He raised his telescope and saw on the road less than 500 meters away from his position, a small group of heavily armed Japs holding bright bayonets in a battle formation, advancing and searching at the same time.
However, Zhou Cheng soon discovered some flaws in the pair of little devils. Although the pair of little devils looked fierce, their search did not seem to be very careful. Perhaps it was because of Ono Squadron's first sneak attack.
It was so smooth. I saw dozens of little devils lined up in two rows. They only took a symbolic look at the bushes on both sides of the road and did not conduct an in-depth search. So, after a while, Ono Squadron’s
The vanguard team walked to a place less than 300 meters away from the position and entered the shooting range of the second row of soldiers.
"Company commander, do you want to fight or not..." asked the second platoon leader next to him.
"Don't worry, our positions have been concealed. You see, the Japs are still moving forward. I guess the Japs haven't noticed us. Wait until he walks in before firing, catching him off guard and giving the Japs the main force.
It gives the illusion that we are heavily guarded here, which prevents him from attacking easily." Company commander Zhou Cheng carefully looked at the formation of the Japs and analyzed it to the second platoon leader beside him.
"Okay, pass on the order. Without my order, no one is allowed to shoot and expose the target, otherwise military law will be imposed." After hearing the company commander's words, the second platoon leader immediately agreed and ordered to the soldiers around him.
In this way, the soldiers held the weapons in their hands tightly and stared carefully at the little Japs not far away, watching them walk from 300 meters to 200 meters...and then to 100 meters...when the little Japs appeared just a few meters away from the position.
Less than 50 meters away, when even the little Japanese's voice could be heard clearly, Zhou Cheng, who had been lying in the trench, nodded to the second platoon leader next to him.
"Second Platoon Commander, let's start!" Company Commander Zhou Cheng ordered coldly without putting down the telescope.
"Comrades, fire..." After hearing the company commander's order, the second platoon commander shouted loudly to the soldiers on the position. At the same time, his right finger steadily pulled the trigger of the rifle in his hand, aiming at the target that had been aimed for a long time.
The Japs squad leader fired the first bullet of the battle.
"Click, click, click..." The sound of long guns from the second row was immediately followed by the three light machine guns in the platoon. The three light machine guns distributed at different shooting angles simultaneously sprayed tongues of fire towards the place where the little devil was leading.
"Ah, enemy attack, Baga, hurry up, get down..." Because of the roar of the second platoon leader, the Japanese squad leader luckily escaped the first bullet of the battle. However, just as he was recovering from the shock,
When he came over, the soldiers in the first few rows of his team had been knocked to the ground by the opponent's dense bullets.
Seeing the soldiers behind him lying on the ground under his orders, the squad leader breathed a sigh of relief. However, what made him despair was that the Chinese army on the opposite side had arranged the machine gun positions so carefully that three light machine guns fired
The position in front of them was airtight. The remaining dozens of people in my team were suppressed by the firepower of the opponent's three machine guns and could not move at all.
"Baga! We encountered an ambush by the Chinese army." Seeing that his squad was pinned down in front of the position and could barely move after losing more than a dozen soldiers, the squad leader couldn't help but cursed loudly.
"Machine gun cover, quickly, all retreat, quickly." Following the order of the Japanese squad leader, the three Japanese machine gunners were forced to muster the courage to risk being hit at any time and set up a light evacuation in front of them.
The machine gun raised its head and began to suppress the three light machine guns on the Chinese army position opposite.
"Da da da..." The three Japanese light machine guns finally opened fire. Although these machine gunners fired very carefully, their precise and skillful shooting movements still accurately shot the dense bullets to the positions of the three machine guns.
Above. The three machine gunners on the second row position who were firing excitedly at the Japanese troops were caught off guard and were hit by Japanese machine gun fire. Suddenly, the firepower density on the second row position was reduced by more than half.
"Yo Xi, retreat quickly, quickly..." Seeing the three light machine guns on the opposite side of the Chinese army's position muting, the Japanese squad leader couldn't help but get excited. But he knew that this situation was only temporary, and the Chinese army's backup machine guns
The gunmen would definitely move their positions immediately and launch suppressive fire again. Thinking of this, the squad leader immediately ordered the soldiers around him to start retreating.
Seeing the Japs starting to retreat, Zhou Cheng, as the company commander, had no choice. In the end, he could only ask the soldiers to increase the frequency of shooting in order to leave some more corpses of the Japs on their way back.
"Stop shooting..." Finally, the Japanese squad leader withdrew from the shooting range of the soldiers with more than half of his team. In order to save bullets and allow his blockade to last longer, Zhou Cheng immediately ordered the soldiers to cease fire and stop firing.
Waste of valuable ammunition.
"Second platoon leader, count the casualties of the troops. Quickly, send all the injured to the rear of the position. Also, send a soldier back to the village and ask the first platoon to enter the position immediately. I estimate that the main force of the attack will be the Japs."
Company commander Zhou Cheng ordered to the second platoon leader beside him.
"Yes, company commander, I just made a rough count. Eight were killed, four were seriously injured, and about ten were slightly injured." After the second platoon leader finished speaking, he turned around to arrange for the transfer of the wounded.
At this time, Ono Jiro was indeed looking at the battlefield not far away with a shocked face. Because he could not believe that a small team of elite imperial troops had suffered more than half of their casualties in such a short period of time and was forced to withdraw from the battlefield.
"Baga, what's going on with you? Why did the troops suffer such serious losses?" Ono Jiro cursed when he saw the squad leader coming to him with the remaining soldiers.
"Reporting to your Excellency the squadron leader, our vanguard team was ambushed by at least one company of Chinese troops... We were caught off guard... so..." (The reason why it was a company was because in the Chinese army at that time, it was generally
A platoon is equipped with a light machine gun, not to mention the poorly equipped Eighth Route Army.) Looking at the angry-looking squadron leader, the squad leader quickly explained.
"How is it possible for a company of Chinese troops? How could the Chinese army know about our actions?" After hearing what the vanguard team Zhang said, the squadron leader was full of surprise and ignored the squad leader who looked aggrieved.
"Vice Captain, what do you think..." the squadron leader looked at the deputy captain next to him who was also surprised.
"Well, your Excellency, squadron leader... I think we were discovered by the Chinese during the march, so a company of Chinese troops ambush at the entrance of the village. Their only purpose is to hold us back. Here we go.
The people in the village will provide enough time to retreat," the deputy captain replied. However, it can be seen from his tone that the deputy captain does not want to withdraw his troops because his action plan is discovered. Because, as a soldier of the empire, promotion and rank increase
It is undoubtedly a very huge temptation.
"Yo Xi, I also agree with the deputy captain's analysis. It's just that how can this company of the Eighth Route Army stop one of my reinforced squadrons? Besides, Zhuangquan Village has a very large population. With just these ten minutes provided by the Eighth Route Army,
, can they all withdraw?" Squadron leader Ono Jiro was not frightened by the battle just now, but looked at the position not far away with contempt and said.
"Hey, your Excellency the squadron leader's analysis is very correct. The Eighth Route Army in a company across the way can only block us for ten minutes at most, and they will be beaten to pieces by us. Please give me the order, your Excellency the squadron leader. I request to personally lead a small team.
The troops launched a charge and broke through the Chinese army's position in front of them in one fell swoop." While flattering, the deputy captain stood up and asked for orders from the squadron leader Ono Jiro.
"Yoshi, vice-captain, yours is the real soldier of the empire, yours is not..." Ono Jiro glanced at the vice-captain with admiration, then pointed at the vanguard squad leader in front of him and said.
"Vice Captain, the task of breaking through the Chinese army's position in front is left to you. The first team, the second team, the heavy machine gun team, and the mortar team will all obey your orders. The remaining two teams will serve as reserve teams.
"Ono Jiro immediately ordered.
"Hi, please rest assured, squadron leader, I will definitely break through the Chinese army's position this time." The deputy captain responded with a military salute to Ono Jiro.
"Go, vice-captain, I'm waiting for your good news..." Ono Jiro patted the excited vice-captain in front of him and said.
"Hey, machine gun team, mortar team, the first and second teams are starting with me..." the deputy captain ordered to the squad leaders behind him. Soon, more than a hundred troops were under the command of the Japanese deputy captain.
Under the leadership of the police, they came to a stop less than 300 meters away from the position.
The soldiers of the heavy machine gun team quickly searched for a favorable position in this place, set up three heavy machine guns, and even conducted a test fire at the position at the entrance of the village. They ceased fire only when the dust was flying on the position. And the mortar
A dozen soldiers from the artillery team quickly began to build an artillery position about tens of meters behind the machine gun position. The remaining squad, with nearly a hundred soldiers, under the leadership of the deputy captain, began to build an artillery position in front of the position.
Organize a new attack formation.
Soon, five minutes passed in a hurry. After receiving the report that the heavy machine gun team and the artillery team were ready, the deputy captain smiled and gave the artillery team the order to fire.
"Tong Tong" two dull sounds of mortars coming out were heard, and two shells flew out of the barrel in a parabola, flying toward the Eighth Route Army's position with a whistling sound.
"Boom, boom," two huge explosions sounded, but since it was just a test firing by the Japanese, neither of the two shells hit the fortifications.
"Hurry, leave the guard post, and the others will retreat immediately. Hurry..." Seeing the Japs preparing to shell, company commander Zhou Cheng gave a loud order to the second platoon on standby at the base area and the first platoon that had just arrived.
However, no matter how fast a person is, they cannot be faster than the firing speed of a mortar. Just when the soldiers just stood up and prepared to retreat, another whistling sound reached the ears of the company commander Zhou Cheng, and two calibrated rounds
The shell accurately landed among the retreating soldiers.
"Boom!" Two huge explosions sounded, and a large number of soldiers fell down where the shells had just fallen.
"Why are you still standing there, retreat quickly... Hurry... you don't want to live anymore..." Seeing the soldiers staring blankly at the place where the shell just exploded after the shell exploded, company commander Zhou Cheng couldn't help but stare at the group of recruits who accounted for most of the new recruits.
Soldiers from two platoons cursed.
"Boom..." Two more artillery shells fell, setting off a rain of blood again. Finally, when the little devil dropped the fifth round of artillery shells, all the soldiers, except for the guard posts left behind, finally retreated to the back of the position for dozens of people.
meters of place.
"Quickly, count the casualties. Damn it, it's really unlucky. Before the fighting even started, so many soldiers were killed by the Japs' shells." Company Commander Zhou Cheng silently shook his head at the two platoon leaders in front of him.
"Company commander...8 of our platoon were killed...10 of our platoon were killed..." After a while, the two platoon commanders came to Zhou Cheng with depressed faces and reported the number of casualties.
"Oh, they are all new soldiers... Order the soldiers to check their weapons and ammunition, and bring all the ammunition with them later." Zhou Cheng shook his head and ordered.
At this time, two Japanese mortars had fired more than ten rounds of shells at the position. The soldiers' carefully disguised position had been completely exposed to the Japanese army after being bombarded by the little devils.
"Company Commander, the Japs have begun to attack..." At this time, the sound of a warning sentry came from the position.
"Everyone is here, enter the position immediately, hurry up..." Arriving at the position, Zhou Cheng breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the position was completely exposed to the Japs. Because the mortars the Japs brought were only 81mm mortars.
, and did not cause much damage to the defenses of the position. After the soldiers entered the position, they quickly returned to their fighting positions. The reserve team that originally left a squad was fully replenished because of the dozen or so soldiers who had just died.
On the battlefield.
At this time, nearly a hundred Japanese troops formed a skirmish formation and were slowly advancing parallel to the position step by step. When the Japanese troops were less than 200 meters away from the position, three heavy machine guns used by the Japanese army as cover opened fire.
, the intensive heavy machine gun firepower suddenly made the position fly into dust. Before the fighting started, several unwary soldiers were hit and killed. Faced with the enemy's intensive firepower, the soldiers had to lower their heads.
"Fire..." Seeing that the Japs had entered the optimal shooting range of 100 meters, Zhou Cheng did not hesitate and immediately ordered to fire. A sudden and relatively dense burst of guns on the position knocked down the dozen Japs at the front in one fell swoop.
, because the Japanese attack formation was very scattered, the intermittent shooting of the six light machine guns did not cause much damage to the Japanese army.
At this time, the Japanese mortars also opened fire, and the shells fired one after another continued to explode among the soldiers. The firepower on the position, which was not dense to begin with, became even weaker at this time.
At this time, the Japanese army had taken advantage of the weak firepower of the two platoons to attack less than fifty meters in front of the position.
"Quick, grenade, grenade..." Company Commander Zhou Cheng shouted loudly. At the same time, he put down the rifle in his hand and kept throwing grenades at the Japanese troops in front of him.
"Boom, boom, boom..." A burst of dense explosions sounded in front of the position, and the position less than 100 meters wide was immediately covered by the smoke of grenade explosions. When the smoke cleared, the little Japanese who had attacked less than 30 meters in front of the position finally
He dropped dozens of corpses that were blown to pieces by grenades and retreated.
"Quickly, count the casualties and ammunition. The Japs have lost less than half of the squad. They will definitely launch another attack immediately. Quickly, don't withdraw anymore. Just let the soldiers hide in the trenches." Zhou Cheng looked at
The little devil who retreated ordered the two platoon leaders in front of him who came to report.
Sure enough, not long after the order was passed down, Japanese artillery fire came, and the two platoon leaders came to Zhou Cheng with worried faces.
"Company Commander, we still have 28 people in the first platoon who can fight. Except for the bullets left for the machine guns, each person has less than ten rounds on average. There are only 25 people left in the second row. There are still an average of 8 rounds of ammunition per person. Hand grenades
, an average of two per person." The two platoon leaders introduced their platoon's casualties to Zhou Cheng.
"Such a huge number of casualties, ugh..." Upon hearing the number of casualties, the company commander couldn't help but exclaimed.
"Company commander, if the commander doesn't come over for reinforcements, with our current strength and ammunition, we can at most sustain an attack like the Japanese just did." A platoon leader replied.
"Let the soldiers prepare for battle and hold on as long as they can. It has been almost an hour now. If nothing happens, the cavalry battalion from the headquarters should be here in less than half an hour.
Come for reinforcements." Company Commander Zhou Cheng consoled himself.
However, half an hour ago, the correspondent of the company headquarters had already rushed to the regiment headquarters on a fast horse and requested reinforcements from the regiment headquarters. Faced with a sneak attack by the Japanese in such an important place as Zhuangquan Village, the regiment headquarters also
They attached great importance to it. After receiving the news, they immediately sent a request for assistance report to the cavalry battalion operating in the First Army Division. At the same time, a battalion of troops was withdrawn from the surrounding regiment headquarters and quickly marched towards Zhuangquan Village.
Carry out reinforcements.
At this time, the reinforcements from a battalion of the regiment headquarters were less than 5 miles away from Zhuangquan Village. Similarly, the cavalry battalion operating in the military region was also rushing here quickly, and it was expected to take another twenty minutes.
, we can rush over. In other words, as long as Zhou Cheng leads the troops to delay the Japanese army for up to twenty minutes, the fate of Ono Squadron is doomed.
Company Commander Zhou Cheng looked at the bodies of the soldiers lying on the position and the smiling soldiers, gritted his teeth and decided to continue to hold on.