After the pre-war mobilization, the soldiers of the 38th Regiment secretly made up their minds one by one and gathered up their strength, and the soldiers of the company were all vigorous and vigorous, hiding in the forward positions, waiting for the guns to fire when the enemy launched an attack.

When the commander fired the signal gun of the general attack on Zhengtai Road, three signal flares rose into the air, and the soldiers jumped up from their positions and rushed to the monk foot station with their guns.

The bunkers on both sides of the monk foot station, the little devils broke out fierce gunfire from the inside, the soldiers took the lead, rushed to the enemy bunker, threw two incendiary bombs into the bunker, and suddenly the fire in the bunker rose, and the little devils who burned in the bunker ran around everywhere, howling constantly, and soon the monk foot station was conquered.

The offensive at Shanghu Station was not carried out very well, and the three attacks launched were suppressed by the enemy's strong firepower, and the casualties continued to increase.

Regiment Commander Cai immediately ordered the offensive to be stopped, mobilized cadres and soldiers, and brainstormed and came up with a blasting method according to the enemy's fire deployment of open and dark bunkers, as well as auxiliary positions, barbed wire, mines, and light and heavy weapons of devils.

After the cadres and fighters used their brains to think of a way, a new offensive plan was finally formed, which was immediately put into practice and implemented.

The platoon commander of the fourth company and one platoon who served as the assault mission, led the assault team, under the cover of strong firepower, set up a bridge board in the outer trench, cut the barbed wire, and rushed to the devil's bunker with indomitable action, the platoon commander stuffed the grenade into the hole of the gun, with the continuous explosion, most of the devils in the bunker were killed, and the remnants of a few little devils, afraid of dying here, slipped out of the bunker, fled in a hurry, the enemy bunker was overcome, but the platoon commander died honorably in the fight with the enemy.

The battalions and companies of the 38th Regiment, under the leadership of the regiment commander and political commissar who took the lead and braved the enemy's dense bullets to rush to the front line, conquered the stations of Shangshangzu and Shanghu in the afternoon of the same day.

According to the order of Commander Liu of the Military Region, in order to expand the results of the battle very quickly, the most vigorous sabotage battle was carried out along the Zhengtai Road.

The military and civilians along the railway line actively cooperated with the sabotage operations of the left-wing troops of the Shanxi-Hebei-Henan Military Region, dismantling railroad tracks, burning sleepers, cutting electric poles, collecting wires, blowing up bridges, and destroying culverts; as long as damage can be caused to the enemy along the Zhengtai Road, and it cannot be repaired and opened to traffic in a short period of time, the military and the people will not politely leave the enemy behind.

The left and right flank columns of the Shanxi-Hebei-Henan Military Region issued an order at the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army to carry out a general attack on Zhengtai Road, and all units achieved brilliant results in this battle, resulting in Zhengtai Road being completely paralyzed in just a few hours.

At this time, as soon as he led the 'only regiment' to destroy the Tiger Leaping Gorge Bridge and withdraw from its position, before the troops had time to rest, Lei Jian received an order from the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region: order Lei Jian's 'only regiment' to move quickly to Fuping, block the 9th Brigade of the 180th Division of the Japanese Army, reinforce Zhengtai Road, and block the enemy from the periphery.

Lei Jian received an urgent order from the military region and immediately convened a regimental and battalion military meeting, and he said simply and forcefully: "Comrades, we won the victory by storming the Tiger Leaping Gorge Bridge in this storm, and finally destroyed the bridge, but our 'only regiment' also paid a heavy price at the same time.

We have just received a telegram from Commander Nie of the Military Region, ordering our 'only regiment' to immediately go to Laoye Mountain in the southeast direction of Tiger Leaping Gorge to block the enemy troops of the Ninth Brigade and Regiment that are going west to reinforce Zhengtai Road. ”

When Political Commissar Ma heard that the troops were about to leave for Lao Ye Mountain, and that they were blocking, he said with a sinking heart: "Commander Lei, our 'only regiment' has just been in Tiger Leaping Gorge, fighting fiercely with a wing of devils, and the casualties of the troops ......are relatively large. ”

"Political Commissar Ma, Commander Nie of the Military Region sent me a telegram order for the 'One Regiment', although there are only a few words, but every word gives me the feeling that every word is a thousand words, the Japanese Ninth Brigade is so quick to pounce on Zhengtai Road, the entire Zhengtai Road is always a sabotage battle, it must hurt the devil's muscles and bones, otherwise it will not draw a reorganized wing from the frontal battlefield and reinforce Zhengtai Road."

Lei Jian's analysis is very reasonable, when the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army issued an order for the general attack on Zhengtai Road on 20 August, all corps and troops of the Eighth Route Army of the Military Region, with Zhengtai Road as the center and radiating other surrounding railway trunk lines, launched a general sabotage attack at the same time.

With the support of the broad masses of the people, the anti-Japanese armed forces of the Eighth Route Army actively plunged into the sabotage battle with the sound of guns and artillery as an order.

The soldiers and civilians of various units, who heard the sound of guns and artillery, carried out the most advantageous sabotage attacks on the strongholds, bridges, culverts, and stations along the railways and highways occupied by the devils, so that the troops participating in the battle increased sharply from the original Eighth Route Army headquarters with 8 to 22 regiments to 105 regiments.

The battle with the general attack on Zhengtai Road as the main combat objective began at 22 o'clock on the night of the 20th, and the soldiers and civilians of the Eighth Route Army, who bravely attacked the Japanese army's communication line, dismantled the railway, burned sleepers, cut electric poles, collected wires, blew up bridges, destroyed culverts along the way, and conquered the stations along the railway.

Until before dawn, the Japanese commanders along the various railways, who had lost their ability to meet the Japanese army by the Eighth Route Army's frequent nighttime attacks on the lines of communication, caused them to lose their ability to meet the agility of the battle.

At midnight on 20 July, the North China Command of the Japanese Army completed its meeting on the readjustment of the deployment of troops and launched the largest 'cage policy' of 'using railways as pillars, highways as chains, and strongholds as locks' against the Jin-Cha-Ji, Jin-Hebei-Henan, Taihang, and Taiyue Military Regions of the Eighth Route Army, and carried out the most brutal 'summer sweep' of the 'three-light policy'.

After the meeting, General Okamura returned to a heavily guarded German-style villa, and wanted to rinse up, but he had a splitting headache, fell on the sofa, covered his forehead with his right hand, and rubbed it back and forth a few times.

The guard officer was afraid of disturbing the commander, so he rushed to the phone on tiptoe, grabbed the phone and whispered, "General Okamura is not feeling well, please ....... tomorrow if you have something." ”

"Guard officer, you understand, I am the chief of staff of the headquarters Tanabe Moritake, please ...... immediately, no, mine will go over immediately."

In less than ten minutes, Chief of Staff of the Japanese North China Front Tanabe Moritake, pushed the door and hurriedly walked into the house, and saw General Okamura Ninji leaning back on the sofa with his eyes closed, he slowed down and walked to Okamura.

Commander Okamura Ninji, when the phone rang suddenly, he had already heard the low voice of the guard officer, but he received too many calls and telegrams from the front every day, and it was already midnight at this time, and he was too tired to answer any more calls, so he didn't care.

At this time, he heard someone approaching, he opened his eyes and saw that the chief of staff was standing in front of the sofa with his hands down, he patted the sofa tiredly and said, "Tanabe-kun, if you have something to say, sit down and say." ”

Chief of Staff Moritake Tanabe asked cautiously, "Okamura-kun, are you unwell?" ”

"It's no big problem, it's just that I'm too tired, Tanabe-kun, you must have something important to report to me, don't mind, sit down first."

Chief of Staff Tanabe Moritake had something in his heart, and it was very urgent, he could not prevaricate with prevarication, and said with a look of anxiety: "Okamura-kun, I have just received an urgent top-secret telegram from the commanders of the garrisons of the Imperial Japanese Army on Zhengtai Road and seven important railway lines in North China, and they all report that these communication lines controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army were simultaneously attacked by a large force of the Eighth Route Army at 22 o'clock in the evening of the 20th.

In particular, Zhengtai Road is the focus of the Eighth Route Army's sabotage war, and the number of troops invested and the anti-Japanese people in China are more than 200,000, and they are like fierce tigers along the railways and highways, launching an unprecedented general attack, our army has been dealt a heavy blow, the railways and highways are paralyzed, and the large troops of the Eighth Route Army are taking advantage of the emptiness of our troops to expand the results of the battle, and they are ...... at this time. ”

Commander Okamura Ninji didn't wait for Tanabe Chief of Staff to finish speaking, Huo stood up, snatched the telegram from Tanabe's hand, quickly browsed less than a third, angrily tore the telegram with both hands, threw it up, shredded paper like mourning paper money, flew in the house, and slowly fell.

The confetti in one place did not suppress Commander Okamura's anger, and he, a humble gentleman who is usually calm and not easy to get angry, actually scolded: "Yaga, a group of bastards, the Eighth Route Army has used so many troops, could it be that the commanders of all fronts of the Imperial Japanese Army have become deaf and blind, why don't they do a good job of firepower counterattack and troop deployment in advance?" Why is that? ”

(End of chapter)