When Li Bing led his troops to conduct a close-combat assault on the Japanese attacking troops, Zhang Cheng led his guard platoon and two main platoons to the vicinity of the Japanese and puppet army's food transport team, and joined the three platoons who stayed here.
"Company commander, the Japanese sent two detachments to march towards Xiaoli Village. The deputy company commander led two platoons to intercept them." The third platoon leader introduced.
"There are still two squads of Japanese infantry on the road, a heavy machine gun squad, a mortar squad, and two puppet platoons."
Zhang Cheng held up a telescope to observe the situation on the road. Soon, he targeted dozens of little Japs who were building the road.
Then a pair of eyes became hot: "God is really helping me."
"Comrades, I have decided to launch an attack in advance to kill the remaining Japanese and puppet troops."
"The equipment of their artillery and heavy machine gun squads are all mounted on grain trucks. We launch a sudden attack and use machine guns to press them in front of the convoy and prevent them from getting close to the heavy machine guns and mortars. Then the combat effectiveness of these little devils will be zero.
, can only be beaten passively.”
"Without the cover of heavy machine guns and mortars, the remaining dozens of Japanese infantrymen are no match for our heavy machine guns and mortars, no matter how powerful they are."
"Order: Guard platoon, platoon one, immediately approach the little Japs who are building the road. Once the troops are in place, they don't need to wait for orders and launch an attack directly."
"Second platoon, third platoon, disperse immediately. As soon as the gun fires from the guard platoon, you rush out and attack the remaining Japanese and puppet troops on both sides of the convoy."
"But we must remember that an assault is an assault, and we must not fight head-on with the Japanese."
"We have heavy machine guns and mortars, they are not decorations."
"Encircle them immediately when you encounter a hard nut, and wait for heavy machine gun and mortar support."
On the highway, the squadron leader looked anxious.
He kept the telescope in his hand, looking past his subordinates who were building the road, towards the end of the road.
The imperial army going to Xiaowangzhuang is his last hope: as long as he can successfully capture the Chinese, not only will he have the strong men to build the road, but he can also use those Chinese as hostages, so that the Eighth Route Army will be restrained in the next battle and the imperial army will be less likely to fight.
pressure.
If they fail to complete their mission and the troops don't want to stay outside the stronghold overnight, there is only one way to give up the food and return to the stronghold lightly.
This is the result the squadron leader least wants to see.
If it comes true, it means that all the efforts of the troops today have been in vain, and all the subordinates who died in the battle have died in vain, and there is no meaning.
"Da da da……"
The sound of machine gun fire suddenly sounded at the end of the road.
The distance was very far, but the squadron leader could still tell that it was machine gun fire, and there were quite a lot of it.
His face suddenly solidified and became heavier and heavier.
"On Bageya Road, the attacking troops must have hit the Eighth Route Army!" At this point, the squadron leader had a bad premonition in his mind.
The deputy captain pretended to be calm and comforted: "Sir, don't worry, the gunshots are all from light machine guns. After excluding the two equipped by the attacking troops, there are not many light machine guns left. This means that the Eighth Route Army encountered by the attacking troops is not
Not much, they still have a chance to complete the mission."
In less than a minute, the gunfire stopped.
Hope rekindled on the squadron leader's solemn face.
The deputy's judgment is well-founded and must be correct.
Since the Eighth Route Army did not have many troops and did not have heavy firepower to participate in the battle, it was certainly impossible to kill more than thirty elites of the Imperial Army in such a short period of time.
Now that the gunfire has stopped, there are only two possibilities: either the attacking troops retreat completely, or the attacking troops break through the Eighth Route Army's interception and advance into Xiaowangzhuang.
The squadron leader raised the telescope again and looked at the end of the road.
Half a minute later, there was another burst of gunshots, but it was very brief.
The squadron leader frowned for a moment and then relaxed, continuing to stare at the end of the road.
Five minutes passed, and there was no Imperial Army figure within sight...
Ten minutes have passed and no subordinate has appeared...
After waiting for another ten minutes, the squadron leader frowned again, and the bad premonition in his mind became stronger and stronger.
"Something must have happened to the attacking troops!" the squadron leader judged with a stern face.
"Even if they encountered the Eighth Route Army during the operation, they should be back by now. There is no movement at all. There is only one possibility. They were killed by the Eighth Route Army."
"We can't stay here any longer. More than half of our troops have suffered casualties. If we are besieged by the main force of the Eighth Route Army, we won't even be able to protect ourselves."
"The artillery and heavy machine gun squads immediately withdrew, and the infantry stepped up their guard and prepared to march back to the Zhouzhuang stronghold. The Imperial Alliance Army was responsible for loading the food on the carts onto the mules and horses, taking away as much as they could, and then each soldier carried the load again.
Fifty kilograms of grain, give up the rest."
Upon hearing the order to retreat, the deputy captain breathed a sigh of relief and replied: "Sir is wise, I am humble enough to give the order now!"
"Da da da...ah bah bah..."
Before anyone could move, gunfire rang out, including rifle fire and light machine gun fire.
More than a dozen gunners and heavy machine gunners who were building roads were killed at once.
Then I saw six or seventy Eighth Route Army troops emerging from a few hundred meters away, rushing towards the road as if they had been beaten to death.
"Baga, the artillery and heavy machine gun squads have been targeted. Their weapons are not with them, so they can only be beaten passively." The squadron leader shouted with a look of shock on his face.
"Send a signal to them immediately and withdraw quickly, otherwise you will have no chance to withdraw."
"It's too late, sir!" the deputy captain reminded, shaking his head.
"The Eighth Route Army that attacked them had six machine guns, and they were constantly firing. There was no way to move."
"Da da da... bah bah..."
As soon as they finished speaking, shots were fired from their flank.
"Sir...get down..." The screams of his subordinates reached his ears. Before the squadron leader could react, he was pushed to the ground by his subordinates, and then he felt a string of bullets flying past his back.
Several nearby subordinates were not so lucky. All of them, including the deputy captain, were hit by bullets and fell in a pool of blood.
At the headquarters of the garrison regiment, Hong Linfeng rushed in. When he saw Li Hao, he excitedly reported: "Commander, good news."
The Yu County Independent Battalion reported: Their company destroyed a reinforced squadron of the Japanese army and more than 200 little Japs in just one day."
"There are now no mobile troops in the blockade area where the company is active, and all the remaining Japanese and puppet troops are trapped in the stronghold."
"They asked the regiment headquarters: Can they counterattack in advance, send troops to blockade the three strongholds, and defeat each one to prevent them from giving up their strongholds and joining forces together!"
After reading the telegram, Li Hao's face was also full of smiles.
"Chief of Staff, the Independent Battalion fought better than I expected. Zhang Cheng's analysis is very pertinent. After the Japanese and puppet troops are insufficient in strength, they are likely to shrink their defenses?"
"Once they join together, it will be more difficult for us to eliminate them."
"Tell Huang Sheng that I agree with them to counterattack in advance on conditional basis."
