The leader of the Japanese and puppet reinforcements was named Kawaguchi, with the rank of Major and very rich combat experience.
After leaving the city, an infantry squad was arranged to spread out in battle formation in front of the reinforcements, searching all places along the way where the Eighth Route Army might be hiding.
The Eighth Route Army is best at encirclement and reinforcements, although the commander of the regiment told himself when giving the order that the Peiping Guerrilla Brigade did not have the strength to launch two battles at the same time.
But be prepared, and it won't take much time to arrange a small team to conduct reconnaissance and move forward anyway. All you need to do is signal your way to the Xia Shibao stronghold.
As a result, not long after he left the city, he began to be attacked by the Eighth Route Army.
Although the casualties caused by these sneak attacks to the troops were very small, almost negligible, they were extremely annoying.
Every time a gunshot rang out directly in front of the team, the troops would pause to prevent themselves from being ambushed by the Eighth Route Army.
Even if they only stopped for a minute each time, more than 20 sporadic sneak attacks were carried out, and half an hour passed in such a delay.
The troops were marching in a normal rush, and the commander of the regiment gave Major Kawaguchi only half an hour to maneuver. As a result, they only covered half of the way and the maneuvering time was used up.
If the troops continued to be attacked continuously by the Eighth Route Army during their subsequent march and stopped without interruption, they would certainly not be able to reach the Xiashibao stronghold.
Then there is a high chance that the reinforcement mission assigned to him by the commander will not be completed.
This was a result that Major Kawaguchi could not accept no matter what he said.
To avoid this kind of accident, the best and most useful way is to speed up the march.
Considering that he was being attacked by the Eighth Route Army along the way, if they really planned to surround the point for reinforcements, they would definitely not attack him along the way, so he should stay alert.
Therefore, these sneak attacks made him feel that it was impossible for the Eighth Route Army to ambush him in front.
The troops were immediately ordered to speed up their march, and the forward team all returned to the road. They only needed to conduct fire reconnaissance on suspicious targets encountered along the way.
Little did they know that this was all Zhang Xuan’s intention.
After fighting against the Japs for so many years, I know them well, but I still have a general understanding of them.
In order to dispel the idea that the guerrilla brigade might surround the site for reinforcements, the Japanese army deliberately arranged a guard platoon to sneak attack them.
According to normal thinking.
If the guerrilla brigade wanted to encircle a point and provide reinforcements, it would definitely want the Japanese army to march quickly and then crash into pocket formations all the way. The faster the better.
After all, things will change later. The longer the Japanese and puppet troops stay on the march, the easier it is to discover problems, and the greater the possibility that the ambush troops will be exposed.
Zhang Xuan went against the grain and sent troops to sneak attack the Japanese and puppet reinforcements during an ambush...
Take this opportunity to dispel the idea that the guerrilla brigade might ambush them.
Zhang Xuan's goal was obviously achieved.
In order to rush on the road, they hinted at the Xiashibao stronghold. When faced with a sneak attack by the guard platoon again, the Japanese and puppet troops continued to move forward as if they had not heard the gunshots, turning a deaf ear...
…………
"Captain...the Japanese and puppet troops are coming..." In the Baogu area where Zhang Xuan was, a reminder suddenly rang in his ears.
"I saw it..." Zhang Xuan replied with a smile.
While checking the light machine gun in his hand, he ordered: "Get ready to fight..."
After saying that, he turned his attention to the end of the road.
The Japanese and puppet troops appeared on the pipeline with torches. The number of torches was increasing, and soon they formed a long fire dragon with no end in sight.
Under the illumination of the torches, the figures of the Japanese and puppet troops clearly came into Zhang Xuan's field of vision.
The shape of the Japanese and puppet troops was exactly the same as that detected by the cavalry company.
The Japanese troops were in front, the puppet troops were behind, and the artillery was in the middle of the Japanese and puppet troops...More than 2,000 troops entered the pocket formation in a mighty manner without any vigilance.
Zhang Xuan decisively raised the safety of the machine gun, pulled the bolt, slightly adjusted the muzzle, and put an arrogant little Japanese squadron leader into the crosshairs.
"Ta da da... fire..."
The sound of machine gun fire suddenly sounded, and the three Japanese soldiers who were caught in the crosshairs by Zhang Xuan were beaten into pieces.
After firing a bunch of machine gun bullets, he quickly put a Japanese machine gun team that was about to move into the sight and continued to pull the trigger.
"Da da da……"
As soon as the gunfire rang out, the three Japs fell into a pool of blood with their machine guns. Each Japs had at least two bloody holes in their bodies, and there was no movement on the spot...
"Boom boom boom..."
The three main battalions are equipped with a total of eighteen mortars and fire together.
Eighteen shells seemed to have missed the target, steadily hitting the Japanese heavy machine gun squadron and mortar squadron.
This is the only heavy weapon of the Japanese army that can threaten the guerrilla brigade in the ambush battle.
Only by knocking it out as soon as possible can the ambush troops have no worries and use rifle machine guns to deal with the Japanese and puppet troops in the pocket formation.
"Boom boom boom..."
A violent explosion suddenly sounded. The Japanese machine gunners and gunners who were marching quickly were not prepared. In an instant, a large number of soldiers were overturned by flying shell fragments.
"Dong dong dong..."
Nearly twenty heavy machine guns were not idle either, shooting specifically at places where there were many Japs.
Baogudi is fifty or sixty meters away from the road, and is all flat land with an unobstructed view. The Japanese and puppet troops had no way to hide. Facing the rain of bullets flying out of Baogudi, the only thing they could do was to lie down on the ground.
As long as they stand, no matter where they run, they can't escape the rain of bullets flying on the road...
As a result, wherever the bullets rained, the Japanese and puppet troops were swept to the ground one by one like ripe wheat.
In less than five seconds from the time the guerrilla brigade opened fire, more than 2,000 Japanese and puppet troops were killed and 500 to 600 injured.
And these five to six hundred people are basically little devils...
Although Zhang Xuan arranged troops to besiege the puppet troops behind, there was only one battalion, and their artillery company and three heavy machine gun platoons were all transferred to other troops to besiege the Japs.
Although there are only one or twenty light machine guns and more than 400 rifles to deal with the puppet troops, the combat effectiveness of the puppet troops is far lower than that of the little Japanese.
The officers in the team were severely attacked, many died and many were injured, causing the command system to fall into chaos. The remaining puppet troops directly turned into a group of headless flies, running around on the battlefield with weapons, without any traces.
formation.
"Hidden..." The Japanese leader asked even if he wanted to die, he didn't expect that he would be ambushed by the Eighth Route Army. His face was full of despair, he threw himself on the ground with a pair of big eyes that couldn't believe it.
"How can this be……"
"Since the Eighth Route Army wants to call for reinforcements and ambush us, why do they send troops to sneak attack us on the road? Isn't this unnecessary? Aren't they worried that we will increase our alert because of these sneak attacks, causing their ambush plan to fail?"
The adjutant lay next to him and explained with a frightened look on his face: "Sir?"
"The Eighth Route Army that ambushed us had already thought we were dead... They believed that we were in a hurry to reinforce the Shibao stronghold. The continuous sneak attacks not only did not allow us to strengthen our alert, but instead slowed down our army's march and forced us to relax in order to hurry.