The Japanese who entered the No. 1 artillery fire coverage area included two infantry squadrons and received forty mountain artillery shells in two minutes.
Because the shooters were measured in advance, the accuracy of these shells was particularly high.
When the bombardment stopped, at least a hundred Japs fell in this area, most of them were killed and fell motionless next to the bomb crater. There were also many Japanese whose bodies were blown to pieces, and their limbs and arms were flying everywhere. They were bloody and terrible!
The surviving little devils quickly moved closer to their squad leader and squadron leader, so that they could form a fighting force and not become a piece of loose sand to be defeated by their opponents one by one.
But at this moment, the "rumbling..." explosion sounded again.
Compared with the shelling just now, the sound of the gunfire in front of us was not that loud, and the explosion power was not that powerful, but the number of shells was much larger, and the frequency of explosions was at least twice as fast as before.
The little Japanese who had just gotten up from the ground had to lie down again, not knowing that this shelling would be the last shelling that most of them would experience in their lives.
The Second Battalion not far away was like three unsheathed sharp knives, rushing towards them from 800 meters away...
"On Bageya Road, the Eighth Route Army is coming towards us!" Cao Changmohu, a Japanese soldier, was shocked when he saw a large number of people rushing towards them and quickly reported to the squadron leader.
"Hiss..." The squadron leader immediately raised his head, and then took a breath of fright at the scene in front of him.
The entire field of vision was filled with densely packed Eighth Route Army troops. They were holding guns, holding light machine guns, and holding pistols. They formed a battle formation and charged towards the road at very fast speeds!
"The machine gun is about to fire, stop them..." a squad leader found the machine gun team and shouted.
The machine gunner reacted quickly and fired with his shoulder on the butt of his gun in the direction in which the Eighth Route Army was coming.
But the good times didn't last long. Before one magazine was empty of bullets, three explosions sounded around him.
The fire splashed, the shooting gun instantly misfired, and the machine gunner also fell to the side and made no movement.
The explosion did not stop because of the misfire of the machine gun.
Mortar shells and special grenade grenades hit the official road as if they were free, overturning one Japanese soldier after another.
Seeing the Eighth Route Army rushing closer and closer, the offensive formation became more and more dispersed, as if they wanted to surround themselves here.
Looking around me again, as the bombardment continues, fewer and fewer subordinates are still moving...
If you continue to hold on, when the Eighth Route Army rushes over and surrounds this place, there will definitely be very few subordinates left, and they will not be able to withstand even a single attack from the opponent.
"Captain, the Eighth Route Army's offensive is too fierce. This is obviously a premeditated attempt to lure the enemy deeper... We have been fooled. We must retreat back immediately and join up with the commander, otherwise everyone will die here!" A small captain said shouted.
The squadron leader had long wanted to withdraw, but he couldn't save his face.
The subordinate's suggestion just gave him a step down, and he immediately answered: "You are right, if we continue to defend, all of us will die here, and there is no point in dying!"
"We will retreat as soon as the bombardment stops. We must be fast. We must not be entangled by the Eighth Route Army's attacking troops, otherwise we will not be able to evacuate even with the blessing of Amaterasu!"
The commander of the second battalion, Xiao Yuanchang, launched an attack with his team. According to the pre-war agreement: the mortar company directly under the battalion stopped shelling when the infantry was still fifty or sixty meters across the road.
They strictly carried out the order, but the little devil on the road did not fight to the end as he imagined. Instead, he scurried back, carrying his weapons and retreating, without even arranging the rear troops.
Xiao Yuanchang was caught off guard by the scene before him, but his reaction was equally quick.
Pointing in the direction of the Japanese's retreat, he ordered: "Follow us...the meat we bite into our mouths must not fly away. Let's fire while chasing. How many Japanese can be left behind..."
No. 2 artillery fire coverage area, No. 3 artillery fire coverage area, No. 4 artillery fire coverage area...
Attacked by the three main battalions of the Independent Regiment at the same time, the little Japanese who escaped the shelling all chose to retreat without exception.
Especially the artillery brigade located in the No. 3 artillery fire coverage area.
The first reaction of more than 300 gunners after being attacked was to fight back on the spot, but as soon as this idea arose, they were wiped out by the roaring explosion.
They are all the best gunners of the Japanese. They can tell the caliber and type of artillery attacking them by listening to the sound.
Four 105mm mountain artillery shells roared towards them, and the violent explosion was like thunder, making their ears buzz.
A mountain cannon was hit. The gun, which weighed several hundred kilograms, was like a toy. It was instantly dismembered into several parts and flew everywhere. Several gunners nearby were torn into pieces on the spot, without even a shadow being seen. .
The disparity in caliber, power, and range is too great, and it cannot be changed by whether the gunner is good or not.
No matter how they counterattack, they cannot be matched by the 105mm caliber mountain artillery.
Just when they were hesitating and not knowing what to do, more than 600 soldiers from the fourth battalion suddenly appeared around them like magic soldiers descending from the sky.
The gunners' combat effectiveness and fighting will were already very poor. Hundreds of people were lost in the artillery raid just now, and more than half of the remaining gunners were not equipped with self-defense weapons.
Facing the Eighth Route Army rushing towards them like wolves and tigers, several Japanese officers chose to retreat without hesitation, and at the same time issued orders to destroy all artillery.
Several gunners who happened to be hiding next to the artillery immediately threw grenades into the barrel.
In an instant, the barrels of the four mountain cannons were blown into pieces in the explosion.
The fourth battalion commander, Yang Wanhe, was heartbroken. He grabbed the light machine gun held in the arms of the machine gunner next to him and opened fire on the two Japanese who were rushing towards the mountain cannon.
While firing, he gave an order: "The Japanese want to destroy the artillery. All the rifles and machine guns are firing. They are not allowed to get close to the artillery..."
"Speed up and rush over, we must capture the remaining artillery!"
"Rush... click, click, click..."
In a forest not far from the No. 5 artillery fire coverage area, more than 500 soldiers from the independent regiment's cavalry battalion were hiding inside.
As soon as the cannon fired on the official road, battalion commander Zhang Dashan emerged from behind the bushes, led the war horse, walked out of the forest and easily climbed onto the horse...
More than 500 soldiers followed closely behind, and it took only two minutes for the cavalry battalion to be fully equipped and ready for an assault!
"Cavalry battalion... kill me..." Zhang Dashan drew his saber with a swipe and pointed towards the road to give the order.
The war horses under their crotches started to move at the same time, trotting at first, gradually increasing speed, and finally began to gallop...
The roaring of horse hooves became louder and louder, gradually overpowering the sound of artillery on the battlefield and reaching the little devil's ears.
"It's the cavalry. There are cavalry coming towards us..." Captain Nakamura Daizuo reacted quickly and made a judgment when he heard the sound of horse hooves.
"The cavalry brigade goes up to meet them and stop them at all costs!"
"The main force is being attacked by artillery fire. They are fighting on their own and are in chaos..."
"If we let them kill Shangguan Dao, we will become a bunch of lambs waiting to be slaughtered, and we won't even be able to organize a decent counterattack force!"
The captain of the Japanese cavalry was worried that he had nothing to fight. When he heard the order, he was as excited as a chicken's blood. He drew his command sword and went forward without hesitation.
More than three hundred subordinates followed closely behind, like an unstoppable steel kilogram, rushing towards the cavalry battalion, intending to use their sabers to cut down their opponents and let them see what a real cavalry was.
Dreams are beautiful, but reality is cruel.
More than three hundred cavalrymen had just rushed out more than a hundred meters when six mortar shells roared in and hit them right next to them.
Although their assault speed was already very fast, the flying shell fragments still claimed the lives of more than a dozen Japanese soldiers...
The man and the horse hit the ground together, making a dull crashing sound, just like thunder.
"Boom boom boom..."
The shelling continues, and almost every shell dropped has results...
After three rounds of shelling, the Japs finally broke through the shell interception, but they also lost a cavalry squad.
The captain didn't take this loss seriously at all.
In his opinion, the Independent Group is also capable of such conspiracy.
When the two sides come to a real head-to-head confrontation, their opponent will definitely be killed by him!
Both cavalrymen charged forward quickly, faster and faster...
In an instant, the distance between the two sides shortened to less than two hundred meters.
Zhang Dashan could already see his opponent's figure from behind.
The Japanese captain could also see the formation of the cavalry battalion.
Although the opponent's troops seemed to be more powerful than his own, the captain was not worried at all. He was too arrogant and felt that the combat power of his men was unparalleled and it was impossible to meet his opponents on the Chinese battlefield.
"Pa bang bang..."
When the two sides were still more than a hundred meters apart, the first three rows of cavalry changed their sabers into horse rifles at the same time, pointed straight ahead and opened fire.
After firing the bullets in the chamber, the horse rifle was inserted into the holster, replaced with the saber, and prepared for the final assault.
It is almost impossible to shoot accurately on a fast-moving war horse, and you can only rely on bullet density to hit your opponent.
The Independent Regiment Cavalry Battalion has a large number of people, while the Japanese Cavalry Battalion has a small number of people. Naturally, the number of bullets fired during the attack was reduced by nearly half.
More than twenty Japanese soldiers and a dozen independent regiment cavalry fell off their horses at the last moment of the encounter...
The Japanese captain also put on his saber at this moment, locked on Zhang Dashan who was at the forefront of the cavalry battalion, and prepared to kill him with a fatal blow.
When the two sides were still fifty meters apart, the Japanese captain had already raised his saber and was ready to slash...
Unfortunately, an accident appeared in front of him again.
Dozens of cavalrymen holding submachine guns suddenly appeared from the cavalry battalion directly in front, and they opened fire on them.
Dense bullets are flying towards you like rain, there is no way to hide!
The Japanese captain immediately lay down on the horse and pressed his body as close to the horse's back as possible to reduce the area where he was hit. However, the horse under his crotch was exposed to the firepower of the submachine gun.
It was like hitting an indestructible copper wall and slamming to the ground.
The captain was thrown out by the inertia and hit the ground. His body was covered in bruises. If he moved even slightly, his wounds would be pulled, and he felt heartbreaking pain.
"Da da da……"
The gunfire from the cavalry battalion continued, and the dense bullets continued to fly towards the cavalry under their command as if they were endless.
Two stray bullets flew towards him at the same time and penetrated his body from the back...
