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"Boss Zhu, so we are going to have a decisive battle with the Kuomintang reactionaries under the city of Taiyuan?" Feng Yuxiang was the first to stand up, and shouted excitedly: "This time the main attack task must be given to our third army. Don't rob me of your Fourth Army!"
Zhu De smiled and nodded: "Okay! The Third Group Army is indeed the elite main force of our party, and it really must fight for the first in every battle! However, this battle is no small matter. We have to deal with the two powerful enemies of the Kuomintang and the Jin army at the same time. I don't know which route Boss Feng wants to deal with?"
"Deal with two powerful enemies at the same time!" Feng Yuxiang frowned slightly, and his face became gloomy again.Zhu De just smiled, and called to the staff to bring a military map and spread it out on the table. He poked the map with his thick black finger: "Now most of the territory in northern and central Shanxi has been controlled by us. As long as a small number of bandits still have this city of Taiyuan that is besieged by us. If the Kuomintang does not come, it is only a matter of time before Taiyuan is taken down and Yan Xishan’s clique is eliminated. But these reactionaries are unwilling to be lonely, and mobilized [-] troops in vain to attack Yan Xishan in Taiyuan City. Let’s talk about it, is our army going to teach them a lesson they will never forget?”
"Of course, Boss Zhu, please give the order! Our Third Army firmly promises to complete the task!" Feng Yuxiang snapped to attention, and gave Zhu De a standard and beautiful military salute.
Zhu De's swarthy face was already heavy at this moment, and he stared at the generals in the conference room with piercing eyes, and the people below were silent for a while.Zhu De slowly stood up: "Comrades, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Central Revolutionary Military Commission have issued an order to us, requiring us to make every effort to annihilate or severely damage the Kuomintang Army's Northward Corps, and create favorable conditions for seizing Taiyuan and transforming the entire Shanxi Province! Comrades! Ladies and gentlemen, this Taiyuan battle will be an important turning point in the Chinese revolution, and will determine the initiative in future wars! You all know that the Kuomintang reactionaries rely on them to maintain their rule, and the 21 infantry divisions are the pillars of force that dominate the south. Japan had to deploy [-] of its divisions in the coastal area to protect their money bags and rice vats. Therefore, only six divisions can be used to fight northward, and four divisions have already entered Shanxi. If If we can annihilate or severely injure them in the Battle of Taiyuan, then in the future, we will be able to switch from defense to offense and burn the flames of war to the Kuomintang-controlled areas! It is even possible to achieve the final victory of the revolution in the near future!"
"...The tactics of the Battle of Taiyuan are to encircle and fight for aid. We will besiege Taiyuan with an army of 20, attract the main force of the Kuomintang army to go north to clear the siege, and then use the main force of 16 troops to go south to attack head-on! For this reason, the Fourth and Eighth Route Armies will form Taiyuan. The city corps, under the unified command of Comrade Ye Ting, is responsible for storming Taiyuan City. Yan Xishan must be beaten! Only in this way can the Kuomintang army be attracted. Third, No.17, No.18, No.19, No.20 Army, a total of [-] troops attached to the Artillery Division to form a Reinforcement Corps. General Feng Yuxiang served as the commander-in-chief, General Li Jishen served as the deputy commander-in-chief, and the task of the Reinforcement Corps was to go south and severely injure the main force of the Kuomintang army!"
……
At this moment, in the ancient city of Pingyao, more than one kilometer away from Yangqu County, in an antique Chinese-style old house.General He Yingqin, Commander-in-Chief of the Shanxi Front Army of the newly formed National Revolutionary Army, General Qian Dajun, Chief of Staff of the Front Army, and German military adviser Alexander von Falkenhausen, surrounded a military map spread out on the desktop.
On the map, around Pingyao County, there are densely packed numbers of troops, including the first division, the eighth division, the tenth division, the No.11 division, the No.12 division, and the No.13 division, a total of six divisions!In addition, there are the designations of the [-]st Brigade of Independent Heavy Artillery, [-]st Brigade of Independent Mountain Soldiers, [-]st Brigade of Independent Cavalry, and [-]st Aviation Division.
"Junzuo, there should be no problem, right?" Qian Dajun breathed out, speaking in fluent Japanese: "The Sixth Division and the Third Brigade also have an aviation division, and the total strength is close to [-] to [-]. The Jin army in Taiyuan City should be on par with the Communist army, and this battle is finally a little bit sure."
He Yingqin nodded slightly, and also spoke Japanese: "Well, fortunately, two newly expanded light divisions took over the 13th and No.[-] divisions to guard the Yellow River, otherwise we would not be able to produce so many troops! "
Falkenhausen snorted, speaking in Japanese as well.It turned out that he had been a military officer in Japan for a long time and could speak fluent Japanese, and He Yingqin and Qian Dajun graduated from Japanese non-commissioned officers, so the three of them simply talked in Japanese.
"General He, General Qian, we now have more than 17 troops, our weapons and equipment and training levels are far superior to our opponents, and we also have overwhelming air superiority! Under such circumstances, why should we be so cautious, Take a step-by-step approach to advance slowly? Is your general staff too cautious?"
He Yingqin shook his head with a wry smile. The Kuomintang's general staff had never interfered with the operations of front-line generals in the past.But this time, I didn't know what was going on, and directly issued a detailed battle plan to the Shanxi Front Army.Going north from Taigu County to Taiyuan, but a distance of more than 50 kilometers, the General Staff ordered that it must take three days!Advance more than ten kilometers every day, just walk for a few hours, and the rest of the time is spent digging fortifications... I really don't know what medicine I took wrong?The Shanxi Front Army has nothing to do about this. The order of the General Staff must have some truth, right?
"Mr. Consultant." Qian Dajun was clever, and when he saw He Yingqin's embarrassment, he hurried out to smooth things over.He smiled and said: "After all, we and the Communist Party are Chinese, and this battle is a brotherly battle. So it's not good to be too active. If the Communist army can be forced to retreat and the hundreds of thousands of innocent people in the besieged city of Taiyuan can be rescued, it will be a big battle." That's it."
Falkenhausen nodded: "Yes. Otherwise, your country's general staff would not have drawn up such a plan. With the strength of the Shanxi Front Army, it can definitely crush the Communist army under the city of Taiyuan!"
He Yingqin also nodded with a smile, but he was still helpless in his heart.Before coming to Shanxi, Lao Jiang once asked him to face-to-face with the opportunity, and asked him to take the annihilation of the main force of the communist army as the first task... But the general staff gave him such a battle plan, which looked like killing the communist army. It was really difficult for him to be forced to retreat.
"General Qian, when can we start to take action? According to the intelligence, two more route troops of the Communist Army have arrived during this period, and the total strength has reached 30! It seems that it will be difficult to force the retreat... If we act earlier, we may not be able to do so." can achieve the goal.”
Falkenhausen frowned and asked softly.To be honest, he never imagined such a merciless style of play.
"Whenever the communist army starts to storm Taiyuan, we will dispatch, otherwise it will be difficult to clarify Yan Xishan's position." Qian Dajun tapped the map with his fingers: "It should be these two days?"
Chapter 0501
On the night of June 25, the elite Eighth Route Army affiliated to the CCP entered the designated offensive starting position according to the order of the General Front Committee of the Taiyuan Campaign.Since the Kuomintang army has built a large military airport in the south of Pingyao County, which is more than 80 kilometers away from Taiyuan, the entire front line of Taiyuan is now within the combat radius of the Kuomintang Air Force, so all military operations are carried out at night as much as possible.
The main target of the Eighth Route Army tonight is the Dongshan Fortress in the east of Taiyuan City. The so-called Dongshan Fortress is the general name of a series of defensive positions that Yan Xishan built on the Dongshan Mountain of Taiyuan during the two months of siege by the communist army. The four main points of Xiaoyaotou, Naoma, and Shantou are the most critical, so Dongshan Fortress is also known as the Four Fortresses of Dongshan, and it is also the biggest reliance of Yan Xishan Group to defend Taiyuan and resist the central government!
The Eighth Route Army's forward headquarters opposite Dongshan.Zhu De, He Long, Liu Bocheng, Nie Rongzhen and other senior CCP generals were already in place after dark, and all high-power telescopes were set up.This mountain is higher than the main peak of Dongshan, and it can look directly at the entire battlefield.On the top of the hill, the guards were heavily guarded, and there were grim-looking elites of the Eighth Route Army holding rifles everywhere.
Zhu De held up the binoculars and watched for a long time, but the opposite side was pitch black, and he didn't know what Boss Zhu could see?But one thing is certain, there is no moon and no stars tonight, and the sky must be densely covered with dark clouds!In other words, tomorrow is very likely to be a rainy day. This should be bad news for the Kuomintang reactionaries who rely on air superiority for their food, right?
Zhu De put down the binoculars, and a confident smile appeared on his serious face: "Well... not bad. The weather is in our favor. It seems that even God is on our side."
Ye Ting next to him also let out a sigh of relief: "It is estimated that when we start the fight tonight, the Kuomintang army gathered in Taigu County will go north overnight. For a distance of more than 50 kilometers, they are heavily equipped and walking slowly, but no matter how slow Just one day and one night. The encounter between Feng Huanzhang, Li Renchao and the Kuomintang army should be tomorrow morning."
Liu Bocheng also put down his binoculars and smiled: "So tomorrow's weather is the key to this battle. According to the analysis of Soviet meteorological experts, it will be rainy all day tomorrow, and the Kuomintang planes will not be able to come! They only have four divisions and 10 people. , we have 20! And even if we fight firepower, they are not much weaker than them. The 48 152mm howitzers of the two regiments of the Artillery Division are all assigned to the reinforcements. In addition, the Artillery Brigade of the Third Army and the four The artillery regiments belonging to the Chinese Army have a total of more than 190 cannons in eight artillery regiments!"
Zhu De nodded lightly: "This is also the main reason why the central government is determined to fight the Kuomintang army in Taiyuan! Although we are still at a disadvantage in terms of firepower in this battle, we have double the advantage in total strength. There is always a chance of winning. [-]% to [-]%." After saying these words, Zhu De raised his binoculars again, looked at the battlefield shrouded in darkness, and his thick eyebrows gradually frowned.
The plan for the Battle of Taiyuan was actually drawn up by the advisory group led by the Soviet military adviser Cuikov, and Zhu De actually did not agree with it in his heart.It's not that this plan is bad... 20 against 200, and there are nearly [-] cannons, the chances of winning should not be small.But there is always some risk, if something goes wrong, I'm afraid the consequences will be worrisome!
Next to him, Liu Bocheng's slightly Sichuan-like voice sounded again: "Commander-in-Chief, we are about to start shelling here in half a minute. There is a heavy artillery regiment, an artillery brigade, and two artillery regiments. A total of 120 cannons, including 152 24mm heavy howitzers!"
……
Wu Ting, deputy commander-in-chief of the Artillery of the Communist Army, was concentrating on his pocket watch. When the minute and hour hands aligned with the Roman numeral eight, he tore off the grass circle around his head and waved heavily. Shouted: "Let go!"
120 neatly arranged mountain guns and howitzers showed their muzzles at the same time, and the gunners also took off the cover and slammed the bullets into the chamber.The fire ropes were pulled one after another, and orange flames spewed out from each muzzle!
The artillery positions of the communist army were deployed on the back of the hilltop of the starting position, only about 3000 meters away from the main position of the Jin army in Dongshan.However, there are hills in front of it blocking it, which is almost a blind spot for the Jin army's artillery to counterattack, so it is very safe.And at such a short distance, it is impossible for the artillerymen of the Communist Army who have undergone rigorous training for the past two years to miss.
A shiny cannonball was filled into the barrel, and then spit out.Dragging an orange-red and dark red tail flame, it screamed and rushed towards the opposite mountain.Above the main Dongshan position of the Jin army, suddenly balls of fire rose up, shooting straight into the sky in various postures! More than 100 cannons smashed thousands of shells on the heads of the officers and soldiers of the Jin army in the first minute.With the flames emitted by the explosion of the shells, the commanders and fighters on the starting position of the Communist Army could clearly see the fragments of the earthworks, the fragments of the bunker, and the vaguely broken limbs and arms of the human body lifted into the sky.The earth and rocks were shaken off and rolled down the mountain with a clatter.Not long after, blue-black gunpowder smoke enveloped the entire Jin army's defense line, and the smell of gunpowder permeated the battlefield, making people breathless.
In less than half an hour of shelling, six or seven thousand shells have already been fired.The artillery positions are covered with copper shell casings, piled up as high as a hill.At [-]:[-] in the evening, the cannons stopped abruptly.The officers of the Eighth Route Army who led the attack in the first wave straightened up and shouted: "Communists, members of the Communist Youth League, follow me!" A soldier wearing a hat with a red pentagram inlaid with a large brim.Thousands of people divided into four huge waves, flocking to the four most critical commanding heights in Dongshan, Taiyuan.At the same time, diversionary attacks were also launched on the front lines of the Jin army's winding army!
The artillery shells of the Jin army were the first to meet the turbulent charge of the communist army!Thanks to the Taiyuan arsenal capable of assembling cannons, the Jin army's artillery was historically strong (during the civil war).In this time and space, they also have a powerful artillery force composed of Min 13 75mm mountain guns.It was with the firepower of this artillery that the Jin army survived the Battle of Xinkou and the Battle of Taiyuan, and it has not been overwhelmed until now.However, the Jin army's shelling tonight did not achieve much results. It is now a dark night, and the communist army is attacking across the board... All defensive positions are in a state of emergency!Yan Xishan and Wu Peifu in Taiyuan City were also a little confused all of a sudden, not sure where the main attack direction of the communist army was?The firepower of more than 100 cannons had to be dispersed to all sides of Taiyuan City.In this way, the shelling of the Jin army at the front of the four major fortresses of Dongshan will not be so intensive.
The distance from the starting position at the foot of Dongshan Mountain to the forward position of the Jin Army is only 2000 meters. Thousands of Eighth Route Army soldiers with bayonets shouted revolutionary slogans and charged against the less intensive artillery fire of the Jin Army.Although artillery shells fell from time to time, making large and small gaps in the charging skirmish line, most of the people still rushed through the artillery blockade line without any danger.At this time, the heavy machine guns set up on various firepower points of the Jin army trenches were also fired!The brass sounded into one piece, and the shell casings splattered.Dozens of streams of fire, like the sickle of death, swept across the skirmish line formed by the heroic Eighth Route Army soldiers, knocking them down row by row!However, the charge formation of the Eighth Route Army was spread out, and as soon as the Jin army's machine guns sounded, the soldiers crawled down one after another.With the help of terrain and features, they slowly crawled forward, and at the same time, the rifles and machine guns in their hands began to fight back.The battle on the front line in Taiyuan has gradually entered a white-hot state!
……
On this night, on every major road south of Taiyuan, there were brigades marching with high morale, holding red flags, holding torches, singing revolutionary songs.These teams in blue-gray military uniforms extend from one end of the land to the other, as if there is no end to it!
General Feng Yuxiang, also in military uniform, stood on a high ground on the left side of a certain road.Looking south with the binoculars, he was accompanied by Lu Zhonglin, his number one confidant, and further away were staff officers carrying a map bag. From time to time, some cavaliers passed by and reported loudly. The staff officers were under the light of torches Write and draw on the map, and mark the timely information on it.Most of these staff officers are elites who have just graduated from the Baotou Army Military Academy. In this era, the Chinese Communist Army has been following the path of regularization from the beginning!
This force is the Communist Army Reinforcement Regiment commanded by Feng Yuxiang and Li Jishen, with a total strength of 20, accounting for half of the regular army currently controlled by the CCP!And Feng Yuxiang, as an old warlord who became a monk and defected to the CCP, is now fortunate enough to command such an army, which really makes him a little emotional.If he had defected to the Kuomintang back then, perhaps he would have been swept into the reserve service long ago, and become a spectator beside this magnificent historical picture, right?
A staff officer ran over quickly and reported loudly to Feng Yuxiang: "Comrade Commander, the vanguard troops have come into contact with the Kuomintang troops. On the Xugou line, our vanguard troops were attacked by an unknown number of Kuomintang cavalry. Now we have defeated the enemy. The army repelled... Now the vanguard has occupied the position in Xugou, waiting for the follow-up troops to arrive!"
"What!" Feng Yuxiang frowned slightly, and ordered: "Map!" The staff officer on the side immediately spread the map that had been prepared on a boulder.
"Huanshuai, Xugou is here, dozens of miles away from Taigu County, how could the Kuomintang army's cordon be so far away?" Lu Zhonglin saw Xugou on the map at a glance, and his eyebrows gradually frowned. He got up: "Will our intention be exposed? Should we deploy troops on the front line of Xugou?"
Feng Yuxiang pondered for a while with a gloomy face, then slowly shook his head: "Probably not... Even if they found us, they would never have thought that we have 20 troops! Send an order to speed up the march, and we must arrive at the designated place in the shortest possible time , give the Kuomintang army a head-on blow to the northward troops!"
At this moment, another staff officer ran over in a panic and reported loudly: "Xugou's front-line urgent report! My vanguard troops were...repulsed by the enemy!"
"What did you say!" Feng Yuxiang and Lu Zhonglin exclaimed almost at the same time, Feng Yuxiang stared angrily, and pointed at the staff officer with his big hand trembling slightly.
Lu Zhonglin jumped and scolded: "What is Zhang Zizhong doing for food! How long has it been? He was repelled by others? Was he repelled by some army, do you know?"
"The report said that it was possible to encounter the main force of the enemy's brigade level! The vanguard was violently bombarded by at least 30 cannons. Our army was caught off guard and suffered heavy casualties..."
"There is really a brigade!" Feng Yuxiang took a deep breath and nodded slowly: "Zhang Jinchen (Zhang Zizhong) is also a brigade, and it is expected that he can't beat a brigade of the Kuomintang army, but... still lose a little faster!"
Lu Zhonglin leaned close to Feng Yuxiang's ear and said in a low voice: "Why don't we just ignore other things and eat this brigade?"
Feng Yuxiang sighed softly. Zhang Zizhong's vanguard was repelled by a brigade of the Kuomintang army. Someone will definitely be captured in a battle of this level.There is a high probability that his military intentions will be exposed, and the plan to raid the main force of the Kuomintang army going north seems to be in vain!Right now, I have no choice but to eat this brigade first...
……
While Feng Yuxiang was thinking about how to eat up this ignorant Kuomintang brigade, his No. 20 Brigade of the Tenth Division of the Third Route Army was in a hard fight!Zhang Zizhong, commander of the [-]th brigade, had almost lost control of the troops at this time!
In this dark night, where Zhang Zizhong's ordinary infantry brigade encountered the only cavalry brigade of the National Revolutionary Army!And this cavalry brigade is still the kind of super cavalry brigade with a full set of regiments, battalions, and companies.The whole brigade has two regiments, six battalions, eighteen cavalry companies, another cavalry artillery battalion, two cavalry artillery companies, and six cavalry machine gun companies.The total strength is as many as 500, and it has as many as 17 Min 75-type [-]mm cavalry guns.
This brigade was originally deployed in Taigu County. After the news of the attack in Taiyuan reached the Kuomintang Shandong Front Army Command in Pingyao tonight, they were ordered to go north to take charge of the front line of Xugou. They did not expect to bump into Zhang Zizhong head-on. The No.20 Brigade!As a result, the two armies fought a chaotic battle in the dark night in a daze.The battle started with the No.20 Ninth Regiment belonging to Zhang Zizhong's No.30 Brigade repelling a cavalry company that was performing a search mission.The Kuomintang cavalry who had been bullied by this company ran back crying and reported that about a regiment of enemies had bullied us.As a result, Fang Hailong, the commander of the 30st Independent Cavalry Brigade, was annoyed... Then a regiment of cavalry, under the cover of 700 cannons, attacked the No. In the assault, more than [-] cavalry waved their sabers and surged up, and a single charge smashed the opponent who had just been bombarded!Immediately afterwards, another cavalry regiment rushed forward screaming.Zhang Zizhong's two regiments fell into chaos at once, and the contact with the rear was quickly cut off...
Zhang Zizhong, who was caught off guard, had to gather a part of his troops and retreat to a small village called Beiguan Village in the north of Xugou to wait for help. With him was Liu Zhidan, a political commissar who had recently been sent to the [-]th Brigade. Comrade Xi Jinping is also an extremely outstanding communist and military expert, and is a graduate of the fourth batch of the Northwest Military and Political Cadre School.At this moment, Political Commissar Liu and Zhang Zizhong were standing side by side on the front line directing the battle.
"Political commissar! The situation is very wrong!" Zhang Zizhong held up his binoculars and was trying to figure out the situation on the battlefield from the dark night sky. After watching for a while, he put down the binoculars and whispered to Liu Zhidan beside him: "This is a large cavalry force. ! At least a few thousand people, and a lot of artillery."
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