[Anti-Japanese Iron Blood King] Chapter 39: Tianzhen

Soon the order of the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army was transmitted to the anti-Japanese guerrilla detachment in Chanan through the 120th Division, and after reading the telegram, Ma Zheng immediately called a meeting of the main officers of the detachment.

The meeting was brief, simply conveying the orders of the head of the headquarters, followed by a discussion of the troop plan. In the end, it was decided that Yun Jian would lead a brigade to stay in the base area, and Ma Zheng would lead two infantry brigades, as well as a guard squadron, a cavalry squadron, a machine gun squadron, and a special operations brigade to advance into northern Jinbei.

The troops heading south will wait for an opportunity to seize Tianzhen and Yanggao counties in accordance with the orders of the head of the general headquarters, so as to cope with the anti-sweeping operations of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region. The tasks of the remaining troops are also very heavy, in addition to being responsible for defending the base area and preventing retaliation from the Japanese army. At the same time, it is also necessary to go deep into the nearby towns and villages to publicize the glorious achievements of the Eighth Route Army in this great war, and extensively mobilize the masses to join the army.

Originally, according to Ma Zheng's order, the troops were preparing to return to their respective stations, but now they don't need it, they only need to replenish the consumed ammunition and go to the battlefield.

On March 3, 38, just one day after repelling the attack of the 26th Division of the Japanese Army, Ma Zheng led two infantry brigades, three equipment squadrons and a special operations brigade totaling more than 2,900 people to Tianzhen County, more than 100 miles away, taking advantage of the darkness of night.

Before the troops were mobilized, Ma Zheng sent the combat mission of sending troops to northern Shanxi to all battalions, and in Ma Zheng's original words, he was going to be a firefighter and fighting fires in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region.

On the road, Ma Zheng was analyzing the strength of the enemy and us as he walked, and to tell the truth, if we compare the strength, firepower, and quality of the troops on both sides, the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region is really hanging this time.

In order to wipe out the strength of the Eighth Route Army in the occupied area in one fell swoop, the Japanese army mobilized two infantry divisions and one infantry brigade, with a total strength of more than 50,000 people.

Although the strength of the Eighth Route Army was increased compared with when it crossed the Yellow River in the east, it was only more than 70,000 people, and the garrisons were relatively scattered. There were only more than 20,000 people facing the 50,000 Japanese army, and the core area of this battle was only less than 5,000 people in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, and there were only more than 6,000 people including the newly recruited recruits and nearby militiamen, which was not a hierarchical opponent compared with the Japanese army.

In addition, the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region has just repelled the Japanese army's encirclement and suppression operations, and the troops have lost a lot of personnel from top to bottom, and the most important thing is that there is an extreme shortage of weapons, equipment, and ammunition, which is simply not enough to fight another major war with the Japanese army, so the form is quite grim.

Therefore, the requirement of the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army in this battle was not to repel the Japanese attack, but to smash the Japanese army's attempt to gather and annihilate the main force of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, and to meet the main force of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region and the personnel of the organs to break through.

The main forces of the Japanese attack were the 14th Division of Tsuchihara and the 20th Division of Kawagishi Bunzaburo, and the only brigade was an independent mixed 2nd Brigade. In fact, the main enemy of the Chanan anti-Japanese guerrilla detachment was not the two infantry divisions, they would be pinned down by the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, and what Ma Zheng's unit really had to face was the independent mixed second brigade that belonged to the battle sequence of the army stationed in Mongolia.

Ma Zheng is the most familiar with this brigade, not only Ma Zheng is familiar, in fact, a considerable number of Chinese know this brigade, because this brigade has a brigade commander who is familiar to all Chinese -- Abe Guixiu.

As the highest-ranking Japanese commander killed by the Eighth Route Army in the history of the Anti-Japanese War, Abe's reputation in China was not much weaker than that of Terauchi Shouichi and Okamura Ninji, and even surpassed.

The establishment of the second brigade is relatively simple, and the entire brigade has five infantry brigades, one artillery brigade, one engineer brigade, and one communications brigade, with a total strength of about 5,200 people.

According to the information sent by the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army before, at present, the first independent mixed brigade has been stationed in Tianzhen County, an important town in northern Shanxi, but the main force is still resting in Yangyuan. Ma Zheng felt that this might be an opportunity for them, but whether they could do it or when they could do it had to be investigated on the spot to know.

After 2 days and 2 nights of rapid marching, the anti-Japanese detachment of Chanan went all the way south and finally arrived at Tianzhen County, the northernmost part of Shanxi Province.

As soon as he arrived at the periphery of Tianzhen, Ma Zheng immediately sent a reconnaissance force to reconnoiter the enemy's situation, no wonder Ma Zheng was so anxious, he was worried about the safety of the base area.

Although they had just repelled the all-out attack of the 26th Division on the base area, they also captured Jining, Shangdu and other towns in one fell swoop, which greatly deterred the enemy. However, Ma Zheng knew very well that although the results of this battle were not small, the damage caused to the Japanese army was very small, and he only killed and wounded a few hundred of the 16,000 people of the entire 26th Division, which can only be said to have hurt the skin.

Moreover, through the fighting some time ago, I believe that the Japanese army has basically figured out the details of the anti-Japanese guerrilla detachment in Chanan. With the Japanese army's retributive character, it was possible to launch another large-scale attack at any time. Especially since the main force of the detachment was scattered on three mountains, this was a good opportunity for the Japanese army to divide and encircle and annihilate.

Ma Zheng was not too worried when the main force of the department was still there, even if the Japanese army really came, he believed that he would be able to deal with it calmly. But now that the main force is heading south, as long as his side starts fighting, the Mongolian army will definitely get the news, and with Ma Zheng's understanding of the old thing of Liannuma Pan, he will definitely order the 26th Division to launch an all-out attack on the base area as soon as possible.

Therefore, he did not have time to deal with the Japanese army, so he either hid in the shadows and did not make a move, or he cleanly relieved the worries of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region.

Soon the scouts sent out returned, and after reconnaissance, Ma Zheng learned that the Japanese troops in Tianzhen County were really good. In addition to a reinforced squadron originally stationed in the city, a Japanese army of more than 500 men and equipped with artillery was now stationed.

Hearing this, Ma Zheng immediately frowned. The forefront of the battlefield is really in the areas of Yangyuan, Hunyuan, Guangling, and Weixian, and relatively speaking, Tianzhen and Yanggao are in the rear. Ma Zheng originally thought that the Japanese troops in Tianzhen had gone south to participate in the encirclement and suppression of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, but now they should be turning the ravine with the Eighth Route Army in Wei County, and the defense of Tianzhen County should be very empty.

But now it seems that this is not the case at all, and the Japanese army seems to have known that they may attack Tianzhen, otherwise it would be impossible to station so many troops in the city. It's a lot harder to do now.

In fact, Ma Zheng overestimated the importance of the Japanese army to him, and the reason why the Japanese army stationed so many troops in Tianzhen County was not to defend him, but because of this place in Tianzhen.

You must know that Tianzhen County is not an ordinary small county town, as an important node of the Pingsui Railway, it guards the northeast gateway of the military town of Datong, and its strategic position is very important. In addition, this time the Japanese army went south to attack the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, and it was the duty of the army to become the logistics base of the army, so the Japanese army placed an infantry brigade here that was not fully staffed.

However, Ma Zheng didn't know this, all he could think of was that the Japanese army had judged that they might attack the innocent county.

When Ma Zheng told Wu Xiuda and others about the situation, everyone frowned. Although their weapons and equipment are not worse than those of the Japanese army, and they have a lot of troops, they have no possibility of storming Tianzhen at all.

You must know that Tianzhen has always been a battleground for soldiers, not only the terrain is dangerous, but also there are a large number of city fortifications. Even when the Japanese army was besieging Naïve with heavy troops, more than 10,000 people of the 69th Army of the National Revolutionary Army stationed in Tianzhen relied on the terrain to hold on for 9 days.

At that time, when the Japanese army attacked Tianzhen, it not only used aircraft artillery, but also used strategic heavy artillery troops.

Compared with the Japanese army, he had neither aircraft artillery nor heavy artillery. The only advantage is to attack it by surprise, but now it has also been seen through by the Japanese army! Whether to fight or not, how to fight has become an important issue in front of Ma Zheng.