Canteen System Assistance Notes

Stopped yelling.

Yes, we only need to withdraw troops, go to the rescue, break the siege of the Communist army, and the problem can be solved.

But what about the troops? All he had left were a few guards from the division headquarters, a few baggage soldiers, two flag guards, two artillery regiments, and a search regiment. What good could they do? "Sir!" the staff officer shouted, "Now..."

Yano Otosan suddenly felt his anger, despair, and despair dissipate, as if someone had flipped a switch in his brain. He coughed violently, coughing away the last bit of emotion, leaving only a burnt-out indifference.

"Where is the 'Zao' Corps now?" he asked. The Mongolian Army Headquarters' telegram last night said that the 51st Division (formerly the 2nd Independent Mixed Division) had accelerated its assembly.

We were about to board the bus and leave. "Will we be able to arrive on time?"

"Commander, the Construction Corps called an hour ago and said they've arrived at Luo Wenzao Station and are refueling with water and coal. They should have completed their resupply by now and are continuing their journey!"

"Oh."

Yano Otosaburo stood up from the table, looked at the hand on his watch which was about to point to "7", and turned to his staff.

"Chief of Staff Yanagishita."

"Hi."

Develop a plan for retreat... for a turnaround—have the 12th and 13th Regiments assault Fengzhen... and then turn toward Yunzhong. Divisional headquarters immediately began preparing for a retreat, and then... He tried to laugh to himself, but found he couldn't. "Then send a telegram to the Army Corps and the Mengjiang Garrison Command, requesting tactical guidance from the Army Aviation Corps and the Army Corps."

But Yano Otosaburo, who was beginning to think of retreating, was unaware that a highly dangerous force was lurking west of the seemingly safe Fengzhen. And his headquarters, which was constantly transmitting radio waves, was as obvious to the sight of these "dangerous elements" as a searchlight in the night.

Chapter 486: Annihilation

Tiancheng Township, east of Fengzhen, was once the 12th Regiment's outpost farthest from the city. It housed a small unit of troops and a regiment of puppet Mongolian troops. Normally, when attacked by troops from the Daqingshan base, they were able to hold out with their fortifications until the 12th Regiment, nearly 20 kilometers away, arrived with artillery.

Even so, this stronghold changed hands several times. The Eighth Route Army took it, but the Japanese took it back. The Japanese retreated due to exhaustion, and the Eighth Route Army attacked again. Ultimately, it barely served as a defensive bridgehead.

And now, the Taisho infantry gun that was powerful enough to suppress an entire fist of shooters overturned in the wreckage of the bunker, and only a crater remained of the over-issued machine gun. The puppet soldiers, who had already lost interest in life, raised their hands in surrender, and those few Japanese soldiers were packed up and sent to Kudanzaka before they could even finish shouting "enemy attack" on the phone.

As for the stronghold, it is burning fiercely.

-------one

Bathed in the morning light, Fengzhen is as quiet as an unawakened field, but from the perspective of the radio, it looks like an extremely lively party.

Even the Japanese, who disliked radios in favor of messengers and landline telephones, needed to frequently utilize shortwave communications to direct the front lines, coordinate evacuations, and confirm the location of reinforcements. So, just hours earlier, the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Training Division, having raced 180 miles and completed a 12-hour motorized advance, had just stopped at their designated location for rest and recuperation. The bespectacled soldiers, wearing "Electronic Reconnaissance" patches, immediately picked up the signal, as clear as a torch in the dark night.

The electronic warfare soldiers used the direction finder mounted on the Bren truck to conduct a radio triangulation of Fengzhen. This direction finding was highly accurate at a distance of less than ten kilometers. Combined with the visual reconnaissance of the artillery observers, the 3rd Brigade's final artillerymen quickly located the suspected headquarters of the Japanese 26th Division.

After a quick rest of a few hours, the artillery soldiers untied the M1 mountain cannon from the truck, and their comrades who were chosen as pioneers were passing by their flanks.

Then the whistle blew, and everyone began their actions. The loader pried open the shell crate and adjusted the powder bag in the barrel; the third gunner installed the fuse on the shell and removed the plastic sheet that served as a transport safety; the second gunner and the gun commander cranked the handwheel to align the calibration rod that served as the firing base.

"All battalion artillery! Target number one, parameters number one! Charge number three, grenades, instantaneous fuses—ready to report!" "Company one is ready!"

"Second Company is ready!"

"Company Three...all artillery pieces ready!"

一阵压低的笑声传来。3旅在这次迁回里带上了师部下放的2个75炮连，再加上自己原本有的1个，三个炮兵连合计装备了18/门M1山炮。但是原本擅长山地运动的M山炮也禁不住180华里简易公路的折腾，抵达现场的只剩下了11门。而炮兵三连的6门炮是抛锚最多的，全连现在只剩下2门炮

But now was no time for jokes. After a brief moment of relaxation, the soldiers' gazes hardened, their bodies tensed. Even their muscles had regained some of their memory from the daily grind. The gunner donned his earplugs and clicked on the screen fixed below the optical sight. A countdown ticked slowly across it.

"Everyone in the camp, take your positions—"

The mountain artillery's coordinated salvos announced the final demise of the 26th Division.

In one day, they trekked south from the Zhuozi Pass, crossing the Daqingshan base from north to south. The 180-li distance took the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Training Division a full 12 hours, dragging their artillery and driving their trucks. Even with damaged equipment and incomplete personnel, and with one-third of their trucks experiencing various problems, the 3rd Brigade was ultimately no match for the nearly undefended Fengzhen.

After several rounds of salvos paralyzed the 256th Division's headquarters, the last three T26E tanks, along with the Bren armored vehicles and infantrymen who had completed their street fighting configuration, rushed headlong into the 256th Division's last "private territory," leaving the Japanese army with no time to react.

Almost all the Japanese troops in the city were concentrated behind Fengzhen. They took in the defeated soldiers and stepped up the digging of fortifications to guard against the field army rushing down along the railway. There was almost no defense on the west side of the city. The Eighth Route Army soldiers attacked like a no-man's land. In a short period of time, the Japanese army could not even put up an organized resistance except for some sporadic resistance.

The 3rd Training Brigade rushed into the city like a brand new zipper. They defeated a group of Japanese engineers rushing towards the Yinma River, thwarting the Japanese's attempt to plant bombs on the bridge over the river. They rushed into the camp before the flag guards of the 12th and 13th Regiments burned the military flags, and seized a regimental flag that was intact except for a few bullet holes. They ran to the collapsed and burning division headquarters -

Well, the soldiers hadn't gained much here. Apart from some documents they hadn't destroyed in time, they didn't capture any general-level prisoners: the commander of the 26th Division lay in a pool of blood, his head blasted open, clutching a Browning pistol. It seemed this academic commander had luckily dodged the shells and was able to pull out his pistol to commit suicide. It was indeed a stroke of luck.

The soldiers sighed, but didn't linger for long for this high-ranking Japanese officer. Led by their junior officers, they began clearing out the remaining Japanese troops in the city, then turned north to close the final gap in this battle that had engulfed an entire division.

Jingle Bell!

Next to the command room of the Mongolian Army Headquarters was the office of Shigetaro Amakasu. Even though the noise from the staff room next door came through the wall, it was still so harsh:

He seemed not to hear the phone ringing and stared at the slightly translucent curtains.

Jingle Bell!

The staff debated the current situation and whether to rescue the 26th Division. Previously, no Japanese division had ever been completely annihilated by an active enemy attack while stationed. While units had been destroyed in active attacks, these units often had a remaining detachment safely behind the enemy lines. By injecting new recruits and weapons into this remaining detachment, the unit could be rebuilt. Even if its combat capabilities were significantly weakened, the unit's organization would still be there.

But now the 26th Division Headquarters was clearly in great danger. Due to the time lag in information transmission, they still didn't know what was happening in Fengzhen.

Some staff officers felt that such a precedent must never be repeated against the Imperial Army stationed in Mongolia, and therefore not only should the Zao Bing Tuan (51st Division, formerly the 2nd Independent Mixed Division) be dispatched to the rescue, but the North China Front Army should also be contacted to have the First Army dispatch troops to assist. Other staff officers felt that with the 26th Division's two main regiments on the verge of destruction, the 26th Division's headquarters should "make an immediate decision and withdraw immediately" to preserve the unit's reputation, while the Zao Bing Tuan should establish a defensive line north of Yunzhong, support the remaining troops and prevent the Communist Army from continuing its southward advance.

But both options ultimately require the 51st Division to cross the clouds and continue north.

The phone's ringing grew increasingly rapid, finally snapping Amakasu Shigetarou out of his trance. He reached out and gripped the receiver like a chicken's claw.

"Moxi moxi."

"Commander, this is a call from the front's military headquarters. Commander Okamura wants to speak to you. I'll transfer the call to you now," the first person to speak was his own signalman, who quickly

A man's voice with an electric current came out: "Amagusu-kun, I

It’s Okamura.”

Hmm? Amakasu Shigetaro stood up suddenly. Why did Commander Okamura call my office directly? "Your Excellency, Commander!" "No need to say more. This is a critical moment for the survival of the Imperial Army. Amakasu-kun, is the Zou Bingtuan still heading towards Fengzhen?"

"Hi, Commander Okamura, yes, the Zao Corps is on its way to support the Quan Corps (26th Division). Half an hour ago, my staff reported to me that they were preparing to slow down and pass through Yunzhong Station, and the troops did not stop. "

"Kuso! Stop them now!" The voice quality of the phone was very poor, but it was obvious that Okamura was getting anxious.

"Wait, Commander, why..."

"Now is not the time to worry about the Quan Corps! The telegram is already being drafted, but it will take some time!"

Okamura on the other end of the phone was extremely anxious. He didn't even bother to be polite and just expressed his opinion directly: "You have been dealing with the Communist Army for so many years, how come you don't even know their usual tactics? Now, they have shown an appetite for swallowing up an entire division. Do you think they will be satisfied if they swallow up the Izumi Corps?"

"Or do you think the Communist Army is limited to those few divisions north of Fengzhen? No! They're everywhere!

"The garrison in Yunzhong was originally intended to suppress the communist forces in northwest Shanxi. Now, there's less than a regiment left in Yunzhong. Do you think this small force can hold the city? Yes, Yunzhong seems safe now, but why hasn't He Da Huzi in northwest Shanxi Province deployed his main force yet? What are they afraid of? Isn't there a military corps ready to come to support at any time?"

"Now, where have you sent the Army Corps, Amakasu-kun?" Okamura Neiji's voice was filled with a hint of disappointment from an older student. "When did you become so confused?!"

Chapter 487: Don’t rush to leave

On the morning of July 30, a series of trains were moving from south to north on the Pingsui Railway.

Why is it called a "string" of trains? It's because of their sheer size. The "Emperor" locomotives towed long passenger and freight trains, carrying the troops aboard, as they raced through the blocked sections of the tracks. The railway had been cleared, and in front of each train, a patrol car, consisting of only a few armored cars besides the tender, cleared the way. The entire train was heavily guarded—a division-sized force was marching along the railway.

It naturally exudes an attitude of keeping strangers away.

They were the last fully-organized and available troops stationed in Mongolia, the 51st Division, which was later reorganized into the 2nd Independent Mixed Brigade, code-named "Zao".

Division Commander Hitomi Yoichi sat in a luxurious first-class carriage, sipping tea. He parted the window curtains and gazed at the distant mountain range, lamenting the impermanence of life. A year ago, in 15, he had been awarded the rank of lieutenant general, essentially reaching the pinnacle of his military career. In another six months, perhaps, Imperial Headquarters would issue a recall order, sending him to the reserves?

But who knew that two days ago, the superior leader urgently ordered him to withdraw his forces and assemble the troops, prepare to board the train to the west to support the friendly forces, and even gave up the normal defense of Xuanhua, Huailai, Yuxian, Luanyuan and other places - it was said that the Eighth Route Army located in Suiyuan Province launched a large-scale attack on Lucheng, Houhe, Jining and other places - although Ren Jianyi did not want to move the troops that were already tired from fighting public security operations, and did not want to bear the blame for "public security corruption", but he still knew the importance of things, and hurried to assemble the troops within two days.

"Dudu."

The orderly knocked on the door and walked into the car. "Commander, a telegram from the front headquarters."

"Oh."

Why would the front headquarters send me a telegram? An overstepping of authority? He took the telegram suspiciously and began to read it. As he was reading, Hitomi Yoichi stood up from his chair.

Walk around the room.

"The Quan Corps (26th Division) may have fallen, and the Communists may be planning to attack Yunzhong?" He felt a chill in his spine. The telegram was stern, demanding that the Zao Corps (51st Division, 2nd Independent Mixed Unit), which was rapidly advancing by road via the block system, stop immediately, regroup, and then build a defensive line to the north while returning to Yunzhong. They would then join forces with the troops that had already moved to Yunzhong to assist in the defense, and ultimately hold the city.

This order was completely different from the previous one, which had ordered the Quan Corps to pass through Yunzhong without stopping and quickly advance to support Fengzhen. It was a case of inconsistent assessment of the battle from above... Lieutenant General Jian Yuyi, who was about to retire and well-versed in the world of fame and fortune, didn't delve into the details further. He simply followed the orders from above. He quickly glanced at the header of the telegram: Oh! The Front Command sent it to both the Mengjiang Garrison and himself. So, there was no problem with this approach.

It is not an easy task to stop the train column of two regiments.

In order to avoid train collisions, trains at that time operated in an "inter-station block" mode. By issuing waybills, they ensured that there was only one train full of soldiers and guards between two stations, so that the vehicles could run smoothly.

So now, if the Japanese army wants to stop the entire division's troops, it needs to contact the dispatching agency of the Pingsui Railway, stop the train at the next station where this train will arrive, and call various stations along the line to stop other trains and notify them to transfer on the spot - the specific method is to remove the locomotive and replace it with the other end of the train to realize the "rear team becomes the front team", and finally pull the troops back to Yunzhong Station for assembly.

Fortunately, the speed of trains nowadays will not exceed 60 kilometers per hour, and the travel speed is only 30 kilometers per hour, so there is still plenty of time for operation.

Hitomi Yoichi had once been a military training instructor at Hiroshima University of Arts and Sciences, and he'd even pretended to attend a few classes, so he knew a bit about railroad life. After delivering the order for all troops to prepare to move into the clouds, he turned and had his orderly tell the guards that the trains would likely slow down or even stop soon, with vibrations and horns blaring, so there was no need to panic. With that, he returned to his own carriage to drink tea.

Soon, the train pulled into the next station. A long whistle blew from the front, and the hissing of brakes began beneath the wheels, transmitting vibrations into the carriages. Ah, it seems the train driver pulled the air brakes to slow the train. Not bad at all… The division commander, who had a superficial understanding of trains and dispatching, nodded, but then put the matter behind him.

So, he didn't notice, and couldn't possibly notice, what was happening on the train. After uncoupling, the locomotive had to pass through the station's downhill switch to reverse direction. But after passing the switch, the locomotive didn't stop, but deliberately continued forward a bit. Furthermore, the driver, fireman, and several coal miners, while applying the brakes, increased the amount of coal injected and opened the steam release valve. The "Emperor" locomotive began to spew high, sparking black coal smoke, which mingled with the excess white vapor and rose straight into the blue sky.

A flock of birds appeared in the sky.

—————-—-

A group of birds are flapping their wings in the sky above northern Shanxi - what birds? What wings? The birds are made of steel and the wings are made of aluminum.

The purpose of gaining air superiority is to prevent others from laying eggs on our heads. But if we have already gained partial air superiority but don't lay eggs on others' heads, wouldn't that be a waste of the hard-earned gains of our fighter pilots?

Nie Heting, commander of the Eighth Route Army Air Force, said this after carrying out the mission of countering artillery and fighting for air supremacy. The Eighth Route Army Air Force's attack aircraft team also ushered in their first show: the ground troops had just arrived in Fengzhen, and the enemy troops were taking trains to reinforce the Fengzhen front...

train?

This is no coincidence, we have underground party branches in every station section of the Pingsui Railway!

Twenty-four Wildcats providing cover and forty-eight SB2Us carrying ground attack aircraft formed several attack groups, employing the same "attack group" tactics used to support the Hebei base area. Resembling the naval aviation attack waves, they took off from Ikh Ju League and Hequ Airport, covering over 300 kilometers to reach the area.

Finding a single Japanese unit amid the unchanging Yinshan Mountains was difficult, but the plume of smoke, mingled with steam, rose far above the undulating terrain, becoming remarkably clear against the sky. The pilots ignored the empty locomotive and followed the plume to a train car, its locomotive detached and nestled in the station. What better target could there be for an airstrike?

Workers and masters are comrades, and no casualties are allowed; the locomotive is precious and must be carefully protected; flat car wagons are relatively easy to build and can be rebuilt if they are damaged; the Japanese devils are abominable and must be sent to hell!

Originally, they were still worried about how to notify the truck driver to avoid the air raid, but now the Japanese's own telegram solved the most difficult part of separating the locomotive. When removing the locomotive, the hidden underground party members could even directly explain the situation to the driver through the dispatch phone and ask them to cooperate with the operation!

The fastest Wildcats flew over the train and unleashed eight Arrow-82 rocket pods from their wings, setting the train ablaze. The SE2Us, also equipped with rocket pods and 250kg bombs, formed a circular formation, linking end to end, and began firing explosives at the central passenger and freight cars.

The attack planes flew along the tracks, launching rockets in a glide-bombing pattern, then dropping heavy bombs, and finally strafing with their onboard machine guns. Even if the Japanese soldiers scrambled out of the train and were lucky enough to escape the SB2U's attack, they still had to be wary of the deadly pounces of the nearby Wildcats: if they were hit by the six wing-mounted machine guns, they would probably not even be cremated!

"It's over, it's over!"

Some cried out in surprise, shouting frantically, but they were quickly drowned out by the explosions of artillery and ammunition. The flatcars and ammunition boxcars carrying the artillery regiments were the focus of almost every attacking group. Large amounts of yellow gunpowder exploded in the carriages, scattering the flaming propellant everywhere like blooming orange dahlias. The flatcars carrying motor vehicles and armored vehicles were tossed in the blast, their loads toppling over.

The situation was even more tragic for the crew vehicles that were hit by a 250-kilogram aerial bomb - the pilots could even sense a dark red tint in the radial smoke produced by the bomb's explosion.

In just one hour, two-thirds of the 51st Division (formerly the 2nd Independent Mixed Division)'s trains were attacked by the Eighth Route Army Air Force, resulting in the loss of nearly all of their heavy equipment and over 10% of their personnel. Even the division commander, Hitomi Yoichi, was killed in the airstrike. These Japanese troops, preparing to reinforce Fengzhen, fully experienced the Eighth Route Army Air Force's heartwarming hospitality.

"Are you there yet? Have you passed the clouds? You've come all the way here, but everyone's dead... Why are you so anxious?"

But even more devastating was the situation. Just as the 51st Division had been severely damaged, its combat effectiveness greatly reduced, and it was unable to support the front lines or return to Yunzhong, the Northwest Shanxi Field Army, which had been secretly gathering in the base area of ​​Northwest Shanxi and awaiting orders, under the command of Political Commissar and Commander Guan Zhixiang and Chief of Staff Lu Dongsheng, launched an attack on the depleted Yunzhong. The 3rd Training Brigade, which had just finished fighting in Fengzhen on the front line, had already linked up with the other units of the field army heading south. They formed a powerful offensive fan and continued south along the Fengzhen-Yunzhong railway.

The second battle dumpling with the 51st Division as the filling is officially wrapped!

Chapter 488 After the Battle

(Summarization of this chapter)

The battle to annihilate the 51st Division (formerly the 2nd Independent Mixed Division) ultimately had little suspense.

Although the Eighth Route Army units had fought two consecutive battles, spanning four days, from Lucheng all the way to Fengzhen, they not only had trains to support their march and logistics, but their firepower and communications also suppressed the enemy in front of them. After slowing down their march, the troops moving south from Fengzhen were like a slow, heavy hammer, swinging down upon the "anvil" of Yunzhong City.

The architect of this "anvil" was naturally the base area in northwestern Shanxi. After confirming that the main force of the 51st Division had passed through Yunzhong, Guan Zhixiang and Lu Dongsheng, who had been drawing their bows to launch an attack, unleashed the 12th Division of the Jinsui Field Army and several independent regiments that had reached field army standards. These fully equipped troops, coordinated with other local forces and guerrillas, launched an attack on Yunzhong.

Although part of the 51st Division in the city fought very tenaciously, and our army suffered more than 300 casualties in the attack, on the morning of July 31,

The Japanese soldiers fleeing from north to south will never see the plaster in Yunzhong City again.

Flags - all they could see were a row of black gun muzzles and red flags fluttering in the wind.

Some Japanese soldiers went crazy and launched a desperate charge under the influence of drugs; some devils lost their command and ran around in disarray; there were also a small number of devils

They chose to drop their guns, raise their hands high, and line up to surrender to our army.

But all this will eventually end. On the afternoon of the 31st, five days after the battle was launched, the 12th Division of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Field Army, which had held Yunzhong to block the Japanese army's retreat, successfully joined forces with the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Training Division, which had traveled nearly 400 kilometers, marking the successful conclusion of this battle.

Oh, if we count the time it took for the local troops to disperse and search, and capture those handfuls of Japanese devils who had hidden in the ravines, this battle would have to "fight" for another week before it could be said to have officially ended.

In this battle, officially called the "Battle of Western Mengxi" or the "Battle of Suiyuan", the Eighth Route Army dispatched a total of 6 field divisions and 1 mobile corps training division, totaling about 10 people.

The field troops, which had become the main force, with the cooperation of local troops, guerrillas, armed work teams and self-defense armed forces, completely wiped out the Japanese cavalry group of nearly 2 people, wiped out the Japanese 26th Division as a whole, wiped out most of the 51st Division (except for the remaining troops stationed in Zhangyuan City and some fleeing enemies), and annihilated most of the puppet Mongolian army, wiped out a large number of various Shanxi-Suiyuan puppet troops, and achieved a record of more than 7 enemy casualties.

At the same time, taking advantage of the near-complete annihilation of the Japanese garrison in Mengjiang, local troops and field armies across the country launched various coordinated operations, retaking a large number of fortified strongholds and county towns. In Shanxi and Hebei provinces, our army advanced, retaking the counties of Xinghe, Yanggao, Yangyuan, and Huailin, thus completely linking the Northwest Shanxi and Suiyuan bases (formerly the Shanxi-Suiyuan base) with the Taiyue, Pingxi, and Pingbei bases.

In order to deal with this situation, the First Army located in Shanxi Province, under the strong order of the North China Front Army, ignored the risk of complete loss of control of the mountains around the Fen River Valley, and forcibly withdrew troops from the Jinzhong and Jinnan basins. They rushed all the way, marched on foot from Yanmen Pass and Ruyuekou, went north out of the pass, and reinforced troops on the south bank of the Sanggan River around Shanyin, Yingxian, and Hunyuan, forming the first line of defense against the southward advance of the Communist Army.

Meanwhile, Okamura Yasuji completely let loose. While requesting assistance from the China Expeditionary Army, he recklessly evacuated the 64th Division (formerly the 15th Independent Mixed Brigade) from the defense of Sijiucheng, sending them to reinforce along the Pingsui Railway. This completed the defensive perimeter around Zhangyuan City, preserving the defenses of Huaian, Tianzhen, Gaoqiang, Yuxian, and Yuanyuan.