Chapter 60: Bloody Siege of Lonely City and Ambush Relief

  "Hachigaya, this is the report you handed me, over 4,800 casualties in one day and yet not even the outer defenses of the Chinese garrison have been breached. Useless! Every single one of you is useless!" Lieutenant General Abe Kiyoshi scolded angrily.

  Abe Rulehide was indeed angry, such a record is really too embarrassing, not to mention compared with the past records of the Kwantung Army, even compared with other routes of the North China Theater it is far behind. Since the Imperial General Headquarters decided to expand its interests in China two months ago and launched a full-scale invasion of China, wherever the Japanese army's flag has gone, the defending forces have fled without a fight, and the war knife has pointed to the wind.

  Beiping, Tianjin, Zhangjiakou, Baoding, Dezhou, Nankou, one by one, these Chinese military strongholds can only open their city gates in the face of the Imperial Japanese Army's bayonets. Whether it is the Central Army of the Chinese government or the local armies of China, they are all like sandcastles in front of the imperial warriors, collapsing with a slight touch.

  However, things seem to have changed here. First, Tianzhen was unable to be taken for a long time, and then Chahar sent troops to defeat the Zhinao Security Team, not to mention the loss of soldiers and generals, but also became a laughing stock in the Imperial Army.

  This time he led 20,000 troops to besiege Xinghe County, which was originally a trivial military operation in his eyes. The small security team of China, which had suffered heavy losses and had not been replenished, would still collapse at the sight of the tens of thousands of elite Japanese Imperial Army.

  However, the reality made Abe Kiyoaki spit blood. Although he was not clear how many Chinese troops were in this small county town, there would be absolutely no less than 5,000 people. Because the Chinese garrison alone had at least one regiment stationed on the front line, plus the air defense forces in the city, adding up to an absolute minimum of 5,000 people.

  Moreover, the equipment of weapons also had a big difference with what the intelligence department said. Firstly, it was artillery. According to the intelligence provided by the intelligence department, the Chinese garrison only had some small-caliber mortars, but in fact on the first day they were attacked by field guns with a caliber of over 75mm from the Chinese artillery, and an enhanced battalion of artillery from the Imperial Japanese Army was annihilated.

  Secondly, the anti-aircraft firepower, according to intelligence gathered by the intelligence department, showed that this branch of the Chinese army was not equipped with any anti-aircraft weapons, not even high-altitude machine guns. However, in reality, two consecutive air raids revealed that the Chinese military not only had high-altitude machine guns but also a large number of them, losing more than 60 aircraft in one day, a loss so great that even the Empire's strong industrial production capacity could not withstand it.

  Finally, there is the anti-tank force. According to intelligence gathered by the intelligence department, the Chinese garrison did not have 37mm tank guns or other anti-tank artillery to deal with the Imperial armored forces. The Chinese had nothing but traditional explosive packs and cluster grenades, as well as those despicable Chinese native dogs.

  However, Abe Kiyoshi saw clearly the battle this morning, and in addition to being heavily equipped with a new type of weapon, this equipment had strong lethality against the Empire's tanks. Today's battle resulted in the loss of over 4800 brave warriors and 47 tanks for the Empire, accounting for more than 80% of all tanks. It can be said that after today's battle, his tank unit has completely lost its combat effectiveness.

  All this was due to the dereliction of duty by the intelligence department, Abe Kiyoshi severely scolded the intelligence department in his battle report to Tōjō Hideki and requested guidance on operations.

  Requesting guidance from superiors is a very shameful thing in the Japanese military, so here we have to mention what this "guidance" is. The so-called "guidance" is actually a request for reinforcements. In the eyes of the Japanese, the two words "reinforcements" are too straightforward and damaging to the image of the invincible Imperial Japanese Army, so they euphemistically call it "guidance". It has to be said that the hypocrisy of the Japanese has penetrated to the bone.

  The casualties were so heavy that they far exceeded Abe no Yoshimasa's expectations, especially when he learned that of the more than 4,800 soldiers lost, fewer than 1,000 were wounded and the rest had been killed outright on the battlefield. This left General Abe no Yoshimasa stunned.

  From private to general, Abe Kiyoshi has participated in thousands of battles, and it's not the first time he's seen more deaths than injuries among his soldiers. However, this is the first time such a thing has happened between China and Japan. From the First Sino-Japanese War to the September 18th Incident, and then to the recent 77 Incident, in the past half century, the armies of China and Japan have clashed multiple times, but the result was often the Imperial Japanese Army emerging victorious. The Chinese couldn't even claim a draw, let alone a victory, and certainly not a battle as disastrous for the Imperial Japanese Army as today's.

  To restore the honor of the Imperial Japanese Army, to avenge past humiliation. Abe Norihide also forgot about his personal face and directly requested combat guidance from the Chahar Expeditionary Force Command.

  However, Abe Kiyoshi was disappointed that Tōjō Hideki did not agree to reinforce him. At the same time, Tōjō Hideki sent a telegram saying that according to the latest enemy situation report from the intelligence department, the headquarters of the 7th Group Army of China had moved from Yanmenguan to Zuoyouyuxi area, less than 100 kilometers away from the front line of Tianzhen. In addition, one brigade and three regiments of the main force of the 35th Army of the 7th Group Army of China had already entered Datong and might reinforce Tianzhen at any time. The headquarters of the army group no longer had spare troops to reinforce them.

  In addition, the intelligence collected by the intelligence department shows that there are about 5,000 Japanese troops in Xinghe County, of which more than half are new recruits. One reason why they suffered such heavy casualties against the Imperial Japanese Army is that the Chinese defenders were equipped with a large number of automatic firepower, and the ratio of light to heavy machine guns was far higher than that of the Imperial Army. Another reason is that Xinghe County had been built for more than half a year, and its fortifications were extremely well-constructed. There is evidence that the fortifications of this small county town received guidance from the Germans, which is why the Imperial Army encountered difficulties here.

  At the same time, Lieutenant General Tojo revealed that although his troops had lost nearly 5,000 men, there were still more than 15,000 remaining, with a strength of three times or more than the defending army. As long as the main force of the Army Corps pinned down the main force of the Chinese Seventh Group Army on the Tianzhen front line, making it impossible for the Chinese troops to reinforce Xinghe's defenders, they still had a great chance of winning.

  However, the next morning, a bad news came from the rear that Zhangbei County was suddenly attacked by the Japanese army. The enemy's offensive was very fierce, and the defending troops were in a precarious situation. Zhangbei County might fall at any time.

  Zhangbei, as the former headquarters of the Chahar Expeditionary Army, has not only stockpiled a large number of weapons and equipment, but also other military supplies. At the same time, it is also the location of the field hospital of the Chahar Expeditionary Army. Currently, there are nearly two thousand seriously wounded soldiers in Zhangbei County. These things cannot fall into the hands of the Shina people under any circumstances.

  Soon, a telegram will be sent from Tōjō Hideki, ordering the Independent Mixed 8th Brigade stationed in Zhangbei to return to Zhangbei immediately with the Independent Mixed 2nd Brigade and the 1st Cavalry Division of the Imperial Guard. The remaining troops will continue to attack Xinghe County. At the same time, Lieutenant General Tōjō Hideki instructed that if the Chinese defenders' positions still cannot be taken after a long attack, he is authorized by the Army Command to use special smoke.

  Abeshiki, who was originally depressed because one-third of the troops used for the attack were withdrawn, felt much better after reading the last few lines. Ordinary officers are not clear what special cigarettes are, but as a lieutenant general and brigade commander, Abeshiki has already qualified to access some very important secrets.

  Special smoke is what they call poison gas bombs. In Manchuria, they used this stuff many times to deal with local resistance fighters, and the effect was remarkable. However, since this chemical weapon is a banned weapon ordered by international society, although the Japanese army secretly used this weapon, there were strict authorizations, like the Chahar Expeditionary Force only Commander-in-Chief Tōjō Hideki had such power.

  Abetsugu Rokushō was very confident in the special smoke, and during his time in Manchuria, whether it was Zhao Shangzhi's unit in northern Manchuria or Yang Jingyu's unit in southern Manchuria, they could only flee in disarray when faced with the special smoke. Their proud fighting spirit was no match for the special smoke, and with the authorization of the special smoke, Abetsugu Rokushō was confident that he could capture this Chinese county seat within two hours.

  When Abe Toshishige's troops were transporting poison gas shells, Chen Feng's plan to surround and support also began. At 7:00 in the morning, Andrei led two cavalry regiments to launch a surprise attack on Zhangbei County, which was empty of troops. The first round of attacks occupied the west gate of Zhangbei County, although after several contests, the cavalry regiment was driven out of the city gate, but the Japanese defenders also suffered heavy losses.

  Of course, with the combat effectiveness of the cavalry regiment, taking down this small county town guarded by only one infantry company of the Japanese army would be a piece of cake. However, thinking about Andrei's plan to surround and attack the reinforcements, he could only resist the temptation and temporarily put off swallowing this juicy morsel that was right before his mouth.

  Daqinggou, ambush site of the 222 Regiment.

  Li Wensheng occasionally took out the brand new pocket watch from his chest pocket to take a look, whether he could annihilate the more than 10,000 little devils in Xinghe and outside the city, it all depended on whether he could wipe out this group of little devils who were reinforcing Zhangbei.

  "Enemy scout reports that the vanguard of the Little Devils' troops has already passed Dengjiacun and will arrive here in twenty minutes."

  "How many vanguard troops does Little Ghost have? Are there any tanks?"

  "Report from the front line, the vanguard of the Little Devil's troops is a Japanese cavalry squadron plus a puppet army cavalry company, with no tanks. However, in the main force of the Japanese army, there are ten Type 89 tanks, five with cannons and five without."

  Li Wensheng knew that the ones with cannons were Japanese Type 95 Ha-Go tanks, and those without cannons were Type 94 Te-Ke tanks. Both of these tanks belonged to light tanks, with an average armor thickness of only 12mm, which was very weak in terms of firepower and defensive capabilities.

  "Order the troops to conceal themselves well, let the vanguard of the little devils pass by, and wait for the main force to enter the ambush circle before opening fire."

  ......