Fighting has already started in the north, with the roaring sound of artillery mixed with the intensive sound of rifles. Although it is far away, just from the sound of gunfire, you can hear that the fighting is fierce.
Supplementary deputy Liu Ming was very nervous. His fingers holding half of the cigarette could not help but tremble slightly. The ash fell on his dirty pants and then fell to the dark ground.
He was originally just a battalion deputy. After the superior officers were replaced, he was promoted to regiment deputy. Perhaps the superiors were too busy or they completely forgot about it and never sent a regimental leader to supplement their regiment.
Without the regiment leader, Liu Ming, the regimental deputy, would be the top officer of the supplementary regiment. At first, he hoped that the division would never send a regiment leader. After all, without the regiment leader, he could do whatever he wanted and be at ease.
, as long as there is credit, all is his.
But as the Japanese got closer and closer, Liu Ming now felt empty and panicked. Instead, he expected the division headquarters to quickly send a regiment commander to direct the battle, eager to find a backbone. People are like this, a combination of contradictions.
Liu Ming raised his head from time to time and looked at the rumbling east and north. A few hours passed, but the people he sent to the division headquarters never came back. He didn't know whether they encountered Japanese soldiers or lost their way. The people he was expecting from the division headquarters
The wish of the regiment leader to command the battle also came to nothing.
The burning ashes of the cigarette held in his fingers burned his fingers, which hurt like needles. He quickly let go, and the cigarette butts mixed with the ashes fell to the ground. He stretched out his foot and put it out.
Taking a deep breath, he reached out and loosened the armed belt tied around his waist, trying to relax as much as possible. His wish to ask the division headquarters to send a regiment leader failed, and now he, the regiment deputy, had to shoulder the responsibility of defending Jiangqiao.
Mission, thinking of this, his shoulders felt heavy.
"Send my order to the four company commanders. The Japanese are coming soon. You are not allowed to retreat without my order. If anyone dares to retreat, don't blame me for not recognizing the gun in my hand——"
Although he knew that it was difficult for his four improvised companies to hold Jiangqiao without weapons and ammunition, Liu Ming was unwilling to withdraw in such a dejected manner and then be dismissed from his post for investigation or directly shot. He was ready to fight again
.
The signal soldier responded and ran out of the temporary regiment headquarters, then disappeared into the dark night.
Liu Ming could only pray that his four improvised companies could hold on for a while longer, even if they held on until dawn or until the order to retreat arrived.
"Captain Li, the regimental deputy orders..." The communications soldier panted and jumped into the trench of the third company and repeated the order of the regimental deputy Liu Ming.
Li Tiezhu, commander of the third company, reached out and pushed the British-style steel helmet on his head: "Go back and tell the regimental deputy that our third company is a man who is not afraid of death. Even if all the people die, the position will not be lost."
The communications soldier heard the determination in Li Tiezhu's tone, nodded and climbed out of the trench, heading straight for the Second Company Yangling.
Yang Ling was not as brave and passionate as Li Tiezhu, the third company commander. He just wanted to get out of the position alive, so he did not say that people were in the position. Instead, he asked the communications soldier to bring a message to the regimental deputy: "Outside the town.
The trenches may not be able to be defended. If we cannot hold them, our Second Company will retreat into the town and engage in street fighting. It is recommended that the other companies also be prepared for street fighting."
"I will report the truth to the regimental deputy." After the signal soldier finished his sentence, he hurriedly disappeared into the darkness.
Yang Ling did have his own considerations. Outside the town were dark cotton fields and criss-crossing water networks, unobstructed and unobstructed. The fortifications they built outside were the best living targets. The Japanese only needed a few rounds of grenades from grenade launchers.
, and then it can be captured with a single charge. If you want to defend Jiangqiao, you can only put the Japanese into the town and fight.
Although the town has been bombed by Japanese aviation aircraft, there are many houses, and it is easy to hide and have room for maneuver. As long as the Japanese enter the town, their firepower advantage will be limited, which makes it easier for the defenders to hold on.
The battle first started in the north of the town, which was the position of First Company Commander Qin Feng. The crackling gunfire suddenly rang out, mixed with the explosion of grenades. Judging from the gunfire, there were not many Japs.
It should just be the vanguard.
Gunshots rang out from the north, and the atmosphere suddenly became tense. The Yangling Company soldiers guarding South Street all pulled the bolts of their guns, held their breath, and pointed their guns at the dark open area. The soldiers could hear each other's heavy
The sound of breathing.
After gunshots rang out in the north, gunshots rang out in the east. The Japanese soldiers had already begun to conduct tentative and sporadic attacks on Jiangqiao Town. However, it was too dark to see anything. They could only judge the Japanese soldiers from the gunshots.
Approximate military strength.
Sporadic gunshots rang out around Jiangqiao Town, mixed with the Czech-style clatter of the defenders' return fire. Only the south side of Yang Ling and his friends remained quiet.
"Company Commander, the Japs are not coming from our side, are they?" Lao Wang waited for a long time but did not see the Japs coming, but there was a lively fighting around him, and he murmured in his heart.
Yang Ling lay down in the trench and shook his head: "The Japanese are conducting a fire test. Maybe the attackers on our side have already arrived under our noses."
He patted Lao Wang on the shoulder: "Go to the back and tell the machine gun squad not to fire when the first wave of Japanese attacks. Don't expose your firepower."
Lao Wangtou responded and groped his way out of the trench, and went straight to the machine gun squads set up in the houses on both sides of the back to deliver orders.
Yang Ling took a deep breath, lay down in the trench, and gently pulled the bolt of the gun into the darkness. The bullet pushed into the chamber, and his calm gaze extended along the barrel of the rifle into the dark cotton field ahead.
Explosions sounded one after another in the north, and the flashes of the explosions made the night sky flicker. With the disappearing flash, Yang Ling moved the muzzle of his gun to the left, aiming at the squirming figure lying on the ground more than a hundred meters away.
Dark shadow.
The index finger bent and pulled the trigger. The orange-yellow pointed bullet standing on the starting line followed the crisp impact, rotated along the barrel of the gun at high speed and ejected from the muzzle. A trace of tail flame appeared at the muzzle, and Yang Ling smelled a faint
The smell of smoke.
boom--
The sound of gunfire was dull in the dark night, and there was a scream in the darkness in the distance. It was too dark, so it probably only injured the creeping Japanese. Counterattacks followed one after another, and bullets kept passing by with the line of fire.
Yang Ling's head was hit, causing smoke and dust to fly everywhere.
However, when the gunfire rang out, Yang Ling's heart calmed down. At least he knew that the Japanese had arrived, and he no longer had to suffer in silence.
The sudden sound of gunfire startled the soldiers lying in the trenches. Unexpectedly, the Japanese soldiers were already under their noses, and they fired back one after another.
The bullets came and went with a roar, and the trajectory turned into lines of fire flying in the dark night sky, bright and dazzling.
Yang Ling and the others had trenches and bunkers. Yang Ling and his men had cleared away the weeds and bamboos in front of the trenches in advance. The Japanese had nowhere to hide. Screams could be heard from time to time, and the fighting stopped within a few minutes.
"Stop!" Yang Ling shouted and stopped the soldiers who were still pulling the bolts of their guns to fire. He listened carefully and there was no movement from the Japanese side, so they must have retreated.
Lao Wangtou entered the trench from behind again. He raised his arm wrapped in gauze and wanted to shoot twice, but the enemy suddenly retreated. He was confused: "Company commander, what does the enemy mean? How can we retreat after two shots?"
Where is it?"
"This is a fire test by the Japanese. The real attack will begin next." Yang Ling looked a little solemn and said to the brothers of the two squads lying in the trench: "Hurry and retreat to the back."