Chapter 637: Blockade of Supply Lines

Tang Qiusheng's Sulu Mobile Corps, in the repeated battles between the outskirts of Shijiazhuang and the Japanese army, concentrated on the use of large-caliber artillery, smashed the frantic attack of a Japanese armored brigade in one fell swoop, and wiped out the entire Japanese army in this unit.

Tang Qiuli was very happy about the results achieved in the battle for the periphery of Shijiazhuang, and ordered to commend all the officers and men of the Sulu Mobile Corps, his victory was the pain of the enemy, and the news of repeated defeats in the peripheral battles of Shijiazhuang reached Okamura Ningci, the commander of the North China Dispatch Army, who was in the Taihang Mountains and commanded the sweep, Okamura Ningci was extremely annoyed, and the entire chariot brigade was wiped out beyond his expectations, and he was so distressed that he almost vomited blood.

He is mobilizing troops, encircling in the direction of Huangyadong, and scattering troops to various parts of the Taihang Mountains, and it will take a certain amount of time to gather them back, not to mention, the troops have to deal with the constant attacks of the fly-like independent division troops, and what makes him even more vigilant is that in the Taihang Mountains, a new unit has been discovered, which is the Eighth Route Army of the Nationalist Government, which belongs to the armed forces under the leadership of the Communist Party.

This unit makes Okamura Ningji even more nerve-wracking, their combat methods are completely different from the style of the independent division, and the Central Army is also very different, the color of the military uniform is also different, and the weapons equipped are messy, but this is such a force, the greatest threat to the imperial army from all walks of life, the entangled troops are not at peace day and night, exhausted, and the fighting consciousness of its soldiers is not inferior to the troops of the independent division, Okamura Ningji is sensitive to realize that this army will become an independent division unit in addition to Tang Qiuli. Another fierce enemy of the Imperial Army in North China.

Okamura Ningji gave up the extremely valuable strategic goal that he could not get his hands on, and decided to completely kill Tang Qiuli's supply base regardless of the dangerous situation in Shijiazhuang and the Pingjin area, and he sent an order to the Pingjin garrison to organize another division to reinforce the Shijiazhuang battlefield.

At the same time, an order was given to the troops attacking the direction of Niangzi Pass, and it was necessary to seize Niangzi Pass in the fastest possible time, cut off the independent division's troops on the outskirts of Shijiazhuang, and withdraw into Shanxi, since Tang Qiuli dared to risk placing a large number of troops in the Jizhong Plain, he gave himself an opportunity to seize Niangzi Pass, that is, to force the troops of the independent division outside Shijiazhuang to withdraw, so that the crisis in Shijiazhuang and Pingjin could be easily solved, this is the Japanese version of "encircling Wei to save Zhao", Okamura Ningji put the ancient strategy of the Chinese, When used on the battlefield in China, is there any suspicion that the class has an axe.

Okamura Ninji still had a sharp sword in his hand, and the newly formed North China Dispatch Army Air Force, with more than 300 planes, was a force that had no rival in the sky of North China, and he gave orders to the air force to bomb, incessantly bomb the positions of independent divisions on the periphery of Shijiazhuang, and what could not be obtained on the ground should be obtained from the air.

Not only that, but in his order to the air force, he particularly emphasized that Tang Qiuli's supply base in the Taihang Mountains was already under the encirclement of the imperial army, and it was impossible to provide the necessary logistical support. If you find it, you will completely cut off the logistics supply line of the independent division, at any cost

To admit that Okamura Ninji was a very intelligent senior general of the Japanese army, and he realized that the materials and ammunition consumed by the large corps must be completed by a smooth supply line, and cutting off the supply line of the other side is undoubtedly the key to the victory of this battle.

Thirty-eight Japanese planes took off from the airfields of Beiping and Tianjin to carry out the task of bombing the forward positions of the independent divisions.

The battle lasted until the evening, the Japanese army dropped more than a dozen planes and hurriedly collected its troops, the Sulu Mobile Corps suffered slight losses, and the experienced air defense troops, according to the direction of the Japanese planes, changed their deployment, and the next day, more Japanese planes swooped down from the sky like locusts, this time, the Japanese planes did not take advantage, what was waiting for them was the shells that continued to explode in the sky, the anti-aircraft machine gun bullets like fire whips, the "Sky Eye" artillery sighting radar showed its might, and more than 30 Japanese planes turned into flowers in the air. More of them dragged the black smoke and fled into the distance with a wail.

The huge losses made the commander of the Japanese air force extremely shocked, and hurriedly ordered all the planes to evacuate the war zone and return to the airport, Okamura Ninji's idea of vainly trying to blow up the position of the Sulu Mobile Corps with aerial bombs went bankrupt, and after the nightmarish experience over Shijiazhuang, the Japanese planes no longer dared to bomb indiscriminately in large groups, at most they used a few planes to sneak attack, dropped a bomb, turned around and ran, despite this, they were still left by the anti-aircraft fire of the Sulu Mobile Corps.

After that, the attention of the Japanese air force in North China shifted to blockading the transportation line of the independent division, and the transportation and supply line established by Zhou Yushan from Dingbian through Shijiazhuang, the capital of Taiyuan, was immediately targeted by the Japanese air force, and the Japanese pilots were happy to do such a job, the long transportation line, without the explosion of anti-aircraft artillery fire, chased the car on the road, turned him into a ball of fire, and watched the soldiers scream in the flames, there was no safer and more exciting task than this.

On one day, 39 cars were blown up, 2,300 tons of ammunition and materials were lost, more than 500 casualties were inflicted, and the amount of ammunition transported to the front line dropped sharply.

Especially the artillery, the artillery shells were supplied in limited quantities, and the Japanese artillery, who was pressed and couldn't raise their heads, became angry again, and dared to provide artillery support to the attacking Japanese infantry.

It was a matter of time before the Huangyadong base area was discovered by the Japanese army, where the strength of the three brigades had already been arranged, and in addition to the personal command of Chang Feng, the chief of staff of the division, with the dangerous terrain and the permanent and perfect reinforced concrete garrison fortifications, the Japanese army would not have to gnaw at all without two years, and there was no need to worry.

Only the transportation supply line made him worried, but he didn't expect Okamura Ningji to quickly think of this, what a cunning guy, the Japanese army attacking the direction of Niangzi Pass was grinding hard by the Eighth Route Army and Sun Zhenbang's troops, and he lost his temper, and he didn't know when, the calm road, would suddenly explode a series of mines, and he would advance only ten kilometers a day, and when he was camping, he didn't know when he would be hit by a bullet or grenade fired in the dark.

According to the speed of the Japanese army's march, there is no ten days and eight days, and you can't climb Guanshan, don't worry about this direction, there is a plan, Tang Qiuli has not been able to make up his mind, that is, to use the independent division of the air force of Le Yiqin to break the blockade of the supply line by the Japanese aircraft, which requires a great risk, the Japanese army has more than 300 planes of all kinds in North China, and Le Yiqin only has less than 40 planes, and the disparity in strength is too great, he does not dare to make a bet with his old book, in case he loses it all, it will affect his future plans.

Since the Japanese planes began to join the Shijiazhuang battlefield, Le Yiqin and them have been staying in the radar room every day, looking at the display screen, and the bright spots representing the Japanese planes appeared, and then they rushed to the fighters, dressed neatly, and waited for the division commander to send an order to attack.

Every day the plane is filled with fuel, loaded with bombs, parked on the take-off line on standby, the mechanics maintain the plane almost spotlessly, the pilots are grinding their fists, holding back their strength, God teaches the little devil a good lesson, wait for three days, there is no movement at all, the division commander seems to have forgotten that there is a group of people with wings, who are in a hurry to go to the battlefield.

Le Yiqin They really couldn't help it, several squadron leaders got together to discuss, and felt that they should take the initiative to ask for battle, the division commander cherished us too much, and was reluctant to let us go to the battlefield, so waiting was not a way, everyone brainstormed, and an impassioned and emotional letter of invitation to fight was in Tang Qiuli's hands, but it also gave him a problem.

The air force's petition was pressed in its hands for two days, but the shape of the transport and supply line from Dingbian to Shijiazhuang became more and more severe, and the Japanese planes, which had not suffered any blows, wantonly attacked Zhou Yushan's transport convoy between Taiyuan and Shijiazhuang, and the anti-aircraft fire assigned to the transport headquarters could not cover the transport line of several hundred kilometers at all.

What is even more serious is that two Japanese planes actually crossed the Yellow River and entered the range of air defense fire control in the Dingbian Special Economic Zone, although they were expelled, it was also a signal that was enough to arouse Tang Qiuli's vigilance, and Dingbian would become the key target of the Japanese North China Air Force, and once the city fell into endless air defense, all the normal order in Dingbian would be disrupted.

As the strategic rear of all the front-line combat units of the independent division, the position of fixing the edge is undoubtedly extremely important, and this accidental incident prompted Tang Qiuli to make up his mind to use the only air power in his hand to attract the attention and attention of the Japanese North China Air Force to the airspace around Pingjin.

Before Tang Qiuli issued an operational order to the air force, in order to ensure the safety of Jinan Airport, he transferred an air defense brigade to strengthen the ground air defense fire around Jinan.

(To be continued)