In Changzhi City, the headquarters of the 37th Division.

The chief of staff, Ishida Jinzo Daisa, said to Lieutenant General Hirata Kenyoshi with great concern: "Your Excellency the division commander, judging from the current situation, the imperial army can recapture the city wall in ten minutes at most, and you haven't slept for 2 days, do you want to rest first?" ”

"No need." Hirata Kenyoshi waved his hand and said, "Have the 1000 artillery men already issued weapons and ammunition?" ”

"The artillerymen were already lining up to receive weapons and ammunition ten minutes ago." "Now, we have 1,000 more infantrymen. ”

"The commander of the division is wise, my admiration."

Ishida Jinzo didn't forget to slap a sycophant.

Kenyoshi Hirata said: "Immediately report to Commander Shinozuka that the current situation in Changzhi County is stable, and there is no problem for our department to hold on for 3 days." ”

"Hey!" Ishida immediately walked up to the telegraph corps and dictated the telegram to the telegraph corps of the telegram sent to the headquarters of the First Army.

However, Ishida Kinzo had just finished dictating the telegram.

Almost as soon as he finished speaking, a violent explosion suddenly sounded nearby, and the shock wave of the explosion was violently transmitted from the ground.

Hirata Kenyoshi stumbled suddenly, and quickly reached out to hold the table, while Ishida Kanzo on the side sat on the ground.

"Bagaya Road, division commander, hurry up and transfer!"

Ishida Jinzang's face changed greatly, and he still thought that the location of the division headquarters was exposed, and the Eighth Road was shelling the division headquarters.

The shell just now was definitely a 105 howitzer, and the explosion was so close that it was only a street away at most.

"Don't panic, maybe it's a stray bullet." Hirata Kenkichi was very calm, "It is impossible for the location of the division headquarters to be exposed. ”

Another shell fell and exploded nearby, but further away from the divisional headquarters.

This made Hirata Kenyoshi and Ishida Jinzo both breathe a sigh of relief, it seems that the target of the artillery shells fired by the Eighth Road is indeed not the division headquarters.

"Boom, whistle, boom—" but before they could put their hearts back into their stomachs, there was another sharp whistling sound in the sky.

In an instant, the faces of Hirata Kenyoshi and Ishida Kanzo changed, and the artillery group of the Eighth Route was covering the city with artillery fire.

Those two shells just now were apparently test fires.

"Boom..."

Huge explosions rang in my ears.

"Why does the Eighth Road dare to cover the city with artillery fire?"

Ishida Kanazo Daisa shouted in disbelief.

"Baga Ya Road! Apply to the command now! Kenyoshi Hirata said sharply, "We need air support, and even if the aviation can't destroy the Eighth Route Artillery position, it must hover in the air so that the Eighth Route Artillery Group can't open fire!" ”

"Hey!" Ishida Jinzo suddenly bowed his head and straightened his feet, and then turned to prepare a telegram.

The communications staff officer hurriedly walked in and immediately reported: "Your Excellency the division commander, the artillery brigades of the artillery wing have been shelled by the Eighth Route at the same time, and I ask for tactical guidance!" ”

"Eight Ga Ya Road!" Hirata Kenyoshi said angrily, "Order all artillery brigades to hide immediately and push the artillery to the concealed position as quickly as possible, quickly!" ”

"Hey!" The communications staff officer suddenly bowed his head and stood upright, then turned around and walked away quickly.

Seeing the figure of the communications staff officer leave, Hirata's expression suddenly became extremely hideous.

Hirata Kenkichi was shocked to realize that he still underestimated the quality of the Eighth Route Artillery, how did the Eighth Route achieve such accurate shelling?

In Hirata Kenyoshi's view, as long as the artillery positions of the Eighth Route can be eliminated, the situation will turn dangerous, and it is impossible for the Imperial Army to defeat the Eighth Route Infantry, and the only thing that poses a big threat to the Imperial Army is the artillery of the Eighth Road!

The sweeping troops reported heavy losses under the shelling of the Eighth Road, and now the artillery of the Eighth Route has played a vital role.

If there were no 75 mountain cannons and 105 howitzers on the 8th Road, it would be difficult for them to even get close to the city wall, let alone attack the city!

In the final analysis, if the Eighth Route did not have a mountain artillery group and highly qualified artillery, it is estimated that the Eighth Route would still be fighting with the imperial army's sweeping troops in the base area at this time, and it would be impossible to fight Changzhi.

"Baga, aviation is a bunch of waste, a bunch of garbage!" Kenyoshi Hirata scolded angrily.

……

When the devil artillery observer calls for artillery fire, he mainly provides the distance and bearing to the rear, and the artillery calculates the firing yuan.

The shooting elements calculated by this method often have a large error between the impact point and the target.

The shooting elements calculated by the Eighth Route Army with the accurate method were calculated by the observers and directly transmitted to the rear artillery.

Therefore, if it is not to hit a certain precise target, you can directly come up and cover it with artillery fire without test firing.

If it is to hit a precise target, it is also necessary to pre-fire, and then adjust the shooting elements according to the impact point of the shell.

When Duan Peng called for artillery fire and accurate shelling.

There were also sword players on the other three city walls, who were also calling for precision artillery bombardment.

In less than five minutes, most of the more than 30 mountain and field guns set up by the devils on the street had been lost.

The headquarters in the city was also reduced to a sea of fire under artillery fire.

Hirata Kenyoshi listened to Yoshio Shinozuka's arrangement, and had already transferred the headquarters before, so he was spared a catastrophe.

"Division commander, division commander!"

The commander of the 37th Wing, Narita Daisa, had a smoky black face, bandages on his hands, and an extremely ugly face as he hurriedly trotted into the division headquarters.

"Narita-kun, how's the situation with the artillery wing?" Kenkichi Hirata asked in a deep voice.

"Division commander, the artillery wing is finished!" Narita Osa reported, "The 75 Mountain Artillery and 75 Field Artillery of each brigade were attacked by the Eighth Route Artillery Group, and most of them have been lost. ”

"How many cannons are left?"

Narita Daisa said: "There are only five left, the test firing interval of the eight roads is very short, we have no time to transfer the mountain artillery and field artillery, the shells of the eight roads come over, and the shells of the cannonballs are detonated, and most of the artillery that is operating the cannons is broken!" ”

The 75 mountain guns and 75 field guns are heavy and not as easy to transfer as 60-mm mortars.

What's more, the county seat is so big, even if the devils push all the mountain artillery into the house, the sword squadron can still call for artillery fire to accurately shell it.

And the devil's artillery was helpless against the Eighth Route Artillery Group.

"Eight Ga Ya Road!"

Hirata Kenkichi felt that his heart was dripping blood, and the artillery wing was his heart, but he didn't expect to lose it in a few minutes.

What's more, he also pinned his hopes on the artillery wing to shine in the subsequent street battles, without the street battles of the artillery wing, would it still be able to fight the eight roads?

"Call Commander Shinozuka immediately and ask for tactical guidance!" Hirata Kenyoshi looked at Ishida Kanzo and spoke in a hurried tone.

"Hey!" Ishida Kinzo bowed his head abruptly, turned around and went to prepare a telegram.

……

Outside the city of Changzhi, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army.

Li Yunlong's vision through the artillery mirror, and Zhao Gang and Kong Jie's vision through the telescope.

Seeing that after Duan Peng called for artillery fire to smash into the city, there was a rumbling cannon sound.

Immediately afterwards, the artillery fire smashed by the devils on the city wall immediately decreased, until it finally disappeared completely.

"Haha." Seeing this scene, Kong Jie immediately said happily, "The Devil Command and the Devil Artillery Position should have been destroyed." ”

Li Yunlong said: "It would be good if this wave of shells blew up that old devil in Hirata, so that we can make a fortune." ”

At this point, the battle can be said to have inflicted heavy losses on the 37th Division of the Japanese Army.

Because after killing 4 or 5,000 devils in the field, today they inflicted a lot of casualties on devils, and the artillery wing of the 37th Division was also killed, and the battle continued.

1,000 tons of weapons and ammunition and 1,000 tons of food have already arrived.

Next, if he wants to make a bigger fortune, he has to kill Hirata, an old devil.

Of course, none of these devils in the city want to run.

"Report!" Huang Erhu put down the high-power walkie-talkie and turned around to report, "Duan Peng of the Sword Squadron has reported that he has called for artillery fire to destroy the enemy's artillery position and headquarters. ”

"Not bad!" Kong Jie smiled, "Lao Li, you have hit the seven inches of the old devil in Pingtian now." ”

"It's nothing." Li Yunlong turned his head and said, "Telegraph soldiers, immediately send a telegram to inquire about the battle situation of the 1st Attack Group and the 3rd Attack Group. ”

"Yes!" The telegraph corporates immediately sent telegrams to the 1st and 3rd Strike Groups.

Not long after, Ding Wei and Cheng Shifa called back, and the content of the call was similar, saying that the artillery had blown up the city wall, and the infantry had entered the city and fought with the devils in the street.

At this time, Kong Jie was in a hurry, picked up the walkie-talkie and commanded the troops to enter the city from the north and west city walls, and attacked in a roundabout way along the city wall.

After summarizing the telegrams of the 1st Attack Group and the 3rd Attack Group, Li Yunlong asked Zhao Gang to draw up a telegram to report to the headquarters, and then send it to the headquarters.

……

Taiyuan.

The headquarters of the First Army.

The 37th Division sent a telegram saying that the situation was stable at present and that there was no problem holding out for 3 days.

In less than 15 minutes, another telegram was sent, requesting the aviation to immediately dispatch and destroy the Eighth Route Artillery position.

However, only a few minutes later, another telegram was sent saying that the 37th Artillery Wing of the 37th Division had lost all of its losses and requested tactical guidance.

Seeing these 3 telegrams, Yoshio Shinozuka's lungs were about to explode.

"Hirata, this idiot, only cares about moving the headquarters away, and actually ignores the concealment of the artillery wing!"

If Kenyoshi Hirata was in front of him at this time, he would most likely draw his sword and stab Hirata a few times to bleed him.

If the Eighth Route Artillery can destroy your headquarters, can't it blow up your artillery positions?

"Such a fatal mistake can be made, and there is a face to ask for tactical guidance?" Yoshio Shinozuka yelled angrily.

A group of combat staff officers hurriedly bowed their heads and were busy, and at this time, no one dared to touch the commander's moldy head.

Nanshan Hideyoshi said: "It should be the Eighth Route Artillery Observer who reported the position and distance of the 37th Artillery Wing to the rear artillery group on the city wall and guided the artillery group to attack, which led to the 37th Artillery Wing being heavily damaged, unless the imperial army can hold the city wall from being breached, and prevent the Eighth Route from occupying the city wall." ”

Yoshio Shinozuka's mood was slightly stable when he heard this, and he also knew that under the cover of the artillery group, it would be difficult for the imperial army to hold the city wall.

"Nanshan-kun, why didn't the aviation destroy the artillery position of the Eighth Road?" Yoshio Shinozuka asked.

The pilots of the 9th Flying Squadron of the First Army have all been killed by the Sword Squadron, and there are only more than 10 planes left.

The air support called by Yoshio Shinozuka is the 8th Flying Squadron directly under the North China Front, which is currently stationed at the two airfields of Xincheng and Wujuku.

Nanshan Hideyoshi said: "According to the report of the captain of the 8th Flying Squadron, Mizutani Daisa, the Eighth Route has set up hundreds of false artillery positions within a radius of several kilometers from Changzhi, Licheng and Xiangyuan County..."

"Yaga!" Yoshio Shinozuka's tone was angry and helpless, "Cunning Eight Roads! ”

After a pause, Yoshio Shinozuka said: "Order, the 2nd Guards Division will speed up and rush in the direction of the first line of sky, and all the fighters will take off to help the 37th Division, in addition, order the 37th Division to hold on for two days no matter what, and wait until the reinforcements arrive!" ”

"Hey!" Kusuyama Hideyoshi suddenly bowed his head and stood upright, and then turned around and walked away quickly.

(End of chapter)