Changle Village, a small village located 1,500 meters away from the Zhuozhang River, is destined to write an important chapter in the history of China's Patriotic War.
Don't think that there is a river with a large amount of water flowing here, and that this area is a broad plain. In fact, the terrain here is more like a river valley, with mountains on two sides and water on one side. However, overall it is smaller than the Taihang Mountains.
Other areas should be wider.
The village is actually located under a large mountain. The cliffs of the mountain are three to four hundred meters high. It is daunting when you look at it. It is probably difficult for even apes and monkeys to climb, let alone humans. And the dirt road leading to Xiangyuan County that can be used by large vehicles is just a few meters away.
In the area about 400 meters away from Changle Village, and more than 300 meters ahead, there are mountains.
This is also the main reason why the 683rd Brigade was able to cut the dragon-like team of the Japanese infantry regiment that was intercepted here into several pieces in the past time and space, and then eat it one bite at a time.
The 771st regiment suddenly rushed out of the mountains without giving the unprepared Japanese troops much time to prepare for shooting. They rushed to the 300-meter distance within tens of seconds. If the Japanese troops were given enough time, let alone one regiment, it would be the entire 683rd Regiment.
Brigade, it is estimated that it will be difficult to have a chance to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese army.
To put it bluntly, Changle Village is still a small mountain village, but it has mountains, water, and a lot of flat land. The living conditions are considered superior in the Taihang Mountains.
However, when the Japanese came, everything changed.
The green seedlings were basically trampled to pieces, and the deserted villages that had already retreated were half burned by several fires set off by the 108th Division in a hurry. This meant that the 108th Division was frightened and rushed to escape.
Otherwise, this village with a population of five to six hundred people will definitely be burned to ashes.
If it weren't for the war, this quiet mountain village would have been a peaceful place, but the war eventually burned here when thousands of Chinese soldiers wearing gray military uniforms and camouflage hats arrived.
‘Boom! Boom! Boom!’ The frightening explosion sounded in the quiet land here before ten o’clock in the morning.
The huge explosion alarmed the flocks of birds in the surrounding mountains and forests. The size of the flock was so large that it flapped its wings and flew in the sky like a bunch of dark clouds, which amazed the Chinese soldiers hidden in the mountains and forests.
Having stayed in the Taihang Mountains for half a year, they were short of food and clothing, but they had also tried to hunt these wild birds, but there were too few bullets, so they were absolutely reluctant to use guns to shoot birds. Most of them used homemade guns.
A slingshot, but the range and power of that thing are limited after all, and I really haven’t tasted the bird meat for a few times.
I never thought that there would be so many birds in the mountains. I had known about them.
Perhaps what Comrade Wang Xiaoqiang said when he patted his thigh and said regretfully represented the sentiments of many Chinese soldiers: "What a bastard, I should have known that everyone had a slingshot."
The various wild vegetables that have always been the main course on the 683 travel table were finally paid for by mistake at the moment when the birds took off.
However, compared with the frightened flocks of birds in the sky that are constantly circling, the big iron birds that are waving their wings and constantly pulling down the "big daddy" are the focus of the Chinese soldiers.
You won't die if you don't eat bird meat, but the things dropped by these iron birds can kill a large number of people.
The power of the 500-pound aerial bomb explosion could make them feel the scorching heat wave hitting their faces even from a distance of 700 to 800 meters. Even if they were hiding in the deep mountains and old forests, they would feel the same fear.
Yes, the first enemy the 683rd Brigade encountered was not the Second Mixed Brigade, which was marching towards this direction, but the Japanese aircraft.
Yamashita ignored the actual geographical terrain of Changle Village, but that did not mean that he would ignore the Chinese army building a position in front of him.
At his request and Xiangyue Qingshi's anxious order, a formation of 16 Japanese aircraft assembled at Yuancheng Airport took off at full capacity at 9:10, intending to bomb the target area discovered by the reconnaissance aircraft.
When marching to the Changle Village area overnight, Brigadier Cheng knew that with the current intensity of Japanese reconnaissance planes frequently taking off for reconnaissance, the two infantry regiments' large-scale movement of digging defense lines along the river would not escape Japanese observation, and Japanese aircraft also
The fortified areas along the river bank will definitely be bombed.
Therefore, when he set out in the mountains, he was fully prepared.
The two infantry platoons named by him personally carried three days of rations and water. Except for necessary ordnance and ammunition, the rest of the supplies were handed over to others for safekeeping. Their journey was much farther than the main force of the 683rd Brigade.
Each infantry platoon has three infantry squads, which will be divided into three groups on a squad basis. Each infantry squad is about 6 kilometers apart. The farthest one is about 22 kilometers north of Changle Village in the direction of Yuancheng.
The reason why two infantry platoons were dispatched was naturally because the two directions were like the two tentacles of the long dragon heading east and north of the Zhuozhang River where Changle Village is located.
Their role was reconnaissance, but more importantly, they were on alert. They were not even guarding Japanese infantry, but aircraft.
The reason why there are two directions is based on the terrain of Changle Village. If the Japanese army enters the battlefield from another direction and is not discovered by the security forces, it will cause great losses to the two infantry regiments that are defending the Zhuozhang River.
The Japanese will never give any chance to their opponents who try to prevent their troops from escaping from the tiger's mouth.
As expected, although not all of the Japanese dispatched this time were bombers, most of them were fighter jets. The bombs they could drop ranged from 200 pounds to 500 pounds. A huge crater could almost sink an 89 tank.
The 683rd Brigade did not have enough field radios, but it was still able to equip each infantry squad with a telescope, and the method used was the most primitive beacon transmission method.
Because a large amount of wet firewood was added to the bonfire pile built by more than a dozen people, the thick smoke column rose to a height of tens of meters. On a good day, it was enough to be seen by people five or six kilometers away.
It was this crude communication method that allowed the officers and soldiers of the 683rd Brigade, who were building fortifications along the Zhuozhang River, to receive a five-minute advance warning.
Although 5 minutes was not enough for all the nearly 2,000 people to retreat into the mountains, it was enough for half of the 2,000 people to hide in the bombproof holes that had been dug in advance.
The construction of the fortifications began when they arrived at the Zhuozhang River defense line in the early morning.
The loess in the Changle Village area is very upright and is very dry and difficult to seep water, so it is very suitable for digging cave dwellings. Therefore, the officers and soldiers of the 683 Brigade almost followed the pattern of cave dwellings and dug out large holes on the loess slope behind the position.
There is four to five meters thick loess on the top of the cave. In order to prevent the cave dwelling from collapsing due to too strong bomb explosion energy, tree trunks as thick as an adult's thigh cut down from the mountains were specially used to support the cave dwelling. The excavated loess was piled up.
Used in front of cave dwellings to withstand the air waves caused by bombs.
Three hours may not be enough for the two main infantry regiments to dig out all the gun-proof holes, but it can accommodate 1,000 people, which is basically enough.
The long defense line against the Second Mixed Brigade included not only the 1,800-meter-long defense line on the banks of the Zhuozhang River, but also the flanking mountains 300 meters away from the loess road, and at least seven or eight highland positions.
The entire Changle Village area is like a fish basket with a long neck. As long as the main force of the Second Mixed Brigade dares to get in, it will make it impossible for him to move forward or get out.
It didn't matter if they dared to advance or not. The army of the four regiments behind them was only 20 kilometers away from them. This kind of flat ground march would only take 3 hours at most to reach the battlefield.
Unless Yamashita wants to sit back and wait for death, his only option is to storm the Zhuozhang River defense line.
The arrival of the Japanese fighter formation actually showed Yamashita's determination. He wanted to use his own air superiority to break the net.
To put it bluntly, even though Yamashita was designed by the Chinese military, he was still proud and believed that the Chinese could not stop his progress with just a small river.
The troops invested by the 683rd Brigade this time are the guard battalion directly under the brigade headquarters, the two main regiments 771 and 772 plus a supplementary regiment. The newly formed independent regiment has not yet formed combat effectiveness and was left by the 921st Division as a reserve behind the defense line against the 16th Division.
, even so, the total strength is as high as 8,000 people, 6,000 people are busy on the highlands on each side of the road, and the manpower invested in blocking the main defense line of the Japanese army is only 2,000 people.
This is not to say that this line of defense built along the river is unimportant, but that Brigadier Cheng cannot waste his limited troops under the threat of Japanese fighter planes.
The reason why the Japanese reconnaissance plane observed nearly ten thousand Chinese soldiers frantically building positions along the Zhuozhang River was because it flew too high.
If he was brave enough and lowered the altitude by another 300 meters, the Japanese reconnaissance plane pilots with telescopes might find that there was something slightly wrong with the shadowy gray figures on the position.
There was really no need for them to stand upright when his plane roared past.
What, showing off your military posture?
Those are all wooden people.
When the 683 brigade was lurking in the mountains, they ordered the whole army, at least every two people, to tie a wooden man out with vines in the mountain. The disguises on their heads were the same as those of the officers and soldiers. In order to be more realistic, many officers and soldiers even wore their own camouflage.
The new military uniforms that he was reluctant to wear were all put on the wooden man.
Therefore, in the eyes of the Japanese reconnaissance plane pilots passing by at high speed, the Chinese below were like groups of hard-working ants digging trenches along the river.
Originally, the Japanese pilots who roared into the battlefield from the east still had a chance to correct this mistake. After all, it was unreasonable not to run away even when they saw them coming.
But the tragedy is that their commander is an old acquaintance of the Chinese military and civilians.
Yes, Captain Sasaki, who has never died in a hundred battles, is here again. In other words, in the battle of southeastern Shanxi that has lasted for 10 days, Captain Sasaki has participated in the battle for more than 6 days. Every time, without exception, he was frightened and scared.
He looked pale, but every time he led his men back to the airport unscathed.
For this reason, he even received a commendation from the Army Aviation Headquarters of the Front Army. If he won a great victory in the Battle of Southeast Shanxi, it would not be impossible to be promoted again.
He was promoted to Major of the Army Aviation Corps, but as a captain-level figure, unless it was an important battle, he almost did not need to fly the aircraft himself, which perfectly fulfilled Captain Sasaki's dream - to live until the end of the war.
As for his promotion speed from second lieutenant to major sergeant within one year, let alone the Japanese army, only Tang Tuanzuo could match the fastest promotion rate in the Four Lines Regiment due to military merit.
Just say, that’s cool, others rely on their military exploits to level up, but Captain Sasaki purely relies on his longevity.
Logically speaking, when encountering such a beautiful thing that keeps falling out of the sky, everyone should be a little nervous, but Captain Sasaki doesn't think so. He attributes this to his high vigilance as soon as he gets into the cabin.
Personal characteristics, he has really seen too many real cases where his predecessor or even his predecessor's predecessor was beaten into a turkey by Chinese machine guns because of a moment of laxity.
Therefore, the height at which the Japanese aircraft fleet dived into the battlefield at high speed was 1,200 meters!
The reason why they still need to dive is that their previous altitude has been maintained at 3,600 meters.
At this height, not to mention anti-aircraft machine guns and machine guns, even the German 88 anti-aircraft gun, which is known as the strongest anti-aircraft anti-aircraft gun on the surface, probably can't do anything to them.
The high altitude gave the Japanese pilots a sense of security, but correspondingly, their observation of the ground was almost nonexistent. Otherwise, how could they not find the clear smoke column on the ground?
Of course, even if they were discovered, it is estimated that the Japanese pilots would not care too much. This is a battlefield, and they have seen many villages with billowing fireworks in the past few days. This may be a good thing done by the infantry.
The 16 Japanese planes were divided into four waves and swooped into the bombing zone from the mountains to the east, first turning the wide area along the river into a sea of flames.
Then, not satisfied yet, nearly ten aerial bombs were dropped on the mountains facing the river.
Although no Chinese soldiers could be seen in the mountains, relying on military intuition, including Captain Sasaki, they all concluded that there must be a large number of Chinese hiding in the nearby mountains and forests.
Because it is absolutely impossible to stop the second mixed brigade with just one river.
However, in Captain Sasaki's view, the fleet he led has successfully completed the mission. The areas marked by the reconnaissance planes have been completely destroyed. No matter how tenacious the Chinese people are, they cannot escape the blast of heavy aerial bombs.
Sweeping through, there will inevitably be heavy casualties.
This is the conclusion reached by the two 96 fighter planes in the fleet that had dropped all their bombs and descended 200 meters into the battlefield for observation.
Do your own thing well, there is no need to create extraneous matters, life is more important than anything else, this is Captain Sasaki's philosophy.
It's a pity that Captain Sasaki was promoted too quickly after all. To use an ancient Chinese saying, his background was too shallow, and not everyone accepted him as a captain.
For example, under his command was Army Aviation Lieutenant Yoshino Xiaoyang, who was one of the senior pilots that Army Aviation specially transferred from Pingbeicheng Airport in preparation for this battle in southeastern Shanxi.
The word senior! It sounds like a compliment, but as a senior officer, no one likes it. For example, senior beauty. You will know as soon as you hear it. Beauty may be beautiful, but old is also old. The so-called senior in the military actually means
Synonymous with seniority but slow promotion.
As a lieutenant who is nearly 30 years old, do you think you can be convinced when you see a guy who is four or five years younger than you and has a higher rank than you, and it is rumored that he got it by sacrificing his comrades?
Yoshino Koyo stubbornly believed that the Army Air Force should do more for friendly forces and should not drop the remaining dozen or so aerial bombs on the already devastated loess, but should drop them in nearby mountains and forests, which might cause harm to the Chinese hiding there.
Massive killing.
For this subordinate who had only been on the battlefield for a few days, it was difficult for Captain Sasaki to explain to him the so-called dangerous battlefield, so he could only acquiesce.
Because if you want to drop bombs into the mountains and forests, it’s not just a matter of Xia Jiba dropping a bomb. You have to lower your height a little bit. It’s best if you can see the Tibetans. Even if you can’t see clearly, you can at least make sure where they can hide people. For example, if there are people in the valley,
For example, on a hillside.
Therefore, Yoshino Kohiro led the three fighter planes that still had bombs and lowered their altitude by 400 meters.
This is mainly because they have been busy here for a long time, but the Chinese are hiding tightly and have not fired a single shot.
In other words, it was the relatively smooth bombings in the past few days that made him relax. As a result, Captain Sasaki's caution seemed to him to be nothing more than cowardly and fearful of death, and he had no words to describe it.
But he forgot that an altitude of 1,200 meters was beyond the reach of anti-aircraft machine guns, but 800 meters was within reach.
Brigadier Cheng has a good temper, but that depends on when. Even if one of his own people pisses him off, he will still get wide-eyed! Let alone the Japanese.
His current 683 brigade is not like before. The few heavy machine guns he has have to count and fire bullets. If the machine gunner fires more bullets in a battle, he has to write a review and punishment.
Now the two main regiments, the 772nd Regiment and the 771st Regiment, are equipped with no less than 30 heavy machine guns. He has no choice but to watch the Japanese planes drop bombs at an altitude of 1,000 meters. Now that they dare to come down, he will not be used to it.
Got them.
"Order, let me shoot from all the heavy machine gun positions. Even if you can't shoot them down, you will be so scared that you can't find a nest to lay your eggs!" Brigadier Cheng ordered through gritted teeth.
It can actually be seen from this military order that Brigadier Cheng Da is quite determined, but he actually does not have much confidence.
Heavy machine gun blasters are also a last resort for the Chinese army. However, due to the unprofessional equipment and unprofessional shooters, the biggest effect it played on the Japanese aircraft was to deter them, so that they could not lower their altitude too low.
And in many cases, the gain outweighs the loss. The bold Japanese aircraft often rely on their fast speed to take turns to frantically drop bombs on exposed firepower points on the ground, resulting in the destruction of heavy firepower points.
Brigadier Cheng also saw that the Japanese planes had already dropped a lot of bombs, and estimated that they were running out of bombs, so he dared to order the camouflaged heavy machine gun positions on several mountain tops to open fire.
Up to 20 heavy machine gun positions opened fire wildly, and the sudden intensive firepower on the ground really frightened the four Japanese fighter planes headed by Yoshino Kohiro.
The crazy bullets may have belonged to Xia Jiba, but the victory was in quantity. A few bullets actually hit the wings of the fighter plane under Koyo Yoshino's seat.
I felt the fighter plane trembling slightly under the impact of the bullet's kinetic energy. You would be lying if you said you were not afraid. This scared Yoshino Koyo and several Japanese pilots to pull the bomb release gate and quickly drop the bombs first.
As the machine becomes lighter, it will always run faster. This is conventional logic.
As for whether it was the flowers and plants in the Taihang Mountains or the Chinese people that were bombed, that was not what the frightened Japanese pilots considered.
The Japanese planes began to pull up, and the Chinese shooters could only pull the triggers in vain, watching as the Japanese planes were about to escape.
Then, a still-circling flock of birds breaks into the crazy bullet area
More than a dozen birds fell from the sky screaming.
The twenty heavy machine guns of the 683rd Brigade did not kill the Japanese aircraft, but instead shot down a dozen birds.
This is the time for extra meals!
"Damn it, those idiots Wang Laoer, let's just eat their own bird for lunch today." Wang Xiaoqiang looked up at the sky with hope and punched the tree next to him.
The leader is too cruel. It’s okay to eat his own bird. Should he cut it and roast it or roast it raw? All the guards looked at each other!
An accident happened.
The frightened birds exploded their nests and fled in all directions.
Yoshino Koyo's fighter plane happened to hit it head-on.
It was difficult to see clearly on the ground, and perhaps only Yoshino Koyo could see it most clearly. Two consecutive masses of blood mist exploded in front of his eyes.
One ball hit his windshield, and the other was a propeller. The two poor birds didn't even cry out, and turned into a bloody mist.
Accidents caused by aircraft hitting birds will be a stubborn problem in the aviation industry that will be difficult to solve in the next few decades, let alone this era.
Yoshino Kohiro, whose face was pricked with blood from broken glass, couldn't see how his plane's propeller had twisted. Perhaps only his companions could see the thick black smoke coming out of the engine.
So, 30 seconds later, amid the long and tragic cry of Lieutenant Yoshino Koyo, the 96 fighter jet, which had completely lost control, plunged into the rolling Zhuozhang River and exploded into a brilliant firework that was no less than an aerial bomb.
A group of Chinese birds killed the iron birds. It is so magical, but it is a fact.
After all, the situation on the battlefield changes rapidly, and weird things can happen.
On the tragic battlefield of World War II, a bullet that passed through a soldier and hit a female nurse in the abdomen eventually led to the existence of more little babies in the world. Birds can't hit the duster anymore?
"Lieutenant Yoshino did not listen to his superiors' dissuasion and insisted on going his own way, which resulted in losses to the empire's property. You should take this as a warning!" After Captain Sasaki ordered to return to a safe area, he made the following summary on the radio to Yoshino Kohiro, who had died in the battle.
Translated, this is nothing more than 'This is the consequence of disobeying orders, you deserve it!'.
It can only be said that the battlefield has made Captain Sasaki gradually mature.
"Haha, go and pick up those birds for me. I will celebrate their success at noon today!" Wang Xiaoqiang punched the tree again to express his excitement.
Bird: In the end, there won’t even be a whole body left!
