The day before, the march was less than 100 kilometers, and it took nearly three days to walk from Bianguan to Baode. However, after passing Baode, it only took 11 hours to rush to Xingxian, the capital of the Jinsui Military Region and the Jinsui Border Region. The whole army completed the turn in Xingxian and entered a mountainside south of the Xinglan Highway to hide.

Just when everyone, including the Jinsui 1st Sub-district that cooperated with them in this operation, thought that Yang Jicai was going to break into Lanxian County in one go, Yang Jicai ordered the troops to rest for eight hours. After the scouts were released, the main force had a hot meal for the whole army, and there was only one thing to do, which was to go to bed immediately.

All the technicians who accompanied the army immediately carried out the last overhaul of the tanks and trucks before the battle. In particular, the engines and walking structures of British Crusader tanks had to be overhauled and cleaned. The tracks also had to be adjusted once to ensure that the tank did not break down in wartime.

The bad road conditions on this road not only exhausted the whole army, but also caused considerable wear and tear on the vehicles. Although the vast countryside in Lanxian County is in the hands of the Jinsui Military Region, the highway from Lanxian to Jingle, including the county seat of Lanxian, is in the hands of the Japanese army.

That is to say, after crossing the boundary river area between Lan County and Xing County, the roundabout interspersed troops led by Yang Jicai were about to enter the enemy-occupied area. I am afraid that the troops will have to cross the next route in battle. Therefore, Yang Jicai ordered the already exhausted troops to rest for a few hours in advance to regain their body and energy.

As for the secrecy in the base area, Yang Jicai does not have to worry. The secrecy capability of the base areas in the customs is not inferior to that of the base areas of the Anti-Japanese Federation. Even though they were now quite close to the enemy-occupied area, the acting commander told him that he did not have to worry about their situation being discovered by the enemy. Stopping here to rest is no problem at all.

But now for Yang Jicai, it is not only that the troops urgently need to rest, but more importantly, the enemy situation, he needs the enemy situation on the way from Lanxian to Taiyuan. The hostile situation from Lanxian to Jingle is now very clear. The Japanese puppet army of Lanxian and Jingle, except for a few points on the highway between Lanxian and Jingle, has all shrunk back to the county seat.

Moreover, the defense of the two county towns was dominated by puppet troops, and the Japanese army together had only one and a half squadrons. However, the hostile situation on the road from Jingle to Taiyuan, especially around Taiyuan, is still unclear. How many enemy troops are in and around Taiyuan City, and how the equipment is now, are now a black eye.

This is undoubtedly a dangerous factor for Yang Jicai. If you are stuck by the Japanese puppet army in Taiyuan, then you will have to carry tens of thousands of prisoners of war and workers, and maybe a large number of family members, and you will only be annihilated by the Japanese army under the city of Taiyuan.

The Taiyuan defenders didn't care, Chief of Staff Wang had already contacted some Japanese puppet troops in northern Shanxi. Although there was no large-scale contact with the Japanese army, his hand completely blocked the passage for the Japanese army to outflank the Datong battlefield and reinforce the Suinan battlefield.

In addition, the troops who were drawn from the battlefield in Chanan and had already advanced to the front line of Julebao, as well as the troops who went south from the Jining battlefield. The entire Datong battlefield now has one armored division, one armored brigade, four infantry divisions, and three cavalry brigades. These troops are enough for Commander Chen, and strategically he can completely unleash his hands and feet, and he can attack and retreat.

This force was enough to deal with the First Army in Shanxi and threaten the hinterland of Shanxi. It is estimated that not only the First Army, but even the entire North China Front Army is now attracted by the Datong battlefield. At present, the entire First Army in Shanxi, including most of the strength of the North China Front, can no longer care about the hinterland of Shanxi.

However, the Japanese army, which was stationed in Yangquan and Yuci east of Taiyuan and was close to Taiyuan, was an unstable factor. There is also the Baijin Railway, which can reinforce the 36th Division of the Taiyuan battlefield at any time. At this time, troops may be deployed to strengthen Taiyuan's defenses. Taiyue and Taihang Military Regions, whether they can attract the two Japanese troops, Yang Jicai does not have too many guarantees in his heart.

In order to carry out this mission, the commander and political commissar of the Jinsui Eighth Division, who specially rushed back from the front line, can only provide the enemy information that Taiyuan City is now under full martial law. The entire passenger train on the Tongpu Railway has been completely suspended. The number of military trains passing through the Baijin Railway has now increased greatly.

Originally, the political department of the Jinsui Military Region and the political department of the Eighth Sub-district had begun to mobilize some workers out of the city one after another. But now there are Japanese puppet military police everywhere inside and outside the city, and the operation out of the city can only be temporarily stopped. The only thing that is clear now is that the location of the prisoner of war camp was found, as well as the internal structure.

This prisoner of war camp is located in the north lane of Xiaodongmen Street in the northeast corner of Taiyuan City, covering an area of about 300 acres. The structure is a three-entry compound, surrounded by a fence and a power grid. The soldiers in custody inside were originally a squad of the Japanese army and a squadron of the puppet army. However, now that the Japanese army has withdrawn, it has been replaced by a Japanese mine police squad that has been withdrawn from the Xishan Coal Mine into the city, and the puppet army has increased to two squadrons.

In addition, there was a detachment of military police, as well as more than 50 armed Japanese expatriates. However, some of the prisoners of war who had been sent to the Xishan Coal Mine as special workers, as well as some of the prisoners of war who had been sent to various bases outside the city to work as coolies, had now been re-sent back to the concentration camps. The Japanese dug another trench three meters deep along the prisoner of war camp. At the same time, four more pillboxes and two watchtowers were added in the direction of the city walls.

In addition to these, because the Japanese army has been coming in and out, the number of defenders in the entire Taiyuan City, except for the fixed number of puppet troops, the number of Japanese troops is not clear now. However, it should be noted that the expatriates in the city have all been armed.

As for the situation around Taiyuan City, because it is bounded by the Tongpu Railway, the west is the territory of the Jinsui Eighth Division, and the east is the activity area of the Jin-Cha-Ji Second Division. The two sub-districts belong to two organized units, and there are still certain shortcomings in the coordination between them. In addition, the lack of communication equipment and the communication between them are difficult to meet the intelligence needs of this operation.

The troops of the Eighth Division can only provide some information about Luxi, and as for Ludong, which is the jurisdiction of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region and the Taihang Military Region, the Jinsui Military Region is not clear. Although Taihang and the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, which was active here, also provided some information, the current situation is not clear because of the frequent movements of Japanese troops and the fact that the Jinsui Military Region has no direct contact with the subordinate units of the two military regions.

However, the Eighth Division provided a very important piece of information, that is, most of the Japanese strongholds around Taiyuan had been handed over to the puppet army for defense. Even the Japanese mine police in Taiyuan Xishan Coal Mine withdrew to Taiyuan City. The Japanese puppet army in Fangshan County and Lishi County has all been evacuated, and now the first part of the Jin Sui Army has entered Fangshan County.

Hearing this news, Yang Jicai pondered for a long time before looking at the leaders of the Jinsui Military Region in front of him and said: "Several leaders, now the first army of the entire Shanxi is clearly preparing to go all out to deal with our army on the same line in the north of Shanxi. But now that they are short of troops, they want to take advantage of the internal contradictions among the Chinese and provoke friction among the Chinese, so that a sandpiper and a mussel can compete with each other and the fisherman will benefit. ”

"I feel that giving up Fangshan County may be the first step for them to act. Next, Jingle, Lanxian, and even Lan and Wu, they will all give up to the second war zone if they don't do well. And as long as they control the important places of Shenchi, Ningwu, Ninghuabao, and Gujiao, they will also control the bridgehead of the westward expansion to recapture these places in their own hands. ”

"I think that since we have this operation, since we have already opened Taiyuan, we will rescue these prisoners. So instead of letting the Japanese use this opportunity to provoke disputes among us Chinese. It is better for us to take advantage of the Japanese army's shrinkage of forces and concentrate the vital forces on the northern front, and the entire northwest of Shanxi is quite empty at the moment. ”

"Concentrate forces to take Lanxian and Jingle, relying on Yunzhong Mountain and Luya Mountain in the east and north, and Malian Mountain, Bailong Mountain, and Heichashan Mountain in the south as natural defensive positions, so as to ensure the safety of the capital of Xingxian and our Jinsui border region and the military region's garrison, and expand the depth of defense in northern Shaanxi to the east."

Yang Jicai's ideas are very full, but the reality is very backbone. The vast majority of the main forces of the Jinsui Military Region have already left the pass, and the few main regiments left behind, together with some troops of the Jizhong Military Region that have withdrawn to the northwest of Shanxi Province to rest and recuperate, are now fighting with Mu Changqiu on the battlefield in northern Shanxi. The main force of the remaining troops has also gone north, and at this time they are cooperating with Wang Minggui's roundabout interspersed troops on the front line of killing the tiger.

At present, the entire Jinsui Military Region in the northwest region of Shanxi, in addition to some county and district armed forces and military engineering teams, as well as the second column of the decisive death that is currently besieging Wuzhai in order to contain the enemy of Shenchi and Ningwu who cannot go north, still maintains a fully equipped and fully manned system.

Each of the remaining divisions now has only one or two separate battalions at its disposal, as well as some of the county brigades. However, the mobile combat force at the disposal of the military region is only two main regiments and several battalions of the fourth column. And one of the two main regiments will have to stay in Xingxian County, where the military region and the border government are located.

Last year, the Japanese army carried out successive autumn and winter sweeps, although the scale of the sweep against the Jinsui Military Region was the smallest, and the time was relatively short. However, after continuous hard fighting, the losses of the Jinsui Military Region were still very large. In the entire Jinsui base area, except for the county seat of Biguan, almost all the county towns of Baode, Hequ, Xingxian, Qilan, Wuzhai, and Ningwu, which originally controlled zhì, fell in this sweep.

Although around the Spring Festival this year, taking advantage of the opportunity of the Japanese army's shrinking forces, Baode, Hequ, and Xingxian were recovered, but the counties of Qilan, Wuzhai, and Ningwu were still in the hands of the Japanese puppet army. In the continuous bitter fighting, the amount of ammunition consumed by the hoarding far exceeded that of previous sweeps.

Except for the part of the reserve that was transported across the Yellow River in advance, the rest of the losses were great. The casualties of the troops, especially the old backbones, were not light. In order to ensure the success of this campaign, the central government was unable to support the food and clothing of the army in the base area in the northwest of Shanxi. He even had no choice but to transfer some of the backbone troops back to the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo border region for recuperation.

At present, in order to cooperate with the westward advance of the Anti-Japanese Alliance, the Jinsui Military Region can be regarded as smashing the pot and selling iron when the vitality of the troops is far from recovering. Most of the main forces that had been painstakingly preserved last year were brought out of the pass, and there were not many troops left behind in the entire base area. Moreover, the equipment transferred from the anti-union was also equipped with the main force.

Except for the second column of the left-behind troops, which is still well-equipped, the rest of the troops basically use the old guys. The troops that can be drawn out to participate in the war now are not only poorly equipped, but also some old guns such as Jin-made rifles and old sleeves. Moreover, the amount of ammunition was only barely enough to fight a few harassment wars before the two million rounds of ammunition handed over by Yang Jicai this time.

As for the artillery, apart from the mortar company of the second column and the mortar company of each of the two main regiments, the remaining troops of the whole military region currently have only one company of mountain artillery and one company of infantry artillery, two companies of rapid-fire guns, and two field guns, and the number of shells is not large.

This book was first published from 17K Novel Network, the first time to see the genuine content! R405