Direction to Zhangjiazhuang.
The Ishii Regiment is suffering the same fate as the 4th Independent Mixed Brigade.
Initially, Ishii Haraichi also placed his hope on Nishimura's independent fourth mixed brigade, hoping that troops from the Nishimura direction could provide reinforcements.
It turned out that even Nishimura's Fourth Brigade was besieged by independent regiment troops relying on various nodes. Ishii Haraichi was completely confused.
What does this mean?
This is enough to show that not long ago, his Ishii unit dealt with the independent regiment and returned with disastrous defeats in Xicun and Zhangjiazhuang.
They didn't even enter the village entrance.
As a result, let alone the independence group was severely injured. .
Judging from the strength and combat effectiveness displayed by the Independent Regiment at this moment, the Independent Regiment probably only suffered a superficial loss in the last battle with the Ishii Regiment.
This time, the Ishii Regiment, together with the Fourth Independent Mixed Brigade, barely managed to invade Xicun and Zhangjiazhuang.
The subsequent powerful defensive measures launched by the independent regiment in Xicun and Zhangjiazhuang deeply shocked Ishii Haraichi.
This is no ordinary village, more like a slaughterhouse full of traps.
Ishii Haraichi thought about this. Not long ago, when he led the regiment to fight in Xicun and Zhangjiazhuang, what would it be like if the independent regiment put the battle in the village.
Just chilling.
At this moment, Ishii Haraichi no longer expected to destroy any independent regiments. He only hoped to stay in the danger and wait for reinforcements to arrive, so as to successfully break out.
…
A large stronghold in the rear of the Japanese army.
Yamaguchi temporarily stationed his artillery troops in the stronghold.
This artillery unit consists of an artillery squadron from the 4th Mixed Brigade and the remaining artillery units of the Ishii Regiment.
There are six 75mm mountain guns, eight 37mm rapid-fire guns, and twelve Type 92 infantry guns.
Yamaguchi placed his artillery unit in this large stronghold because in operations in mountainous areas, the transfer of artillery would be inconvenient and would slow down the mobility of the entire unit. In addition, the existence of these artillery units would become the focus of the Eighth Route Army's sneak attacks, which would soon It is difficult to ensure safety.
Therefore, Yamaguchi placed the artillery in the rear and defended it with a large stronghold, which not only ensured safety, but also provided reinforcements from the rear artillery at any time once the frontline combat troops encountered the Eighth Route Army troops.
There are convenient road transportation channels from the big stronghold to Xicun and Zhangjiazhuang.
Transport trucks carry these artillery pieces and can quickly reach the bombardment position.
In this way, Yamaguchi believed that his troops relied on artillery to advance, attack, retreat and defend.
But what Yamaguchi never expected was that the Eighth Route Army did not respect military ethics and did not fight from the front. Instead, it went directly behind and blocked the retreat node of his fourth brigade.
At this time, Yamaguchi's artillery unit was directly isolated from the outside of the independent regiment's encirclement.
Shankou Shubian is in urgent need of artillery to destroy the concrete fortifications built by the independent regiment. On the other hand, they are worried that their artillery unit will be ambushed by the Eighth Route Army troops on their way out from the stronghold.
After all, the information that the main force of the independent regiment had already broken through the encirclement and was conducting roundabout operations in the rear areas had already been transmitted to various Japanese army headquarters.
In the communication, Yamaguchi repeatedly warned: "We must beware of ambushes by the Eighth Route Army along the way, and we must not let the artillery fall into the hands of the Eighth Route Army."
…
…
3pm.
A Japanese unit left the stronghold, followed by five trucks.
After a short journey, the originally empty road gradually narrowed on both sides, and a road passing between two mountains could be seen in the distance.
If this had been before the big sweep, the Japanese would have driven directly through the bypass without hesitation.
Because there are strongholds located every less than one kilometer along the highway. When the Japanese and puppet troops block the road, they will ensure that there is no Eighth Route Army presence in the surrounding area to ensure the safety of highway transportation.
But all of this, only five days after the start of this major sweep against the Eighth Route Army in the Taihang area, was completely destroyed.
The Japanese army formed an independent fourth brigade, and together with the Shijing regiment, they advanced directly towards Xicun and Zhangjiazhuang. Unexpectedly, Kong Jie arranged for the main force of three battalions to lurk in the mountainous area in advance, and directly detoured back to the Japanese army's main camp. rear.
While the Japanese army was fighting Zhangjiazhuang and the Independent Regiment in Xicun, the Independent Regiment detoured back to the troops in the rear area. On the one hand, they raided Yangquan and other counties, villages and towns in the rear area. On the other hand, they combined with local troops to continuously remove the Japanese troops in the rear area. various strongholds.
Many small and medium-sized strongholds throughout West Village and the surrounding areas of Zhangjiazhuang have been uprooted.
Especially in the past two days, Huang Baiyang has led the sniper platoon in this area to continuously attack the Japanese and puppet troops who dare to leave their strongholds.
Those small and medium-sized Japanese military strongholds that were not strong to begin with, the Japanese and puppet troops hiding in the strongholds were always in fear.
He didn't dare to step out of the stronghold easily for fear of being shot by the Eighth Route Army sharpshooters who might be lurking outside at any time.
As a result, the relatively stable rear strongholds in the West Village and Zhangjiazhuang areas are some large strongholds.
The Japanese who were leaving this large stronghold were actually wary of being ambushed by the Eighth Route Army along the way.
"Command the troops to suspend the march."
The marching team was still five or six hundred meters away from the road, and Japanese squadron leader Mitsui Bunio gave the order.
The adjutant said: "Your Excellency, the squadron commander, your Excellency the brigade commander is in urgent need of artillery support. Are we?"
Mitsui Benio looked at the steep and dangerous road in the distance, frowned and said: "If the Eighth Route Army is ambushing along the way, this is an excellent place. It's not too late to explore clearly before moving forward. If you go forward, you will be in the Eighth Route Army." The range of artillery fire that may be lurking at any time.”
"Hi!" the adjutant responded, but hesitated a little. He turned to look at the five trucks behind him, and lowered his voice slightly and said: "Sir, squadron leader, we know what is in the trucks. Our role in front of us is exactly Does it require such careful investigation to lure out the ambush that the Eighth Route Army may have set along the way?"
Mitsui Benio said: "Just imagine, if we were carrying artillery on the bottom of the truck and we didn't investigate carefully along the way, wouldn't it arouse the suspicion of the Eighth Route Army secretly?"
"Besides, even if it's just a test, if we can take the initiative to find the Eighth Route Army, wouldn't we be able to avoid some casualties?"
The adjutant responded quickly: "Hi!"
After making up his mind, Mitsui Yubu sent two more teams to search the left and right sides of the road to ensure safety before marching.
At this time, there was indeed a team lurking in the mountains on both sides of the road. However, this team was very small. There were only one class of soldiers from the independent regiment's guard company, plus more than 20 soldiers from the district team, a total of three More than ten people.
The Japanese appeared a few hundred meters away along the road, and the scouts and soldiers lurking in the mountains sensed the arrival of the Japanese army.
"Platoon leader, the Japs are coming!" The scout soldiers who rushed back reported to Sun Qingshan, commander of the third platoon of the guard company.
Sun Qingshan nodded and shouted: "Comrades, prepare to fight."
Not long after, the Japanese marching troops approached the road and slowly stopped.
"Hey, platoon leader, why did this little devil stop?"
Sun Qingshan looked through the telescope for a moment and saw the Japs at the foot of the mountain. After stopping his troops, he sent out reconnaissance troops to explore the mountains on both sides and said:
"The leader is indeed right. The location of this intersection is too obvious. The Japs will definitely be wary of an ambush here. At present, the Japs are probably afraid of being ambushed, so they sent a team up the mountain to investigate in advance."
Zhao Ming, captain of the district guerrilla team, asked: "Platoon Leader Sun, how are we going to fight now?"
Sun Qingshan thought for a while and said: "The leader guessed that the little devil would not be fooled here. This time we are just playing a role of harassment. By the way, we can find out the true nature of this devil. The leader of the ambush is behind him!"
"In this case, there are few of us, so it is impossible to eat this devil."
"Did you see the Japanese reconnaissance troops coming up from the left and right? There are only about twenty people in total. Let's eat up this Japanese reconnaissance troop and then retreat immediately."
"good!"
...Not long after, the battle started.
The Japanese reconnaissance force was only some light infantry, and Sun Qingshan and his party were ambushed during the march.
How could the twenty or so Japs be enough for Sun Qingshan and his party to fight?
After the two Japs led by them tripped the booby traps laid by Sun Qingshan and his party, the battle started immediately and ended in less than a minute.
Mitsui Benio, who was at the foot of the mountain, didn't even come back to his senses. He only heard a burst of gunshots in the forest and then calmed down quickly.
The face of the Japanese adjutant changed, "Your Excellency, squadron leader, there is indeed an ambush of the Eighth Route Army here. The reconnaissance team is probably in danger."
Mitsui Benio frowned and said:
"The situation is not right. It seems that the Eighth Route Army did not set up a main ambush on both sides of the road, otherwise it would not be easily exposed."
"Then where did these Tuba Road put their main ambush points?"
"Our first task is to detect the ambush set by the Eighth Route Army on the way out and ensure the safety of the advance route. We can no longer control so much. We immediately lead the troops to advance to the mountains and forests on both sides under the cover of artillery fire, occupy the commanding heights, and eliminate this Eighth Route Army. "
"Hi!"
Under the command of Mitsui Bubuo, the Japanese quickly launched an attack on the mountains and forests on both sides of the road. As usual, they used the same old method. After bombarding with grenade launchers, the infantry quickly advanced.
Naturally, the attack was in vain. Except for some unlucky Japanese who accidentally tripped some booby traps left behind by the evacuation of Sun Qingshan and his party, the little Japanese did not see any enemy.
After successfully killing the Japs' more than 20 scouts, Sun Qingshan had already evacuated with his team.
In the mountain forest on the right side of the road, only a veteran named Jiang Huaimin from the security company was left to continue the investigation. Jiang Huaimin lurked extremely secretly, and his excellent disguise made him almost blend in with the surrounding environment. He was at the top of the mountain. Somewhere in the corner, lurking quietly.
The Japanese troops quickly occupied the commanding heights on both sides of the road.
The Japanese squadron leader Mitsui Nobuo, who confirmed that the sneak attack on Tubal Road had retreated, cursed a few words, left a squad of Japanese soldiers to continue to guard the high ground on both sides of the road, and continued to advance with the rest of the troops.
Jiang Huaimin was a little suspicious about this. This little devil had already occupied the high ground on both sides of the road. Five trucks followed the troops and successfully crossed the road. Why were the troops left behind to keep watch?
With doubts, Jiang Huaimin continued to lurk, watching every move of the Japanese in the area along the corridor.
After nearly twenty minutes, a new change finally occurred. The roar of a truck engine came from the distance, attracting Jiang Huaimin's attention.
Jiang Huaimin secretly raised his telescope to observe. Another group of Japanese soldiers appeared from the distant horizon and rushed towards the road, followed by truck troops.
There were seven or eight trucks coming this time. Jiang Huaimin observed some details through the telescope. The wheels of those trucks seemed to be much more dented than the previous five trucks.
It's obvious that there's definitely something heavy in the bed of these trucks.
After contacting each other, veteran Jiang Huaimin thought of a terrible possibility:
Could it be that the first five trucks were not equipped with artillery at all and were used as bait by the Japanese for probing?
"No, this stupid little devil is really cunning. He probably divided the artillery transport unit into two parts. The front part is the decoy for testing, and the rear part is the truck pulling the artillery."
"Once the company commander and others were fooled, the ambush's firepower was exposed in advance, and the enemy's bait was also used. The artillery in the rear was not damaged at all. Once they catch up again, they can bombard the ambush troops."
"No, I have to tell the company commander and others the news immediately."
Thinking of this, Jiang Huaimin did not dare to hesitate and retreated quietly. Using the cover of the woods, he quickly rushed towards the final ambush site of Wei Dayong and his party.
…
...The security company led by the monk, as well as local comrades, were finally prepared to defeat the Japanese artillery unit's ambush in one fell swoop. The ambush location was on a mountain road that stretched for several kilometers.
This long mountain road has hillsides on both sides.
Unlike the previous corridor, which stood alone, it looked like an ambush at first glance.
This mountain road stretches for several kilometers. Even if the Japs guessed that there would be an Eighth Route Army ambush along the way, they would never be able to predict exactly where it would be.
As for the ambush of the Japanese artillery unit, the monk's arrangement was clear and clear.
Sun Qingshan and his party, which were previously arranged on both sides of the road, were just the initial test to detect the true and false status of the Japanese.
Sun Qingshan, who led the team back, reported the situation to Monk Wei: "Company Commander, the Japs from the big stronghold have been dispatched. Five trucks are following, and there are about a squadron of troops escorting along the way. The Japs are very vigilant on the road. When passing by the road, We also sent troops up the mountain to conduct reconnaissance in advance, and we withdrew after defeating the Japanese reconnaissance team."
"In addition, I asked Jiang Huaimin to continue to stay near the tunnel to investigate and be on guard against what the Japanese might do next."
The monk nodded, gathered several platoon leaders and several team captains from local comrades, and drew a sketch on the spot:
"Look, everyone, we have set up three ambush points this time."
"Here, one kilometer away from the entrance of the mountain road, is our rolling thunder team. This rolling thunder is a good thing. It is the latest new weapon developed by the armory."
"The spherical rolling thunder contains a considerable amount of gunpowder. Light the fuse, calculate the distance, and roll down the hillside. When it almost reaches the mountain road area, it will explode completely."
"There are sparse trees at this node, and some obstacles such as branches along the way have been cleared by us in advance. Rolling thunder can easily roll onto the mountain road."
"After all fifty rolling thunders have been used, you are not allowed to fight with the Japanese, and you must immediately retreat to the next ambush location."
"About one kilometer further, here we have planted remotely detonated explosive bags on the road in advance. After the Japanese truck team comes over, we will see the opportunity and blow up the first and last Japanese truck first."
"Then the ambush deployment was fully launched, with close-range grenade throwing and medium-range rifle grenades to supplement the firepower. The enemy's important firepower points were destroyed first, followed by the 50 small artillery, in conjunction with the fire blockade of light and heavy machine guns."
"Be sure to wipe out all the Japanese troops under the mountain road."
"After this second ambush operation is over, if the Japanese can still break out and continue to advance towards the West Village, our third preparation location will be a minefield close to the West Village, where we will finally stop the Japanese army."
"When we set out, I promised the regimental commander that I would never let half of the Japanese artillery reach the West Village and Zhangjiazhuang areas. Comrades, this battle depends on you."
"Yes -" the cadres responded in unison.
The monk raised his hand and looked at his watch. It was almost half past four.
The scout came to report: "Report to the company commander that the Japanese army is less than two kilometers away from our first ambush location."
The monk said: "I know, let's continue investigating."
"yes!"
"Signal Corps, notify the Rolling Thunder team to prepare for battle."
"yes!"
The monk's location at the moment was the second ambush site, where the remotely detonated explosive package was buried. This was the main ambush site for this ambush of the Japanese artillery unit.
The main force of the guard company, as well as the local comrades who cooperated with this ambush, were all ambushed here...
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