The officers and soldiers of the Third Battalion of the Northern Jiangsu Corps led by Shen Biao relied on the criss-crossing rivers on the front line to constantly block the advance of the small Japanese army to the north.
Since the roads have been completely destroyed, bridges have been demolished, and ferries have been bombed, the Japanese advancing on foot have encountered constant obstruction and harassment. Although they are still advancing tenaciously, their casualties are also increasing.
From time to time, seriously injured or dead Japs were carried down from the front. Every Japs in the large army of Japs marching along the fields felt evil fire in their hearts. Facing the endless cold shots and obstructions, their patience had been exhausted. .
The Japs' vanguard troops have changed several batches to rest. Various traps and mines have forced the Japs' vanguard troops to maintain a high degree of vigilance. The tense nerves have made every Japs soldier extremely exhausted.
"boom!"
A team of Japanese soldiers who were searching forward in a skirmishing line were suddenly frightened by the deafening explosion and all fell down on the spot.
"ah!"
They held rifles and guarded in eight directions as if they were facing a formidable enemy. However, except for the grass blown by the wind, not even a single guerrilla figure was seen, but the miserable howls of their companions could be clearly heard.
A Japanese soldier who stepped on a landmine had his whole calf broken off and was rolling on the ground wailing.
After confirming that there was no danger around, the Japs team leader waved his hand, and the two Japs soldiers quickly put away their guns and ran over. Seeing their companions rolling on the ground in pain, they had to take out bandages to bandage the bleeding wounds. At the same time, he picked up the blown calf from the grass.
Soon, the Japanese soldier whose leg was blown off was carried off on a stretcher, but all the Japanese soldiers still had lingering fears.
"Move forward! Watch your step."
The Japanese team leader looked around and saw that there were no hidden guerrillas before ordering the search troops to move forward.
But they had not gone forward more than a few dozen meters when they had to stop again because they found that there was new soil dug up on the road they must pass.
The guerrillas must have been too hasty when they laid the mines and didn't even have time to disguise themselves.
"Sappers clear mines!"
The Japs' vanguard team was equipped with more than a dozen engineers. After receiving the order, they immediately went up with the mine clearing device and got busy.
The Japs behind all dispersed and retreated, fearing that there would be an explosion during mine clearing.
Soon, the engineer in charge of clearing mines returned to the Japanese team leader with a tin can and a livid look on his face.
"Bagaya road!"
Seeing that what was planted here was not a landmine, but a fake landmine made of a tin can. The Japanese team leader was so angry that he took the tin can and threw it to the ground.
The brothers of the Third Battalion of the Northern Jiangsu Corps used various tricks to block the Japanese advance northward. They planted many landmines in this area, forcing the Japanese troops to stop patiently and let the vanguard troops equipped with engineers clear the way ahead. .
Because if these mines are not cleared, it will cause great losses to the large forces behind. Although the Japanese are eager to fly to the frontier, they cannot slow down because of the existence of mines.
The guerrillas have limited landmines and cannot deploy them on such a large scale in such a large area, so they have to mix real and fake mines.
And these real and fake landmines are mixed together, which is even more troublesome for the little devils. If a landmine is discovered and then cleared, it will take an hour or two.
If the demining error occurs again, it will cause casualties to the engineers, but if it is not demined, it will not work. If it is left here, with so many troops passing behind it, if it explodes, it will be over.
After the Japs had just removed a fake mine, they had walked just a few hundred steps, and then they found another place that was suspected of being a mine. They had to stop again. The Japs team leader turned pale with anger and had to order the Japs engineers to start again.
Come forward.
Soon, the Japanese engineers came back again to report that this was still a fake landmine, and they found several such suspected mine-laying locations on the way forward.
The Japanese team leader asked the engineers to remove all these fake landmines, but before he could reach the fake landmines, a Japanese engineer stepped on a pile of grass and was blown away with a loud bang.
"Baga ya road! The Chinese are dead!"
Faced with real and fake landmines, the Japanese team leader collapsed and cursed in anger.
But just scolding didn't work. Soon, Japanese communication soldiers came rushing from behind, bringing Captain Yamazaki to question why it was so slow.
The leader of the Japanese forward team was also crying without tears. He also wanted to move forward quickly, but the landmines all over the place made it impossible for him to move quickly.
"Reporting to the captain, Your Excellency, there is a Chinese minefield ahead. Please detour!"
The Japanese leader knew that if he continued like this, he might not be able to advance more than a kilometer by the time it got dark, so he asked for a detour.
Although the Japanese troops left the road and started walking through the fields, they still chose as many flat sections as possible.
It is easy to say a detour, but not so easy to do. This is a large and heavy army, and leaving the road will make the troops full of complaints.
Isn’t it scolding the troops to go instead of walking through flat fields to fields covered with weeds? And who knows if there are landmines in those fields?
But it won't work without a detour. Who knows how big the minefield is, so many troops can't just be wasted here.
Soon, the mighty Japanese troops began to make a detour. Detouring meant taking detours. In order to reduce the chance of stepping on landmines as much as possible, the Japanese troops formed a long column. Leaving without permission was strictly prohibited.
queue.
Although they had taken a detour, the enemy's progress was still not smooth. The cold guns and artillery in the wilderness were still attacking them from time to time. Each blocking position made the enemy miserable, because after defeating one, they found out that there was another one behind them.
The officers and soldiers responsible for blocking the Japs were already determined to die. Once they exchanged fire with the Japs, it would be absolutely difficult to escape in this plain area, so they almost always lived and died with their positions.
Although the Japanese soldiers continued to advance and captured blocking positions one after another, they were not happy at all. Instead, they were frightened by the lifeless fighting style of the guerrilla officers and soldiers.
"Class three is finished, it's our turn!"
Seeing that a blocking position a few hundred meters ahead was occupied by Japanese troops who rushed forward, the brothers of another class hiding in the trenches felt particularly heavy.
Because the Japanese have an overwhelming advantage in artillery fire, the blocking troops cannot be concentrated together, otherwise they will be overwhelmed. Now they can only disperse and block the attacks layer by layer.
Each company is responsible for an area, each platoon is responsible for a line of defense, and each squad is responsible for a position. By relying on such deep and deep blocking, the Japanese soldiers can be delayed.
"Go up one by one, delay for a while, don't die all at once."
A brother with a wrinkled face was wrapping several coins together while giving instructions to the brothers in the trench.
Soon, this brother grabbed the tied cluster grenade and found his way out of the trench, rolling into a hidden foxhole outside the trench. Once the Japanese came, he would fire the grenade, which is commonly known as living geography.
"I'm the second one." Another brother also tied the grenade in the same way and was ready to rush out.