After all, the Japanese army is the real master of Laiyuan County. After such a long time, even if they have not figured out the true strength of the Independent Battalion, they can still figure out the approximate location where the Independent Battalion is hiding.
Colonel Ono, no, now Ono has been promoted to major general. As soon as the additional troops and equipment given to him by the headquarters arrive, the Laiyuan Garrison Brigade will be announced to the public, and he will also become the first brigade of the brigade.
long.
Although he does not yet have the strength to encircle and suppress the Eighth Route Army in the mountains, Ono does not want these cunning Eighth Route Army troops to come out to harass him again before the brigade is established and eat up one of his infantry squadrons for no reason. At the same time, he does not want to see these Eighth Route Army troops flee Laiyuan and let himself
Lost the chance for revenge.
Therefore, when ordering each stronghold to build gun towers with cement, Ono specially mobilized troops from the county to form a mixed reinforcement squadron, including an infantry squadron, a mortar squad, a heavy machine gun squad, an infantry artillery squad, and nearly three hundred soldiers.
The elite of the army, plus a battalion of puppet troops, totaling more than 600 people, were stationed in Xiaguan Village, the only way for the independent battalion to enter and exit the mountains.
In Major General Ono's view, as long as the stronghold of Xiaguan Village is held, the Eighth Route Army can neither come out to harass us, nor can the Imperial Army trap the Eighth Route Army in the mountains. Once the brigade has established combat effectiveness, he can dispatch heavy troops and go into the mountains to encircle and suppress them.
, to avenge previous shame.
It is precisely because the Xiaguan stronghold is so important that Ono dispatched so many people from the limited troops here.
The person in charge of all the Japanese and puppet troops in the Shimonoseki stronghold was a battalion captain, Major Hamasaki.
As a veteran Japanese officer who was deeply influenced by the spirit of Bushido, Major Hamasaki has been on the front line of the battlefield since the beginning of the war of aggression against China. The number of Chinese who died in his hands, if not dozens, must have been ten.
With these military exploits, when Ono was promoted to Major General, he was also promoted from Captain to Major.
As an executioner stained with the blood of the Chinese, he has never regarded the Chinese as human beings. In his eyes, the Chinese are tools to create wealth for Japan. Therefore, in order to repair the Xiaguan stronghold as soon as possible, besides asking Ono for it
More than a hundred prisoners of the Jinsui Army had just been sent down from the front line, and more than a hundred young men were also captured in the surrounding villages.
These people were only given enough food to survive every day, but they were made to do at least ten hours of hard work every day. More than two hundred people worked in shifts day and night to build strongholds and gun towers.
Counting from the time the Japs started building the turrets, it took only two days for two prisoners and a young man to be cut in half by Major Hamasaki with his command knife because they could no longer sustain their physical strength, and then buried in the newly dug pits around the stronghold.
middle.
As for the more than 600 days of puppet troops, because the stronghold has not yet been built, they are all stationed on a high ground less than 500 meters away from the stronghold. While monitoring the stronghold from a high position, they also dispatch at least one Japanese squad and one company of puppet troops every day.
Go to the stronghold in turn to supervise the work, and prevent the prisoners and young men from being lazy.
Therefore, before Wang Ping and his troops even got out of the mountain, they were stopped by Zhong Yusheng who was investigating in front.
After hearing the enemy situation detected by Zhong Yusheng, Wang Ping frowned at first, and then said with a murderous look: "We must eat this Japanese and puppet army, otherwise it will be very difficult for us to get out of the mountain, let alone fight until the ground is full of flowers."
!”
"But the enemy has more than 600 people, including heavy machine guns, mortars, and infantry artillery. But we only have more than 200 people, and we are no match at all!" Zhang Qing, the company commander, frowned and analyzed the strength comparison between the enemy and ourselves.
"Order!" Wang Ping didn't explain and started giving orders directly!
"Platoon Commander Zhong, you bring a few veterans to serve as temporary scouts. Try your best to find out the troop deployment and firepower configuration of the Japanese and puppet troops in Xiaguan Village. If possible, find a way to capture a puppet soldier and bring them back!"
"Xiao Wang, you go back to the station immediately, notify the instructor and the deputy battalion commander, and order the deputy battalion commander to bring the two and three companies over immediately. With so many Japanese and puppet troops, only the independent battalion can kill them cleanly and escape!" Zhong Yusheng
As soon as he left, Wang Ping ordered the guards around him.
"The others rest where they are. Company Commander Zhang, take your guard squad with you and follow me to see the Japanese on the spot!"
Major Hamasaki is very arrogant and extremely ruthless in fighting. But if he can be promoted step by step at the forefront of the battlefield, there is no doubt about his ability.
For more than 600 days, the puppet troops outside the village seemed invincible to everyone. Unless the Eighth Route Army was stupid, they would never come to touch them.
But Major Hamasaki didn't think so. Although he was very confident in the combat effectiveness of his troops, he was still very cautious when arranging the garrison.
The three heavy machine guns of the heavy machine gun team were all placed at three commanding heights around the station. The four mortars of the mortar team were also placed in the open space in the middle of the station. Once the Eighth Route Army attacked the station, the four mortars would attack the station.
The artillery can respond immediately and provide artillery support to the defending troops.
Not to mention, the cautious Major Hamasaki actually placed patrol units and guard posts one kilometer around the station.
This means that if you want to attack them, you will be discovered when you are still one kilometer away from the station. The Japanese and puppet troops will have enough time to prepare for defense, and then wait for you to hit their wounds.
Because the patrol and warning range of the Japanese is very large, the stronghold that the Japanese are building is also within their warning range.
If Wang Ping wanted to bypass the Japanese garrison and attack the stronghold directly, it would not work. Moreover, even if he killed the stronghold, the heavy machine guns and mortars deployed by the Japanese on the high ground would not be polite and would definitely fire shells at the independent battalion.
The Independence Battalion suffered heavy losses.
After several combat plans popped up in his mind but were rejected by him, and after he could not observe any other situation by himself, Wang Ping took Zhang Qing back to the mountains. The whole way, Wang Ping remained calm and silent.
Zhang Qing knew that Wang Ping was thinking about the problem and did not dare to disturb Wang Ping at all. Then he followed Wang Ping carefully and returned to the temporary station. The atmosphere was very strange, as if Zhang Qing had been criticized!
A few hours later, Zhong Yusheng came back. Because the Japanese were too cautious and Zhong Yusheng was not a specialized scout, he did not collect much information. Although he brought back a puppet prisoner, he was just an ordinary soldier.
Nor did he ask anything.
At this time, Wang Ping suddenly thought of the scouts and special forces in the army of later generations. If they were to take action, they would be able to detect the enemy with any number of rifles.
This also made Wang Ping secretly determined in his heart. As long as the independent battalion established a foothold in Laiyuan, he must train a qualified scout. If conditions permit, it would be best to train a group of special forces.
Of course, Wang Ping does not want such powerful special forces as those of later generations. As long as the combat effectiveness can reach 80%, no, 60% of the special forces of later generations will be enough!
Just when Wang Ping was frowning and thinking about possible ways to defeat the enemy, Zeng Quan arrived.
"Batalion Commander, we finally encountered a big battle. The puppet army lasted for more than 600 days. If our independent battalion can eat it, it will definitely shock the entire military region and make everyone look at our independent battalion in a new light!" Zeng Quan said as soon as he arrived!
He said with a look full of longing.
Wang Ping replied with a wry smile: "Old Zeng, this is a puppet army of more than 600 days. There are more than 300 Japanese soldiers alone. If they are so easy to fight, I will not bring all the independent battalions over."
Then he ordered to Zhong Yusheng next to him: "Platoon Commander Zhong, please introduce the situation to Lao Zeng first!"
Soon, the smile on Zeng Quan's face disappeared, and he replied with a stern face: "It's really hard to fight. The Japanese are too cautious and don't give us any chance!"
