At nine o'clock in the morning on May 1st, Liu Gen and the soldiers from the artillery battalion were resting in Yonghe County. Except for Liu Gen, who had no rest, the other soldiers had already gone to sleep.

At six o'clock in the morning, the 2nd Regiment of the 120th Division Independent First Brigade, with the assistance of Liu Gen and others, successfully captured Yonghe County, which was occupied by the Japanese. The geographical location of Yonghe County is relatively special. After the Japanese occupied Yonghe County, although

It doesn't take much action, but it threatens Yan'an's security at all times.

Once the Japanese launch an attack on Yan'an, Yonghe County will become the bridgehead for the cabinet to attack the south gate of Yan'an. It is for this reason that the 120th Division chose to capture Yonghe County and establish a certain strategic depth.

Yonghe County is in the hands of the 120th Division, which plays an extremely important role in protecting the security of Yan'an. If the Japanese want to attack Yan'an and put pressure on Yan'an, they must take the lead in taking Yonghe County.

It can be said that Yonghe County will become an important weapon to restrict the Japanese from attacking Yan'an.

The troops of the 120th Division that attacked Guizi County last night achieved good results, achieving the original goals in the combat plan, and also captured two more Guizi County towns. In just one night, the Japanese lost

There are five county towns. Even if the Japanese are rich and wealthy, if they can easily throw away five county towns, it will be a huge loss.

Of course, the night is the time for the troops of the 120th Division to perform their best, so the daytime is also the time for the Japanese to launch counterattacks.

For the troops of the 120th Division, it is not that difficult to capture the Japanese county town, but it is undoubtedly an extremely difficult task to successfully resist the Japanese counterattack. Even if they can successfully resist the Japanese counterattack today, the next step

What about time?

According to the battle plan formulated by Commander He, how to successfully defend the county will become an urgent problem that the 120th Division needs to solve.

"Comrade Liu Gen, why didn't you rest? You and the comrades in the artillery battalion worked so hard last night, you should go and rest."

"Yonghe County is guarded by our 2nd Regiment. Unless the Japanese mobilize two infantry brigades, there will be no problem." Captain Fu of the 2nd Regiment discovered after inspecting the defensive bunkers arranged by the soldiers.

Liu Gen hasn't rested yet.

Commander Fu is an old Red Army man. He joined the 2nd Company of the 6th Guards Regiment of the 2nd Red Army as a soldier at the age of 16. He was brave, shrewd and capable in combat. During this period, he served as platoon leader, company commander and battalion commander. Due to his bravery in combat, he was very successful in combat.

He was injured multiple times.

Today, Commander Fu is less than thirty years old and can be said to be the youngest commander in the Eighth Route Army. Commander Fu is a bit young, but no one dares to look down upon him. In the battle with the Japanese, he

He has already fully proven his ability.

Especially in the bloody battle of Chenzhuang in 1939, due to the outstanding performance of the 2nd Regiment led by Commander Fu, they successfully withstood the breakout of more than 1,500 elite Japanese soldiers from the 8th Brigade, and the only brigade of the 120th Division was completely wiped out.

The elite of the Japs, 1,500 people.

"Captain Fu, didn't you get some rest too? I'm still young, so I'll be fine if I sleep less."

"With Captain Fu here, I am very confident in the defense of the 2nd Regiment, but you also know that the Japs will always retaliate for their flaws. It is not that easy to block the Japs' attack."

"There is no problem for the 2nd Regiment to defend Yonghe County, but I don't know if other troops can successfully defend the other captured counties. According to Commander He's plan, we still can't fight the Japanese head-on." Liu Gen said with some worry.

With the 2nd Regiment and Artillery Battalion in Yonghe County, Liu Gen would not worry about being unable to defend Yonghe County. Unless the Japanese used more than two brigades to attack Yonghe County, there would be no chance of Yonghe County's defense

question.

Now, Liu Gen is most worried about Liulin County and Jiaokou County, which are relatively close to the Japs. The Japs will inevitably launch an attack on these two counties first. Who will put these two counties at the forefront? The Japs want to attack other counties.

, then there is no way to avoid Liulin County and Jiaokou County.

In these two counties, each has a main regiment of the 120th Division. It will be very difficult for a regiment to resist the Japanese's crazy counterattack. In addition, these two regiments do not have strong enough firepower.

It will undoubtedly be quite difficult to defend Liulin County and Jiaokou County.

Even if these two regiments have the assistance of the county brigade and district teams, it will be difficult to resist the attack of the Japanese troops. Unfortunately, even so, the 120th Division cannot easily let the Japanese take over Liulin County and Jiaokou County. The only way to resist the Japanese counterattack is

Only after a certain period of time and enough casualties are given to the Japanese can the Japanese temporarily give up the idea of ​​counterattack.

"Worrying won't solve the problem. All we can do is believe in them."

"The division commander must have considered dealing with the Japs' retaliation and counterattack, and I believe he will be able to successfully block the Japs' attack."

"Even if we fail to block the Japs' attack, don't we still have us? As long as we are here, Yonghe County will definitely remain in the hands of our 120th Division. I want to see if the Japs' teeth are really that good!" Fu Tuan

Chang sneered and said.

Liu Gen nodded. He agreed with Commander Fu's words. With them here, there will definitely be no problem in the defense of Yonghe County. What's more, given the situation of the Japanese, it would be impossible to mobilize enough troops to launch a counterattack against the 120th Division.

It won't be that easy.

At least in a short period of time, it will be difficult for the Japanese to mobilize more than five infantry brigades. The Japanese have a lot of troops stationed in North China, but there are also many areas that the Japanese need to defend. They cannot give up other areas just to launch a counterattack against the 120th Division.

area.

With the actions of the 120th Division, what about the other units of the Eighth Route Army? The Jinsui Army and the National Army may not have the idea of ​​taking over Guizi County.

At the same time, at the headquarters of the Japanese First Army in Taiyuan, Shanxi, Yoshio Iwamatsu looked ugly. He looked at the relevant situation information in his hand, but he had an urge to kill. Yoshio Iwamatsu knew that the 120th Division had done it last night

There was a lot of movement, but I didn't expect that the 120th Division would move so fast.

In just one night, five counties close to the base area of ​​the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army fell into the hands of the 120th Division. This was something Yoshio Iwamatsu never expected.

Iwamatsu Yoshio knew that the Eighth Route Army had the 120th Division, but since the 120th Division was responsible for protecting the security of Yan'an after it withdrew to Yan'an and rarely fought against the Japanese, Iwamatsu Yoshio did not have a clear enough understanding of the 120th Division.

Only now did Yoshio Iwamatsu realize that the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army had a very strong combat effectiveness, comparable to the 129th Division that had been active in the occupied areas.

"Report! Order from Commander Okamura!"

"read!"

"Order the First Army to retake the county seat occupied by the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army within one day, otherwise the First Army will be the sinner of the Japanese Empire!"

"..."

Iwamatsu Yoshio's face became increasingly grim, and the order was short, but he could feel the anger of Okamura Neji. Five county towns were captured by the Eighth Route Army troops overnight. This was the first time such a thing had happened in the rear occupied area.

The disgrace of the First Army.

Only by recapturing these county towns in the shortest possible time can the shame of the First Army be washed away. Otherwise, he, the commander of the First Army, might leave in disgrace like his predecessor.

"Immediately issue an order! Order the independent mixed first, the Ninth Brigade to move closer to the Eighth Route Army's 120th Division base area, and when necessary, try to increase pressure on the Eighth Route Army's Yan'an!"

"We also order the 36th Division, the 3rd, and the 4th Brigade to always pay attention to the movements of other Eighth Route Army troops and Shanxi-Sui Army troops in the occupied area. If any abnormality is discovered, immediately mobilize troops to carry out encirclement and suppression!"
Chapter completed!