The bomber crew sent a telegram to Bob after completing the bombing mission.
At this time, there were 32 bombers ready for launch at the Zhongtiao Mountain airport, including six bombers under the Zhongtiao Mountain Command.
After the pilots who attacked the Japanese airport sent a telegram, Bob took the lead in flying the bomber into the sky, and other bombers also took off one after another, following Bob towards Xiangyang.
At the airport in Xiangyang, the Japanese army sent a large number of engineers to urgently repair the airport's runway. The Japanese airport commander was uneasy, worried that the enemy's air force would come to bomb again while the Japanese fighter jets were unable to take off. If that happens, the airport will inevitably suffer a devastating blow.
He was really afraid of what would come. When he heard the roar of a large fleet of aircraft flying high in the sky, his face turned pale and dumbfounded. He sighed: "It's over, it's all over." He sat on the chair as soon as he was gone.
Several Japanese officers around him couldn't help but stepped forward to lift him up and ran to the air raid shelter.
Without the threat of Japanese Air Force fighter jets, Bob and others calmly bombed the Japanese airport. In order to guard against the Japanese anti-aircraft artillery on the ground, they raised the bombers to almost the highest limit. At this time, they had exceeded the strike range of the Japanese anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns.
The Japanese airport is very large, and bombers can destroy the Japanese airport by casually dropping aerial bombs. The 32 bombers dropped their aerial bombs and left.
After hearing the sound of the air raid alert being lifted, the Japanese airport commander emerged from the air raid shelter.
When he saw the airport was in a mess, with plane wreckage everywhere and no intact buildings in sight, he felt a pain in his chest, spit out a mouthful of fresh snow, leaned back and fell to the ground.
After completing the bombing mission, Bob sent a telegram to Zhao Gang.
After Zhao Gang received the telegram, he forwarded it to Xu Dalong. Xu Dalong forwarded the good news to Li Fengming and the 16th Army and the 74th Army.
When Li Fengming and the commanders of the 74th Army and the 16th Army heard the long-awaited good news, they all cheered.
The 16th Army and the 74th Army have long wanted to take action against the Japanese 43rd Brigade, but they have been holding back until now because they were worried about the Japanese reinforcements from Xiangyang, especially the fear of being bombed by the Japanese Air Force.
Now that the threat from the Japanese air force was temporarily lifted, Xu Dalong was also responsible for blocking the reinforcements from the Japanese ground troops. They no longer had any worries and launched an attack on the Japanese 43rd Brigade together.
On the outskirts of Xiangyang City, the scouts of the special force saw a large number of Japanese and puppet troops coming out of Xiangyang City, so they sent a telegram to Xu Dalong.
At this time, Xu Dalong was leading the special operations brigade and two regiments of fruit troops to build a defensive position in Jiguan Mountain.
Jiguan Mountain is because the shape of the top of the mountain is similar to a rooster's comb. The mountains here are not very high, not steep enough, and there is a lot of vegetation. It is not a good terrain for blocking, but this is the only place to choose to block Japanese reinforcements.
Xu Dalong led his team to build a defensive position on the mountain, and sent people down to the hillside to cut down all the trees and shrubs about 150 meters away from the top of the mountain. In this way, an open space appeared in front of the defensive position. The Japanese army wanted to It's not that easy to attack.
At two o'clock in the afternoon, Japanese reinforcements came over from Xiangyang City. The Japanese troops who came for reinforcements included the 44th Brigade of the Japanese 22nd Division, the division-affiliated team, the Xiangyang Japanese Railway Garrison, and two regiments of Huang Xiejun, totaling about 25,000 people. The Japanese and puppet troops rushed to the foot of the mountain, made preparations, and then began to attack the defenders on the mountain.
In order to boost morale, Xu Dalong visited the defensive positions of all company units in the two regiments of the Guo Army. Everywhere he went, if the Japanese and puppet troops were launching an attack, he would personally take part in the battle with a sniper rifle.
The officers and soldiers of the Guo Army respected Xu Dalong very much. Seeing him take risks and fight with ordinary officers and soldiers increased their respect for him.
The Japanese army had a large number of troops and its offensive was very fierce, which put a lot of pressure on the Guo army's defense forces. When the situation was tense, the Guojun of the two regiments not only put their reserve teams into the battle, but also organized logistics personnel to participate in the battle.
Xu Dalong came to the command post of a regiment. The regiment leader was reporting the situation to him, and the phone rang rapidly.
The regiment leader took the call, and the other party said anxiously: "Regiment, the Japanese army concentrated its forces to attack Position 6. Our army suffered heavy casualties. Less than one-third of the people of the 1st Battalion and 3rd Company who were guarding there were left. The commander no longer has a reserve team, please send troops to reinforce."
The regiment leader smiled bitterly and said: "Everyone is asking me for reinforcements, where can I get any? Now I'm the only one left with a gun. How about I go up to reinforce them myself?"
Seeing that the situation was critical, Xu Dalong hurried to position No. 6 with a squad of his special forces members without saying a word.
At this time, there were only about 40 officers and soldiers of the Guo Army left on Position 6. Seeing hundreds of Japanese troops attacking on the hillside, the officers and soldiers had a look of despair on their faces.
At this moment, Xu Dalong arrived. He and his special forces members entered the position and opened fire on the Japanese army from two hundred meters away.
Xu Dalong and the special forces members each had a sniper rifle, and they all had scopes on their rifles. To them, the distance of 200 meters was no different than what was before them. The special forces members had every shot, and the Japanese commander and The machine gunners were killed one after another.
After destroying these targets, they began to shoot at the Japanese soldiers rushing in front, and dozens of Japanese soldiers were killed in an instant.
Such huge casualties made the Japanese army frightened. The soldiers who lost their command fell into chaos and retreated directly.
The officers and soldiers of the Kuomintang who were guarding the position saw this wonderful performance and were in awe of the combat effectiveness of the special operations team.
Before departure, the regiment leader accompanied Xu Dalong to review the troops, so all the officers and soldiers knew Xu Dalong. The officers and soldiers of the third company were very excited to see Xu Dalong coming to support them in person. The officers and soldiers of the Third Company assured Xu Dalong that they would stick to their position and never give up even if they fought to the death of every soldier.
The company commander hopes that Xu Dalong can leave them two guerrilla special forces members. With their presence, they will play an extremely important role in disrupting the enemy's offensive.
Xu Dalong agreed to the company commander's request and left three special forces members with him, officers and machine gunners responsible for sniping the enemy.
After this experience, he simply sent someone to notify Monk Wei and asked him to send several snipers to each company of the Guo Army to assist them in holding on.
In the ensuing battle, the special operations team members played an important role, greatly reducing the pressure on the troops and annihilating a large number of Japanese and puppet troops.
The two regiment commanders of the Guo Army were also inspecting the positions to boost morale.
They found that since the addition of several snipers from the special operations team to their own troops, the situation on the battlefield had changed dramatically. In many cases, the Japanese troops were beaten back 150 meters away. Even if the Japanese army rushed forward forcibly, the commanders and machine gunners were constantly shot to death. Their command was ineffective and they were unable to exert their firepower advantage. The combat effectiveness of the Japanese army was greatly reduced. As a result, almost no Japanese army could rush within 50 meters of the defender's position. Within, they were all repulsed.
After witnessing the combat effectiveness of the special forces, they all envied Xu Dalong for having such a powerful force. Although they didn't say it, they admitted in their hearts that the combat effectiveness of a company was probably not as good as that of a squad. They were all very emotional and wondered how such soldiers were trained.
Although he kept moving around on the battlefield, Xu Dalong still did not ignore the overall situation and was always paying attention to the situation of the Japanese troops at the foot of the mountain.
When he saw more and more Japanese troops gathering at the foot of the mountain, he sent a telegram to Bob.
Soon after, a large number of bombers flew over and violently bombed the Japanese and puppet troops at the foot of the mountain.
The Japanese and puppet troops suffered heavy casualties, and the intensity of their attacks on the defenders on the mountain was greatly weakened.
Xu Dalong is absolutely confident now. He is very confident that he can hold on here for three more days with the help of the special operations brigade and the two regiments of fruit troops.
The officers and soldiers of the 16th Army and the 74th Army, like the general Fruit Army troops, have one thing in common, that is, they are good at fighting against the wind. They used four divisions, plus an artillery regiment directly under the army, to attack a Japanese infantry brigade. They did not worry about the threat of Japanese reinforcements and air force. Such a battle was very comfortable. Since they had an advantage to take advantage of, they all spared no effort to attack the Japanese army, hoping to make contributions in the battle to eliminate the Japanese 43rd Brigade.
Although the Japanese army's combat effectiveness is strong, they are still very difficult to face without air support when facing the fruit army that is six times more than their own.
Not only that, the fruit army they faced was very tenacious, and the offensive never stopped. The Japanese suffered heavy casualties and had to shrink their positions repeatedly.
After 28 hours of continuous fighting, the Japanese 43rd Brigade had suffered more than half of its casualties, and the remaining troops were compressed to a small area of less than ten square kilometers.
The 16th Army and the 74th Army are fighting smoothly, and there are not so many conflicts between them. They kept attacking the Japanese army, ignoring the dividing line drawn by Xu Dalong, and rushed to surround the Japanese army.
Since the Japanese army was surrounded in a small area, it was a good opportunity to exert the power of the air force. Xu Dalong sent a telegram to Bob, asking him to bomb the surrounded Japanese 16th Army and 74th Army.
When the Guo army fought against the Japanese army in the past, due to the Japanese army's air superiority, they had to risk being bombed by the Japanese air force every time they fought. The battles were very frustrating. When they saw their bombers violently bombing the enemy's positions, they all raised their eyebrows and burst into enthusiastic cheers.
In order to eliminate the enemy as soon as possible, with Xu Dalong's approval, the remaining ten 723kg aerial bombs transported from the Mawushan base area were also dropped.
Such bombs are so powerful that after a bomb explodes, almost no one within a radius of several thousand meters can be spared. A giant bomb fell near the headquarters of the Japanese 43rd Brigade. As a result, all the brigade commander and senior officers of the brigade headquarters were killed, and the command system was completely destroyed, further weakening the combat effectiveness of the Japanese army.
The 16th Army and the 74th Army originally just wanted to drive away the Japanese 43rd Brigade. Seeing how miserable the Japanese army was, they already had the idea of eating this Japanese army.
The Ninth War Zone also hoped to win a big victory that could kill a brigade of the Japanese army. They sent telegrams to the 74th Army and the 16th Army respectively, telling them that they would kill this Japanese army at all costs. All consumption would be reduced after the war. The superior officers will provide them with all the information, so that they can fight boldly without any worries.
Seeing that victory was in sight, the 16th Army and the 74th Army became more morale. In order to compete for the first victory in annihilating the Japanese 43rd Brigade, the troops of the two armies rushed to launch a fierce attack on the Japanese army.
The Japanese troops suffered heavy casualties and were very exhausted. Their supplies were blown up by bombers, and they soon fell into a situation where they were running out of ammunition and food. They had to shrink their troops again and urge reinforcements to arrive quickly.
The Japanese army continued to retreat, further irritating the officers and soldiers of the Guo army, and they violently attacked the Japanese army like crazy.
From the moment the battle started, it took 40 hours to completely annihilate the Japanese 43rd Brigade.
The Japanese Central Front Army's Special Senior Section Chief and others never dreamed that they would come to the 43rd Brigade in order to kill Xu Dalong, only to be surrounded by others and lose their lives in a daze.
The Japanese reinforcements were unable to break through the defenders' defensive positions. When they learned that the 43rd Brigade had been completely destroyed, they withdrew to Xiangyang City.
The battle ended victoriously, and a Japanese field infantry brigade was annihilated. It can be called a great victory. Newspapers and magazines in the rear area carried out extensive publicity and coverage. Many cities, including Chongqing, also held parades to celebrate the victory. All the troops participating in the Ninth Theater were in the newspapers and became famous.
The Ninth War Zone Chief, the 74th Army, and the 16th Army fought a great victory and were warmly praised by the anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians. Their faces were bright and they were all very satisfied. Because the troops of the two armies cooperated with each other in combat, they also had a closer relationship with each other. For this reason, the generals of the two armies even entertained each other. This result made the Ninth War Zone very happy.
The communication lines between the Ninth War Zones have been opened, and the logistics supplies of the 74th Army and the 72nd Army at the northern foot of the Dabie Mountains have been fully restored.
After Xu Dalong's coordination, the Ninth War Zone also restored supplies to the troops belonging to Zhongtiao Mountain, and everyone was happy.
Xu Dalong was not that happy, and even felt a little unhappy. He came out to fight mainly for money this time. In order to win, the Mawushan Military Division paid a lot of money. Not counting anything else, the ammunition and fuel consumed by the flying group alone, as well as the bonuses and subsidies given to the pilots, are a huge amount. Although the battle is over, Xu Dalong has not yet received the money he deserves.
(End of chapter)
