After observing the parachute training of the First Marine Regiment, the brigade commander, division commander, deputy general staff officer and deputy commander-in-chief returned to the headquarters directly by car.
Since Tada Shun and Shinozuka Yoshio both stepped down, the North China Front Army and the First Army, which had changed commanders, have become very evil, and the Japs in the entire Jin Province seem to have changed a group of people.
The enemy forcibly recruited ordinary people during the day and built gun towers and bunkers wantonly. At night, they were strictly guarded, and all troops huddled within the fortifications.
Although it is still the same old method, the cage policy is still implemented. But under the command of Yoshio Iwamatsu, the First Army suddenly became more stable.
The four of them had just returned to the headquarters when they happened to meet a correspondent from the brigade headquarters. After seeing the bosses, the comrade immediately dismounted and saluted and said:
"Hello, Chief! Brigadier, Comrade Chen Tao has sent back information. And he is using the expedited route this time. Something big must have happened on the Japanese side."
Since the war broke out in full force, the brigade commander has had little direct involvement in agents and intelligence work.
But as a once-all-powerful spy chief, he still promoted some outstanding talents.
The just-mentioned Chen Tao is one of them. This comrade has become the commander of a puppet army and can even enter and leave the staff of the Japanese division at will.
With this relationship, the Taiyue Military Region sent many intelligence personnel to enemy-occupied areas.
From then on, a large amount of intelligence on the Japanese and puppet troops was continuously sent to the 386th Brigade through this line, reducing losses in the southeastern Shanxi base area.
After hearing the word "Chen Tao", the brigade commander put away his smile and took the top-secret information and began to read it carefully. Half a minute later, he looked strange and looked like he was suppressing a smile.
"Good news, Yoshio Iwamatsu's talks with the existentialist master broke down, and the two sides almost had a fight at the wine table."
"Sure enough, where there is Wolong, there will be Fengxiao. This new commander and chief of staff of the First Army is really a talented person."
As soon as he finished speaking, the division commander, deputy general staff officer, and deputy commander-in-chief immediately gathered around. The three of them began to circulate the information, and they were amazed by the whole process.
Since 1937, the Japanese have been trying to lure Egg Dancer to surrender. This task is also the mission of all the commanders of the First Army.
Compared to Yoshio Shinozuka, Neji Okamura placed greater hopes on Yoshio Iwamatsu.
This is mainly because the other party is a "China hand". In his early years, he followed the second-generation intelligence chief of Xiaoli and worked in Beijing for a period of time in intelligence work on China.
As soon as this old devil arrived in Taiyuan, he wrote an invitation letter to the egg dancer.
The words in the letter were extremely flattering and recalled the past of the two, hoping to pave the way for future attempts to surrender.
However, the Chief of Staff of the First Army did not think so. As a well-known brave and foolhardy person within the Japanese army, he perfectly displayed his characteristic of succeeding more than failing.
During the meeting, Major General Hanatani Masaru was domineering and did not take the egg dancer seriously at all.
What was supposed to be a peace negotiation with equal status turned out to lack even the most basic respect. The angry Egg Dancer completely determined his new strategic direction, causing the attempt to induce surrender to fail.
"Yan Laoxi was angered by the pretentiousness of the First Army."
After reading the entire intelligence, the deputy general staff breathed a sigh of relief.
"The good news in February is really coming one after another. First, things in the south were turned out of danger, and then the Japanese lost another admiral."
"Now even the last hidden danger in Jin Province has been completely eliminated, and the situation is great!"
As soon as these words came out, everyone nodded. The deputy commander-in-chief even came to the combat map. He stared at the map of the situation between ourselves and the enemy and expressed his views.
"I think the troops have almost rested. We should take advantage of the current energy to make some achievements to pave the way for the next stage of the big battle."
"The Japanese First Army is building roads, adding artillery towers, and even keeps sending spies to infiltrate the base areas. Our Eighth Route Army cannot do nothing, otherwise we will definitely have to carry out counter-mopping operations again in the spring."
"The new equipment has not been used in actual combat after it was obtained. It is time to launch a small-scale attack."
The views of the deputy commander-in-chief were recognized by everyone present, and the deputy general-staff officer on the side kept recording them with a pen, and then tore them off and handed them to the correspondent.
"Notify troops at all levels to mobilize before the war and select targets near the defense area to detect the enemy's situation. Two days later! Take action immediately!"
"good!"
In the early morning of February 20th, southeast Shanxi.
Kong Jie leaned against a big tree and carefully looked at the turrets in the distance with the telescope in his hand. Although Huang He returned to the border area long ago, he left behind enough support equipment.
For things like telescopes, the logistics department still has a lot of inventory, and each regiment can be assigned a batch.
"Captain, I sent people to keep an eye on this turret for several days. The number of enemies does not exceed thirty, and they have one heavy machine gun and three light machine guns with crooked handles."
"You see, should we use the old method to fight, or should we just use new weapons?"
The purpose of this headquarters is very simple. One is to familiarize the troops with new weapons as soon as possible, and the other is to clean up the Japanese defensive fortifications in Jin Province.
Although the army already has a group of Miss 75, it has even formed two new artillery regiments.
However, the transportation problem has not been solved for the time being. Once dispatched, the Japanese are likely to be targeted, chased and beaten by the Japanese. If it is not handled well, he will become the captain of the transport brigade, which means that the turret has not been cleaned up.
Now that we have new weapons, we can use them for actual combat training and deal with illegal buildings.
After all, whether it is a 40-fire or 50-mm mortar, it requires a lot of practice to ensure the hit rate.
After hearing the question from the first battalion commander, Kong Jie did not answer directly. He took out a cigarette and sniffed it to refresh himself, and then began to lay out his tactics for tonight.
"The phone cord hasn't been cut, right? We still need to rely on this tower to fish."
"I just took a look at the map. There are three Japanese squadrons closest to here. After the battle starts, reinforcements will arrive on the scene in more than half an hour."
"After the battle begins, the first battalion is responsible for feigning attacks and not attacking too hard. The second battalion is responsible for providing reinforcements and trying to end the battle in forty-five minutes. The third battalion serves as a reserve team to deal with emergencies."
After receiving the order, the battalion commander immediately began to perform the task. In just five minutes, dozens of soldiers hunkered down and approached the turret.
Six hundred meters away from the turret, a company commander signaled everyone to switch to a crawling state.
The Japs have cleared away every inch of grass within one kilometer of this place. If you use the searchlight on the roof of the building, you will probably be discovered by the enemy if you go straight in.
With the help of the moonlight, everyone can already see the whole picture of the turret.
It covers an area of more than one hundred square meters, with walls and barracks next to it. There are trenches two meters deep and three meters wide around the building complex, and barbed wire and mines are also deployed.
Coupled with the condescending site selection, it can be regarded as easy to defend but difficult to attack. This level of fortification is difficult for troops without direct fire weapons to deal with.
This is why the troops basically deal with the artillery towers at night. It is too disadvantageous for the attacker during the day.
While crawling forward, the company commander ordered the rocket launcher soldier beside him:
"After the battle begins, you two will find your own position. Then fire one shot to test the power. If it is too strong, stop first and wait for my order before firing again."
After approaching the position of 200 meters, the veterans began to slightly raise the rifles in their hands. They aimed their searchlights at the top of the building, ready to attack at any time.
"beat!"
After more than a dozen gunshots, the two searchlights shattered on the ground, and the surrounding area fell into brief darkness.
At this point in time in 1941, the Japanese's individual soldier capabilities had not declined. Hearing the sudden gunshots, they acted quickly and rushed towards their fighting posts.
In less than ten seconds, a flare was launched into the air, and the battle between the two sides became intense from the very beginning.
Bullets were fired from various firing ports in the turret, and the tongues of fire were extremely conspicuous in the dark night. Xiaori tried to use the raging barrage to suppress the invading enemies and buy more time for his companions.
Under the cover of their comrades, two soldiers with 40mm fire and ammunition handlers approached the 150-meter position from different angles.
This distance is stuck at the limit of the effective range of the rocket launcher. Fortunately, the target of the turret is large. As long as you are not particularly unlucky, you have a high chance of hitting it.
The four soldiers had a clear division of labor and started preparations according to their daily training.
As soon as the gunner raised the folding mechanical sight, the ammunition hand took out the shell and loaded it from the front. Then he crouched and moved to a safe position to prevent accidental injury.
After the soldiers turned on the trigger safety, they immediately adjusted their posture, completed aiming, and pulled the trigger directly.
As flames appeared from the tail of the rocket launcher, two rockets were fired at the turret from different positions.
Boom ×2!
An armor-piercing round directly hit the turret in the distance. This unexpected attack directly cut off the Japanese's fire network.
Most of the defensive fortifications that were originally time-consuming and laborious to solve were easily destroyed by 40 fire. This was because the angle of the hit was not very good.
Another hit the wall, and that area was now filled with smoke.
Although the soldiers had imagined the power of the rocket launcher countless times, the extremely impactful scene still left them stunned for two seconds.
After regaining consciousness, the two gunners immediately moved. According to the arrangements before the war. They have to find a suitable shooting position again and wait for the order from their company commander.
In the ruins, the dying Japanese team leader crawled to the phone. Na Qiangti picked up the phone in one breath and informed the nearby county garrison of the attack on the gun tower.
"She was shelled, we were shelled."
"The enemy's attack was too violent. The astonishing power was at least a 105-caliber howitzer. But their troops were not many, only three hundred at most."
News of the request for help soon spread to nearby counties. Unknown enemies carrying heavy artillery appeared. Japanese Major Yamane Jiro immediately ordered an attack.
"The cavalry squadron will set off first. Your mission is not to fight the enemy. You only need to conduct reconnaissance along the way to ensure that the subsequent large units are not ambushed."
"The mobile squadron and infantry squadron followed closely and headed straight for the reinforcement target!"
After issuing the order, Yamane Jiro hesitated for a moment and reported the news to the Taiyuan direction.
Although the squad leader who asked for help said that the enemy only had 300 people, he did not believe that a 105-caliber heavy artillery could be owned by a battalion-level unit.
A squadron of cavalry set off from the county seat, and the sound of horse hooves startled the sleeping people.
After the Hundred Regiment Battle, all the Japanese became extremely cautious. They knew that their enemies were no longer the Kuhaha they used to be, and were evenly matched opponents.
Under the leadership of his captain, Xiaori started to disperse from the main road, and carefully scouted all the areas suitable for ambush along the way.
In order to ensure the safety of the large troops, even terrain such as woods that is not suitable for cavalry was entered.
They are afraid that a group of enemies will rush out from any corner. No one wants to fight the enemies in disadvantageous terrain. It is no different from committing suicide.
Yamane Jiro, who was waiting in the county town, breathed a sigh of relief after receiving the news that there was no ambush on the road. He immediately got into a truck and led his two squadrons towards the position of the gun tower.
At this slow pace, rescue will definitely be too late. He didn't think about rescuing people from the beginning, he only attacked for the heavy cannon.
Although there is a high probability that there is no chance of capturing it, as long as it can be destroyed, it can become capital for one's promotion.
Looking at San Benzi opening the way ahead, Yamane Jiro frowned impatiently. From time to time, soldiers who used machine gun fire to conduct reconnaissance interrupted his thoughts.
After fighting in Jin Province for so long, he knew that the Eighth Route Army's favorite tactic was to encircle points and call for reinforcements. They often feint to attack a target and then ambush the incoming reinforcements.
Although there were already cavalry investigating, I still felt uneasy for some reason.
Facts have proven that people who have been active on a fierce battlefield for such a long time usually have pretty accurate intuition.
The Japanese cavalry subconsciously believed that the Eighth Route Army would definitely choose a suitable terrain to ambush, but they did not expect that Kong Jie's second battalion was near the main road and even built simple fortifications.
When the three squadrons reached halfway, the soldiers immediately launched an attack. As soon as the battle began, the second battalion commander pressed forward with all his troops.
The first targets to be hit must be those trucks. The newly arrived 50mm and 60mm mortars are tilting their shells towards the path that the vehicles must pass.
The light and heavy machine guns also fired a dense storm of metal. As soon as the sound of long bursts of fire was heard, dozens of Japanese infantry fell to the ground.
Seeing that the number of enemies was greater than expected, Kong Jie directly took out two companies from the reserve team and threw them into the battlefield.
There was no place for a bunker on the flat road. The soldiers of the Independent Regiment attacked from both sides and put out the counterattacks organized by the Japanese again and again.
Both the 10-year-type grenade and the 1989-type grenade were defeated by the Brand 50mm mortar in this duel.
With no advantage in numbers, weapons, or terrain, the Japanese from the three squadrons struggled for only twenty minutes.
Looking at the corpses on the ground, Kong Jie issued a new order with disgust on his face:
"When cleaning the battlefield, don't take away the little devil's weapons. Even the militiamen don't like to use these rags now."
"Headquarters has told me that this operation will focus on speed!"
"Go to the next turret. Our independent regiment's goal tonight is to hit ten!"
The next chapter is a bit different, so I’ll read it at noon tomorrow.
(End of chapter)
