The situation of this day was like a nightmare for the old devil Inoue.

First of all, north of Yangyuan, it was attacked by the enemy's heavy artillery units arranged in advance, and the main forward force of the 14th Division suffered heavy losses, and even the establishment was almost completely scattered.

Then the main force of the Chinese army was also interspersed and raided by the enemy.

Even the core armored vehicle unit of his 14th Division was completely defeated.

Inoue, who had lost his spirit, had no choice but to order the troops to retreat to the mountains and forests, and hold on to the danger, waiting for reinforcements to arrive.

Although he also knew that these mountains and forests were not suitable for the deployment of his own mechanized combat vehicles, in the face of the large-scale siege of the Eighth Route Army, he could only choose this way to avoid greater casualties among the troops.

When approaching the mountains and forests in this area, the Japanese officers also discovered a phenomenon, these higher areas were not garrisoned by the Eighth Route Army in advance, but were occupied by them quite smoothly.

At this time, some clever devil officers also realized that something seemed to be wrong.

However, having come to this point, they could only take advantage of the condescending terrain of the mountains and forests to hold on, and the Japanese army had built multiple lines of defense in the direction of meeting the enemy on these heights, including the corresponding anti-tank fortifications and artillery positions.

to guard against the offensive of the Eighth Route Army with chariot troops.

In addition, the devils placed mechanized combat vehicles on both flanks of the high ground as a forward force at any time to strangle the attacking infantry of the Eighth Route Army.

Everything was quickly arranged.

In the subsequent development of the battle situation, the troops of the Eighth Route Army, which were quickly pursued, really launched many attacks, but they were easily repelled by the condescending Japanese army.

This made many devil officers stationed on the high ground of the mountain breathe a sigh of relief.

Finally got a foothold.

Until about seven o'clock in the morning.

Day replaces night, and dawn creeps in.

The roar of the plane's engines came from mid-air from far and near.

In the past, when they heard such a movement, the Devil officers and soldiers would have cheered, because it meant the arrival of their aerial reinforcements.

But now, when they heard the movement of the fighter planes in mid-air, these little devils were like a great enemy.

The scouts at the front even took out their binoculars and closely watched the fighters from far and near, judging whether they were friends or foes.

It's still a Japanese-style fighter, but that doesn't mean it's a Japanese flying unit.

The devil officer in charge of the garrison gave the order for the first time to prepare the troops of the defense line for air defense.

In this way, under the sight of a large number of Japanese troops, several fighters that came ahead of the city roared overhead, flew over their heads, and flew towards the enemy camp, and after reaching the area above the enemy camp, launched a fire air attack.

The enemy immediately launched a fire counterattack against the fighters whizzing in mid-air.

This made the devil officer in command stunned for a moment, and then said with a look of ecstasy:

"Ryūsai, it's my fighter plane of the Japanese Empire!"

Then a large number of warplanes roared in, which made the devil officer also stunned, he didn't expect that His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief would send such a large number of flying troops to reinforce the operation.

In this way, the next step is sure to turn the tide of the war in one fell swoop.

But at this moment, a mutation suddenly occurred.

Almost the Japanese troops in all defensive lines were determined, and it was the Japanese military aviation units that roared in mid-air, and even relaxed their vigilance.

More than a dozen warplanes roared in, including a considerable number of bombers.

Before the planes could cross the overhead of the Japanese position, bombs were dropped one after another.

One bomb after another with an initial velocity, then landed accurately in the position where the Japanese were stationed.

Boom –

In the continuous sound of explosions, the positions garrisoned by the Japanese army, along with all the devils, were completely drowned in artillery fire.

On the other side, the commander of the Eighth Route Army, who had only launched a few feints to avoid heavy casualties among the troops, held a telescope and watched all this from a distance, and the corners of his mouth not only hung a happy smile.

The reason why the fighters who had just come ahead opened fire on their own camp was just to paralyze the judgment of the Japanese army.

Long before the arrival of the fighters, the ground troops had already learned the news through the communications squad, and the previous firepower counterattack was just a play played in cooperation with the aviation units.

"All of them, get ready, after the bombing is over, all of them will attack and completely kill this little devil!" The commander of the Eighth Route Army, who was in charge of the offensive, gave the order.

And at this moment, a scene like this is not accidental, but in the entire Yangyuan region, a large area, such a situation is being staged.

The Japanese troops stationed on the high ground of the mountains were constantly attacked by the fighters belonging to the Eighth Route Army.

At this time, the situation was very bad for the 14th Division of the Kwantung Army.

Their troops were gathered on the high ground one by one, almost visibly exposed to the bombing sight of the enemy's air force.

At this time, mechanized combat vehicles and artillery pieces basically fell in this surrounding area, and in the face of the air raid firepower of the Eighth Route Army, there was no time to hide and dodge.

In addition, the aviation unit of the Eighth Route Army almost poured out of the nest this time.

It was for the 14th Division of the Kwantung Army.

In Kong Jie's words: "It is better to cut off one of his arms than to hurt his ten fingers, the devil's deployment in the past few days is not small, he wants to deal with our aviation troops, but also wants to cooperate with the infantry on the ground to eat our main force, the idea is good, but unfortunately they don't have that appetite yet."

Let's be realistic, the ground combat forces, including our aviation units, will attack in an all-round way, concentrate a little, and completely eat the devil's 14th division of the Kwantung Army! ”

"Hit!"

Nearly 100 fighters of all kinds roared in, artillery fire roared, not to mention the Japanese troops stationed on those high grounds, even the mountains and tombs were almost bulldozed by bombs.

The number of fighters used by the Eighth Route Army this time is also unprecedented for the combat history of the Eighth Route Army.

Troops stationed everywhere are reporting casualties, and all of them are suffering heavy casualties.

In the case of complete exposure, the Japanese troops who had gathered in the highland area did not have much power to fight back in the face of the large-scale bombing of the Eighth Route Army's aviation units.

The old devil Inoue who was hiding in the air defense fortifications was shocked and angry, and while cursing that the Imperial Air Force was a fool who ate dry food, he ordered the signal corps to quickly contact the command and ask what was going on.

How could such a number of enemy planes appear and come against their own 14 divisions.

What exactly do the Empire's flying units eat?

With such a number of enemy air strikes, is it just watching?

And just a few dozen minutes ago, Inoue, the old devil, finally learned that the enemy army that had attacked his vanguard main force from night and severely damaged his tank unit was not the 35th Route Army of the National Army at all, but the most elite Iron Triangle Army of the Eighth Route Army, that is, the elite steel helmets of the Eighth Route Army that he had always wanted to destroy.

This strikes Inoue as absurd, but more of a shame and shock.

The opponent he always wanted to defeat was completely defeated under his nose and almost without his knowledge.

Inoue, who was completely panicked, quickly contacted the reinforcements from all walks of life after contacting the command headquarters.

As a result, it was learned that the Morita Chariot Division, which was originally going to go south for reinforcements, was completely intercepted by the 35th Route Army of the National Army.

According to the plan, the imperial troops advancing from the direction of the Huaxiao Battalion were also intercepted by the Eighth Route Army on the outer line, and they could not get close to Yangyuan at all.

"What about the 35th Division? What about Harada's troops? ”

Inoue, who used the dead horse as a live horse doctor, couldn't care about it so much, even the old devil Harada, whom he had been belittled and looked down upon, had become his last savior at this moment.

According to the battle plan of the Japanese army, which cooperated with several large armies.

When the 14th Division took Yangyuan on a snowy night, the 35th Division should have sent troops to Yanmen Pass, take Yixian, and then quickly intersperse in the direction of Datong to cooperate with the 14th Division.

As a result, the information transmitted from the front was that not a single soldier of the 35th Division was seen at all.

This inevitably made Lieutenant General Inoue angry, and at the moment, his 14th Division was completely besieged in the Yangyuan area, but it was the time when reinforcements were needed.

Faced with Inoue's angry questioning.

The reason for Harada's report was: After the troops were dispatched, they should attack Xinkou on the one hand, and defend the east of Daixian on the other hand, so as to prevent the Eighth Route Army from outflanking the Wutai Mountain area.

"Yaga, this damn fool, stupid coward!"

Inoue was almost stunned, the situation on the battlefield was changing rapidly, the fighters were fleeting, if they were all like Harada's division, they had to wait until they were completely secure before they dared to advance step by step, then what kind of battle would they fight?

Do you feel that your North China Front Army is afraid of death, but you have handed over this dangerous task to our Kwantung Army?

After scolding, Inoue had no choice but to transmit a communication to the general headquarters, condemning the Harada Division and asking for reinforcements from the Harada Division.

And the real situation on the side of the 35th Division is.

When Harada seized the warehouse of the Eighth Route Army in Dai County, he captured a batch of heavy machine guns and miscellaneous artillery such as Jin mountain guns and field artillery.

Harada, Ikeda, Ishikawa and others looked at these equipment, thinking that they had achieved their battle achievements, but they always felt that there was something missing?

In the end, Harada had an idea - there is, the number of the heavy artillery unit directly under the 120th Division must be written on these cannon shields, and when the time comes, when the time comes, won't it show that it was my 35th Division that defeated the main force of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army?

Immediately afterwards, the Okita death squad under his command sent a message: "There are still a few planes in the Yangmingbao Airport in Daixian County, including Hawker fighters, Japanese-style trainer aircraft, Japanese-style 95-type fighters, and Bai-style transport aircraft, all of which are in a state of pending maintenance and cannot take off in a short time. ”

Harada was so happy at this moment that he immediately ordered Okita to hold the airfield, and Fujiwara Nakasa, the subordinate air force under his jurisdiction, immediately airdropped parts to repair these planes, so that they could fly to Beiping.

That's a huge achievement!

In addition, the 35th Division piled up a huge amount of supplies in the warehouses captured along the way.

Almost all the wagons of the mechanized combat vehicles originally used for combat were piled up with the 35th Division.

Later, the old devil Harada collected a large number of carts and mule carts from the local villages and counties, and then he reluctantly pulled all these materials.

In this regard, Inoue was full of ambition, and he also asked Okita to take people to brush the special plane of the 120th Division on the 100-style transport plane, and specially invited a group of war reporters to come to interview, and cheekily told the press corps that this was the special plane of the commander of the 120th Division.

The rest of the story is a matter of course.

After hearing that the Harada Division was progressing smoothly and had captured a large number of machine guns and heavy artillery, and even planes, they immediately held a display meeting in Beiping and called for reporters from all sides.

Okabe also gave a special order for Harada to prepare and send some captured machine guns, artillery and fighter planes to Beiping as exhibits.

So Lieutenant General Harada has more and more reasons.

When a communication came from the general headquarters, asking why Harada did not approach the direction of Datong as planned and cooperate with the 14th Division of the Kwantung Army.

Harada's face was aggrieved.

"Your Excellency Commander, I'm busy transporting captured equipment and weapons to Beiping, as well as planes going over!"

Well, even Junroku Hahata and Okabe have nothing to say about this reason, after all, they gave the order.

After some kind words and comfort, he ordered the 35th Division to seize the time to move closer to Datong in order to assist in the operation and relieve the crisis of the 14th Division.

"General, should we immediately move in the direction of Datong!"

However, when the chief of staff on the side asked like this, Harada said unhurriedly: "Hasn't the Kwantung Army always been known as the elite of the Imperial Army?" Can't they even deal with the Eighth Route Army?

What's the hurry, let's go early, maybe people will blame us for getting in the way and grabbing the merits of the war!

Let's wait and see how the 14 regiments are doing.

Of course, since the order of the command has been issued, our troops should also make some statements, so slow down the pace a little, and say that they have been blocked by reinforcements from the Eighth Route Army along the way.

After the reinforcements are in place, we will send troops completely. ”

"Hey!"

That's it, although the forward reconnaissance team has occupied Yingxian, the main force of the Harada Division is still preparing, but it is not set off.

Until with the large-scale dispatch of the aviation unit of the Eighth Route Army, the 14th Division of the Kwantung Army fell into a crisis of complete annihilation.

The Devil Command didn't dare to wait any longer, and quite resolutely ordered Harada to rush reinforcements.

Harada, who realized that the situation was indeed serious, did not dare to delay.

He immediately gathered his troops and waited for the opportunity to move.

But on the operational plan of how to reinforce the 14th Division of the Kwantung Army, Harada had new ideas.

After discussing with the commander of the 101st Division, he believed, "These eight roads have created a huge encirclement in the Yangyuan area, enveloping the entire 14th Division of the Kwantung Army, which clearly intends to eat the 14th Division."

At present, the enemy situation is unknown, let's rush to reinforce the past, and the Eighth Route Army, which received the news in advance, will definitely set traps along the way.

The Eighth Route has not been a soft persimmon all these years, and if we are so bold in reinforcing it, not only will we not be able to save the 14th Division, but we will put ourselves in it.

I don't think it's as good as this, my 35th Division and your 101st Division will first pretend to go to Yangyuan to relieve the siege and send the corresponding camouflage troops.

The main force delayed in the rear, and then quickly turned back after dark and attacked the rear of the Eighth Route Army. ”

Harada is very confident in this.

This well has blossomed in the center, so I have to have a black tiger to dig out my heart! (End of chapter)