The Zhongheqiao neighborhood outside Guanghuamen has been reduced to rubble, with collapsed houses and rubble strewn all over the ground. The bombed-out corpses soaked in the muddy ditch, which has become swollen and emitted a foul odor.
The small group of Japanese troops who infiltrated Zhonghe Bridge were hidden in these dilapidated neighborhoods. They relied on the complex terrain to continuously attack the Chinese defenders with cold fire and artillery fire, and further penetrated towards Guanghuamen.
Liu Xing, the deputy commander of the garrison, was almost killed by the infiltrated Japanese soldiers, which also angered him. He also knew clearly that if these infiltrated Japanese soldiers could not be eliminated, the consequences would be disastrous if the Guanghua Gate was compromised.
Liu Xing once wanted to eliminate the Japanese infiltration troops in the Zhongheqiao neighborhood, but these Japanese were hiding in the neighborhood like wretched rats, and his guard battalion returned without success several times.
This time he handed over the purge mission to Yang Ling's guerrilla camp, which was also a test for Yang Ling.
"Battle Commander Yang, we have also organized several clearing campaigns, but the results were not very satisfactory. These Japanese infiltrators are good at marksmanship and are using the streets to play hide-and-seek with us. It is very disgusting. You must pay attention to the cold guns of the Japanese.
"
Wu Jiang, the deputy battalion commander of the guard, was also disgusted by the Japanese. When he saw Yang Ling and others performing such a mission, he kindly reminded him.
"Old Wu, don't worry. The task is left to our guerrilla camp. We promise to clear this neighborhood within two hours."
Seeing Yang Ling's confidence, Wu Jiang smiled and said, "Then I'll just wait for the good news."
"Old Wu, I'll make arrangements then. Let's talk again when the neighborhood is cleared."
Yang Ling didn't exchange too many greetings with Wu Jiang and quickly left to make arrangements.
Now he has found Liu Xing, the deputy commander of the garrison, but he did not rush to persuade Liu Xing to let go of Xiaguan Ferry.
Rather, he hopes to gain Liu Xing's recognition through fighting. When things are done, his words will carry more weight and the effect of persuasion will be better.
The guerrilla battalion gathered the brothers' troops along the way to break up the defeated skirmishers. The strength of the troops has far exceeded the size of a battalion. It can be said that the troops are strong.
Yang Ling broke up the defeated soldiers and organized them into four combat companies under his command. Almost each company had more than 200 brothers.
In addition to the four combat companies, Yang Ling is also directly under a guard platoon. Those student soldiers who are not strong in combat effectiveness are all organized into the directly under the guard platoon.
The student soldiers have no combat experience. If they fight against the Japanese elite field troops, they will most likely end up dead. Therefore, they are not allowed to directly participate in the battle. Instead, they are responsible for rescuing the wounded and performing auxiliary tasks such as transporting ammunition.
The company commanders of the four combat companies are Liu Yidao, Qin Shou, Wang Huzi and Blacksmith. They are all veterans who have retired from the Songhu battlefield, and they can still control the situation.
Yang Ling squatted behind a broken wall and held a brief pre-war meeting.
"The mission given to our battalion by Chief Liu is to clear out the Japs who have infiltrated into this neighborhood." Yang Ling drew a rough circle on the ground with the wooden stick he picked up.
The four company commanders all frowned. Although they had more than a thousand brothers, it was not an easy task to clear this ruined neighborhood.
It would be fine if the Zhonghe Bridge neighborhood was intact, but now the neighborhood is full of barbed wire trenches left by the defenders, and the Japanese bombed them indiscriminately. This neighborhood is now a ruined area, and there are no hiding places.
There are too many, how can we eliminate them?
This time, Yang Ling did not consult the four company commanders for their opinions, but issued the order directly and arbitrarily.
He used a wooden stick to draw a horizontal line on the east side of the circle on the ground and said: "There is an engineering school here. You and your people will use the engineering school as a basis to build a defense line on the spot. I will kill all the Japanese who go towards you."
I don't need prisoners."
Liu Yidao looked at the horizontal line on the ground, frowned and said, "Battalion Commander, this little Japs doesn't obey our orders. What if the Japs don't go to the Engineer School?"
"Wait until I finish speaking before asking questions." Yang Ling paused for a moment, turned to Wang Huzi and the others and said, "Your task is to start from the west. One company will be responsible for two streets, and I will sweep the entire block.
All the hidden Japs rushed to the east toward the Engineer School."
"Remember, if you spot a Japs, don't blindly pursue them. They won't be able to run away anyway. Be cautious and make sure not a single Japs remains in this neighborhood," Yang Ling reminded.
"Yes!" Several company commanders were originally worried about how to clear out the Japs in the neighborhood. According to Yang Ling's thinking, the Japs really couldn't hide.
After Yang Ling finished speaking, he looked around and his eyes stayed on Liu Yidao: "Who has any questions?"
"No, no, as long as the little Japs dare to go to the Engineer School, I guarantee that none of them will be able to escape."
Liu Yidao understood Yang Ling's tactical intention and grinned. This was completely a sheep-herding tactic. They didn't even have to do anything, just wait for the meat to come to their doorstep.
Yang Ling's layout idea was clear and clear. Instead of playing cat and mouse with the Japs in the ruins, he started sweeping the streets from the west, driving them to the Engineer School in the east, and then gathering together to annihilate them.
"Okay! Action!" Seeing that the company commanders all understood, Yang Ling issued the action order.
The four company commanders all returned to their companies happily, and Wang Huzi took his company directly to the west.
"One row, two rows, start from this street, and three rows go to the alley next to it, and go through the houses one by one. Make sure not to miss a little Japs!" Wang Huzi held the shell gun in his hand and ordered loudly while hiding in the bunker in front of the street.
"Act!" Wang Huzi waved his hand, and the reconnaissance platoon leader Shunzi and more than a dozen brothers quickly ran out of the hiding place with guns in hand, rushed to the window of a building and squatted down.
Shunzi nodded to a veteran, who took a deep breath, suddenly stood up and fired a shot through the window, and then hurriedly squatted down.
Snap! Snap!
There was gunfire in the house, and the bullets hit the window edges and sawdust flew.
"What a dog, go to hell!" He unscrewed the grenade, pulled the string, and threw it through the window.
Rumble——
Large clouds of shattered smoke erupted from the window, and the walls trembled.
"Charge!" Shunzi yelled, leading the brothers into the smoke.
An injured Japanese soldier tried to run away from a gap, but the students rushed up to him and knocked him to the ground with the butts of their rifles. The veteran fired at the Japanese soldier.
With a bang, the injured Japanese man fell down among the rubble and was beaten to death.
The student soldier Wang Zikun was now transferred to the command of the reconnaissance platoon leader Shunzi. When he saw a Japs running outside the gap, he wanted to chase after him with his gun in hand.
"Come back! Don't chase, you may be ambushed." He grabbed Wang Zikun and pointed upstairs: "Search upstairs -"
When Shunzi and others began to search this building, Wang Beard Company, as a squad, began to search the remaining ruins of houses along the street, exchanging fire with the Japanese from time to time.
The companies responsible for the task of driving sheep did not pursue them relentlessly and advanced steadily. The Japanese soldiers who had penetrated had to gradually retreat to the east with the help of the cover of ruins.
boom!
Da da da--
The gunfire in the west gradually began to intensify, and the hiding Japanese soldiers exchanged fire with the brothers in the guerrilla camp from time to time. However, the number of Japanese soldiers was not large, and the living space was gradually compressed.
Gunshots sounded from the west from time to time, and Liu Yidao, who was stationed in the east, was also on guard. His company was now strong, with a total of 300 men, including five Czech-style light machine guns.
Liu Yidao relied on the Engineering and Soldier School to build a dragnet and waited for the Japanese to hit him.