At this moment, the combat staff came in and reported that a large group of guerrillas had been found in the northeast, with a large number of hundreds of people.
Watanabe and others left the conference room, went to the edge of the town, climbed onto a roof, and observed with a telescope.
Some people saw a large group of enemy troops appearing on the edge of the jungle in the northeast. These enemy troops were very courageous. At this time, they had broken away from the jungle and were heading towards Maiba Town.
Watanabe and others noticed that among these enemy troops, there were guerrillas wearing various clothes, as well as the Chinese Eighth Route Army and the Fruit Army. These Eighth Route Army and Fruit Army should be the reinforcements that Xu Dalong just arrived.
Regular troops suddenly appeared here. At first, Takakura, Watanabe, and Tanaka felt a little confused and didn't understand what was going on.
Gao Cang had been dealing with Xu Dalong for a long time, and his research on him became more in-depth. Soon Gao Cang understood. He knew Xu Dalong's influence in China. Those Eighth Route Army troops should be Xu Dalong's men, and those Guo Army troops were helpers invited by Xu Dalong using his personal influence.
Regular troops suddenly appeared here. Although the number of enemy troops was much larger than before and their strength was much stronger, Watanabe was at a loss. Even though he didn't have any good methods against the guerrillas, he was not afraid at all when facing the enemy's regular army. Watanabe suddenly became excited when he saw that the enemy troops had left the mountainous forest area and were about to fight in the field with his own troops.
He immediately ordered all ministries to stop preparations for evacuation and quickly assemble to fight the enemy forces outside the town.
In order to quickly defeat the enemy, Gao Cang believed that air superiority should be used. He asked Major Hechi to contact the Air Force again to dispatch bombers to cooperate with the 19th Wing.
Of course Watanabe welcomed the dispatch of the air force to cooperate with the operation, so he also urged Hechi to contact his superiors quickly.
Tian is very conceited. He didn't know why, but he always felt that things were a little weird. The guerrillas had the upper hand in using the jungle to fight guerrilla warfare. I don't understand why they suddenly gave up their advantage and chose to go to the open fields to fight the main force of the Japanese army.
Especially since the Japanese army had just dispatched bombers and caused huge damage to the guerrillas, but these guerrillas did not know whether to live or die and were exposed in the open area to fight the Japanese army. He wondered whether the enemy commander was really stupid. . If this is the case, it would be even more strange. Unless Xu Dalong had just been kicked in the head by a donkey, he would make such a stupid move.
Tanaka really wanted to ask a question, but he couldn't figure it out. Seeing that others didn't take it seriously, he felt it was a bit embarrassing to say it, so he suppressed the impulse and didn't say anything.
The reason why Xu Dalong used such a trick was indeed to set a trap for the Japanese army. But what he has to deal with is not the Japanese army in the town, but the Japanese bombers. He hoped to be able to fight the main force of the Japanese army without being interfered by the Japanese air force, so he would first severely damage the Japanese air force.
The northeast direction is the direction of Kuala Lumpur, and Japanese bombers flew from there, so Xu Dalong led his team to appear in the northeast direction, attracting Japanese bombers to bomb.
Watanabe gathered the troops in the town, and when Major Hechi told him that the bombers at Kuala Lumpur Airport had taken off, he led the team out of the town. He was also setting a trap for Xu Dalong, hoping to attract Xu Dalong's main force to fight against him, and then use bombers to inflict heavy damage on him.
With this purpose in mind, the Japanese troops left the town relatively slowly, actually buying time for the bombers.
Both sides have their own agendas, and it all depends on who has the upper hand.
Japanese bombers were flying in the air, and a mountain peak appeared in front of them. They had already passed this peak one round trip last time, so they turned a blind eye to it and prepared to fly over it unprepared.
Facing the high-altitude bombers, the original range of the anti-aircraft machine guns was insufficient, but the mountain itself was more than 1,700 meters above sea level. This height allowed the anti-aircraft machine guns to effectively attack the bombers.
The platoon leader of the anti-aircraft machine gun platoon held a telescope and kept monitoring the sky in the northeast. When he saw the enemy bombers, he ordered four anti-aircraft machine guns, and every two anti-aircraft machine guns formed a group to lock on the two flying in front. A Japanese bomber.
When Japanese bombers flew over unprepared, anti-aircraft machine guns suddenly opened fire. At this time, the distance between the two sides was only more than 1,200 meters. A large number of bullets were flying in. The bomber's fuselage soon had many bullet holes. The cockpit of a bomber was hit, the pilot was killed, and the plane lost control. Fell down.
Another bomber's fuel tank was hit, black smoke billowed out, and it staggered to the ground. When the other bombers saw this scene, they were all frightened, immediately pulled up, turned, and fled desperately.
Four anti-aircraft machine guns chased the escaping bomber and opened fire fiercely. Another bomber was hit in the tail and emitted black smoke. Soon after, it also lost control and crashed into a hillside, igniting a raging fire.
Those bomber crew members who were lucky enough to survive originally thought that it would be very easy to bully a guerrilla force, and they went with the attitude of touring the mountains and rivers, but they did not expect that the enemy had such powerful anti-aircraft firepower.
Seeing that their companions were smashed to pieces and lost their lives, they no longer wanted to fight and did not dare to go to Maiba Town, fearing that there were anti-aircraft weapons there.
They dropped the aerial bombs randomly and returned directly.
Watanabe and others had been waiting for the bombers to appear quickly, but they did not expect that bad news suddenly came: the Air Force lost three bombers at once.
This blow was very heavy. No matter how much Watanabe, Takakura, and Tanaka tried to persuade him, Hechi was unwilling to ask his superiors to send bombers even to death.
Watanabe was very angry and vented his anger on the Eighth Route Army and Yunnan Army troops who were facing them. He raised his command knife, howled viciously, and ordered the troops to attack.
Xu Dalong has received good news that the Japanese air force has been severely damaged. He was very happy and immediately ordered the artillery to fire on the Japanese army, and then ordered the troops to retreat to the mountainous forest area.
Since leaving Zhencheng, the Japanese army has experienced very frustrating battles. The officers and soldiers were filled with rage. When they saw the guerrillas retreating, they were unwilling to let go. Without waiting for the commanders to urge them, they started chasing after them with all their strength, screaming. come over.
Xu Dalong has always been very methodical in doing things. At the edge of the jungle, he had already left many guerrillas, allowing them to use the defensive positions built in advance to prepare to attack the enemy.
Seeing the troops of the Eighth Route Army and the Yunnan Army retreating, the people who set up the ambush let them go and opened fire violently at the rushing Japanese troops, causing dozens of casualties on the spot.
The officers and soldiers of the Eighth Route Army and the Yunnan Army who retreated into the mountains and forests also turned around, entered their positions, and opened fire violently at the pursuing Japanese troops, quickly causing casualties to dozens of Japanese officers and soldiers.
Nowadays, the guerrillas have a great advantage on the terrain by virtue of their pre-set defensive positions and their people hiding in the jungle. The Japanese officers and soldiers were exposed in the bare fields and all became living targets. The casualties caused by the fighting on both sides were simply disproportionate.
Although the Japanese officers and soldiers were very brave, they were not fools. They knew that if they continued like this, they would definitely suffer. So he withdrew in a noisy manner.
Special operators, guerrillas, and officers and soldiers of the Yunnan Army chased the retreating Japanese troops with bullets. The sniper team and artillery team of the special forces did not let them go. They kept firing and artillery, causing the Japanese army to leave many corpses.
Watanabe, who had been observing the situation on the battlefield, felt so distressed that his teeth ached when he saw this scene.
After the troops withdrew, Watanabe counted the number of people and found that a total of 103 people were lost in this attack.
Coupled with previous losses, the casualties of the 19th Regiment were close to that of an infantry brigade, almost one-third of the entire regiment.
Facing the guerrillas, Watanabe felt powerless. He no longer has the intention to destroy them, he just wants to lead his troops and run back to Zhencheng.
Gao Cang and Tanaka also turned pale and didn't know whether to laugh or cry. They also began to retreat in their hearts, unwilling to continue to entangle with these hateful guerrillas, so they did not object to Watanabe's order to retreat.
Xu Dalong saw that the Japanese army retreated and showed no signs of attacking again. What the Japanese army will do next, although he can't tell yet, the Japanese army will retreat soon.
However, at this time, Xu Dalong already had plans to keep all the Japanese 19th Regiment. He called Cao Zhanxiong and Li Qiulin, the third captains of the guerrilla detachment, and asked them to set off immediately with their own troops to cut off the Japanese army's retreat to Zhencheng.
The two took the order and immediately set off with their troops.
After half an hour, Xu Dalong saw that the Japanese troops in the town were still silent, so he asked Wei Dayong to send a special operations unit with six mortars to approach Maiba Town. Decided to test it out again, so he bombarded the Japs in the town.
Shortly after the special operations team members set off, before they approached the town of Maiba, a large number of Japanese troops suddenly rushed out of the town. They did not attack the guerrillas, but ran directly towards Zhencheng.
Seeing the enemy retreating, the guerrillas and the officers and soldiers of the Yunnan Army cheered. The two brigade captains of the guerrillas and Zhang Guangliang, the battalion commander of the Yunnan Army's reinforcement battalion, both requested to pursue the Japanese army immediately.
Wei Dayong didn't say anything. At this time, like Xu Dalong, he was looking in the direction of Maiba Town.
Everyone knows that Xu Dalong is bold and careful, but what they don't know is that Xu Dalong's boldness is not reckless, but based on carefulness. Seeing the Japanese retreating, Xu Dalong did not immediately get excited and ordered his troops to pursue them. He also needs to be wary of the Japanese army's tricks.
Seeing the Japanese army leaving the town and retreating towards Zhencheng, Xu Dalong couldn't help but sneered and cursed: "The little devil is really cunning. He also wants to play a trick."
Zhang Guangliang and the two captains of the guerrilla brigade looked at Xu Dalong, wondering what he meant.
Just as Xu Dalong was about to explain, he saw a smile on Wei Dayong's face. He nodded towards Wei Dayong and said, "It's up to you to speak."
Wei Dayong said: "Have you noticed? The number of Japanese soldiers who escaped plus their lost troops is not consistent with the total number of Japanese soldiers. This shows that the Japanese soldiers who came out of Maiba Town are not all of them, there are still some people Ambush in the town. If we pursue blindly, the Japanese troops ambushing in the town will suddenly rush out, leaving us vulnerable from both sides."
After listening to this, everyone suddenly realized. The captain of a guerrilla brigade stuck out his tongue with some fear and said: "Mr. Xu and Captain Wei must have thought carefully, otherwise, they would really have been fooled by the little Japs."
Things have become clear. Xu Dalong ordered various sniper squads to chase and harass the Japanese marching group. He led the special forces, the Yunnan Army and the main force of the guerrillas to approach Maiba Town, creating a situation of surrounding the Japanese troops remaining in the town.
Watanabe and others set up this trap. As they walked, they looked back and saw that the main force of the guerrillas did not catch up, but went to besiege Maiba Town. They immediately understood that the enemy had not been fooled, but had used the trick to attack. Eat the troops they left behind.
Watanabe and others had no choice but to return with a large group of troops to meet the Japanese troops who stayed here to strengthen the infantry squadron.
Xu Dalong held the main force in his hands, and then sent out multiple small units to harass the Japanese army using sparrow warfare tactics, constantly consuming their effective strength.
At this time, Watanabe and others no longer cared about any tricks. After picking up the reinforced infantry squadron in Maiba Town, they hurriedly retreated towards Zhencheng.
Xu Dalong led his troops to keep a certain distance from them and followed them all the time. Those small troops kept attacking the Japanese marching brigade, making the Japanese officers and soldiers very embarrassed.
Now they have no intention of fighting, they just want to run back to Zhencheng. At first, they retreated quickly, but the team suddenly stopped. The vanguard troops of the Japanese army had already seen that a large number of stones and wood had been piled up on the road, blocking the way, and in the distance someone could be seen digging trenches on the road.
It turned out that after Li Qiulin and others arrived, they hoped to dig out the road. He was worried that he would not have enough time, so he first asked people to pile wood and rocks on the road to buy time for the team members to dig out the road.
There are rocks and wood on the road, making it impossible for cars to drive through. The Japanese army had to stop. Some Japanese officers and soldiers went to move obstacles on the road, but were knocked down by guerrilla snipers who were ambushing nearby. None of them dared to step forward anymore.
At the front of the team was a Japanese captain. He saw a group of people digging trenches on the road in the distance. He knew very well that it was easier to move the stones and wood in front of him. If someone dug a trench, it would not be that simple to fill it up. He could not let the enemy do what they wanted. (End of chapter)
