The regiments of the 358th Brigade of a certain division of the Eighth Route Army, while the assault team took the lead in launching an attack on the enemy, jumped out of the position with their guns in hand, braved the enemy's bullets and bullets, and bravely pounced on the enemy.

The commander of the 358th Brigade looked at this battle-torn battlefield, and he ordered the troops to quickly clean up, put away all the useful things, blow up the devil's car, divide the troops into two routes, and within an hour stretch this Jingcheng to Changhuikou Highway, stretching five kilometers from front to back, digging ditches and digging pits to destroy the enemy's highway communication line.

At the same time, the division headquarters ordered the 344th Brigade to attack the enemy along the railway from Niangzi Pass to Jingcheng.

After receiving the order, the 344th Brigade rushed all the way, and when the troops entered the vicinity of Niangziguan, they were blocked by the fire of the Japanese troops stationed at the Niangziguan station, and the advance of the troops was blocked for a while.

Niangziguan is the ninth dangerous pass of the Great Wall, the Japanese army occupies Niangziguan Station, in order to ensure the smooth flow of the railway, build four pillboxes in the mountains and mountains, send elite troops to be stationed in the pillboxes on the mountain, condescendingly look down at Niangziguan Station.

There is a squad of devils stationed at the station, and there is also a garrison brigade stationed in the nearby village, as well as a battalion of the Imperial Army.

After the troops were blocked in attacking Niangziguan Station, they received an order to immediately retreat, and along the railway line, they concentrated superior forces, pulled out the strongholds and artillery towers of the devils, destroyed the facilities on the devil's railway line, and blew up the bridges on the railway line.

In order to preserve its strength and avoid a fierce frontal battle with a strong enemy, the 344th Brigade assigned the main task to each regiment was not to conquer the barracks and central artillery towers where the Japanese army was relatively strong and had a tight deployment of troops, but to adopt mobile and flexible tactics to avoid its sharp edge and sabotage the facilities along the railway.

This unit launched a large-scale sabotage operation along the railway from Niangziguan to Jingcheng, launched an attack on those small strongholds and isolated artillery towers, and after hard fighting, achieved fruitful results in the sabotage battle, and cut off the communication line of the Japanese army between Niangziguan and Jingcheng.

In the war room of the North China Command of the Japanese Army, telephone bells and forward telegrams were constantly being heard, and the combat staff officers submitted telegrams and the contents of the calls they received to General Okamura Ninji's desk.

Senior General Okamura Ninji picked up and put down the paper messages and call records that he was distracted about, stood up suddenly, and said to the chief of staff who had been standing at his desk: "General Tanabe, have you seen this?" As he spoke, he raised the paper in his hand and slammed it heavily on the table.

Lieutenant General Tanabe Moritake walked to the battle map, according to the reports of the various theaters, the headquarters looked at the angry battlefield information, he frowned and pondered for a long time and said: "General Okamura, look here, the railway from Niangziguan to Jingcheng here has been broken by the troops of the Eighth Route Army, and now the normal transportation of the Japanese Imperial Army on Zhengtai Road has been interrupted, my suggestion, order the 108th Division to immediately assemble in this area, and destroy the Eighth Route Army operating in this area with the fastest speed and the greatest superiority in troops and weapons, Restore the Zhengtai railway unblocked, I don't know ...... His Excellency General. ”

Senior General Okamura Ninji squinted at Lieutenant General Tanabe Moritake, walked to the map, and slowly extended his finger on the two railway lines of Zhengtai Road and Tongpu Road.

In the end, Huo Di turned around and ordered the combat staff officer standing beside him: "The telegram ordered the 108th Division to move west from Handan, through the Handan Long Line, to advance to occupy Changzhi on the 20th, take Fenyang again in one fell swoop, and cooperate with the 20th Division to move south along the Tongpu Road, speed up the march, and destroy the Zhina troops on the frontal battlefield." ”

After the operational staff officer had prepared the telegram and was about to hand it to Okamura Ninji for signature, Lieutenant General Tanabe Moritake, chief of staff standing on the side, took a step forward and suggested: "General Okamura, we should issue another order to the 140th Division at the same time, ordering this unit to launch operations against the Eighth Route Army along the railway lines where the activities of the troops of the Eighth Route Army are rampant, so as to prevent the Eighth Route Army from rushing out of their base areas to reinforce the frontal battlefield battle of the Shina Army, so as to ensure the absolute victory of the Imperial Japanese Army on the frontal battlefield." ”

"Roar." After signing the two orders, Senior General Okamura Ninji handed them to the operational staff officer: "Immediately give the order to the three divisions, quickly." ”

In order to combat the plan of the Japanese 108th Division to advance westward along the Handan Long Line, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army ordered a certain division to quickly move southward, and within 15 days it would be stationed in the southeast area of Xiangyuan, and concentrate its forces to attack the Handan-Chang Railway Line, as well as the Japanese strongholds and artillery towers along the line, so as to block the westward advance of the Japanese 108th Division.

The Handan-Chang Railway is very important to the 108th Division of the Japanese Army, and the heavy military supplies of this large Japanese army that occupies Changzhi are all dependent on this trunk line for transportation, and as long as it attacks along this railway, it will cause a great obstacle to the logistics supply of the 108th Division of the Japanese Army.

Located in the city of Licheng on this trunk line, there is an important military station to supplement the base, on this trunk line of Licheng and Lucheng are not too far apart, the terrain in the middle is mostly hilly, if you find a good ambush point in the middle of the ambush, it will involve the enemy of Licheng and Lucheng to reinforce each other, and the enemy ambush on the reinforcement road will play a role in containing the enemy.

The commander of a certain division of the Eighth Route Army, on the basis of the information obtained by the reconnaissance troops, decided to take advantage of the favorable terrain to send the main force to raid Licheng, and to send a unit to set up an ambush at Shentouling, a hilly area between Licheng and Lucheng, to ambush the enemy reinforcements from Lucheng, and also to block the reinforcements of the Japanese troops in the neighboring county towns.

The 769th Regiment received an order from the division headquarters to launch a surprise attack on Li Cheng in the afternoon.

The regiment commander ordered the first battalion to be the main force for the raid on Licheng, and the battalion commander led a reconnaissance platoon to disguise itself around Licheng to reconnoiter the geographical location and the deployment of Japanese troops at the city gate, and formulate a detailed plan for the raid based on the reconnaissance information.

The commander of a battalion led a company as an assault team in accordance with the raid plan formulated, and suddenly appeared from the east gate of the city, and the enemy and puppet army at the city gate would not have thought that it would be in the depths of the Japanese-occupied area, and suddenly there would be a sneak attack by the Eighth Route Army.

The 2nd and 3rd Companies, which were hiding behind, saw that the 1st Company had successfully attacked, and the soldiers shouted: "Rush into the city and kill the devils——。 ”

A battalion of soldiers who entered the city fought with the enemy in the streets and alleys, and in the fierce battle, the troops suffered heavy casualties, and the commander of the first battalion shouted: "Pay attention to concealment, find the enemy, attack quickly, destroy the current enemy, immediately advance to the depth of the city, and must destroy all the enemy and puppet troops in the city." ”

The captain of the Japanese squad in the city, when he saw that Licheng was attacked by Tuba Road, he rushed into the house, grabbed the phone and urgently asked for help from the Shexian Devil Brigade, and shouted in a hoarse voice after he wanted to get through: "Your Excellency Captain, Licheng was attacked by Tuba Road, please send reinforcements quickly, once the reinforcements are late, the arsenal will fall into the hands of Tuba Road." ”

"Bastard, how many troops do you have now, and what is their offensive firepower? Say it quickly. ”

"Report to Your Excellency Captain, the strength of a battalion of Tuba Road has broken through the east gate and is advancing towards the center of the city, requesting reinforcements quickly."

"You immediately organize the troops, strengthen the fire on the periphery of the arsenal, and mine immediately lead the troops to reinforce, you must hold on, do you understand?" The captain of the Japanese army in Shexian County threw down the phone, rushed out of the house, and led a squadron of devils and a battalion of the Imperial Association Army to run to reinforce the Japanese army defending the city in Licheng.

The main force of the 769th Regiment was ambushed in the area of Xiawangji between Shexian and Licheng, and saw that a squadron of Japanese troops running from Shexian to reinforce Licheng was about to enter the ambush circle, and the regiment commander ordered: "Order all battalions and companies to wait until the Japanese troops enter the ambush circle, hear the first gunshot, and the whole regiment will rush out of the position and launch a fire attack on the enemy. ”

When the enemy all entered the ambush circle, the regiment commander raised his hand to shoot a shot, and when the soldiers heard the sound of a gunshot, they jumped up from their positions, and all the light and heavy weapons beckoned to the surrounded devil team, and the enemy was caught off guard and fled in all directions.

The captain of the devil brigade took a fancy to the ambush of the large army of the Eighth Route Army, and the cunning captain of the devil brigade had already realized that the Eighth Route Army's raid on the Licheng arms transfer station was prepared, and now even if it rushes into Licheng, it is already too late.

He ordered the troops to concentrate their firepower to break through to Shexian, and after fierce fighting, a squadron of little devils broke through the encirclement, and the less than one squad that escaped completely defeated the enemy reinforced by Shexian.

The captain of the Japanese squad besieged in Licheng put down the phone to Shexian for help, and immediately dialed Lucheng again, and called on the phone: "Please Captain Gang quickly reinforce the transfer station of the Japanese Imperial Army in Licheng, once the reinforcements are late, the transfer station will be captured by Tuba Road, which will inevitably cause the military supplies to be snatched away by Tuba Road, and the imperial soldiers of my squad will all be broken." ”

(End of chapter)