It was already daybreak, and all the Japs who had invaded Zhijiang City were repulsed. Black smoke billowed into the sky inside the city. Collapsed houses and bloodstains could be seen everywhere on the streets. There were traces of battle left everywhere.
The Chinese officers and soldiers who had been scattered at night were gathered together. Under the leadership of the officers, they ran through the streets with craters to reinforce the barricade position in the south. Everyone looked in a hurry.
The wounded, wrapped in bleeding gauze, were carried on stretchers and squeezed into the retreating crowd, retreating northward with the crowd.
The Japanese sneak attack at night failed. They did not expect that there would be such a powerful force like Yang Ling in Zhijiang City.
More than half of the two Japanese squadrons with full strength were lost, and they had to stop outside the city to rest and wait for reinforcements. Yang Ling and the others also knew that the Japanese reinforcements would arrive soon. With the strength of a mere remnant regiment, they would definitely not be able to hold on.
how long.
Therefore, after Yang Ling and others repelled the Japanese attack, they immediately asked Liu, the staff officer of the 75th Army, to organize the evacuation of the people to avoid being poisoned by the Japanese.
In order to achieve their rule in the vast areas behind enemy lines, the Japanese implemented a policy of differentiation and co-optation. They resolutely exterminated the anti-Japanese teams, and mainly appeased the people. After all, they needed to collect food to supply the frontline operations.
However, in the forefront areas where the main forces of China and the Japs were fighting, the Japs implemented a policy of massacre.
Because at the forefront of the war, many places were fought over repeatedly by both sides, sometimes changing hands several times in a week.
The Japanese were worried that the local people would help the Chinese troops fight against them, so most of the time they took the simplest method of creating a no-man's land.
Faced with these vicious little devils, the unarmed people had no power to resist. In order to avoid a recurrence of the tragedy of the Nanjing Massacre, Yang Ling did not dare to let the people take the risk of staying in the city. He even went to the countryside to hide for a while until the situation stabilized.
It's not too late to come back.
After all, the Japs' troops are stretched thin. Apart from occupying some towns near transportation lines, they have no time to take care of the vast rural areas.
"The Japanese reinforcements will arrive in an instant. Everyone should evacuate from the north gate immediately!"
While the brothers of the Lieyan Special Warfare Brigade and the Zhijiang garrison were setting up a defense line near the south gate, the remaining police officers at various street corners in the city were shouting loudly with tin trumpets to organize the people to evacuate.
It was dark at night. Except for the people who were evacuated from the area where Yang Ling and the Japs were fighting, the people in most neighborhoods didn't know what was going on outside, so they hid in their homes and waited in fear until dawn.
Fortunately, Yang Ling and the others were able to temporarily repel the little devils, thus allowing them to avoid personal and property losses.
Now that it was dawn, I heard that the Japanese reinforcements were coming, and the people did not dare to stay in the city. They dragged their families and families out of Zhijiang one after another, preparing to take a temporary refuge in the countryside.
In the south of Zhijiang City, the brothers who had been fighting all night could not afford to rest. The positions outside the city had been occupied by the Japanese, and they had to busy building the recommended fortifications using sandbags, planks and bricks.
The Chinese officers and soldiers in Zhijiang were busy building fortifications in preparation for the coming attack at any time. The Japanese were also busy repairing the newly occupied garrison positions.
Because the situation was unclear last night, the commander of the Zhijiang garrison thought that the Japanese could not defend the city after they invaded. In panic, he led the regiment and some officers and soldiers to retreat in panic.
After getting to know the situation at dawn, they discovered that Zhijiang had not been lost. Those troops who had not had time to evacuate fought side by side with Yang Ling and the others and actually defended Zhijiang, so they turned back.
He expressed his gratitude to Yang Ling and others for their help, and ordered them to entertain Yang Ling and others with good wine and meat. After all, without Yang Ling and others' timely intervention, Zhijiang would have fallen by now.
Although Yang Ling looked down upon the leader's behavior of taking the lead in evacuating the people last night, leaving the whole city behind, he couldn't reach out to hit the smiling man, and he couldn't control him, so he didn't bother to do so.
After Yang Ling gave some suggestions of his own, he took his exhausted brothers and evacuated to several neighboring houses to eat some dry food sent by the group leader, and then began to rest, preparing to be energetic for the next step.
battle.
But what Yang Ling didn't expect was that less than half an hour after they rested, the battle started again.
It turned out that the returning leader was disgraced last night, which made him very embarrassed.
Especially seeing that so many of the Japanese who invaded the city were killed by the troops who stayed in the city, it was in sharp contrast to their panicked evacuation.
After the regiment leader came back and heard that there weren't many Japs outside the city, he kept thinking about a counterattack in order to save face.
After re-stabilizing his position, the regiment leader selected more than two hundred officers and soldiers to form a commando team. Without informing Yang Ling and the others, he took the initiative to attack the Japanese, trying to kill the Japanese outside the city in one fell swoop.
Went out.
"Come on!"
"Kill the devils!"
With shouts that shook the sky, more than two hundred Chinese officers and soldiers jumped out of their bunkers and rushed towards the positions occupied by the Japanese outside the city.
"The Chongqing Army is attacking!"
"Ready to fight!"
As soon as the Zhijiang defenders moved, the Japs' warning sentry blew a brass whistle. The shrill whistle tore through the air and alerted all the Japs soldiers sleeping in the trenches.
Although the Japs suffered heavy losses in last night's battle, the remaining Japs still cannot be underestimated.
They were well-trained and reacted quickly. They climbed up, grabbed their guns and leaned against the trench. They quickly took out the rifles in their hands. With constant crackling sounds, bullets were loaded, and the black muzzles began to aim at the rushing Chinese officers and soldiers.
.
The Japs' attacks were always covered by heavy firepower. They first bombarded the infantry and then charged.
However, the Chinese officers and soldiers did not have the cover of heavy firepower. Every group charge relied on their flesh and blood to attack the Japanese positions.
"shooting!"
The Japanese commander was awakened just after squinting for a while. Facing these Chinese officers and soldiers who rushed up with only rifles in hand, his tough face was full of cruelty.
"Teng Teng Teng——"
"Da da da......"
The Japanese's light and heavy machine guns opened fire almost at the same time, and the echeloned firepower immediately formed a crossfire net and enveloped the charging Chinese officers and soldiers.
The dense bullets crashed into the counterattacking Chinese officers and soldiers with a sharp whistling sound, and the blood mist filled the air. The charging Chinese officers and soldiers fell into a pool of blood in groups, screaming and wailing.
The regiment commander, who wanted to save face, underestimated the ferocity of the Japanese firepower. When he saw countless officers and soldiers being beaten into sieves by bullets in the telescope, the expression on his face suddenly froze.
"Withdraw, let them withdraw quickly!" the regiment leader ordered in a panic.
"Withdraw, withdraw!"
An orderly soldier jumped out of the trench and rushed towards the bloody battlefield, waving his arms and shouting loudly.
In fact, many Chinese officers and soldiers did not hear the shouts of the order soldiers, because the Japanese grenade grenades had already been smashed down, and the rumbling explosions were deafening. There were shouts and screams everywhere, and the voice of the order soldiers seemed so insignificant.
.
Although the enemy's firepower was fierce, the remaining officers and soldiers still charged forward one after another, and then were pierced by bullets and fell to the ground.
All the Japs' various light and heavy weapons opened fire, gunpowder smoke filled the air, and life-threatening bullets were everywhere. The Chinese officers and soldiers who charged against the hail of bullets moved forward in the blood mist.
When the regiment leader saw the two hundred commando officers and soldiers under him who were fighting back being shot and falling one by one, his hand holding the telescope was shaking.
"It's over, it's over..."
He muttered to himself and slumped down in the trench. He knew that he had underestimated the enemy's combat effectiveness. Even if they were a remnant of soldiers, they would not be able to eliminate them.