Rise From Eight Hundred

January 1, 1939, New Year’s Day!

The Japanese North China Front suddenly launched the "New Year's Day Offensive"!

The Japanese North China Front deployed six divisions with a total of more than 130,000 troops to launch a fierce attack on Zhongtiao Mountain in southern Shanxi. At the same time, in order to prevent the Chinese army in the Taihang Mountains in southeastern Shanxi from supporting the Zhongtiao Mountain battlefield, the 18th Division was the main force and assembled Two divisions, the 108th and 109th, and two independent mixed brigades, totaling more than 80,000 people, launched a coercive march on the Taihang Mountain Anti-Japanese Base Area.

At this time, the Chinese military strength in the Taihang Mountains in southeastern Shanxi was actually declining instead of increasing.

The main force of the 22nd Army had already been sent to Henan Province to accept the command of the First Theater Area in mid-November due to the conclusion of the Central China Campaign, leaving the Si Xing Regiment alone in southeastern Shanxi.

The 17th Division was ordered to be transferred to Zhongtiao Mountain as early as the end of October, and formed the 38th Army together with the 55th Division. The division commander Zhao Shoushan was promoted to corps commander.

One of the two main brigades of the 921st Division of the 80th Group Army has gone to northern Hebei to establish a base. Only the 683rd Brigade and a guard regiment and supplementary regiment directly under the division headquarters remain in southeastern Shanxi. Troops, the total combat strength of the entire army is only more than 30,000.

In other words, excluding the various militias and local armed forces developed over the past year, there are less than 40,000 regular troops in southeastern Shanxi that can be used for combat.

The North China Front attached great importance to sending 80,000 troops. The actual strength was twice the Chinese strength in the Taihang Mountains at this time. This strength was more than enough to carry out a sweep, let alone containment.

As the commander-in-chief of the East Route Army of the Second War Zone, the commander-in-chief of the Eightyth Group immediately issued a general mobilization order. Not only did the main forces in southeastern Shanxi gather at major passes to prevent the Japanese army from advancing on a large scale, but he also began to assemble villages and towns in the base area. The militia and armed forces gathered nearly 20,000 temporary armed forces in just two days.

This was also the fruit of victory after the victory in the Shandong War. The 80th Group Army, which had obtained a large number of guns and ammunition from the Japanese army, had carried out a large-scale change of equipment before February. In addition to the German weapons and equipment obtained from the Four Lines Regiment, its regular army Corps, the rest were all converted into Japanese weapons, and the old guns that were eliminated were given to the developed local armed forces.

Otherwise, no matter how many people there are in the local armed forces, which can only use old shell guns, red tassel guns, and machetes, the Japanese army only needs one regular infantry unit to completely defeat them.

But the local armed forces with Hanyang-made hand grenades and light machine guns are different. The combat power of 20,000 people can at least hold back a mixed brigade of the Japanese army.

Naturally, the Si Xing Regiment responded quickly. Under the personal command of Lei Xiong, who had returned to the Si Xing Regiment headquarters, the four infantry battalions, along with the artillery battalion, baggage battalion, special agent battalion, and cavalry battalion, all left the Dakouzidong station.

The main force of the Four Lines Regiment rushed to the front-line battlefield, and the stationed troops were naturally extremely empty. However, the situation this time was different from the previous Shanxi Grand Strategy.

During the Battle of Jindong, the main force of the Fourth Battalion was withdrawn, leaving only the recently established 4th Battalion. Eventually, a Japanese infantry brigade attacked, and the 4th Battalion had to fight alone. If it weren't for Lao Tantai and Teacher Xiao He's desperate efforts, Bringing militiamen, arsenal technicians, and workers with all the heavy equipment in stock to rush to the rescue, the 4th Battalion would basically be wiped out, and all the construction achievements of the station would be destroyed.

No one will step into two rivers at the same time, nor fall twice in the same pit, unless he is a fool!

During Tang Dao's absence for more than two months, the Dakouzidong Town Security Battalion had been established. It was nominally affiliated with Dakouzidong Town and not directly affiliated with the Sixings Regiment. Its military salaries were also paid by the local finance of Dakouzidong Town, but regardless of Its battalion commanders are also grass-roots officers of its companies, platoons, and squads, all of whom are veterans of the Si Xing Regiment.

And even in Dakouzidong Town, Tang Tuanzuo was the magistrate of Licheng County who was stamped and approved by the stingy old man in the Second War Zone. He was the supreme commander of this 'local armed force'.

The security battalion absorbed about 600 disabled veterans and 1,300 new recruits from Lei Xiong's hometown, plus the original 1,000 militiamen from Dakouzidong Town. The overall strength was as high as 2,900. In terms of combat strength, it may not be as good as the four regular soldiers of the Four Lines Regiment. It is comparable to an infantry battalion, but in terms of military strength alone, it is definitely No. 1 among the troops under the jurisdiction of the Si Xing Regiment.

Its equipment was completely distributed according to the regular army of the Fourth Army Regiment. In addition, after the Qingshiyan World War, the Fourth Army Regiment Headquarters learned the hard way and decided to exchange money for manpower. In 2 months, it cost nearly 300,000 yuan to recruit troops with a radius of nearly a hundred miles. There are more than 20,000 mountain residents. Under the leadership of the engineering company, with Dakouzidong Town as the center, more than 40 concrete bunkers have been built on the hilltops of various highlands within a radius of 15 kilometers. There are also tunnels connecting the bunkers, with a total length of more than 200 kilometer.

Don’t underestimate these bunkers built with white lime, mountain rock, and steel plates as the main materials. Why did it take nearly ten thousand people to invest and more than 2 months to complete more than 40 of them? That’s because the amount of work is really too large. Just one, it takes a lot of effort.

The bunker has long been separated from the machine gun bunker in the ordinary sense. To be more precise, it should be called a fortress.

In addition to the crossfire of various light and heavy machine guns to block the mountain road, this fortification will also deploy the Type 92 infantry gun captured from the Japanese army and the 37mm rapid-fire gun that was too heavy and was eliminated.

This bunker, which consists of submachine guns, rifles, machine guns, and direct-aimed guns, is even divided into firepower areas and living areas.

There are usually one or two infantry squads and a firepower squad stationed in a bunker, and there may be up to 50 people.

According to the drawings drawn by Tang Tuanzuo before his departure, and the improvements discussed by Bai Sheng, Ye Chenghuan and others, a bunker is almost a small "village". The area of ​​the combat zone is as high as more than 200 square meters, which can be used for machine guns and artillery shooting. The living area behind it is also 150 square meters, which is where everyone eats and rests.

The two-story wooden bunk beds are exactly the same as those in the garrison barracks, which can fully guarantee the normal rest of the officers and soldiers stationed here.

There is also a steel door made of the latest manganese steel plate smelted by the arsenal between the living area and the combat zone. Even if the combat zone is destroyed by the Japanese heavy artillery, this steel door that can withstand the explosion of 30 kg explosive packs can completely become the last barrier for the remaining Chinese soldiers.

The tunnel behind the bunker allows soldiers to evacuate to a safe area hundreds of meters away!

If the Japanese use poison gas bombs, there are also gas masks distributed to individual soldiers in the bunker, and they are basically not afraid of these vicious tricks of the Japanese.

The Japanese army wanted to break through these bunkers, and they had to attack at the cost of human lives and use heavy artillery or bombers to drop heavy bombs.

But for the narrow mountain road in Taihang Mountain, let alone 150 heavy artillery, even if the Japanese could transport 105 heavy artillery, Tang Dao would give them a thumbs up.

And if they want to use human lives to remove these bunkers one by one, they must have the courage to completely write off an infantry brigade.

Of course, equipment and fortifications are important, but people are more important!

"I'm waiting for the damned to come in the bunker. At worst, I'll leave my last arm here." The black man, who had retired due to disability and served as the chief instructor of the militia and now became the company commander of the first company of the defense battalion, led his troops into the No. 8 bunker with his only remaining arm.

Most of the guards are new soldiers, and most of their squad leaders, platoon leaders, and company commanders are retired veterans who are missing arms and legs and are not suitable for front-line combat. Even the chief officers such as Lei Xiong and Ye Chenghuan were somewhat reserved about their combat effectiveness before the war.

If we can defend until the main force returns, it is a victory!

Especially since Tang Dao, the backbone of the entire regiment, is not there, even if he can command remotely through the radio, this is the first time that the Four-Line Regiment has commanded remotely without Tang Dao on the battlefield, and they have to face the pressure of the Japanese army with twice the strength. The battalion and company commanders of the Four-Line Regiment are still somewhat uncertain.

This is also a typical Tang Dao dependency syndrome. Tang Dao, who is far away in the Tongguan defense zone, is very clear about this. Perhaps this is just in line with his mentality of not being in a hurry to return.

If the Four-Line Regiment wants to become a truly iron-blooded army, it cannot rely on him alone for victory. All chief officers must have the courage to take responsibility for victory or failure.

But what all the commanders of the Four-Line Regiment, including Tang Dao, did not expect was that this defense battalion, which had been established for only two months, had these veterans who had regarded life and death as nothing as their spiritual support, giving great courage to the new recruits, making it the most impressive infantry battalion-level unit in the "New Year's Day Offensive" led by the Japanese North China Front Army.

And even if Tang Dao wanted to leave, he couldn't get away at this time.

The Japanese "New Year's Day Offensive" was not limited to the Second War Zone. The Japanese Westward Corps also launched a strong attack on the river bank line of hundreds of kilometers.

The Tongguan Defense Zone was the spearhead of the Japanese offensive with more than 60,000 troops.

The Japanese artillery group began to bombard at dawn on the first day of the Chinese calendar in 1939, when snow particles were floating in the sky.

At 9 o'clock in the morning, the first wave of Japanese bombers arrived over the battlefield, which was still under continuous artillery fire. A formation of 24 Japanese planes descended to an altitude of 1,500 meters and used carpet bombing to attack the positions in front of Tongguan City and on the left and right wings, dropping heavy bombs and nearly 100 small bombs of various types!

By 12 o'clock noon, the third wave of Japanese bomber formations had arrived. It seemed that the bombers belonging to the Japanese North China Front had already arrived at this small battlefield.

The Japanese artillery bombardment never stopped from 6 o'clock to 12 o'clock, even though the four heavy artillery of the Chinese side also fought back with all their strength!

The riverside defense positions with a width of nearly 16 kilometers and the Tongguan City where only soldiers were stationed were filled with thick smoke and fire from burning wood. The temperature on the positions was at least 20 degrees higher than the wilderness in the distance!

The 28th Division Headquarters had lost contact with its brigades and regiments since 10 a.m., and all telephone lines had been blown off in this wave of fierce bombing. A large number of communication soldiers carried telephone lines and shuttled between the trenches of various positions, becoming the branch with the highest death rate on the current battlefield, but they still could not prevent the complete interruption of wired communications.

As a last resort, Dong Zhao had to restore the most primitive communication method, and the communication soldiers ran to convey the division headquarters' military orders.

The three people with command authority in the defense zone had met for a short meeting at around 8 a.m.

"The strategic intention of the Japanese army is very clear, that is, to make some big noise in our northwest and southern Shanxi to force our southwest and southern China to increase troops in the north, so the enemy in Fenglingdu today will inevitably launch a large-scale attack." Dong Zhao explained his opinion concisely.

Seeing the supreme commander looking at him, Tang Dao, who frowned slightly, could only say a few words: "I agree with some of the views of Division Commander Dong, but I think that the focus of the Japanese attack is not in southern Shanxi. Although there are 6 divisions with more than 100,000 troops advancing into our Zhongtiao Mountain defense line, their attack route is more like pinning down the main force of our 200,000 troops in Zhongtiao Mountain, so that they dare not move."

"You mean, the Japanese army will actually bet on its westward corps, and the more than 200,000 troops mobilized by the North China Front Army are just to help them?" Dong Zhao took a breath, his face was extremely ugly.

He was not because Tang Dao refuted some of his views, but if it was really as Tang Dao said, then today's battle would be hanging.

The newly established Third Army of the Japanese army has 100,000 troops, and the Tenth War Zone has barely 150,000 troops so far. Although the troops seem to have some advantages, based on the combat experience of the past year, if you want to resist the Japanese army in a defensive battle, you need 2 times or even more troops, and if you want to win in a field battle, you need 5 times.

Of course, the reason why Dong Zhao is still a little bit lucky is that the Japanese North China Front Army has more than 300,000 troops, and its commander is also a general. There will be no lowering of status to help a lieutenant general and a corps-level unit half a level lower.

"Deputy Chief of Staff Tang, please continue. I want to hear the reason." Commander Fan also had an iron face.

As the leader of an army, he has a different vision. He knows that Tang Dao will never shoot without a purpose. He must have his own logical judgment when he said this. And with Tang Dao's dazzling performance in the past half month, his judgment is likely to be correct.

And this judgment on strategy will affect the implementation of the defensive tactics of the entire 28th Division today. He, the highest commander of Tongguan, must be cautious enough.

Tang Dao was also straightforward: "My view is based on two reasons: First, the Central China Campaign has basically ended. Although the Japanese army has barely achieved their tactical goals and occupied Jiangcheng, an important town in Central China, it is far from their strategic goal of eating up the living forces of our Chinese army.

The main force of our army is still there, and we can rely on Tanzhou to fight with them again. Just relying on the Central China Expeditionary Force to go south all the way, even if it conquers South China, it does not conform to the strategy of the Japanese headquarters to end the war as soon as possible.

If you want to end the war in the shortest time, The best option is to reduce the huge material consumption caused by the war, enter the prosperous Sichuan surrounded by the Qinling, Wushan and Hengduan Mountains, cut off the logistical supply of our Chinese army and force those high-level officials to surrender.

The danger of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River is not easy to cross. With decades of planning by the Japanese army, they naturally know that it is extremely difficult to enter Sichuan from Yiling. Just like Liu Huangshu in the past, entering northern Sichuan from Guanzhong is the right way.

Therefore, Tongguan has become a key point in the Japanese grand strategy and must be attacked.

As for the second point, it depends on the number and intensity of the Japanese fighter planes. Although it has not happened yet, I judge that the number of bombers they have invested will not be less than 60.

If this is true, it will thoroughly prove that the real purpose of the Japanese army's use of more than 300,000 troops this time is not in southern Shanxi, but on the entire front line in eastern Guanzhong.

Of course, the battlefields in southern Shanxi and southeastern Shanxi are not to say that they can rest easy. Based on my understanding of Shanshan Yuan, as the former boss of the Japanese Army Ministry, he must not be able to swallow this breath. It is very likely that he will not pay attention to the advice of the Japanese Army Headquarters and attack southern Shanxi. and southeastern Shanxi are also attacking with all their strength.

If he can win, he can regain his face. If he can't win, he can be regarded as listening to the military order of the headquarters and fully involving the forces of my Second War Zone to assist Itagaki Shiro. "

"Deputy Chief of Staff Tang is right. The Japanese North China Front Air Force Corps suffered a great defeat some time ago. Although there will be replenishment after more than two months, the number of fighters that can be deployed to the battlefield will never exceed 80. If more than half of the fighters are really deployed to our Guanzhong Yellow River defense line, it seems that they really want to swallow us up in one bite." Commander Fan nodded slightly.

"Immediately send a telegram to the war zone headquarters. The enemy's westward corps is about to attack with all its strength. Our troops will go all out to defend the defense line. We don't ask for reinforcements, but ask the war zone to ensure military supplies!"

Sure enough, as time went on, Tang Dao's judgments came true one by one, but there were more than 50 sorties. From 9:00 to 12:00, a total of 72 sorties of bombers bombarded the Tongguan position.

At 1 p.m., the warmest time of the day, the real attack of the Japanese Third Division in Fenglingdu Town began.

The two 75-ton gunboats requested by Fujita Susumu were already in place, and a large fleet consisting of up to 30 motorboats and nearly 400 rafts reinforced with sandbags and steel plates approached the Tongguan position on the nearly 15-kilometer river bank.

Assuming that a raft carries 10 soldiers, the first wave of troops alone was as high as 4 infantry battalions, which was even more fierce than the last forced crossing.

The gunboat with a steel plate shield began to use the 75mm main gun on the gunboat and the two 25mm twin-mounted machine guns deployed on the side to bombard the river bank while it was still a kilometer away.

Faced with such a fierce offensive by the Japanese army, the heat on the position ravaged by the Japanese artillery seemed to be frozen by the snow falling from the sky.

For several minutes, there was no response.

It was not until the Japanese rafts were within 500 meters of the river bank that the sound of "da da da" of light and heavy machine guns began to sound.

But obviously, on such a long attack line, the firepower of more than 20 machine guns used in the counterattack was too weak.

It was so weak that even the Japanese soldiers on the boat, who were always nervous, felt a little pitiful!

Could it be that all the Chinese were killed by the imperial heavy artillery and bombs!

If that was the case, it was really God's blessing. Many Japanese soldiers had already begun to quietly cross themselves in their minds.

Since the 6th Infantry Regiment was beaten badly in the last wave of forced crossing, many Japanese soldiers have voluntarily given up believing in Amaterasu. If one god doesn't work, they can switch to another one. Maybe it will work, right?

As the saying goes: Changing gods is like changing knives! God, it seems, really showed up

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