The attacking Japs were already mentally prepared. Jing Yi even relied on his sixth sense to throw him down in advance. However, the first round of fire strikes still caused huge damage to the charging Japs, killing and injuring a large number of them.
The mass killing of more than a dozen crooked machine guns within a hundred meters is still very costly for the Japanese. Coupled with the precise shooting of more than a hundred 38-guns, the Japanese suffered a big loss. At least half of the squadron of Japanese were wiped out. fall;
The effect of the first round of attacks is often the best. After the Japanese are all down, the effectiveness of the attack is greatly reduced.
The Japanese lying on the ground also began to fight back, and both sides started shooting at each other. Since the Eighth Route Army was hiding in the trenches and had pre-dug shooting positions, they took advantage of them.
"Ta-ta-ta..."
300 meters away, several Type 92 heavy machine guns were firing wildly at the first company position, suppressing the firepower of the first company.
"Iron Hammer, let the fire squad set up a stupid machine gun position. Bullying me, the rifle can't hit you, right?"
The first company commander shouted loudly to his orderly soldiers, who were all serving as messengers on the battlefield.
The first company has a firepower squad consisting of two 81mm mortars. This is the only heavy firepower in the whole company. In terms of firepower configuration, the garrison company is still not as good as the main company.
As soon as Iron Hammer heard this, he immediately shrunk and ran quickly from the longitudinal communication trench of the trench to the third trench, where the fire squad was ambushed.
"Squad leader Hong, the company commander asked you to remove the dog-eating machine gun positions!"
Hong Xiaohui couldn't hold it in any longer, and finally waited for the company commander's order for him to fire.
"Brothers, you have work to do. Kill the dog's machine gun!"
After Hong Xiaohui finished speaking, he personally operated a mortar, gave a thumbs up gesture, then adjusted the angle of the gun, and then took aim again, and then took the shell from the deputy gunner with satisfaction and pointed it at the gun. At the mouth of the barrel, he and another artilleryman looked at each other and released it lightly almost at the same time;
The shell slid into the base and collided with the firing pin in the base. There were only two "bang bang" sounds, and the two shells came out and flew straight to the Japanese heavy machine gun position;
"Bagaya Road, mortar——"
"Boom boom"
The explosion drowned out the voices of the Japs and swallowed up the Japs' heavy machine gun positions. More than a dozen Japs fell into a pool of blood. The smoke dissipated, leaving a yellow mess on the ground.
"withdraw!"
After the attack, Hong Xiaohui gave the order to evacuate. Once the mortar's position was exposed, it must change its position to avoid being locked by the Japanese infantry artillery.
The Japs, who had lost the suppression of heavy machine guns, became increasingly vulnerable in the exchange of fire. The Japs were hit one after another, and the casualties gradually increased. Finally, they could no longer withstand it!
"Turn in! Turn in!"
Seeing that he could no longer stand it, Jing Yi gave the order to retreat. The Japanese began to retreat alternately under cover. In the process, more than a dozen Japanese were killed and wounded, and the first round of fighting between the two sides ended.
The anti-artillery whistle sounded again on the company's position, and gray figures quickly hid in the anti-artillery holes through the traffic trenches;
A company of anti-gun holes has a very good protective effect against 75mm field guns.
The Japanese's three-point ax has long been figured out by the independent regiment. The officers and soldiers of the garrison camp have trained countless times on anti-artillery tactics. As long as the Japanese infantry retreats downward, the soldiers will quickly hide in the anti-artillery holes.
Especially machine guns and mortars must be fast. This is the key target of the Japanese.
"Boom boom boom..."
"Boom boom boom..."
The Japanese artillery preparations arrived as expected. Three shells fell on the mortar position where Hong Xiaohui was just now. The Japanese artillery was indeed powerful.
Fortunately, Hong Xiaohui withdrew after the attack, and the Japanese's three shells hit Lonely!
At the fifth brigade headquarters, Ishii and Nishikawa put down their binoculars almost at the same time. They looked at each other and then returned to the map in tacit understanding.
"General, have you understood Chu Xiong's true intention?"
Ishii nodded subconsciously, then shook his head and said:
"Xichuan Jun, I'm still not sure! But one thing is certain, the troops brought by Chu Xiong are elite Eighth Route Army soldiers;
Not only did they have artillery, but they also hit the Imperial Army's machine gun position 500 meters away in the first round.
Judging from the firepower exposed by the Eighth Route Position, it should be a battalion of troops. After being bombed by aircraft and artillery, they were able to repel the attack of two reinforced squadrons of the imperial army. Their combat effectiveness was no less than that of the imperial army. "
Before Nishikawa could answer, the battle losses of the first brigade's offensive troops were reported.
"Your Excellency, General, the Imperial Army has 69 killed, 56 slightly injured, 3 heavy machine guns lost, and more than 20 seriously injured people were not captured!"
"Hey..."
After Ishii listened to Nishikawa read the battle damage report, he couldn't help but take a breath.
"Nishikawa-kun, this casualty ratio shows that the Eighth Route Army's marksmanship is no longer weaker than that of the Imperial Army. Except for the slightly wounded, the Imperial Army actually lost half a squadron. Although we don't know the casualties of the Eighth Route Army, we can be sure that they are definitely lower than Imperial Army!"
"If the three or four thousand and eight troops around Chu Xiong are so elite, then it can be certain that Chu Xiong deliberately did not capture Anping City;
I even suspected that Chu Xiong deliberately attracted us with his lone army and created opportunities for the troops to break through the blockade. Chu Xiong definitely had a conspiracy! "
Although Nishikawa did not understand Chu Xiong's intention, Ishii's analysis also made him realize the seriousness of the matter, and he thought of a possibility:
"Your Majesty General, will Chu Xiong use this elite force to consume our strength first, and then another force will come back behind us?"
Ishii made a gesture on the map. It was really possible, but the prerequisite was to win Zezhou, which was heavily defended.
"Xichuan Jun, Zezhou has a regiment of defenders and a strong city to rely on. Chuxiong's troops only have 5,000 people at most. It is almost impossible to break through a large city guarded by a regiment;
Even if we can capture it, it won't take less than a week. He, Chu Xiong, is a human being, not a god, so it is possible that someone could attack our troops in a roundabout way, but it is unrealistic. "
"Continue to launch the attack. After first consuming more than one-third of Chu Xiong's troops, I want to see if Chu Xiong can still hide his true intention!"
Ishii is also a ruthless man. He plans to compete with Chu Xiong first. He has 5 brigades and there are two brigades in Anping City. He wants to see if all Chu Xiong's troops are so elite.
"Boom boom boom..."
Following Ishii's order, the Japs' attack began again, with the same old routines and recipes——
The infantry charged and the artillery bombarded!
Independent Regiment Temporary Command Post
While Chu Xiong observed the Japanese bombardment with a telescope, he asked He Zhenhua:
"Old He, have our scouts figured out the location of the Japanese artillery positions?"
"Captain, we have found out that in Area 6, more than two kilometers away from our army, there are two squadrons of Japanese guards around!"
Chu Xiong chuckled and said:
"Old devils, it's better to be cautious. The artillery positions are placed two kilometers away. They just bully us and we can't hit them!"
"It's time for Wei Shen to take action!"
"Inform the artillery to assemble the Wei Shen we brought here. I'm going to cover it with a round of rocket launchers!"
Chu Xiong finally showed his trump card!
As long as the Japanese field artillery brigade is knocked out, the attack of the independent fifth brigade will be greatly reduced, and it will be no problem to hold the position.
Old Japanese Ishii really guessed it correctly. His troops like the 1st Guards Company were not able to fight many, and there were nearly half of the militiamen to make up the numbers!
