The Japanese reinforcements of the 1st Division were rushing to Datong day and night.

The Eighth Route Army of each military region received orders to lay mines, blow up bridges, and use various methods to delay the reinforcement of the Japanese army.

After noon.

Kong Jie sent four more battalions into Datong City and engaged in street-by-street street and house-by-house street battles with the Japanese 1st Division.

The Eighth Route Army made a posture of annihilating the 1st Division.

The battle was extremely fierce and soon entered a white heat.

Every house and street on the periphery of Datong City has become a battlefield for the Eighth Route Army and the Japanese army.

The sound of explosions and gunfire was as incessant as beans and firecrackers.

Sometimes, the living room was captured by the Eighth Route Army, but the kitchen was still in the hands of the devils.

Street fighting is the most difficult battle to fight, and the soldiers on both sides are very tenacious in their will to fight.

The houses and streets on the outskirts of Datong became meat grinders, and the casualties on both sides were not small.

Street fighting, in many cases, is a contest of willpower between the enemy and the enemy.

Some cities will quickly collapse when they are conquered, while others will be able to engage in fierce street fighting.

One of the very important reasons is that the defending army is not elite, and the willpower is not strong enough, so they are not even qualified to participate in street fighting.

And the 1st Division of the Japanese Army is obviously one of the most elite units of the Japanese army.

Although the main force of the 1st Division was annihilated by the Eighth Route Army in the northwest of Shanxi, the two new wings were also elite troops.

The Japanese army in Datong had a strong will to fight.

The 1st Division of the Japanese Army turned the entire city of Datong into a fortress, and the squad fought for itself, and the people fought for themselves.

Every house and every window could be a fortification and firing point for the Japanese army, and the Eighth Route Army carried out a house-by-house investigation, otherwise it might face bullets from behind.

Although in the street fighting, the Eighth Route Army's superiority in strength and weapons could not be brought into play.

However, in the training of the Eighth Route Army in peacetime, street fighting was a key training subject, especially among the veterans of the New Second Regiment and the Independent Regiment, many of whom were veterans with experience in street fighting.

In addition, the fighters were armed with submachine guns and semi-automatic rifles, which gave them a certain advantage in firepower.

However, the advantage of the Japanese was that they were on the defensive.

The two sides launched a high-level street battle on the outskirts of Datong City.

As it got dark, there were casualties on both sides of the street fighting, and the casualties were not small, and there was a tacit understanding between the Eighth Route Army and the Japanese army that they did not continue to fight.

The street fighting is already mixed together, and if the battle continues in the dark, both sides will accidentally injure their own people.

……

Jinzhong area.

Taigu.

Last year, Li Yunlong led his troops along the Baijin Line and quietly went north to capture Taiyuan, killing the commander of the First Army, Yoshio Shinozuka.

After the new commander of the First Army, Yoshio Iwamatsu, took office, the old devil did not want to follow in the footsteps of Yoshio Shinozuka.

Therefore, he ordered to build a large number of defensive positions in the Taigu area, and ordered the 14th Brigade and the 18th Brigade to be stationed for a long time.

The Eighth Route Army, which was guarding against the southeast of Jin, went north, and as for the Baijin Railway, it had already been occupied by the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army.

After the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army occupied the Baijin Railway, it did not remove the tracks, but often sent sappers to maintain them.

Later, the Eighth Route Army recovered Taiyuan, Yangquan and Shouyang, as well as the Zhengtai Railway.

This Baijin railway is the link between Jinzhong and the southeast of Jin.

The Eighth Route Army needed to have a rear, and if the Japanese army in North China counterattacked and reoccupied Taiyuan, Yangquan, and Shouyang, the troops could transport supplies and equipment from Taiyuan and other places back to southeast Jin along the Baijin Railway.

The Left Attack Group of the Eighth Route Army, led by the commander of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, arrived at the Japanese defense line before dark.

This time, the main force of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army going north was divided into three attack groups: left, center, and right.

The left attack group totaled more than 60,000 people, carrying 1 regiment of 105-mm howitzers and 3 regiments of 75-mm mountain artillery.

At noon during the day, Japanese bombers came to carry out a bombardment, targeting the artillery units of the left attack group.

Several mountain artillery pieces were blown up by the devil's plane, and one of the devil's bombers were shot down by the air defense forces, and there were losses to each other.

The artillery units of the left, center, and right attack groups of the Eighth Route Army were also bombed by Japanese aircraft, but the losses were not significant.

The Japanese may have felt that the Eighth Route Army was not really going to attack the First Army when it went north, so the Japanese planes did not come to continue bombing the artillery units of the Eighth Route Army in the afternoon.

Left Attack Force Headquarters.

It wasn't dark yet.

The guards of the division headquarters have set up a temporary command center.

The operational staff officers quickly spread out the map, the telegraph troops quickly set up the radio station, and the walkie-talkie soldiers began to adjust the walkie-talkies.

"Report to the division commander, the regiments and brigades have entered the attack position, are they launching a tentative attack on the enemy?"

In the headquarters, the chief of staff of the division reported to Division Commander Liu and asked.

Although the left attack group was also under the command of Li Yunlong, the division commander had a great deal of autonomy.

Because the left attack group was also a cover and assist, the division commander led the main force of the 60,000 Eighth Route Army to the north along the Baijin Road, not to attack Taiyuan.

At present, the Japanese army's defense of Taiyuan is still very strong.

Relying only on the main force of the 60,000 Eighth Route Army and 4 artillery regiments, it is impossible to recover the current Taiyuan.

Therefore, the left attack group can attack the Japanese army or not.

The division commander narrowed his eyes and asked, "Have the positions of the artillery units been erected?" ”

"The cannons of the four artillery regiments have all been erected, and they can fire at the Japanese positions at any time." The chief of staff nodded.

"What about 60-mm mortars, 82-mm mortars and 70-mm infantry guns for regiments and brigades? Racked up? The division commander asked.

The Eighth Route Army Arsenal in the southeast of Shanxi Province has a production line of 60-mm mortars and 70-mm infantry guns.

After more than a year of overtime production by the personnel of the arsenal, each main infantry regiment of the 129th Division now has an artillery battalion under its jurisdiction, equipped with at least 12 60-mm mortars and 70-mm infantry guns.

Some elite units, such as the 772nd Regiment and other elite units, are even equipped with 82mm mortars, as well as 75mm mountain artillery.

The main force of the 129th Division was very satisfied with the artillery firepower.

"Not yet." The chief of staff was puzzled, "According to the battle plan, we are not covering and feintting, so the troops have not made an offensive posture. ”

The division commander said: ", who said that cover and feint will not attack?" ”

"Immediately order all regiments and brigades to set up mortars and infantry guns, and first give the devil's position a round of shelling."

"Then order the troops to launch a tentative attack, so that the devil's firepower is exposed."

"Finally, I will order mortars, infantry guns, mountain artillery and howitzers to fire at the devil's position together."

"Someone reimbursed us for ammunition, what a good opportunity for artillery to fight, we can't waste it!"

After more than a year of production and reserves, even if the Eighth Route Army now has more than 10 75mm artillery regiments, the shells of 75mm mountain artillery are sufficient.

But there was no production line for 105-mm shells, and the 129 howitzers of the 105 division were not used until the critical moment.

However, the commander-in-chief of this battle was Li Yunlong, and Boss Chen reimbursed the shells.

Boss Chen has already said that even if the Eighth Route Army consumes 1 million tons of artillery shells in this battle, he will reimburse him.

Since the formation of the artillery regiments of the 129th Division, there have not been many opportunities to go to the battlefield, only a few times.

And there was no opportunity to reimburse ammunition the first few times, and this time with such a good opportunity, how could the division commander miss it?

Naturally, it was necessary to open the cannon and let the Japanese army taste the taste of the shells.

The chief of staff of the division asked: "Then the division commander, how long will we test the artillery bombardment?" ”

The division commander said lightly: "Half an hour." ”

"Yes!"

"Divisional Commander!"

The chief of staff of the division straightened up, turned around and went to give orders.

With the order of the division headquarters, the mortars and infantry guns of the brigades and regiments of the 129th Division were quickly erected.

"This is the division headquarters, shelling for half an hour!"

"Listen to my unified command and fire at the enemy's position!"

The chief of staff of the division gave the order to open the cannon on the walkie-talkie.

As soon as the words fell, the division commander stepped on the ladder and saw a dense trajectory suddenly appear in the dim sky ahead.

At least 500 mortars and infantry guns opened fire on the Japanese positions.

Boom boom...

It didn't take long for the continuous explosions to rumble to the command headquarters.

In the field of vision of the division commander's artillery mirror, the defensive positions of the 14th and 18th brigades of the Japanese army were suddenly caught in gunsmoke and fire.

At the beginning, the artillery unit of the devil still had a little counterattack, and wanted to have an artillery battle with the artillery unit of the Eighth Route Army.

But soon the Japanese artillery units were defeated, and in terms of artillery firepower, the Japanese artillery units were no match at all.

At this moment, the soldiers of the 129th Division looked at the Japanese artillery positions with their heads held high, and the expressions on their faces were happy.

Watching the devils being bombed, the soldiers were simply not too happy.

And the soldiers all know that this is just a dessert before the meal, and there is a big meal waiting for the devil in the back.

The four artillery regiments of the Eighth Route Army had not yet fired at the positions of the devils, only mortars and infantry guns.

Half an hour later, the devils on the battlefield were blown up and a little stunned.

At this time, the infantry of the Eighth Route Army began to launch a tentative attack on the positions of the 14th and 18th brigades of the Japanese army.

Soon, the Japanese artillery fire points and machine gun fire points were all exposed under the test of the infantry of the Eighth Route Army.

The artillery observers quickly conveyed the devil's firing point to the artillery positions in the rear by walkie-talkie.

Because it was a tentative attack, the infantry casualties of the Eighth Route Army were not large.

As the troops retreating from the tentative attack, four artillery regiments and all mortars and infantry guns were ready to cover the area of the Japanese fire.

"Division commander, how long will this artillery bombardment last?" The division chief of staff asked.

"Leave half of the base number of shells, and the rest of the shells are all gone!" The division commander's tone was cold.

"Only half a base of shells left?" It was the chief of staff who was suddenly startled and persuaded, "Division commander, are we okay?" In the event of a counterattack by the Japanese, we won't have enough shells to deal with the devils. ”

This time, the division commander attacked the troops on the left flank, carrying shells of 3 bases.

Enough artillery units to bombard the devil's positions for hours.

The chief of staff of the division had never fought such a rich battle in his life, so he suddenly hesitated.

"Little family, send a report to Li Yunlong tomorrow morning, and ask him to call us for airdrop supplies."

The division commander's tone was categorical: "Carry out the order!" ”

"Yes!" When the chief of staff of the division heard this, the corners of his mouth suddenly opened and said, "Division commander, our 129th Division has never fought such a rich battle!" ”

The corner of the division commander's mouth smiled slightly, where is this? (End of chapter)