Anti-Japanese War: From Becoming Chu Yunfei to Rising

Chapter 137: Completely annihilate the Japanese troops in Handan City; rebalance the interests of all parties (please subscribe)
The commander of the 52nd Infantry Regiment of the 108th Division was named Kudo Shintaka, an infantry lieutenant colonel.

When he led his troops to Huangliangmeng, a place 18 kilometers north of Handan City.

Then the rumbling sound of artillery fire coming from the defense line of Handan City was heard.

He immediately ordered his troops to unload their baggage, march lightly, and speed up their march in order to provide support quickly.

but.

No matter how much their marching speed increases.

It was too late for the Japanese troops in Handan City at this time.

Two hours later.

They encountered an attack from the 196th and th infantry battalions of the th Regiment.

The Japanese troops advanced lightly without the support of heavy weapons.

Not only did they fail to make any progress or breakthroughs, but dozens of Japanese soldiers were killed or injured by the mortars of the Second Artillery Company.

At the same time as the blocking battle started.

The pace of street fighting in the city is also accelerating.

The battle in Handan City ended quickly.

From the launch of the general offensive to the basic end of the fighting in the city.

It took a total of three hours and forty-five minutes.

They received the mission to annihilate the enemy and would evacuate after the battle was over.

The main forces under the 196th Regiment will naturally not clear every corner of the city.

Achieve basic annihilation within a limited time.

They have already completed the combat mission brilliantly.

Northwest of Handan City.

Zhujia Village.

First Battalion Commander Bian Fucheng stood in front of Qian Bojun.

This battle.

He was responsible for commanding the battle on the front line.

After the 4th and 5th battalions withdrew from the battle.

The main force and command center naturally need to be evacuated as well.

"In this operation... we expect to annihilate about 1,300 Japanese troops, and all the resistance in Handan City has been eliminated."

"According to a rough estimate, our army suffered about 700 casualties, with more than 400 killed and 47 seriously injured. All of them have received first aid."

"We seized 380 Type 38 rifles, three Type 28 machine guns, fourteen grenade launchers, and two 90mm mortars."

"Ammunition, other types of supplies, and shells are still being counted."

Qian Bojun was somewhat surprised and asked, "Don't you have any heavy machine guns?"

"No, it must have been blown up during the attack."

"The battlefield was cleaned up in a hurry, and some spare parts and damaged guns were not picked up."

Qian Bojun nodded: "Order the troops to immediately assemble on the Kangzhuang front line according to the original battle plan."

"Yes!"

Qian Bojun’s forward command post had just been moved not long ago.

A cavalry unit of about dozens of people appeared in the direction of preparation.

After discovering a group of dozens of people, he immediately rode his horse to kill them.

The soldiers of the guard platoon immediately built a solid line of defense.

The battle lasted less than five minutes.

Half of these Japanese devils were knocked down.

Just as Qian Bojun said before, he is indeed not just there to eat and do nothing.

He pulled the trigger of the box gun in his hand hard, aiming at the Japanese.

More than a dozen bullets were fired.

He actually killed a little Japanese soldier.

As for his adjutant Zhang Fugui, his luck was not very good.

At this time, he had been shot by the Japanese and was lying on the ground.

"Medic~!"

The sound was loud and accompanied by screams.

Listen to this movement.

Everyone could guess that it was probably very painful.

The blood soon flowed all over the ground.

The thigh was pierced by the Japanese cavalry rifle!
The medic stepped forward quickly.

He cut the cotton trousers in no time.

About battlefield first aid.

They are very professional.

He quickly took out the bandage and tourniquet in his hand, and worked with the two medics.

Bandage, press, stop bleeding, apply medicine, all in one go!
The severe pain made Zhang Fugui unable to scream.

“Damn it~!”

The medicine has not been finished yet.

The person has fainted due to excessive blood loss.

"Carry him on your back and retreat!"

"Yes!"

Qian Bojun frowned slightly, feeling quite relieved.

Fortunately, the guard platoon was equipped with Thompson submachine guns, otherwise...
This time the Japanese cavalry's attack.

It is very likely that Qian Bojun died here.

"Old Qian, how are you?"

After hearing the noise, Luo Weiguo hurriedly rushed back with two companies of soldiers to support Qian Bojun and others.

Qian Bojun waved his hand: "I'm fine. Adjutant Zhang was shot and is not in good condition."

"These damn Japanese devils are too arrogant. They dare to attack us with only a few dozen people!"

Qian Bojun nodded: "I guess they think we only have a few dozen people. Forget it, let's retreat!"

Crazy enough indeed.

The sound of gunfire in the Handan area has ceased.

This group of Japanese devils knew very well that there was a high probability of large-scale troop activities in the surrounding areas.

He even dared to expose himself so easily and rushed towards them.

Didn't take them seriously at all.

Although they won the battle, they also narrowly escaped death.

I almost died here.

Thinking of this, Qian Bojun pretended to be relaxed and added: "If Chief Chu hadn't equipped my guard platoon with Thompson submachine guns, I, Old Qian, would probably have died here!"

Yes, if it is a guard equipped with ordinary bolt-action rifles and pistols.

It was really not enough in front of the elite Japanese cavalry.

The combat skills and training requirements of the Japanese cavalry are much higher than those of ordinary devils.

Its Type 44 cavalry rifle was even more unusual.

This thing is not the Type 38 carbine. It is a product improved on the basis of the Type 38 carbine based on the characteristics of cavalry combat.

The length of the gun is much shorter than that of the Type 38.

The bayonet is folded and mounted directly on the gun. You can open the bayonet by shaking the gun with your hand and directly slash and stab.

The range was actually dozens of meters higher. If it weren't for the heavy losses and Luo Weiguo's fast support speed.

The Japanese soldiers who reacted quickly could even fight with them from a distance of several hundred meters...to consume their energy.

Thinking of this, Qian Bojun still felt a little scared. He immediately shouted, "Go, go, go. Retreat quickly!"

With the withdrawal of the 4th and 5th battalions.

Kudo Shintaka and his Japanese soldiers also successfully occupied the city of Handan.

At this time, there were no signs of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army's activities in the city.

The battlefield in the city was simply cleaned up.

A lot of traces were left behind.

Especially the remains of the soldiers.

Basically, they are buried hastily and there is no time to clean up.

The old devil Kudo Shintaka wanted to obtain useful information.

He immediately ordered the Japanese soldiers under his command to dig out the bodies of the soldiers from the ground.

The unit numbers of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army were then confirmed.

National Revolutionary Army, 358th Brigade directly under the Second War Zone.

Kudo Shintaka frowned slightly.

According to the report of the cavalry reconnaissance unit.

This group of enemies is retreating to the Kangzhuang front line.

If we don't pursue them now.

Maybe there will be no chance.

but.

Kudo Shintaka also knew that the 358th Brigade was the main force of the Second War Zone of the Republic of China, the elite among the elite.

A brigade can defeat an entire brigade.
By no means wasted a false name.

Just from the fight just now, one can feel the strength of Chu Yunfei's troops.

He now has an understaffed infantry regiment.

They may not be their opponents.

It is even likely to cause great losses to our side.

Just to be on the safe side.

Kudo Shintaka chose to consult his superiors before making a decision.

A telegram.

Sent to the North China Expeditionary Army Headquarters.

This operation was directly commanded by Terauchi Hisaichi.

Therefore, there is no need to ask for instructions from the division or the First Army Headquarters.

Lieutenant General Shimomoto Kumamiya, commander of the 108th Division, was also at the North China Expeditionary Army Headquarters.

this point in time.

Terauchi Hisaichi and Shimomoto Kumamiya naturally also received the news that the Eighth Route Army was advancing to Xingtai with its two main divisions.

this means.

Once the battle begins, the Muchuan Detachment will need to break through the blockade of the two divisions first.

Only then could they support the 52nd Infantry Regiment.

At this time, Terauchi Juichi couldn't help but feel a little hesitant.

It is impossible for an infantry regiment to defeat and annihilate the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army's ace main force, and it is even likely to suffer a lot of losses.

The Kikawa Detachment was composed of the 109th Division and part of the 16th Division.

It is a tired teacher.

It is also impossible to break through the Eighth Route Army's blockade in a short period of time.

According to the experience accumulated from previous battles with the Eighth Route Army, their equipment was poor and they had fewer ammunition and shells.

But they have a strong will to fight and are not afraid of sacrifice.

The battle will last at least one day and one night. It will take at least two days for the main force to arrive.

Considering the time perspective, it was too late to annihilate Chu Yunfei's troops.

However, there is still a chance to annihilate the main force of the Eighth Route Army!

Terauchi Hisaichi made a decision immediately and turned to look at the Chief of Staff Okabe Naosaburo standing beside him.

"Order! The 115nd Infantry Regiment will retreat to Xingtai and join forces with the Muchuan Detachment to attack the main forces of the Eighth Route Army, the 129th and th Divisions, in front of Xingtai."

"Also, inform General Muchuan to use a powerful force to encircle and annihilate the Eighth Route Army in the Xingtai area!"

Okabe Naosaburo bowed his head and said, “Hai!”

He turned around and walked quickly towards the confidential room.

At this time, the middle section of Taihang Mountains.

The Eastern Route Army Headquarters of the Second War Zone.

"Commander... the latest call from Chu Yunfei's troops says the Japanese army is not pursuing them..."

The commander-in-chief clasped his hands together and said, "No pursuit?"

The deputy commander frowned slightly, lowered his head and thought for a moment, then continued: "Tell me, is it possible for the Japanese army to return to Xingtai?"

"There is a possibility."

"Yes, the Japanese may come back and attack us. Then our main force will be attacked from both sides."

"How about we retreat?"

The Deputy Chief of General Staff, Deputy Commander-in-Chief and others all suggested retreat.

The commander-in-chief also had the same idea.

The combat objectives set before the war have been achieved.

When the plan is completed.

Then there is no need to fight a head-on battle with the Japanese.

"Since they have left the battle, immediately order the 119th and 115th Divisions to retreat to the Taihang Mountains."

"Yes!"

That night.

Chu Yunfei received the latest order from the Eastern Route Army Command.

The commander-in-chief and others judged that the main force of the Japanese army was very likely to move north.

Attack the main force of the Eighth Route Army together.

Chu Yunfei's troops no longer had any worries at this time.

They retreated to Shexian and Changzhi areas for rest and recuperation.

"Retreat?"

Chu Yunfei raised his eyebrows and then asked, "Didn't the Japanese army even send out reconnaissance troops or small units?"

Wu Ziqiang shook his head: "These little devils are just like that old turtle, they just keep shrinking and don't make any noise."

"When we provided support before, we headed straight for the city of Handan... without caring about the safety of their flanks at all."

"I feel that the Japanese army did not know that we were in southeastern Shanxi before this battle, otherwise they would not have been so reckless."

Seeing that everyone was a little confused, Chu Yunfei continued to give his own judgment: "In their opinion, the troops besieging Handan City this time are not the main force, so they only sent such a small number of reinforcements."

"We've been tormented by this."

"I guess these little devils don't have much supplies to gather troops to attack the southeast region..."

"Yeah, this battle was exciting!"

Qian Bojun laughed and said, "We killed so many devils, and our losses were not too great. We also seized a lot of equipment and supplies. I feel like these devils may have wanted to use Handan City as a springboard and forward base to attack southeastern Shanxi."

"Otherwise, they wouldn't have stored so much food and supplies in the city."

Chu Yunfei frowned slightly and reminded: "In a short period of time, the Japanese army is likely to be unable to organize troops to launch an attack."

"But we can't let our guard down. The next time the Japanese army attacks southeastern Shanxi, they will deploy even more troops."

"The plan will definitely be more thorough, and we need to be prepared!"

"Yes!"

Able to serve as battalion commander or above under Chu Yunfei.

Either they have many years of military experience or they have strong military achievements.

Not to mention the group leaders, deputy group leaders, and chiefs of staff.

Of course they understand.

The security at the garrison and the security during the march are two different things.

Resupply locally.

Can reduce a lot of losses.

Once an attack is launched, the efficiency will drop sharply.

During a battle, the quality of logistical supply does not lie in how much supplies there are.

But how much supplies can be delivered to the soldiers on the front line.

Some supplies will be lost in this process.

Part of it was due to natural consumption, as the transport troops ate the horses' chaff, and the other part was due to the attacks.

The Japanese military's logistical supply lines are relatively fragile and are currently the main target of combat and attack by the Chinese military.

Now they have run out of supplies.

At this point, the Battle of Handan can naturally be considered to be over.

This is the Eighth Route Army.

In addition to enduring two days of freezing and digging a lot of useless trenches.

There wasn't much loss.

He also gained military merit.

Although Chu Yunfei lost four hundred soldiers and consumed a large number of artillery shells.

But at least it can ensure stability in southeastern Shanxi in the short term.

As for the little devils.
Twenty thousand troops were mobilized.

Not a single hair was caught.

Not to mention the loss of more than a thousand elite troops.

The Kikawa Detachment and the Kudo Regiment under his command.

It is equivalent to a long-distance march training in the cold winter.

This was actually the way of fighting during the War of Liberation.

The same is true of the essence of mobile warfare.

Although the overall military strength is inferior to the enemy.

But it is possible to gather superior forces on a local battlefield.

Destroy and consume the enemy's manpower and accumulate small victories into a big one.

It is also a summary of war experience.

Two days flew by.

The main force of Chu Yunfei's troops also withdrew to the Changzhi area.

The operation took a total of ten days.

The march back and forth took six days.

Even if we take into account the annihilation of the Japanese reconnaissance force at the beginning, the total fighting time did not exceed four days.

But we achieved the victory of annihilating more than a thousand Japanese troops.

A telegram was sent to the headquarters of the commander-in-chief of the Second War Zone, giving a detailed report on the battle.

After receiving the telegram from Chu Yunfei's troops.

Yan Laoxi was relieved: "Send a telegram to the chairman to report the results of this battle."

"Should we study this telegram again, Commander Yan?"

"Ok?"

Chief of Staff Zhu raised his eyebrows: "The battle lasted only three days, and the Japanese casualties were more than 400 people every day... How is this possible? It's not a war involving tens of thousands of people. There are only a few thousand people on both sides. With such a fierce battle, Chu Yunfei's troops only suffered 700 casualties in total."

“Isn’t this a little bit wrong?”

It is normal for Zhu Shouguang to have doubts.

On the Xinkou front, both sides deployed a total of hundreds of thousands of troops.

The median number of casualties was around two thousand.

This was already the largest battle in North China.

However, the Battle of Handan was very small in scale, and was at most a battle between two regiment-level troops.

Even if Chu Yunfei has a large artillery unit under his command.

But there was only one mountain artillery regiment participating in the battle. How could it be possible to achieve such brilliant results against the well-trained Japanese army?

The casualty ratio between the two sides even reached 0.7:1.

The casualty ratio between the two sides at Xinkou was 5:1.
If it was a defensive battle, Chu Yunfei would have gained such an impressive opportunity.

Zhu Shouguang and others had doubts in their hearts, but they would not say it out loud.

But this time it's an attack!
After all, Handan is a big city.

It's not a small town like Yuanping Town or Yuanping City.
Yan Laoxi glanced at the combat staff.
After Xie Yufa was arranged by him to investigate corruption.

In the entire Second War Zone, no one took the initiative to speak.

Chu Xichun noticed the subtlety of the situation and said with a smile: "Mr. Lan (Zhu Shouguang's courtesy name is Lansun), I know Chu Yunfei quite well. He would never falsify such things as battle reports.

However, having said that, our army won a great victory in this battle and achieved such an impressive result, which is really shocking.

Commander Yan, I suggest sending a staff officer to verify and give a separate reward."

Yan Laoxi frowned slightly, nodded, and looked at Zhu Shouguang: "What do you think, Brother Lansun?"

When Zhu Shouguang heard that the reward would only be given after the investigation was completed, he became unhappy.

He suggested aloud, "Commander Yan, the verification of the results of the battle should be limited to the Second War Zone. This victory should be reported to the Chairman as soon as possible."

The words were only half spoken, but everyone present understood what he meant.

When Chiang Kai-shek heard that a war had broken out again in Shanxi, Yan Laoxi's troops not only failed to preserve their strength.

Instead, they actively carried out mobile warfare in the mountains and cooperated with Wei Lihuang to attack the enemy.

Chu Yunfei's troops even went east from Hebei to attack Handan City to ensure the safety of the southeastern Shanxi region.

Yan Laoxi used his own trump card assets to eliminate the Japanese.

Chiang Kai-shek was naturally extremely happy.

Not only did they agree to help him replenish his troops, but they were also prepared to provide a large number of weapons and ammunition to consolidate the defensive operations in the southeastern Shanxi region.

Even the Eighth Route Army troops benefited from this.

Zhu Shouguang naturally knew that Yan Laoxi was waiting for the end of this battle to gain benefits from Chiang Kai-shek.

How could they be willing to delay reporting military achievements and giving rewards?

After a brief combat meeting.

Zhu Shouguang and Yan Laoxi stayed in the conference room and chatted for a while.

Half an hour later.

Deputy Chief of General Staff Chu Xichun also came to Yan Laoxi's office.

Another three hours later.

Liu Tao, director of the confidential office, hurried to the office.

Then that evening, a telegram was sent from the Second War Zone Command to the Chairman’s residence in Wuhan.

The 115th and 129th Divisions of the Eighth Route Army, Chu Yunfei's troops of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army, and Zeng Wanzhong's Third Army.

In the southeastern part of Shanxi, more than 3,000 Japanese invaders were killed or wounded.
(End of this chapter)