However, Kenkichi Ikegami only realized that he had fallen into a trap when it was too late.
Just when the Japanese shouted to retreat, there was a sudden explosion in the rear. The main houses and city walls occupied by the Japanese were blown up one after another. The Japanese who were hiding and resisting were buried in the ruins before they understood what was going on.
middle.
The retreat of the Eighth Route Army was certainly not a simple retreat. Such a good opportunity must be arranged.
But of course, this arrangement cannot be too obvious, otherwise if the Japanese discover it, it will really be like "stealing the chicken but losing the rice".
The most powerful and inconspicuous arrangement is, of course, the deployment of directional mines.
However, these directional mines are not used to blow up Japanese soldiers, but to blow up houses.
As long as it is a building with more than two floors or a slightly larger house, explosives are buried under the bearing wall.
The explosives had been wired in advance, and a trench half a meter deep was dug for the wires... This was to ensure that they would not be discovered by the Japanese.
When the Japanese noticed signs that they were about to retreat, they pressed the switch and made a "boom" sound, instantly burying one-third of the Japanese soldiers.
Then the Eighth Route Army shouted loudly and launched a counterattack.
But the counterattack is not from north to south... If we continue to fight from north to south as before, we will allow the Japanese to escape back to Nancheng, which means that the people will still be in danger.
The counterattack this time was from the two wings to the middle.
The Japanese thought that their two wings were safe because they occupied the city walls and gates on the east and west sides and pushed towards the north.
Who would have thought that the Eighth Route Army also planted explosives under the city wall. With just one explosion, a large gap was blown out of the city wall. Then the Eighth Route Army poured into the city like a tidal wave. The Japanese who were blown away in the darkness were completely helpless.
He resisted, but soon he was drowned by the soldiers in a sea of people.
Ikegami Kenji's movements were very fast. As soon as he was given the order to retreat, he immediately led a squadron of reserve troops to retreat towards Nancheng as quickly as possible.
Ikegami Kenkichi understood that the Eighth Route Army went to such great lengths to lead his troops to Beicheng for only one purpose, which was to lure the snake out of its hole and trap its main force in Beicheng.
This can also be concluded from the gunshots and explosions coming from the east and west sides.
If you want to survive, you can only lead your troops to rush back to Nancheng before the encirclement is closed, especially if the headquarters wants to bring them back to Nancheng. Otherwise, the ninth mixed brigade will form a loose sand and be defeated by the enemy one by one.
However, Kenkichi Ikegami only retreated for a few minutes when he was violently blocked.
"This is impossible!" Ikegami Kenji shouted: "There is no way the Eighth Route Army will appear here so soon!"
This seems indeed impossible, because the location of Nancheng, where Ikegami Kenji chose to break out of the encirclement, is the very center, that is, the farthest end of the Eighth Route Army's encirclement.
If there are enemies here, it almost means that the encirclement has been closed.
But the reality is like this. There is no such thing as "impossible". The Eighth Route Army has indeed built a position here and fired incendiary bombs into the Japanese crowd one after another...Incendiary bombs are the best weapon in night battles. They can not only kill and injure the enemy.
The army can also illuminate the surrounding area to expose the enemy to the muzzle of the gun.
It turned out that in order to ensure that the main force of the Japs could be blocked in Nancheng, Wang Xuexin also ambushed a strange force in the city...the monk's reconnaissance company.
Reconnaissance companies were organized into platoons hidden in well-camouflaged cellars.
In fact, it can't be considered "careful". All it had to do was blow up the wall next to it to pretend that the cellar entrance was buried.
In the midst of a tense attack, the Japanese would certainly not search a cellar that had been buried under broken bricks and tiles at this time.
But these cellars are not actually buried. Logs are used to support the entrance of the cellars. When the time comes, you only need to remove these logs...the broken bricks above will fall down and reveal an exit.
As soon as the reconnaissance company emerged, they formed a line of defense in the middle and used firepower to block the Japanese who wanted to return to Nancheng.
Although Ikegami Kenkichi didn't know what was going on, he knew that this was the only hope for the troops, so he drew his command sword and roared an order: "Attack, we must destroy them and return to Nancheng!"
Groups of Japanese soldiers shouted and charged towards the reconnaissance company's position with bayonets pointed out.
But they obviously underestimated the strength of the reconnaissance company... The reconnaissance company is the unit equipped with the most assault machines. This firepower cannot be broken through simply using human sea tactics.
In addition, the reconnaissance company also reserved many Molotov cocktails specifically for this blocking battle.
This is actually the monk's request.
He said to Wang Xuexin: "Batalion Commander, I don't have any other requirements. I just hope you can allocate a hundred Molotov cocktails to each of our platoons. How about that?"
Wang Xuexin let out a "whoo" sound: "Okay, is this a way to gain experience? I know I need a Molotov cocktail!"
"Of course!" the monk replied: "We are fighting at night. No matter how many bullets are used, we will rely on Molotov cocktails!"
What the monk said is correct.
The Japs did not like to fight at night before, but that does not mean that the Japs are not good at fighting at night.
They don't like to fight at night just because night fighting cannot take advantage of their equipment, so the casualties in night fighting are greater.
To put it bluntly, the Japanese are all good at bayonet fighting, and bayonet fighting is unavoidable in night battles.
The reason is very simple. It was originally pitch black and covered with smoke and dust. The visibility was only a few meters, and only a few people could be vaguely seen a few meters away.
Will rifles, machine guns, etc. really work then?
The grenade exploded into a cloud of smoke, and he was already in front of him as soon as he charged with his bayonet. Even a submachine gun couldn't stop him.
The Molotov cocktail is different. If you throw it forward, it will burn for a few seconds. No matter how you explode it or charge it, it will remain the same. Unless you wait for it to burn out, it will never come up.
There are many Japanese who still do not believe in evil and still charge into the flames with bayonets drawn... But imagination and courage are one thing, reality is another. The thousands-degree high temperature of incendiary bombs is almost impossible for human will to resist.
, the horse would let out bursts of screams and wails as soon as he stepped on it, and his subsequent behavior would be out of his control.
Some Japanese soldiers also hoped to use grenades to extinguish the flames, but it only had the opposite effect. After the explosion exploded with a "boom", sparks were scattered everywhere, which ignited more people.
Then when the soldiers throw incendiary bombs, they don't need to ignite them again. They only need to add one after another to the flame to keep it burning.
Wang Xuexin looked at the flames in the city with his binoculars at the top of the city, and then watched the Eighth Route Army on both wings smoothly rush to the direction of the flames, knowing that the outcome of this battle was determined.
As for the people in Nancheng, Wang Xuexin believed that under such circumstances, the puppet troops who were left behind by the Japanese to watch the people in Nancheng would not let him down.
Otherwise, these puppet soldiers are just going to die.