Xu Dalong asked the signal corps to call Wei Dayong. According to their current location provided by Wei Dayong, Xu Dalong checked the map. No matter how fast he went, it would still take an hour for Wei Dayong and the others to arrive.
Xu Dalong heard fierce gunfire and explosions in the town. He felt that something should be done, so he asked someone to push over a Type 92 infantry gun captured by the guerrilla detachment.
This gun was captured in the last battle. The gun mount was damaged. The blacksmith in Maiba town helped repair it before it could be used again. What Xu Dalong can do now is to use this cannon to attack the Japanese army. Although it cannot play a decisive role in determining the surname, it can at least disrupt the Japanese army.
Through observation, Xu Dalong discovered two important targets, one was the Japanese artillery battlefield and the other was a Japanese command post. He adjusted his artillery and first fired shells at the Japanese artillery positions.
The first artillery shell hit, slightly missed, and hit a Japanese truck more than 20 meters away from the enemy's artillery position. The truck was destroyed and a raging fire broke out.
The Japanese artillery also discovered the Type 92 infantry gun in Xu Dalong's hand and hurriedly adjusted the muzzle to prepare to deal with him.
How could Xu Dalong give them this opportunity? He quickly calculated and fired the cannonballs. This time the artillery shell fell into the enemy's artillery position without any bias, directly overturning a Japanese Type 92 infantry gun. The shrapnel and shock wave generated by the explosion of the artillery shell also knocked out the artillery of another Type 92 infantry gun. Knocked to the ground.
Xu Dalong fired four consecutive artillery shells, completely destroying two Japanese Type 92 infantry guns and four mortars, killing and wounding more than 20 Japanese artillerymen.
Next, Xu Dalong adjusted the muzzle of the gun to bombard the enemy's headquarters.
Staying outside the town to build a defensive position is an infantry brigade of the Japanese army. This is the command post. The command post is commanded by the Japanese brigade captain Yamamoto. When he saw that the enemy's artillery fire was so accurate that it knocked out his own artillery, he was already aware of the danger and hurriedly evacuated the temporary headquarters.
Soon Xu Dalong's artillery shells hit. Although they destroyed the temporary headquarters, paralyzed a Japanese radio station, killed and injured some staff members and soldiers, Captain Yamamoto luckily escaped with his life.
Yamamoto was very angry and immediately ordered a squadron leader to lead his squadron to attack Xu Dalong to seize the infantry cannon in Xu Dalong's hands.
At this time, Xu Dalong had stopped shelling, not because he was afraid, but because all the captured shells had been fired.
Seeing the Japs rushing over, he immediately asked several team members to carry the Type 92 infantry gun and retreat first. He directed the guerrillas to select bunkers and prepare to attack the Japanese troops rushing over.
The Japanese soldiers ran halfway and suddenly stopped. It turned out that Watanabe had received the report. He believed that the true situation of the guerrillas was still unclear and a blind attack would cause losses, so he asked the captain to order the troops sent out to come back.
When Xu Dalong saw the Japanese army sending a squadron out, he was secretly happy and planned to eat this Japanese army. Seeing that they had actually withdrawn, I couldn't help but feel a little depressed, feeling that these devils were a bit cunning.
In order to get rid of the bad breath in his heart, Xu Dalong observed carefully and saw the squadron leader holding a command knife among the Japanese troops, so he shot him and sent him back to his grandma's house.
Not to be outdone, the snipers of the special operations team opened fire one after another, killing seven or eight more Japanese soldiers.
The Japanese army had already received the order to retreat, but now they retreated faster. At this time, the Japanese army could no longer maintain their organizational structure and fled swarm towards the town.
Xu Dalong and the snipers kept chasing the escaping Japs with bullets. When the Japs fled back to the town, they dropped more than a dozen corpses along the way.
This was a very small-scale battle. Although it did not go according to Xu Dalong's idea, it also reminded him. Since the Japanese army was huddled in the town and could not come out, and the main force of the guerrillas could not approach the town to attack, the only ones that could pose a threat to the Japanese army were the snipers of the special forces.
So Xu Dalong called all the special forces members around the town and asked them to fight individually and kill all the Japanese troops they could see.
Xu Dalong admired what Li Yunlong said very much, that is: "There are only so many little devils, kill one and there will be one less."
He planned to use sniper tactics to eliminate as many Japanese as possible and consume their strength.
After receiving Xu Dalong's order, the special operations team members put on their sniper rifles and approached Maiba Town from all sides.
The special operations team members formed several five-person teams, four of whom were snipers and one was a machine gunner. The sniper is responsible for killing, and the machine gunner is responsible for dealing with the Japanese who are rushing over. This combination is very effective. The Japs were almost helpless in the face of the snipers of the special forces, and they could only hide.
At this time, there were thousands of Japanese troops in Maiba Town, but they were suppressed by several sniper teams of the special forces. None of them dared to come out and could only use mortars to deal with the guerrilla snipers.
The snipers were relatively scattered, and it was difficult for Japanese artillery fire to pose a threat to them. Not only that, because the Japanese artillery still needed to test fire before it could achieve its target, when the special operations team members discovered that the enemy had begun shelling, they quickly moved their positions. The Japanese mortars basically posed no threat to them.
The Japanese officers and soldiers were very frustrated and asked to rush out and eliminate the damn enemy snipers. However, their request was rejected by Watanabe because the problems in the town had not been resolved. He must first eliminate the remnants of the guerrillas remaining in the town. After solving his worries, he can fully deal with the guerrillas outside the town.
At this time, Gao Xiling and others were in a desperate situation. Japanese officers and soldiers had surrounded them, and many Japanese soldiers climbed onto nearby roofs, suppressing the guerrillas in the yard with firepower, and covering the Japanese troops surrounding the town hall as they charged towards the town hall.
Gao Xiling and others repelled two consecutive Japanese attacks, and the guerrillas also suffered heavy casualties. As of now, there are less than 40 people who are still able to fight, including members of the Self-Defense Forces and the wounded.
Then something worse happened. In order to eliminate the guerrillas in the town hall as soon as possible, the Japanese army pushed the Type 92 infantry artillery over, and they fired the artillery shells only a few dozen meters away from the town hall.
As the shells exploded violently, walls continued to collapse and houses in the yard were destroyed. The guerrillas were overturned, killed or injured.
Seeing that the walls of the town hall were being continuously blown open and the guerrillas' firepower was getting weaker and weaker, Watanabe issued the order for a general attack. This time the Japanese army directly invested two infantry squadrons, and more than 300 Japanese troops swarmed in.
Gao Xiling knew he was finished. He threw out the last grenade in his hand and shot himself in the temple.
A few minutes later, the gunfire in Maiba completely stopped. There were more than 240 members of Gaoxiling and the First Brigade of the Guerrilla Detachment, all of whom died heroically.
The Japanese army suffered a big loss this time. From the time they left Zhencheng to now, the total number of casualties has exceeded 700. The Japanese army became jealous and killed everyone they saw in Maiba Town, including the old, weak, women and children. The number of people who stayed here was slaughtered to more than 500.
Wei Dayong finally led the special forces and Yunnan Army troops to arrive. The old comrade was particularly friendly when they met, but Xu Dalong was not in the mood to greet him more at this time.
After they briefly chatted for a few words, Xu Dalong summoned Wei Dayong, Li Qiulin, the battalion commander Zhang Guangliang of the Yunnan Army's reinforcement battalion, and the three captains of the guerrilla detachment to hold a combat meeting.
Now Xu Dalong is fully aware of the situation on the battlefield, and everyone trusts Xu Dalong. Therefore, the meeting will no longer discuss the situation at hand, and Xu Dalong will arrange the next stage of combat tasks.
Xu Dalong believes that in order to fight the next battle successfully, the first thing to deal with is the enemy's air force. This time the Yunnan Army's reinforced battalion brought an anti-aircraft machine gun platoon with four American-made 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine guns.
Xu Dalong looked at the map and asked about the terrain in the surrounding area. Among the three captains of the guerrilla brigade, except Li Xinming, the other two are locals and are very familiar with the terrain in this area.
Through the bombing just now, Xu Dalong had already determined the direction in which the enemy plane was flying. According to the information provided by the two captains, the Japanese plane was going to Maiba Town and had to pass through a mountain peak with an altitude of more than 1,200 meters.
Xu Dalong decided to use the anti-aircraft machine gun platoon to fight the enemy's ambush there. He immediately decided to send a small team from the Second Battalion of the Guerrilla Detachment to escort the Yunnan Army's anti-aircraft machine gun platoon to the mountain to build an anti-aircraft machine gun position to fight the ambush of Japanese bombers. .
Regarding the main force of the Japanese army in Maiba Town, Xu Dalong believed that even with Wei Dayong leading a special operations squadron and the reinforced battalion of the Yunnan Army, they still did not have an advantage in strength and firepower and were not enough to fight the Japanese army in a decisive battle. They still had to rely on Maiba. Fight guerrillas with the Japanese army in the mountainous forest areas around Ba Town.
Xu Dalong decided to form 12 sniper squads and five artillery squads from special operations teams to harass the Japanese troops non-stop. The main force of the guerrillas was lying in ambush in the surrounding mountains and forests looking for fighter planes.
After observation, Xu Dalong discovered that the Japanese army that came this time did not bring a lot of supplies. This was because the Japanese army originally thought that the battle against the guerrillas would be over soon, so they did not bring a large amount of supplies. Maiba Town had been bombed by planes, and it was impossible for the Japanese army to get much supplies inside. Therefore, the Japanese army could not stay in Maiba Town for a long time.
As long as the Japanese army leaves Maiba Town, the guerrillas can harass them along the way and continuously consume their strength. Therefore, Xu Dalong believes that the tactics he is currently deploying will be effective soon.
While Xu Dalong and others were discussing countermeasures, in Maiba Town, Watanabe, Takakura, and Tanaka were also discussing the next battle. Although the Japanese army was powerful, it was still very passive in the face of the guerrillas' flexible tactics. Watanabe and his captains now have no confidence in wiping out the guerrillas hiding in the mountains and forests, and even Takakura and Tanaka don't have much hope. But they were not willing to just give up.
Gao Cang suggested that the main force should be concentrated, rush out of Maiba Town, pursue the guerrillas all the way, try to eliminate some of them, and kill them as a warning to others, so that the guerrillas would not dare to divide their forces to harass the Japanese army.
Gao Cang's suggestion was immediately opposed by the three captains. They have already adopted this tactic, and it cannot deal with those guerrillas at all. The guerrillas adopted the tactic of alternating cover and used familiar terrain to escape the Japanese pursuit in a short time. Not only that, they could also ambush the Japanese. The three captains have already suffered losses, and they don't want to do it again.
At this moment, there was a sudden explosion in the town. The wing team hurriedly went out to check, and soon came back to report that many enemy sniper teams had been added outside the town, and there were also artillery teams. The mortars used were not Japanese-style, and there were many artillery pieces.
Watanabe frowned upon hearing this. The sudden addition of so many snipers meant that reinforcements were coming from the guerrillas. The mortars used were not Japanese-style, which also means that they were not captured by the guerrillas, but were most likely from the regular army.
Watanabe has long known that the enemy has reinforcements. Judging from the current situation, the enemy's reinforcements may be large. Together with the original guerrillas, they have already posed a huge threat to the survival of the 19th Regiment. Watanabe felt that this battle could not continue. For the safety of the 19th Regiment, he decided to lead his troops back to Zhencheng and deal with the guerrillas. Look for opportunities later.
Takakura and Tanaka had high hopes for the 19th Regiment to come to eliminate the guerrillas this time. Unexpectedly, Watanabe wanted to end in such an anticlimactic manner.
This makes them very depressed. They did not agree that the 19th Wing would withdraw like this, but they were not the ones who had the final say here. Gao Cang winked at Tanaka, and Tanaka understood, pretending that it was convenient for him to go, and left the temporary meeting room.
Tanaka went outside to find his men and sent a telegram to Yamashita Fengwen, asking him to give orders to Watanabe to continue besieging the guerrillas.
In the conference room, I saw that Watanabe had given orders for the three captains to prepare for retreat. Takakura was worried that Tanaka would not have time to ask Yamashita Tomofumi for instructions. In order to buy time, he suggested that Watanabe send a telegram to the commander of the Kawamoto Division to request tactical guidance.
Watanabe knew very well that Kawamoto was far away in Kuala Lumpur and did not understand the situation here. It was very likely that an infantry regiment of the dignified Fifth Division would be a piece of cake to deal with a guerrilla, so he asked Watanabe to continue to stay. He came down to complete the task of annihilating the guerrillas, and it would be very troublesome for him to explain, so he decided to kill first and explain later.
Watanabe planned to return to Zhencheng first. He pretended to agree with Takakura's opinion, but did not ask the commander of the Kawamoto Division for instructions. Instead, he sent someone to urge the three captains to seize the time to prepare for evacuation. (End of chapter)
