of the troops of the Independent Division, Hirano Hiroshi and all the Japanese soldiers, their confidence was greatly increased, who knows, did not wait for long, the artillery of the Independent Division, carried out fierce shelling of all exposed Japanese fire points, and the corpses of Japanese soldiers and weapons that were blown into parts flew into the air with the masonry.

Hirano Haoliang only knew that he fell for Tang Qiuli again, but he didn't dare to withdraw the troops, knowing that that time was the real attack of the Chinese army, in the rain of bullets flying in the sky, the Japanese army in Shexian County staggered until dark, and the shelling of the independent division gradually stopped, Hirano Haoliang breathed a sigh of relief, and survived another day, and there was one thing he didn't expect, this was Tang Qiuli's intention to put pressure on him, and Hirano Haoliang really sent several emergency telegrams in a row.

In the evening, after receiving information from the reconnaissance troops, the Kwantung Army entered the division of Handan, sent a wing of troops, left Handan overnight, and advanced in the direction of Shexian County. He ordered the reconnaissance troops to pay close attention to all roads leading to Shexian in Handan, and to report any other moves by the Japanese army as soon as possible.

Although the Japanese army only sent a wing, it was better than nothing, he telegraphed Sun Zhenbang to prepare for an ambush of the Japanese army, and now, the situation is very clear, the Japanese army in Shexian has no intention of breaking through, so it will go all out to deal with the troops of the Kwantung Army.

The roaring artillery fire stopped, and the battlefield filled with gunpowder smoke also fell silent, only the occasional sporadic gunshots, but the night seemed even quieter, it was the snipers of the troops, sniping the unlucky Japanese soldiers, fighting during the day, they were useless, at night, it was the world of these hunters, Tang Qiuli smiled, this night, I don't know how many Japanese soldiers, I can't see the sun tomorrow.

Tang Qiuli leaned on the ammunition box, filtered the entire form of the war zone in his mind, the current situation was already the best result, gradually feeling sleepy, his eyelids were astringent, hazy, the whispers of the staff officers, the footsteps of the correspondents, and the sound of the radio ticking to send and receive news, as if they were coming from a very distant place, which made him feel a sense of silence on the battlefield.

Suddenly felt that someone was calling him, and when he opened his eyes, it was Chen Feng, the director of communications, "Division commander, millizhou emergency call" Tang Qiuli was slightly stunned, millizhou? Isn't it the Sulu garrison that rests there? What will be the urgency, a late night call?

(To be continued)