Rise From Eight Hundred

The news that more than 70,000 elite Chinese troops left Taihang Mountain shocked the Japanese army in North China the next day.

This time was different from the last time when the 80th Army moved with the main force mixed with militia. It was a real move.

August 31!

The Sihang Regiment destroyed more than 5 kilometers of the road from Licheng to Shexian. The defenders of Licheng and Shexian took the city to defend and waited in a tight battle array. The defenders of Changzhi and Lucheng gathered two infantry regiments, but still did not dare to go out of the city to provide assistance easily. They only dared to send a light cavalry team to scout along the road.

September 1!

The main force of the 921st Division, nearly 6,000 people, suddenly appeared outside the suburbs of HD. The commander of the 105th Infantry Regiment under the command of the HD108th Division, Kudo Town, was shocked and asked for help from friendly forces in the Xingtai area.

This was the first time that a Japanese infantry regiment with the advantage of the city and 3,000 soldiers was so weak because of the threat of a mere 10,000 Chinese army.

It takes time for the reinforcements to arrive, which also led to the mining area controlled by the Krupp Company of the German Empire in the suburbs being "looted" by the Chinese army. Minerals and food were transported away, and various mechanical equipment were damaged. It is said that the loss was as high as hundreds of thousands of US dollars.

The Japanese would certainly not admit this, but the Chinese also announced that this was not their fault, but the loss was directly caused by the Japanese shelling of the area.

In anger, Krupp simply sent a note to the Chinese and Japanese foreign ministries through the embassy, ​​claiming compensation of one million US dollars from China and Japan. If neither of them admitted it, then both of them had to pay me.

Just when the three countries were arguing over this matter, the main force of the 921st Division magically appeared on the outskirts of Xingtai, a major city in Hebei Province, more than 60 kilometers away from HD on the third day after appearing in HD, which scared a certain infantry regiment of the 20th Division stationed in the Xingtai area.

Because of the order of the front army headquarters, they transferred an infantry battalion to join the two infantry battalions of the 14th Division to reinforce HD. Why did the 921st Division come here again?

The 921st Division did not intend to attack the city, but the damage to the Pinghan Line was huge. More than 15 kilometers of rails were either pried away by the Chinese army or completely destroyed by explosives.

One cannot help but suspect that the Chinese are crazy because of poverty. Rails are at least steel. If you pull them back, you can make bayonets or something, but what are you going to do with those sleepers! Are they used as firewood?

Little did they know that the 921st Division, from the division commander to the brigade commander to the regiment commander, now has a simple consensus that sleepers are not very useful to them, but the Four-Line Regiment wants them! This kind of wood that has been treated with antiseptic can be taken back and can be used to deduct bills like rails, and is almost as valuable as a dollar.

Besides, isn't destroying the railway one of the goals of this attack! Since you want to destroy it, then destroy it more thoroughly, leaving no rails and no sleepers for the devils.

I'm afraid that even the officers and soldiers of the 921st Division did not expect that these rails and sleepers, which they thought could be replaced with equipment, would play a huge role in the future battle with the Japanese army.

These things combined with sandbags can quickly form a strong enough fortification.

In order to protect the traffic line, the 20th Division in Shimen, under the command of its division commander Lieutenant General Kawagishi Saburo, mobilized 5 infantry battalions, a cavalry battalion, an engineering regiment, two artillery battalions, and two tank squadrons of nearly 10,000 people to fight against the 921st Division that took the initiative to attack.

It was really that the five infantry regiments dispatched by the 921st Division were too slippery. They never stayed in one place for a long time. If the main force of the Japanese army did not appear, they would sabotage. Once they detected that the Japanese army exceeded 4,000 people, they would immediately run away.

There are plains and mountains in the HD and Xingtai areas, but once tens of thousands of people hid in the mountains, the Japanese army did not dare to rashly drill in without an infantry brigade, even if there were reconnaissance planes overhead to help point the direction.

The Japanese army themselves did not dare to trust their own reconnaissance pilots. Those idiots were shot down and injured by Chinese anti-aircraft machine guns in three days. Now they only dare to stay at an altitude of 1,500 meters and look down with binoculars. They are easily fooled by the Chinese.

On September 3, the Japanese reconnaissance pilot reported that they had discovered a Chinese infantry regiment in the mountains. As a result, the commander of a large left infantry regiment who rushed to the scene was eager to win and took less than 2,800 people to deal with them.

Then, there were actually four Chinese infantry regiments in that area. My goodness, nearly 10,000 people surrounded the infantry regiment that could have chased a Chinese infantry division and beat it up.

Although the Chinese did not have any heavy firepower such as mountain artillery and field artillery, they were equipped with a large number of mortars. The shells of more than 20 82-caliber mortars, which were extremely suitable for mountain warfare, fell like raindrops on the infantry artillery and heavy machine gun positions of the Imperial Army. Even the bravest imperial infantry and artillery had to cry!

By the time another infantry regiment came to reinforce in the evening, the infantry regiment had been beaten for more than 8 hours, with a combat loss of up to 50%. It was really the kind of infantry regiment that was beaten to tears.

This was because the 921st Division was afraid of being entangled by the main force of the Japanese army and did not fight hard. Otherwise, the commander of the left regiment would have had almost no chance to be scolded by the division commander, Lieutenant General Saburo Kawagishi.

This kind of hide-and-seek style of fighting in the mountains and fields is the most troublesome for the Japanese army. But you can't just ignore it during this special period. Saburo Kawagishi has to continue to mobilize his main force for reinforcement. As for calling other divisions, forget it!

Now it's not just his family that is suffering!

The 108th Division stationed in the area from Licheng to HD had long been frightened by the Chinese troops in the Taihang Mountains. They were lucky to be able to defend the county where they were stationed. The 109th Division, which could have reinforced them, was threatened by a Sichuan Army and had no way to withdraw.

It was not reliable to count on the First Army and the Fifth Division, which were confronting the main force of the Second Chinese War Zone in western Shanxi. Not only were there 200,000 Chinese troops staring at them, but two elite Chinese infantry divisions also sent troops from the vicinity of Hongdong County, heading straight for Pingyao and Jinzhong.

Moreover, these two infantry divisions did not want to fight at all. They used tactics that were almost the same as those of the 921st Division. They fought when they could and retreated when they couldn't. They didn't give you any chance to mobilize the main force to encircle them, and they couldn't find their true intentions at all.

Perhaps, they were just a kind of support for the tens of thousands of Chinese troops that had made some changes in southeastern Shanxi. They had no substantial tactics, but strategically speaking, they were successful.

The Japanese army of up to 150,000 in western and southwestern Shanxi could not spare a single soldier to support the desperate eastern Shanxi.

As for waiting for the main force of the North China Front Army stationed in Pingjin and other places to support, Kawagishi Saburo would not be so stupid. When those troops arrived by train, the railway lines in Handan, Xing and even Shimen might be stripped away.

He could only grit his teeth and fight hard!

But as the war progressed, when the 921st Division was stirring up the world at the junction of the two provinces, a piece of news was like a bolt from the blue on Kawagishi Saburo's head.

On the evening of September 6, a Chinese army appeared in front of Niangzi Pass.

How they got there, no one knew, probably just hiding during the day and traveling at night, none of this mattered, what mattered was what the Chinese wanted to do?

Niangzi Pass, the most important gateway to eastern Shanxi, from which you can go straight west through the vast Taihang Mountains to Yuancheng, the capital of Shanxi Province, or go east through the North China Plain to Shimen, the heart of Hebei Province.

There, it is less than 80 kilometers away from Shimen!

What's more terrible is that, as large areas of cities in northern, central and eastern Shanxi were occupied by the Imperial Army, the Second Chinese War Zone retreated to southeastern and western Shanxi, and only a few cities were still in their hands. No matter how dangerous the location of Niangzi Pass, which can be regarded as the gateway to and from Shanxi Province, is, it does not need to be heavily guarded.

An infantry battalion stationed at Niangzi Pass and Jingxing County, 35 kilometers away, is already very important.

But now, it is obviously not enough!

But Kawagishi Saburo already has few troops. Ten thousand people have been sent out before. Apart from the thousands of people stationed in several large cities, the troops that can be withdrawn are only one infantry brigade.

Just as the distress telegrams from Niangzi Pass kept flying to the headquarters of the 20th Division stationed in Shimen, the two Chinese infantry divisions, which were originally 200 miles away from Niangzi Pass, turned around and played a 90-degree drift. In the early morning of September 7, they suddenly appeared in the eastern part of Shanxi.

The Sichuan Army Infantry Division that had been missing for more than two days and the main force of the 921st Division that was playing hide-and-seek with more than 10,000 Japanese troops actually appeared in the field of vision of the Japanese reconnaissance aircraft.

"The Chinese target is Jingxing?" When the 20th Division Chief of Staff Da Zuo summarized all the intelligence obtained by the General Staff in the past two days and marked its approximate location on the map, he couldn't help but take a breath.

Originally, the Chinese army seemed to be in a messy march, just like a march for sabotage, but now it is clearer than ever, all pointing to the east of Shanxi.

"No, they are not looking at Jingxing, but Shimen!" Kawagishi Saburo said with a gloomy look in his eyes.

"This is impossible. Aren't they afraid that the Empire will use my 20th Division as a shield to block their front, and then draw troops from the front to encircle them, so that they can't leave the plains?" Chief of Staff Da Zuo exclaimed.

In the current situation, at least tens of thousands of Chinese troops have left their main forces in the war zone and entered the Japanese occupied area. The Japanese side is suffering from the long line of troops, and each city must have garrisons. There are nearly 100,000 main forces left on the North China Plain, which makes these Chinese troops like Sun Wukong who got into the belly of Princess Iron Fan, tossing around!

But as long as the Chinese army has a clear goal, especially as Lieutenant General Kawagishi Saburo said, they dare to walk out of Taihang Mountain and aim at Shimen, the core city of the North China Plain, then they really don’t know how they died.

It only takes 20 divisions to hold on for a few days, and another 30,000 troops to block the gate of eastern Shanxi. When Pingjin sends one or two divisions, these tens of thousands of Chinese troops will be courting death.

"Do you think the Chinese are stupid? The Chinese army on the front line of western Shanxi must have made frequent movements, and even made a counterattack. Even if it is fake, the imperial army will not dare to take it lightly. How dare they easily withdraw a soldier? The two stupid divisions of 108 and 109 can hold their current station. It's already good. Can you and I still count on them?" Kawagishi Saburo said coldly.

"And the Imperial Front just sent two divisions to the south to support the Central China Expeditionary Army. The mobile forces in Pingjin are insufficient, and then they came.

I can only say that the Chinese chose the timing very well. This is a tactic they have been planning for a long time."

Slowly standing up, Kawagishi Saburo gently rubbed his eyebrows that were already wrinkled to pain: "I still believe that with the Chinese mind, the Chinese troops that attack must be the elite that China can gather. They are confident that they can break through my Shimen while the front army is mobilizing the army and then return to the vast Taihang Mountains to escape!"

"They lack heavy weapons, how can they pose a threat to our city's heavy defenses? Even though our division currently only has two infantry regiments, there is still an artillery brigade and a tank squadron in the city, and all attack forces can be mobilized immediately. If the army returns to the defense, no matter how many people they have, it will be in vain." After listening to the analysis of his division commander, Chief of Staff Da Zuo was still full of confidence.

"Jiuzang-kun, have you forgotten how the Second Mixed Brigade was completely destroyed in the Battle of Southeast Shanxi three months ago?" Saburo Kawagishi, who was nearly sixty years old, glanced at his leftist staff officer with a gloomy look on his face. Take a long look.

It wasn't until the Japanese leftist immediately stood respectfully and said nothing more that he tried his best to slow down his tone: "Jiuzang-kun, the offensive of the Imperial Front Army and Division was too smooth, which made many Imperial officers and soldiers feel arrogant, but as a Senior officers at the division level must have enough respect for their opponents, otherwise our division will surely follow the example of Yamashita and others!"

"Hi! Thank you, Division Commander, for your teachings!" Japan's Chief of Staff, the Left Chief, bowed his head respectfully and said yes.

He also took the opportunity to hide the cold light flashing in his eyes!

Saburo Kawagishi is over 56 years old. He is considered older among the division commanders on the North China Front. He has not shown any special features on the Chinese battlefield. He was originally supposed to be transferred from the 20th Division back to his hometown in July, which can be regarded as a retirement. of.

As a result, due to the setback in the Battle of Southeast Shanxi, in order to stabilize the situation, the base camp suspended the change of senior generals at the division commander level of the North China Front.

Even Lieutenant General Xiangyue Qingshi, who was about to leave his post due to the defeat in the Battle of Southeast Shanxi, Lieutenant General Xiong Yuan, who made a major mistake in judging the enemy, and Lieutenant General Okabe Saburo, the Chief of Staff of the Front Army who was about to be transferred, still stayed in their current posts.

As the senior staff officer assigned by the Front Army Headquarters to the 20th Division as Chief of Staff, Kimura Kyuzo originally came with a gold-plated mission. If nothing unexpected happens, he will be transferred from the 20th Division and promoted to Major General before the end of the year. The position of brigade commander may even be promoted on the spot, if Saburo Kawagishi 'leave' in time enough.

Such a person would put too much emphasis on the outgoing lieutenant general division commander, especially when the old guy criticized him with a condescending attitude.

However, the Japanese army was highly hierarchical, and no matter how unhappy the Japanese army's left wing was, he would never dare to slack off on Saburo Kawagishi.

Saburo Kawagishi may not be able to be promoted to his military position, but it is very easy to ruin his affairs.

Seeing the respect from his subordinates, Saburo Kawagishi, who has entered his twilight years, is also satisfied, and his voice softens two points: "As for the heavy firepower you mentioned, Jiuzang-kun, Yusui's second mixed brigade originally carried 24 75mm mountain guns! "

"Your Excellency, the division commander, is saying that this group of Chinese troops may have captured these 24 mountain cannons and put them into the army?" Japanese Army Chief Zuo was stunned for a moment, and then reacted. "No, they can defeat the second mixed brigade with 24 mountain guns, then they..."

"Yes, they can defeat the second mixed brigade, how could they not have enough artillery?" Saburo Kawagishi's face was full of coldness. "If you add in the mountain artillery they captured, maybe they have more artillery than you and I thought! Even if they haven't displayed it in previous battles."

"I will order the attacking troops of the division to return with all their strength now! At the same time, I will order the 7th Infantry Battalion to reinforce Niangziguan and hold on for at least three days! This will provide enough time for our division to gather its forces." The Japanese Army's left face changed greatly.

"It's too late. The returning divisions will be blocked by the Chinese army, and Niangziguan is bound to be heavily besieged. It will be a matter of time before it is breached." Saburo Kawagishi sighed.

If possible, the Japanese Army's left winger would like to immediately step forward and cover the crow mouth of his division commander. If his memory is correct, in the Battle of Southeast Shanxi three months ago, when the Second Mixed Brigade was surrounded, he It was predicted that the second mixed brigade would cause heavy damage to the Chinese side.

The result was not good, the entire second mixed brigade was shot to death by the Chinese, and almost no one was left.

Now, how about predicting your own division? The Japanese army's left wing was already panicking at this time, even more panicked than when they saw five Chinese infantry divisions pointing at the division headquarters, which was defended by only more than 10,000 people.

As if to verify the crow's mouth of the commander of a certain division as quickly as possible, as soon as Saburo Kawagishi finished speaking and Kushimura Kyuzo's little heart began to beat violently, a report from the staff of the Communications Department came outside the house.

It was sent from the headquarters of the 7th Brigade stationed in Jingxing.

"The 1st Squadron, the 2nd Squadron of the 7th Infantry Brigade, the 1st Heavy Machine Gun Squadron, the Infantry Artillery Squadron, Yusui Niangzi Pass!"

The dazzling "Jade Broken" telegram made the Japanese general Zuo's expression extremely difficult to see.

They all thought that Niangzi would be lost, but no one thought it would happen so quickly, not even a certain person with a crow's mouth.

The position with advantageous geography and solid fortifications, as well as 2 infantry squadrons with nearly 400 men, 4 heavy machine guns and 2 infantry cannons, fell into the enemy's hands in less than 3 hours.

This speed far exceeded the most pessimistic estimate of Saburo Kawagishi.

Saburo Kawagishi's nickname of Crow Mouth has finally come true.

If possible, the Japanese army's left wing never wants to hear some bullshit prediction from a crow's mouth.

The good ones are not very effective, but the bad ones are 150% fulfilled, which is absolutely amazing.

"Immediately ask for reinforcements from the front army headquarters. We need at least one division of reinforcements in the direction of Shimen to ensure peace of mind!" Saburo Kawagishi no longer hesitated.

The Japanese army's left wing has not yet bowed its head and accepted the order.

The voice of the communications staff came from outside the house again. The Japanese generals looked at each other, their faces a little green.

The current situation is already very bad. Could there be worse news?

Fortunately, this time it is good news.

Can't wait to unfold the telegram signed by the commander of the North China Front Army, General Shanshanyuan, and read it at the fastest speed. His face changed from gloomy to bright.

"Haha! Your Excellency the commander is really Zhuge Kongming in the world! This time the Chinese have lost both the wife and the army!" Kawagishi Saburo laughed loudly and handed the telegram to his confused subordinates.

In fact, the Japanese Army General Zuo was a little scared. Zhuge Kongming has been dead for more than 2,000 years!