In Yangquan County.

On the street, the Second Independent Regiment of the Eighth Route Army was fighting against the Japanese garrison. Fierce gunshots and explosions were heard everywhere.

There are thousands of people in the Second Independent Regiment, and there are Japanese patrols everywhere in the city. After entering the county, it is impossible to quietly get close to the brigade headquarters of the Japanese independent mixed 1st Brigade.

So we can only attack by force.

The Japanese defenders in the county responded very quickly. After the initial panic, they quickly stabilized their position, then continued to pour towards the west of the city, and quickly built defenses based on the favorable terrain.

Some Japs climbed onto the roofs and set up light machine gun fire points. Others built barricades on the streets or at intersections, and quickly set up heavy machine guns.

With full firepower, a large and dense rain of bullets poured out in an instant.

Some bullets hit the ground, sending up clusters of sparks, while more bullets hit the houses on both sides of the street.

Pieces of smoke and dust were scattered on the masonry walls, while the wooden walls were directly punched through. After the bullets flew into the room, they hit various furniture.

Fortunately, the citizens in the room had already been awakened from their sleep by the sound of gunfire, and they all hid in the safest place at home, so there were no casualties.

The soldiers of the Second Independent Regiment who rushed towards them also quickly evaded, but even so, some soldiers were still unable to dodge and were shot in the body and fell into a pool of blood.

War is like this, cruel and bloody, but just because you represent justice, there will be no casualties.

Attacking from the main street was Xu Hailang's 1st Battalion. If the ordinary Eighth Route Army faced this kind of barricade fortifications, there really was no better way. They could only risk human lives, concentrate firepower to cover the approach of the blasters, and then use

Grenade explodes.

But the Second Independent Regiment is obviously different from the general Eighth Route Army. Not only does it have its own artillery battalion, each battalion also has its own mortar company, and its grenades are even equipped at the platoon level.

This kind of firepower configuration is even better than that of the Japanese army.

The soldiers of the artillery platoon quickly set up their mortars, and each platoon also set up their grenades, aiming at the Japanese barricades and the Japanese firepower points on the roofs of private houses.

"Boom!"

"Boom! Boom, boom! -"

In a burst of violent explosions, the Japanese barricades were blown to pieces in an instant. The Japanese soldiers hiding behind the bunkers were also affected one after another. Some were killed on the spot, and those who were not killed were also covered with broken shrapnel.

He lost his fighting power and lay on the ground, struggling and twisting in pain.

The light machine gunners on the rooftops of civilian houses were also blown away with their guns by the bombardment of grenades. They were either killed on the spot or rolled down from the eaves and became paralyzed.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the soldiers of the 1st Battalion quickly moved forward and, in a humanitarian spirit, sent the injured Japanese soldiers to see the King of Hell.

Following the same pattern, the 1st Battalion quickly broke through the Japanese barricades.

The same was true for the other battalions. In just half an hour, they occupied most of the western half of the city and continued to advance eastward.

…

The screen zooms to Taiyuan.

The war room of the Japanese 1st Army Headquarters.

Yoshio Shinozuka believed that with the weapons and equipment of the Eighth Route Army, it was absolutely impossible to capture the secondary strongholds of the Japanese army. Even if they could be captured, it would definitely take a lot of time and cost a lot of casualties.

By that time, the Eighth Route Army was already a tired division. As long as he gave the order to dispatch the general reserve force, these Eighth Route Army would be severely damaged or even completely annihilated.

The other Japanese officers all agreed with this view.

Therefore, even if dozens of secondary strongholds along the Zhengtai Railway, Tongpu Railway, Pinghan Railway, and Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway were attacked again, their faces did not show much concern, even worse than last night

Those level 3 strongholds will be even easier to attack.

The Japanese staff of the Operations Division used the information transmitted from the basic front line and the intelligence collected by the Intelligence Division to formulate a combat plan.

Yoshio Shinozuka, Jun Miyano, and Kazuki Yamamoto were standing beside the sand table, doing various war games.

At this moment, the head of the communications section suddenly hurried up to Yoshio Shinozuka with a translated message and reported to him in a loud voice: "Your Excellency, Commander, the Imperial Army's independent mixed 1st Brigade has just been

An urgent telegram was sent from Yangquan saying that Niangziguan Railway Station was also attacked by the Eighth Route Army!"

The communications staff officer paused, and was about to continue telling the shocking information, but was interrupted by Chief of Staff Miyano Shun: "Ono-kun, since the China Eighth Route Army has attacked the secondary strongholds of the Imperial Army, it will attack my wife."

It’s not surprising.”

"Furthermore, the defenses at Niangziguan are much stronger than other secondary strongholds. The Eighth Route Army cannot even break through other secondary strongholds, so naturally it cannot threaten Niangziguan Railway Station.

Therefore, your worries are completely unnecessary and there is no need to panic."

After a pause, Jun Miyano changed the topic and continued: "Calculating the time, the armored train of the Imperial Army should be arriving at Niangzi Pass soon, and then this group of Eighth Route Army troops will die!"

Shinozuka Yoshio and Yamamoto Kazuki both nodded in deep agreement, obviously agreeing with Miyano Shun's analysis.

At this time, Communications Section Chief Ono Nobunaga finally had the opportunity to intervene. He said: "Your Excellency, Commander, Your Excellency, Chief of Staff, according to the news from the 1st Independent Mixed Brigade, the armored train of the Imperial Army was also attacked by the Eighth Route Army.

The attack has now fallen into the hands of the Eighth Route Army, which is currently using artillery mounted on armored trains to attack Niangziguan Railway Station!"

As soon as these words came out, the expressions on the faces of Shinozuka Yoshio, Miyano Shun, and Yamamoto Kazuki suddenly froze, because they knew exactly what this meant.

The turrets at Niangziguan Railway Station were naturally invulnerable against the poorly equipped Eighth Route Army, but when faced with 105mm caliber howitzers or even 150mm caliber howitzers, it didn't make much difference to say they were from Zhihu.

With the artillery assistance of armored trains, the Eighth Route Army would be able to easily attack Niangziguan Railway Station.

The most important thing is that it is night and the aviation force cannot take off for combat, which means that the armored train cannot be destroyed or recaptured, and the fall of Niangzi Pass will become an established fact.

"Nani? What did you say? You said that the armored train was also attacked by the Eighth Route Army and fell into its hands, and that the Eighth Route Army was using the armored train to attack Niangziguan Railway Station?"

"Hey!" Ono Nobunaga paused heavily.

Yoshio Shinozuka's face suddenly turned gloomy, because if the armored train fell into the hands of the Eighth Route Army, it would not only threaten Niangziguan Railway Station, but also all secondary strongholds along the Shotai Railway, and even major counties.
Chapter completed!