Bright Sword: Construction starts from southeastern Shanxi

At the same time, at the First Army Headquarters in Taiyuan, the First Army Commander, Naosaburo Okabe, also received news that two regiments of the 16th Division were surrounded and annihilated by the 389th Brigade.

The moment Okabe Naosaburo heard the news, his blood rushed to his head.

Ever since the airport was attacked last night, Naosaburo Okabe has been receiving greeting messages from all parties. He has been exhausted dealing with the aftermath of the airport attack since this morning.

After finally arranging everything and taking a breath while eating lunch, the chief of staff came in with an anxious look on his face and interrupted Okabe Naosaburo's meal.

"Commander, urgent message from the front!"

When Okabe Naosaburo saw the panicked look on the face of Chief of Staff Kawabe Masamitsu, his heart skipped a beat. "Kawabe-kun, what's making you so panicked?"

"Commander, the 9th Regiment of the 16th Division on the front line has sent a telegram. They encountered an attack by a small group of Eighth Route Army troops west of Ceyu Town in Jingxing. The 9th Regiment pursued them and mistakenly entered an ambush and encirclement by the 389th Brigade. They have suffered heavy casualties and request tactical guidance."

When Naosaburo Okabe heard the news, he suddenly realized something and immediately showed a look of regret. He was busy dealing with the airport destruction attack in the morning and forgot about the war on the front line.

It was obvious that the Eighth Route Army took advantage of the opportunity of the Locust Army's airport being attacked and began to attack the Locust Army on the front line.

However, after Okabe Naosaburo reacted, he immediately felt that the current situation was difficult.

Previously, in order to support the First Army, the North China Front Army withdrew all the air forces in North China, and almost all of them supported the southeastern Shanxi mopping-up operation. That's why Okabe Naosaburo dared to divide the locust army into regiments to carry out a nine-way encirclement.

Now, the planes are gone, and there is a squadron on each route. Isn’t this sending equipment to the 389th Brigade?

Moreover, although there is no clear evidence that the airport attack was carried out by the 389th Brigade.

However, after being in Shanxi for so long, and judging from our experience of dealing with the 389th Brigade, this incident must have been planned by the 389th Brigade.

Moreover, it was obvious that the 389th Brigade had deployed some secret new weapons that the Locust Army was unaware of, causing the North China Front Army to be a little cautious and quickly withdraw the 5th Division from the Xuzhou battlefield on the front line back to Beijing.

But the path now before Okabe Naosaburo made it difficult for him to choose. He had to either give up the mopping-up plan and immediately order the front-line troops to return to the county town.

Either continue the sweep, but the method must be changed, and they must merge into one place to ensure that they will not be ambushed and wiped out by the 389th Brigade again.

Before Okabe Naosaburo could think it through, news came from the front line that the locust army had been ambushed, and it was probably too late to escape.

And no one knows whether there will be news of other locust armies being ambushed next.

However, there was no need for Naosaburo Gangbe to make a decision. Just as he entered the meeting, news came that the 20th Regiment of the 16th Division set out from Xingtai, marched along the upper section of Taihang Road to Beixiaozhuang, and exchanged fire with the troops of the 389th Brigade, and was then led into the area of ​​Lijiazhuang in Sijiagou.

Everyone in the conference room was thrown into disarray by the news, and immediately began to noisily discuss how to rescue the two squadrons.

When Naosaburo Okabe heard the news, cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He hurriedly ordered the telegraph operator to contact other regiments immediately to find out whether they had been attacked by the Eighth Route Army.

As the news from the Japanese front lines came in, the entire conference room fell silent.

It turned out that, in addition to the 9th and 20th Regiments that were ambushed and surrounded, the three Japanese armies of the 20th Division that set out from Jinzhong had already engaged in a firefight with the Eighth Route Army.

The Eighth Route Army blocked the locust army's route and constantly harassed and attacked the locust army along the way.

The 2nd Regiment of the 14th Division in Changzhi, heading towards Wuxiang, was stopped by the Eighth Route Army near Xialiang Town. The 59th Regiment in Licheng pursued the Eighth Route Army to the Huangyadong Town area.