noffsinger Chapter 286: Fighting rabbits
Chapter 286: Fighting rabbits
After receiving the order, Ding Wei, Kong Jie and Xing Zhiguo only left one infantry regiment and artillery regiment to attack the county town, while all other troops rushed to their respective designated areas.
Ding Wei's 1st Infantry Division was responsible for blocking the enemy on the right wing of Linfen and deployed defenses in Dayang Town.
Kong Jie's 2nd Infantry Division was responsible for cutting off these strongholds and county towns in the south, escaping to Linfen in the north, and deploying defenses in Nanxindian Town south of Linfen.
Xing Zhiguo's 3rd Infantry Division was responsible for the left wing of Linfen and deployed defenses near Weicun Town.
While quickly blocking the Japanese from entering Linfen, the infantry and artillery regiments that remained in place also began to attack the county town.
The simple fortifications of the small county town could not withstand the attack of the 105mm howitzers. After one round of salvos, the city gate was broken and almost half of the Japanese soldiers on the city wall were killed.
In order to prevent the civilians in the city from being injured by artillery fire, the three division commanders stopped firing howitzers after opening the city gates and instead used small-caliber mortars or 75mm infantry guns to carry out precise strikes against the Japanese.
There are an average of more than one hundred Japanese devils and five or six hundred puppet troops in the three counties, which are not enough for this infantry regiment and one artillery regiment to deal with.
In less than five hours, the county town was completely occupied.
Ding Wei stood on the ruins of Ji County's city wall and looked at the black smoke everywhere in the city. He immediately took the Japanese command knife and pointed it at Lieutenant Ogawa.
"Damn little Japanese, did you give the order to let these little Japanese soldiers abuse the civilians?"
The bespectacled translator honestly conveyed Ding Wei's anger to Lieutenant Ogawa.
Who would have thought that Lieutenant Ogawa, with a dark face, not only did not feel guilty or frightened at all, but instead laughed wildly.
"Hahaha, I just let them move freely and didn't ask them to do anything. What does this have to do with me?"
Ding Wei dragged Lieutenant Ogawa to the city wall like a dead dog, and pointed angrily at the corpses of Chinese people everywhere he saw.
"Free movement? Rape women, kill the elderly and children, and even pregnant women. This is your fucking free movement?"
Lieutenant Ogawa still looked indifferent and wiped his black face.
"I don't know. Maybe you should be kind to me. From what I know, you hope to capture some imperial soldiers and convert them into people who are useful to you. I advise you to be polite to me!"
The corners of Ding Wei's mouth rose slightly, and then he snorted from his nose.
"Oh? Really? Maybe you don't know me, Ding Wei, and even less do you know the Independent Column. Not all devils are lucky enough to become my prisoners!"
When Lieutenant Ogawa heard the interpreter's translation, his face immediately turned grim and he struggled to get up.
"How dare you! I protest! If you kill me, your superiors will not forgive you! And of course, your political commissar will too!"
When Ding Wei heard that this Japanese soldier was quite knowledgeable, he immediately put the command knife in his hand back into the scabbard.
"Oh? Really, Commissar?"
The political commissar of the 1st Infantry Division coughed twice, put his hands behind his back and turned his face to the sky.
"Send a message to the headquarters. Our troops have captured Ji County and completely wiped out the Japanese troops and puppet troops. No prisoners were taken!"
Lieutenant Ogawa's body was like a kite with a broken string, swaying in the still somewhat chilly spring breeze and falling under the city wall.
After taking over Ji County, Ding Wei left behind an infantry battalion to control the situation and clear out the Japanese and traitors in the city again. The rest of the troops quickly gathered and continued to advance northward.
At the same time, Kong Jie also captured Houma and Hejin at a very small cost, and also encircled Linfen at a very fast speed.
In Linfen, Keio Ishida had already observed that a large number of independent column soldiers appeared around Linfen, and he immediately felt something was wrong.
"Damn it, I didn't expect them to arrive so quickly! When will the supplies and infantry regiment from Taiyuan arrive?"
"General, General Yoshio Shinozuka just sent a message saying that the two armored divisions of the independent column in the north of Pingshun attacked Wuxiang and Liaoxian respectively, threatening Taiyuan. The supplies and reinforcements have been withdrawn to Taiyuan!"
Ishida Keio also planned to take advantage of the fact that the independent column had not yet gained a foothold, and attack it from the front and back with the reinforcements from Taiyuan to annihilate part of the independent column.
Now it seems that this plan is about to fail.
With the strength of the independent column infantry division, if they want to go out of the city and annihilate one part, they must concentrate at least 20,000 troops.
He only had 15,000 Japanese soldiers and more than 20,000 puppet troops. If the plan failed, the defense of Linfen would be difficult.
"Baga, we can only defend Linfen. There is an old Chinese saying that a moth flies into a flame and destroys itself. Linfen is the fire, and the independent column is the moth!"
At this time, the vanguards of the three infantry divisions had occupied the target area and began to build fortifications. On the one hand, they sniped at the puppet troops and devils who attempted to retreat to Linfen, and on the other hand, they surrounded them!
Outside the encirclement formed by the three infantry divisions, there were still some unconquered counties, such as Fushan, Xiangfen, and Xiangning.
The independent column had two choices:
One is to ignore these counties and attack Linfen directly;
The second is to proceed step by step, clean up these county towns first, and then free up hands to slowly clean up Linfen.
Li Yunlong looked at the sand table. Now it was basically a situation where I was within the enemy and the enemy was within me. It could be said that we were surrounded by each other.
"Mengzi, what do you think?"
Wang Meng picked up the bamboo pole next to him and pointed at several county towns with his aunt's flags.
"Commander, I think we should first clear out these counties on the outskirts to protect the safety of our rear."
What Wang Meng said was right. Modern warfare is fought based on logistical support capabilities, especially the independent columns that use powerful firepower to make up for the inferior quality of individual soldiers compared to the Japanese. The ammunition and fuel consumed every day are countless.
The firepower of a semi-automatic rifle is several times that of a bolt-action rifle, and the ammunition consumption is naturally several times as well.
In addition, a large number of artillery shells will be needed to pry open the turtle shell of Linfen.
So, there can't be any problems with the supply lines.
What's more, it's not so easy to pry open the shell of the turtle in Linfen, so we can't be impatient.
Perhaps the best option now is for the remaining infantry regiment and artillery regiment of each division to continue attacking the remaining county towns, completely removing the Japanese's nails on the supply line and ensuring the safety of the rear.
Moreover, the successive capture of county towns was also very helpful for the morale of the troops.
After all, rescuing the civilians and annihilating the Japanese with superior forces was more inspiring than besieging Linfen.
After receiving the order, Ding Wei, Kong Jie and Xing Zhiguo cheered, as they had originally wanted to do the same.
Now that large-scale battles have not started, they should take advantage of the opportunity and quickly capture a few more counties. For them, it is just a matter of catching rabbits while mowing the grass!