In Kong Jie's view, for the Eighth Route Army, the use of tunnel tactics during the war of resistance behind enemy lines was a typical example of the flexible use of "geographical advantages".
Even in the Taihang base area, which is mostly surrounded by mountainous areas, there are still some relatively flat areas where you can use a combination of tunnel and tunnel tactics.
The most important thing is that secretly dug tunnels can play a huge role in hiding and transferring troops.
Thus, the enemy is in the light and we are in the dark.
The troops are hidden and moved secretly so that the enemy cannot detect them.
This is like playing whack-a-mole. All you can do is wait for the mole to emerge from its hole and then hit it hard.
And it is never possible to predict in advance which hole among the many burrows the gopher will emerge from.
Some tunnel entrances widely scattered in the villages outside the independent regiment's base area are quite hidden.
Most of these tunnels are excavated two to three meters below the soil layer. Due to the exquisite and reasonable internal structure of the excavation, and the relatively dense and hard soil in the north.
The interior of the tunnel is relatively stable.
If the Japanese invaders want to enter these underground passages, the only way is to find the entrance to the tunnel.
And even if the entrance is found, the Japanese may not be able to sneak attack through the tunnel.
In the tunnel network extending in all directions, Eighth Route Army soldiers also set up alerts at some key nodes.
If Japanese troops enter, they will be aware of it immediately, and then quickly use emergency measures to completely seal the one-way passage.
Let the passage discovered by the Japanese invaders be completely useless.
In addition, the entrance of the tunnel is kept secret within the independent group.
Only your own internal warriors know the location to prevent leaks.
Where are these tunnels hidden in the village?
Some are built under the stove, and the surface is covered with stove ash.
Some are even built in chicken coops, covered with a layer of wooden boards, blending in with the surrounding environment.
If you don't know it in advance, it will not be easy to find such an entrance.
For the Japanese troops passing near the village, it was more trouble than less.
When they were raiding the Independence Regiment, the Japanese could still remember the losses they suffered in the villages and towns in the Independence Regiment's base area.
The Eighth Route Army likes to use villages to carry out mine warfare sneak attacks, which is a common impression among the Japanese.
When passing through the village, the Japanese soldiers subconsciously wanted to avoid the village, even though the village seemed to be completely silent, with not a single soul in sight.
In order not to waste time, the Japanese officers were also afraid that there would be traps left by the Eighth Route Army in the village.
So for the empty village, we just sent some scouts to conduct a general search.
Then just move on.
Therefore, regarding the hidden underground passages hidden in the villages, and the Eighth Route Army soldiers hiding in the passages.
The Japanese were completely unaware.
The Japanese army probably never imagined that this small independent group would be so arrogant as to put their army into the base area and then close the door and beat the dogs.
At the same time, Japanese troops in several other directions, including those advancing toward the New First Regiment and New Second Regiment, as well as those advancing toward other Eighth Route Army units, were blocked by Eighth Route Army troops.
Although the troops did not understand the purpose of the Japanese army's sudden advance.
However, according to the orders from their superiors, the ministries would never just watch the Japanese invaders penetrate into the base area, so they relied on the terrain, topography, and the defense construction of the base area to launch a layer-by-layer attack on the Japanese and puppet troops.
This naturally greatly slowed down the Japanese advance.
For the Japs officers at the Japanese military headquarters, everything was expected.
"Resist. The more intense the resistance, the more effective our iron gun mopping up tactics will be. When the troops on both wings close up, these Tubal soldiers will know how powerful our new tactics are."
At the daily temporary headquarters, a Japanese captain spoke coldly.
But the news coming from the outside of the independent regiment's base area is:
There was no resistance along the way. No Eighth Route Army or civilians were seen in the Eighth Route Army guerrilla zones and villages.
This inevitably made the Japanese officers in the headquarters hesitate and feel a little uneasy.
The defense area of the Independent Regiment has always been the place where the Japanese are most wary.
As a result, there were no obstacles in advancing.
This seems so unusual.
But this time the iron barrel sweep, with the advancing team, it is impossible to bypass the independent regiment's defense zone.
The Japanese command had no choice but to order that the troops advancing towards the Independence Regiment's base area should be more vigilant about their surroundings and be on guard against falling into the Independent Regiment's tricks at any time.
...The defense area of the Independent Regiment was obviously the first among all the regiments to come into contact with the advancing Japanese troops.
But when the battle in the defense area of the independent regiment started, the fighting in the defense areas of other regiments had already broken out for almost two hours.
During this period, what were the soldiers of the Independence Regiment doing?
After the Japanese advancing troops crossed the village, some of them quietly filed out of the secret tunnel entrance, and then laid mines, booby traps, and side bombs under the road on the back road of the Japanese advance as planned.
In short, we have to set up various traps, and first do the "closing the door" step of closing the door and beating the dog.
In order to block the Japanese's retreat, Kong Jie spent a lot of money this time.
A whole month's worth of the regiment's explosives, grenades, and mine production factories were used in this ambush.
Each team hiding in the tunnel has arranged a mine-laying team in advance, specifically responsible for blocking the Japanese army's retreat.
Moreover, the landmines must be laid section by section, not densely packed together, and the "strange" and "cunning" characteristics of landmines must be used.
The main force is deployed on the outskirts of Zhangjiazhuang and West Village, and tight defenses have been built in advance.
In this way, if the entire independent regiment defense area is compared to a large square.
At this moment, the front and rear sides have been blocked, leaving only the left and right wings.
Kong Jie will naturally not fall behind the remaining left and right wings.
The overall deployment is:
In the entire independent regiment's defense area, Kong Jie deployed five companies behind the Japanese army.
This is not an ordinary company, but an elite unit composed of the most elite sharp knife companies in each battalion.
In this regard, Kong Jie considered that the troops blocking the Japanese retreat would take the greatest risk, so they needed to be elite enough to be able to fight or retreat if the situation went wrong.
In addition, in the direction of Xicun and Zhangjiazhuang, the third and fifth battalions of troops were deployed.
Take advantage of the increasingly perfect defense foundations of Xicun and Zhangjiazhuang.
With these troops deployed here, it is absolutely impossible for the Japanese army to break through the position unless they launch a fierce attack regardless of the cost of casualties.
The left and right wings were handed over to the main force of the 1st and 4th Battalions.
During this period, whether it was a surprise attack with cold guns or artillery, or a guerrilla war based on the terrain, it was commanded by the company commander of each battalion.
In addition, in the central area of the entire defense area, the elite troops of the second battalion are also deployed, using a combination of tunnel and tunnel tactics to deal with the Japanese army at any time.
At the same time, we are waiting for the opportunity to cooperate with the troops from all directions to divide the entire large battlefield and eat up the effective strength of the Japanese and puppet troops one by one.
The militia brigade dispersed its various units and cooperated with the main force.
From God's perspective, the entire independent regiment's defense area was turned into a huge quagmire by Kong Jie.
Just waiting for the little devil to jump into the quagmire and be constantly consumed in the frightened struggle.
This was a battle that nearly used the entire strength of the independent regiment.
The scale is unprecedented in the history of independent regiment operations.
In Kong Jie's words, "This is a big event. If you don't want to be all capable of killing the Japanese, take all the soldiers out, especially the soldiers of the new recruit company, and follow the main force to have a good experience."
"The battlefield is always the place where soldiers grow the fastest."
As for the troops invested by the Japanese army in the independent regiment defense area, they were four brigades, plus two regiments of puppet troops, totaling more than 6,000 people.
If local troops and militia troops are not included in the Independent Regiment, the strength of both sides is quite close.
Time continues to pass.
The vanguard of the Japanese army took the lead in exchanging fire with the soldiers of the Independence Regiment.
This is like a signal, a signal that makes the more than 6,000 puppet troops tremble violently, and makes the soldiers of the Independence Regiment gear up one by one.
The battle between the two sides is about to break out.
The first battle broke out in a forest.
This is a reinforced platoon of the Second Battalion that ambushed the Japanese reconnaissance squad.
The soldiers of the reinforced platoon were instantly exposed to quite powerful firepower, even mixed with the firepower of five submachine guns.
It was just a face-to-face confrontation between the two sides. Twelve Japanese soldiers from the Japanese reconnaissance team met the emperor.
"Withdraw——"
After defeating the Japanese, there was no time to clean the battlefield and seize equipment. The platoon leader immediately issued a retreat order.
Boom——
The Japanese's follow-up artillery fire came immediately, destroying the vegetation in the mountains and forests.
Looking at the sea of fire dozens of meters away, the platoon leader who promptly led the soldiers to withdraw from the predetermined retreat route said with lingering fear:
"You damn little devil, don't you pay for cannonballs?"
"Fortunately, we retreated quickly enough. Even one of our companies was crippled by just this round of artillery shells."
"Platoon leader, what should we do now?"
"Continue to harass the enemy during the movement and find ways to expose the Japanese artillery positions."
"The little Japs won't be rampant for long. After the coordinates of the Japs' artillery positions are sent back, our artillery battery will not be a vegetarian!"
"Knocking out the Japs' artillery positions will make it easy to deal with the little Japs behind."
"Yes!"
……
Japanese Pioneer Brigade Headquarters.
The Japanese captain held a telescope and looked at the situation in the woods after the bombardment, with a cruel smile on his lips.
His words were somewhat confident, "Judging from the firepower exposed just now, the Eighth Route Army should be the main force of the Independent Regiment. If this round of shelling continues, the opponent will either die or be maimed."
He was still waiting for news. Soon after, the signal troop returned and reported:
"Reporting to the commander, there is no trace of the Eighth Route Army in the shelling area. There are only the bodies of our soldiers. All the reconnaissance teams have been killed."
"Nani? Baga! These damn bastards can run faster than rabbits."
The originally confident smile froze on his face, and the Japanese captain couldn't help but cursed angrily.