January 1, 1939, New Year's Day!

The Japanese North China Front Army suddenly launched the "New Year's Day offensive"!

The Japanese North China Front Army dispatched six divisions, a total of more than 130,000 people to launch a fierce attack on Zhongtiao Mountain in southern Shanxi. At the same time, in order to prevent the Chinese army in the Taihang Mountains in southeastern Shanxi from supporting the Zhongtiao Mountain battlefield, the 18th Division was the main force, and two divisions and two independent mixed brigades were assembled, with more than 80,000 people to carry out a strong march to the Taihang Mountain Anti-Japanese Base Area.

At this time, China's troops in the Taihang Mountains in southeastern Shanxi have actually decreased instead of increasing.

The main force of the 22nd Army was sent to Henan Province to accept command of the First War Zone in mid-November due to the end of the Battle of Central China, leaving the Four Army Regiments, the only one in southeastern Shanxi.

The 17th Division was ordered to be transferred to Zhongtiao Mountain as early as the end of October and formed the 38th Army with the 55th Division. The division commander Zhao Shoushan was promoted to commander.

One of the two main brigades of the 921st Division of the 80th Army has gone to northern Hebei to open a base, and only one of the 683rd Brigade and a guard regiment and supplementary regiment directly under the division headquarters stay in southeastern Shanxi. If the direct troops of the 80th Army headquarters are added, the entire army can only have more than 30,000 combat power.

In other words, not counting the various militias and local armed forces developed over the past year, less than 40,000 regular troops in southeastern Shanxi can be used for combat.

The North China Front Army attached great importance to the actual strength of 80,000 troops was twice that of China's troops in the Taihang Mountains at this time. Not to mention just restraint, this strength was more than enough even for a sweep.

As the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Route Army of the Second War Zone, the commander-in-chief of the 80th Group immediately issued a general mobilization order, not only gathering the main forces in southeastern Shanxi to major passes to prevent the Japanese army from advancing on a large scale, but also began to gather militias and armed forces in various villages and towns in the base area. In just two days, nearly 20,000 temporary armed forces were gathered.

This is also the fruit of victory brought by the victory of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. The 80th Army, which obtained a large number of Japanese guns and ammunition, underwent a large-scale change of clothing before February. The regular army, except for the German equipment obtained from the Four Army Regiment, equipped an infantry regiment, the rest were all replaced with Japanese equipment. The eliminated old guns were given to local armed forces.

Otherwise, no matter how many local armed forces are there, the Japanese army only need a regular infantry corps to completely defeat them, even if there are many people in the local armed forces, they only need a regular infantry regiment.

But local armed forces with Hanyang-made grenades and light machine guns are different. The combat power of 20,000 people can at least drag a mixed brigade of the Japanese army.

The Four Army Regiment naturally responded quickly. Under the personal command of Lei Xiong, who had returned to the Four Army Regiment's headquarters, the four large infantry battalions, artillery battalions, logistics battalions, special agent battalions, and cavalry battalions all left the Dakouzi Cave station.

The main force of the Four Army Regiment rushed to the front-line battlefield, and the garrison troops were naturally extremely empty, but the situation this time was different from the last Jindong Grand Strategy.

The main force of the Four Army Regiment was set off in the war in the east of Jin, leaving only the 4th Battalion, which was just established, eventually led to an attack of an infantry brigade of the Japanese army. The 4th Battalion had to fight alone. If it weren't for the desperate bet of Old Dan Tai and Xiao He, the militia and arsenal technicians, and the workers brought all the inventory and heavy equipment to aid, the 4th Battalion would have been basically wiped out, and all the construction achievements of the garrison would have been ruined.

People will not step into two rivers at the same time, nor will they fall twice in a pit, unless they are idiots!

More than two months after Tang Dao was gone, the Dakouzidong Town Defense Battalion had been established. It was nominally affiliated with Dakouzidong Town and was not directly affiliated with the Sixing Regiment. Its military pay was also paid by the local financial expenditure of Dakouzidong Town. However, whether it is the battalion commander, the company, platoon, squad and other grassroots officers, they are all veterans from the Sixing Regiment.

Moreover, even in Dakouzidong Town, Tang Tuanzuo was the county magistrate of Licheng County who was stamped and recognized by the stingy old man in the Second War Zone. He was the supreme commander of this "local armed forces".

The defense battalion absorbed about 600 disabled veterans and 1,300 new recruits from Lei Xiong's recruitment from his hometown, plus the original 1,000 militias in Dakouzidong Town, with an overall force of up to 2,900. In terms of combat power, it may not be comparable to the four regular infantry battalions of the Four Army Regiment, but in terms of military strength alone, it is definitely NO.1 of the troops under the Four Army Regiment.

Its equipment was also completely distributed according to the regular army of the Four-Link Regiment. After the Battle of Qingshiyan, the four-Link Regiment headquarters learned from their mistakes and decided to exchange money for manpower. In two months, they spent nearly 300,000 yuan in the ocean and recruited more than 20,000 mountain citizens in a radius of nearly a hundred miles. Under the leadership of the engineering company, with Dakouzidong Town as the center, more than 40 concrete castles were built on the hills of various highlands within a radius of 15 kilometers. There were tunnels connected between the castles, with a total length of more than 200 kilometers.

Don’t underestimate these castles built with white lime, mountain rock and steel plate as the main materials. Why did it take more than 40 people to invest more than 2 months to complete? That’s because the project volume is really too large. It’s a long time to build one.

The castle has long been separated from the machine gun castle in the ordinary sense, and to be precise, it should be called a fortress.

In addition to blocking the mountain road with cross-fire power composed of various light and heavy machine guns, the fortification also deployed the Type 92 infantry gun seized from the Japanese army and the 37mm rapid-fire gun that was too bulky and eliminated.

This kind of basket consisting of submachine guns, rifles, machine guns, and direct aiming cannons is even divided into firepower areas and living areas.

One to two infantry squads and one firepower squad will generally be stationed in a squad, with a maximum of 50 people.

According to the drawings drawn by the Tang regiment before leaving, and Bai Sheng, Ye Chenghuan and others discussed the improvement, a castle was almost a small ‘bian’. The area of ​​the combat zone was as high as more than 200 square meters, not to mention machine guns and artillery shooting, the living area behind it was also 150 square meters, which was a place for everyone to eat and rest.

The two-story wooden high and low beds are no different from those in the garrison barracks, which can completely ensure the normal rest of the officers and soldiers stationed here.

This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! There are steel doors made of the newly smelted manganese steel plates between the living area and the combat zone. Even if the combat zone is destroyed by heavy artillery by the Japanese military, this steel door that can withstand the blasting of 30 kilogram explosive packs can completely become the last barrier for the remaining Chinese soldiers.

The tunnel behind the castle allows soldiers to evacuate to a safe area hundreds of meters away!

If the Japanese army used poison gas bombs, there were gas masks issued by individual soldiers in the convoy, so they were basically not afraid of these vicious tricks of the Japanese.

If the Japanese army wanted to break through these castles, they could only attack at the cost of their lives and use heavy artillery or bombers to drop heavy bombs.

But just like the narrow mountain road of Taihang Mountain, let alone the 150 heavy artillery, even the 105 heavy artillery can be transported by the Japanese, and the Tang sword can give them a thumbs up.

If you want to pull out these fortifications one by one at the cost of your life, unless they have the courage to completely reimburse an infantry brigade.

Of course, equipment and fortifications are very important, but more importantly, people have to be!

"I'm waiting for the bastard to come in the gangster. At worst, I can give my last arm here." Hei Dahan, who had retired from service due to disability and now became the company commander of the first company of the security battalion, led his troops to the No. 8 Fortress with his only remaining arm.

Most of the defense battalions are recruits, and their squad leader, platoon leader, and company commanders are mostly retired veterans who are missing and not suitable for front-line combat. Even the chief officers such as Lei Xiong and Ye Chenghuan have a certain reservation before the war.

If you can defend until the main force returns, you will win!

Especially Tang Dao, the backbone of the entire regiment, was not there. Even if he could still command remotely through the radio, this was the first time that the Sixing Regiment had been commanding remotely when Tang Dao was not on the battlefield. It had to face the pressure of twice the Japanese army's troops. The company commanders of the Sixing Regiment's battalions were still somewhat unsure.

This is also a typical Tang Dao dependence. Tang Dao, who is far away in the Tongguan defense zone, knows this very well. Perhaps this is exactly in line with his mentality that he is not in a hurry to return.

If the Four Army Group wants to become a true iron-blooded army, they cannot place all the victory on him. All the chief officials must have the courage to take responsibility for victory or failure.

But what all the commanders of the Four Corps, including Tang Dao, expected was that this defense battalion, which had only been established for two months, had this group of veterans who had regarded life and death as spiritual pillars, giving the new recruits great courage and making it the most impressive infantry battalion-level unit in the "New Year's Day offensive" led by the Japanese North China Front Army.

And even if Tang Dao wants to leave, he can't leave at this time.

The Japanese army's "New Year's Day offensive" was not only in the Second War Zone, but the Japanese army's Westward Advance Corps also launched a strong attack on hundreds of kilometers of riverbanks.

The Tongguan Defense Zone is the arrow of the Japanese offensive with more than 60,000 troops deployed.

The Japanese artillery group belonging to the Chinese army began to shell the gunfire at the first morning of 1939, when the sky was just dawn and snow was floating in the sky.

At 9 a.m., the first wave of Japanese bombers was ushered in the battlefield where the artillery fire was continuous. The formation of 24 Japanese aircraft suddenly dropped to a height of 1,500 meters, and used carpet bombs on the positions in front of Tongguan City and on the left and right wings, dropping nearly 100 bombs of blockbusters and various small bombs!

By 12 noon, the third wave of Japanese bomber formations had arrived. It seemed that bombers belonging to the North China Front had already arrived at this small battlefield.

The Japanese army's artillery bombardment never stopped from 6:00 to 12:00, even if the four heavy artillery in China were fighting back with all its strength!

The riverbank defense positions, which are nearly 16 kilometers wide and Tongguan City, where only soldiers are stationed, are filled with strong smoke and fires burning everywhere. The temperature on the positions is at least 20 degrees higher than the distant wilderness!

The 28th Division headquarters has lost contact with its brigades and regiments since 10 a.m., and all telephone lines have been broken in this fierce bombing. A large number of communication soldiers carried telephone lines and shuttled between the trenches in various positions, becoming the most mortality rate on the battlefield. It still cannot prevent the complete interruption of wired communications.

As a last resort, Dong Zhao had to restore the most primitive communication method, and the communication soldiers ran away to convey the division headquarters' military orders.

The three people with command in the defense zone had already met for a short meeting at around 8 a.m.

"The Japanese army's strategic intention is very obvious, which is to make some big noise in the northwest and southern Shanxi to force our southwest and southern China to increase troops in the north. Therefore, today the enemy in Fenglingdu will inevitably launch a large-scale attack." Dong Zhao explained his opinions concisely.

Seeing that the supreme commander turned his eyes to him, Tang Dao, who frowned slightly, could only say a few words: "I agree with some of the views of Commander Dong, but I think the focus of the Japanese army's offensive is not in southern Shanxi. Although there are 6 divisions with more than 100,000 troops entering our Zhongtiao Mountain defense line, its offensive line is more like restraining the main force of the 200,000 troops in our Zhongtiao Mountain, so that it dares not move."

"You mean, the Japanese army would actually press treasure on its westward corps. The more than 200,000 troops mobilized by the North China Front Army were just to attack them?" Dong Zhao took a breath, his face even more ugly.

It was not because Tang Dao refuted part of his views, but if it was true as Tang Dao said, then today's battle would be in lingering.

The newly established third army of the Japanese army has an army of 100,000, and the tenth war zone is barely 150,000. Although the troops still seem to be advantageous, based on the combat experience in the past year, it takes twice or even more troops to resist the Japanese army in defensive warfare, and to win in field battles, it takes five times.

Of course, the reason why Dong Zhao was somewhat lucky was that the Japanese North China Front Army had a front army with more than 300,000 troops, and its commander was also at the level of a general, so it would reduce its identity to attack a lieutenant general and a legion-level army that was half a level lower.

This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! "Defendant Chief of Staff, you continue, I want to hear the reasons." Commander Fan also had a look of iron.

As the leader of the army, his vision is extraordinary. He knows that Tang Dao will never be aimless. He must have his logical judgment when he says this. With Tang Dao's dazzling performance in the past half month, his judgment is likely to be correct.

This kind of judgment on strategy will affect the implementation of the defensive tactics of the entire 28th Division today. He, the highest commander of Tongguan, must be cautious enough.

Tang Dao also made a straightforward saying: "My point of view is based on two reasons: First, the Battle of Central China has basically ended. Although the Japanese army barely achieved their tactical purpose and occupied Jiangcheng, the important town of Central China, it is far from the strategic purpose of its attempt to eat away the vitality of our Chinese army.

Our army's main force still exists, and we can still rely on Tanzhou to fight again. Just relying on central China to send troops to the south, even if we conquer South China, it is not in line with the Japanese base's strategy that hopes to end the war as soon as possible.

The best choice is to end the war in the shortest time to reduce the huge material consumption caused by the war, enter the prosperous river surrounded by the Wushan Hengduan Mountains of Qinling Mountains, cut off the logistics supply of our Chinese army and force those senior leaders to surrender.

The dangers of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River are very difficult to cross. With the decades of planning by the Japanese army, it is naturally known that it is extremely difficult to enter Sichuan from Yiling. Just like the Emperor Liu of the past, the right way to enter northern Sichuan from Guanzhong.

Therefore, Tongguan has become an important place in the Japanese army's grand strategy and must attack.

As for the second point, it must be based on the order and intensity of the attacks of Japanese fighter jets. Although it has not happened yet, I judge that the order of bombers it has invested will not be less than 60.

If this is true, it will be thoroughly proved that the real purpose of the Japanese army's mobilization of more than 300,000 troops this time is not in southern Shanxi, but on all fronts in eastern Guanzhong.

Of course, the battlefields of southern Shanxi and southern Shanxi are not just about resting on their own. With my understanding of Shanxi Yuan, as the former boss of the Japanese Army Province, he must be unable to swallow this. He is likely to ignore the suggestions of the Japanese Army Base and also attack with all his strength in southern Shanxi and southern Shanxi.

If he can win, he will regain his face. If he can't win, he can't. It can be said that he listened to the military order of the base camp to fully involve my second war zone troops to assist Shiro Itagaki."

"Deputy Chief of Staff Tang made sense. The Japanese North China Front Army was defeated some time ago. Although there will be supplementary after more than two months, it will never exceed 80 fighter jets on the battlefield. If more than half of the fighter jets were really invested in the Yellow River defense line in Guanzhong, it seems that I really want to swallow us in one bite." Commander Fan pointed his forehead slightly.

"Immediately plan to be the headquarters of the Electric War Zone. The enemy's westward advance corps is about to attack with all their strength. Our generals will do their best to defend the defense line. We do not ask for reinforcements, but we ask the war zone to ensure military supply!"

Sure enough, as time went by, Tang Dao's judgment came true, but not only 50 times, but a total of 72 bombers bombed the Tongguan position from 9:00 to 12:00.

By 1 pm, it was also the warmest moment of the day, and the real attack of the Japanese Third Division in Fenglingdu Town began.

The two 75-ton gunboats requested by Fujita Jin were already in place, and together with a huge fleet of up to 30 motorboats and nearly 400 wooden rafts reinforced by sandbags and steel plates, approached the Tongguan position on the nearly 15 kilometers of river bankline.

Calculated by a wooden raft carrying 10 soldiers, the first wave alone invested up to 4 infantry brigades, which was a bit more fierce than the last forced transit.

The gunboat with steel plate shield was still 1,000 meters away, and began to use the 75mm main gun on the gunboat and the two 25mm dual-mounted machine guns deployed on the sidewalk to bombard the river bank.

Faced with such a fierce attack by the Japanese army, the heat on the positions that were ravaged by Japanese artillery fire seemed to be frozen by the snow particles falling from the sky.

It took several minutes, but there was no reaction.

It was not until the Japanese platoons approached less than 500 meters from the river bank that light and heavy machine guns were fired one after another.

But obviously, on such a long attack line, the firepower of more than 20 machine guns that were investing in counterattacks seemed too thin.

The thin Japanese army, who even made the nerves on the ship, felt a little pitiful!

It’s not that the Chinese were all killed by the Imperial heavy artillery and bombs!

If that is the case, it is God's blessing. Many Japanese soldiers have begun to quietly draw crosses in their minds.

Since the Sixth Infantry Regiment was beaten to the point of a full face in the last wave of forced crusades, many Japanese soldiers have voluntarily given up their belief in Amaterasu. If one god doesn’t work, just change the other one, maybe it will work, right?
Chapter completed!