Just when Xu Rui and the others were struggling with how to cross Lingqiu County as quickly as possible, the battle at Zijingguan, which was related to the success or failure of the entire blitzkrieg, had already begun.
This is a classic offensive and defensive battle destined to go down in history.
Guarding the first line of defense was Xu Cenxi's Second Company.
The Second Company temporarily established a line of defense in a ravine called Yaotaigou.
Because the Japanese troops arrived so quickly, the Second Company had no time to dig trenches.
Fortunately, there are ridges and ditches everywhere in the ravine, which can serve as natural barriers.
The troops had just deployed, and the dark group of Japs drove over along the highway. Almost at the same time, the Japs also saw the officers and soldiers of the Second Company on the hillsides on both sides. Then the large group of Japs immediately stopped, but sent a small team to pull them.
They opened a sparse skirmish line and swooped over with shining bayonets.
Soon, more than fifty Japanese soldiers arrived.
"Brothers, fight!" Xu Cenxi gave the order, and more than 180 officers and soldiers of the second company and third platoon got up from the ridge or ditch where they were hiding, raised their rifles and fired fiercely at the road ahead.
He opened fire, and the dense bullets poured out like raindrops in an instant, knocking down a dozen Japanese soldiers in front of him.
The remaining thirty or so Japanese soldiers immediately fell to the ground and started shooting at the second and third platoons.
However, the firepower of the two sides is obviously not on the same level. Even if the Japanese have a machine gun, they are still at an absolute disadvantage in this exchange of fire, because the continuity of the firepower of the crooked light machine gun is really poor. In less than a moment, the prone
More than 30 Japanese were knocked down by a dozen more, and the remaining 20 or so Japanese retreated hastily.
…
This was just a probing attack by the Japanese to find out the Chinese troop deployment and firepower configuration.
There is no doubt that the Japanese's intention failed, because the machine guns of the Chinese army did not fire, and the troops were deployed randomly along the hillside, with no rules at all.
"Baga Yalu! These cunning China monkeys!" Yuan Yizhong cursed bitterly.
Taking out his pocket watch and checking the time, Minamoto Yoshige turned to Nagumo Chiichiro and said: "Nagumo-kun, time no longer allows us to fight slowly according to the conventional tactics. Let's go straight to the general attack."
Nagumo Chiichiro hummed, and said with a dark face: "Then let's just attack."
Minamoto Yoshishige turned to the first infantry captain behind him and said, "Kimura-kun, please!"
The First Infantry Battalion Captain Kimura Hei paused heavily and said: "General, please rest assured that our Infantry First Battalion is sworn to fight to the death for His Majesty the Emperor!" Looking at his watch, Kimura Hei continued, "In a quarter of an hour at most, our Infantry First Battalion will fight to the death for His Majesty the Emperor!"
The brigade will be able to take over the mountain col ahead, and we will definitely capture the Bauhinia Pass before two o'clock in the afternoon!"
"Please!" Minamoto Yoshishige and Nagumo Kinichiro nodded solemnly.
"Hai!" Kimura Bing nodded, then turned around and walked away.
…
In the third row position, Xu Cenxi was loading bullets into the twenty-ring box cannon.
The three-platoon long iron bull came over bent and said: "Company commander, you can get off."
Xu Cenxi glared at Tieniu and said coldly: "Don't you know the rules of our second camp?"
Tieniu immediately fell silent, because from the day the second battalion was organized, He Shuya had established a rule. Whenever there was a big battle or a fierce battle, unless there were special reasons, the chief officer must go to the front line! As the second battalion, Xu Cenxi
The company commander must stay with the third platoon holding the front line.
This is actually an incentive.
Obviously, such incentives are very effective.
Moreover, the effects will appear quickly.
Xu Cenxi filled the cannon with bullets, then looked around and reminded: "We have them all. Don't go up to the forward position until the bombardment by the little devil is over. Just stay there and don't move."
Xu Cenxi made this judgment based on past experience, because the Japs' attacks have a fixed routine. They usually send an infantry team to launch a tentative attack. After figuring out the general deployment of troops and firepower configuration, they will start
Conduct artillery bombardment on our positions and launch a large-scale attack only after the bombardment is over.
According to this routine, the little devils should carry out cluster bombardment next.
But this time, Xu Cenxi made a wrong judgment. This time the Japs did not conduct artillery bombardment, but directly launched an infantry attack. Moreover, as soon as they threw in an entire infantry brigade!
As soon as Xu Cenxi finished speaking, Tieniu immediately exclaimed: "Company Commander, something is wrong?"
"What's wrong?" Xu Cenxi turned around subconsciously after hearing this, and then couldn't help but take a breath of cold air.
When I looked up, I saw a swarm of Japanese soldiers approaching along the highway and the hillsides on both sides of the highway. It was roughly estimated that there were at least a thousand of them!
Suddenly, all the hairs on Xu Cenxi's body stood up.
It's like a dog, the little devil is going to risk his life with us?
The first thing that happened was a large group charge. Not to mention that I had seen it before, I had never even heard of it!
"Go back quickly, go back to the front line!" Xu Cenxi immediately roared hysterically, "Quick, quick!"
The three rows of officers and soldiers who were originally on standby at the second-line position got up one after another, carrying various firearms, and ran quickly to the first-line position. In order to prevent artillery, there was at least a distance of more than 500 meters between the first-line position and the second-line position.
, and there was a hill in the middle. As a result, by the time the three rows of officers and soldiers reached the front line, the Japanese were approaching within a hundred meters.
Seeing three platoons of officers and soldiers emerge from the defensive position, the Japanese who stayed behind covered the machine guns and immediately opened fire.
A dense rain of bullets poured over them instantly, causing smoke and dust to fly across the three rows of positions, and several officers and soldiers immediately fell to the ground.
"Hit me, hit me, hit me to death!" Xu Cenxi turned the box cannon sideways and fired a long burst, immediately knocking down several Japanese who were rushing in front, and then roared hysterically.
The next moment, the three rows of officers and soldiers who had just entered the position opened fire one after another, including two Goryunov heavy machine guns and six Deggarev light machine guns. They fired fiercely at the same time, and the dense bullets rushed past like a sudden rain.
, the Japanese who swooped down along the road and the hillsides on both sides immediately fell down like cut weeds.
However, the Japanese who rushed towards him did not stop their charge.
Not only did he not stop, he even shouted slogans.
"Empire of Japan, onboard~~"
"His Majesty the Emperor, on board~~"
"Onboard~~"
Thousands of Japanese soldiers were shouting like crazy, staring with eyes that were scarlet due to blood congestion, holding bright bayonets, and charged straight forward. The Japanese soldiers in front fell down, and those behind them fell.
The Japanese soldiers turned a blind eye and continued charging forward while stepping on the corpses of their companions.
In the blink of an eye, the road and the hillsides on both sides were covered with corpses.
The blood flowing from the Japs' bodies even filled the small ditches on both sides of the road, but the Japs still did not stop charging and were still charging forward with howls.
The Japs charged non-stop, and so did the firepower from the third row.
"Hit, beat, kill, kill, kill! Kill me~~" Xu Cenxi roared hysterically while holding the box cannon horizontally and firing continuously. A magazine was quickly finished, and even though he turned around and lay down
He fell down on the hillside, refilled the bullets as quickly as possible, then turned over and sat up again, and continued to fire.
But after half the magazine was loaded, there was only a "ding" sound, and the box gun's bolt flew into the air.
"Damn it!" Xu Cenxi threw the twenty-ring box cannon on the ground, turned around and picked up the Mosin Nagant rifle from a dead officer and soldier beside him, but within two shots, he discovered that the Japanese had already
Approaching within fifty meters, they were about to break into their defensive position.
Looking back, Xu Cenxi discovered that the only two heavy machine guns had become mute.
Without the fire suppression of the heavy machine guns, a few light machine guns alone were obviously not enough to stop the Japanese charge.
"Heavy machine gun, what are you doing with the heavy machine gun!" Xu Cenxi roared twice. Seeing no one answered, he immediately threw away the Mosin Nagant rifle in his hand, turned around and ran towards a heavy machine gun position, waiting.
When he got closer, he discovered that all eight officers and soldiers of the heavy machine gun team had died, and one of them was still pressed against the machine gun.
Xu Cenxi pushed away the sacrificed machine gunner, held the handle of the machine gun, and pressed the button hard. However, the machine gun only made a clicking sound and turned out to be jammed. The firepower of the heavy machine gun was extremely continuous.
It's good, but if you fire it continuously for more than three minutes, it will overheat. Once it's seriously overheated, it's easy to get stuck.
Xu Cenxi subconsciously wanted to pull the gun, but as soon as his hands touched the gun, a burst of smoke immediately appeared where his fingers came into contact with the machine gun. Xu Cenxi screamed and pulled back hastily.
When I opened my hands, I found that my ten fingers and two palms had been scorched, overheated, and needed water to cool down!
"Damn it!" Xu Cenxi cursed fiercely, turned around and shouted, "Water, get water quickly~~"
However, it was too late, because at this time, the Japanese were already within twenty meters.
Although the road and the hillsides on both sides were already covered with corpses of Japanese soldiers, there were still two to three hundred Japanese soldiers who had rushed to the third row of positions. In the blink of an eye, hundreds of Japanese soldiers had already rushed to the third row of soldiers' positions.
, Xu Cenxi and the third row of officers and soldiers could even hear the heavy breathing of the Japanese as they ran.
At this time, Xu Cenxi was no longer allowed to think too much.
Picking up a Mosin-Nagant rifle with a fixed bayonet, Xu Cenxi jumped out of the ridge with the rifle and roared loudly to greet a Japanese second lieutenant. Almost at the same time, Tieniu also led three rows of officers and soldiers carrying the rifle.
The bayonet rushed out of the position, and in the blink of an eye, the two waves of people violently collided head-on.
"Kill!" Xu Cenxi stabbed the Japs second lieutenant in the chest with a thrust, then turned and dodged the other Japs' bayonet, and then fiercely drew his gun. While pulling out the bayonet, he retracted the gun.
Tuo took advantage of the situation and smashed the face of another little Japs, and easily killed two Japs with just one face-to-face encounter.
