Bright Sword: Construction starts from southeastern Shanxi

In addition, there were no large Japanese troops in the entire southwest of Shanxi. This was a godsend.

So, amidst the discussion among everyone, Yan Laoxi made the decision to prepare to recover southwestern Shanxi.

After the discussion, they began to send troops to harass the Japanese troops in various counties in southwestern Shanxi.

So throughout July, the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army began to frequently deploy in southwestern Shanxi.

By mid-August, most of the county towns around Yuncheng, except for the area between Linfen and Pingyao, had been recaptured by the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army.

Especially in conjunction with the atmosphere of the great victory at Wanjialing in the Battle of Wuhan, the entire situation of the War of Resistance seemed to begin to become clear.

After seeing that the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army had recaptured Yuncheng, the man at Kenanpo set his sights on Linfen.

However, the Japanese Army's Independent Mixed Brigade No. 3 was stationed in Linfen, and the Japanese troops previously in Yuncheng also retreated to Linfen.

If you want to capture Linfen, you must capture Pingyao, Lingshi and Huozhou, cut off the only way from Taiyuan to southwest Shanxi, and then you can besiege Linfen.

However, there was a mixed brigade of Japanese troops in Linfen after all, and this mixed brigade had not participated in the mopping-up operation in southeastern Shanxi before, so its strength was basically intact.

If I let my troops besiege these five or six thousand people, can I defeat them?

Yan Laoxi has been completely clear about what kind of people he has under him since the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War.

Finally, it was decided to mobilize the new army active in Fushan, Yicheng and other places to attack Linfen, and the old army to seize Lingshi and Huozhou to cut off the connection between Taiyuan and Linfen.

Thus, under the organization of Yan Laoxi, the vigorous battle to recover southwestern Shanxi, which did not exist in the original time and space, broke out.

But then the situation turned out to be a little different from what he expected.

The new army that besieged Linfen was relatively easy to deal with. The new army quickly occupied Yuanqu, switching off the Japanese army's route from northern Henan to southwestern Shanxi. At the same time, they continued to recapture Jiangxian, Houma, and Xiangfen, and were about to advance to Linfen.

When the First Army's temporary commander, Okabe Naosaburo, learned that the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army had begun to recapture southwestern Shanxi, he flew into a rage. When had the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army dared to attack the Locust Army?

Weren't those large groups of puppet troops outside Taiyuan City all the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army before? They are really picking on the weak.

The locust army actually became the soft persimmon. It is true that a soldier can be killed but not humiliated.

He immediately ordered the independent mixed brigade stationed in Jinzhong to reinforce Linfen and make sure to inflict a heavy blow on the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army.

So the 5th Independent Mixed Brigade located in Jinzhong, led by its commander Tadao Yoshizawa, headed towards Linfen.

Under the command of Sun Chu, the 33rd and 34th Armies of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army began to block the Japanese Army's Independent Mixed 5th Brigade in Jiexiu, Lingshi and Huozhou areas.

As the two sides exchanged fire, the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army suffered heavy losses under the frenzied attack of the Japanese army.

At this moment, Kenanpo's old calculating nature came back, and he wanted to stop now. If he continued to fight, he would be left alone.

Therefore, an order was issued to the new army to withdraw the attack on Linfen, and the 33rd and 34th armies were ordered to withdraw at the same time.

However, it was still too late. When the new army was evacuating one after another, a battalion of Japanese troops stationed in Pu County, west of Linfen, simply abandoned Pu County, crossed the mountainous area and went straight to Huozhou, blocking the retreat route of the 33rd and 34th Armies and defeating Wang Jingguo's 70th Division defending Huozhou.

When Wang Jingguo saw the Japanese army, he immediately abandoned the city and fled to the west, leaving his troops behind.

As for the 33rd and 34th Armies that were blocking the Japanese troops in the front, the morale of the entire army began to become chaotic after learning that Huozhou had fallen.

At this time, the good situation began to become complicated again.

Because the New Army was consolidating the newly recovered county town south of Linfen at this time, it was unable to cross Linfen to rescue the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army on the front line.