Bright Sword: Construction starts from southeastern Shanxi

Sijiao.

As the Westward Column and the Third Army arrived at the Sijiao front one after another.

At night, the two armies and the two Japanese divisions started a fierce exchange of fire in the area outside Yanjialing.

The next morning, after a day and night of fierce fighting.

At this time, both the Westward Column and the Third and 80th Armies had arrived at the rear of the Japanese army.

The 17th Army in He Sijiao completed the encirclement of the 20th and 27th Divisions.

Nanhe River northwest of Yanjialing.

After Xun Bai and others arrived, they held a temporary combat meeting here with the national army.

After last night's battle, the command center now had a general understanding of the situation of the two Japanese divisions.

“At present, the Japanese army relies on the mountainous areas of Yanjialing and Sijiao.

Trying to fight like a trapped beast.

If we attack by force.

I’m afraid there will be a lot of casualties.”

"We have to find a way."

The commander of the 12th Division, Cun Xingqi, spoke to everyone present.

"There is another problem, the Japanese planes..."

Li Shilong, the commander of the 7th Division, looked a little worried.

When Zhang Fusheng, chief of staff of the Westward Column, heard this, he smiled and said to Li Shilong.

"Master Li, don't worry.

I think we can still ensure our air defense."

Hearing Zhang Fusheng's words, the Central Army looked at them sideways.

"Our troops are not short of anti-aircraft weapons, so I don't think it's possible for Japanese planes to come.

At the same time, the artillery regiment is on the way. Once the artillery regiment is in place, we can launch the general attack."

Zhang Fusheng's words immediately made the surrounding national army think a lot.

"If that's the case..."

Tang Huaiyuan, commander of the Third Army, looked at Xun Bai.

"Commander Xun, this time we will have to rely on Commander Xun's westward column as the main attack."

Xun Bai heard Tang Huaiyuan's polite words.

He smiled and shook his head.

"We are all fighting against the Japanese invaders, regardless of priority.

This time our column took the lead in the attack.

Your army can support us from the side."

After the group finished their discussion.

They began to advance towards their respective positions.

3pm.

Following the artillery regiment of the Xijing Column, they arrived at the Yanjialing area.

The various units fought in the morning.

At this time, we already knew that the final general attack was coming.

Half past three in the afternoon.

The artillery regiment's 36 artillery pieces began bombarding the Japanese troops on the Yanjialing position.

The troops on the front line have also made preparations for the general offensive.

On the other side, near Shijialing.

In the rear, the commander of the 80th Army, Kong Lingxun, listened to the artillery fire from the Eighth Route Army Artillery Regiment in the direction of Yanjialing.

His face suddenly looked a little ugly.

It's only been a few years.

Five or six years ago, they chased the Eighth Route Army all the way from the south to the north.

This is just a few years.

Their army does not have such a generous artillery regiment.

I didn't expect that a column under the Eighth Route Army could raise an artillery regiment.

Their Central Army doesn't even have a few artillery regiments.

And in the headquarters of the Third Army.

"Commander, is this still the equipment of the Eighth Route Army?

How come they are completely different from the Eighth Route Army I met before?

Zeng Jiwen’s treatment is different.

Even better than the Central Army~"

Deputy Army Commander and Commander of the 12th Division Cun Xingqi listened to the artillery fire in the Yanjialing area.

He said to Tang Huaiyuan with some envy.

Hearing this, Tang Huaiyuan looked at Cun Xingqi.

"Don't get distracted.

Use your brain and think about it. The person in Luoyang valued Zeng Jiwen very much, so he could give him both an air defense regiment and an artillery regiment.

It's a 122mm heavy gun."

Li Shilong, commander of the 7th Division, was listening to the two chatting.

But he said something.

"It's hard to say.

Looking at the situation at the last Luoyang meeting, if they really came, I'm afraid they would really have to be fully equipped."

Tang Huaiyuan heard what Li Shilong said.

nodded.

“More than that, it should be support from the north.

But this time, since we are supporting the 389th Division, so..."

Hearing the continuous shelling outside, several people immediately showed envy in their hearts.

Inside the Japanese division headquarters in the mountains.

At this time, both Ushijima Mitsuki and Honma Masaharu looked a little tired.

Almost a month has passed since we started heading south.

Moreover, since the 389th Division cut off the connection between Yuncheng and Taiyuan, their weapons and ammunition are now almost running out.

Listening to the loud explosions coming from the front-line positions, both of them felt helpless.

It’s not that they didn’t call for air force support from Xinxiang Airport.

But there were no planes arriving at Xinxiang Airport during the day.

They got the message.

During the attack on Jiyuan area this morning.

Two fighter squadrons and one bomber squadron at Xinxiang Airport were attacked by anti-aircraft fire from the Chinese army over Jiyuan.

One and a half squadrons of planes were shot down.

There was still a lot of damage and we flew back to Xinxiang Airport urgently.

Only four planes finally flew back to Xinxiang Airport safely and unscathed.

So, now the two of them had to order the air force at Xinxiang Airport no matter what.

The planes at Xinxiang Airport have now decided not to support the ground forces in the Sijiao and Jiyuan areas.

Suddenly, the two heard the gunfire end.

The two looked at each other and immediately understood that the general attack had begun.

front.

To reduce casualties.

After checking the terrain from Yanjialing to Sijiao, Xunbai

It was found that the mountain roads leading to Sijiao in the Yanjialing and Wagou areas showed a trend of gradually rising terrain.

So they directly dispatched two regiments to attack along the Yanjialing and Wagou areas towards Sijiao.

Then they used mountain roads to divide the Japanese troops in the north and south directions.

Then attack from high to low.

As the soldiers of the two regiments continued to cooperate closely, they continuously eliminated various defensive fortifications and firepower points along the way.

Six pm.

With the support of other regiments, the two regiments completed the division of the Japanese army.

Inside the front-line command post.

The communicator of the 81st Regiment rushed to the command center to report to Xun Bai and others.

Their regiment and the 82nd Regiment had completely separated the Japanese troops on the north and south sides of the mountain road, and had also built defensive positions.

Prevent the Japanese counterattack.

Xun Bai turned around immediately after hearing the news from the communicator.

"We can send a telegram to the Third Army and the 17th Army to let them start the attack."

the other side.

After the Third Army and the 17th Army received the telegram from Xun Baifa.

He immediately began to command his troops to attack the Japanese army.

At this time, the sky was gradually getting dark.

As the three troops continued to attack the Japanese positions.

At this time, the Japanese army had previously consumed a large amount of weapons and ammunition.

Therefore, the transport planes from Xinxiang Airport once airdropped supplies to these two Japanese divisions on the Pinglu front.

After the Japanese troops evacuated to Zhangdian, the 389th Division was equipped with a large number of anti-aircraft weapons.

Therefore, Xinxiang Airport no longer dispatched transport planes to airdrop weapons and ammunition to these two Japanese divisions.

Therefore, after the battle with the 17th Army before passing Sijiao, they fought with the Chinese army for almost a whole day.

The Japanese army's ammunition reserves are almost exhausted.

So they were quickly suppressed by the firepower of the Chinese army.

This forced the Japanese troops of the two divisions to retreat.

In the end, the two Japanese divisions were compressed into a hilly and gully area west of Sijiao.