At the moment, the columns have moved to the designated positions.

The 1st Column had already left Taiyuan in the east and advanced along the Zhengtai Road, less than 20 kilometers away from the defense area of the little devils, and the task of the 1st Column was to attack and advance along the Zhengtai Road and enter North China.

The 2nd and 3rd columns have now reached Jingzhou, and one of the columns and a large amount of equipment have been airlifted over, and the task of these two columns is to contain the Central China Front of the little devils, which is a feint.

The 4th, 5th, and two columns had already bypassed Zhangjiakou and moved between Zhangjiakou and Beiping, and the task of these two columns was to cut off the retreat of the little devils in Zhangjiakou and wait for an opportunity to attack Beiping.

The 6th and 8th columns mainly attacked Zhangjiakou; The 7th Column launched an attack from Beiyuan County to the south, echoing the 1st Column; The 9th and 10th columns served as reserves.

The little devils may have noticed such a big movement of the 36th Group Army, but the little devils were busy dealing with the air raids of the 36th Group Army a few days ago, and their response will be limited, and many troops will definitely not have had time to retract and will definitely not have time to mobilize.

As soon as Zhang Yunfei's order was issued, a big battle was about to break out.

At dawn the next day, the 6th and 8th columns outside Zhangjiakou were fully prepared and waiting for the time to attack.

The little devil has a heavy army stationed in Zhangjiakou, a total of two divisions, namely the 10th Division and the 30th Division, of which the 10th Division is still a type A division, which shows the importance of the little devil to Zhangjiakou.

However, a few days ago, the little devils in Zhangjiakou were also attacked by the 36 th Group Army, and the losses were relatively large, killing at least 5 to 6,000 people, destroying many military camps, and blowing up ammunition depots.

At present, the two divisions of the little devils are already highly nervous, worried about the large-scale attack of the 36 th Group Army, and last year, the scene of the 36 th Group Army's large-scale attack on Zhangjiakou is still vivid in the minds of many little devils, and their hearts are still palpitating.

Especially the little devils of the 10th Division, now they are all talking a little bit about the 36th Army has changed color, not only did they suffer heavy casualties last time, but their division commander Nanjiro was also killed, and in the end, even Nanjiro's body was not saved.

Now, nearly 70,000 men from two columns of the 36th Group Army appeared outside Zhangjiakou City, almost enclosing Zhangjiakou, and the little devils immediately discovered this phenomenon.

Nobuichi Nohira, the new commander of the 10th Division, and Yuji Tanaka, the commander of the 30th Division, came to the city wall of Zhangjiakou one after another, holding binoculars to carefully observe the situation ahead.

Last year, during the Battle of Zhangjiakou, the little devils' defensive positions outside the city were hit by the heavy artillery group of the 36th Group Army, and suffered heavy losses.

The two commanders of the Little Devil Division, seeing a large number of soldiers of the 36th Group Army outside the city, the faces of the two commanders of the Little Devil Division were very solemn.

At this time, although the sky was just slightly bright, and it was not very clear, the number of the 36th Group Army outside was at least tens of thousands, and both of them thought that it seemed that the 36th Group Army was going to attack Zhangjiakou again.

In the past, if we had seen such a large-scale preparation of the 36th Group Army to attack Zhangjiakou, we would have asked the North China Front Army for help, but now, the headquarters of the North China Front Army has been completely destroyed, and the newly established North China Front Army Headquarters in Tianjin has just been formed, and a large number of personnel are still in place.

What's more, a few days ago, the entire North China Front was subjected to a fierce air attack by the 36th Group Army, and all units suffered losses, even if reinforcements were requested, it was impossible.

Thinking of this, the two division commanders of the little devils had no choice but to report the situation to Tianjin while ordering their troops to prepare to hold on.

A large number of little devils entered the defensive positions outside the city, preparing to block the siege of the 36th Army.

Distance.

The joint headquarters of the 6th and 8th columns of the 36th Group Army, the commanders of the column, Chu Tianming and Sun Chuanzhi, were also holding binoculars to observe the movements of this little devil, and now there were more than 20 minutes before the attack time.

However, judging from the observation just now, the little devils seem to have discovered themselves, but it doesn't matter if they find it or not, even if all the troops are put on the surface, the two columns have so many troops, and they obviously have an advantage.

Seeing a large number of little devils' troops entering the defensive position outside the city, Chu Tianming couldn't help but smile, looked at the defensive position of the little devils in the distance with a telescope, and said lightly: "Old Sun, the little devils are ready to defend us outside the city again, this time, the little devils will have to pay a heavy price again." ”

Hearing this, Sun Chuanzhi also smiled slightly: "Old Chu, the little devils really don't remember their surnames for a long time, they were killed by our three 105mm howitzer groups last year, do you want to experience the power of our 155mm howitzers this year." ”

After saying that, both of them put down their binoculars, looked at each other, and laughed.

In this attack on Zhangjiakou, the tactics adopted were to encircle three and lack one, and the two columns surrounded the north, west, and south, leaving only the east leading to Beiping unencircled.

It is obvious that such a tactic is to drive the little devils out of Zhangjiakou and drive the little devils in the direction of Beiping, and everyone doesn't want to fight with the little devils in the city.

As long as the little devil goes out of the city, it will be much easier to fight, in the open field, the little devil will definitely be surrounded by everyone, between Zhangjiakou and Beiping, but there are two columns, and the little devil in Zhangjiakou will never be able to run to Beiping.

This time, the first round of attacks was still carried out with heavy artillery.

Two columns, a total of 4 heavy artillery brigades, all 155 mm howitzers are ready, this time, all 155 mm howitzers, will bombard the huge little devil defense position in the west of Zhangjiakou City.

At present, each column has two divisions and one heavy artillery brigade, each heavy artillery brigade is equipped with 60 155-mm howitzers, a total of 4 heavy artillery brigades, a total of 240 155-mm howitzers, can the little devil think that the strong fortifications can withstand it?

After such a long time of operation, the little devil has built a large number of fortifications outside Zhangjiakou, which are trenches, pillboxes, anti-artillery holes, and a lot of strongholds and watchtowers, and many of the fortifications are cement buildings.

But now, Chu Tianming and Sun Chuanzhi's purpose is obvious, that is, to break this turtle shell and enter the city. As long as you break through the strong fortifications of the little devils outside the city, those walls are not a cause for concern, and even with 105mm howitzers, they can be blown down.

A total of 4 heavy artillery brigades, a total of 4 huge artillery positions, this time, we will concentrate all artillery fire to shell the defensive positions in the west of Zhangjiakou City, as for the north and south of the city, they will adopt the strategy of encircling but not fighting.

The huge muzzle of a 155mm howitzer is far away from the huge defensive position in the west of the little devil city, all the artillery is ready, and all the artillery is on standby.

Six o'clock in the morning.

A dazzling signal flare, dragging a long tail, staggered into the sky, all the soldiers saw this signal flare, and many little devils in Zhangjiakou also saw this signal flare.

Many of the little devil officers on the Zhangjiakou city wall had a solemn face, watching this flare rise higher and higher, and thought in their hearts, is the attack of the 36th Group Army about to begin?

On the defensive position in the west of Zhangjiakou City, many little devils were ready, and a straight machine gun was erected, and in the pillboxes everywhere, many little devils were holding on to the machine guns, looking ahead, ready to meet the attack of the 36th Group Army.

Many little devil officers on the defensive position, seeing that the signal flare was getting higher and higher, kept looking ahead, but there was no 36th Group Army rushing up in front, these little devil officers thought in their hearts, could it be that this time, the 36th Group Army is another large-scale artillery bombardment.

True, the massive shelling of the 36th Army began.

As the flare lifted into the air, 240 155 howitzers roared in unison, and they all poured the shells on the defensive positions of the little devils in the west of the city.

A salvo of 240 155-mm howitzers, amazingly powerful.

First of all, the deafening sound of artillery fire on the major artillery positions was filled with gunsmoke, and because the artillery positions were at least seven or eight kilometers away from the little devils, the little devils could not see this scene, and the little devils only heard a large rumbling sound faintly in the distance.

Then, a large sharp whistling sound in the sky, more than two hundred shells, flew towards the position of the little devil.

Such a large-scale sharp whistling, many little devils have heard it, and many experienced little devils have heard the sound of heavy artillery group firing, and many little devils have thrown away their guns, wrapped their heads tightly, and hurriedly looked for this cover.

In Zhangjiakou City, the division commanders of the two little devils also heard this large whistling sound, both of them are experienced old devils, as soon as they heard this voice, they secretly screamed in their hearts, and thought, it is the heavy artillery group of the 36th Group Army.

The two hurriedly ran out of the command headquarters, looking at the large cannonballs flying at high speed in the sky, the faces of the two immediately changed greatly, such a large scale, at least two or three hundred heavy artillery guns fired at the same time.

Oh my God, it's crazy, it's unbelievable, the 36th Army used so many cannons in one go, and these cannons are clearly more than 105 mm caliber.

The two of them thought to themselves, could it be two or three hundred 155-caliber howitzers, if so, then the defensive positions outside the city would be dangerous.

(To be continued)