Devil's Army

The victory of the Huangtuling Battle was a great victory for the Eighth Route Army after the First Changsha Battle. It also caused the death of the famous general Abe Nobuhide in Huangtuling.

The Japanese army launched a more frenzied blockade and encirclement against the Eighth Route Army. The Eighth Route Army strengthened its cooperation with the First Anti-Japanese Army, and some troops obtained supplies from the First Army base, actively breaking the Japanese army's blockade and encirclement.

In order to strengthen the Eighth Route Army, Leng Feng suggested to General Peng that the Yi Zhong Independent Brigade should be placed under the command of the Eighth Route Army to smash the Japanese army's encirclement and suppression.

After a little thought, General Peng declined Leng Feng's offer. He believed that the current strength of the First Army and their Eighth Route Army was not enough to compete with the Japanese troops in North China and Northeast China. The Jidong Independent Brigade would have to move around with them to avoid the enemy's encirclement and suppression. It would be better for them to stay in the Tangshan base and develop.

Two days later at noon, Gray Wolf received a telegram from Deputy Division Commander Xu: The 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army was surrounded by four Japanese armies in the mountains near Handan City on the eastern foot of Taihang Mountain. The 772nd Regiment, which was the closest to the training regiment, would take two days to get there. And there were also Japanese troops on the way.

Gray Wolf calculated that their base was nearly three days away from Handan City, and they would definitely encounter Japanese troops blocking their way. Therefore, sending out the army for rescue was a bad idea.

Then all the Second Front could do was to dispatch the air force.

Gray Wolf replied: Their planes will launch bombing on the Japanese troops in the direction of Handan, and the teaching regiment will break through from the opposite direction into Taihang Mountains.

Deputy Division Commander Xu received the telegram, which was exactly what he wanted. He immediately notified Zhang Xianyue, the head of the teaching regiment, and asked them to break out to Taihang Mountain when the air force of the First Anti-Japanese Army bombed the Japanese troops in the direction of Handan.

In addition, the commander of the 772nd Regiment, Wang Jinshan, was notified to launch an attack on the Japanese troops in the north to cover the retreat of the teaching regiment.

At this time, many units of the 129th Division Training Corps had already engaged the Japanese army, but the Japanese army did not yet know the location of the main force of the training corps.

In less than an hour, the Air Force of the Second Front Army of the First Army dispatched a fighter squadron and a bomber squadron to carry out fierce bombing on the Japanese troops in the direction of Handan.

Although the Japanese troops in Handan were completely defeated and suffered heavy casualties, the Japanese troops on both wings thought that this was the direction of the Eighth Route Army Training Corps' breakout, and they gradually moved towards this place.

At the same time, the 772nd Regiment of the Eighth Route Army launched a fierce attack on the Japanese troops in the north.

The main force of the Teaching Corps of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army took advantage of the fact that the main Japanese forces were transferred to the east and north, and suddenly launched a surprise attack on the Japanese troops in the west, and then successfully retreated to the foothills of Taihang Mountains.

This was another successful joint operation between the First Anti-Japanese Army and the Eighth Route Army. But Gray Wolf felt that their cooperation could be deepened, especially the cooperation between the infantry.

Gray Wolf decided to find an opportunity to expand the base towards the foothills of Taihang Mountains, and the army and the Eighth Route Army jointly fought against Japan.

Gray Wolf began to send scouts to the southwest of Tangshan, looking for an opportunity to establish contact with the Eighth Route Army in the Taihang Mountains.

The first battle of the Gray Wolf is to recover Langfang or Bazhou City from Sanhe County. Then recover Hengshui City, Xingtai City, and Handan City. Then open up the passage with the Eighth Route Army in Taihang Mountains.

When Huilang and Leng Feng communicated by telephone, Leng Feng opposed it. He believed that Langfang was an important railway transportation hub with many roads in the city. It was a buffer zone to protect Tianjin and Beijing, and also an important material transfer center for the Japanese army. The Japanese army would definitely do its best to compete with the First Army for the control of Langfang.

Moreover, Leng Feng informed Huilang of a piece of intelligence: the Japanese Northeast Army has successively increased its troops from Chengde, Fengtian, Xinjing and other directions. It is estimated that they failed to find the main force of the Eighth Route Army and wanted to attack the base of the Anti-Japanese First Army. He also told him to understand the movements of the Japanese North China Front Army.

Gray Wolf immediately called Peking, and the members of Tianjin Intelligence Station immediately investigated the movement of Japanese troops in Peking and Tianjin.

Soon, Captain Chen and Captain Wei of the Peking Tianjin Intelligence Station sent a telegram reporting that the Japanese troops in Peking and Tianjin showed signs of increasing their forces.

Captain Chen also told Gray Wolf that the Eighth Route Army's intelligence officer also told him a piece of news that the Japanese troops in Cangzhou have been increasing their forces by water.

They originally thought that the Japanese army was going to encircle their Eighth Route Army in the Taihang Mountains. Now, after hearing what Gray Wolf said, they might be planning to attack the First Anti-Japanese Army in Tangshan.

Although the Tangshan base area's military strength has more than doubled compared to last year, the bloody scene of more than 40,000 First Army soldiers fighting against three Japanese divisions last year reappeared in Gray Wolf's mind.

Wulang saw the intelligence on Gray Wolf's desk and said to him worriedly:

"Commander, it looks like our Tangshan base is about to face another bloody storm."

"If the devils come, we will fight them. Only by fighting can we stop the war."

"The Eighth Route Army in Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei is also fighting against the encirclement and suppression campaign. It seems that we will have to rely mainly on ourselves to fight against the encirclement and suppression campaign in Tangshan this time."

Gray Wolf nodded and said:

"Based on the intelligence analysis we have gathered so far, the number of Japanese troops involved in the encirclement and suppression of our Tangshan base will not be less than 100,000."

"The Japanese army is not engaged in a large-scale battle with the Nanjing government forces, so they are concentrating their efforts on dealing with us."

"But we also have a trump card!" Gray Wolf said to Wu Wolf confidently.