Bright Sword: Construction starts from southeastern Shanxi

At the same time, the heavy machine guns on the mountain began to fire at the infantry, quickly causing heavy casualties among the Japanese troops.

At this time, in the 108th Division in Wu'an City, Shimomoto Kumamiya received a telegram for help from Naozo Nakano on the front line. In the telegram, Naozo Naozo reported that he was ambushed by a large number of Chinese troops and attacked by an artillery battalion. Shimomoto Kumamiya's expression changed drastically. He was about to order the troops to set out for rescue immediately, but when he thought about the possibility of being ambushed on the way, he felt it was not appropriate.

After some thought, Xia Yuan Xiong Mi immediately requested the First Army Command to immediately dispatch aircraft to the Shexian battlefield of the 117th Wing, and to take off directly to support the 117th Wing without the need for a reconnaissance bomber formation. He himself gathered his troops and immediately headed towards Shexian.

Although there might be an attack on the road, Xia Yuan Xiong Mi had to rescue immediately. At the same time, in order to prevent the rescue troops from being ambushed, he decided to mobilize all personnel and advance to Shexian County in advance.

At the First Army Headquarters in Taiyuan, after receiving the telegram from the 108th Division, Umezu Yoshijiro did not have time to think about it. He immediately ordered a formation of 18 bombers and attack aircraft from Taiyuan Airport to take off to support the 117th Wing.

At the same time, Umezu Michijiro also had the same idea as Shimomoto Kumamiya, so he ordered all members of the 108th Division to march towards Changzhi. At the same time, in order to ensure that no other problems would arise, the 4th Independent Mixed Brigade responsible for Yangquan also began to assemble from Yangquan, preparing to mobilize troops to support the south.

So in Wuan, Xia Yuan Xiong Mi hurriedly took most of the remaining troops of the 108th Division out of Wuan, and ordered the baggage troops to follow with the remaining supplies.

The local 123rd Regiment in Wu'an, led by its commander Cheng Kang, laid mines along the mountains, dispersed into small groups, and constantly harassed the 108th Division. At the same time, they remembered Zeng Jiwen's instructions and specifically attacked and injured the Japanese troops, forcing them to advance with a large number of wounded soldiers.

Turning his gaze back to Xiangtangpu, the 117th Regiment suffered heavy losses under the command of Huang Hanjia. Due to the concentrated command of Nakano Naozo, the heavy firepower and artillery of the entire regiment were almost completely killed or wounded, and they had to immediately disperse the troops to find a fulcrum to rely on for a counterattack.

Because the Japanese army was on the riverbank, there was not much terrain to rely on for shelter and concealment. After less than half an hour of fighting, almost everyone in the entire regiment was injured.

At this time, the commander of the 25th Brigade, Naozo Nao, saw that the troops had suffered such heavy casualties and the ambush terrain of the Chinese army opposite. He made a prompt decision to change the rear team into the front team, and at the same time concentrated the remaining heavy firepower on the vanguard and began to evacuate to Shexian County.

Therefore, the Japanese troops of the 117th Regiment quickly changed their formation, discarded most of the things unnecessary for the march, and began to evacuate to Shexian County.

When Huang Hanjia saw the Japanese army begin to retreat in the outpost command post, he immediately realized that the time for the final general offensive had come.

He immediately ordered the artillery regiment to begin extending its artillery fire along the river beach to cut off the Japanese army's retreat route. At the same time, the 86th Regiment blocked the Japanese army's retreat route from Shentou Township.

The 80th and 81st Regiments began to attack the 117th Regiment according to the three-three tactics, with platoons as the basic combat units.

As the charge sounded, the soldiers of the 80th and 81st Regiments began to spread out in a line based on platoons. Light machine guns began to suppress the firepower of the Japanese army, and the remaining soldiers began to shoot at the Japanese army, pressing towards them like a tidal wave.

When Naozo Naoto was retreating, he saw a large number of Eighth Route Army soldiers rushing down from the north and south, and immediately realized that today would be a very dangerous day.

He immediately ordered the signalman to send a telegram to the division, saying that he was under attack by a division of the Eighth Route Army between Shexian County and Dongyang Pass, and asked them to provide tactical guidance as soon as possible.