Devil's Army

The First Army Air Force achieved a major victory in the airspace north of Xiaoguanzhuang Airport, and the regiment to the north also successfully defended the first line of fortification.

The fierce fighting in the airspace north of Xiaoguanzhuang Airport made the Japanese bombers dare not stay in this airspace.

The commander of the 11th Regiment of the Japanese Army, Nagano Yu, lacked air support and could only launch another attack on the position of the st Regiment with the support of artillery fire.

Seeing no threat from Japanese bombers, the tanks of the First Army continued to move out. Four Type 89 tanks bombed the Japanese artillery positions, and four Type medium tanks bombed the Japanese infantry.

At this point in the battle, the Japanese 11th Regiment, which was already at the end of its strength, was finally defeated and retreated.

With the support of tanks, soldiers from the First Regiment chased and attacked the Japanese Army's 11th Regiment all the way and drove it into Dangyu Town.

At this point, the two lost fortifications to the north of Xiaoguanzhuang Airport were completely recovered, and the battlefield in the north was temporarily stopped.

Compared with the battlefield in the north, the fighting in the south and east of Xiaoguanzhuang Airport was relatively more brutal.

The Japanese planes in these two directions were not attacked by the First Army Air Force, so they flew over from time to time to support the Japanese ground forces.

In the early morning, the 2nd Regiment of Linnancang Town and the 3rd Regiment of Xinyin Town successfully recaptured Linnancang Town and Xinyin Town with the cooperation of tanks. However, after dawn, due to fear of being bombed by Japanese bombers, the tanks of the 2nd and 3rd Regiments did not go out to support the infantry operations.

This also caused heavy casualties among the soldiers of the 41nd and rd Regiments under the three-dimensional attack of artillery and bombers by the st Regiment of the Japanese Army.

Especially the Third Regiment of Xinyin Town, there were only more than 900 veterans left in their regiment, and the headquarters assigned them 1200 new recruits. The number of veterans was seriously insufficient. The number of new recruits was too large, which led to a serious decline in the combat effectiveness of the troops. This also led to Xinyin Town being captured by the Japanese army again.

At this time, after nearly a month of fighting, the Japanese 41st Regiment still failed to successfully capture the Xiaoguanzhuang Airport. The morale of the soldiers was greatly hit, and their combat effectiveness was far less than at the beginning.

Although the combat capability of the new soldiers of the Third Regiment was low, their will to resist the Japanese was strong. Most of them came from the Japanese-occupied areas, witnessed the atrocities committed by the Japanese army, and were filled with hatred for the Japanese invaders. Therefore, they were not afraid of sacrifice and fought to the death.

Led by the veterans, they took advantage of the time when the Japanese bombers left and, with the support of tanks, launched a fierce counterattack against the Japanese troops that had entered Xinyin Town, and finally drove the Japanese troops, who had not yet established a firm foothold, out of Xinyin Town.

Two Type 2 tanks of the First Army also attacked the perimeter of the Japanese artillery positions and blew up several Japanese artillery pieces, seriously weakening the Japanese artillery firepower.

After that, until dark, the Japanese army was unable to set foot into Xinyin Town.

The Second Regiment of Linnancang Town had more than 1000 veterans, and they defended Linnancang Town with 1000 new recruits assigned by the headquarters.

After dawn, the 41st Regiment of the Japanese Army, with the support of aircraft, attacked the east gate of Linnancang Town.

The commander of the Second Regiment twice mobilized veterans to cooperate with the defenders of the city wall to launch an attack on the Japanese 41st Regiment from the left and right sides of the east gate of Linnancang Town.

The Japanese planes and artillery were unable to bomb the soldiers of the Second Regiment and their troops who were engaged in a melee.

The Second Regiment Commander used this bloody bayonet method to fight off two waves of Japanese attacks.

The commander of the Second Regiment also took advantage of the time when the Japanese bombers went back to replenish fuel and ammunition at noon to arrange tanks to launch a fierce counterattack against the Japanese infantry.

This counterattack was not only fierce but also sudden. The two Type 89 tanks and four Type medium tanks of the Second Regiment, in cooperation with the infantry, drove the Japanese army out more than miles west of Linnancang Town in one go.

The Second Regiment's counterattack was so fierce that the tank fire and the ferocity of the soldiers were so fierce that the 41st Regiment of the Japanese Army still had lingering fears when they recalled it.

Afterwards, the soldiers and tanks of the Second Regiment returned to defend Linnancang Town. Colonel Toshiro Nami of the 41st Regiment of the Japanese Army never launched a large-scale attack on Linnancang Town again.

The successful recovery of the three positions at Xiaoguanzhuang Airport and the weak resistance of the Japanese Fifth Division also confirmed Wu Lang's speculation:

The Japanese Fifth Division was also at the end of its strength and was struggling to hold on. As long as the Japanese air superiority was eliminated, the Japanese encirclement and suppression would be crushed.

In order to buy time for the troops to smash Commander-in-Chief Terauchi Hisaichi's encirclement and suppression of the Tangshan base, Wu Lang sent a telegram to Deputy Commander Tan and Commander Liu of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, requesting the friendly forces of the Eighth Route Army to delay the northward advance of the Sixth Division of the Japanese 1st Army as much as possible.

Commander Liu also expressed his full cooperation and requested assistance from the 115th and 120th Divisions of the Eighth Route Army.

In the evening, Captain Xu of the First Army Air Force reported today's battle situation to Wu Lang and said happily: Today we concentrated the strength of two fighter formations from the First Army to attack the Japanese fighter squadron in the airspace north of the Japanese Xiaoguanzhuang Airport, and achieved a major victory by shooting down and damaging eleven Japanese fighter planes!

Wu Lang congratulated the First Army Air Force on their victory today. He also said that their air battle today effectively supported the ground forces north of Xiaoguanzhuang Airport. He also instructed: After bombing the Japanese General Command tomorrow, use this method to defeat the Japanese fighter squadron in the airspace west of Xiaoguanzhuang Airport. Lay the foundation for the army's full-scale counterattack.

Who knew that the next day, Commander Tokugawa of the Japanese Temporary Air Force Corps changed his tactics again.