Chapter 29: The Defense of Xinghe County and Fu Commander's Doubts

  Tianzhen County Town, 61st Army of Shanxi-Sui Military Region, 399th Regiment Headquarters.

  "Comrade Commander, it's been confirmed. The explosion just now came from the northwest direction, where the enemy artillery is positioned." Deputy Regimental Commander Li Yanjie of the 399th Regiment hastily reported in.

  Captain Zhang Jingjun took his eyes back from the map on the table and asked urgently, "What happened? How could the little devil's artillery position have such a violent explosion?"

  "Commander, according to the scouts who just returned, it seems that someone has launched a surprise attack on the Little Devils' artillery position and detonated the ammunition they had piled up next to their position. Commander, didn't you notice that the Little Devils' artillery has been silent for almost an hour?" Li Yanjie said excitedly.

  "What kind of person would do this? How are the casualties among the little devils?"

  "It's unclear, but the little devil's artillery position usually has infantry protection, at least one infantry company. To sneak up on the little devil's artillery position, there won't be too few people coming. Now the little devil's artillery is silent, which means their casualties are definitely not small. So the huge explosion, at the very least, the ammunition carried by the dog day was completely destroyed, and within three to two days, the little devil's artillery will lose its effectiveness." Li Yanjie said excitedly.

  "Well done, I've been wanting to take out those damn artillery for a long time. Unfortunately, we're trapped in this isolated city, both the front and back gates are blocked, can't get out. If the enemy's artillery is really paralyzed, then our pressure will be reduced by half, and the task of holding out for seven days should be no problem."

  "Yes, Comrade Commander, in the past few days, most of our casualties were caused by the enemy's artillery. We have fortifications to protect us from their infantry, but we can't do anything about their artillery, which poses a great threat to us. Their shells are falling from the sky like rain, causing heavy casualties among our troops."

  "Hmm, Deputy Li, go investigate and find out which unit did it. I'll reward them for their achievement."

  Just as Zhang Jingjun finished speaking, the chief of staff of the 399th Regiment rushed in and said: "Regimental commander, the little devils have made a new move?"

  "What's going on? What kind of trick is that damned guy trying to pull now?" Zhang Jingjun hastily asked.

  "It's unclear, I just went to the city wall to observe and found a regiment of Japanese infantry heading north, with over 30 large trucks and more than 10 armored vehicles. There is also a cavalry division of puppet troops. They are marching in a grand manner, it's unknown what they plan to do!" said Li Jing, Chief of Staff of the 399th Regiment.

  "Did you say the little devil went north?" Zhang Jingjun asked with a frown.

  "Yes, there are quite a few people. They are lined up in four vertical queues, very neat." Li Jing said.

  "It seems our friend is in the north. Chief of Staff, check if there are any other troops of ours left in the north?" Zhang Jingjun asked aloud.

  Li Jing thought for a moment and said, "The north? It should be gone. The Japanese Kwantung Army's Chahar Expeditionary Force attacked us, this Japanese army gathered in Kulun, the little devils marched south, Gu Yuan, Zhangbei, and Zhangjiakou were all lost, Liu Ruming's 68th Army was defeated and retreated south, there are no more of our troops north of Tianzhen."

  "What about Commander Fu's 35th Army?"

  "Fu Sili's 35th Army is not far from us, but it is stationed in Datong and Jining, not to our north." Li Jing replied.

  "Chief of Staff, think again, is it really gone?" Zhang Jingjun asked with a frown.

  Li Jing thought for a long time before finally speaking up: "It's not that there isn't one, it's just that it's not a regular army, but a security team."

  Security team?

  "Yes, Xinghe County Security Regiment, under the jurisdiction of Suiyuan Province Security Department."

  Zhang Jingjun took a look at the map, then pointed to a point on the map and said: "Right, it's here, located in our northern direction. The little devils have put all their attention on us this time. If this security regiment really has the guts, they might be able to create a miracle."

  "Commander, is this possible? How can the combat effectiveness of a security regiment be compared to that of the devils? Not to mention the artillery itself, but even the field troops protecting the artillery are not something a small security regiment like ours can shake." Li Yanjie said in surprise.

  "I also know that this guess is absurd and unbelievable, but now I really can't think of any other explanation except for this one. Moreover, the infantry regiment of the little devil going north may have gone to deal with them, and there are no other targets in the north except for Xinghe. Who else could it be besides the security team?" Zhang Jingjun said.

  "Marshal, what should we do?" Li Jing asked.

  "Send a telegram to the commander, tell him about the situation here, and let him know that our 399th regiment has confidence in holding out for over ten days in Tianzhen, so he can rest assured and make arrangements. Also, ask the commander to verify whether it was the Xinghe County Security Regiment that messed with the little devils, if they really did, we must remember this favor, and we will repay it!" Zhang Jingjun said loudly.

  "Yes!"

  The telegram of the 399th Brigade was soon sent to Li Fuchen's command, and in these days, Li Fuchen, the commander-in-chief, was also worried. After receiving the order from his superior officer, Li Fuchen ordered the soldiers of the 61st Army to enter the battlefield to build defensive fortifications. In fact, the national defense fortifications along the line from Zhangjiakou to Datong had been built for more than a year, and as early as April 1936, Yan Xishan had applied to the Nanjing government's General Staff Headquarters for a large sum of money on the pretext of building national defense fortifications.

  Then, Li led the department in the Tianzhen area for more than a year of construction, and the construction materials received from Taiyuan were extremely limited. The total amount of steel bars and cement supplied was less than one percent of the planned number, and the construction tools were even more scarce. The wages of migrant workers and the allowances of soldier-workers were also subject to all kinds of deductions.

  As for where the huge sum of money went, Li Fu-en himself was very clear that most of it was taken by his superior to do business and make private fortunes in major commercial cities across the country. To deceive the Nanjing government, his superior boasted everywhere that his "national defense project" was impregnable. However, in reality, construction on this project did not begin until the Japanese army approached Tianzhen.

  However, the Japanese army did not give Li Fu-en and the 61st Army time to build fortifications. On the second day after the officers and men of the 61st Army entered the position, the Japanese launched an offensive.

  When the 61st Army entered Tianzhen to deploy its defense, Yan Xishan had ordered Li Fuyuan "to hold out for three days and prevent the enemy from advancing westward".

  However, the 61st Army held out for more than three days. Before the Japanese army launched an attack on the Pan Mountain position on September 6, it had already launched an attack on the Li Jiashan line of defense. The Japanese army first used infantry to charge to the front of the position and fired fiercely to test the firepower, and after luring the defending firepower to expose all, they used planes to low-altitude bombing, followed by artillery bombardment. This cycle of bombing was repeated 4-5 times a day for 4 days and nights. At most, there were 32 enemy aircraft sweeping and bombing in the air above the position every day. Before the soldiers on both sides had even faced each other, more than 70 of the 1,300 officers and men of the 425th Regiment had been killed, with three company commanders killed and five wounded.

  The garrison on the Li Jia Shan and Luo Jia Shan lines had held out for five whole days, while the troops in Tianzhen County town and the Pan Shan positions had also held out for two days. At this time, the landmines, barbed wire entanglements and other obstacles set up by the 61st Army on the front line had been completely destroyed by the Japanese army, and the officers and soldiers could only use shell craters and straw bundles as cover to fight with grenades.

  Li Fu-en repeatedly asked for help from his superior, the commander of the Seventh Army Group, Fu Zuoyi, and his old superior, Yan Xishan, because his troops had suffered too many casualties. However, reinforcements were slow to arrive. And in recent days, Li Fu-en has been receiving news of the battle that is:

  "The Japanese devils used intense artillery fire to heavily attack the commanding heights of the Pan Shan position, and an entire battalion of the 400th Regiment and a mountain artillery company were mostly crushed to death in the caves..."

  The enemy infantry rushed up to the mountain stronghold, unfolded hand-to-hand combat, and the 400th Regiment's 2nd Battalion Commander Gao Baoyong was killed in action. The 1st Battalion Commander Xi Baoshan was injured, with over 500 casualties in the entire regiment...

  "The 101st Division suffered over 1,000 casualties among its troops..."

  "Report, Tianzhen 399th Brigade is calling!"

  "Tell Zhang Jingjun, I don't have any reinforcements, but I do have a lieutenant general. Ask him if he wants one. Not a single day of the 7-day time limit can be reduced. If it's reduced by one day, I'll remove his position. If it's reduced by two days, I'll take his head." Li Fuyan shouted loudly.

  "The military...the military seat... Commander Zhang is not here to ask for help...it's..." The reporters didn't know what to say anymore.

  "It's not for help, then what is it? Hurry up and say!" Hearing that it wasn't for help, Li Fuyan let out a big sigh of relief.

  "It's like this, Zhang Battalion Commander called to say that this morning an unidentified unit launched a surprise attack on the Japanese artillery position 5 kilometers north of Tianzhen City, causing heavy losses for the Japanese artillery and temporarily unable to provide effective support to their infantry. In addition, this morning one-third of the Japanese troops outside Tianzhen City suddenly withdrew, and a Japanese infantry regiment and a puppet army cavalry division were pulled out of the battle sequence and rushed northward in an emergency, with unknown reasons. Based on the above situation, the 399th Regiment is confident to hold out for over 10 days, so please be at ease, Commander. Also, Zhang Battalion Commander suspects that the unit that launched the surprise attack on the Japanese artillery position was the Xinghe County Security Regiment, and hopes that you can verify this..."

  "Good, well done...hahaha..." Li Fuyan laughed loudly after hearing the report from the reporter.

  "Xinghe County Security Team, enough to send a telegram to Fu Commander, thank him for me, and also ask him to thank this security team for me." Li Fuyuan thought that this security team was specially arranged by Fu Zuoyi, otherwise, with just one security team, how dare they touch the tiger's butt.

  After receiving Li Fu-en's telegram, Fu Zuoyi and the entire Seventh Group were all bewildered. Li Fu-en thought this was a trick arranged by Fu Zuoyi, so he didn't make it clear in the telegram, only asking Fu Zuoyi to thank Xinghe County Security Regiment on his behalf. As a result, several bigwigs at the Seventh Army Headquarters looked at each other in confusion, not knowing what had happened.