The most powerful artillery in the Eighth Route Army is the 1937 Type 152 plus howitzer, but this kind of artillery is too big and heavy after all and does not conform to the national conditions of China, so the number of equipment is not very large, and it can only exist as a suppressive firepower at the division level of the Eighth Route Army. It is still the field artillery and mountain artillery of the 76 mm level that are really widely equipped in the Eighth Route Army.

For example, the main support firepower of the artillery battalions under each regiment of the Eighth Route Army is the Soviet 1904 Type 76 mm mountain gun. This kind of mountain cannon is indeed an old antique from the Tsarist era, and its maximum range is too close, and its power is not enough. But the advantage is that its weight is very low, the total combat weight is only 327 kg. For **** who lack traction tools such as cars, this cannon is too suitable. For example, when besieging Shijiazhuang and the Fourth Cavalry Brigade in the previous period, the artillery of the Eighth Route Army was stunned to push this kind of mountain artillery to the front line of the fortifications of the devils, and achieved good results!

Another advantage of the 1904 mountain cannon is that it is cheap, of course, in fact, the weapons supported by the Soviet Union to **** are very cheap, this kind of old antique before the First World War did not even look down on the scraping army, and has been piled up in the warehouses of the Soviet Union as a teaching aid for the militia and reserves. Now I heard that **** lacks heavy firepower, so I will directly throw it to **** by brushing oil and spraying some paint.

In addition to the Type 1904 mountain guns, the artillery regiments of each brigade of the Eighth Route Army were also equipped with a large number of Type 1909 76-mm mountain guns, which were almost twice as heavy (627 kg) as the Type 1904, and the same maximum range was also increased from the level of 5,500 meters to more than 7,000 meters. Although it is heavier than the Devil's Type 94 mountain gun and has a slightly smaller firing range, there is no qualitative difference, and it is not a disadvantage to fire at the same caliber field artillery at the division and regimental level of the Japanese army.

Of course, the largest number of first-class equipment of the battalion of the Eighth Route Army is 37-mm infantry guns and 82-mm mortars. The former is the Soviet Union's World War I inventory, which belongs to foreign garbage that is not distressed when used for rotten use, while the latter is the standard weapon of the Soviet Red Army. Anyway, for the Soviet Red Army, other artillery may not be enough, but there are absolutely as many mortars as there are, especially mortars of 82 mm and below, the output is amazing. All in all, this was one of the few weapons of the Eighth Route Army that was on the same level as the Soviet Red Army.

These firepower basically ensured that the Eighth Route Army was not worse than the Japanese army in terms of firepower, and of course, if the Eighth Route Army was like the scraping army in the Battle of Songhu, and the supply of artillery shells could not be supplied, it would not be able to resist for long. But now the big brother of the Soviet Union has given Liha, not to mention the supply of artillery shells for the Eighth Route Army, but it is definitely not less than the supply of devils, which also determines that in the confrontation, the Eighth Route Army will not suffer.

And if the Eighth Route Army does not suffer losses, it is a advantage, after all, the devils have been fighting in China for more than ten years, and no army has ever been able to shoot at them for a long time, and the devils are not psychologically prepared for this at all. When they fight according to the old ways, the losses are naturally not light.

After two days of fighting, the 62nd Division of the devil was crippled by a brigade, which was unimaginable in the past. It is even more inconceivable that the scrapping of a brigade has not been able to move forward, which is simply incredible.

According to the logic of the devil, he scrapped a brigade on his side, and the "Zhina people" had to be consumed by at least one regiment or brigade. So how many troops did the 120th Division lose? About two hundred. This is far lower than the devil's, and even the kind of losses are largely due to the fact that the troops of the 120th Division blocking the 62nd Division are very excited to fight, and they blindly fight against the devils, and if they fight smarter, the losses are likely to be less.

The devil was naturally not convinced, so in the next three days, he launched wave after wave of fierce offensives, which was really carried by the 120th Division. It's just that the devils who don't have an advantage in artillery can't rely on firepower to bully the Eighth Route Army, and the effect of rushing and hitting is equivalent to giving people heads.

Seeing that the frontal attack during the day could not open the situation, the devil picked up the night attack tactics that he was good at. That night, Lieutenant Yamato Jiro, the leader of the 8th Squadron of the Japanese Army, led about a squadron of devils out of the position, and then quietly detoured up to the rear of the 717th Regiment of the 120th Division. The two sentries of the regiment were inexperienced new fighters and failed to detect the approach of the Japanese army, so they were suddenly stabbed to death with bayonets by the Japanese soldiers, and then Yamato Jiro led the team straight in the direction of the main position of the 717th regiment.

After walking about a few hundred meters, Nie Weiguo, the commander of the machine gun company of the 717th Regiment, who was checking the night, noticed this group of devils, and he did not ask for the password according to the usual practice, but directly took out the Bobosha submachine gun and swept a shuttle, and ordered the soldiers who followed him: "Don't ask, fight quickly!" "Four people and three submachine guns opened fire fiercely, like three fire dragons swept away the devils.

Yamato Jiro saw that it was not good, and quickly led the devil to launch a charge, and rushed up with a scream. At this time, you can see the technical and tactical level of the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army, three submachine guns took over the fire, and Nie Weiguo's herald squatted aside to help change the magazine, and when the firepower was not interrupted at all, they repelled the devil's charge again and again.

Soon the gunfire attracted the attention of friendly and neighboring troops, including Nie Weiguo's machine gun company, 9 heavy machine guns quickly adjusted the direction of fire, and fired fiercely at the devils behind them, killing more than 30 devils in just one minute, Yamato Jiro was killed on the spot, and the remaining devils turned around and fled when they saw that it was not good.

And at this moment, the devils who were preparing to receive Yamato Jiro also launched a sneak attack from the front, but at this time, the 717 regiment was already on high alert, and the devils who jumped out of the position were killed more than ten in an instant. However, the devil is also red-eyed, regardless of the bayonet rushing, ready to use his best "white-knuckle combat" to solve the problem. However, at this time, who in the Eighth Route Army is still fighting with you, machine guns, submachine guns and grenades are enough, and the red-eyed devil soldiers are eager to fight in close combat with a 38-type rifle equipped with a fifty-centimeter-long bayonet, but they fell down one after another under the dense rain of bullets from Bobosha submachine guns, and most of the casualties were killed and injured in an instant, and the remaining devils could only drag their rifles and tail in embarrassment and escape.

Of course, some die-hard old devils are also extremely tenacious, for example, the devil soldiers who were shot in the leg in this battle refused to surrender after being surrounded by the Eighth Route Army, and took off their guns and stabbed themselves to commit suicide.

Those who can appreciate the tenacity of the devil are also the artillery of the Eighth Route Army, which has just grown up. Song Rui, commander of the second company of the first battalion of the artillery regiment under the 358th Brigade of the 120th Division, said: "The battle was fierce, and the devils continued to launch wave-like offensives, and it was difficult for the front-line infantry comrades to repel this offensive alone. Generally at such times, our artillery firing is the most intense and intense. It is necessary to carefully observe the course of the battle with artillery mirrors and binoculars, keep close contact with the comrades on the front-line positions, and send artillery shells to the places where they are most needed in a timely manner according to their needs and changes in the situation on the battlefield: to provide close support to the infantry, to kill and injure the enemy's vital forces, and to suppress the enemy's activities......"

"We had a very heavy task and very intense launches, often for two or three hours in a row, and multiple times a day. In a plain in North China, there was no commanding height for artillery to observe, so we could only raise a hot air balloon to observe the firing effect of the whole company, and then constantly correct the firing elements according to the impact point. Observer Huang Mao was responsible for calculating the data and acting as my assistant, while the communicator conveyed the password I issued to the position, and the deputy company commander Ma Bangsheng coordinated and commanded the issuance of the password on the position. ”

"The six cannons roared incessantly, raining shells on the devil's head, destroying and killing the abominable Japanese invaders. I was particularly happy to see the artillery under my command bombarding the enemy, helping friendly troops repel the enemy's onslaught again and again, and eliminating groups of devils. ”

Of course, artillery is also a dangerous business, and while Song Rui opened heavy fire on the Japanese army, the Japanese artillery would also shoot at the artillery positions and observation posts of the Eighth Route Army, and they fired very accurately and fiercely. And Song Rui's position was the most prominent, so he suffered the most shells.

That time, after a whole day of fierce fighting, it was about to enter dusk, and the artillerymen who had been tired for a day could finally take a breath, Song Rui was about to put down the work at hand and go to dinner, who would have thought that the fire on the enemy's position in the telescope was flickering, it was obvious that the enemy was firing again!

Song Rui immediately shouted: "Shelling! Take cover! ”

Immediately, the artillerymen hurriedly jumped into the anti-artillery hole, and just after hiding, there were two rumblings outside, and two shells in a row hit the open space where the meal was about to be opened, and then more than a dozen shells fell, all of which fell within a radius of 50 meters! By the time the shelling was over, all the rice buckets and chopsticks that had just been placed in the open space had been blown away, and the open space was even more potholed.

Of course, the Eighth Route Army was not just beaten and did not fight back. At the end of the Japanese artillery bombardment, Song Rui immediately organized forces to return fire, and fired more than 100 shells in a row, which also blew up the Japanese artillery position into a sea of fire.

There are many more battles like this, and the two sides are evenly matched on the whole. The devils attacked for three days in a row, but they gained nothing, but instead made them, who were already very tired, become more and more lacking in energy. On the fourth day, the Japanese 62nd Division was forced to stop the attack, because it was resting, and the devil really couldn't move!

But whether to fight or not, and when to fight is no longer up to the devils, the devils don't want to fight, but the 120th Division will not let them rest at ease, on this day the 120th Division artillery and the Soviet Air Force closely cooperated, carried out a series of air raids and shelling, and blew up a man on his back.

This bombing was a blow to Okamura Ninji, and he could finally take a more sober look at his position. At this time, he was surprised to find that the Eighth Route Army was on three sides in the northwest and east, and it was completely a sense of urgency that the wind and rain were about to come. Moreover, after a few days of contact, he found that the Eighth Route opposite him was already a shotgun with a positive and strong combat effectiveness, and he could completely fight the "imperial army" head-on.

Although at this time, Okamura Ningji still did not admit that the Eighth Route Army and the "Imperial Army" were already comparable, but he also felt that the Eighth Route Army did not need the so-called tenfold advantage as he thought before, and even a fivefold advantage must be required, two or three times is enough! And now the number of the Eighth Route Army is more than three times superior just from the number that has appeared on the battlefield.

After Okamura Ninji carefully judged the comparison of the strength of the enemy and us, even if he was extremely reluctant, he had to admit that it was probably unrealistic to continue the previous battle plan to recapture Hebei. The best strategy now is to get out of this hellish place.

Okamura Ningji had the intention to retreat, but what made him depressed was that the Chrysanthemum Corps and the 17th Tank Wing were still in the encirclement, and the 62nd Division had not been able to break the siege after a few days of fierce attack, and the Chrysanthemum Corps and the 17th Tank Wing were also thousands of living forces, if they were discarded like this, he, the commander of the North China Front, would probably be at the end of his life.

Okamura knew that he had to rescue the Ju Corps and the 17th Tank Wing in the encirclement, and even this task was not enough. Because from June to August, his North China Front Army was really embarrassed, and he lost a huge North China, not to mention, and was annihilated by the Eighth Route Army one after another, almost 50,000 people. This is a staggering number, and the loss of 50,000 people in more than a month of fighting is a complete defeat. It seems that only he, the commander, can carry such a big defeat.

Who wants to take the blame? Anyway, Okamura Ninji is unwilling, but he can't find a way to turn defeat into victory for the time being, so he can only take one step at a time, quit the battle first, and then find a way to win the capital!

Okamura Ninji made up his mind to retreat, and he immediately adjusted his deployment, first ordering the independent mixed 7th Brigade to retreat to Anyang to ensure the safety of the retreat, and then ordered the 37th Division to build a defensive position on the spot to prepare for the rear of the palace to block the attack, and the 110th Division immediately cooperated with the 62nd Division to relieve the siege of the Ju Corps and the 17th Wing of the Chariot. The remaining 27th Division rested on the spot and served as a reserve.

Okamura Ninji's idea is good, one division can't beat the 120th division, two divisions are always okay, right? He didn't think about it at all, what if the two divisions couldn't beat it?

A division of the Japanese army, such as the A and B divisions, has more than 20,000 people, which is close to a downsized infantry corps by the standards of the Soviet Red Army. Its combat effectiveness is still very strong. Of course, in the later stage of the Anti-Japanese War, because the battle line was too long and leaking on all sides, the devil's division also began to inject water, and those who remained in China were basically some second-line troops, such as most of the divisions under Okamura Ningji were C divisions, and even Ding divisions, whose combat effectiveness was seriously reduced.

Even in order to carry out this campaign, the Japanese army specially strengthened Okamura Ninji's troops, and the combat effectiveness of its divisions and regiments was at most restored to the level of the B division, and even most of them could not reach it.

And what about the Eighth Route Army? As mentioned earlier, Lao Chiang only gave the Eighth Route Army three divisions, which was not enough, so the three divisions of the Eighth Route Army were expanded and expanded again in the War of Resistance Against Japan, and a large number of independent brigades (regiments) and the like appeared. By 1944, a division of the Eighth Route Army was almost equivalent to the size of a group army, and this time, the three main divisions of the Eighth Route Army were all present, that is, using the strength of three group armies to fight a group army, and the advantage was really quite large.

Some comrades may ask, since the advantage is so great, why did the Eighth Route Army not gain a clear advantage in Shanghai on the battlefield? The reason is very simple, first of all, this battlefield is only so big, and the total number of troops invested in one performance is limited, and it can't squeeze these people; Secondly, the Eighth Route Army can't fight devils wholeheartedly, and it also has to pay attention to the dynamics of the army, Lao Jiang's character and discipline are not trustworthy, and they must be guarded against; In the end, the main intention of the Central Military Commission in carrying out this campaign was to train the troops, and they had never thought of fighting such a big battle before, so all units took turns to participate in the battle, so that all units could brush up a little combat experience.

In this way, the strength advantage of the Eighth Route Army was offset by a large part, so the devils could continue to attack "presumptuously", and if the Eighth Route Army had been allowed to devote itself wholeheartedly to the attack, it would have surrounded Okamura Ningji a long time ago.

Of course, it's not too late. Just when Okamura felt that the situation was not good and was about to run away, the Central Military Commission and the General Headquarters of the Eighth Route Army also made up their minds to fight a relatively large war of annihilation, preparing to annihilate at least three or four more brigades and regiments of devils, so as to completely change the situation between the enemy and us in North China and Shandong.

Based on this guiding ideology, Liu Shuai's 129th Division quickly took action, and General Chen's headquarters quickly advanced towards Anyang, seized Anyang in front of the Devil's Independent Mixed Seventh Brigade, and cut off the Devil's escape route.

It's also funny to say, when the Devil's Independent Mixed Seventh Brigade learned that Anyang was occupied by General Chen's 771st Regiment, it was not in a hurry at all, it was slowly swaggering towards Anyang, burning, killing, looting and doing all kinds of evil along the way, it was simply a posture of going to the countryside to sweep. It is also true that the devil's independent mixed brigade is capable of doing this kind of work. So when I walked to Anyang with a full harvest, this brigade was suddenly attacked by General Chen, and I was stunned in an instant!

In just one morning, General Chen's headquarters annihilated one wing of the enemy, and the remaining two wings were also scattered and moved closer to Okamura Ningji's main force.

After defeating the Japanese invaders' independent mixed 7th Brigade, General Chen did not take advantage of the victory to pursue, he knew very well his task, that is, to block the escape route of the devils, so he immediately ordered that in addition to the troops who cleaned up the battlefield, the remaining troops immediately rushed to build fortifications and prepare to meet the counterattack of the devils.

Besides, Okamura Ninji's side, although he invested in the 110th Division, there was still nothing he could do with the 120th Division. Not only could it not be moved, but even when the main force of the 120th Division was also put into battle one after another, the two divisions gradually became unbearable, and just when Okamura Ninji was considering whether to put the 27th Division of the reserve into it, the independent mixed 7th Brigade brought bad news - the back road was cut off! (To be continued.) )