Chapter 57: The Bombing of the Blood-soaked Lonely City

  "Hakka, send a message to the Army Aviation immediately and request fire support!" Abe Kiyohide shouted loudly.

  Hi

  It's no wonder that Abe Kiyoshi was so frustrated, because the artillery battalion that had just been destroyed was his only artillery unit. The biggest loss for the Chahar Expeditionary Force in the Battle of Tianzhen was indeed the artillery, and a single sneak attack by the 3rd Battalion of the Guards Regiment resulted in the Japanese army losing two artillery battalions.

  After the war, although Chahar dispatched troops to replenish quickly, due to the lack of artillery personnel and equipment, only four artillery squadrons were replenished, barely enough to form a reinforced battalion. Due to the suspicious behavior of the Xinghe County Security Regiment, Tojo Hideki handed over 70% of his artillery to Abe Kikuji, but unexpectedly, on the second day of the war, his artillery was destroyed by the Chinese army, so how could they continue fighting?

  The small county town not far away, he could see clearly that although the city wall was not very high and large, it could be seen that the county's defense works had just been inspected and repaired. In addition, there were dense underground fortifications everywhere outside the city. If there was no artillery fire support, taking down this small county town would have to pay a terrible price.

  As a senior officer of the Chahar Expeditionary Force, he was well aware of the situation of the force. Although the Chahar Expeditionary Force claimed to have 100,000 elite soldiers outside, in fact there were only three infantry brigades and two detachments of elite infantry, plus troops directly under the command of the force headquarters, with a total strength of less than 45,000 men. The rest were all poorly combat-effective Imperial Japanese Army troops.

  Moreover, in the previous period of fighting, Chahar's expeditionary force suffered more than 12,000 casualties, and now there are no more than 33,000 combatants. Although some reinforcements were received in the past few days, they were not the elite of the Kwantung Army, but rather supplementary troops transferred from the North China Theater, whose quality was far inferior to that of Chahar's expeditionary force originally.

  Such a result would lead to the fact that if one of the two main armies attacking Tianzhen and Xinghe suffered heavy losses, it would inevitably affect the subsequent battles. Even if Tianzhen or Xinghe were really captured, the troops might stagnate due to lack of manpower.

  In fact, the Japanese army's air force had dispatched an aviation squadron with 8 aircraft to assist in the battle. However, due to Chen Feng's order for soldiers to ignite a large amount of unripe branches and straw in the urban area, the entire city and surrounding areas within several miles were shrouded in rolling thick smoke. The Japanese pilots couldn't see the ground targets even when they flew at their lowest altitude, so they could only return reluctantly.

  On September 24, both sides of the battle were very restrained. Except for Abe Kiyoshi's anger and pity for that half-crippled artillery battalion, the front-line troops were all satisfied with the battle on the 24th. In the eyes of Japanese soldiers, their superiors did not drive them to attack that eerie Chinese county town, nor did they collide head-on with that equally eerie Chinese army. This was victory, and at least their lives had been preserved for another day.

  For the soldiers of the 222nd Division, the more days they could drag out the battle, the more time other units would have to prepare. Since the division commander had ordered that the latest model anti-aircraft machine guns were not yet to be revealed, for now they could only use makeshift methods to counter the enemy's tanks and planes. As a result, when facing the enemy's attacks, the troops still suffered some casualties, so they too were happy to see the enemy somewhat restrained.

  In the city defense headquarters, Chen Feng was analyzing the war situation on a map. A large map was spread out on the desk, with two rulers and a protractor placed beside it. Chen Feng held a sharpened pencil in his hand, constantly drawing lines on the map.

  "Reporting to the commander, Andrei is here to report that the cavalry corps has arrived at Zhangbei and can launch an attack on Zhangbei County at any time." The reporter reported loudly.

  "Have you figured out the situation in Zhangbei City? How many troops are stationed inside, are they little devils or puppet soldiers?" Chen Feng asked, raising his head.

  "Mr. Reporter, Andrei Travkin did not say those things..."

  "Then you'd better ask quickly, knowing yourself and your enemy can win a hundred battles without danger. Not understanding the situation of one's opponent is likely to suffer greatly." Chen Feng said with furrowed eyebrows.

  "Yes, I'll go ask now."

  Soon, there was a reply from Andrei's side. The telegraph operator stood up and gave Chen Feng a military salute, saying: "Report to the commander, Colonel Andrei replied that there are more than 800 Japanese puppet troops stationed in Zhangbei City, among which only one battalion is Japanese, and the rest are all puppet troops. Secondly, they also received intelligence that not only did the city stockpile a large number of weapons and equipment, but also built a new concentration camp, where many prisoners were detained. Colonel Andrei asked for instructions on how to deal with it."

  Chen Feng thought for a moment and said: "Send a telegram to Andrei, let him follow the original plan, tomorrow afternoon take the initiative to attack the Japanese puppet army in Zhangbei County, but pay attention to the degree, not only to hurt the little devils, but also can't annihilate them, forcing them to seek help from that old devil Abe Kiyoshi."

  "By the way, have other troops arrived at their designated positions?"

  "Reporting to the commander, half an hour ago, the 222nd Brigade called and said that their main force has arrived at Daqinggou and is building fortifications. Commander Wang Hansheng led the remaining troops to hide in the Ertaizi area, as soon as the commander's order is issued, they can rush to Xinghe City within two hours."

  "Is there any news about the 223rd Travel and Garrison Brigade?"

  "There are, the 223rd Brigade has also arrived at Daheishan, acting very covertly and without attracting the attention of the little devils. In addition, the Second Dogzi who was besieging Daqingshan has also withdrawn, not leaving a single soldier. Xu Traveling General sent a telegram to the instructor's seat, saying that the Guard Brigade has entered the predetermined attack position and can join the battlefield at any time."

  "Alright, send a telegram to Li Yifeng, Wang Hansheng and Xu Hufa, telling them to continue hiding and waiting for orders. Then send another telegram to Li Wenshen, ordering the main force of the 222nd Brigade to intensify their fortification work. The little devils will arrive at Daqinggou by tomorrow noon at the latest. I need them to fight quickly and decisively, then swiftly return to support Xinghe, blocking the gap in the north, making that old turtle Abetzura completely become a turtle in a jar." Chen Feng ordered.

  Chen Feng's side was confident, but Li Fu-en's side was in a state of panic. The Japanese army's two-day attack had already cost the 399th regiment defending the city dearly, with less than a thousand people left in the regiment now, and more importantly, the troops' ammunition was running out.

  After reporting to the headquarters of the Seventh Group Army and the Second War Zone, Fu Zuoyi received an order that was unexpectedly to hold Tianzhen to the death, not less than three days at the latest, and Hu Zongnan's reinforcements would arrive within three days.

  As for the reinforcements, Li Fu-en actually didn't have much hope. On the one hand, he was very aware of the current situation on the battlefield. General Yan's hands were already empty, and even if there were reinforcements, they wouldn't exceed a division. Adding his own crippled army, at most it would be only 20-30 thousand people.

  However, the little devils attacking Tianzhen have as many as 500,000 to 600,000 people. To say nothing of a division, even if an army group came, it's not certain they could win, so what he most wants to see now is General Yan's order to retreat.

  The 61st Army was already severely damaged in the last battle, and Li Fu-en believed that it could not hold on if another brutal battle were to be fought. Even if they really managed to hold on until the end, it would be hard to say how many of the troops would remain, and at best no more than 30% would survive.

  The last time, fortunately, there was that sudden emergence of the security team to hold back and heavily damage the Japanese army, which gave Tianzhen an opportunity. Otherwise, just this once would have been enough for the 61st Army to drink a pot. This time, I heard that the little devils divided their troops into two tens of thousands to attack Xinghe, thinking that the young friend himself was also in a difficult situation, and probably didn't have the time or energy to take care of himself. Thinking of this, Li Fuyan couldn't help but feel a wave of depression.

  On September 25, just after dawn broke, a low hum of engines suddenly pierced the morning calm, and then more than thirty planes suddenly emerged from the clouds, launching a fierce bombing raid on Xinghe County.

  "The wail" of the air raid siren had just pierced the air when the shells came down.

  "Boom" "boom" "boom", one after another, the intense explosion sounds shook the entire county.

  A fierce gust of wind blew off more than half of the tiles on the roof of the city defense command, and the glass on the windows was shattered all over the ground. Two soldiers on guard were killed and injured.

  The bombing lasted for nearly half an hour, until the city was engulfed in flames and thick smoke once again shrouded the city, before the Japanese planes finally left Xinghe's airspace.

  Chen Feng did not expect the little devils to launch a surprise attack at dawn, so he was unprepared. After a round of bombing, more than half of the city was destroyed. Some military facilities were also damaged, and there were some casualties. Fortunately, Chen Feng had been worried about the Japanese planes' bombing, so he had built a large number of air-raid shelters in the city early on. At night, most of the soldiers rested in the air-raid shelters, so the number of casualties was not high.

  It was Chen Feng's command post that suffered significant losses, with a shell landing in the courtyard, killing one guard and injuring another. Additionally, many maps, weapons, and important documents inside the command post were also damaged or destroyed.