At about ten o'clock in the evening of the same day, the main force of the seventh column of the Eighth Route Army rushed to Shimen one after another and formed an encirclement of Shimen.At this time, Li Guotao also rushed to Shimen with the main force and placed his temporary headquarters in an ordinary small village outside the city.Ma Zhenguo pointed to the map and said: "In the evening of this day, the little devil had already sensed the intentions of our army in advance, so he withdrew all the Japanese puppet troops in all the strongholds outside Shimen City to the city, trying to rely on the city fortifications of Shimen to hold on and wait for reinforcements.In addition, the garrisons of little devils in several nearby counties also rushed to support Shimen, but they were stubbornly blocked by our local troops.Subsequently, our cavalry brigade rushed to Shimen and assisted the local troops in annihilating about 1,500 Japanese puppet troops, including 500 Japanese soldiers, most of whom were puppet troops.However, there were still hundreds of Japanese puppet troops who entered Shimen City. ”Li Guotao waved his hand and said, "I don't want to hear this, I want to know now how many defenders there are in Shimen City." ”Ma Zhenguo replied with a serious face: "According to the information we have obtained so far, the strength of the Japanese army in Shimen is only about 1,000 people, and there are more than 1,000 puppet troops, and the total strength will not exceed 3,000 people.Even if the little devils armed all the police and Japanese in the city, its total strength would not exceed 4,000 people. ”Li Guotao nodded and said: "The combat effectiveness of the puppet army is average, as for those policemen, it's okay to bully the common people at ordinary times, but they can't fight at all."
As for those Japanese overseas Chinese who were put together temporarily, there were not many of them in the first place, and maybe they were not afraid of death, but fighting a war is not just not afraid of death.There are many people who are not afraid of death, but not everyone who is not afraid of death can become a good soldier.So now the most difficult thing to deal with is the 1,000 Japanese troops in the city. ”"Hmm," Ma Zhenguo and the others nodded in agreement.Li Guotao paused and then said: "Now my seventh column has concentrated three infantry brigades, one cavalry brigade and one artillery brigade, plus the troops directly under the column, the total strength of more than 30,000 people, ten times that of the enemy.There is absolutely no problem in taking down a small stone gate. ”Li Guotao said this, and then said: "But the crux of the matter now is that the geographical location of Shimen is quite important, and the little devil will never give up Shimen easily."
I think that at this time, Tada Jun must be actively deploying troops to support Shimen.Therefore, our time is not too sufficient, we must take the stone gate as soon as possible, once the delay is too long, when the main force of the devil comes up, we will have no chance. ”Chang De frowned and said with a serious face: "In other words, we have no time to rest, so we can only launch an attack overnight and strive to take Shimen as soon as possible." ”"Hmm" Li Guotao nodded firmly and said: "It's best to take the stone gate before dawn, because if it is dawn, the little devil's plane should be dispatched, which will pose a huge threat to our army."
The troops had just marched dozens of miles, and the soldiers had no time to rest before they threw themselves directly into the battle, and what I was most worried about was whether the troops still had enough combat strength to take Shimen in one fell swoop. ”Changde said confidently: "Please rest assured, commander, we have always maintained the most adequate combat effectiveness, because we are the seventh column that is invincible and invincible."
It's just that after running dozens of miles, we can't exhaust our seventh column. ”"Haha, this Chang Da Horn usually talks like a fart, but this time it's rare to say a human word, isn't it just a small Shimen City, our seventh column won't take it seriously."
Li Yongfu said with a laugh.Li Yongfu's words made Changde extremely dissatisfied, but on this occasion, Changde was not good at arguing with this old boy, so he just glared at Li Yongfu fiercely.The other two brigade commanders all spoke, and Lin Feng couldn't be silent anymore, and said, "As long as the commander gives an order, we will guarantee to complete the task." ”Although the words are simple, they reveal a strong sense of confidence."
Okay," Li Guotao nodded with satisfaction and said, "Immediately prepare to launch an attack on Shimen City." ”"Yes" Chang De and the others responded respectfully, then turned around and left the headquarters to prepare to go.About two hours later, the rumbling of artillery began the assault on Shimen.Whistling shells continued to crash on the walls of the stone gate, making a deafening explosion.Listening to the constant explosions outside, Li Guotao gradually became nervous.Until now, many generals still don't quite understand the purpose of Li Guotao's attack on Shimen.Shimen is of course very important, and it is precisely because it is so important that the little devil will never give up easily.Even if the Eighth Route Army can capture Shimen, the little devil is bound to make a big counterattack, and Shimen is located in the North China Plain, there is no danger to defend, once the Japanese army counterattacks, with the current strength of the Eighth Route Army, it is impossible to hold Shimen.Therefore, many people have opinions about the capture of Shimen, but this is an order of the headquarters, and soldiers take obedience to orders as their duty, and even if they have opinions, they must resolutely implement the order, and as for the opinions, they can only be retained.Only Li Guotao himself knows that capturing Shimen is only the first step in his overall plan, and of course it is also the most important step, if he can successfully take Shimen, the next thing will be much easier.But if it fails, the whole plan will also be a complete failure, and if the seventh column is not done well, it will suffer huge losses.Therefore, Li Guotao is very nervous now, after all, it is not so easy to take such a strong city in a short time.Li Guotao, who was always a little relieved in his heart, picked up the telescope on the table, turned around and walked out of the headquarters, accompanied by the guards, Li Guotao came to a small dirt slope at the entrance of the village, raised the telescope and looked in the direction of Shimen City.The fire generated by the explosion of the cannonball on the ground, as well as the strong light emitted by the flares that kept rising into the sky, allowed Li Guotao to clearly see the current situation in Shimen City.The city wall, which was originally extremely strong, also began to tremble violently under the intensive bombardment of our army's heavy artillery fire, as if it might collapse at any time."
Oh my God, how many shells do you have to waste," Kou Erbao, the guard next to him, said with a shocked expression.After finishing speaking, he seemed to realize that he had said something wrong, and hurriedly reached out to cover his mouth, and secretly glanced at Li Guotao next to him, but fortunately, Li Guotao just carefully observed the situation in Shimen, and didn't seem to hear this.After a while, Li Guotao put down the telescope in his hand, sighed softly and said, "As long as you can take the stone gate as soon as possible, everything is worth it." ”aa2705221: