Chapter 630: Conquering Jingcheng Pass

On 2 April, Okamura Ningji divided into six routes with a group of 320,000 heavy troops, and swept the base area of the Taihang Mountains from south to north with Changzhi in southern Jin Province as the base point.

Tang Qiusheng's corps and Feng Jiwu's corps, which had already been ready to go, feinted to attack Jingcheng Pass in front with the strength of two brigades, and the main force of the troops divided into two routes from the old pass on the right flank and the fork on the left flank, and adopted a pincer offensive to pounce on the left and right flanks of Jingcheng Pass.

260,000 troops, like a tide to the Japanese army, at this time of the Jingcheng Pass, the Japanese garrison, almost empty, at the beginning, Xiangyue Qingsi mobilized 210,000 troops, personally commanded the onslaught of Niangzi Pass, intending to open the east gate to Taiyuan, unexpectedly, for Feng Jiwu to gallop to help the troops blocked, stopped in front of Niangzi Pass.

After several fierce battles, the Japanese army could not break through the defensive position of Niangzi Pass, and Feng Jiwu could not repel the Japanese army, and the two sides formed a confrontation trend, but it was cheap Feng Jiwu, and successively digested the troops of the five divisions of Yan Xishan's Jin Army, and took the original five brigades of the independent division as the backbone, and formed the Niangzi Pass garrison corps with more than 120,000 troops, and today, it can finally take the initiative to attack.

Today, one division and one brigade will be withdrawn, and the strength of the troops will be reduced again and again, until now, there is only one division and one brigade with less than 40,000 troops, and under the attack of 260,000 horses and horses of the two main corps of the independent division divided into two directions, the strength of the troops is simply insufficient, and the independent division that has to deal with the frontal attack cannot be reached, and it is overstretched and in a state of hard support.

And Tang Qiusheng's corps and Feng Jiwu's corps are the two main corps of the independent division, and the firepower is so strong that only a few field brigades directly under Tang Qiuli slightly surpass him, although Feng Jiwu's corps was formed late, but, under Feng Jiwu's careful training, he used the Japanese army in Jingcheng Pass as a sparring partner, and he practiced a good skill.

For the battle of Jingcheng Pass, Tang Qiusheng and Feng Jiwu planned for a long time, since receiving the division commander's battle order, the reconnaissance of Jingcheng Pass has not stopped for a day, the Japanese garrison, the deployment of troops, the fortifications are strong, the location of the pillboxes and hidden forts, are all clearly felt, each artillery commander has a detailed map of the deployment of Japanese fortifications, before the war, the coordinates of the Japanese pillboxes, hidden forts and fortifications have been marked on the map.

Fighting such a battle, Tang Qiusheng and Feng Jiwu had the same point of view, using the absolute superiority of firepower to destroy the Japanese fortresses and fortifications, in a word, with artillery bombardment, two corps, there were as many as five brigades of heavy artillery alone, not counting the artillery regiments directly under each brigade, thousands of artillery pieces lined up, the muzzle of the cannon spewed flames, the sound of artillery was earth-shattering, according to the coordinates determined in advance, the division of labor was responsible, and countless shells, with a scream, smashed on the Japanese position.

Zheng Yong, commander of the 1st Artillery Brigade of the Independent Division, who temporarily served as the commander-in-chief of the artillery, gave tasks to the commanders of the artillery brigades and regiments, and the artillerymen thoroughly carried out the commander's orders.

Under such artillery fire, the shadow of the infantry of the independent division has not yet been seen, and the troops of the Japanese garrison at Jingcheng Pass have been reduced by more than one-fifth.

In two hours, the bombardment of thousands of artillery pieces, hundreds of thousands of shells, and tons of steel fell on the Japanese position, and all barbed wire, deer firewood, trenches, fortifications, and open bunkers were gone, only piles of new soil were turned up, and under the cover of artillery fire, the infantry of the independent division moved to the front of the Japanese position.

The shelling stopped, the Japanese soldiers came out of the soil, with a buzzing sound of tinnitus, dizzy and trembling to climb to the position, this fierce artillery fire, the Japanese army from officers to soldiers, all frightened, have been subjected to shells, never suffered so many shells, the Chinese are going crazy.

The trumpet of the Chinese army sounded, the Japanese soldiers clenched the weapons in their hands, their eyes were fixed on the front, at this time, the artillery fire that had been stopped, began to roar again, the Japanese soldiers exposed in the fortifications, were blown up in scattered places, stumps and broken arms flew with the soil, shelling for 30 minutes, the Japanese soldiers on the first line, almost wiped out, the Japanese commander took out the reserve troops, replenished to the front-line position.

The trumpet of the Chinese army's charge sounded again, and the Japanese soldiers looked forward to the appearance of Chinese soldiers in the crosshairs of the muzzles, as long as they were no longer bombed by shells, it was also a kind of happiness to die immediately, this was after the Battle of Jingcheng Pass, hundreds of Japanese officers and soldiers who escaped by luck, after many hardships and fled back to Beiping, when Okamura Ninji personally summoned them, what they said to His Excellency the commander, that shelling, left a permanent shadow in the hearts of these Japanese soldiers.

The expected figure of the Chinese soldier did not appear, waiting for the mortar shells that flew like meteors in the sky, the Japanese soldiers closed their eyes in pain, and came again, Amaterasu, where did the Chinese get artillery, did they popularize it in the troops? This tactic was the idea of Zheng Yong, the temporary artillery commander, who wanted to give full play to his superiority in firepower and destroy as many Japanese forces as possible before the infantry attacked, so as to reduce the casualties of the troops.

Two rounds of large-caliber artillery covered the shelling in all directions, and the mortar movement to the front of the Japanese position, this tactic was very effective, the Japanese commander put into the reserve troops of the front-line position, and suffered heavy casualties, this time, the infantry of the independent division, really launched a charge, and the Japanese soldiers who could shoot were very few, often just firing a shot, attracting light and heavy machine gun bullets.

The Japanese army collapsed on all fronts, and the speed of collapse exceeded their own expectations, and the troops on the positions were almost tossed under this despicable means of the Chinese, and they fled from the trenches one after another, retreating in depth, and in only three and a half hours, the first-line and second-line positions at Jingxian Pass fell into the hands of the independent division troops, and more than 40,000 Japanese troops remained here with more than 15,000 corpses.

The commander of the Japanese division, who had retreated to the core position, was reporting to Okamura Ninji in a hoarse voice, "Your Excellency, at dawn today, our Jingcheng Pass defense line was suddenly fiercely attacked by the main force of the independent division, and the fierce battle lasted for three and a half hours, and all the first-line and second-line positions were lost.

In front of the map, Okamura Ningji, who was looking at the Taihang Mountains, shuddered suddenly, the pencil in his hand was broken in two, and he asked suspiciously, "Are you sure that it is the main force of the independent division?" The commander of the Japanese division was about to cry, "Your Excellency Commander, it is sure that it is the main force of the independent division, with a strength of no less than 200,000 troops, and more than 100,000 shells fell on my head" Needless to say, the fierce sound of gunfire and artillery clearly reached Okamura Ninji's ears.

Okamura Ningji was in the headquarters of Changzhi, pacing back and forth, his eyes were shining, his staff and staff officers, he didn't dare to look at the commander like a donkey, Okamura Ningji is now in a dilemma, Tang Qiuli, who can't find it, suddenly appeared in the direction of Jingcheng Pass, and launched an attack, this branch of the devil, choose a good time

Okamura Ningji secretly sighed that his troops are now scattered all over the Taihang Mountains and gathered back, and they can't do it in two or three days, and it is too late to rescue Jingcheng Pass, Jingcheng Pass is lost, Shijiazhuang's gateway is opened, and Shijiazhuang is lost, and the southern Hebei region, which is in an important location, will fall into the hands of Tang Qiuli, and the Pingjin region, which has weak troops, will be threatened.

Give up the plan to sweep Tang Qiuli's nest in the Taihang Mountains, quickly return to Pingjin, and plan his own strategic intentions for many days will come to naught, and the plan of eliminating Tang Qiuli's logistics base and drawing salaries from the bottom of the kettle will not be realized at all.

Okamura Ningji sighed deeply, the empire's troops in North China are still small, if he has another 1.5 million troops in his hands, why is it like now, compared to China, which has a population of hundreds of millions, the human resources of the Great Japanese Empire are not a scarcity that can be said to be exhausted, in fact, not only people, that bullshit island country, lacks everything, there is no lack of bestiality, ** and aggression and greed in the bones.

When Okamura Ningji sighed, he didn't know that Tang Qiuli's available troops were still less than the Japanese army, but the Japanese had too much appetite and wanted to swallow North China in one bite, occupying so many places and big cities, and they were not afraid of dying, and they guarded everywhere, and they couldn't give up that point, and the mobile force was relatively insufficient.

Okamura Ningci's current mood is more than a "difficult" word that can be said, sweeping the Taihang Mountain base area, and it seems that it is about to be completed, but Tang Qiuli is fighting in his own backyard, Jingcheng Pass and Shijiazhuang cannot be lost, and the plan to sweep the Taihang Mountain cannot be changed, this is the conclusion that Okamura Ningci came to after thinking about it painfully.

"Order, the 11th Division and the 7th Division of the Datong Front Line, each leave a wing of troops, continue to monitor the Jin army troops on the opposite side, the main force immediately galloped to the aid of Jingcheng Pass, Hongjing, Shiyao direction of the two-way sweeping troops, through Liaoyang, Heshun, Yangquan, rush to attack Niangzi Pass, from behind the siege of Jingcheng Pass, after that, immediately raid Taiyuan, Beiping, Tianjin garrison troops, each sent half of the troops, urgently rushed to Shijiazhuang to deploy, Jingcheng Pass troops, stubbornly guarded for reinforcements, this order was immediately executed" Okamura Ningji gritted his teeth and issued a series of orders.

This is a typical emergency method of demolishing the east wall and making up the west wall, and Okamura Ningji also started the idea of Taiyuan, but when Okamura Ningji transferred his troops, the battle of Jingcheng Pass was nearing the end, and the remaining more than 25,000 Japanese troops were compressed in the core position, like a little fire in the wind, which would be extinguished at any time.

(To be continued)