The artillery units of the 1st battalion shelled the devil's position for five minutes at a long distance, and then quickly withdrew.

The devil's artillery is not vegetarian, especially the 5th Field Artillery Wing of the Fifth Division, whose combat quality is stronger than that of the ordinary artillery wing of the second-line division.

If you don't withdraw as soon as possible, if you are counterattacked by the 5th Wing of the devil's field artillery, the losses will be great.

The shelling of the 1st battalion also did not cause any losses to the 5th Division.

However, the purpose of the first battalion in shelling the devil's position was to provoke the devils of the fifth division.

Moreover, most of the devils were hiding in the tunnels, and it was difficult for 75-mm shells to hit the devils, plus there were no artillery observers to guide them, and the shells of the first battalion only blew up some Japanese civil fortifications.

"Report to the battalion commander, the mountain artillery company has withdrawn."

In the headquarters of the first battalion, the commander of the mountain artillery company reported to Zhang Dabiao.

"Good!"

Zhang Dabiao nodded, and directly ordered the commander of the mountain artillery company: "Your mountain artillery company is deployed on the anticline of the No. 1 and No. 2 hills, pay attention to concealment, don't fire when you are not allowed to fire, and don't let the devil's artillery fire blow you up." ”

Each platoon of the 1st battalion was equipped with at least one low-power walkie-talkie to facilitate communication between superiors and subordinates.

The 1st Battalion is currently seizing four hills around Cai Dong Village and is intensifying its fortifications.

"Yes, Battalion Commander!"

The commander of the mountain artillery company gave a military salute and walked out quickly.

Then, the instructor walked in quickly and reported to Zhang Dabiao: "Battalion commander, the people of Dongcai Village, Goubei Village and Xiaozhiyu Village, all of them have entered the mountain. ”

Zhang Dabiao originally only ordered the evacuation of the people of Dongcai Village, but the instructor considered that the scale of this battle might not be small.

Fearing that it would affect the people in the surrounding villages, the people of the two nearby villages were also evacuated and let them hide in the mountains overnight.

After a pause, the instructor said again: "A few splashes from these villages went in the direction of the devil's position, probably to report to the devil." ”

Zhang Dabiao's eyes narrowed slightly: "Have you written down the name?" ”

"I've written it down." The instructor's tone was fierce, "When Taiyuan is defeated, none of these traitors will be able to escape." ”

These traitors were deliberately let by a battalion to report to the devils.

Otherwise, with a battalion of experienced scouts, how could a mere traitor slip out from under his nose?

Zhang Dabiao changed the topic: "Is there any movement from the devil?" ”

"At the moment, there is no movement in the Fifth Division." The instructor replied, "The devil's artillery wing did not fire either. ”

Zhang Dabiao said: "Don't be careless, order the scouts to keep my eyes open, don't let the devil touch the position." ”

Although the task of the first battalion is to lure the devils to attack.

But once the devils are allowed to easily touch the position, that battalion will only be wiped out.

This time, the gap with the Japanese army was a bit big.

"Yes."

The instructor turned and went to give orders.

Zhang Dabiao personally drafted a telegram to report to Li Yunlong on the current situation and location of the first battalion, and applied for the flight group to prepare for support.

Then, Zhang Dabiao asked the telegraph operator to send the telegram.

Then Zhang Dabiao lay down on a quilt and instructed the guards: "Lao Tzu squint for a while, and wake me up immediately if there is a situation." ”

……

NSW Basin.

Li Yunlong had already arrived here with his troops and ordered to set up camp here.

Scouts have been sent to a distance of 3 kilometers to ensure that the main force is not attacked by surprise.

Although the main forces of the new regiment are still 80 kilometers away from Taiyuan.

However, as the nominal commander-in-chief, the situation and location of the participating units of the Eighth Route Army were reported to the regimental headquarters of the new regiment.

"The main force of the 129th Division is only 20 kilometers away from the Taigu defense line."

"The main force of the 386 Brigade is 30 kilometers away from Yangquan."

"The main force of the 385 Brigade is 35 kilometers away from Shouyang."

"The troops of the 120th Division and the troops of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region are approaching the designated position..."

"The independent regiment is about 130 kilometers away from Niangzi Pass."

"The new second regiment is 75 kilometers away from Taiyuan."

“……”

According to the latest telegrams from the various units, the combat staff officers of the new regiment drew on the map the red arrows representing the march of the various units.

The size of the red arrow represents the size of the troops.

Li Yunlong was dressed in a leather coat, holding a porcelain cup in one hand and drinking water, while staring intently at the map.

The scale of this battle, both in terms of the troops mobilized and the war materials used, was unprecedented in the entire history of the Eighth Route Army.

If we can win the war, there will be no more war in Shanxi.

If the battle is lost, not to mention the battle before liberation, at least within half a year, the Eighth Route Army will not be able to launch such a large-scale campaign.

The reason is very simple, if the battle is lost, Boss Chen will not reimburse the ammunition, and even the share of the business will be gone.

If the war is won, and the Eighth Route Army will have reimbursement of ammunition and business if the casualties are not large.

Together with the captured weapons, equipment and materials, the strength of the Eighth Route Army will grow rapidly.

Then within three months, the Eighth Route Army could launch such a big campaign.

Li Yunlong suddenly thought of the first battalion, so he looked up at Wang Dehou and said, "Chief of Staff, ask what the situation is on the next battalion and what position it has reached." ”

"Yes, Captain."

Just as Wang Dehou was preparing to prepare a telegram, the telegraph soldiers on the side stepped down from the telegraph armored vehicle and saluted Li Yunlong.

"Report to the regimental commander, a battalion telegram!"

Li Yunlong's expression moved, and he took the telegram and read it.

"Cai Dong Village, only 7 kilometers away from the position of the Fifth Division?"

Li Yunlong quickly found the location of Caidong Village on the map, and Wang Dehou also used a red pencil to draw a standard circle on the location of Caidong Village.

"Regiment commander, whether the Fifth Division will attack the first battalion or not is tonight."

Wang Dehou analyzed: "Will the devils of the Fifth Division attack? ”

The main forces of the new regiment were only 50 kilometers away from the avant-garde battalion.

At the current pace of march of the main forces of the new regiment, it will only take a day's time to arrive.

And during the day, the Eighth Route Army has air support, and the devils may not dare to attack during the day, so if the devils want to attack a battalion, they will definitely choose tonight night.

However, the devil does not know, in fact, the planes of the Eighth Route Army can also provide air support at night.

"If I were the commander of the Fifth Division, I would definitely choose to attack tonight."

Li Yunlong had a treacherous expression on his face: "Why don't you eat this fat that is sent to your mouth?" ”

"Makes sense." Wang Dehou nodded and smiled slightly.

Li Yunlong's expression was solemn: "Immediately convey the coordinates of the first battalion to the flying group, and order the flying group to fill up the fuel, hang up the aerial bombs, and be ready to take off to reinforce the first battalion at any time." ”

"Yes!"

……

The elite main force of the devils of the Fifth Division was quickly assembled under the order of the division commander Matsui Taikuro.

Taking advantage of the night, he sneaked to the location of the first battalion.

The devil was three kilometers away from the first battalion, and was discovered by the scouts of the first battalion.

However, there was no exchange of fire, and the scouts of the first battalion quickly withdrew, and reported the situation of the devil to Zhang Dabiao by walkie-talkie.

Zhang Dabiao immediately ordered all units to prepare for battle.

Matsui Taikuro personally led 15,000 elite devils of the Fifth Division to attack the new regiment and one battalion.

He did not dispatch the full strength of the Fifth Division, leaving some troops in position.

In Matsui's view, using 15,000 elite locust troops to deal with more than 2,500 people of the Eighth Route Army is simply an advantage.

Even, the field artillery wing of the 5th Division did not come over, carrying only artillery equipment such as mortars and infantry guns.

After approaching the position of the new regiment and the first battalion, Matsui Taikuro did not immediately order the soldiers to attack.

Instead, he ordered all units to surround the defensive positions of the Eighth Route Army and cut off the retreat of the Eighth Route Army to prevent fish from slipping through the net.

At the time of the attack, the devil did not charge the infantry after the artillery bombardment.

Instead, don't shoot and attack secretly.

Matsui's idea was simple, the infantry of the Eighth Route Army had an advantage in firepower, but his own soldiers had an advantage in stabbing hard.

The best tactic is to sneak into the positions of the Eighth Route Army and settle the battle with bayonets.

Solve this avant-garde force of the Eighth Route Army before dawn, and then lead the troops back to the position.

With Matsui Taikuro's order, it was given.

More than 4,000 elite devils, under the cover of night, approached the position of the first battalion of the Eighth Route Army with a Type 38 rifle.

When they were about 100 meters away from the forward position, many devils stepped on a mine planted by a battalion of engineers.

In the explosion wave, dozens of devils screamed and wailed, and fell in a pool of blood.

"Flares!"

As Zhang Dabiao's order was issued, a series of flares dragging white light were fired into the air, and the surroundings of the position were suddenly illuminated as if it were day.

Zhang Dabiao was in the headquarters, looking down through the observation window of the headquarters.

I saw that at the ridge line extending downwards on the top of the mountain, the dense steel helmet was exposed under the illumination of the flares, and under the steel helmet, there were devil soldiers with fierce faces.

"Fire!"

Zhang Dabiao sneered, his face was cold, and he ordered to fire unhurriedly.

With Zhang Dabiao's order, three red signal flares dragged a long tail flame and soared into the air amid a sharp whistling sound.

"Da Da Da..."

"Boom, boom..."

The fighters on the various hills saw the signal to open fire, and pulled the trigger on the devil with semi-automatic rifles, submachine guns, and light machine guns.

On artillery positions behind the infantry, 60-mm mortars and 82-mm mortars fired continuously.

20mm machine guns, M2 large-caliber heavy machine guns, and Bazooka bazookas also greeted the devils together.

Suddenly, a rain of bullets and shells shouted towards the devils, and the devils fell one by one.

"Nani, is the firepower so strong?"

In the distance, the commander of the Fifth Division, Matsui Taikuro, looked at the dense tongue of fire of the Eighth Route Army on the mountain in the distance, listened to the dense gunshots like popping beans in his ears, and swallowed his saliva with envy.

It was the first time he had seen such ferocious firepower.

The firepower of a reinforced regiment of the Eighth Route Army actually played a firepower far beyond that of a second-line division of the Locust Army.

Even the difference between the US and British armies in Southeast Asia and the firepower of the Eighth Route Army is not half a star.

However, he has a second combat plan.

"Yaga, retreat."

Faced with a dense rain of bullets and shells, the captains of the various groups leading the attack had to give the order to retreat.

Even if the forward troops were only a short 100 meters away from the forward position of the Eighth Route Army, it would only take a minute to rush up.

But such a dense rain of bullets and shells, this short 100 meters, will kill their entire brigade of soldiers.

Although the marksmanship of the Japanese soldiers was extremely exquisite, the firepower was completely suppressed, and the Japanese soldiers could not raise their heads at all.

As soon as the devil's infantry withdrew, the devil's shells smashed down on the position of the Eighth Route Army almost synchronously.

(End of chapter)