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Chapter 191 All-out siege

Just as the 88th Army was puzzled by today's unusual battle situation, the Japanese First Army led by Yoshio Iwamatsu was also quite entangled.

In fact, when Yoshio Iwamatsu first learned that the equipment and firepower of the 88th Army were seriously inconsistent with the intelligence, he had plans to withdraw his troops.

However, it was General Okamura Yasuji who gave the death order, which was also the intention of the Tang Dynasty Expeditionary Force in Demon City.

"Defend your position strictly and do not retreat. Anyone who disobeys this order will be punished by military law!"

Yoshio Iwamatsu had no choice but to watch his First Army suffer thousands of casualties in a single day.

He should also be thankful that due to terrain restrictions, the 88th Army's mechanized forces were unable to deploy over a large area. Otherwise, with their mobility advantages and equipment gaps, they could have consumed an entire division in a single day.

......

November 11th, the second day of the war.

At dawn in the morning, various units of the 88th Army launched a fierce attack.

The Mechanized Infantry Division completely withdrew from the clearing out of the remaining Japanese troops in the mountains and put all its firepower into Huo County.

The three mechanized infantry regiments of the motorized infantry division were deployed to the west of Queshu Valley. In some places where armored vehicles could not pass, the troops fought on foot in company units.

At the instruction of Wang Dafu, the 3rd Artillery Regiment of the Motorized Infantry Division was temporarily dispatched by the Mechanized Infantry Division. After crossing the Fen River, the artillery positions were deployed along the railway north of Huo County, and the 2nd Artillery Regiment of the Mechanized Infantry Division launched heavy artillery fire on the Japanese outer positions north of Huo County.

The artillery brigade also concentrated its artillery battalions to carry out indiscriminate fire coverage of the Japanese outer positions west of Huo County.

As for the Armored Division's 2nd Armored Regiment, it launched an attack on the outer strongholds of Jiexiu at 10 o'clock.

Before this, the Japs had never thought that there would be such a big change in their offensive against the Tang Dynasty, so they basically focused their defense on the junction with the Tang Dynasty army, and did not pay much attention to the defense construction work in the internal occupied areas.

Therefore, it took only one hour for the 2nd Armored Regiment to clear most of the defensive fortifications in the south of Jiexiu and control the railways and roads to the south.

The route for the Japanese to go south for support was completely cut off, which also meant that the logistics of nearly 30 Japanese troops south of Jiexiu were cut off.

At 11 o'clock in the morning, Lingshi County was surrounded on three sides: north, west and south, and the Japanese in the county were trapped.

At 12 o'clock, the motorized infantry division left one regiment to continue searching for the remaining Japanese invaders in the mountainous area, and the other two regiments returned to Fenxi County, took the highway, and headed towards the west gate of Huo County.

In just one hour, two regiments of the Motorized Infantry Division and most of the Mechanized Infantry Division completed the encirclement of the north and west gates of Huo County and officially launched the siege.

Huo County has 4 city gates, one each in the east, south, west and north. The Japanese defenders have 3 options:

Either they defend the city walls, resist the attack of the 88th Army, and live and die with the county.

Either they abandon Huo County and retreat from the east gate, taking the main road across the Taiyue Mountains. However, this road is difficult to travel and is not suitable for large-scale retreat. In addition, the entire Taiyue Mountains is under the jurisdiction of the guerrillas. If they want to pass through the territory of the guerrillas who are good at guerrilla warfare, it will not be accomplished in a few days.

The last way is to retreat through the south gate and move closer to Hongdong. This way the risk of retreat is minimal, and we can establish a defense line together with the Japanese in Linfen.

However, with the Queshu Valley cut off, the Japanese could no longer stay in Linfen or Hongdong for a long time. The only way they could go was to flee to Changzhi and Jincheng in southeastern Shanxi.

No matter which path the Japanese choose, one thing is certain: Queshu Valley will be lost.

Unless a miracle happens, this miracle must be able to defeat the 88th Army.

The sieges in Lingshi and Huo County were very simple. With artillery suppression, as long as the city walls were almost destroyed, tanks and armored vehicles could advance, and it would be easy for the troops to enter the city.

In the afternoon, the temporary headquarters of the 88th Army.

Wang Dafu received battle reports from the communicator, and his anxiety became more and more obvious.

"Staff Officer Fang, we will launch the final attack on Lingshi and Huo County in half an hour, but the Japanese in Zhongyang and Linfen are still not making any moves. This makes me feel very uneasy!"

After a night of thinking, Fang Yue seemed to have guessed the devil's intention.

It cannot be said to be a guess, but rather a method of elimination.

In his spare time, he would read novels as a hobby, including the works of English detective novelist Arthur Conan Doyle.

The protagonist Sherlock Holmes in "The Complete Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" once said: Eliminate all the impossible, and whatever remains, no matter how incredible it is, is the truth.

He put himself in the shoes of the Japanese First Army, the North China Front Army, and the Tang Expeditionary Army, and thought about what benefits they would gain from the Japanese fighting in this way, or what kind of deployment could be accomplished by fighting in this way.

Until noon today, after confirming the movements of the Japanese in Linfen and Zhongyang, he became more certain of his guess.

Just when he was about to speak, the communicator responsible for contacting the headquarters handed him a telegram.

Fang Yue took it and looked at it, then said with a confident look; "I understand, now I understand it completely. The headquarters called and just received a battle report from the Military Commission. The First War Zone in East Henan and a division of the Japanese were engaged in a fierce battle. The Japanese showed a hasty style of fighting from the beginning of the battle, and seemed to be eager to advance.

The Japanese troops stationed in northern Henan and the Japanese troops in Jincheng and Changzhi also launched attacks on southern Shanxi at the same time. The flames of war have already ignited in many areas of Zhongtiao Mountain. These Japanese troops are also eager to advance. The attack is very fierce. They have already broken through several important towns and are still attacking deep into Zhongtiao Mountain. "

Just as Fang Yue finished speaking, another correspondent responsible for contacting the headquarters also handed over a telegram.

The 27th Division of Zhongyang moved and, under the leadership of the Cavalry Regiment, launched a fierce attack on Shuitou Town.

The Japanese in Xiaoyi were also moving. About a division of troops moved in batches to Shuitou Town, and at the same time, infantry in battalions moved towards Jiexiu.

Wang Dafu now completely understood the devil's intentions. He sighed and said, "This devil has a big appetite. It wants to devour all of our Tang army north of the Yellow River. This is a huge encirclement. The devil must have at least 40 troops. It's really a big deal!"

Fang Yue also sighed: "Yes, in the Battle of Songhu that shocked our Tang Dynasty, the devils only deployed a total of 30 troops. In the Battle of Wuhan, which took more than four months, the devils only deployed 4 troops. This time, it reached 25, which shows how determined the devils are."

"No wonder the Japanese didn't retreat despite the huge casualties yesterday. It turned out that they were waiting for the rest of the troops to form an encirclement. However, the Japanese underestimated our 88th Army. They probably never dreamed that our army took only one day to reach the city and opened up the Queshu Valley before their encirclement was formed!"

"Now that we know the enemy's purpose, we don't have to worry. The young marshal is in charge of the rear. As long as Lingshi and Huoxian fall in half an hour, everything will be solved!"

Just when everyone breathed a sigh of relief, a roar was heard in the sky. It was the sound of a bomber.