At the exit of Yinmagou, the artillery shells fired by the Japanese army hit the position of the third battalion of the 1st Regiment of the Only Brigade like rain.
This is a blocking position blown up with grenades. The bunker is entirely composed of bomb craters. Although it is not as good as a manually dug trench, it is better than being exposed on the ground.
Except for the extremely lethal heavy artillery and field artillery shells, ordinary artillery shells can only cause damage to the soldiers if they hit the crater accurately.
Despite this, Huang Yu only left one company of troops in the blocking position, and the remaining troops of the 1st and 3rd Battalions were all hiding behind the blocking position.
The Japanese artillery fire was too fierce, but there were not that many infantrymen.
Leaving a reinforced squadron behind, the cavalry battalion attacked and killed a reinforced squadron, and the first battalion attacked and killed another squadron. Adding in the majority of the squadrons killed by blasting the road just now, the only reinforced squadron of the 106th Regiment was already less than two infantry squadrons. The other little devils are all technical units such as gunners.
No matter how fierce the Japanese artillery fire was, it would be impossible to break through the Eighth Route Army's defense line and evacuate Yinmagou without an infantry attack.
What Huang Yu is doing now is to minimize the losses of his troops in the artillery fire coverage, and concentrate his superior forces to fight against the few remaining infantry of the Japanese army.
After killing less than two infantry squadrons of the 106th Regiment, the remaining artillery units were unable to escape.
The Japanese commander didn't know this, so he just assumed that all the Eighth Route Army's blocking troops were concentrated on the blocking position.
In this way, the more intense the artillery preparations in front of them, the greater the casualties of the Eighth Route Army's intercepting troops, and the easier it will be for the attacking troops to break through their defense lines and fight their way out of Yinmagou.
More than 20 mountain field guns, heavy artillery, and more than a dozen mortars fired for five minutes, firing eight or nine hundred shells at the blocking position of the third battalion of the first regiment before the regiment commander gave the order to attack.
"Kill me..."
More than two hundred little Japs formed a skirmish line and rushed towards the blocking position.
The place was completely shrouded in gunpowder smoke, with thick smoke billowing everywhere. The shell craters were one after another, and a shell could be distributed almost every two or three meters. This shows how fierce the Japanese army's artillery fire preparations had just been.
There is not much left of a company holding the position.
There were bombed-out limbs, broken arms, and internal organs everywhere, and it was difficult to find even an intact body.
Because the main force led by Huang Yu had not yet returned to the position, facing the rapidly rushing imps, only a few sporadic gunshots were heard from the blocking position.
Faced with this result, the Japs' attacking troops became more and more energetic, thinking that the Eighth Route Army on the blocking position was finished, and they could easily capture it if they rushed forward.
This is indeed the result.
More than two hundred little Japs encountered almost no decent resistance. They occupied the blocking position and captured the exit of Yinmagou with the loss of less than ten men.
The captain watching the battle from behind was overjoyed.
Seeing that the attacking troops had seized the exit of Yinmagou, I almost jumped up from the ground with excitement and immediately ordered: "The troops continue to move forward..."
"March quickly to fight out of Yinmagou. Go faster."
"Da da da... kill..."
Just as the commander of the regiment moved, violent light machine gun fire and shouts of killing suddenly rang out from the blocking position directly in front.
The place was still filled with gunpowder smoke from the shelling, and it was hard to see what was happening on the position, even with a telescope.
The general situation of the battle can only be judged by the sound of firefights.
"Sir... the Eighth Route Army has reinforcements..." The company made a judgment to the chief of staff based on experience and the sound of firefights at the same time.
"They hid behind the blocking position to avoid artillery fire, and waited for the attacking troops to take over the blocking position before joining the battle. Through close combat, our artillery superiority was useless, and they were able to eat our attacking troops by the way."
"Bagh Yalu..." The captain opened his mouth and began to curse.
In less than an hour, his mood was like riding a roller coaster, sometimes excited, sometimes angry, sometimes worried...
I thought I could finally fight my way out of Yinmagou, but the Eighth Route Army sent me reinforcements and close combat, shattering my hopes of evacuating Yinmagou immediately.
Clenching his fists, he ordered through gritted teeth.
"I don't care how many reinforcements the Eighth Route Army has, the attacking troops must move quickly, destroy the enemy within five minutes, open a breakthrough, and cover everyone's way out of Yinmagou..."
The chief of staff on the side suddenly said: "Sir..."
"Five minutes doesn't seem like enough..."
"I feel that the attacking troops may not be able to end the battle in ten minutes..."
When he said this, the chief of staff's face became particularly solemn, and he stared at the blocking position in front without blinking.
At this time, the smoke that shrouded the blocking position had dissipated a lot. Although it was still not very clear, I could already get a rough idea with the help of a telescope.
The situation on the battlefield is very bad.
The Eighth Route Army reinforcements numbered at least 300 people and were very motivated.
The attacking troops under his command originally numbered more than 200 people, but they were suddenly attacked by the Eighth Route Army with rifles and machine guns. They lost thirty or forty people on the spot. The total strength was suddenly reduced to more than 180 people, which was exactly half of the Eighth Route Army.
If they hadn't been better with bayonets than the Eighth Route Army, they would have been killed and defeated.
Of course, the Eighth Route Army is not bad with bayonets, and the Sixth Army Division of the Wing Center provides a pistol to all squad leaders of the main force.
Although most of them are box guns captured by the Japanese army, they have short range and are easy to jam.
But as long as it is well maintained, it is still no problem to shoot a kid a few meters away face to face.
With the help of these short guns, the Eighth Route Army reinforcements suppressed the attacking troops from the beginning.
The two sides had been fighting for less than two minutes, and the total strength of the attacking troops had been reduced sharply to more than a hundred people, while there were still about 300 Eighth Route Army soldiers on the battlefield.
As the two sides continue to fight, the attacking troops will not only be unable to end the battle within five minutes and capture the exit of Yinmagou, but may also trap themselves.
The best solution is to send troops to reinforce the battlefield.
While both sides were unable to use heavy weapons, reinforcements quickly rushed to the battlefield to join the battle.
As long as he sends a squadron up, the attacking troops can turn defeat into victory, seal the victory, and capture the exit of Yinmagou.
He can also successfully fight his way out of Yinmagou.
Unfortunately, the attacking force was all the infantry the regimental commander could muster.
Except for the guard team, he could no longer send out any soldiers.
Someone proposed to transfer ammunition to the battlefield to participate in the battle, but the idea was opposed by the regiment commander as soon as it was proposed.
The Eighth Route Army's ability to fight with bayonets was as good as that of the infantry under its command. Letting the ammunition hand fight with bayonets was tantamount to death. It had no effect except giving the Eighth Route Army military exploits in vain.
Seeing that there were fewer and fewer attacking troops on the battlefield, and still not thinking of any way to break the situation, the captain decided to take a gamble.
Clenching his fists and gritting his teeth, he ordered: "The artillery troops immediately fired a salvo at the Eighth Route Army's blocking position..."
"Three minutes of rapid artillery fire. Immediately gather 300 ammunition carriers. Be ready to launch an attack as soon as the artillery fire stops. Hurry up. This is our only chance to break out of Yinmagou."
