Anti-Japanese War: From Becoming Chu Yunfei to Rising

Chapter 335: Pacification of Shanxi: A Battle Across Kilometers! Chu Yunfei Goes All Out (I)

"Commander, the latest news is that the enemy has launched an attack on the outer defense strongholds of Lingqiu County. It has been confirmed that it is the main force of Chu Yunfei's elite troops. They are equipped with a large number of indirect fire artillery. When attacking, they carried out precise strikes on our firepower points."

The current commander of the 2nd Independent Mixed Brigade is Major General Kanji Tsuneoka.

The 5048nd Independent Mixed Brigade consists of the st, nd, rd, th and th Independent Infantry Battalions, the Artillery Corps, the Engineer Corps and the Communications Corps. The brigade has a total of personnel, and its composition and weapons and equipment are as follows:
1. Brigade Headquarters: 27 personnel and 27 vehicles;
2.独立步兵大队（5个大队）：定员810（战员782）名，马40匹，11年式轻机枪28挺，92式重机枪8挺，89式重掷弹筒32架，92式步兵炮2门；
3.旅团炮兵队：定员620名，马370匹，94式山炮（2个中队）12门，改造38式野炮（1个中队）队6门；
4. Brigade Engineers: 176 men, 6 horses;
5. Brigade Communications Team: 175 personnel, 27 horses. ①
Belongs to the Mongolian Army.

Judging from the number of heavy weapons they are equipped with, it is enough to see that they are the elite troops of the Japanese army.

About 5,000 people, 10 Type 92 infantry guns, and 20 mountain and field guns including the brigade artillery team.

There were thirty artillery pieces alone.

In terms of heavy weapons firepower, it far exceeds the 5th Infantry Regiment, a core regiment.

Its main mission is still public security warfare.

Because the fighting power is strong enough.

They will basically carry out corresponding public security rectification operations at the brigade level.

That is, the mopping-up mission was basically aimed at the Eighth Route Army.

Stationed in Lingqiu County is the 5th Independent Infantry Battalion under the 2nd Mixed Brigade.

In order to deal with the Eighth Route Army troops who were short of ammunition, they mainly relied on close-range bayonet and hand-to-hand combat.

They formulated relevant security warfare guidelines and implemented them.

They stipulated that no ammunition should be stored in the outer outposts.

A soldier was only allowed to carry forty rounds of rifle ammunition, and machine gun ammunition was limited to two hundred rounds.

Based on their understanding of the Eighth Route Army guerrillas.

They lacked heavy weapons for sieges, and each attack would never last more than two hours.

Because once it exceeds two hours.

The main force of the county will be reinforced soon.

This elite Japanese force was a complete crushing defeat for the guerrillas in terms of combat effectiveness.

There have been many battles like this.

After a while, it’s a regular battle.

This unit, formed in February 38, just felt a little unfamiliar.

Faced with the powerful attack from Chu Yunfei's troops, he seemed a little at a loss for a moment.

It was just like they were as powerless facing the assault regiment half a year ago.

Tsuneoka Kanji immediately asked all his independent battalions to prepare for battle, especially in the direction of Lingqiu County.

At the same time, he stood up and walked towards the war room.

Today, the brigade headquarters has moved back to Zhangjiakou, also because of the assault regiment’s affairs.

In order to strengthen the defense of the Mongolian Army Headquarters, an independent battalion will basically be stationed in the city.

Instead of scattering and guarding like before.

The news was reported to the North China Front Army Headquarters as soon as possible.

After all, Sugiyama Gen was also the commander of the Mongolian army at that time.

The entire situation in North China was a mess.

Difficult to sort out.

As Chu Yunfei's troops appeared outside Lingqiu City.

Sugiyama Yuan also keenly noticed Chu Yunfei's intention at the first moment.

"Our opponents are actively dividing their forces and continue to expose weaknesses, thereby attracting troops from surrounding areas to besiege them, switching from an offensive to a defensive posture in order to inflict casualties on our troops."

The current Chief of Staff of the North China Front Army, Yamashita Tomoyuki, stood aside and did not say anything.

This is actually related to the factional struggles within the Japanese army.

Yamashita Tomoyuki was an officer of the Imperial Way Faction and participated in the February 26 Incident.

Because of his close relationship with Terauchi Hisaichi, he was transferred to the 20th Division to serve as the commander of the 40th Brigade.

After being promoted to lieutenant general, he would not logically serve as the chief of staff of the North China Front Army.

But the reason for doing this was also the backup plan left by Terauchi Juichi.

After all, he is the backbone and representative figure of the Tojo Hideki control faction that is in power today.

Terauchi Juichi has been transferred.

Sugiyama Gen was one of the representatives of the Imperial Way faction who took over.

He was dismissed from his post as Deputy Chief of Staff because of his participation in the February 26 Incident.

It is more abstract.

Soon after Yamashita Tomoyuki was transferred to become Chief of Staff of the North China Front Army.

Hideki Tojo made a lot of remarks at the "Army Management Business Owners' Forum" held at the Military Hall.

It declared that Japan would "fight against the Soviet Union and China at the same time, and also prepare to go to war with Britain, the United States and France."

As soon as this statement came out, it immediately caused a huge shock in Japan.

Not only did it have a strong impact on Japan's business community, causing the Tokyo stock market to plummet, but it was also unacceptable to the military, which was full of warmongers, and they accused it of being too "rash."

Army Minister Seishirō Itagaki claimed that Tojo's purpose was only to encourage Japan's military production and that this was just a propaganda tactic.

Who would buy into this?

Under pressure.

The Deputy Army Minister, who had only been in office for half a year, had to resign in disgrace and was appointed Director General of Aviation.

The threat was gone, apparently.

Yamashita Tomoyuki could not stay in the position of Chief of Staff for too long.

Sugiyama Motomoto was the Vice Minister of the Army who once advocated resolving the Chinese incident within three months.

He was dismissed from his post after the failure of the Battle of Taierzhuang.

Now that he is able to serve as the commander of the North China Front Army, he no longer has his previous arrogance.

Nowadays, he actually doesn't want too many large-scale battles to break out.

What Sugiyama Gen wanted to do most was to vigorously develop the North China region in order to maintain what had become a "long-term tug-of-war".

base camp.

And the current cabinet's ideas are actually very simple.

Its fundamental purpose is to force the Chiang government to surrender.

End this battle.

The original base camp was before the Battle of Changzhi.

The target has always been set on the 88th Group Army.

It was also to attack Chu Yunfei's troops and cut off the banner of anti-Japanese resistance.

This is actually the same as striking at the main force of the Whampoa clique.

But after fighting, they found that they could not win.

Therefore, they had to settle for the second best and turn to destroying the main force of the Central Army.

Now, Chu Yunfei's troops attacked again, and every move hit their weak points. The battle continues to this day.

The essential purpose of proactively dividing the troops and attacking Lingqiu County was to induce them to engage in a main force decisive battle.

Things have come to this point.

Sugiyama Gen no longer had anything to hesitate about.

"Order: The 108th Division and part of the 104th Division are to attack the area surrounding Lin County according to the original combat plan."

"The 37th Division, the 3rd Mixed Brigade, and part of the 3rd Mixed Brigade will attack the enemy forces in the area around Fanshih."

"After the Second Mixed Brigade pushed the battle line to Pingxingguan, it waited for an opportunity to advance towards Daying Town."

"The 20th Division, monitor and maintain a standoff with the 7th, 13th, and 14th Chinese Armies to ensure the safety of the area around Taiyuan."

Yamashita Fengwen bowed slightly: "Hai!"

The order was given.

The Japanese troops in the entire North China region seemed to have already prepared for a war in advance.

In fact, this is exactly the case.

While Chu Yunfei was busy mobilizing troops, Sugiyama Gen, the commander of the North China Front Army, was also busy.

He not only drew out a part of the 104th Infantry Regiment and the st Infantry Regiment of the th Division, but also mixed them with the th Division to form the Linxian Detachment commanded by Motojiro Taniguchi.

They also planned to reclaim the five infantry battalions that had been transferred to the South China Front Army (troops that were withdrawn from the 104th Division and sent to Qingdao for landing combat training).

However, this kind of behavior is impossible in the eyes of the base camp.

In order to meet the unreasonable demands of the North China Front Army.

It was also to supplement the troops of the North China Front Army.

The Imperial Headquarters assigned the 3,000 troops originally intended for the Kwantung Army to the North China Front Army.

At this time, the Kwantung Army had fallen into a weak state due to repeated withdrawals.

This also laid the seeds for the subsequent strategic choices of Chu Yunfei's troops.

"Boom!"

The 31st Mountain Artillery Regiment was transferred to the outskirts of Lingqiu County.

One shell after another fell on the Japanese position like raindrops.

At this time, Qian Bojun had already learned that the 2nd Mixed Brigade was attacking from all directions.

But there is still no plan to retreat.

As usual, they just dispatched some troops to build corresponding fortifications and fight against reinforcements.

The order Chu Yunfei gave him was to capture Lingqiu County and wipe out all the defenders in the city.

Zhou Weiguo's troops were dispatched by Chu Yunfei to prepare to meet the reinforcements of the 2nd Mixed Brigade.

Different from traditional positional defense operations.

The attack on reinforcements by Zhou Weiguo's troops was more like an active attack.

Use small-scale and continuous attacks to block the advance of the Japanese invaders.

This is actually somewhat similar to the tactics used by General Dai Anlan.

The battle in the Lingqiu direction was in full swing.

Headquarters of the 4th Infantry Regiment.

Luo Weiguo and Pang Junming both received a telegram from Chu Yunfei asking them to be wary of the Japanese attack on Ru Yuekou.

It was just as Chu Yunfei expected.

Even his three-dimensional combat map could not see the direction of Datong.

But we can still guess the attack direction and troop deployment of these Japanese devils.

"Once we start, we must go all out. These damn Japanese devils..." Chu Yunfei snorted coldly and slammed the telegram in his hand on the table beside him.

Zhang Dayun took a puff of the cigarette in his hand and said, "The troops in the Lin County direction must be strengthened, otherwise we may not be able to withstand their attack."

"Let Bai Yongqiang and others provide support. Let Fang Ligong take command personally." After a moment's silence, Chu Yunfei had no choice but to continue giving orders.

"Yes."

Qian Zhaoyou was placed on the front line of Niangzi Pass by Chu Yunfei.

Luo Weiguo was responsible for the defensive operations at Ru Yuekou.

Zhang Dayun followed him and shared the tasks with him.

The direction of Lin County can only be left to Fang Ligong.

But what should I do in the direction of Licheng?
It seemed that the only hope was that Bai Jiansheng would realize earlier that the Japanese army was short of manpower and unable to attack Qin County and other areas, and thus withdraw the Ninth Army and other main forces to move eastward for support.

This will also be able to reduce the pressure on Chu Yunfei's troops.

After Zhang Dayun finished drafting the telegram, he went to Chu Yunfei and asked, "General Manager, do you want to send a telegram to the 18th Group Army and ask them to participate in this battle?"

"No, the 129th Division's combat effectiveness is estimated to have not yet recovered. If the time is right, they will join the battle themselves."

Zhang Dayun nodded and subconsciously wanted to touch the cigarette pack on his body.

I searched for a long time but couldn't find it.

He had finished his cigarette.

"Why, are you worried that we can't win this battle?"

Zhang Dayun scratched his head and told the truth: "A little bit. I am worried that we will suffer in this battle. After all, we are short of troops at this stage and they are scattered on various battlefields. We have never fought such a battle before."

Chu Yunfei nodded: "Whether my old brothers can stand on their own depends on how this battle goes."

At this time, Chu Yunfei himself couldn't help but admit that there was an element of gambling in his thinking.

Currently, the only unit operating within the scope of the three-dimensional combat map is the 30th Artillery Regiment.

The 1st Infantry Regiment, and the 2nd and 3rd Infantry Regiments.

Their opponent was the newly formed 37th Division of the Japanese Army.

Chu Yunfei no longer had the energy to pay attention to the battlefield in southeastern Shanxi. He could only think about how to win this damn battle in front of him.

The artillery fire roared, and after the Japanese chose to attack the 1st Infantry Regiment, they did not spare their artillery shells.

The forward support position of Zhang Fugui's troops.

In just three hours, it was bombarded by 3,000 artillery shells of various types and calibers.

It was like a pure show of wealth bombardment, and it still made the soldiers suffer terribly.

The soldiers hid in the anti-artillery caves, so out of sight, they didn't have to worry about it.

Fortunately, there were no Japanese aerial bombs, otherwise the casualties would have increased a lot.

The attack begins.

The concentrated tank troops launched an attack on the position, and behind these tanks were a large number of infantry troops.

Chu Yunfei could see clearly in the three-dimensional combat map.

The attack of this group of Japanese devils has already taken shape as a rudimentary form of infantry-tank coordinated tactics, and can even be considered qualified.

The officers and soldiers of the 1st Infantry Regiment were not nervous at all. They huddled in their positions, waiting for the Japanese army to approach.

Then give priority to destroying the large-scale infantry following the enemy.

Accompanied by Zhang Fugui's order.

The regiment's heavy mortar company's twelve 107mm mortars launched a full-scale bombardment on the Japanese attacking forces.

One gun can fire 4 to 5 heavy mortar shells per minute, half of which are white phosphorus incendiary bombs.

The explosions also continued.

The Japanese suffered heavy casualties.

White phosphorus is like a cancer attached to the bone.

Screams echoed throughout the battlefield.

The Japanese used incendiary bombs and poison gas bombs.

It would be fine if Chu Yunfei didn’t have it, but if he did, he would definitely give it back.

International treaties and international law, in Chu Yunfei's eyes.

In fact, it is not much different from toilet paper.

However, the duration of the heavy mortar company's bombardment was still affected by the Japanese anti-artillery firepower.

They had to move quickly without being able to fire too many shells.

Almost at the same time.

"Report, in the direction of Yu County, the defense line of the Second Infantry Regiment has been fiercely attacked by the enemy. The two sides are currently fighting fiercely, and the specific situation is unknown."

Before Chu Yunfei could pay attention to the battle situation of the Second Infantry Regiment.

Another confidential officer quickly stood up and reported: "Report to the commander, there was also an exchange of fire in the direction of Ruyuekou. According to reports, the enemy is equipped with a large number of tanks, armored vehicles, and a part of the cavalry."

Chu Yunfei took the telegram and stepped forward to look at the strategic situation map of Shanxi region hanging behind him.

The mixed force of cavalry, tanks and armored vehicles is most likely the main force of the Mongolian troops heading south.

This exceeded his previous expectations.
Whether the Second Infantry Regiment can defend Yu County is related to the safety of Chu Yunfei's logistics supply line.

Whether the 4th Infantry Regiment can hold Ruyuekou is related to whether the main force of the Japanese army will be able to gather together, and also to whether Chu Yunfei's troops can gain the upper hand against the newly formed 37th Division.

Every battlefield is extremely critical at this moment!
A huge pressure enveloped Chu Yunfei. His brain was working as fast as a machine, constantly thinking about how to defeat the enemy.

He also reminded Zhang Fugui from time to time to pay attention to some defense directions and key points, and required all troops to report the specific situation as soon as the battle situation changed.

Chu Yunfei also knew it in his heart.
This battle is related to whether Shanxi can be pacified successfully and whether the next combat plan can be carried out smoothly. Therefore, he must go all out!
(End of this chapter)