Chapter 233 Breakthrough War of Counter-Encirclement and Suppression (7)
Chapter 233: Breakout Battle of Counter-Encirclement and Suppression (7)
"Correspondent, inform the two regiment commanders and the artillery battalion commander that there will be a meeting here in an hour."
"Yes, Commander..."
Sure enough, half an hour later, the Japanese stopped their attack and began to shrink their defenses to prepare for the Eighth Route Army's breakout at night. The battlefield that had been a fierce battle for a day slowly calmed down. After the two regiment commanders arranged their alert troops, they hurried to the temporary headquarters.
"Everyone sit down and let's discuss tonight's breakout. First of all, let me tell you some good news. The cavalry regiment will come to meet us tonight when we break out. This will solve our worries. Okay, let's report it first.
Can you tell me about the situation of your respective troops?"
"Let's start with the artillery camp first," Liu Hua continued.
"There is basically no loss of personnel in the artillery battalion, just in terms of ammunition... Just counted, there are still 90 rounds of mortar shells, and there are still about 200 rounds of grenades fired from grenades. These are the only ones left." The commander of the artillery battalion smiled bitterly.
answer.
"I have persisted until now and there are still so many, that's enough. Commander Wang?"
"Yes, there are currently about 1,320 combat-effective soldiers in the whole regiment, 50 are seriously injured, and 150 are slightly injured. The ammunition was replenished before departure, so it is still sufficient." Wang Benqing replied.
"Well, Commander Shen"
"One regiment has 90 seriously wounded, 250 lightly wounded, 350 combat troops, and is almost out of ammunition." Commander Shen replied sheepishly.
"Okay, here's the order: We will break out from behind to facilitate the cavalry regiment's response. The breakout time is scheduled for eleven o'clock in the evening. Artillery Battalion."
"arrive…"
"At eleven o'clock sharp, you must shoot all the artillery shells and grenades, then break out with a battalion of equipment, and destroy all the remaining heavy weapons..."
"Yes, Commander..." Although he was very reluctant to part with the captured heavy weapons, he still answered firmly.
"Captain Shen, you have no combat mission. You are responsible for the transfer of all lightly and seriously injured people. The guard company will also be under your command when the time comes. Remember, you cannot leave a wounded person behind."
"Well! Commander Wang, you will be responsible for the breakout and cover. When the time comes, the order of the breakout will be one, two or two battalions in the front, the artillery, the first regiment and all the wounded in the middle, and the third battalion will cover. Then all the heavy machine guns and
Hand the grenades to the third battalion that serves as cover. Let them arrange all the grenades into booby traps and bury them on the position, place them in the heavy machine guns, and blow them up when they are used up. In a word, we cannot leave the Japanese with one shot or one bullet."
"Yes, Commander, the Third Regiment guarantees to complete the mission." Wang Benqing stood up and said excitedly
"Okay, get ready now when you get back and break out on time in the evening." Liu Hua confidently announced the adjournment of the meeting.
Finally, after several hours of preparation, all the troops were in place. Especially the soldiers of the first and second battalions of the third regiment, all looked solemn, with bayonets on their guns and bullets loaded...
"Bang bang bang..." Three signal bombs were launched into the air, heralding the beginning of the breakout battle.
"Boom boom boom... The artillery battalion fired first. After sorting out all the equipment that needed to be taken away, the remaining mortar grenades were neatly placed on the position by the soldiers. Because these weapons were about to be used
It was destroyed, so the soldiers no longer paid attention to its service life and fired the shells as fast as they could.
Immediately, the Japanese army, which had no terrain advantage and only dug a trench on the plain, immediately experienced what is called saturation bombardment.
On the Japanese position, which was no more than 200 meters long and less than ten meters wide, nearly fifty cannons of various types fired more than 300 shells in less than a minute. In an instant, the entire Japanese position was engulfed in a sea of flames.
"Dudududu..." Before the artillery fire stopped, a loud charge bugle sounded from the Eighth Route Army's position.
"Da da da..." The troops still followed the previous breakout method. Dozens of light machine guns were arranged in an arc to form a death squad for the troops to break out. Everyone trotted and rushed out of the position, all the muzzles of the guns were spraying tongues of flame, and they fired at
The Japanese troops fired in a fan pattern on the position.
"Come on..." The machine gunner was closely followed by two battalions of soldiers holding bayonets...
"Baga... Hurry, fire, hold on." The Japanese captain who was guarding the position was lucky enough to escape the bombardment, but when he heard the charge horn from the Eighth Route Army position and raised his head, he was struck by the sight in front of him.
Shocked.
Under the light of the fire, dozens of light machine guns spit out flames continuously and moved towards their position. The airtight bullets stuck tightly to the edge of their trenches. The captain saw with his own eyes several people who were preparing to fight back.
The soldier was hit and fell in the trench as soon as he showed his head.
However, the captain quickly recovered from the shock and quickly shouted for the soldiers to fight back. However, he never thought about how many soldiers could be like him, with the protection of everyone, and escaped the attack that just took less than a minute.
shelling.
However, his order was still heard. One...two...one after another, the surviving soldiers climbed up from the trenches that were bombed into ruins. Finally, under the organization of some low-level commanders, the surviving Japanese troops began to attack sporadically.
counterattack.
Although the Japanese's precise marksmanship caused a lot of casualties to the machine gunners in the front row, you must know: the machine gunners in the front rows are all death squads. In the Eighth Route Army, participating in the death squads is public property.
For party members and soldiers with the belief that they will die, such casualties will only increase their confidence in killing the enemy.
The machine gunner in front fell, and the candidate shooter behind him did not hesitate. He picked up the machine gun and continued shooting and charging. The soldiers could only do one more thing at most, close the eyes of their fallen comrades and finish what they had not finished.
wish…
The soldiers' charge went without any interruption. However, the Japanese soldier who had just shot at the machine gunner did not feel so comfortable. Because he had to bear the ruthless revenge of the soldiers. When his gunshot rang out, he attracted the attention of at least one machine gunner.
Notice…
"Da da da..." The machine gunner who discovered the Japs was not polite, nor did he think of saving bullets. He fired a bunch of bullets at the Japs who showed up, and in an instant, the dense bullets turned him into a hornet's nest.
"Baga..." The captain couldn't help but became furious when he saw that his soldiers had managed to escape the bombardment, but they only fired a few bullets and died for the empire in the face of the intensive firepower of the Eighth Route Army. You know, the powerful Japanese Imperial Army
When have you ever received such a blow?
The angry captain also lost his mind. Seeing an unmanned light machine gun next to him, he conveniently set it up on the edge of the trench. He shouted and fired at the approaching Eighth Route Army, seeming to promote Japan.
The excellence of the imperial army. However, he could not be excited for long. Because as the machine guns fired, the muzzles of the guns that were constantly spitting flames also became the best targets for the soldiers. Immediately, several machine guns fired at them.
"Baga..." The captain reluctantly let go of his right hand holding the machine gun, looked at the blood holes on his chest that were bleeding out, raised his body back, opened his mouth, seemed to want to say something, and fell down in the trench.
middle.
At this time, the soldiers were less than a hundred meters away from the Japs' position. The Japs guarding the position, seeing the Eighth Route Army getting closer and closer, immediately fell into chaos after hearing that their captain had been killed, and began to fight on their own.
, loopholes began to appear in many places in the position.
The soldiers seized the opportunity and quickly rushed towards the weak point of the Japanese position.
"Kill..." Finally, a hole was opened in the Japanese defense line. The soldiers with bayonets behind them immediately rushed to the front of the team, divided into two groups, and attacked the two wings of the breach, and began to expand the opened breach.
"Commander, the breach has been torn open. Now the two battalions are expanding the breach. The troops can set off..." Wang Benqing, the commander of the third regiment, ran to Liu Hua and said.
"Okay! The troops set off..." Liu Hua ordered loudly. A group carried the wounded and began to retreat in an orderly manner.
At this moment, the main force of the Japanese army, led by the Japanese chief of staff, launched a group charge towards the position. It turned out that Major General Sakai had guessed that the Eighth Route Army would break through tonight when it was dark. So he set up a brigade at the headquarters.
In addition to the troops being used for defense, the remaining two brigades were all on alert, with bullets loaded and ready to attack at any time.
When Sakai, who was walking back and forth in the headquarters, heard the sound of artillery, especially when he knew that Liu Hua's breakout direction was directly opposite, a sneer appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"Yo Xi, Chief of Staff, now is the best time for us to eliminate the Eighth Route Army. I think most of the Eighth Route Army's forces are used to break through at this time. For us, it should only be a symbolic defense. If we break through to
If we launch a charge in the middle of the battle, then, by then, the Eighth Route Army will definitely fall into chaos. I think the Eighth Route Army in chaos will be like a lamb at our mercy.
"Hi, your Excellency, the brigade commander is wise." The chief of staff next to him also nodded in agreement.
"Yo Xi, Chief of Staff. Now I order you to lead the troops to charge towards the Eighth Route Army position on the opposite side. Break through their defensive positions and break through their breakout formation. Then completely eliminate this unit," Sakai ordered with a red face.
"Hi…"
Therefore, when the first and second battalions were trying their best to open a breakthrough, the Japanese chief of staff led two dissatisfied groups and launched a charge towards the position.
Perhaps because the Sakai brigade was influenced by the independent division's breakout, they actually adopted the same tactics as the 1st and 2nd battalions. They also used machine guns to open the way. Dozens of light machine guns were lined up in a row, and then more than a thousand people carried weapons.
Soldiers who are good at bayonets and rifles. Looking at this posture, it seems that they are going to break through the defensive position of the third battalion at once.
"Haha, instructor, the kid is smart enough. He actually learned the method of concentrated firepower breakthrough that the commander taught us. Look, there are at least thirty or forty light machine guns in that row."
"Haha, battalion commander, the little devils learn very quickly, but they don't know that this kind of tactics depends on the situation. The eight heavy machine guns on our position are not just for free.