Although the situation on the front line looked somewhat "erosive", Han Yunhua did not issue a new combat order. Because Han Yunhua knew that the battle plan formulated by the Israeli Military Region before was perfect, as long as all units strictly implemented it, the Japanese army would find that there would be fewer and fewer troops on the front line for the offensive in a month, and there would be more and more non-combatants responsible for taking care of the wounded. This Japanese offensive should soon be transformed from a sortie to a defensive one, and when the Inner Mongolia Military Region is concentrating its forces to strike an all-out blow, it is only a matter of time before the North China Front is defeated and retreated.

Although Han Yunhua did not give any new instructions, the troops on the front line did not panic, because Han Yunhua seriously and strictly handled Zhang Guoqing's disobedience two days ago, so at this time, both the units on the front line and the newly formed troops in the rear had a new understanding of Han Yunhua, a commander who had always been gentle and elegant.

Under the deliberate concession of Han Yunhua's headquarters, the Japanese army's troops gradually advanced into the hinterland of the defense area of the Inner Mongolia Military Region, especially the Japanese Fifth Division, which was the most rampant. Soon, the main force of the Ninth Brigade forced the main force of the Sixth Field Division to the area of Xuanhua County, and the Sixth Field Division was not ready to retreat any longer, so the Chinese and Japanese sides on the Xuanhua front were tense, the atmosphere was extremely tense, and a major battle was about to break out.

Xuanhua, Xuanhua District is located 28 kilometers southeast of Zhangjiakou, the capital of Chahar Province, which is an important link connecting Pingjin and Saibei areas, and is the southeast gateway of Zhangjiakou. Stationed in Xuanhua were the 1st Brigade, 1st Regiment and 3rd Regiment of the 6th Field Division, as well as the brigade headquarters of the 1st Brigade.

The Japanese Fifth Division was the main force attacking the Zhangjiakou area, and although this was the next day's attack that had caused the Fifth Division to suffer heavy losses, the casualties of more than 2,000 people were nothing more than a drizzle for the Fifth Division, which had a total strength of nearly 30,000.

Xuanhua Front

"Brigade commander, the Japanese army is about to attack, and it looks like today will be another tragic battle, I hope today's casualties will be smaller," Shi Yanqing, the political commissar of the first brigade, said with a sigh.

In fact, in the past few days, the big guys have been talking about how many troops the Japanese army has lost, how many can return to the battlefield in a short time, and how many have completely lost their combat effectiveness, but everyone has deliberately avoided the casualties of the Inner Mongolia Military Region itself. It is true that the Japanese army suffered heavy losses, but the casualties of the Inner Mongolia Military Region were not small. The 1st Brigade of the 6th Field Division alone lost more than 2,000 men in the fighting during this period, of which 800 were left on the front line, and the remaining more than 1,000 wounded have been urgently sent back to the military region for treatment. Compared with the strong logistics support of the Japanese army, the Inner Mongolia Military Region was unable to produce medicines at this time, so the healing rate of the wounded in the Inner Mongolia Military Region was much lower than that of the Japanese army. Therefore, less than one-third of the more than 1,200 wounded can really return to the battlefield in a short period of time, which means that in addition to the more than 800 people who died in the first brigade of the 10-odd days of fighting, there are about 800 wounded soldiers who cannot be rebuilt for the time being.

Shangguan Qing knew what Shi Yanqing meant, but as one of the actual formulators of this military plan, Shangguan Qingyuan knew much more than Shi Yanqing, so although he was extremely distressed about the casualties of the troops during this time, he had to harden his heart to fight the Japanese army to the death. Shangguan Qing took a big sip of the water cup on the table, and then said with a fierce look: "Political commissar, no matter how big the casualties of the troops are, we must complete the orders issued by the superior leaders, according to the meaning of the division commander, Xuanhua must become one of the graves where the Japanese army is buried, although we don't need to defend Xuanhua, but we must let the Japanese army ambush millions of corpses under Xuanhua City. ”

"Brigade commander, every soldier in our first brigade is the elite of the military region, so there is no need to say this kind of thing, soldiers take obedience to orders as their duty, and we will definitely complete the orders issued by the superior leaders, but before that, we must pay attention to the casualties of the troops, which caused one-fifth of the troops to be reduced in just ten days, and we don't know when this battle will be fought, so it is still necessary to preserve our strength." Shi Yanqing is reasonable. …,

I don't know what Shi Yanqing said about Shangguan Qing, but now the entire military region must strictly implement the battle plan formulated by Han Yunhua, otherwise these losses will really be in vain.

"Political commissar, what you said is also reasonable, but the group of little devils we are facing is not ordinary, they are all the real elite of the Japanese army, in addition to mountain artillery and field artillery, there are also combat vehicles and tanks, we now have no other long-range firepower except for a mountain artillery battalion, and it is very difficult to reduce casualties. Hehehe, but fortunately, Xuanhua has city walls and perfect city fortifications, and the people can be regarded as supporting us, the entire county has been turned into a giant fortress in the past two days, and we have no problem holding on for five or six days."

"Boom Boom"

"Boom Boom"

At this moment, a violent explosion suddenly came from outside, and an overwhelming number of shells poured towards the county seat, followed by a low whimper

Shangguan Qing's face changed, and he hurriedly said loudly: "It's the Japanese army's aviation, lie down immediately." With that, he rolled down and hid under the tent of the temporary headquarters.

After hearing Shangguan Qing's roar, the other cadres and staff officers in the command tent also hurriedly hid under the table and under the marching bed.

However, there was still a staff officer who hid a little late, and was hit in the left arm by a piece of shrapnel flying in from outside, and suddenly the entire left arm of the staff officer was bleeding, and it seemed that the shrapnel had struck the major artery.

Another staff officer hurriedly crawled over to help him stop the bleeding, and the guards outside the command tent immediately used machine guns to counterattack. Fortunately, this time the Japanese air force only made a tentative attack, and only eight planes came, so the situation in Xuanhua City was not bad, although many places in the city are now full of smoke, and even some places are already in flames, but the situation is not as unbearable as imagined, at least some important military facilities have not been hit.

"Pass my order and tell Yang Shilang, just say that the little devils are about to attack, and ask them to get ready. Today they can retreat up to five kilometers back, and the third line of defense must be held by me. In addition, send a report to the three regiments, and ask them to continue to strengthen the city fortifications today, saying that their three regiments will not be able to intervene in today's battle, and continue their old business, as long as the entire Xuanhua county is bunkered, not to mention that it is an infantry division of the devil, even if he comes to ten infantry divisions, there is no way to take our brigade" Shangguan Qing said loudly.

The defense line of the 1st Brigade and 1st Regiment in Nantan, Gujiaying Town, Xuanhua County, was in full swing at this time.

By the time they received Shangguanqing's telegram, the Japanese had already launched an attack. After reading the telegram sent by Shangguan Qing, Yang Shilang, the commander of the first regiment, quickly asked the telegraph operator to reply a telegram to the brigade headquarters, the content of the telegram was very simple, only six words - to ensure the completion of the task.

"Regiment commander, the devil's chariot is coming," the commander of the first battalion, Uyun Jirile, said while holding a telescope while monitoring the Japanese troops on the front line.

Yang Shilang immediately walked to the lookout of the command post, picked up the binoculars and looked out, through the binoculars, Yang Shilang saw that the Japanese army about the size of an infantry squadron was following behind five Japanese-made Type 95 chariots, and was slowly killing the position of the second battalion. At the same time, the Japanese artillery units, which were located somewhere, also continued to shell the positions of the 2nd Battalion.

"Call the commander of the second battalion and tell them not to use the secret weapon at the beginning, the first round of the little devil's attack must be fought by Lao Tzu no matter what, and if he loses his position, Lao Tzu will send him to see the commander." After speaking, Yang Shilang turned to Wuyun Jirile and said: "Black charcoal hammer, your first battalion is the main force of our regiment, if the second battalion can't hold up after a while, your first battalion will go up, and the second battalion has many recruits, so your first battalion will take on a little more"...,

"Commander, no problem, the most important thing for our Mongolian men is righteousness, and the most worthy is heroes. Although the second battalion is composed of those cadet dolls, their performance during this period of time has won the respect of the dark clouds and the respect of all the men in the first battalion. Uyun Jirile said solemnly.

Wuyun Jirile is a standard Mongolian man, not tall, only less than 1.7 meters, his face is black, he smiles at night, his body is black, and even his teeth are black and yellow, so on the first day he joined the army, people called him Black Charcoal Hammer. Since the Inner Mongolia Military Region recruited a large number of young and middle-aged people of a small number of ethnic groups to join the army, there were many purely Mongolian personnel in Han Yunhua's troops, and the first brigade, regiment, and one battalion to which Wuyun Jirile belonged were such a unit.

"Boom Boom"

"Boom Boom"

The Japanese 9th Brigade finally began to attack, and at this time there were still five hours before dark, and in the opinion of Major General Kunizaki Noboru this was the right time for the troops to attack, because at this time the air force could provide air assistance to the troops.

Participating in the first wave of the attack was the 2nd Squadron of the 1st Brigade of the 41st Infantry Wing, the 2nd Squadron was beaten hard by the 1st Brigade and 2nd Regiment of the 6th Field Division in the previous day's battle, and when they withdrew from Yangjia Village, there were less than 50 people left in the entire infantry squadron, but fortunately, the squadron leader of the 2nd Squadron and two of the three squad leaders were still there, so Noboru Kunisaki transferred more than 150 people from the supplementary wing to rebuild the 2nd Squadron.

Just a few days after the reconstruction, the second squadron jumped out impatiently to find the first brigade of the field sixth division to take revenge, of course, the second squadron's approach made Major General Kunisaki Noboru very satisfied, the troops have been progressing smoothly in the past few days, although the casualties are a bit large, but the Chinese troops are constantly retreating, and the morale of the troops has been significantly improved in the continuous victory. Although from the bottom of his heart, Major General Noboru Kunisaki was not willing to let the second squadron go to the battlefield like this, after all, the combat effectiveness of the newly rebuilt troops had not yet fully recovered to its original peak. However, in order to stimulate the morale of the troops, Major General Kunisaki Noboru decided to agree to the request of the 2nd Squadron to fight. In order to reduce casualties, Major General Noboru Kunisaki transferred five combat vehicles to operate with the 2nd Squadron.

Wang Zihan is the company commander of the 2nd Battalion and 1st Company of the 1st Brigade and 1st Regiment of the 6th Field Division of the Inner Mongolia Military Region, and today is his 23rd birthday. Wang Zihan joined the Eighth Route Army with his brother Wang Zijun, and enlisted in Xinghe County in December 37. However, due to the good family conditions of Wang Zihan's brothers, they were sent to Zhangjiakou by their father to study since they were children, and they drank ink for a few days. So soon after joining the army, he was transferred by the commander to the military region teaching team, and then he was sent to the Saibei Military Command College to study, and the Wang Zihan brothers finally graduated half a year ago.

Because his elder brother Wang Zijun joined the Communist Party of China before joining the army, and Wang Zijun participated in several major wars before entering the teaching team, and also made an individual first-class merit and a collective second-class merit, so soon after graduation, Wang Zijun was promoted to deputy commander of the first brigade and first regiment of the sixth field division and the commander of the second battalion, and although Wang Zihan enlisted in the army at the same time as his elder brother and graduated from the Saibei Military Command College at the same time, he was not promoted to the commander of the second battalion and the first company until two months ago.

Wang Zihan, who was hiding in the air-raid shelter, anxiously waited for the signal from the observation post above, and he knew that this odious shelling sound was the prelude to the big attack of the little devils.

"Company commander, the devils are coming, there are five tanks and a squadron of devils, this group of little devils does not have six heavy machine guns and light machine guns, and the grenadiers are not all counted, but we see at least four, and there are four other mortars." Liu Yongqing, the leader of the sharp knife squad who was responsible for observing and monitoring the Japanese army, crawled into the air-raid shelter and reported. …,

"Blow the signal, and the whole company immediately enters the position. Don't expose the grenadier canister first, the light and heavy machine guns will be in place immediately, and the machine gunners and ammunition men will also immediately enter the position" Wang Zihan suddenly pulled out the shell gun, clicked the nose of the machine again, and ordered loudly.

As the trumpet sounded, more than 180 soldiers of the Eighth Route Army straightened up one after another and loaded their bayonets as quickly as possible. Stooping down and exiting the bomb shelter, they quickly ran towards their respective positions.

The machine guns on the Chinese position rang out, and the soldiers of the 9th Brigade, who had been advancing slowly, immediately returned fire from the ground as if they had been electrocuted, while the vehicles that cooperated with the attack slowly lowered their muzzles and tried to destroy the two heavy machine guns of the first company.

"Boom" The Japanese tank fired a shell, perhaps because the distance was not adjusted and I didn't know that this was just a test shot, anyway, this gun did not hit the target. Instead, a bunker behind a company of heavy machine guns was destroyed, and a dozen sandbags were blown into the sky.

This was followed by several more cannon shots, and several other tanks of the devil also fired, and four shells fired towards the heavy machine gun bunkers of a company. This time, there was no accident, one of the only two heavy machine guns in the company was blown into a pile of scrap metal, and a machine gunner and an ammunition man were also blown to pieces, and the firepower on the company's position suddenly weakened a lot.

Seeing this scene, the squadron leader of the Japanese army suddenly stepped out of the improvised counterattack position, holding the command knife in his hand and roaring angrily: "Kill the enemy and give it to the Great Japanese Empire and His Majesty the Emperor."

"Ah quack" A large group of devil soldiers rushed towards the position of the first company.

Not to be outdone, the soldiers of the first company were destroyed, and although one heavy machine gun was destroyed, the only remaining heavy machine gun still poured angry ammunition on the rushing Japanese troops. The few grenadiers that had been hidden were also taken out by Wang Zihan and blasted towards the few machine gunners of the Japanese army, while the soldiers in the trenches opened fire and cursed loudly at the attacking Japanese soldiers.

"Dog's day little devils, you're going to die"

"His ** little Toyo, grandpa invites you to eat guns"

"I'm an ancestor of the board, and our Eighth Route Army is not easy to mess with"

The battle on the Nantan position was still going on, and the Japanese North China Front Command was also transporting a large number of troops and materials to the North China Front, and even Tada Jun, commander of the North China Front, sent two telegrams to the Chinese Dispatch Army Command and the Kwantung Army Command in a week requesting support, hoping that the Chinese Dispatch Army Command would transfer the air regiments operating in the south to North China to support the North China Front in the operation.

But at this time, Japan turned all its attention to the West, because just half a month ago, the situation in Europe, to be precise, in Western Europe had changed dramatically, since the early morning of September 1 last year, Germany dispatched 57 divisions (1.5 million people), under the cover of 2,300 aircraft and 2,500 tanks, to launch a full-scale attack on Poland. Two days after Poland was attacked by the German army, Britain and France, which undertook obligations for Poland's defense, "declared war" on Germany, but to everyone's surprise, after Britain and France declared war on Germany, they remained unmoved, "waiting" the German army to concentrate all their efforts on Poland. After occupying Poland, Germany took advantage of the "appeasement" doctrine of Britain and France to step up preparations for aggression against northern and western Europe. In January 1940, the Germans began an offensive on the Western Front, with the main target being France. In December 1939, Germany submitted an ultimatum to the governments of Denmark and Norway in order to solve the worries of attacking France, demanding that the two countries immediately accept "German protection". The Danish king, fearing German force, surrendered and the Germans occupied Denmark. King Hassan VII of Norway rejected the German demands and resisted. However, the Minister of Defense, the fascist Quisling, instigated pro-German forces to sabotage the war of resistance. Soon, the Germans occupied all of Norway, and Gisling organized a puppet government. Hassan VII fled England and established a government-in-exile.

Japan's actions worried Japan, which was its ally in the First World War, was in Western Europe. Moreover, although Germany at this time showed great strength, it was not as strong as Germany in World War I, let alone as united at home in World War I, so the Japanese high-level adopted a silent attitude towards the German army's call for the whole of Northwest Europe, concentrated on dealing with the affairs on the Chinese battlefield, and urged the North China Front to speed up the speed and intensity ......of the attack on the Eighth Route Army's Han Yunhua Division.