Bright Sword: Construction starts from southeastern Shanxi

After adjustments, the Fifth and Sixth Divisions immediately began to block the 114th Division along Xinji and Jinzhou in the direction of Hengshui.

At the same time, the 395th Brigade and several reinforcement regiments from the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei region began to encircle Yangquan, striving to annihilate the 108th Division again before the arrival of the 39th Brigade from Taiyuan.

As for the combat troops in Shijiazhuang, they began to quickly encircle the 110th Division together with the main force of Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei. After destroying it, they immediately tied down the two divisions coming from the north in the Quyang area, waiting for the troops of Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei and Northwest Shanxi Military Region to take Datong and Zhangjiakou.

At 3 a.m. on October 14, as the other two gates of Shijiazhuang were breached by the 10th Column, soldiers from the five regiments instantly rushed into Shijiazhuang and engaged in street fighting with the Japanese troops in the city.

At the same time, the Japanese troops at the South Gate were also eliminated by the independent detachment and began to continue their attack towards the urban area.

Peking, North China Front Army Headquarters.

At this time, Sugiyama Gen and a group of North China Front Army generals were sitting in the conference room with serious expressions, and the atmosphere in the entire conference room had dropped to freezing point.

Three hours ago, the North China Front Army suddenly lost contact with Shijiazhuang. No matter how the communications department tried, they could not contact the defenders of Shijiazhuang.

However, not long after, the intelligence department in Shijiazhuang suddenly sent a message that the Shijiazhuang headquarters was attacked by a small unit of the Eighth Route Army disguised as a locust army. The commander of the 40th Brigade, Yoshio Kamitsuki, and the commander of the garrison brigade, Yoshio Ogasawara, and all the officers above the rank of major general were killed in the headquarters.

At the same time, the Eighth Route Army that surrounded Shijiazhuang had already entered the city. It was expected that Shijiazhuang would be recaptured by the Eighth Route Army during the day.

When Sugiyama Gen received the news, his mind exploded, he rolled his eyes and fainted in an instant. At the same time, the entire North China Front Army Headquarters was in chaos.

At this time, at home and at the headquarters, everyone was staring at the central city of Shijiazhuang on the map.

In Nanjing, Commander of the Central China Expeditionary Force, Hata Shunroku, also received the news that the locust army in Shijiazhuang, North China, had lost contact. At the same time, Commander of the Kwantung Army, Ueda Kenkichi, and the Japanese military headquarters also received the news.

Mountain city, Huangshan official residence.

Someone who had just fallen asleep was also woken up by a sudden ringing of the phone.

When he was woken up and answered the phone, he immediately stood up and ordered a military meeting.

As the Eighth Route Army entered Shijiazhuang, the news quickly began to spread throughout the country.

At this time, the attention of all parties was focused on the city of Shijiazhuang.

5 points in the early hours.

Southern Hebei, Ci County.

At this time, Wu Lin and Xun Bai were standing in the front-line command post, watching the Japanese 5th Division and 14th Division not far away continuously attacking their positions.

After more than half a month of fierce fighting, the three regiments of the 5th Division heading south have now suffered more than half of their casualties. At the same time, the remaining regiment of the 14th Division has also been almost completely wiped out.

In order to replenish the field regiment's manpower, Itagaki and Kenji Doihara directly added logistics troops such as supply troops to the combat regiment.

The total number of the two divisions now does not exceed 10,000.

Similarly, the nine regiments of the Second and Third Columns and the 395th Brigade, which were previously responsible for blocking the enemy, have suffered heavy casualties, with almost half of them being killed or wounded.

If it weren't for the 12 107 rocket launchers that were dismantled earlier and the rocket launcher platoon directly under the regiment level that suppressed the Japanese offensive, the three columns would have been destroyed by now.

At this point in the war, both sides were enduring the loss.

However, for these three columns, after this battle, the combat effectiveness of the three columns was fully trained.

At present, the 4th Column has replaced the three troops fighting in the front and withdrawn them to the rear for rest and recuperation.