Kong Jie said: "Dalong, I told Lao Li that the new group is not close to here. You can go on horseback."
The special service platoon is now equipped with only three horses, which are used to carry supplies. It is not that Li Yunlong is reluctant to equip the special service platoon with horses. The horses captured after the last capture of Wanjia Town,
In addition to being handed over to the brigade headquarters, 132 horses were left, with enough left to equip a cavalry company.
The reason why Xu Dalong did not ask Li Yunlong for a horse was because, on the one hand, most of the people in the special service platoon did not know how to ride a horse. On the other hand, although those horses were majestic and convenient to ride, they were not easy to raise. matter.
The special service platoon now has limited manpower and simply does not have the ability to raise those war horses.
Kong Jie knew about these situations, but Xu Dalong didn't quite understand for a while. Why did he say this?
He said: "Deputy leader, let's go on foot this time. These three horses are enough."
Kong Jie said: "The journey is long, so it will be more convenient to bring more horses. These horses are temporarily lent to you, and they will be returned to the regiment headquarters after the mission is completed."
Xu Dalong thought that what Kong Jie said made sense. If they could bring more horses, it would be much easier to deal with the situation.
So he said: "Thank you, deputy captain, and give us 12 more horses."
Kong Jie said with a smile: "No problem. I also asked the regiment's cooking team to prepare some dry food for you, so please bring it with you."
Xu Dalong was very grateful when he saw that Kong Jie had thought so thoughtfully. He said, "Deputy leader, you have thought so thoughtfully for us. Thank you very much."
Kong Jie smiled and said, "Thank you for what? I am very optimistic about your special service platoon. If you have any requests in the future, just ask them. I will definitely support you."
Xu Dalong expressed his gratitude to Kong Jie again.
Kong Jie was very happy, so he left with a smile.
The reason why Kong Jie cared so much about the special service platoon was because he had a small calculation in mind. Although he now has the status of meritorious service, he knows that the Eighth Route Army's troops are developing rapidly and there is a shortage of military cadres everywhere. It won't be long before he will be reinstated and transferred to another regiment to be the leader.
He has now understood the situation of the Independent Group. Li Yunlong is not easy to talk to. Political Commissar Zhao has just arrived and cannot make decisions on some things. Therefore, when he leaves, he may not be able to get much profit from the Independent Group.
However, what he values most is not how much supplies he can take with him when he leaves the Independent Regiment in the future. He is very optimistic about Xu Dalong and hopes to have a good relationship with him. In the future, Xu Dalong will help him train a group of combat backbones, and he will have a group of smart and capable people. The backbone of the battle, what kind of supplies are you afraid of not being able to grab? Therefore this deal is the most cost-effective.
Now, he has gained a good reputation with Xu Dalong, and he will not worry about not getting his help in the future.
The more Kong Jie thought about it, the happier he became. As he walked, he couldn't help humming a tune from his hometown.
When he came to the courtyard of the regiment headquarters, he saw Li Yunlong and Zhao Gang talking in the courtyard.
Seeing the happy look on Kong Jie's face, Li Yunlong smiled and said: "I said, Lao Kong, why are you so happy? It's like eating bee shit."
Kong Jie laughed and said, "It's nothing. The weather is nice today and I'm in a good mood. I just wanted to sing a few lines."
Li Yunlong said: "The superiors have not assigned combat tasks for the time being. The three of us will discuss the matter of conducting military training activities in the independent regiment now."
Zhao Gang and Kong Jie both agreed. After a brief meeting, the three decided to hold a meeting of cadres above the company level after breakfast to arrange the work of conducting military training activities for the entire regiment.
The special service platoon formed independently. After eating, Xu Dalong and the others left Yangcun directly and embarked on the road to the new regiment.
After leaving the village, Xu Dalong asked all the warriors who could ride horses to be responsible for teaching one warrior to learn to ride a horse. They were not required to be very skilled for the time being, as long as they could learn the basic techniques of controlling horses. In this way, during the march, the horses can be rotated to save energy.
Xu Dalong did not miss any opportunity to improve the technical and tactical level of the platoon soldiers.
Since the New Regiment defeated the Bantian Regiment in Cangyunling and broke through, it has moved to the Lan County area, and the regiment headquarters is stationed in Daguo Village.
The enemy situation in Lan County is relatively serious. In addition to the county seat being controlled by the Japanese and puppet troops, all important towns and villages in the county are also controlled by the Japanese and puppet troops.
The areas currently controlled by the New Regiment are mainly rural areas in mountainous areas, where the supply of personnel and materials is relatively difficult.
Seeing the difficult situation faced by the New Regiment, Ding Wei commanded the troops to continuously attack towns and villages controlled by the Japanese and puppet troops, destroy the basic Japanese and puppet organizations, and expand the scope of the base area.
During this period, they successively captured the puppet army strongholds in two villages. Today, he sent another battalion to prepare to attack the puppet army's stronghold in Zhaozhuang.
After Zhang Dabiao left, Wang Zhenlin, the former deputy commander of the first battalion, took over as the commander of the first battalion.
After receiving the combat mission at the regiment headquarters, he said: "Commander, there are half a company of puppet troops and a squad of Japanese soldiers in the Zhaozhuang stronghold. The gun towers are very strong and it will be difficult to knock them down. Do you think you can Can’t we let the artillery company move with us?”
Ding Wei knew what he meant. He was thinking about the Type 92 infantry gun in the regiment. In the first two captures of Japanese strongholds, the Type 92 infantry gun played a major role.
He said: "No. When we were in Cangyunling, Li Yunlong's prodigal son consumed most of the artillery shells. He also consumed several more in the last two battles. There are only 12 artillery shells left. We must use them sparingly. At the critical moment, Let’s talk about it later.
The reason why I sent your battalion to attack the Zhaozhuang stronghold this time is to save artillery shells. "
Wang Zhenlin wanted to fight for it again. He said: "Captain, the enemy's artillery tower at Zhaozhuang stronghold is very strong. Let's let the artillery company cooperate and fire two artillery shells, okay?"
Ding Wei said: "No. There are less than 100 Japanese and puppet troops in the Zhaozhuang stronghold. You lead a battalion. If they still can't be defeated, you, the battalion commander, don't do it."
The first battalion commander said helplessly: "Yes, commander, resolutely complete the mission."
Wang Zhenlin leaves room for words. For things he is sure of, he will say that he will complete the task. For things he is not sure of, he can only say that he will resolutely complete the task.
Zhaozhuang is not only the edge area between the base area controlled by the New Regiment and the enemy battle area, but also the intersection of two important highways, one leading to Ping'an County and the other to Lan County.
After the First Battalion of the Independent Regiment led by Wang Zhenlin entered the combat area, he led the First and Second Companies to surround the Zhaozhuang stronghold.
The Third Company went to the Shili River south of Zhaozhuang and was responsible for blocking the enemy's reinforcements coming from the direction of Lan County.
The battle started soon. Wang Zhenlin led the first and second companies to attack the Zhaozhuang stronghold from the east and west sides respectively under the cover of machine guns.
In the Zhaozhuang stronghold, there are two platoons of more than 60 puppet troops stationed, and a squad of 13 Japs. They have two Czech light machine guns and a crooked machine gun. They are guarding two three-man soldiers. In the turret on the first floor.
Don't underestimate the fact that the artillery tower is only made of two layers of red bricks. However, if the opponent does not have artillery, it can effectively defend against bullets and effectively protect the people inside. This is why the Japanese and puppet troops built artillery towers everywhere.
Without the support of the Type 92 infantry artillery, the soldiers of the first battalion could only carry ladders and prepare to set up on the trench outside the stronghold for a forced attack, using the explosive bags in their hands to blow up the enemy's gun towers.
The soldiers shouted and charged forward. The enemy fired wildly from the gun towers, and soldiers continued to be shot and fell.
The first battalion is the main force of the new regiment, and the soldiers have rich combat experience. Under the enemy's fire blockade, they used skilled individual infantry tactics to quickly approach the 50m range of the stronghold, then crawled forward and approached the trench outside the stronghold.
Under the cover of the machine gun, the soldiers in the front threw a row of grenades forward. With the help of the smoke caused by the explosion of the grenades, several soldiers carried ladders and set them up on the trench. The soldiers behind held the explosive bags and stepped on them. The ladder ran forward.
The smoke from the grenade explosion could not obscure the view of the enemy on the upper floors of the turret and dispersed quickly.
The Japanese and puppet troops fired fiercely at the soldiers crossing the trench. Three soldiers were shot and fell into the trench, and one soldier who rushed across the trench was also knocked to the ground.
A Japanese soldier threw a grenade from the top of the turret at a ladder set up in the trench, blowing up the ladder and causing casualties to nearby soldiers.
The commander of the first company saw this situation and ordered a suspension of the attack.
The situation on the Second Company's side was similar, and the first attack failed.
Battalion Commander Wang Zhenlin was furious when he saw this situation. He ordered the first and second companies to reorganize the attack.
By the Shili River, soldiers from the 1st Battalion and 3rd Company had already exchanged fire with Japanese reinforcements. The reinforcements of the Japanese army consisted of a reinforced squad of more than 80 people from the Japanese army, and two companies of more than 190 people from the puppet army.
Under the cover of two mortars, a Type 92 heavy machine gun, two crooked machine guns, and four Czech light machine guns, they rushed towards the officers and soldiers of the Third Company on the other side of the river.
The commander of the third company had rich combat experience. He led the soldiers to hide in the bunker and quietly watched the enemy rush over.
When the Japanese and puppet troops stepped onto the ice of Shili River, the company commander raised his shell gun and knocked down a Japanese commander, Captain Cao, while shouting: "Hit."
The soldiers of the third company fired fiercely at the enemy. The Japanese and puppet soldiers had no place to hide on the slippery ice, and more than a dozen of them were killed immediately. They retreated in panic.
The Japanese army also has rich combat experience and proficient infantry offensive tactics. Their first attack was only tentative, to judge the enemy's strength, firepower, and position setting.
After the Japanese team leader clearly judged the situation of the enemy on the opposite side, he first used mortars to bombard the position of the third company, and then used machine guns to cover it. He used two companies of the puppet army and part of the Japanese army to attack frontally. Two Japanese Cao The commander led two squads of Japanese troops to outflank the third company's position from the left and right sides.
The third company was also well equipped and also carried a mortar, but they only had three shells. There are four light machine guns, each equipped with only 100 rounds of ammunition. The soldiers only had 20 rounds of ammunition each, so they were at a disadvantage in terms of firepower. They could only wait for the Japanese and puppet troops to get closer before fighting.
The Third Company was in a very embarrassing situation. This was a plain area with no danger to defend. It was better to attack the enemy from the front. If the Japanese army took the back route and was attacked from both sides, there would be a risk of the entire army being annihilated.
Faced with such a situation, the best tactic is to all take turns to cover the retreat, but they need to cover the main force of a battalion, so they can only hold on.
The commander of the third company ordered two squads of soldiers to be deployed on the east and west sides. Each squad carried a light machine gun to block the outflanking Japanese troops. The remaining troops are to meet the enemy attacking from the front.
At the same time, he sent a correspondent to report the situation here to battalion commander Wang Zhenlin.
Seeing the puppet troops stepping onto the ice, the third company commander ordered to fire again. This time more than a dozen puppet soldiers were killed.
Normally, when the puppet soldiers were hit like this, they would panic and either lie down on the spot or turn around and run away. However, the officers and soldiers of the third company did not expect that the puppet soldiers were very brave and continued to rush forward. .
It turned out that it was not that these puppet soldiers suddenly became elites, but that the Japanese army set up a supervisory team behind them. The Japanese squad leader had already warned the puppet soldiers that without an order to retreat, anyone who dared not move forward would be shot to death.
The puppet soldiers would die if they retreated, but there was still a chance of survival if they attacked forward, so the puppet soldiers continued to howl and rush forward.
The officers and soldiers of the Third Company had no choice but to continue shooting at the puppet soldiers, but their firepower was too weak. Although some of the puppet soldiers were knocked down, the rest still rushed forward. They rushed and shot at the same time, giving the Third Company The soldiers also caused a lot of casualties.
The situation of the positions on both wings of the third company was also not good. Although the Japanese who were outflanking were not large in number, they had sufficient ammunition and fierce firepower.
The soldiers of the two squads responsible for the blocking mission fought back tenaciously under the suppression of enemy fire, but it was difficult to prevent the Japanese from approaching.
On the blocking position on the left wing, a machine gun shooter from the Third Company wanted to shoot at the enemy freely. Unfortunately, he did not have so many bullets and could only use burst fire to block the enemy.
Suddenly, the Japanese army fired a stray bullet from a grenade, which hit right next to the machine gun. The machine gunner and deputy shooter were killed immediately, and the machine gun was also blown up.
The firepower of the officers and soldiers of the third company was even weaker, and the Japanese soldiers took the opportunity to pounce.
The third company commander did not expect that he would encounter such a powerful enemy. Seeing the enemy getting closer and closer, he shouted: "Everyone, fix your bayonets and prepare to charge."
It has to be said that the soldiers brought out by Li Yunlong were tough. Facing the large number of enemy troops, the officers and soldiers of the third company were not afraid. They gripped their rifles with bayonets and waited for the enemy to approach.
When the Japanese and puppet soldiers saw the Eighth Route Army soldiers on the opposite position, they suddenly stopped shooting. They knew that the enemy had no bullets, so they boldly stood up straight, howling, and pounced on them.
The commander of the third company was a soldier led by Zhang Dabiao, and he always carried a red tassel sword on his back. At this moment, he gripped the handle of the knife tightly and prepared to issue the command to charge.
