Age of Conquest Reborn

Chapter 635: Shijiazhuang Attack and Defense

Shijiazhuang, an important strategic location in central and southern Hebei Province, fell into the hands of Tang Qiusheng's troops of the Sulu Mobile Corps of the ** Division. This battle was to attack weak links in the Japanese defense. The commander of the corps was not satisfied with the performance of the two brigades responsible for capturing Shijiazhuang.

Not entirely satisfied, he found that as the war got bigger and bigger, commanders at all levels, especially those at the brigade level, were keen on large corps operations, and they always felt that the battles were vigorous and the results were brilliant. For the ** division's ability to start in the Northeast

, almost forgotten.--% net

With two brigades of nearly 25,000 troops and equipped with a large amount of artillery fire, they attacked Shijiazhuang, which was defended by only one Japanese regiment with less than 4,000 troops. The battle became a stalemate and it took nearly eight hours to capture the city.

Meeting his requirements, so even though the battle was over, he was still very dissatisfied. If the attack on Shijiazhuang was completed by his cousin Tang Qiuquan's special operations detachment, it would only take four to five detachments and take no more than four hours.

, the battle will end neatly.

Tang Qiusheng is a very thoughtful person, and has been sharing important responsibilities for his younger brother. As the master's strength continues to grow, the problems exposed make him feel uneasy, and he feels the need to have a detailed and in-depth discussion with Qiu Li.

Once, however, he did not have time now. The 150,000 Japanese troops who had been reinforced from the direction of Peiping and Tianjin were already approaching the outskirts of Shijiazhuang.

After repelling or severely damaging this Japanese army, his regiment will have two attack targets to choose from, one is Peking and the other is Tianjin. It can also target the Japanese peripheral troops in the periphery of Pingjin, including Chahar, Rehe, and eastern Hebei.

, swept away, and echoed Liu Tiehan's troops in the direction of Cangzhou. He smiled knowingly at the headquarters in Shijiazhuang.

Qiu Li's strategic intention was to take advantage of the fact that the main mobile force of the Japanese army in North China was trapped in the Taihang Mountains, to smash the Japanese strategic rear area in North China to pieces, mobilize Okamura Yingji to return to Pingjin, and choose the most advantageous position during the movement of the Japanese army.

Use the opportunity to annihilate one or several of them, change the balance of enemy and enemy forces in North China, and lay the foundation for the next strategic decisive battle with the Japanese army in North China.

This was also a task assigned to him by Tang Qiuli. The staff officer came in and interrupted Tang Qiusheng's memories. The four brigades of the Niangziguan Garrison Corps assigned to my regiment had arrived. The brigade commanders were waiting outside the headquarters to be summoned by the commander.

, accept the task

, came very quickly, Tang Qiusheng thought in his mind, with these four brigades of nearly 50,000 troops, the Shijiazhuang battle would be much easier to fight. With 190,000 people to fight against the Japanese army of 150,000 troops, it would be a waste of energy.

It can also wring out the blood of the Japanese army.

In Tang Qiuli's words, the Sulu Mobile Corps should be left alone if the sky falls. It should be nailed to Shijiazhuang to attract more Japanese troops to fight for it. I don't believe that Okamura Neji saw his home base being occupied.

He could also concentrate on sweeping the base areas in the Taihang Mountains. In a sense, this was also a small-scale decisive battle between the ** Division and the North China Japanese Army. Therefore, Tang Qiusheng reserved all four assigned brigades as strategic reserves.

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After hearing the tasks assigned by Tang Qiusheng, the four brigade commanders under Feng Jiwu glanced at each other. No one spoke, and their expressions were obviously dissatisfied. If their commander Feng Jiwu had arranged the tasks like this, he would have shouted

Get up, why are we sitting on the bench while other brigades are fighting against the Japs face to face? In terms of combat effectiveness, we are no better than them?

On April 6, the Japanese reinforcements coming from the direction of Beiping and Tianjin began to attack the outlying positions of Shijiazhuang. The battle became intense at the beginning. After receiving the order from Okamura Neiji to recapture Shijiazhuang at all costs, more than a dozen joint forces were launched at the same time.

The force of the team violently attacked the position of the Sulu Mobile Corps from the northeast on a front that was more than 40 kilometers wide. The number of troops dispatched in the first attack wave amounted to more than 40,000 people.

The support and suppressive artillery fire of the Japanese army blew up the position of the Sulu Mobile Corps, causing flying sand and rocks and billowing smoke. The artillery of the Sulu Mobile Corps did not let the Japanese artillery run rampant for long. A burst of shells hit the exposed position.

On the Japanese artillery position, the Japanese artillery did not bother to bombard the Chinese defenders' positions, shifted their targets, and started an artillery battle with the artillery of the ** Division.

The Japanese infantry, which had lost fire support, suffered heavy casualties under the intensive automatic fire attack of the Sulu Mobile Corps. Corpses were scattered everywhere. The first wave of attacks was crushed without much effort. The Japanese infantry who participated in the attack

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Less than 30,000 people were able to go back. With one blow, the Japanese commander who directed the attack was beaten to death. The battle lasted until dusk when the Japanese army gave up in shock. The blocking position of the Sulu Mobile Corps was not lost, and the Japanese army stopped at Shijiazhuang.

Periphery.

After a day of artillery battle, the artillery of both sides fired real fire. Metal pellets piercing the air were flying densely in the sky. The roar of artillery was endless. The Japanese artillery, which had almost the same number of artillery pieces as the Sulu Mobile Corps, was finally defeated.

Of the eight attached Japanese field artillery regiments, five were severely damaged. According to the Sulu Mobile Regiment's combat office, it was later estimated that on this day, both sides fired nearly 200,000 artillery shells of various calibers.

Such a large-scale artillery battle was rare in the North China battlefield, and it left a deep impression on the Chinese and Japanese soldiers who participated in the battle. In advance of this incident, almost all of them said with sighs: "That artillery hit,

Half of the sky turned red, and when the two of them talked, they had to shout in their ears, "The artillery of the Sulu Mobile Corps also paid a considerable price."

The number of artillery pieces lost exceeded 160, and as many as 1,800 artillery soldiers were killed. After that, the Japanese artillery no longer dared to blatantly provide fire support for infantry attacks, and could only fire a few shots secretly, and quickly

Move your position to avoid retaliation from the artillery of the Sulu Mobile Corps.

The Japanese infantry, which had lost the suppression and cover of ground artillery fire, suffered from the automatic weapon firepower of the squadron. The single-shot Type 38 rifle and the Somi submachine gun faced with heavy rain of firepower were no match for the Japanese soldiers.

Just one shot was fired, and more than a dozen bullets were fired. The Japanese soldiers who fell on the ground were not wounded at all, and they were all riddled with bullets.

Moreover, the soldiers of the ** Division fought extremely smartly. They were out of the range of the submachine guns and allowed the Japanese soldiers to hit the trenches with 38 big guns. When the Japanese soldiers spread out their skirmishing lines and accelerated their charge, they suddenly opened fire together, causing a heavy rain.

Like a three-dimensional metal wall, bullets like a three-dimensional metal wall knocked the Japanese soldiers into pieces, forming a death barrier from the front of the Central Military Corps to the range of the Somi submachine gun. None of the Japanese soldiers who entered could

Returned alive.

The fighting on the front line was lively, but Zhou Yushan, deputy director of the logistics department and commander of the transportation headquarters of the ** Division, was so busy that more than 800 trucks were transporting supplies and ammunition to the front line day and night. Zhou Yushan knew how to calculate, because

The Huangyadong base area was surrounded by heavy Japanese troops and was kept secret, so it was unable to accept the wounded.

He established a transportation line from Shijiazhuang to Dingbian via Taiyuan. The trucks were not empty back and forth. Back to Dingbian, they transported the wounded and materials from Shijiazhuang, machinery and equipment from factories and mines, and everything else that was needed. When it comes to the implementation of Tang Qiu

The one who left the Sanguang policy most thoroughly was Zhou Yushan. In his words, he would not leave a single nail for the Japanese. Deeply affected by the life of Logistics Minister Zhang Quanhui, Zhou Yushan and his soldiers almost moved all of Shijiazhuang.

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In particular, the Japanese spent a lot of effort to restore the Jingxing Mining Area to some appearance. All the machinery and equipment were cheaper than Zhou Yushan. Later, they simply transported a large amount of coal to Dingbian. Finally, in various mines and tunnels

A large number of coals were buried, and when the switch was pressed, the Jingxing mining area was reduced to rubble amidst violent explosions. Within two or three years, the Japanese could not dig out a piece of coal.

The front line was fighting hard, and Zhou Yushan was working hard on disassembly and transportation. According to his wishes, his transportation troops would be busy as long as Shijiazhuang fought. After the war, Tang Qiusheng said to his subordinates with emotion: "Without the logistics support of the transportation headquarters, we

The Corps is fighting much harder. At the very least, the nearly one hundred tons of ammunition consumed every day is a big problem, and there are so many wounded."

Hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops fought outside Shijiazhuang for three days. They were beaten to a bloody pulp by the Sulu Mobile Corps. Every day, if thousands of people were not included, they felt as if they were not fighting. The Japanese commanders fought with fear, and artillery fire continued everywhere.

The air was filled with smoke that blocked out the sun all day long. In the early spring of April in North China, there was no breath of spring at all. The strong smell of blood and the pungent smell of gunpowder smoke filled every cell in the bodies of the commanders and soldiers on both sides.

On the fourth day, he took out the trump card in his hand, the only tank brigade, and launched the largest attack since the war began. There was no other way, but the damn commander Neiji Okamura sent another telegram to urge him, except for cursing.

In addition to the incompetence of the frontline commander, he also issued a restriction order. If Shijiazhuang could not be recaptured in three days, all senior officers above the level of major general would be dismissed from their posts on the spot and sent to military courts, or they would have to have their belly disemboweled to pay homage to the emperor.

Apologize

Hundreds of tanks, covering tens of thousands of Japanese soldiers, frantically attacked the forward positions of the Sulu Mobile Corps. The Japanese commander went crazy. He didn't want to die, so he had to let the soldiers die. This was in the North China battlefield, and the Japanese army used armored power.

The largest and most concentrated one, the tanks rolled up the thawed ground dust, mixed with the thick smoke emitted by the tank engines, like a rolling dragon, and pressed towards the forward position of the Anti-Japanese Mobile Corps.

Tang Qiusheng had already moved his headquarters from the urban area of ​​Shijiazhuang to Wuji, which was only a dozen kilometers away from the first-line defense positions. He saw through the psychology of the Japanese commander and was eager to retake Shijiazhuang. His troops would defend and the Japanese would attack.

Relying on the field fortifications that had been repaired, without the threat of Japanese artillery and with the superior firepower of our own artillery, the Japanese army was undoubtedly looking for death with a pure infantry attack.

Fighting like this, killing a large number of Japanese troops exposed in the wild, was also one of the key points of the combat plan formulated before the war. For this reason, he sternly rejected the repeated requests of the brigade commanders on the front line for counterattacks, but the time had not yet come.

(To be continued)