Two hundred and fifty-four chapters candle dragon - the third stage (1)
——The next day
Tada Jun and a group of officers rode fast horses to the front of Xiaoyi City. Tada Jun stood on a hill and looked at Xiaoyi City with a telescope. His brows could not help but tighten. In front of him was a piece of barbed wire.
A defensive position of fortresses, trenches, and antlers was built, and huge flags of blue sky and white sun were erected around the position. He couldn't see clearly in many places, and he didn't know what was there, but only on the front position, he could occasionally see steel helmets and machine guns.
Let him know by mouth that this position is not easy to deal with.
The most irritating thing is that in the open space of the forward position, the Eighth Route Army used many wooden boards to write the words "Beware of Mines", and next to it were the graffiti of the Imperial Army that was blown up into the sky, which made Jun Tada feel very angry.
Tada Shun said to Ushijima Minoru next to him, "General Ushijima, you take command, this is your battle."
Ushijima nodded gratefully and said, "Thank you, Commander, for your trust. Order the mortar to fire eight rounds rapidly and then move the position. The Imperial Japanese Army will attack!"
As a Class A division, the 20th Division has 80 infantry guns, 12 field guns, 36 mountain guns, and 36 mortars. However, in order to pursue the Eighth Route Army this time, the 20th Division only carried mortars.
None of the infantry artillery, field artillery, mountain artillery, and independent field heavy artillery directly under the Third Army were brought.
But Ushijima was not worried. 80 infantry guns with a range of up to 2,800 meters and 36 mortars with a range of over 3,000 meters were enough to give him the confidence to suppress a group of homeless dogs on the opposite side. But just in case, Ushijima decided to test it first
One or two, after all, the person on the other side looks like he is well prepared.
Cai Xiongfei was the former deputy division commander of the Shanxi-Sui Army. Last year, when he saw that the Japanese army won the Battle of Wuhan, he felt that China was doomed. At the same time, he saw that his own territory in Shanxi was being eroded by the Red Party.
He surrendered to the enemy in the northwest and became the Imperial Association Army.
Originally a major general, he was immediately valued by the Japanese army and selected as the commander of the Fifth Route Army of the Imperial Alliance Army. At first, he felt that he had finally been discovered by Bole, and he was very proud. Even when the Eighth Route Army made a major breakthrough, he did not think that he
What did I do wrong? Instead, I felt that the Eighth Route Army was now so powerful that it was a wise choice to take advantage of the early surrender. Otherwise, who knows when I would have been disarmed by the Eighth Route Army. Everyone knew that the Eighth Route Army was from the Red Party.
The Red Party wants to help the poor with communism, so when the time comes, I will have to take away such a huge family fortune.
But when he heard that he was asked to lead eight thousand puppet troops as the front line, he couldn't help but feel a trace of regret in his heart, but he still shouted harshly, "Everyone, listen to me, the time has come for the imperial army to test us, Tubal Road
They are all surrounded in this small area. They are bound to lose. The imperial army can blow them all up even with planes. If they kill a Tubalu, they will be rewarded with... five pieces of ocean and double the number of officers. If they catch them,
If you are a division commander or army commander, I will promote you to be a division commander or army commander."
"Sir, you are a military commander yourself, how can you promote us to be a military commander?" A bold puppet soldier shouted.
"Nonsense, if you catch Zhu Daizhen, don't I want to be promoted? By then, won't you be able to become army commanders? Okay, all ready, the first division will be the vanguard and go into battle!!" Cai Xiongfei said, as if he saw his own horse.
Seeing that he had to ride and that a high-ranking official had to sit, he couldn't help but feel a little excited.
The person guarding Xiaoyi City was Yang Zhicheng. Yang Zhicheng looked at the puppet troops slowly approaching the front position of the defensive position from the top of the city. He couldn't help but snorted coldly. When he saw that these troops were also flying the blue sky and white sun flag, but there were more flags on it.
When he picked up a pig's tail, he couldn't help but gnashed his teeth and cursed, "Damn, he's a traitor. The Japanese are pretty good. Seeing us so prepared, they actually sent traitor troops as the vanguard. Give me the order to fight with only half of the firepower."
, no one in the bunker is allowed to move. These traitors and scum are not worthy of our full strength to deal with them."
Most of these puppet troops were the original Jinsui Army plus a few newly trained puppet troops. They did not have the consciousness to fight to the death. They walked with fear. When they were about 800 meters away from the forward position,
, I heard the Japanese troops behind me start shooting, which meant ordering the troops to charge.
Under the command of the puppet army officers, the puppet troops began to bend forward with guns in hand. Seeing the puppet troops charging, the Japanese artillery troops also began to fire to cover.
Dozens of mortar shells hit the position, causing bursts of explosions. Many barbed wire fences and antlers were blown up and damaged. But to Ushijima's surprise, there was no sign of a counterattack from the opposite position.
It seems like a dead land.
At 700 meters and 600 meters, the puppet army's heavy machine guns had begun to set up positions. At this time, the puppet army who rushed to the front suddenly felt his body light up, and then heard an explosion. An anti-infantry weapon as small as a fist
The mine jumped into the air, and countless steel balls flew around, tearing apart any flesh they encountered.
"Ah, wow." The screams suddenly rang out. These steel balls would often only maim the enemy, but not kill it. Looking at the comrades lying in a pool of blood in front of them, the puppet troops behind them all came together.
They stopped in their tracks. From the air, it could be seen that the puppet troops who had stepped on the mines were a line, and the puppet troops behind them quickly gathered.
At this time, the puppet army was about 500 meters away from the forward position. This distance was extremely close not to mention the Mark Core, which had a range of up to 2,000 meters. Even a Czech light machine gun could easily hit it. Seeing this
Opportunity, how can the light and heavy machine guns in each fortress be suppressed? The 250-round bullet chain provides enough firepower support for the Mark core machine gun, and the Czech-style precision shooting even makes the puppet troops scurry away. The originally silent position
Dozens of tongues of fire instantly spit out and swept over the puppet soldiers who were still at a loss. Some clever puppet soldiers quickly got down, while some puppet soldiers with little combat experience were killed one after another as soon as they were swept by the fire whip.
The big hole and the scattered blood lines were soon filled up.
Seeing such a tragic situation, the puppet soldiers behind could no longer hold on and fled back one after another. Before they could run a hundred or two hundred meters, another round of bullets came, knocking the retreating puppet soldiers to the ground.
When he looked up, he saw that the Japanese Type 92 machine gun had been set up at some point. The muzzle of the gun was pointed directly at the retreating puppet troops. Cai Xiongfei understood immediately, waved his pistol and shouted, "Don't mess around, everyone.
This is what Tuba Road has. They don't have many bullets. This is just to scare everyone. Everyone, rush forward. The first one to kill on the Eighth Road position will be rewarded with a thousand gold coins."
A thousand oceans, this is enough to go back and become a rich man. Hearing such a reward, everyone's eyes turned red. They gritted their teeth, bent over, and rushed forward crazily. The puppet army's machine guns also fired.
There was a "click-click" sound. Seeing that the Eighth Route Army had not used artillery until now, the Japanese army opened fire again. This time they added 40 infantry guns. More than 70 rounds of artillery shells fell on the forward position.
At that time, the entire position was filled with explosions, and some weak fortifications were also blown apart.
At this time, two groups of planes flew in from the distance. They were two bomber groups of the Japanese army. There were 72 planes in total. I saw only one group of planes starting to bomb in the direction of the puppet army's attack. Some of them wanted to be blown up with bombs.
It means to open a road. These are the latest Type 97 bombers, which can carry one ton of explosives. The Japanese army carried ten 100-kilogram explosives. These bombs were enough to explode the cement fortifications built by the Eighth Route Army.
The other team flew blankly across the battlefield where the fierce battle was taking place, trying to fly to the mountainous area behind, but they didn't know what they were going to blow up.
Seeing the help of the air force, Cai Xiongfei also shouted excitedly. Thousands of puppet troops roared towards the Eighth Route Army on the ground that had just been blasted.
"Order...the air defense forces to counterattack!" Yang Zhicheng's eyes turned red as he saw that the fortifications that his men had finally built were torn apart by the bombing. Regardless of Boss Peng's prohibition, he had to use anti-aircraft guns. He knew that to deal with bombers
For such a big guy, it’s most effective to use anti-aircraft guns.”
"Commander, wait a minute, this is only the first day, and the boss said that no weapons above level two are allowed to be used on the first day." The staff officer next to him quickly advised.
"Hey!!!" Yang Zhicheng knocked on the wall hard and continued to watch the battle.
The air raid lasted for less than half an hour. After the air raid ended, the puppet troops quickly wanted to charge forward. Due to the bombing in front, many landmines were blown up. The puppet troops had no scruples, even though some people were still blown up by the mines.
I felt that he was unlucky, but I was not afraid.
"Haha, Tubal Road is really nothing more than that!" Ushijima couldn't help shouting happily when he saw that the puppet troops were about to charge forward.
Before Ushijima finished speaking, he saw that the forward position that he thought had been blown to the ground suddenly erupted with extremely ferocious firepower, and countless rifles and machine guns were heard. It turned out that the Eighth Route Army, which had already learned the fortification skills of later generations, was in the forward position.
There are a lot of tunnel fortifications built in the city. From the outside, these tunnel fortifications seem to be just a shallow trench outside, but there is a cave inside. There is a protective airtight door in the corner of the trench, and behind the door is a door that can hide dozens of people.
The shelter room was dug down at an oblique angle. When you get inside, there is often a layer of soil several meters thick. The Japanese 100-kilogram bomb only destroyed the exposed fortifications and bunkers. The real
The important shelter room was as stable as a rock. As soon as the plane left, the scouts outside quickly called the soldiers inside to return to their fighting positions. They arrived just in time to rush into the puppet army. First there was a rain of grenades, and then there was a web of bullets woven by countless bullets.
The puppet soldiers were beaten to the ground. Many soldiers shouted while fighting, "If the Chinese don't fight the Chinese, they won't kill the Chinese if they surrender their weapons!! Climb over here after losing your weapons!"
Not to mention, many puppet soldiers who were frightened and did not dare to go back to face the Japanese supervising team actually honestly threw down their weapons and climbed into the trenches of the Eighth Route Army. If they were Japanese, the soldiers would still
We have to worry about whether these people are pretending to surrender or blowing themselves up, but for the puppet soldiers, the soldiers all understand that these people are just trying to survive, and they will not commit suicide to avenge Japan.
Seeing that one of his own divisions was wiped out in front of the Eighth Route Army's position in just one or two hours, while his own troops did not even take the position. Cai Xiongfei quickly cried to Ushijima with snot and tears.
He said, "Taijun, the Eighth Route Army is too powerful, we really can't defeat it."
Ushijima kicked Cai Xiongfei to the ground and shouted, "Baga, it's obvious that you Chinese people are colluding with each other and are greedy for life and fear of death. You still say that you can't beat them. You show me how our Imperial Army of the Imperial Japanese Empire fights!"
!”
As he spoke, Ushijima ordered a brigade of Japanese troops to move forward. Due to the bombing in front and the charge of the puppet troops, many mines were destroyed. This brigade was very confident and first arrived at a distance of seven or eight hundred meters, and then lined up.
The skirmisher line began to advance.
From time to time, Japanese soldiers stepped on landmines and exploded. However, they saw that none of these Japanese soldiers hesitated to stop. Instead, they continued to accelerate their advance. At the cost of dozens of casualties, the Japanese soldiers arrived about three to four hundred meters away from the position.
meters place.
At this time, the Japanese artillery began to show its power. All the artillery fired in unison, and more than a hundred rounds of artillery shells hit the Eighth Route Army's position over and over again. The dense explosions made people feel breathless. The Eighth Route Army's position ceased for a while, and most of them
The soldiers hurriedly hid in the tunnel, only to see the Japanese troops moving forward regardless of the explosion just two hundred meters away. From time to time, artillery shells flew over the heads of the Japanese troops. The strong wind carried by the bomb groups as they passed by,
There is a huge whistling sound above the head. If you are timid, you may fall down when you hear this sound.
Yang Zhiqiang was shocked when he saw it. He had never fought a large-scale positional battle with the Japs. He did not expect that the Japs' infantry and artillery coordination could actually reach this level. The distance of less than 150 meters had almost reached the extreme level of infantry and artillery coordination.
Already.
Sure enough, the Japanese artillery fire began to extend back, and the Japanese army was less than a hundred meters away from our position. When the troops came out of the fortifications, they were almost face to face with the Japanese army. Fortunately, the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army were accustomed to throwing a grenade first.
They were holding grenades in their hands. When they saw that the Japanese army was close at hand, they quickly threw out a grenade, and then used the things around them to attack the Japanese army. No matter if it was a machete or a stone, no matter if it was a bayonet or an engineer shovel, short
The short distance of a few meters gave the Eighth Route Army soldiers no time to choose tactics and weapons, and the entire position suddenly became a massacre. The soldiers and the Japanese soldiers struggled together, and the Japanese light machine guns behind us fired at the lone soldiers of our army from time to time, and the machine guns behind us also
From time to time, he would kill the empty Japanese soldiers around him.
Cai Xiongfei looked at the position that he had been unable to conquer for a long time. The Japanese army was already engaged in hand-to-hand combat with just one charge. He couldn't help but admire the Japanese army.
"Order the artillery units to counterattack the Japanese artillery. After such a long time, they should have calculated their artillery positions." Yang Zhicheng shouted.
The artillery positions hidden behind the positions were constantly adjusting their positions at this time, and a large number of people with professional backgrounds had already calculated the positions of the Japanese artillery in these ten minutes. However, the Japanese army was also very cunning. They divided the artillery into six brigades.
, our artillery unit can only choose one to attack.
The captain of the artillery team who finally waited for the order to be issued quickly gave the order to fire. A group of as many as fifty mortars made a "pang...bang" sound in unison.
Fifty shells with flaming fire flew over the forward position in front, flew past the Japanese starting position, and came to their target, the Japanese artillery position surrounded by a group of sandbags, which was constructed by twenty infantry guns.
Gun group.
Ushijima was surprised to see one of his artillery groups being bombarded by groups of shells. The explosion of fireballs and the audible screams made his teeth sore.
But what Ushidao couldn't see was that in front of the Eighth Route Army's artillery unit, there was a man-made slope four to five meters thick and eighty-nine meters high. The Eighth Route Army's artillery unit was on this reverse slope position, and trenches were dug around this slope.
The soil was accumulated during the fortifications. The artillery shells flying by the Japanese army were often blocked by this bunker, and the Eighth Route Army's artillery losses were very small.
At this time, the fighting on the position had reached a stage. The Eighth Route Army relied half on the number of people and half on the terrain. After more than ten minutes of hand-to-hand fighting, they finally pushed back the Japanese troops before the second batch of Japanese troops rushed up.
By the time the Japanese troops retreated to their positions, the sun had already reached the center. Unknowingly, a whole morning of this critical battle had passed, and the Japanese troops had achieved nothing except leaving nearly a thousand puppet troops and hundreds of Japanese troops on their positions.
Tada Shun sighed and said, "The trapped beast is still fighting. Although the Eighth Route Army is very lacking in individual tactics, it has to be said that their defensive position is very well constructed."
Ushijima hummed, "Your Majesty Commander, we don't have mountain artillery or field artillery. Once our mountain artillery and field artillery come up, coupled with aircraft and tanks, I don't believe we can't take it down here."
Jun Tada laughed loudly and said, "That won't work. I have concentrated most of our tanks in Wenshui. That is our trump card. However, the tanks are inconvenient to move and require too many resources.
A few days, and our mountain artillery and field artillery are still in Taiyuan, Datong, Linyi and other places. When they are shipped over, I am afraid it will take less than half a month. Not to mention what the Eighth Route Army's position will look like by then, I am afraid they will all
All the paths through the mountains have escaped. Although we have bombed their retreat this time, there is no guarantee that they will be able to escape at any time. The Eighth Route Army is just like rats."
At this time, Takeda Takeo came over and said, "Report to your Excellency, Commander, Wenshui's telegram that Colonel Fujita Shigeru has arrived at the designated location and is heading towards Yudaohe Town."
Ushijima couldn't help but curiously asked, "Commander, how powerful is this strange soldier?"
Tada Shun stroked his beard and said, "This strange force is composed of a cavalry regiment, an infantry regiment and a tank regiment. It is a terrifying combat force with more than 70 tanks. I have specially equipped it for them."
An aviation team will attack from Lijiazhuang all the way to Sanquan Town and cut the Eighth Route Army's position into two sections. How can the Eighth Route Army, which only has machine guns and mortars, be an opponent of our tank troops?"
Ushijima couldn't help but nodded repeatedly and said, "This move is indeed high. Then we will try our best to attack with the Eighth Route Army. Firstly, we can break through the best, and secondly, we can also attract the attention of the Eighth Route Army."
Tada Shun nodded and said, "Yes, that's it. Now you understand why I ask you to keep attacking. Let the Imperial Alliance Army fill in. If everyone is dead, then we can recruit again. It doesn't matter."
When Ushijima saw that he was no longer anxious, he nodded quickly and said, "Hi!"
——Three days later
The positions in Xiaoyi and Fenyang have been bombed to pieces. From time to time, planes fly over and drop a few bombs. The soldiers hiding in the tunnels are also used to such intense attacks. As soon as the Japanese army rushes up, they will be
After a meal of hand grenades and machine guns, most of them were puppet troops in the first two days, but starting yesterday, the Japanese army finally couldn't help but go into battle. In these short three days, the Japanese and puppet troops have paid a price of more than 7,000 casualties.
The reward was nothing more than a small forward position, especially since the abominable Eighth Route Army casually blew up that magical tunnel during its retreat, forcing the Japanese army to fight the Eighth Route Army in shallow trenches.
Jun Tada looked at the map and said to Takeda Takeo behind him, "The other side is finally ready. Everything will wait until dawn tomorrow."
Takeda Takeo said firmly, "Under the command of Your Majesty the Commander, our army will surely win."
Tada Shun nodded proudly, but what he didn't see was that when Takeda Yixiong lowered his head, the corners of his mouth raised slightly, and he didn't know what he was smiling about.
——Pingxingguan
Lin Sanhu, wearing a military uniform, looked at Pingxing Pass not far away with a sigh. His first battle against Japan started here. He didn't expect to come back here again, but things have changed and people have changed, and his opponents have also changed from the Fourth Division.
It became the current 108th Division.
Lin Sanhu patted the dew on his shoulder and asked, "Has the investigation been clear? The number of Japanese soldiers in various places."
The new chief of staff Wang Bingzhang nodded and said, "The intelligence from the three places has come back. There are 400 Japanese troops and 170 puppet troops in Pingxingguan. The number of people in the other two counties is much smaller. They are all equipped with a squadron of Japanese troops and a company."
The puppet troops, it seems that the Japanese really didn’t expect us to come here.”
Lin Sanhu smiled and said, "I'm afraid the little devils have always thought that we were all besieged at the foot of Luliang Mountain. The telegram sent from the headquarters showed that the Japanese army concentrated a hundred thousand troops to besiege Luliang Mountain. If you calculate it this way, the entire Shanxi except Shanxi Province
, there are less than 10,000 Japanese troops, Taiyuan and other big cities have thousands each, and the other county checkpoints add up to only six or seven thousand. The Japanese troops have reached the extreme. In this way, Pingxing Pass will be attacked by the 343 Brigade, and the 343rd Brigade will attack Pingxing Pass.
The two counties are under the responsibility of the 344th Brigade. The independent regiments are on guard at the outskirts. The New 1st to 5th Regiments are responsible for mopping up other strongholds except Hepingxingguan in the county. The time is set at three o'clock in the evening. I request that the battle be ended within two hours and that our troops take over.
Has anyone arrived?"
Wang Bingzhang pointed to the map and said, "Here we are, the eastward column led by Xiao Hua. There are four regiments in total, nearly ten thousand people. If we cooperate with the guerrillas in Hebei, they should be able to hold on until we come back."
Lin Sanhu laughed and said, "Oh? It's Xiao Hua. His eastward column has 20,000 to 30,000 people, right?"
Wang Bingzhang nodded and said, "Isn't that right? He did well in Hebei. Commander Wawa's reputation is known throughout Hebei. He can compete with what you had back then, Mr. Lin."
Lin Sanhu became the battalion commander at the age of 21, the division commander at the age of 22, and the army commander at the age of 23. Xiao Hua was not bad either. He was the political commissar of the Junior International Division before he was 18 years old. At the age of 21, he became the deputy political training officer of the 115th Division, one of the three main forces.
Director, he led the troops out of Shanxi to develop in Hebei at the age of 22. At the age of 23, he already had more than 20,000 anti-Japanese armed forces under his command.
Lin Sanhu didn't want to discuss who was better between the two. After all, in his eyes, the only military figure who was stronger than him was Boss Zhu. Even Boss Peng, he felt that he was no worse than him. He wanted him to compete with the younger Xiao Hua.
, it will only make him feel that his status is low.
Lin Sanhu said, "Don't cause too many casualties in this battle. The battle behind will be tough. Let the special forces find a way to blow open the city gate. If it's a flat pass, use recoilless cannons to blow it open for me. I hope my troops will be like this."
High morale and complete organization to deal with the three divisions at the foot of Luliang Mountain."
Wang Bingzhang nodded and said, "Yes, I will give the order."
Pingxingguan is very peaceful at this time. Passers-by come in and out of Pingxingguan from time to time. The Japanese and puppet troops guarding here grab something and touch a girl from time to time. There is no trace of nervousness. After all, even when the Eighth Route Army made a big attack some time ago, the Eighth Route Army did not attack.
Pingxing Pass, not to mention that the Eighth Route Army is now besieged in Luliang Mountain.
Night gradually fell. The moon at the end of January was just a crescent. The faint moonlight and starlight could not illuminate much. The roads at this time were not full of street lights like they would be in later generations. The soldiers of the 115th Division were about four to five hundred meters away from Pingxingguan.
They lay down on the ground. Although the searchlight with a flat shutter kept sweeping around, the Eighth Route Army soldiers wearing camouflage uniforms and hundreds of meters apart were just a garish mass in their eyes. They could not see clearly at all. Time was slow.
