Although Taniguchi was arrogant, he still had the proper formations during the march.
Since the Taniguchi Brigade had just withdrawn from the frontal battlefield, its cavalry squad was seriously short of strength.
A normal cavalry squad should have about 50 people, but the Taniguchi brigade's cavalry squad only has more than 30 people left.
Their mission during the march was to guard the flanks and to be used as search parties.
The cavalry is very mobile and has a wide field of vision when riding on the horse, so it will be more effective when used as a search team.
The two squadrons of the Japanese were temporarily organized, and the personnel and equipment were very neat. They were two standard infantry squadrons, each with 182 people.
The two squadrons formed four columns during the march, walking on both sides of the road, two columns on each side.
A team forms a square formation, with about 5 meters between teams.
Taniguchi rode between the two squadrons. Accompanying him were a squadron leader, a signal corpsman, an interpreter, the battalion commander of the Imperial Association Army, and two personal guards.
The Imperial Association Army formed a square and walked at the back. At this time, the Japanese soldiers had not yet developed the consciousness to let the puppet troops go in front. They did not bother to let the Imperial Association Army protect them. After suffering a loss, it was a different matter!
After the Taniguchi brigade left Anping City, they headed straight for Liuzhen along the only official road in the Xingdao Road with murderous intent. The marching speed was between 6 and 8 kilometers per hour.
It is about 70 kilometers from Anping City to Liuzhen. The Japs set out in the morning and planned to arrive at Liuzhen in the evening so that they could have a carnival in Liuzhen.
The entire process did not take the Eighth Route Army's blockade seriously, it was just a company of Eighth Route Army!
As soon as the Japs left the city, they had been targeted by the Tiger Special Forces led by Shitou. Chu Xiong gave him the task of holding off the Japs for at least one day.
Shitou has been following Chu Xiong since the Dabie Mountains, and is proficient in using guerrilla warfare tactics to harass enemies during their march. Coupled with Chu Xiong's careful guidance after establishing a special force, he now has his own understanding of special tactics and can take charge of his own business.
Shitou decided to use sparrow warfare to delay the march of the Japanese. The greatest threat to the "Tiger"'s sparrow warfare tactics was the Japanese cavalry.
There were more than thirty cavalrymen, and the "Tiger" couldn't eat one bite. Fortunately, they were arranged on both wings, so they could eat them one bite at a time.
Shitou's "Tiger" team has a total of 16 people, divided into 5 combat groups. Their equipment is very sophisticated, each man has a upgraded Thompson submachine gun and a 20-shot box gun.
In order to facilitate long-range shooting, I also brought a few Sanba Gaigai.
Shitou decided to use ambush tactics to get rid of the Japanese cavalry first and clipped the Japanese's wings!
Second Lieutenant Yota Miura is the captain of the cavalry squad. Even though he is just a small second lieutenant of the cavalry, he is an out-and-out noble.
The cavalry is a noble branch, and many officers are descendants of nobles, even royal families.
The Miura family can only be regarded as a down-and-out noble in Toyo Island. He graduated from the cavalry department of the Army Academy. Since he was a child, he has longed for the era of the cavalry, where the cavalry group had thousands of horses galloping and sabers flying.
It's a pity that the ideal is very full and the reality is very skinny. He was not assigned to a specialized cavalry brigade or cavalry regiment as he wished. He just came to the cavalry squad of the infantry brigade and served as a guard for the lowly infantry. This made him very unhappy.
Second Lieutenant Miura led a dozen cavalrymen to protect the safety of the right wing. He did not see even a shadow of the Eighth Route Army outside Anping City, which made him not in a very high mood.
Unlike the country bumpkins in the infantry, he had no interest in robbing the unarmed Chinese people.
What he valued was military merit. Only with many meritorious achievements could he leave the infantry brigade and be promoted to the cavalry regiment of the division.
"Bagou, Bagou!"
Suddenly there was a gunshot, and two Type 38 rifle bullets were fired from the two o'clock direction. The two Japanese cavalrymen fell off their horses in response.
"Enemy attack!"
Miura soon discovered three attackers at the two o'clock direction. After they succeeded, they were preparing to flee in the distance.
"Eight, I want to run away!"
How could Miura, who was thinking about military exploits, let the attackers escape? He led the remaining dozen riders to chase the enemy.
Once the infantry's whereabouts are exposed, it is difficult to escape the sight of the cavalry.
Due to the appearance of attackers, from a safety perspective, the Taniguchi brigade stopped and stood guard on the spot. They also took a rest and waited for news from the cavalry squad.
It was a group of "Tiger" that attacked the Japanese. The group leader was He Gui. After they succeeded, they immediately ran towards the pocket array set up by the deputy captain.
Miura still didn't suffer any loss. He dared to chase him several kilometers away with more than a dozen riders. Just as he was about to catch up, six people suddenly appeared from the grass behind him, one group on each side.
Six submachine guns fired from behind at close range. Such a blow was fatal. Seven or eight Japanese were mopped down in an instant.
The others rushed forward dozens of meters with inertia, and several submachine gunners appeared on their left and right wings.
"Ta-ta-ta!"
"Ta-ta-ta!"
The power of the inverted triangle ambush position was very astonishing. Miura's reaction was fast enough, but he only had time to shout the word "enemy attack" before he was swept to the ground by several submachine gun bullets.
The remaining eight or nine Japs on Cavalry were mopped down. From the beginning to the end, they did not even have a chance to fight back. All 17 Japs on Cavalry who pursued them were wiped out.
The entire attack took less than two minutes and was a textbook attack.
After wiping out the Japanese cavalry, the Tigers captured more than a dozen war horses, making their mobility even stronger.
After the Japs were eliminated, dozens of grenades were found from them. Shitou directed the Tigers to use the Japs' corpses to make several large booby traps. He believed that the Japs would come to collect the corpses after hearing the gunshots.
"Comrades, get on your horses and let's go play with the Japanese!"
Shitou mounted Miura's horse in a very disgusting manner, and other team members followed suit. The battlefield was not cleaned, and the Japanese corpses were hastily piled into several piles, waiting for the Japanese to come and collect the corpses.
After doing this, Shitou took the "Tiger" away from the ambush point and went to another ambush point to wait for the Japanese. There were still dozens of kilometers away, so there was plenty of time to play with the Japanese.
The sound of fierce and short firefights naturally reached Taniguchi's ears. Taniguchi was very experienced in the battlefield. From the sound of gunfire, he could tell that his cavalry team should have been ambushed.
Because from the beginning to the end, he did not hear the sound of the cavalry team's Type 44 lances, but the sound of continuous firing of firearms.
"Yasuda-kun, you lead the first squadron to go over and take a look. The other personnel occupy the commanding heights on both wings and prepare for battle!"
Taniguchi is crazy, but he still has the tactical qualities that a field brigade should have.
Captain Yasuda led more than a hundred Japs from the First Squadron to search in the direction of the gunfire in a battle formation. They arrived at the ambush point twenty minutes later.
There was no sign of the Eighth Route Army at the attack point for a long time. There were piles of corpses of Imperial Army warriors scattered on the ground. Only the horses were taken away, not even the guns.
"Bagayalu!"
After Yasuda finished scolding, he did not intend to continue the pursuit. The opponent had horses, and Yasuda's squadron was made up of infantrymen, so there was no way they could catch up.
"I can run away, monk, but I can't run away from the temple! I'll settle the score with you when I get to Liu Town!"
Yasuda thought secretly in his heart.
"The first team, collect the bodies of the warriors and cremate them together!"
Yasuda was so angry that he could only dispose of the remains of the Jade Shattered Warriors according to wartime regulations. After thousands of miles of war, the ashes had to be taken back to his hometown.
"Boom!"
"boom!"
The explosion sounded, and Captain Yasuda fell to the ground reflexively.
"Enemy attack!"
