The best way for infantry to deal with cavalry is to concentrate their forces and firepower to block them head-on, without giving them a chance to get close to them.
Otherwise, at the speed of the cavalry assault, once the two sides are strangled together, the infantry will be smashed to pieces in just one round.
The captain also thought of this.
There are still more than 900 people under his command. Although they have given up their heavy machine guns and mortars, they are still equipped with twenty or thirty light machine guns.
As long as these light machine guns are gathered together to form a machine gun position for frontal blocking, not even a single cavalry battalion can break through and intercept them.
But his troops didn't give him this chance at all.
Speaking of which, he has a lot of responsibility.
Facing the sudden artillery attack from the Eighth Route Army, the commander of the regiment not only asked his men to speed up the breakout and get out of the effective range of the mountain artillery as soon as possible, but also asked the troops to spread out on the transfer road and not to gather together and be hit by the artillery shells.
Facing the cavalry troops that were so close to Chi Chi, it was almost impossible for the completely dispersed troops to assemble and prepare for battle in just a few dozen seconds.
At the critical moment, the captain once again thought of a strong man breaking his wrist.
How can this deal be considered worthwhile if a small number of soldiers are sacrificed in exchange for the safety of most soldiers?
Although it is cruel, it can keep the main force of the alliance.
The commander of the company did what he thought of. He glanced at the surrounding subordinates again and ordered: "The six infantry squads in front of us on the left will assemble immediately and launch a countercharge directly at the cavalry attacking us, slowing down their attack speed at all costs."
"Other troops immediately moved closer to me and established a temporary defense line."
"Machine gunners are used intensively to intercept the Eighth Route Army cavalry head-on."
"Only by blocking their offensive and severely injuring them can we have a chance to continue to break through, otherwise everyone will die under the cavalry's saber."
…………
The Japanese mopping up troops on the left have reached a position 25 kilometers away from Chenjiazhuang, and can be reached in four hours by a normal emergency march.
However, in the face of the Eighth Route Army's repeated attacks, their marching speed had to be reduced again and again.
In the middle of the night, being able to advance three kilometers per hour would be considered a blessing among misfortunes.
At the temporary headquarters, Major General Hashimoto was observing the latest battle situation of the attacking troops with a sullen face.
Although the village blocking the road in front is not big, the underground tunnel network is very complicated.
Heavy artillery, mountain field artillery, tanks... I have used almost all the heavy weapons at hand, and still only captured less than 30% of the tunnels.
The Eighth Route Army relied on the remaining tunnel fortifications to continue to defend the village, preventing the mopping up troops from passing through.
This was the third attack launched by the offensive troops. The brigade commander planned to combine blasting and poison gas bombs to destroy the tunnel and eliminate the Eighth Route Army inside.
"Rumble..."
A thunderous explosion suddenly came from the blocking position, billowing black smoke rose into the sky, and the ground underfoot trembled twice in the explosion.
The attacking troops who were blocked in front of the formation finally moved, charging forward quickly with guns in hand, and in a short time they advanced several dozen meters.
"Da da da... dong dong dong..."
The sound of light and heavy machine gun fire soon sounded in the blocking position, and the rapidly advancing attacking troops fell down again and were blocked from their way.
This time there was no explosion on the battlefield, but hundreds of soldiers in the main attacking force all wore gas masks.
Major General Hashimoto knew they were going to fire gas bombs at the blocking position.
This was his last trump card for tunnel warfare. If it didn't work, he could only let the soldiers rush in, or wait until dawn for the planes to come over and bomb.
Ten minutes later, the attacking troops got up from the ground again, wearing pig-nosed gas masks and assaulted several dozen meters forward.
Major General Hashimoto shook his fist violently and said with excitement: "Explosions and gas bombs are useful..."
"Let the attacking troops continue to attack the village and use gas bombs in combination with blasting. I will kill all the Eighth Route Army hiding in the tunnels..."
When Major General Hashimoto vaguely saw hope of breaking through the Eighth Route Army's blocking position, the radio operator suddenly ran towards him: "Report to the brigade commander, there is an urgent call from the former enemy headquarters."
The chief of staff received the telegram first, and his expression changed after just one glance.
While handing the telegram to Major General Hashimoto, he introduced: "Something happened to the Sakuragi Division, and the reinforcement mission has been cancelled."
"Your Excellency, Commander, asked us to return immediately and evacuate the Eighth Route Army base area."
Hashimoto became angry after hearing this. He slapped the telegram on the table and said angrily: "We finally got here and we are about to win, but the bait is gone..."
"What the hell kind of fight is this?"
"What does Lieutenant General Sakuragi do for food?"
"So many troops could not hold out until three o'clock in the morning. The Kwantung Army was completely embarrassed by him."
"In order to reinforce Chenjiazhuang, the troops marched hurriedly, ignoring the cold guns and artillery barrels they encountered along the way, and marched forward."
"We suffered more than 100 casualties in this strike alone."
"Including the losses in the Eighth Route Army's blocking positions during the attack, there were at least 1,500 casualties along the way."
"If we retreat now, the more than 1,500 people lost along the way will be in vain..."
After reading Neji Okamura's order, not only Major General Hashimoto was unwilling to accept it, but everyone here was unwilling to accept it.
No one knows better than them how costly and difficult it is for the central mopping up troops along the way.
As a result, Okamura Neji's retreat order made all their previous efforts come to nothing.
But they are soldiers, and they must carry out orders no matter how unwilling they are.
Major General Hashimoto reluctantly put down his telescope, sighed and ordered: "Let the attacking troops withdraw."
"Our rear team will become the front team and immediately retreat to Wangdu County."
"First gather the wounded there and the transport troops, and return to Baoding together.
…………
The former enemy headquarters of the Solitary Regiment has been moved to Wei Zhuang, and Li Yunlong is pointing at a hand-drawn map.
"The trenches here need to be deepened. It is best to connect them to tunnels to ensure that troops can enter the tunnels to avoid artillery fire at any time." Li Yunlong pointed to a section of trenches on the drawing and ordered.
"The Japanese have heavy artillery, mountain artillery, and aircraft support during the day. The air defense and artillery defense on the blocking position must be done well."
"Ensure that each infantry squad has two tunnel entrances and exits to quickly transition to tunnel operations."
"If one tunnel entrance is bombed, the other tunnel entrance can still be used."
The third battalion commander immediately took the order: "Don't worry, commander, I will make arrangements now."
When Li Yunlong was about to continue speaking, the operator suddenly ran towards him in a hurry: "Captain..."
"An urgent message from Commander Zhou of the 25th Regiment."
"Our opponent has turned around and is marching towards Wei Zhuang in a hurry. He has repaired four tunnel fortifications and is preparing to block the Kwantung Army's mopping up troops on the left. Please make preparations to engage the enemy as soon as possible."
"Haha..." Li Yunlong laughed after hearing this.
"Fortunately, I, Li Yunlong, react quickly, otherwise I wouldn't be able to eat the fat meat that the little devil puts to my lips."
After glancing at his watch, he continued: "The Japs' mopping up troops on the left suddenly turned around and retreated, indicating that the battle at Xiao Huang is about to end."
"Send a telegram to Xiao Huang immediately."
"I want to wipe out all the Japs in Wei Zhuang and sweep up the troops on the left."
"Please ask him to immediately dispatch two main regiments and at least thirty mountain field guns to reinforce me."
"It would be better if all the field artillery and heavy artillery could be transferred here."
