Chapter 681: Taiyuan City Broken (3)

The glimmer of dawn, penetrating the darkness of the night, descended on the Jinzhong Plain, Zuo Siyu took a deep breath of clear air full of gunsmoke, aimed the telescopic lens at the position of the original 25th Division occupied by the Japanese army, and personally trained the second brigade and a regiment, it was impossible to safely evacuate the Taigu battlefield, they fought fiercely with a wing of the Japanese army that attacked tentatively, killing and wounding more than 1,000 Japanese soldiers, and more than 200 brothers were killed or wounded.

If a regiment withdraws at this moment, the Japanese army will chase to the city of Taiyuan, even if a Japanese soldier passes through the defensive position, the news of the withdrawal of the Jin army will be known by the Japanese commander Okamura Ningji, so last night's resolute resistance of a regiment was actually a precious night of preparation time for the Taiyuan defenders, Zhao Chengshou's Seventh Army, rushed to the periphery of Taiyuan, the division was far away, the foothold was not stable, that is, it was attacked by the Japanese heavy army group, and the collapse of the whole line was a matter of time sooner or later.

Zuo Siyu didn't know that he had made a decision and played a key role in the entire battlefield, looking around, the friendly forces had all been evacuated, leaving only a group of this lonely army, surrounded by strong enemies, every soldier understood the situation he was facing, bitten by the little devil, the two sides were already entangled, and they couldn't get out, and behind them was Taiyuan City, and they couldn't retreat.

Zuo Siyu ordered the second battalion commander and the third battalion commander to check the ammunition of the troops and prepare to meet the next attack of the Japanese army, the first battalion commander was hit by six bullets in the battle last night, and he didn't even have time to say a word, Zuo Siyu looked at him, swallowed his last breath in his arms, and didn't even have tears, the first battalion commander was his own brother, he brought it to the army, how to explain to his mother? He didn't dare to think that Zuo Siyu himself had no intention of returning to Taiyuan City alive.

The sun has just shown its dawn, a scream, breaking the silence, countless shells fell from the sky, "the shelling is immediately hidden" Zuo Siyu shouted loudly, this time the Japanese artillery bombardment, more fierce than the previous one, the explosion stirred up countless earth pillars, the position was shrouded in gunsmoke, the thick soil layer of the concealment part, withstood several large-caliber shells, "Ripple" fell soil, covering the map spread out on the shell box, he judged from the range and intensity of the Japanese shelling, the Japanese had not yet found that the Jin army had withdrawn from the position.

Such a fierce and large-scale artillery bombardment shows the determination of the little devils to break through the position today, and it is even more impossible for the little devils to achieve their goals comfortably, and a regiment here delays the Japanese attack for an extra hour, Taiyuan will be able to make more preparations, Zuo Siyuyu ordered the herald to convey his order, and after the Japanese artillery bombardment stopped, the whole regiment quickly opened the straggler line, and tried to increase the width of the front of the blockade, creating a false impression that a regiment would have the momentum of a division.

Fortunately, the pro-training brigade is the descendant of Yan Xishan's lineage, and the level of equipment far exceeds that of other units of the Jin army, and the proportion of light and heavy machine guns is much higher, and after most of the casualties of the troops, the remaining more than 800 people, almost one of them, have enough ammunition, which is enough for the little devil to drink a pot, and the suffocating shelling lasted for a full two hours before it gradually stopped.

Okamura Ningji was not very satisfied with the results of the battle in the past few days, according to his plan, a few days ago, the troops could be under the city of Taiyuan, did not expect, in Taigu into a stalemate, judging from the experience of Wuxiang, he almost suspected that it was not Yan Xishan's Jin army troops, the defenders fought extremely tenacious and fierce, the firepower was strong, with more than 200,000 troops, continuous multi-day assault, paying the price of nearly 10,000 people, he could not tear apart the defenders' positions, which made him very angry, Taiyuan and even the whole of Shanxi, was not his ultimate goal.

If he was entangled with the defenders in Taigu for too long, it would affect the smooth implementation of the follow-up plan, and the Jinzhong direction would not be smooth, so he removed the two division commanders from their posts, removed the troops that attacked sharply and blunt, and replaced them with new divisions, and the order he gave to his subordinates was that before 8 o'clock this morning, the positions of the Chinese defenders in Taigu must be taken, and of course, Okamura Ninji gave the attacking troops sufficient artillery support.

Groups of Japanese soldiers appeared in the field of vision of a group of soldiers, after several days of non-stop fighting, the nerves of the soldiers have been numb, in their eyes, there are only earthy yellow figures running and shouting, it is these figures that have taken the lives of their companions, Zuo Siyu saw painfully, there were more than 100 brothers in the shelling just now, and they could never open their eyes.

Under the strict order of Okamura Ninji, the Japanese front commander, at the same time, deployed the strength of two divisions, tens of thousands of Japanese soldiers, towards the front that was only a few kilometers wide, launched a frantic group charge, like a desert on the desolate position, suddenly erupted in a rain of shooting, tongues of fire, dense bullets, fiercely fired at the Japanese soldiers.

Like a speeding train, it suddenly hit a cliff and burst out countless sparks, the momentum of the Japanese army's charge was suddenly stopped, and the Japanese front-line commander almost couldn't believe his eyes, and fought for several days, the Chinese army on the opposite side still had such fierce firepower, is this the Jin army? Why are they like two people with the Jin army troops in Wuxiang.

The waves of the first Japanese charge hit the solid rocks, shattered their bones, and retreated like a tide, and the corpses of at least several thousand Japanese soldiers were laid out in front of a group of positions, followed by more intense artillery bombardment, artillery bombardment, charge, and were repulsed, and then again, the casualties of a group gradually increased, and the firepower of the return fire became thinner and thinner.

At about ten o'clock in the morning, a group of light and seriously wounded people were added together, and there were less than 100 people who could hold guns, Zuo Siyu understood that the last moment had come, the little devil was crazy, enough for Ben, with more than 800 wounded and disabled brothers, he blocked tens of thousands of little devils for more than five hours, leaving thousands of lives for the little devils, it was worth it, the thick layer of bullet casings under his feet showed the fierce Cheng dù of the battle, through the battlefield filled with gunsmoke, the figure of the little devil became clearer and clearer.

Zuo Siyu gritted his teeth and pulled the trigger of the heavy machine gun, watching the little devil fall down spasmodically under the bullet, happy, he laughed, violently shook the barrel, and sent the bullet to the little devil's body, a shell fell, smoke and dust rose, orange flames exploded, and the body of Zuo Siyu, the colonel of the first regiment of the pro-training brigade, turned into a flying fly, soaring into the sky of the land of Sanjin.

At eleven o'clock, the last burst of gunfire subsided, and the Taigu battlefield, which had been fought for several days, fell silent, Okamura Ningji stepped on the craters everywhere, passed through Hengchen's corpse, and stared at the battlefield where the smoke of gunpowder had not yet dissipated for a long time, he couldn't believe it, searching the entire battlefield, there were only a few hundred corpses of the soldiers of China, and a military flag that had been burned off half of the corner by artillery fire was still planted on the position, "personally training the second brigade and a regiment," a few big words stimulated Okamura Ningji's eyes.

After a few days of fierce fighting, paying the lives of nearly 10,000 soldiers, Okamura Ningji got the result he wanted, but there was no ecstasy of victory, a small Taigu battlefield, hundreds of Chinese soldiers, actually blocked the time of tens of thousands of people of the Japanese Imperial Army for one night and half a day, Okamura Ningji had a new evaluation of the combat effectiveness of the Jin army, and vaguely felt that the plan to occupy Shanxi was not as smooth as imagined.

Zhao Chengshou, the commander of Taiyuan City Defense, was busy arranging the troops withdrawn from Taigu and Jinzhong, he and Sun Chu, the general of Jinzhong, were old acquaintances, and he admired him for holding out in Jinzhong for many days, resisting more than 80,000 Japanese troops with inferior troops, and invited him to be his deputy commander, all the troops were withdrawn, and Zhao Chengshou increased the strength of more than 30,000 people.

The Japanese should have appeared around Taiyuan, only the Japanese troops were found in the southeast, and the gunfire in the direction of Taigu did not stop all night, and that unit did not withdraw? Zhao Chengshou ordered to contact as soon as possible, and when it was almost noon, the officer who went to contact brought back a piece of news, personally trained the second brigade and the first regiment, did not withdraw the position, and started a fierce battle with the Japanese army, and in the end, the whole regiment from the regiment commander Zuo Siyu to more than 3,400 people, all killed.

Zhao Chengshou understood, the direction of Taigu is the key area of the main force of the Japanese army, Okamura Ningji personally commanded, Zuo Siyu with the strength of a regiment, blocked the Japanese army overnight and half a day, covering the retreat of the Taigu defenders, no wonder the Japanese army did not appear in the south of Taiyuan, good, he didn't have too much sadness, next, it was time for himself and the little devil to fight hard.

On May 9, the two Japanese armies, the division under the city of Taiyuan, according to the order of Okamura Ningji, the Japanese army did not do any respite, immediately from the south and southeast two directions, launched an attack on Taiyuan, the Taiyuan defense battle officially began, on the same day, the Taiyuan outer defense line, the whole line of fierce fighting, both sides invested a large number of troops, the battle began to be fierce today, fierce battles, Taiyuan outer defense line did not lose an inch of land.

However, the situation for the Jin army, more and more unfavorable, the Japanese army with nearly 300,000 troops, besieged Taiyuan, and the main force of the Taiyuan defenders for Zhao Chengshou's Seventh Army, plus other troops, but about 230,000 people, the Japanese fierce artillery fire, to the defenders brought great casualties, only on the ninth day, the Jin army casualties amounted to more than 13,000 people.

On May 10, the battle became more and more intense, the Japanese army broke through the outer defense line of Taiyuan of the Jin army many times, Zhao Chengshou organized a death squad to recapture the lost position, the two sides fought repeatedly, the corpses were piled up, at night, the Jin army launched a counter-assault on the Japanese army, pushed the battle line back five kilometers, erected the sun, and the Japanese army recaptured it with heavy troops.

On May 17, after nine days of fierce fighting, the outer defense line of Taiyuan was lost, the defenders withdrew into the city to hold on, and the Japanese army carried out a fierce attack on the city defense of Taiyuan, in view of the heavy casualties of the troops, and some Japanese troops detoured to the west and north of Taiyuan, there seemed to be a tendency to encircle Taiyuan, in order to avoid the fate of being surrounded and annihilated, Zhao Chengshou, who had gone to the general situation, sent a telegram to Yan Xishan to allow the defenders to abandon Taiyuan and transfer to the northwest of Shanxi.

Yan Xishan replied, agreed to Zhao Chengshou's request, to preserve the strength of the best policy, at night, while the Japanese encirclement has not been completely closed, the Taiyuan defenders withdrew from the north gate, Zhao Chengshou and his subordinates, tears goodbye to Taiyuan, which had held for nine days, broke through the interception of some Japanese encirclement troops, transferred troops to the northwest of Jin, and joined Yan Xishan.

On the morning of 18 May, the Japanese army entered the city of Taiyuan, where there was no resistance, and the sun flag was raised in the streets and alleys of Taiyuan.

(To be continued)