At 5 o'clock in the morning on March 3, with the first salvo of the 53rd Army's heavy artillery regiment in Xiyuan, the siege operation officially began. The 53rd Army Heavy Artillery Regiment is the only heavy artillery regiment in the Jicha Theater, and the first eight Type 96 150mm heavy howitzers were captured by the 116th Division of the 53rd Army from the devils in Shengfang Town. As a reward for the brave capture of artillery and the bloody battle, these artillery pieces were directly placed under the direct jurisdiction of the 53rd Army, becoming the most powerful striking force of the army.

However, the Type 96 heavy howitzer has a disadvantage, that is, the maximum firing range is too short, only 11,900 meters. This distance has no obvious advantage over the 38-year-old field artillery (maximum range of 11,500 meters) that the Japanese army is more equipped with, and it is even more dwarfed by the cutting-edge Type 90 75-mm field gun (13,890 meters).

The first range of artillery battles, you can hit me, I can't hit you, then this battle can't be fought. In other words, the survivability of these heavy howitzers on the battlefield is very low, and if they don't do well, they will be killed by the long-range artillery fire of the Japanese army.

In order to protect these rare heavy artillery, after the military region got a batch of heavy artillery from Germany, Zheng Weiguo ordered the 53rd Army to replenish 8 K17105 mm field cannons. The performance of this gun is similar to that of the Taisho 14th 105mm cannon equipped by the Japanese army, and the maximum firing range can reach more than 15,000 meters. Although the Japanese still have the more powerful Type 92 105mm cannon, their long-range effectiveness skills are also relatively poor, and the distance of 15,000 meters is enough to shield most threats.

Boom Boom Boom ...... After the battle began, the fortifications and strongholds outside the western city were quickly destroyed in pieces. In particular, important facilities such as the western suburbs airport. All were destroyed. Enraged, Commander Tada ordered the 1st Division of the 21st Division to join the 1st Squadron of Independent Light Armored Vehicles to launch a counterattack on Xiyuan. However, under the ferocious blows of the 53rd Army, the Japanese army was quickly defeated and retreated back to the city.

At the same time that the 53rd Army launched an attack on the western city, the 97th Army and the 63rd Army also launched a fierce attack on the southern and eastern cities, respectively. The heavy artillery brigade and field artillery brigade directly under the theater were deployed in the Nanyuan area to provide fire support to the siege units. The artillery of the heavy artillery brigade was a messy of models, most of which were captured in previous battles, and some were second-hand imported from Germany. The field artillery brigade is all K17105 mm cannons, with a total of 48 guns. The stock of this kind of artillery in Germany is not much, plus the 24 guns for the Eighth Route Army, almost hollowing out the foundation of Germany. Of course, the Germans also had better K18105 cannons and 150 cannons. K17105 They don't like it either. Otherwise, it wouldn't be so refreshing.

The continuous sound of artillery reached the headquarters of the North China Front. The restless Admiral Tada walked around the office and refused to stop for a moment. The government and the base camp were very shocked when they learned about the situation in Beiping from other sources, and they called Tada Jun one after another to ask Tada Jun to end the fighting in Baotou as soon as possible and concentrate on eliminating the threat from Jizhong.

An attendant walked to the door. Salute: "Report!" Your Excellency the Commander. Yamashita Chief of Staff has arrived! ”

Tada Jun hurriedly said: "Hurry up and invite Yamashita-kun to come in!" ”

The attendant hurriedly bowed his head and answered: "Hello! He bowed again before stepping back.

Soon. Yamashita Fengwen walked in and said respectfully, "Your Excellency Commander, I just went to Xicheng and Nancheng to have a look. The artillery fire of the Chinese army was very fierce, no less than that of a heavy artillery brigade. ”

Tada Jun nodded and said in annoyance: "Sodosne, it's all a damn German white animal doing a good job!" It is unforgivable to sell so many weapons to the enemy behind the back of allies. However, some people in the country are still advocating the Triple Alliance (referring to Seishiro Itagaki at the time), which is really unreasonable! ”

Yamashita did not dare to get involved in this struggle, and hurriedly changed the subject: "Some of them are indeed old World War I guns resold by the Germans, but there are also many lost artillery pieces of the Imperial Army. ”

Tada Jun snorted and said, "This is simply a shame for the Imperial Army, and I will take back all the cannons stolen by the people in this battle!" ”

Yamashita Fengwen hurriedly bowed his head and said, "Haiyi! The subordinates are willing to go all out and wash away the shame of the army with the blood of the Shina people. ”

"Yo Xi!" Tada Jun nodded with satisfaction, and asked again: "Yamashita-kun, how is the current progress of the 33rd Division and the 34th Division?" ”

Yamashita replied: "The 33rd Division is still besieging Anci, and the two sides are fighting very fiercely; The 34th Division started well, but after crossing the canal, it was constantly blocked by the soldiers and civilians of China, and is still trapped on the east bank of the Ziya River. ”

Tada Jun snorted and said with some dissatisfaction: "These two fools! A nonsense that Zheng Huzi's headquarters was in Anci, but he couldn't beat it for more than three hours; The other was blocked by a small ditch (in fact, the Ziya River has a large flow of water). I really don't understand, what kind of fortress the base camp is giving us such a garbage army! ”

Yamashita Fengwen advised: "Your Excellency the Commander does not need to be anxious. Lieutenant General Jutaro Kanji said they had made significant progress and that the battle would be over in two hours. At present, the main forces of Jizhong are all in the area north of the Daqing River, and it is believed that Lieutenant General Guan Guizhi will also make a breakthrough soon. ”

Tada Jun snorted and said, "I hope so!" ”

The phone on the table rang suddenly, and Tada Jun picked it up casually and said, "Moxi Moxi, I'm Tada Jun!" ”

There was a dense burst of gunfire from inside the phone, and a panicked and anxious voice said: "Your Excellency Commander, I am Jiro Konishimura, who is in charge of the defense of the South Gate. An Imperial Concord army suddenly mutinied and captured the South Gate, and now the Chinese army has stormed into the city! ”

Tada stood up in shock, couldn't believe his ears, and hurriedly asked, "Nani?" What do you say, Konishimura! ”

Xiao Xicun cried: "Your Excellency Commander, the Second Regiment of the Imperial Alliance Army has rebelled, and the south gate has been lost, please send troops to reinforce it as soon as possible!" ”

"Yaga!" Tada Jun was shocked and angry, hung up the phone with a bang, and said to Yamashita Fengfumi, "Come with me to Nancheng." There was a rebellion in the Imperial Cooperative Army there, and the Chinese army had already taken advantage of the chaos to kill them! ”

"Nani?" Yamashita was also very surprised, and hurriedly put on his hat. Hurriedly followed behind Tada. The two men walked down the building, already with their attendants ready for their cars, accompanied by five armored vehicles and five trucks, and a squadron of soldiers squeezing into the trucks.

Yamashita Fengwen felt that the escort force was a little small, so he hurriedly persuaded: "Your Excellency Commander, let's let my subordinates go down!" You're here to take the center and play a bigger role. ”

Tada refused: "No, there is such a big thing, I have to go and see it myself." ”

Yamashita Fengwen had no choice but to follow him into the car. Soon. The convoy drove out of the compound. He turned a corner and headed for the south gate. On the way, he happened to encounter reinforcements from the south gate, and Tada, in order not to affect their movements, ordered the car to be parked aside. At this moment, a dense burst of gunfire suddenly came from the direction of the headquarters.

Tada Jun and the others did not go far at this time. Because it is very clear to hear. They all looked over there. And guess what happened. Yamashita Fengwen said angrily: "Baga, do you still need to ask?" It was clear that there were people attacking the headquarters. Then he hurriedly ordered: "Quickly, protect the commander." We're going to have to move right away. ”

Several staff officers hurriedly worked together to stuff Tada into an armored car. Fortunately, Tada Jun is relatively thin and small, and if Yamashita Fengwen's "infantry cannon" wants to squeeze into the bean chariot, I am afraid it will be enough to choke.

Inside and outside the Japanese headquarters, a group of assassins dressed in civilian clothes were attacking frantically. The Japanese soldiers guarding the area probably did not expect anyone to dare to attack their idea, but they were caught off guard and suffered many casualties as soon as the battle began.

Da Da Da ...... A sturdy killer held a "fast and slow machine" in each hand, and rushed while fighting, and quickly dispersed the Japanese guards. The killers who followed followed were named one by one using semi-automatic fire. Another group of soldiers used a micro-shaped grenade launcher to occasionally shoot grenades into windows or into Japanese machine-gun bunkers.

"Don't fall in love, go find Tada!" One of the leading killers waved the shell gun in his hand, and immediately a group of men rushed towards the office building.

Although the headquarters was heavily guarded, they were never attacked. It's okay to intimidate the common people at ordinary times, but it becomes helpless when you really encounter a strong enemy. Soon, a team of hitmen broke through the fragile defenses guarding the office building and had already made their way into the office building. From time to time, they opened the door, threw grenades into it, and then closed the door again. Boom, the Japanese soldiers hiding inside were bombed and screamed again and again. Some soldiers with poor psychological quality even jumped from the third floor in fright.

This small unit was a special operations team jointly organized by the special operations team and the military command, and was specifically tasked with assassinating Tada Jun and other senior officers of the North China Front. Armed with short guns and grenades, they sneaked in from the backyard, killed the sentry, and then went straight to Tada's residence, but they were empty. It turns out that Tada Jun has been eating and living in the office for the past few days.

The members of the action team had to rush from the living area to the office area again, and accurately found Tada Jun's office, but unfortunately they came one step too late, because Tada Jun was lost, he hurried to inspect the battle situation, and escaped as a result. In desperation, everyone had no choice but to target other personnel and the top secret documents of the headquarters.

"Who are you?" As soon as Shinto Kondo, the chief of the operations section of the North China Front, heard the gunshots, he collided with the killers as soon as he came out.

Bang! One of the team members was quick and knocked him down with a single shot. It was also the largest officer killed in the assassination attempt.

At the same time, other action teams of special combat teams, military commands, central unifications, underground parties, anti-Japanese groups, and other organizations were also staged in various parts of Beiping City. Their targets included the Japanese army headquarters at all levels, warehouses, hospitals, various organs of the puppet government, and important facilities in the city, such as power plants and telephone communication facilities (including telephone lines). In addition to these important targets, Japanese soldiers who had lost their orders and the homes of the puppet government were also targeted. The more famous is the cultural traitor Zhou Zuoren, but unfortunately this fight is big, and he didn't die after being shot three times in a row.

This frenzied assassination campaign lasted a full day. Although he failed to kill Tada, he did very serious damage to the Japanese command system. In particular, the attack on the Japanese headquarters caused panic and confusion among the Japanese soldiers, and many Japanese soldiers shot themselves because of extreme panic.

Knowing that the city of Beiping had been fiercely attacked, several divisions including the 27th, 33rd, and 34th launched a new round of onslaught. Because if the rescue is not effective, the responsibility for the loss of Beiping is not something that a few of them can afford, and they will have to go to a military court if they don't do it.

Yangcun, position of the 273rd regiment. So far, the fierce fighting has basically all fallen on the outlying positions. The soldiers were all lying tired in the fortifications, and their robes were already bloodstained and tattered.

Head Zhao Weibin had a bandage wrapped around his head. Obviously wounded, but he looks fine. He asked in a low voice, "What does the military department say?" ”

The telegraph operator hurriedly said: "The military department said that Anji was also besieged by the Japanese army, and there was no way to draw troops to reinforce it for the time being, so let's hold out at least until tonight." ”

Boom Boom Boom ...... As soon as the words fell, another burst of heavy artillery fire struck. couldn't take Yang Village for a long time, and the division commander of the 27th Division, Masaharu Honma, was also anxious. The military department will not believe in the strength of the fighting power of the Chinese army, but will only think that the commander is incompetent.

As mentioned earlier, this 27th Division is a freak. It was formed by the expansion of the Chinese garrison brigade, and although there were only three infantry wings, the technical arms were extremely powerful. And not only the mountain artillery wing. There are also field heavy artillery wings and combat convoys. In the beginning, there were airplanes. Later, it was merged into the flight group of the North China Front.

After bombarding the position of the 273rd Regiment with field heavy artillery for half an hour, the 27th Division finally sent out the convoy. However, Masaharu Honma did not have the courage to let the chariot go alone, and instead mixed with the infantry. In order to cover this operation, the Japanese army also deliberately fired a smoke screen. However, it was windy at the time. It didn't work out very well.

An observer quickly spotted the movements of the Japanese troops. Hurriedly reported: "Tuanza." The little devil's tank is up! ”

Head Zhao Weibin said in a deep voice: "What model? ”

The observer confirmed, and quickly replied: "Five Type 94s, seven Type 89s!" ”

Head Zhao snorted. The ordered: "The battle defense artillery company is ready immediately!" ”

A staff officer ran over with tears on his face and reported: "Tuanzao, the position of the battle defense artillery company has just been hit by the heavy artillery of the little devils, and I took the brothers to plan, but only two of them were alive. ”

Commander Zhao's expression darkened, and he asked again, "What about the cannon?" ”

The staff officer choked up and said: "The cannon was also damaged!" ”

Head Zhao's throat squirmed and asked, "Brothers, are you afraid?" ”

The fighters shouted: "Don't be afraid! ”

"Tuanza, if there is no cannon, let's fight with the little devil!"

Head Zhao nodded and said, "Okay, the brothers are all good!" Then he said calmly: "Brothers, don't panic, the little devil's chariot Lao Tzu has seen a lot!" It's not a big deal, the cannon is blown up, we still have anti-tank grenades, just try this new guy! ”

Whew...... As he spoke, several Japanese tanks had already rushed over. The fighters in the first row of positions were given an anti-tank grenade. These lumps are as big as three ordinary grenades, and the explosives inside are also extremely rare in the base area, and the power is equivalent to 1.5 times that of TNT.

After testing, this anti-tank grenade has a great ability to damage the thin-skinned combat vehicles of the Japanese army. It's just that manufacturing and raw materials are more troublesome, and there is less equipment at present.

Boom! Japanese tanks opened fire, blazing at a number of targets on the positions of the 273rd Regiment. Fortunately, the soldiers built very complex trenches in advance. Both personnel and equipment can hide above the horizon, unless a shell hits directly into the bunker, which will not cause much damage.

When a Japanese commander saw that the soldiers were hiding, he thought that the time had come to attack, so he immediately drew his command knife and slashed forward, howling: "Kill it!" ”

The Japanese soldiers hiding behind the tank immediately jumped out as if they had taken an aphrodisiac, shouting: "Onboard! "Bayonets were inserted and swooped down on the 273rd regimental positions from the passage between the tanks.

"Let's fight, Tuanza!"

Head Zhao Weibin hurriedly said: "Don't worry, let's get closer and fight again!" ”

Boom! The Japanese quickly rushed to within one hundred and fifty meters and kept throwing grenades at the positions of the 273rd Regiment with grenadiers. The casualties of the fighters began to increase rapidly, but they all gritted their teeth and persevered, and not one of them left their positions.

"Onboard!" Seeing this, the Japanese soldiers became even more arrogant, and rushed to this side one by one with bright bayonets. Soon, the skirmishers approached within a hundred.

The soldiers couldn't stand it anymore, and they all asked for battle: "Fight, Tuanza!" The little devil is coming up! ”

Regiment Commander Zhao still shook his head and said, "Don't worry, put it within fifty meters and fire!" ”

"Onboard!" The Japanese army was getting closer and closer, and the soldiers could even clearly see the black mole on the little devil's face. Regiment Commander Zhao Weibin finally gave the order to attack.

"Hit!"

Da Da Da ...... Light and heavy machine guns opened fire quickly. Boom, grenades, grenades, and even grenades were fired. Because the two sides were so close to each other, the Japanese did not have time to dodge, and a large number of corpses and wounded soldiers soon lay on the front of the position.

"Blow the trumpet and launch a counterattack!"

Didi, with a red flag unfurled, the loud sound of blowing the horn immediately floated on the position. "Kill!" A company of commandos quickly rushed out of position. The soldiers in the first platoon were all armed with submachine guns or fast and slow machines, and quickly cleared the Japanese troops at the front of the position.

The fighters in the second platoon were armed with anti-tank grenades. Rumble! A grenade was thrown on the front armor of the tank, but unfortunately it was thrown in the wrong way and was bounced off before it could explode.

"Blow up the tracks! Fried tracks! ”

The fighters quickly found the right way to use it. Boom, a tank slammed into a shock, and the track was finally blown off. However, the Japanese were still very ferocious, and continued to bombard the positions of the 273rd Regiment with small cannons and machine guns. One of the warriors was annoyed and shouted, "Let me come!" As he spoke, he picked up a smaller bag of explosives and rushed forward, then rested on the front armor of the tank and pulled the fuse with a whirl.

Several combat vehicles of the Japanese army in the early days had very limited firing angles, and the tracks were damaged, so they could only watch the soldiers place explosive packs. A Japanese soldier tried to climb out of the front door (at the time the exit of the Japanese tank was in the front), but was quickly killed by a submachine gun. Rumble! With a loud bang, black smoke rose from the entire tank.

Under the ferocious blows of the soldiers, the Japanese army finally couldn't bear it anymore and turned around and fled. Masaharu Honma, who was unwilling to fail, organized several attacks in a row, but the morale of the soldiers had been completely beaten out, and the more they fought, the more fierce they became, and they were not afraid of the chariot of the little devils at all.

"The tank is not scary, deal with it calmly!" "Spare the tanks and hit the infantry!" "Strive to be a tank hero!" It became the loudest battle cry on the battlefield.

When the tank approached, the fighters jumped out of the trench, and some went around the back of the tank to counterattack the infantry, cutting off the connection between the infantry and the tank; Some fired grenades at the tank's lookout holes; Some ran along the trenches to the tanks and blew up their tracks with explosives packs and anti-tank grenades.

"Don't move, everyone, calm down! Wait until it's closer before it blows up! ”

"Come on, little devil, grandpa is here!"

In the face of the fearless spirit of the soldiers who sacrificed their lives and forgot their lives, the Japanese convoy finally became timid, and the remaining tanks were so frightened that they turned around and ran away. Another tank may have been frightened and opened fire on the Japanese infantry, causing the morale of the Japanese infantry to plummet.

While the 273rd Regiment bravely resisted the 27th Division, the main force of the 63rd Army also engaged in a desperate duel with the 33rd Division. Lieutenant General Jutaro Kazuta's boastful two-hour end of the battle became a big joke, and the fierce battle lasted until 10 a.m., and both sides were exhausted and had to retreat to recuperate.

The 34th Division also did not win favor on the banks of the Ziya River. Under the command of Commander Meng Qingshan, the troops of the 2nd Division relied on the fortifications to resist very resolutely. Although the 34th Division was strong and strong, it only had 24 Type 38 field guns in its hands. Artillery of this caliber could not cause much damage to the positions of the 2nd Division. Moreover, the troops lacked boats, and they could only wade across the Ziya River if they wanted to, but every time they were attacked by Commander Meng in a "half-crossing", they made the river full of blood.

Lieutenant General Guan Guizhi had no choice but to order the 34th Division to break through separately, but the militias of various districts also participated in the battle. They did not confront the Japanese army head-on, but desperately shot cold shots, and immediately went into the tunnels after the fight. As a result, the Japanese army did not even dare to enter the village, so they had to hide in a relatively open place.

It can be said that during the day on March 3, the Jicha theater did not suffer a loss, and even took advantage of it. However, there was bad news that night - Baotou had fallen! (To be continued......)