Under the Japanese army's desperate attack, in the last three days of hard fighting, Yang Jicai's casualty figure rose rapidly almost every day. In the last three days, the number of casualties was almost equal to the sum of the previous battles. Not only did the number of Japanese troops on the battlefield increase, but as time progressed, heavy artillery and aircraft also appeared on the battlefield.

Only on the first day of the countdown, the regiment commanded by Su Yingqi was originally reinforced with light casualties in the previous battle, and only one battalion was left in the patchwork. A regiment of the Jin-Cha-Ji 4th Sub-district and a basic battalion of the Jin-Sui 4th Sub-district deployed in the south of the city could only be reduced to four platoons together.

Even though all the troops in Hexi have been withdrawn, because the number of casualties is getting bigger and bigger, the use of troops has become unsustainable, Yang Jicai can only shrink his position again, shrinking the defensive position in the south of the city to the line from Shuangta Temple to the old military camp. Even the strategic support point in the south of the city, the front line of Dayingpan was completely blown up by him, and all of them were abandoned.

On the front line in the east of the city, abandon all the positions east of the Dongshan Niucamel Village, and shrink the troops to the first line of the mountain. Even Yulinping, the strategic support point and commanding heights in the northeast of Niuhuo Village, were abandoned by him. Giving up Yulinping is almost equivalent to giving up the entire Dongshan deep area.

Giving up Yulinping is also a helpless move for Yang Jicai. Do not disperse the Japanese troops, and concentrate limited forces to defend the core area of Dongshan. If the Japanese army's group offensive continues, the entire Dongshan defense line will be broken through at all, which will bring about the complete collapse of the entire front. Because in the entire depth of his eastern front, there were already no troops to defend. If we continue to fight like eggs, all the troops on the Eastern Front will be consumed little by little.

Fortunately, at this time, the last batch of equipment of Taiyuan Steelmaking Plant has been roughly disassembled. Most of the blast furnaces and open hearths have been dismantled and placed on a train. At present, only part of the coking equipment in the entire steel mill has not been completely disassembled.

When the countdown entered the early morning of the penultimate day, after continuous fighting, the entire Taiyuan city experienced the retreat of the Jin Sui army and the relocation of the Japanese, and the only remaining heavy industry was basically empty. The director of the Eighth Division's Political Department, who is responsible for dismantling the rest of the equipment, has guaranteed that it will be dismantled within 24 hours.

But the last 24 hours were the most difficult 24 hours Yang Jicai had ever spent since he was in the army. With such a small number of troops in hand, he has been fighting fiercely for eight days since he arrived in Taiyuan. Not only did the troops suffer heavy casualties, but the troops who had not been able to rest and recuperate in continuous combat were also extremely tired. The most important thing is the change in the battle situation, which makes him almost unable to support it.

After receiving the notice from the director of the political department of the Eighth Division, before Yang Jicai could take a breath, the battle situation suddenly changed. The 32nd Division of the Japanese Army was frustrated in a long-term frontal attack, because it was not clear about the situation and feared that the flanks would be surrounded by enemy forces in depth, so they simply gave up the battle for the key points of Dongshan one by one.

Mobilize the strength of an entire brigade and take advantage of the fact that the front of the defense of Dongshan is firmly attracted, and launch a counterattack from the front with a force. At the same time, with a part of the troops, carrying a mountain artillery and two 92 infantry guns, as well as four 92 heavy machine guns, bypassed the northeast of Taiyuan City, Niuhuozhai and Chenjiayu, due east of the first line of Xiaoyaotou, from between Dayaotou and Naoma, broke through the defense of only one reinforced platoon of the Jinchaji Fourth Division, and suddenly appeared in Scissors Bay under Taiyuan City.

Once the Japanese army seizes Jianzi Bay, even if they do not attack, they can completely block the Tongpu Railway by directly using artillery fire. At this moment, the trains, which were loaded with dismantled equipment and parked on the special railway line of the steel mill, whether they were heading south or north, would be within the range of Japanese artillery fire.

Once the Japanese artillery opened fire from the position of Scissors Bay, I am afraid that all this equipment will be destroyed. The most important thing is that if the Japanese army gains a foothold on the front line of Scissors Bay, it will not be as simple as being hammered into the depth of defense on the Eastern Front. The most important thing is that it is not only the Tongpu Railway and Taiyuan Dongcheng that are threatened. Even the entire defense of Dongshan is in danger of being attacked by the enemy.

Here in the northwest direction is the barrier Wohu Mountain in the northwest direction of Taiyuan, in the northeast direction is the cow camel village, and to the south is the southeast defense point Haojiagou line. To the west is the Taiyuan Basin, which is a flat terrain, which is extremely conducive to the Japanese army to give full play to its advantages in strength and impact.

As soon as the first line of Scissors Bay was lost, the Dongshan defense line could be said to be shaken across the board. From here, the Japanese army could directly attack behind the various defense points of Higashiyama and cut off the supply routes of each defense point of Dongshan. All positions on the front line of Dongshan will face a situation where ammunition and supplies cannot be delivered, and the wounded will not be able to evacuate.

In other words, once the Japanese army is allowed to gain a foothold in Scissors Bay, all Yang Jicai's previous efforts will be in vain. Even if there are no troops to adjust at the moment, Yang Jicai clearly knows that this Japanese army must be defeated at any cost. Retaking the first line of Scissors Bay has become the key to whether or not we can hold on to these last 24 hours.

Faced with the critical situation, Yang Jicai, whose reserves had been exhausted. Two infantry platoons were drawn from the troops monitoring the remnants of the Japanese army in the city, and five infantry squads were drawn from the southern front to form a reinforced infantry company plus three tanks, and all artillery fire was concentrated for fire cover. With the cooperation of a company of the Jinsui Fourth Division, which was urgently transferred from the battlefield in the west of the city, this Japanese army that had broken through into the depth was beaten out at any cost.

The commander of the Jin-Cha-Ji No. 4 Division immediately rushed to Niuhuo Village and commanded two mortars, a heavy machine gun platoon, and a double-14 anti-aircraft machine gun reinforced by the Anti-Japanese Union to provide fire support from the flanks. And from the front line of Chenjiayu, the best company of the Jin-Cha-Ji Fourth Division was drawn out to cooperate with the frontal counterattack from the flank direction.

Yang Jicai handed over the southern front to Su Yingqi, and he rushed to the eastern front to personally command this tactical counterattack. However, as soon as his counterattacking troops entered the battlefield, they were suppressed by the intensive artillery fire of the Japanese from the depths. Yang Jicai clearly judged the caliber of the artillery shells that came from the depth of the Japanese army in Dongshan, and that there was at least one squadron of Taisho 4 150 howitzers and a field artillery squadron covering this Japanese assault.

The sudden appearance of this heavy artillery squadron of the Japanese army on the Eastern Front made Yang Jicai feel a little surprised. Although the Taisho four-year 150 howitzer has a short range, the power of this thing is there. The most important thing is how much heavy artillery has been transferred this time.

There is still no rest of the heavy artillery units participating in the battle, and there is no information coming from the troops of the Southern Hebei Military Region that are currently harassing the 32nd Division in the east. If the Japanese heavy artillery only had these two, it would not have much impact on the situation of the war. However, if the Japanese heavy artillery units are approaching one after another, it will pose a great threat to their own retreat.

In mountain warfare, howitzers are much more threatening than field artillery with straight ballistics. In particular, large-caliber howitzers, in addition to being inconvenient, are also much more powerful than mountain artillery. The fortifications on the first line from Niucamel Village to Dayaotou, except for Niucamel Village, which was the original fortification of the Japanese army, the rest of the fortifications were field fortifications, and they could not resist a few cannons anyway.

After ascertaining this situation, Yang Jicai divided all the artillery in his hands into three parts. Fire suppression of Japanese artillery with cannons. The mountain artillery carried out fire coverage behind the Japanese troops on the front line of Scissors Bay, cutting off the connection between the Japanese troops on the front line of Scissors Bay and the depth.

On the front, the only infantry artillery company, plus two 120-millimeter mortars under Su Yingqi's command, smashed into the Japanese with all their firepower. All the anti-aircraft weapons were transferred by him. Anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft guns suppressed the forward fire of the Japanese army by flat fire, covering infantry and tanks for counter-assault.

Even in the case of a cannon with a straight trajectory, it was difficult to suppress the howitzers deployed by the Japanese army in the mountains behind them. Yang Jicai urgently repacked two 76-mm cannons in the scrap warehouse of the Northwest Steelmaking Plant, and threw away the Jin Suijun that had been turned out, and the idle artillery carriage of the Jin Type 16 105 Mountain Cannon that the Japanese were preparing to return to the furnace to make steelmaking was converted into howitzers. Dragged to the Taiyuan city wall, taking advantage of the firing range, the heavy howitzers of the Japanese army were suppressed by shooting at a large elevation angle.

As for whether these two gun mounts, which have been produced for almost 20 years and are not well-made, can support the strong charge shooting of these two 76-mm cannons, it is not something that Yang Jicai can worry about. At present, as long as these two 150 howitzers that should be deployed in the mountains southeast of Mengjiajing can be defeated, for Yang Jicai, it is a key factor in whether this counterattack operation can achieve the results he wants.

The crossfire of these two 150 heavy guns can steadily block the entrance to the mountain with its back to Dongshan Scissors Bay. If you don't knock out these two howitzers, you will recapture the first line of Scissors Bay, and it will be difficult to gain a foothold there. The Japanese army, which had already advanced to the depth of Dongshan, could recapture Jianzi Bay at any time under the cover of deep artillery fire.

Even if a division of the Japanese army did not come all, the follow-up troops that could be put into the battlefield far exceeded their own depleted soldiers. The condescending Japanese army can turn Scissors Bay into a meat grinder. The only amount of troops he has now is completely consumed on the key point of Scissors Bay. Retaking Scissors Bay is not the ultimate goal, if you can't recapture the mountain pass, even if you recapture Scissors Bay, you won't be able to hold this place.

In this counterattack at Scissors Bay, Yang Jicai gave only one order to the artillerymen, that is, not to feel sorry for the shells. As long as the first line of Scissors Bay can be recaptured, it doesn't matter if all the shells are gone. Listening to Yang Jicai's order, the commander of the Jinchaji Fourth Division frowned a little, but in the end he didn't say anything. He knew very well that this reinforcement company was probably going to run out.

After receiving Yang Jicai's request for help, the aviation unit dispatched six Battelle bombers carrying napalm bombs to bomb the front line of Scissors Bay in turn. However, despite the great results, before the counterattack troops mobilized by Yang Jicai were in place, the Japanese army's continued development towards the Tongpu Railway was contained. However, all six Battle bombers were shot down by the anti-aircraft weapons deployed by the Japanese army in depth.

Seeing that the six bombers were shot down in front of him, Yang Jicai, who had already understood that the 32nd Division had obviously made some preparations for the air support of the confrontation alliance, already knew that in this counterattack operation, the air support might not be able to be relied on. The number of new light bombers of this type of headquarters that has already formed combat effectiveness is not very large.

The loss of all six aircraft in a short period of time in one battle will certainly make the aviation have some scruples when using such bombers, and in the next battle, the amount invested will definitely not be too much. In this counterattack, I am afraid that we still have to test the ground to solve the problem.

But the shape shì was critical, and he was not given much time to think about it. Knowing that this counterattack operation would exhaust the only mobile force he had at hand. But the shape is pressing, and I can only grit my teeth and fight hard. At least he couldn't let the Japanese artillery shells fall on the Tongpu railway line, and he really didn't have the energy to rush to repair the railroad that might be damaged in battle.