It sheds three autumn leaves and can bloom February flowers. Thousands of feet of waves are crossing the river, and thousands of bamboo poles are sloping into it.
Marching continuously, the troops and horses staggered here and there.
People from all directions are rushing to Dongxia Village.
At three o'clock in the afternoon, the first to arrive was the Japanese reinforcements squadron.
The Japanese's headquarters was located in the north. After the Japanese reinforcements arrived at their destination, they could no longer hold on and could no longer stand upright. They pulled off their raincoats and lay down on the ground one after another.
The Japanese Lieutenant got off his horse and looked around. Looking at the dense crowd of people around the village, he had some misconceptions. Could it be that there was a battalion in the Eighth Route Army in this village? Such a big battle.
Without caring about anything else, I went to Maeda to report first.
Maeda was very satisfied with the timely arrival of the reinforcements of the imperial warriors: "Thank you for your hard work, Little Inu-kun."
"Hai, long live God."
Maeda did not hesitate: "The Eighth Route Army is now surrounded by people. The security forces have attacked twice in the morning, but they were repulsed by the Eighth Route Army in the village. They have not yet entered the village. Tell me what you think."
Maeda's main job is to manage the occupied areas. Although he is also familiar with marching formations, his idea is very strange. He cannot cause too many casualties to the warriors in the battle.
The lieutenant thought for a moment and suggested: "Use shelling. This village is only so small. No matter how many people there are in the village, a few rounds of shelling can completely destroy the village."
"But there are no infantry artillery that haven't come up yet."
"We also have a lot of mortars. With grenade launchers, we can completely crush the eight roads in the village, suppress them with machine gun fire, and then send infantry to attack. All the eight roads in the village will be blocked."
Maeda was a little surprised: "But we learned that the Eighth Route Army in this village dug trenches and fired two rounds of mortars, but it had no effect. It is estimated that the Eighth Route Army built anti-gun holes, and the mortars would not have much effect. The Eighth Route Army's firepower in the village Not weak, with nine machine guns.”
"How could the Eighth Route Army have so much firepower?"
"The Eighth Route Army attacked the cavalry squadron and took away all the machine guns."
"Then why do they still stay here?"
Maeda didn't care about the lieutenant's questioning method: "This is also something I can't figure out. There is a possibility that there must be other purposes, but so far, I haven't figured it out yet."
"After shelling and charging, even if they have a battalion, I think they can easily defeat the Eighth Route Army in the village. I will lead the attack. Please allow me."
"Yoshi, are you sure? Well, prepare to attack immediately." Maeda has lost patience.
"Can we rest for a while before attacking? We have been marching all night and most of the day?"
"Okay then, let's take a rest for an hour."
Maeda is also a bad chess player. Didn't he just lead a squadron? Let this tired army attack?
Maybe it would be more reassuring to have another squadron around.
...
In the telescope footage, nearly two hundred Japs came from the west an hour ago. Ten minutes ago, the Japs set up large-scale mortars in the north. From time to time, people came in and out of the Japs' tent in the north quickly, probably to convey orders.
The situation is not good, the Japanese want to shell.
Hu Yi, who had been observing for a long time, immediately gave the order to enter the artillery cave, and the village roared one after another.
The anti-bomb hole was actually that after the Second Company dug the trench, the soldiers of the Ninth Company demolished a lot of civilian door panels, spread them horizontally on top, and piled the excavated soil two feet thick on the door panels.
All trenches are not straight. There are two 90-degree bow turns at the top of the door panels. Even if the Japanese shells fall in the trenches, the fragments will basically not hurt anyone.
The only worry is that two enemy shells can hit the same location, and the door panel cannot withstand two consecutive explosions.
From time to time, figures appeared from the courtyards and rooftops, leaping obscenely into the trenches, crawling into the holes like mice.
"The Japanese infantry in the north is spreading out and has formed a skirmish formation! The distance is 300! The width may be three squads! About 180 people." The observation post was reporting.
Xiao Hongying has already entered the bombhole.
He looked around: "What the hell? Where's Li Xiang? Why haven't you replied yet?"
Luo Fugui, who was nestling in the middle of the hole with his arms around the machine gun, felt his eyebrows tremble when he heard it, and his face was wrinkled and dirty: "Didn't he reply? Did he want to die or something? Boss Hu said that the Japanese were going to shell him, so he What is this for?"
"Mule, hurry up and look for it. The uneasy one has gone to the north. He has been thinking about hitting the Japanese artillery. He wants to hit the Japanese mortar with his 50 small artillery. Let's see what he can do."
"What the heck, he's with Boss Hu, what kind of idea are you trying to steal? Where's your machine gun? You're not giving it away again, you prodigal thing!"
When the Japs entered the distance of 200 meters, the machine guns of the Eighth Route Army should have started shooting, but even the occasional cold shots in the village stopped. The Japs Lieutenant did not pay attention. Maybe the Eighth Route Army also saw the mortars and prepared to fire, so they all hid in A mouse hole.
There were still a large group of corpses of the security forces lying in front of them. They should be alive in the pit. The lieutenant did not place his hope on them, but he did not let him retreat. If he attacked later, these security forces could still play some role on the periphery.
The Japanese advanced to 150 meters from the edge of the village and stopped advancing. If any of the cannons were to miss, it would be uneconomical.
Boom... Amidst the trembling sound of mortars, the shells rushed out of the barrel, emitting a cloud of smoke that filled the sky above the artillery position. The 90mm-caliber shells flew into the sky with a scream with a sinful mission. , and smashed hard into the village to the south. This shell hit a house in the village.
Boom, after a flash of light, an explosion of smoke and dust rushed into the air. The violent sound and shock wave made everyone in the village feel their hearts beating violently. A gap was blown out of the roof of the house, and shrapnel With the aroused broken tiles, it flies in all directions, arrogantly tearing everything in its way to pieces, or it can get into the body blocking its path, fly into the sky until its kinetic energy is exhausted, and fall to the ground. , crackling noise.
After one test shot.
The shells began to hit the village continuously, and the continuous explosions once again filled the village with gunpowder smoke. The strange thing was that there was no wind at this time, and the gunpowder smoke stopped in the village, slowly rolling, and new explosions stirred up The smoke in front was flying in all directions, and you could clearly see the shadow of the shock wave after the shell exploded.
From time to time, scattered bricks, rubble, tiles, and soil fell from the sky into the trenches. The soldiers whose ears had been stuffed with cotton could no longer hear any other sounds. Several shells that fell into the trenches exploded and fragments flew everywhere. However, no harm was caused, but the mud stirred up after flying to the edge of the anti-bomb hole hit several soldiers, causing some pain. They felt numb and didn't care at all.
If it weren't for the squad leaders who kept shouting reminders around them, many soldiers might have collapsed long ago. What some soldiers wanted in their hearts was to break out of this shell-proof cave and stay away from the hellish suffering.
I don’t know how long time passed. No one among the soldiers knew how long it took for the Japanese bombardment to end. It might have been short, but in everyone’s heart it felt like a lifetime had passed.
The squad leaders suppressed the feeling of vomiting in their hearts and immediately ordered everyone to leave the shell hole and enter the shooting position. The soldiers who stayed outside to observe failed to send back the sound. Perhaps, they would never be able to send back the sound.
After the bombardment is over, the Japanese will launch a charge. Now is the most critical moment for defense.
