The battlefield at this moment belongs to the confrontation between the Japanese army and the Eighth Route Army.
The firepower exchange between the two sides was originally based on the independent regiment's current well-equipped equipment and sufficient ammunition, if not counting the dozen or so artillery pieces carried by the Japanese artillery squadron. (The artillery squad under the Japanese battalion naturally does not count.)p>
The firepower configuration of the 1st and 2nd Battalions is even more advantageous than the Japanese army.
According to the firepower configuration standard of the Japanese infantry squad, which is the smallest combat unit commonly used by the Japanese army.
The standard strength of a squad is between fifty and seventy people.
The main firepower is concentrated on the three light machine guns and three grenade launchers equipped.
And this is still a relatively strong army combat team of the Japanese army.
The second-rate Japanese combat troops used to stay behind to maintain security in the county are equipped with less than three light machine guns and grenade launchers per squad.
And what about today’s independent groups?
With the rapid development of equipment over the past year and more, the regiment's armory workshop can also produce some arms. Coupled with the seizures from frequent battles with the Japanese army, it is possible to do business with the 57th Regiment of the Jinsui Army.
Equipment obtained.
It is no exaggeration to say that in independent regiments, today's light machine guns and grenade launchers can be assigned to squad combat units.
In other words, a standard squad of twelve soldiers will be equipped with a light machine gun and a 50-gun. The 50-gun with a propellant pack has a farther range than the Japanese grenades.
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In addition, some strengthened squads will be equipped with a grenade launcher, six-shot grenades, or a Jin-made submachine gun.
The first battalion led by Wang Leihu and the second battalion led by Shen Quan are two veteran battalions of the independent regiment.
The firepower configuration in the camp is the most powerful. This time, five hundred elites from the camp were gathered to fight. The original intention was to use the suppression of firepower to eliminate the Japanese and puppet troops.
The firepower configuration at hand of the soldiers can be said to be almost armed to the teeth.
As soon as the firepower exchange between the two sides began, Japanese captains Nobuyoshi Mishima and Hideo Murai were also shocked.
The Eighth Route Army's firepower was so powerful that it suppressed his imperial troops for a moment, unable to raise their heads.
If it weren't for this time, the two brigades would have strengthened an additional artillery squadron, carrying more than a dozen artillery pieces, including infantry artillery and mountain artillery.
Mishima Nobuyoshi and Murai Hideo even suspected that relying on the powerful firepower of the ambushed Eighth Route Army, they could severely damage the imperial troops coming to help.
"Most of them are regular troops from the Independent Regiment of the Eighth Route Army. The firepower configuration of this independent regiment belongs to the top team in the Eighth Route Army!"
The Japanese adjutant who was crawling not far from Murai Hideo said.
Hideo Murai had an idea and immediately issued an order for the grenade detachment to quickly throw smoke grenades towards the Eighth Route Army's position.
The smoke bombs that were quickly projected soon emitted billowing smoke from the positions defended by the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the Independent Regiment.
Hideo Murai's purpose was very clear: to use smoke to cover the Eighth Route Army's attack field of vision in order to weaken the offensive nature of the Eighth Route Army's powerful firepower.
Then he took the opportunity to quickly assemble the artillery of the artillery squadron that had been dismantled and carried it. With the help of artillery, he blasted the Eighth Route Army fortifications, covered the troops and pressed forward. With the advantage of his strength, he wiped out the group of Eighth Route Army in front of him in one fell swoop.
But Hideo Murai underestimated the reaction speed of Shen Quanyu and Wang Leihu. These two veteran battalion commanders of the Eighth Route Army knew what the Japanese were planning as soon as they saw the Japanese using smoke grenades.
Chen Quan shouted: "Artillery, throw smoke grenades immediately, and prepare grenade and rifle grenade groups to attack!"
Wang Leihu followed closely and gave similar instructions.
Isn’t it just a smoke bomb?
You kid has it, and so does our independent regiment, which also has flares to guide artillery strikes!
If you Japanese throw smoke bombs, we will treat them the same way they do.
The Japanese should be destroyed here, so they proactively use smoke bombs. Once the troops are enveloped and their vision is blocked, it will be easier for the cavalry company to launch a surprise attack.
The grenades fired by both sides began to be mixed with smoke grenades.
After a large number of smoke bombs landed, the thick smoke that quickly spread quickly enveloped the fortifications on both sides.
Suddenly, in this plain area surrounded by mountain peaks, two thick smoke enveloped the two square positions, separated by a distance of two to three hundred meters.
Within a distance of two to three hundred meters between the two sides, there were puppet soldiers lying on the ground.
The commander of the puppet army who was at the rear of the puppet army camp and was responsible for leading the army complained secretly.
The Japanese army and the Eighth Route Army were fighting against each other. Both of them were great men, but it was the puppet troops who suffered a lot. They were in the middle of a firefight between the two sides and did not dare to get up.
The Japanese are not afraid of accidentally injuring their puppet troops.
Not to mention the Eighth Route Army. You can never guess when the flying bullets will hit you and then rub off your scalp.
If you raise your head just a little bit, your life will be gone.
"Tuanzuo, what should we do now? The firepower from both sides is too fierce."
The puppet adjutant lay on the ground, almost pressing his mouth to the soil and shouting.
The puppet army commander gritted his teeth. He knew that if he did not make up his mind, once a decisive battle broke out between the Japanese army and the Eighth Route Army, the puppet army in the middle would most likely be in trouble.
"There is nothing we can do. Tell your brothers, if you don't want to die, just stay close to the ground and climb out from both sides. As long as we climb out of the fire coverage of the Japanese and Eighth Route Army, we will be safe."
"Yes!" the adjutant responded quickly.
It's just that the firepower coverage of the Japanese army and the Eighth Route Army is too large. It would be too slow to just crawl forward like a squirm close to the ground.
As time went by, seeing the smoke bombs thrown by both sides completely covering each other's positions, the puppet army commander noticed that the firepower of both sides was weakening, and shouted: "Run!"
Survive in danger.
The leader of the puppet army shouted, summoned the guards around him, and all of them fled horizontally to the right.
Seeing the chance of survival, the other puppet soldiers didn't care about anything else and scurried to follow, some even losing their weapons.
The commander of the puppet army has really good judgment.
The smoke completely shrouded the positions of the Japanese army and the Eighth Route Army. After the vision of both sides was temporarily obscured, the firepower of both sides temporarily stopped.
Commanders on both sides knew very well that under the circumstances at hand, continuing to fire would be a pure waste of ammunition.
Taking advantage of this gap and when the firepower was sparse, after the puppet army commander gave the order, the puppet troops that were originally sandwiched between the Japanese army and the Eighth Route Army quickly evacuated from both wings. A large part of them escaped, and some of them were still there.
In the process of getting up and running away, he was shot down by bullets fired from both sides.
As for whether it was the Eighth Route Army or the Japanese who fought, it is unclear.
At the same time, just after the large cloud of smoke completely enveloped the Japanese troops.
Sun Desheng and Chen Dalian, who had been hiding at the foot of the surrounding mountains for a long time, used binoculars to observe the fighting situation between the two sides, and immediately issued combat orders.
A stormtrooper composed of eighty light cavalry took the lead in launching the offensive.
The stormtrooper cavalry soldiers who had long been ready to go, whipped their horses in silence, and the pained horses murmured. Covered by the deafening sound of artillery, they were like a silent sharp arrow, moving at a speed as fast as the wind and lightning.
Run out.
The clamping teams on both wings quickly followed up.
The eighty cavalry of the stormtroopers did not line up in a row, but after rushing out, they quickly opened the offensive line in an approximate fan-shaped formation and moved towards the rear of the Japanese army. There were two hundred troops behind the front line.
The artillery troops coming from America rushed over.
At this time, the Japanese artillery units at the rear were also shrouded in smoke under the bombardment of long-range smoke grenades intentionally commanded by Shen Quan and Wang Leihu.
Under the cover of the sound of artillery and smoke, the Japanese artillery troops in the rear did not notice the cavalry troops attacking from the back for a short period of time.
However, some puppet troops who took the opportunity to flee from the two wings were the first to discover the Eighth Route Army cavalry troops that were attacking from the back and side of the Japanese army.
The war horse galloped like lightning, and the old war horse seemed to feel the fierce fighting spirit of the owner on the horse. At the explosive speed, the speed was even close to twenty meters per second.
The distance of seven to eight hundred meters was shortened by one-third in an instant.
The pseudo-corps commander had a look of shock on his face. He immediately realized the cunning tactics of the Eighth Route Army. During the frontal positional battle, they actually hid a cavalry surprise attack.
But no matter how loud he yelled, in this noisy environment, the sound was only faintly and indistinctly transmitted.
On the other side, Japanese Captain Nobuyoshi Mishima commanded his brigade, taking advantage of the smoke to cover the Eighth Route Army fortifications, using grenade fire to cover them. After a round of shelling, he directly issued the order to charge.
Murai Hideo tacitly commanded the remaining troops as reserve troops and moved forward at the same time.
When the battle broke out, the front of the puppet army was only about 150 meters away from the Eighth Route Army.
The front part of the Japanese army is about 300 meters away from the Eighth Route Army.
So these three hundred meters are the charging distance after the Japanese army launches the attack.
Mishima Nobuyoshi, who possessed a considerable samurai spirit, was confident that with the help of smoke bombs and a charging distance of only three hundred meters, his offensive troops were enough to break through the Eighth Route Army's defenses before the smoke was blown away by the wind.
After all, there is a flat plain in front of us, and the fortifications built by the Eighth Route Army are only some low and shallow ditches, which do not have much defensive power at all.
On Chen Quan and Wang Leihu's side, after the smoke bombs obscured the Japanese military fortifications, the two battalion commanders issued a ceasefire order.
Shooting blindly is just a waste of ammunition.
Even though the independent regiment is now rich in equipment and ammunition, the soldiers still want to break a bullet in half out of habit.
The grenade and bomb-dropping teams were quickly in place.
Amid the sudden cessation of fire strikes, the soldiers put their ears close to the ground and listened to the Japanese approaching.
Three hundred meters, two hundred meters, one hundred and fifty meters...
Under the cover of the smoke screen, the Japanese launched a strong attack.
Chen Quan and Wang Leihu breathed a sigh of relief in their hearts. As two fierce generals of the Independent Regiment, they had never taken the little Japs seriously.
The little devil is determined to eat him in one go.
Is this really a big deal?
One hundred meters, eighty meters, less than sixty meters...
"Hit——"
Chen Quan and Wang Leihu successively issued orders to fire.
Although the field of vision is still obscured by smoke, at such a close distance, blind shooting is all it takes, and the bullets fired can always hit the enemy.
Moreover, there are also rifle grenades with a range of about 150 meters, which completely fill the firepower gap between grenades and 50 cannons.
The soldiers of the rifle grenade and grenade throwing teams who were waiting for the danger immediately launched a counterattack.
Close to the position of the Eighth Route Army, within 0 to 50 meters, the grenades can be thrown by the soldiers of the bombing team.
The soldiers have long been familiar with grenade throwing. Even though the bombing team was later equipped with a lot of rifle grenades, everyone never fell behind in grenade throwing skills.
The soldiers of the specially trained bomb-throwing team can easily throw grenades thirty meters away, or even more than forty meters.
Two hundred soldiers, each with four grenades, threw them all in less than twenty seconds.
A total of 800 grenades, with a fan-shaped striking surface, fell like dense raindrops.
At this time, the Japanese troops who were the first to attack were still shrouded in smoke, and they just rushed towards the position of the Eighth Route Army.
In an instant, he entered the range of the grenade.
Although the field of vision is blocked at this time, the power of collective throwing of grenades to cover a large area does not require any accuracy.
More than a squadron of Japs who rushed to the front suffered more than half of their casualties in the first round of explosions.
It was almost a one-sided massacre.
The Eighth Route Army's tactic of throwing grenades under the cover of smoke caught the charging Japanese off guard.
Under the fierce blow, there was no need for the Japs commander to give orders. The Japs, who were still shrouded in the gradually dissipating smoke, became timid and began to retreat in unison.
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The retreating Japanese soldiers soon found themselves within the range of the soldiers' rifle grenades, once again committing a one-sided massacre.
A Japanese squadron leader who retreated exclaimed, "Your Excellency, Captain, the enemy's firepower is really fierce. Our troops have suffered heavy casualties and are temporarily unable to break through the position!"
Mishima Nobuyoshi ignored the casualties of his own brigade and turned to Hideo Murai who was not far away and shouted:
"Murai-kun, the Eighth Route Army's firepower is fierce. We must take advantage of the artillery to completely plow the Eighth Route Army's fortifications several times before launching an attack."
"Okay!" Hideo Murai responded.
After the order to retreat was given, the Japanese of Mishima Xinyi Battalion retreated like a tide. The whole brigade, under the smoke, just attacked, and the total number of casualties exceeded one-third.
The cold wind, which was not too severe but continued, soon diluted the smoke emitted by the smoke bomb.
The blocked vision around him gradually became clear again.
At this time, there was actually no need for vision. The stormtroopers and clamping teams of the cavalry company, which were rapidly approaching from the back, were already less than 300 meters away from the Japanese rear defense camp.
At this distance, the stormtrooper cavalry can break through in less than twenty seconds.
Mishima Nobuyoshi and Murai Hideo naturally also left defensive forces at the rear of the team, responsible for protecting the security of the back and sides, and at the same time protecting the rear artillery positions.
Just as the smoke dissipated, the cavalry rushed over like crazy. The Japanese troops were caught off guard and all were shocked.
The clamping force that followed the stormtroopers from both wings was composed of some cavalry and some three-wheeled motorcycles, and could completely keep up with the speed of the stormtroopers.
The cavalrymen mounted machine guns on their saddles, and on the passenger seats of three-wheeled motorcycles, machine gunners mounted light machine guns and fired at the Japanese troops to cover the stormtroopers' attack.
After quickly following up, the artillery team soldiers of the clampdown team quickly dismounted to fight. In an instant, they set up small 50 cannons and bombarded the guards at the rear of the Japanese army to cover the stormtrooper attack.
A series of tactical actions are performed in one go, as fast as lightning.
Of the entire Japanese and puppet army, only the Japanese guard troops at the end of the team responded in time and counterattacked despite the firepower of the clamping team.
Murai Hideo and Mishima Nobuyoshi, who were at the front of the team, also woke up when they heard the fierce fighting sounds coming from the guarding troops.
The Eighth Route Army attacked east and west, and it turned out that the fatal surprise attack was from the back.
The cavalry unit of the Independent Company, the same cavalry unit that captured Qu County in a surprise attack a year ago.
The intelligence obtained by the Japanese army mentioned the cavalry unit of the Independent Regiment, and Hideo Murai and Nobuyoshi Mishima also knew about this.
The two of them were quite surprised. No wonder the Eighth Route Army had the courage to launch a blocking battle in this terrain. This was because the attack point was placed on this cavalry.
Chapter completed!